Australian Ballet - Royal Opera House, 2-6 August 2023

[bridiem]

I agree with almost all the comments above. I really enjoyed the gala, though I really didn't enjoy the Tanowitz piece or Little Atlas (Topp). The standard of classical dancing was excellent, and the dancers are very versatile because they were also brilliant in the modern works (whether or not the works deserved their brilliance). I'd love to see the full Harlequinade, judging by this excerpt, and Marcus Morelli was a terrific Harlequin with Sharni Spencer a stylish Columbine. The Concerto pas de deux was a lovely reminder of a beautiful work that I'd love to see again soon in its entirety. I New Then was quirky and attractive; I'm not an aficionado of Van Morrison's music and I couldn't catch all the words, but it was very well done. The Tchaikovsky pdd was wonderfully danced by Ako Kondo and Chengwu Guo; they really threw themselves into it, and the first fish dive was so thrilling that it really didn't matter that the second one didn't quite work. I also loved the Justin Peck (Everywhere We Go) - it was so fun, full of energy, musical, and lovely to look at. So refreshing. And the Anna Karenina pas de deux worked very well considering it was taken out of context and was beautifully danced by Amy Harris and Nathan Brook.

 

As soon as the Pam Tanowitz piece started, I knew what we were in for, and that's exactly what we got... tedious in the extreme. Meaningless movements on the stage bearing no apparent relation to the meaningless sounds coming out of the orchestra pit. Honestly, it must be such hard work creating this sort of thing and I just don't know why people bother. I also greatly disliked the Topp work; crude design, music and choreography with lots of the woman being manipulated by one or both of the men and lifted overhead, legs splayed etc. Reminded me of Cathy Marston (of whom I am not a fan), or Wheeldon on a bad day. But, as I've said - beautifully danced.

 

And ending with style with a wonderful Don Q excerpt. Joe Caley was sensational (I feared for his safety several times), and although Benedicte Bemet came off pointe briefly in the fouettés, she got straight back up and whirled her way through to the end with great aplomb and great audience support. Again, much better to do that than to play safe. A thrilling end to a largely excellent gala. What wonderful dancers these are! And a great programme, apart from the two mis-steps (to use an ROH word...). So many thanks to the dancers, David Hallberg, Jonathan Lo and all who have made this visit so memorable. And congratulations to TAB on their 60th anniversary!

[Sophoife]

1 hour ago, zxDaveM said:

what the bloomin' 'eck were the women in the first section wearing? Ghastly shaped and coloured (multi) 'dresses' - mind you, the toreadors weren't much better kitted out

 

Oh, but those fandango costumes are Historic! They were designed for the 1970 Nureyev production, used in the 1972 film, and Never Shall Be Changed. They are absolutely hideous. As are the wigs.

 

The Alice Topp was an extract only, as was the Tanowitz. I often think more contemporary pieces suffer in the extraction.

 

As a celebration of 60 years, it's absolutely remarkable that not one second of Graeme Murphy's many, many pieces for the company was deemed worthy of being included. Nor was anything by previous Resident Choreographers such as Stanton Welch, Stephen Baynes, or Natalie Weir.

 

In fact as a representation of the company over 60 years, it was really rather unrepresentative.

 

The Ratmansky/Petipa, Peck, Possokhov, Inger, and Tanowitz pieces only entered the company repertoire inside the last three years.

 

Alice Topp's piece is from 2017.

 

The Balanchine pdd was first performed by the company in 1995.

 

The MacMillan's company première was in 1973, last seen in full in 2011. The Nureyev is from 1970.

 

So nothing created for the company between 1970 and 2017, and no new-to-us work between 1973 and 1995. Some rather large gaps.

 

 

Edited August 6, 2023 by Sophoife
Added info re fandango costumes

[Sim]

Yes I must say I was surprised by the lack of anything at all by Graeme Murphy.  Although I was under the impression from David Hallberg's speech at the beginning and his piece in the programme that today was more about looking ahead than looking back.

