Acquisitions

[FLOSS]

Imagine that you are suddenly put in charge of either the Birmingham Royal Ballet or the Royal Ballet which ballet or ballets would you want to acquire for your chosen company ?

[Duck]

I would like to see more Béjart in London, so it would be Songs of a Wayfarer, Seven Greek Dances (the RBS showed extracts of the ballet at their annual matinée in 2013, and I'd love to see the whole ballet), and most definitely Boléro.

[Two Pigeons]

For BRB I would like La Sylphide and Onegin. I am sure the dancers would love a crack at Manon. Added to that, Ashton's Cinderella and Macmillan's The Four Seasons.

 

As all of the above are in the RB rep my wish for that company would be Cranko's Romeo and Juliet together with full length Raymonda.

 

May come back to this as the old grey cells are churning away!

[Vanartus]

More Ratmansky for both. I'd like BRB to have a MacGregor, My Brother My Sisters, Pierrot Lunaire and Manon. For RB I'd like to see a redesigned Cinderella, and I'd commission a Hamlet.

[barton22]

I would second the Bejart and Ratmansky wishes.  I'd also like to see Neumeier's Lady of the Camelias in the rep here and works by Justin Peck.  Not sure whether it has been done by either Royal company, but Forsythe's full evening Artifact would also be fantastic; it was wonderful as danced by Royal Ballet Flanders a few years ago.  (More than all of this, though, I would like to see the Royal Ballet make more use of its fantastic library of works that never seem to be revived.  They have some of the Forsythe ballets (In the Middle, Vertiginous Thrill and Steptext) I would love to see and some Balanchine pieces like Bugaku that are very interesting and seem to have been mothballed.)  

[Vanartus]

Great idea re Neumeier - totally overlooked here and Brit Crits verrrry snippy - unfairly so! Full length Forsythe - yes, and I agree there's a lot more Balanchine to be mined.

Edited June 7, 2015 by Ian Macmillan
Duplicate of this post deleted. Ian Macmillan

[Bruce Wall]

There's a world of Robbins as well - but after many of the comments from the BcoF board for the last RB triple bill I have come to think that it is perhaps best that Paris (POB) holds that key  - as it had after all, been the choreographer's own primary choice during his lifetime vis a vis European exposure for the greater range of his work.  The Parisian audiences seem to take to it rather more than the British - or certainly by virtue of the BcoF evidence.  Heaven knows that the RB has its own heritage treasure chest to cherish. 

Personally I think that K. O'Hare is doing a magnificent job in his role as RB Director - i.e., balancing the Company's heritage whilst certainly building the new - NEVER EASY - but I do think acquisitions is one place that the repertory is perhaps only slightly slipping.    

 

I would love to see O'Hare acquire at least one of the Peck pieces which are now showing up in world repertories such as, for example, Year of the Rabbit.  (Paris next year gets In Creases and a new work.)  Certainly it would test out the waters in terms of a British audience's response to his choreographic ethic from a balletic perspective.  Perhaps British audiences would simply not take to it in any meaningful number.  Who knows?  

 

I also think that it is sad that some - or at least one - of the Ratmansky masterworks (e.g., Concerto DSCH, Namouna, or any one of the Shostakovich trilogy ballets) have not managed to find their way into the Royal's rep.  In each instance these are works that celebrate a substantive company ethic as opposed to being primarily driven by a few such as is so oft the case with McGregor.  (I'm not saying that is a bad thing ... simply that it is a different orientation.  The quality extension of both is surely worthy of any taxpayer's subsidy.)    

 

I realise, of course, that this is always going to be a delicate balance in terms of real world budgets and critical perceptions but one acquisition a year might be nice/affordable and - who knows - might well make a significant difference in terms of inspiring an overall awareness of world developments through the balletic idiom for future RB audiences.  That, in and of itself, can only ever be but a long-term goal and can but feed the growth of ever more imaginative indigenous new work.  

