Acquisitions

[Two Pigeons]

Sorry, last word should be taste. But I expect most people will realise that.

[Jan McNulty]

I only saw Eva Evdokimova dance La Sylphide once (with Peter Schaufuss) when I was a very new ballet watcher.  I have never forgotten that performance.  And I loved Peter Schaufuss production so I fully endorse TP on that one.

[MAB]

                                                                                                                                         

 

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.

 

I totally disagree.  What constitutes a masterpiece is of course highly subjective but the company has had in its repertoire quite a number of works that deserve resurrection.

 

First on my list would be Pas de Quatre, it was choreographed by one of company's founders, Anton Dolin, and is still danced regularly in other countries but sadly not this one. 

 

Second would be Bouree Fantastique by Balanchine, once a company staple but now long gone.

 

Third would be Jack Carter's powerful Witch Boy, once unforgettably danced by John Gilpin and far too good a piece to be condemned to oblivion.

 

John Taras's Piege de Lumiere used to be a hugely popular work and I have vivid memories of Galina Samsova and Andre Prokovsky in the leading roles (btw were this to be revived Tamara Rojo would be ideal as the Morphide).

 

Swan Song:  I need add no more because from other peoples comments I'm aware just how popular this work is.

 

Massine's Le Tricorne, still danced elsewhere but not in Britain more's the pity.

 

Ashton's Romeo & Juliet heads the list of full lengths once in the company's rep that I'd like to see once more, also Bournonville's Napoli, such a splendid acquisition when Shaufuss was in charge.  Don Quixote suited them, perhaps someone would like to jog my memory as to who staged their production but for some reason this ballet suited the company rather better than it ever has the RB.

 

Finally a wish that won't come true:  Peer Gynt.  Again a stunning performance from John Gilpin and a film of this actually exists.  Full lengths centred on a male dancer are rare and off the top of my head apart from this and excluding Grigorovitch, I can only think of Mayerling and Clavigo.  Clavigo!  now there's a ballet I'd love to see in Britain and if any company could do it justice it would probably be ENB.

 

There are also ballets performed in the last few years that I hope will never drop out of the rep, viz. Suite en Blanc, L'Arlisienne and Etudes.

 

Now, over to the rest of you; how many are masterpieces?

[FLOSS]

MAB Your list of fine ballets that ENB has had in its repertory over the years supports the view that I have of the company but expressed rather awkwardly.Most new ADs at ENB seem to treat the company as if it has no history.They accept that it has a couple of productions that the public will always be prepared to pay money to see but after that it is as if the company has never acquired or performed anything of great interest or significance.Each AD "transforms" the company acquiring ballets new to its repertory which it performs until that director leaves and is replaced which,in turn, results in those works slipping out of the repertory to be replaced with the new director's choice of works.Wayne Eagling seemed to be an honourable exception to this corporate amnesia but his proposal to revive Ashton's Romeo and Juliet was rejected by the Board. What a missed opportunity that was!

 

The ballets that you list have for the main part slipped out of the collective memory and into oblivion and on the rare occasion that works like Etudes are revived the company seems to find it more difficult to dance them than they used to in spite of the much vaunted improvement in technique over the last thirty years.

[Two Pigeons]

When I read this thread earlier Etudes was one of the ENB works which came to mind. Again back to the Schaufuss years we had fantasic performances with those by Andrea Hall with Patricks Dupond and Armond (the Flying Frogs) being right up there. I do wonder if we are left with a question of speed again. Improvements in technique have undoubtedly led to higher extensions and jumps but the down side of things is that a lot has slowed down.

 

On another thread Symphonic Variations was mentioned as a work which takes longer to perform than around the time of its premiere. As national styles are becoming more alike and less distinct larger, grander movements mean the smaller, quicker stuff is less prevalent.

 

This is another thread which picks up on issues raised elsewhere on these boards.

[FLOSS]

I would add Anthony Tudor's Echoes of Trumpets to the list of works that MAB has made of ENB's works.

 

I am intrigued to discover that the repertory of both Royal ballet companies is so perfect that few works have been suggested as acquisitions.The other aspect to this discussion which is equally intriguing is that no one has suggested works by Anthony Tudor, Peter Darrell or Walter Gore.It is as if they never existed.

