Classical V. Contemporary Choreography

[Sim]

I have merged some posts from the RB Promotions thread into this one so please add to the discussion here.  It is not the first time this has been debated on the forum...!

[capybara]

Best not to mention names but there are individuals in both ENB and the RB who have sustained long lasting injuries as a direct consequence of rehearsing for classical ballet and dance with ultra-extensions at the same time. I believe that Woolf Works and Cinderella in combination earlier this year was similarly challenging but hopefully without serious incident.

 

Even different modern styles can be more demanding on a dancer's body than we might realise. A member of the RB who I bumped into during the last mixed bill of the RB's 2022/23 season (the one with the McGregor and the Wheeldon) responded to my general, "Hello, how are you?" by saying that they felt their body was being split apart.

[Scheherezade]

I’m not sure, by the way, how my previous post found its way into this thread when its home is clearly Classical v Contemporary Choreography, which I had been reading at the time. Perhaps someone could rehouse it. And thank you Sim for replying in the correct thread. 

[Guest oncnp]

10 hours ago, OnePigeon said:

We are blessed to have a beautiful world class dancer like Muntagirov choosing to make London his home, I find it sad that he needs to jet around the world in order to find career fulfilment when we have a wonderful choice of repertoire right here at the RB that isn’t being danced. Of course dancers will want to dance with other companies and I’m sure it is wonderful for Vadim to do this, but it’s concerning if he has to do this because of the direction the RB is heading in, as is being suggested.

 

He (and many others) may also be jetting around for financial fulfilment. I don't know if the COVID pay cuts have been fully restored but when you have spent ~ 2 of your most productive years on decreased salary sat on the couch making funny videos (I still watch the toy trucks), I might imagine there is some catching up to do.  The sun is shining. Haymaking is in order.

[FLOSS]

I think that you will find that it is the RB's liberal attitude to guesting which has enabled the company to retain the impressive roster of dancers it has. It was widely understood at the time that Muntagirov  moved to the RB from ENB that the move had been prompted by the new management team at ENB restricting his ability to guest with other companies.

[bridiem]

The RB really have no choice about their guesting policy, given how few performances most of the principals get. 

[Peanut68]

21 hours ago, Bruce Wall said:

I can no longer bring myself to call it the 'Royal Ballet' - I just can't - I'm sorry - and that is JUST for my OWN peace of mind.  I call it the RDT - the Royal Dance Theatre - as to my mind that is what it is - and IT IS A VERY FINE ONE AT THAT.  As a 'Dance Theatre' the ROYAL IS ONE OF THE BEST.  This separates it from ENB or even the current BRB methinks.

What???? Actually, in many ways I think you are indeed highlighting what some (the current AD especially) see the RB as....but have they actually checked in with those who should be at the crux of decisions about this? We, the audience, the dancer community, the tax payers, corporates & philanthropic individuals who generously fund surely should be consulted on this seemingly change of remit.....is it evolution or revolution I wonder? Frankly, if you read this forum I feel it is rather the latter with KOH leading the charge. I love lots of the more modern ballets (Woolf Works being one..) But frankly i can totally do without the strictly contemporary pieces. I couldn't really give  a hoot about showing versatility of genres by the RB...I just want to see sensational versatility within the boundaries of Ballet. I find it often cringe worthy seeing classical dancers do a commendable job of contemporary in a piece of work that would be so much better danced/performed by a pure contemporary dancer/company.

You don't get a pure dressage horse doing the odd bit of showjumping or vice versa....Yes, there are Three Day Eventers..the 'all rounders'. Well, I think that's great & probably what many dance companies need to aspire to be (especially non Arts Council funded ones) but can we not have the Royal Ballet be pure to their remit & name to be the top dressage thoroughbred I feel many of us audience members so wish it would be! Juts my humble opinion....

 

[art_enthusiast]

19 hours ago, capybara said:

Even different modern styles can be more demanding on a dancer's body than we might realise. A member of the RB who I bumped into during the last mixed bill of the RB's 2022/23 season (the one with the McGregor and the Wheeldon) responded to my general, "Hello, how are you?" by saying that they felt their body was being split apart.

