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What is your LEAST favourite ballet?


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I believe the generation that remembers Fonteyn has an approach to dancers that is based on her qualities.  Line and musicality comes before all else with me and the ability to engage with the audience and be totally convincing in a role.  The dances I most admire possess those qualities, but a beautiful line is becoming rarer now, perhaps no longer valued. 

 

A friend of mine showed a video of Fonteyn to one of the Kirov's male principals and he was overwhelmed by what he saw.  It is telling that the punters turn up their noses at Margot whereas a professional recognizes her uniqueness.

 

edited typo

Edited by MAB
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I suppose my first exposure to ballet was the Bolshoi VHS films from the 1990s like Spartacus (please don't judge!) and the 1980s Kirov in Giselle with Galina Mezentseva, Konstantin Zaklinsky and Tatyana Terekhova

 

Also late 1970s/1980s VHS recordings of the Royal Ballet - Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, La Fille Mal Gardee

 

I saw a few live ballet performances at the Bristol Hippodrome but they were those Russian touring companies but I did go to see Irek Mukamedov, Darcey Bussell etc. in a Winter Dreams/Monotones I and II/Symphony in C triple bill, when the Royal Ballet used to tour the provinces, but I was very young at the time and not that well behaved as I should of been so don't really remember it but my sister (who was also there) assures me it was wonderful.

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Much as I admire David Bintley and all he has achieved at BRB, I have to say his ballet Far from the Madding Crowd left me cold. Not sure if he ever revived it but I found it pretty turgid despite loving the novel and the film!

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The problem with the Ashton repertory is that for the main part  it is not as carefully cast as it should be. Casting star dancers may guarantees ticket sales  but it does not guarantee stellar performances. His choreography should not look fussy in performance.As for Enigma Variations it is a great ballet but casting decisions by both Royal Ballet companies of recent years have done the work no favours.

 

The 2011 revival at Covent Garden was very patchy and should not be taken as representative of what the work can be in performance.. The BRB performances at Sadler's Wells last year were extremely variable. The Friday evening performance was so badly danced that I almost did not go to the matinee performance. The Friday cast seemed to have little idea of what they were supposed to be portraying  and the dancing looked more like something from Monty Python's ministry of funny walks than Ashton  choreography. Those in the audience who knew what it should look like came out shaking their heads in disbelief  those who did not were perplexed. The matinee cast which included Joseph Caley was excellent.  One of the problems with both companies is that they insist on having two casts when it is difficult enough to find one. that is good enough, As nearly all of Ashton's choreography should look easy in performance it is dangerous to assume that apparent ease of execution equates with lack of technical challenges and difficulty.. He, like his contemporaries, worked in the shadow of Fokine's aesthetics which were a reaction against all the overt technical display found in Petipa's late  ballets His ideal was. ballet used to tell stories and create mood rather than reduced to a displays of dance..

 

I think that most of the problems that people have with  Sleeping Beauty are attributable to the sluggish tempi adapted in performance. It is a completely different ballet when performed at a speed that the choreographer and composer would recognise. Replacing the Russian conductors who indulge the dancers would do wonders for performances as would careful and contrasting casting of the Fairy Variations a few technically competent Lilac Fairies and Auroras who understand the trajectory of the role and don't treat the Rose Adagio as an Olympic event.

 

Here is my loath list. There are other ballets which I dislike but these have an unpleasant habit of being revived. They are nearly all by MacMillan.

 

Different Drummer in which far from expanding the range of ballet's subject matter MacMillan shows what ballet is incapable of  doing. It is a pallid effort which fails to achieve anything remotely as effective as Berg's opera Wozzeck. 

 

Rituals a ballet of incredible stupidity supposedly influenced by the company's visit to Japan.

 

My Brother my Sisters. A jolly little ballet about murdering a sibling. A bore even with the original cast.

 

Playground. A jolly day at a mental institution. A great waste of Marion Tait's gifts and the audience's time.

