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RB Woolf Works, May 2015


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I haven't read Waves and probably won't have time to now, but from the rehearsal, I was blown away by the impression that Ferri was being tossed about by the sea (Bonelli). It looked exactly like what drowning must feel like!

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Booklover89

I am sure that you discovered very early on that discussions about ballet and its performers is not always entirely rational.Well the same is true when it comes to discussions about artistic directors and choreographers.In New York there were ballet fans who loathed MacMillan because he was not Ashton and there are, perhaps, still fans of NYCB who can't forgive Peter Martins for not being Balanchine.The word for an avid ballet goer is balletomane.It is an exceptionally apt description for someone who goes to three or more performances of the same ballet over the space of one week. Those who are not afflicted will ask with complete disbelief why you are going to something you have already seen many times and must know by now. Some shake their heads sadly because they don't accept that there could ever be a sufficient difference between the performances of two dancers to justify going to a ballet more than once.Perhaps the French were being more open about the mental state of ballet goers when they named their ballet forum Dansomanie but then they have several hundred years more experience of this sad affliction than we do.

 

McGregor is clearly a choreographer who divides opinion. I don't think that it is simply because he works in a style that has no obvious connection with the classical idiom although that plays a large part in people's view of him and his work. Unlike Ashton or Balanchine who seem to have had unlimited freedom because they were working within the rules of classical ballet McGregor seems limited by his freedom.Where Balanchine and Ashton take you by surprise by breaking,inverting or simply making up new rules McGregor often seems to be recycling a limited number of movements and ideas. This remains true even though he has taken to incorporating some balletic movements into his works.It remains to be seen whether he becomes a choreographer whose works truly incorporate and use classical ballet idiomatically, like Glenn Tetley, or whether it remains an appendage to a style of movement that is essentially contemporary.

 

I enjoyed Chroma and Infra but I have found McGregor's other works surprisingly limited in content. I am going to see Woolf Works. I am sure that it will be interesting. Who knows it might turn out to be a significant work. I should not worry about what other people have said about it after all none of us have actually seen it in its entirety. All will become clear next week.There may even be a stampede to snap up the unsold tickets. It will be most interesting to know your views on the new work.So please tell us what you think of it.Ignore all the Grumps. They know as little or as much as you do on this particular topic.

Edited by FLOSS
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.

 

 

 

I enjoyed Chroma and Infra but I have found McGregor's other works surprisingly limited in content. I am going to see Woolf Works. I am sure that it will be interesting. Who knows it might turn out to be a significant work. There may even be a stampede to snap up the unsold tickets.

1st night has sold out. :-)

other nights awaiting reviews? If so, a pity they crammed them all so close together if it does prove popular

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https://instagram.com/explore/tags/rohwoolf/

 

collection of photos of rehearsals on instagram :)

 

Thank you for sharing this link, great pictures. It also seems that pictures are still being added. I looked at the series a few times today, and I am pretty sure that roughly the first five pictures in the series were not there at lunchtime. I am thus hoping that additional pictures will be added over the coming days.

 

 

(Edited to add last sentence)

Edited by Duck
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OK so here's the thing. It isn't selling well enough. The yoof, the London literati, the textile technology community have been targeted but there are still empty seats. Who is missing from the cast - the Royal Ballet's biggest star since Darcey Bussell, Peregrine the pony. So get him in, they should be talking to his people.

Mrs Dalloway can reminisce about her beloved childhood pony, Orlando is Elizabethan so s/he can ride a pony, Virginia Woolf can drown and be reunited with the ghost of her favourite childhood pony.

Let's face it, most of the punters who can sit close enough to the stage to see properly have long forgotten whatever Virginia Woolf they once read and those who can still remember will be too far away to notice the finer details. Plus it tides Peregrine over until ENB invite him to star in "My first little pony". A win-win situation all round. There are still four days left, so go for it, Royal Ballet.

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The rehearsal clips are great. I might find McGregor more interesting than some of his ballets, but that changes as soon as he moves away (as he seems to for this bill) from trying to express scientific / highly intellectualised content through dance towards expressing emotions / impressions / moods. If the rest of the bill is comparable to the pdd with Bonelli and Ferri, I'm going to be a very delighted punter.

I entirely agree. Very interesting point about expressing emotions through dance rather than trying to express concepts- that is just how it struck me too.  Let's hope the programme keeps it short and snappy (!likely!)

 

I have just finished watching all the rehearsal films and they are interesting and also at times beautiful to watch, especially the Ferri/Bonelli. She is an inspiration, and the choreography here seems to me far more engaging than anything of McGregor's I have seen before (and I think I have seen most of his RB work.)

 

I agree that he had got stuck in a groove of one type of movement but here maybe he is breaking out of it.

 

I was also  feeling a bit doubtful, being a great lover of Woolf's novels and especially The Waves, whether this project could really work or do any justice to Woolf, who I think is the most brillant novelist of the 20th C-  but, it looks as if he has  produced something different and very interesting so I am now really very much looking forward to seeing it. 

