Revamping La Bayadere to (hopefully) better suit contemporary perspectives ...

[Roberta]

If anyone is waiting to watch this 'reimagining'  (two performances, the first coming up very soon now and I'm certainly watching it again)  it could be worth 'tuning in' early. I have no idea if this will be livestreamed, worth a look possibly. Sarah Wroth is ballet mistress. 

 

To The Pointe – Pre-show talk on the 2024 Spring Ballet (“Star on the Rise: ‘La Bayadère’ . . . Reimagined!”), hosted by Sarah Wroth

I very much enjoyed this ballet performance last night / early morning UK time and would love to see this production taken up by a 'professional' company which can lavish the $$$$ on sets! All things considered, the minimal sets and projections worked very well, clever design, and the costumes were fun and colourful.

 

There were all the usual favourites including a spectacular Golden Idol (be still my beating heart) and yes, The Ramp. Everything you need in The White Act.  I will say no more! 

 

I thought it charming, so very witty and I think anyone who knows 'the original' will particularly enjoy it though it is enjoyable in its own right.  Congratulations @Doug Fullington your dancers and  musicians did you proud.  One or two of those children are stars in the making also! 

 

(There was actually a snake too, though not a reptile.) 

 

[RobR]

8 hours ago, Jamesrhblack said:

The plot of The Magic Flute is, indeed, a problem, not helped by the fact that the librettist seemed to switch tack about a third ot the way into Act One with the moral positions of the principal antagonists, the Queen of the Night and Sarastro, switching.

 

Così fan tutte is a different matter and the plot is, with respect, much more subtle than presented above. It may start from a male assumption that women are emotionally vulnerable, but, by the end, has shown that both men and women are emotionally vulnerable; that as human beings we make assumptions about relationships that are not necessarily sustainable; and that love is a complex issue. For me, it is one of the most fascinating operas in the repertoire, and there’s nothing misogynistic in the music Mozart writes for Fiordiligi in ‘Per pietà’ or ‘Fra gli amplessi.’

I have to accept that my views on opera may well be naive and that I may have missed the subtleties to which you referred but the thrust of my poorly made point is a concern about the way, in the opera, the two poor heroines' emotions are manipulated for the sake of a bet.

 

They are told that their beloved men have to go war. This is a 'humorous' ruse and the men go nowhere near a war.

 

The women do not receive any message(s) from the beaux for whom they are pining. Nor, in accordance with the bet, do the two men feel the need to send any message. 

 

The two men (manipulated by the obnoxious rake) return to the presence of the two women. They are heavily disguised and, for the sake of the bet, are happy for the rake and his assistant to try to persuade each of the heroines to give succour (I assumed both physical and emotional) to the 'other' beau rather than their own.

 

Each woman is bereft and very upset at what is happening yet their emotions are manipulated to cause each greater distress and the rake and the beaux seem entirely happy to pile indignity and stress onto the women they profess to love and cherish.

 

When I saw it, my prevailing feeling was not what a comic caper the plot is, not that in betting against the rake the beaux are defending their loves but that this 'comic' plot displays no sympathy for the feelings of the manipulated women and is, accordingly, abusive and misogynistic. 
 

You are entirely right about the fact that I didn’t get the subtleties of the plot.

[Geoff]

I have come in a little late (apparently the matinee started 20 minutes ago) but I still can‘t find a working link. Sorry but what should I be clicking on? 

[Roberta]

It has only just begun now!  https://iumusiclive.music.indiana.edu/#/

 

@Geoff I hope that works. I gather timezones differ across states! 

Edited March 30 by Roberta

[Geoff]

1 minute ago, Roberta said:

It has only just begun now!  https://iumusiclive.music.indiana.edu/#/

Thank you, got it now! 

[Jamesrhblack]

2 hours ago, RobR said:

I have to accept that my views on opera may well be naive and that I may have missed the subtleties to which you referred but the thrust of my poorly made point is a concern about the way, in the opera, the two poor heroines' emotions are manipulated for the sake of a bet.

 

They are told that their beloved men have to go war. This is a 'humorous' ruse and the men go nowhere near a war.