 

Wow, I personally had no idea that this was the case.

 

So if management are aware of this, why are they pushing the modern styles that may increase injury risk?

 

There do seem to be dancers who are comfortable and happy with both styles - at least they appear to be on stage (Melissa Hamilton for one, and newer arrival Marco Masciari who is a very adept McGregor dancer already plus shining in Cinderella). From the BTS footage that they show, e.g. the Dante Project extras, dancers seem very positive about different styles, but I understand that they're in front of a camera for these interviews.

[OnePigeon]

I’m sure lots of dancers love dancing in the contemporary style, challenging themselves, having work choreographed on them and being part of the creative process.  Classical ballet is so disciplined I’m sure they love the opportunity to break free and try something new.
 

I do hope there’s room for dancers who prefer to stick to classical ballet though and they aren’t being forced into a position in order to keep their jobs - I suspect it’s increasingly difficult to assert yourself as a purely classical dancer as all companies seem to be hiring the (same types of) choreographers.  It’s one thing for an established principle to decline dancing a certain style, quite another for a student or a lowly member of the corps. 

[Sophoife]

It was interesting that earlier this year AusBallet performed a repertory season in Sydney, one show Jewels, the next the contemporary double bill called Identity, with Daniel Riley of Australian Dance Theatre creating a work on his dancers and AusBallet's called THE HUM and Alice Topp working with retired dancers and current company members on Paragon.

 

After barely a handful of shows it became obvious that people being expected to dance in both the Balanchine and the mixed bill was a Very Bad Idea, with a spate of injuries the result. And AusBallet are justifiably proud of their injury record or lack thereof.

 

Why the decision to perform in the pattern they did was made, I've no idea. In Melbourne, the mixed bill was performed separately from the Balanchine.

 

The best part of Paragon was seeing the return of beloved former dancers such as Kirsty Martin, Julie da Costa, Lucinda Dunn, Steven Heathcote, Fiona Tonkin, Madeleine Eastoe, Sarah Peace, Leanne Stojmenov, Paul Knobloch, David McAllister and Simon Dow. Every time one of them came on there was a sigh of delight from the audience.

 

The opening sequence and tableau with retiring principal Adam Bull, 15+ years retired Steven Heathcote, and young corps member Adam Elmes, with a very long filmy drape that was collected, wound and folded by the trio and could be said to represent the company's traditions, was pure magic.

 

The three dancers in that sequence represented 40 years and more to come of company history, Heathcote having joined in 1983 and retired in 2007, the year before Bull was promoted principal, and Elmes having joined in 2020.

[Dawnstar]

27 minutes ago, Sophoife said:

young corps member Adam Elmes

 

Is Elmes a contemporary specialist? He was the most prominent dancer in both I New Then and Watermark last week.

[Angela]

1 hour ago, Peanut68 said:

You don't get a pure dressage horse doing the odd bit of showjumping or vice versa....

 

I think it's very unfortunate to compare dancers to horses. And classical ballet to dressage.

 

 

54 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

but I understand that they're in front of a camera for these interviews.

 

Do you want to suggest that the poor dancers feel obliged to say they like modern ballet? Don't you think they are free to speak?

 

A point that I really, really miss here is that most dancers love to create new works. Doing only repertory and the classics means you always dance roles that so many other dancers have danced before, you "fill in", you try to be as good as someone else was before. Working with a choreographer, taking part in the creation of a ballet and a new role must be a great gift for dancers, if you read interviews - take Alina Cojocaru and John Neumeier, take Edward Watson, look at all those Russian divas like Vishneva or Zakharova or Osipova who invited modern choreographers (whatever you may think of them) to create new works for them. Yes, I know, they may be to old for Odette/Odile, but there is also the possibility to explore new ways of expression outside of the classical syllabus. What a challenge, what a shock was Forsythe back in the 1980s, 1990s with his deconstructed ballet, do you really think Sylvie Guillem and Laurent Hilaire hated what they created in Paris with him? Maybe it's a challenge for some dancers to talk on stage, to do surreal things - but they are artists, not dressage horses. And they are much younger than we are, maybe they think differently; how can you insinuate that they are forced to do modern ballet, that they hate what they do? I really understand that some dancers like Muntagirov want to keep their pure classicism (also Lopatkina was one of them), but there are others who can do both, who can do a fine Giselle or Albrecht and something modern next week. Lots of young dancers chose a company where they can do both, maybe that's also a reason for Kevin O'Hare to offer them both opportunities in his company. Look at the variations at the Prix de Lausanne, how many of the young dancers are great in classical AND modern. 

