AC Workroom's La Strada, Sadler's Wells

[Sim]

Alina Cojocaru's company opens La Strada tonight at Sadler's Wells.  All comments and discussion here, please.

[maryrosesatonapin]

I am very much looking forward to going to it on Saturday.  It's a bit sad that more tickets haven't been sold - and the tickets aren't expensive.  I adore Cojocaru and think Londoners are missing out if they don't take the opportunity to see her before she inevitably retires.

[Sim]

I am going to the Saturday matinee and really looking forward to it....I love the film, and I think if anyone can come even close to replicating Giulietta Masina's performance in it, it is Alina.  This is also a rare chance to see her dance with Johan Kobborg once again.  

[Blossom]

Looking forward to the reviews and may book for Sunday if I can free up some time!

It doesn't seem to have been the best publicised event and wonder if as a guest event, they declined marketing support from Sadlers Wells.

[Blossom]

 

Not sure if this has been shared already.

[TSR101]

You have to admire her bravery for putting this on - it can't have been easy without the backing of a company and its marketing capacity. Particularly as it is not like you can show highlight clips in adverts. I personally can't wait to see it. 

[FionaM]

There is a FABULOUS clip on Instagram story of cast member Casey Nokomis

 

https://www.instagram.com/stories/casey.nokomis/3288071981968237173?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igsh=Njl3bjJ4c2F0MmVs

 

Alina/Gelsomina with one of the angels played by David Rodriguez Muñoz.  He was previously a soloist with Hamburg Ballet (left this season).   He has partnered  Alina there  .  I saw him as ‘death’ in Neumeier’s Swan Lake and as the Unicorn in Neumeier’s Glass Menagerie.  

Edited January 25 by FionaM
Add dancer info

[Rob S]

Looking forward to Sunday's closing performance

[Emeralds]

Looking forward to this immensely! Sorry I'm not able to catch it tonight to report/review it early for fellow members. It looks incredible from the rehearsal clips already. Cojocaru, Kobborg and Zeni on the same stage- fantastic. The score by Nino Rota is a masterpiece. 

Edited January 25 by Emeralds

[capybara]

Tonight’s show ended at 9.45pm. I think the interval lasted longer than 25 mins.

Many critics in attendance so quite a few ‘official’ reviews will emerge.

I personally feel the need to process what I saw before  trying to write on here.

[FionaM]

I too want time to process.   I do know it touched me internally more than many shows do.  But I can’t quite describe it yet.  
 

The narrative was more intangible than say MacMillan, which now feels too obvious.  Hmm.
 

What I can say is it was an absolute delight to witness Alina’s special emotive range, her extraordinary control of her technique and the special organic partnership she has with Johan.   I wasn’t expecting so much dancing from him.  His solos and partnering (lifts etc) were fabulous.  He is 51!
 

Mick Zeni has impressive stage presence and held my attention dramatically as Zampano.  
 

The two angels, Marc Jubete and David Rodriguez Muñiz are fabulous dancers. Both are former soloists of Hamburg Ballet.  I’d describe their roles as reflecting or amplifying the thoughts of the characters they are supporting.  So to me they were  ‘thoughts’ rather than ‘angels’.  Maybe that’s the same thing for some people.  Really super emotional content from them both, though David is on a deeper level for me.  
 

BTW I hear John Neumeier is coming to see the show tomorrow (Friday).  I’d want to hear his review for sure! 

[FionaM]

I had one critic behind me, who audibly sighed irritably at each change of scene/music from partway through Act 2.  I wouldn’t expect something favourable there.  
 

However I may actually agree with him, that some scenes seemed not to say anything new.  Maybe he and I missed the meaning, perhaps it was too subtle in places for us?
 

I am going again on Saturday.   I like to see a new show at least twice to better understand it.  So … more later in the week.  