 

Judas Tree. A heady mixture of religiosity and rape on a building site.

 

Valley of Shadows.. If I recall a piece based on a popular novel with a holocaust theme.

 

Isadora in any form. The closest you can get to ballet as documentary. I suspect  that MacMillan was prompted to create it by Ken Russell's BBC documentary about Isadora Duncan. A sequence of scenes with Duncan's lovers and two freak accidents do not add up to an effective theatrical work. There is tragedy in it but not theatrical tragedy.Freak accidents are not the theatrical equivalent of someone destroyed by flaws in their character or societal pressures.

 

Last, but by no means least Raven Girl. I can only assume that it cost a packet. The need to recover production costs is the only rational explanation for its revival.

 

Hmm... you are not very fond of step or two out of the frame, or at least it looks so to me from your list :).

I love, love, love Judas tree, what a daring ballet it is.

 

Ballets I really don't like:

* Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake- sorry, but man in feathers doesn't do it for me

* Limen- I like Mcgregor in general, but this one was a torture both for my ears and my eyes

* the horrible contemporary Carmen for Diana Vishneva- pff!!!

* Monotones I. I would put here also the other part, but I liked it danced by Watson. However, generally I also don't like Ashton so much.

* Sleeping Beauty. The old-fashioned choreography, not the music, which is magical

 

 

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Absolutely agree with what you said about the Judas Tree Joy and hope to see it again! I like choreographers to take on difficult themes from time to time and Macmillan was good at doing this. I also love Las Hermanas. It gets revived from time to time but I know some are not keen on this one either.

 

Disagree about Ashton though!! Love most of his ballets too!!

 

It's interesting about Matthew Bournes Swan Lake there is sometimes something rather beautiful about seeing powerful men moving gracefully and I rather liked the costumes in fact. Probably still one of Bournes best achievements.

I am looking forward to see what he does with the new one "The Red Shoes"

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Disagree about Ashton though!! Love most of his ballets too!!

 

I put one of his ballets in my 'Favorites' list, and I quite like Ondine, but in general his choreography is a little bit too ornamental for my taste.

 

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I saw a few live ballet performances at the Bristol Hippodrome but they were those Russian touring companies but I did go to see Irek Mukamedov, Darcey Bussell etc. in a Winter Dreams/Monotones I and II/Symphony in C triple bill, when the Royal Ballet used to tour the provinces, but I was very young at the time and not that well behaved as I should of been so don't really remember it but my sister (who was also there) assures me it was wonderful.

What a perfect mixed bill.   If only Mr O'Hare would schedule these 3 pieces together I'd probably go to every performance!

 

Linda

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  I think that at the moment it is probably the case that Sarasota is the only place where you are likely to see carefully cast and  coached performances of Ashton repertory at every performance. It just shows what a difference the attitude of management has on what we see and how good it is when it is staged. This has a considerable impact on what we think of particular works and their choreographers.. It is such a pity that nothing like the same care is taken over casting  Ashton at the RB or BRB. At the RB the AD seems to be increasingly in thrall to his star dancers as far as casting is concerned and of course if a star does not make much of a role or struggles in it, it must be the choreographer's fault. At the BRB.it seems that the need to find two casts can lead to some strange casting decisions which do no one any favours.

 

If you are lucky your first experience of a choreographer's work is in a great performance. If you are unlucky you see a big name who is still struggling to master the style.In Ashton's ballets everything should appear simple easy and unforced. If you notice the technique there is something wrong. Ballet is a theatrical art form so the steps even in Sleeping Beauty are a means to an end not an end themselves. Performances should not look like a series of classroom exercises and yet that seems to be how a lot of dancers approach the role of Aurora.

