Hong Kong Ballet’s excellent new Frida

Kevin Ng April 07, 2025 17:32

Hong Kong Ballet premiered last weekend a two-act ballet “Frida” by the Belgian-Colombian choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. Her last creation for the company in 2023 - “Coco Chanel” - was a big success.

“Frida”, which was originally created for the Dutch National Ballet in 2020, tells the life story of the renowned Mexican artist Frida Kahlo who is regarded as one of the most significant artists of the 20th century. It would have been even better if “Frida” could have been premiered a week earlier to coincide with the Art Basel Hong Kong.

After a bus accident when Frida is a teenager which leaves her with lifelong pain, she turns to painting to express her feminist and anti-colonial ideals. She marries a muralist Diego Rivera who is much older than her and is overweight. Their marriage is however marred by Diego’s infidelity, her constant health problems, and her inability to conceive.

Travelling with Diego in America, Frida grows lonely and seeks solace through affairs. After their return to Mexico, she creates some of her most famous works. However she falls into a deep depression after discovering Diego’s affair with her sister. She finally dies at the age of 47.

Act 1 is very tight and gripping and holds one’s attention from start to finish. It is almost stifling in its emotional intensity. The ballet opens with a sinister scene, with four male dancers attired as skeletons. It then charts Frida’s life from her bus accident as a teenager up to her unfortunate miscarriage.

Lopez Ochoa’s choreography is inventive, full of imagination and wit. The traffic leading to the bus accident is cleverly depicted by male dancers crossing the stage and holding cardboard representing cars. The final scene showing her miscarriage is very theatrical. Her baby is snatched from her by the skeletons, and she is tied at the end by red cords.

There is an interesting character named the Deer which represents Frida’s alter ego, a device which was also seen in Lopez Ochoa’s ballet “Coco Chanel”. Male skeletons frequently appear in her bad dreams signifying her ongoing physical pain and suffering. The duets are effective, with some soaring high lifts and swings. The best is the emotional duet for Frida and her husband Diego after she has discovered his infidelity.

Act 2 continues with the couple’s stay in America. Frida’s affair is shown by a duet with a male skeleton. Interestingly, this act contains a danced version of three of Frida’s most famous paintings. First is “The Tree of Life” in the beginning of this act. It is brought to life as a pleasing classical divertissement set in a garden scene with a female corps de ballet led by a soloist named the Queen Leaf.

The second is “The Two Fridas”, which as expected becomes a duet for Frida and another dancer representing her mirror image. Then “The Broken Column”, which shows Frida suffering from constant pain, is danced by a white-clad soloist with long hair. However, it would require a careful reading of the programme notes by the dramaturg Nancy Meckler to comprehend the depiction of the second and the third paintings which was not so obvious on my first viewing.

There is a moving final reconciliation duet for Frida and Diego after her discovery of his affair with her sister, before she dies in his arms. Then in an epilogue, the Bird soloist dances on top of a large wooden box to symbolise Frida’s lasting artistic legacy.

On the opening night, Ye Feifei in the title role gave the best performance of her career so far. Her dancing was so expressive in the duets, and her acting was searingly intense. Ryo Kato was compelling as her overweight philandering husband Diego; his acting was superb. Yang Ruiqi was graceful as the antlered Deer, while Sun Jia was nimble as the Bird soloist. Wang Qingxin shone as the Queen Leaf. The whole company gave strong supporting performances.

Peter Salem’s lively original score has vibrant touches of Mexican mariachi, flamenco and jazz music. It was superbly performed by the Hong Kong Sinfonietta under the baton of Matthew Rowe. There was also some additional recorded music of Mexican songs to enhance the ballet.

The beautiful Mexican costumes are designed by Dieuweke Van Reij. The colourful costumes depicting the dancers as trees in the Act 2 “Tree of Life” scene are particularly memorable. The recurring prop is a movable wooden box which opens to show Frida’s sick bed, her studio, as well as Diego’s studio in different parts of the ballet.

“Frida” is an excellent and innovative work. It is by far the most outstanding new production premiered by the Hong Kong Ballet in the past two years. And it confirms my opinion that Annabelle Lopez Ochoa is one of the leading choreographers in the ballet world today. It would be rewarding for the company to dance more of her ballets in future.

As a postscript, a special exhibition dedicated to Frida Kahlo’s works will open at the Tate Modern gallery in London on 9 June.

Photo by Conrad Dy-Liacco

Ye Feifei as Frida, in the centre of photo

Kevin Ng

veteran dance critic