Bruce Wall

The last time I saw Moscow City Ballet --- YEARS AGO --- was in a once-upon-a-time pavilion situated where the Islington Business Centre now stands. I remember it because it was the first time that I saw Malakov. He was VERY noticeable. He literally stood out for his lyrical line ... even though he was dancing the dreaded jester. Last night I was invited to attend a production by the same company - which has been touring to many different locations - at the enchanting Richmond Theatre. Truth told I went expecting very little. I came away amazed. This is one of the most intelligent settings of Swan Lake I have EVER seen. (The worst must DEFINITELY go to Peter Schaufuss ... who as a dancer I had so many occasions to admire with LFB/ENB, NYCB and NBoC). There were just so many wonderful touches in the Moscow City outing much, say, as in Muckhamedov's wonderful production which I was fortunate enough to catch by the fine company in Warsaw. Given Moscow City's limited resources - which didn't retard their efforts to be tasteful - this was a well schooled company. The Odette/Odile of Lilia Oryekhova went beyond that being luxuriant with a stunningly deep plie. There were things in the construction of this production that really stood out: Certainly there was nothing cut-down about the ambition of this enterprise to 'tell the story' through dance. Bravi. To wit: 1) The first act was very much a celebration of the Prince's birthday inclusive of a telling pas de trois. You saw the prince happily engaged with his friends and in a stable relationship with his mother which meant that 2) By the time he was pressed into choosing one of the princesses for marriage it had some significance for the audience as we had some sense of his character. 3) There were segments of music from the fourth act that were cleverly (and from my perspective rightfully) transposed into the third. With the entrance of Odile and a von Rothbart (which was very much danced in the Russian tradition) they had a brief pas de deux (usually in the fourth act) in a segment attended by four white swans. Odile here was in a tutu which was a combination of white and black - a half and half affair. There could be no confusion here over Seigfried's own potential confusion ... as is so often wondered at. When Odile returned for the Black Swan pas she was entirely garbed in a black tutu. These alterations made ultimate and much musical sense. (Moreover, it was so delightful to see a third act without the opening vulgarities inserted in Dowell's RB production and happily gone was all the nonsense with the drunken tutor. Who cares about him? I ask you.) Here the tutor was very much a stable court employee who was also responsible for the prince's birthday celebrations as you would expect a royal aide to be. 4) Each princess represented one of the national dances; and the corps was cleverly divided in support of each. (The four lads who danced well in support of the Spanish princess ... came back - dancing equally as well - in different tops - in the Neopolitan.) The dance of princesses - for the Prince's choice - came AFTER the black swan pas de deux (where at one point a white swan was seen in shadow of the black rather than at the end of the act). BRILLIANT. By this point we knew who each was ... and the audience had a legitimate sense of her personality THROUGH THE MUSIC. This dance of the princesses brilliantly INCLUDED THE BLACK SWAN ODILE with von Rothbart in careful observation ... as it SHOULD ... which made the prince's choice ALL the more telling. Brilliant. 5) The second act opened with the musical prologue as standard - but this was danced - making it clear that von Rothbart was a dictator who had taken these poor captured girls and transformed them into swans for his own pleasure. The challenge of his relationship with Seigfried was also made clear. Thus by the time the act began - as we traditionally expect - ALL was ready to 'dramatically' roll. This was done it should be noted with NO change of scenery; it was all accomplished through the choreography to the music. 6) There was ONLY one interval at the conclusion of the second act!!!!!! (ROH please take note) The sets were simple drops. The story was told entirely through the dancing through the music. The costumes were wonderfully tasteful and they looked in glorious animation against the simple but tasteful painted backdrops. You got the sense that the Richmond stage was smaller than many the company was used to dancing on, but they handled it well and made it look fine indeed. No settling for second best here. This company was firmly rooted in 'strive' mode. 7) Because of the transpositions the final act's pace really moved ahead with the music. Yes, there was the Russian happy ending ... (oh, and an absurd jester who could well be missed in the first and third acts) ... but - because of the effective dramatic build - the demise of von Rothbart in face of the happiness of Seigfried and Odette did truly feel catalytic. The narrative was clearly straight; not forced as so often can be the case in productions where decoration can oft take potency away from the narrative. Moscow City Ballet did their job and they did it well IMHO. If this had been the first production I ever saw ... I think I would definitely want to see another. We should be happy that this production is going to so many places throughout the UK that seemingly now ENB cannot afford to. (I assume this has something to do to the rates of pay that are given to the Russians. The British guarantees paid by the theatres to do cover the costs. That obviously is not the case here. A profit is obviously being made - on several scores - as well it should.) There are only two more performances of the piece today before they move on to The Sleeping Beauty on Friday and Saturday. If you are in the proximity you could I think well do worse methinks. I was, I must say, happily surprised.

