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Stuttgart Ballet festival week 2018. A Reid Anderson Celebration


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The festival week in celebration of Reid Anderson’s 22 years as Artistic Director of the company is in full swing, having kicked off with a cinema viewing of Romeo & Juliet last Friday and ending with a gala performance this coming Sunday. Full programme here https://www.stuttgart-ballet.de/schedule/festival-anderson/.

Some nights I can’t do, others show works that I’ve seen recently, so last night’s performance of Party Pieces was the first programme that I attended. All works in Party Pieces were created for specific occasions over the last 22 years e.g., birthdays, galas, Young Choreographers’ evenings, and they were all celebrated enthusiastically last night, as were the dancers. Some of the works had also been shown at Sadler’s Wells in 2013 (e.g., Marco Goecke’s Fancy Goods, Demis Volpi’s Little Monsters), two of the pieces were performed to huge acclaim by former First Soloists of the company (Marijn Rademaker in a solo from Edward Clug’s Ssss…, Daniel Camargo in Katarzyna Kozielska’s Firebreather, a piece full of virtuosity, Camargo was indeed breathing fire so-to-speak, dance wise), some humorous pieces (e.g., Rolando d’Alesio’s Come Neve al Sole, showing a couple in various states of their relationship, whereby the handling of their loose-fitting and very elastic shirts was key to illustrating the state their relationship was in), the PDD were dreamy / emotional/ angular and rhythmic. Cheers and ovations at multiple curtain calls, leading to standing ovations when Reid Anderson came back on stage as part of the final curtain call.

The work from Tuesday night’s recent programme The Fab Five that I would have liked to see again but couldn’t make it was Marco Goecke’s Almost Blue, set to three songs by Etta James (At last, Trust in me, Sunday kind of love). Taking the three songs in this order, it seems to encapsulate the stages of a relationship from finding/ falling in love to realisation that not all is well/ that the ideal is unachievable. Early on, some of the dancers wear long black gloves, giving them the silhouette of a jazz singer some decades ago, possibly of Etta James herself. The lyrics of At last include a reference to the blue sky, and so with the third song in mind, the sky is almost blue, cue the title of piece (… my reading …). Lots of sand falls down on stage as part of the final song, and there is an emotional solo by the wonderful Alessandro Giaquinto who has red paint splattered across his upper body, originating from where his heart is located, and thus depicting the emotional pain of the person in question. A brilliant illustration of the content of the three songs by Etta James, but so much more for me in that I also see this piece as a reflection on Goecke’s time with the company over the last ten to fifteen years ( … again, my reading …). There are some works by Goecke that make me think “hmm”, others that I enjoy watching, and those that I utterly adore. Almost Blue clearly falls into the latter category. What a masterpiece, I can’t get enough of it, and I do hope it’ll be back on stage somewhere soon.

Now ... just back from the Encounters double bill Dances at a gathering/ Initials R B.M.E. What a night ... details to follow, once I've emerged from paradise and come back down to earth.

 

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Thank you so much, Janet and Vanartus. The term overview is a fair description as the reviews on Seeing Dance have been far more detailed than mine here. So thank you, Janet, for including them in the daily links section of the forum. For those who read German, there is also a daily blog on the company’s web site about the festival week, bringing to the fore information behind the scenes through interviews with e.g., choreographers and dancers.

Following on from last night, I’ve since safely landed on earth and am back in reality. The grin within is still there though, thinking about last night and humming along to Brahm’s 2nd Piano Concerto.

I’d seen the Encounters double bill twice earlier this season, and in each case the second half of Dances at a gathering seemed too long for me; in fact I only went to see the programme a second time back then as I was really keen on Initials R.B.M.E. So it took me quite a while to go for last night’s bill. And what a night it was.

