Stravinsky and Balanchine Part 2

And so to continue with the rest of the evening…

The second ballet of the evening was ‘Agon’ from 1957.  This is a wonderful work, one that I have seen described as being the ‘most complex and sophisticated of ballets’ (in the Faber Pocket Guide to Ballet).  It is one of those pieces that gets written about and discussed at great length, the wonderful relationship between the music and dance, the striking shapes and forms of the piece.

Balanchine structured his piece around Stravinsky’s score.  The ballet is built around 12 dancers (4 men and 8 women) and has 12 movements (4 sections of 3 dances).  The music alludes to 17^th century French court dances (bransles, galliards and sarabande).  Brass instruments are used to identify the men and woodwind the women.  I can highly recommend The Ballet Bag for an excellent overview (http://www.theballetbag.com/2009/10/05/agon/ )

The structure takes this form:

Pas de Quatre for the men
Double Pas de Quatre  for the women
Triple Pas de Quatre for all 12 dancers
Prelude for 1 man & 2 women
Saraband-step for 1 man
Galliard for 2 women
Coda for 1 man & 2 women
Interlude for 2 men and women
Bransle simple for 2 men
Bransle gai for 1 woman
Bransle double for 2 men and 1 woman
Interlude for 1 man & 1 woman
Pas de Deux for 1 man & 1 woman
Four Pas de Deux for the men & 4 women
Four Pas de Trois for all 12 dancers
Coda: all the dancers

Now to the performance on Thursday!  Apart from one of the dancers nearly falling over (but gracefully recovering), the dancing was fine and technically competent.  However, as usual I am afraid, there was no ‘oomph’, no dynamism, nothing to remember.  The central pas de deux, which should be a show stopper, passed me by.  I have just watched a rather poor quality video I found on YouTube of Agon danced by New York City Ballet in the 1980s and, even watching on my computer screen, I was entranced and gripped by the exciting and enervating performance. That was what I had hoped for on Thursday but as usual was disappointed with RDB.

However, I would like to heap praise on one dancer, Jon Axel Fransson from Iceland, who had energy, verve and a sparkle lacking in the other dancers. 

Part three to follow…..

Balanchine and Stravinsky Part 1

Having decided not to go to a few of the recent productions by the Danish Royal Ballet, I thought it was about time to go to something again, especially as it was a triple bill of ‘Balanchine & Stravinsky’.  I am one of those who like Balanchine (and there are many who don’t).  It stems from the first time I saw some of his work when I was a child in Paris and I was totally bowled over by the neo-classical style and the simple black and white leotards – it was so different from ‘Nutcracker’ and the other classics I had seen up until then.

The programme consisted of ‘Apollo’, ‘Agon’ and ‘Symphony in Three Movements’.  Since Hübbe took over as artistic director in 2008, DRB have added a number of Balanchine works to their repertoire, no doubt due to his previous career with New York City Ballet. 

The evening began with ‘Apollo’.  It was first performed in 1928, and still looks contemporary and fresh.  The ballet is basically about Apollo, god of the sun and the arts, when he was young.  He meets three muses: Calliope, the muse of poetry, Polyhymnia, the muse of mime and Terpsichore, the muse of dance.  Each of the muses dances, but Apollo is mostly charmed by Terpsichore, with whom he dances a pas de deux.  The ballet is set against a bright blue background, the dancers in white.  The end is a wonderful arrangement of the muses and Apollo, the muses legs in arabesques, forming a shape like the rays of the sun.  Deborah Bull wrote that ‘the deceptively simple choreography requires intense concentration and a constant steadying of nerves, from the first entrance' which I can well and truly imagine!  (Quote from The Faber Pocket Guide to Ballet, 2004).

Apollo is one of those pieces I have seen a few times, and have to say I always have great expectations and am usually disappointed, not by the ballet or the choreography, but by the dancing.  Last night, Apollo was danced by Alban Lendorf, the rising star of DRB.  While he may be technically proficient, he has absolutely no charisma or stage presence.  Moreover, while it may be considered that Balanchine’s work are abstract and emotionless, a certain amount of passion and expression is needed if we are to believe in Apollo.  The three muses were all very good (danced by Caroline Baldwin, Holly Jean Dorger and Alba Nadal), with Baldwin proving to be the strongest.

