alison Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 I've been having a look at some older recordings of Onegin over the last week or two, and have been surprised to note that various sections of modern-day performances of the ballet "feel" faster, regardless of whether they actually take less time or not. A prime example would be the mirror pas de deux in Act I: nowadays it often seems quite breathtakingly fast and athletic, especially in the "flips", whereas a few decades ago it looks as though it was more romantic, almost languid in places, maybe. I don't know whether this change is international - I haven't seen anyone but the Royal Ballet dance it this century - or local, and whether it has in fact changed over time, perhaps with increasing technical ability, or whether it's my imagination. Certainly I noticed that in later Royal Ballet casts in this run it appeared to be taken more slowly, but I wasn't sure how much of that could be down to Nuñez and Soares both recovering from injury, or (I think Lamb and Hristov were also slower) lesser familiarity with the choreography/partnership. I'd be interested to hear points of view in particular from those who've seen more of this ballet than I have, and/or have a longer and/or more international perspective than I do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 I've wondered about this too. It's always seemed to me that Cojocaru and Kobborg perform those flips more dramatically and possibly quicker than others, or maybe it's just that she's smaller and seems lighter through the air and goes higher. Breathtaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 Alison, I guess this depends on the male dancers and their lifting ability - maybe it looks "faster" if the difficult lifts go smoothly? I've seen Onegin in various companies with various casts and I don't remember extreme differences in speed - some couples like it a bit slower, some are more experienced and take it faster, normally those with the better partners. That's not very helpful, I fear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 Does it ever have anything to do with the conductor? I noticed with Swan Lake (BRB) during the Autumn that there could be a 7 or 8 minute diffierence in the running time dependent on the conductor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mijosh Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 Interestingly, I had a conversation with Jean-Marc Puissant who had been a dancer with the Stuttgart Company in the '90s. He messaged me on facebook after we had both been to the General rehearsal on January19 saying that it all seemed to him as being too slow,especially the mirror pdd,but he put it down to the young and relatively inexperienced conductor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 Well normally the conductor sets the tempi together with the dancers, not only in the Swan Lake pdds but also in Onegin, so it's not his decision alone, I guess. I don't remember such extreme differences in Onegin like in, let's say, the DQ pdd or the Black Swan pdd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted February 12, 2013 Share Posted February 12, 2013 My memories of this ballet go back to the original cast and I've seen at least five companies dance it but I've never heard anything other than minor differences of tempi, nothing to make me note a major change. I've noticed a couple of minor differences of approaching certain roles though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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