Have to say I am DELIGHTED with both ...

In a way I think the paucity of performances (and, of course, this is always a trade-off but isn't that life) is - in the long run - a good thing. It allows for the performances to become 'events' ... to be truly special ... to be a unqiue historical celebration both for the audience and the artists. The time in between each 'event' allows the artists to absorb and grow. What you don't blessedly get is the ESTABLISHED automatic responses that can so often blight in a commercial run ... especially now that things are expected to run forever if they are to be deemed a success at all. (That didn't use to be the case methinks) .... Sadly, such rigor mortis has a deadening effect in ANY theatre where a triangle of artist/audience/orchestra needs to breathe. I well remember going into my first Broadway show as a replacement. The stage manager who was putting me in insisted I do everything EXACTLY according to the original stage manager's prompt book. 'You hold your arm like this at this point. Then you move over here and you turn your head slightly to the right.' If he perceived that you went one millimeter off course you would get a written note after the performance. (Remember these notes were made according to what some actor did in rehearsal. He may not have been aware of it at the time.) Character development in such cases is no longer mentioned. When it gets to this point things cease to live. The artistry that made them somehow special in the first place has well and truly gone. There can no longer be answers to any question 'why'? ... which is, I think, what real artists share in their exploration. At such a point we are all artifacts in a museum and the viewers ... well, they become a very different kind of voyeur. Their passivity can no longer be active. It is not invited in. Well, until, that is, someone breaks the seemingly established rules and we all have the capacity to catch a breath once more.

I will be proud to see our angry son come home. In the TRUEST sense, it appears he has already done that according to his own wishes. Much good luck to him I say.

There is a substantive part of me that hopes that (i) Jason Reilly stays as a permanent principal in Stuttgart as I think the dominance of the dramatic rep obviously suits him; he already gets a multitude of new works being created on him - so crucial at this stage of his career - and he has I understand considerable largess to guest. Moreover, Stuttgart is the company he went to straight into after graduating from the National Ballet of Canada's excellent school and they have built upon his core talents. Certainly I hope that he guests with the Royal again ... His performance in Dances at a Gathering was as telling as that in Oneign ... but both were as, I understand, last minute replacements due to injury ... (I have been told that for this Oneign he had the stately sum of an an hour and a quarter's rehearsal in London. I say this ONLY to suggest that it was perhaps NOT a predetermined move on the management's part as towards future considerations; an audition as t'were. ... Let's call it a happy accident for all.... On another point -- I was only suggesting that Neumeier in Hamburg MIGHT like to do a ballet with Alina (more resident there than in others) and Mr. Reilly (as BUT a guest ... e.g., I wasn't suggesting he move there either.) Famously, I understand that Mr. Reilly had wanted to return to the fine company in Canada - to be able to be physically closer to his family - (completely understandable - time not waiting for any man) but (at least as related in the press) chose ultimately to stay with Stuttgart, having won greater largess to guest outside, including (I assume) his own native country. Having been born there - Canada that is - (although like Tamara Rojo I left VERY early) and having happily returned for my PhD studies I can recognise Mr. Reilly as (what I think of as) an INSTINCTIVELY Canadian dancer - much like, say, Lynn Seymour, Jenny Penny, Martine van Hamel or - using the Stuttgart reference, Paul Chalmer - and most certainly Karen Kain (whose extraordinary rise I witnessed during my graduate studies - and she stayed - even when the offers were rife during the dance boom - and profited in the long run from such I believe). I say this ONLY in as much as I think of, say, Dowell and Sibley as being INSTINCTIVELY (and great) British dancers - even though I saw Dowell dance AS MUCH with ABT as I ever did with the Royal Ballet. The essence of this INSTINCT was palpable yesterday in Mr. Reilly's performance. Again - and on a final point - I applaud the new management of the RB for bringing in guest artists (in enhancement rather than at the expense of their home team) both to inspire and challenge dancers and audiences alike. Again, I hope after Mr. Acosta chooses to relinquish the 'Principal Guest Artist' status that such funds in difficult times in the UK might be shared amongst the greatest number of current balletic notables for the benefit of ALL.

