JEKYLL & HYDE
What they're saying about Jekyll & Hyde in Finland....
"……Jekyll & Hyde is so far the only ballet performance (or performance I've seen on stage anyway) that has evoked feelings of fear and terror in me. Emotions ran wild almost as wildly as the dancers themselves on stage, and time passed too quickly onstage.”
“……. breathtaking in its intensity…”
“…. The dance embodies the power of the book's story and that certain inner atmosphere, the core of which the ballet has managed to capture amazingly aptly…”
“….it is a beautiful, haunting and impressive work that has beautifully captured the spirit of the classic story, but which still discusses the story in modern times…."
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“Kansas City Ballet in the US has a hit on its hands with the all-round success of Val Caniparoli's sinister “Jekyll & Hyde.”
– The Kansas City Star
“….Kansas City Ballet's presentation Of “Jekyll & Hyde” was an all-round success”
– KC Studio
“…. There's one word that encapsulates Colorado Ballet's premiere production of Jekyll and Hyde: Stunning.”
– Onstage Colorado
“…For fans of the gothic and the macabre, it is an instant hit, with potential to become an evergreen Halloween staple.
– Broadway World
“It is no understatement that the KC Ballet has kicked off its 2023-24 season with a bang—or rather, a scream.”
– Broadway World
“…..Caniparoli's movements are so clear in their emotional content and the Colorado Ballet dancers so comfortable physically expressing the choreography's requirements that we know at every moment what is happening, both externally and internally.”
– Onstage Colorado
The music and the choreography meld together.
– NPR in Kansas City
There’s one word that encapsulates Colorado Ballet’s premiere production of Jekyll and Hyde: Stunning.
– On-Stage Colorado
"The performance is brave. It feels like anything could happen at any moment."
– Broadway World
“The dance is set to an ingenious recorded score…the music deftly and simultaneously blends Bach with West Africa, Mr. Caniparoli echoes that combination with ballet infused with West African dance. The result…was gracious and elegant, a decided up ending…..”
– The New York Times
"...Rare are the dancers who perform with one company for multiple decades and rarer still, whose artistic careers continue to flourish and evolve. Val Caniparoli belongs to that exclusive group."
– Dance Magazine
"Acclaimed American ballet choreographer and dancer Val Caniparoli has come a long way from 'never having a ballet class in his life' to boasting an award-winning repertoire of over 70 unique choreographies. His secret to success? Stay naîve."
– Prestige Magazine, Singapore
“The movement is uniquely energetic, humorous and frenetic. Caniparoli has a talent for moving large numbers of dancers around the state
in ways that are eye-catching, inclusive, and unique..."
– Dance Europe
“The dance is set to an ingenious recorded score by Pierre Akendengue and Hughes de Courson...it was meant as a homage to Albert Schweitzer, who lived in the Gabonese town of Lambarene and who played Bach organ music. The music deftly and simultaneously blends Bach and West Africa. Mr. Caniparoli echoes that combination with ballet infused with West Africa dance. The result...was gracious and elegant, a decided up ending....”
– The New York Times
"Caniparoli excels at making highly technical ballet steps fit organically into a contemporary
context and "Swipe" demands extended to dizzying height, allegro footwork,
inchworm floor crawls and full-out sprints from its cast of four men and three women.
– San Francisco Chronicle
"The men bound into their jumps, high and confident. Caniparoli gives them solo moments and
a show-off male quartet, with speedy unison footwork and a vaudeville swagger.....The women,
dressed in skinny jeans and vest tops, swoop in and out. It’s a high-energy end to an attractive programme.”
– The Independent
“In a stroke of genius, Val Caniparoli has built a reverberating surprise into
The Lottery, his new ballet at Ballet West.
– Dance Magazine
And if cultural misunderstandings create such strife, then Caniparoli’s “Lambarena” shows the audience how to make peace,by merging music and dance of Africa and Europe. In this work, the body becomes the medium for reconciliation between African dance, where the weight is grounded, and classical ballet, where the muscles pull the body weight upward through the legs.
The dancers must transition seamlessly from one approach to the other, integrating the two. The result is life-affirming.
– Arts ATL
“Swipe is packed with originality, utilizing every possible extremity.......
The music, by London-based composer Gabriel Prokoviev, is a mélange of hip-hop and electro with a hint of a classical base.......
This is zany stuff , not without quirky humor, and an excellent climax to the company’s debut performance here.”
– Dance Europe
The first thought that popped into my head after last night’s performance of
Lady of the Camellias was, ‘Why have we had to wait so long to see a ballet by this gifted choreographer?”