 

[OnePigeon]

 

27 minutes ago, Angela said:

A point that I really, really miss here is that most dancers love to create new works. Doing only repertory and the classics means you always dance roles that so many other dancers have danced before, you "fill in", you try to be as good as someone else was before. Working with a choreographer, taking part in the creation of a ballet and a new role must be a great gift for dancers,

 

I’m not sure that anyone is stating that dancers don’t like dancing modern work, more that the two different styles can sometimes be hard on some dancers’ bodies.  If I may quote myself, I have made the very point that dancers are bound to want to create and dance new work: ☺️

 

1 hour ago, OnePigeon said:

I’m sure lots of dancers love dancing in the contemporary style, challenging themselves, having work choreographed on them and being part of the creative process.  Classical ballet is so disciplined I’m sure they love the opportunity to break free and try something new.

 

I think the other issue is that we are conflating contemporary style choreography with new works - they aren’t one and the same.  It’s perfectly possible to create new ballets in the balletic idiom without the use of the contemporary style of dance being discussed here.  It just seems to be getting rarer at the RB.

 

32 minutes ago, Angela said:

Do you want to suggest that the poor dancers feel obliged to say they like modern ballet? Don't you think they are free to speak?

I do think it would be hard for a dancer, at the RB for example, to come out and state they don’t enjoy contemporary choreography and McGregor, or Pite or Marston etc is not for them, in a filmed interview.  It would not be the best career move, not very diplomatic and certainly not too polite.  I’m not suggesting or insinuating that this is secretly the case at all, merely hypothesising based on your assertion that dancers are free to speak.  As in any organisation, sometimes you need to wind your neck in and keep quiet if you value your career and if you know your boss and the powers that be have a certain direction and opinion that is opposed to your own,  I doubt you’d pipe up if you wanted to still be given opportunities.  

[Pas de Quatre]

I have often used the comparison with sports to my pupils and their parents over the years. A pentathlete will be highly skilled in all 5 disciplines,  but will not be anywhere near the athlete who trains in just one event. Likewise, a classical ballet dancer is like a thoroughbred racehorse that races on the flat. A slightly different conformation of less speed but more strength would mean the horse would be better over jumps in steeplechases. Another mistake often made is to lump all modern and contemporary ballet together. European style is often just contorted classical with pointe shoes still worn. The more earthy, grounded contemporary styles are quite different and need little or no ballet technique.

[taxi4ballet]

1 hour ago, Angela said:

 

I think it's very unfortunate to compare dancers to horses. And classical ballet to dressage.

 

I don't think it is unfortunate at all. I think it is highly appropriate in the physical sense, and I speak from a position of having spent most of my youth on horseback, and as an adult, have a professionally-trained ballet dancer as a daughter. I have an insight into both camps as it were.

 

An Olympic dressage horse will have spent the best part of a decade being trained in a very specific, restrained, and highly controlled way to execute complicated moves with great accuracy, calmness and artistry. Its body will have developed musculature, ligaments and tendons specifically with those moves in mind, and to a large extent muscle memory will have taken over. The horse will have been specially chosen for that type of training due to its conformation, mindset and trainable physique in that style.

 

Compare that with, say, a Grand National Winner. It will have been trained to the physical limit for endurance, and to jump at speed without losing momentum. It is not expected to respond calmly and steadily to nuanced aids from its rider, but to enthusiastic urging from its jockey to go flat out, get its head in front, and channel its instinct to win. Its muscles and physique will have been trained and developed in an entirely different manner to those of the dressage horse, and again, the horse will have specifically been chosen for its trainable physique and natural jumping ability.

 

They are both world-beaters in their specific fields, but would both find it very challenging to participate in the activity of the other, and the possiblilty of injury would be high. The same goes for the riders. A dressage rider would have trouble on the racecourse.

