SheilaC

The Robbins triple bill opened last week and I saw three performances. At a time when we are all frustrated at the selection of ballets by the Royal Ballet it is heartening that the newish artistic director of the Paris Opera Ballet chose this bill, well balanced with contrasting ballets, and honouring a choreographer who worked with the company for over 20 years, rehearsing 12 of his ballets there.

The first ballet, En Sol, to Ravel's Concerto in G, is a good opener, light and bright, with lots of fast movement representing swimming and beach games, and a meaty pas de deux in the middle. Like Ashton's, Robbins' choreography looks much simpler and technically easier than it actually is, in particular some of the partnering is quite tricky. Leonore Baulac and Germain Louvet coped well with all the demands but, surprisingly, Hugo Marchand coped slightly less well with the partnering of Hannah O'Neill.

The middle ballet was In the Night. The first three dances are pas de deux and it was interesting to compare how well they looked on the Garnier's vast stage compared to the much smaller stage in Aix. The Royal Ballet's excuse for not presenting some of the earlier Ashton works and other ballets from its past is that the main stage is too big for them; yet In the Night, a seemingly small scale piece, benefits from being on a larger stage, which rather undermines that argument. The dancers were largely the same as in Aix. I found Myriam Ould-Braham  and Paul Marque (he was paired with Sae Eun Park at a different performance) particularly moving as the first couple, he was very expressive especially in the use of his back; and Dorothee Gilbert and Hugo Marchand dramatically moving as the third couple. All performances were well received but the middle one attracted the orchestrated clapping that is now much less common in Paris than in the past. The Royal Ballet danced this ballet quite a lot before Covid, it would be great if they could do it again soon.

Another ballet that the Royal used to do was The Concert, a rare comedic ballet that remains funny no matter how often you see it. The key role of the ballerina was created on Tanaquil LeClerq, Robbins' muse (and Balanchine's last wife), apparently a wonderful comedienne; Lynn Seymour was brilliantly funny in the role. At the three performances, the dancer who impressed me most was Leonore Baulac, one of my favourite dancers in classic roles, but hilarious in this one. The least successful performance was the one where the dancers were less experienced, it is a ballet where performance skills matter more than dance technique. But in that performance a dancer I had admired in Aix, Clara Mousseigne, took on the role of the angry girl in spectacles, at first she didn't get the timing (so crucial in comedy) quite right but as the performance developed her confidence grew and she was very funny. She has very recently been promoted to 'Sujet' (soloist) so it may be one of the first roles she has taken. 

So, a good mix: pure dance, exploration of romantic relationships, comic sendup, all to wonderful music.

Yes, Ondine, and when the Bolshoi came in 1956 it was the only theatre outside the South East where they performed. More recently I saw the Bolshoi there about 30 years ago. It is the biggest theatre in the NE, with a huge stalls. It was frequently full when BRB used to dance there more frequently. Nureyev danced there on his final tour; the press reported booing but the report was exaggerated.

50 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

I'm sorry to hear that she's (probably) retired from dancing. Partly because I would have liked to see her again & partly because that means BRB now doesn't have any British female Principals.

I'm sure you mean you'd like to see her dance again, Dawnstar, but it's possible she may continue performing in character roles as teaching/rehearsing staff in BRB often do so. So she could appear as queens in the classics etc.

I actually saw her as a student at Yorkshire Ballet Seminars, as they were then called, before she joined BRB and loved her arabesque. More recently, before Covid, I watched her teach at Yorkshire Summer School.

The BRB website doesn't seem to be updated. It still lists Samara Downs as a principal but I think she's stopped dancing, having moved into repetiteur work after completing a notation qualification (this isn't listed, either).

One sure thing about the casting, it will feature starrier names than the tour they take to Sunderland! But it's a wonderful production, well worth seeing whoever dances. And of course there are lots of solo roles for dancers, both established and up and coming.

Sorry to highjack this thread but I'm not sure it's worth setting up a new one. Or perhaps a mod could retitle this one so that it refers to radio programmes relevant to ballet in general?