Initials was fantastic as ever. The unexpected surprise though was that I did enjoy Dances at a gathering from start to finish. The casting last night was similar to that I had seen before, so what was different? More relaxed as I was still cheerful following the previous night’s show? More able to delve into details as I was more familiar with the work from previous viewings? The fact that I took notes in the dark, writing down for each part the number of male/ female dancers together with any emotions that struck me at the time (m1, pdd playful, …, m2 competitive, …, f1 plus m1 at a time, …)? Who knows. Anyway, I enjoyed the multitude of different pairings amongst the dancers and the way the casts of the different parts developed from individuals to more complex combinations, the way the different parts flowed seamlessly from one to the next as dancers appeared while others were still on stage, the different emotional focus from (… my reading …) playful to flirtatious to competitive, the way the interactions looked natural, casual, unplanned, leisurely, like the relaxed comings and goings of those who happen to meet at an outing, at a garden party. My favourite moments last night were a PDD by Elisa Badenes (Apricot) and Matteo Miccini (Brick), the male duet by Jason Reilly (Purple) and David Moore (Brown) in which they try and outdance each other, a quintet of three male and two female dancers (including Alicia Amatriain in Pink), the interaction between the female dancer in Green (Hyo-Jung Kang) and several male dancers (Friedemann Vogel in Green, and others, one at a time) whereby she tries and fails to capture their attention.

Initials R.B.M.E., what can I say. Just love the different settings for the four parts of the piece (… as before, my reading ...) - virtuosic, serene, dreamy (and tear inducing), and speedy/joyful, the way the four leads interact throughout the work, meeting and greeting and supporting each other, the choreography, patterns and changes of direction for the corps, the music. Daniel Camargo was guesting last night in the role of R, Elisa Badenes took the lead as B, Alicia Amatriain and Friedemann Vogel for M (… a deep breath and an emotional sigh from me at the end of their PDD; the applause for their performance only died down when, it seemed, the audience realised that they really wouldn’t come back on stage to take their bows at this time), Alessandro Giaquinto in a debut as E and receiving one of the longest ovations at the curtain calls, I was personally shouting my head out. I adore the versatility of his facial expressions, his ability to keep a straight face when the audience erupts in laughter as the piece is so funny (General Lavine Eccentric in Cranko’s Brouillards, Novitzky’s Are you as big as me?), the fluidity and speed of his movements, whether in works by Goecke or now as E. He also danced the role of Alain in La Fille mal Gardee this spring (which I didn’t see). What a first season for him in the corps following his graduation from the John Cranko School in 2016 and a year as apprentice with the company thereafter.

Time off for me tonight and the opportunity to catch up with the BBC Proms from earlier in the week. Kudos to all the dancers for their stamina, many of whom will be on stage most nights of the festival week.

 

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11 hours ago, Duck said:

I can empathise as I miss the piece already ...

 

Duck,

 

Thank you for your comments and starting this thread.

 

Regarding R.B.M.E. specifically, it's a ballet I really liked but I've only seen it a few times (I think four times only) and always with the original cast. I had always assumed that it was so tied to the four personalities that having other casts would diminish the work. From your comments this is obviously not the case. I had also assumed that the Egon Madsen role would be the most difficult to perform satisfactorily. Is this true, or are all four parts reproduced successfully? It's certainly one of Cranko's works that deserve to survive but I wonder if it would work with an audience with no memory of the original creators.

 

Thank you again, though, for an evocative and helpful reminder of wonderful days with the Stuttgart company.

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Thank you so much, Douglas for your reply yesterday. I envy you, having seen the work with those on whom it was created. Was it performed as part of one of their tours, or did you come to Stuttgart to see it? The first ballet performance that I ever attended will have been in around 1983/84, so unfortunately I missed both Heinz Clauss and Egon Madsen. Without the historic knowledge, my reaction is purely based on what I saw on Friday (I’ve only seen the piece five times myself), both technically and artistically. If Angela reads this thread, maybe she will be able to comment as she’s been following the company for much longer than I have. Maybe there’ll also be some comments in Seeing Dance as it seems that their critic is in Stuttgart throughout the festival week.

I think the memory of the initial leads will be around in Stuttgart for some time but it would be interesting to see whether/ how the programme notes are (or already have been) adapted over time to reflect the fact that, in particular going forward, an increasing percentage of the audience will not have seen the work with the full initial cast themselves and may benefit from additional information.

Looking beyond the memory of earlier casts, I see Initials as a work about friendship, about a group of individuals who are in contact with and support of each other, in full awareness and acceptance of each other’s – different - personality traits, and who come together to face the common future as a group with a degree of optimism. In particular, the pairing with Dances at a gathering leads me to see Initials as a timeless statement about humanity, understanding, conviviality and tolerance, and this definitely contributes to why I find the work so moving, memorable and special.

