Royal Ballet - The Cellist, Dances at a Gathering

[FionaM]

My daughter who is studying music says the pianist wasn’t necessarily playing the wrong notes.  One of the Etudes is known as the  ‘Wrong Note’ Etude, as it is composed of a series of quick, dissonant minor seconds.  
 

well I’ve learnt something!

[San Perregrino]

48 minutes ago, FionaE said:

My daughter who is studying music says the pianist wasn’t necessarily playing the wrong notes.  One of the Etudes is known as the  ‘Wrong Note’ Etude, as it is composed of a series of quick, dissonant minor seconds.  
 

well I’ve learnt something!

Interesting about the ‘Wrong Note etude’ Also I’ve now seen DAAG 4 times and the last was earlier today at an Encore screening which had many close-ups. At all of these performances the dancers were perfectly in time with the music. Perhaps it is being played the way Robbins desired for his choreography? 

[Geoff]

1 hour ago, FionaE said:

My daughter who is studying music says the pianist wasn’t necessarily playing the wrong notes.  One of the Etudes is known as the  ‘Wrong Note’ Etude, as it is composed of a series of quick, dissonant minor seconds.  

 

How nice. I used to play this so can assure your daughter that those of us who have been criticising the playing were not confused by any lack of familiarity with Chopin. To help spot the difference, here's a nice recording of the piece (played properly) --

 

https://youtu.be/NkdgFfKIWbA

 

Edited March 2, 2020 by Geoff

[FionaM]

55 minutes ago, Geoff said:

 

How nice. I used to play this so can assure your daughter that those of us who have been criticising the playing were not confused by any lack of familiarity with Chopin. To help spot the difference, here's a nice recording of the piece (played properly) --

 

https://youtu.be/NkdgFfKIWbA

 

thank you.  She’s already pointed me to various better played versions!

[alison]

Well, I caught up with the encore showing, and can say that I officially appear to be falling back in love with Dances at a Gathering.  I don't know whether it was just seeing it in close-up, but I found myself sitting with a big smile on my face more or less throughout - I thought the dancers really interpreted it well, and brought out the humour and subtleties - and then Laura Morera appeared and seemed to take it up a further notch!

[Fonty]

Just returned from the ROH.  I really enjoyed both pieces, which surprised me slightly.

 

I've never seen Dances at a Gathering before, and loved every minute of it. The costumes are much more flattering than they appear in the photos, although I did struggle with the colours of the male costumes.  The blue looked grey to me, and the one that was supposed to be brick looked so faded, it gave the appearance of having been through the washing machine too many times!   I didn't think the ballet was too long at all; in fact I was quite startled when it finished.  My only slight disappointment was that Laura Morera doesn't have that much to do.  She has such lovely upper body movement, it is always a pleasure to watch.  Campbell was excellent in it, and stole every scene he was in as far as I was concerned. 

 

I didn't get the ending, though.  What is the significance of Campbell touching the ground?  What were they all looking at which appeared to fly across the sky and then slowly fall?  The only thing I could think of was a wounded bird.  .  

 

I was also surprised that I really enjoyed the Cellist, having read the comments on here.  I did think this one was slightly too long, and the last bit where Du Pre's health is deteriorating could have been trimmed a little.  But only a little.  I didn't find the figures in the background distracting.   In fact, I barely noticed them, I was so wrapped up in the main characters.  The ending was very moving.

 

I did think it seemed a bit of a waste to cast O'Sullivan in the role of the sister as she has very little to do, and a member of the corps could have performed the role equally well.  Other than that, I would be very happy to see it again, and I would be interested to see a different cast.  

Edited March 2, 2020 by Fonty

[Janite]

Having seen the cinema screening I was very glad to see DAAG and Cellist live this evening. From that Ampi I could still get the humour of DAAG and I thought the Cellist was much better when I could see the whole, (though that may be seeing it a second time) and such a moving ballet. 

I also had the pleasure of sitting next to two people who were very musical and happy to talk ballet. 

