li tai po

I too noticed a tense atmosphere in the Coliseum auditorium yesterday.  I suspect that many staff were unnerved by the Arts Council announcement on Friday about moving English National Opera to Manchester and are fearful for their jobs.  Some of the front of house staff are on zero hours contracts and move around different venues, so they are less familiar with the Coliseum and its audience; maybe they are more used to marshalling customers around nightclubs in a rather more decisive manner.

All of this was not helped by a 15-minute delay to the start, because the technical rehearsal over-ran.  There were no less than 20 items in the show, all of which required technical and lighting programmes to be set up.  They only got access to the theatre on Sunday morning.

Nevertheless, the show was extremely satisfying and is garnering high praise from the reviews.  I hope to post some comments soon in the Performances Seen section.

"The programme selection was varied, international and fresh.  Gone were the tired old gala staples; not a Corsaire pas de deux in sight."

Antony Tudor - the English choreographer who rivalled Ashton before the war, when he was a leading choreographer for Rambert, but went to America at the outbreak of World War II and forged a second career with ABT.  He is sadly neglected in his native land.

Lilac Garden is a very subtle ballet set to Chausson's ravishing Poeme for violin and orchestra, dating from his English period.  There is a commercial video by ABT; but you can find a complete performance on you tube by the National Ballet of Cuba and about half of the ballet from The Royal Ballet in 2000 with Sylvie Guillem and Jonathan Cope.  Check on the story, before you watch it.

The Leaves are Fading is a beautiful ballet from his American period, set to melodious Dvorak chamber works.  I am not aware of a complete commercial recording, but I recommend a beautiful performance on you tube of one of the pas de deux from the 1990s by Altynai Asylmuratova and her husband Konstantin Zaklinsky, at a time when the Mariinsky began to explore western choreographers.  It gives a taste of the fragile lyricism of this ballet.

James

I know exactly who you mean.

I was very sad to hear of the passing of Anthony Twiner.

He was the hero of so many Royal Ballet performances - both Ballet Imperial and Piano Concerto No. 2, Concerto and Dances at a Gathering come to mind. 

He performed Dances at a Gathering without exception for many years.  Indeed Philip Gammon had to wait until this century, before he finally came to perform Dances at a Gathering.

Most of all I remember Anthony Twiner as a stage performer.  He was the only Alfred Grunfeld in Mayerling for the first 16 years - and who can forget his flamboyant chase of the butterflies at the end of The Concert?  He was the Royal Ballet's first great performer in this role.

Today is thirty years to the day since Kenneth MacMillan sadly passed away during the second interval of Mayerling - at the first performance of a major revival, marking Irek Mukhamedov's debut in the role.

Tonight's Rudolf, Matthew Ball, was not even born then.

Fonty asks some questions above about The Rite of Spring and The Firebird.

The Kirov Ballet revived Nijinsky's original choreography of The Rite of Spring (in Kenneth Archer's reconstruction) and brought it to the Royal Opera House in August 2003, sandwiched between Serenade and Etudes.  This version is also readily accessible on you tube.

Diaghilev presented The Firebird in 1910 with sets designed by the great Russian artist, Alexander Golovin, and costumes by Leon Bakst.  This production was toured constantly around Europe and America until the sets fell apart.  They were scrapped and not seen again.

Diaghilev produced a new version in 1926 with designs by another great Russian artist, Natalia Goncharova, and these sets and costumes passed down through the later Ballets Russes companies and were used by the Royal Ballet, when they brought The Firebird into their repertoire in 1954.  They are still in use today.

Following perestroika, the Kirov Ballet began to explore the ballets of Fokine and Balanchine.  They researched Alexander Golovin's original designs, which I believe were held in the Theatre Museum in St. Petersburg, and were able to present the ballet with its original designs for the first time since the 1920s. 

We have been fortunate in recent years in being able to enjoy both design versions of The Firebird on the London stage - Golovin in a flurry of greens and blues and Goncharova, where red and black predominate.

I chose not to book for Light of Passage and I have not seen it.  

I am intrigued that the bulk of this thread is given over to a discussion of Alistair Macaulay and ballet critics in general.  Everyone seems to find Alistair much more interesting than the ballet itself.

