Benjamin Millepied speaks ...

[Bruce Wall]

in a chic source .... and an amazing announcement that in the 2015-16 season POB will have seven - count 'em - seven new commissions .... I put my bets on Peck for SURE, Wheeldon and Ratmansky most likely (given intertwining past histories with the AD) and I should think a touch of Scarlett on the side (and in the night)    I bet also there will be an injection of yet more Robbins' works to the POB rep where, blessedly, his gifts are much loved (and given the fact that the AD was in the premiere cast of Robbins' glorious last ballet - 2 & 3 Part Inventions - whilst still an SAB student)..  If the latter IS included I would definitely recommend a trip across the channel to one and all on this board. It is such a shame that it has not already been seen here like so, so many of Robbins' later masterworks.  Certainly Robbins was key in the NYCB recognition of Wheeldon and Millepied as significant young artists.  (I, myself, well remember being in a NY State Theater - as was - lift and overhearing Robbins extol Millepied's gifts to Martins.)  Somehow the lack of such showings of these Robbins' masterpieces in the UK seems entirely unfair given that the vast majority of MacMillan and Ashton works - inclusive of those created outside of Great Britain's bounds - have without hesitation been celebrated in America for some time. 

Edited October 20, 2014 by Bruce Wall

[Sim]

Wow that's impressive. He clearly means business and wants to modernise POB's repertoire. Let's hope it's not too much too fast!

[stucha]

The POB repertoire is not exactly un-modern.  The modern pieces have tended towards European choreographers like Pina Bausch, Sasha Walsz, and Angelin Preljocaj ( Ratmansky has done one piece for them) with some Neumeier, Balanchine, Roland Petit, Trisha Brown and Forsythe for good measure.  Maybe he intends to move away from that and towards the ABT/NYCB model.  Time will tell.

[Angela]

Well we know from this interview by Stéphane Lissner that one of the creations will be by William Forsythe, so this does not sound like moving away from the European way of choreography.

[Bruce Wall]

Well we know from this interview by Stéphane Lissner that one of the creations will be by William Forsythe, so this does not sound like moving away from the European way of choreography.

 

Perhaps, but just playing Devil's advocate here, the American artist William Forsythe has created works on NYCB; in the very city of his own birth and upbringing.  I, myself, well remember that Herman Scherman for example - which is in the RB rep (originally danced there by S. Guillem and A. Cooper) - was first created for Wendy Whelan and Albert Evans in one of the early Diamond projects.  Of course - and much more recently - Forsythe not only created works for Millepied's LA Dance Project but currently also spends much of his time split between dance department projects at USC and UCLA where he is a staff member at both.   I'm not certain, Angela, that Forsythe may any longer define the core of his own work as being entirely seeded in the 'European way of choreography'.  

Edited October 21, 2014 by Bruce Wall

[Bruce Wall]

Just to confirm - in the article - Millepied states that - outside of the seven new commissions - which he says he 'hopes will include Wheeldon, Ratmansky and Peck [YES]' ... (the 'YES' is mine) ... the 2015-16 season will see new Balanchine and Robbins works added to the repertory.  

[Angela]

No matter what Forsythe thinks about his work, he was always regarded as an European choreographer in his homeland, I guess (as was that other American, John Neumeier, by the way). You need to watch some of his recent works for his own company, it's not ballet any more, far far far from it. Only recently he announced that he wants to revisit ballet, so maybe that's why he wants to work in Paris again.

Hey, the Americans did complain 30 years about Forsythe being too modern, and now they reclaim him? No way!!