National Ballet of Canada at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London: Passion, islands, Angels' Atlas 2-6 October 2024

[Emeralds]

A warm welcome to National Ballet of Canada on their return to London after their successful last visit 11 years ago bringing their (then new) production of Romeo and Juliet.

 

They open tomorrow night, Wednesday 2 October, with a triple bill consisting of Passion by James Kudelka, veteran creator of many works in the NBC repertoire, islands (spelled entirely in lower case letters) by rising talent Emma Portner, and internationally acclaimed star Crystal Pite (an Associate Artist of Sadler's Wells), whose Angels' Atlas has already been staged by Ballett Zürich and Staatsballett Berlin after its successful premiere by National Ballet of Canada 4 years ago. All three choreographers are Canadian. 

 

Details about the programme can be found at: https://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/the-national-ballet-of-canada/

 

The programme (according to NBC) is due to run for 1 hour 40 minutes with one 20 minute interval. Casting information can be found at:  

https://www.sadlerswells.com/freesheet-the-national-ballet-of-canada-frontiers-choreographers-of-canada-pite-kudelka-portner/ 

 

Tickets are selling fast- best availability is  currently on Saturday evening and the three matinées. Looking forward to reviews, thoughts and reactions from members!

Edited October 1, 2024 by Emeralds

[Amelia]

For me it is a wonderful chance to see Svetlana Lunkina who will dance every day:

 

PASSION:  Oct 3 at 2:00 / Oct 4 at 7:30 pm

ANGELS’ ATLAS:  Oct 2,3,5 at 7:30 pm / Oct 6 at 2:30 pm

[Emeralds]

I know Amelia has already pointed this out, but this means Svetlana Lunkina won't dance at the Sat matinee. 

 

For those who previously enquired, Siphesihle November dances on Wed, Thursday and Saturday evenings and the Sunday matinee.  

 

Caveats: there's a listing at the bottom about the Angels' Ashes ensemble which is a little unclear as to whether Lunkina and November might dance in the ensemble if they are not dancing the leads. The same applies to principal Tirion Law. Casting also can be subject to changes due to illness/injury. 

NB Angels' Atlas and Islands are both danced in socks (ie no pointe work). 

Edited October 2, 2024 by Emeralds

[alison]

Where was the casting information, please?

[Emeralds]

Special favour just for you @alison, I'll post it again (it's in the original post 😉 ) 

 

Casting: https://www.sadlerswells.com/freesheet-the-national-ballet-of-canada-frontiers-choreographers-of-canada-pite-kudelka-portner/

[Amelia]

It is good that they don't bring only contemporary pieces but neoclassical ones too.

Edited October 2, 2024 by Amelia
typo

[Sim]

I would love to hear any comments on the performance, please?!  

[zxDaveM]

1 hour ago, Sim said:

I would love to hear any comments on the performance, please?!  

 

ok, very quickly:

'Passion' (to the first movement of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, the converted to piano version) by James Kudelka, was pretty and to gorgeous music - but 'passionate' it was not. Despite that I quite enjoyed it. There was a corps of 5 female dancers, two further classical couples - the two lead couples differed in that one was in the same 'classical style' (him in tights, her in a long tutu) as the corps, the other couple in contemporary gear (him in jeans/t-shirt, her in a heavier looking skirt). The contempory pairing seemed to dance to the piano, whereas the classical duo danced to the orchestra - and neither seeming to realise anyone else there. The corps dancing a little repetitive as they inteweaved with the two lead couples, but as I say, I enjoyed well enough

After the interval, we had a female duet called 'islands' by Emma Portner. Starting off in a baggy 4-legged pair of trousers (where they shared the waistband) off they went in various adventures, before ditching the trews for more expansive stage running about. Very contemporary dancing, to very contemporary soundscape. Can't say it was my cuppa. Sounded like I was in the minority though, as Heather Ogden and Genevieve Penn Nabity got a resounding curtain call

After the pause, we came to the Crystal Pite piece 'Angels' Atlas'. This was why I paid my ticket price if I'm honest, and I wasn't disappointed. To an incredible backdrop of smoke-like 'angels' Pite moved the dancers around the stage to church-like choral pieces by Tchaikovsky and Morten Lauridsen (which I liked - must be my Welsh chapel roots), and original 'music' by Owen Belton (which I wasn't keen on). Duets emerged from the crowd, before being subsumed in the flow of the rest of the cast  (some 35-36 dancers) - often mesmerising to watch especially against that backdrop. Though a warning - it was pretty loud at times (a Sadlers default it seems!). I enjoyed this piece a lot, and would have happily seen it again, if I wasn't tied up already with other things (October is VERY busy!)