 

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On 20/07/2018 at 16:23, Duck said:

The unexpected surprise though was that I did enjoy Dances at a gathering from start to finish. The casting last night was similar to that I had seen before, so what was different? More relaxed as I was still cheerful following the previous night’s show? More able to delve into details as I was more familiar with the work from previous viewings?

 

Dear Duck, thanks so for your glorious reviews ... and how I wish I could have been there.  

 

About your comment(s) above - I often feel the same way.  Works need to grow in space; inside the performers as much as on you.  Suddenly they can awaken in a very special way - assuming the work is capable of such largess.  DAAG - a defining case in point - is SO rich in its theatrical communal detail.  It is like a delicate novel with such potentially exquisite chapters.  It is gossamer and stealthy as the same time. It can - as you suggest - suddenly take off.  I, myself, felt the same way with McGregor's Obsidian Tear.  Both times the RB have performed it I initially struggled and then - at basically the same juncture in both runs ironically - I suddenly became actively involved in the intrigue and the journey became vivid.  Why?  Who exactly can say ... the dazzle lies in the thread of the mystery ... but it was without hesitation worth the fight certainly.  

 

Again, thanks for your insights.

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Thank you so much, Bruce, for sharing your own experience, I am glad I am not the only one to have experienced this phenomenon. Many thanks, too, for illustrating the richness of Dances at a gathering (I quite like the acronym DAAG) in such vivid terms, far more evocatively than I could ever achieve.

 

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DAAG was the last part of a bill I saw at RB on my first visit to Covent Garden in 1976...(77?) I was DD something in the Upper Slips and could only see a third of the stage. It was a gala. But OMG the cast...Nureyev, Lyn Seymour, Makarova, David Wall, Ann Jenner, Laura Connor, Michael Colman and (not sure) Wayne Eagling...never seen it since!

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On ‎22‎/‎07‎/‎2018 at 09:54, Duck said:

My memory isn't certain, but I'm pretty sure I saw it in London (I think at the Coliseum) when Stuttgart came in the 70s and I may also have caught a performance or two in New York;  I don't think I ever saw it performed in Stuttgart.

 

(The above relates to a question asked of me by Duck - my computer (or my lack of skill) played up and messed up my attempts to use the quote function).

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The festival week continued with Ballet in the Park on Saturday evening for the gala performance of the John Cranko School, livestreamed from within the Opera House. It was great to meet Yumiko before the performance, allowing us to catch up on events since our previous meeting.

Tadeusz Matacz lauded Reid Anderson for the autonomy and responsibility that he gave him in running the School and the support that he provided. He praised Anderson’s stamina in securing agreement and funding for the new (yet in progress) building of the JCS. He also referred to the breadth of the training, from classical via neoclassical to contemporary, in preparation for what the dancers will encounter in their professional engagements following graduation, and the works performed at the gala reflected that breadth of styles.

These works came in two parts – a number of group works for the equivalent of the Upper School (Academy classes A and B) and the full version of Etudes by Matacz for students of all ages.

Air! by Uwe Scholz is set to Bach’s music (Overture no. 3, I think). Really loved this piece for six couples – musical, rhythmic, warm/gentle, uplifting, joyful and celebratory, emphasised by the exclamation mark in the title, with a serene part (Air) in the middle for the two lead couples. The movements illustrated the joyful mood with flowing movements - lots of arabesques and jetes, and in particular in the third set hands in soft/ curbed allonges. The colour palette for the costumes (vanilla, chocolate and rust) added to the warm glow of the piece. I hope this work will be performed in future seasons, too.

The Sylvia PDD by George Balanchine received huge cheers. Technically assured, with wonderful balances by Aina Oki (PdL finalist in 2017) and pirouettes and jumps by Motomi Kiyota (1st year of the Academy). I also loved the demonstrable joy with which they were performing this challenging piece. The school performance on 8 July included another work by Balanchine, the Glinka Pas de Trois.

Contemporary style was covered through Marco Goecke’s A spell on you to music by Nina Simone, Lamento della ninfa by Stephen Shropshire and Alrededor no hay nada by Goyo Montero.

Shropshire’s Lamento della ninfa uses a song by Ane Brun based on Monteverdi’s work. A female dancer is lifted, lowered, rolled along by one or two male dancers in quiet, contemplative movements, and she is always in contact with at least one of them. Having read Brun’s lyrics, I see the two male dancers as illustration of the waves that carry the nymph in the sea, moving her up and down in a variety of waves, and also to illustrate the emotional turmoil that the nymph is going through.