[Sophoife]

I understand Mr Murphy is not exactly Mr Hallberg's favourite choreographer @Sim 🤣

 

But seriously, it looks more like, DH's fave bits, plus a sop to the ROH (the MacMillan), absolutely incontrovertible company history (Nureyev), and something a married couple can work on in their own time (Tschai Pas).

[annamk]

3 minutes ago, Sophoife said:

 

Oh, but those fandango costumes are Historic! They were designed for the 1970 Nureyev production, used in the 1972 film, and Never Shall Be Changed. They are absolutely hideous. As are the wigs.

 

The Alice Topp was an extract only, as was the Tanowitz. I often think more contemporary pieces suffer in the extraction.

 

As a celebration of 60 years, it's absolutely remarkable that not one second of Graeme Murphy's many, many pieces for the company was deemed worthy of being included. Nor was anything by previous Resident Choreographers such as Stanton Welch, Stephen Baynes, or Natalie Weir.

 

In fact as a representation of the company over 60 years, it was really rather unrepresentative.

 

The Ratmansky/Petipa, Peck, Possokhov, Inger, and Tanowitz pieces only entered the company repertoire inside the last three years.

 

Alice Topp's piece is from 2017.

 

The Balanchine pdd was first performed by the company in 1995.

 

The MacMillan's company première was in 1973, last seen in full in 2011. The Nureyev is from 1970.

 

So nothing created for the company between 1970 and 2017, and no new-to-us work between 1973 and 1995. Some rather large gaps.

 

 

 

David Hallberg appeared before the performance started for a brief "thank you for the welcome etc" speech; one thing he said was - and I'm paraphrasing here - that the pieces selected for the gala represented Australian ballet now not what it was. 

 

[Sophoife]

5 minutes ago, Sim said:

Although I was under the impression from David Hallberg's speech at the beginning and his piece in the programme that today was more about looking ahead than looking back.

 

...but it was billed as a celebration of 60 years!

[Bluebird]

9 minutes ago, Sophoife said:

In fact as a representation of the company over 60 years, it was really rather unrepresentative.

 

In his pre-performance speech, David Hallberg mentioned that the contents of the Gala wouldn't be representing the works done by the Company over the previous 60 years.  If I remember correctly (I'm happy if to be corrected if anyone remembers differently), he said that the Gala would, instead, be showing the work of important contemporary choreographers and named the ones whose work would be shown.

 

Edited to add that Annamk and I must have been posting at the same time!

Edited August 6, 2023 by Bluebird

[Silke H]

full pics offering here in the links

 

Facebook album

 

Instagram post

 

 

Edited August 6, 2023 by Silke H

[Silke H]

Edited August 6, 2023 by Silke H

[Sophoife]

Thanks @Sim, @annamk and @Bluebird for explaining that DH said it was (paraphrasing) about looking forward.

 

I stand by my astonishment that in a "60th anniversary celebration" that should be stated as the case.

 

Imagine Kevin O'Hare out front at the Royal Ballet's 100th birthday gala, explaining why no Ashton, MacMillan, de Valois, Wheeldon or Wright is on the programme.

 

Queensland Ballet's 60th anniversary gala showcased works created or commissioned by each of the company's five artistic directors, including one original 1960 piece.

 

 

Edited August 6, 2023 by Sophoife
Removed a stray "that" and added final paragraph

[Bluebird]

12 minutes ago, Sophoife said:

Thanks @Sim, @annamk and @Bluebird for explaining that DH said it was (paraphrasing) about looking forward.

 

I stand by my astonishment that in a "60th anniversary celebration" that that should be stated as the case.

 

But, on the other hand, by putting the pieces which require exemplary classical technique alongside the contemporary pieces, he was illustrating the range and versatility of the current Company.  OK, he was ignoring much of the rep of the last 60 years but since he was focusing on the potential of his talented dancers,  I think it makes sense that he was looking forward rather than  looking back.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Bluebird

[capybara]

Did anyone else encounter the 'alternative show' which was going on around Nikolai Tsiskaridze this afternoon?

It doesn't seem 30 years since he blew away the audience at the Royal Albert Hall when the Bolshoi performed 3 acts, each from a different ballet.

