Memories and Highlights of the 2021/22 seasons

[Jan McNulty]

Memories and Highlights of the 2021/22 seasons

 

 

I haven’t seen the Royal Ballet or English National Ballet this year but I have seen some wonderful performances by other companies.

 

I think the autumn/winter season for BRB was about getting back to normality and I was very glad to see them!  My highlight was Celine Gittens and Brandon Lawrence as Juliet and Romeo - I wept buckets!

 

Northern Ballet thrilled with more performances of Dangerous Liaisons at Leeds Playhouse and a major tour of a new ballet Merlin.

 

I saw more performances of this Covid-friendly production of Liaisons than perhaps I might have expected to but mainly because I was enjoying it so much!  What I liked about this cut-down version was that it distilled the essence of the story to the bare essentials.  The remarkable Javier Torres gave a number of outstanding performances as Valmont with various partners.  He really has been the most wonderful of dance actors during his time with Northern Ballet and it is hard to believe he has now retired from the stage.

 

Merlin, choreographed by Drew McOnie was more like a musical without singing than a ballet but it was light and bright and just what we needed at the time.  Needless to say the magnificent Kevin Poeung was fabulous in the title role.

 

2022 started on a high for me as I finally got to see De Nada Dance Theatre’s Mariposa (a transgender and updated retelling of Madame Butterfly.  I found it intensely moving.  Harry Alexander was outstanding in the eponymous role.

 

Phoenix Dance Theatre celebrated (slightly delayed because of the pesky pandemic) 40 years and the celebration programme was excellent.  The celebratory gala I saw the following evening was excellent.

 

Onwards to the meat of my ballet-watching season.  I loved Carlos Acosta’s production of Don Quixote for BRB and was able to catch 9 performances.  My favourite partnership over those performances was Beatrice Parma and Tzu Chao Chou who brought Kitri and Basilio so vividly to to life with enormous warmth and panache.

 

Northern Ballet gave me so much joy in 2022 with the spring tour consisting of 2 recent favourites - Casanova and The Great Gatsby.  One of the pleasures of this season has been the continued upward trajectory of both Abigail Prudames and Joseph Taylor and I saw them give some truly glorious performances both together and with other company members.

 

I thought every single one of the performances was top notch and there were a few that I will remember for many years to come.

 

The Great Gatsby opened in Edinburgh and there were 2 very poignant performances.  The performance on the Thursday evening was just breath taking and made extra special by the dancers doing a moving tribute to departing director David Nixon CBE.

 

On the Saturday evening, Ashley Dixon gave a valedictory performance as Gatsby with the luminous Antoinette Brooks Daw coming out of retirement to be his Daisy.  It really was a heartfelt performance by the whole company and David Nixon’s final speech as director was a beautiful, emotional speech about Ashley’s career.  The good news is that Ashley is staying with the company as a principal character artist and assistant ballet master.

 

The final performances of Gatsby that I saw were at Milton Keynes on the Saturday and I must mention the performances of the always wonderful Rachael Gillespie as Myrtle and Gavin McCaig as Tom.  They were both utterly in fabulous and I would love to see both of them in more meaty roles.

 

The Saturday evening performance of Casanova at Sadler’s Wells was also both memorable and poignant as it marked the retirement of Javier Torres.  He gave absolutely everything to the performance and so did the rest of the company.  Federico Bonelli continued the long standing NB tradition by starting the valedictory speech for Javier and he then handed over the reigns to Ashley who has worked alongside Javier for the entirety of Javier’s career with the company.  It was a glorious evening.

 

Other non-performance highlights were seeing Federico taking the reins of the company with enthusiasm - he was very visible on tour and I hope that he continues with the grace he started with and, of course, the awarding of the CBE to David Nixon.

 

There is much to look forward to going forward with Northern Ballet under Federico’s direction.

 

I also saw and very much enjoyed BalletBoyz’ Deluxe and Alexander Whitley’s Overflow.

