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Project Polunin at Sadler's Wells


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margo_margo, I saw a cast sheet somewhere on Twitter. Alejandro Virelles, who recently left ENB, Shevelle Dynott and Daniele Silingardi (both RBS trained and dancing with ENB) performed in Narcissus and Echo. I can't remember who the fourth male dancer was.

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Isn't the performance (things) the subject of the sentence, (idiocy) this young man has made of things?

 

As in Polunin has made an idiot of ballet performances rather than Polunin is an idiot?

 

Is it?  I don't really know, that sentence doesn't make much sense.  Shall I interpret it past its face value?   

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margo_margo, I saw a cast sheet somewhere on Twitter. Alejandro Virelles, who recently left ENB, Shevelle Dynott and Daniele Silingardi (both RBS trained and dancing with ENB) performed in Narcissus and Echo. I can't remember who the fourth male dancer was.

Oh thank you aileen, Alejandro Virelles that was! Will look out for him in the future, although might be harder now since, as you said, he's left ENB.

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OK folks this stops here.  We have had to delete a post above after a complaint by a member, with which the moderators agreed.  

 

May I take this opportunity to say yet again that ALL opinions are welcome on this forum, and people have the right to expect that these opinions will be respected even if disagreed with.  Neither the moderators nor the vast majority of members want anyone to be scared to say what they think because they fear the insults or nastiness to which they may be subjected.  I know of quite a few people who have long since stopped posting (and in some cases even reading) because they don't like the tone that creeps into some threads here.  

 

Bearing this in mind, let's please get this thread back on track and let's hear all of your opinions, and if you want to disagree with each other, great....but please do it in a constructive way.  We really don't want to have to lock another thread, but we won't hesitate to do so if required.

 

Thank you.

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Today's Sunday Times actually has a more sympathetic review, praising some "beautiful dancing" and calling it a "mixed success", although also agreeing with some of the obvious negative aspects and calling it a "bumpy first flight", I wonder if the costumes for Echo and Narcissus hadn't been so ludicrous the ballet might have got better reviews, the music wasn't bad and Natalia Osipova's choreography for her own dancing also had some merit, does anyone know if this is her first attempt?

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I agree with Aileen and Billboyd. So much is about context. The "moral of the story" seems to be he's got his comeuppance and Schadenfreude is an acceptable response. The problem is "we" don't have the counterbalance to his perceived excesses. If he'd stayed with the Royal I could have balanced the Project P with memories of what he would have done in McGregor or Mayerling or R&J or SB...but we don't have that balance. If he'd been better advised or if the marketing had been better, he could have "sold" the programme as an interesting insight into a) a glimpse of the contradictory nature of late Soviet choreography, B) a look at a particular type of modern dance, and c) a camp homage to those technicolor ballet inserts in 50's films very Powell and Pressberger, and ironic. But what we saw did not deserve the hate. And as for being a rip off???!!! I paid £20 for a decent seat and saw Osipova, Polunin and some other damn good dancers. And yes - he should come back to the RB. And I'd bring back Balanchine's Prodigal Son for him!

 

I agree with the thrust of this. There is a counterbalance but you'd have to have been in Moscow or Novosibirsk to experience it live. After leaving London he seems to have benefitted from a classic Russian coach/mentoring relationship with Igor Zelensky - perhaps that's what he needed all along. Anyway the result was that he danced the lead in many of the 19th century classics, sometimes with Osipova; and also more modern works like Spartacus and Mayerling. People whose primary focus is on the Royal Ballet may not be aware of that but the evidence is all over Youtube and in dance reviews. As recently as last December, Zelensky invited him to dance Crassus (with Osipova as Aegina) in the Munich premiere of Spartacus: an important date for Zelensky as the newly arrived Director.  It was very well received. He's still cast to dance Mayerling in Munich in April. It's this Russian evidence that made me want to catch Project Polunin rather than its "celebrity" pre-publicity.

 

I could only get a return in the expensive seats for the Saturday matinee.  I, and all those around me, applauded each piece warmly, even if not ecstatically.  Why shouldn't we? Although each piece had drawbacks, they were performed with sincerity and commitment. To my eyes, Icarus and Narcissus and Echo were well danced. In Osipova's case, more than well danced. Although, in Polunin's case, I didn't see evidence of a prodigious talent, there was much much more than the tattered remnant of it that some commenters had led me to expect. He had clearly put in the hard work. Yes, he did fall in Icarus, but quickly recovered.

