Anyone seen L'heure Exquise with Alessandra Ferri this week?

[Geoff]

Given the excitement around Alessandra Ferri when she was last at ROH, I wondered why no one has commented on this show as yet (press night was last night)? 

[Sim]

Sadly I am unable to see this live, but I did watch it on TV from Ravenna a few months ago and commented on here.  I really liked it and recommended then that people go and see it here.   I too will be interested to hear what people thought.

[zxDaveM]

I went this afternoon. Lovely to see Alessandra striking a few poses and running through a step or two (she looks as elegant as ever), but all in all, can't say I was bowled over, tbh.

[Blossom]

I was also there this afternoon. Worth bearing in mind it is based on a Samuel Beckett play - not so much existentialist as somewhat tragic, comic in places and generally absurd.

 

It made me consider what it is to be an aged ballerina - not specifically Ferri as the actress/dancer in the piece but the emptiness of life when you cannot do the thing you love the most anymore, or imagining even a dancer with dementia living an almost childlike version of their younger years. It made me feel quite sad. 

 

[KyleCheng]

I went on Saturday, where after the performance Kevin O'Hare showed up to give words of tribute and present Alessandra a bouquet. There was also another lovely moment after the curtain was closed. The applause did not stop so the curtain was drawn open again, showing Alessandra, having picked up her bouquet from the floor, in the middle of leaving the stage. She quickly dropped the bouquet, made a small jump, seemingly surprised by the prolonged ovation, and bowed to the passionate crowd several times more.

 

As for the performance itself, I too think that it's probably less a piece designed to wow and impress than one to give you something to think about. @Blossom spoke my mind in terms of the reflection about what it must feel being a ballerina of the age and experience of Ms Ferri's. It is both touching, seeing someone who has been dedicating so many years of her life to the art, and melancholic, feeling reminded of the inevitability of an end to everything, however hard one tries to evade. But needless to say it is lovely and a genuine privilege to see the prima ballerina assoluta dance.

[Ian Macmillan]

As I'm sure Links will reveal, Jann Parry has seen it and was impressed.

[Scheherezade]

I was also about to ask whether anyone had seen L’heure Exquise as I was somewhat baffled by the lack of any response but Geoff beat me to it.

 

I was there at the closing performance and found it, well, exquisite. It reminded me what a wonderful dance actress Alessandra Ferri was and still is, and how I wish that we could see her Juliet or Giselle again. And, as an aside, how perfectly the emotional pull of narrative dance aligns with Mahler’s music. 

As her tiny frame - the arch of her feet and those beautiful arms - ‘remembered’ long lost steps and fragments of past triumphs, Ms Ferri was utterly captivating. Intimate, touching, more than a little sad when her momentary joy gave way to confusion. It was a performance to remember. 
 

And there was a tender poignancy in her interaction with Carsten Jung - Marcel Marceau fashioned by Brecht and Weill when he first appeared in bowler hat and vest, shifting to full-on Vaudevillian with a machine-gun burst of tap dancing and the sartorial addition of a waistcoat and tails.

 

As a vehicle for the extraordinary Ms Ferri - surely she can’t really be 58! - it was, indeed, “exquise” and I was very glad to have been there. 

 

[bridiem]

Thank you for these interesting reviews. I was originally intending to book for this (if possible) but the amphi prices for Romeo and Juliet blew my budget. But I'm glad to hear other people's impressions.

[bangorballetboy]

4 hours ago, Scheherezade said:

I was there at the closing performance

 

 

Just in case anyone is confused by this, the London performances continue all this week (other than tonight, which is a celebration of Ferri's long-standing connection with the Royal Ballet).

[alison]

Ah, thank you BBB: I'd thought it was a rather shorter run than I'd originally expected.

[Scheherezade]

3 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

Just in case anyone is confused by this, the London performances continue all this week (other than tonight, which is a celebration of Ferri's long-standing connection with the Royal Ballet).

 

Oops, sorry about that!

[ChrisG]

Fumi Kaneko and William Bracewell in R&J in the afternoon, Alessandra Ferri in a strange but wonderful Beckett-inspired show in the evening - a perfect day! Back up north first thing tomorrow.

Edited October 23, 2021 by ChrisG
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[Irmgard]

When I first saw the title “L’heure exquise”, I assumed it referred to the beautiful poem of the same name by Paul Verlaine.  It was not until almost the end of the performance I attended (17 October) that I realised it was a line from the French translation of what we know as the Merry Widow Waltz!  I have never really been a fan of Maurice Béjart as the choreography of his I have seen over the years never seems to live up to expectations built up from the programme notes.  This piece proved to be no exception, with Béjart obviously having pretentions towards existentialism, but Samuel Beckett he is not!  However, the divine Alessandra Ferri rose above the absurdities of the material to give a performance of great poignancy and charm which was entirely due to her supreme artistry.  I have vivid memories of seeing Ferri in her graduation performance from the Royal Ballet School (“Concerto” second movement) in 1980, and of her glorious performances with the Royal Ballet in her all-too-brief time with the company, and it is wonderful that she is still so physically beautiful to watch: those incredibly eloquent feet, the sublime arch of her neck and above all those luminous eyes in the most expressive of faces!  Just to see her lower her body over her front leg in swan position was enough to give me goosebumps.  There was actually very little dancing for her to do but I treasured every perfect arabesque she took!  There was much more dialogue than dancing and she delivered this in beautifully clear English, full of personality, and excellent French when she later on had to say the words of the Waltz, chopped up into thudding syllables.  Throughout the piece, she was impeccably supported by Carsten Jung who appeared thrilled to be sharing the stage with this goddess of the dance.  This is not a work I would rush to see again unless, of course, it offers the chance to see the phenomenal Alessandra Ferri!

[KyleCheng]

Wondering about a different performance that also featured Ms Ferri, for which I don't think there is a dedicated thread: has anyone gone to BRB's "Curated by Carlos" at Salder's Wells this past week?

Carlos Acosta and Alessandra Ferri danced in the third of the triple bill, Chacona.

https://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/birmingham-royal-ballet-curated-by-carlos-triple-bill/

[Jan McNulty]

There are reviews in links from both yesterday and today:

 

I wrote some thoughts on the mixed programme from when I saw in in Birmingham in June, although the new duet had not been created then.  If anyone saw the programme at Sadler's Wells that is probably the most appropriate thread.  Of course the main point for me was seeing the whole company of BRB:

 

 

[KyleCheng]

Thank you @Jan McNulty for your own reviews and the referral. I'm glad you had a great time!