I have been listening to a fascinating programme on Radio 3's Composer of the Week, Errollyn Wallen. In today's episode she talks about her love for ballet and how she trained for a while with the Dance Theater of Harlem, where one of her teachers was none other than Tanaquil LeClercq; she felt so privileged to have that indirect link to Balanchine. She also refers to some of the ballets she has composed for.

A reminder to Fille fanatics that general booking for the Paris Opera Ballet opens tomorrow.

Fille : March 15 - April 6

Giselle : May 2 - June 1

and for those whose passion for Don Q might need a further dose,  Don Q : March 23 to April 14

Just now, SheilaC said:

Why on earth isn’t Cesar cast as the prince?  Has he left the company? Is he injured? Arguably the best danseur noble, not only in BRB but in the country.

Sorry, I should have given his full name, Cesar Morales.

Why on earth isn’t Cesar cast as the prince?  Has he left the company? Is he injured? Arguably the best danseur noble, not only in BRB but in the country.

At the end of September I was lucky enough to catch three performances by the Paris Opera Ballet in Aix en Provence. The company has an outreach programme, like the one the Royal Ballet has had in Doncaster, using a couple of junior dancers from the company to engage with young people in Aix, to get them dancing, and culminating in a number of performances in the splendid newish Grand Theatre de Provence.

It was an exceptionally well balanced programme, starting with Grand Pas Classique (Victor Gsovsky), Robbins's In the Night, the solos and pas de deux from Balanchine's Who Cares?, all in the first part, with the second part focusing on extracts from Nureyev's Raymonda (pas de six from Act 2 and grand pas classique from Act 3). The dancers included a clutch of etoiles, Paris's principals, as well as some new up and coming dancers. There were two casts for each programme- I saw two performances of the second cast and one of the first cast.

Unfortunately the one disappointment was of two young dancers in the Grand Pas Classique. This popular piece is technically very difficult, requiring sustained control by the ballerina, especially in holding her balances, and considerable partnering skills by the male. Guillaume Diop has yet to fully develop his partnering, very obviously 'paddling' Ines Mcintosh; my companion commented that she had never noticed a dancer paying so much attention to his partner but I suspect that the best partners are unobtrusive. Nor could either cope fearlessly with the technical demands, it was a matter of getting through the steps. Hannah O'Neil had originally been announced as Diop's partner so McIntosh may not have had much chance to practise the piece. I couldn't help remembering how Sylvie used to do it, not just spectacular balances but also a witty take off of the over the top piece. In the first cast, the much more experienced Valentine Colasante and Marc Moreau coped much more successively.

Who Cares had an impressive picture of New York at the back, applauded at each performance, and the dancers of both casts seemed to enjoy dancing it as much as the audience enjoyed watching it. The male stars were Mathieu Ganio, first cast, and Marc Moreau in the second, and each had the relaxed charm and sense of swing so important to this ballet. Marine Ganio (Mathieu's sister, who has not been given as many opportunities under previous ballet directors but seems to be faring better under Jose Martinez;  also their parents were dancers in nearby Marseilles so they are local to Aix) was in both casts but taking different dances. The main women were Colasante with Ganio and Amandine Albisson with Moreau, and Bianca Scudamore was in both casts. Altogether it was enjoyable although not as fast and sassy as City Ballet do it. (The music was recorded, as were all the pieces apart from the Robbins, and all the recorded music was a bit too slow).

There was no account given of the story behind the Raymonda  excerpts so it could have been a bit confusing for many in the audience and they may have wondered who the character of Abderam was in the Act 2 excerpts- and there was surprisingly a different dancer as Raymonda in the two sections. Nureyev's choreography is typically over fussy and difficult and it looks better on a larger stage but it was good to see some classical dance. In the first cast I was delighted to see Myriam Ould-Braham and Mathias Heymann resume their partnership, which I first saw when Alexander Grant selected them for La Fille mal Gardee. Heymann's career has been blighted by many long periods of injury so it's great that he's back again. Ould-Braham is retiring in Giselle in the spring. In the other cast Sae Run Park was very reserved but her partner, Paul Marque, was spectacular. The character of Abderam was more convincingly played by Auric Bezard in the first cast whereas Antoine Kirscher looked far too young and less sinister. The second cast Raymonda were Park, again, and Bleuenn Battistoni. A soloist I don't know, Clara Mousseigne, was impressive in both casts, she has lovely epaulement and movement quality.