 

I was probably in the right frame of mind for Narcissus and Echo ("Carry on Ovid") and found something to enjoy in its almost neo-baroque excess. The seriousness of the programme note was rather at odds with the 'hokum' of the staging. The choreography reminded me a bit of work at New English Ballet Theatre. An apprentice piece, in other words. Well, every choreographer has to start somewhere. It probably suffered from too many "hands". This piece was supposed to represent the "future" (Icarus, the past). Overlooking its deficiencies, I was pleased that the vocabulary remained largely classical or neo-classical rather than "contemporary" in a cutting-edge sense: others will disagree. 

 

I too wondered why Polunin didn't dance more in a Project bearing his name. Then I re-read the programme note. It seems the Project is not intended to be "all about him" (even if the publicity suggests it is) but rather collaborative and to provide a support network for dancers. Presumably this is why people like Osipova, Vasiliev, young ENB dancers and the RB's own amiable and talented Valentino Zucchetti are happy to be on board. Tamara Rojo gets a "Special Thanks" mention in the programme for the new work as well as for an earlier Fundraising Gala. Interestingly Kevin O'Hare and the Royal Ballet also get "Special Thanks" for the Gala so there doesn't seem to be animosity there.

 

If there's a second instalment of Project Polunin, I'd buy a ticket. But I hope he heeds the advice of well-wishing admirers like Clement Crisp, Gerald Dowler and Graham Watts all of whom have higher standards and better taste than I have. He has a talent but needs help from the right people to develop it. 

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Johnpw- you're spot on. I couldn't make The Spartacus in Munich, nor can I make the April date for Mayerling. And yes there was also his Giselle at Munich and elsewhere. Plus the sterling stuff he's done for Novosibirsk (...including Ashton I think...). So yes, even more reason NOT to go for the jugular!

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I agree with the thrust of this. There is a counterbalance but you'd have to have been in Moscow or Novosibirsk to experience it live. After leaving London he seems to have benefitted from a classic Russian coach/mentoring relationship with Igor Zelensky - perhaps that's what he needed all along. Anyway the result was that he danced the lead in many of the 19th century classics, sometimes with Osipova; and also more modern works like Spartacus and Mayerling. People whose primary focus is on the Royal Ballet may not be aware of that but the evidence is all over Youtube and in dance reviews. As recently as last December, Zelensky invited him to dance Crassus (with Osipova as Aegina) in the Munich premiere of Spartacus: an important date for Zelensky as the newly arrived Director.  It was very well received. He's still cast to dance Mayerling in Munich in April. It's this Russian evidence that made me want to catch Project Polunin rather than its "celebrity" pre-publicity.

 

I could only get a return in the expensive seats for the Saturday matinee.  I, and all those around me, applauded each piece warmly, even if not ecstatically.  Why shouldn't we? Although each piece had drawbacks, they were performed with sincerity and commitment. To my eyes, Icarus and Narcissus and Echo were well danced. In Osipova's case, more than well danced. Although, in Polunin's case, I didn't see evidence of a prodigious talent, there was much much more than the tattered remnant of it that some commenters had led me to expect. He had clearly put in the hard work. Yes, he did fall in Icarus, but quickly recovered.

 

I was probably in the right frame of mind for Narcissus and Echo ("Carry on Ovid") and found something to enjoy in its almost neo-baroque excess. The seriousness of the programme note was rather at odds with the 'hokum' of the staging. The choreography reminded me a bit of work at New English Ballet Theatre. An apprentice piece, in other words. Well, every choreographer has to start somewhere. It probably suffered from too many "hands". This piece was supposed to represent the "future" (Icarus, the past). Overlooking its deficiencies, I was pleased that the vocabulary remained largely classical or neo-classical rather than "contemporary" in a cutting-edge sense: others will disagree. 

 

I too wondered why Polunin didn't dance more in a Project bearing his name. Then I re-read the programme note. It seems the Project is not intended to be "all about him" (even if the publicity suggests it is) but rather collaborative and to provide a support network for dancers. Presumably this is why people like Osipova, Vasiliev, young ENB dancers and the RB's own amiable and talented Valentino Zucchetti are happy to be on board. Tamara Rojo gets a "Special Thanks" mention in the programme for the new work as well as for an earlier Fundraising Gala. Interestingly Kevin O'Hare and the Royal Ballet also get "Special Thanks" for the Gala so there doesn't seem to be animosity there.

 

If there's a second instalment of Project Polunin, I'd buy a ticket. But I hope he heeds the advice of well-wishing admirers like Clement Crisp, Gerald Dowler and Graham Watts all of whom have higher standards and better taste than I have. He has a talent but needs help from the right people to develop it. 