Montero’s Alrededor no hay nada proved more challenging as it is performed to Spanish spoken word, utilising a number of poems by Joaquin Sabina (“Benditos Malditos”, in which he lists a number of items as blessed (bendito) or damned (maldito) and equally “Alrededor no hay nada” (there is nothing around) which mentions a number of body parts and ends with the statement “there is nothing around” … this whole section is performed through a series of solos and PDD) and a poem by Vinicius de Moraes, now including background music (El Dia de la Creacion; all dancers of the piece are now involved). I read the lyrics that I was able to find on the web following the school performance on 8 July in preparation for the gala performance on Saturday and then realised (… my reading …), however, that it is less about the multitude of specific aspects that are mentioned as blessed or damned, and instead more about the general sensation that the poems provide - the ups and downs/ the sweet and the bittersweets aspects of life, and how they are all intertwined and follow each other in quick succession. To quote a phrase from the poem by de Moraes, “today is Saturday, tomorrow Sunday, the life comes in waves like the sea”. It is the choreography to de Moraes that I enjoyed most as the repetitive use of “… because today is Saturday” in the poem provides rhythm and, as most items mentioned as happening on Saturday have a negative connotation, it also provides an uplifting outlook onto Sunday (“there is the outlook on Sunday because today is Saturday”). I think though that a sentence or two in the programme book would maybe have been beneficial in understanding the work as every time I see this piece, the applause is less than that for other contemporary works.

Etudes by Tadeusz Matacz. If the Extracts from Etudes that I had seen last year come with a similar duration to the Grand Defile, the full Etudes went somewhat beyond 30/35 minutes, giving ample opportunity to showcase the academic training in both adagio and allegro elements as well as the PDD training, and how the skills acquired move from simple steps, turns and jumps to ever more complex movements.

Graduates of the John Cranko School join Stuttgart Ballet, Ballet Ireland, Ballet Magdeburg, Ballet Zurich, Cannes Jeune Ballet, Eger, Joffrey Ballet, The Tokyo Ballet, Tulsa Ballet and Vienna State Ballet (the programme of the end-of-year performance on 8 July does not state which of these are apprentice/ corps contracts).

Comments about last night’s gala performance of Stuttgart Ballet to follow (thankfully, the notes that I took in the rain yesterday have dried since ;-).

 

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On 21/07/2018 at 18:11, Douglas Allen said:

Regarding R.B.M.E. specifically, it's a ballet I really liked but I've only seen it a few times (I think four times only) and always with the original cast. I had always assumed that it was so tied to the four personalities that having other casts would diminish the work. From your comments this is obviously not the case. I had also assumed that the Egon Madsen role would be the most difficult to perform satisfactorily. Is this true, or are all four parts reproduced successfully? 

 

Other casts diminish the work only if you have seen the original cast, which was a long time ago - so an audience of today should not be bereaved of the opportunity to see this wonderful ballet! If you have a bit of information about R, B, M and E, about Ricky, Birgit, Marcia and Egon, you can easily discover their personalities and their technical skills in the solo parts - Cragun's jumps and his joyful, open charisma, Keil's long-limbed elegance, Haydées adagio quality and her wonderful port de bras, Madsen's Danish heritage of petit allegro.  No, it's not Egon Madsen's part, I have seen it done perfectly by Vladimir Malakhov for example - on the technical level it's Cragun's part with the many turns and jumps in a very fast succession where most dancers nowadays struggle (and they say that technique is better now!). For me personally it's the Marcia Haydée part, her "singing" arms, her sad and angel-like floating through the air - I very often close my eyes here, I have to admit, to remember her. But it is a wonderful, wonderful neoclassical ballet about friendship, with great parts for the corps de ballet - the six boys who surround Cragun's part for example. Cranko made it in 1972, and he had seen Dances at a Gathering before, there is a similar throwing of a girl between three boys in the B part 😉 

 

 

 

 

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The festival week concluded with a company gala on Sunday evening, again livestreamed into the park just outside the Opera House. There had been a risk of thunderstorms throughout the weekend. Whereas on Saturday the heavy rain had stopped mid-afternoon in time for the evening performance, there was no such luck on Sunday; it rained for about half of the time the gala was on. So those who braved the rain provided a rich picture in the park, donning raincoats and outdoor clothing in all shapes, colours and varieties.

