A Night of Royal Elegance (Royal Ballet) - Tokyo, August 2018

[Xandra Newman]

http://royalelegancenight.com/english/programme.html

 

Any (Japanese) poster(s) attending the performance in Tokyo tonight, or on Friday/Saturday? 

 

[JohnS]

Many thanks Xandra - looks a great evening and how good to see Laura Morera and Ricardo Cervera dancing.

[Xandra Newman]

Yes great news to see Laura Morera is fit and well to dance.

Edited August 30, 2018 by Xandra Newman
typo

[MargaretN7]

Yes, what a wonderful looking programme. And oh, how I wish to see those two great Ashtonian dancers, Laura Morera and Ricardo Cervera, do that tango.

[Sim]

And how I would love to see Naghdi/Campbell in the Two Pigeons pdd!  The rehearsal photos on their Instagram accounts are fabulous.

[Naomi M]

I went to the 1st performance and it certainly showed the wonderful talent of the RB dancers. 

 

One pleasant surprise was the presence of two young brilliant dancers Joseph Sissens and Calvin Richardson. Especially enjoyed two unique pieces choreographed by Richardson, Dying Swan which was danced by himself and Credo (a world premiere) danced by Sissens and young dancers chosen by audition. They are so talented and have unique quality, I am looking forward how they will mature in the coming years.

 

All the dancers were fabulous, and it was lovely to see Ricardo Cervera back on stage still dancing brilliantly. Laura Morera danced 5 pieces, showing her strength, expressiveness and versatility, and the tango from Facade was playful and enjoyable.  Naghdi/Campbell in the Two Pigeons pdd was of course heartwarming and beautiful.

Cuthbertson and Muntagirov were shimmering and glowing in Diamonds and Sylvia,  pure beauty and musicality.  Also loved the light, airy Sylphide danced by Takada. Also it was nice to see Mcgregor's Raven girl with Takada and Hirano as we in Japan have almost no opportunity to see McGregor, and especially Takada's strength and expression was memorable long with her gothic character. 

Another rare treat was Dangerous Liaisons choreographed by Adam Cooper and danced by Morera and Ball. Ball's dangerous appeal was so enchanting and he would indeed make a perfect The Stranger in Bourne's Swan Lake. 

 

It was such a lovely, intimate evening and the only downside was that there were some empty seats due to lack of publicity as the promoters seemed not used to marketing in the Japanese market. But there are still two more performances, and what a fabulous treat it was.   

 

[Sim]

Thanks so much for your report, Naomi. It sounds like a wonderful show, and I am sad and surprised that there were empty seats, especially knowing how much the Japanese people love ballet!  As you say, probably the result of poor advertising.  

[jmhopton]

Sounds an amazing evening with a great choice of programme and dancers. So many gala evenings seem to be thrown together with not very much thought and rehash the same old war horses. it is so refreshing to see one with such a varied choice of rep. and not a Don Q or Corsaire in sight! It is the sort of programme I'd love to see at the ROH in place of some of their rather dubious triples which always seems to contain something I'm not bothered about.

 

Incidentally the mention of La Sylphide reminds me we haven't seen our La Sylphide for ages. I keep dreaming of possible debuts! Was the pas de deux danced from the Kobborg production? Does Kobborg need to give his permission for the RB to dance it or is it their property? I see the Bolshoi is dancing the Kobborg production for their cinema broadcast. is it a new acquisition for them?

[alison]

It's Kobborg's property, so I wouldn't hold your breath on the RB dancing it any time soon.  And no, the Bolshoi took it into the rep a few years back.

[penelopesimpson]

3 hours ago, Sim said:

Thanks so much for your report, Naomi. It sounds like a wonderful show, and I am sad and surprised that there were empty seats, especially knowing how much the Japanese people love ballet!  As you say, probably the result of poor advertising.  

They'd obviously heard about Raven Girl!

[Naomi M]

1 hour ago, jmhopton said:

Incidentally the mention of La Sylphide reminds me we haven't seen our La Sylphide for ages. I keep dreaming of possible debuts! Was the pas de deux danced from the Kobborg production? Does Kobborg need to give his permission for the RB to dance it or is it their property? I see the Bolshoi is dancing the Kobborg production for their cinema broadcast. is it a new acquisition for them?