 

The women do not receive any message(s) from the beaux for whom they are pining. Nor, in accordance with the bet, do the two men feel the need to send any message. 

 

The two men (manipulated by the obnoxious rake) return to the presence of the two women. They are heavily disguised and, for the sake of the bet, are happy for the rake and his assistant to try to persuade each of the heroines to give succour (I assumed both physical and emotional) to the 'other' beau rather than their own.

 

Each woman is bereft and very upset at what is happening yet their emotions are manipulated to cause each greater distress and the rake and the beaux seem entirely happy to pile indignity and stress onto the women they profess to love and cherish.

 

When I saw it, my prevailing feeling was not what a comic caper the plot is, not that in betting against the rake the beaux are defending their loves but that this 'comic' plot displays no sympathy for the feelings of the manipulated women and is, accordingly, abusive and misogynistic. 
 

You are entirely right about the fact that I didn’t get the subtleties of the plot.

 

Again, with respect, I think you are taking an overtly literal approach to a plot which is an examination of human emotion. One thing that the music seems to make very clear is that the relationship between Fiordiligi and Ferrando has an intimacy and reciprocity that it is not there with her original lover and Mozart’s music shows that he has every sympathy with Fiordiligi’s situation.

 

Don’t forget also that the sisters are encouraged by their maid Despina to amuse themselves whilst their men are away before Don Alfonso introduces Ferrando and Guglielmo in disguise. As she, to paraphrase, says, “Have some fun while they’re away. You can bet they will be.” Is that also “abusive and misogynistic?”

 

Sometimes, we fall in love with the wrong person. And, sometimes, we find an accommodation with that. Tatyana in Eugene Onegin loves Onegin but keeps her marriage vow. Sometimes, we don’t, which is a fact of human existence. Is it significant that the couples “in disguise” match the opposite way to their original pairings? Sometimes, deep down, we long for what we cannot have.

 

Is it not one of the values of art that it enables us to explore and discuss these things? If everything were “just as it ought to be,” whatever that might be, would it actually be a true reflection of human reality?

Edited March 30 by Jamesrhblack

[RobR]

Thanks James, and absolutely no need to be respectful, although I appreciate the courtesy, but as I hope I made clear, I’m not overly keen on opera but had thought I should try to see what others get from it and have seen a number of operas that I have enjoyed and two by Mozart, both of which I clearly misunderstood but which offended me, or my sensitivity. 
 

It’s possible that others in the audience, similarly unversed in the nuances of Mozart’s 18th century storylines will also have taken the ‘literal’ approach. 
 

I’m afraid I can’t see the relevance of the comparison with Onegin, and I am familiar with the ballet and, despite considering it further in the light of your comment, have never seen in it any behaviour that I would describe as mysogynistic. 
 

Still, I don’t imagine that we’re going to agree and, for the sake of other OF members (who’ve probably read enough of our views) and in a spirit of detente, perhaps we should leave it there. 

[Emeralds]

@LinMM, there's a white act/Kingdom of the Shades that looks very similar to all other Bayadere productions. I must say these dancers are very good! (Am watching live but will have to stop soon)

[Jamesrhblack]

14 minutes ago, RobR said:

Thanks James, and absolutely no need to be respectful, although I appreciate the courtesy, but as I hope I made clear, I’m not overly keen on opera but had thought I should try to see what others get from it and have seen a number of operas that I have enjoyed and two by Mozart, both of which I clearly misunderstood but which offended me, or my sensitivity. 
 

It’s possible that others in the audience, similarly unversed in the nuances of Mozart’s 18th century storylines will also have taken the ‘literal’ approach. 
 

I’m afraid I can’t see the relevance of the comparison with Onegin, and I am familiar with the ballet and, despite considering it further in the light of your comment, have never seen in it any behaviour that I would describe as mysogynistic. 
 

Still, I don’t imagine that we’re going to agree and, for the sake of other OF members (who’ve probably read enough of our views) and in a spirit of detente, perhaps we should leave it there. 

 

Fair enough. My Onegin reference was not in terms of misogyny but in terms of the wider exploration of the the theme of Cosi fan tutte that sometimes we fall in love with the wrong person and how we deal with that.

