Duck

A day full of ballet yesterday. It was wonderful to meet toursenlair in the morning. Change of attire and into the park for the open-air broadcast of the gala performance. Thank you, Angela, for providing information in relation to the broadcast in recent posts. Sonia Santiago, a former first soloist with the company, moderated the broadcast eloquently and in an engaging manner, through background information, interviews and audience participation. The gala started with a very personal and touching speech by Tamas Detrich, describing Reid Anderson as leader, teacher and guide, and as his mentor. He concluded his speech with the marvellous words “I lift my hat, and I bow to you in graciousness”. Other speakers highlighted Reid Anderson’s achievements, in particular the combination of tradition and continued organic development, and the identification and further support of talents. One of the statements that resonated with me most was that Reid Anderson “kept John Cranko’s heritage without creating a sterile museum”. The programme of the gala – 4 ½ hours long – was a showcase of the combination of tradition and development. From Sleeping Beauty via John Cranko to choreographers who emanated from Stuttgart Ballet/ who work with the company today. From current students of the School and current dancers with Stuttgart Ballet to dancers who were with the company in the past as well as international guests. 4 of the 18 pieces at the gala were world premieres. With the many different choreographic styles, taste will inevitably differ. While performances were sublime throughout, personal highlights were Etudes as it illustrated the wealth of talent and skills at the School just as it had done the night before, the Black Swan PDD (Elisa Badenes and Constantine Allen), and in particular the Tchaikovsky PDD as Elisa Badenes (in a debut) and Friedemann Vogel made it look as if there was nothing more natural to do and nothing easier to dance. I do need to remember to take sun cream with me next time. ;-)

Many thanks, toursenlair, for mentioning this morning that "Ballet 101" is by Eric Gauthier rather than by Marco Goecke I should have known

A wealth of global talent on the stage tonight. Students of the John-Cranko-School of all ages (The four seasons, A spell on you, Extracts from Etudes), and guests from the Ecole de Danse de L’Opera national de Paris (PDD from the 3rd act of Nureyev’s The Sleeping Beauty), The Royal Ballet School (Sae Maeda and Nicholas Landon in the PDD from MacMillan’s Concerto), Canada’s National Ballet School (I loves you Porgy by Demis Volpi), and the School of the Hamburg Ballet (Extracts from John Neumeier’s Yondering). The Four Seasons has been coordinated by Demis Volpi, and each season is created by a different choreographer, all active at Stuttgart Ballet, three of which as dancers. Katarzyna Kozielska for spring (pointe work, students from the 1st year of the lower school to the final year of the upper school, dancers in nude tights/ unitards and with flowers across the body), Louis Stiens for summer (contemporary, leisure wear), Fabio Adorisio for autumn (leggings and unitards in dark blue with shades of purple, plus a number of semi-transparent yellow raincoats), Demis Volpi for winter (pointe work, a single long PDD with lots of slow intricate lifts, performed superbly by two dancers of the final year of the upper school, clothed in white). Marco Goecke’s A spell on you was created for the school in May 2016. Performed to songs by Nina Simone, it shows what I would describe as trademark Goecke – black pants, flickering ams, angular movements. I loved it. The two pieces together showed very impressively the depth and breadth of the skills of the students, performing brilliantly across a wide spectrum of choreographic styles. Three of the four performances by the guests were single PDD. As a result, highlighting individuals would inadvertently create a question about those names that are not mentioned. While I enjoyed all their performances immensely, and as they are all still students, I thus leave it to emphasising the joy of performing that was visible throughout – when they came on stage, during their performances, and in receiving the so well-deserved applause. Extracts from Etudes, choreographed by Tadeusz and Barbara Matacz, closed the programme. Bringing together students of the John-Cranko-School of all ages, it started with stretching exercises on the floor by the youngest students and progressed through the age groups, showing their ever-increasing skills as part of their training. An endless flow of grand jetes across the stage, a series of fouettees that didn’t travel an inch, a manege, and many more. Long, and loud applause, many shouts of bravo, repeated curtain calls, the look of immense joy on the dancer’s faces. A marvellous evening. It was wonderful to meet Yumiko in the interval tonight, and the 20 minutes that we had didn’t suffice for our conversation.

