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Ivy Lin

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    Why do the NYCB or ABT never tour the UK unlike the great Russian companies?

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    9 minutes ago, bridiem said:

     

    I think to say that critics here have been 'consistently cold towards NYCB' is something of an exaggeration, though I acknowledge that some critics (and audiences) have not always been enthusiastic (which I find baffling). John Percival (of a similar era to the critics cited above) certainly considered Balanchine a 'genius' and was very warm towards the company, and I'm sure other critics have been too. But when NYCB came to the ROH in the late 1970s I remember enormous queues for tickets, largely enthusiastic audiences and at least some favourable reviews; when they came to the Coliseum in 2008 (the first visit of the full company to the UK for 25 years) there didn't seem to be the same excitement or enthusiasm and I don't think the performances sold out; I can't remember what the reviews were like.

     

    I wasn;t talking about the audiences. From what I've read there were long lines and enthusiastic crowds for the NYCB tours. But I was reading some reviews in "Repertory in Review" and British critics initially hated Jewels. They called it "nothing but paste." 

    Why do the NYCB or ABT never tour the UK unlike the great Russian companies?

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    Because British critics have always been consistently cold towards NYCB?

    I found these choice words about "Union Jack":

    Nicholas Dramgoole: "by English standards is pretty detestable. ... Strong men in the audience were uttering cries of disbelief as it happened; others were walking out. ... Outside his chosen area ‐ dancers with expressionless faces and minimal costumes making movements to illuminate classical music Balanchine flounders.”

    Alexander Bland: "“Though technically fastidious, he certainly lacks the regulator of good taste, which is one of Britain's hallmarks.... he revels in the vitality of chorus‐line dancers. "

     

    Bolshoi Ballet: Swan Lake, London 2019

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Vukasin said:

    I very much enjoyed last night's performance. Kovalyova is obviously not the finished article, nor would it be fair to expect her to be in such a role, at 20 years old, but after reading her intelligent and thoughtful answers in this interview, it's obvious she has the most important asset required to be an excellent artist - a good brain.

    http://www.vaganovatoday.com/alyona-kovalyova-bolshoi-ballet

    On the subject of her height putting the Mariinsky off, can I assume that Ulyana Lopatkina was considered a significantly more promising freak talent at a young age, or has the culture changed? They are around the same height, as far as I know.
     

     

    There's been somewhat of a shift at the Vaganova academy since the big turnover a few years ago. Nikolai Tsiskaridze's top students have tended to be shorter with more diversity in terms of body types. Kovaleva is kind of a throwback to the tall, ultra-leggy look that was in favor. 

    • Like 1

    What are the Classic Ballets of the Twentieth Century?

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    BALANCHINE:

    1) Apollo

    2) Symphony in C

    3) Serenade

    4) Four Temperaments

    5) Agon

    6) Ballet Imperial

    7) Symphony in Three Movements

    😎 Midsummer's Night Dream

    9) Nutcracker

    10) Jewels

     

    Ashton:

    1) Fille mal gardee

    2) The Dream

    3) Symphonic Variations

    4) Cinderella

    5) Daphnis et Chloe

    6) Scenes de Ballet

    7) Sylvia

    😎 Monotones I and II

    9) Two Pigeons

    10) A Month in the Country

     

    Robbins:

    1) Dances at a Gathering

    2) Fancy Free

    3) The Cage

    4) The Four Seasons

    5) The Concert

     

    MacMillan:

    1) Romeo and Juliet (his version)

    2) Mayerling

    3) Manon - even though it's not my favorite ballet

     

    Cranko:

    1) Onegin

    2) Romeo and Juliet (his version)

     

    Fokine:

    1) Firebird

    2) Les Sylphides

    3) Scheherezade

    4) Petrushka

    5) Dying Swan

     

    Twyla Tharp:

    1) In the Upper Room

    2) Deuce Coupe

    3) Push Comes to Shove

     

    Yuri Grigorovich:

    - Sparctacus

     

    Leonid Lavrovsky:

    - Romeo and Juliet (his version)

     

    These aren't necessarily my favorite works, just the works I don't see going out of repertory anytime soon.

    • Like 2

    Performances in the U.S.A.

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    52 minutes ago, Coated said:

    Mayerling doesn't work amazingly from high up, but anything reasonably close to the stage can be breathtaking - with the right cast. The DVD casts are not to be sneezed at, even the one I'd favour least has an awesome Mary and acceptable though not divine Rudolf.