The beautiful Samira Saidi is appearing tonight (? her debut) as the indomitable Archduchess Sophie, a worthy successor to Ursula Hageli.  I have such fond memories of her years as a ballerina.  I believe she is Teo Dubreuil's mother.

Not strictly ballet - but related to music in Kherson

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/16/russian-troops-kill-ukrainian-musician-yuriy-kerpatenko-for-refusing-role-in-kherson-concert

Many Russian ballet companies import high quality pointe shoes from the West, which are purchased with valuable foreign currency.  The Russian authorities have banned further imports of ballet shoes.  Vladimir Urin, the director of the Bolshoi Theatre, appealed for the ban to be lifted at a special meeting of the Russian State Duma dedicated to "import substitution in culture", but his appeal was denied.

https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/culture/1665691654-russian-ballerinas-left-without-pointe-shoes-due-to-sanctions

Cancel culture hits Sergei Polunin in Moscow

The Sergei Polunin controversy rumbles on.  Following his unscheduled performance in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, of a solo to a song dedicated to the Russian soldiers who died in Ukraine, which provoked a strong audience reaction, the authorities in Uzbekistan refused to pay him and apparently made a formal diplomatic complaint to Moscow.

Polunin is a native of Kherson and supports the annexation of Kherson oblast into Russia.  He was scheduled to perform his patriotic solo at the party in Red Square to celebrate the annexation, but his performance was cancelled a few hours before the event, "because the concept of the event had changed".  Polunin has stated that the ban came from the Russian Foreign Ministry and accused them of caving in to diplomatic pressure from the Uzbeks.  In an emotional statement on social media, he described the episode as "A knife in the heart from his own".

https://www.perild.com/2022/10/02/dancer-polunin-russian-foreign-ministry-caved-in-front-of-uzbekistan/

Bruce,

Thank you for the link to Ratmansky's interview, which I found both moving and uplifting.

He explains that his new ballet for PNB is Wartime Elegy, drawing on Ukrainian art and music.  He uses the art of Ukrainian folk artist, Maria Prymachenko (1909-1997), whose special gift and talent captivated Picasso.  Many of her surviving works are in the Ivankiv Museum, which was bombed on 26 February, in what appeared to be a deliberate attack on Ukrainian culture.  Some of her works were lost, but others were rescued from the burning building.

Ratmansky also talks of his ballet to Prokofiev's one-act ballet score, On the Dnieper, which he made for American Ballet Theatre in 2009.  [The original was choreographed in 1932 by fellow Ukrainian, Serge Lifar].  I was lucky enough to catch this delightful ballet in Amsterdam (Dutch National Ballet).  It had an exquisite setting of cherry blossom busting forth in Spring, as a background to the love triangle, arising when a soldier returns home to his village from the war.

https://www.reuters.com/world/russian-ballet-dancer-censured-pro-war-performance-uzbekistan-2022-09-28/

https://www.gramilano.com/2022/10/ten-leading-bolshoi-dancers-suspended/

The Queen attended the Royal Opera House on 4 August 2000, the very day of the Queen Mother's 100th birthday.

Both the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret were great ballet fans and the Queen Mother chose to spend her birthday by attending a ballet performance privately with her two daughters.  It was a late decision; they sat in the Royal Box and there had been a bit of a kerfuffle as the ROH reseated the original occupants elsewhere in the house.

The performance was a Fokine programme by the Kirov Ballet - Petrushka, Le Spectre de la Rose, Polovtsian Dances and Scheherazade (with Lopatkina and Ruzimatov).  Gergiev flew in from Rome to conduct Scheherazade without a rehearsal.  He conducted at a furious pace and the dancers were struggling to keep up with him - indeed they still remember the breakneck speed to this day.  Afterwards, Gergiev conducted Happy Birthday from the pit.  I remember seeing a wide-eyed Diana Vishneva, peeking from the wings during Scheherazade towards the Royal Box.

I would like to pick up JM Hopton's welcome comments above about further Rudolf repertoire which might be represented in a repeat gala.  JM Hopton's short list omits two key roles - The Nutcracker and Romeo - both of which were relatively early examples of Rudolf's production and choreography.

