Don Quixote to host guest dancer

ISTANBUL

Don Quixote Ballet will be performed by the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet.

The Don Quixote Ballet will meet Istanbul audiences with the surprise guest in the shape of Carlos Pinillos, one of the leading dancers of Portuguese ballet. The ballet will be performed by the Istanbul State Opera Ballet dancers with choreography by world renowned Turkish choreographer Mehmet Balkan.

The famous ballet, based on the epic 17th century masterpiece by Miguel de Cervantes, was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus and was first performed in 1869 by the Ballet of the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow.

In the ballet, Pinillos will play the barber Basil alternately with Turkish dancer Melih Mertel. Other dancers will be Oktay Keresteci (Don Quixote), Deniz Zirek (Dulcinea),Tülay Yalçınkaya, Zuhal Balkan (Kitri), Mehmet Nuri Arkan (Espada), Ebru Cansız Atay, Tatyana Egeli, Melike Manav (Mercedes).

The ballet will be performed at Kadıköy Süreyya Opera on Jan. 26 and 28 and Feb. 4, 7 and 9.