     

    My favorite video is the one with Mukhamedov and Durante, also love the one with Edward Watson. I didn’t think McRae channeled enough darkness for Rudolf. Lamb was amazing.

    • Like 2

    Performances in the U.S.A.

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    Odd, I'm generally not a MacMillan fan but I love Mayerling. with that being said I've never seen it live -- only video. Is this one of those ballets that plays better on video? I've seen three of them and I find it riveting, almost cinematic. However in the theater I can see how it could translate to a very long evening if there isn;t a Rudolf and Mary that are extremely charismatic.

    • Like 1

    The Royal Ballet: Romeo and Juliet, Spring 2019

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    I saw the Romeo and Juliet and while I think Naghdi is a lovely dancer she has a very queenly, regal persona that belies her youth. That works against her in Juliet. Margot Fonteyn could look queenly and regal but she also had those big eyes and smile that made her look youthful in Juliet.

     

    I thought Matthew Ball was good as Romeo, but he and Naghdi seemed very rehearsed in their balcony duet. 

     

    Also this is a drawback of HD ... I could see the dirty soles of Naghdi's shoes all too clearly in HD. It's not really her fault but I'm surprised she didn't wear a brand new pair of shoes for the HD. I know many ballerinas say they pick a clean pair of shoes if they're going to be filmed.

    • Like 1

    Cathy Marston's Jane Eyre - From Northern Ballet to ABT, the New York Met and Joffrey

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    4 minutes ago, fromthebalcony said:

    Do I dare? I know this might be ill-received by some. Having watched ballet in many American cities and a few in Europe (mostly England and Germany), I find that the harshest audience toward anything other than Petipa and some of the traditional classics, Balanchine, and perhaps a few “acceptable” choreographers is the audience in NYC. I would wager that this ballet would be welcomed in many other cities in the US. There, I said it. 

     

    This is absolutely untrue and offensive. NYC was the starting point for many "downtown" experimental choreographers. Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Martha Graham all got their start in the "downtown" scene. At the same time while the Royal Ballet was touring Sleeping Beauty to the United States the "Ballet Society" (later NYCB) was considered the experimental ballet company with the avante-garde works. 

     

    The Royal Ballet toured for many years in NYC and they always sold out or sold very well. Stuttgart Ballet also had highly successful tours, as did Bejart Ballet. 

     

    Many NY choreographers were also crossover choreographers as they had success choreographing for musical theater and classical ballet. Agnes de Mille, Balanchine, Robbins, Twyla Tharp are obvious examples.

     

    Sometimes a ballet just isn't all that. 

    Cathy Marston's Jane Eyre - From Northern Ballet to ABT, the New York Met and Joffrey

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    8 hours ago, Angela said:

     

    Do the Americans even want narrative ballet? Or understand it, to ask in a very offensive way? I remember so many reviews of Neumeier's Lady of the Camellias, which the US critics hated every time it came to New York, if on tour in the 80s or later in repertory with the ABT, where the critics just did not care for Neumeier's sophisticated storytelling but only for the quality of the steps, no matter if they were used for characterisation. It does not matter there how and if a choreographer can tell a story; I think dramatic ballet is a European thing (and in the version of drambalet also a Soviet/Russian thing). Most American audiences and critics are still stuck with the abstract, neoclassic aestetic. Ashton, Cranko, MacMillan and their successors tried to get away from the old fairy tale content, they tried to bring drama and literature to the stage. The repertory in the US kept the old Russian classics with the old, simple stories and moved in a completely different direction with Balanchine.

     

    To answer your question:

    1) Yes I watch as many story ballets as I watch abstract ones and there are good narrative ballets and bad ones.

    2) Some of my favorite narrative ballets made in the 20th/21st: Romeo and Juliet (both MacMillan and Lavrovsky), Cinderella, Sylvia, Fille mal gardee, Mayerling (wish the RB would bring that), Onegin, Dame aux camelias, Spartacus, Bright Stream, Midsummer's Night Dream, The Dream, Prodigal Son, La Sonnambula, Rodeo, and I'm sure I could name more.

    3) My feelings on Jane Eyre were purely a response to what I saw onstage. I didn't say "British narrative ballet -- I'll autohate it."

