Booing at the ballet?

[Geoff]

An interesting discussion about booing has started here:-

 

http://slippedisc.com/2017/02/when-the-booing-has-to-stop/#comments

 

Which begs the question, in over fifty years of attending performances, I have heard boos at the opera (mostly but not exclusively outside the UK) but never once at a ballet. Is my experience unusual (anyone remember where and why a ballet was booed?) or are ballet audiences just different?

 

Maybe the feelings aroused are not the same or the atmosphere different? I remember when I worked briefly at ROH many years ago the bar staff told me that it was well known that far more alcohol gets sold to opera audiences than to ballet ones.

Edited February 7, 2017 by Geoff

[Fiz]

I know there was an uproar when the Ballet Russe came over in the Edwardian period/ early years of George V but that is historical and I suppose that you mean recently, Geoff!

[trog]

It's not unusual in the UK for Rothbart to get booed when he takes his final bow, but of course, that's all pantomime. Like Geoff, I've never heard booing to the ballet.
 
Perhaps there is a clue is in something security at the Birmingham Hippodrome told me once. He described the opera crowd as being rough and no where near as polite as we ballet goes. OK, so he was pulling my leg. I go into the Hippodrome a couple of times a week and I know all of the security people.

[Fonty]

I was just looking up Ballet Russe to find out what the cause of the uproar was, and came across this:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/may/27/rite-of-spring-100-years-stravinsky

 

"As a riot ensured, two factions in the audience attacked each other, then the orchestra, which kept playing under a hail of vegetables and other objects. Forty people were forcibly ejected."  Made me laugh.

 

The only time I have ever heard boos at the ballet is when the audience gets into pantomime mode, and boos An Evil Character during the curtain calls.  I don't recall it happening at Covent Garden, but I do remember going to an ENB performance of Sleeping Beauty, and Carabosse received a torrent of boos.  She was very good!  And of course, she milked the booing for all it was worth while taking her curtain calls.

Edited February 7, 2017 by Fonty

[Bruce Wall]

I remember an almighty POB furore over 'Le Martyre de Saint Sebastien' ... with a very young Guillem in the title role.  (This is before her pointe shoes ever touched a Covent Garden stage.)   The racket was particularly remarkable as a large number of the audience had already departed.  

[MAB]

I can remember a ballet conductor being booed and also remember a tourist booing at the opening night of Tetley's Laborintus.  He was sitting near me and I took him to task, he shut up and melted away when I confronted him.

 

I am very, very tempted to boo those moronic abominations that think six o'clock extensions are appropriate in classical ballets.  Likewise those that are so unmusical/inept they drag the music out in excruciating long ugly phrases.  One day the temptation will be too much.

[capybara]

There was booing at the premiere and at some subsequent performances of MacMillan's The Judas Tree. I have also heard less obvious boos for other RB productions, some quite recently.

[MAB]

The reason there are more boos at the opera is because of the terrible productions inflicted on the audiences, the nude gang rape scene in William Tell accompanying the famous ballet music was a prime example, on the first night there was an explosion of disgust and rightly so. 

[bridiem]

There was also booing at the premiere of MacMillan's Isadora. I think booing is only permissible (on occasion) at premieres, since I doubt if it's ever OK to boo performers who are really only doing what they have been asked to do to the best of their abilities (we hope). Whereas if a work is really bad, silence doesn't work as a form of disapproval since there will always be many people clapping regardless. Having said that, I've only ever booed under my breath...

[alison]

Berlin Ballet brought a triple bill of works including one by Bill T. Jones to the Coliseum in the early 90s.  I think *that* one probably got booed.

[Vanartus]

The loudest booing I heard was at the premiere of McGregor's Tetractys. Small claque in the stalls. Previously, Judas Tree and I think Valley of Shadows too.

[Don Q Fan]

Didn't poor Roberta Marquez get booed at ROH because she replaced another injured dancer. I seem to recall a thread about that on here.

