Pas de Quatre Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 I was rather surprised to see the quote below in anon_dancer's blog which Janet put a link to on the thread discussing Akram Khan's Giselle. "To my knowledge, Matthew Bourne is the only other choreographer who has attempted to go anywhere near such classical well known ballets with his Tchaikovsky trilogy (Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty; all of which I have seen and thoroughly enjoyed) and turn them into entirely contemporised productions." Everyone will have their own opinion of a production so the blog is valid as one person's view, but I thought it might be interesting to start a thread purely about other contemporary versions of the Classics as there are in fact many versions around. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7yCCVvfmPY I will start the ball rolling with Mark Morris's "Hard Nut". One of my favourites. This is a Youtube link to the party scene, but if you watch it, various other videos are offered. I would recommend looking at the Snow scene. His casting is gender neutral and sometime cross-dressing. He brings his company to UK regularly, but I don't think has ever brought this. It has been shown on tv here - can't remember which channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CXJOrG4sQU Another wonderful new interpretation of a classic is Jean-Christophe Maillot's "La Belle" for his Ballets de Monte Carlo. Link above - a modern version of Sleeping Beauty. Then of course there is Mat Eks version of Giselle - which I am afraid I cannot get on with! Does Bejart's version of Firebird count? I think I would call Firebird classic so probably yes! What other re-interpretations of Classic should be included? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duck Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 Does Bejart's version of Firebird count? I think I would call Firebird classic so probably yes! If Firebird , then I would also go with Faun (Cherkaoui), Spectre de la rose (Goecke), Sacre du Printemps (Bejart, Bausch) Swan Lake (Keegan-Dolan) From my limited knowledge, maybe Bourne stands out as he has done so many of them? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pas de Quatre Posted December 19, 2016 Author Share Posted December 19, 2016 Bausch's Sacre is my favourite version! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 And mine! Can't wait to see ENB do it in the New Year! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CXJOrG4sQU Another wonderful new interpretation of a classic is Jean-Christophe Maillot's "La Belle" for his Ballets de Monte Carlo. Link above - a modern version of Sleeping Beauty. Speaking personally, while there may be some interesting ideas in this, the little clip seems to show an enormous waste of all that gorgeous music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duck Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 Bausch's Sacre is my favourite version! And mine! Can't wait to see ENB do it in the New Year! Haven't seen it yet and am much looking forward to ENB in April 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 Christopher Gable and Michael Pink produced a version of Giselle in 1997 that was set in a ghetto. Although the choreography for Giselle and Albrecht was traditional, the Wilis were men and women in new choreography. When I saw this production back to back with a traditional version I realised just how clever Act 2 was as it paid homage to the traditional. I thought it was a magnificent production. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane S Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 We had the Hard Nut at Sadler's Wells once, didn't we? 10/12 years ago I'd guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 We had the Hard Nut at Sadler's Wells once, didn't we? 10/12 years ago I'd guess. Yes, I think it was. I remember being desperately disappointed that I couldn't get there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 Good guess! November 2004 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted December 20, 2016 Share Posted December 20, 2016 Mats Ek has of course also done Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. I suppose the question is, how do you define The Classics? I wouldn't call Rite of Spring one, for one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted December 20, 2016 Share Posted December 20, 2016 Mats Ek has of course also done Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. I suppose the question is, how do you define The Classics? I wouldn't call Rite of Spring one, for one. Possibly a major ballet where music and choreography have co-existed for decades such as La Sylphide, not a ballet with a famous score that's inspired a number of choreographers throughout it's existence, e.g. RJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 20, 2016 Share Posted December 20, 2016 Northern Ballet have modified versions of some of the classics over the years, to mixed success. I loved the end result of Christopher Gable/Michael Pink's version (modified from earlier versions of the same production) and I absolutely adore David Nixon's version. His outer space production of Sleeping Beauty was not as successful but there were some lovely moments in it and it was a personal triumph for Georgina May as Aurora (and boy would I loved to have seen her as Aurora in a conventional version!). I think it is harder for smaller companies to produce traditional versions of the classics. I well remember Galina Samsova's lovely production of Swan Lake for Scottish Ballet being criticised because she could not field enough swans. Around the same time the Gable/Pink production was being criticised for not having the Petipa/Ivanov Act 2. Damned if they do and damned if they don't! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trog Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Shakti has a version of Swan Lake which I've had the privilege of seeing three times, once danced on her own and the other with her two regular co performers. It's not Swan Lake as we know it, focusing more on the birds rather than the people, but it is most definitely SL - the entire story is there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duck Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 Swan Lake as seen by a contemporary comic strip https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/magazine/dessine-moi-le-lac-des-cygnes (in French only though an online translation tool should work as the text is straightforward). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
assoluta Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 What other re-interpretations of Classic should be included? My answer would be: none. I am sick an tired of what you call "re-interpretations of Classics". There have been all too many. Mark Morris at least I can understand: his Hard nut is a parody. Nearly every great ballet of the 19th century generated a parody in its time, except that the parodies were never considered to be "re-interpretations" and all have been quickly forgotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trog Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 The BRB did The Cracked Nut twice. It was the beautiful Peter Wright production, which they messed about with - giant candy cane for Clara, seemingly endless Sugar Plum Faries chasing the Prince, Roger Cook (remember him) making an appearance to confront King Rat, lots of guest appearances such as Rusty Lee, Brian Conley, etc. Great fun! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 The BRB did The Cracked Nut twice. It was the beautiful Peter Wright production, which they messed about with - giant candy cane for Clara, seemingly endless Sugar Plum Faries chasing the Prince, Roger Cook (remember him) making an appearance to confront King Rat, lots of guest appearances such as Rusty Lee, Brian Conley, etc. Great fun! It was absolutely dire! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toursenlair Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 My answer would be: none. I am sick an tired of what you call "re-interpretations of Classics". There have been all too many. Mark Morris at least I can understand: his Hard nut is a parody. Nearly every great ballet of the 19th century generated a parody in its time, except that the parodies were never considered to be "re-interpretations" and all have been quickly forgotten. I think the world would be a poorer place without David Dawson's Giselle and John Neumeier's Swan Lake, though I love the traditional Giselle to bits, and many traditional Swan Lakes too. There is no shortage of traditional versions around; when we let artists be free to have their own vision sometimes we make amazing discoveries. Not everything will be a success but that is true of more traditional versions too. For instance I loathe the Grigorovich Swan Lake that the Bolshoi does. Art involves risk. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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