[alison]

2 hours ago, Blossom said:

As a final aside from my performance notes, I sat in the central block of the stalls circle today after a few dates of SCS. Unfortunately Row C is  not the row to sit in as it's not really raised vs the row infront 

 

There's another bit of row c, sides, which is bad, as I discovered when I grabbed it some time ago after its occupants left after act ii of something. I think it may be the wheelchair area, but it is about four inches lower than the rest of the row, with a corresponding loss of view over the heads of the people in front.

[Dawnstar]

1 hour ago, Sophoife said:

The Alice Topp was an extract only, as was the Tanowitz. I often think more contemporary pieces suffer in the extraction.

 

There's more of the Tanowitz? Help! I was bored rigid within a couple of minutes & spent the rest of the time with one eye on the stage & the other eye admiring the ROH's auditorium.

[Sophoife]

 

9 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

There's more of the Tanowitz? Help! I was bored rigid within a couple of minutes & spent the rest of the time with one eye on the stage & the other eye admiring the ROH's auditorium.

 

I've sat through it twice. Once because it was sandwiched between Serenade and The Four Temperaments, with both of which it suffered in comparison, and once because it was part of the company's first Melbourne performance in 21 months. A gala closing, in December, with the pine forest and snow scene from Peter Wright's BRB Nutcracker 😍 

[BeauxArts]

1 hour ago, capybara said:

Did anyone else encounter the 'alternative show' which was going on around Nikolai Tsiskaridze this afternoon?

It doesn't seem 30 years since he blew away the audience at the Royal Albert Hall when the Bolshoi performed 3 acts, each from a different ballet.

Yes - very surprised to see him at the ROH given his proximity to the Putin  regime. I am wondering who invited him… 

 

 

Edited August 6, 2023 by BeauxArts
Missed a word

[capybara]

15 minutes ago, BeauxArts said:

Yes - very surprised to see him at the ROH given his proximity to the Putin  regime. I am wondering who invited him… 

 

 

I think he danced alongside David Hallberg in Kings of the Dance many years ago now, also at The Bolshoi. So maybe he was invited to watch the Company in London - a short hop from St Petersburg compared with flying to Australia.

 

[Missfrankiecat]

I think I must be a bit cranky today as, while I greatly enjoyed the gala, I was less enamoured with some of the classical dancing in the programme than the vast majority seemed to be.  In particular, I felt, long before they fluffed the final lift that Ako Kondo's timing was off in Concerto and the stumble was an accident waiting to happen.  Don Q is always a huge crowd pleaser but I was baffled by the cheers for those barrel turns when Basilio's upper body positioning was so forward.  I also thought there was a distinct lack of chemistry between Caley and Bernet in the wedding pdd.  She was a very pert Kitri but the vivacity was projected away from her groom and he was amazingly solemn and made no eye contact at all.  I couldn't but think of Nunez and Muntagirov's contentedly complicit facial exchanges when they performed this in Covid times in comparison.  Which is probably very unfair given the relative experience.

More positively, I enjoyed more of the modern offerings than expected - especially I Knew Then, which I would happily have watched through again and I thought was danced excellently.  I also loved Jewels on Friday night - a first time viewing of the whole work for me.  Typically controversial, I enjoyed Emerald a lot more than Rubies (those ugly Balanchine hands!) and found the languid and mysterious story telling intriguing.  Diamond glittered.  Kudos to the company for a very spirited and interesting programme, a very informative actual (as in paper) programme to buy and digest - there was a lot of interesting information and some great photos (including of people not actually there!) and really great to see a company with diverse heights and healthy body types.

Thanks to those on the forum who have posted such informative pieces and reviews and lovely photos.

 

[Dawnstar]

1 hour ago, Sophoife said:

I've sat through it twice.

 

Rather you than me!

 

1 minute ago, Missfrankiecat said:

Kudos to the company for a very spirited and interesting programme, a very informative actual (as in paper) programme to buy and digest

 

I held off buying a programme for Jewels because I thought I would find it more helpful to get one for the gala, with there being so many pieces I didn't know. Unfortunately as far as I could see there were no proper programmes for the gala, only the two-page one being distrubuted for free. While it was nice to get it free, I would have found it very helpful to have had a full programme explaining what on earth was supposed to be going on in some of the pieces.

