May 2016

Ballet "Undine" by Marina Kesler at the Estonian National Opera

The story of this ballet is loosely based on the 1939 play “Ondine” by French dramatist Jean Giradoux and revolves around soulless water nymphs undines. Though inspired by mythical concept, the ballet explores day-to-day themes of faithfulness, jealousy and rage.

Undine, also spelled Ondine, is a mythological figure of European tradition, a female water nymph who becomes human when she falls in love with a man but is doomed to die if he is unfaithful to her.

Undine was first mentioned in the writings of the Swiss author Paracelsus, who put forth his theory that there are spirits called “undines” who inhabit the element of water.  The word is from the Latin unda, meaning “wave” or “water.”

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