[Jan McNulty]

Fortunately I've only ever heard the "pantomime style" booing at curtain calls for "baddies".

[toursenlair]

Maybe the feelings aroused are not the same or the atmosphere different? I remember when I worked briefly at ROH many years ago the bar staff told me that it was well known that far more alcohol gets sold to opera audiences than to ballet ones.

 

ok, way off topic, but the bar staff in Toronto say that the ballet audience consumes way more... cookies than the opera audience. WAY more (and not just for Nutcracker performances where it could be attributed to the large number of children in the audience).

[aileen]

I don't see the need for booing. You can just not applaud and that sends the same message. If I haven't liked something I don't clap or I clap half-heartedly.

[Sim]

There were loud boos and loud calls for a ticket refund from some die-hard Osipova fans when Kevin O'Hare announced onstage that Yuhui was replacing her in SB a couple of years ago.  I hissed at them to shut up, how did they think that would make Yuhui feel?  By the end of the performance, they were applauding the hardest....and rightly so!  She was wonderful, and she must have been terrified under the circumstances!

[Jacqueline]

I don't see the need for booing. You can just not applaud and that sends the same message. If I haven't liked something I don't clap or I clap half-heartedly.

I couldn't agree more. Silence speaks volumes. I have kept my hands still a few times, sometimes getting strange looks and others, far from alone in my displeasure.

With regards to reactions, has anyone ever experienced a silent audience, possibly as a result of stunned disbelief?

Edited February 7, 2017 by Jacqueline

[aileen]

Booing a replacement dancer is horrible and completely unjustifiable however disappointed you might feel. Actually, at the ROH I have also witnessed the opposite: people applauding the announcement of a replacement for a dancer who could not appear.

[penelopesimpson]

Booing a replacement dancer is horrible and completely unjustifiable however disappointed you might feel. Actually, at the ROH I have also witnessed the opposite: people applauding the announcement of a replacement for a dancer who could not appear.

That's my experience, too.  I was in the audience when Jonas Kauffman didn't turn up for Carmen.  The audience were upset but gave his replacement a hearty welcome.

[bangorballetboy]

I couldn't agree more. Silence speaks volumes. I have kept my hands still a few times, sometimes getting strange looks and others, far from alone in my displeasure.

With regards to reactions, has anyone ever experienced a silent audience, possibly as a result of stunned disbelief?

 

Except, unless no-one applauds, the creatives won't hear silence.  And they won't see you not clapping either (unless you're in the front row or so).

[Fonty]

With regards to reactions, has anyone ever experienced a silent audience, possibly as a result of stunned disbelief?

 

It's going back a bit, but I seem to remember my eldest brother saying that The Romans in Britain at the National was greeted by stunned silence. 

[bridiem]

Except, unless no-one applauds, the creatives won't hear silence.  And they won't see you not clapping either (unless you're in the front row or so).

 

That's very true. And in fact, it amazes me that sometimes there are people who just don't bother clapping anyway, even after a performance of an excellent production that has been completely uncontroversial and superbly performed (e.g. a classic, or a Romeo and Juliet, or whatever). I really don't think they're all exercising some sort of precise artistic judgement; it just seems to be too much effort to put their hands together. Or perhaps they simply don't understand the two-way relationship between performers and audience.

Edited February 7, 2017 by bridiem

[bridiem]

I couldn't agree more. Silence speaks volumes. I have kept my hands still a few times, sometimes getting strange looks and others, far from alone in my displeasure.

With regards to reactions, has anyone ever experienced a silent audience, possibly as a result of stunned disbelief?

 

I don't think I've ever heard a silent audience for the wrong reason; what I've heard occasionally is a long, stunned silence after the curtain has fallen on a brilliant dramatic performance whilst the audience as one body absorbs the impact of what has been portrayed. The longer the silence, the more tremendous the moment when the applause finally erupts. Has happened probably most often after Mayerling; also sometimes Romeo and Juliet, maybe a few others. A moment of real, intense and thrilling communion.