[alison]

I just spotted someone on the northern line coming away from this - did the advertised running time bear any resemblance to reality?

[ChrisG]

13 hours ago, zxDaveM said:

Pite moved the dancers around the stage to church-like choral pieces by Tchaikovsky and Morten Lauridsen

Yes, I found the final section of Pite's work incredibly moving. Lauridsen's O Magnum Mysterium means a lot to me, for reasons I've described on this forum, and to see it interpreted so beautifully brought tears to my eyes - and she chose the Polyphony recording which is the perfect interpretation. In nearly all of Pite's works that I've seen there's this idea of the corps as a flock, as a collective organism that moves as one, and this was no different, and I just love how she does it. I loved the whole programme this afternoon, much more than I enjoyed Alice at the ROH in the evening - it's a very effective piece but it doesn't make you think in the way the three pieces in the afternoon did!

[zxDaveM]

22 hours ago, alison said:

I just spotted someone on the northern line coming away from this - did the advertised running time bear any resemblance to reality?

 

pretty much bang on

[LACAD]

I’ve just returned home from Sadlers which had a very enthusiastic and supportive audience — including some N. American style clapping after duets, which usually was just one or two Canadians (I presume they were at least), I always wonder if they think we’re very cold with our holding of applause until the end!

James Kudelka’s work was unfortunately not very interesting either in scenario or its very derivative choreography. It was two ballets happening simultaneously, and I don’t mean that in a good way unfortunately. The ballet was not helped by a performance that was cursed with some bumps, fumbles, and wobbles. The young principal Genevieve Penn-Nabity was a gorgeous presence.

 

Interestingly the two female leads of Passion (Nabity and Heather Ogden) performed in Emma Portner’s Islands. It’s much more full of intrigue and mystery, the choreography shimmers with choreographic articulations and puzzles that are very clever. However the piece is wanting in theatricality and emotion. It would be a gorgeous gala duet, perhaps. Once the women get going (after the octopus trousers are dropped) it shows the potential that Portner has as an emerging voice.

 

Angels’ Atlas is already making ground as a modern classic: having joined the repertoires of Ballett Zürich and the Berlin Staatsballett. It’s a typical work of Pite with its undulating sea of dancers who navigate emotional distress — mourning and the afterlife being ostensive themes here. There isn’t the same sense of invention as with her other works, and one begins to fret if her repertoire for large ensembles will eventually be seen as passé. However, with its stunning score, and breathtaking performances from Svetlana Lunkina, Hannah Galway, and Siphesile November, the elegiac Angels’ Atlas still sends us soaring.

 

[Emeralds]

Last night I saw one of the most graceful pas de deux I've ever seen- Heather Ogden and Harrison James in the first pas de deux of Angels' Atlas.

 

Now of course as regular (or even obsessed, ha ha) ballet watchers, we see lots of graceful dances- solos, pas de deux etc on stage and in recordings.So when something is so lyrical, so graceful, so smooth, fluid and seamless, it really makes you sit up and your jaw drop. There's something about dancing without pointe shoes that can enable the dancer to move with more fluidity and grace without having to overcome the noise and stiffness that pointe shoes can have. Was it because of the choreography? Was it because of the dancers? Perhaps both. 

 

In another pas de deux, Genevieve Penn Nabity and Spencer Hack, portraying the third couple dance together, their close emotional bond obvious. He dies suddenly. Her grief, raw, heartrending  and real, is vividly and eloquently expressed in the choreography. I won't describe all of them as that would spoil the impact of discovering these while watching the ballet. 

