annamk

Yesterday afternoon we went to a screening in the Curzon Bloomsbury of this new documentary directed by Connie Hochman. It's full of old footage of Balanchine teaching class, excerpts of performances, extensive interviews with Balanchine dancers like Merrill Ashley, Jacques D'Amboise, Edward Villella, Heather Watts and others. It also featured contemporary rehearsal footage of dancers from NYCB, Miami City ballet, and ABT. There was a tantalisingly brief clip of what looked like the curtain call from the premiere of Diamonds, what an iconic moment ! What a genius Balanchine was. It was a really well constructed and fascinating documentary; as well as all the footage it covered Balanchine's progression from Russia to Diaghilev to the eventual founding of NYCB and Balanchine and Stravinsky. I assume it will be released on DVD and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves Balanchine ballets or just ballet. Following the screening was a Q & A hosted by Alastair Macaulay with Matthew Ball and Marcelino Sambe. The dancers spoke thoughtfully and intelligently in response to Alastair Macaulay's insightful questions.

The second cast were nothing short of a revelation for me. Naghdi/Corrales/Kaneko/Calvert all absolutely superb. The steps looked far far better and the chemistry between Naghdi/Corrales was intense. The whole thing was more vivid and emotional. And I enjoyed the music much more.

Interesting to see enthusiastic comments kicking off this thread and sad to say I didn't feel the same myself, I found the insights intriguing and I was hoping to enjoy it. On the positive side I thought the complex story was well told, mostly the ideas and events were pretty clear although I had read the detailed synopsis. The staging and lighting are in large part slick, attractive and inventive; the ending in particular is beautiful and original. The choreography, though largely classical, has elements of generic Broadway musical in the large numbers for the corps - I am thinking of the wedding scene and the revolutionaries. I didn't feel generally that the choreography gave any real insights into the characters and I found the big pdd unsatisfying and often ugly in places, particularly some of the lifts in the final pdd. There were certain flashes of quality choreography but far too little and far too much "frollicking" and "dance theatre". Overall I thought there were too many boring and mediocre scenes and too few genuinely good ones. The highlight for me was the telling of the tragedy of young Mama Elena (Morera) and her lover Jose (Sissens). The lowlight was the transformation of Gertrudis (O'Sullivan) into a revolutionary tart to be carried off on a bucking horse by Juan Alejandrez (Corrales). It was just embarrassing and in my opinion demeaning. I suppose given the same design team as Alice and Winter's Tale it isn't surprising to find echoes of those ballets here. The ghost of Mama Elena bears more than a passing resemblance to the Red Queen in Alice, the ambience and scenery in Act 2 invoked Winter's Tale to me. The biggest problem for me was the music, but I admit I have an unsophisticated tin ear when it comes to music. Yes, it had some melodic moments with some echoes of Mexican music but overall it was very recognisably Talbot doing what he's done for Alice and Winter's Tale. It often had little connection with the emotional content of the story that was being told on stage, for example, the music for the pdd between Tita and Pedro didn't tug at my heartstrings like Tchaikovsky. LWFC is a tragic story of unfulfilled love and death but the music doesn't tell it in a way that made me care or actually feel any emotion at all. Of course, all the dancers gave committed performances and did their best with the material they were given.

Nogoat, thank you for posting the video and for your fascinating review. I also wish I'd seen the video before the performance, everything would have been much clearer. I enjoyed the evening; it was an interesting concept, attractively staged and well danced. I liked seeing Osipova with non Royal Ballet dancers, particularly Kittelberger and Hernandez. The latter's emotional intensity was something of a revelation in this and he danced beautifully, as he always does. It seemed to me that Osipova is now more comfortable in the grounded contemporary dance style. I preferred Act 2 and particularly enjoyed the pdd between Osipova and Kittelberger.

As far as cultivating new audiences and creating new works this is a road that Rambert are also travelling. The recent Triple Bill at Sadlers Wells received mixed reviews from the critics, I enjoyed it but it didn't enthuse me or anyone else here enough to make a discussion thread (surely saying something perhaps for Britain's foremost contemporary company). The more important point I wanted to make is that the ticket sales at Sadlers Wells were shockingly poor. Even on the opening night there were swathes of unsold seats and the 1st Circle was only saved from empty embarrassment by clearly being packed with "friends and family".

There's plenty of food for thought in a very interesting interview in the links this morning with Susan Jaffe, the next AD of ABT. Amongst other things, she says she aims to shelve, temporarily, ballets such as Corsaire and Bayadere which "contain offensive stereotyping or run counter to contemporary sensibilities." I know we have discussed these issues ourselves but is this the first time an AD has made such bold statements ? "Counter to contemporary sensibilities" is quite a broad statement. I wonder if, for example, the character of Alain in Fille mal Gardee might fall foul of this ?

Most of the comments on this forum are extremely positive and it’s a rare occasion when someone says something very critical. It’s unfair to diminish "Joe Public's" criticism based on the fact that a dancer may be having a bad night. Does that mean we can never say anything negative about a performance because there may have been extenuating factors? Criticism would die. As far as "more qualified to comment" is concerned, I suppose someone "more qualified" is able to say whether the steps were perfectly performed although I've even heard RB coaches express different opinions about a performance. Dancers have different skills, not everyone can pull off 32 perfect fouettes but not everyone can dance and act an exceptional Juliet. I don't understand why it is a problem to discuss this on the forum ?