 

As far as MacMillan is concerned Mayerling works but the ballets that I have listed do not work for me. It is not the subject matter but the fact that for me MacMillan gets no where near what I assume he set out to achieve. Ballet can do many things but it is a silent art form which depends on body language mediated through technique.and music. It cannot give you the levels of communication which opera can achieve because a singer's emotions as expressed in the words that he/ she sings can be completely contradicted by what the orchestra tells you about them. MacMillan and Tudor were very clear that ballet should concern itself with expressing human emotions. In MacMillan's ballets emotions are often openly almost operatically expressed which puts him on the same turf as opera where he can never hope to beat the competition. Tudor in his serious works often portrays emotions that are withheld or only hinted at through the dancer's choreographed body language. I prefer Tudor's approach as it plays to ballet's strengths.

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I think that at the moment it is probably the case that Sarasota is the only place where you are likely to see carefully cast and  coached performances of Ashton repertory at every performance. It just shows what a difference the attitude of management has on what we see and how good it is when it is staged. This has a considerable impact on what we think of particular works and their choreographers.. It is such a pity that nothing like the same care is taken over casting  Ashton at the RB or BRB. At the RB the AD seems to be increasingly in thrall to his star dancers as far as casting is concerned and of course if a star does not make much of a role or struggles in it, it must be the choreographer's fault. .

Some of O'Hare's recent casting decisions have been incomprehensible and not just at principal level.

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What we like is a matter of personal taste but how well or badly cast a ballet is when we first encounter it will influence our view of it and our view of its choreographer if it is our first encounter with his/her work. There are very few ballets that will survive being ineptly cast. I was extremely lucky because my initial experience of ballet going was at a time when directors took care over getting casting right. I know that there are some on this forum who dislike the idea of type casting  but selecting the right dancers for particular roles  makes all the difference to our appreciation of a ballet. It is particularly important in the case of a rarely performed ballet as such works need to persuade a new, often sceptical audience, of their right to occupy the stage

 

A small company may have to compromise in order to stage a work at all. A company the size of the Covent Garden company should not need to do so if management ensures that it recruits the right dancers. There are very few dancers who are equally effective across the entire repertory and it would be much fairer on ballet goers if management accepted this. Being a star does not confer additional abilities apart from commercial clout. In dance there are types of dancers just as there are types pf singer  in opera. However good a tenor or soprano is they will not be equally good in Handel and Wagner. No singer except one whose judgment has been clouded by his/her reputation would sign up for roles outside their fach  but we increasingly see dancers being cast in roles for which they are unsuited.

 

 Unsuitability is not always related to technical issues often it is that indefinable element that a good director recognises one dancer possesses and another does not . Getting casting right requires the person responsible for casting really appreciating the combination of personality type, quality of movement, acting skills, technical ability speed and in some cases height that a role requires. The  occasional unsuitable star casting in a ballet that is rarely out of the repertory will probably do little harm as it is unlikely to be taken as the last work on how the ballet should be performed but it can do irreparable damage to a long neglected work by an unfashionable choreographer.

 

Some of the ballets listed as loathed works are in the list because they are not that good others are there because they  have been scuppered by casting decisions. A long time ago the sequence in which casts performed in a particular work at Covent Garden was an indication of management's view of their suitability for the roles. The first night cast was the best the company could offer and was an exemplar of the way in which the ballet should be performed. Today other factors seem to play a large part in who gets first night except, perhaps, when a new work is being staged. The fact that the same ballets appear in both lists may in some cases be attributable to the time at which we first saw them and the care or lack of care that management gave to who danced in them .

Edited by FLOSS
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At least you are getting some Ashton at the RB next season. Followers of BRB are getting NO Ashton, Balanchine or Macmillan.

 

That is if you only attend BRB Birmingham main stage performances. The Lowry & Plymouth are getting The Dream in the Autumn and presumably the Ashton & Macmillan works in this years mid-scale tours will go to opposite venues next year.

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I'm on my phone so not good at partial quotes.

 

Floss, I agree with most of what you say in your last post buy presumably you can also dislike a piece no matter how highly it is regarded by most people and no matter how well cast, if it is not to your taste.

