The Dante Project, Royal Ballet Autumn 2023

[Sim]

2 hours ago, MildConcern said:

I'm taking a ballet newbie to Dante this evening and wonder if anyone can point me to a synopsis for the ballet? My own memory of it is rather foggy and neither of us have too much knowledge of the Divine Comedy. It would be helpful for him to know which scenes of Inferno are expected in Act 1 

New member Sam's review is also useful:  https://medium.com/@sam.sy.lee/review-the-dante-project-8caa4a515fe5

 

In Act 1 the chalk on the body of each dancer supposedly indicates where/how they have sinned.  This is particularly obvious with the adulterers Paolo and Francesca...

 

[Dawnstar]

1 hour ago, Sim said:

In Act 1 the chalk on the body of each dancer supposedly indicates where/how they have sinned.  This is particularly obvious with the adulterers Paolo and Francesca...

 

Is this clearer when seeing the production live? When I watched the TV broadcast in 2021 everyone just seemed to have rather random whiteish smears with little clouds of chalk visibly coming off dancers. I found Inferno pretty confusing all round. On the cast sheets the titles of some of the sections sound really interesting - "The Pope's Adagio", "Pavan Of The Souls In Limbo", "Stations Of The Cross" - but when watching it for me it was all just a bunch of difficult to recognise dancers in greyish unitards doing similar-looking choreography. (I have abandoned hope that I will ever "get" McGregor!)

[Sim]

2 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Is this clearer when seeing the production live? When I watched the TV broadcast in 2021 everyone just seemed to have rather random whiteish smears with little clouds of chalk visibly coming off dancers. I found Inferno pretty confusing all round. On the cast sheets the titles of some of the sections sound really interesting - "The Pope's Adagio", "Pavan Of The Souls In Limbo", "Stations Of The Cross" - but when watching it for me it was all just a bunch of difficult to recognise dancers in greyish unitards doing similar-looking choreography. (I have abandoned hope that I will ever "get" McGregor!)

Abandon hope, all ye who enter here!    The chalk is very obvious on Paolo and Francesca....at least it was on Monday night, and I remember it being so last time around as well.

[maryrosesatonapin]

2 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Is this clearer when seeing the production live? When I watched the TV broadcast in 2021 everyone just seemed to have rather random whiteish smears with little clouds of chalk visibly coming off dancers. I found Inferno pretty confusing all round. On the cast sheets the titles of some of the sections sound really interesting - "The Pope's Adagio", "Pavan Of The Souls In Limbo", "Stations Of The Cross" - but when watching it for me it was all just a bunch of difficult to recognise dancers in greyish unitards doing similar-looking choreography. (I have abandoned hope that I will ever "get" McGregor!)

That is EXACTLY how it seems to me, @Dawnstar.

[Mary]

7 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

everyone just seemed to have rather random whiteish smears with little clouds of chalk visibly coming off dancers.

Good job John McEnroe wasn't in the audience

[annamk]

14 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Is this clearer when seeing the production live? When I watched the TV broadcast in 2021 everyone just seemed to have rather random whiteish smears with little clouds of chalk visibly coming off dancers. I found Inferno pretty confusing all round. On the cast sheets the titles of some of the sections sound really interesting - "The Pope's Adagio", "Pavan Of The Souls In Limbo", "Stations Of The Cross" - but when watching it for me it was all just a bunch of difficult to recognise dancers in greyish unitards doing similar-looking choreography. (I have abandoned hope that I will ever "get" McGregor!)

 

@Dawnstar absolutely how I felt about it.

 

What a missed opportunity; if only the choreography had been the equal of the score, sets and lighting the whole would have been a masterpiece. Instead, we have the wonderful dancers of the RB doing their best to inject some meaning into largely meaningless steps.  

[Scheherezade]

2 hours ago, annamk said:

 

@Dawnstar absolutely how I felt about it.

 

What a missed opportunity; if only the choreography had been the equal of the score, sets and lighting the whole would have been a masterpiece. Instead, we have the wonderful dancers of the RB doing their best to inject some meaning into largely meaningless steps.  

I am hoping that the Saturday matinee will prove more meaningful to me than the last run, @annamk

[MildConcern]

Thank you @Sim and @JohnS for providing the pre performance links!

 

I needn’t have worried - I found the evening ‘divine’ indeed and remarkably easy to follow. In its premier run, I remember liking Purgatory but not much else. This time round however, it flowed as an intensely communicative piece.

