FLOSS

I was not particularly sophisticated but I had the advantage of innocent ears and no preconceived ideas about what ballet music should sound like in addition I was also exploring opera. As a result I have no problems with Stravinsky or Schoenberg. The one composer who I find a right royal pain is Minkus whose ballet scores are for me little better than so much aural wallpaper. If I had been put off ballet it would have been as a result of the pieces that were in the repertory of the experimental group that MacMillan in his infinite wisdom decided should replace the old touring company. The fact is that with the exception of Monotones II, which is a masterpiece, the works being performed on that tour were earnest and dull. I was lucky in that I had seen the old touring company and the main company and as a result I knew that Lazarus and the rest of experimental works were not typical of the ballet repertory.If that had been my first experience of ballet I would like to think that the Ashton work would have convinced me of the worth of ballet as an art form but it would have been a close run thing. MacMillan disbanded the touring company because the Opera House Board, which was in financial difficulties, had decided that it was too expensive to run. In its place MacMillan set up the small experimental group to tour the provinces.What I find strange about this is that it does not seem to have occurred to anybody to find out what the audience might like to see. I have always wondered how many people were put off ballet as a result of this change in artistic direction. It is noticeable that Lazarus never became part of the repertory. My regular ballet going started right at the end of the Ashton directorship.During MacMillan's directorship it was said by the "regulars" that it was MacMillan's ambition to get rid of them and have new ballet audience.It was never clear to me where this new audience was going to come from but it did strike me that with the experimental group I had had a brush with what MacMillan wanted for his company and the house. You might say that I had seen the future and it did not work.The one thing that ballet goers of the 1970's would have found strange about later developments is the reduction in the repertory, the neglect of Ashton's works particularly Fille which was performed annually and the over reliance placed the nineteenth century full length ballets to put bottoms on seats. If you had told any of the 1970's" regulars" that the Royal Ballet would in due course acquire La Bayadere and Don Quixote they would not have believed you. I somehow feel that it was not what MacMillan had in mind either.

My first visit to the ballet was a birthday present from an "honorary aunt" , My mother and I were staying with her in Oxford when she announced that this year she was giving me a present that we would all enjoy. The present was a ticket to see a performance by Ballet Rambert" as it was called in those days. It was a triple bill that included Tetley's Pierrot Lunnaire with Christopher Bruce and I think, Anthony Tudor's Judgement of Paris, Dark Elegies came later. The performances were wonderful. The following year I was in Russia on a school trip and we were taken to the Opera (Eugene Onegin) and the Ballet The Stone Flower. Even then with my theatre going experience somewhat limited and my ballet experience that single outing in Oxford I recognised that a great deal of the score was used in exposition and that an awful lot of story was crammed into the rest. I have no idea who I saw dance. When I was a student I saw the Royal Ballet Touring Company when they came to Oxford,this was before the company was disbanded by MacMillan at the behest of the Opera House Board, and as a result I. saw a lot of the older repertory including Cranko's The Lady and the Fool, with the original designs,The Rake's Progress, Pineapple Poll with Brenda Last and Les Patineurs. At one performance it was announced that due to indisposition the originally announced Blue Boy was to be replaced by Mr Brian Shaw I knew so little I had no idea who he was. So far so good. Then the Touring Company was replaced by a smaller experimental group . Along with a lot of other people I booked for this new group. They performed a series of short ballets, that in itself was not a problem as the old company had performed mixed bills to a very appreciative audience,the problem was with the ballets themselves which were incredibly boring. There was a ballet called Lazarus From Waking Death I do not now recall whether this was a single ballet with a long title or two separate works all I recall is that they were earnest and went on interminably.I recall that the audience at. the Playhouse seemed to be switching off and all making a mental note not to go again when suddenly we were presented with a real ballet Ashton's Monotones II with at least two of the original cast. If that had not been on the programme I might have given up on ballet. So now I decided that I needed to see the company at the Opera House we booked fora Swan Lake matinee and we got David Wall and Doreen Wells ( I felt a bit cheated by this as I could see them with the Touring Company) and a Sleeping Beauty matinee which was danced by Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell,the rest as they say is history.