[Missfrankiecat]

12 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Rather you than me!

 

 

I held off buying a programme for Jewels because I thought I would find it more helpful to get one for the gala, with there being so many pieces I didn't know. Unfortunately as far as I could see there were no proper programmes for the gala, only the two-page one being distrubuted for free. While it was nice to get it free, I would have found it very helpful to have had a full programme explaining what on earth was supposed to be going on in some of the pieces.

 

Yes, you're right - the programme was mainly geared to Jewels.  I suspect they were re-cycling some of the articles and the gala programme probably came together later.  I didn't know much about Jewels so was happy for what was on offer.

[FionaM]

@BalletcoForum Moderators can we move the Tsiskaridze comments to its own thread called “Tsiskaridze and other Russians guesting outside Russia” (or similar) .  

There are a number of examples now of companies inviting Russia based dancers to perform and I don’t wish to divert this thread any further.  
 

Thank you 

[li tai po]

Dawnstar, I completely agree with your comments about the lack of an informative programme. 

 

The Australian Ballet administration appears to be exhibiting considerable disdain for their dancers and audience.  I understand that it is Australian Ballet policy to promote the company, rather than individual dancers, but that is not the ethos of the London ballet audience.

 

For the first night they failed to name the pas de trois in Emeralds in the cast sheet and it was only after a spate of direct complaints and a negative set of comments here that the company relented and named the Emeralds pas de trois and the four demi soloist couples in Diamonds.  Fortunately Sophoife came to the rescue and named some of the anonymous dancers above in this thread, before the company provided additional information.

 

Today, the high quality programming and performances were slightly marred by the lack of information about the repertoire.  I wanted to know about the full-length Harlequinade, how Ratmansky's version differs from Petipa, how the Australian Ballet acquired it.  I wanted to know about the Inger and Peck ballets, both of which listed a series of dancers with individual character names.  Once again Sophoife came to rescue with some information above about how these works entered the Australian Ballet repertoire.

 

The Jewels programme devotes three pages to the Australian Ballet company and directors, with hordes of personnel listed under marketing, audience engagement, data and analytics, digital, recording and broadcast, public relations, custiomer experience and ticketing, external relations.  I don't know what they do all day, but they seem incapable of producing a cast sheet or an informative programme book. 

 

Before the performance, the Australian Ballet stage manager was announcing throughout the front of house that cast sheets are digital and that programmes are on sale throughout the theatre.  How ironic, given that there were no programmes on sale!

 

I hope the Australian Ballet administration will be better prepared, before the company comes back to London.

 

 

[MAB]

Nikolai Tsiskaridze has been a frequent visitor to London and the ROH for many years.  I see nothing odd in his turning up to see  Mr Hallberg, his former Bolshoi colleague.

[LinMM]

Agree if he was here in personal capacity only and not here for any official purposes. 
 

[Dawnstar]

Overall I'd say I enjoyed two thirds of this afternoon's gala as I liked 6 of the pieces & disliked 3 (which is a better average than Carlos At 50, where I only enjoyed about half the rep). I must start by saying that my already restricted view seat was further restricted by some serious leaning going on so evidently I missed some significant moments in some of the pieces; for instance there have been comments about an issue with a fish dive in the Tchaikovsky pdd & I don't recall seeing that.

 

I know curtain call photos have already been posted so I can't post mine properly but I hope it's alright that I've included a couple to illustrate points I have made.

 

The pieces I did not like were:

Watermark - this was my nadir. I didn't like Dispatch Duet last year but I thought this was much worse. Why did some men enter bent over like the first picture of The Ascent Of Man? Why was everyone costumed in white slightly transparent tracksuits? Why was the lead man hopping around the stage in his solo like he was about to launch into hopscotch? I could go on.

 

I New Then - I had no idea what was supposed to be going on and why did one dancer spend much of the piece shuffling down the stage then shuffling back up it?