[capybara]

A super reminder of some great shows, Jan. Thank you!

[Sim]

Wow, I wish I could have seen even half of these!!  Many thanks Jan. 

 

[Emeralds]

On 21/06/2022 at 16:03, Jan McNulty said:

Memories and Highlights of the 2021/22 seasons

 

 

I haven’t seen the Royal Ballet or English National Ballet this year but I have seen some wonderful performances by other companies.

 

I think the autumn/winter season for BRB was about getting back to normality and I was very glad to see them!  My highlight was Celine Gittens and Brandon Lawrence as Juliet and Romeo - I wept buckets!

 

Northern Ballet thrilled with more performances of Dangerous Liaisons at Leeds Playhouse and a major tour of a new ballet Merlin.

 

I saw more performances of this Covid-friendly production of Liaisons than perhaps I might have expected to but mainly because I was enjoying it so much!  What I liked about this cut-down version was that it distilled the essence of the story to the bare essentials.  The remarkable Javier Torres gave a number of outstanding performances as Valmont with various partners.  He really has been the most wonderful of dance actors during his time with Northern Ballet and it is hard to believe he has now retired from the stage.

 

Merlin, choreographed by Drew McOnie was more like a musical without singing than a ballet but it was light and bright and just what we needed at the time.  Needless to say the magnificent Kevin Poeung was fabulous in the title role.

 

2022 started on a high for me as I finally got to see De Nada Dance Theatre’s Mariposa (a transgender and updated retelling of Madame Butterfly.  I found it intensely moving.  Harry Alexander was outstanding in the eponymous role.

 

Phoenix Dance Theatre celebrated (slightly delayed because of the pesky pandemic) 40 years and the celebration programme was excellent.  The celebratory gala I saw the following evening was excellent.

 

Onwards to the meat of my ballet-watching season.  I loved Carlos Acosta’s production of Don Quixote for BRB and was able to catch 9 performances.  My favourite partnership over those performances was Beatrice Parma and Tzu Chao Chou who brought Kitri and Basilio so vividly to to life with enormous warmth and panache.

 

Northern Ballet gave me so much joy in 2022 with the spring tour consisting of 2 recent favourites - Casanova and The Great Gatsby.  One of the pleasures of this season has been the continued upward trajectory of both Abigail Prudames and Joseph Taylor and I saw them give some truly glorious performances both together and with other company members.

 

I thought every single one of the performances was top notch and there were a few that I will remember for many years to come.

 

The Great Gatsby opened in Edinburgh and there were 2 very poignant performances.  The performance on the Thursday evening was just breath taking and made extra special by the dancers doing a moving tribute to departing director David Nixon CBE.

 

On the Saturday evening, Ashley Dixon gave a valedictory performance as Gatsby with the luminous Antoinette Brooks Daw coming out of retirement to be his Daisy.  It really was a heartfelt performance by the whole company and David Nixon’s final speech as director was a beautiful, emotional speech about Ashley’s career.  The good news is that Ashley is staying with the company as a principal character artist and assistant ballet master.

 

The final performances of Gatsby that I saw were at Milton Keynes on the Saturday and I must mention the performances of the always wonderful Rachael Gillespie as Myrtle and Gavin McCaig as Tom.  They were both utterly in fabulous and I would love to see both of them in more meaty roles.

 

The Saturday evening performance of Casanova at Sadler’s Wells was also both memorable and poignant as it marked the retirement of Javier Torres.  He gave absolutely everything to the performance and so did the rest of the company.  Federico Bonelli continued the long standing NB tradition by starting the valedictory speech for Javier and he then handed over the reigns to Ashley who has worked alongside Javier for the entirety of Javier’s career with the company.  It was a glorious evening.

 

Other non-performance highlights were seeing Federico taking the reins of the company with enthusiasm - he was very visible on tour and I hope that he continues with the grace he started with and, of course, the awarding of the CBE to David Nixon.