It was wonderful to see such an assured retelling of The Winters Tale in dance form. Unlike Alice, which is an entertainment, this is a real ballet.It will be interesting to see what it looks like after the Canadian performances. I assume that we will see it again in the 2015-2016 season.., Will Mr Wheeldon take the opportunity to make a few slight alterations such as cutting the Bohemian jollifications and slightly extending the recognition scene? The Bohemian scene feels too long. Is this because it is over long or because the choreography does not provide enough contrast in movement and style ? Strangely I did not feel this quite so much with the second cast Perdita and Florizel who took a more lyrical approach to the choreography so perhaps it is a question of lack of stylistic contrast between the choreography for the corps and the young lovers. The final section of the Bohemian scene for the corps could do with a rethink as could the final pas de deux for Perdita and Florizel which after several viewings, with both casts. still seems to strain for originality and as a result looks awkward rather than stunningly original. On the other hand the recognition scene seems to end abruptly rather than coming to a natural conclusion. While this scene is not as important as the statue scene, it is significant as the restoration of Leontes' lost heir is evidence of his partial redemption.[ In the play it is also the fulfillment of the oracle's words that the king will live without an heir until that which is lost is found ]. Having said all that, this is the best new work that we have had since the days of Ashton and MacMillan. Suddenly things look a lot brighter choreographically.

Some of the casting that we have had this season such as Hay and Hayward in Rhapsody and some of the casts announced for next season show that O'Hare is embarking on developing the company from within. If he continues with this policy then we must accept that not every principal,among those who are established in a particular role, will automatically be cast in every revival of a ballet and that indisposed principals will be replaced by dancers from the lower ranks of the company. I for one shall not complain if the replacements dance as well as Choe and Takada have done during this run of performances. As far as last night's performance is concerned Don Q fan really has said all that needs to be said about it except that Matthew Golding appears to have a problem with the fish dives as something very similar happened during Cuthbertson's second Sleeping Beauty again with the third fish dive.

As far as Saturday is concerned while it is disappointing that Osipova will not be dancing it is the prospect of sitting through another Golding performance that is making me feel less than enthusiastic about my next visit to Covent Garden. "Strong technique" and "lack of nuance" are two ways of describing what his performances have been like so far. As to Osipova's replacement, surely the decision about who should replace a particular dancer has to be based on ability rather than status and title. As the company is in the run up to the premiere of a new work rehearsal time must be at a premium so a dancer's availability will no doubt also be a .factor At present Choe is not a principal although many people clearly believe that she has been displaying all the qualities of a principal dancer and turning in performances at that level for some time..If the company were always to replace a principal dancer with another principal it would not necessarily result in performances of comparable quality since not everyone shines in every role. But it would mean that we were deprived of fine performances by dancers performing at principal level for whom, for whatever reason, there is no place in the rosta of principals. If Choe were to be promoted to principal between now and Saturday would that suddenly make her a suitable replacement for Osipova? After all she would be the same dancer.

Well I do not know what " the conventions of narrative ballet" are either but in the news McGregor's new work was described as challenging them. Does anyone else recall if the announcement of the Royal Ballet's programme for the following year has warranted mention on the six o'clock news in the in the past or coverage on the 7.15 arts programme ? It would be lovely to think that this is all part of the BBC taking the arts, particularly ballet, seriously but it feels like hype to me.

The Company has to break even at the end of the year and the full lengths subsidize the mixed bills.The mixed bills may be full but It would be interesting to know how many of the audience for the mixed bills go to more than one performance of a particular programme . Mixed bills are not necessarily cheap to mount.I can recall hearing Monica Mason saying on a number of occasions that it was all very well writing to her to ask for revivals of Les Noces, Song of the Earth, Gloria and Requiem but they we some of the most expensive ballets to programme because of the singers .Personally I am very happy that they are reviving Song of the Earth and nine performances in two separate bills months apart will at least enable those who wish to see MacMillan's masterpiece to do so. I suppose I should not complain about a season that includes revivals of Symphonic Variations and Scenes de Ballet but even with this and the revival of Fille I still feel that they do not perform enough Ashton .There should be at least one Ashton full length each year as well more than one Ashton mixed bill. I wonder when are they going to revive Daphnis and Chloe another expensive work because of the chorus. As far as the new McGregor is concerned I shall go and see it but without great enthusiasm.I do hope that he has learnt from Raven Girl,which seemed to go on interminably, that saying that you are making a narrative work and doing so successfully are two very different things. In fact I am more than a little surprised that O'Hare is prepared to gamble on giving him the opportunity to make a full length work given the cost of such an enterprise in time and money. I found it interesting to hear this new work being announced on Radio 4 news last night. I do not recall either Ashton or MacMillan having that sort of publicity given to them. It is apparently going to challenge the accepted conventions of narrative ballet so if it is concept laden and short on interesting choreography especially for the corps that will be because it is a challenging work not because he can not make narrative works. out his works as heritage works and call them twentieth century classics