 

So here are some works that I think that audiences should see and dancers should perform. De Valois' The Prospect Before Us a ballet about eighteenth century theatre rivalries,arson and a drunken Irish theatre owner;Ashton's Jazz Calendar and his Persephone;Tudor's Gala Performance,as long as it is played straight rather than for laughs ;Cranko's Card Game and Brouillards;Peter Darrell's Jeux which sounds intriguing and his Tales of Hoffmann and last, but by no means least Walter Gore's Street Games which also sounds fascinating.

 

I recognise that my suggestions reveal my frivolous nature but you can have too much sack cloth and ashes.I thought that the audience's response to the last revival of Fille was not simply a reaction to a series of fine performances of a sunny masterpiece. At some very deep level it was a response to the triple bill that preceded it. I love mixed bills because of the opportunity they give to experience a wide range of choreographic styles and to see a lot of the company but even the presence of two acknowledged masterpieces in that programme did not relieve the feeling that it was overly earnest and intended to do us good rather than entertaining us.

 

Some of these works might not be suitable for the main stage but there is always the Linbury. These works would be useful as a counterweight to the dominant place that MacMillan's ballets and earnest works in general have in the repertory and in the minds of dancers and young choreographers. Most young choreographers go through a phase of trying on other choreographer's clothes and Scarlett's Sweet Violets,Hansel and Gretel and The Age of Anxiety suggest that he is stuck in his MacMillan phase. Perhaps making a wider range of twentieth century choreography available to audiences and dancers alike would be beneficial and act as a stimulus to the creation of a wider range of works than we see at present.

Edited June 18, 2015 by FLOSS

[Bruce Wall]

The other aspect to this discussion which is equally intriguing is that no one has suggested works by Anthony Tudor, Peter Darrell or Walter Gore.It is as if they never existed.

 

 

 

FLOSS, given that the RB went out of their way to NOT EVEN mention Tudor - let alone revive one of his works originally created at Sadler's Wells for the Company - (when Sadler's could still be called a prominent 'ballet' house) - EVEN during Tudor's anniversary (centenary) year - can you really be all that surprised?  Surely way out of sight means way out of mind ... and old grudges it would appear die VERY hard ... at least at certain prominent addresses ... and for certain individuals.  Hasn't seemed I noticed to have harmed Britten or Auden (who might have been thought of in a similar boat) given their recent RB associations ... but then no one said life was entirely fair for any of us did they.  (The latter is - just in case of any doubt - a wholly rhetorical question.)    

Edited June 18, 2015 by Bruce Wall

[Jane S]

I've always rather regretted Monica Mason's decision to cancel Le Parc (Preljocaj) when she took over from Ross Stretton, and I'd still like to see it in the RB's repertoire some day - but probably not right now, when I'd find it hard to choose a suitable cast. (Rojo would have been wonderful.)

[Two Pigeons]

May I point out that BRB have performed The Prospect Before Us and Jazz Calendar comparatively recently. They did Card Game last year and Brouillards a few years ago. I did see Dowell and Rencher in Shadowplay and Lilac Garden done at Sadler's Wells (the old theatre) but I cannot remember which company was performing. It must have been in the eighties.

 

I do think there is a very serious point here. Tudor has been criminally neglected by both Royal companies over the decades and there really is no justification for it. As has been pointed out above, other non-participants in WW2 have not been subjected to the same treatment. Even his minor works like The Leaves are Fading only appear in extracts and then only rarely. You do have to wonder why.

 

I think it was Clive Barnes who said that Britain had produced two choreographic geniuses, Ashton and Tudor. May be Tudor's work was just too cerebral and too much competition for others for it to be given the respect it deserves.

[FLOSS]

I think that the problem with Tudor as far as De Valois was concerned was that she had doubts about his professionalism. I don't know why.I have a feeling that this was before he made Lilac Garden.Perhaps she did not like the way he worked. After all when Ashton became part of the nascent RB he had a body of work that she would have known about, if not seen, the works he had made for the Camargo Society and the work he had done in the commercial theatre for Cochrane. At the point when she was making up her mind about Tudor he did not have anything in his portfolio.

