Ankara State Opera and Ballet Will Stage Pandemic-Themed Ballet

The Ankara State Opera and Ballet will present a ballet performance based on people's experience during the pandemic, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Soprano Feryal Türkoğlu says that the company worked hard to plan safety measures to protect the audience and artists before opening their season on September 9.

She said that the company arranged the seating to be "two empty, one full" for two months, and, as of November, they have switch to "one empty, one full" with permission from the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

In November, the company plans to stage the first opera performance of the season named "Abduction from the Seraglio."

"We do it with a shortened version of our work with the orchestra on and behind the stage and with the artists at the front," said Türkoğlu. "We cut some stages as we do not want to keep our audience in the hall for two hours. We are looking forward to seeing our audience with great zeal."

The special pandemic-themed ballet will be staged at the end of December, featuring choreography by Uğur Seyrek. The work is called '19!', inspired by COVID-19.

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