Everyone recognises that dancers can have an off day, I was simply replying to your first post which said “perhaps they could refrain from criticising a professional's very occasional mishap” An off day doesn’t mean one can’t or shouldn’t comment on a performance - if you can’t say one performance isn’t so good then what is the point of ever saying a dancer is good. Praise becomes pointless if criticism is invalidated.

What are you saying here ? I'm not capable of doing any of the things the dancers do on stage but I don't see why that means I should refrain from making any criticisms.

I also think it would be too soon. This is only his first year as soloist and IMO his dancing is inconsistent.

I felt the same, what a memorable performance. I've never seen such emotional intensity from Muntagirov; I was spellbound watching him in that moment when Beliaev sits on the chaise longue after they have been discovered. He and Morera were a masterclass indeed, absolutely wonderful. I was very impressed with Liam Boswell's Kolia in the Osipova/Bracewell cast.

They really were incredible.

It seems that the ROH website has now migrated to the new seat selection system, only the whole auditorium seat map appeared which at the moment doesn't even seem to work - trying to "grab" a seat is getting me nowhere.

Ticket spoken for.

£7 - DM me if interested. Anna

It is indeed Alison. When Jean de B returns in Act 2 he sees that Raymonda and Abd are in love and he attacks Abd. In the ensuing sword fight they injure each other before Raymonda intervenes to stop them. Jean realises Raymonda is lost to him and he leaves. Abd wears a white costume for the wedding and as far as I was concerned it all looked harmonious but I don't know the original choreography well so I can't say for certain whether there is a noticeable difference in the style of Abd's variations and dancing between the acts of this version or between the different versions. Whether someone who was very familiar with the Russian version might find it odd and jarring, possibly. Anyway they have been filming the first cast and there is a broadcast (6-8 May) so I'll have another chance to see it. I have to add that Smirnova is not "warm" in the Nunez sense of warm which radiates to the far reaches of an auditorium, but here we were sitting quite close to the stage and her smile was happy and relaxed. I'd also say that in spite of the presumably considerable personal difficulties and pressures she's had recently she seemed very comfortable on this stage with this company, there was no tension in her dancing.

Maia Makhatelli's performance was excellent Buddy. She is technically very capable and danced all the steps with ease and confidence. Young Gyu Choi, was her energetic and charismatic Abd and he danced with panache. What is that elevated Smirnova's performance ? Hard to find the words, to pinpoint what makes a particular performer and/or performance exceptional. When you see it you just know it and you know you won't forget it. Possibly with Smirnova it's how she uses her upper body, her exquisite arms and back, and her general luminosity. In the "handclap" solo you could almost feel the audience holding its collective breath. I think Fumi Kaneko at the Royal Ballet has many of these same qualities.

Largely an uninspiring selection in odd categories ...... I don't think I understand what Outstanding Male CLASSICAL performance means here .... The Statement is a terrific piece which I really enjoyed and Joe Sissens was indeed excellent but it seemed to me to be dance theatre and not much to do with classical dance ? Ed Watson stood around in a dress for most of The Dante Project ..... why not just give him a lifetime award if they want to recognise his achievements rather than this odd nomination.

Friends and I went to Amsterdam to see the Dutch National Ballet’s new Raymonda. We saw 2 casts: the “first cast” featuring Maia Makhatelli in the title role and yesterday evening Olga Smirnova - who was the reason for the trip. It’s a typically traditional production with resplendent tutus and all the choreography that we recognise from the Russian Raymondas. The only tweak in the story line is that instead of being abducted by Abd al-Rahman, Raymonda has been given the agency to reject Jean de Brianne and choose Abd al-Rahman. As a company DNB were very impressive; the highlight being the female corps in the beautiful Raymonda dream scene. The 26 (?) dancers had clearly been thoroughly rehearsed, were well coordinated and danced with great precision. The solo roles were well danced: we noticed the Beranga of Jan Spunda and the tall, powerful Giorgi Potskhishvili as one of Abd’s friends. Raymonda myst be one of the most difficult roles in the female classical repertory and Olga Smirnova met all its challenges with superlative elegance, warmth and flawless technique. Her arms, back and epaulement are things of exquisite beauty. Raymonda’s iconic “handclap” variation was a pristine display of classical technique. No wonder the entire auditorium was on its feet at the end. Her Abd was Constantine Allen a tall, muscular and dashing dancer with an intense stage presence. His partnering was excellent and we felt a real connection between them. The now rejected Jean de Brienne was the former Mariinsky dancer young Brazilian Victor Caixeta. His dancing was neat and he partnered well but it’s a difficult role to make appealing (unless you have the charisma of the Mariinsky’s Vladimir Shklyarov). The lush Glazunov score was beautifully played by the huge orchestra. I had wondered about the wisdom of reviving an old warhorse like Raymonda in the 21st century without adapting the storyline significantly but with dancing of this quality on offer I found it easy to accept solely as a vehicle for superb classical dancing.

Both tickets now spoken for.

£7 each. Message me if interested.

I have returned to the BO.

I’m sorry I don’t know. Guess is it’s probably the Ashton triple bill.

£20 message me if interested. Anna

It seems Caley is leaving, Emily Suziki put this on her instagram "I’ll definitely miss performing it but it won’t be the same because it was also those amazing dancers @chapulo7 @jeffreycirio and @joe_caley22 and @anjhuds ‘s last shows in London. "