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Natasha Rogai

Hong Kong Ballet’s latest production, Frida, explores the life and art of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.
The full-length work by choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa was developed from a one-act ballet, Broken Wings, which she created for the English National Ballet in 2019, and the retitled two-act version for the Dutch National Ballet followed in 2020.
Frida is not a narrative ballet as such. Instead, Lopez Ochoa offers a series of snapshots of key moments from Kahlo’s life, interspersed with interludes featuring characters from her paintings. This kaleidoscopic concept would have worked as a one-act ballet, but a 90-minute production needs more clarity and structure to keep the audience engaged.
This is a powerful production visually, full of striking, flamboyant images and there is some good choreography – the first duet for Kahlo and Rivera is outstanding; the scene where she miscarries, her body twisting into terrible contorted poses, is gruesomely dramatic.
However, while Kahlo’s admirers will enjoy the references to her paintings, their symbolism and the way Dieuweke van Reij’s ingenious costume designs bring them to life, those not familiar with the paintings are likely to be left bemused.
Kahlo channelled her suffering – physical and emotional – into her art. She had a limp from childhood polio, and horrific injuries from a traffic accident when she was 18 left her struggling with pain and disability for the rest of her life.

She began to paint when bedridden after the accident and three years later, fell in love with and married painter Diego Rivera, who was 21 years older and an inveterate womaniser.
It was not until the 1980s, nearly 40 years after she died, that Kahlo became recognised internationally as a major artist. The 2002 film Frida sparked a wave of so-called “Fridamania” and the fascination with her life which has today made her an icon adopted by causes ranging from feminism to disabled, indigenous and LGBTQ rights.
Presenting a disabled protagonist in dance is a challenge which Lopez Ochoa meets intelligently. Unlike the other women, Kahlo does not dance on pointe. She alternates between moving with a freedom and abandon, characterised by soaring jumps, and shuddering to an abrupt halt when her body lets her down, an effective metaphor for how she lived life to the full despite her infirmities.
It must be said that dance is not an ideal medium to do justice to Kahlo’s complex personality.
The passions which drove her – art, politics (she was a committed communist), anti-colonialism and the promotion of a uniquely Mexican cultural identity – are intellectual concepts and exploring those requires words; dance is ill-equipped to express them.

Dance does well at portraying emotions and relationships, and the ballet focuses on Kahlo’s other great passion – her tumultuous, up-and-down relationship with Rivera. Their duets, the first one in particular, are the high points of the production.
However, there is little sense conveyed of his frequent affairs, and as for Kahlo’s own, all we get is a flirtation with a flapper in a fringed dress – an odd anachronism in the 1940s. Her numerous liaisons with men – including, notoriously, Leon Trotsky – are not even hinted at.
Lopez Ochoa’s choreography is intended to emphasise the physical disparity between Kahlo, who was diminutive, and Rivera, who was both tall and extremely stout.
In the original one-act ballet, this worked well as portrayed by Tamara Rojo and the great Irek Mukhamedov, 14 years her senior and, if heavier than in his virtuoso heyday, still a wonderful partner and actor.
In the full-length work, the choreography for Rivera demands dancing as well as partnering and the role must thus be taken by a male principal. To keep the idea of physical contrast, this means putting a young, slim dancer in a padded costume and painting some lines on his face, which is simply not convincing.

A group of nine male dancers dressed as various incarnations of Kahlo from her self-portraits, complete with full-length Mexican skirts, may be taken to represent different aspects of her personality.
This is interesting when they interact individually with the real Kahlo, but group dances look like padding, always a risk when expanding short works to full-length ones.
This is certainly the case in Act II, when a corps de ballet of Leaf Ladies led by a Queen Leaf appear in what is unmistakably that old faithful, the ballet divertissement.
Music is always key to dance, and while recordings of three Mexican songs from Kahlo’s time are beautiful, evocative and full of intensity, elsewhere Peter Salem’s score never rises above workmanlike, again diluting audience engagement.
The whole company performed with its usual energy and commitment. In the title role, Ye Feifei danced strongly and expressed vividly the agony and ecstasy between which this version of Frida veers.

As Rivera, Ryo Kato’s partnering was exceptional, even if it wasn’t possible to believe that he was either middle-aged or fat.
Vanessa Lai’s strong stage presence stood out in two small roles, Teng Ronger gave an impassioned account of Frida from her Broken Column self-portrait and the male skeletons were particularly good although not identifiable, keeping their skull masks on even at the curtain call.
“Hong Kong Ballet: Frida”, Academy of Performing Arts, Lyric Theatre, Gloucester Road, Wan Chai. Reviewed: April 4.


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Hong Kong Ballet’s Frida is a visually powerful production, if lacking in clarity

The final scene from Frida, with Ye Feifei as Frida Kahlo and Ryo Kato as Diego Rivera. Photo: Conrad Dy-Liacco; courtesy of Hong Kong Ballet

Ye Feifei as Frida Kahlo (left) and Yang Ruiqi as The Deer in a still from Hong Kong Ballet’s Frida at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts on April 4, 2025.  Photo: Conrad Dy-Liacco; courtesy of Hong Kong Ballet

Yang Ruiqi as The Deer (left) and Ye Feifei as Frida Kahlo in a still from Hong Kong Ballet’s Frida at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Photo: Tony Luk; courtesy of Hong Kong Ballet

Dieuweke van Reij’s ingenious costume designs bring Kahlo’s paintings to life in Hong Kong Ballet’s Frida. Photo: Conrad Dy-Liacco/courtesy of Hong Kong Ballet

Yeh Feifei as Frida Kahlo and Gao Ge as Victorian Frida in a still from Hong Kong Ballet’s Frida. Photo: Conrad Dy-Liacco; courtesy of Hong Kong Ballet

Ryo Kato as Diego Rivera in a still from Hong Kong Ballet’s Frida. Photo: Conrad Dy-Liacco; courtesy of Hong Kong Ballet

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Lifestyle

Arts

Ballet adapted from one-act work shows vignettes of artist Frida Kahlo’s life, with striking choreography and costumes, but feels stretched


Ballet adapted from one-act work shows vignettes of artist Frida Kahlo’s life, with striking choreography and costumes, but feels stretched.


Ballet

An assessment or critique of a service, product or creative endeavour.  Film reviews, restaurant reviews, reviews of art exhibitions. (Eg. Crazy Rich Asians: an important film, yes, but a good one?)


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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Ballet adapted from one-act work shows vignettes of artist Frida Kahlo’s life, with striking choreography and costumes, but feels stretched

Ballet adapted from one-act work shows vignettes of artist Frida Kahlo’s life, with striking choreography and costumes, but feels stretched