I suppose I felt Onegin was a very unlikable chap so I couldn't get the love story side if it. Maybe I just need a different Onegin but I think it was now the story than the dancer. Hi Julie .... I have to say .... and simply IMHO ... I don't think you will find a MORE sympathetic Oneign than Jason Reilly ... I thought his performance this afternoon was truly SUPREME ... Certainly it built on the three previous I have seen him give. I had never intended to see that many of one cast ... but the courage of his obvious conviction intrigued me. He and Alina were both truly electrifying in their heated final pas. In their first 'mirror' pas de deux I felt Mr. Reilly gave a masterclass in partnering. (Hopefully that will be valued.) Furthermore, I don't think I've EVER seen the first scene solo BETTER done - and I do have some very special memories. This afternoon you could feel the internal struggle that WAS this Oneign ... You sensed his demons. They reached out beyond him as his hands pushed forward in his anguish. This is man who, himself, really could not speak ... Sadly when he found a voice it was too late. (Very suitable for the ballet.) The seeds of the broken figure of the last act were oh, so clearly sown in the first. I felt Mr. Reilly's was a beautifully calibrated performance .... I don't think Canada can have a better calling card than the inspiration of such as Karen Kain and Jason Reilly. Of course, what makes both Alina and Mr. Reilly oh, SO special is they are both UNIQUELY spontaneous. They both live in the moment. ... In a sense that makes them exotic. You get the sense that nothing survives beyond their mesh of history while it exists. Moreover, they have the ability to allow things to simply happen ... That, for me, is why Alina is ALWAYS so full of entrancing detail that keeps adding and altering with each and every performance. IT LIVES.. The fact that these two similar artistic souls have come together in this regard is, I think, very special. ... and, as sincerely sad as I was - and please believe me when I say I was - to miss Johan in a role (i) in which he excels and (ii) most likely will now never dance again with the RB if anywhere else, this partnership ... - that of Alina and Mr. Reilly - bodes VERY brightly for the future of us all. It gives great hope. That - above all else - is what I took away this afternoon. Even this old man can understand and cherish that much. Surely they MUST dance together again. You could see - nay, feel - the shared elation of both at the curtain call. If not at the RB (taking note of the understandable written concerns of many on this board) then perhaps in Hamburg where last season Alina danced more often than she did with the RB as it was and where she seems to be a Neumeier muse. Part of me thinks that may well be where she ends up after Johan finally retires from dancing. It would be understandable. Perhaps Neumeier could do a new dramatic ballet for the two of them. Certainly NOW there is no question but they would sell me the airfare. 'Bravi' I say and I oh, so thank the RB for allowing me the privilege of witnessing the growing potency of this particular creative combination. Bless them.

If what is written there IS true ... it is truly shocking.

Apparently, according to at least one review, he was spotted as St. Nicholas in The Nutcracker. This would suggest he is still somewhere present.

Guess this means they will alter the triple bill for the Bolshoi when they appear in London this summer .... Hopefully we will still have Diamonds .... Perhaps - if they wanted a RB connection - they could do Koburg's production of La Sylphide with the Balanchine.

Getting back a little on topic ... I understand that Mr. Koburg - who did NOT dance this evening - will be replaced by Mr. Reilly (who only ever gets better in the role with Alina) at the matinee on Saturday. This was apparently told by Mr. Reilly himself.

Thank heavens for that ....

Thanks so much for this Amelia. I did see it in the cinema but it was wonderful to revisit it on the internet. I love the 2nd act .... with the different national dances ... especially the Indian one. I love how that motif is taken up in the upbeat segment of Nikya's solo so prized by the Russians. It makes such perfect dramatic sense too being - as it is - immediately prior to the snake's fatal bite .... Indeed, it succeeds in ratcheting up the tension in a truly Shakespearean sense. I love too how the golden idol and the indian principals return - a la Nutcracker ... immediately prior to Nikya's entrance in that act ... fully illustrating that the celebration of the wedding has come to its heightened conclusion.

I would have thought that La Riche may also have been a candidate. However, I think the board may well - in the longer run - have made a wise choice. BM certainly will be able to speak the dancer's language - was a fine dancer himself - and may well be able to deal with a politic uniquely ripe in Paris. We should all, I think, send him naught but best wishes.

Dear Alison, Sorry, I knew it was someone ... (and perhaps it wasn't you who mentioned it .... that's only ever encroaching old age on my part I fear ... nothing else) .... Picturehouse has been taken over by Cineworld (not Odeon). That is the way of things now of course ... and I, for one, am not entirely certain that this will be the most understanding situation for the 'Arts Screenings' in the two 'Art Houses' that is the explicit property of the Pictureshouse portfolio. A sign of the times indeed. Of course they say that things will not change ... the gray pound ONLY getting bigger if not, perhaps, always stronger ... with it - at some point of course - having to die away. Nonetheless, here is a link to a Guardian article on the same ... which says things will be ALL for the good. My fingers (et all) are crossed. http://www.guardian....ys-picturehouse

I think it is somewhat distressing that there wasn't more made of the fact of his personal professional association. Surely that must be taken into consideration. If ENB had approved this, might there not have been a younger dancer - say in the corps - for whom the publicity might not better (and longer) serve both the the individual dancer and the company whose employ he/she is in. The association with the Olympic statement is fine, but remember that if there was to be an Olympic category for, say, 'dance' no one professionally EMPLOYED would be able to join in other than as, say, a judge. These competitions skew perspectives I think in the minds of many. When will we see 'Got to do Brain Surgery' I wonder?