[Rob S]

Marianela Nunez has posted that she left Sadlers Wells floating....so either she enjoyed it or helium balloons are on sale at the merchandise stall

[TSR101]

So for me it wasn't perfect but I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Alina remains such a beautiful expressive ballerina, it is a joy to watch her. She can do so much with just her facial expressions and that is before you get to her dancing. We must treasure her whilst she is still performing.

 

I am surprised a big company hasn’t looked at producing La Strada before. It is brilliant material and Alina and team made good use of quite minimalist sets to really place us in the circus. Congrats should go to the angels who were wonderful partners for Alina, who actually did very little solo dancing (perhaps none?).

 

There were things that I could think have been improved. The narrative for me was mixed at times it really grabbed me emotionally in places, and at others it felt a bit repetitive and after Il Matto’s demise it got a bit lost. However, tbh although one critic I was sitting by was unimpressed with that element, I didn’t think it any less clear than say ‘Like Water for Chocolate’. I thought the Mick Zeni’s role was under developed. Although he showed good acting ability, this was definitely an Alina vehicle and there was an opportunity for Zeni’s role to do far more dancing and to really express his brutishness through dance. There was another missed opportunity when we first 'arrive' at the circus to use the six circus performers to do more bravura dancing - demonstrating some classical ballet skill - which would have been consistent with circus performers. Finally, for me there was a weakness in the choreography in that a number of times the male partner was placed in front of Alina blocking the audience’s view - even in the middle of lifts - it just came off as a bit awkward. Contrary to Fiona above, I think MacMillanesque choroegraphy would have been able to further emphasise Alina’s brilliance.

 

I would repeat what I have said above again, it was very brave of her to create a full length work without the power of a company funding and guiding it. I think we need more of this within the ballet world. I’d definitely recommend people go - not least because it’s incredible value for money to see a truly special dancer.

 

Edited January 26 by TSR101

[zxDaveM]

I really enjoyed the evening. Made me realise I'd not seen Alina dance for ages - and that I had resigned myself to never seeing Johan Kobborg dance again - let alone juggle, and ride a unicycle! Although he only danced with Alina briefly, it did bring the glorious memories flooding back, I can't deny. It is always a pleasure watching Alina dance, she is so expressive, and I particularly loved the sections where she danced with the Angels (Marc Jubete and David Rodriguez) either as a duet or a trio. The 'corps' of 6 dancers made up the other characters (of the circus, Gelsomina's mother), and were rather a filler when the main characters not on stage, though what they did was pleasant enough. The main interest of course, was between Gelsomina, Zampano and Il Motto (Alina, Mick Zeni, Johan respectively). Sold to Zampano by her mother, his initial desire quickly turned to abusive jealousy. Il Motto's intervention seemed to give her hope, but he seemed disinterested in her, more keen on the confrontation with Zampano, which ultimately led to a fight in which Il Motto died (despite seeming to have the upper hand through most of the fight). Despite being remorseful, Gelsomina understandably was frightened of him, and the joyful circus life became more of a scary nightmare. The dancing wove around this plot (my loose interpretation), with the angels occasionally freezing the action as a sort of inner world of Gelsomina. The score was snippets of music (recorded) from a variety of film score sources (a list - and long list it was - in the programme) which did give the piece a rather 'bitty' feel, as most of those snippets were only 2-3 minutes, with blank pauses between. The dancers did make the most of each snippet though, some of the dancing (as mentioned, between Gelsomina and the Angels) was sublime.

 

Nice touch in the curtain calls - Alina herself gave all the cast and creatives a single rose, and Johan got a kiss as well 🙂

[FionaM]

@zxDaveM sold to Zampano (Mick Zeni) .   I know you meant that 

Edited January 26 by FionaM

[zxDaveM]

24 minutes ago, FionaM said:

@zxDaveM sold to Zampano (Mick Zeni) .   I know you meant that 

 

oops - I did!

(and I've corrected, so thank you)

[FionaM]

I too thought the music transitions were a little clumsy in a few places.  
 

I don’t know if that is possible to improve. I guess it would be considerable expense to hire a composer to extend and join-up somehow.  And that would take more negotiation with the licence holders.  Hmm.  Might not be possible with limited budget.  
 

