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So I travelled from Albury, Australia to Denver, Colorado to see this mixed bill, as Yosvani Ramos, former ENB and AusBallet principal, was to retire. The programme was all new to me, and I was favourably impressed. Thanks to Yosvani I was able to see two shows, and can now report. The first piece was Clark Tippet's Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 which was made for ABT in 1988 and showed off a small, but beautifully trained company. The soloist was Benjamin Baker, who produced a lovely tone from the pit, and was deservedly applauded enthusiastically as he took his on-stage bows. The costumes, by Dain Marcus, showed tutus cut shorter in front that moved most beautifully as the dancers did, with the men's doublets and tights a little more subdued. Lighting by Jennifer Tipton was well reproduced. The soloists wore a turquoise blue, brilliant red, bright pink, and the lead female soloist was described as purple but the effect with the iridescent blue-green bodice was more that of a peacock. Tippet shows off the classical vocabulary with some diva tosses of the head and arms; all the soloist men did was lift and present, hardly any dancing to speak of. Ramos and his long-time partner Dana Benton (gorgeous line, also retiring this season) appeared from behind the yellowish-green clad corps and didn't dazzle (not that sort of piece) but glowed. He presented his ballerina to her best advantage and it was just lovely. Notable was Kenny Allen whose elevation and joie de vivre stood out. I'm afraid I skipped the rest of the programme on the first night as I went to dinner instead. On Sunday afternoon, The Day, the Tippet was again delightful, and I'd be happy to see it again. On this occasion, the pink couple appeared to be having the best fun, despite the male dancer clearly not being as neat in his footwork as could be desired. He shone for other reasons. Overall it was quite reminiscent in parts of Balanchine, with a touch of Cranko thrown in (those rushing promenaded jetés in act 1 of Onegin). The second piece was Balanchine's Prodigal Son to the eponymous score by Prokofiev. It's an oddity for me, as I don't really like Balanchine, and particularly not his narrative works. This, however, was created for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1929 and almost completely changed my mind. The story is from the parable in the Gospel of Luke, and focuses on the rebellious son who is ensnared by a Siren, robbed by her followers, and eventually returns, to be forgiven by his (tall, bearded, noble-looking) father (Domenico Luciani, born and trained in Naples). The Siren, Asuka Sasaki, was by turns slinky, seductive, arrogant, compliant, and finally dismissive and sneering. Excellent portrayal. The son, of course, was Yosvani Ramos. Stripped and humiliated by the Siren and her followers, he looked damn good for 43! In the first scene we were treated to some wonderful jumping and Ramos-signature turns, in the final scene he was dragging himself along the stage and then on his knees, eventually hauling himself up to his forgiving father's embrace. Flowers, applause, tears, cheers, and a sudden outbreak of bright red streamers shooting across the stage from both wings. A fitting farewell. The third and final piece was Jiří Kylián's Sinfonietta, to the score of the same name by Leoš Janáček. The fun touch was the brass section out in what in the ROH would be the side stalls circle areas, fist-pumping after a bright, clear performance. It's meant to express "the contemporary free man, his spiritual beauty and joy, his strength, courage and determination to fight for victory". It does. The final tableau, dancers facing the backcloth which has brightened to an Impressionistic sunrise, arms raised in salutation or celebration, will linger in my mind. So three pieces, all new to me, all enjoyed (and I was dubious beforehand about the Balanchine), and well worth the trip. As a final note, Colorado Ballet's AD is Gil Boggs, former ABT principal, who told me he had thought long and hard before choosing to add the Balanchine to his company's repertoire, especially for Ramos' retirement. All three works on the programme credited ABT with providing the sets and costumes.

The Theatre des Champs Elysees has today announced next season's programme. It includes Boston Ballet - May 27 - 30 (2024) bringing a triple bill that includes a Kylian piece (Bella Figura) and a Forsyth (Blake Works 3). Dancers in the company include Jeffrey Cirio and Michaela DePrince. Also Norwegian Ballet - April 4-7 (2024), bringing Pite's Light of Passage. Company dancers include Xander Parish and Yolanda Correa ( a wonderful Cuban dancer who is returning to Norway after several years in Germany). Also Ballet Preljocaj, bringing 2 of the director's ballets, including one to Les Noces. For music lovers there are operas, chamber music concerts, piano recitals from world famous pianists (including 2 by my favourite British pianist, Benjamin Grosvenor) The Paris Opera Ballet will announce its season on 29 March. There are rumours that they may include Ashton's Fille .....

