Douglas Allen

I do enjoy a good spat - though I've no intention to join in, this time. What I did want to mention was if anyone remembers the Maryinsky's presentation of the Vikharev reworking of Bayadere at Covent Garden about twenty or so years ago? It was originally billed as a reconstruction of the original, though it turned out to be nothing of the sort. Vikharev took the soviet-era reworking of the ballet (by Vaganova, Dudinskaya, Ponamarev and Chaboukiani) and slotted in as much as could be reconstructed from the Stepanov notation, which consisted largely of an additional pas d'action, some character dances and several processionals. These, together with a repositioning in the ballet of some dances for Nikya and Solor, made the evening much longer (about 45-50 minutes longer than the Makarova production) and the whole affair much statelier and grander. It made the Makarova version seem quite speedy and brisk (words not often used in connection with Makarova!). The most satisfying production, in my view, is Nureyev's for Paris. It is grand and spectacular (from memory I think the designs are by Enzo Frigiero ) and the choreography is technically demanding (much more so than in the Makarova version) and appropriate. Finally, can anyone confirm if the Royal Ballet have performed the Nureyev version of the shades act since they took the Makarova full-length version into the rep? I can't recall their doing so, but I may be mistaken.

I agree strongly with Alison's post. If the Opera House really want to extend the audience then it is stupid at the same time to make so-called economies (how much money is actually saved by not providing sufficient numbers of cast-change slips, adequate short synopses of ballets and advance information about future cast changes) which could adversely affect the quality of experience a new attender at performances might have? All the puffed-up boasting about opening -up the building and extending the range of the performances through cinema streaming become just that- shoddy boasting with no substance attached to them. Having said that, I don't blame the Royal Ballet for this. I think it is absolutely crucial to distinguish between the Royal Opera House and the Royal Ballet. All of the absurd ideas mentioned above come from departments which are part of the central administration of the Royal Opera House and not from the Royal Ballet. I think we should begin to make our feelings known, relentlessly, to the Opera House and that we expect a better performance of their work for us.

Vanartus, The Guardian announced on May 22 that Lyndsey Winship (not Winshup as I mistyped above) was to be the new dance critic following Judith Mackrell's decision to stand down. My comment was to wonder (I have no evidence) if this decision to stand down was unprompted or whether it was a Guardian wish to "refresh" (heavy irony here) its coverage of dance. As far as the replacement of/successor to Alastair Macaulay is concerned, there hasn't been any announcement though Macaulay believes someone has been identified. It can't have been a factor in the Mackrell/Winship situation from the timeline. The Guardian announcement came on May 22 (having presumably been negotiated in the weeks/months before that. According to Macaulay, the decision for him to retire (and the date) was reached during May and announced in September. Judith Mackrell may be Macaulay's successor, though it would be complicated as she is married and has a family and would involve (unless she does a John Lahr) relocation across the ocean.

In fact this review appeared in the Observer (they operate a shared website with the Guardian). As of today there hasn't been a review from Ms Winshup (the Guardian's ballet critic) either on-line or in print. The Guardian changed its ballet critic some months ago since when she has contributed very little in the way of ballet reviews either on-line or in the print edition. I am increasingly of the opinion that Judith Mackrell's departure was a Guardian decision and that from the perspective of a ballet-goer it wasn't a good one.

Thanks for this posting. It's the best and most balanced summary of the Fall season I've seen. Your comments are really appreciated and the video of de Luz' final curtain is memorable (not forgetting the useful voice-over when his mother appeared!).

You can and should have both. Would you be happy with an evening's performance of Symphonic Variations only? The brevity of this programme reinforces my concern about BRB's attitude to its audience.

Ivy Lin Many thanks for your blog. As I've been unable to get to New York for the Fall season, I was particularly grateful for your blog as your comments, asI find them, are both balanced and perceptive. (It might, of course, just mean that I tend to agree with them!!). A couple of questions, if I may; do you think the Jared Angle situation is the harbinger of a permanent decline? I ask becauseseveral other people I know have made the exact same point as you and none of them seem sure that it is temporary. I was also really pleased to hear of Reichlen in Diamonds, but I worry that this might mean that she won't be seen again (or at least not as often) as the Tall Girl. Does the interim directorship group have a policy on this sort of thing or does the current confusion mean that nothing is clearcut? Thanks for mentioning Joseph Gordon. I've thought for a while that he's one of the more promising men in the company. Are there any others worth keeping an eye on? Thanks again for the blog - they are much appreciated.

Ondine was a naiad rather than a mermaid and, hence, in possession of legs (usually two).

Jan, Your reviews are always notable for their generosity of spirit. I have to say, though, that not everyone holds Nixon's production in the same regard.