It occurs to me that much of classical music is disjointed like this too … Sleeping Beauty fairy variations for instance … where the gaps are filled by curtseys and applause. 

[Sim]

The first review is in.  David Jays in the Evening Standard (see Today's Links) liked Alina but not the ballet....

[Angela]

5 hours ago, zxDaveM said:

The score was snippets of music (recorded) from a variety of film score sources

 

4 hours ago, FionaM said:

I too thought the music transitions were a little clumsy in a few places.  
 

I don’t know if that is possible to improve. I guess it would be considerable expense to hire a composer to extend and join-up somehow.  And that would take more negotiation with the licence holders.  Hmm.  Might not be possible with limited budget.  

 

If I understand correctly, the ballet uses music from different movies by Nino Rota? But there are ballet suites of La Strada in different lengths by the composer himself, one over an hour long, another half an hour, which don't fall into snippets but sound like a symphonic score, a beautiful symphonic score in my opinion. I know it because it was used for the Munich version of "La Strada" by Marco Goecke, which was 80 min long. Rota himself made a ballet music out of his film score, the ballet premiered in 1966 at La Scala. Does the programme say why the choreographer did not use this original ballet music?

You can listen to the shorter suite here, in an official recording by the HR Orchestra from Frankfurt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLAqaH2VS7I

 

[Emeralds]

22 hours ago, FionaM said:

I too want time to process.   I do know it touched me internally more than many shows do.  But I can’t quite describe it yet.  
 

The narrative was more intangible than say MacMillan, which now feels too obvious.  Hmm.
 

What I can say is it was an absolute delight to witness Alina’s special emotive range, her extraordinary control of her technique and the special organic partnership she has with Johan.   I wasn’t expecting so much dancing from him.  His solos and partnering (lifts etc) were fabulous.  He is 51!
 

Mick Zeni has impressive stage presence and held my attention dramatically as Zampano.  
 

The two angels, Marc Jubete and David Rodriguez Muñiz are fabulous dancers. Both are former soloists of Hamburg Ballet.  I’d describe their roles as reflecting or amplifying the thoughts of the characters they are supporting.  So to me they were  ‘thoughts’ rather than ‘angels’.  Maybe that’s the same thing for some people.  Really super emotional content from them both, though David is on a deeper level for me.  
 

BTW I hear John Neumeier is coming to see the show tomorrow (Friday).  I’d want to hear his review for sure! 

Thank you for the informative feedback, FionaM! I’d be curious to read/hear John Neumeier’s reaction too! It just occurred to me that La Strada and Gelsomina’s story sounds like a ballet that Neumeier might like to make: there are bits of Liliom and Glass Menagerie (both made for and with Cojocaru) that remind me of La Strada and Gelsomina’s vulnerability. 

 

22 hours ago, Rob S said:

Marianela Nunez has posted that she left Sadlers Wells floating....so either she enjoyed it or helium balloons are on sale at the merchandise stall

Lovely that Marianela Nuñez gave the performance and production such a positive and supportive response! Can’t wait! 

[zxDaveM]

Saw the friday night performance too - enjoyed even more (as had a better idea of what was going on, and could match the dancing to the synopsis points). Still a bit phased by the gaps in the music, but did love some of the tunes they used. And c'mon- it was Alina and Johan!! Makes me realise just how much I've missed them over recent years

[Emeralds]

Great photos from Amber Hunt on the official Photography by ASH social media pages of the production and from the Evening Standard! (see Dance Links to click on ES review)

[maryrosesatonapin]

We went to today’s matinee. I loved every minute. Thank you to the critics who didn’t like the choreography, and those forum members who warned that perhaps the dramaturgy was lacking, or the music had gaps (didn’t notice that?).  Because I went, fully expecting to be moved and delighted by Alina’s dancing (I was) but ready to accept rather a lot of imperfections.  Thus I had the wonderful experience of being pleasantly surprised.
 

