ReviewLa Belle Otero led a wild life. This ballet in Hong Kong tries to tell her story
Despite some excellent dancing, Ballet Nacional de España’s La Bella Otero fails to do justice to the notorious Belle Époque star’s story
La Bella Otero offers a lively, entertaining showcase of Spanish dance – always popular in Hong Kong, as the rapturous reception from the audience showed – and Noelia Ruiz did an excellent job of conveying star quality, high energy and sexual allure in the title role.
On the downside, choreographer Ruben Olmo and dramaturge Gregor Acuña-Pohl fell short on coherent dramatic narrative and in-depth character development in a somewhat simplistic production that failed to do their protagonist’s extraordinary story justice.
Carolina Otero (known better by her French sobriquet La Belle Otero) was distinguished by her beauty, intelligence and ambition. Born poor and illegitimate in rural Spain in 1868, she was raped so brutally at the age of 10 that she nearly died. She left home in her early teens, became a dancer and made her way to France, where her sensational act at the Folies Bergère made her the toast of Belle Époque Paris and an international superstar.
Her onstage success was eclipsed by her glittering career as a courtesan. Considered one of the world’s most desirable women, her long list of lovers included numerous royals, Kaiser Wilhelm II and King Edward VII among them.