 

I can only speak for myself but having read all the debate,  I don't really believe in this idea of two camps: the traditionalists ( a bit boring, probably old, conservative, etc ) and the dynamic, exciting young set who love McGregor.

No, it is more complicated than that and many many of the old fogies like me who love Fille and go to several casts and etc,  have in fact watched all McGregor's work and given it a chance- if we haven't liked it all, that is not for want of trying....

 

So, here's hoping we will be cheering next week . None of us who love RB want to see anything but success for the company and the dancers.

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Here's a link to an interview with Wayne McGregor about Woolf Works  http://www.hungertv.com/feature/the-interview-wayne-mcgregor/

 

So the first part is called I Now I Then (spot the typo in the related paragraph in the interview ...), and the title of the second part is Becomings. McGregor describes the link between these titles and the names of the books, and he talks (thankfully in plain English) about synaestics in relation to her writing.

 

The article gives insight into this thinking, and I believe it is the kind of information that will help, at least me, understand and hopefully enjoy the ballet next week, in particular for the first performance.

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OK so here's the thing. It isn't selling well enough. The yoof, the London literati, the textile technology community have been targeted but there are still empty seats. Who is missing from the cast - the Royal Ballet's biggest star since Darcey Bussell, Peregrine the pony. So get him in, they should be talking to his people.

Mrs Dalloway can reminisce about her beloved childhood pony, Orlando is Elizabethan so s/he can ride a pony, Virginia Woolf can drown and be reunited with the ghost of her favourite childhood pony.

Let's face it, most of the punters who can sit close enough to the stage to see properly have long forgotten whatever Virginia Woolf they once read and those who can still remember will be too far away to notice the finer details. Plus it tides Peregrine over until ENB invite him to star in "My first little pony". A win-win situation all round. There are still four days left, so go for it, Royal Ballet.

 

 

Here's another idea- McGregor could add chapter 4, based on Woolf's novel 'Flush' which is about Elizabeth Barrett Browning's lapdog...sure to be a hit...especially if they use a real spaniel......imagine the bouque of bones at the end......

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Lots of information being published today, here an article in The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/news/wayne-mcgegor-talks-wolf-works-ballet-flamboyant-very-virtuosic-dance-10236637.html. The name of the third part of Woolf Works is Tuesday, named after the first word in Virginia Woolf's suicide note.

 

I am switching my laptop now off for a while as otherwise I might find still other news on the web ;-)

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We went on the backstage tour before Tuesday's performance of Fille and got taken to the costume department. All the while the guide spoke to us, I was stood right by the rail of costumes labelled Woolf Works . They were mainly black and flesh coloured leotards, spiky black things and some very garish gold cloaks.

I have never read any Virginia Woolf so I don't know how this all fits in, but I don't suppose it would help if I had.

No doubt all will be revealed when we see it.

 

Incidentally we were then taken on to a dance studio and saw Osipova stretching ready for the evening performance. The moves made my eyes water. My husband died and went to heaven......

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I wasn't sure whether to post this here or start a thread on the Tickets board, but a substantial number of tickets in various parts of the Amphitheatre have been released for the previously-sold-out opening night of Woolf Works, sometime in the last hour.  Presumably this is the arbitrary point at which they draw a line under Dedicated Student Amphitheatre restrictions in order to get bums on the final few seats.

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I wasn't sure whether to post this here or start a thread on the Tickets board, but a substantial number of tickets in various parts of the Amphitheatre have been released for the previously-sold-out opening night of Woolf Works, sometime in the last hour.  Presumably this is the arbitrary point at which they draw a line under Dedicated Student Amphitheatre restrictions in order to get bums on the final few seats.

That was either a mistake or the tickets have sold like hot cakes as its showing as sold out now!

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I'd been stalking for Stalls Circle Standing, as Monday's the only day I'm free for the first cast, but having just now managed to pick up one of my favourite Amphi seats (left end seat of row E) for the same price, that'll do nicely.  And if I don't hate it (I'm not McGregor's greatest fan...) I'm sure I can pick up an SCS return for second cast at a later date.

Edited by RuthE
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Try refreshing or using another browser (I sometimes get false "sold out" notifications when on Chrome) - I can still see 34 seats in the amphi, 10 in the balcony and 2 in the GT!

Would help if I were looking at the Woolf Works page rather than the Faun mixed bill page! Oopsie.

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Well, the big day is upon us and the question must be 'Woolf Works', is it any good? I am intrigued and can't wait to find out. I really want it to be good, not least because I have bought a ticket for a performance later in the run but for the sake of everyone in it.

Anyone going tonight, please post a review as soon as you can.

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Well, the big day is upon us and the question must be 'Woolf Works', is it any good? I am intrigued and can't wait to find out. I really want it to be good, not least because I have bought a ticket for a performance later in the run but for the sake of everyone in it.

Anyone going tonight, please post a review as soon as you can.

 

Getting a positive response - see the performances section

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