Showcasing the dynamic, original choreography of Toni Pimble in her final season as the company’s artistic director, Eugene Ballet presents Carmen, February 22-23 at the Hult Center in downtown Eugene. Featuring both classical ballet and Spanish-style dance, the production features popular pieces familiar to audiences, including the “Toréador Song” and “The Habanera.”

Georges Bizet’s 1875 opera Carmen was first transformed into a ballet in 1949 by Roland Petit for Les Ballets de Paris. Based largely on Prosper Mérimée’s novella with the same title, the story is a passionate, tragic story of love and betrayal. Rivalling the popularity of the opera, the ballet Carmen has been embraced and performed by companies around the world.

Eugene Ballet’s first performances of Pimble’s Carmen choreography premiered in Fall 2007 during the final season of the company’s alliance with Ballet Idaho. It was performed both at the Morrison Center for the Performing Arts in Boise and the Hult Center for the Performing Arts in Eugene.

Carmen is Pimble’s favorite classical ballet, and she wanted to bring it back during her final year. “Our most popular full-length ballets are on season rotations,” says Pimble. “It has been 10 years since the company performed Carmen, so a revival was definitely timely.”

A special chemistry

Pimble notes that while the staging of her Carmen choreography has not changed much over time, the company is always fine-tuning the choreographic work. 

Two of the lead roles are being reprised by a real-life husband and wife: Danielle Tolmie dances Carmen and her husband Mark Tucker dances the lead role of the hapless soldier Don José.

“They (Tolmie and Tucker) performed these roles for the first time in 2015 and will be dancing them again in our upcoming performances,” says Pimble. “Since 2015 they have become the parents of two boys and much has changed in their lives. However, they have grown in technical ability and, most of all, in the artistry and maturity that they bring to their roles.”

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Orchestra Next’s Carmen debut

The upcoming performances are the first time that Orchestra Next, the resident orchestra for the Eugene Ballet, will perform the music for Carmen live. 

Orchestra Next is a training orchestra in addition to being the resident orchestra for Eugene Ballet. Creating and performing a work of this complexity has been a big undertaking for Orchestra Next’s founder and conductor Brian McWhorter. 

“There is no existing music for a full-length ballet of Carmen,” explains Pimble. “When I first created the work, I drew mostly from Bizet’s instrumental works, but also from (Jules) Massenet to flesh out the ballet. I also loved the 1967 (Rodion) Shchedrin instrumentation of Carmen Suite, which added another layer of complexity for Brian when assembling the score for the musicians to play.”

It’s unusual for a ballet in a mid-sized city to have live music for its performances. Orchestra Next has played every performance of Eugene Ballet’s The Nutcracker since 2012 and collaborated with the company on many of the works Pimble has choreographed.

A story of passion

The story of Carmen explores the themes of love, jealousy, and freedom. While betrayal ultimately takes down the main character, fervor remains central to the tale through the end.

Set in Seville in southern Spain, a young gypsy woman named Carmen, who works in a cigarette factory, has an affair with the officer Don José. Over the course of the opera, their relationship becomes dramatic and fraught, as she loses interest in the affair, while he becomes more and more obsessed with her. When Carmen eventually chooses the bullfighter Escamillo over José, the former soldier stabs his lover to death.

The passion and devotion infused in Carmen is fitting for a season celebrating Toni Pimble’s 46 years at the helm of Eugene Ballet. Jennifer Martin, Eugene Ballet’s incoming artistic director, explains, “The ballet’s fiery passion, dramatic storytelling, and timeless appeal embody the spirit of Toni’s remarkable career.”

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Tickets

Tickets are priced from $25 to $70, with $18 youth and student tickets (with valid ID). They are available online; in person at the Hult Center Ticket Office, located at 1 Eugene Center in Eugene; or by phone at 541-682-5000.