New Twyla Tharp for the RB?

[Jane S]

Thanks to DanceTabs for picking this little line out of a new Twyla Tharp interview

 

"As for whether there is anything left for her to do, it appears there will be much more to come — and not just the full-length, five-movement Hadyn symphony she will choreograph for the Royal Ballet later this year."

 

22 years since Mr Worldly Wise!

[Sim]

Wow,  a full-length Twyla to a Haydn symphony?  Can't wait!! 

[alison]

Erm, how long do Haydn symphonies last?  Hardly an evening's work, is it?

[Bruce Wall]

Wonder if this will be anything akin to the Brahms-Hayden Variations did for ABT last Century ... currently in the NYCB rep - 

 

[zxDaveM]

Erm, how long do Haydn symphonies last?  Hardly an evening's work, is it?

 

plenty to chose from though!  :-)

[bangorballetboy]

I don't know every one of Haydn's 104 (or 108, if you include some that aren't numbered) symphonies in detail, but I'm pretty sure none of them have five movements.  Also, I don't know any that last much more than 30 minutes (most are around the 20 minute mark).

[Sim]

I'm assuming if it's 'full length' and five movements that she will be using more than one! 

[Denver]

Her 1976 Push Comes to Shove, had a prelude by Joseph Lamb and a four-movement Haydn symphony: http://www.twylatharp.org/content/push-comes-shove-dance

I wonder if she's thinking of something along those lines. Whatever...this might be worth a trip across the Pond for some of us later in the year! Please keep us posted.

[nycitybird]

Beatriz Stix-Brunell posted an Instagram story in which Lamb/Mcrae are dancing in front of Twyla Tharp.

[FLOSS]

Let us all hope and pray that it's not another "Mister Worldly Wise"  which was not exactly a roaring success. I seem to recall that it was the failure of that work by Twyla Tharp and the aftermath of that failure which was a significant factor in the  company's reluctance to commission new works for many years. I'm not sure that I would want to take the risk of commissioning her to make a new full length work for the company..I know that it is very cowardly but I am risk averse when it comes to something which feels as if it is doomed from the outset. 

 

I wonder whether the AD has to give some sort of an account for the return on the money  he has spent on new works or whether he is allowed to spend money without the need to achieve a certain level of success?

I don't think it would be acceptable to tell the board "I have spent this sum on new works and unfortunately they have all been failures".

 

 

 

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Edited February 24, 2017 by FLOSS

[Jan McNulty]

I couldn't get to see MWW but had a friend who thought it was wonderful.

 

Ms Tharp is a world-renowned choreographer so perhaps the marketing department need to get working...

[bridiem]

I couldn't get to see MWW but had a friend who thought it was wonderful.

 

Ms Tharp is a world-renowned choreographer so perhaps the marketing department need to get working...

 

I enjoyed a few moments of it, and I tried to like it as a whole; but I just couldn't. Fortunately perhaps, I can't now remember the details of why/why not.

[Colman]

 

I don't think it would be acceptable to tell the board "I have spent this sum on new works and unfortunately they have all been failures".

 

I didn't think the RB's record with new works under O'Hare has been bad in accounting terms, whatever you may personally  think of their artistic merits?

[alison]

I liked the second act: a lot of people did, I recall. 

[bridiem]

I liked the second act: a lot of people did, I recall. 

 

Yes, and it's entirely possible that I would like it now even if I didn't like it then! I remember not liking The Dream when I was young...

[capybara]

I think that we may be working on an erroneous assumption that Tharp is developing a full length ballet. What's the betting that it's part of a triple bill?

[David]

"I wonder whether the AD has to give some sort of an account for the return on the money  he has spent on new works or whether he is allowed to spend money without the need to achieve a certain level of success? I don't think it would be acceptable to tell the board "I have spent this sum on new works and unfortunately they have all been failures"."

