Royal Ballet - 2018/19 new season wish list

[FLOSS]

Sharon thank you for reminding me about these recordings from nearly sixty years ago. They are fascinating records of a very different approach to performing Petipa's choreography.  I am not sure that there are many people around who are in a position to defend Michael Somes as a dancer. Those who saw him in dancing roles rather than character roles such as Juliet's father must be few and far between today. My mother thought that he was a wonderful, virile and handsome dancer but then she saw him before the war when he was very young and considered something of a virtuoso.

 

Somes was born in 1917 so by the time he appeared before the camera in Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty he was in his forties, had been through a war, served in the army, and I seem to recall that I read somewhere  that been badly injured falling from a lorry while he was in the services. When the company went to Russia in the early 1960's  Somes was recognised there as a danseur noble, a type of dancer who had all but disappeared from the Soviet stage by that date and is rarely seen here today either. 

 

Perhaps we should rely on what people who saw him dance said about him and the roles which Ashton created for him. His created roles don't look spectacular but they are very difficult to perform well and the  combination of steps seem designed to expose technical weaknesses. I recall reading Karsavina's comment about Somes as a partner. She said to Fonteyn  "I only had Nijinsky as a partner but you have dear Michael ". Now while she could just have been being polite she had no need to be. Somewhere in Sibley's biography there is an account of de Valois announcing that Sibley was going to make her debut in Swan Lake in a matter of days but being assured that there was no need to worry as Somes would be her her partner. It would seem that he was highly regarded not simply as a safe pair of hands but for his knowledge of the repertory and his abilities as a partner by those with whom he worked and balletomanes generally.

 

I am interested in what you regard as Somes' "roughness" in partnering. Do you mean that there is no lingering in finished poses; that he does not use both hands and paddle when Fonteyn pirouettes or do you mean something else? The one handed pirouette where the man supports the girl on one side, she turns and the man stops her, is clearly how this type of  pirouette was performed in the West at the time. It is not incorrect. It is how Balanchine expected to see them performed and Ratmansky incorporated this style of performing them in his period appropriate performance style reconstruction of Sleeping Beauty . It is so easy to assume that there were no changes in performance style during the twentieth century except for high extensions in its final decade. But that is clearly not the case. A great deal changed in terms of speed and musicality during that time.What we are used to seeing today when we see classical dancing is slower and far more deliberately finished than Petipa would have expected to see because for the main part it is performed in the style promulgated by the Vaganova system of training.

 

The former dancers who taught Fonteyn and Somes were themselves, for the main part, the products of the school attached to the Mariinsky Theatre. They were trained there in the last decades of the nineteenth century under the tutelage of the likes of Christian Johanson. They were Agrippina Vaganova's contemporaries not her pupils. That makes a considerable difference to the style of performance preserved on these films as does the fact that  Fonteyn had been taught her role by Nicholai Sergeyev who had been responsible for staging revivals of the Petipa ballets at the Mariinsky. 

 

If you look at the performances of Brian Shaw and Antoinette Sibley as the Bluebird and Princess Florine on the 1959 BBC recording of Sleeping Beauty you see a very different approach to the choreography than the one which prevails today. Their dancing is lighter faster and flickeringly impressionistic rather than the deliberately finished form we have become used to seeing. It seems to me more obviously connected to the nineteenth century French school and in many ways much closer to the way in which Bournonville was danced at the beginning of the twentieth century than the way in which Petipa is generally danced at the beginning of the twenty first century.

 

What happened to change things after 1959 is the arrival of Nureyev in the West and the assimilation of many of the changes in the aesthetics of ballet which had occurred in post revolutionary Russia such as the demand for the active princely hero and an approach to Petipa's choreography in performance which seems to emphasise the weight of the classical heritage, its grandeur and its perfection with dancing in which steps are  performed considerably more slowly and more deliberately finished than the choreographer who created them would have anticipated. 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2018 by FLOSS

[ninamargaret]

Have to agree with Floss about Michael Somes. He was one of the first male dancers I saw and I greatly enjoyed his performances with Fonteyn - certainly no evidence of rough handling in things like Cinderella, Daphnis, Ondine. Obviously the style of partnering and dancing was very different when he was around in the 50s/60s, but probably the same could be said for any dancer of that period.