 

Crystal Pite has spoken in interviews of being inspired by the work by her regular collaborators, designer Jay Gower Taylor and lighting designer Tom Visser in developing a way to reflect light on stage. She has described how the reflective light backdrop gives a sense of depth, evoking the cosmos and giving her the idea of angels, and what it would look like if they had a map or atlas of their world and hence the title. 

 

There is a recurring movement, a kind of choreographic leitmotif in this ballet  where the corps have their arms curved gracefully in front of them and their hands begin a rhythmic pulsating, which she has described as reminding her of a heartbeat.

 

This ballet was commissioned by National Ballet of Canada (Pite usually creates work for own dance company, Kidd Pivot) as a co-production with Zurich Ballet. Completed and premiered in February 2020 just before the Covid pandemic hit Canada and caused a lockdown of theatres. there are many powerful images and moments in the ballet which, although conceived and choreographed before the pandemic reached Canada, feels to me hauntingly prophetic.

 

The sudden death of the healthy, previously nimble man, the grief so searingly portrayed, the heartbeat leitmotif and pulsating electronic score by Owen Belton powerfully resembling the electronic beeps of monitors and intensive care equipment sustaining rows of Covid stricken patients as their loved ones and community outside experience similar hopes and anguish seen in Pite's dances for the soloists and ensemble. The ensemble alternately seem to take on roles of the community that support bereaved characters, people in the world going through life and death, and the angels or souls in the heavens.

 

Perhaps that's not exactly what Pite intended, but knowing that the ballet was created and performed literally at the front door of the pandemic - the last ballet that NBC performed before lockdown and the first ballet to be performed after lockdown was lifted cannot help but link the two so inextricably and powerfully, when I watch it. Her choreography, which if you have only seen in the Royal Ballet's performances of her Flight Pattern, Solo Echo, The Statement and Light of Passage, incorporates more classical ballet here (although there is no pointe work) than those works and there is beautiful choreography for a female soloists and two male soloists as well as the pas de deux for the three couples. 

 

Pite's other strength is that apart from choosing a wide variety of sources for her scores to dance to, including speech (ie not spoken by the dancers but danced to its rhythms and meaning without any "accompanying" music), she also has the ability to use a well known piece of music (eg Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs for Flight Pattern) and never being overwhelmed by the music nor appearing to look twee or hackneyed. When you watch it, Pite's choreography and the music are so seamless that it feels like the music could have been written specially for her choreography. Here her use of Lauritsen's most popular work and a favourite with choirs, O Magnum Mysterium, just seems to fit Angels' Atlas perfectly, as does the excerot from Tchaikovsky's Liturgy of St John Chrystosom. The ballet has a lovely uplifting ending but I won't spoil it by disclosing it here. As one might expect, the company performed it with each dancer bringing their individual virtuosity and expressivity to their role as well as moving as an  instinctive, unified whole during the unison movements. 

 

If one could only see one thing this month (as lovely as other ballet offerings are), I highly recommend catching Angels' Atlas before NBC leaves London if youve never seen it live before- or take the train to Paris next weekend to watch it at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, where NBC are performing next. Maybe you'll love it like ZxDaveM, ChrisG, many critics and I have or maybe not. But it is worth it to see what the power of great choreography, sublime artistry and technical dance skill, allied and aligned with great music, can do. 

 

Not to neglect the other two pieces. James Kudelka's 2013 neoclassical ballet Passion, has beautiful costumes by Denis Lavoie and is set to Beethoven's own rearrangement of his popular Violin Concerto in D for piano and orchestra. Not technically one of Beethoven's famed five (complete) concertos but often informally referred to as his sixth with the opus number 61a (the Violin Concerto being 61). Its quirky backstory was that the Violin Concerto had a tough premiere and wasn't played much - which seems unbelievable to us now. To rescue it from obscurity, Beethoven reworked it into a piano concerto for pianist and composer Muzio  Clementi to perform. 