[Roberta]

Cast and crew talkback right now. 

 

https://iumusiclive.music.indiana.edu/#/

[Roberta]

1 hour ago, RobR said:

(who’ve probably read enough of our views)

 

 I'm interested though I love Mozart and mid the livestream possibly isn't the best time to launch WWIII re opera. 😉

 

There is another livestream late tonight (that was the matinee in the US) and I'll be watching my third cast.  

 

This was about far, far more than simply staging a ballet for dance and music students I feel and more power to @Doug Fullington and Phil Chan for future ventures.  Also big shoutout to the designer, completing her Masters, and showing what can be done by a talented and inventive person on no doubt what was a very tight budget. The music... superb.  

 

How good it was to see such a diverse cast, and variety of body shape, and you know, you don't have to be stick thin to dance beautifully. 

 

I enjoyed it all immensely, not only the performances but the history and the discussions and the entire process behind it, and isn't the internet wonderful that we can share all this. 

 

I also feel that this 'going back to basics' (thank goodness for Stepanov) shows what we have lost in too many ballets, striving for audience wowing effect and higher and more spectacular and more spins while losing the steps and the dancing. 

 

 

[Roberta]

For those on the late shift livestream three is about to begin. Fresh cast.

 

 

https://iumusiclive.music.indiana.edu/#/

 

 

 

 

 

[Roberta]

Minkus wrote some cracking dance tunes, made even better IMO in the 'Dreamland' (Kingdom of Shades reinvented) scene by the addition of the wawas. Everyone in that theatre was having a ball tonight, on stage or in the audience.  La Bayadere without the worry was serious fun. 

[LinMM]

Well Thankyou to Doug Fullington for making this show so easily available. I still find live streaming amazing especially when all the way from US and with no hitches!! 
The only thing was I couldn’t get it to go to widescreen on my phone but I could zoom in and out a bit. 
It seems to me that the “shades act” is pretty much untouched from what you would usually see though the music was taken a little faster and had a lighter feel so those arabesques not quite so stretched out! All the usual dances were there and dancers all in tutus! So much more traditional in this bit than I was expecting. 
I missed the very beginning so must have missed the Golden Idol dance! 
(As it happens saw a student being coached in this for an audition at the Acosta Centre recently) 

 

I thought the dancers were quite mixed in skills but couldnt make out whether they are a Professional Company or not or serious students of Dance but not professional yet. 
 

It was more balletic than I was expecting so sort of works as an alternative “La Bayadere” but I rather like the melodrama of the original and would love somebody to try to keep the “Indian” feel ( though has always seemed more Turkish in feel to

me) while remaining respectful to that culture. 
The Georgian Ballet we’re doing this recently and had some amazing looking Indian costumes more like the real temple dancers would have worn in Southern India. 

One thing …the music for the original Nikiya’s dance hasn’t been axed it’s still there but is performed mostly with Nicki holding a guitar. This really limits the body movement that can come from this “yearning” music  so I would have preferred her to do the whole piece with the hat ( which she picks up towards the end) so the most can be made of the dance here. 

Anyway I’d rather have this version than end up with no version at all so can thank Doug Fullington and his team for that. 
 

 

[Bruce Wall]

Really admired this endeavour and it had so many imaginative touches and adorable spirit.  It's always wonderful to be able to really appreciate the core Petipa constructs.  We so often only see it obscured.  I was so grateful to be able to see the Paquita in Munich that Fullington worked on with Ratmansky.  It was such a lovely production which a later Russian Director of that Company sadly had destroyed.  I loved the use of demi-pointe to give speed.  Balanchine definitely played with this as well.  Thought the final principal couple were by some distance the strongest but all the 'Nikki's' were able dancers - and could 'move'.  The highlight for me was really Larry Moore's orchestrations.  No question.  I adored them.  Here was an idiosyncratic score that had been 'opened up' rather than obscured - or 'covered over' in the Martin West/Royal tradition.  The idea - let alone the buoyant reality - of this is a massive gift.  There is so much that should be tackled not just from an Asian perspective but from a 'Meetoo' one in these regards as well.  Blessedly our world IS - or certainly can and SHOULD BE - a different one.  I wonder, will people look back and see this as a kind of '19th Century Shakespeare' treatment moment?  I won't be about ... but I would so love to know. 