 

I am not really sure whether it is Kobborg's version or Bournonville. The ling above mentions Bournonville but the program says the Royal Ballet premiere of the version by Kobborg, though among the photos of the choreographers there is not a pic of Kobborg but there is one of Bournonville. Sissens needs a little refinement of his solo (a little rough) but he did have good leaps and battements, nice feet. 

 

I think the repertoire of this gala was enchanting, most of the pieces are rarely seen here. Royal Ballet's Japan tour next summer is expected to be Don Quixote and a gala, so we are looking forward what pieces they will bring to the gala, hopefully those very RB repertoire.   

[jmhopton]

8 hours ago, alison said:

It's Kobborg's property, so I wouldn't hold your breath on the RB dancing it any time soon.  And no, the Bolshoi took it into the rep a few years back.

 

Thanks Alison. I thought this was the case but I hoped I was wrong. Like you, I think unless Kobborg has a change of heart, it looks as it we're doomed not to see it for a while or indeed ever unless RB decide to acquire another version. I suppose it may be possible to get the non-Kobborg original Swedish version as the sets and costumes are from that original version but I'm possibly clutching at straws.

 

Thanks for your reply too, Naomi.

[FLOSS]

It is good to know that I am not the only one who thinks it little short of a disaster that the Royal Ballet has no production of La Sylphide in its repertoire. It was the one nineteenth  century work which had eluded de Valois' attempts to acquire it for the company which is probably why Mason asked Kobborg to  stage it for the Royal Ballet. A mixed bill of La Sylphidet with the dance class act of Konservatoriet would be most welcome. Unfortunately given the comments which Kobborg reportedly made when he left the company I would not hold out any great hopes that we will ever see his production on the Covent Garden stage again. As I have the impression that Kevin is more anxious to be associated with new creations than anything else and as he does not seem that concerned about neglecting major works like Les Noces and Daphnis and Chloe which are firmly in the company's back catalogue I suspect that collecting a version of a major nineteenth classic which was lost on his watch is not going to loom that large on Kevin's "To do list". I think that if you were to write to him urging him to acquire another version of La Sylphide he would probably say that it is not essential to the company's artistic identity and that it is even less necessary now that ENB has the work in its repertoire.

 

As Bournonville is long out of copyright there must be any number of versions of the ballet available to those who know who to ask. Staging La Sylphide seems to be what retired Danish dancers do. They take the text they grew up with and either stage it straight or fiddle with the narrative in some way, a bit like choreographer/producers do with Petipa's Swan Lake. As far as the current standard text of La Sylphide is concerned I think that Bournonville would struggle to recognise the ballet as his work because of the textual changes which have crept in during the one hundred and eighty odd years that it  has been performed. I think that James' first act solo would puzzle him. I suspect it was originally danced by one of the villagers as a gift from the community to the happy couple. It certainly makes more sense for it to be performed by a villager than it does for it to be danced by the pensive, brooding James. It seems to me that given the nature of the narrative Bournonville intended that James would only dance when he had abandoned his responsibilities to his family and community,  and was experiencing what proves to be the illusory joy of being with the Sylph in the heart of the natural world freed from restraint, responsibility, duty and obligation having abandoned his community and humankind in general.

 

As far as other stagings are concerned there is the one which Schauffus did for ENB which is now danced by Queensland Ballet. If I recall correctly Schaufuss  opened up musical cuts and restored bits of the score that had not been played in decades in order to give himself the opportunity to do even more dancing in act one. Then I wonder whether if Hans Brenaa staged the ballet? It is impossible to believe that he did not. Perhaps that or a staging influenced by it  might be a possibility. By the way does anyone know who first had the idea that the audience needed to know who Madge really is? Was it Kobborg who decided that we needed to know that Madge was a sort of lapsed Sylph or was it someone else's bright idea?.  