– The Boston Herald
"Fresh and compelling choreography...firmly within the neoclassical mold...
pure reaction to the driving beat”
– The Huffington Post
“Val Caniparoli’s “Lambarena” was again a hit with the audience.”
– The New York Times
“One of the virtues of Caniparoli’s choreography is that it flatters the dancers...
this ballet needs to be seen.”
– San Francisco Chronicle
“This is a very special ballet.....
it is a work of striking theatrical power...
Desire. Passion. Bliss. Sacrifice.
Betrayal. Humiliation. Loss. Grief.”
- The Globe and Mail
“Best choreographer to visit Cincinnati (in a long time)......
Cincinnati Ballet is well-served to have his work.”
- Cincinnati Enquirer
"Fresh and compelling choreography...firmly within the neoclassical mold...
pure reaction to the driving beat”
- The Huffington Post
“The dancers are in complete control of Caniparoli’s difficult but fascinating choreography.”
- The Scotsman
"Caniparoli has a large range of styles, but the work is particularly poignant and expressive.
This is choreography at a very high level, not in terms of overall structure but myriad details.....
I am anxious to see it again.”
– Seattle Post Intelligencer
“ ....Swipe, which consisted of sections of pure contemporary ballet, differing combinations of
dancers were used to express the changing moods of the music. Maggie Small, Cody Beaton and Fagone gave solo performances and also danced as a trio. Trevor Davis, Ragland, Sabino and Skaggs brought cheers from the audience with a perfectly synchronized, brilliant response to rapid percussion.”
– Richmond Times-Dispatch
“Val Caniparoli’s Already Dusk.....the choreography itself is outstanding, calling on leitmotifs with
great structural and emotional cognency.”
– Dance Australia
“This is punishingly beautiful choreography,
fast and precise and ever-evolving.”
- Tulsa World
“...detailed choreography is endlessly inventive and full of surprises....”
– Calgary Herald
“Rarely is dance so closely related to music. Without a false gesture anywhere…
Indeed, the entire work is so astonishing because its movement is so varied in style, inventive and exuberantly alive.”
– Seattle-Post Intelligencer
“...Brilliant...Broadway Whiz-Bang appeal.....”
– Winnipeg Free Press
“Caniparoli's is a new, dynamic brand of this choreographic genre; a more modern and current take on neo-classicism. One of neo-classicism's trademarks is how the choreography emphasizes the score.”
– Dance Commentary
Heather Desaulniers
2014
“Caniparoli …is considered one of the brightest lights among American classical dancesmiths.”
– The Globe and Mail
“…..this truly, madly funny and spirit-tingling inspiration.”
– San Francisco Chronicle
“[Caniparoli's]…choreography, here and elsewhere, betrays a wonderful adroitness in peering into the souls of the company's dancers.”
– Voice of Dance
"…to the delight of the audience. Caniparoli has endeavored to create a ballet comprised
almost entirely of non sequiturs.”
– San Francisco Chronicle
“But it was the other guest choreographer, San Francisco's Val Caniparoli,
who elevated risk into something distinctive.…"
– The San Francisco Chronicle
“The final scenic surprise was so shocking I heard people around me exclaiming audible expressions of shock”
– The Independent, Kansas City, 2017
“Val Caniparoli’s Already Dusk.....
the choreography itself is outstanding,
calling on leitmotifs with great structural
and emotional cognency.”
– Dance Australia
Katlyn Addison in Lambarena, Ballet West, Photography by Beau Pearson
“The dance is set to an ingenious recorded score…the music deftly and simultaneously
blends Bach with West Africa, Mr. Caniparoli echoes
that combination with ballet infused with West African dance. The result…was gracious and elegant, a decided up ending…..”
– The New York Times
"...And, it turns out that Lady of the Camellias, Caniparoli's first full-length
story ballet 20 years ago, has become nothing less than a modern masterpiece."
– Cincinnati CityBeat
“...Caniparoli injects a high dose of fun and non-traditional plot-twists...brilliantly infuses it with
mid-20th century moves from swing to ballroom dancing…."
– Courier Journal
Lambarena, Orlando Ballet, Photography by Israel Zavaleta Escobedo, Dancer: David West
Men of Smuin Ballet, rehearsal of Val Caniparoli's Confessions
Dances for Lou, Ballet West, Photography by Beau Pearson, Dancers: Jordan Veit, Lucas Horns
“…the variety of approaches Caniparoli took made for an appealing new work“…
everything grew so clearly out of the music… Caniparoli has a nuanced touch with duets and trios.”
– San Francisco Bay Guardian
Michal Krcmar and Lucas Michael Jerkander in Jekyll & Hyde, Finnish National Ballet. Photography by Roosa Oksaharju