Male dancers in black pants and with a naked torso, flickering fingers and angular movements, whistling - sort of what I remember from short abstract pieces by Marco Goecke that I’d seen previously (and then there is the marvellous “Ballet 101”). How would this translate into choreography for a narrative piece, in particular about a dancer with a very different movement vocabulary and from a different time? Marco Goecke created his full-length piece “Nijinski” based on the life of Vaslav Nijinsky for Gauthier Dance, a company of about 20 dancers that is based at the Theaterhaus in Stuttgart and led by Eric Gauthier, a former dancer with Stuttgart Ballet. Premiered in June, I saw Friday’s performance. The story is told in a number of scenes that transition seamlessly into each other. Goecke uses flickering fingers, angular movements of the arms, legs moving incredibly fast, and dresses dancers in black pants. So far, what I kind of anticipated. What makes it unique and enthralling is the combination of this base layer that appears throughout the piece with elements that are specific to each scene - through the use of costumes and movements that depict aspects of the story and of the ballets that feature within. The piece starts with a prologue in which art is created as something new and awakened by Terpsichore (black pants, a nude shirt showing a harp), and Diaghilev (black pants, a fur-collared coat) appears. The ensuing scenes relate to Nijinsky’s life, from childhood to death – being encouraged in his endeavours by his mum, his training at the ballet academy (black pants and white shirts; movements and positions from classical ballet e.g., ports de bras, grand plies in the centre, entrechats, ciseaux), the discovery of sexuality with a friend in a marvellous duet (black pants and no shirt), Nijinsky at the height of his fame and performing The Faune (positions of hands and legs such as those in well-known pictures of the ballet; the music for the ballet from Debussy), Petrushka (black pants, a white collar), and The Spectre of the Rose (rose pedals fall from the ceiling, dancers in red pants), his split with Diaghilev, his increasing fits of anger (running across the stage, shouting), Nijinsky seeking help from the medical profession (mirroring the movements of the Consultant), drawing numerous circles on the floor, his death. No whistling, however shouting, a sound such as that created by breathing in through one’s teeth, and from time to time a dancer speaking into a microphone at the back of the stage, providing information about Nijiinsky’s biography (in English) and other comments (in German). 90 minutes non-stop, the time flew by. I was fascinated. A wonderful performance by the whole company. While the dancers in the roles of Diaghilev and Nijinsky stood out as, in their leading roles, they spent a lot more time on stage than others, this was really a tremendous team effort and team performance. Long and loud applause, repeated shouts of “bravo”, foot stamping and rhythmic clapping. The audience loved it. The company has published a trailer of the piece and a brief extract from rehearsals (sorry, I tried to just show the links and however am getting directly the videos) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDhwN-vKgHA and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6E6tA43FcY. There will be further performances at the end of October. If you are interested in going, I’d recommend getting your tickets as early as possible. I bought my ticket for Friday’s performance a little more than a month ago as this was when I spotted it, and availability was rather limited already.

The full programme for the gala of the John-Cranko School on Saturday is now available online https://www.stuttgart-ballet.de/schedule/jcs-gala-2016/program/. A local television company has produced a documentary about Stuttgart Ballet with the title "Of miracles and superheroes" http://swrmediathek.de/player.htm?show=fa0e44c0-4d8f-11e6-a659-0026b975e0ea. Based on the first ten minutes of the documentary, this is all in German (and any interviews in English are translated into German) however there are lots of beautiful pictures, extracts of rehearsals & performances, etc.

Thanks so much, Angela, for checking. Two hours ... Looking at it with a positive mind set - I am about to start Stendhal's Scarlett and Black, I guess it'll be a good opportunity to read a few of the +600 pages

The company will perform this choreography in various places in France over the coming year - with flight connections from the UK, this can sometimes be more practical than travelling to London. E.g., they'll be in Biarritz on 16th September as part of the dance festival "le temps d'aimer la danse" (http://letempsdaimer.com/ ... I'll be there on the 11th). The performance title in France though is "le corps du ballet national de Marseille".