[MAB]

11 hours ago, ninamargaret said:

Have to agree with Floss about Michael Somes. He was one of the first male dancers I saw and I greatly enjoyed his performances with Fonteyn - certainly no evidence of rough handling in things like Cinderella, Daphnis, Ondine. Obviously the style of partnering and dancing was very different when he was around in the 50s/60s, but probably the same could be said for any dancer of that period.

 

I have a DVD of the Ballet Russe film of a few years ago and those dancers had wonderful; technique, were they never seen in the UK in the 50's?  And what about the Bolshoi in 1956, didn't the ballet fans feel short-changed watching Somes after seeing those Russians?

[jmhopton]

23 hours ago, FLOSS said:

May I ask am I the only one who feels uncomfortable with the idea that Kevin seems to feel the need to provide a reason for reviving major works from the company repertory particularly if they are by Ashton rather than just getting on and staging them? It is as if while the MacMillan money spinners, the Dream and Month are simply repertory everything else needs an excuse. It does not seem to be enough that they are exceptionally good works and each generation of the company's dancers has the right to appear in them.

 

 

Well done Floss for clearly articulating what I've ben thinking for a while. Every time Kevin is recorded as praising Ashton for being a wonderful founder choreographer it's as if he feels the need to justify his inclusion in the RB rep. and even more so if Ashton is being filmed. if he really believes this why is Winter's tale being filmed and not Sylvia?

 

I do so agree with your list of Ashton ballets that need performing or we may be in danger of losing them. Similarly the Ballet Russes and de Valois rep. They seem to be ignored these days in favour of more modern, cutting edge ballets I usually have no interest in seeing. But if they carry on being neglected, like obscure Ashton ballets, we may find one day there is no one left to stage them who remembers them. Similarly with other Companies like ENB. I have an old recording of Fonteyn introducing a performance of Graduation Ball and Sanguin Fan. Both great ballets but I can't remember the last time I saw either actually performed perhaps because both could be deemed 'old fashioned', and who wants to stage old fashioned ballets these days? It doesn't matter if they are great ballets and many people would like to see them. it would be interesting if they were performed as a double bill next to a Macgregor double bill and see which prove the most popular. I suppose the answer would be they may both attract completely different audiences which is great, but those of us who like more traditional double bills shouldn't be made to feel as if we're being marginalised which I tend to do whenever the new RB or ENB season mixed bills are announced. ENB in particular used to do great mixed bills with their small touring Co. Tour De Force; a good mix of modern and traditional works. However, these days they seem to be following the RB example of heavily weighting their mixed bills in favour of more modern works. A shame when so many traditional one act ballets may be being forgotten through neglect.

[SPD444]

22 hours ago, FLOSS said:

Yes.Nothing by McGregor. I think that he is a vastly overrated choreographer of limited range with a great propensity for repeating himself. Do you leave the theatre after a performance of one of his ballets with clear images of what you have just seen ? Because I rarely do. I tend to remember more about the design than the actual movement which he has devised. For me the best of his works don't really bear repeated viewings as his dance vocabulary is not sufficiently varied or interesting. He will survive. The company has given him a big enough shop window to display his wares. I am far more interested in choreographers with real imagination such as Crystal Pite .

 

 

 

 

 

Completely agree with you on this. I thought Flight Pattern by Ms Pite was terrific which I cannot say about anything Mr McGregor has created. Other than woolf works, I find his work awful and hope his last piece; which I cannot remember the name of, was really dreadful.

[Guest]

45 minutes ago, SPD444 said:

 

Completely agree with you on this. I thought Flight Pattern by Ms Pite was terrific which I cannot say about anything Mr McGregor has created. Other than woolf works, I find his work awful and hope his last piece; which I cannot remember the name of, was really dreadful.

I agree in the strongest terms possible! 

