0:00:02 > 0:00:03APPLAUSE
0:00:03 > 0:00:05You might think you know nothing about opera,
0:00:05 > 0:00:07but have a listen to this.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10MUSIC: "Vivat! Vivat! Le Torero!" by Bizet
0:00:10 > 0:00:12And this.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15MUSIC: "Habanera" by Bizet
0:00:18 > 0:00:19And this.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23MUSIC: "C'est toi? C'est moi!" by Bizet
0:00:23 > 0:00:27Sound familiar? Well, these are three of the most famous moments
0:00:27 > 0:00:31from French composer George Bizet's opera Carmen.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34Although this passionate tale of seduction, betrayal and murder
0:00:34 > 0:00:38shocked audiences at its Parisian premiere in 1875,
0:00:38 > 0:00:39Carmen has since become
0:00:39 > 0:00:43one of the most performed operas in the world today.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47To help discover what's so special about Bizet's Carmen,
0:00:47 > 0:00:51we'll go behind the scenes of London's Royal Opera House,
0:00:51 > 0:00:56a Bollywood adaptation and a version set in South Africa.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59We'll meet the writers, conductors, singers and directors
0:00:59 > 0:01:03who have created these different takes on Bizet's masterpiece
0:01:03 > 0:01:06and get some top tips on how to adapt a classic opera.
0:01:14 > 0:01:15APPLAUSE
0:01:19 > 0:01:23George Bizet's opera Carmen has captured the hearts of audiences
0:01:23 > 0:01:25around the world for over a century,
0:01:25 > 0:01:30and has had countless retellings on stage, film and TV.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32The Royal Opera House set their production of Carmen
0:01:32 > 0:01:35in southern Spain during the 1800s,
0:01:35 > 0:01:38which closely follows Bizet's original stage directions.
0:01:38 > 0:01:40Essentially it's about a soldier, Don Jose,
0:01:40 > 0:01:44who falls in love with a beautiful woman, Carmen.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54She walks into a room and everyone knows she's there.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56She is the life and soul of any party.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02And Don Jose quickly falls for Carmen's charms.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06Don Jose leaves his childhood sweetheart behind,
0:02:06 > 0:02:08totally forgets about her.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16Carmen...she doesn't want to be tied down at all,
0:02:16 > 0:02:18but she is interested, of course,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21in the celebrity bull-fighter, Escamillo.
0:02:22 > 0:02:23CROWD CHEERS
0:02:26 > 0:02:29And he invites her to a bull fight,
0:02:29 > 0:02:33and Don Jose is furious that she has been invited by somebody else
0:02:33 > 0:02:36and that she's actually very keen to go.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41Don Jose follows her to the fight and it all ends in tragedy.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46# This girl is on fire
0:02:48 > 0:02:51# This girl is on fire. #
0:02:51 > 0:02:54Carmen the opera is almost like it's already a Bollywood movie.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58You have the themes of love and tragedy.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00Bollywood movies, they're really melodramatic,
0:03:00 > 0:03:03they're really over the top, they're really like operas.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06They've got the same kind of thing, all the emotions are really intense,
0:03:06 > 0:03:10all the characters are larger than life. Everything that happens
0:03:10 > 0:03:13to them is either tragic or fantastic or wonderful,
0:03:13 > 0:03:15and the two things seemed exactly the same.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19So a Bollywood version of Bizet's Carmen seemed the perfect fit.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21Bollywood Carmen is set in Bradford,
0:03:21 > 0:03:24and our Carmen is an ordinary Bradford girl,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27and she's a waitress at a sort of pop-up cafe
0:03:27 > 0:03:30in the city centre called Lily P's,
0:03:30 > 0:03:34and all of her life, she's wanted to be a Bollywood star.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37I've watched all the movies, learnt all the dance moves,
0:03:37 > 0:03:41I've even sewn the sequins on by hand. I'm ready to help myself.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44And luck would have it that one evening, a Bollywood roadshow
0:03:44 > 0:03:48comes to town headed up by the biggest star in Bollywood, AD,
0:03:48 > 0:03:51and the story of Bollywood Carmen is really how
0:03:51 > 0:03:55this local Bradford girl, Carmen, infiltrates the world of Bollywood.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59Well, if you're going to see the Bollywood movie,
0:03:59 > 0:04:02AD is supposed to be the archetypal Bollywood superstar.