 

Some horses are trained for three-day eventing, in which they are expected to both jump at speed and to execute dressage manouevres. World-class horses in this field might very well win Olympic gold medals and World championships in three-day eventing, but none of them would be expected to hold their own when pitted against pure dressage horses or racehorses in training.

 

So there we are, that's my view. As the old saying goes: horses for courses.

[Suffolkgal]

They are thoroughbreds! When I see the horses riding out at Newmarket to train, elegant and graceful, with their shapely legs and careful delicate hooves I am sometimes reminded of some female dancers ... only in the sense of grace and beauty and polish

[Mary]

1 hour ago, Angela said:

Lots of young dancers chose a company where they can do both,

I am sure that is true.

 

On the other hand, I am guessing that for most young dancers starting out, a place in any company is very gladly welcomed- it is not a case of picking and choosing- is it? And then when the company develops in a particular way they go with it, to get parts. Of course they must.

 

I would like to think dancers do have autonomy and so on, but I am afraid it is unlikely. The Director decides- and the Director is also subject to various pressures.

 

I think there are probably quite a few dancers who would prefer to specialise more but feel they can't.

 

I also feel there is nothing wrong with having some purely classical ballet companies and fear we are losing them.

 

 

 

 

[art_enthusiast]

53 minutes ago, taxi4ballet said:

An Olympic dressage horse will have spent the best part of a decade being trained in a very specific, restrained, and highly controlled way to execute complicated moves with great accuracy, calmness and artistry. Its body will have developed musculature, ligaments and tendons specifically with those moves in mind, and to a large extent muscle memory will have taken over. The horse will have been specially chosen for that type of training due to its conformation, mindset and trainable physique in that style.

 

Definitely. I was fortunate to see a performance in Jerez de la Frontera at the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art, for the first time ever last year (very affordable tickets!) I definitely saw similarities with ballet there.

 

It was mesmerising to watch.

 

I wasn't too sure if the horses enjoyed it though... but that is a different topic!

Edited August 9, 2023 by art_enthusiast

[Emeralds]

The Royal Ballet used to mix some of their triple bills or mixed bills whereby you’d get 5 short classical works in 2 different combinations either in one month or in the one season but at different times of the year. New York City Ballet does even more mixing whereby they might have 10 different short ballets in 6-8 different combinations (when I visited in the past I found that it was rarer to get repeat combination of ballets than to find different ones), then for their next few months it will be a different  group of ballets again in a variety of combinations- mixed with full length ballets like Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, etc, of course. American Ballet Theatre and Paris Opera Ballet used to do mixed bills in the same combination only. RB has moved away from their previous practice and followed the ABT & POB practice. (I’m only comparing RB with 3 other companies of similar size and contrasting methods- not implying other companies aren’t relevant). 

 

RB also used to be more classically focused- if they put on new work, it would be a new MacMillan, Bintley, Corder, Page, or Tuckett etc all choreographing in a classical ballet vocabulary, even if Tuckett and Page would go on to do successful and more experimental work in a contemporary style elsewhere. (I wasn't around to see Ashton premieres, sadly). The rationale seemed to be that contemporary dance was being done very well by Rambert, London Contemporary Dance Theatre and later Richard Alston Dance Company, Siobhan Davies Company, Michael Clark Company etc etc and Royal Ballet would stick to classical. I remember one exception was that they once presented a short contemporary work (can’t remember if it was Stoics or a another work) by Jonathan Burrows, brilliantly performed and very enjoyable, on the ROH stage because he’d just won an award and he was an RB soloist, so it was a big deal. But after that it was back to classical ballets.

 

Over in Paris, Brigitte Lefèvre had begun to start running the Paris Opera Ballet very differently when she was appointed Director. She’d danced in the company but left to form her company which presented contemporary works before returning to work for the Paris Opera. While former Directors Nureyev (1983-1990) and Patrick Dupond (1990-1995) had programmed the occasional premiere by a contemporary choreographer like Merce Cunningham or Angelin Preljocaj once per season, Lefèvre commissioned or programmed so many contemporary works that the Paris Opera seasons started to look like half classical ballet and half contemporary dance. 