The greatest impact for me was Johan Kobborg’s dancing: I had no idea he would still be able to do what he did.  As soon as he started moving, I could recognise the ineffable elegance and poetry of his movement, and the lightness of landing, the beautiful technique, the wit.  Just incredible.  And when he and Alina danced together once more I was in Heaven.
 

All of the performers were very satisfying.  I loved the costumes, the props, the music.  I loved the choreography.  It did not replicate the story of the film step-by-step, but rather distilled the essence of its charm and tragedy.  I admit to shedding a tear or two at the end.
 

What a brave, profound and inspired woman Alina Cojocaru is.  I will remember this performance for the rest of my life.

[serenade]

I saw the matinee today- overall I enjoyed it but it was a bit of a mixed bag for me.

 

The things I really enjoyed about it was of course Alina and Johan.  I was not following Royal Ballet at the time they were dancing so I never got to see them dance together live though love the Giselle DVD.  I've seen Alina a few times with ENB a while back and always really enjoyed her performances so today was no different.  Alina danced beautifully.  I really enjoyed Johan- as Fiona said in an earlier post I wasn't expecting so much dancing and he's most certainly still got it, everything he danced was a real highlight.  Loved all the tricks- I was a bit worried about him on that unicycle but he pulled it off 😄.  I think narratively it was good in the first act but I do really love the film so I'm sure that helped.  I liked all the music they used. 

 

So then unfortunately in the second act I got a bit lost....I could no longer connect to the story anymore and there (seemed to me) to be endless sequences of the circus dancers dancing but I wasn't sure what the purpose of that was (narratively I mean).  It would have been fine but I wasn't a fan of the choreography (for the circus dancers) so then it really started to drag which is a shame as I really wanted to love it.  Although the second act didn't do it for me, Alina is such a wonderful actress that I was always engaged in the show when she was on stage. Overall definitely worthwhile seeing and I'm glad I went.  Probably I would enjoy it more on second viewing.

[SheilaC]

There were 4 people filming both performances today. There are plans to edit the filming to produce a film as a record of the ballet, presumably to be available for the public. 

 

Like some others on the forum I enjoyed the 2nd performance I saw more than the first, when I found some of the other dancers' contribution to be intrusive, breaking the flow of the plot. Knowing what to expect this evening I enjoyed their involvement more, not least as they are very good dancers. 

 

And as others have said, Alina was, as ever, exceptional. She's a wonderful actor, like Ulanova and Seymour willing to look awkward if the plot requires it, expressive, touching and dancing fluently in a range of styles. She is so versatile- next week she will be dancing totally different choreography in Bath. And it was a treat to see Johan dancing again- and so well.

 

.

 

[FionaM]

I’ve now seen the show three times and was moved to tears by the emotions and thoughts conveyed.  Also (as others have mentioned) by the beauty of the dancing.  
 

I’ve come to the conclusion that if one is expecting a literal narrative telling of a story in the usual sequential way, then this ballet is not that.  
 

it is something else entirely.  
 

it is ground breaking and innovative in an entirely different direction.  To me it is about conveying thoughts and emotions of the characters.  There is a very real journey for Alina/Gelsomina in her understanding of her hopes for her two partners and the realisation of their flaws.  The ballet is primarily this.
 

Il Matto (Johan) is unable to commit or give her the unconditional love she seeks.   Zampano lost her love with his abusive behaviour.  He then leaves her with his coat and treasure (the trumpet) to show that he actually did care.  

Edited January 28 by FionaM
Typo

[FionaM]

Regarding the music gaps … these were less noticeable on subsequent viewings as the dancers breached the gaps with ongoing movements or action. 

[FionaM]

@Angela regarding music.  
 

In the programme it says “Horecna selected music from Nino Rita’s film compositions so they had an emotional coherence that fitted her ideas for the production”

 

The programme has a complete listing of the circa 40 pieces of music used including from Il Casanova, Il Gattopardo, La Dolce Vita,  and others.  Only a handful are from the movie score for La Strada.  

