Jump to content

The Royal Ballet: The Human Seasons / After the Rain / Flight Pattern, March 2017


Recommended Posts

Excessive bends, twists, manhandling and weird positions to which female dancers are subjected by some choreographers are disturbing to me, too. They don't look just "aesthetically unpleasant", they look and are agressive, and usually out of context. Maybe these choreographers don't hate women - I don't know the first thing about their private selves - but it looks anyway like they hate. This issue has been raised by other reviewers, more than once, here and in the press. Maybe it was time to be more emphatic, as Ms. Weybie was. I'm grateful.

------------------------------------------------

Trying to evade a scold by blaming someone else is mean and imature.
------------------------------------------------

So there were problems at rehearsals, tells us Mr.Couchman, complaining bitterly that dancers showed no respect working with him. And the other way round? Does he respect them? 
Permeating his libel is the notion that dancers should be like sponges:  inert material that must absorb "an artist's particular vision and style, if they like them or not".  It seems only the choreographer is an artist!

Indeed, true artistry in dancers, according to this professional, comes down to put all their physical resources at the choreographer's disposal. He wants dancing machines, just clever enough to perfectly understand what is asked of them. If he has any regard for their feelings, opinions, ideas, doubts, discomfort, personal expression, individual talent, well...  he forgot to mention. In fact, it looks more like he sees all that as a damn nuisance.

Human Seasons needs this kind of dancer to become a work of art, he says. Well...

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 231
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Well said MaggiM. My own thought is that his post did not make him sound like a pleasant person, and that quite possibly any problems in rehearsals were down to his own attitude towards the dancers.

 

I'm very concerned that this is still being reported all over the social and main media, and the dancers are not in a position to respond or give their version of events. And Mr Couchman would have know that when he wrote his, let me say, ungenerous comments. Time to let it die.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting to read Gerald Dowler's review of this bill in Classical Source this morning. For me, he sums up perfectly everything that I disliked about The Human Seasons and if I recall correctly he's the only reviewer to mention the "dull, unfocused musicality". This really bothered me watching it : the fact that most of the time the movement bore little relationship to what was happening in the music. It was doubly brought home seeing the live relay of Russian Seasons, maybe not Ratmansky's finest piece but the dance fits the music like a glove. In Ratmansky's case whether it's a specific commission like Russian Seasons or an existing piece of music like Shostakovich Triliogy.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

These reviews beg the question - why did the RB programme Human Seasons for a second time?

 

They do indeed, and I also asked the same question about 3 pages back. 

 

Maybe the thought was that it would fit nicely in with the rest of the bill?  

 

That it needed a second airing, to see if the responses would be a bit more enthusiastic? 

 

 I would hate to think it could be economics, and that having commissioned it, they felt they needed to get their money's worth out of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

Interesting that nobody thinks that there is any truth in Tim Couchman's post?

 

Because if you're in charge of staging something and it doesn't work out, a post where all the fault is placed elsewhere suggests that something is up, especially when the people you're blaming probably can't answer back. If he'd said that the dancers and the staging team didn't gel, that rehearsals were difficult, that the style conflicted with their training, whatever, you might be inclined to give him a fairer hearing.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

They do indeed, and I also asked the same question about 3 pages back. 

 

Maybe the thought was that it would fit nicely in with the rest of the bill?  

 

That it needed a second airing, to see if the responses would be a bit more enthusiastic? 

 

 I would hate to think it could be economics, and that having commissioned it, they felt they needed to get their money's worth out of it.

 

 

Sometimes companies contract to give a specific number of performances ... perhaps this was one of those instances and the RB was fulfilling the commitment.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is sort of related to some things being said here.....about respect/co-operation etc between dancers and choreographers.

 

Christopher Wheeldon was talking on the radio tonight about his experiences as a director this time of the musical American in Paris where he is working with both actors and dancers and something he said struck me as interesting.