[Jamesrhblack]

1 minute ago, Fonty said:

 

 

 

 

I didn't get the ending, though.  What is the significance of Campbell touching the ground?  What were they all looking at which appeared to fly across the sky and then slowly fall?  The only thing I could think of was a wounded bird.  .  

I

 

Dust to dust, ashes to ashes. From here we come, to here we return.

 

Look at the expanse of our lives...

 

Just my own thoughts ...

 

And I agree that Campbell was marvellous this evening (and I know he’s one of my favourite dancers).

[Jamesrhblack]

5 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

 The ending was very moving.

 

 

I absolutely agree. 

 

Sometimes, I think there’s a quasi fake glamour to the the “tragedy” of Jacqueline Du Pré’s situation, and I thought this really brought home the sheer misery of the crippled musician and the silenced instrument.

[ninamargaret]

The Nunez/Bonelli pas on Facebook is, to my mind  a thing of rare beauty. Let's hope a DVD of the whole ballet becomes available.

[alison]

If you were able to get to one of the cinema showings, there was (for once) a whole lot of valuable information imparted before the performance of DAAG.  I certainly found it a great help, and it definitely enhanced my enjoyment.

[Fonty]

8 minutes ago, Jamesrhblack said:

Sometimes, I think there’s a quasi fake glamour to the the “tragedy” of Jacqueline Du Pré’s situation, and I thought this really brought home the sheer misery of the crippled musician and the silenced instrument.

 

Yes, and the reality is anything but.  

 

I adore cello music, it is one of my favourite instruments and I could happily listen to it for hours.  I loved the way in which Sambe's movement enhanced the actual music.  I also thought Ball was brilliant as the cocky, flamboyant Barenboim, who knows he is the best of the best.  

 

[ChrisG]

19 minutes ago, Janite said:

I also had the pleasure of sitting next to two people who were very musical and happy to talk ballet. 

 

I must have been one of them - very nice to meet you!  

 

Although I was seeing them both for the first time, having deliberately avoided seeing the cinema relay, I agree with you on both works.  I've wanted to see Dances at a Gathering since reading about it in Jennifer Homan's Apollo's Angels, and while I got the cool classicism I was expecting, I wasn't expecting the humour until I remembered that Robbins also created The Concert!  As for The Cellist I was also intensely moved by it.  Having seen her work for Northern Ballet and Ballet Black I knew what to expect in terms of style and as a result actually really liked the busy-ness of it, but what really got me was the sad beauty of the last scene, so sensitively portrayed.  I for one hope it's a ballet that has legs and gets revived before too long

[li tai po]

Dear Fonty

 

You ask about the significance of the final nocturne movement.

 

Robbins created the ballet for New York City Ballet in 1969 and mounted it on the Royal Ballet in 1970.  Rudolf Nureyev was the first cast brown boy in London, although the role was not created for him.  He chose to dance the ballet many times.  He enjoyed dancing a ballet where he was part of a community, rather than the superstar.

 

1970 was the height of the Soviet Union and Rudolf was an exile.  He could not return to Russia and he thought he would never see his homeland again.

 

We used to say that when he touched the stage, he was touching the Russian soil he would never feel under his feet again.  The cast watch the airplane returning to Russia without him.

 

Fanciful maybe, but Rudolf loved the ballet and was always very intense in the final movement.  When I saw Alex Campbell touch the stage on the first night, it brought tears to my eyes.

[JohnS]

Very good to read the posts of last night’s performance and of the cinema relay, with such positive responses to both ballets. I very much enjoyed the cinema encore and thought the introductions good, with interesting contributions from choreographer, dancers, and cellist. It would have been helpful to have had some comment about the set reflecting the inside of a cello as I don’t think it was mentioned at all. The relay did underline for me how very dark the opening of The Cellist is and a bit more lighting would be welcome. Good to see some of the detail from the close ups - young Jackie’s Paul Tortelier LP. Very much looking forward to seeing the second cast on Wednesday.