 

I confess I am usually partial to McGregor and find his dance language quite intuitive. I am aware it is not the same for everyone on the forum. But like some others earlier in this thread, I find it now sits very well on the RB and think it is a real boast for our flagship ballet company to have such a defined modern movement. 
 

Bracewell was magic and the Act 2 pdd brought a tear to my eye. I found the soothsayers onwards to the end in Inferno very captivating. Paradiso is perhaps the weakest of the three but the score does much to lift it. My companion, a ballet newbie who hated Cinderella, loved this immensely. You see, there is something for everyone! 

[Linnzi5]

7 hours ago, MildConcern said:

Thank you @Sim and @JohnS for providing the pre performance links!

 

I needn’t have worried - I found the evening ‘divine’ indeed and remarkably easy to follow. In its premier run, I remember liking Purgatory but not much else. This time round however, it flowed as an intensely communicative piece.

 

I confess I am usually partial to McGregor and find his dance language quite intuitive. I am aware it is not the same for everyone on the forum. But like some others earlier in this thread, I find it now sits very well on the RB and think it is a real boast for our flagship ballet company to have such a defined modern movement. 
 

Bracewell was magic and the Act 2 pdd brought a tear to my eye. I found the soothsayers onwards to the end in Inferno very captivating. Paradiso is perhaps the weakest of the three but the score does much to lift it. My companion, a ballet newbie who hated Cinderella, loved this immensely. You see, there is something for everyone! 

I'm glad you liked it! I did too. I thought Bracewell was absolutely brilliant, as Dante,  though I do agree with some who say he should have had the opportunity to dance more - Dante is rather underutilised at times. However, he was a wonderful presence, in my opinion. and has a connection with both the audience and his partners - his PDD with Fumi Kaneko was sublime.  I left Covent Garden in wonder at the outstanding dancing of the whole company and I enjoyed Dante. 

[JohnS]

Looking forward very much to Friday’s performance to see the Hirano cast and staying for Saturday’s matinee to catch a third performance of the Bracewell cast having seen the general rehearsal and opening night. I find much to admire in Dante: Thomas Adès’s music; the energy of all the dancers; much of the design.
 

I hope the screen projections hum which blighted Paradiso for me on opening night has been resolved or is at least less intrusive in the Stalls although I’d much prefer Balcony audiences not to be inconvenienced.

 

My other gripe was the lack of a helpful synopsis. @Ondine very usefully provided a link to McGregor’s commentary and it’s well worth watching the 2 minutes clip.

 

On 20/11/2023 at 22:09, Ondine said:

'This is not a three act story ballet'

 

 

 

 

But I don’t think it’s sufficient to highlight: “it’s not a three act story ballet.” A few seconds later McGregor refers to wanting to create “our own emotional and narrative art” so it seems reasonable to me to ask for a few helpful pointers about the narrative which audience members can refer to should they wish. As has been suggested above by @alison and others, the headings for Inferno included on the cast sheet could readily be followed by a few words capturing what’s going on. And given McGregor happily talks about the three parts to the Dante Project in the clip, surely it’s not too difficult to put together a couple of sentences on the cast sheet for Purgatorio and Paradiso?
 

I know McGregor doesn’t want audiences to think they have to be familiar with Dante or Woolf but providing helpful information is a courtesy to audience members. Those interested may well be grateful and no one is required to read cast sheets etc unless they choose to do so. At the general rehearsal and opening night I believe some audience members struggled and may well have welcomed a little help.

 

The lack of information is not limited to McGregor. The cast sheet for Anemoi was blank save for listing the dancers: disappointing as Valentino Zucchetti was particularly eloquent about his ballet in the programme and two or three sentences could have been included on the cast sheet.

 

I’d go further and say not providing helpful information is a discourtesy. At an extreme, not providing information can exclude audiences and reinforce an unwelcome stereotype that the performance is for initiates.

 

But despite some grumbles where I know I’m rather stuck in a groove, I am excited at the prospect of seeing a couple of Dante performances this weekend. I think it’s great that the Royal Ballet can move so seamlessly from Don Q to Dante and I can only applaud the multi-talented dancers. It’s been hugely rewarding to see so many dancers giving their all in such contrasting roles: Calvin Richardson as Espada, Gamarche and Ulysses; Liam Boswell always impressing with such astonishing precision and timing (although I see he hasn’t been in the last two performances of the Bracewell cast); and countless others. They convince me they enjoy the rich variety and I find their on stage vitality wonderfully life affirming.