 

There is much to look forward to going forward with Northern Ballet under Federico’s direction.

 

I also saw and very much enjoyed BalletBoyz’ Deluxe and Alexander Whitley’s Overflow.

In seasons prior to Covid I have managed to travel to Birmingham, Southampton or Edinburgh (and very rarely, abroad) to watch dance. Nothing as impressive as Janet’s extensive travel itinerary though!

 

Unfortunately this season wasn’t to be one of those city-hopping ones. I was also unable to fit in Northern Ballet or Scottish Ballet at all in the end, due to unfortunate clashes of scheduling and a few other factors. However, very thrilled to have caught BRB’s Don Q twice and - despite some challenges and setbacks, ENB’s almost-got-completely-Covid-cancelled Raymonda, mini Forsyth’s double bill and Nutcracker. 

 

I was sad not to be able to get to Javier Torre’s last performance in Casanova as it sounded like it would be (and was) a marvellous show (Federico Bonelli gives wonderful speeches too) but I was delighted to have seen Javier Torres at London Coliseum in March for the Dance for Ukraine Gala. Aside from being impressed that he, Mathieu Ganio, Miki Mizutani and Mathias Dingman all travelled long distances and waived their fees to perform for a good cause, I was really impressed by Torres’s performance of a different interpretation of the Dying Swan solo first made by Fokine. I must admit I don’t normally like the other non-Fokine (or non “after Fokine”) versions of Dying Swan but Torres’s artistry, virtuosity and subtlety won me over and I enjoyed it immensely.  What an incredible artist he is. 

 

English National Ballet seems to have had a season that was hard hit by Covid, with Raymonda having to be postponed a second time after its aborted 2020 premiere. We had half our winter bookings Covid cancelled but what was left of them- a Nutcracker led by Maria Kochetkova and Jeffrey Cirio, and a Raymonda led by Erina Takahashi, Joseph Caley and Fernando Carratala Coloma - was outstanding. The Forsythe double bill that was originally meant to be a triple bill was extremely brief but what was performed was excellent, and we were pleased to have been able to catch two excellent casts who brought different interpretations but great artistry and virtuosity to what they danced.

 

Compared to (way back) when the company first changed its name from London Festival Ballet to English National Ballet and the ENO management at the time said sniffily “they’re nothing to do with us despite the similarity in names now”, I have noticed a gradual change in the relationship between the two companies now (both after numerous changes in directors and staff, and both now led by women!) It was particularly lovely to see ENO and their orchestra supporting ENB dancers at the Dance for Ukraine gala, and the Coliseum front of house and box office staff speak of ENB’s dancers and seasons at the Coliseum with great warmth and admiration and are so welcoming to their audiences (unfortunately, the opposite is the case at Sadler’s Wells).

 

The highlights of the ENB short season for me were: 

a) seeing Raymonda being brought back to life as a living, dynamic ballet by ENB rather than as a museum piece. Just like recent successful cinema versions of Batman and Spider-Man have undergone reboots and updates rather than sticking to a 1950s vision of their superheroes, there is a place for ballets and ballet scores to do the same if done well. I don’t think one can say which is better- it would be like trying to compare Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet with Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. As long as it’s done well, there’s a place for both. 

 

I think Tamara Rojo’s version of Raymonda fits the bill well. What was particularly good was the new choreography for Abdur, the Abderakhman who is no longer the villain (who always looked as though he had to dance in pyjamas, cloak and boots!) but another man who is also a hero. The new choreography is creative, musical and technically impressive without being tricks for their own sake. The sparkling Petipa solos for the ballerina and soloists are still there and beautifully danced, even if they’re costumed differently. 