 

 

 

Edited March 31 by Bruce Wall

[Roberta]

1 hour ago, Bruce Wall said:

I won't be about ... but I would so love to know. 

 

 

Probably me neither, it's a sobering thought isn't it? I'd love to see their Le Corsaire, perhaps it will happen more rapidly than this did. I do hope, as was suggested, a few professional companies are interested, and this isn't the end of this production. 

 

The music was, indeed, simply brilliant, played by a student orchestra too. Minkus though not quite as you know him. I bet he would have approved. I'm quite fond of a bit of Minkus, I'm sure we've all fond memories of class exercises to snatches of Minkus without always knowing it was his tunes spurring us on.

 

Choreography I found a joy, no legs round ears or striving for 32 fouettes, mostly Petipa, a few inventions where notation and memory failed and a very few alterations to  tops / arms to make the choreography fit the theme. Thank goodness also for Stepanov and his notation, without whom ballet in this country would have looked very different. 

 

I laughed at the transformation of Golden Idol to a vision of a Golden Oscar, NOT Petipa and dating from 1948 but has become so much part of this ballet it would be a pity to omit this bravura male role. No Blackface children with him,  though it was great to have children from the University children's programme in the production. No savages, no idols, nothing cringemaking really. 

 

White Act was delightful, tutus though no man in white lycra tights (I'm not fond of those) and shades... of Astaire.  The music was taken at quite a lick and it didn't suffer. 

 

To answer @LinMM yes these were students at University,  Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Ballet Department, though the mime role of Doug Manta Head of Film Studios was Christian Claessens, faculty member and former dancer.  No doubt many of the students are seasoned YAGP competitors and some may be ex professionals now doing academic study, while others perhaps without the same experiences, the list of who is who and what is what is all here.  Quite a challenge and they rose to it. 

 

https://operaballet.indiana.edu/events/23-24_playbills/20240329_1930_mc_Star-on-the-Rise_WEB.pdf

 

Thanks @Doug Fullington and Phil Chan, I've been following your work with interest and had a great weekend watching all three performances and the after show talks.  I'm looking forward to further viewings when it's all 'on demand' on the University site. 

 

 

 

Edited March 31 by Roberta

[Emeralds]

I ended up watching the livestream in 2 sessions as our Easter weekend has been busy. At first I couldn't see how cowboys and Old Hollywood could blend into a Bayadere story but it seems to have worked. 

 

I'll have to put a caveat here that I couldn't see the performances closely (it's a bit like sitting in last row of ROH Amphitheatre or Coliseum Balcony with no opera glasses or binoculars) as I could only watch it on a phone (the other devices were in use) and somehow couldn't put it on full screen.

 

As a reboot or reworking it works very well, with great performances from the dancers and those in acting roles particularly impressive. I hadn't realised how much of a cowboy/Westerns  vibe and Busby Berkeley Hollywood vibe  Minkus's melodies had but they do indeed seem to (they certainly sound very oompah oompah in parts of Act 1!) but the music rearrangements do work! 

 

The various divertissements and Variations are in different places to the conventional productions we know, but there's still a Kingdom of the Shades act in white with arabesques being performed on the ramps, the 3 shade solos (tempi and a few steps slightly altered), an engagement party divertissement with the showpiece grand pas de deux, the Golden Idol variation etc. 

 

The costumes were colourful and well made, simple but effective sets, and the dancing great. A lot of the tempi are more brisk than many traditional Bayadere productions- not a bad thing as some versions drag on a bit. I enjoyed it and if Messrs Chan and Fullington were to tour it here with their dancers and either their musicians or local musicians for a short run I would certainly buy tickets to see it in person. 

 

I don't think it would replace existing classical versions completely but I would like to see some of the dodgy classical ones tweaked (the toy parrot dance makes one smile for the wrong reasons for example, and the cowboys' dances are a vast improvement on that) but I would certainly like to see this version take its place among all the professional productions in existence. 

 

So well done to Phil Chan, Doug Fullington and the creative team, and all the performers. Really enjoyed it. 