There are also summer dance courses in August http://www.theplace.org.uk/summer-dance-courses-2016, with a different guest company for each of the three weeks. I took part in some of the classes last year (at a far lower level than you will be though), and the classes that were described as ballet were ballet. There was an option last year to buy a class for the full week or on a drop-in basis. Looking at the programme for this year, I can't see the drop-in option at first sight however this may well be me not spotting the information available, so I'd suggest calling them to clarify. I agree with LinMM on the studios, they were sizeable and bright, and the classes came with a live pianist.

I was wearing my badge to the RBS performance on Saturday evening and couldn't see anyone with a badge nor was approached by anyone either (and, thinking that the badge that I had been wearing initially will have been too small and thus too difficult to spot, I went for a larger badge this time, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter). Realistically, even with a smaller stage such as Holland Park, regardless of where I sit in the auditorium, chances will be small. There is an existing meeting place at the ROH, are there any meeting places already in existence at any other venues? What are thoughts on posting (in a thread dedicated to this purpose?), for those who are interested, that they will be at such and such performance in the future (this does happen already for some performances, usually when there is a thread for that performance already, but probably not for all) so others who are at the same performance can get into contact and arrange to meet?

Thank you so much! I'll keep my fingers & toes crossed for the weather

Hi Katherine/ toursenlair, this sounds great as the festive week offers so much within such a short time frame. And yes, I'd happy to meet up on Sunday morning PM for details? Or if you prefer to suggest a location here, that's fine by me as well. Best wishes

Many thanks, Angela, I hadn't realised! Will there be just one screen, or several so the many people in the park can spread out a little?

Long interview with Reid Anderson in the Stuttgarter Zeitung yesterday (in German only) http://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/inhalt.interview-mit-ballettintendant-reid-anderson-kontinuitaet-ist-kein-schmutziges-wort.5c767ef8-a6e2-4bc5-bef9-472b1c4b8b1c.html, looking back at his 20 years in post as Artistic Director with Stuttgart Ballet. An overview of the festive week to celebrate the 20 years here http://www.stuttgart-ballet.de/schedule/festival-20years/. I'll be there for the open-air broadcasts of the last two performances.

I mixed up Haydn & Haendel this morning, profuse apologies & thank you very much for spotting this!

Well, I saw it last night ;-) The link to the programme here (in French only) http://www.opera-bordeaux.com/detail-spectacle/danse-2/le-messie-1030/15-16-12.html. The page includes an extract of the programme and also a short video. ----- Edited to add closing parenthesis & to add references to video and programme on the web site.

I saw Mauricio Wainrot’s Messiah at the Opera de Bordeaux last night. Wainrot created this ballet for the Royal Ballet of Flanders in 1996. He uses around 30 parts from Haydn’s Messiah, alternating the choir and the four soloists. Dancers wear loose-fitting white pants and shirts on a white stage with shades of blue lighting. The choreography uses the ensemble/ larger groups of dancers for the parts that are sung by the choir, and PDD/ pas de trois/ smaller groups of dancers and a single solo to accompany the soloists. Classical steps such as jetes, pirouettes, arabesques, tours en l’air, etc. are used in combination with non-classical forms of movements – arms flexed at the elbow and/ or legs at the knees, dancers rolling forward or sideward on the floor, a cartwheel, dancers throwing themselves into push-up position on the floor and getting back up again. Lifts repeatedly show a dancer in a crucifix-like position with arms stretched out to the side, held up high by three other dancers, and also carried in front of a dancer’s body, similar to Michelangelo’s Pieta. None of the dancers portray the title figure, it is instead about creating an atmosphere through the musicality, fluidity and expressiveness of the choreography. The PDD/ pas de trois/ smaller groups of dancers come in ever-changing combinations that are formed from the ensemble on stage and provide lots of opportunities for dancers in the corps to shine, and which they did use very effectively. Unfortunately, there were no cast sheets available last night. The programme book however lists the casts for each part of the ballet for the whole run so from a match of the choice of names against faces of dancers in the programme book, Neven Ritmanic caught my eye early on through his infectious smile. This is not to discredit his dancing colleagues though in any way, and I guess with the help of a cast sheet, I would be able to mention additional names. The applause for the dancers, the live orchestra & choir from Bordeaux, the four soloists from the Royal Academy of Music in London and for Andrea Quinn as conductor was long and loud and turned into rhythmic clapping towards the end. Slowly getting to see the various ballet companies in France. The Ballet de l’Opera National du Rhin to follow in September J