0:04:02 > 0:04:05# Warrior or lover... #
0:04:05 > 0:04:08Like Escamillo the Toreador in the original,
0:04:08 > 0:04:11he's a man who's full of his own self-importance,
0:04:11 > 0:04:13who's full of his own pride.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17He wrote the script, he's the lead actor, he's the director.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21He's spontaneous, so every decision he makes is always right,
0:04:21 > 0:04:24and he pushes himself forward all the time.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26RHYTHMIC DRUMMING
0:04:28 > 0:04:32Don in Bollywood Carmen is the equivalent of Don Jose in the opera,
0:04:32 > 0:04:35and the two characters are very, very similar in both adaptations,
0:04:35 > 0:04:38that at the beginning of Bollywood Carmen,
0:04:38 > 0:04:42Don is a security guard and he's this straight, upstanding guy.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45He's got a good relationship with his supervisor, Eddie,
0:04:45 > 0:04:47and he's really actually enjoying the show, and then
0:04:47 > 0:04:49his fiancee arrives and she says,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52"I've got a message from your mother.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54"Your mother wants us to get married," and he and Tenisha have
0:04:54 > 0:04:58this beautiful wedding fantasy and everything's going to be fantastic.
0:04:58 > 0:04:59SHE SINGS IN HINDI
0:05:07 > 0:05:10And then, into his life comes Carmen.
0:05:10 > 0:05:11ELECTRIC DANCE MUSIC
0:05:12 > 0:05:16In Bollywood films, you have two kinds of song and dance numbers.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19Some of them are item numbers which bear no relation to the film,
0:05:19 > 0:05:21and other ones are story song and dances,
0:05:21 > 0:05:24which advance the plot and, in our Carmen,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27every song and dance is a story dance because it advances the plot,
0:05:27 > 0:05:29because it's a musical.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36In 2005, world-renowned conductor
0:05:36 > 0:05:40Charles Hazelwood made his version of Carmen in South Africa.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43Of course when you're doing a piece like Carmen,
0:05:43 > 0:05:46well, any story, actually, in a particular culture,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49so in my case, doing Carmen in South Africa,
0:05:49 > 0:05:54you want to find truth, don't you? You don't want to create scenarios,
0:05:54 > 0:05:58environments, characters which don't feel truthful to that culture.
0:05:58 > 0:05:59So, for instance,
0:05:59 > 0:06:03it seemed very obvious to us that Escamillo couldn't be a bull-fighter,
0:06:03 > 0:06:06and indeed the piece couldn't culminate in a big bull fight,
0:06:06 > 0:06:09because there isn't really bull-fighting in South Africa,
0:06:09 > 0:06:10it's not part of that culture.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13However, singing is a fundamental part of that culture.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16THEY VOCALISE
0:06:19 > 0:06:23So it seemed natural that Escamillo should be a very glamorous opera singer
0:06:23 > 0:06:25who has had a big international career,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28and very natural that the kind of final scene should be
0:06:28 > 0:06:31like a great concert, a great kind of choir competition moment.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34That felt like an absolute bulls-eye for our Carmen.
0:06:34 > 0:06:35FLAMENCO GUITAR
0:06:35 > 0:06:37BULL-FIGHTER SHOUTS
0:06:40 > 0:06:43When I started working on the project, I was very excited
0:06:43 > 0:06:45because I knew the opera by Bizet,
0:06:45 > 0:06:48but I'd never read the original short story by Merimee,
0:06:48 > 0:06:50and I immediately went and got that and read it,
0:06:50 > 0:06:53and I was very inspired, because it is the story of Carmen,
0:06:53 > 0:06:55but it sort of fills in all the blanks.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57FLAMENCO GUITAR STRUM
0:06:57 > 0:07:00It has it in some of the most astonishingly acute
0:07:00 > 0:07:04and telling descriptions, principal among them Carmen herself.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06There's this brilliant phrase he uses
0:07:06 > 0:07:08when he's describing her eyes,
0:07:08 > 0:07:14he said, "If you want to understand these dark eyes, Carmen's dark eyes,
0:07:14 > 0:07:17"look no further than in the eye of your cat
0:07:17 > 0:07:20"when it's stalking a sparrow."
