Mark Morris Dance Group, Sadler's Wells, November 2013

[alison]

The Mark Morris Dance Group is at Sadler's Wells for a short season of two programmes this week: please post about performances here.

 

I've had emails from Sadler's Wells giving what appears to be very short running times for each bill: my guess is that intervals may not have been included, as with Stuttgart Ballet last week.

[Bruce Wall]

Can't believe that no one has posted in response to Alison's request.  Did no one (e.g., no 'Balletcoforum-er') go to see this.... well, thus far?  Can't believe THAT.  

 

I dropped into Programme A last night .... A TOTAL DELIGHT.  This is as far as one could get from the current 'Royal Ballet' style .... e.g., that oh, so carefully calculated (and much admired) coolness.  I must confess to finding it sometimes a touch distant.  (I know ... I KNOW ... it's just me.  I - like Ashton - wasn't born here .... so it always feel a tad foreign in its climb ... Still, that said I DO keep trying ...) .... The Morris programme ('Morris' Dancing ... was entirely warm and welcoming .... It was a bit like coming home.  Well, for me at least.  I can see it might well be 'despised' by the McGregor throng ... But then the world needs its diversity ... )  This Programme felt comfortable and challenging throughout ... An exercise in good taste (i.e.., no need to expectorate after.)  It was a bit, say, like ENB's Corsaire in the concentrated joy of its welcome and appreciation of its music.  The latter was key .... and is not always to be found, say, in the native creations of the ROH .... or Sadler's Wells for that matter.  Loved the cleanness of the overall production .... and the fact that it was well lit .... (meaning you could see everything .... or was it simply that there was nothing that needed or wanted to be hid.)  Proud to say that the large audience responded with concerted rapture ... Deservedly so .... and it was thrilling indeed to see the great man himself .... and the sincere respect he was shown not only by the punters but from his company as well.  

 

Catch it today or tomorrow if you can ... I honestly think you may well find something you might enjoy.  

 

(Oh, and the running times ... at least for programme A ... are accurate .... Happily So .... One hour and 36 minutes made for a VERY full and happy evening). 

Edited November 30, 2013 by Meunier

[jm365]

Meunier, like you I have been very surprised that there has not been more reaction from balletcoers about Mark Morris.  I have been to both evenings, and have absolutely loved everything about both performances.  I'm not usually much enthused by non-classical dance, but Morris really stands out for me as a great creative artist, who makes apparently simple steps and movements into wonderful works. In a funny way, they are very repetitive, but yet totally different in each ballet.  (Sorry - this is getting very incoherent - no wonder I virtually never try to review what I have seen!!)   I have just been to the Chroma triple bill - and I wish Wayne Macgregor would take lessons.

[alison]

A lot of people were at the ROH for Romeo & Juliet, I gather.

[Bruce Wall]

Luke Jennings has said in his single review of the two Mark Morris programmes today: (and I will only quote three sentences in keeping with the Board's guidelines):

 

"He [Morris] offers a sense of Arcadian possibility: a return to an age of gold. .... So it almost certainly reflects poorly on me when I write that there are elements of Morris's work that I can't quite digest ... but I'm afraid I can't, quite. It's just not my idea of heaven."  

 

Here is a man for whom the current 'Royal Ballet' style MUST be prime.  He seems almost shaped by it himself.  Perhaps he has been substantive in some small way in its creation.  THAT I myself would not pretend to know.

 

What I am certain of, however, .... now having seen the second Mark Morris programme which i thought even better than the first ... is that I personally am glad that there was a full theatre of patrons who more than digested what was on offer ... they were merrily begging:  'Please, sir, we want some more.'  

 

They at least did not make me feel foreign in their acceptance of that particular sense of happiness ...... And, yes, Martha, that small slice of heaven that moved oh, so fleetingly across and about the Sadler's Wells stage this week.  With THEM I felt fully able to accept the happiness I myself derived.  Indeed I am left reveling in it.   