Edited March 31 by Emeralds

[Roberta]

21 hours ago, Roberta said:

To answer @LinMM yes these were students at University,  Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Ballet Department,

 

I note with interest the Chair of the Ballet Department at the Jacobs School of Music is a British export!

 

Nesta Brooking (terrifying woman) and Royal Ballet School trained, Professor Michael Vernon.

 

Michael Vernon

Professor of Music (Ballet)

 

https://music.indiana.edu/faculty/current/vernon-michael.html

 

 

[zxDaveM]

I've heard that to revamp Bayadere, it will be aesthetically merged with Fille, killing two birds with one stoned hero. Solor will replace Alain as Colas' rival for Lise, and Nikaya and Gamzatti will make up and elope together. The Shades will be danced in chicken costumes, and the golden idol will lead the maypole dance with a red umbrella tucked under his arm

[Roberta]

2 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

I've heard that to revamp Bayadere, it will be aesthetically merged with Fille, killing two birds with one stoned hero. Solor will replace Alain as Colas' rival for Lise, and Nikaya and Gamzatti will make up and elope together. The Shades will be danced in chicken costumes, and the golden idol will lead the maypole dance with a red umbrella tucked under his arm

 

Had it not been April 1st I would have been quite shocked to read that. 

 

 

[zxDaveM]

6 minutes ago, Roberta said:

 

Had it not been April 1st I would have been quite shocked to read that. 

 

 

 

well, that's killed the jest stone dead

[Roberta]

I did worry for a moment that that the dancing chickens were to be stoned to death, which would have been upsetting, until I saw the date. 

[Scheherezade]

40 minutes ago, Roberta said:

I did worry for a moment that that the dancing chickens were to be stoned to death, which would have been upsetting, until I saw the date. 

And Animal Rights protesters would have been charging to the rescue, not to mention the content warning notices that would have accompanied the performances. 

[San Perregrino]

1 hour ago, Roberta said:

I did worry for a moment that that the dancing chickens were to be stoned to death, which would have been upsetting, until I saw the date. 

for the purposes of this production the 'chickens' will be made from soya protein

[Tattin]

A brilliant merging - that would be the funniest comedy ballet of all time!! - but please don't mess with Minkus' score this time- that bit rather upset me in the revamping version of Bayadère.

[zxDaveM]

13 hours ago, Tattin said:

A brilliant merging - that would be the funniest comedy ballet of all time!! - but please don't mess with Minkus' score this time- that bit rather upset me in the revamping version of Bayadère.

 

Don't worry - they'll play all the right notes... though not necessarily in the right order

[LinMM]

I’ve been going through the links from April and can’t see a review yet of this Production…have I missed it 🤔

[zxDaveM]

Just now, LinMM said:

I’ve been going through the links from April and can’t see a review yet of this Production…have I missed it 🤔

 

still in the planning stage...

[LinMM]

🤔not sure what you mean it’s had several performances now. 

[Sim]

6 minutes ago, LinMM said:

🤔not sure what you mean it’s had several performances now. 

Believe me Lin, had there been any reviews our amazing Links ladies would have found them!  My turn tomorrow so I will keep a special eye out for anything about this programme. 

 

[Roberta]

I'm sure the moderators will be along in a moment demanding this topic gets back on track. Oh...  🩰

[Emeralds]

41 minutes ago, LinMM said:

I’ve been going through the links from April and can’t see a review yet of this Production…have I missed it 🤔

@Sim is right- I've had a search, LinMM, specifically looking for reviews, and while The New York Times, Pointe Magazine and Dance Australia, The Guardian, and Dance Magazine have all supported it pre-performance and pre-streaming, encouraging readers to watch, none have reviewed it ....except our forum - and Reddit! 

 

I couldn't be sure how many dancers in the show were student amateurs and how many planning to dance professionally.  Might that be a reason why it wasn't being reviewed in the usual way a professional show might- because it wouldn't be fair to those who were university students and not necessarily dancing in a professional capacity? 

Edited April 2 by Emeralds

[LinMM]

However I’m sure I saw another “College” production reviewed will search later but some garden jobs are calling before it rains!!!