Following the success of Ronald Hynd's The Merry Widow last year, Hong Kong Ballet presents another well-loved comedy ballet, Coppelia, accompanied by the Hong Kong Sinfonietta.
The ballet is based loosely on a story by German author E.T.A. Hoffman published in 1815 called Der Sandmann (The Sandman).
The rather gruesome story starts with the recollection of a childhood nightmare in which the Sandman steals the eyes of children who won't go to sleep when they are supposed to.
The lead character falls in love with an automated doll, which makes him go mad and he leaps to his death.
Coppelia, on the other hand, is a light-hearted comedy, 'a fairy tale without any fairies', as choreographer Hynd describes it. The story is set in a small European village and focuses on Dr Coppelius, the inventor of a life-sized mechanical doll named Coppelia; Franz, who thinks he's fallen in love with her; and Swanilda, Franz's fiancee.
First choreographed by Arthur Saint-Leon for its premiere in Paris in 1870, the piece was reworked by Marius Petipa in 1884. It is on this version that Hynd based his choreography for the production the Hong Kong Ballet will perform this weekend.