 

I realise THAT may make ME foreign to oh, so many of the current RB devout ... and for THAT I do confess I feel guilty .... Still please know there is a goodly portion of the McGregor that I can and do ADMIRE.  Indeed, I have written so within this Board's frames.  Let there be no question:  I hear his voice .... I do .... It lives .... but that admiration is always at a distance.  It is a sensation that I distinctly sense one could (if you wanted) calculate quantitatively through mathematics.  With Morris you are always made to FEEL.  Although the boundaries of that may always be more fuzzy .. less clinical perhaps ... you can I think trust in it.  (I do know this is a not a popular sentiment in certain local regions.)  Morris not only - as I suggested - warmly invites you in ... he PROUDLY stands at his temple's door and welcomes you through it by means of the joyful diversity of his rich choreographic vocabulary.   (Funny, I was reminded when watching both CROSSWALK and FESTIVAL DANCE of a quote that MacMillan (yes, he who so celebrated rape) made when he said that: 'it is [sic] very much more difficult to choreograph joy'.  Perhaps that is reason why Morris' work has been so celebrated by the repertories of a wide number of major international ballet companies.  (Here, of course, I will remove the Royal Ballet  .... for fairly obvious reasons .... Morris' work would simply not fit into it's much admired current and prevailing house frame.   Funny, I do think Ashton, however, would have celebrated such programmes .. or at least the two we (obviously few from here) have been privileged to see.  [And, of course, I am aware of the pull of the darkness for many in R&J.] Still I make the former statement being especially aware of Ashton's keen respect for balance through music.  (Ashton's respect for the latter was ALWAYS palpable.)... Moreover I am equally all too aware that such times for our dearly beloved Royal Ballet have long since passed to other shores in the NAME of progression.   

 

Let there be no doubt:  Luke Morris has safely found HIS spiritual home .... well, from a balletic perspective at least. ... He has clearly purchased a key ....  He has set out his mark.  Certainly he has raised the walls on his critical criteria.  No more needs to be said.  He has offered us all a guide to his future writings .... (while, of course, The Observer continues to support such).  

 

I wonder .... would it be going TOO far to wish HIM a HAPPY Christmas?   

Edited December 1, 2013 by Meunier

[mijosh]

I hugely enjoyed both programmes. For me Mark Morris is one of the most musically joyous and inventive and,yes,lovable of all current choreographers. He lifts the spirits as few other practioners do and always makes me smile and feel better about the world. How many ballets are there that make you roar with laughter as his "A Wooden Tree" did last night?

 

I too was surprised at how few ROH regulars I spotted at the Wells,and scarcely any RB dancers either. The performances only clashed with R & J once during the week,which of course couldn't be missed because it was Marianela and thus,at least for me, mandatory. Still.it was gratifying to see the place deservedly packed on both evenings, so one can only commiserate with those who,for whatever reason, didn't make the effort to avail themselves of one of the highlights of the dance year. Please come back soon Mark Morris with your wonderful barefooted exhilarating and life enhancing artists.

[Jane S]

Just a footnote: if you've noticed an older man in the photos of A Wooden Tree - it's Baryshnikov, who danced in the premiere. He did the bit with the imaginary roll - Marina Harss reviewed it for Dance Tabs:

 

http://dancetabs.com/2012/10/mark-morris-dance-group-canonic-studies-a-wooden-tree-silhouettes-grand-duo-sarasota/

[Mary]

Here is one RB regular who was at Mark Morris today and loved it. I have seen his opera work before. This I found hugely more satisfying.

I agree with all of the above and I think what stands out for me is the musicality- the live music and the way musicians and dancers work together is clearly key to his work- and the joyousness of much of the dance.

Socrates was not joyous  exactly, but it was celebratory in its tone. (What a shame applause could not have allowed just a moment's pause at the end of this profound piece, also alas that Socrates' solemn death drinking the cup of hemlock had to be accompanied by a woman slurping double supersize latte in front of me).  All three works were distinguished by movement that was inventive and energetic yet graceful, fluent, natural to the human body (McGregor are you listening.) I agree that there are Ashtonian echoes in the joyful folkdance moments with humorous undertones. I didn't much care for some of the more obviously humorous repeated gestures. But that is a minor point.

 

I did find the subtitles in Socrates distracting. So I need to see it again perhaps.

 

Come back Mark Morris.