Royal Ballet: The Two Pigeons, Monotones I & II, November 2015 & Rhapsody January 2016

[alison]

From the different casts for The Young Man, the performance that I enjoyed most was that of James Hay. I was impressed by the intensity of his acting and in particular by the expressive use of his eyes.

 

Noticeable even from the Balcony, I should point out   I quite agree with you.

 

One thing which has occurred to me several times during the two runs has been to wonder how Two Pigeons would work paired with Prodigal Son.  Would it work, or would two such similar themes be less effective together?

[Beryl H]

Noticeable even from the Balcony, I should point out   I quite agree with you.

 

One thing which has occurred to me several times during the two runs has been to wonder how Two Pigeons would work paired with Prodigal Son.  Would it work, or would two such similar themes be less effective together?

 

I really think Two Pigeons would be better paired with an abstract astringent ballet like Agon, thought Rhapsody was a better partner than Monotones though.

[Fonty]

I think putting Monotones on in a two part programme is a slightly strange choice, as it doesn't use many dancers and is quite sparse looking.  I loved it, but it might be better as part of a mixed programme of shorter ballets in different styles and designs, rather than the opener to something like 2P.

[Duck]

I quite like the thought of pairing Two Pigeons with another narrative ballet, in particular if the subject of the story is similar.

[FLOSS]

As far as the composition of mixed bills is concerned I have always thought that it was an opportunity to show the range of things that ballet can do rather than showing a number of works by the same person which do pretty much the same thing. I prefer a real mixed bill with ballets by different choreographers appearing in the same programme with each ballet doing something different.

 

I think that a mixed bill of Four Schumann Pieces, Nureyev's Kingdom of the Shades and ending with Façade or Jazz Calendar would be most acceptable. An all Balanchine programme may be easier for the marketing department but I want something with more variety. I think that you could make an excellent mixed bill out of programmes created to Stravinsky scores I am less convinced of the viability of one of ballets created to some other composers. A bill of Les Sylphides, Dances at a Gathering and the Concert might work.

 

I believe that Sarasota Ballet have staged Pigeons with Les Patineurs which sounds a rather good programme to me. Such a programme would give ample opportunities for the younger dancers in the company to perform testing roles without placing too much pressure on them it also has the advantage of being rather family friendly as well. In the dim and distant past the resident company has programmed it with Four Schumann Pieces as its companion piece. Let us hope that the ballet has generated sufficient ticket sales to justify its revival in future seasons making the question of what to programme with it a real issue.

 

As far as the recent programmes are concerned I was pleased to see both Monotones again. When they were revived a couple of seasons ago the casts were within striking distance of getting them right. This time round some casts hit the bull's eye. Rhapsody looked better with some casts than others but it is still a real test of stamina and ability for all concerned and you have to respect any male dancer who takes the Baryshnikov role.

Edited February 2, 2016 by FLOSS

[LinMM]

Love some of those above combinations FLOSS!! Four Schumann pieces would be wonderful to see again and perhaps Dances at a gathering with two Pigeons would be rather heavenly though can't remember the running time for Dances now.

 

I loved Rhapsody though so hope it get combines with something again!!

Les Patineurs really does take me back.....one of the first ballets seen with Sadlers Wells company and I remember it was delightful with lovely costumes. .....but was a long time ago for me!!

[Mary]

It might be a good sign that the RB audience survey this time asked very specifc questions about the works and the performance, including, under reasons for attending-

'Had not seen 2 Pigeons for a long time and wanted to see it'

 

I am sure many will tick this box.

 

(The survey-which was actually about the ballets- contrasted very well with the rather bizarre ENB survey I was sent which asked questions such as 'How much did the show stimulate your creativity?')

[Fonty]

As far as the composition of mixed bills is concerned I have always thought that it was an opportunity to show the range of things that ballet can do rather than showing a number of works by the same person which do pretty much the same thing. I prefer a real mixed bill with ballets by different choreographers appearing in the same programme with each ballet doing something different.

 

 

 

Couldn't agree more, Floss.  A combination of ballets that are pure dance, and pieces that show off the dancers' dramatic skills are my idea of heaven.  And if they can throw in something light hearted and humorous as well, so much the better.  Unfortunately, the trend now seems to be to have themed mixed bills, with a common link between all the pieces. No idea why they should find this necessary, unless all the ballets are new and specially commissioned.

 

I think that a mixed bill of Four Schumann Pieces, Nureyev's Kingdom of the Shades and ending with Façade or Jazz Calendar would be most acceptable. An all Balanchine programme may be easier for the marketing department but I want something with more variety. I think that you could make an excellent mixed bill out of programmes created to Stravinsky scores I am less convinced of the viability of one of ballets created to some other composers. A bill of Les Sylphides, Dances at a Gathering and the Concert might work.

 

 

 

I've never seen Four Schumann Pieces, but I like the sound of those combinations.  Unfortunately for me, the middle piece on any mixed bill is usually a "modern" offering, which is normally the bit where I wish I had stayed in the bar.  

[Two Pigeons]

Sheer heaven as far as I am concerned would be Les Rendezvous (but in the original costumes) or Les Patineurs then The Dream finishing with Facade or A Wedding Bouquet.

Edited February 2, 2016 by Two Pigeons

[FLOSS]

One thing that has surprised me is that Pigeons has turned out to be something of a "Marmite" ballet. it would seem that people either love it or hate it. For everyone who finds the ballet charming and full of inventive choreography there is someone who finds it naïve,full of school boy jokes and with the exception of the final pas de deux a ballet lacking in merit. Among this group there are those who complain that the first act is overlong and too full of birdlike references but like the second act and those who while they like the first act find the second act or rather the section at the Gypsy camp hard to take. For me the Gypsy camp shows Ashton's genius given how little scope there is in the music it is amazing how much variety there is in the choreography for that scene.

 

This mixed reaction set me thinking. What is it that is so different about this ballet? Is it just that the Ashton ballets which have been most frequently revived in the past twenty or so years have given a rather one sided view of his output? If it is not that could it be something simple and straight forward such as casting decisions?

 

As far as the professional critics are concerned there are clearly some who in criticising this work are not simply talking about it but are also discussing the nature of the company itself and its repertory.Some of them have even gone so far as to project their ideas about the company's repertory onto the dancers claiming that the corps would clearly be dancing other works. Some of the those who disliked it would clearly be much happier if the Royal Ballet were staging more "knicker and vest" ballets rather than old fashioned Ashton. This group might accept Fille but not much else.

 

Perhaps the root of the difficulty lies in the style of the ballet itself and the company for which it was made. In some ways it is a bit of a throw back to pre war Ashton , the man who had trained with Massine and worked with Nijinska rather than the choreographer who had taken "private lessons with Petipa". This ballet was not made for the company resident at Covent Garden but for the touring company whose London base was Sadler's Wells and although their repertories overlapped and dancers moved between the two companies they had very different approaches to performance. Ashton was once asked about these differences in connection with criticism of the touring company's performance of Fille and the Dream which were in the repertory of both companies during his directorship. He (Ashton)"defined the differences as a greater emphasis on classical and technical perfection at Covent Garden, while the touring company excelled at a demi-carctere quality and a theatrical impact.".. He told John Percival" that he was happy to have these ballets performed with the emphasis either way.

 

Pigeons was made for the touring company so perhaps part of the problem for some people was that they were not seeing Ashton the pure classicist with whom they are fairly, familiar but Ashton working in a demi caractere style more closely related to that of Massine. Perhaps it was the combination of Ashton's contrasting styles in the same programme which wrong footed an audience that has seen little of that style of ballet. The last Massine ballet to be seen at Covent Garden was Mam'zelle Angot in 1980 and Ashton's Façade has not been seen since 1994,Jazz Calendar was last staged in 1979 and a Wedding Bouquet in 2004. Perhaps the problem was that it is a pretty ballet and that is thought to be inappropriate for a serious art form.

 

 

The most obvious problem to me was that not every dancer cast in the main roles was that well suited to them. That is not to say that they could not reproduce the steps simply that is all they managed to do with the choreography some found it difficult to adjust to the more theatrical style that it requires. While there is no need to construct a back story or act in the way that some MacMillan requires there is far more to dancing the roles of the Young Girl and the Gypsy than simply reproducing the steps accurately and having epaulement. The gestures that the choreographer has given the characters tell you something about them and their relationship with the other characters.

 

It has always seemed to me that the point at which the Young Girl inadvertently pulls the chair away from the Young Man is not a school boy joke but a very clear statement about the state of the couple's relationship. It also helps prepare the audience for the Young Man's response to the Gypsy Girl. No gesture in an Ashton ballet is superfluous. Each gesture helps portray the character concerned and each gesture needs to register throughout the theatre. The audience needs to see how charming, petulant and irritating the Young Girl is and how out of her depth she is when she is faced with the Gypsy Girl. When the Gypsy turns on the Friends and when she pushes the Girl into the chair the gestures have to be really strong and clear. The Gypsy should seem to slam the Girl onto the chair not give her a gentle push.When the Girl raises her fist you have to believe that if she had not been scooped out of the way she would have hit the Gypsy Girl. In other words the dancer needs to have a firm grasp on who their character is as an individual at each point in the ballet and show the audience who they are rather than presenting a generic ballet type.

 

Salenko failed for me because her Young Girl would have done just as well for Swanilda. The Young Girl in this ballet is not simply a soubrette role. During the ballet you need to see the characters as individuals not as stock ballet types. Cuthbertson was too much the classical dancer for me. She gave us beautiful dancing but that is not enough and she should have been more gutsy. The critics saw the casts who, for me, the least successful overall in providing the heartfelt emotion which should be at the centre of a performance of this ballet.

 

It seemed to me that it really came to life when it was performed by dancers who were at least as concerned with creating a character through their dance as they were with dancing the steps beautifully.For me the cast of Stix Brunell, Ball and Calvert could not be faulted. Stix Brunell made the Girl irritating and forceful.Seymour always danced it expansively and managed to be simultaneously charming and irritating so did Stix Brunell. Takada reminded me that the role was actually created on a great dancer, somehow she managed to get real feeling into those flailing arm movements in act 1 while Choe managed to persuade me for once that she was not simply reproducing steps and she was not too cute either. Campbell, Hay and Ball each brought something individual to the role of the Young Man as far as Muntagirov is concerned his post Christmas performances were spot on. While none of the Gypsies equalled Morera they were never less than good.

Edited February 2, 2016 by FLOSS

[Jan McNulty]

Great post Floss!

[Scheherezade]

I thought that yesterday's matinee was a sublime way to end the run. I thought that Hay and Hayward had really settled into their roles, and brought something much deeper than just the steps to the performance. What I love about them is that everything is so clear: every step, every movement of the head, every flick of the wrist...and they take their time; nothing goes to waste by favouring speed over clarity.

 

I did keep wondering, as I watched it, what Matthew and Yasmine Naghdi would have been like together. I do understand that everyone needs to be given chances, and giving Beatriz a go at this role was totally justified and a great decision because her performance was wonderful, but it would have been the perfect opportunity for the Naghdi/Ball partnership to go up a notch. I do hope they are given more roles together next season. Likewise Yuhui/Campbell: if there are natural partnerships developing in the company, Mr O'Hare, please don't scupper them.

 

 

 

Salenko failed for me because her Young Girl would have done just as well for Swanilda. The Young Girl in this ballet is not simply a soubrette role. During the ballet you need to see the characters as individuals not as stock ballet types. Cuthbertson was too much the classical dancer for me. She gave us beautiful dancing but that is not enough and she should have been more gutsy. The critics saw the casts who, for me, the least successful overall in providing the heartfelt emotion which should be at the centre of a performance of this ballet.....It seemed to me that it really came to life when it was performed by dancers who were at least as concerned with creating a character through their dance as they were with dancing the steps beautifully.

 

Hayward and Hay were, as Sim says, sublime. A totally different interpretation to Osipova and McRae, both equally valid and, interestingly, equally impressive, and I am glad to have seen both.

 

I fully agree with Floss' appraisal of Two Pigeons. I have already said that I found Salenko too arch. I also found Cuthbertson somewhat mannered, and despite the beauty of her dancing she failed to convince me in the way that Stix-Brunell and Choe did. Overall, and by a whisker, I found the Choe/Campbell performance the most convincing, although this may also have had something to do with Mendizabal's fabulous gypsy - what is it about these Spanish girls? For all that I liked Clare Calvert, I found the differentiation between Mendizabal and Choe was greater - her imperiousness against the naturalness of Choe's interpretation made it easier to believe the young man's infatuation  - and for me this gave them the edge.

 

I, too, by the way, noticed the detailed questions in the Friends' survey. An opportunity, surely, to bring home to the management the necessity of reviving more Ashton works and now!

[FLOSS]

Fonty. Four Schumann Pieces by Hans Van Manen, or at least bits of it can be found on YouTube. I think that it was filmed for a documentary about Anthony Dowell called all "All the Superlatives" and that if you search for footage of Dowell dancing  you should find it. It was in the RB repertory in the mid seventies for one or two seasons. As far as I know most people liked it but, clearly, not well enough.

 

As far as Pigeons is concerned I can't help wondering why neither Lynn Seymour nor Elizabeth Anderton seem to have been asked to assist in the restoration of the ballet or in coaching the dancers. They created the roles of the Young Girl and  the Gypsy Girl and you might have thought that  their input would have helped  as far as both choreographic text and interpretation are concerned.They are both alive and  I believe compus mentis. Salenko and Cuthbertson in particular might have benefitted from their assistance in their portrayal of the Young Girl.

Edited February 2, 2016 by FLOSS

[alison]

I wondered that as well, FLOSS.

[FLOSS]

According to the database Four Schumann Pieces received its RB premiere in 1975 and was last performed by the company in 1983. Perhaps it slipped out of the repertory when Dowell retired from dancing. It was a piece that was very much associated with Dowell. I can't believe that it was dropped on grounds of expense. as the music for the ballet is provided by a string quartet. I should not have thought that it was anywhere near as expensive as ballets which require singers to be hired. A ballet like Les Noces is extremely expensive because it requires four excellent pianists and a number of good singers.

Edited February 2, 2016 by FLOSS

[SPD444]

What a shame!  on the ROH website.:-

 

Chris Shipman (Interim Head of Online Content) responded on 2 February 2016 at 5:57pm Reply

Thanks for all your comments about the upcoming Rhapsody / The Two Pigeons DVD and Blu-Ray release.

Unfortunately we aren’t able to release the Hayward/Hay performance or include it as a bonus feature.

As many of you have noted, there were cameras in the auditorium during the performance on 16 January, but these were only used for a camera rehearsal prior to the live cinema relay later in the run. Therefore there is no footage of the Hayward/Hay performance available for us to use.

Chris
ROH Head of Online Content

[MAB]

According to the database Four Schumann Pieces received its RB premiere in 1975 and was last performed by the company in 1983. Perhaps it slipped out of the repertory when Dowell retired from dancing. It was a piece that was very much associated with Dowell. 

 

That can't be right, I'm pretty certain it's been revived since 1985, mind you it wasn't very good when I last saw it so perhaps they prefer to forget it.

[Sunrise]

Wow, that really is a pity. I thought some of these performances were recorded for their own archives at least.

[Sim]

That is indeed a real pity. Theirs is the performance I would love to be able to watch over and over again.

[FLOSS]

MAB. It is what the ROH database says. I don't vouch for the its accuracy as there are far too many occasions when it suggests that a ballet was only revived once or twice in a particular season which,of course,is nonsense. You say that you think it was danced after '83. I don't recall performances as late as '83 let alone after that date. Who do you think that you saw in it?

[bangorballetboy]

That is indeed a real pity. Theirs is the performance I would love to be able to watch over and over again.

 

Indeed.

 

If only the owners of the Ashton ballets could set up a *proper* foundation to actually own the ballets, funded by royalties, then maybe they'd have some clout over how companies record the Ashton rep for posterity.

[FLOSS]

I assume that everyone is aware that Ashton left the income from some of his ballets to a number of named individuals and the residue of his estate,which includes Pigeons, to his nephew Anthony Russell Roberts. Some of the ballets such as the Dream and Fille are nice little earners others such as Daphnis and Chloe generate very little income. The Foundation seems to be pretty ineffectual but why would the owners of the ballets which actually generate income voluntarily give up their rights to the money which they get from them?

 

As the original legatees die their ballets pass to people who also have no direct involvement with ballet. Alexander Grant's long term partner now owns Fille which is probably the biggest single money spinner of all of Ashton's works. As far as I can see there is nothing to prevent him doing whatever he likes to the ballet from arranging for it to be redesigned to allowing people to alter the choreographic text. Given the number of companies who perform Fille it would require a large sum to persuade him to part with his rights. I can't see any obvious source of money to buy out the owner's rights to the ballets they own except the other owners and why would they want to do that? The owners of ballets of limited financial value don't have the resources and those with valuable holdings have no incentive to do so.

Edited February 3, 2016 by FLOSS

[bangorballetboy]

I assume that everyone is aware that Ashton left the income from some of his ballets to a number of named individuals and the residue of his estate,which includes Pigeons, to his nephew Anthony Russell Roberts. Some of the ballets such as the Dream and Fille are nice little earners others such as Daphnis and Chloe generate very little income. The Foundation seems to be pretty ineffectual but why would the owners of the ballets which actually generate income voluntarily give up their rights to the money which they get from them?

 

As the original legatees die their ballets pass to people who also have no direct involvement with ballet. Alexander Grant's long term partner now owns Fille which is probably the biggest single money spinner of all of Ashton's works. As far as I can see there is nothing to prevent him doing whatever he likes to the ballet from arranging for it to be redesigned to allowing people to alter the choreographic text. Given the number of companies who perform Fille it would require a large sum to persuade him to part with his rights. I can't see any obvious source of money to buy out the owner's rights to the ballets they own except the other owners and why would they want to do that? The owners of ballets of limited financial value don't have the resources and those with valuable holdings have no incentive to do so.

 

I am very aware of the situation, thank you.

 

The foundation is ineffectual because it does not have any rights to the ballets.  The ballet owners (generally) support the foundation because, by "looking after" the Ashton style, it enhances their assets (i.e. it maintains or increases the value of the ballets).  However, the ballet owners wish, to use an Ashtonian analogy, to have both the big orange and the little one; they want the foundation to be funded using other people's money, whilst continuing to reap the royalties themselves.  The obvious answer is for the owners to transfer their rights to the ballets to the foundation in return for a percentage of the royalties.  The foundation would then be funded by the remainder of the royalties.

[Bluebird]

I am very aware of the situation, thank you.

 

The foundation is ineffectual because it does not have any rights to the ballets.  The ballet owners (generally) support the foundation because, by "looking after" the Ashton style, it enhances their assets (i.e. it maintains or increases the value of the ballets).  However, the ballet owners wish, to use an Ashtonian analogy, to have both the big orange and the little one; they want the foundation to be funded using other people's money, whilst continuing to reap the royalties themselves.  The obvious answer is for the owners to transfer their rights to the ballets to the foundation in return for a percentage of the royalties.  The foundation would then be funded by the remainder of the royalties.

 

I'd understood that the Foundation was trying to raise money to buy the rights from the owners of Ashton's ballets. A while ago they were definitely trying to raise enough to purchase the rights to Daphnis and Chloë.

 

Edited to quote an extract from a 2014 Jann Parry DanceTabs item:

 

“The Foundation is hoping to obtain the performing rights from those willing to cede them, starting with Daphnis and Chloe, inherited by Margot Fonteyn’s niece, Lavinia Exham.”

 

http://dancetabs.com/2014/10/frederick-ashton-remembered-ashton-foundation-masterclasses-in-step-with-fred/

Edited February 3, 2016 by Bluebird

[Fonty]

Fonty. Four Schumann Pieces by Hans Van Manen, or at least bits of it can be found on YouTube. I think that it was filmed for a documentary about Anthony Dowell called all "All the Superlatives" and that if you search for footage of Dowell dancing  you should find it. It was in the RB repertory in the mid seventies for one or two seasons. As far as I know most people liked it but, clearly, not well enough.

 

As far as Pigeons is concerned I can't help wondering why neither Lynn Seymour nor Elizabeth Anderton seem to have been asked to assist in the restoration of the ballet or in coaching the dancers. They created the roles of the Young Girl and  the Gypsy Girl and you might have thought that  their input would have helped  as far as both choreographic text and interpretation are concerned.They are both alive and  I believe compus mentis. Salenko and Cuthbertson in particular might have benefitted from their assistance in their portrayal of the Young Girl.

 

Wow!  I have just spent a very happy morning watching Four Schumann Pieces, in between bits of work. What fabulous dancing from Dowell.  In fact, everyone moved with such speed and so lightly across the stage.  The recording is not the best quality on Youtube, but you can see the wonderful performance overall.  

 

It always puzzles me that Dowell was probably the quintessential Ashton dancer, yet doesn't seem to have gone out of his way to preserve that legacy.  Why have previous and current dancers struggled to reproduce the style, when Dowell is close to hand?  In fact, how did the RB manage to lose it in the first place, given that there are many of the original dancers still around, and examples of the work on Youtube for all to see. 

 

I type that without having seen Hayward in any of the recent performances, and she has received rave reviews on here, which is encouraging, of course, but still I wonder what happened in the past.  Such a pity.   

[Bluebird]

I'd understood that the Foundation was trying to raise money to buy the rights from the owners of Ashton's ballets. A while ago they were definitely trying to raise enough to purchase the rights to Daphnis and Chloë.

 

Edited to quote an extract from a 2014 Jann Parry DanceTabs item:

 

“The Foundation is hoping to obtain the performing rights from those willing to cede them, starting with Daphnis and Chloe, inherited by Margot Fonteyn’s niece, Lavinia Exham.”

 

http://dancetabs.com/2014/10/frederick-ashton-remembered-ashton-foundation-masterclasses-in-step-with-fred/

 

Coincidentally, I’ve just read Gerald Dowler’s article in this month’s Dancing Times.  He writes that the owner of Daphnis and Chloë  transferred her rights to the Foundation last year.  He also writes that Derek Rencher, who inherited Les Rendezvous and Les Patineurs from Brian Shaw, has ‘left them to be administered by the Foundation with the royalties going to the Royal Ballet School’

Edited February 3, 2016 by Bluebird

[LinMM]

Well I should have written this review of two Pigeons etc from last Saturday some time ago but in the end there isn't much I can add to what others have said and said brilliantly.

 

Other than I thought Hayward was just simply gorgeous in the Rhapsody piece......this piece even better than I remembered it....she just looked SO happy!! A true delight and definitely want to see more of her!

Hay is as some have pointed out not quite the bravura dancer as yet but he is still good to look at with lovely lines and what I call a very clean dancer. He and Francesca certainly seemed to enjoy dancing together and looked the perfect couple.

 

I absolutely loved everybody in Pigeons. Both Stix Brunell and Matthew Ball have very expressive faces and nothing was under or over done both absolutely believable. Both are good at comedy too but you could really feel her angst when the gypsy girl seemed to be taking off "her" lover!! And most of us have been there at some point so beautifully or (horribly) touching when he finally went depending on how sensitive a mood one was in!

I was highly sensitive that afternoon as had been looking forward to it for so long!!

 

I thought Claire Calvert was very good as the gypsy girl and her dancing was wonderful.....those split jetes spectacular .....but perhaps did not have quite that haughtiness/ fiery pride whatever of the person so secure in their own skin has ......she has to be something special to entice away the young man ..... Especially with the young girl as lovely as Stix Brunell! With the gypsy scene I had forgotten so much of the music so thoroughly enjoyed that ...and the ending well.......I started to well up,as soon as he arrived with the bird and placed on the chair. I tried to stop it as I knew I wouldn't be able to see the dancing .....but got as far as the other pigeon joining on the chair and suddenly was overwhelmed with the loveliness of it all. What a joy!

 

How lucky the Royal are to have so many good young couples enough to have some mixing and matching to see how things work out etc. watching Hayward in Rhapsody I thought she could make a very good Ondine at some point and wouldn't mind seeing this again too.

[Irmgard]

I went to the matinee on 23 January to see one of my favourite ballets, “The Two Pigeons” and reacquaint myself with Ashton’s glorious “Rhapsody”.  I was at its premiere in 1980 and still have the souvenir silk programme.  I remember it was very much a party atmosphere and there was such an air of expectation and excitement as the curtain rose.  Given the chance to choreograph for arguably the greatest dancer in the world, Ashton threw off all vestiges of British reserve and revelled in being able to use every virtuosic and quirky step imaginable in his own impeccably musical way.  Watching Stephen McRae, I was impressed by how he handled the fiendish difficulties of the choreography but remembered that Baryshnikov danced the whole ballet in a relaxed and breezy manner with a smile on his face, as did his successor in the part, Stephen Beagley.  Lesley Collier, Baryshnikov’s ballerina, was a stocky little dancer who would probably have killed for Natalia Osipova’s long limbs but she personified the Ashtonian values of neat, fleet footwork and quicksilver changes of direction of the upper body and arms, all danced seamlessly. Some of these qualities, including the Cecchetti ports de bras so beloved by Ashton, eluded Osipova and there was some fluffed footwork but there was no doubt she responded to the Russian soul of Rachmaninov’s music.  For the corps de ballet of girls, Ashton chose six of the brightest young talents, including Karen Paisey, who proved a worthy successor to Collier in the ballerina role, and the late, lamented Bryony Brind, and gave them all little signature movements.  The young ladies in this performance didn’t quite have the fluidity of their predecessors or the joyous delicacy of running en pointe, but it was good to see this ballet again and to marvel at the seemingly endless inventiveness of Ashton’s choreography.

I never saw Christopher Gable, the original Young Man in “The Two Pigeons”, in the role but by all accounts he was a tall, elegant dancer and must have brought the same effortless style and charm to the role as did Vadim Muntagirov at this performance.  Muntagirov also brought a dramatic depth to the character, whether demonstrating his frustration with his fidgety young model, his infatuation with the Gypsy Girl (sensuously danced by Fumi Kaneko if not really dispelling my memories of the incomparable Alessandra Ferri in the role) or returning to his garret as a very chastened and humbled young man.  As the Young Girl, Lauren Cuthbertson was simply enchanting, wonderfully mischievous in the first scene and heartbreaking in her quiet despair when the Young Man forsakes her.  Her dancing was exquisite and my only very small criticism would be that the fluttering wing movements of her arms could have been more meltingly soft.  For me, there has never been another choreographer who can tell a love story so gently or tenderly as Ashton, the epitome being the final pas de deux of reconciliation.  When danced as sublimely as it was at this matinee, it cannot fail to melt even the hardest of hearts, especially when the pigeons are so impeccably behaved (although I used to love it when some of the second pigeons did a circuit round the auditorium before alighting on the back of the chair!).  This was a superb revival of an Ashton masterpiece and I hope a whole new generation has fallen in love with it.  My congratulations to all involved in rehearsing it.

[LinMM]

Loved your review of that cast Irmgard and I so agree about Ashton telling love stories so well. It's all in the choreography really but this run seems to have seen some wonderful dancing and interpretations which has been good news.

 

There is still room for all though! If we only saw Ashton I think we would be yearning for some more earthy/gritty Macmillan! And if we never saw any really truly modern pieces like Macgregor we'd be the poorer too. Just my opinion of course. We don't have to be moved to tears at every ballet performance .....sometimes thought provoking choreography feeds the soul too.

 

We are very lucky to have so many ballet companies in the UK ....all slightly differently orientated ....but all excellent in their field.

[Irmgard]

Loved your review of that cast Irmgard and I so agree about Ashton telling love stories so well. It's all in the choreography really but this run seems to have seen some wonderful dancing and interpretations which has been good news.

 

There is still room for all though! If we only saw Ashton I think we would be yearning for some more earthy/gritty Macmillan! And if we never saw any really truly modern pieces like Macgregor we'd be the poorer too. Just my opinion of course. We don't have to be moved to tears at every ballet performance .....sometimes thought provoking choreography feeds the soul too.

 

We are very lucky to have so many ballet companies in the UK ....all slightly differently orientated ....but all excellent in their field.

Thank you very much LinMM and I agree with you that there is room for all.  I very rarely feel moved to tears at ballet performances but if there is one ballet that will do it for me, it is 'Two Pigeons'!

[Irmgard]

It is the Sarasota Ballet in Florida. They have a lot of Ashton in their repertoire. I would love to see how they dance those works.

I am only just catching up on all the posts under this topic so a bit of delay in saying that I expect Sarasota dances Ashton extremely well, given that it is run by Iain Webb and the divine Margaret Barbieri who were leading lights of the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet.  Barbieri, in particular, was a beautiful Ashton dancer with the added advantage of being related to Enrico Cecchetti so it is pretty much in her genetic make-up!

 

By the way, with regard to reported comments on other posts about various Ashton ballets being 'lost', readers may be interested to know that twenty-nine of his ballets and his choreographic contributions to five operas have been notated, either while he was creating them or when he was around to supervise the revivals, so there is quite a selection to choose from when planning an Ashton programme.

[Vanartus]

Thanks to both of you - Irmgard and LinMM - for raising my spirits in letting me read a review and subsequent comments which combine criticism with generosity of spirit, and informed experience with a feel for the past and present. And yes - the answer is in a judicious mix of old and new.

[GailR]

The last RBS summer performance (1965 or 66)  that I was lucky enough to be a part of was Two Pigeons. The young girl was Lesley Collier and the gypsy girl was Margaret Barbieri !! I think that David Wall performed the artist, but I am not sure as there was a lot of role sharing with that part.