Where have the tickets offered to the Patrons when Osipova was unable to dance her first scheduled Beauty come from? The performance in question is supposedly sold out with only the day tickets left. I cannot see them offering rear amphi tickets to such exalted people. I have to say that when I think of some of the substitute casts that I have had the misfortune of seeing in the past seeing Choe in Beauty four times seems like getting off lightly. On a lighter note I recall a run of performances of Giselle by Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet.at Sadlers Wells where, as a result of the indisposition of the other dancers scheduled to dance Albrecht, Desmond Kelly danced the Friday night performance and both performances on the Saturday, each of them with a different Giselle , and all equally good. He must have been exhausted by the end of the Saturday night performance but he certainly did not show it.

Mr O.Hare also needs to think about developing his younger dancers in a more consistent way. So we do not have Mr X or Mr Y as flavour of the month for part of the season and then disappearing until, in the following season, they get pushed on at short notice as a result of injury or illness.This is not a recent problem but one that goes back years.The touring company was established in the early 1950's to provide an opportunity for talented young dancers to learn roles and develop away from London critics and for young choreographers to experiment and learn It would be nice to think that this sort of development plan could be put in place at the Opera House but the scheduling would be horrendous and it so much easier to ensure that the company breaks even financially by programming lengthy runs of the nineteenth century classics and Romeo and Juliet than it is to restore works like those listed by James as regular repertory pieces.After all Fille is no longer programmed regularly and it now has to be advertised because too few people know about it. Ballets like Two Pigeons and Les Patineurs are ideal for developing younger dancers so is Boutique Fantasque, amongst other things because the great performances of many of these ballets are sufficiently in the past for new casts not to feel intimidated by the weight of history or to have too much pressure placed on them by having to carry a lengthy role for a whole evening. But I fear that such works are regarded as too old fashioned to be programmed on a regular basis. "Heritage works " except those by MacMillan are not that highly regarded. In an interview that Belinda Hatley gave some time ago she made a number of important points about British dancers and their development. One was that unlike dancers from abroad British dancers suffer from a feeling of not being good enough. Also while the company may accept the appointment of an occasional outstanding principal dancer from outside it is not good for morale if outsiders are appointed at all levels. And yet such appointments now seem to take place as a matter of course. Something needs to be done but I do not expect that much from tomorrow's announcement as far as company development is concerned. If were a gambler I would put money on Raven Girl being revived quite simply because of the amount of space that has been given to exhibiting the costumes and other items connected with the ballet which are clearly intended to create an audience for it. Once you add the ballets that we know will be performed because it has been announced that they will be televised and you factor in a revival of a Winters Tale .it does not really leave room for much else

At the moment the emphasis in the classics seems to be on technique for its own sake rather than as a means to an artistic end.Call me old fashioned but I don't see Beauty as simply an excuse to balance on pointe for as long as you can regardless of what the music and the choreographic text really allow, nor do I see Swan Lake as merely about thirty two fouettes although an increasing proportion of the audience seem to see these ballets in those terms. In Beauty if the dancer throws too much technique at the rose adagio then there is no sense of maturing and development and the act 3 grand pas de deux is no longer the high point of the ballet but an anti climax. It is strange how many otherwise admirable dancers fail to understand this.I do not think that it is the coach's fault. It depends on how prepared the individual being coached is to listen to and take on board what he or she is being told. So it must be the dancers themselves and their adoring and sometimes uncritical fans who encourage technical excesses at the expense of artistry. After all if one dancer feels able to challenge a choreographer on the basis that his choice of lift is of no account when the dancer has chosen to do something different then how much more difficult it must be to rein dancers in when they want to add to the text of a long dead choreographer in order to achieve a showy and crowd pleasing effect.

If you go to the ballet or opera regularly you come to accept that you are not always going to see the artists that you booked for. Sometimes you get a cast that much more interesting than the originally advertised.I for one shall be interested to see Marienella and Vadim . While I should like to see Osipova this week I shall be quite satisfied if she is again replaced by Choe or Takada both of whom made very good debuts. I am not so keen on seeing Golding again. While Vadim made every part of the prince's choreography including the act 2 variation,the boat journey and the section searching for Aurora seem absolutely essential to the ballet I am afraid that I found Golding dull and uninvolving.Indeed it has been very interesting comparing the two men and their approach to this particular princely role which is famously cardboard unless the dancer has the artistry to turn it into something. Vadim danced his act 2 solo as if every movement meant something and that it was there to enable him to show us that the prince was yearning for something or someone rather than being a series of technical challenges to be surmounted. With Golding it was as if he did not see it as anything other than a series of choreographic traps waiting to ensnare the unwary male dancer and as such an obstacle to be overcome rather than an opportunity to tell the audience more about the prince. After all Ashton added it to the Royal's version of Beauty to flesh out the prince not as a trap.