 

Kudelka's ballet to this Concerto, made for Houston Ballet and acquired by NBC 10 years later, is a pretty opener and serves as a pleasing introduction to the superb technique and artistry of the NBC dancers, but probably doesn't seem as passionate as the title suggests, apart from the modern day couple, who dance and weave in and out of an ensemble and who are contrasted with another couple from the past (perhaps 18th century like Beethoven himself?)  London audiences being used to the passion from ballets by Kenneth MacMillan, Akram Khan, Christopher Wheeldon and even Ashton's Marguerite and Armand and Cranko's Onegin might find it more polite than passionate, but as an opening ballet, the company's dancers looked wonderful and danced beautifully in it. Svetlana Lunkina, Calley Skalnik, Christopher Gerty and Harrison James led the cast at our performance.

 

It was a pleasure to have the concerto performed live, by pianist Zhenya Vitort, and an orchestra put together by Royal Ballet Sinfonia concertmaster Robert Gibbs comprising British freelance musicians and other British based orchestra musicians for this ballet on the tour. The concerto was conducted by NBC's music director David Briskin at our performance. 

 

Emma Portner's islands proved to be an impressive surprise. I was expecting a bit of a gimmicky short item with a lot of hip hop or street dance moves used as a filler in between two long pieces for the convenience of touring. It is indeed shorter than the other two ballets and much shorter than UtopiVerse, the longer piece (with classical ballet technique including pointe work) being brought by NBC to Paris, but perhaps the fact that Portner's cv has a lot of commissions for pop music, the Bat Out of Hell musical, and appearing in a film and that it is danced in socks, is misleading. If readers remember the works of the David Parsons and Pilobolus dance companies who have previously visited London, Portner's choreography combines similar styles as well as ballet.

 

Starting with the two women joined together by wearing a connected two pairs of trousers (each dancer with her own trousers legs) they appear to be marooned or stuck somewhere (perhaps the islands of the title) with moves that invoke attempts to paddle a boat and other manoeuvres to escape and be free. At times puzzled or struggling but always calm or stoical, they eventually seem to console each other, and while resting, either manage to undo the trousers that constrain them or dream that they have. Enjoying the new found freedom, they dance - separately and often echoing each other's moves, but return to each other (perhaps realising they are still stuck or only dreamt their freedom), appearing to recognise their dilemma and once again console each other. I don't know if that was the intended story but that's how it came across to me!

 

I notice that both casts (the talented first soloists Alexandra MacDonald and Hannah Galway danced at our performance) seem to be women with a slight height difference rather than being identical or close in height, which enables us to see both of them when "joined" together, and results in more pleasing lines for the creative and quirky shapes they create. It is danced to a recorded score of a compilation of pieces of different contemporary genres. There's certainly a lot of dance in it and it never felt dull or tedious- it would be a fun piece to choose for a gala as a contrast to the familiar Petipa grand pas de deux showpieces. 

 

The company is on impressive form with  every dancer I've seen bringing their A game- there was no weak link in this performance. Although I was a tad puzzled, maybe even disappointed, in the unusual selection of repertoire (after looking forward to Sleeping Beauty from the company for the summer 2020 visit which was ultimately cancelled by the pandemic),  Hope Muir, who previously trained and danced with ENB, then performed with Rambert and worked in Scottish Ballet's leadership team, has chosen a programme that proved to be a great showcase for the company's talents. O National Ballet of Canada - please schedule another visit here again very soon! 

Edited October 5, 2024 by Emeralds

[Emeralds]

Oh @alison and anyone else wanting to know- the performance finished at 1h 40 minutes  (curtain calls included) as promised. 

[FionaM]

Angels Atlas is incredible.  Svetlana Lunkina and Ben Rudisin performed the gorgeous lyrical duet remarked on above.   I loved it.  I was also impressed by the togetherness of the corps in very specific movements for the whole body, arms, hands, and heads in particular, all moving as one.  Very powerful. 
 

Then came the central twosome who blew me away … Siphe November and Hannah Galway … intense drama with awesome movement quality, extending beyond what others were doing. 
 

The first piece Passion was a waste of time, though it was nice to see purer ballet steps and pointework and beautiful costumes.  
 

The second piece was more interesting and had highly inventive choreography throughout and used lighting to add dynamic and depth to the staging. (Which you might miss if you were sat too far forward to see the effects on the stage floor.)

 

 

[San Perregrino]

Interesting to read everyone’s comments. I enjoyed seeing some outstanding dancers that are new to me. 