 

While some dancers had said it was nice to dance contemporary work with famous choreographers without having to leave the company or take time off to do it, their opportunities to dance the key or aspirational classical roles has become limited, and many classical ballets that are lovely and well liked  in their own right, by French choreographers or by visiting choreographers made for POB, that they had in the repertoire, eg Suite en Blanc (Lifar), Roland Petit ballets, Le Palais de Cristal (aka Balanchine’s Symphony in C, actually created for the Paris Opera, not NYCB), La Sylphide, etc are being danced so rarely or not at all nowadays. Like the classical works, the contemporary works do sell but it’s hard to know whether that’s because the Opera audiences love contemporary or whether there’s nothing else to attend without travelling far. (It helps a little that they have two theatres now compared to RB’s one, but POB still have only one corps de ballet, albeit quite a large roster of dancers to draw from). 

 

It seems like RB is starting to follow the path of POB rather than keeping with their previous raison d’etre as a primarily classical company. The dancers themselves dance well whatever choreography they are given. But I wouldn’t like to go down the POB route entirely no matter how trendy or on trend it may seem. Firstly, it means the classical ballets we want to see and roles that dancers may want to dance are being pushed out more and more to the point of near extinction. Secondly, it has become noticeable that contemporary dance companies, which Britain used to have so many brilliant examples of, are having their turf (and audiences) taken from them. Now there are still brilliant contemporary companies and dancers but increasingly they are having to moonlight (as film, fashion show, advertising, opera, tv etc performers and choreographers) to survive. Dancers and choreographers have always accepted the occasional non-theatre dance commission as a novelty and some extra income. But if you have to do it frequently just to pay the bills, it reduces the amount of time you can create dance and decreases the number of runs or seasons your company can present, and that’s not a great development for the art form or our arts scene. 

Edited August 9, 2023 by Emeralds

[Bruce Wall]

5 hours ago, Peanut68 said:

What???? Actually, in many ways I think you are indeed highlighting what some (the current AD especially) see the RB as....but have they actually checked in with those who should be at the crux of decisions about this? We, the audience, the dancer community, the tax payers, corporates & philanthropic individuals who generously fund surely should be consulted on this seemingly change of remit.....is it evolution or revolution I wonder? Frankly, if you read this forum I feel it is rather the latter with KOH leading the charge. I love lots of the more modern ballets (Woolf Works being one..) But frankly i can totally do without the strictly contemporary pieces. I couldn't really give  a hoot about showing versatility of genres by the RB...I just want to see sensational versatility within the boundaries of Ballet. I find it often cringe worthy seeing classical dancers do a commendable job of contemporary in a piece of work that would be so much better danced/performed by a pure contemporary dancer/company.

 

 

I agree with your first paragraph's sentiments, Peanut68, as I think I suggested in what I wrote.  I have come to terms now with what the Royal IS - rather than wishing for what it isn't - and seemingly has no intention of being (returning to?) within the foreseeable future.  As I said we can only live but in our own time.  I have simply found a way in which I personally can appreciate the core elements of the RDT (the Royal Dance Theatre) - and they are many as I have said - while still holding sway in the majority for myself to those companies where the balletic idiom remains prime.  For me THAT is a priority.  I realise that many cannot do this for any number of entirely understandably reasons - and certainly also that - equally understandable - it may not be as important a priority.  I simply have found a way - for myself - to have a comfortable balance in terms of expectation.  That is all.  In terms of 'bests' - should those EVER be apt - and I often think that they aren't - I strive to think it might be the best of 'both' of these differing worlds within our time's remit.  (Of course, time will ultimately tell.  It always does.)

 

 

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by Bruce Wall

[Emeralds]

Just to add to the discussion about whether dancers are compelled to say they like a new contemporary style work or not.....I think it’s not difficult to find dancers who are very happy to say nice things about the piece because they are in a lead or featured role on opening night. Of course all the promotional trailers say the dancers love performing x, y and z (there’s a YouTube series put out by ROH with the titles “Why the Royal Ballet love performing...[name of piece]”.) 