 

b) watching the astonishing progress and immense talent of young dancers in the company such as Emily Suzuki, Fernando Carratala Coloma, Daniel McCormick, Ivana Bueno, Victor Prigent, Erik Woolhouse, Julia Conway, Noam Durand, Matthew Astley, etc. Among their more experienced dancers, Emma Hawes, Katja Khaniukova, Aitor Arrieta, Alison McWhinney and Junor Souza have blossomed into compelling and assured stars in their own right who now give powerful performances of everything they dance. A particular pleasure was also seeing corps stalwart Angela Wood being cast in a principal pas de deux in the Forsythe double bill and performing it like a seasoned principal ballerina! I hope we will see her in more solo roles next season. There is so much talent among their ranks now.

 

That phrase “so much talent among their ranks” equally applies so well to BRB. I only got to see their Don Quixote this season but what a huge treat that was. I was particularly impressed by how confidently BRB now tackles technically demanding classical choreography and can more than hold their own against big companies from London, Manhattan, San Francisco, Melbourne, Paris, Copenhagen, St Petersburg, Moscow, Milan, Stuttgart and Berlin. Carlos Acosta hasn’t watered down any of the choreography to make life easier for them, and it was impressive to see the difficult Queen of the Dryads choreography performed by corps de ballet artists like Lucy Waine to new principals like Yaoqian Shang with fearlessness, musicality and technical ease. Both the men and women are equally impressive technically, and it’s not often that companies can field Basilios and Espadas from their artist rank (eg Alexander Yap) to principal rank who are all outstanding. Looking forward to their autumn triple bill! 

 

With the challenges of Covid Omicron variants, it’s been a bit of a Forrest Gump (“you never know what you’re going to get”) scenario for all companies as they’ve had to field casts that could change on a daily basis during various parts of the season, but despite that, the 2021-2022 season has still been an impressive one for the companies I saw. Roll on 2022-2023! 😊

 

 

[Sim]

Sadly I wasn't able to see anything outside of London this past season, but from the non-RB companies that I did see, ENB's new Raymonda was so much fun and so well danced, and BRB's DonQ was just a sunny and fabulous way for me to end my ballet-going of the 21/22 season on a joyful high.  I am hoping that with the money I will be saving by not getting so many RB tickets next season that I can move around a bit more.

[MaddieRose]

I saw my first live ballet with BRB's Romeo and Juliet last October, César Morales and Momoko Hirata (Romeo and Juliet) and Tzu Chao-Chou (Mercutio) led an absolutely amazing cast, all of whom looked just as happy to be on the stage again as we did watching them. The lady next to me pointed out Miki Mizutani (as one of Juliet's friends) as most likely to be a future Principal, and that lady was indeed correct. 
 

Northern Ballet's Casanova had another excellent cast headed by Lorenzo Trossello (who I hope to see at ENB in the future) as Casanova, that showed off the versatility of their dancers and the range of performances they can bring to such a vary of different roles. The ending scene with the pages falling and Casanova standing on the table is one that will stick with me for a long time. 
 

Then it was back to BRB in Nottingham in May, and it was nice to see some of the same dancers as in Romeo and Juliet. Mizutani once again shined opposite Max Maslen in the Bluebird Pas de deux. But my ultimate non-Royal Ballet highlight of the year has to be Brandon Lawrence and Yijing Zhang in Ben Stevenson's End of Time Pas de deux. I was lucky enough to be sitting front row, but I imagine even if you were further back you'd be just as spellbound. The pair were absolutely incredible, and it's another that will stick in my memories. 
 

I'm excited to see the companies again next season (my lineup so far includes BRB's Coppelia then the RB's Mayerling, which is about as opposite as you can probably get), and hope to catch up with ENB and see that company for the first time. 

[Emeralds]

12 hours ago, MaddieRose said:

I saw my first live ballet with BRB's Romeo and Juliet last October, César Morales and Momoko Hirata (Romeo and Juliet) and Tzu Chao-Chou (Mercutio) led an absolutely amazing cast, all of whom looked just as happy to be on the stage again as we did watching them. The lady next to me pointed out Miki Mizutani (as one of Juliet's friends) as most likely to be a future Principal, and that lady was indeed correct. 
 