I think I may have mentioned Lendorf before.  His Blue Bird in the pas de deux from ‘Sleeping Beauty’ was dreadful, yet it was executed by the text book.  And therein lies the problem with Lendorf – he looks as if he is in the classroom going through the motions.  He is still young with a career ahead, but I am not convinced he will ever be one of the ‘greats’.

I’m going to write about the other two pieces later, and also return to my theme of ‘where to sit’ as I was in the stalls last night.  The picture below is from a review of New York City Ballet in Paris in The New York Times of 2008.

A Dancer in Wartime

If you are feeling in need of a quick, light and easily digested read one Sunday afternoon, then pick up “A Dancer in Wartime” by Gillian Lynne.  Described on the cover of the edition I have as ‘one girl’s journey from the Blitz to Sadler’s Wells’ , it is indeed that. 

Lynne has a rather gushing style, which judging by how she describes herself as a child and teenager, is probably a very true reflection of her character.  She charts her progress from her first dance classes, the tragic death of her mother, to her becoming a dancer with what later became The Royal Ballet.  She was a contemporary of Margot Fonteyn, Beryl Grey and Moira Shearer, and gushes (and she does gush…) about dancing with them and others.  It stops in 1946 at the opening performance at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.

In later life, Lynne went on to become a choreographer, best known for musicals such as ‘Cats’ and ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and is still working at the age of 86.  It is a bit of an odd book, but somehow very sweet and reads like she is telling you the story of her early life.   Good with a cup of tea and a packet of biscuits, this can easily be read in a few hours.

If you want to read some more serious biography, I can highly recommend Julie Kavanagh's seminal works on Frederick Ashton and Nureyev. 

The Guardian Royal Ballet Live

I have had to miss most of this since work got in the way...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/interactive/2012/mar/23/royal-ballet-live-stream

What a wonderful idea!  So good to see what really goes into performances being made public. 

I'll write a proper entry soon.

Rhapsody

At last!  A chance to go and see some dance and some good dance as well!  This week I went to see Dansk Danseteater perform two pieces, ‘Rocking’, with choreography by Kim Brandstrup and ‘Rhapsody’, a Tim Rushton piece. 

‘Rocking’ was a series of 6 duets.  The programme notes (which I read after) said that the themes revolved around the feeling of being rocked like a baby as well as the need to set ourselves free.  Looking back, this completely makes sense.  Dancers fell back and were caught, supported each other, broke away.  It was a very lyrical piece and a good opener.

‘Rhapsody’ was a contrast, and a good one too.  I really enjoyed this, abstract and interesting piece.  I always enjoy it when the dancers form patterns and shapes that form and break apart.  The music (John Adams ‘Shaker Loops’) was, I confess, a big contributor to the joyous feel of the piece.  I was not totally convinced by the costumes, sort of Egyptian tunics for both the men and the women, and while the choreography for the most part was interesting, there were a couple of passages where the music was being interpreted a bit too literally (a sort of wobbling movement in time to the music for example).

The dancers were all in excellent form, with, for me, some new faces.  Interesting that only one of the company is actually Danish!  Tim Rushton always comes across as such a nice person – warm and modest about his accomplishments.  Dansk Danseteater is a good company which should be supported.

Next blog will be another book review. Below is a picture from 'Rhapsody'.

The Everyday Dancer

It’s been a while since I have been on this blog.  Christmas and family matters put a hold on things for a while, as well as the fact that there has been no dance to go and see.  So I thought as I get back to the blog in 2012 I would start with a book review.

I got given for Christmas “The Everyday Dancer” by Deborah Bull.  It is a very easy read (you could easily finish it on a snowy, cold winter Sunday), nicely illustrated and I think goes a long way to do what it aims to do which is give a picture of the life in the day of a dancer.  Bull structures the book around the daily schedule, weaving in descriptions of classes and rehearsals as well as some anecdotes from her own experience, from being a rat in “The Nutcracker” to her final performances as a principal with The Royal Ballet. 

I have to say that I enjoyed the book, read in little bits on my boring bus journey to work.  It give a good picture of what goes on behind the scenes (I particularly liked her comments about different costume types and wigs).  However, I do wonder who the book is aimed at?  I guess any teenage girl who dreams of being a dancer would lap it up, and I know I would have loved it if I had read it when I was 13.  As I say, I enjoyed it now too, so maybe it is aimed at anyone who has an interest in and likes dance, though don’t expect to learn anything new if you watch a lot and read a lot about dance.

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.