[Jacqueline]

Except, unless no-one applauds, the creatives won't hear silence.  And they won't see you not clapping either (unless you're in the front row or so).

I've been seen by creatives to be not clapping, as I usually sit in the front rows. I have also been present where reception was very muted, little more than some polite applause. That was at Sadler's Wells as I recall.

I was just wondering if there has ever been even less than that!

Booing doesn't seem to have much effect on creatives, from responses I have read. They just blame the audience for not understanding their creation.

[Jacqueline]

It's going back a bit, but I seem to remember my eldest brother saying that The Romans in Britain at the National was greeted by stunned silence.

 

Yes, I remember the outrage over that production in about 1980? There was a photo of one of the naked actors on the front page of the Evening Standard and a Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells style outcry. Tickets were like gold dust after that!

[Nicola H]

ok, way off topic, but the bar staff in Toronto say that the ballet audience consumes way more... cookies than the opera audience. WAY more (and not just for Nutcracker performances where it could be attributed to the large number of children in the audience).

is this a case  that can be drawn with the comparision between  association football,  cricket, Rugby League and rugby Union  crowds - all of which have their foibles ... 

[cackles]

I can't always applaud as much as I would like as I have arthritis. A bad flare up of my hands means it is too painful, but I always feel guilty when there has been an excellent performance. I have got used to receiving funny looks from others around me in the amphi!

[bridiem]

I can't always applaud as much as I would like as I have arthritis. A bad flare up of my hands means it is too painful, but I always feel guilty when there has been an excellent performance. I have got used to receiving funny looks from others around me in the amphi!

 

Sorry to hear that, cackles. Rest assured I would never give anyone a funny look for not clapping! And my own hands are less co-operative now than they used to be, so I do understand the problem.

[aileen]

I'm sorry to hear about your hands, cackles. However, nobody should be giving you any kind of look. As a paying customer, your only duty is to sit quietly during the performance. Whether and how you applaud (ie enthusiastically or perfunctorily) is up to you.

[betterankles]

Booing in France and Italy was quite common in the late fifties. Probably just more demonstrative nations!

 

It was also very usual to shout BIS, BIS, when something was considered wonderful by a favourite dancer - and get an encore of a coda whether in a full length ballet or in divertissements - something that is now totally out of fashion in the ballet world...

 

Slow simultaneous hand claps still occur in a number of countries, pretty much regardless of the standard of a production or of the dancing.

As do standing ovations...

VERY rare in the UK. Standard in the USA...

Edited February 8, 2017 by betterankles

[VickyPage]

Maybe this is completely mistaken, but I always thought the lack of British ballet booing (that's great fun to say!) is partly connected to the lack of British (particularly ROH) standing ovations. The audiences aren't apathetic, but they're not particularly keen to rouse themselves to show enjoyment, or lack thereof. I think we're just a dour, crusty lot. Whereas opera audiences consistently stand during the curtain calls and have been known to boo replacements (I have a sad memory of Emily Magee being booed at the Bayerische Staatsoper) as well as awful new productions. They just seem to have more openly emotional reactions. 

[LinMM]

Not exactly booing but years ago when Nureyev was near the end of his career and gave those summer performances at the Coli he was often VERY late starting and the audience slow hand clapped on a couple of occasions

 

Although I was annoyed at the time too ( at least on one occasion half an hour late starting) I couldn't bring myself to slow hand clap him as he had given so many wonderful performances over the years.

[Coated]

...Whereas opera audiences consistently stand during the curtain calls and have been known to boo replacements (I have a sad memory of Emily Magee being booed at the Bayerische Staatsoper) as well as awful new productions. They just seem to have more openly emotional reactions.

 

Really? I've seen a fair amount of operas at the ROH, and practically no standing. First nights tend to bring out the booers, but that tends to be reserved for the production team.