I was back in Nice at the weekend for the current triple bill of Ballet Nice Mediterranee, which included the premiere in France of Liam Scarlett’s Vespertine. I saw the performances on Saturday evening and on Sunday afternoon. The programme started with Sinfonietta by Jiri Kylian. Sinfonietta was part of the first programme that I ever attended at the ROH, back in 2006, and it was a joy to see it again. In particular the entry of the men at the beginning, one by one, and each then performing the same choreography, the duets of grands jetes in rectangles across the stage, and the closing section with couples performing higher and higher lifts diagonally across the stage. It’s that energetic, joyful, celebratory atmosphere that captivated me, and also the backcloth which reminded me of a rural coastal area in the UK or in Ireland. In watching the duets with their grands jetes, I was thunderstruck by a dancer whom I hadn’t seen before. His lines, his precision, the clarity of his dancing, the way he moved between the jumps and turns completely got me. I was properly awestruck. A check in the programme book during the interval showed Alessandro Audisio as name. A search on the web later that night showed that he graduated from the RBS in 2014 and then joined the Romanian National Ballet. So no wonder! He did the RBS proud, he will be a great asset for the company in Nice (yes, I am still awestruck!), and I look forward to seeing more of him in future seasons. Scarlett created Vespertine with music by Arcangelo Corelli for Norwegian National Ballet in 2013. With the exception of a PDD for two dancers at POB last summer, I understand that Nice is also the first company in France that shows any piece by Liam Scarlett. The stage is lit by (up to) 9 chandelier-like groupings of around 25 bare light bulbs each. 4 lead dancers and a further 8 dancers perform in 17th century-style clothes – high-waisted culottes and knee-length coats for the men, long dresses with an extremely wide skirt, a tight top and a shoulder cover for the woman, all in burgundy. Plus nude trunks & bodies underneath, as the choreography later shows. An introductory male solo is followed by a long and sensual PDD (trunks and full dress), superbly danced by Zaloa Fabbrini and Zhani Lukaj, both promoted to soloist level only at the end of last season. Various lifts upside down, including with shivering of legs by the woman and one very high lift upside down where the female dancer does what looks like a one-armed handstand on the man’s shoulder; he holds on to her thigh and then walks across stage in that position rather fast. Various group sections with a female solo and a male duet in between follow, sometimes in full clothes, sometimes in underwear for the men and/ or the women. Some group movements look like court dancing, some like playing a string instrument, all are highly musical. The male duet seems to be about relationships and male rivalry. The programme booklet doesn’t indicate a story for the ballet, and yet I’ve taken this piece as couples at a 17th-century court and what happens on stage - and more importantly, what happens behind the scenes. Alvin Ailey’s Night Creature, to music by Duke Ellington, comes with the atmosphere of a NY jazz/ night club. 1920s style dresses and headbands for the female dancers, lots of hip shaking, some ballroom dancing, some jazz dance, and intermittently overhead lifts, arabesques, pas de bourree, pas de chat and jetes. This was not my piece as there was too much hip shaking for my taste. The audience on Saturday however truly adored it (I didn’t stay for it on Sunday as I was heading to a local cinema to see the new documentary about the Opera de Paris, see my post in the Opera & Music section), and the music proved to be an earworm – on the way back to my place, I was shaking my hips, too. Eric Vu-An has published two videos with extracts of stage rehearsals on his public Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Eric-Vu-An-383731904998106/?fref=nf. There’ll be further performances of the triple bill later this week. Sinfonietta will also be performed by the company in Antibes in June as part of another mixed programme. The programme booklet shows 28 dancers, up from 26 dancers when I saw the company last autumn and 25 last spring. This growth in size (well, I hope it is growth rather than filling vacancies that happened to exist just when I saw the company last year), the addition of Alessandro Audisio and the entry of Scholz’ Oktett into their repertoire last year/ Scarlett’s Vespertine this year makes me excited about the future development of the company. I really look forward to the announcement of the coming season (and as an aside, I do hope that the flight connections from Stuttgart will have improved by then as getting there from London seemed to be somewhat easier & cheaper).

I saw the new triple bill „Night pieces“ on Tuesday evening. It was also a great opportunity to meet Angela before the performance, to put a face to a name and catch up on ballet and things. J Edward Clug’s Ssss… provides the atmosphere of a quiet late-night bar – a pianist playing Nocturnes by Chopin live on stage, lots of empty low chairs, a few guests/ dancers sitting on some of them. All dressed in midnight blue, the dancers in loose smart clothing and the pianist in a beautiful long evening dress. The piece depicts a number of temporary relationships, focussing on (the following all my own interpretation) isolation and yearning (e.g., a long introductory solo), keeping someone at a distance (e.g., a female dancer stretching out one foot at 90 degrees in front of her), attraction/ holding on to someone/ not letting go (e.g., a male dancer holding the ankle of that foot, or lying on the floor and holding on to the ankle of a female dancer standing next to him), a relationship triangle where two male dancers struggle over the same woman, with her getting bored about it, etc. The relationships don’t hold – at the end of a Nocturne, a dancer either goes off stage or back to one of the chairs. I really enjoyed this piece and its calm, contemplative atmosphere, and in fact much more than when I saw it for the first time, back in 2013. Qi by Louis Stiens stands for atmosphere/ breath/ energy and was premiered last Friday. Reading the programme notes, the link to the term “night” stems from the calmness, depth and creativity that night-time brings. Also, the clothing is elegant black sleepwear. The choreography alternates between solos/ duos and group scenes, in particular the latter with smooth/ round and synchronised movements, especially for the arms. The music is electronic at the start and very end (which is also where movements are a lot more angular and hectic) with a long phase of music by baroque composer Schmelzer in-between. I really liked the choreography to Schmelzer, being soft, melodic and rather hypnotising in its parts for the larger group. There were lots of loud and prolonged cheers for the dancers. Jiri Kylian’s Falling Angels also had music live on stage and was simply stunning. The all-female cast walks towards the front of the stage in slow motion. One dancer after the other, they start to dance to the rhythm of the drums (the first part from Steve Reich’s Drumming). From time to time, one or two of the dancers break out from the group to perform a variation and then go back into the group with its synchronised movements. The movements come with an amazing creativity – different ways of walking, turning one’s head, flexing one's arms, pulling one’s costume, lying supine on the floor and raising one's upper body and legs as in a fitness routine, … and many more. None of the dancers leave the stage, and they all dance non-stop from start to end. Kudos to the dancers for their stamina and memory. The applause erupted like lava from a volcano last night. I had hesitated for a long time before I bought a ticket for the triple bill, thinking that it might be too contemporary for me. I would have missed out on a great evening. There is a photo gallery from the triple bill on the company’s web site https://www.stuttgart-ballet.de/schedule/night-pieces/images/.