 

Thank you, Johnpw - very interesting post. I'm glad to hear that he is due to dance Mayerling next month. I personally am amazed that Spartacus is still premièring anywhere, and I don't think that dancing it will help Polunin's artistic development in the slightest. But at least it's physically demanding, I suppose. (The last time I saw it, after a long gap, I left because it made me feel positively sick. But that's another topic altogether...). Anyway I hope he focusses more in future on work that is worth dancing.

 

I do agree that the works at Sadler's Wells were danced with 'sincerity and commitment', but I'm afraid that that makes no difference at all to an assessment of the quality of the resulting work/s. I applauded the first two, because I do generally applaud even works I've disliked because the dancers are generally doing their best. I couldn't applaud the last one because I was too appalled. It was indeed 'hokum', which would be OK (perhaps) in a school performance, but not in this context.

 

And yes, I really hope he turns to the right people for help in future. In spite of this programme, I have in no way given up on him! (I'm sure that'll make a big difference to him... ;) ). 

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We went back to the final performance on Saturday and both Icarus and Narcissus and Echo were much better for a second viewing. Maybe because we knew what to expect, the awful set and costumes of the latter amused rather than appalled. Sergei also didn't sprawl over the 'orange' but instead sat with his back to the audience gazing at the stars, which made more sense. Unfortunately the lake still resembled a volcano, and I felt really sorry for the guy in the red cape .....his bottom must have been really cold by the end of the week.

One thing that did not improve with a second viewing was Tea and Coffee. The audience response was polite at the end but then they cheered the dancers...possibly out of sympathy. 

 

The dancing was certainly in a different league to what we saw on opening night and made the choreography seem better than at first viewing. Osipova was lovely (again) and seems to be able to make something of a role even in difficult circumstances. Her solo had echos of Anastasia and was very moving. Her spins were superb and her elevation excellent. The main difference was Sergei, who seemed to go for it....possibly because it was the last night. His jumps were much higher and cleaner and the lifts that looked clumsy on Tuesday seemed, if not effortless, a whole lot easier.

 

General response to the evening was very enthusiastic with much whistling and cheering at the end. On that basis it seems unlikely that any notice will be taken of the critical reviews. Given the audience response, the fact the run was sold out and tickets were being offered at hugely inflated prices, leads one to suppose that Sergei may well be tempted into another venture. I can only hope he will be better advised if that happens.

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I haven't seen the show.  But I can't remember the last time I laughed out loud at so many reviews.  The critics have excelled themselves in coming up with their descriptions of Narcissus and Echo, and the photos enhance the words wonderfully.  Looking at the one of all the men in a row in the Telegraph review, it was like a shot from a Morecambe and Wise show.  Whatever was the costume designer thinking?  Were they really taking it seriously?

 

And the reviews on here are some of the funniest I have ever seen.  I suppose I should feel sorry for Polunin, and guilty for laughing.  But I can't.  All I can do is thank everyone on here for giving me such an entertaining 10 minutes while I read this thread.  

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I saw the final performance of Project Polunin yesterday, traveling to see it from Denmark (and I also paid for my ticket, though not the highest price) and I'm not disappointed at all, and I liked the most of the performance. To my mind, all dancers, including those from the second piece ("Tea or coffee") danced beautifully and made a lot of effort.

I was quite impressed by Serguei's performance in the " Icarus" part, and Osipova was superb!

Probably, the choreography isn't Serguei's cup of tea, at least not yet, but my opinion is that Project Polunin has reached it aim: presented the new works and new names; hopefully the young dancers engaged in this project will be noticed and given the opportunity to develop further their potential!

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I fear this thread is fast becoming unconstructive. Last call for respectful discussion of the show itself please, as opposed to commenting in a judgemental manner about other people's posts and opinions.

 

Thank you.

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I haven't seen the show.  But I can't remember the last time I laughed out loud at so many reviews.  The critics have excelled themselves in coming up with their descriptions of Narcissus and Echo, and the photos enhance the words wonderfully.  Looking at the one of all the men in a row in the Telegraph review, it was like a shot from a Morecambe and Wise show.  Whatever was the costume designer thinking?  Were they really taking it seriously?

 

And the reviews on here are some of the funniest I have ever seen.  I suppose I should feel sorry for Polunin, and guilty for laughing.  But I can't.  All I can do is thank everyone on here for giving me such an entertaining 10 minutes while I read this thread.  

 

 

Is this an example of 'respectful discussion'? 

 

By any definition it is 'insulting'.  -   It mocks, laughs at, humiliates, makes fun of, another human being. It even  audaciously admits to doing so - and, happily, thanks many others for doing the same. 

 

Just about sums it up.

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