International Draft Works in the Linbury (April 2024)

[zxDaveM]

This opens this evening for 3 shows (tonight, the 10th April, tomorrow evening, and Saturday afternoon).

Casting (and so the list of works and from where they come from, etc) up for what looks an interesting bill of short works (5 pieces per half, each half about 45mins):

https://static.roh.org.uk/digital/cast-sheets/International-Draft-Works-Cast-Sheet-All-Performances.pdf

 

Hoping for a report or two...

[art_enthusiast]

I’m going tomorrow, looks like an interesting line up

[Emeralds]

Interesting to see that Xander Parish is dancing in the Norwegian National Ballet's offering!

[Jan McNulty]

1 hour ago, Emeralds said:

Interesting to see that Xander Parish is dancing in the Norwegian National Ballet's offering!

Why?  He’s still a member of the company as far as I am aware.

[art_enthusiast]

I’m excited to see him, I’ve never seen him live 

[annamk]

My friend and I went last night. 

 

We thought it was a very worthwhile evening. It was interesting to see dancers from so many different companies even if stylistically there were similarities between many of the pieces.

 

Korean National Ballet - Spring. Lovely costumes, the onstage live music and singing was a treat. Nothing amazingly fresh or new in the dancing just a charming little piece for 1 woman and 2 men.

 

Opera Ballet Flanders - a pdd in grounded contemporary style, not ground breaking but perfectly enjoyable.

 

National Theatre BRNO - one of our favourite pieces for 3 men and a woman. Quirky and whimsical.

 

Semperoper Dresden - sort of middle European influenced style for a couple with a brief film clip. 

 

The Royal Ballet - Joseph Toonga's trademark moves for Olivia Findlay and Nadia Mullova-Barley in pyjamas. If you like what Toonga does you'll enjoy this, personally I think it's a waste of classically trained dancers. Also I'm not quite sure how Toonga is an emergent choreographic voice. 

 

Norwegian National Ballet - Xander Parish demonstrating his partnering skills in a classically influenced, dramatic pdd.

 

Birmingham Royal Ballet - one of our standout pieces of the evening. We liked the choreography Birmingham Royal Ballet principal dancer Lachlan Monahan created for 2 men and 2 women. 

 

Paris Opera Ballet - Florent Melac (more recently known to me as Espada in the recent Don Q live relay). Another enjoyable creation, contemporary in style and dress.

 

Scottish Ballet - too much initial writhing around but it picked up subsequently. 

 

The Royal Ballet - a more than decent choreographic effort from Matthew Ball for himself and Mayara Magri. Personally I'd ditch the costume designer though. 

 

Hats off to Emma Southworth - the logistics of organising this must have been a nightmare. The evening wizzed along nicely: the music choices were pleasing - no loud thudding bass tracks, all in all an engaging 2 hours and not once did I find myself thinking about my shopping list. 

 

 

 

[Emeralds]

8 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

Why?  He’s still a member of the company as far as I am aware.

Wasn't meaning "interesting" in a negative or sarcastic sense, as some might do- I meant that it's actually made me interested in looking for returns (the performances are sold out), although I've never been to Draft Works before. 

[Mary]

I'd love to see some photos.

[art_enthusiast]

I went to this last night (in terms of star spotting, I think I glimpsed Lauren Cuthbertson down the row from me and Joonhyuk Jun elsewhere in the audience!) 

It was good overall, but I don't really think that many pieces stood out to me - particularly not the more contemporary ones. I do understand the perspective of people on here who aren't impressed by Joseph Toonga's works - I don't think they're completely terrible and I think in this one a few ballet moves were incorporated, they were on pointe at least, but I agree that it could be a lot better if he's aiming to achieve some sort of fusion between contemporary and ballet.

 

The pieces I liked the most were - definitely Norwegian National Ballet, Xander Parish and Eugenie Skilnand were absolutely beautiful. Also National Theatre Brno - a very creative and inventive comedic piece. The dancer in the purple top - I don't know his name - stood out in particular. I found parts of it a bit repetitive though.

 

i liked the Semperoper Dresden piece a lot, Anri Sugiura is a lovely dancer. Two other very good pieces were the ones from Birmingham Royal Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet. The Birmingham Royal Ballet piece in particular was very choreographically strong and so brilliantly executed, what amazing dancers they have. As a Londoner I do wish I could see more of them, definitely aiming to see their Sleeping Beauty at Sadler's Wells.

 

The other pieces were not too worthy of note in my opinion, nothing too special. The Korean National Ballet piece was beautifully creative, stunning costumes and a lovely representation of spring. Gorgeous dancers, I just think the choreography could have been a bit more interesting.

 

Forgot to mention Matthew Ball's piece. I did like it, I haven't seen much of his choreography before. However I wasn't sure if I liked it just due to the choreography, or due to the fact that it was performed by him and Mayara Magri, two of my favourite RB dancers.

Edited April 12 by art_enthusiast

[alisonruss]

Just catching up... for the record, the Scottish Ballet Principal is called Marge Hendrick. 

 

Saw her as Blanche in 'Streetcar Named Desire' last year, and imagine that she will be reprising the role when the production goes to Sadler's Wells in May this year.