 

Little Atlas - was this supposed to be a woman leaving one man, having an affair with another, then both of them leaving her? That's my best guess. The actual choreography made me think of McGregor at times, with one or other of the men manipulating the woman or dragging her around. I actually find this sort of choreography more sexist & at times distasteful than 19th century choreography that is sometimes criticised for its gender stereotypes. I was thinking about this during the piece & had a flashback to when I saw Magri & Ball in Sleeping Beauty earlier this season. He partnered her so beautifully & looked so proud of her that it was lovely & moving, nothing like all this man pulling the woman around in so many modern pdds. Sorry, I'm digressing.

 

Right, the pieces I did enjoy:

Everywhere We Go - I was very pleasantly surprised by this. It was ballet rather than the contemporary I was expecting. Nice choreography, nice music and a good overall forward flow of the piece without feeling too relentless.

 

Anna Karenina - as I've never read the book I didn't know the precise moment being portrayed but I gathered there was an unhappy love affair in progress. I thought the choreography started a bit slowly with a bit too much walking around but when it picked up steam I enjoyed it. Some MacMillan/Cranko vibes. I thought Amy Harris looked quite emotional at the curtain call.

 

 

Concerto - Lovely and floating as usual. The music makes me want to drift off in a good way (pity about all the coughers though). However I do wonder why Australian Ballet chose to do it as it's a bit coals to Newcastle. (@Sim You mentioned you've now got a crush on Linnae, I think I'd go for Brook instead!)

 

Tchaikovsky pas de deux - I had to double check in the interval that I had seen this done before as the costumes looked completely different & some of the choreography looked different too. I can only assume the latter either looked different being viewed from a different angle or my memory is terrible! I had a particularly restricted view for this one but I enjoyed what I could see of it & wish I hadn't missed so much.

 

Harlequinade - this made me want to see the complete ballet (I don't know if it's full length or just one act) as I found it delightful. I really liked Marcus Morelli's Harlequin. I found it fascinating when he was pirouetting as his wide hat with the tassels really showed up the spotting that is usually not really apparent. I thought Columbine's tutu, and those of the corps, were absolutely gorgeous. A change from the usual white & such beautiful details when you can see them closer to in photos.

 

 

Don Quixote - I definitely think it was the right decision to end the gala with a big showpiece like this. The Fandago costumes were...er...a choice! I thought Bemet was very good, except for coming off her fouettes but at least she got going again. I like her stage presence/personality. I was impressed by Caley's solo. The only role I saw him do with ENB was Des Grieux so I've not seen him so a big 19th century classic solo before. (Aside: I thought he was fairly tall but he's only just tall enough for Bemet & she doesn't seem particularly tall. I can only think that I thought that because his Manon was Cojocaru, who would make most male dancers look tall by comparison!) He seems to be the leading man for Australian Ballet, with getting to close out both the first night of Jewels and the gala, which I was rather surprised about given he only joined the company last year.

 

I'd better stop now as this is a lot longer than I intended.

[serenade]

I went to see both matinees this weekend- overall I enjoyed both and I was happy to see the Australian ballet here.  It was so many years ago when I last saw them when I was in Sydney and they didn't disappoint.

 

I will just talk about the gala as I think all the nice things I would say about Jewels have already been said  

Firstly it was so nice to see David Hallberg today give his speech before curtain up...I was such a fan of him as a dancer.  

Harlequinade I really liked- I really want to see the full version.  I'm just familiar with the name but nothing else so I didn't know the story or who the characters were at the time but I thought it was great.  Marcus Morelli did such a good job

Concerto I really want to like this PDD but I'm just not a fan, I'm sure one day it will get me though....it has all the right ingredients

I New Then This is a contemporary by Johan Inger, it was my least favourite of the night.  I unfortunately don't have anything positive to say I just hated it, the choreography is not for me.  

Tschaikovsky PDD This is one of my favourite pieces ever but IMO I think it's quite hard to find it danced really well outside NYCB (not from a technical POV just in terms of attack etc, it often gets slowed down).  But I thought this was great, but a real shame about the second fishdive,

Everywhere We Go was the Justin Peck.  I presume it's plotless and it was just nice to see a newer ballet that has a fun feeling to it.  I loved it, ...I wish we saw more Peck over here.  