 

Perhaps if they were interviewing someone who was second cast in the new work dancing in the back rows of the corps without a featured part, who also had to rehearse and dance four acts of Swan Lake the following night unnamed and in the corps, it might be a different interview. 😉 

 

PS I notice Wayne McGregor and Crystal Pite tend to name every dancer in the corps de ballet who performs, and every student performer, in the cast list, which is great for both the dancer and the audience. 

Edited August 9, 2023 by Emeralds

[alison]

Only thing is, they way they are named - usually alphabetically - doesn't give any way of telling at a later date which was the role they danced!  At one stage when we had proper cast sheets which allowed the room, I tried annotating the sheet so as to indicate the individual roles, but you can't do that now (or I suppose you can add comments to a PDF, but it's a pain)

[Emeralds]

Yes, that’s true that the alphabetical order style of listing in some Mcgregor works is so “democratic” that it can be unhelpful. Eg Sissens, Hamilton, Kaneko, to name three of several dancers, dance featured parts in Untitled 2023, but if you hadn’t seen the ballet and knew what the dancers looked like, the cast sheet is quite uniformative (same for his Becomings section of Woolf Works, although the other two sections distinguish the dancers in featured roles clearly). 

 

Pite’s cast lists do separate out the featured dancers, including separate spacing for principal roles, while still naming everyone in the ensemble in their own grouping. 

[Emeralds]

Just a quick bit to add to the “Should RB programme more Balanchine and Robbins” discussion ...while it does seem as though RB is starting to sideline Balanchine and Robbins ballets starting last season, I’d say I’m more worried about the Ashton works being sidelined - thankfully there is a lot of Ashton in June 2024!

 

Long wait from May 2023 (Cinderella) to June 2024 (Les Rendezvous and The Dream mixed bills) though....is it too long? (I couldn’t imagine NYCB dancing no Balanchine for 12 months. Or Royal Danish Ballet not dancing any  Bournonville for 12 months. Please tell me that’s not happened yet!) 

[Angela]

3 hours ago, taxi4ballet said:

An Olympic dressage horse will have spent the best part of a decade being trained in a very specific, restrained, and highly controlled way to execute complicated moves with great accuracy, calmness and artistry.

 

I always sought the artistry first in a dancer, I thought all the training, accuracy and calmness was just the means to make an artist - if he or she dances Petipa, Ashton, Forsythe or McGregor. But I understand now better how you watch ballet, more like the French I guess - elegance, correctness, accomplishment.

 

I also hate horses, maybe that's the problem. And I like modern ballet, which seems to be an ever bigger problem here... 🙃

 

3 hours ago, Mary said:

On the other hand, I am guessing that for most young dancers starting out, a place in any company is very gladly welcomed- it is not a case of picking and choosing- is it?

 

I was talking about the PdL or YAGP winners, young dancers who can choose a company because they have different offers.

I only know the students from the John Cranko School really well enough over the years, and there are some who join the company at Stuttgart and are in modern pieces right from the start, because they want to be. There are many students who like to do modern works also! Of course young dancers want to show off their classical technique, but it really changed in the last years, they come from school and bring all the expression, the rhythm feeling, the interest for modern ballet. I honestly think Muntagirov's pureness of style is an exception, not the rule.

 

[Pas de Quatre]

Suffolkgal, I was brought up in a village near Newmarket. One of the renowned trainers, a friend of my parents, used to say that the ideal racehorse (on the flat) has a neck like a swan, a bottom like a barmaid and a walk like a ballet dancer!

[OnePigeon]

41 minutes ago, Angela said:

 

I also hate horses, maybe that's the problem. And I like modern ballet, which seems to be an ever bigger problem here... 🙃

I don’t think people on here hate modern ballet at all, many members have wide and varied taste and a wealth of ballet going experience and knowledge.  I personally don’t enjoy a lot of it,  but by no means dislike all of it and am happy for other people to enjoy what they enjoy.  My taste in ballet is comparatively narrow and I would never expect a company to only dance old twentieth century repertoire, but I believe there should be a much better balance of repertoire than we currently have.
 