[bridiem]

On ‎23‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 12:28, FLOSS said:

May I ask am I the only one who feels uncomfortable with the idea that Kevin seems to feel the need to provide a reason for reviving major works from the company repertory particularly if they are by Ashton rather than just getting on and staging them? It is as if while the MacMillan money spinners, the Dream and Month are simply repertory everything else needs an excuse. It does not seem to be enough that they are exceptionally good works and each generation of the company's dancers has the right to appear in them.

 

 

Wonderful suggestions, FLOSS! And although I agree with the above comment, I think the problem may lie in a lack of confidence as to how to market some works/bills rather than in any hesitancy about their intrinsic worth. (Although since the ROH seems to be pretty well full no matter what is being presented, I'm not sure why that should really be such a concern.)

[Vanartus]

Sorry. Cannot join in the MacGregor bashing. Love him.

[ninamargaret]

4 hours ago, MAB said:

 

I have a DVD of the Ballet Russe film of a few years ago and those dancers had wonderful; technique, were they never seen in the UK in the 50's?  And what about the Bolshoi in 1956, didn't the ballet fans feel short-changed watching Somes after seeing those Russians?

I hope someone more technically knowledgeable will answer this but to my untrained eye Somes was very much a day certainly who had been trained in a style suited to British ballet as it was at that time. I didn't see the Russians when they came in the 50s, but I would have thought that any comparison between Somes  and the Russians would have been down to difference in styles of dancing rather than lack of technique?

[penelopesimpson]

1 hour ago, Vanartus said:

Sorry. Cannot join in the MacGregor bashing. Love him.

Me, too.  Not unashamedly, not totally, but mostly.  And I like what he represents.  And, most of all, I like that we have such variety at ROH.

[penelopesimpson]

3 hours ago, bridiem said:

 

Wonderful suggestions, FLOSS! And although I agree with the above comment, I think the problem may lie in a lack of confidence as to how to market some works/bills rather than in any hesitancy about their intrinsic worth. (Although since the ROH seems to be pretty well full no matter what is being presented, I'm not sure why that should really be such a concern.)

You may be right, but I would have thought that the fact that ROH is pretty much full most of the time, is testament to the variety of the programmes.  I do not think that wall-to-wall Ashton would generate the same audiences.  I am getting into Ashton and enjoying every moment of the journey but it is a journey and I am a ballet fan.  I do not think that his work generates as much enthusiasm amongst the wider public as the Macmillan catalogue and some of the more modern works.  For me, one of the many things that KOH has got absolutely spot on is the variety in the repertoire.  Sure, there have been lapses, (yes, Mr Acosta, I do mean you!), but one man's meat and all that...

[Lizbie1]

46 minutes ago, penelopesimpson said:

You may be right, but I would have thought that the fact that ROH is pretty much full most of the time, is testament to the variety of the programmes.  I do not think that wall-to-wall Ashton would generate the same audiences.  I am getting into Ashton and enjoying every moment of the journey but it is a journey and I am a ballet fan.  I do not think that his work generates as much enthusiasm amongst the wider public as the Macmillan catalogue and some of the more modern works.  For me, one of the many things that KOH has got absolutely spot on is the variety in the repertoire.  Sure, there have been lapses, (yes, Mr Acosta, I do mean you!), but one man's meat and all that...

 

Just to demonstrate your "one man's meat" remark: I too am just a fan (I neither have any kind of background in ballet, nor did I grow up on Ashton), but I have never found Ashton's work other than utterly accessible - for starters, I can't think of a better introduction to ballet than his Fille and judging from the audience's reaction on the several occasions I saw it performed at the Bolshoi I don't think that's just down to local taste and tradition.

 

No one is suggesting "wall to wall Ashton" (though come to think of it, I wouldn't object strongly), but as to size of audience, I don't think he's a notably slow seller: the recent Sylvia and the mixed bill last summer sold out with plenty of time to spare, and, unlike a lot of the newer repertoire and commissions (including the fabled Woolf Works), not at depressed prices. The Fille in Autumn 2016 was I think slower to sell, but IIRC that was a long run probably put on too soon after the previous one.