 

Two Pigeons could you hazard a guess about how recently "comparatively recently" is in terms of years? I am interested because I recall seeing Prospect but it was some time ago. I have got to the point where something that I think is recent generally turns out to be between eight and ten years ago.

 

My suggestions about the Cranko pieces were for RB.I can think of several people who would make a good job of the Joker in Card Game. Somehow the ballet management at Covent Garden appears to associate ballet as a serious art form with earnest mixed bills. The earnestness quotient has got so high that it needs to be diluted at regular intervals.

Edited June 18, 2015 by FLOSS

[Two Pigeons]

I am sure you are right FLOSS. It was revived for de Valois' centenary which would mean 2008.

[FLOSS]

Two Pigeons.If Prospect was revived for the centenary of de Valois' birth that would mean it was revived in 1998 and that feels about right as far as "dim and distant" is concerned. I have a recollection of seeing it at Sadler's Wells. As with all ballets but particularly ballets of that type it needs careful casting and a couple of runs of performances so that everyone feels at home in it and the dancers don't feel inhibited by being required to dance in a comic ballet. I seem to recall that David Morse appeared in it but I am probably totally wrong.

 

If we have to wait for the 125th anniversary of dr Valois' birth we will have to wait until 2023 and if we wait for the twenty fifth anniversary of her death we will have to wait until 2026. If we wait that long it will be declared incapable of revival.

[Two Pigeons]

Whoops! Basic maths error apart, I am staggered it was that long. I remember being not that struck by it but Michael O'Hare was pretty terrific as Mr O 'Reilly. Can't say I remember anyone else.

[Duck]

 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.

 

 

Having seen the programme both on Friday and last night, I wholeheartedly second this suggestion.

[FLOSS]

It would be very nice to think that the Royal Ballet might consider reviving two of Cranko's works which it danced many years ago namely Card Game and the Lady and the Fool.But I should not want to see Lady and the Fool danced in the designs currently used by BRB. I fear that Cranko's works do not fit in with the long term plans for the company which, with the exception of Acosta's Don Q,seem to involve refreshing the repertory with new works rather than reviving or acquiring works made fifty,or more, years ago.

 

I suspect that the problem with the Cranko repertory is that it is thought not sufficiently challenging or ground breaking. Although McGregor was appointed by his predecessor, Monica Mason, programming works by McGregor and Shechter help establish that O'Hare is interested in,and committed to new developments in dance.It won't be too long before most people have forgotten that McGregor was not appointment by him.

 

As far as the company's repertory is concerned it is difficult to strike the right balance between new works,old works which maintain technical standards and established works where it is possible to cover technical faults by emoting.Programming too many of the latter can play havoc with a company's technical abilities in a very short time.Acquiring new works whether works that are acknowledged masterpieces or works created on the company's dancers is important for the continued health of a company.What gets programmed and what is acquired under any director is dependent on their taste.If we are lucky they have good taste and are alive to the needs of their dancers and are aware of the choreographic riches available to the company.If we are unlucky we get someone like Ross Stretton.

 

The range of works that the Stuttgart Company is able to perform shows what you can do with a decent state subsidy.The Royal Ballet is perhaps too dependent on private money and box office receipts to be very adventurous. That fact should make it more likely than not that Cranko's works might return to the repertory and that a wider range of them is shown, than is the case at present.However there is the question of the director's taste and interests. Given his age I suspect that he finds many of them rather quaint and dated.

Edited June 28, 2015 by FLOSS

[Duck]

It would be very nice to think that the Royal Ballet might consider reviving two of Cranko's works which it danced many years ago namely Card Game and the Lady and the Fool.But I should not want to see Lady and the Fool danced in the designs currently used by BRB. I fear that Cranko's works do not fit in with the long term plans for the company which, with the exception of Acosta's Don Q,seem to involve refreshing the repertory with new works rather than reviving or acquiring works made fifty,or more, years ago.

 

I suspect that the problem with the Cranko repertory is that it is thought not sufficiently challenging or ground breaking.

 

Looking at the "All Cranko" mixed programme, the challenging choreography is certainly there, and despite the age of these ballets, the choreography looks innovative. I agree though that an acquisition would be more likely for a new ballet than for a piece that was created 40/ 50 years ago.