The gala kicked off at 5pm with Extracts from Matacz’ Etudes for the students of the John Cranko School and the Defilee of the company. Speeches highlighted, among others, Anderson’s stamina with regards to the new building for the JCS, the identification of choreographic talent and the fact that a number of Artistic Directors at other companies started as dancers in Stuttgart. Marcia Haydee praised Anderson for the fact that he brought her back onto the stage in Stuttgart in a number of character roles.

The programme for the gala was put together by Tamas Detrich. Following Anderson’s time at the helm of the company in chronological order, it provided extracts from key works that were premiered or revived at the time (one work per year up to the 2014/15 season; maybe the gala would have gotten too lengthy had the final few years also been covered individually), extracts from the three major narrative works by Cranko and a rousing finish just before 11 pm.

Daniel Camargo and Marijn Rademaker, who had already danced in the mixed bills earlier in the week, were joined by Polina Semionova and Anna Laudere as guests at the gala.

Daniel Camargo danced (with Elisa Badenes) PDDs from DonQ by Guerra (this PDD brought the house down) and from Taming of the Shrew. Marijn Rademaker appeared in Bigonzetti’s I Fratelli (with Miriam Kacerova), in van Manen’s Two Pieces for HET (with Anna Osadcenko) and in Das siebte Blau by Spuck. Polina Semionova danced a PDD from Herman Schmerman with Friedemann Vogel, and the applause they received was tumultuous (it was the PDD with the yellow skirts). Anna Laudere appeared in a PDD from Neumeier’s Othello with Jason Reilly (the PDD that sees the cloth unwrapped; wow, just wow, exquisitely sensual, I was spellbound, I do hope Othello will be back on stage sometime soon).

Extracts and PDDs from other works that the audience was treated to included Suite by Scholz, Giselle in a staging by Anderson and Savina, Bintley’s Edward II, Spuck’s Lulu (the one PDD that had a member of the corps in a leading role, Noan Alves; Elisa Badenes padded his hand when they took their bows as if saying to him “well done”; I quite liked this gesture), Kylian’s Return to a strange land, Goecke’s Orlando (a solo for Friedemann Vogel; a recorded voice read to music the words “Orlando lept as if she had been struck on the head. Ten times she was struck. It fact it was 10 o’clock in the morning. It was the eleventh of October. It was 1928. It was the present moment”, … and I was properly electrified), Neumeier’s The Lady of the Camellias, Volpi’s Krabat and MacMillan’s Requiem. In addition to the extract from The Taming of the Shrew, Cranko was also covered through the balcony PDD from Romeo & Juliet and the final PDD from Onegin. The piece that was performed in full was Spuck’s Le grand Pas de Deux (Elisa Badenes and Jason Reilly, hilariously funny).

The one other piece that was performed in full was the short choreography that those in park had learnt before the start of the gala and that was shown on video to those inside the Opera House after the second interval. So image maybe around a thousand people in unshapely raincoats dancing to the Polonaise from Onegin, 3 steps forward, chassee, turn, chassee, turn, men on one knee, women around, arms in allongee, hop. Probably the one time in my life that I will have received ovations at the Opera House ;-)

Camera work was a mix of views of the full stage and of close ups. The latter allowed to see and admire the dancer’s artistry in superb detail (e.g., Alicia Amatriain in The Lady of the Camellias and in Onegin, just incredible, in particular as these PDD were performed out of context), the intricacies of partnering, the dancer’s muscle definition (e.g., put to spectacular effect in Goecke’s Orlando). With regards to some of the works shown though, I actually would have preferred fewer close ups, considering the costumes involved (and I leave it to you which these may have been).

The review of the 22 years through key works from that time gave insights into what had been performed when I wasn’t here, and provided the impetus to go and see some of them when as and when they will be revived next time. There were a few pieces, however, where I struggled with the content or who was on stage (prime example being Edward II, about which I wrote down on Sunday “why does the queen quarrel with Edward II”, and then read in a review this morning that it was actually Mortimer who was on stage; equally the extract from Krabat; I’d read a summary of the story but without having seen the work, I struggled to tell where in the story the extract performed would be positioned, again a review that I read this morning provided enlightenment). Maybe that’s not an issue for the majority of those who were watching but I thought that maybe just a sentence in the programme book would be great for the narrative works shown at the gala.