0:07:20 > 0:07:23That tells you a million different things.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26The kind of essence, almost what she smells like,
0:07:26 > 0:07:28this person called Carmen.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33A good story can be told in so many different ways
0:07:33 > 0:07:36and told down the years in so many different circumstances,
0:07:36 > 0:07:39and I think one of the wonderful things about it is that it is so
0:07:39 > 0:07:42robust that it can stand all of this ill treatment that we've given it,
0:07:42 > 0:07:44and we've done all of this stuff to it,
0:07:44 > 0:07:46and we've dressed it up in a sari
0:07:46 > 0:07:49and we've given it a techno beat and all of that,
0:07:49 > 0:07:54but the story still stands because the story is just so good.
0:07:54 > 0:07:59So what are the top tips to keep in mind when reworking a classic story?
0:07:59 > 0:08:02Well, if you've decided to adapt a story and the story's good,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05identify what's good about the story,
0:08:05 > 0:08:07because if you can keep that in your adaption,
0:08:07 > 0:08:09your adaptation's going to be good.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12If you could distil it down and describe Carmen in a sentence,
0:08:12 > 0:08:14describe Don Jose in a sentence,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17describe what happens between the two of them in a sentence,
0:08:17 > 0:08:19describe what Escamillo has to do with them in a sentence,
0:08:19 > 0:08:22and then describe what happens at the end,
0:08:22 > 0:08:25already you've got that kind of a much more manageable,
0:08:25 > 0:08:28kind of baseline sense of what are the big aspects to this piece.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31It's about taking what you feel really passionately about
0:08:31 > 0:08:33and what interests you about this piece
0:08:33 > 0:08:35and running with it, seeing where it goes.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37COWS GROAN
0:08:37 > 0:08:38WOMEN SHOUT
0:08:40 > 0:08:42And once the story has been adapted,
0:08:42 > 0:08:46the next element to work out is the treatment of the music.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48Something that interests me enormously about Bizet's music
0:08:48 > 0:08:53is that it's very open rather than closed.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56Now, what I mean by that is, in some respects it's quite over-written.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02So what he does, he'll take a tune and he'll work it and work it
0:09:02 > 0:09:04and work it, and if you listen to the opera from end to end,
0:09:04 > 0:09:06you'll hear a small...
0:09:06 > 0:09:10a small number of tunes which are consistently re-worked.
0:09:10 > 0:09:12MAN SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY
0:09:18 > 0:09:21One of the big jobs, I think, for any conductor or director
0:09:21 > 0:09:25approaching this piece is to just prune it down.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29# I treat you mean to keep you keen. #
0:09:29 > 0:09:32And the person responsible for doing this in the Bollywood adaptation
0:09:32 > 0:09:35of Carmen was music director and composer, Kuljit Bhamra.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38Personally, for me in this particular project,
0:09:38 > 0:09:43I tried to... I tried my best to keep the Bizet-lovers happy,
0:09:43 > 0:09:46and also to keep the Bollywood lovers happy.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49And the pop lovers happy.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52I know a lot of my friends and people that I know
0:09:52 > 0:09:56from the British Asian community wouldn't normally go to opera,
0:09:56 > 0:09:59and I always thought that that's a problem, and I've often wondered
0:09:59 > 0:10:03why they don't go there. So I was interested in picking bits
0:10:03 > 0:10:09of Bizet out that I thought would appeal to the Indian audiences.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16A Bollywood-inspired film like our Carmen really is
0:10:16 > 0:10:18based around the songs and dances.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21The film is masala, a mixture, the music is a masala
0:10:21 > 0:10:24of contemporary western, traditional Bollywood,
0:10:24 > 0:10:25but through it all,
0:10:25 > 0:10:30there is this seeding of the themes from the original opera,
0:10:30 > 0:10:33but in a style that a modern audience will get.