I've never seen K'Arts Ballet of Korea so nothing I'm about to say refers to that company, but another ballet about "The Little Mermaid"! Really? Has anyone , ever, seen a successful ballet featuring mermaids? I should have thought that mermaids and ballet was a truly oxymoronic idea. Mermaids must find petit battement quite difficult, not to mention rondes de jambe. Perhaps I've misunderstood and its actually an acqua ballet taking place in a large tank of water and Kimin Kim has been given a sequinned snorkel to wear.

Thanks Richard LH for bringing this site to people's attention. I had never heard of it before. I think I'm with Floss on this. The site seems very useful, but with limits. The info about the technical quality both sound and vision seems really helpful and could be a factor in purchasing blu-rays, but the qualitative assessments of the choreography and the dancing seem at times quite wilful and eccentric ("one of the great ballet superstars - Matthew Golding".......hmm) and small things kept getting in the way - for instance consistently getting Lise's name wrong throughout a review of Fille as well as capriciously deciding to rename one of the sisters in Bintley's Cinderella "Dumpling" rather than "Dumpy". Some of the reviews are good, thorough and underpinned, it appears, by significant knowledge of performances; other, though, just seem odd and so I don't find the site, as a whole, at all reliable for qualitative performance assessment because of this inconsistency. I did find it very useful for the info and assessment of the recording quality and directorial approach. I was delighted to find a few sideswipes at Thomas Grimm who was responsible for several odd recordings of (especially) Balanchine works. His contribution to ballet iconography should not be forgotten.

Sebastian, Thanks for bringing this up. Since you posted it , I've spent time looking at the performance - really enjoyable and very well photographed. I've always liked the Cranko version of R&J since I first saw it in the 70s. At the time, I had only seen the Macmillan and Lavrovsky versions and I remember how amazed I was at the amount of "inspiration" Macmillan drew from it for his version at Covent Garden. The performance was enjoyable with some inimitable Cranko choreography, particularly for the men and it's a reminder of what ballet perhaps suffered with his premature death. Thanks again for bringing it to everyone's attention.

I think, if you want to put the Merry Widow into the same category as Fille and/or Coppelia, then words fail me and I don't think we share the same view about what constitutes ballet. To my mind Merry Widow isn't bad or objectionable, it's simply a pot-boiler and I can't take it seriously as a ballet, not because of its subject matter but because of its lack of any significant choreography. Hynd's previous choreographic ventures had been mixed - his quasi-dramatic Charlotte Bronte for the RB New Group was dire and quickly disappeared but his earlier Dvorak Variations for Festival Ballet at the very beginning of the 70s was, as I remember it, quite attractive and had interesting combinations. It remained in the rep for only a few years (despite having Samsova in the lead) and wasn't revived, at least not in Britain, which was a pity.

The Merry Widow has been performed in Britain - I assume people now agitating for it to be brought into the repertory of either the Royal or the Birmingham Royal Ballet companies can't have seen it. It was almost universally regarded as inconsequential and superficial and was accepted only as a vehicle for a mature Fonteyn who could look glamorous but wasn't called upon to dance many steps. Those who didn't share this view thought much less of it. The Palladium was thought to be a suitable location - big audience capacity but it didn't get in the way of serious ballet going in theatres where people who took ballet as a serious art form could attend. Hynd has had other works of his in the rep of Festival (now ENB) Ballet. They didn't last, for a reason, pleasant, undemanding and boring - much underrated, I think not. If Merry Widow came into the Royal's rep, it would make Acosta's Carmen look a sensible use of money.

Angela, Lovely response! I must admit I wasn't aware of Bejart's response to the Ring. It sounds.......interesting. I do like some of Bejart, but the usual criticism applied to his works is of frequently being a touch overblown - so the idea of a reduction of the Ring to only four hours seems novel and interesting. The idea of Bejart being shorter than his source is original. He is, though, without a doubt, an original and significant choreographer and clearly was an astonishing company and audience builder, especially in his Brussels days. His collaborations with Bortoluzzi, Farrell and especially Donn were astonishing and he never got the acclaim he deserved from critics in New York and London for the large scale works he attempted and the quasi-stadium shows he produced. Some of the problems affecting his reputation might lie in the difficulty nowadays of reproducing adequately his larger-scale ballets.

T-shirts are good, as are badges - BUT - it's best not to be too obvious. I think just to have a badge or t-shirt just with the name of a ballet or ballet company is a bit boring and I'm not sure if they really work in getting other people interested. If you can find something which is not obvious and, perhaps, a bit of a puzzle, you'll get more attention from other people with questions asked which gives you the chance to get a conversation started with the chance of converting someone to ballet. An example was many years ago New York City Ballet put on a festival of ballets all to music from American composers. The company produced t-shirts with the names of all the composers one after another running all across the t-shirt and spelled out in a different colour the words of City Ballet and American Music Festival from those letters in the names of the composers, I noticed several times , as I was sitting on a bus or a subway, other people trying to read my chest. On at least a couple of occasions people stopped me so that they could finish reading me! If you can find some of the more unusual t-shirts or badges, it can really work. Otherwise, at the risk of being thought boring, bang on frequently in conversation and assume everyone is as interested in ballet as you are!

