The Nutcracker that never was

A while back, a friend of mine with 4 year old twins said she wanted to take her children to see some dance. I suggested waiting until December and then going to see 'The Nutcracker' which as you may have read was the first ballet I was taken too.  It is a good introduction I feel with its Christmas theme and different divertissements.  

However, when I came to book tickets, all the matinees where we were available were sold out!  Quite something I thought.  Well, after reading the reviews in both Politiken and Weekend Avisen I am glad we didn't go - seems to have been a rather poor production.  Which actually brings me to my next point, somewhat related to my second post.  The Danish Royal Ballet seems to be going through a bad patch again.  There is a lack of, what I can only describe as sparkle.  The corps is often raggedy and not together, the principals while technically excellent, lack the ability to express any emotions or act the part (with the exception of Thomas Lund I mentioned before).  Since there is no choice in company to see, since we are lucky to get one or two visiting companies each year, I will still go.  I just hope I get to see something good in 2012.

When it goes wrong no 2

Friday news story

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/25/dmitry-medvedev-dance-election-russia

When it goes wrong

Last night I went to see the Danish Royal Ballet at the new(ish) Opera House.  It is hard to know where to begin...while the venue is great, and we had excellent seats in the middle of the first balcony, and so a wonderful view of the stage, it was a dreadful evening, with a few exceptions.  I had seen this programme already and expected the worst, and only went this time as my companion had not been to the Opera House and wanted to go before leaving Denmark.

One of the main problems was the programme itself.  While the idea of a showcase of Jerome Robbins sounds like a good idea, the odd mix of pieces meant there was no thread through the evening.  Of course choreographers changes styles and develop, and that can be fascinating to see, but this was just a jumble.

The first piece was 'The Concert', a 'comedy' piece (I have a personal dislike of comedy ballet, but I won't let that colour my judgement here) to music by Chopin.  It was first performed in 1956, and looked it.  While this is not a criticism, more of an observation, it does make me wonder why it was picked.  I would say in Hübbe's (Nicolai Hübbe is the artisic director) defence (I presume it was his choice) that it suited the dancers of the company, and gave ample opportunity to show off the female dancers legs and pointe work!

The second piece is one that should have been consigned to the archives.  'The Cage', from 1951, is dated nonsense about female spiders eating male spiders.  Enough said I think!

We then experienced a total mood change with a lyrical pas de deux, also danced to Chopin.  Here I was at least treated to the sublime Thomas Lund, a fantastic dancer in real Bournonville tradition.  He is a 'neat and tidy' dancer, wonderful beats (batterie) and an old fashioned elegance.  His partner, J'aime Crandell, was also excellent.  It was however lost during the evening and was definitely the wrong placing for the piece.  My companion almost fell asleep during it!

'West Side Story' is a great musical with memorable music.  The film version is a classic.  The version we saw last night has seven scenes from the musical and was first performed in 1995.  First, this is a mistake.  While a suite of dances taken from the whole thing sounds like a good idea, this version failed.  If you didn't know the story, you would have no idea that the original was a love story.  The two central characters had hardly any interaction, and the only reason one knew who Maria was, was because of her dress which was different from the others.  The whole focus of the piece was on the fight scenes.  The singing that accompanied it at times was appalling.  I have no idea who it was who appeared on stage at one point to sing one of the ballads, but it was like being at a bad amateur production.  The dancers themselves were fine, though not all classical dancers are good at a more jazz style.

I really hope this is the last time this programme will be performed.  It does nothing for the reputation of the company, and calling it 'Broadway for an Evening' is just a joke.  1 star out of 5, with apologies to Thomas Lund.

Pina

Last week I went to see Wim Wenders' homage to Pina Bausch, 'Pina', a 3D dance movie.  I have to say the idea of a 3D dance movie almost intrigued me more than seeing the film initially.  The 3D worked, but I really didn't think about it that much except in certain scenes.

The film...well, I was delighted to see a long excerpt from 'The Rite of Spring', which made such a huge impact on me when I saw it in Edinburgh many years ago.  If you haven't seen it, the stage is covered with soil and the dancers become one with their environment.  It is an amazing piece live.  I sat in the stalls (note - I will mention where I sit to see things quite often as it does affect the experience) and could smell the soil and sweat.

Anyway, back to the film.  It was interesting, great to watch the dancers, hear their voices and of course to see excerpts from various pieces.  It would have been really interesting to have seen Pina in rehearsal and see how she worked, especially after hearing what the dancers said about working with her.  Of course this was not possible, but it would have been nice. 

The film was perhaps a bit over-long, but still worth seeing.  I wasn't as bowled over as I had hoped.  I would give it 3.5 out of 5.

Blog No 1

Well, I have been meaning to do this for a while, write a blog about dance, dancing and maybe even dancers.  I saw my first live dance when I was 3 or 4 or so.  To be honest, I am not sure which of two I saw first, but both made a lasting impact on me.  One was a visit to Glasgow by the then Polish national dance troupe.  Apparently, I slept all the way there on the train, sat transfixed throughout the performance, hardly moving, and then slept all the way home again to Edinburgh.  I can still remember the whirling skirts and bright colours, viewed from sitting in the balcony.  The other was 'Nutcracker', this time viewed from the stalls.  My mother said she had never seen a child sit so still...

Anyway, there will be more memories along the way I am sure!  In the meantime, the next blog will be about the film 'Pina'.