 

That he had to get used to the actors wanting to question everything they were asked to do .....to get to the nub of what and why they were expressing etc.......but the dancers just come along and get on with it and tend to do as they are told!! ( without too much questioning was the implication)

 

I was surprised by this a little as I'm sure there must be more collaboration than that when working with a choreographer. I'm sure the "artist" aspect in a dancer would have more to say when creating works ......but then maybe it does depend on who they are working with.

Wheeldon did go on to say that eventually there was a bit of swap over in the rehearsals in that the dancers started to question more and the actors were starting to turn up and get on with it!!

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I was surprised by this a little as I'm sure there must be more collaboration than that when working with a choreographer. I'm sure the "artist" aspect in a dancer would have more to say when creating works ......but then maybe it does depend on who they are working with.

Wheeldon did go on to say that eventually there was a bit of swap over in the rehearsals in that the dancers started to question more and the actors were starting to turn up and get on with it!!

 

This point comes across frequently in biographies of choreographers-turned-directors.  Agnes de Mille, Gower Champion, and Jerome Robbins, for example, not only expected actors to obey orders like the dancers, but also to move precisely as directed.  The actors, meanwhile, expected far more control over their physicality.  Something had to give--usually the chastened director-choreographer!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yet more comments on the arts desk article. "Olivia Kirby" has strong views on the RB and seems keen to defend Kathryn Bennetts' tenure at RB Flanders.

 

RBF was a very interesting company and not many people would deny that the RB has had periods of poor leadership and less than stellar standards, but the wording of the comment nevertheless seems to come from a place of deep bitterness and anger. Who is Olivia Kirby?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yet more comments on the arts desk article. "Olivia Kirby" has strong views on the RB and seems keen to defend Kathryn Bennetts' tenure at RB Flanders.

 

RBF was a very interesting company and not many people would deny that the RB has had periods of poor leadership and less than stellar standards, but the wording of the comment nevertheless seems to come from a place of deep bitterness and anger. Who is Olivia Kirby?

 

No idea. The RB is by no means perfect - I sometimes get furious with it, and it does have a huge (unique) responsibility given the level of public funding it receives. That also makes it an easy target of dislike and (sometimes unfair) criticism. But I don't think that anyone who currently sees it perform on a regular basis with an open mind could possibly share her assessment of the company or its dancers.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yet more comments on the arts desk article. "Olivia Kirby" has strong views on the RB and seems keen to defend Kathryn Bennetts' tenure at RB Flanders.

 

RBF was a very interesting company and not many people would deny that the RB has had periods of poor leadership and less than stellar standards, but the wording of the comment nevertheless seems to come from a place of deep bitterness and anger. Who is Olivia Kirby?

 

You can say that again, Lindsay.  Ms Kirby's comment is one of the worst I have read in a long time; it's a real stinker. What on earth has she got against the Royal Ballet?

 

Of course, there will always be people who think that classical ballet is old fashioned, and that a "real" dance company should be ditching the classics in favour of "cutting edge" new works.  In which case, I would say, don't go and watch a classical ballet company if you don't like it.  But she seems to be saying that the RB is failing in everything it does.  So it offers up "approximations" of the classics, does it, and turns out "homogenised mulch."  Is she an expert on original stagings?  In which case, someone on here will know who she is!

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just to bring this whole thing into context, Mr Polunin has Twitter and social media pages, and he has not reacted to terrible and in some cases personal reviews. I don't want to go into the topic from the closed thread, but Polunin seems dignified in his lack of a response compared to these shenanigans.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is simply too much attention being paid to the article and the comments underneath it.

 

Normally, I would agree.  General comments from the public can be quite brutal, and some people seem to take a positive pleasure in being as nasty as possible.  I never usually pay any attention to them at all. 

 

But in this case, the posts have been from those who are directly concerned with the production, or have experience in running a ballet company.  So that sheds a different light on the matter.  

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

When Kevin O'Hare appeared on stage at 7.30pm last night I though he was going to say Human Seasons was cancelled, but it was to confirm the changes, I didn't have a list so only knew some, it was quite confusing but good of him to try to help the audience.