Northern Ballet's Casanova had another excellent cast headed by Lorenzo Trossello (who I hope to see at ENB in the future) as Casanova, that showed off the versatility of their dancers and the range of performances they can bring to such a vary of different roles. The ending scene with the pages falling and Casanova standing on the table is one that will stick with me for a long time. 
 

Then it was back to BRB in Nottingham in May, and it was nice to see some of the same dancers as in Romeo and Juliet. Mizutani once again shined opposite Max Maslen in the Bluebird Pas de deux. But my ultimate non-Royal Ballet highlight of the year has to be Brandon Lawrence and Yijing Zhang in Ben Stevenson's End of Time Pas de deux. I was lucky enough to be sitting front row, but I imagine even if you were further back you'd be just as spellbound. The pair were absolutely incredible, and it's another that will stick in my memories. 
 

I'm excited to see the companies again next season (my lineup so far includes BRB's Coppelia then the RB's Mayerling, which is about as opposite as you can probably get), and hope to catch up with ENB and see that company for the first time. 

I’d love to have seen that superb October cast of Romeo and Juliet, and how wonderful that they were dancing at your first live ballet, MaddieRose !  Simply perfect. 😊

 

I’d love to have seen Ben Stevenson’s End of Time too- sounds brilliant. 

Edited July 26, 2022 by Emeralds

[ChrisG]

I've listed my favourite Royal Ballet performances of 2021/22 on another thread, but of the other stuff I saw during the season here are the ones I liked the most:

 

Carmen - Jose Agudo Dance Company at Storyhouse Chester

Don Quixote - Birmingham Royal Ballet at Birmingham Hippodrome and Salford Lowry (both with Momoko Hirata and Mathias Dingman in the lead roles)

Paysage, Soudain, la nuit - part of Acosta Danza programme at the Lowry

Bradley 4:18 - part of Balletboyz programme at Storyhouse Chester

Forsythe Evening - English National Ballet at Sadler's Wells

The Scandal at Mayerling - Scottish Ballet at Festival Theatre Edinburgh

Bonded - Alleyne Dance at Victoria Square Birmingham (an unexpected outdoor treat on my way to the BRB mixed bill at the Birmingham Hippodrome in June)

[Jeannette]

It’s the end of August = end of summer = end of the ballet season in the northern hemisphere! Time for the list of Best/Worst:

 

My favorite new works (or revivals) of 2022/23, seen either live or digitally:

 

New works -

 

DANTE PROJECT (Mcgregor/Ades) for RB;

 

BEETHOVEN SERENADE (Lang) for Washington B;

 

SHADES OF SPRING (Lang/Haydn) for Sarasota B);

 

ARCHITECTS OF TIME (Farley/Israel after Stravinsky) for NYCB…even though a bit cluttered in the corps groupings;

 

SNOW WHITE (Raffael/Eshima) for Carolina B; and

 

FOUR SEASONS for B Arkansas (4 choreographers to Vivaldi).

 

Revivals -

 

PETAL by Pickett, seen in both Pittsburgh & Cincinnati;

 

BIRTHDAY VARIATIONS by Arpino for Joffrey;

 

VARII CAPRICCI (Ashton/Walton) in Sarasota; and 

 

SONG OF THE CRANES by Ufa Ballet (absolute rare gem, streamed April 2022).

 

 

Least Favorite new work seen live…just one, thank goodness…but no question -

 

EMANON - IN TWO MOVEMENTS (Jamar Roberts) for NYCB, due to cacophony of club-jazz music by Wayne Shorter as ballerinas in lilac chiffon dresses try to   play it straight, but look like contestants in a Miss America talent segment. The only thing missing were taps on the pointes.

 

On the bright side: EMANON didn’t go beyond TWO movements. It could’ve been THREE! 🤣 

 I’ve embraced my inner Clement Crisp!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by Jeannette