The main draw for me to travel so far was to see In the Night. When Robbins was alive the extraordinary dancers that Nureyev had nurtured were unparalleled in this ballet, even better, in my view, than City Ballet, but the company still does it well. My favourite of the three duets is the final, fiery one, and in this Auric Bezard conveyed the anguish superbly, with Albisson a worthy foil. The first cast had a difference balance, with Dorothee Gilbert superb as the temperamental woman and Florent Melac as her unhappy lover. The first duet, often conveyed, when the Royal used to do it, as by a young couple but less so with the Paris troupe, was performed by Ould-Braham and Germain Louvet in the first cast, and Sae Eun Park and Paul Marque in the second, and the middle duets by Colasante and Moreau in the first cast, and Colasante (replacing Heloise Bourdon from the announced casting) with Moreau, in the second. All performances conveyed the emotional shifts in the relationships that Robbins reveals movingly through his fluent choreography.

In The Night will be the middle ballet in the excellent Robbins triple bill that POB will be dancing later this month (the other pieces are En Sol and The Concert). I think other Forum members will be attending as I will. That is why I have given this thread the title I have, as others may want to make their comments on that programme.

I'm not sure that anyone has posted that Alina will be dancing  at the end of January and beginning of February in England- in Bath. Partnered by Matthew Ball. and with Kristen McNally and Tommy Franzen. It's a contemporary double bill of pieces by Kim Brandstrup. Jonathan Goddard is in the other work, Minotaur, which was shown at the Edinburgh Festival.

The dates have been modified- the performances I initially booked got cancelled!- but it runs 29 January to 10 February, at the Ustinov Studio, Bath Theatre Royal (one matinee, Saturday 10 February)

Yes, it is potentially a very worrying development. The amount of touring, especially to the North West and North East, has reduced significantly in recent years; yet the company is supported by tax payers across the country (admittedly the level of public support has reduced in recent years and in the present economic climate BRB may face further cuts).

But it is a national company and as such should prioritise national audiences, however much the company needs extra funds or the dancers enjoy the glamour of touring overseas.

Lucky Orlando! But what I would like to know is what and where BRB will be dancing after next April. Normally there is a short season in Birmingham in June, often, like last year, with more than usually interesting rep. This year they have not announced a summer season at their home theatre, which is presumably why the Ballet Association has been encouraged to do their annual visit in February (to see Sleeping Beauty) instead of the customary June slot. The Birmingham Hippodrome has announced a Carlos Acosta show  (On Before) in early May (6, 7); but it is not with BRB but is a Norwich Theatre and Valid Productions event, part of a short regional tour.

The last date I can find for BRB is 20 April in Bristol, at the end of their Sleeping Beauty tour.  One can only wonder if BRB is trying to organise another international tour, although I'm sure both Carlos Acosta and BRB would expect him to be with the company to front tours abroad, and the regional tour of his autobiographical show would preclude that. The BRB2 tour, a 'gala' of ballet bits and pieces mostly with young inexperienced dancers, not full ballets like the regional split tours used to have, and in a limited geographical area, scarcely compensates for the lack of the full company performing.

So what's going on?

There's a good picture in today's Guardian of Harris Beattie and Aerys Merrill in Intimate Pages. Pity the text below doesn't refer to Northern Ballet and that it claims that the ballet "will then transfer" to the Linbury theatre, as though it's in September. It's also a pity that the Guardian has chosen not to include the review in the Northern printed edition.

Silver Capricorn, how do you know about Marienela dancing Giselle? I've just checked the POB website and I can't find any casting (although one of the performances I've booked was announced, months ago, as Myriam Ould-Braham's final performance). But checking the website did me a favour as it shows to casting for the programme I'll be seeing in Aix en Provence at the end of the month).

