One of the intriguing components of The Most Incredible Thing, Javier De Frutos’s latest creation, is its structure.
One of the intriguing components of The Most Incredible Thing, Javier De Frutos’s latest creation, is its structure. Intentionally steering away from the aesthetic developments that informed theatre dance for more than a century, De Frutos has opted instead to revive and revisit the compositional formulae of the late 19th-century three-act ballet. Bold and risky as that sounds, such a decision fits perfectly with the kaleidoscopic score which the Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have been working on since 2008 and the storyline, derived from the tale by Hans Christian Andersen.
In line with the principles found in classics such as The Sleeping Beauty, Andersen’s narrative provides the pretext for those charming trappings 19th-century dance-makers believed in so firmly: strategically placed choral numbers, duets and solos for the protagonists, a few pas d’action (i.e.,
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