0:10:33 > 0:10:34MUSICAL PIECE FROM CARMEN
0:10:39 > 0:10:41So there was this phrase that I love
0:10:41 > 0:10:43and I thought I could really take that
0:10:43 > 0:10:46and if I was to play that in an Indian way ...
0:10:51 > 0:10:53So I could add those Indian...
0:10:55 > 0:10:57Wiggling my head as I'm doing that!
0:10:57 > 0:10:59All these little ornaments...
0:10:59 > 0:11:02that we're very familiar with,
0:11:02 > 0:11:05I thought, "That could fit very easily with that."
0:11:05 > 0:11:09Bizet uses these short-repeating melodies to flag up the appearance
0:11:09 > 0:11:13of different characters or key moments in the drama.
0:11:13 > 0:11:14In the opera,
0:11:14 > 0:11:19the piece most associated with the lead character, Carmen,
0:11:19 > 0:11:22has the ominous title of The Fate Motif.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26The first time you hear it, it's actually, if you look in the score,
0:11:26 > 0:11:27it's marked Entrance Of Carmen.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30That's the first thing we hear underneath it.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32Except it's really quick.
0:11:33 > 0:11:38So you wouldn't necessarily associate it with doom and gloom,
0:11:38 > 0:11:40more with her flamboyancy.
0:11:40 > 0:11:41Another time we hear it,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44he underscores it in a slightly different way.
0:11:44 > 0:11:45SHE PLAYS PIANO
0:11:46 > 0:11:49And it's altered just slightly, but then...
0:11:49 > 0:11:50SHE PLAYS PIANO
0:11:53 > 0:11:55..we hear it in its true form,
0:11:55 > 0:11:58and this is just before Carmen turns the card that indicates death.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06And it's almost that Bizet, every single time,
0:12:06 > 0:12:10is giving you a heads up that things are not going to turn out well.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14Another time that we hear it is right at the very end of the opera.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18Don Jose has killed Carmen by this time and he's calling the police,
0:12:18 > 0:12:22and what's interesting about this is that Bizet actually ends
0:12:22 > 0:12:27the motif in a major key, so it's totally different, very, very slow.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34In F sharp major which he hasn't done at all,
0:12:34 > 0:12:38and that's just before Don Jose sings, "I have killed my own love."
0:12:38 > 0:12:40MUSIC: "C'est toi? C'est moi!" by Bizet
0:12:47 > 0:12:49And this is interesting because
0:12:49 > 0:12:52it's just that Bizet can use a motif in many, many different guises.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55MUSIC: "Vivat! Vivat! Le Torero!" by Bizet
0:13:01 > 0:13:03So in the overture,
0:13:03 > 0:13:06you hear The Toreador's Song, which of course is associated
0:13:06 > 0:13:10with the celebrity bull-fighter Escamillo,
0:13:10 > 0:13:13and you know right from the start...
0:13:13 > 0:13:15that he's got a real swagger to him.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18We hear this in his character and indeed in the music,
0:13:18 > 0:13:22and halfway through this melody, as well, you'll hear much more...
0:13:22 > 0:13:23SHE PLAYS THE TOREADOR'S SONG
0:13:25 > 0:13:26..kind of charming side of him,
0:13:26 > 0:13:28so he certainly has a way with the ladies.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30MUSICAL PIECE FROM CARMEN
0:13:34 > 0:13:39The Toreador song is perhaps one of the most famous of all
0:13:39 > 0:13:44operatic arias, and so our AD, our Toreador character,
0:13:44 > 0:13:47the Bollywood superstar, had to sing it,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50but quite early on we realised that he couldn't sing all of it,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53because the tune is actually incredibly corny
0:13:53 > 0:13:56and we tried arranging it in several different ways and it never worked,
0:13:56 > 0:13:59it always sounded awful, and I found a quote from Bizet
0:13:59 > 0:14:01saying that he thought it sounded awful,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04but it was meant to sound awful, because it was supposed to show
0:14:04 > 0:14:07what the character was like and we thought, "That's a bit subtle
0:14:07 > 0:14:09"for us, really, so we'll drop all of those bits,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12"and we'll just keep the strongest bit of the tune."