 

I’m afraid Saturday is still Avanti contingent. I’ve booked a 17:30 train and there are a couple of trains after that but there’s a risk of disruption and cancellations. If Avanti find they have to cancel services, I hope they’ll let passengers know sufficiently in advance to get an earlier train as I don’t want to be stuck in London for two extra nights. But from the latest information the 17:30 has a green flag which I’m very much hoping it keeps.

[zxDaveM]

I think what we learn over the course of the evening, is that 'heaven' is even dingier and dirgier than 'hell', and 'purgatory' just seems like hell, but on hallucinogenic drugs... which give you monster flashbacks if you do make it to heaven

 

(That weird screen in the last act just makes me think or Warner cartoons, and I'm expecting a "That's All Folks" to appear)

[alison]

On 29/11/2023 at 14:24, MildConcern said:

I'm taking a ballet newbie to Dante this evening and wonder if anyone can point me to a synopsis for the ballet? My own memory of it is rather foggy and neither of us have too much knowledge of the Divine Comedy. It would be helpful for him to know which scenes of Inferno are expected in Act 1 

 

I didn't buy one this time around, but I actually found the first-run programme quite helpful in explaining things.

[Guest oncnp]

From the ROH IG - Ever wondered what it takes to be a dancer @royaloperahouse? (Wm Bracewell)

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0RQl05oKmX/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Edited December 1, 2023 by oncnp

[capybara]

22 minutes ago, oncnp said:

From the ROH IG - Ever wondered what it takes to be a dancer @royaloperahouse? (Wm Bracewell)

 

…. described as a PRINCIPLE dancer.

And this is from a team where the ability to write is key. Don’t they ever check these things?

 

[Guest oncnp]

19 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

…. described as a PRINCIPLE dancer.

And this is from a team where the ability to write is key. Don’t they ever check these things?

 

 

No surprise. I think the ROH has already conclusively proved it has no attention to detail. 

 

I'm sorry I posted it but too late to remove.  Mods - if you could hide please? 

Edited December 1, 2023 by oncnp

[LinMM]

There was a main post yesterday (now withdrawn) about a certain actress in “ Anna Karnina” 🙄

 

[Sim]

34 minutes ago, oncnp said:

 

No surprise. I think the ROH has already conclusively proved it has no attention to detail. 

 

I'm sorry I posted it but too late to remove.  Mods - if you could hide please? 

Oncnp, there is no reason for us to remove this.  It is their mistake, not yours!

[zxDaveM]

5 minutes ago, Sim said:

Clearly not.  The amount of basic errors that emanate from the cast lists and social media posts is an embarrassment to a world-class opera house.  

 

they must give the website update tasks to the work experience bods...

 

[Sim]

54 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

…. described as a PRINCIPLE dancer.

And this is from a team where the ability to write is key. Don’t they ever check these things?

 

Clearly not.  The amount of basic errors that emanate from the cast lists and social media posts by the ROH is an embarrassment to a world-class opera house.  

[Sim]

1 minute ago, zxDaveM said:

 

they must give the website update tasks to the work experience bods...

 

In which case someone should check everything before putting it out.  

[Linnzi5]

1 hour ago, capybara said:

 

…. described as a PRINCIPLE dancer.

And this is from a team where the ability to write is key. Don’t they ever check these things?

 

At least it wasn't me this time! 🤣 I wonder if it was an autocorrect issue? My spelling of 'principal' has been autocorrected several times! Not that that is an excuse as we should all proof-read! 

Edited December 1, 2023 by Linnzi5

[HelenHelen]

To be fair to the ROH team on this occasion, that video looks to have been created by Time Out - Time Out can add the ROH Instagram account as a collaborator when the team uploads content, so it appears on both accounts. (There is a "bar" that should be "barre" too.) Someone should have been aware this was going to happen, asked to review the clip and sent it back for an edit, though.

Edited December 1, 2023 by HelenHelen

[Jan McNulty]

1 hour ago, zxDaveM said:

 

they must give the website update tasks to the work experience bods...

 

 

 

I doubt it, the work experience bods would probably do a better job!!

[Jan McNulty]

1 hour ago, Linnzi5 said:

At least it wasn't me this time! 🤣 I wonder if it was an autocorrect issue? My spelling of 'principal' has been autocorrected several times! Not that that is an excuse as we should all proof-read! 

 

 

I've been having huge issues with autocorrect and predictive text recently for some reason (possibly related to procurement of new phone but which also seems to have affected MacBook too - as though they swap notes in how to annoy me most!!).