Anna Karenina excerpt was a PDD with Amy Harris and Nathan Brook.  This was my absolute favourite of the night.  I've never seen anything from Anna Karenina ballet before, and I haven't read the book or watched any TV/film version so I didn't have any context for the scene...but I really loved the performances they really gave it everything, very passionate.  Now I want to see the full ballet 😄

Watermark by Pam Tanowitz....I liked the costumes and the general aesthetic and the music was ok....and when it first started there was some nice spins happening so I was a little hopeful but then it got started properly and it was clearly not for me.  

Little Atlas by Alice Topp...I was hopeful for this as I was a fan of the music pieces used already but I felt like it was just your standard body contortionist contemporary ballet piece where the woman isn't allowed to dance or even put her feet on the floor without being swiftly lifted up again and put in really quite extreme positions.  Again, it wasn't for me...but I also just didn't think it was very good (choreography wise, dancers were great obviously).  Clearly a lot of work has gone into getting the lifts right but all felt a bit pointless.  Maybe an excerpt doesn't quite work for this ballet.

Don Q I did enjoy it....I am a big DQ fan and am really looking forward to seeing the full things soon on the ROH stage.  I thought Benedicte Bemet was a lovely Kitri....shame about the fouettes but she recovered really well.  I agree with @Missfrankiecat re the chemistry...I thought it was just me but they felt a bit of an awkward pair although sometimes I think galas can just be a bit like that.  @Sophoife I thought the fandango constumes were amazing lol...am I the only one??😄

 

[serenade]

4 hours ago, Sophoife said:

I stand by my astonishment that in a "60th anniversary celebration" that should be stated as the case.

 

Imagine Kevin O'Hare out front at the Royal Ballet's 100th birthday gala, explaining why no Ashton, MacMillan, de Valois, Wheeldon or Wright is on the programme.

 

I unfortunately totally can imagine that 😂  It's not about the 100 years we've had, who cares about that.  It's naturally about the next 100 years...

[Bruce Wall]

1 hour ago, serenade said:

Harlequinade I really liked- I really want to see the full version.  I'm just familiar with the name but nothing else so I didn't know the story or who the characters were at the time but I thought it was great.  Marcus Morelli did such a good job
 

Tschaikovsky PDD This is one of my favourite pieces ever but IMO I think it's quite hard to find it danced really well outside NYCB (not from a technical POV just in terms of attack etc, it often gets slowed down).  But I thought this was great, but a real shame about the second fishdive,
 

Everywhere We Go was the Justin Peck.  I presume it's plotless and it was just nice to see a newer ballet that has a fun feeling to it.  I loved it, ...I wish we saw more Peck over here.  

 

 

Overall I had a good time at the gala this afternoon and it was a wonderful way to bid a long farewell to TAB after their short UK visit of 2023.  

 

I am fairly lucky in that I have seen the original casts in the full length pieces that others have said they like to see with their original companies (both American) 

 

A few points - and I'll reference 'serenade's review quoted above - as it seemed to be along the lines of so many.

 

Harlequinade - This is another of Ratmansky's reconstructions of a Petipa ballet according to the Stepanov notations lodged at Harvard.  I thought - much as I did about his performance in the Emeralds PDT - that Marcus Morelli was - in a word - well two - simply SUBLIME.  I SO would like to see more of him.  He has I'm sure a great future.  He was well matched here by Sharni Spenser - surely one of the strongest ballerina's in the current Company - in terms of technique, musicality and dramatic aptness.  I thought too the corps also danced very well and it was lovely to see Robert Perdiziola's exquisite costumes featured on the ROH stage.  What I really missed was the mis-en-scene he created - i.e., the scenery - which was in both its motion and colourful sweep entirely bouffant in its airiness - and managed in its various guises to somehow lift the entire piece.  Those, however, were built for a much larger stage and would in their construct certainly not be apt here.  (Much as the size of the Met simply swallowed up the intimate nature of Cathy Martson's  fine Jane Eyre created for Northern Ballet.)  The NYT critic wrote 'This Harlequinade' suggests, at least, that not all Petipa deserves full restoration'.  I have to agree.  I think it is much better when it comes as a simple quotation as here.  I happily joined in its thrill.  If you wanted to see a two act reimagining of the same, Balanchine did one for NYCB which is a total 'family' delight - and features a large company of children who - as ever with Balanchine - dance the same steps as the adults. 