0:14:12 > 0:14:15# I'm always seen right up there on the screen
0:14:15 > 0:14:16# And you know what I mean
0:14:16 > 0:14:19# When I say I'm the star. #
0:14:19 > 0:14:23So it's not the well-known bit but the lead into it,
0:14:23 > 0:14:26and we thought, "OK, if we've done that, let's treat it in the
0:14:26 > 0:14:31"most radical way possible." And so we found a young Asian producer
0:14:31 > 0:14:36called Angel, who really specialises in the music of now.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39Angel started out as a bedroom producer, having taught himself
0:14:39 > 0:14:43how to remix tracks from free downloaded software.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46He's now a rising star on the British Asian music scene.
0:14:46 > 0:14:48For me, the Toreador track,
0:14:48 > 0:14:50the main part would be just the beginning, just...
0:14:50 > 0:14:52# Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. #
0:14:52 > 0:14:54It's just, like... It's the first thing,
0:14:54 > 0:14:58it's very big, it's very bold and you'll remember that melody.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00At the end of it you come out singing...
0:15:00 > 0:15:02HE HUMS TUNE
0:15:02 > 0:15:04I had to use something like that,
0:15:04 > 0:15:05there had to be some element of that.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11Wow, man, that was an amazing voice.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13I had to change the melody a little bit just to keep...
0:15:13 > 0:15:16Put it up to date and obviously overlap with Bollywood as well.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28He turned it into this fantastic kind of
0:15:28 > 0:15:31four-to-the-floor sort of Saturday night banger really.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35I mean, it is the sort of thing that I hope that you might hear
0:15:35 > 0:15:37in a club or hear on Radio 1Xtra.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42This four-to-the-floor banger started life as a pasadoble,
0:15:42 > 0:15:44which is a Spanish dance tune
0:15:44 > 0:15:46that would have typically been played at a bullfight.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49But to help keep their adaptation feeling South African,
0:15:49 > 0:15:52Charles Hazlewood's team had to make a radical decision
0:15:52 > 0:15:55about this most famous tune.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59If you watch U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, we had the kind of confidence
0:15:59 > 0:16:02to dump one of the single most iconic songs in the whole piece...
0:16:02 > 0:16:03HE HUMS TUNE
0:16:03 > 0:16:07We cut it. Now that's a hell of a thing to do. If you think Carmen,
0:16:07 > 0:16:10people across the world hear that tune. But you know what?
0:16:10 > 0:16:13It didn't work for us, it didn't work in the particular context -
0:16:13 > 0:16:16Escamillo returning opera singer, not a bullfighter.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18I don't know, it just was plain wrong, wrong, wrong,
0:16:18 > 0:16:21so we dumped it in favour of a Xhosa tune which we used instead.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31The entire production of U-Carmen eKhayelitsha
0:16:31 > 0:16:33was translated from Bizet's French
0:16:33 > 0:16:35into the South African language of Xhosa.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38It's an astonishingly musical language,
0:16:38 > 0:16:40it's got these very wide-open vowels
0:16:40 > 0:16:44and then of course various different types of very percussive click.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47So it's astonishing. It works brilliantly when you hear it.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51It feels as ludicrously authentic as you can possibly imagine.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03This key song of Carmen's is called the Habanera,
0:17:03 > 0:17:07and Bizet himself adapted the music from a popular Spanish folk tune.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17# I treat you mean to keep you keen
0:17:17 > 0:17:21# So you believe you really stand a chance
0:17:21 > 0:17:25# I hold you there so you're prepared
0:17:25 > 0:17:28# To go a little crazy when you... #
0:17:28 > 0:17:31Now one of the things about Habanera is that it's got a...
0:17:31 > 0:17:34a very beautiful combination of a minor and a major key
0:17:34 > 0:17:36which is also very common in India.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41In India, the slides are very important.
0:17:41 > 0:17:46The trills, or sometimes people call them mordents, are very important.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49And that's what makes the composition sound Indian.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59How we approach notes is a lot slower
0:17:59 > 0:18:01than you would in western music for example.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03I would go...
0:18:03 > 0:18:06# Leaving you stood there. #
0:18:06 > 0:18:08And if I did a little trill...
