A frog

Strictly speaking it's the Spring season, but in case some didn't know (based on how many tickets are still left it might be the case), Draft Works went on sale today, apparently for all friends level at the same time. This year they're centred around Giselle, http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/draft-works-in-the-clore-reimagining-giselle-by-joshua-beamish

Was the Anna-Nicole Smith opera well received?

 

The first run was sold out, and I don't remember that they had to discount tickets then. I don't remember reviews being particularly ecstatic (personally I thought once was more than enough, there wasn't much wrong with it, it just wasn't very interesting). The revival was pretty poorly attended I believe, and I do remember discounts for that run.

Regarding the ENO generally, I'll go if they do something that was originally written in English or that I'm unlikely to see anywhere, but otherwise, I don't see why I'd go see something that isn't in the original language or my native tongue. There are a lot of non-British people in London, they are cutting themselves from this audience (and tourists as well).

Oh nooooo!!! Ive checked and they are indeed all sold out - bad for me but great for the company.  Hopefully they will do it again soon or tour it?

If you're interested in the ballet more than the company, the La Scala ballet is dancing it in Paris in November: http://www.viparis.com/viparisFront/do/manifestation/palais-des-congres-paris/LAC+CYGNES+-+SCALA+MILAN=12927. Tickets are still available.

Aileen, they're doing Swan Lake and La Sylphide.

Here's a link to the whole season https://www.operadeparis.fr/saison-16-17/ballet (the one Bruce provided was only for creations or new to the company stuff).

La Sylphide (sic! ... a new production?)

They've had it in the repertoire since the 70s.

I'm guessing the popularity of the bill has a lot to do with how little there is left in the season that would appeal to a more casual audience (Giselle is already sold out), the performances sold out are weekend ones and/or have Osipova dancing, that will also help sell tickets.

Isn't it plural because Les Sylphides is plural?

I would keep it singular as it's just one ballet, un nouveau Les Sylphides, but I suppose that could also be the case. Though I still read from his various comments that he wanted to improve the classical standards.

An attempt at translating (la Restauration de l'Ancien Régime) probably only muddied things up; it's meant to evoke the return to the monarchy after the Revolution (and First Empire).

Your post made me double-check how I understood his quote, but it wouldn't be nouvelles (plural) for a new ballet, he was hoping for more dancers being able to dance the parts properly (I'm guessing Giselle stayed in the singular as he found enough dancers being able to dance it to have a run this year already).

I doubt he would have done away with all hierarchy (though who knows? He after all wanted to bypass the competitions altogether), I'm guessing he was rather hoping to put an end to some associated behaviour from the people at the top that I can all too well picture and must have come as a bit of a shock to someone who left France so long ago.

I have no doubt Aurélie Dupont will be a better fit for the culture of POB, but as the Nouvel Obs put it in their article, it feels like the Restoration of the Old Regime and a refusal to accept an outside look. And even there, Joshua Hoffalt's words in a comment piece ("We'll give her a chance... Like we did for Benjamin") don't sound too hopeful.

I haven't seen anything anywhere that confirms he was fired, it seems he had mentioned to Stéphane Lissner he was considering quitting a few months ago.

I also understand his "Du coup, je vais en programmer énormément dès l'an prochain: j'ai envie de nouvelles Sylphides, d'une nouvelle Giselle, montées au plus près des artistes qui en détiennent encore le sens." to mean he wanted to correct the defiencies in the classical repertoire by having the dancers do more of it so they regain the level they should have, after all the last part means he wants to involve artists who still understand these parts in helping train the dancers.

He may have preferred contemporary to classical, but he definitely didn't want to give up on the classical side.

His public pronouncements might have been inelegant (and I can't judge given that the only performances I've seen by POB lately were contemporary or with guests (though I wasn't too impressed by the corps in La Bayadere)), but the posters on Dansomanie seem to overall agree with him and point the irony of having the dancers most loudly complaining about him being the ones who apparently can't actually do the steps properly.

Also, I don't see anything wrong with him complaining the hierarchy leads to junior dancers being mistreated by those higher in the hierarchy. And even if it is something he witnessed at NYCB (that there is hierarchy there doesn't mean the day to day relationships would be the same), that doesn't mean he was happy with it, a director is in a better position to change this than one dancer among many.

I didn't much care for this from the BBC website:

 

"He also said the ballet was not as "excellent" as it claimed to be, but added that its troupe could be "perhaps the best modern dance group in the world"."