[FionaM]

Apparently Nino Rota and Stravinsky were friends … which might explain why the piece “La Rabbia (anger) di Zampanò” used in this ballet for the accidental killing of Il Matto begins with a direct rip off of Le Sacre du Printemps. 

[Rob S]

 

 

 

[Sim]

I am just back from seeing the final performance of this piece. I would have liked to have seen it twice but was unwell yesterday so not able to attend.  So, from one viewing, as others have mentioned, there is a lot to process.

 

I went along determined to keep the film and the heart-breaking performance of Giulietta Masina out of my head and largely succeeded because of Alina Cojocaru's sublime rendition of the role.  However, it is not fair to compare the two as they are two different mediums.  I am not sure that this piece is quite sure what it is trying to do:  is it trying to be a narrative, or is it a sort of impressionistic interpretation of the story?  Even with the programme synopsis, I often found it hard to determine what was going on, so if you didn't already know the story, it would be very confusing.  In Act 2, it wasn't clear why Il Matto kept coming back after he died.  When he comes through the circus tent curtains and looks around, is he supposed to be in heaven?  Is it his ghost?  It is clear when he rides his unicycle with a pair of wings on that he is supposed to be a ghost, but the other times he appears, I am not sure.  The shifts in time aren't very clear either.  When Gelsomina is sold at the beginning, Zampano pays her mother with what must be a coin, as it is such a small gesture.  It is perfunctory and quick, and when it was done two dancers were standing right in front of them.  It really needs to be made obvious that this child's poor mother is selling her to a brute.  I call him a brute, but I found that it wasn't clear how brutish and abusive he was.  I guess nowadays you can't choreograph like MacMillan did and make it obvious, but I didn't see anything too awful, and certainly not that would make me wonder why on Earth this sweet girl stays with him, especially when Matto comes along.  From the programme notes it doesn't seem as if they had a dramaturg, and I think they could have used one.

 

Having said this, there is so much to like here, most of all the performances.  What a joy, privilege and honour it was to experience Johan and Alina dance together again.  I had a lump in my throat because all of their incredible performances came flooding back to me as I watched, and I was reminded of how I never left the ROH having seen them dance without being wrung out and knocked sideways.  Both of them are in such good shape and looked glorious, both together and separately.  Aside from their dancing, their interpretation and emotion emanated everywhere just as they used to.   I just wanted more.  And more.   

 

The rest of their small company was very impressive, especially the two angels, Marc Jubete and David Rodriguez.  Aside from being excellent dancers (and having costumes that I covet!) they were accomplished and secure accompaniers for Alina, partnering her with sensitivity and panache all at once.  They really made her fly. The choreography worked for what it is; not too complicated but effective interpretation of the music.

 

I absolutely loved the choice of music.  I am half Italian and hearing all the themes and music from those wonderful Italian films of the 50s and 60s made me think of my late father and all the stories he used to tell about growing up in Rome during and after the war, so I was transported back to those times, those stories.  

 

I think that this was a brave and encouraging start for Alina's ACWorkshop and I do hope that there will be more in the future.  For a first commission, this was really good and with a bit of pruning and narrative clarity it could become great.  It is definitely a keeper, and I would go and see it again. 

 

I said above that the angels made Alina fly.  They did, but Alina soars by herself, just by being on any stage anywhere.  Brava to her and the whole company for conceiving, producing and performing this moving piece.

[capybara]

The comments from others have really helped me to appreciate this piece more. I should have gone for a second viewing today!

A Dramaturg could, at minimum, have provided a valuable ‘second pair of eyes’, especially in Act 2 where some pruning might have been helpful (I lost my way at this point and that has never happened before when the riveting Alina is dancing).

 

Congratulations to Alina for this bold and innovative venture and for giving us the joy of having her on stage in London again.

 

Just one other thought although it’s too late to say it really …. I wonder whether acworkroom was the wisest choice of name for Alina’s production company in terms of ‘public’ perception generally or, indeed, the story which was being told this time.