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Birmingham Royal Ballet - Into the Music - Autumn 2022

Jan McNulty
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Jan McNulty

Jan McNulty

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I was very lucky to attend the first 2 performances of this programme.

 

The performance opens with Jiri Kylian's masterpiece Forgotten Land for six couples.  For me, the piece has a solemnity about it.  According to the programme most of Kylian's works are about love and death and perhaps you can imagine a story from each of the duets.  There is some gorgeous choreography for each couple, very sinuous and flowing and the whole piece flows beautifully.  The company rose magnificently to the challenges of the work and both casts I saw worked equally well.  It would be wrong of me to single any dancer out for praise because they were all magnificent.  I was bowled over.

 

After the interval we saw Morgan Runacre-Temple's Hotel, a commission for the Dance Now programme initiated by Sir David Bintley.  There was a sort of story running through the piece - it was set in a hotel with a manager & manageress, two couples staying in the hotel, a solo traveller and 3 bell-boys.  Great use was made of projections on screens, some of them perhaps a bit voyeuristic and all indicating the 21st century's all-pervading security cameras.  I gather that some of the projections were pre-filmed and some of them filmed by one of the bell-boys as a cameraman.  When there was any recognisable choreography it was interesting but, for my taste, there was too much emphasis placed on the projections and not on the choreography.

 

And finally ... the company's debut performances of Uwe Scholz' The Seventh Symphony set to Beethoven's 7th Symphony.  It is a monumental work and was completely, utterly and totally fabulous.  The whole company were utterly magnificent!!  

 

That's the good thing about triple bills isn't it - there is nearly always something to like and in the case of this mixed bill 2 of the works are absolute masterpieces. 

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Emeralds

Emeralds

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Great to read Janet’s informative review! Got our tickets early on but we might not be able to go at all.... keeping our fingers crossed 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀regarding the rail negotiations so that we can attend- there are four BRB performances (and the two Northern Ballet performances on Thursday) potentially affected, and together with appointments that I can’t cancel or reschedule,if the strikes don’t get called off, we simply wouldn’t get to see it. ☹️ 

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Peanut68

Peanut68

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Not a direct link but a thought..

does anyone of the more tech savvy Balletcoers keep a spreadsheet or similar of what’s on/where/when…. I find it almost impossible to keep track of things & find I leave it too late to head of things & to try work my life around all the things I’d so dearly like to see….I feel like I need some electronic ballet diary with alerts to when bookings open etc etc!!! Anyone that organised or with ideas to share??? Or anyone who could be my ballet PA/Mum?? 🤣

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Emeralds

Emeralds

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5 hours ago, Peanut68 said:

Not a direct link but a thought..

does anyone of the more tech savvy Balletcoers keep a spreadsheet or similar of what’s on/where/when…. I find it almost impossible to keep track of things & find I leave it too late to head of things & to try work my life around all the things I’d so dearly like to see….I feel like I need some electronic ballet diary with alerts to when bookings open etc etc!!! Anyone that organised or with ideas to share??? Or anyone who could be my ballet PA/Mum?? 🤣

A lazy/disorganised method I have is to follow ROH, Sadler’s Wells, Royal Albert Hall, ENB, BRB, on social media and usually they end up letting me know. London Coliseum is difficult as they aren’t on social media but I’m on their email list. I must say balletcoforum’s dance info page is best for alerting you to choice seats and booking period openings for the best events. 👍

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serenade

serenade

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8 hours ago, Peanut68 said:

Not a direct link but a thought..

does anyone of the more tech savvy Balletcoers keep a spreadsheet or similar of what’s on/where/when…. I find it almost impossible to keep track of things & find I leave it too late to head of things & to try work my life around all the things I’d so dearly like to see….I feel like I need some electronic ballet diary with alerts to when bookings open etc etc!!! Anyone that organised or with ideas to share??? Or anyone who could be my ballet PA/Mum?? 🤣

I just write in a notebook 5 sections, Royal Ballet, BRB, ENB, northern ballet and Scottish ballet. I go on each companies website and then write down what they are bringing to London (as that’s where I live) and when. Then I go on the Coliseum, Sadlers wells and Barbican website in case I’ve missed any smaller companies or galas. Technical I know 😂 but you could do it in Excel or just a regular document. The only company I’m completely organised for is the Royal ballet as they are the only ones who announce their casting (far) in advance and I struggle with sight lines at ROH so I’m ready on booking day them. Then this forum is the other best way of not missing anything 😂

 

but anyway, I’m so looking forward to this triple bill! 

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serenade

serenade

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1 hour ago, Peanut68 said:

Serenade - I’m liking your notebook idea! Never thought to actually put effort in - ha ha!I’ve often written things in my diary…. But then see it a couple of days before too late for tickets or travel plans 🙄

Gonna get with it for ‘23!