0:18:09 > 0:18:12# Leaving you stood there. #
0:18:12 > 0:18:16Suddenly it sounds oriental or eastern or Indian
0:18:16 > 0:18:18and that's the thing that we incorporated.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23# You won't catch it and you can't catch me. #
0:18:23 > 0:18:25If you were taking Carmen
0:18:25 > 0:18:27as a source of inspiration for your own music,
0:18:27 > 0:18:30here are some top tips to keep in mind.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33There is so much in here to look at
0:18:33 > 0:18:37and it's so rich with themes, you could take any of these themes.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40You could take any of the motifs and rework them,
0:18:40 > 0:18:44certainly thinking about Spanish, that kind of Spanish flavour
0:18:44 > 0:18:48and trying to create music that has that exotic nature.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53Opera and classical music is easy to put into any track
0:18:53 > 0:18:56as long as there is reason
0:18:56 > 0:18:58or there's a certain sort of function for it there.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01Because it's strings and brass,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04it fits really nicely in the background.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07You can get away with putting it in a lot of different types of tracks.
0:19:07 > 0:19:08And once you're clear about
0:19:08 > 0:19:11the melody and the notes that you're singing,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14the next stage is to then ask yourself how to express those notes.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18Am I going to sing this note in an aggressive way?
0:19:18 > 0:19:19# Love is a bird. #
0:19:19 > 0:19:21Or sing it in a romantic way?
0:19:21 > 0:19:22# Love is a bird. #
0:19:22 > 0:19:25The notes are the same but the expression's very different.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27And once the music is in place,
0:19:27 > 0:19:30the next step is to develop the choreography.
0:19:30 > 0:19:31With a musical production,
0:19:31 > 0:19:34the performer's movement is carefully directed
0:19:34 > 0:19:37to help tell the story and give the piece a distinctive look.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40The choreographers of each adaptation of Carmen
0:19:40 > 0:19:43have used the location, period and plot of their version
0:19:43 > 0:19:46to develop an authentic and stylish set of moves.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52Because the Royal Opera House set their version of Carmen
0:19:52 > 0:19:55in southern Spain, the choreography features a type of dance
0:19:55 > 0:20:00that originates from that region... called Flamenco.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05When you watch Flamenco in Spain,
0:20:05 > 0:20:07Flamenco is rarely improvisational.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11Well, they work around an improvisation which has a structure
0:20:11 > 0:20:14and often they will guide in, the guitarist will go with them
0:20:14 > 0:20:15and there'll be certain stops
0:20:15 > 0:20:18and they just go with the flow, that's true Flamenco.
0:20:20 > 0:20:25So in our dance I wanted to get that feeling of an improvisation,
0:20:25 > 0:20:27so we started in silence and we started
0:20:27 > 0:20:28just with the rhythms and clapping.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38And then the music comes in very quietly underneath it.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44This is the Dance of the Gypsies, where we see the lead character
0:20:44 > 0:20:47Carmen letting loose with her friends in the local tavern.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50It's very important that it's realistic.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52It just needs one bar of calming down.
0:20:52 > 0:20:53Shall we go from that...
0:20:53 > 0:20:55'It's the first time I've worked with Antonio Pappano.'
0:20:55 > 0:20:59Some conductors think it's very important to be very quiet
0:20:59 > 0:21:02during the music and he has the attitude,
0:21:02 > 0:21:04"Well, this is a tavern so we have to hear it."
0:21:12 > 0:21:14In opera, because the music is performed live,
0:21:14 > 0:21:17the choreographer works closely with the conductor
0:21:17 > 0:21:21to ensure the timings and sound levels of the movement onstage
0:21:21 > 0:21:24work with the conductor's vision for the music.
0:21:25 > 0:21:26With the Bollywood version of Carmen,
0:21:26 > 0:21:29the music was largely pre-recorded.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33You see, in Bollywood we don't sing our own songs - we mime.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35So the choreographer Honey Kalaria
0:21:35 > 0:21:39developed the movement with the show's director Indra Bhose.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44What we were trying to do was trying to distil
0:21:44 > 0:21:48a hundred years of Bollywood cinema into one film
0:21:48 > 0:21:51and really go for all the archetypal songs and dances
0:21:51 > 0:21:55so that our British audience would see every kind of dance style
0:21:55 > 0:21:57that you would get in a Bollywood movie.
