Jump to content

English National Ballet - New Giselle (Akram Khan)


Recommended Posts

Have just seen on the BBC news that Akram Khan is creating his first full classical ballet with a new version of Giselle. It is being made for ENB in co-production with Sadler's Wells and the Manchester International Festival and will open in Manchester next year.

I can't find anything else about it as yet. Does anyone know more?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 101
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Thanks for the reminder. I remember that debate but had forgotten the bit about Giselle. Although the thought of 'tampering' with a classic which is also my favourite ballet, makes me a little nervous, it will be interesting to see what he does with it. 

 

Thanks amum/Cathy for the link.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Khan and Giselle? I nearly fell off my seat when I read ENB Friends email this morning. Sounds like chalk and cheese. In a way it's a shame because the Kobborg/Stiefel new version is so good IMHO that ENB could have used that one.

Edited by Don Q Fan
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Purists may shoot me down but I think we are long overdue a merging/fusion, call it what you will, of asian dance and ballet that will appeal to the UK's diverse population and bring in a new audience to ballet and classical dance companies. My husband is Sri Lankan and I have been lucky enough to see a small scale fusion in that country on the part of an individual ballet/dance school. Whether this will deliver what I hope, we wait to see, but it is a step in the right direction and should justify their Arts Council money if it does.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I got a "priority booking" email from ATG yesterday but could not get the link to work and could not find the show on the ATG site (although I didn't have much time to look).

 

I got an email from Manchester International Festival today saying that general booking had opened.  I've just gone on line to book for the first night and there is not much left in the stalls.  Even the premium seats look as though they are selling and they do not seem to be included in the ATG members half price offer.  Being a cheapskate, I plumped for a side stalls seat to get the half price offer.

 

If you are thinking of booking for the first night, I suggest you don't wait long to book!

 

https://secure.atgtickets.com/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=F02C3C25-509E-4CA5-B3BA-2C55F427D921

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...

My goodness. But onwards and upwards from here...

 

 

 

ENB Press Release

12 Aug 2016

 

English National Ballet / Akram Khan’s Giselle

Creative Team Update

 

Choreographer Akram Khan and composer Ben Frost have mutually agreed to part ways in the development of Akram’s reimagined Giselle for English National Ballet.

 

Musician and composer Vincenzo Lamagna, who recently worked on Akram’s Until the Lions, joins the creative team. He will work with Akram and the company to realise a new adaptation of the classic score by Adolphe Adam, which will be performed live by English National Ballet Philharmonic.

 

English National Ballet’s new production of Giselle, by Akram Khan, sees the classic story of love, betrayal and redemption given a new interpretation, with set and costume design from Academy-Award winning designer Tim Yip, known for his work on the hit film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, dramaturgy from Ruth Little, and lighting design from Mark Henderson. English National Ballet and Akram Khan previously collaborated together on the award-winning piece Dust, part of the Lest We Forget programme.

 

End

 

 

Notes to Editors:

 

Vincenzo Lamagna

 

 

Vincenzo Lamagna is a musician, composer, and producer.

 

Born and raised in Naples, he has lived in London since 2008.

 

His work pushes the boundaries of conventional music, combining raging guitar driven rock with minimalistic ambient soundscapes, fierce pulsing drumming, and elements of classical music.

 

He has worked with artists including Mysteries of the Revolution, Twisted Tongues, Sean O’Brien, Esther Dee, and Reena Green. He has also recorded two albums with his band After They Left (After They Left, Little Sheep).He recently finished recording his sixth solo album. Solo discography includes The world at the end of the world, Ki, A Thousand Shepherds, Requiem, Until The Lions (yet to be released), Kingdom (yet to be released).

 

Vincenzo works extensively creating sounds for contemporary dance. He joined Hofesh Schechter Company in 2010 and toured Political Mother worldwide until 2014, playing in venues including Sydney Opera House, Theatre De La Ville, Sadler’s Wells, La Vilette, and HKCC. He also played guitar on Sun.

 

He began collaborating with Akram Khan in 2014, writing music for The Rashomon Effect (National Youth Dance Company). He composed and sound designed One Side To The Other (The Lowry), and composed the score for Until The Lions, a full length piece that premiered at the Roundhouse London in January 2016, and will tour worldwide until December 2018.

 

Additional collaborations include Scottish Dance Theatre, Phoenix Dance Theatre, ACE Dance and Music, Beijing Contemporary NINE Dance Theatre, Carlos Acosta, John Ross, and Jose Agudo.

 

Vincenzo is currently co-directing and scoring a new experimental dance piece called Through&Out with choreographer Jorge Crecis, which will begin an underground tour in October 2016.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Goodness me. I thought that the dancers were deep in rehearsals already. I did wonder why AK didn't use Jocelyn Pook who I thought was his usual collaborator or, indeed, Gavin Sutherland who provided the re-orchestrated score for Corsaire. I hope that the company can put it all together in time.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think that previews invalidate the concept of a premiere. Preview  performances are,or should be seen as, work in progress. No one knows how a new theatrical piece is going to be received by an audience who have played no part in its construction until it is put in front of one.It may play well on its first outing but there again it may not.It may need tweaking for timing, there may be sections that don't work as well as they should or do not work at all. It may need more drastic action such as serious revision or cuts. A new work represents a considerable investment in time and money, getting it right before it is seen in its finished form and launched on the world by being placed before the general public and the critics seems sensible to me.

 

We know very little of the working practices of the nineteenth century choreographers but anyone creating a ballet in Paris, London or St Petersburg would, generally, have had considerable experience in the theatre  as a performer and dancer before creating their first pas, let alone their first ballet. They would have been surrounded by "practical men of the theatre", and yet they had their failures.Diaghilev who had a fine tuned ear as far public taste was concerned had his occasional failure. Being able to try  a ballet,play or opera out seems sensible to me.The premiere shows the audience the piece in its finished form after revision and tweaking.

Edited by FLOSS
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So it's basically a full dress rehearsal so why not call it that.......

 

Because it isn't.  The RSC and National Theatre will give previews prior to the premiere and they will be performed flat out, no back stage shouting or the director walking on stage with last minute ideas.  You get a performance of the work as it is, any subsequent tweaking will improve on what you saw but is unlikely to involve a radical change.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Having previews is fine; but as Janet implied, aren't they normally cheaper? Because whether or not there are subsequent changes, they are acknowledging that it's not necessarily the final 'product' you're seeing.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...