[buflesse]

On 1/23/2018 at 13:32, MAB said:

Woolf Works not interesting?!!!

 

Exactly, Woolf Works blew me away. An outstanding ballet. I wrote my thesis on Woolf and dance, and was thrilled to bits when I heard about the ballet. I left feeling utterly moved.

 

I have to admit I really dislike Sylvia. To me it just seems cheesy and noticeably outdated. 

[penelopesimpson]

47 minutes ago, buflesse said:

 

Exactly, Woolf Works blew me away. An outstanding ballet. I wrote my thesis on Woolf and dance, and was thrilled to bits when I heard about the ballet. I left feeling utterly moved.

 

I have to admit I really dislike Sylvia. To me it just seems cheesy and noticeably outdated. 

I don't think I would go that far but I share some of your feelings about Sylvia.  It got a rapturous reception on this board and I enjoyed the production, but would not rush back.  And yes, it did seem dated but I put that down to my lack of Ashton understanding rather than problems with the production.  I would also point out that initially Sylvia was a terribly slow seller and there were nothing like the number of performances that you might see with other productions.  In my view KOH got it about right.

 

All that said, I do think there is a tendency to salute absolutely everything in the Ashton repertoire as the choice of real ballet fans, which somehow means other work must be disparaged.  A lot of it, is of course, based on a level of knowlege.  I disagree that Ashton is as accessible as other work.  Some of it, certainly, particularly Fille.  But then for me, Fille is like a sugar overdose - lots of wonderful things but it doesn't engage me emotionally in any way.  It would probably be a good starter ballet in that it is inoffensive, visually appealing, has warm humour and some excellent characterisation, but for me when introducing people to this art form, I want them to be engaged emotionally right from the off.

 

I took a friend to Manon as their first ballet and they now go more than I do!.  Ditto Woolf Works which just blew my guest away and has made them hungry for more.  

Isn't it great that there is something for us all!

[MAB]

1 hour ago, buflesse said:

I have to admit I really dislike Sylvia. To me it just seems cheesy and noticeably outdated. 

 

Well it was created as a homage to the ballet of the second empire so an old fashioned look is what's intended.   The score is one of the greatest ballet scores of the 19th century and I love it, do take a look at the DVD of the Paris Opera Ballet's version of Sylvia, an old theme in a modern setting.

[Ianlond]

Isn’t it interesting how we all react differently? Thank goodness we do! :-) Personally I usually feel incredibly moved at most Ashton (Symphonic, Scene de ballet I have to fight back tears for much of them) + Alain in Fille I find - often - very touching. Likewise much McGregor - Infra, Wolf Works, Chroma, Obsidian Tear. I react in the same way to most Mark Morris & Matz Ek (would love to see his Giselle again!) However much less with Macmillan. Other than Mayerling & Concerto most of it leaves me cold. But i’m very glad to have had the opportunity to find out! 

[Sharon]

On 1/6/2018 at 19:46, BMC said:

 

Floss, thank you very much for that very informative reply. I have used every minute available today (stolen while at work) hunting for the video I described. And wouldn't you know it I can no longer find it. 

I admit there is the smallest possibility that I could be mistaken - that it may have been another dancer. But I doubt it. 

In the videos I watched today he was infact very attentive with Fonteyn...

But his technique was very poor on every video that hadn't changed.

[buflesse]

2 hours ago, MAB said:

 

Well it was created as a homage to the ballet of the second empire so an old fashioned look is what's intended.   The score is one of the greatest ballet scores of the 19th century and I love it, do take a look at the DVD of the Paris Opera Ballet's version of Sylvia, an old theme in a modern setting.

 

Thanks, I just googled it and it looks great! I think a lot of the ancient Greek style costumes in other productions can end up coming off as a little tacky and/or like something out of a fancy dress box...

 

 

 

[stucha]

I think this is the one MAB is referring to. A snippet only but the full ballet by Neumeier is also on line.  It is quite some time since the company danced it.