I enjoyed the first piece best of all. The juxtaposition of classical ballet beautifully danced intertwining with a modern couple works well for me and I’d happily watch it again.

The duet was grey and dull in its presentation and, for me, was more akin to clever contortionism rather than choreography. I was reminded of Twister, more fun to be a part of than to watch. 
I don’t know where in Pite’s chronology Angels Atlas appears but knowing how powerful and what a masterpiece Light of Passage is, this didn’t do it for me. It seemed somehow empty and missing something particularly coming on the heels of ENB’s Khan’s Giselle which is so multilayered and intense in it’s rhythms and patterns. 
l’d like to see the company in a full length ballet. 

 

Edited October 6, 2024 by San Perregrino
ps

[Emeralds]

5 minutes ago, San Perregrino said:

 

I don’t know where in Pite’s chronology Angels Atlas appears

Hi @San Perregrino Angels' Atlas premiered on Leap Year Day 2020, ie 29 Feb 2020. Flight Pattern (which is Act 1 of Light of Passage) was made in 2017, premiering on 16 March 2017. Light of Passage, the expanded version of Flight Pattern, was made in 2022 and premiered on 18 October 2022.

 

To compare with two of her other works danced by RB (the ones danced by her own and other visiting companies at Sadler's Wells are too numerous to be helpful), Solo Echo was made in 2012 for Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT), The Statement was made in 2016, also for NDT. Hope that helps!

[Emeralds]

Having been bowled over by the wonderful performances on Friday and pleasantly surprised by how much both contemporary pieces impressed me, I decided to see one more performance by National Ballet of Canada and picked their closing performance. 

 

This time I ignored the title of Kudelka's ballet and stopped trying to figure how the choreography adhered to the programme notes supplied and just enjoyed the ballet as I saw it. To me, it looks like a modern day couple who meet, begin a relationship and work their way through the ups and downs of a relationship rather than being simply about passion. The traditional couple and ensemble look like part of a classical ballet that the couple are watching or immersed in (shades of National Ballet of Canada's performances in Canadian choreographer Robert Binet's immersive contemporary ballets) and the polite, beautiful dances seemed more like part of a staged ballet than any ongoing relationship.

 

There's a lot of classical dancing in Passion and with two lead couples on the stage most of the time, it sometimes feels like a buy-one-get-one-free bonus: two ballets going on at once:  if you get bored with one, you can look at the other! I didn't actually get bored at any time as elegant (former San Francisco Ballet dancer) Koto Ishihara's beautiful lines and innate grace, attentively partnered by Keaton Leier, kept one fully absorbed throughout the classical sections. Having made their debuts, like Ishihara, in this ballet only on tour 24 hours prior, corps member Monika Haczkiewicz and second soloist Josh Hall portrayed the modern young couple with emotion and commitment. The corps were impeccable as ever. Although younger and very new to the ballet compared to the Friday cast, the matinee leads brought a youthful freshness and energy, and never felt like a lesser cast. The ballet grows on you on the second viewing - there's certainly lots to enjoy if one just sits back and watches the dances for what they are. 

 

It was fun to see islands again and to see what else I could decipher from a second viewing. This time experienced principals Heather Ogden and Genevieve Penn Nabity took on the roles, with Penn Nabity being the woman in front. An expressive dance actress, she portrayed a woman stuck, trying to get out of a hole/cave/tunnel, attempts to swim, to paddle a boat, then despair, as her arms and Ogden's legs made some creative shapes to depict these situations. At times Ogden looked like she could be an older friend or sister supporting Penn Nabity, at other times her character looked like she could be Penn Nabity's alter ego or subconscious, consoling her when despairing or keeping her spirits up while dancing with her. It was lovely to see these two wonderful ballerinas - so impressive on Friday night - again in a different ballet.

 

Once again, I was struck by how the two casts brought something different in their interpretations but our soloists from Friday night Hannah Galway and Alexandra MacDonald didn't feel the lesser cast as sometimes happens in performances, but instead were equals who brought their own persuasive interpretation to this unusual piece. 