Last night marked an important stage in Federico Bonelli's directorship of Northern Ballet, the first programme designed by him. It was a resounding success, the first showing by the company of one of the masterpieces of the last century, in my view, Hans van Manen's Adagio Hammerklavier; a world premiere by New York City Ballet dancer Tiler Peck; the revised (extended) version of Benjamin Ella's work originally created on some of his Royal Ballet colleagues.

The Tiler Peck piece, Intimate Pages, was created to Janacek's string quartet, also called Intimate Pages. Many choreographers have produced ballets to this marvellous score, most notably, for me, Christopher Bruce, for Rambert in 1984, who represented the composer's passionate but doomed love affair with a married woman (the story behind the score) and wonderfully performed by Rambert dancers who in those days were deeply expressive. Bonelli claims that this is Tiler's first dramatic, as opposed to pure dance, ballet. However the plot was not so clear to me, just a young man in relationships with various young women, but the dance was exciting, with some patterns at times that reminded me of Balanchine, and choreography for the leading man that was fast and furious. The dancers responded with lively and precise movement and Harris Beattie was outstanding in the lead.

Ben Ella's piece, Joie de Vivre, was the first piece and was an excellent opener. Created on violin and piano pieces by Sibelius, played live, as was all the music in the programme, it features three couples, with Joseph Taylor and Dominique Larose the leading couple. It kept reminding me of Robbins in the interplay between the dancers not unlike that in places in Dances at a Gathering and one lift exiting the stage was similar to one in In the Night. The dancers, who included Sarah Chun and Harris Beattie both so prominent later in Intimate Pages, danced fluently and communicated the relationships, between couples but also between the sexes, amusingly. My one reservation is that, although Sibelius is one of my favourite composers, there was insufficient variety in the pieces chosen.

The centrepiece was the van Manen ballet. It was restaged by Rachel Beaujean and Larisa Lezhnina of Dutch National Ballet (both remarkable but very different ballerinas in their day) and they and the NB team (Bonelli himself took some rehearsals, having danced with DNB before joining the Royal) have done an excellent job. The choreography requires that dancers' arms or legs are absolutely parallel in places so precise accuracy is essential but they could not be faulted. It starts very slowly, possibly too slowly for some members of the audience but it is in keeping with the wonderful music by Beethoven. All the dancers were good, but Joseph Taylor was quite outstanding in a duet with Dominique Larose, I simply couldn't imagine any other dancer doing better. The choreography was quite complicated and varied and, as always with van Manen, there were emotional undercurrents in the relationship, but he conveyed them all with great clarity. Remarkable for a first performance. I just hope Kevin O'Hare will be inspired to bring back van Manen's Four Schumann Pieces, created on Dowell, Collier, Penney and Eagling; he was at the performance and is even listed as supporting the production of Adagio Hammerklavier.

So, altogether a very good evening. Ideally an even more varied programme, for example with a more dramatic piece, might balance and contrast the dance emphasis. But the choreography was good, testing the dancers and giving them an opportunity to demonstrate just what good dancers they are now. On the surface the bill demonstrated what a good position the company is in, artistically and in dance standards; but as for other companies the current economic climate poses a threat.  I'm sure all of you who can see the bill at the Linbury will enjoy it. I liked it so much I'd like to book an extra performance; but as my final train home was cancelled, I may not risk another evening performance and just stick with the matinee next Saturday.

I caught the closing few seconds of an interview with Robert Battle of AAADT on last night’s In Tune on R3, about 45 minutes in. I’ve not had a chance to hear it on Sounds yet but the interviewer’s comments suggested that it was a very interesting discussion which I’ll listen to before I go to performances.

Last Friday’s Last Word had a 10 minute account of Johaar Mosaval’s career by a South African contributor, about 10 minutes in on Sounds

Are there ever returns for Insights? I desperately want to go (loved Nijinska's autobiography, such a pity the promised second volume never materialised, and love Les Noces and Les Biches).  But as a basic Friend my chance of getting a ticket is probably nil. I need to know in plenty of time to book train tickets before the prices get astronomical. If I thought there was a chance of a return I could book my train ticket sooner.