My wishes for next season may seem very modest . More Ashton not just Rhapsody,Dream and Month but regular performances of his full length works. Ashton's works always cast according to suitability rather than seniority. Fille restored to its pre Grant state. Perhaps the current owner of the ballet could be persuaded to let Brenda Last be involved in the revival, after all she danced more performances of Lise than Nerina, and Ashton trusted her to mount his ballets. It would help if a real effort was made to cast dancers who can do the clog dance as Simone. A serious effort made to instill a real appreciation and understanding of the Ashton style throughout the company which of course means working on flexibility, musicality and epaulement. As far as Swan Lake is concerned if we are finally going to have a new production then a restoration of all the Ashton choreography including the fourth act would be wonderful but I imagine that we will have to be satisfied with losing the stools and the the maypole.

The Sleeping Beauty was never a story ballet. It belongs to a genre of ballet that was quite popular at the the end of the nineteenth century,particularly in western Europe, the ballet feerie (fairy ballet), a tenuous story as an excuse for dancing. It is interesting to note that the complaints about the ballet's lack of a strong story line go back to the original 1890 production when conservative Russian balletomanes questioned whether it was really a ballet at all. It was not just the music, they objected to because it was too symphonic, but the lack of a suitable dramatic plot which failed to provide motivation for dancing. One critic summarised the plot "They dance, fall asleep and dance again" and another suggested that it should not be called a ballet feerie but a diorama and exhibit of costumes and props. The point that I am trying to make is that there are no bits of missing choreography that would turn this work into a narrative ballet I know that when I first began to watch full length ballets I found the corps work far less interesting than the sections danced by the principal dancers but as time went on, as I learnt more about ballet, I became more and more interested in the choreography and overall structure of the nineteenth century classics that de Valois acquired for her company in the nineteen thirties. So for me there are no sections of choreographic dross that could trimmed without causing damage to the ballet. Cut it to the highlights and you have Aurora's Wedding.A cut down version of Sleeping Beauty that Diaghilev mounted in Paris after the financial failure of his production of the Sleeping Princess at the Alhambra in 1921. As Nijinska was employed as choreographer and dancer for the 1921 revival I have always assumed that the third act fish dives were first seen in that production along with the three Ivans (who were lasted sighted in the Ashton Sleeping Beauty ) and a curly finger version of the fifth fairy variation. As far as I am concerned I would much prefer to see a fuller version of the ballet with all the dances for the beginning of act 2.or at least all that were in the 1977 production. I should much prefer to see one of the Ashton garland dances. If it was possible I should love the opportunity to see his first version as I understand from those who have seen both that his original version was better than his second one. Either would be better than the Wheeldon versions. As to why there have been a number of different garland dances I have always assumed that it is because that is one of the few sections of the ballet that can have new choreography without doing too much damage to the overall text of the ballet. After all the Sleeping Beauty has played such an important part in the history of the company that I doubt any one in their right mind would want to tamper with it.in any major way. Sorry but although the BRB production has some nice touches it is the main company's version that I want to see. If I want to see an updated version suited to modern tastes I just have to wait until the Bolshoi or Maryinsky come to London then I will be able to see versions which have most of the "boring" bits removed in the name of being true to Petipa's spirit but not alas to his choreography. As for the two casts that have danced in the current revival I thought that both Cuthbertson and Lamb were particularly fine. McRae was outstanding but I am not totally convinced that his choice of variation was quite princely enough. As for Matthew Golding I have now seen him as a guest with the company in La Bayadere, in Le Corsaire with ENB and now in Sleeping Beauty and while he has a strong technique I am not convinced that he is such a great acquisition for the Royal Ballet His partenering was good but his third act variation was not elegant enough for me.I do not hold it against him that he was not very good in the Rudi moody solo in act 2. That particular Ashton solo has been the downfall of many otherwise fine princes. But he had the misfortune of appearing in the same performance as James Hay who is one of the most elegant Bluebirds that I have seen. Like Francesca Hayward Hay has good arms. Perhaps if he had a less elegant more demi character Bluebird in his cast I might have found him better than I did.