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Sometimes a ballet comes close to being totally undermined  by casting decisions I don't think that anyone whose sole encounter with The Two Pigeons was seeing McRae and Salenko  in the lead roles  actually saw Ashton's ballet and yet those who did see that cast will believe that they have done so. Their response to that performance will probably be to assume that as it was mounted by the Royal Ballet it represents the ballet at its best and will probably have written it off as silly, slight, fussy and old fashioned  .It is unlikely that they will give it a second try when, and if, it is ever revived at Covent Garden.

 

 I think that I can be pretty certain that  inept casting decisions  have not caused my dislike of these six one act ballets and Isadora as I saw all of them during MacMillan's lifetime and their casts were ones which he had selected or approved.. I tried Isadora with both casts several times during its initial run and again when it was reduced to a one act ballet it does not work for me in either form because it lacks a coherent theatrical dramatic structure. I have tried all the one act works on a number of occasions with different casts  during and after MacMillan's lifetime. I  even tried  My Brother My Sisters with  local casts and with  a Stuttgart cast which included some of my favourite dancers so it is clearly not a ballet for me.

 

I don't think that my problem is that I don't like ballets with challenging subject matter. I admire works like Tudor's  Echoing Trumpets which is far from being a work with safe unchallenging subject matter since it is his response to the destruction of Lidice and the murder of its population during the second World War. Hardly comfortingly traditional material for a ballet. The point for me is that Tudor's ballet works and has an emotional truth which the MacMillan ballets which I have listed don't as far as I am concerned. A choreographer may try making a ballet  tackling challenging subject matter but I don't think that you can equate tackling such subject matter with success in doing so. Opera is usually far more effective with such material.

 

 

 

Edited by FLOSS
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"Being a star does not confer additional abilities apart from commercial clout."

 

How true! But that fact alone may be the most important issue for management. There are some dancers who will ensure packed houses and adoring fans, even if they have very little to do. I am sure Bussell's performances used to sell out long before everyone else's.

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I've seen a number of works over the years that I disliked intensely, but because I've never really liked a ballet when I disliked the music (the reverse does not necessarily hold true), I am going to award my booby prize to Variations pour une Porte et un Soupir, a work created by Balanchine in 1974 with a score I hated,choreography to match and featuring a dancer of whom I was not a fan. It has been revived a few times over the years, and I did go back once to see it again with a different cast, but it didn't help.

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In an earlier post on this thread, I stated that I didn't like Sleeping Beauty! I can't remember the first time I saw it but I know that I preferred ENB's version to the Royal Ballet's. This afternoon it was constantly raining so I decided to watch a DVD of Sleeping Beauty by the Paris Opera Ballet.It was filmed in December 1999. It is Nureyev's version starring Aurelie Dupont & Manuel Legris.Well, can I change my mind about SB? I thoroughly enjoyed the ballet, Dupont is so musical & the dancing was excellent by all.There seemed to be more dancing for the prince in this version. Anyway, I loved it!

Susan

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In an earlier post on this thread, I stated that I didn't like Sleeping Beauty!...I loved it!

That's great Susan! First, because whatever one may feel at certain points of certain performances of certain productions of SB, it is and always will remain the apotheosis of classical ballet. Second, because I admire anyone (particularly in these days of seemingly ever more strident online opinionating) who openly admits to changing their mind. Thank you for what you wrote.

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There are very few dancers who are equally effective across the entire repertory and it would be much fairer on ballet goers if management accepted this. Being a star does not confer additional abilities apart from commercial clout. In dance there are types of dancers just as there are types pf singer  in opera. However good a tenor or soprano is they will not be equally good in Handel and Wagner. No singer except one whose judgment has been clouded by his/her reputation would sign up for roles outside their fach  but we increasingly see dancers being cast in roles for which they are unsuited.

 

Hear, hear.

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