 

I was curious to see how Angels' Atlas would feel to me on a second viewing. I don't always enjoy new choreography whether it be contemporary or classical in idiom, although I very much support and encourage the practice of creating new works to keep ballet alive, just like any art form. Having been very moved and impressed on the first viewing, would that grow or wane? I was keen to see Svetlana Lunkina and Ben Rudisin (whom I'd not seen yet) in the first pas de deux that had bowled me over on Friday. Lunkina and Rusidin bring a different interpretation to the paa de deux: where Ogden and James had looked like ethereal, otherworldly angels moving with superhuman grace and virtuosity,  Lunkina and Rusidin's interpretation was more emotional and dramatic, with slower and more deliberate movement, like angels who knew the sadness of the world they oversaw. (If one questions how two different pairs of dancers can appear to move at different speeds to recorded music which must surely be at the same tempo at every performance, it's to do with the phrasing- one pair performs a lift or a sequence quickly and holds the position, the other makes the lift or sequence last the whole passage of music continuously, and both interpretations work very well).

 

There were some substitutions announced very quickly (so quickly that even our ushers couldn't catch all the names) without mentioning the names of all the dancers being replaced, only their replacements (the online list was not updated). I believe Siphesihle November was replaced by Spencer Hack in the 3rd pas de deux and Donald Thom replaced him in the second pas de deux with Tene Ward, who made her debut in the role only the night before. Shaakir Muhammad then replaced (I think) Spencer Hack in the soloist part. Alexandra MacDonald replaced  Genevieve Penn Nabity (Penn Nabity's substitution was announced) in the soloist role I'd seen her in on Friday night.

 

Hannah Galway and Hack were powerful in the third couple pas de deux- a wonderful chance to see the powerful choreography for the man in this pas de deux again: after a solo packed full of virtuosity, he succumbs very quickly (to what looks like illness) and dies. Galway was moving as his grieving partner. Australian born and trained corps member Tene Ward brought an elegant grace and strength as the woman in the second pas de deux alongside Thom whose fluid dancing and strong partnering was as stellar as it was during his time at the Royal Ballet. New principal Tirion Law also stood out as one of the angels in the front row of the ensemble (the lead couples also join the ensemble at different parts of the ballet). MacDonald once again impressed in her solo with the graceful batterie, performed in a long beautiful skirt that the dancers wear during the middle (the costumes by Nancy Bryant are so chic and enhance  the grace of the dancers).

 

Angels' Atlas was just as enjoyable and moving on the second viewing as it had been on the first- I couldn't see how the audience in the other levels reacted as I was quite far back, but people in our tier gave the cast a standing ovation as soon as the curtain came up for the dancers' bows. (And it wasn't just the back rows standing up because their view was obscured.)

 

I can see why it has been acquired by Staatsballett Berlin; how delighted Zurich Ballet must have been that they signed up to this ballet as a co-production. Possibly Owen Belton's musical contribution with its electronic beats might not appeal to all but I think it works very well with the Tchaikovsky choral Liturgy with Lauritsen's iconic O Magnum Mysterium to end the piece. Had it all been Tchaikovsky or Lauritsen I think it would have dragged on and felt more monotonous- Pite has once again been meticulous in her crafting of this ballet. 

 

It's great that to see that we have different votes for favourite piece in this triple bill among our members I took a relative yesterday to see their final performance and he voted the middle piece, islands, as his favourite. So now each ballet has at least one person that liked it the most. I liked all the ballets (would give the first two productions four out of five stars and the third a resounding five stars) but for me  Angels Atlas was head and shoulders over many ballets I've seen this year. It is sad in places but also powerful and uplifting. As one of the more classical pieces Pite has made, the ballet is one of the most beautiful original creations for National Ballet of Canada and I hope to see it often in future. 

 

I hope Alistair Spalding and Kevin O'Hare (following the pandemic cancellation) both re-invite and rebook NBC to return very soon! If they bring a full length work, I do hope Ms Muir considers bringing The Merry Widow- one of the few companies that has Ronald Hynd's masterpiece in the repertoire. But (shh), actually I would be happy to see NBC in whatever they bring. 

Edited October 7, 2024 by Emeralds