Haha I don’t think you can beat the trusty notebook. I’m on excel all day at work so I really couldn’t be bothered with looking at another spreadsheet 😂

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Emeralds

Emeralds

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I must admit social media can be unreliable as a method of getting information in an organised fashion, (hence I call it my disorganised method-but it does work!) as the dreaded algorithms sometimes decide to hide the ballet company posts even though you’ve clicked to see them first.

 

I think the algorithm decides that once you’ve responded to another thread eg your best friend’s beach holiday photos, that all you’re interested in for the next 2 days are beaches, hotels and airlines, so they hide everything else and swamp you with random posts about holidays, hotels, beaches etc. But I do sometimes find that they alert me to things I hadn’t known or remembered were coming up, eg booking periods opening, the occasional gala, or upcoming tours. Eg BRB & ENB’s appear quite regularly and consistently on my news feed, but the others get hidden a lot. I think for this triple bill I had prompts from this forum, emails from the company, and social media.

 

The slightly more consistent method is to sign up for email updates from each company you’re following, as well as Sadler’s Wells and London Coliseum, who host a lot of visiting companies and a fair number of galas. The company websites have advance info about their tours and booking dates, so I often check out their websites and highlight the date - you can get your computer or smartphone to send you reminders for booking periods and the days of the shows.

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Jan McNulty

Jan McNulty

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28 minutes ago, PeterS said:

Does anyone have a casting link or information for Into the Music at Sadlers Wells which opens tonight? 

 

No casting was given for Birmingham (only the conductor!).  Forgotten Land had 2 casts but the other 2 pieces only had 1.  There were only 4 performances in Birmingham but that may have changed for London of course.

 

Here's my cast sheets from Birmingham:IMG_2443.thumb.jpeg.532634ccad7e46f51d380b5778680842.jpegIMG_2444.thumb.jpeg.a549f7b3022f22cc6f0d740b10f512e0.jpegIMG_2445.thumb.jpeg.c23232e4f7a1cef48edfe5c2307060b0.jpegIMG_2446.thumb.jpeg.4157c1a00ac675e8d5f4f542461f3d85.jpeg

 

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LinMM

LinMM

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Just got in absolutely soaked in the deluge as left theatre but was so uplifted by The Seventh Symphony I didn’t care too much. 
I liked all the pieces but the Seventh is a new little masterpiece for me absolutely brilliantly danced too. 
Just need to get my wet socks off and put the kettle on and hopefully say more tomorrow but at least the programme looked highly useful with info about the ballets just need to have a read now but a lovely evening and lots of well known ballet personnel in audience! Great end to World Ballet Day!! 

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serenade

serenade

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I saw it last night also and loved 2 out of the 3 ballets so about typical for me and triple bills!  It was so nice to see BRB again, I haven't actually seen them since pre pandemic as couldn't face Curated by Carlos, couldn't make it to Don Q and haven't been able to travel to see them outside London so was excited for this evening.

 

I thought Forgotten Land was great, very unusual and atmospheric.  I think the Red Couple section choreography was my favourite danced by Miki Mizutani and Mathias Dingman but I enjoyed it all and also loved the music.

 

Unfortunately I didn't like Hotel at all, I don't really have anything positive to say about it except of course the dancers were great.  I felt really claustrophobic watching it, I really hate secret filming and that kind of thing so the concept just made me uncomfortable which maybe was the point?  Really not sure!  I didn't buy the programme so maybe there would have been more details in there as to why the film projections were there as some of it I got the point of but I didn't understand why everything happening on the stage was simply being projected.  I read about it online but it didn't really help (me).  There was a lot of laughter at the more surreal elements and it got the biggest cheer of the night, people seemed to love it but it was spectacularly not for me😅, but looking forward to hearing others thoughts on it.

 

The Seventh Symphony was just amazing- I am so happy to have seen this piece!  It was like a breath of fresh air, it evoked a bit of Symphony in C type feelings for me!  I loved all the movements but probably the Second was my favourite, Yaoqian Shang and Mathias Dingman were the leads in it, they were great.  Also I thought Celine Gittens was just amazing throughout though of course everyone was but she really stood out to me.  Also, the lighting was amazing, so well lit, and costumes were fun.  Music of course was of course out of this world.

 

So pleased I was able to attend :) 

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LinMM

LinMM

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Apparently it is available on the Sadlers Wells website. I decided not to take my phone with me to the theatre yesterday evening to travel as light as possible ( after carrying heavy bag around most of the day) ….saw the cast list posted downstairs and thought great I will take a piccie of it….only to remember phone not with me 🙄

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San Perregrino

San Perregrino

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18 minutes ago, Robin Smith said:

A review. Don't attack me!

 

Alastair Macaulay: Carlos Acosta cannot get into the music - SlippediscSlippedisc | The inside track on classical music and related cultures, by Norman Lebrecht


to correct/clarify a point, Thomas Jung conducted all three pieces in Birmingham. Last night Jung conducted both Forgotten Land & Seventh Symphony, Kessels only conducted Hotel. 