Depending on what you mean by "choral music", it's a bit difficult to think of a major choreographer who hasn't, at some point, not used choral music. Off-hand, I can think of works by Ivanov, Nijinska, Tudor, Balanchine, Ashton, Cranko, Macmillan, Bejart and Massine. The most outrageous example is when Balanchine was invited by the Metropolitan Opera to direct a production of Gluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice, he simply stuck the singers and chorus in the pit alongside the orchestra and staged the opera as a ballet with the dancers occupying the stage. Would it be worth suggesting this as the norm at Covent Garden in future - perhaps starting with the Ring?

Bourne, I believe, trained at Laban - he was there, or so I understood, when he was a regular in the amphi thirty or so years ago. Apart from Diaghilev (who is THE stunning exception) I suppose a case could be made that Kirstein at City Ballet was effectively the ruler, though he ceded everything artistic to Balanchine, but to no-one else. It was Kirstein, for example, who prodded Balanchine into the acceptance of Robbins into the City Ballet fold and he was much more than simply providing the funding directly or indirectly. Oliver Smith with ABT came from a design background - does that count? I suppose a linked question would be to name the directors of companies that you are amazed to find had any training in ballet.

de Valois always used to argue that the Royal Ballet shouldn't attempt to put on performances of the full-length Don Q., Bayadere or Raymonda because "We already have the three great 19th century classics and we should concentrate on new works and the Diaghilev repertory". This is a position I always opposed. No-one would suggest that the RSC, for example, as it "has" Hamlet and Twelfth Night should ignore performances of Troilus and Cressida or A Winter's Tale. However, I do wish that The Royal , if it's going to do Don Q or Bayadere, didn't have such terrible and mediocre productions. The amount of dross that is contained in the present repertory is alarming, particularly as the Royal, for the first time in about thirty years has a really strong roster of dancers covering just about all areas and I see so much talent being wasted.

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).

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.

Alistair Spalding is going to be busy. As well as the search committee above, he is also on the search committee for Tannztheater Wupperthal Pina Bausch who are looking for a new director, The time frame for the two is identical ("by the end of the year"). I just hope he doesn't get confused....

Might I add my support to what CHazell2 has just said? I've been reading the comments under various headings during the last few days with increasing bemusement and bewilderment. I assume the moderators have been working overtime (for which, many thanks) as comments seem to come and go with bewildering frequency. One moment a comment is in place and I think how unpleasant it seems and then it disappears as if it had never existed. The general tenor of several of the remarks seem unpleasant and inappropriate for this forum and whilst I haven't the slightest intention of contributing in the increasingly polarised and tendentious atmosphere, I hope regular contributors aren't put off (even if, or especially if, I disagree with them).

As would those for the final pas de deux in Nederlands Dans Theater's Mutations.

Lighten up people! Christopher Gable had many excellent qualities, but really, some ideas were really, really silly. Try sitting through a performance of Fille or Coppelia without applauding until the end? How bonkers! I remember a performance many years ago of Coppelia by Festival Ballet at the Royal Festival Hall. It hadMargot Miklosy and Dudley von Loggenburg in the lead roles and Terry Hayworth was Coppelius. Aged aficionados will be aware what can be implied about the performance from the casting. The audience was typical of a Festival audience of the period (coach parties, school parties and hard-core ballet goers) and typically, applause would tend to be polite and sparse. A group of the ballet goers decided to try to get the applause " livened up" and began to applaud enthusiastically at every opportunity. At Franz's entrance applause rang out from a few people, when Swanilda appeared applause came forth again, this time from a few more. Every time someone appeared the applause happened again, each time from a wider section of the audience. This continued gaining more and more adherents until by the last act, a member of the corps had only to rise on pointe to get a volley of applause. The performance ended with tumultuous applause and cheering. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves enormously and when some of the dancers came out at the end, they were asking people waiting what was that all about? Ballet is largely about enjoyment and in contemporary western society we express our enjoyment by applause - not by sitting in largely po-faced silence. I'm all in favour in applauding vigorously as and when I see something I enjoy and appreciate. There needs to be some appreciation of the context - vigorous applause and cheering at the sight of a particularly well executed suicide at the end of Mayerling might be a trifle de trop, but applause during performances can enhance the experience. Sitting in silence throughout a performance of Theme and Variations is rarely a good sign. Incidentally, to stir things up a bit, booing dancers playing unpleasant characters at curtain calls (eg von Rothbart) is vulgar and common. It's not a pantomime and we are not children. It should not be beyond our intellectual capabilities to distinguish between the character and the dancer,