0:21:57 > 0:21:58And one track that featured
0:21:58 > 0:22:01a fusion of Indian and Western styles of dance
0:22:01 > 0:22:04was an adaptation of Akon's hit song Chammak Challo.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08So, for example, we used Indian classical hands.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10So I used little classical hands
0:22:10 > 0:22:12where we use these
0:22:12 > 0:22:14from Bharatanatyam.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16It's an Indian classical dance style
0:22:16 > 0:22:20where all the hands and all the finger are kind of fanned out.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23The hand movements of Bharatanatyam reflect gestures
0:22:23 > 0:22:27described in ancient stories about the gods of the Hindu religion.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30It was typically practised in South India by female temple dancers
0:22:30 > 0:22:34and was not performed as entertainment until the 1930s.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38We did use a lot of the classical Bharatanatyam movements
0:22:38 > 0:22:42in Chammak Challo, but what we ended up doing was we ended up using
0:22:42 > 0:22:46the Kathak style which changes the mudras, the hand gestures,
0:22:46 > 0:22:50into from here to that.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53And the kind of movements that are used in Kathak dance
0:22:53 > 0:22:57are very, very graceful with the hands.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00Kathak dance originates in Northern India
0:23:00 > 0:23:03and the word Kathak means to tell a story.
0:23:03 > 0:23:04So the graceful looking hand gestures
0:23:04 > 0:23:07are often mimicking everyday activities.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11Honey Kalaria incorporated this idea in the creation of Kabhi Kabhi
0:23:11 > 0:23:14which features a classic Bollywood wedding fantasy dance.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17I felt that you know to create a wedding atmosphere,
0:23:17 > 0:23:19which is very, very dreamy,
0:23:19 > 0:23:23you would need nice, very flowing movements with your hands
0:23:23 > 0:23:25because I think that looks really beautiful
0:23:25 > 0:23:27especially if you're doing things like, you know,
0:23:27 > 0:23:30putting earrings on as you get ready for a wedding.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33It all comes from Indian classical dance where you're actually
0:23:33 > 0:23:36acting a dance piece out or the words out.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42# Sometimes in my heart I feel you're made for me
0:23:42 > 0:23:45# For ever in love my wish... #
0:23:45 > 0:23:49Honey Kalaria worked closely with her assistant Sita Thomas
0:23:49 > 0:23:51to teach the team of 37 dancers
0:23:51 > 0:23:55the many different styles of Indian dance in the choreography.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58Where the female dancers are doing the different Kathak style,
0:23:58 > 0:24:01which is different hands and lots of flowing movement,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04which actually is really similar to ballet I found,
0:24:04 > 0:24:07whereas ballet you've got still flowing arms,
0:24:07 > 0:24:10but then take it straighter and add the Kathak hands on
0:24:10 > 0:24:14and you've got the very similar flow and dynamic to the movement.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17# Also in my heart I feel you're made for me... #
0:24:17 > 0:24:19And then something like Bhangra,
0:24:19 > 0:24:21we've got a big song at the end called Punjabi MC,
0:24:21 > 0:24:24which I loved working with the volunteer dancers
0:24:24 > 0:24:25and professionals on.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29It's all about getting low into the floor, with lots of knees,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32lots of hands, lots and lots of twists
0:24:32 > 0:24:34and the main element is the shoulders.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43As well as working with a team of 16 professional dancers,
0:24:43 > 0:24:47the Bollywood Carmen production recruited 21 volunteers
0:24:47 > 0:24:51from local dance groups like Bradford's own Punjabi Roots.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54Our dance is called Bhangra Dance, that's from Punjab,
0:24:54 > 0:24:59the north of India, and where it originates from is the farmlands.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01So all the things we do on the farmlands, for example,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04around the harvest area, picking the crops, sowing the seeds,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07rearing the animals, our dance really comes from there.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09As well as showcasing Indian styles of dance,
0:25:09 > 0:25:13Bollywood Carmen also featured Western choreography.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16I worked very closely with Matt Flint,
0:25:16 > 0:25:18a choreographer who comes from shows like Strictly Come Dancing
0:25:18 > 0:25:22to give me that Western sense of storytelling
0:25:22 > 0:25:24to keep a story in the dance.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27So we got to look at how it sits in the plot
0:25:27 > 0:25:30and then find the right kind of movement and choreography
0:25:30 > 0:25:32to complement the narrative.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42I really wanted at times to be very faithful to Bizet
0:25:42 > 0:25:45and one of the arias from the opera is when they are on the mountain top
0:25:45 > 0:25:47and they do the tarot card dealing
0:25:47 > 0:25:49and they sing Melons! Coupons!.