I think the main discussion on this thread has been focused around the direction the Royal Ballet is taking and how the programming is moving away from important works by choreographers from the previous century, in favour of a contemporary style quite different from the classical style associated with our country’s foremost ballet company.  My argument is that dance is a broad church and everything should be accommodated, but where and how to do this without it being at the expense of so much interesting repertoire by pivotal choreographers who developed and broadened this wonderful art form that we have today, is the question.  

[zxDaveM]

11 hours ago, OnePigeon said:

And I like modern ballet, which seems to be an ever bigger problem here...

 

it's not 'modern ballet' the problem as such, it's a classical ballet company like the RB moving more and more into contemporary dance choreography, often to the detriment of classical technique and rep. I enjoy some of that (Crystal Pite for example), but push come to shove, I'd rather see more Ashton or Balanchine at ROH

[bridiem]

12 hours ago, Angela said:

And I like modern ballet, which seems to be an ever bigger problem here... 🙃

 

I'm sure that most of us would love to see more modern BALLET at the RB; most of the new works we see are either full-blown contemporary dance or a sort of hybrid where a bit of pointe work is thrown in to make it look like ballet. Why this sort of work is deemed preferable to new work using the classical ballet idiom in which the dancers have trained for many years, and/or high quality existing works in that idiom, I really don't know.

[Bruce Wall]

57 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

I'm sure that most of us would love to see more modern BALLET at the RB; most of the new works we see are either full-blown contemporary dance or a sort of hybrid where a bit of pointe work is thrown in to make it look like ballet. Why this sort of work is deemed preferable to new work using the classical ballet idiom in which the dancers have trained for many years, and/or high quality existing works in that idiom, I really don't know.

 

I so agree, Bridiem.  The fact remains that the Royal's (RDT) Director does not see such as a 'priority'.  We can't get around this.  I can only feel that the Trustees are fully on board with this - they must be - and they are, after all is said and done, placed there as OUR representatives - i.e., appointed to see the best forward movement for the Charity.  It is clear if we wish an alternative as opposed to what once we clearly saw a mainstay - i.e., both perceived and witnessed - we must on balance go elsewhere.  I, for one, have simply taken their firm guidance and, indeed, actions to heart.  That said, I am pleased to support our fine Dance Theatre in its efforts.  They are outstanding in this particular regard.  They do what THEY say on THEIR tin, i.e., the one now current and set - as has been clearly indicated - for the foreseeable future.

 

Edited August 10, 2023 by Bruce Wall

[capybara]

7 minutes ago, Bruce Wall said:

 

They do what THEY say on THEIR tin.

 

Where is that tin, please?

I have never seen a written  statement outlining the RB’s vision and how that translates into the balance within the rep.

Without that, all I know is what I see  and interpret more as a mishmash response to current forces in society and the ballet world than a fully thought through transition from the classics/heritage rep. to …… what exactly.

[alison]

Nicely put, capybara!

[Guest oncnp]

13 minutes ago, capybara said:

Where is that tin, please?

I have never seen a written  statement outlining the RB’s vision and how that translates into the balance within the rep.

Without that, all I know is what I see  and interpret more as a mishmash response to current forces in society and the ballet world than a fully thought through transition from the classics/heritage rep. to …… what exactly.

 

Mission statement proving a little difficult to find but the website does say this (edited to remove superfluous and self-congratulatory fluff) 

 

Under the leadership of Director Kevin O’Hare, grand balletic tradition and an illustrious heritage are united with innovation, daring and exceptional standards of artistry, creativity and stagecraft to produce supreme theatre. It is a beacon in the cultural life of Britain and a driving force behind the development of ballet as an artform. ......

 

today’s most dynamic and versatile dancers come together with a world-class orchestra and leading choreographers, composers, conductors, designers and creative teams to share an awe-inspiring theatrical experience with diverse audiences worldwide. .........

 

The extensive repertory of The Royal Ballet follows a unique trajectory from 19th-century classics to the singular legacy of works by Founder Choreographer Frederick Ashton and Principal Choreographer Kenneth MacMillan and the compelling new canon of work by Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor and Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon. Along with innovative commissions and choreographic initiatives across the main stage and Linbury Theatre and strong links with The Royal Ballet School, the Company continues to refresh and surprise.

Edited August 10, 2023 by oncnp