Edited August 31, 2018 by FLOSS

[Bruce Wall]

8 hours ago, FLOSS said:

 

 

As far as other stagings are concerned there is the one which Schauffus did for ENB which is now danced by Queensland Ballet. If I recall correctly Schaufuss  opened up musical cuts and restored bits of the score that had not been played in decades in order to give himself the opportunity to do even more dancing in act one. Then I wonder whether if Hans Brenaa staged the ballet? It is impossible to believe that he did not. Perhaps that or a staging influenced by it  might be a possibility. By the way does anyone know who first had the idea that the audience needed to know who Madge really is? Was it Kobborg who decided that we needed to know that Madge was a sort of lapsed Sylph or was it someone else's bright idea?.  

 

The NBoC has/had a stunning one by Erik Bruhn.  

[Esmeralda]

Thank you so much for your report Naomi M! I would have loved to see this gala, which had a really unique program - had almost a business trip to Tokyo this week but unfortunately it got delayed to next week, so a bit unlucky! It must have been great to see Ricardo Cervera back on stage.

Also would have loved to see Morera/Ball dancing together, I can imagine that they have an amazing chemistry. Never saw Facade live in performance but  always loved the Tango from it - how I envy you! But hopefully we will see next year Naghdi/Ball together in Romeo & Juliet too (I missed them the last time). Completely understand that you enjoyed the Dying Swan by Calvin Richardson. Saw him in this piece for the first time this summer in Lagrasse. Already heard a lot of good things about it but was still sceptical though at the end I was completely impressed. Would have loved to see his new creation because - if I understood it correctly - it is based on an idea which he presented a few years ago at Draft works, which I had the chance to see. How did you like Joseph Sissens tap piece?

 

And then I agree completely how sad it is not to see La Sylphide on the RB stage at this time (or probably the next decades). There are so many beautiful dancers right now who would be perfect in it. Well, a girl can dream and maybe there will be a small chance in the future to stage La Sylphide ( and then not in the Kobborg version because that ship has sailed definitely).

 

 

 

[Jam Dancer]

Hello there!

 

I am based in Tokyo these days and I went to Friday night's performance. It was just wonderful!  I should say that I've been missing the Royal Ballet since leaving London last September.

I am not one for detailed in-depth reviews so I'll just say that I very much agree with Naomi's  review.   Warning: This is more likely to be a wandering ramble of comments that anything else.

 

What a stable full of talent the RB has these days. I was so impressed by Calvin Richardson and Jospeh Sissens ... so versatile and both working on choreography.  The Mowgli tap dance number that  Joseph performed as the show's closer with all the nods to the African dance influencing popular dance was a highlight for me. I loved Calvin's version of the Dying Swan as we'll ...very interesting and a piece that I think would be draw to draw the uninitiated into a bit of classical ballet.

 

Laura Morera his back and fit as a fiddle and  her and Ricardo in the Cathy Marston piece was a treat I think they performed just for me! I've so missed seeing the two together.

 

And Yasmine....Oh my goodness Yasmine Naghdi.  I was there when she made her debut in Romeo and Juliet with Matthew Ball but that Yasmine is no longer. She is even more radiant more confident, lovely, lovelier, loveliest  and a delight to watch.  So enjoyed the pas de deux with her and Matthew and the  With Alexander Campbell in the Two Pigeons pdd.

 

Lauren and Vadim in the Sylvia pdd and then Lauren and Vadim in the Diamonds pdd....Eat your heart out those of you who will be regular attendees at ROH when the new season starts - this treat was just for us here in Tokyo.   Considering I won't see the company until December and I'll only be able to see The Nutcracker and the Les Patineurs mixed bill, I lapped up everything on offer on Friday evening. Beautiful, beautiful...Vadim brought the house done in Sylvia

 

Akane Takada who has always been lovely was so delicate and ethereal in La Sylphide.  How do they get the height on those jumps from what seems to be a standing position? Her and Joseph Sissens were just bounding off the floor from what looked like simple knee bends to me ( I wear spectacles). When I was "dancing" I needed to attain the take off speed of a 747 to  to get my jumps that high.

 

Then Akane and Ryoichi Hirano made me like something about Raven Girl...I would've thought that was nigh on impossible but the pdd was engaging and it was lovely to see them both imbue some warmth and character into something that I remember as a bit cold and mechanical  both times I saw the ballet.

 

Matthew Ball and Laura Morera in the Dangerous Liaisons  pdd...another treat. The intensity of the piece and the partnering skills that involved... I think Matthew is working on his partnering skills because I 'm sure most of you know that when Laura gets into the zone in a dramatic piece, she just goes for it. Matthew acquitted himself quite well. I'never seen this piece before.