The Ballet de l'Opera National du Rhin will perform Uwe Scholz's ballet "The Creation" (-> Haydn's oratorio) in Biarritz on 11 September as part of a dance festival "le temps d'aimer la danse". Scholz choreographed this ballet for Zuerich Ballet in 1985. The full festival programme here http://letempsdaimer.com/compagnie/ - most other content is contemporary.

I can't help thinking that this reminds me a little of Benjamin Millepied's comments about POB towards the end of last year. How has the interview been taken in Munich/ by the media?

The Opera de Bordeaux has announced its next season - http://www.opera-bordeaux.com/grand-theatre/actualites/210-nouvelle-saison-abonnez-vous-en-ligne.html The Tempest by Mauricio Wainrot in November, Coppelia over the festive season, a mixed programme in April, Charles Jude's Romeo & Juliet in July. The twitter feed of the Opera de Bordeaux shows short trailers for some of the programmes. Next season at the Theatre de Chaillot in Paris http://theatre-chaillot.fr/la-saison-2016-2017 Tempted by Angelin Preljocaj's Romeo & Juliet. Has anyone seen this?

BalletWorks, the dance event for charitable causes which is organised by Robert Robinson (see http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/12381-ballet-works-gala-july-26-27/),is now also offering two workshops at Chisendale dance space. For more information, see http://www.ballet-works.com/#!workshops/re1u8. NB if you are interested, you may want to double check on the timing of the workshops as some of the information in the body of the text is different to information in the header. Edited to add that the workshops can be seen under "shows"

I have followed the discussion on dansomanie and, for the majority of comments, the difference between expectations prior to seeing the performances and the feedback thereafter is very distinct. I am very happy for ENB to have received such a positive response in Paris.

The event now has its own web site http://www.ballet-works.com/ , in addition to the facebook page that has been in place already. The site lists the dancers involved this year and shows pictures of previous year's events.

If the top-price ticket is indeed £55, go for it Tickets for R&J at POB in spring were up to almost twice as much!

Thank you Aileen, I was able to it, enjoyed it immensely & and am hoping to see it soon again. Thank you so for much the information about Bolero in Ghent! I am reading the programme information as I am typing this, and the programme reads fascinating! I am checking my diary now Edited following ticket checks as the programme is sold out.

As an extension to seeing Giselle at POB last week, I travelled to Toulouse for a performance of Maurice Béjart’s Firebird the following day. Run by Kader Belarbi, this is a company of 35 dancers and with a repertoire that ranges from the classical to Forsythe and Marin, and with both story ballets and abstract pieces. The first part of the evening was the Grand Pas by Marius Petipa in the version by Oleg Vinogradov, a ballet that the company had danced previously. I was wowed by the two male dancers, Davit Galstyan as Lucien and Ramiro Samón in the pas de trois. L’Oiseau de feu is the first ballet by Béjart that enters the company’s repertoire. Takafumi Watanabe was an exquisite firebird with effortless and clean jumps and enormous energy, intensity and stamina. The fluidity of movement in his upper body and in particular his arms clearly evoked the movements of a bird, and the exhaustion and death of the bird was danced very convincingly. With good reason, Takafumi Watanabe received the loudest applause of the evening. I would be happy to see the company in that ballet and with Takafumi Watanabe in the lead role again just about any time, and not only as I am longing for more of Béjart’s ballets being performed in the UK. In the interim … there is a video of a POB performance of the Firebird with Benjamin Pech as lead on the web.