The Nutcracker was not performed by the Royal Ballet between 1946 and 1968, but Rudolf's seminal production in 1968 lingers long in the memory.  He had such imagination - turning the arrival at the Kingdom of the Sweets into Clara's nightmare (with the family menacing her as bats) and transforming the mirlitons into a gently satirical pastorale.  The choreography of the pas de deux (mainly by Rudolf) was unforgettable, particularly the famous pose in which Merle Park rests her whole body on Rudolf's extended leg.  Fortunately the production is preserved on film with Rudolf and Merle.

Romeo and Juliet was choreographed by Rudolf on the English National Ballet in the mid 70s.  Rudolf danced every performance in the first three week run, either as Romeo or Mercutio - a role which he regarded as equally significant.  Rudolf's choreographic style was to create five steps, where others might provide one.  Vadim Muntagirov has danced both the Nureyev and MacMillan versions and he commented in his interview on how difficult and exhausting is the Rudolf version.  

The musical number known as Masks in the MacMillan version, performed by the three young friends outside the Capulet house before they sneak into the ball, is known in the Rudolf version as the "Mab Dance" and given to Mercutio and his band of revellers.  In his choreography, Rudolf attempted to replicate the highly problematic speech of Mercutio about Queen Mab, the queen of the fairies.  Shakespeare scholars argue about what it means and why it is inserted here.  Mercutio describes how Queen Mab tantalises courtiers, priests, soldiers and even "when maids lie on their backs, presses them and learns them first to bear".  All of this detail is replicated in Rudolf's choreography, although its meaning is apparently forgotten by those who rehearse the ballet these days.  Do seek out a video of Rudolf's version and marvel at his close attention to the Shakespearean text.

The Corsair pas de deux may be standard gala fare these days, but it was unknown in the west until Rudolf danced it at the Royal Opera House with Margot in 1962.  The complete Corsaire was not seen in the west until the Kirov Ballet brought it to the Royal Opera House in 1988.

Rudolf brought spectacular virtuosity to the Corsaire pas de deux in 1962, at a time when male dancers in the west had not achieved that level of athleticism.  Partnering was a greater part of their role in those days and Rudolf's performance lit up the audience and indicated the possibilities of the male virtuoso dancer - so this pas de deux was an iconic moment in Rudolf's London career and very appropriate for inclusion in this gala..

I see that Sergei Polunin has posted a new video on you tube, entitled Beware All Hallows Eve.  He is bare chested and prominently flaunting his Putin tattoos.

He does seem to be addicted to publicity and controversy.

I understand that the final edition has now been published, although I have not yet received my hard copy.

I also have a digital subscription, but unfortunately Exact Editions have already removed The Dancing Times from their platform, including the archive of 67 years.

I see that they are performing Giselle at the Koninklijk Theatre in Carré on Monday 22 August and Tuesday 23 August.  The top price is 69 euros and the cheapest tickets are 29 euros (plus a 1.5 euro transaction fee).

When I looked this morning, I estimated that the 7 performances at the Coliseum were just under 20% sold in total.

I remember "Dowell's mum" very well.

I once sat next to her in the old box office in Floral Street, where the Indian restaurant is now.  She was in an absolute fury, because they would not sell her the seat behind the conductor.  "They know very well that Anthony will not give a good performance, if I am not there", she fumed.

A friend of mine sat next to her in the Stalls Circle for The Sleeping Beauty and she closed her eyes during the Rose Adagio.  "Are you feeling unwell?", he asked.  "No", she said, "but if I do not will the ballerina to hold her balances, she will fall off point".

Just before Christmas, Anthony Dowell came out of the stage door, clocked her and scurried hastily towards the underground station.  She chased him purposefully.  "Anthony, I have your Christmas present".

The old amphitheatre was remodelled in 1964, but the Royal Ballet gave a season at Drury Lane Theatre, whilst the ROH was closed.

I was fortunate enough to see Kenneth MacMillan's Symphony with Lynn Seymour and Donald MacLeary, Helpmann's Hamlet with the unforgettable Christopher Gable, Antoinette Sibley and Monica Mason (as Hamlet's mother) and Cranko's The Lady and the Fool with the elegant Svetlana Beriosova, Ronald Hynd and Stanley Holden (and David Drew as Signor Midas, the host).