 

Was watching Human Seasons avidly for problems but actually enjoyed it more than the first time, great to see Yasmine Naghdi and Matthew Ball again, and liked the partnership of Sarah Lamb and Marcelino Sambe, thought the dancers overcame all the difficulties though the girls did have to skim the ground too much. Funnily enough there were some similar moves in After the Rain, a girl was dragged on pointe across the whole stage, not really a good ballet to follow Human Seasons, glad there were no cast changes in this one as I was able to see who I booked for, Beatriz Stix Brunell and Eric Underwood, this performance was not quite so emotional but physically very beautiful, pleased to see them!

 

I'm still not as ecstatic as most other people on Flight Pattern but appreciate this is Crystal Pite's style, and the lighting and overall effects are brilliantly done, especially the ending, I liked the passionate solo for Marcelino Sambe and the previous pdd for Calvin Richardson and Joseph Sissens.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Apologies for this late post but we only saw the penultimate performance last Thursday.

 

First many congratulations to the Royal Ballet for their commitment to this Triple Bill: their artistry and endeavour are to be applauded.

 

I have to say that I really struggle with The Human Seasons. To me there is no perceptible differentiation between the dancing for the four couples and Keat's "four seasons in the mind of man". I just didn't see any organic development in the ballet and couldn't fathom any relationship with the poem. And like others I found parts of the ballet pretty ugly and wince inducing.

 

After the Rain was a lovely contrast made even more memorable by Marienela celebrating her birthday on stage for an enthusiastic audience.

 

Flight Pattern shows what can be achieved when we are fortunate to have such a fine choreographer as Crystal Pite and the wonderful Royal Ballet dancers and orchestra - massively thought provoking, genuinely moving, and a real triumph. Ballet can successfully explore critical issues when handled with such intelligence and refinement.

 

As a footnote I should also add that we were lucky enough to see the Royal Ballet School's Solos Evening just before the Triple Bill. Wonderful to see so much talent and one of the highlights, not a solo but the PDD from Concerto - great to be reminded how uplifting abstract ballet can be!

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That Shostakovich piano concerto is one of my all time favourites both as a piece of music and as a ballet

 

The pas de deux from the second act is simply divine .....many years ago saw the RBS students perform this at their summer show and was brought to tears by that second movement.....and any minute now I will think of the young dancers who performed it!!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That Shostakovich piano concerto is one of my all time favourites both as a piece of music and as a ballet

 

The pas de deux from the second act is simply divine .....many years ago saw the RBS students perform this at their summer show and was brought to tears by that second movement.....and any minute now I will think of the young dancers who performed it!!

 

I remember seeing Alessandra Ferri do it a very long time ago! Though unfortunately I don't remember who the boy was. And yes - I love both the music and the ballet too, LinMM!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was Denise Nunn as the girl ....cannot remember the boy!!

 

She went on to create the role of Vera in Month of the Country.....another of my favourites!!

 

Must have been in late 1970's or very early 1980's I think

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thankyou so much Jane S for that info .....and wish I had seen Ferri too!!

 

Sorry gone a bit off topic but Concerto always gets me excited....it's one of those ballets I love all the movements but the second is so beautiful both the dance and the staging!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was interested to receive an unusually detailed survey from ROH about this triple bill, asking specific questions about the choreography, lighting, etc of each ballet - not just about the bar, ushers etc. So clearly, they are responding to some of the negative publicity by asking for feedback and will, I feel sure, take heed of the comments. This seems to me a very good response.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

"The less said about David Dawson's The Human Seasons, the better. In fact, I'd recommend missing it entirely. Everything that is vapid and dreadful about contemporary ballet is present"

 

When the Dawson debacle happened a year ago, I couldn't imagine how faithfully these words would reflect my own feelings after seeing Dawson's new work in San Francisco. It possessed all the qualities of "choreography" created for your average pop or rock "charity" concert, the difference being the exorbitant admission price. Out of 9 works I saw so far during the "Unbound" event, this has to be a strong contender for the distinction of being absolutely the worst.

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...