Notwithstanding these aspects, it was a superb (and long) evening, and finishing with the finale from A Chorus Line, with the dancers both dancing and singing. A procession of Artistic Directors of other companies, former dancers and key staff gave roses and hugs to Reid Anderson. Marcia Haydee was the penultimate person to do so, and she opened her arms wide when she was still at a distance, and Reid Anderson dropped the roses that he had collated up until them, opened his arms, too, and they fell into a memorable embrace. The orchestra continued to play, and Anderson performed a solo on stage to much acclaim by the audience (see stuttgarterballett_fanpage on Instagram for details).

Pictures from the gala performance on Sunday

https://www.stuttgart-ballet.de/schedule/2018-07-22/sb-gala-2018/images/

https://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/inhalt.ballettfestwoche-endet-mit-gala-abschied-von-reid-anderson.7b1ec214-1c7a-44e1-8b7d-e7c750620a0b.html

Huge respect and thanks to the dancers, musicians and those backstage for their preparation and handling of what will have been an intensive week for them.

This last week proved life affirming. There were times in the 2017-18 season when I wasn’t able to see much dance. When I started again going to a few performances in Stuttgart and elsewhere, I sometimes wondered whether things had lost some of that sparkle for me. The festival week showed that it hadn’t. The frequency of watching dance last week in combination with the works that I did see earlier this season also provided the opportunity to follow a number of dancers in the corps, and I look forward to the coming season to see how they will develop further. For now, time to catch up with other things in life ...

 

 

Edited by Duck
amended last sentence
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Angela's references to Richard Cragun reminded me, if I needed it, of what a superb dancer he was. I saw him two or three times when the Stuttgart ballet came to London and the performances with him and Haydee  were outstanding. He also danced in the Rite of Spring - not sure whose choreography it was but it might have been Neumeier. Would love to see RBME, have never seen it. Good that there are excerpts from R and J on fscebook.

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On 23/07/2018 at 13:57, Angela said:

 

Other casts diminish the work only if you have seen the original cast, which was a long time ago - so an audience of today should not be bereaved of the opportunity to see this wonderful ballet! If you have a bit of information about R, B, M and E, about Ricky, Birgit, Marcia and Egon, you can easily discover their personalities and their technical skills in the solo parts - Cragun's jumps and his joyful, open charisma, Keil's long-limbed elegance, Haydées adagio quality and her wonderful port de bras, Madsen's Danish heritage of petit allegro.  No, it's not Egon Madsen's part, I have seen it done perfectly by Vladimir Malakhov for example - on the technical level it's Cragun's part with the many turns and jumps in a very fast succession where most dancers nowadays struggle (and they say that technique is better now!). For me personally it's the Marcia Haydée part, her "singing" arms, her sad and angel-like floating through the air - I very often close my eyes here, I have to admit, to remember her. But it is a wonderful, wonderful neoclassical ballet about friendship, with great parts for the corps de ballet - the six boys who surround Cragun's part for example. Cranko made it in 1972, and he had seen Dances at a Gathering before, there is a similar throwing of a girl between three boys in the B part 😉 

 

 

 

 

I agree generally. It's a wonderful ballet, and it should be seen, and seen often.  Having said that, it's with very mixed feelings that I watch it nowadays (well, roughly "nowadays," having last seen it about 3 years ago)---appreciation for its choreography and often for the current performers, but most of all for the opportunity just to be able to watch it again, on the one hand, but on the other hand, sadness beyond mere nostalgia for not ever being able to see its original cast one more time.  Stuttgart toured very frequently to New York in the 1970's (RBME came on at least 3 tours), and, for so many New York balletomanes of that time, they just embedded themselves in our hearts; for us, it became not just a ballet about the love between friends, but also the love we had for these particular friends and for the very special company that was Stuttgart Ballet.