9 hours ago, alison said:

Maybe the people who would be in a position to do that are on holiday or something?

Given his age, his death was no surprise. A company-related obituary could have been prepared in advance (as happens with newspapers). But the current administration of BRB has little interest in its rich history.

It's good that they refer to his death but it's lazy, almost disrespectful, just to tag another organisation's piece, fascinating though his personal account is. The very least that BRB could do is give an account of his long career with the company in its previous forms, discussing the major contribution he made to the company. 

2 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Reading this, I noticed this sentence "He became a principal dancer in 1960 and a senior principal in 1965." Did the RB used to have multiple levels of principals, like ENB does now?

My impression is that there are quite a few inaccuracies in the obituaries, Dawn. I haven't had time to check my records but I think it's unlikely there was that status. I'm not sure it's completely clear in the obits that it was the touring group that he mostly danced for. To pick up a recent discussion the demi-caractere strengths of Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet/ RB Touring Group were particularly suited to his talents.

He was a wonderful dance artist, beautiful dancer, very moving actor in roles such as Jasper in Pineapple Poll and in The Lady and the Fool. His career was affected by apartheid even once he got to England as South Africa refused to let him perform when the Royal Ballet touring group planned going to South Africa ( similar to what happened to the cricketer Basil D'Oliveira).

5 hours ago, alison said:

Thanks, Ondine.  Lady MacMillan makes some very interesting points at about 20 minutes in, and for those who have always been bemused/revolted at The Judas Tree there's some very enlightening information at around 33 minutes.

I'm not fully convinced.  I was at the opening night of The Judas Tree and was absolutely appalled. I spoke to Monica Mason in the interval and several other women joined us. I said that such graphic violence against women was wrong, that there would be women in the audience who had been raped who would be in shock- as I was, I was shaking, even though I haven't suffered rape- and that many men would also be shocked. My husband wasn't there but he always refused to see the ballet, even on the video that I bought that included it. Monica Mason told me and the other women that many of the female dancers were very upset by it. Later that night I wrote to Jeremy Isaacs, Director of the ROH, saying that the audience shouldn't be paying for MacMillan's psychoanalysis on stage.

Deborah MacMillan's explanation is interesting but doesn't explain the immediate impact when one first sees the ballet and, from a psychoanalytic perspective, one could regard the explanation as rationalisation. I should add that I was great admirer of MacMillan, including of The Invitation, the first ballet to depict rape on the stage, despite De Valois's reservations. I have seen the ballet since the premiere, the impact is now less and I think some of the choreography is really good; but my analysis remains.

This interview with Luke Ahmet is well worth watching - I saw it live. Luke makes some interesting comments on the many choreographers he has worked with- MacMillan, Bruce, and others, including, at one remove, the great Bob Cohan - and how one learns a role in more depth and more intimately (my words) choreography  that has been created with, or learned from, the choreographer. His sincerity and integrity are deeply impressive.

2 hours ago, art_enthusiast said:

 

Thank you!

Do you have any general recommendations for Stockholm? It would be my first time there as well - albeit only for a few days!

 

I'm really interested in the history of arts/ballet there in general.

The ballet museum (Dansmuset) is very close to the theatre, on a shopping street. It is fairly small but has a wide variety of photos and objects from a long historical arc. In particular there is a permanent exhibition with a lot of information on Ballets Suedois (the 1920s Swedish ballet company that performed a lot in Paris). When I went last autumn there was a very interesting exhibition on Nureyev but I think it was not a permanent one. There is a small shop and good cafe. (The other museums I went to included one devoted to Abba (my daughter is a fan) on an island that has several museums, a short ferry ride from the Old Town and quite close to the theatre. On the island we also went to the Viking museum (much better than the Yorvik in York). Unfortunately I suffered with severe tooth ache so didn't visit quite as many museums as we might have done. Wandering around the old town is a cultural experience in itself. There were interesting photos at the theatre of old productions, a dispersed mini-exhibition.