    4) As an example of soemthing recent that I enjoyed a lot it was Akhram Khan's Giselle.

     

    • Like 1

    Cathy Marston's Jane Eyre - From Northern Ballet to ABT, the New York Met and Joffrey

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted · Edited by Ivy Lin

    24 minutes ago, betterankles said:

    I’m always amused that Balanchine’s wonderful skill in his story ballets goes largely unnoticed...

     

    Prodigal Son, Don Quixotte, Coppelia, Night Shadow...

     

    And Midsummer's Night Dream, Harlequinade, Nutcracker, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, Firebird  ... Not to mention during his lifetime he was also an acclaimed choreographer of operas.

    • Like 1

    Cathy Marston's Jane Eyre - From Northern Ballet to ABT, the New York Met and Joffrey

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Scheherezade said:

    This may well have been answered before but, moving forward with Bruce’s point regarding different tastes and value judgements, how is Matthew Bourne’s work perceived in the US?

     

    In general, pretty well. I mean I saw The Red Shoes and I really enjoyed that. Wheeldon's work is also well-received generally and he receives tons of commissions from U.S. companies.

    Cathy Marston's Jane Eyre - From Northern Ballet to ABT, the New York Met and Joffrey

    in Performances seen & general discussions

    Posted

    15 hours ago, Bruce said:

     

    I think it is a national thing - at writers/critics level anyway. Not sure if it's the same at audience level, but any differences there, I suspect, will be much smaller.

     

    Good to see Popkin's generally +ve review, but there are three 2 star reviews out there and one review that doesn't star rate but reads like 2 stars. Of those four, three are by writers of great consequence and much experience - Gia Kourlas, Marina Harss and Robert Greskovic. I admire them all - greatly. All up, out of a current haul of five reviews, four are very unhappy.

     

    My recollection was that back in 2016 Jane Eyre was critically well received and got 4 star reviews, either overtly or inferred from the tone of the review. I just did a quick check and came up with this list:

     

    Jane Eyre 2016 premiere and tour - reviews

     

    FT/Louise Levene/4 stars: "a textbook example of dance storytelling"

     

    Observer/Luke Jennings/4 stars: "Restrained, but clear and fluent choreography brings Charlotte Brontë’s novel to life on the stage"

     

    Telegraph/Rachel Ward/4 stars/"Marston has succeeded in crafting a beautiful and expressive new ballet that soars in the triumph of effecting change from the inside out."

     

    Guardian/Judith Mackrell/4 stars: "Cathy Marston displays a novelist’s touch in layering characters in her wonderfully choreographed show for Northern Ballet"

     

    Spectator/Ismene Brown: "It wasn’t really a surprise that Cathy Marston had a triumph with the Brontë — Royal Ballet-raised but Europe-bred, the choreographer has gradually developed a knack for character empathy and, crucially, a gift for externalising inner feelings in a vividly legible way."

     

    DanceTabs/BM/4 stars "It’s actually the best new narrative work I’ve seen Northern Ballet do in many years."

     

    BTG/Mark Smith "this ballet demonstrates a fierce intelligence and wit"

     

    Fjord/Rachel Elderkin: "this production by the Leeds-based company is a fitting celebration of the Yorkshire author’s most famous work."

     

    END of review quotes.

     

    There will inevitably be some less glowing reviews in the UK, but the point is that the overwhelming weight of critical option (here) see's the work at the 4 star level.

     

    Why this difference? I think in America Balanchine set expectations and when American critics talk of British choreographers they usually mention Ashton first. He's seen as somebody who could 'trade blows' with Balanchine at broadly equal level. MacMillan is never usually mentioned in the same breath and ultimately seen as a bit alien and second division, regardless of how he connects with the audience. Marston of course is in the MacMillan tradition and wanders further in trying to find movement that, as Ismene Brown says, is about "externalising inner feelings in a vividly legible way." For some it's about ballet steps conveying emotional drama and for others its about ballet informed movement conveying emotional drama.

     

    The above is just my hunch - PhD's could be written on all this and I'm sure there are many other takes on the differences.

     

     

     

    It really isn't a national thing. I like Cranko, some MacMillan, Wayne McGregor ... I was at the premiere of Jane Eyre at ABT and wrote a review. It was legitimately awful. I would have said the same thing had the choreographer been American. Had the choreographer been Balanchine I would have said this was the worst thing he ever choreographed.

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