 

I won't go on anymore...All the dancers were  on great form.  The setting was intimate but I wished the hall were full but nevertheless it was a good turnout.  Perhaps as Naomi M mentions, the promoters didn't get the word out because I am sure many more Japanese dance fans would've enjoyed this.

 

 

 

 

[jmhopton]

 

11 hours ago, FLOSS said:

I have the impression that Kevin is more anxious to be associated with new creations than anything else and as he does not seem that concerned about neglecting major works like Les Noces and Daphnis and Chloe which are firmly in the company's back catalogue I suspect that collecting a version of a major nineteenth classic which was lost on his watch is not going to loom that large on Kevin's "To do list". I think that if you were to write to him urging him to acquire another version of La Sylphide he would probably say that it is not essential to the company's artistic identity and that it is even less necessary now that ENB has the work in its repertoire. 

 

.  

 

I did write a very detailed letter to Kevin (3 pages of typed A4 detailing my thoughts on the current Company and rep (virtually all of it very complimentary) but never had a reply. I then re-sent it about 3 weeks ago (with an extra paragraph about my thoughts about matinee price rises!) and still haven't heard so I don't think it's worth writing about la Sylphide unfortunately.

[Sim]

That’s pretty poor.  You go to all that trouble and to not even get an acknowledgement, let alone a reply.....poor show. 

[ninamargaret]

don't think Kevin does replies, or even acknowledgements! I wrote a year or so ago saying how much I'd enjoyed a particular performance, what great shape the company was in etc and never got any response or even a 'thank you for your kind comments ' standard letter. Makes me wonder if he cares about his many enthusiastic supporters.

[capybara]

7 minutes ago, Sim said:

That’s pretty poor.  You go to all that trouble and to not even get an acknowledgement, let alone a reply.....poor show. 

 

Everyone was away until this week and I think that the norm is for O'Hare's assistant to acknowledge correspondence at the very least. I have certainly had responses from both of them over the years.

 

Just as an indication of how busy Kevin O'Hare is, he was interviewed at The Ballet Association in mid April and he has not yet OK'd the report for publication on their website.

[FLOSS]

Jam Dancer,

Lucky you. The cast combinations you saw in Japan include people who we are unlikely to see dancing together in London. For example Muntagirov and Nunez seem, for good or ill, to be the standard combination generally seen here . While I can understand that you may feel a little disappointed that you are only able to get to performances here when the RB is dancing Nutcracker and the Les Patineurs mixed bill it should mean that you get the opportunity to see far more of the depth of talent in the company than you would if they were dancing other repertory. A ballet like Les  Patineurs and the divertissements in Nutcracker provide lots of opportunities for young talented dancers, who are not ready for major featured roles, to show what they can do.They provide wonderful development opportunities for dancers who need to have the experience being alone on the stage and performing for an audience but are not ready to carry the full weight of responsibility for the success of a longer work.

 

Penelope,

I would not assume that because you have had no reply that Kevin has not read your letter or your e-mail. I am don't know whether he answers every letter he receives about repertory.If he did it would probably be a full time job in itself. He clearly read them in the past as when he revived Two Pigeons he said that it was the ballet whose revival was most requested. Monica certainly read the letters she received because she would on occasion berate  meetings which she attended because the company's followers were  always asking her to revive the most expensive one act works in the company's repertory. I suspect that as the company are only just back from their summer break Kevin may have other more pressing things on his mind at present. The point  for me is that if you don't ask you don't get. If you write you have made your point clear.

 

 I will say that Kevin seemed quite surprised when a friend of mine told him that works like Les Noces and Song of the Earth were not being staged with sufficient frequency for them to retain the vibrancy, precision, focus and theatrical impact that they once had in performance. I was told that he looked particularly surprised to be told that the company now dance both works quite raggedly until they get to perhaps their fifth performance of a run for the simple reason that nearly every one is learning these ballets from scratch each time they are revived.Daphnis and Chloe was also mentioned during the discussion about the RB's neglected masterpieces. Only time will tell whether it has any impact to point out that only staging major works occasionally and hoping that they will look acceptable in performance is not the way to maintain masterpieces. But at least someone has said it. 