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Vanartus I'm pretty sure I was at the Dances at a Gathering performance you were at as I saw most of the performances of it in those days and Makarova was not in it on every occasion was trying to think who danced her role. I've still not seen the green dancer ....Lynn Seymour bettered ....she somehow got just the right nuance of humour...something about the way she used her head am not sure....but all those dancers were great in the role....how Laura Connor could jump...fantastic ....and Nureyev just had to stand on the stage and look and you were engaged ( sorry to keep harping on about how wonderful he was back then for younger members who never saw him) 

That programme you wrote about Duck with this piece in it sounded like heaven to me ....lucky old you!

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20 hours ago, ninamargaret said:

He also danced in the Rite of Spring - not sure whose choreography it was but it might have been Neumeier.

 

It was Glen Tetley's Sacre, and he was outstanding in it - as he was in every role. My favorite Onegin forever, I think - such a wonderful, wonderful dancer.

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About "Initials R.B.M.E.", the premature death of John Cranko and the late Richard Cragun: somebody told me that it was Cragun who said that the letters RBME form the words "Remember me".

 

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34 minutes ago, Angela said:

 

It was Glen Tetley's Sacre, and he was outstanding in it - as he was in every role. My favorite Onegin forever, I think - such a wonderful, wonderful dancer.

Thank you for this,Angela. The performance was memorable for one extra reason. The chosen one ended up in a sort of sling that was flown from the back to the front  of the stage at the end of the ballet. On The night i saw it it didn't work properly, and we were treated to an enraged Marcia Haydee who informed us that it had been rehearsed many times and had been fine. So they would work on it and if we waited for 15 minutes or so they would dance the last part again! They did, it worked, and the applause was thunderous!!

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Regrettably I saw "Initials "  only once at Covent Garden in 1974,danced by the original cast;have a programme signed by "the four".

It shared a programme with I think "Brouillards"(later done well bySWRB/BRB) and a very intense piece for Haydee to some Mahler...."Traces"????

The Leslie  Spatt/Horst Koegler(1978) photobook is well worth seeking out.

Peter Wright brought the Stuttgart Ballet to Birmingham in 1993  in MacMillans' "Requiem" and "Song of the Earth"......not the lightest of programmes  and Haydee specially danced the Pie Jesu in "Requiem"

"Dances" I  was lucky enough to see many times when RB first took it on;those performances were unforgettable.......Sibley/Dowell/.Nureyev/Mason/Coleman/Wall/Jenner/Seymour/Connor and later Penney/Porter/Myers/Thorogood/Ashmole..........It is a ballet to treasure.

How wonderful to have two such works on one bill.

 

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Requiem and Song of the Earth also shared a bill in winter 2014/15 (the double bill was called “Hommage a MacMillan”); I saw a performance of it on St Stephen’s Day that year. As you say, it’s definitely not the lightest of programmes, in particular over the festive season. Strangely, I quite enjoyed, however, how the mood of the two pieces reinforced each other … just like the mood of Dances and Initials do so in my view.

In relation to Traces, I found an article in the NY Times archive that mentions such a piece – is it the one you have in mind? https://www.nytimes.com/1973/06/01/archives/the-dance-stuttgart-troupe-gives-3-premieres-at-met.html

 

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4 hours ago, ninamargaret said:

Thank you for this,Angela. The performance was memorable for one extra reason. The chosen one ended up in a sort of sling that was flown from the back to the front  of the stage at the end of the ballet. On The night i saw it it didn't work properly, and we were treated to an enraged Marcia Haydee who informed us that it had been rehearsed many times and had been fine. So they would work on it and if we waited for 15 minutes or so they would dance the last part again! They did, it worked, and the applause was thunderous!!

LOL - I was there too!

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21 hours ago, Duck said:

Requiem and Song of the Earth also shared a bill in winter 2014/15 (the double bill was called “Hommage a MacMillan”); I saw a performance of it on St Stephen’s Day that year. As you say, it’s definitely not the lightest of programmes, in particular over the festive season. Strangely, I quite enjoyed, however, how the mood of the two pieces reinforced each other … just like the mood of Dances and Initials do so in my view.

In relation to Traces, I found an article in the NY Times archive that mentions such a piece – is it the one you have in mind? https://www.nytimes.com/1973/06/01/archives/the-dance-stuttgart-troupe-gives-3-premieres-at-met.html

 

Many thanks for the article,Duck;yes that is most definitely the work;I saw little of Haydee but recall her tremendous dramatic presence.........regret also never seeing her and Cragun in "Shrew"

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