 

Of the Tchaikovsky PDD I thought one aspect of today's performance highlighted one difference (much as 'serenade' referenced) from those seen locally.  That was in Chengwu Guo's solo variations.  Both were, I thought, very fine indeed - and made especially so because of the vociferous silence of his landings which allowed the choreography to WHOLLY join in its celebration of the music.  This is due to the deep plie he deployed - one that Balanchine always insisted upon and such as he ensured were wrought by the NYCB Company men through the teachings of Stanley Williams.  This tradition carries on rightfully to this day.  Balanchine demanded this from his men as for him then - as at NYCB today - music ALWAYS comes FIRST.  (Where Balanchine wanted the feet or other body parts to be heard he would choreograph such into the works themselves much as many on this board will have seen this week in the Rubies' foot (Tall Girl) and hand (Principal Woman) slaps.  I well remember in rehearsal (on those occasions I was lucky enough to attend) Balanchine would turn to Robert Irving (his conductor) and have him speak to the dancers FIRST before he addressed them himself.  This, too, separates the NYCB traditions from other companies with very different and certainly much valued priorities.  

 

On Everywhere We Go - I first saw this Peck work (created in NYC in 2014) during NYCB's Paris visit in 2016 at its premiere there with the original cast (i.e., the whole piece) at the Chatelet.  Memorably it had 22 curtain calls.  The Parians had already come to love Peck's works as the POB already had a number in their rep, and indeed a creation, 'Chien et Loup', made expressly for them that year.  While I was delighted that one of the larger Peck ballets of which there are now a great many was being featured here (even if only in part) at long last - and I sincerely was - it did look strangely squished on the smaller British stage.  The full swell of Peck's sweep - which certainly you could get an indication of thanks to TAB here - was (inevitably) missing and you could sense the dancers attempting to measure space.  Too, the magic of the changing symbols backdrop was somewhat 'short-changed' as a result.  Seeing the extract today I certainly don't think this would be an appropriate address for the work as a whole.  (Rotunda - a work from Winter 2020 which I was at its premiere in NYC - is very much a Peck chamber piece and will be well suited to British stages when it is shown by NYCB at Sadler's Wells next year.)  I loved the fact that they listed the dancers after the first names of the original cast members.  (They don't do that in NYC!!!!)  You can hear the wonderful (and now retired) Sterling Hyltin speak about creating her part in the original production in a NYCB video here.)  Can I just add that I thought Yuumi Yamada was ENTIRELY EXQUISITE in Sterling's role.  What a tremendous dancer she is - and her speed is very much akin to that you would witness seeing this ballet in the relative largess of its State Theatre home.  Certainly her performance cheered me no end and was a highlight of the overall day and assuredly in this very happy run.  Thanks you so much TAB.  

 

 

 

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by Bruce Wall

[Thecatsmother]

Maybe it was just me and this is totally only my opinion but I left the gala feeling rather underwhelmed. I was expecting good things given how many talented students come out of Australia seem to be. I found Harlequinade a little dated and the corps costumes not the most flattering for the women.

 

I enjoyed the Peck piece but the rest of the contemporary did not excite.

There were several lead male dancers with phenomenal jumping ability and there was nice use of feet throughout but I felt a lot of the performance was rather ‘muted’. The Don Q seemed to lack attack and use of upper body but the audience seemed to enjoy. 

 

It must be hard to travel so far, adjust to the time difference and a new stage in what I assume would have been a short space of time. I did wonder how the size of stage compared to their normal venues? It did look as if they were struggling with it being larger maybe and adjusting to this? It did seem like several dancers ‘ran out of steam’ especially towards end of T pas de deux.