About 30 years later, I met Christopher Gable, then Director of Northern Ballet, at a business meeting and asked him to autograph my programme.  He was very surprised that anyone remembered him.

The programme cost one shilling (5p) - which makes the current programme price of £8 seem rather expensive.

Dear Emeralds

Following your reply, I have revisited page 174 of John Percival's 1983 biography of John Cranko, "Theatre in my Blood", which sets out the facts.

Your suggestion of ROH Board refusal in the 1960s is indeed correct, but It is not accurate to suggest that the ROH Board "refused for the Royal Ballet to acquire John Cranko's Onegin despite its success with audiences and popularity among dancers".

Onegin was premiered by the Stuttgart Ballet on 13 April 1965.  Prior to that, John Cranko's "idea had been to use an arrangement of the music from the opera, and there was talk of his creating the ballet at Covent Garden for Fonteyn and Nureyev, but the Board of Directors there would not hear of using opera music in that way and, as it turned out, neither would Dr Schaefer at Stuttgart.  However, Kurt-Heinz Stolze undertook to arrange a new score from mainly unfamiliar pieces by the same composer, using not a single bar from the opera". 

This of course set a precedent for MacMillan's Manon.

Incidentally Tchaikovsky's opera was notably absent from the Covent Garden Opera repertoire in the decades after the war and only reached the stage in 1971 in a new production under Sir Georg Solti, with Ileana Cotrubas and Victor Braun, sung in English in those days.  That beautiful production was designed by Julia Trevelyan Oman, midway between Enigma Variations and A Month in the Country.  I, for one, lament the loss of those sensitive and atmospheric designs.

Emeralds, I am afraid that your account above of the ROH Board refusing permission for the Royal Ballet to acquire John Cranko's Onegin because of its similarity to the opera Eugene Onegin is entirely spurious.

Onegin made a big impact when the Stuttgart Ballet brought it to the ROH in 1974.  The Royal Ballet, directed by Cranko's great friend Kenneth MacMillan, announced that Onegin would join its repertoire in February 1977, casts were announced and tickets were on sale.  The upcoming calendar as late as the January 1977 edition of The Dancing Times shows the first night of Onegin was planned for Wednesday, 16 February 1977, with Merle Park, Lesley Collier, Anthony Dowell and Wayne Eagling.  Marcia Haydee and Richard Cragun were due to replace Park and Dowell at the performance on Saturday, 19 February.

Then disaster struck.  The fire department at Westminster City Council pronounced that the sets did not meet fire safety requirements.  The designs were adjusted to meet the required standards, but designer Jurgen Rose refused to allow his designs to be modified.

The Royal Ballet substituted a production of Cranko's full-length The Taming of the Shrew and remarkably the curtain went up on  Wednesday, 16 February 1977, with Merle Park, Lesley Collier, David Wall and Wayne Eagling in the leading roles.  The entire substitution had taken place within weeks - an amazing challenge of production and rehearsal.

It was not until 2001 that Ross Stretton brought Onegin into the repertoire of the Royal Ballet.

On a similar topic, I saw a performance of the ballet Onegin at the ROH in 2004, with its Act III polonaise drawn from Tchaikovsky's opera Cherevichki.  Just one day later I heard the same music again, as I attended a performance of Cherevichki at the Garsington Opera Festival.

I read somewhere that the Scottish Ballet version omits Katharina Schratt's song.  This seems a pity to me, as this is one of the highlights in an evening of dramatic irony.

Kenneth MacMillan noted that many operas have a ballet divertissement and he wanted to move in the opposite direction by inserting a song divertissement into a ballet.

Her song is about taking leave of a beloved and reflecting that in life there are more departures than reunions.  The refrain "Leb wohl, ich scheide" - "Farewell, I am leaving" is prophetic of the impending finale of the ballet.

Katharina Schratt is the mistress of Emperor Franz Josef and her position is sufficiently official that the Empress Elisabeth presents the Emperor with a portrait of Schratt on his birthday.  Throughout the song, Countess Larisch is flirting on the side with Rudolf - but in contrast to Katharina Schratt, her position is officially frowned up and suppressed.  Sauce for the goose, but not sauce for the gander.