[Janite]

7 hours ago, ChrisG said:

 

I must have been one of them - very nice to meet you. 

 

It was indeed. And it added to the pleasure of the evening to be able to talk at the time. 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by Janite

[Fonty]

Thanks for the info @li tai po

[JNC]

Finally managed to get to see this double bill last night and have found it really interesting reading posts on here, especially learning more about the history of DAAG and Du Pre's life. 

 

Firstly DAAG I found to be sheer delight. Yes perhaps a tad too long (would this be solved by faster dancing or cutting one piece?) but to be honest this is not really a complaint. I thought the entire cast was fantastic. It's a shame Hayward was out (due to her Milan trip, O'Hare came on stage but I wonder why they hadn't sent an email out as they had for Corrales...also I note it appears she is rehearsing in the building for Swan Lake which seems counterintuitive but perhaps I am wrong!) but Magri was a faultless replacement. I thought she danced wonderfully and I will admit previously I haven't quite 'got' her the way others have but her Coppelia and now this has won me over and I think she's only going to get (even) better! 

 

Other standouts in a dream cast were Naghdi - absolutely sublime and shows she really can do anything from classical technique to the dramatic storytelling of Onegin to pieces like this. Morera was also brilliant, just perfect. I actually really liked the pastel costumes (though I felt Apricot was more yellow and the Pink was more apricot!) although not sure about the 'brick' colour and Purple had a pink top? Perhaps I'm colourblind! The choreography was charming, I particularly liked the quirky lifts and thought the dancers all brought out a little distinctive character even though there is no story! Bonelli and Bracewell also brilliant - the way that they were in harmony with various partners throughout was lovely to see. But overall everyone was brilliant! 

 

As others, would love this to be released as a DVD (especially if it includes the helpful context given in the cinema broadcast?) and hope it is revived within the next 5 years! 

 

Onto the Cellist. I had high hopes for this thinking it was a great idea, and I found the insight to be really promising too. However as others have mentioned it was a bit hit and miss for me. Strong points were Sambe as 'narrator' and Cello - you really felt his sadness and companionship for Du Pre and perhaps this is wrong to say but I was more moved by the Cello at the ending than Cuthbertson's Du Pre. I found the background too busy at times (though thought the orchestral scene was well done) and agree that more about Du Pre and her story should be in both the cast sheet and the programme. O'Sullivan's character seemed a bit wasted - I think it would have been a stronger ballet if they cut secondary characters such as the sister/cello teachers/musical friends (either that or expanded their roles so it is clear who they are). I also felt the Conductor character didn't have much to do both in terms of dancing and the narrative, the focus being on Du Pre and her cello and wish her relationship with Barenboim had been fleshed out more.

 

I found some of the choreography awkward and clumsy at times - no fault of the dancers, I think it's meant to be like that. As someone else has already mentioned particularly the pdd with Sambe/Cuthbertson where Cuthbertson and Sambe sort of half cartwheel over each other in a series of lifts just looked bad. And the cardigan on and off again felt a bit too obvious/heavy. And for lack of a technical way of saying it I think for me it was lacking in 'proper dancing', every time I thought it was beginning to get promising we were rushed into the next scene and it felt like a lot of moving about without proper space to take a few minutes for a more complex piece of dance...I think I have worded this badly but I think the contrast between DAAG which looks to be very simple but actually has many layers and interpretations and patterns you can notice, as opposed to the Cellist which to me felt the opposite and quite busy with lots going on but actually suffered from a lack of depth because of it is perhaps the best way I can describe it. Having said all that I did enjoy the pdd with Sambe/Cuthbertson when she is getting the symptoms of MS and found the scene where she struggles to play the Cello really something - the shaking of the hand and the silence was quite powerful. And Sambe and Cuthbertson were both brilliant in terms of dancing and expressing character (not to say anyone else was bad, just to me no-one else had much of a chance to really make an impression as it was all so fleeting!). I also agree it was right to see a downbeat ending considering the facts and preferred this to something which would have glossed over the condition. 

