"The World of John Neumeier" Gala in Copenhagen, May 2024

[Estreiiita]

I'm now on the way back from the first performance of the Gala "The World of John Neumeier" in Copenhagen. It was held in Tivoli concert hall and the huge theater was almost full with spectators (the former queen of Denmark Margrethe the 2nd and her sister princess Benedicte amongst them).

   Gala was performed to the live music provided by Tivoli Copenhagen Phil and consisted of two parts.

   John Neumeier had greeted the public and was on the scene quite a lot during the whole evening as before each number he held a short speech explaining the importance of one or other piece in his life. Christopher Evans was his "alter ego" on the scene, following the dancers and sometimes taking part in their performance.

  He started with his childhood in America where he first saw dance in movie theatres - and we could see the number from Bernstein Dances and then the piece from "Shall we dance? " to the music of Gershwin, beautifully performed by Ida Praetorius and Jacopo Belussi (though I'm not sure about him as there was no role list).

  After that John Neumeier mentioned his first encounter with the classical ballet - and we saw the excerpt from "The Nutcracker", including Cecchetti and Pavlova duo,  followed by "The death in Venice" where the main character is also a choreographer.

   Then he remembered the Covid times when he created a ballet "Ghost light" and we could see the piece from this ballet.

   John Neumeier also said that he was always interested in human feelings and especially in the way Shakespeare depicted them, so he brought us two duos - from "Romeo and Juliet" and "Othello", and here I only could admire the complicated lifts and beautiful movements. One couple was very young, the other was mature, but all danced impeccably.

  In the end of the first part we saw the joyful piece from "Christmas Oratorio" with the outstanding performance of Madoka Sugai.

  The second part started with the piece from "Nijinsky" - John Neumeier is very much fond of him. Then came "The Lady of the camelias" - again with Ida Praetorius and Jacopo Bellussi. After that Neumeier mentioned the importance of his friends for him, one of them had been Maurice Bejart - and we saw an "Opus 100 - for Maurice", first performed at 70-years celebration gala for Maurice Bejart in Lausanne in 1996.

  Then came the turn of russian literature that also made a strong impression at John Neumeier - and the piece from "Anna Karenina" followed.

 In the end we saw the excerpt from "Beethoven Project II" and a beautiful piece "Angel" from "Mahler's 3d Symphony" and here I'm sure we saw Alina Cojocaru and it was great.

  Everybody on the scene danced with a great pleasure, it was easy to see that John Neumeier is very much loved by his colleagues.

It was a delightful evening and though I won't be able to see the Nijinsky Gala in Hamburg this year, I'm very glad I could be at this very special performance tonight.

 

   

[Jan McNulty]

Thanks for your wonderful report @Estreiiita.

[Estreiiita]

Thanks to Angela I found the cast information on Hamburg ballet site. So now I'd like to add a few words about some dancers whose art had impressed me a bit more. 

  Christopher Evans was brilliant during the whole evening taking part in several pieces.

   "Bernstein dances" isn't my favourite work of John Neumeier as I believe, there are too many dancers on the scene sometimes and it's a bit difficult to follow all of them, but I was impressed that Giorgio Armani provided the costumes.

  "Shall we dance?" - Ida Praetorius danced here with Alexandr Trusch, and they had perfect chemistry and were excellent together.

  "The Nutcracker" - I like a lot Olivia Betteridge and she was very good here together with Alessandro Frola. Xue Lin and Matias Oberlin were also great.

   I liked a lot Azul Ardizzone as Juliet and Louis Musin was perfect Romeo.

  And of course Anna Laudere and Jason Reilly - I was surprised to see that he had a lot of tattoos. Actually, he was almost naked in this pdd full with emotions. They were excellent, there were a lot of slow movements but they accomplished all of them precisely.

   "Nijinsky" - all were great but I liked especially Ida Stempelmann as Bronislava Nijinska.

   "Anna Karenina" - here both Anna Laudere and Jacopo Bellussi were wonderful. Emilie Mazon also was good Kitty. Karen Azatyan only appeared for a couple of moments, but just his appearance as Mujik made quite an ominous impression.

  

[FionaM]

Jason Reilly might have been the first ballet dancer to reveal his tattoos when dancing … even before Sergei Polunin.  David Beckham is probably responsible for their popularity amongst younger generations. 
 

Many dancers have them now.  Matthew Ball, Gabriele Frola to name just two.   And ballerinas also have them.  Mostly they are unseen on stage either due to costumes or makeup.  
 

My adult children tell me it is inappropriate to comment on them … they are personal to that person.  Just as their hair colour, hair length, or choice of facial hair, and any adornments, etc are personal.  

[Jan McNulty]

5 hours ago, FionaM said:

Jason Reilly might have been the first ballet dancer to reveal his tattoos when dancing … even before Sergei Polunin.  David Beckham is probably responsible for their popularity amongst younger generations. 
 

Many dancers have them now.  Matthew Ball, Gabriele Frola to name just two.   And ballerinas also have them.  Mostly they are unseen on stage either due to costumes or makeup.  
 

My adult children tell me it is inappropriate to comment on them … they are personal to that person.  Just as their hair colour, hair length, or choice of facial hair, and any adornments, etc are personal.  

I can think of two now retired dancers who are old enough to have had their tattoos before Jason Reilly.

[Angela]

5 hours ago, FionaM said:

Jason Reilly might have been the first ballet dancer to reveal his tattoos when dancing

 

I remember tattoos on Farukh Ruzimativ during Sheherazade, ages ago - I think he forgot to cover them.

 

[Angela]

On 17/05/2024 at 10:41, Estreiiita said:

Actually, he was almost naked in this pdd full with emotions.

 

The piece of cloth that Othello is wearing in this ultra-slow, minimalistic pdd is actually the handkerchief that will get lost later, his first gift to Desdemona. I can image what silent triumph it must have been for Neumeier to show at least an excerpt from his "Othello" at Copenhagen, after the Royal Danish Ballet rejected the piece two years ago, because the dancers got a scene of blackfacing wrong.

[Estreiiita]

It was exactly my thoughts also while watching this pdd; this Gala is Neumeier's triumph anyway; the public welcomed him with a lot of applauses both during and after the performance and the royal guards brought him a big basket with flowers.