Yolanda Correa and Joel Carreno in Diana and Actaeon Pas de deux

Yolanda Correa, Joel Carreno and corps of Yakobson Ballet in Diana and Acteon Pas de deux from La Esmeralda. Music by Cesare Pugni, choreography by Agrippina Vaganova.  Shot on 28.04.2014 at Dance Open 2014, St Petersburg, Russia.

Yolanda Correa is a Soloist with Norwegian National Ballet. Yolanda was born in Holgin in Cuba. She studied at the Art Vocacional School of Holgin and National School of Ballet in Havana, and won the Contest Meetings of Ballet Academies in 1999. Before she joined the Norwegian National Ballet in autumn 2010, Yolanda was a soloist with Cuba’s National Ballet with which she has toured the world. With the Norwegian National Ballet she has danced a number of principal parts.

Yoël Carreño is dancer with Norwegian National Ballet. He was born in Havana, Cuba. He studied at the Elemental Ballet School and National School of Ballet i Havana. As a student, on several occasions between 1996 and 1998 he achieved good results in the International Contest Meetings of Ballet Academies. Yoël Carreño was a soloist with Cuba’s National Ballet before he joined the Norwegian National Ballet in autumn 2010 He has also appeared as a guest performer with a number of companies.

La Esmeralda is a ballet in 3 acts, 5 scenes, inspired by Notre Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo, originally choreographed by Jules Perrot; with music by Cesare Pugni. It was first presented by the Ballet of her Majesty’s Theatre, London on March 9, 1844.

Today the ballet is presented in its full-length form only in certain parts of the world; Russia; parts of Eastern Europe; and New Jersey, United States. New Jersey Ballet introduced the full-length version for the first time in the United States in 2004. Outside of Russia, Eastern Europe and New Jersey only excerpts are given – the La Esmeralda Pas de Deux and the Pas de Six, but mostly the Diane and Actéon Pas de Deux is given, which in all actuality is not originally from the ballet. It is often miscredited as having been added by Petipa to his 1886 revival of La Esmeralda.

The Greek myth of Diana and Actaeon can be found within Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The tale recounts the unfortunate fate of a young hunter named Actaeon, who was the grandson of Cadmus, and his encounter with chaste Diana, goddess of the hunt. The latter is nude and enjoying a bath in a spring with help from her escort of nymphs when the mortal man unwittingly stumbles upon the scene. The nymphs scream in surprise and attempt to cover Diana, who, in a fit of embarrassed fury, splashes water upon Actaeon. He is transformed into a deer with a dappled hide and long antlers, robbed of his ability to speak, and thereafter promptly flees in fear. It is not long, however, before his fellow hunters and his own hounds track him down and kill him, failing to recognize their friend.

Photos by Jack Devant Ballet Photography© with kind permission of the Dance Open, special thanks to Ekaterina Galanova and Adelia Mukhamedzhanova.