 

I think overall it had such promise and for me it failed to deliver. But if revived I would like to see it perhaps adapted and think it could work better either by cutting a lot of the background scenes/characters and focusing on the three, or alternatively expanding into a 2 act to flesh everything out more and so it could feel less rushed. Not sure how likely it would be for something to be edited this heavily though, as it stands I wouldn't be opposed to seeing it again if it was part of a mixed bill with something I really wanted to see (as in I wouldn't avoid it) but equally I wouldn't go out of my way to see it again in its current form. 

 

 

[bridiem]

18 minutes ago, JNC said:

And for lack of a technical way of saying it I think for me it was lacking in 'proper dancing', every time I thought it was beginning to get promising we were rushed into the next scene and it felt like a lot of moving about without proper space to take a few minutes for a more complex piece of dance...I think I have worded this badly but I think the contrast between DAAG which looks to be very simple but actually has many layers and interpretations and patterns you can notice, as opposed to the Cellist which to me felt the opposite and quite busy with lots going on but actually suffered from a lack of depth because of it is perhaps the best way I can describe it.

 

Spot on, JNC. I almost wonder if at some level Cathy Marston lacks confidence in her actual choreographic skill (as opposed to her ideas and her thoughts on staging etc, about which she is very clear and articulate and interesting). The dancers often only move or intertwine very briefly before stopping or transitioning to another lift or scene change or whatever, so it's all very stop and start, or even static, a lot of the time. I know this is deemed to be her 'style'; but I find it strange and frustrating. I wish she would give herself free rein!

[Fonty]

Just musing over my post last night, and reading the reactions of others regarding The Cellist, I was not sitting in my usual place in the amphitheatre, but had decided to go for a seat in the stalls for a change.  I was 4 rows from the front,  which gave me a very intimate picture of the stage.  From this perspective, I had a concentrated view of the main characters.  I didn't really register the set, and I couldn't see much of the goings on from the other dancers.  I was aware they were there, but they didn't distract me..  

Maybe this is why I enjoyed it much more than I expected to?  

Edited March 3, 2020 by Fonty

[JNC]

1 minute ago, Fonty said:

Just musing over my post last night, and reading the reactions of others regarding The Cellist, I was not sitting in my usual place in the amphitheatre, but had decided to go for a seat in the stalls for a change.  I was 4 rows from the front, which gave me a very intimate picture of the stage.  From this perspective, I had a concentrated view of the main characters.  I didn't really register the set, and I couldn't see much of the goings on from the other dancers.  I was aware they were there, but they didn't distract me..  

Maybe this is why I enjoyed it much more than I expected to?  

 

Interesting...I do think being 'up close' to register the emotional details of Sambe/Ball/Cuthbertson's facial expressions would have helped. Perhaps if I had sat somewhere else or seen the cinema screening I would have appreciated it more. 

 

Saying that as a regular amphi sitter (because of price more than anything else!) I think choreographers and others involving in creating a ballet should be aware that it needs to looks good from ALL areas of the theatre. Yes the press will sit in the stalls so the focus is on how it looks there I suppose, but to compare with DAAG again, whilst I would have loved to have seen it up close and it would have worked better from the stalls I think, it looked equally beautiful from up high. Same with ballets such as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Concerto for me.

 

Unfortunately I think 'story' ballets such as the Cellist and MacMillan's for example are undoubtedly better from being closer to appreciate faces, but with the Cellist in particular I found the constant moving of the stage, and groups of corps dancers moving and doing their own pieces while Cuthbertson/Sambe/Ball were also dancing to be very distracting - I tried to focus on the main characters but there's always something in the corner of your eye. At least in MacMillan whilst you can't see the faces there is nothing like this to distract in the same way. 

[alison]

Talking about tears in the eyes, in DAAG on the cinema relay, did it look as though Francesca Hayward had tears in her eyes when she was half-kneeling at the end, or was it just me?  (I did, at the end of both ballets).