 

What the heck is this with wanting to turn ballet companies into modern dance groups? Ballet companies and modern dance groups are different - you wouldn't expect a modern dance group to suddenly mount a production of Petipa's Swan Lake, so why expect ballet companies to combine top-level ballet with top-level modern dance? Quite apart from anything else, we keep hearing about how this is one of the reasons that dancers are getting injured so often. If this guy wanted to run a modern dance group, why didn't he go and find a modern dance group to run, rather than finding a major ballet company and trying to turn it into something completely different. There's no reason to expect that a ballet company would be the best modern group in the world, given the number of already outstanding groups, it just sounds like an excuse for him to do something he wanted to do anyway.

The BBC is mistranslating the quote, assuming the version in the Le Monde article is correct (I haven't seen the documentary, but that's also how it was reported in other French outlets), what he said was "the company isn't the best classical troupe, but it is the best contemporary one". And while his appointment wasn't going to reverse the classical/modern balance of the company, it is something that predates him, the company after all already had in its repertoire pieces by Pina Bausch, Anne Teresa de Keersmaker, Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek, or Angelin Prejlocaj (and probably a few more I don't remember).

If anything his complaint that the company didn't have the standards required for classical dance while probably unwise to phrase so bluntly in public was something he wanted to correct (that documentary also saw him complain that the dancer didn't seem to be having fun when dancing something classical).

Another article from Le Monde with a few more details about the background: http://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2016/02/04/benjamin-millepied-va-t-il-quitter-l-opera-de-paris_4858949_3246.html

For those who don't understand, the highlights: French Karl Paquette (and one would assume many others in the company) took very badly comments from Millepied about the lack of excellence of the company in the classical repertoire (a repertoire BM doesn't sound all that interested in). Beyond there seem to have been a culture clash with both sides not too happy with the other, he found the organisation too static, they complained he wanted to shake things up too much.

That article sounds rather more critical of him than the company, but if as it states BM was complaining that some dancers were missing class once or twice a week, I find it hard to defend the dancers here, and the change he made to La Bayadère (no longer have the children perform in blackface) sound overdue to me. 

Can anyone advise in more detail about the sightlines, and how they compare to the restricted view seats at the ROH?

I can't give specific advice, but every seat on the website has a picture of the view as you pick it.

Thank you, let's wait for POB to announce 2016-17 then.

Bruce, do you know when ABT will be in Paris (and where)? I can't find anything.

Wow Bruce, that's dedication. Though I can't say I wouldn't do the same if I could get the time off.

And tickets are now on sale on the site for the Chatelet http://chatelet-theatre.com/  (and I assume other places as well).

Programme has now been announced, http://www.lesetesdeladanse.com/edition-2016-2/programme-calendrier/ the links to buy tickets don't work yet though.

No one is supposed to have XP anymore, Microsoft stopped supporting it almost two years ago (there are no longer any security updates, the longer it is kept the more it will be susceptible to hacking and viruses)

At least this piece won't be criticised for how the female dancers are being physically manipulated by their partners.

Thank you Bruce, I had tweeted the Chatelet and NYCB, but so far without any reply.

Has there been more information available? I can't find anything and Eurostar tickets are getting more expensive by the day.

 

 

As far as repertory is concerned I don't think that the balance between old and new works is right nor do I think that the balance between the Ashton and MacMillan repertory is right.If the RB still regards itself as a classical ballet company then the AD will need to appoint dancers to the rank of Principal who are able to dance the classics well. In order to do that the dancers need to have the opportunity to dance them As the company can not be expected to restrict itself to the classics then it should at least be dancing works which are as technically demanding as the classics and which provide no opportunity to substitute emoting for dancing.This would mean more performances of a wider range of Ashton works each season and performing more of MacMillan's pure dance works and rather fewer performances of his one act and full length dance dramas.Wayne MacGregor's works would receive the eight to ten performances which the Ashton repertory receives in most seasons.Choice of repertory is central to the future of both the company and the dancer's in it. At some point O'Hare is going to have to decide whether his company is a classical company which occasionally dabbles in modern dance or whether it is a modern dance company which occasionally dabbles in classical dance. It can not go on trying to be all things to all people.

McGregor currently gets eight to twelve performances a year, I appreciate that for his detractors it is already too much, but it is currently as much as, if not less than, Ashton gets (especially if you factor in running times).

If you're planning to go to three or more performances, you can get a subscription to NYCB picking the performances you want, the tickets don't even have to be in the same price band, you'd then get a small discount. It's not avail ale on the cheapest tickets though.

When I went, I had no issue buying tickets to ABT not quite at the last minute but close, I prioritised NYCB as the ABT repertoire is quite similar to the RB's (and in the case of La Bayadère it was actually the exact same production) with even sometimes RB dancers as guests, and they tend to dance the same thing everyday for a week whereas going to NYCB three days in a row can mean three different programmes.

They're putting it politely, but they openly say they don't recognise what's on screen from their experience as dancers.