 

I sent a message to someone recently and the MacBook (without me noticing of course) autocorrected Jan to Jacob!!!

[LinMM]

The American system (Apple etc) doesn’t like the word “may”as it puts it automatically with a capital letter and doesn’t like the word “ill” so I don’t think Americans can use these expressions much. Just occasionally it changes the spelling after you’ve gone on to the next word not as you are typing which is why you have to double check everything! 
But back to Dante……
 

[Sim]

1 hour ago, HelenHelen said:

To be fair to the ROH team on this occasion, that video looks to have been created by Time Out - Time Out can add the ROH Instagram account as a collaborator when the team uploads content, so it appears on both accounts. (There is a "bar" that should be "barre" too.) Someone should have been aware this was going to happen, asked to review the clip and sent it back for an edit, though.

If the video has been created elsewhere that's even more reason to check it and make sure it's right before posting it.  I had just noticed the incorrect spelling of 'barre' as well.  

[capybara]

1 hour ago, Sim said:

  I had just noticed the incorrect spelling of 'barre' as well.  

 

That's just plain ignorance.

It surely doesn't matter who produced it, it has gone out on the ROH's IG account; therefore full responsibility rests with them.

[Suffolkgal]

I sense the dreaded hand of AI

[art_enthusiast]

10 minutes ago, Suffolkgal said:

I sense the dreaded hand of AI

 

AI probably would have spelt it right.

[Linnzi5]

4 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

 

I've been having huge issues with autocorrect and predictive text recently for some reason (possibly related to procurement of new phone but which also seems to have affected MacBook too - as though they swap notes in how to annoy me most!!).

 

I sent a message to someone recently and the MacBook (without me noticing of course) autocorrected Jan to Jacob!!!

I have too. My MacBook and iPhone definitely swap notes! The most annoy one for me is when I type 'ill' - it changes it to I'll all the time! I have no idea why but even when I correct it, it then changes it back to what it wants. It's incredibly irritating and I have no idea how to stop it! 

[JennyTaylor]

Back to Dante.

I've so far seen all of Will Bracewell's performances, plus the associated cast so far, including the rehearsal. Previously, I had seen it once, for Ed Watson's farewell. 

 

I did wonder on Wednesday if it was growing on me, but I'm still not sure.  First of all though, I must say that I think Will is awesome as Dante: the role really lends itself to his multiple dancing and acting skills.  I find his movement breath-taking and his acting, incredibly intense. How does he get into that mood right from the first seconds of the ballet?  The depth of his characterisation from the start is superb. 

Equally, the entire cast have danced in stunning fashion in every performance. The standard is so high!  I am full of admiration.  So many stand out individual performances.  

Do I know what's going on?  Sometimes. Do I really care - sometimes and also feel frustrated. Like other forum members I do feel annoyed by the grey/black dingy costumes which make everyone look the same. I also still struggle to find meaning in much of the choreography of each section.  Is pretentious an appropriate word?    

On Wednesday, I felt confident for the first time to be able to name all dancers, benefitting hugely from sitting near the front of the auditorium.  That made it better.  At the rehearsal, I didn't realise Mayara Magri had appeared at all until I saw her at the final curtain.    

I also started to hear the music in my head for the first time. For me, music is a really important part of my experience at the ballet, so that was plus, but I'm afraid that the Nutcracker pdd between Clara and Hans-Peter is still taking definite precedence following the recent Insight event. I love it!  Still, I felt it was a step forward. 

I don't know about anyone else, but I find the repetition of the music used in Mayerling hugely distracting. Visions of the Empress Elisabeth and Rudolph keep interrupting my viewing of the dancers on stage.  

 

Finally - no flowers for the dancers on stage. Is this a policy?  I sent some on one night and know they were happily received - but even so. 

 

So, one more performance tomorrow - Will et al again. Actually, I would have liked to see the other cast but decided to prioritise my time and money for Manon and Swan Lake.  But, I will miss Tomas Mock.  

[Rob S]

 

 

 

I thought I had a ticket for both casts but it turns out I was wrong 🤦🏻‍♂️😆

Edited December 1, 2023 by Rob S

[alison]

4 hours ago, JennyTaylor said:

Finally - no flowers for the dancers on stage. Is this a policy?  I sent some on one night and know they were happily received - but even so.

 

McGregor's, I believe?   But then of course you can't do a Red Run, either.