There is also another online version for the POB by Lycette Darsonval from the 50s or  60s. Very grainy but interesting. It is currently in the repertoire of the National Ballet of China.

 

 

[Guest]

5 hours ago, penelopesimpson said:

All that said, I do think there is a tendency to salute absolutely everything in the Ashton repertoire as the choice of real ballet fans, which somehow means other work must be disparaged.  A lot of it, is of course, based on a level of knowlege.  I disagree that Ashton is as accessible as other work.  Some of it, certainly, particularly Fille.  But then for me, Fille is like a sugar overdose - lots of wonderful things but it doesn't engage me emotionally in any way.  It would probably be a good starter ballet in that it is inoffensive, visually appealing, has warm humour and some excellent characterisation, but for me when introducing people to this art form, I want them to be engaged emotionally right from the off.

 

I do find myself emotionally engaged whilst watching La Fille mal Gardee. The final pas de deux is charged with so much love, trust and tenderness I am often moved to tears. If Alain is performed well, I feel affected by his plight. I understand that ballets like Fille or Pigeons can appear to be light froth, but underneath I believe much deeper currents run. Is it because they are comic ballets, that I feel the pathos more readily, I am not sure, but I know that some ballets which seem to set out to tug at my heartstrings have a much shorter term effect. 

[Guest]

On 03/01/2018 at 12:26, Vanartus said:

Ondine is a curious piece. I saw it first with Almeida in the role, and then at the last revival - can't remember who with - Rojo? Anyway, saw it on TV last year with Fonteyn. It was fascinating to see her...spellbinding. But it's true, the whole piece needs pruning and perhaps more abstract re-design. But the music is wonderful...

I love the Lila di Nobili designs. The ship is particularly wonderful! 

[Jan McNulty]

5 hours ago, Darlex said:

I do find myself emotionally engaged whilst watching La Fille mal Gardee. The final pas de deux is charged with so much love, trust and tenderness I am often moved to tears. If Alain is performed well, I feel affected by his plight. I understand that ballets like Fille or Pigeons can appear to be light froth, but underneath I believe much deeper currents run. Is it because they are comic ballets, that I feel the pathos more readily, I am not sure, but I know that some ballets which seem to set out to tug at my heartstrings have a much shorter term effect. 

 

Darlex I so agree with you.  Ashton’s “story ballets” such as Fille, Pigeons, Dream and Enigma work for me on so many levels. Yes, I find them light and frothy but equally, because they have characters I care about, profoundly moving.  The final duet in Pigeons is a masterpiece because it is so restrained but so very, very heartfelt.

 

This does not mean that there aren’t other ballets that have the same effect on me.

[Vanartus]

6 hours ago, Darlex said:

I love the Lila di Nobili designs. The ship is particularly wonderful! 

I’m a LdN fan - didn’t she do an amazing Sleeping Beauty back in the day? - but I’m not so sure about Ondine. I liked the dream type bits, and the collapsing ship is good, but somehow I think a re-think would help...

[MAB]

2 hours ago, Vanartus said:

I’m a LdN fan - didn’t she do an amazing Sleeping Beauty back in the day? - but I’m not so sure about Ondine. I liked the dream type bits, and the collapsing ship is good, but somehow I think a re-think would help...

 

Yes she did, and it was the best SB I've ever seen, though I've a feeling a couple of others were involved in certain aspects of the design.

[penelopesimpson]

On 23/01/2018 at 13:57, Lizbie1 said:

 

One of my favourite clips - and here's Fonteyn floating:

 

 

Thanks so much for this which I had not seen before.  Truly breathtaking and very special.

[SheilaC]

According to the website for the Jerome Robbins Foundation, The Concert is scheduled to be performed from 18 December 2018. I was hoping that a wider choice of Robbins' ballets could have been performed by the Royal Ballet next season , but it will still be a Christmas treat to have one of the very few funny ballets whose humour doesn't pall.

[Sim]

Fab news.....I love The Concert!!  

[Guest]

On 1/3/2018 at 05:26, Ianlond said:

So obviously I’ve been greedy but this is a wish list right?!