Ann, I booked at the Ritzy in Brixton for Sunday's Bolshoi relay with no difficulty at all ... although this is still listed as a Picturehouse cinema (although I understand from Alison's note that they have been taken over by the Odeon chain) .... I will give you a link which you can directly book your ticket on: http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Ritzy_Picturehouse/Category/Ballet/film/Bolshoi_La_Bayadere_Live/ By my count there are 24 (so plenty) of seats left. To wit, if you wished to save the booking fee you could either call (expensive) or wait until the day and book at the cinema. I'm sure you would have no problem - There never seems to be. That way you would save yourself the expense.

At the Ballet Association (BA) Meeting in response to a question I asked Ms Rojo said that soon ENB may 'ONLY' be able to consider 'EUROPEAN STUDENTS' for the school ... (and, I suppose on anything but a long term basis, the Company ... although the latter was not immediately specified by Ms. Rojo.) She said that she might suggest 'that they get married' ... and the BA Host said (jokingly) that perhaps the BA could develop a new arm in this regard.

I was at the reception for the opening of new Mariinsky 2, and Gergiev said that there would be much less foreign touring of the Mariinsky Ballet and Opera in future as they now (with three theatres) have 500 performances a year to attend to in St. Petersburg and that their commitment was serving audiences in Russia. (It seems that money too seems to have reverted to other locations. He gave the example of Japan where he said that he, himself, had travelled for work on five or six occasions each year for decades. He said the company's next commitment IN JAPAN (and all the support has has been so vocally built there) was for three year's hence and it would only be on on specific journey in that year (2016). Enough said. He did say the enhanced Mariiinsky would have a renewed focus on electronic touring to satisfy international audiences and they gave examples (largely opera) of the same at this launch reception. The Mariinsky 2 (beautifully designed) opens in May of this year. (I think is also clear as he, himself, has greatly reduced his conducting commitment to the Metropolitan Opera where once he was very busily employed indeed. He certainly is very proud of the commitment of Russian artists there which he made a point of more than a few times over. No mention of the Royal Opera - let alone Ballet - was made.) This may, of course, not be the case with the Bolshoi and they may well travel, (in addition to their electronic commitments in cinemas) and perhaps go into the Coliseum as they have done in the past. (This may in the end prove difficult if the repertoire is not expanded - which is already proving a problem as we have seen in this current season with the Royal Ballet. That said, the powers that be at the RB seem to be effectively addressing this issue (or attempting such) and, hopefully, will be building audiences to ensure health long into the future.) Times are changing; and so is the artistic world in its tow.

If this is truly caused by the Company in-fighting then I very much hope that those responsible for the planning of such horrific activities are reprehended and punished to the fullest extent of the law. This is OUTRAGEOUS. Imagine how other crucial leaders - indeed all - within the Bolshoi ranks must be feeling. This is not, I think, the best environment within which to create art.

Bless you for this, John. Wendy Whelan is - as she ever was - and I remember her as a student at SAB - the personification of glory.

Thanks so much for letting me know, Janet. Bless you.

Sorry, meant 'filled' ... and, of course, can't go back here and correct ..... or at least don't know how ... Still, I hope you can get my drift. I think you can. This is one of those days where NOTHING seems be going right. Bring on tomorrow I say.

Just got a note back from the said ROH after I fill out the form after one of the many failures I received this morning. It simply said 'sorry' ... that they were 'experiencing difficulties with the site' .... and suggested that I 'phone fhe box office'. As my mother was wont to say: it speaks for itself.

Alison, you are not alone. I have had many of the experiences you describe above --- and am it must be said DEEPLY, DEEPLY FRUSTRATED with the (forgive me .. but bloody) ROYAL OPERA HOUSE. I had an excellent selection in my opening basket - having been there on the dot of 10.00 am and having my requirements neatly detailed on paper sitting next to me. My take even included two Don Carlos tickets. I was delighted. But, no, the computer said their (e.g., the ROH) figures did not agree so I must pay - and had NONE, nulla, NOTHING at all. Finally, .... after MANY efforts --- and after much screaming at my innocent computer .... I went back and booked each ticket individually and signed into the ROH website again individually between each booking. I did get places for all the dates I wanted but I got nowhere near as good places as I had originally thought I had got having been dutifully primed... and honestly so ... and, as it happens, I spent HOURS - to wit THREE ... undertaking all of this. The price I fear ALWAYS rises. Good thing I took the morning off, huh. I did in the end get one Don Carlos standing ticket - to the opening as it happens - so I suppose I should not complain. I look forward to hearing the experiences of others. RANT NOW OVER.

I bet he does it without the Bard's fourth act ... which would make a lot of balletic sense - given that it is virtually a different play.