[Anna C]

5 minutes ago, alison said:

Talking about tears in the eyes, in DAAG on the cinema relay, did it look as though Francesca Hayward had tears in her eyes when she was half-kneeling at the end, or was it just me?  (I did, at the end of both ballets).

 

I too thought Hayward had a tear running down her face.

[Ian Macmillan]

JNC found " there's always something in the corner of your eye" as an unwelcome distraction during The Cellist.  Whereas, on the contrary, I have often found that what's happening to the side or the rear helps to fill out the narrative in Cathy's work.  What Beatrice is doing, or how she is reacting to the discoveries she makes in her mother's diaries and being danced at centre stage, struck me as vital to the story in Victoria.  And I seem unable to forget the placing of the Mother in Witch Hunt, so often moving to the rear and away from the action as she (for me at least) makes the point that she is in an empty marriage, something that leads to her husband's infidelity on which the story turns, as here:

 

But that's just me.

 

 

 

 

[San Perregrino]

Having seen three stagings with two casts and wondering what others could see that I couldn’t, I can now say that The Cellist only truly made sense and had a real impact on me when I saw an Encore Screening at the cinema yesterday. For me, on stage it was muddled and the raw emotions, so evident at the Insight I attended, were diluted and obscured by the busyness of the ‘extras’ or corps.  On screen however, the considered and thoughtful lighting exquisitely picks out the details that Marston wants us to see, the principals are in sharp focus throughout as one scene fades into the next and the ‘extras’ are just that, an almost blurred background to what is happening as the story unfolds. The ‘film’ version is for me perhaps what Marston had in mind as a priority when creating this as it will be seen by a much wider audience via this medium than will ever see it staged. 
 

[capybara]

I'm sorry - and I have tried - but I don't understand the adulation which seems to surround Dances at a Gathering. I was in difficulty at its last RB showing and I am no more captivated this time around.

[I am now running for cover!!!!!]

[maryrosesatonapin]

5 hours ago, JNC said:

Onto the Cellist. ... expanding into a 2 act to flesh everything out more and so it could feel less rushed. 

 

 

Oh no, please no!  (But I know what you mean @JNC )

[Richard LH]

1 hour ago, capybara said:

I'm sorry - and I have tried - but I don't understand the adulation which seems to surround Dances at a Gathering. I was in difficulty at its last RB showing and I am no more captivated this time around.

[I am now running for cover!!!!!]

 

Come back capybara, I am sure you will be forgiven !

I don't know about "adulation", but I found  there were many moments of true delight in  seeing ballet expressed in such a pure and simple form.

Edited March 3, 2020 by Richard LH
Grammar

[Jane S]

Maybe someone should set up a sort of 'ticket dating agency', introducing those who can't stand Dances to those who can't stand The Cellist so they could share one ticket and swap over in the interval?

[Fonty]

Personally, I think The Cellist would be better if it was pared down, getting rid of all the extras, and just having the focus on the main characters.  The cellist, her parents, her husband and her instrument.  Not even sure if the father is strictly necessary, and the sister certainly isn't.  We know Jacqueline Du had both, but they had so little to do, I think having just her mother would be fine, as there were some poignant moments between the two of them.  Keep the young dancer playing her younger self, as that worked very well.  Reduce everything else to fleeting glimpses - new cello teachers, fellow students, an audience at one of her concerts.  That is more or less how I saw the ballet last night, as I had a rather restricted view of the whole stage, and I thought it worked very well.

 

And I loved Dances.  But each to their own.  I believe there are some people who love Wayne McGregor's works. 😉

 

Edited March 3, 2020 by Fonty

[San Perregrino]

Matthew Ball replaces Cesar Corrales in The Cellist on Wednesday 4th March 

[Blossom]

8 minutes ago, prs59 said:

Matthew Ball replaces Cesar Corrales in The Cellist on Wednesday 4th March 

Oh no but also will be lovely to see Ball again

[bridiem]

So Corrales doesn't get to dance the role at all? That's such a shame.