Sir David Bintley’s Comedic The Spider’s Feast Premieres at The Sarasota Ballet

Decades after he first explored the concept and over four years after it was originally scheduled to run, British choreographer Sir David Bintley’s The Spider’s Feast will have its world premiere at The Sarasota Ballet this month on a triple bill that includes Frederick Ashton’s Les Patineurs and George Balanchine’s “Rubies.” A comedic take on drama and death in the insect world, the ballet is set to a score of the same name by the French composer Albert Roussel and features sets and designs by Bintley’s frequent collaborator, Dick Bird.

Originally intended to launch in 2020, the ballet was postponed due to the pandemic, then put on hold after Sarasota Ballet director Iain Webb commissioned Bintley to create A Comedy of Errors, which premiered in 2022. Now, the work will finally debut at the Sarasota Opera House December 20–21, with soloist Ivan Spitale originating the title role.

Pointe caught up with Bintley to talk about the long-awaited premiere.

This ballet has been a long time coming.

Probably longer than you imagine. It started as a piece I did for students from The Royal Ballet’s graduate and junior schools 27 years ago [called The Spider’s Banquet at the time]. I always wanted to bring it to a professional company because it’s a comedy, and the young people were not equipped to bring out the best part of the characterization. I mentioned it to Iain and we started talking about it six years ago. That was very much inspired by seeing [Sarasota Ballet soloist] Ivan Spitale and thinking, Wow, he would be a great spider! It was very much with him in mind. Very excitedly, we made the sets and costumes…and there they sat, for several years.

How did the idea for a ballet about insects come about?

The funny thing as a choreographer is you get sent a lot of ideas from people—ideas they think will make good ballets. One of [their favorites to pitch] is to have people as insects. When this wonderful score—a neglected masterpiece—was written at the turn of the last century, [people at the time] were taking it very seriously because of their interest in entomology; it tells a story whereby a spider amasses a feast by killing various insects. I knew I wanted to play it tongue in cheek but also have an anthropomorphic aspect. I turned things on its head because in my story, the spider always gets thwarted; just when he thinks he’s got something, it disappears.

Tell me about Dick Bird’s designs.

In the original, because it was for the school, we only had two large pieces: the ants transporting a gigantic apple core and an enormous cigarette packet, which is now changed to an American insect-poison box. The setting has become the windowsill of a potting shed, where you keep your garden tools, and on that windowsill is a giant plant pot and a hand trowel.

I had some ideas for the costumes—the wasps as fighter pilots and the ants as soldiers. I had the idea that the caterpillars that turn into butterflies are like geishas, so they have parasols and long robes like kimonos. The mayflies are like Esther Williams, with bathing costumes and goggles. There’s always a reference to something that will make them more human.

What are the special challenges in creating a comedic ballet?

As I always say, comedy is a serious business. The timing and the tiny, tiny details of how you do things are the difference between getting the laugh or the movement being understood. And it’s difficult because when you’re making a comedy, you spend so long working at it, it’s like telling a joke and then repeating that joke for an hour. The more you rehearse, the less spontaneity you have. By the time you get it right, it’s not funny anymore.

How has the ballet changed since your original concept?

I’ve adapted it from things I’d done before but am making it harder. It will look as I wanted it to look [when I created it on the Royal Ballet School]. It’s quite classical, but my main concern was to make something that is fun and funny.

Does it carry a message for humans?

No, it should be just fun. But the nice thing, the tempering thing, is that it is a very beautiful score. So despite the fun, the comedy, there is a seriousness there. The opening theme when the caterpillars come on is very beautiful and then, in the end, it sort of returns to that idea of “Another day in the insect world has begun…”