0:25:49 > 0:25:52So in our version we've taken a very, very famous Bollywood track
0:25:52 > 0:25:54called Dum Maro Dum
0:25:54 > 0:25:57and we've made that into the card reading scene.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22# Card, shuffle, deal
0:26:23 > 0:26:27# The future is revealed
0:26:27 > 0:26:32# A game we've often played
0:26:32 > 0:26:35# Hearts and diamonds, clubs and spades... #
0:26:35 > 0:26:38When a number like Cut The Cards comes into it,
0:26:38 > 0:26:40then you've got to read the script,
0:26:40 > 0:26:42see how it's going to affect the characters
0:26:42 > 0:26:45and what they need to do, and then when you get the actors in the room
0:26:45 > 0:26:48you need to feed off them really to make sure the story's coming
0:26:48 > 0:26:50through as well, that's the main objective.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53Where Honey's choreography is led by the music,
0:26:53 > 0:26:55Matt's is led by the plot.
0:26:55 > 0:26:57For him, the actor's input is vital,
0:26:57 > 0:27:00so that he can develop movement that feels true to the character.
0:27:00 > 0:27:05Matt and Indra just sort of let us do what we feel we want to do
0:27:05 > 0:27:08and then he'll kind of then put it into shape,
0:27:08 > 0:27:10so that's how we kind of work those moments,
0:27:10 > 0:27:13we just kind of improvise it and then put it into shape.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19The movement for U-Carmen eKhayelitsha may not look as staged
0:27:19 > 0:27:22as those in Bollywood Carmen or the Royal Opera House production,
0:27:22 > 0:27:25but the dances in the piece were still choreographed so as to
0:27:25 > 0:27:29replicate events found in everyday South African township life.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37The interesting thing incidentally about black South Africans,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40or the thing I found the most intoxicating about how they move,
0:27:40 > 0:27:45it seems like they've got a lower centre of gravity than say me,
0:27:45 > 0:27:48so their dance is all kind of sort of more to do with the hips,
0:27:48 > 0:27:52which is interesting because of course if you think about
0:27:52 > 0:27:56Flamenco dancing, it's also, I would say as a rank amateur,
0:27:56 > 0:27:59it's a kind of, it's a hip-based enterprise. You're focused,
0:27:59 > 0:28:02your eyes, the centre of your attention is on the hips
0:28:02 > 0:28:06and that's very much, I find, the way that black South Africans dance,
0:28:06 > 0:28:08it's a kind of natural synergy there.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11To help create choreography for an adaptation,
0:28:11 > 0:28:13here are the final set of top tips from the experts.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16The advice that I'd give to somebody who wants to be a choreographer
0:28:16 > 0:28:17is to just start doing it.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20Once you start to let your imagination build from there on up,
0:28:20 > 0:28:22you've got to find the authenticity
0:28:22 > 0:28:25in terms of your own situation and the people around you.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27It's got to ring true to you.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30The other thing is to also give good instructions to your team,
0:28:30 > 0:28:34so everyone comes out with some moves and ideas that can go into
0:28:34 > 0:28:36that particular dance routine
0:28:36 > 0:28:39and suddenly create something which is quite extravagant
0:28:39 > 0:28:40and quite spectacular really.
0:28:40 > 0:28:42Jai ho!
0:28:46 > 0:28:49And once the story, music and movement have been adapted,
0:28:49 > 0:28:51add costumes, lights and props
0:28:51 > 0:28:53and the production is ready to be performed.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd