Wheeldon Triple Bill - February/March 2016

[Beryl H]

Saw this programme again yesterday, 3 times within a week but the prices were cheaper and I was really looking forward to it, in fact have got one more to go, think the first cast in general has the edge, Marianela Nunez and Thiago Soares seem perfect in After The Rain, and liked seeing Tierney Heap, David Donnelly, Claire Calvert and Nehemiah Kish too, they looked well matched as a quartet.

 

Probably my imagination but there seemed to be more dancing in Strapless, or else the first cast are really getting into the roles now, this was an improvement on opening night, Edward Watson has a short solo, and the pas de trois seemed more clearly defined. I have a feeling that this is the way narrative ballets are going though, much more emphasis on the visuals, lighting etc, less attention paid to the most important thing, the choreography, non-linear seems to be obligatory too. The composers also are good at creating a mood but fail to supply emotional depth or character, I feel this about The Winter's Tale and Alice, the unusual thing was how good Woolf Works was, a real surprise in this respect, very moving music in the first and last ballets.

 

Last night felt tighter as a programme, think it finished a tiny bit earlier, thank goodness for Giselle next, one 30 minute interval is fine!

[annamk]

The ones which make constructive comments (including my own!) are not negative. I refer to those - and there are both short and tediously long examples - where the ballet has been simply trashed.

 

 

Why does every poster have to offer constructive comments ?  Surely this forum is a place where people can register briefly likes or dislikes without offering useful suggestions for improvement. My own post on Strapless was short and lacked constructive comments because, having seen the ballet twice, for myself it was "45 numbing minutes" beyond any salvation. 

[aileen]

It's not compulsory to offer constructive criticism although I, personally, am interested in why people don't like a work or performance and how the work or performance might be improved. Sometimes though, you just find a work dull or a performance unengaging and there's not much to be said beyond the fact that you just didn't enjoy it. This particularly applies to casting; sometimes, you just don't like a dancer in a role or a partnership in a particular work.

[Fiz]

I am reading the book "Strapless" from which the ballet has been taken. The one thing that is coming across very strongly is that Amelie doesn't seem to have much character. She liked clothes and society but I get no sense of her as a person with opinions and interests or anything else. I think Christopher Wheeldon would be hard pressed to expand her personality unless he invents one for her.

[LinMM]

Alison when you said there would be plenty more opportunities to see the In Golden Hour later in the season I thought Oh good and went to ROH website but cannot see any time later in the Spring or Summer to see it!! Am I missing something?

[alison]

Last triple bill of the season, Lin

[LinMM]

Can't make any of this triple bill unfortunately.

[Timmie]

Moving on from my previous comment of ‘meh’, the problem with Strapless for me is that while a good story is nice to have, good dancing is essential. I thought there was just too much of the ballerina being carried around – not enough wow moments for the occasional ballet goer.

 

The café scene seemed a missed opportunity. I couldn’t help making comparisons with the similarish Tavern scene in Mayerling. In both ballets the scene doesn’t really seem essential to the story but is an opportunity to provide some character development and, in the case of Mayerling, some very entertaining dancing with solos, duets and group dances. Strapless needed something like that – Bratfisch’s solo, Rudolf’s solo, Mitzi’s dance with the Hungarian Officers – something to make you want to clap your hands, not just watch and wait for the next thing.

[Nina G.]

Wheeldon used four soloists (Maguire, Naghdi, Harrod and Hinkis) for his Can-Can cafe scene but gave them little or no dancing (yes, waving their skirt, basically messing around in the bar). What a waste of their talent! Wheeldon could have, as Timmie said, given them a solo or a great pd2 or pd3 to further develop the "Parisian" nightlife scene. He could have used young Corps dancers instead and use those soloists in a Pd2 or 3, giving us indeed a reason to clap our hands.

[Ann Williams]

'...>Mitzi’s dance with the Hungarian Officers – something to make you want to clap your hands, not just watch and wait for the next thing.<...'

 

Yes indeed - that dance in particular (to the 'Mephisto Waltz' music) is a work of real genius - I could watch it over and over again.  I do hope though that if Wheeldon happens to read this thread,  he will remember that he can produce works of genius himself and - with luck - has plenty of time to do so.

[aileen]

I've wondered how professional choreographers improve. Does anyone give them any feedback or suggestions during the creation of the work or after the work has been performed? The choreographer is an artist, and has a vision, but, as with any other human endeavour, s/he can learn from other people. The concept of training in the context of choreography seems a strange one but why should it be? What support and advice is there for emerging and even established choreographers? Or are they pretty much left to get on with it with minimal oversight by anyone else?

[Vanartus]

Can I say how much I enjoyed reading the above comments. I rather feel I was a little unfairly reprimanded by the moderators yesterday when I was saying that I preferred reading "explained" criticism rather than witheringly negative. Of course anything barring the obscene and libellous is permissible, but surely I and others have the right to criticise the way others criticise if we feel it is justified? Anyway my knuckles were rapped so...

[zxDaveM]

I've wondered how professional choreographers improve. Does anyone give them any feedback or suggestions during the creation of the work or after the work has been performed? The choreographer is an artist, and has a vision, but, as with any other human endeavour, s/he can learn from other people. The concept of training in the context of choreography seems a strange one but why should it be? What support and advice is there for emerging and even established choreographers? Or are they pretty much left to get on with it with minimal oversight by anyone else?

 

An interesting question, and perhaps a new thread?

[Arky]

Reece Clarke lit up the stage again last night. What a dancer! He and Zenaida were wonderful together and he was a great Pozzi with excellent presence. 

 

Much enjoyed seeing the cast of Within the Golden Hour too - Yuhui, Alex, Frankie, Valentino, Akane & Tristan - what a joy!

[Sim]

Totally agree, Arky. This was my second viewing of the triple, and first of this cast. I loved Reece and Zen in Rain....very emotional and for me there is always something special and moving about an older ballerina dancing with a young male one when they have an emotional connection. I feel like they have been blessed with a second lease of artistic life. I can't really explain it. What a shame Reece couldn't have been around for Zen for the past ten years; they could have been a great partnership.

 

Sadly, despite Lauren Cuthbertson's very best efforts, and those of the rest of the cast, my mind still hasn't been changed about Strapless. Even seeing it from a different angle (this time SCS, last time mid-amphi) didn't help in any way. Ah well, so now I know. I won't be buying tickets for it again.

 

As with the first time, Golden Hour was the best piece of the night. As others have mentioned, those costumes for the boys with the, er, shorter legs are incredibly unflattering. That aside, they all danced with gusto and fun, and it was lovely to see the Choe/Campbell partnership again. I really liked Hayward and Zucchetti, and Takane/Dyer also worked very well. I must say that the ending didn't bowl me over as much as it had seeing it from above, but that's a small quibble for what was a lovely performance all round.

[bridiem]

I saw this bill for the first time last night. From all I'd read, I expected to enjoy Under the Rain and Golden Hour and not enjoy Strapless. But then I often find my expectations confounded, so I tried to go with as open a mind as possible. What I didn't expect was that I wouldn't enjoy any of them. The dancers were fabulous, especially Yanowsky and Clarke in Under the Rain. But I came away feeling that Wheeldon is clever and creative and has a very strong visual sense, but that it's all somehow external. It's all about how it looks. Strapless looked great, at least in parts (I loved the black-costumed dancers silhouetted against the pale floor cloth, like a painting), but the choreography itself wasn't expressive or interesting, and the choreography for the other two works was extremely fluent, capable, even original, sometimes almost beautiful - but it was fundamentally empty. The dancers worked so hard and performed beautifully, but for me, it meant nothing. I realised that the same could largely have been said of Alice, which I enjoyed very much, and Cinderella - because with both of those, the visual content and the humour were so dominant that the choreography was less important. With Under the Rain and Golden Hour, both seen in the same evening, the deficit became clear.

 

I have in fact liked one-act works by Wheeldon before now; I think the problem was seeing a whole evening of his work. I felt I was in the hands of someone very clever, but who in terms of choreography works entirely on the outside. I can't express this properly, and I know that others don't share this view, but this was my impression for what it's worth.

[Jacqueline]

I saw this bill for the first time last night. From all I'd read, I expected to enjoy Under the Rain and Golden Hour and not enjoy Strapless. But then I often find my expectations confounded, so I tried to go with as open a mind as possible. What I didn't expect was that I wouldn't enjoy any of them. The dancers were fabulous, especially Yanowsky and Clarke in Under the Rain. But I came away feeling that Wheeldon is clever and creative and has a very strong visual sense, but that it's all somehow external. It's all about how it looks. Strapless looked great, at least in parts (I loved the black-costumed dancers silhouetted against the pale floor cloth, like a painting), but the choreography itself wasn't expressive or interesting, and the choreography for the other two works was extremely fluent, capable, even original, sometimes almost beautiful - but it was fundamentally empty. The dancers worked so hard and performed beautifully, but for me, it meant nothing. I realised that the same could largely have been said of Alice, which I enjoyed very much, and Cinderella - because with both of those, the visual content and the humour were so dominant that the choreography was less important. With Under the Rain and Golden Hour, both seen in the same evening, the deficit became clear.

 

I have in fact liked one-act works by Wheeldon before now; I think the problem was seeing a whole evening of his work. I felt I was in the hands of someone very clever, but who in terms of choreography works entirely on the outside. I can't express this properly, and I know that others don't share this view, but this was my impression for what it's worth.

You have expressed yourself very well!! Your thoughts reflect my own, which is why I had doubts about attending this triple. In the end, I decided to give it a miss and for me, it was the right decision.

[capybara]

I enjoyed the Cuthbertson/Hristov/Clarke/Richardson cast in Strapless last night but I couldn't help feeling, at the same time, for the dancers who had lost a performance as a consequence of Osipova's withdrawal. 

[Don Q Fan]

Then even Londoners relying on trains would be struggling to get home.

It's not all about London.

[alison]

I KNOW.  I was merely pointing out that if those living close at hand can't get home what does that say about people who have to travel a greater distance?

[alison]

You have expressed yourself very well!! Your thoughts reflect my own, which is why I had doubts about attending this triple. In the end, I decided to give it a miss and for me, it was the right decision.

 

Although, not having actually seen it, you'll never know for sure, will you?

[Jacqueline]

Although, not having actually seen it, you'll never know for sure, will you?

It is indeed true that I'll never know for sure, but I do feel I can be reasonably confident.