Full lengths:

Cinderella

Frankenstein 

Onegin/ Mayerling (personally I would rather an extra evening of new work but realise this is not necessarily realistic) 

Sleeping Beauty 

La Bayadere 

 

Tripples:

Scene de Ballet/ Polyphonia/ Daphnis and Chloe

Dances at a Gathering/ Illuminations/ Firebird 

Tombeaux/ New work/ Fearful Symmetries

Les Rendezvous/ Flight Pattern/ Symphony in C (or Ballet Imperial)

Monotones (or Apollo)/ Infra/ The Concert

The Rake’s Progress/ New work/ Requiem

Les Patineurs/ Pultchinella/ Raymonda Act 3

 

I really like your choices and combinations, Ianlond! Not sure if the management would be so happy with more triple bills than full-lengths in a season. However, if Diaghilev is having a peak at Balletcoforum from above, I am sure he would be happy with the balance in favour of triples! The Dances at a Gathering bill might be a little long for some, but I would very happily sit through all of it. The only piece I wouldn't bother parting with my money for would be Frankenstein. Can we put Giselle, Alice, Woolf Works or ANYTHING else instead please? And out of curiosity, whose version of Pulcinella do you want to see? I can only vaguely remember Glen Tetley's. Or did you choose it because of the music?

Edited February 1, 2018 by Darlex

[Guest]

2 hours ago, SheilaC said:

According to the website for the Jerome Robbins Foundation, The Concert is scheduled to be performed from 18 December 2018. I was hoping that a wider choice of Robbins' ballets could have been performed by the Royal Ballet next season , but it will still be a Christmas treat to have one of the very few funny ballets whose humour doesn't pall.

Glad we will be getting a Christmas Triple Bill. I'm sure we are all wondering the same... 'The Concert with what?' I'd be happy to see Enigma Variations on the same bill (it will be 50 years since its premiere). Les Patineurs , Concerto, Tombeaux or Bayadere as an opener? No doubt we will find out shortly.

[Ianlond]

I’m embarrassed to say that I have only just realised that I typed Pulcinella rather than Petrushka Darlex! Oops. 

Having just left the ROH from a beautiful, spellbinding performance of Giselle, I am very happy to add that (& indeed Wolf Works) to my imaginary season. I only discounted Giselle as it’s being performed this season (personally i’m happy to sit through Giselle any number of times!). I do however feel that Frankenstein is worth looking at again. 

Glad to hear about The Concert. I wonder what else will be on the bill? (Patineuers please!) 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Ianlond said:

I’m embarrassed to say that I have only just realised that I typed Pulcinella rather than Petrushka Darlex! Oops. 

Having just left the ROH from a beautiful, spellbinding performance of Giselle, I am very happy to add that (& indeed Wolf Works) to my imaginary season. I only discounted Giselle as it’s being performed this season (personally i’m happy to sit through Giselle any number of times!). I do however feel that Frankenstein is worth looking at again. 

Glad to hear about The Concert. I wonder what else will be on the bill? (Patineuers please!) 

Ianlond, I too would love to see Petrushka again. Petrushka,  big YES, Frankenstein NOoooooooo - big waste of time! 

[zxDaveM]

9 hours ago, Darlex said:

Ianlond, I too would love to see Petrushka again. Petrushka,  big YES, Frankenstein NOoooooooo - big waste of time! 

 

If I never saw Petrushka again, it would be too soon. Or put it on with Pierre Lunaire, and Judas Tree, so i could miss the whole bill without a shred of regret

[Fonty]

On 04/01/2018 at 16:16, Fonty said:

Ah yes, thanks.  I was trying to think of one of my perfect triple bills, but couldn't think of something suitable to finish with.  I think it might be:

 

Symphonic Variations

The Shades Scene from La Bayadere

The Concert

 

 

 

 

Well now, isn't that nice.  One of my perfect triple bill choices is going to be performed.   As it appears to be on at Christmas, I would be happy to swap SV for Les Patinuers.

 

Just on this occasion, of course.