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Sim

Sim

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Into The Music

Birmingham Royal Ballet

Sadler’s Wells Theatre, 2 November 2022

****

 

On World Ballet Day 2022, Birmingham Royal Ballet introduced their new mixed bill to London; a mixed bill that provided a mixed bag. 

 

Forgotten Land – Jiri Kylian, Choreographer

 

The evening opened with this wistful piece, that reminded me somewhat of MacMillan’s Song of the Earth.  Couples approached a stormy sea (lovely backdrop by John MacFarlane), then recoiled or retreated, seeking comfort in each other.  A metaphor for life, death and love, themes which informed most of Kylian’s works.  The calibre of dancing was excellent; not only technically but everybody on that stage was feeling the music (Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem Op. 20) and interpreting it with their bodies and their souls.  It seems almost churlish to single anyone out, but Céline Gittens/Tyrone Singleton, Yaoqian Shang,/Lachlan Monaghan, Miki Mizutani/Mathias Dingman and Yijing Zhang/Brandon Lawrence were noble and gorgeous in their grace. 

 

Hotel – Morgan Runacre-Temple, Choreographer

 

A lot has been written about the originality of this piece, and I will give it that:  the concept, using a mix of pre-recorded and live-recording video projections, is an interesting one.  Does it work?  To a degree.  I am not sure what this piece wants to be.  Is it a ballet?  Is it an immersive experience?  Is it a skit with movement and music?  Dadaesque performance art?  All of the above?  Yes, the use of technology was clever, and worked well with the dancers responding to what was on screen and being able to emerge from their film and onto the stage to continue what was being projected.  The live filming was at times amusing, at times invasive (perhaps that was the point).  The downside to all of this cleverness is that I spent so much time looking at the projections that I missed what little dancing was happening on the stage.  There wasn’t a narrative as such; it seemed that ‘behind the scenes at the hotel’ is the premise.  However, nothing seems to happen.  We see people lying on a bed, or on the phone, or eating dinner, but there is no cohesion to all the vignettes, no exploration of the relationships.  I found my mind starting to wander, and wished I were watching Neil Simon’s play/film Plaza Suite, the same premise but amusing, sad and clever at the same time. Things picked up when the ‘Arm Head’ character is introduced.  Is it a bird? Is it an all-seeing periscope?  Is it keeping an eye on the goings-on and judging them with us?  All of the above?  I don’t know, but the choreography for this character was amusing and got the audience going.  By the end of the piece, everyone had become an ‘Arm Head’.  Ultimately then, are we all the same?  Do we start out as individuals but end up following the leader?  Was this nothing so deep, but just a way to end the piece?  All of the above?  Whilst I am always happy for companies to try out new things to keep the dancers and the audiences interested and fresh, I am even happier when they work.  For me, this didn’t, but for the audience (largely made up of young people and dance students who clearly enjoyed this) it did, and that is what matters.

 

The Seventh Symphony – Uwe Scholz, Choreographer

 

Let there be light!  I have grown so used to seeing first-time pieces shrouded in gloom and darkness that I literally jumped with surprise when the lights came on for this final piece.  Although Symphony was made in 1991, it is the first time I have seen it, and I certainly hope it won’t be the last.  Set to Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony (played beautifully by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia under the baton of Thomas Jung), it was a treat from start to finish.  Dancers flooded the stage with their bodies and with joy, and light also flooded the stage so that the audience could see every detail and every dancer.  When the mood was muted with the music, it was done in such a way that we could still see and appreciate everything that was going on, an all-too-rare occurrence with new pieces these days.  The choreography is alternately frenetic and majestic, and has a mish-mash of influences:  traces of Balanchine and Cranko, Bolshoi-style lifts, neo-classicism from those who had gone before.  But the choreographer’s own voice is the driving force and very much in evidence.  Despite the sadness of much of his life and his early death at age 45, a more uplifting piece you cannot imagine.  The pas de deux were beautiful and oh-so-moving, especially when executed by Celine Gittens/Brandon Lawrence, Momoko Hirata/Tzu-Chao Chou (who exudes happiness in everything he does), Miki Mizutani/Tyrone Singleton and Yaoqian Shang/Mathias Dingman.  Aside from the lead couples, the rest of the cast performed at a cracking pace that at times took my breath away.  Waves of bodies coming and going, the ladies being pulled onto the stage from the wings whilst in splits on the floor, perfectly timed fouettes…there was so much to admire and love here that this piece merits multiple viewings.  It ensured that, despite the downpour outside the theatre as the audience left, the sun was still shining. 

 

To conclude, a highly enjoyable mixed bill, with two established pieces by masters sandwiching one that is trying to find its identity but will have a fun journey doing so. I just don't think I'll be going along. 

 

Into The Music runs until 5th November at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London

 

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