 

 

Bruce,

I would say that NBoC have clearly pensioned off their Bruhn La Sylphide because when the company danced the ballet in 2016 it was the Kobborg staging which they performed. I think that someone like Ib Andersen might be the man to approach to stage a new La Sylphide for the RB.I think that I would be greedy and ask him to stage Kermesse in Bruges and Konservatoriet as well.

Edited September 1, 2018 by FLOSS

[Jane S]

16 hours ago, FLOSS said:

As Bournonville is long out of copyright there must be any number of versions of the ballet available to those who know who to ask. Staging La Sylphide seems to be what retired Danish dancers do. They take the text they grew up with and either stage it straight or fiddle with the narrative in some way, a bit like choreographer/producers do with Petipa's Swan Lake. As far as the current standard text of La Sylphide is concerned I think that Bournonville would struggle to recognise the ballet as his work because of the textual changes which have crept in during the one hundred and eighty odd years that it  has been performed. I think that James' first act solo would puzzle him. I suspect it was originally danced by one of the villagers as a gift from the community to the happy couple. It certainly makes more sense for it to be performed by a villager than it does for it to be danced by the pensive, brooding James. It seems to me that given the nature of the narrative Bournonville intended that James would only dance when he had abandoned his responsibilities to his family and community,  and was experiencing what proves to be the illusory joy of being with the Sylph in the heart of the natural world freed from restraint, responsibility, duty and obligation having abandoned his community and humankind in general.

 

As far as other stagings are concerned there is the one which Schauffus did for ENB which is now danced by Queensland Ballet. If I recall correctly Schaufuss  opened up musical cuts and restored bits of the score that had not been played in decades in order to give himself the opportunity to do even more dancing in act one. Then I wonder whether if Hans Brenaa staged the ballet? It is impossible to believe that he did not. Perhaps that or a staging influenced by it  might be a possibility. By the way does anyone know who first had the idea that the audience needed to know who Madge really is? Was it Kobborg who decided that we needed to know that Madge was a sort of lapsed Sylph or was it someone else's bright idea?.  

 

The two solos in act 1 were danced by two farmhands until the middle of the 20th century, when the second one was given to James (I've read that the change was made by Flemming Flindt around 1965.) You can still see the original casting in the film of the Rambert Sylphide. When the RDB came to London in the 1970s James had the 2nd solo but the first one was still danced by an unnamed character rather than by Gurn. Bournonville saw dancing as an expression of joy and therefore as you say the James of Act 1 couldn't possibly have danced. I asked Kobborg in an interview just before his RB production openind if he'd thought of reverting to the original but he was scathing about the possibility of any James agreeing to give up the solo.

 

I don't think there's any particular reason to long to have Kobborg's production back - like everyone else he'd added little bits - the pas de six for Effie's friends for instance. The film of Lis Jeppesen and Nikolaj Hubbe gives the credit for 'original production' to Hans Brenaa and that would be a good place to start.

 

I'm not entirely sure who came up with the Madge-was-a-Sylphide idea but it certainly wasn't Kobborg - possibly Sorella Englund early in the 1990s - but as we saw in the RB performances she doesn't always do it.

 

Incidentally although Hubbe's  current production puts a very different slant on the story I don't think he's altered the choreography at all.

 

[Xandra Newman]

9 hours ago, Jam Dancer said:

And Yasmine....Oh my goodness Yasmine Naghdi.  I was there when she made her debut in Romeo and Juliet with Matthew Ball but that Yasmine is no longer. She is even more radiant more confident, lovely, lovelier, loveliest  and a delight to watch.  So enjoyed the pas de deux with her and Matthew and the  With Alexander Campbell in the Two Pigeons pdd.

 

Thank you so much Jam Dancer for reporting back from Tokyo.

 

Let's hope and keep fingers crossed we'll get the Naghdi/Ball partnership for the worldwide Romeo& Juliet cinema relay in June 2019. 

If you say she is even more radiant and more confident and...it promises something for their next R&J! 

[alison]

But what?   3 years on, I'm still wondering if they will be able to replicate that youthful innocence, or whether they will both have moved on.