The funny ballet with the funny name

It’s one of the oldest and best-loved ballets, and people still struggle with the name.

In 1789, the curtain went up on Le Ballet de la Paille ou Il n’est Qu’un Pas du Mal au Bien, which readily translates as The Ballet of Straw or There Is Only One Step From Bad to Good. Straw refers to the haystack or hayloft where Lisette meets her lover Alain.

The name soon changed to La Fille Mal Gardée, which does not translate so well. If you think of a closely-guarded secret or a well-kept secret, then substitute daughter for secret, you have an idea of the French meaning.

Promoters have given the ballet a variety of secondary names in an attempt to help audiences get past the awkward French title. In Russia, you can see Vain Precautions; in Australia, The Girl Runs Wild. Other names have included The Wayward Daughter, Naughty Lisette, Lise and Colin, Max and Emma, List und Liebe, The Unchaperoned Daughter, The Ill-Guarded Girl, The Badly-Guarded Daughter, and our favorite, When Mother Wasn’t Looking, which KBT invented for our 2003 production of this delightful ballet.

Lah Fee Mall Gar Day. Say it. See it. Love it.

One of the all-time great ballets. And it’s a comedy!

Let’s see. There’s the beautiful but poor Lisette, whose mother Simone wants her to marry the rich but dim-witted Alain, whose father has his eye on Simone, who locks her daughter in the storeroom to keep her away from the handsome Collin, who was himself hiding in the storeroom. A plot like that had to be made for laughs.

And after 200 years, the laughs are still going strong. During that time La Fille Mal Gardée has undergone variations in its music, its name, and its staging, but the story of the two lovers and their meddling parents has worn all its fashions with grace. Do you think ballet should be fun? This is a fun ballet.

KBT is proud to base its production on the work of Fernando Alonso, who staged La Fille Mal Gardée for the Cuban Ballet in 1964. Balletgoers who are familar with other versions of the ballet will understand why we think the Alonso staging is the finest of them all. Remember the ribbon dance? Wait till you see what we’ve done with it!

La Fille Mal Gardée. It’s a ballet. Go ahead and laugh. We won’t tell.

Kentucky Ballet Theatre presented two performances of La Fille Mal Gardée at the Lexington Opera House in 2007.

Friday, February 23
8:00 p.m.

Saturday, February 24
8:00 p.m.