 

To be fair to Mr. O’Hare, it is not for the want of trying. But having said that, his stated ambition to celebrate his 10yr anniversary with a season devoted to the new works he has commissioned and his comment that the future is McGregor both look increasingly worrying. I feel it is a sign of our rapidly sinking expectations that we manage (struggle?) to find things to admire in the new choreography presented to us. My own attendance is more to do with the brilliance of the RB dancers than the new choreography they present and one can’t help making comparisons with what is being achieved at a fraction of the cost down the road and elsewhere.

 

I feel that part of the problem is a lack of control over the choice of subject. Thus I found a lot to admire in Scarlett’s Frankenstein but to be honest, though I assume it will be repeated next season, it is not something I look forward to seeing again. That is no reflection on Scarlett’s achievement – I also enjoyed Danny Boyle’s fine production of Frankenstein at the National but I have no wish to return to it. I await Scarlett’s new “Swan Lake” with great interest, mixed with apprehension for him. There will be no hiding with that one. “Raven Girl” is an oddity, an absudity even,  and “Wolff Works” though good by comparison, owes much to its dancers. Despite what must be the biggest and most costly marketing campaign in the history of the genre plus heavily subsidized seat prices, I personally don’t see his current body of work enduring. I accept though that others disagree and that I may well be in a minority. He is of course being commissioned across the world.

 

Wheeldon’s Alice was a hugely successful family entertainment that will boost the coffers in years to come and continue to support Mr. O’Hare’s continuing search for new choreographers. The purists amongst us are sniffy about it but I thoroughly enjoy it for what it is and look forward to its next appearance as do my family brood. But it was of course commissioned by Mr. O’Hare’s predecessor! Winter’s Tale I think is one RB choreographic achievement of the past decade that may endure and that surely must have something to do with the choice of subject. Wheeldon has been preoccupied with the hugely successful An American in Paris over the past couple of years but I am hoping very much that once the West End opening is behind him, he will return to the RB with another major work. He may not be the best choreographer in the world but he knows how to choose his subjects, his work is never less that interesting and it has that special secret ingredient – the must see again factor.

 

So a few interesting choreography prospects on the RB horizon. Overall though, I am looking elsewhere for my new works.     

 

 

Edited February 24, 2017 by David

[alison]

I think that we may be working on an erroneous assumption that Tharp is developing a full length ballet. What's the betting that it's part of a triple bill?

 

Hence my related question above.  I can see no reason why she'd be doing a full-length one.

[John Mallinson]

Tweet with photo from Steven McRae.

[bridiem]

I'm getting confused (happens easily). Don't we already know all the RB's rep until the summer? So will this be in the autumn? If so why is it already being rehearsed? Even if it's full-length isn't that a long rehearsal period? And don't new works especially by big name choreographers normally get announced with some fanfare by the company's press office rather than by random interview comments or tweeted photos?

[Sim]

Maybe rehearsals are having to fit in with Miss Tharp's availability?

 

I agree it's a strange way for us to find this out, but I guess in these modern times of social media nothing stays a secret for very long. More's the pity.

[Saodan]

I was thinking all these things. Surely the fact that work has already started implies that this is a significant piece, if not full length. Also, it seems that someone let the cat out of the bag. Perhaps it was the interview, perhaps something else, either way it seems like the company lost control of the message somewhere along the line! I’d suggest that McRae’s tweet was the social media department trying to reassert control. If you can’t do a press release, a tweet from a prominent dancer will have to do…

[Colman]

On the other hand, he says it was Lamb and him working on it, which might indicate a shorter piece.

[capybara]

Tweet with photo from Steven McRae.

 

So it was Twyla Tharp who came out of the Stage Door with Kevin one day last week!!!!!! With all these leaks, the sooner the RB capitalises on the interest and issues a press announcement the better.

[John Mallinson]

Announcements for the RB's following season usually come in early April.

[Denver]

Announcements for the RB's following season usually come in early April.

Friends of Covent Garden just sent out e-mail that they will announce the 2017-18 season on April 5.