 

I must say I was also a bit intrigued watching our Russian guest in the audience. I was positioned to be able to note how each piece was received judging by the presence or absence of his applause which was in rather short supply this afternoon!

[Sophoife]

8 hours ago, Missfrankiecat said:

Ako Kondo's timing was off in Concerto

I believe that was Amy Harris. Definitely her in @Silke H's Instagram-posted photos.

 

8 hours ago, li tai po said:

The Australian Ballet administration appears to be exhibiting considerable disdain for their dancers and audience.

 

Has been the case for years. I can remember as far back as 2010 they'd stopped indicating principal role debuts on cast sheets.

 

7 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

Caley's solo...seems to be the leading man for Australian Ballet, with getting to close out both the first night of Jewels and the gala, which I was rather surprised about given he only joined the company last year.

 

Of the four male principals, he's by far the most experienced. Plus, you know, English dancer, English stage - AusBallet certainly aren't blind to publicity angles! Similar to his fellow Hull boy Xander Parish being named principal when the Mariinsky were in London.

 

7 hours ago, serenade said:

@Sophoife I thought the fandango constumes were amazing lol...am I the only one??😄

 

Yes.

 

5 hours ago, Bruce Wall said:

Can I just add that I thought Yuumi Yamada was ENTIRELY EXQUISITE in Sterling's role.  What a tremendous dancer she is - and her speed is very much akin to that you would witness seeing this ballet in the relative largess of its State Theatre home.  Certainly her performance cheered me no end and was a highlight of the overall day

 

Isn't she gorgeous. And so TINY! 

 

Thank you everyone for your comments - it's been almost as good as seeing it all myself (especially as I do know the dancers)!

 

I'll add that Harlequinade came to us just after Kunstkamer and you couldn't get much more of a contrast 😂 At the time I said to a friend "I quite liked Harlequinade it was a piece of fluff but such pretty fluff. I could just imagine it on the stage in Imperial Russia with Kschessinska taking her multitudinous bows in all her sparkling real diamonds!"

 

It also had squadrons of children - 32 each show, total complement 72 to allow for covers. I was told that virtually every ballet school in Melbourne sent kids to the auditions and it was a case of "I was short, I fitted the costume, and I did what I was told."

 

The Peck piece I did enjoy, it was such a lively and dancey contrast to Wayne McGregor's Obsidian Tear with which it was tripled (together with Alice Topp's Annealing, the pas de deux of which were lovely, the whole-company bits not quite so much).

 

Just as a final aside, Marcus Morelli was one of the Basilios I saw earlier this year, teamed with Jill Ōgai. The other was Brett Chynoweth, with Yuumi Yamada.

 

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by Sophoife
Confirmed Amy Harris in Concerto from photos.

[stucha]

11 hours ago, capybara said:

Did anyone else encounter the 'alternative show' which was going on around Nikolai Tsiskaridze this afternoon?

It doesn't seem 30 years since he blew away the audience at the Royal Albert Hall when the Bolshoi performed 3 acts, each from a different ballet.

Two of his former students joined the Australian Ballet. Maxim Zenin, and Misha Barkidjija. He may have taken the opportunity to catch up with them too.

[Missfrankiecat]

46 minutes ago, Sophoife said:

I believe that was Amy Harris

No it was my mistake in saying Concerto when I meant the Tchaikovsky pdd.  For some reason I couldn't edit my post.  It was Kondo's timing I felt was off and their lift that was fluffed.

[Emeralds]

On 06/08/2023 at 03:47, Sophoife said:

 

National is pushing it 😉 

 

I do love what used to be called Dancers' Company, such a good chance to spot potential stars of the future.

 

I didn’t come up with the phrase “National Tour”- that's what the company are calling both the ensemble and the activity, so if annamk or other readers looked on Australian Ballet’s social media, that would be the name they would find the information under. I couldn’t call it Dancers’ Company either, as that would be potentially more confusing, as the majority of dancers and company are in London. Also, the group no longer goes by that name - the group is just called Australian Ballet on Tour (on website) and National Tour (on social media).