Edited June 7, 2015 by Bruce Wall

[FLOSS]

I would gladly drop the Markarova La Bayadere in order to have Nureyev's Kingdom of the Shades with its thirty two Bayaderes and the sunburst ending restored to the main company's repertory and I would love to see Balanchine's Liebeslieder Walzer which appeared in 1985 and then disappeared without trace. But neither of these are strictly acquisitions and as I initiated this discussion I ought to keep to the rules.

 

My choice for the Covent Garden company would be Ashton's Romeo and Juliet which he made for the Danes in 1955 and was mounted by ENB in 1985. What was staged in London in 2011 was a pale shadow of the original.It seems that the Royal Ballet can hardly survive a season without Romeo and Juliet. But does it always have to be the same one? I am sure that we would all appreciate the MacMillan version far more if we did not see it quite so often.I choose Ashton's ballet rather than Cranko's version because unlike the MacMillan and Cranko versions it does not approach the score and use it in the way that choreographers familiar with the Lavrovsky version do. It was made before the Lavrovsky version was known in the west and so it is very much Ashton's response to the score rather than one filtered through another choreographer's vision. It portrays a domestic tragedy rather than an epic one and the choreography provides new insights and ideas so for example when we first see Tybalt we see him as "prince of cats".The pas de deux are beautiful and different.It provide a genuine contrast with the versions that we are used to seeing. The Russians manage to have several versions of some ballets available to them and that does not seem to confuse anyone.I can see no reason why the Covent Garden company can't have more than one version of Romeo and Juliet in its repertory. Ashton was one of the two greatest choreographers of the twentieth century and it would be criminal if this ballet were to be lost.

 

I think that Onegin would be a wonderful acquisition for BRB apart from the quality of its choreography its creator played an important role in the early days of the company which eventually became BRB. The company used to dance quite a lot of Cranko apart from Pineapple Poll and the Lady and the Fool, Card Game and Les Brouillards come to mind immediately.Perhaps the Ashton Romeo and Juliet would be better suited to them but Onegin should be part of their repertory as it would widen its range and it would enable more people to see it.

Edited June 7, 2015 by FLOSS

[FLOSS]

I understand that it is beneficial for dancer's development to have works created on them because choreographers often see things in dancers that no one is aware of until it is revealed in a ballet but new ballets cost money and the expenditure has to be justified.I know that it is not very adventurous to acquire ballets that have already got a proven track record but when it comes to contemporary choreographers such as Ratmansky do you think that it is better to acquire a ballet that has been successful elsewhere or take a chance on the choreographer concerned making a ballet which while it is unique to the company is not very good? After all too many unsuccessful new ballets send management back to the ever diminishing list of ballets that audiences are prepared to pay good money to see.

 

I would love to see more Robbins ballets but it would seem that his works present problems for some people.This is not a "wrong audience" statement but a suggestion that while it is obvious that casting is of great significance in ensuring that an audience sees a performance that does a particular work justice there is also the question of what the members of the audience are looking for in a ballet performance.I will give an example of what I mean from something I read yesterday about a performance of a ballet in Australia. The critic said that it was a happy ballet which did not keep you on the edge of your seat and that the dancers were constrained by the choreography which gave none of them the chance to show off. The ballet was Ashton's Symphonic Variations. That critic and presumably a good part of the audience expected to see exhibitions of bravura technique rather than a ballet of mood and serenity in which the technical difficulties are hidden and everything is apparent nuanced ease.I have to say that my mind boggles at the prospect of a Soviet style ballet set to that score.

 

But the fact remains that if you started your ballet going watching works which were created to display technique and saw those works and the classics danced as if they were only in the repertory to enable a dancer to treat the set pieces as opportunities for display with the occasional MacMillan full length danced to display technique with out pourings of emotion then you are going to find many major pure dance pieces a bit tame.We all of us learn to watch ballet by going to performances and the performance style and the director's choice of repertory that we first see makes us the ballet goers that we are. If a ballet goer who sees performances in terms of opportunities for bravura technical display watches a ballet of the nuanced mood variety, even one danced by a strong cast, he/she is likely to be more aware of what it does not deliver than what it does and will probably consider the work a weak one.If it is badly cast the ballet goer will think that it is the ballet rather than the cast that is at fault. But I don't think that the answer is not to perform such works because the ballet goer just starting out on their exploration of the world of dance needs to see them and coming with innocent eyes and no preconceived opinion of what a ballet should be may well take to them. Anyway there are some ballets that everyone should have the opportunity to know and experience in performance.

Edited June 7, 2015 by FLOSS

[MAB]

Above all, I want to see Ashton's R&J danced by a British company, I would be happy to see both the RB and ENB ditch their present inferior versions in favour of it.

 

Yes, drop La Bayadere and replace with Nureyev's Kingdom of the shades.

 

More Ratmansky.  Btw, can anyone explain why his beautiful 24 Preludes hasn't been given a revival whereas far inferior pieces have?

 

We were once promised a new work by Angelin Prelocaj, what became of it?

[Pas de Quatre]

Just read Aileen review of Royal Ballet of Flanders - The Green Table - add that to the acquisitions.  Northern Ballet danced it many years ago I seem to remember, but has anyone else done it recently in UK?

[Vanartus]

Prelocaj became apparently choreo non grato (?!) in London, but I liked his Parc in Paris and really enjoyed Snow White in Berlin. I heard the Alles Cranko programme in Stuttgart was amazing - and you can still catch the trailer on the website. It shows the opposite of his Pineapple Poll side - and I was amazed at the quality and invention. We need to see this here at either RB or BRB.

[SPD444]

Please forgive my ignorance but what does "acquiring" a ballet mean. Lets take "Woolf Works" as an example, who owns that? Is it McGregor or the Royal Ballet or someone else. What are you buying, the steps? 

 

Once you have bought it what does that mean, no other company can dance it without paying you as the owner or do you have to buy it to dance it?

 

Confused.

[Jan McNulty]

I believe it depends on the contract between the choreographer (or their trust) and the company.  The work could be owned by either.  If the choreographer owns the work, contract negotiations for acquisition would be with them and if the company owns the work likewise.

 

I think with older ballets it may not be as clear cut as to whom owns what.

 

I wish a company in this country (any company!) would revive Christopher Gable's Cinderella! 

[Two Pigeons]

The Green Table was performed by BRB around 1990 and I remember it very clearly, not least Joe Cipolla as Death and Vincent Redmon as the Profiteer. It would be a welcome and timely piece to revive now.

[Jan McNulty]

I believe Northern Ballet also performed The Green Table in the Robert de Warren days.

[Pas de Quatre]

Yes it was in Robert de Warren's day - I had a friend in the company and went to stay with her. They were also doing Walter Gore's Street Games (exact title?). How about a company reviving some of his works - they seem to be lost.  Surely his amazing Eaters of Darkness would be well appreciated today?

 

Edited to add last sentence.

Edited June 8, 2015 by Pas de Quatre

[aileen]

There is a two page thread about Walter Gore on the Ballet Alert site and one of the contributors mentions notating one of his works.

[BristolBillyBob]

For BRB I would like La Sylphide and Onegin. 

 

Seconded!

 

Are we allowed to proffer up new ballets we'd like to see? If so, I'd like to see New Adventures create a ballet around Baz Luhrmann's 'Moulin Rouge!' story.

[FLOSS]

Gore's 1952 ballet is called Street Games. There is an entry about it in Brinson and Crisps'book A Quick Guide to Ballet and Dance. I wonder whether this work or others by him are capable of revival? There are several other British choreographers whose works have all but been written out of the narrative of the history of British Ballet where there is only room for the "towering genius" of the unappreciated Kenneth MacMillan whose works have come to dominate the Royal Ballet's repertory and the "smaller scale art" of Frederick Ashton.

 

It would be very good to see the works of choreographers such as Walter Gore,Frank Staff and Peter Darrell whose Jeux sounds intriguing. I am not sure that their works are essential additions to the repertory of the Covent Garden company on its main stage but apart from a few pieces by Peter Darrell I don't know their works. I sometimes think that the Linbury Theatre could be put to better use than it it is at present by being used for the systematic revival of works by choreographers such as these and for revivals of works that were made for a smaller stage such as Tudor's Lilac Garden,The Judgement of Paris and Gala Performance, Ashton's Capriol Suite and Andre Howard's La Fete Etrange.

Edited June 8, 2015 by FLOSS

[FLOSS]

Bristol BillyBob you can suggest any works that you like. While it would be nice to think that the majority of suggestions are about ballets that would fill gaps in the repertory of BRB or the RB or works that are in danger of being lost because they are not performed the question is about the ballets that you would acquire for the company. Which company do want to acquire this proposed new work by New Adventures and what would it add to its repertoire? I am interested.

[MAB]

Can I say I found that 'Moulin Rouge' unwatchable', I endured it for around fifteen minutes and switched channels.

 

On the other hand I adored the original Moulin Rouge (1952?) with it's recreation of the dancing depicted in Lautrec's paintings and wonderful score by Georges Auric.  Many years later though I read a biography of Lautrec which proved the original story line to be a romantic fabrication.

 

Sorry to digress.

[Pas de Quatre]

FLOSS - I agree, the Linbury could be used very effectively for some of the historic British works.  Most of these ballets were created for smaller theatres and wouldn't work very well on large stages. 

[hfbrew]

Yes it was in Robert de Warren's day - I had a friend in the company and went to stay with her. They were also doing Walter Gore's Street Games (exact title?). How about a company reviving some of his works - they seem to be lost.  Surely his amazing Eaters of Darkness would be well appreciated today?

 

Edited to add last sentence.

I was lucky enough to be cast in Eaters of Darkness when Paula Hinton-Gore revived it for Hammond back in the 80s.

She also revived Street Games and Simple Symphony which was gorgeous. Walter Gore was a great choreographer and its sad that his works seem now to be lost.

[Pas de Quatre]

How wonderful for you hfb! I agree it is a shame such wonderful work appears to be lost. 

[Wulff]

I would like to see the RB acquire Robbins's Goldberg Variations which I think would present a real challenge to the dancers. I have only seen it once when NYCB performed it on one of their visits to the ROH, and I was deeply impressed. 

[Jan McNulty]

A post on this thread is hidden while it is under review for being thought to contravene the Acceptable Use Policy and/or forum moderation policy.

 

 

 

On behalf of BalletCo Forum Moderators

[alison]

Above all, I want to see Ashton's R&J danced by a British company, 

[...]

More Ratmansky.  Btw, can anyone explain why his beautiful 24 Preludes hasn't been given a revival whereas far inferior pieces have?

 

So do I.  I'd actually prefer it to be ENB, because I think it might drown slightly on larger stages such as the ROH.  My only concern is that the name of Nureyev is probably a bigger selling point to ENB's audiences than that of Ashton.

 

Beats me.  I also thought it was a better piece than Aeternum  Although, of course, it *has* lost several of its leading dancers

 

The Green Table was performed by BRB around 1990 and I remember it very clearly, not least Joe Cipolla as Death and Vincent Redmon as the Profiteer. It would be a welcome and timely piece to revive now.

 

Is it really that long since they've danced it?  I thought they or someone else performed it a few years ago.  I feel I must have seen it this century.  In fact, I'm sure I have ...

 

I sometimes think that the Linbury Theatre could be put to better use than it it is at present by being used for the systematic revival of works by choreographers such as these and for revivals of works that were made for a smaller stage such as Tudor's Lilac Garden,The Judgement of Paris and Gala Performance, Ashton's Capriol Suite and Andre Howard's La Fete Etrange.

 

True, but OTOH I feel they would need a bigger stage than the Linbury can provide.  That's why I keep lamenting that the RB don't use Sadler's Wells - even though I don't think that's necessarily the ideal place for them either.  Add The Rake's Progress and Las Hermanas to that list, too.

[alison]

Imagine that you are suddenly put in charge of either the Birmingham Royal Ballet or the Royal Ballet which ballet or ballets would you want to acquire for your chosen company ?

 

Floss, I meant to ask whether there was any reason why you left ENB out of the mix?  Northern Ballet I can perhaps understand, because they really are a company set aside from all the others, as perhaps are Scottish Ballet.

[Jan McNulty]

Floss, I meant to ask whether there was any reason why you left ENB out of the mix?  Northern Ballet I can perhaps understand, because they really are a company set aside from all the others, as perhaps are Scottish Ballet.

Why?

[FLOSS]

The decision to limit the question to the two Royal Ballet companies was a deliberate one. Both companies are big enough to be able to perform most ballets and the Covent Garden company, in particular. has an extensive range of major works available to it ranging from the nineteenth century classics acquired in the nineteen thirties to masterpieces created for Diaghilev and those created in house by Ashton, Cranko and MacMillan.                                                                                                                         

 

I hoped that knowledge of the existence of this group of twentieth century classics would encourage everyone who responded to my question to think in terms of suggesting major works that both dancers and audiences should experience in live performance rather than suggesting that it would be nice to have a work by a particular choreographer without specifying the work to be acquired.During the first fifty years of the existence of the Royal Ballet companies,because the in house choreographers were very productive,most of the ballets acquired from outside choreographers were acknowledged major works not ballets of unknown quality from known choreographers .The idea behind this question is not to identify a ballet that it would be nice to see for one or two seasons as a novelty but one that should form part of the company's regular repertory. That is a ballet that  would be revived from time to time.                                                                                                                                                              

 

As to why I left out ENB the reason is simple enough.My experience of London Festival Ballet/English National Ballet over the years is that while it has had a limited number of classic productions such as Mary Skeaping's Giselle and Markova's Les Sylphides it does not have an extensive back catalogue of masterpieces that it can dip into from time to time because changes of artistic director tend to mean upheavals in repertory.In addition I am anxious to avoid having a discussion about repertory degenerate into a debate about the relative merits of the company's current artistic director and her predecessor.                                                                                                                                                                                      

[Bruce Wall]

... ,most of the ballets acquired from outside choreographers were acknowledged major works not ballets of unknown quality from known choreographers .                                                                 

 

FLOSS, I believe the works by the choreographers I stipulated in Item no. 7 would fall into your former category.  Certainly the Ratmansky pieces designated would be as they are considered by many of the world's key critical sources from a balletic perspective to be amongst his master works.  

 

The piece I specifically stipulated by Peck - again much celebrated - and only 30 minutes in length - has now been - or is in the process of being - taken into the significant repertory of a goodly number of well recognised ballet companies since its premiere three years ago.  Again, all of these works are in a strictly balletic idiom.  Moreover, all would seek to further strengthen/develop the Royal companies' ensembles as again was mentioned in my aforementioned BcoF item.  

 

While those ballets were all originally created for NYCB, I think we should remember that NYCB has certainly hosted original creations by all three of the RB's prime choreographic constituents, i.e., McGregor, Scarlett and Wheeldon; the latter two on more than one occasion and the last very frequently indeed.  

Edited June 13, 2015 by Bruce Wall

[Two Pigeons]

When Floss speaks about LFB/ENB's pasr classics may I enter a plea for Peter Schaufuss' La Sylphide. I count my memories of seeing him dance this with Eva Evdokimova as right up there on my list of treasures.

 

That aside, I could see why the original posting did limit the question to the repertoires of the RB and BRB. Both companies have been blest by wonderful 'in house' choreographers together with sone great imports by Balanchine, Fokine, Tudor etc. They have a heritage which is pretty unmatched by no other company in the world. How that heritage is protected and preserved is a moot point and entirely a matter of personal tasts.