Nobody Dances The Sleeping Beauty better than the Birmingham Royal Ballet

Standard YouTube Licence

Birmingham Royal Ballet The Sleeping Beauty The Lowry 7 March 2024 18:39

Every March the Birmingham Royal Ballet visits The Lowry to perform one of its full-length works.  This year the company brought Sir Peter Wright's production of The Sleeping Beauty.  I had been looking forward to it very much.  I have seen many performances of that ballet by different companies over the years but none has danced it better than the Birmingham Royal Ballet.   It is not surprising that Sir Peter has been commissioned to create versions of that work for the Dutch National Ballet and the Hungarian Ballet.

I attended the evening performance on 7 March 2024.   As I had expected, the dancing, drama, music, sets and costumes were outstanding but I do have one criticism.   A performance of The Sleeping Beauty normally lasts three and a half hours with intervals between each of the Acts and between the Prologue and Act I.  Those intervals are there for a purpose.   They allow the audience to reflect on the dancing that they have just seen and, unless they already know the ballet backwards, prepare for the next Act by consulting the synopsis.  Intervals also provide opportunities to look out for friends and acquaintances, take a comfort break, grab some refreshments or just stretch pairs of legs.  The show that I attended was telescoped into 2 hours and 50 minutes with just 2 breaks of 15 minutes each.  Acts I and II, which are supposed to span 100 years in the story, were juxtaposed with just a 3-minute pause between them.  Those intervals were just not long enough to absorb and appreciate fully the cascade of colour, sound and movement.       

Happily, there was still plenty to enjoy.  The Sleeping Beauty is a contest between good and evil represented by the Lilac Fairy and Carabosse.  I know that Aurora and Florimund are supposed to be the leads and that their roles are always performed by principals but I have always found them two-dimensional.  The success of the ballet hinges on the performance of those two fairies.  If they fall flat then the ballet is nothing more than an endless string of divertissements,

By far the more interesting fairy is Carabosse as she arrives on a black conveyance surrounded by petty monsters on a peel of thunder following a flash of lightning.  In some productions, Carabosse is danced by a man but I sense an extra frisson when the role is danced by a woman.   The best Carabosse that I have ever seen was the great Dutch ballerina Igone de Jongh but Daria Stanciulescu was pretty good too. I felt her rage as she peevishly plucked the last remaining hair from Catalabutte's pate, 

But evil does not win completely because Carabosse's curse is mitigated by the Lilac Fairy.  She was danced by Eilis Small.  She has a demanding role because she is the only character that appears in every scene of the show.  She guides Florimund through the thicket to Aurora's bed, projecting goodness and calm, banishing Carabosse in a puff of smoke on the way. 

Though their characters may not be as interesting as Carabosse's or Lilac's,  Aurora and Florimund have the best choreography.   The grand pas de deux at their wedding requires considerable virtuosity.  Momoko Hirata and Max Maslen performed those lead roles with flair.   Perhaps the most demanding part of Aurora's role is the rose adagio in Act I where she has to pass gracefully between four suitors.   The sequence requires considerable poise and concentration but Hirata almost made it look easy.

The only parts of the choreography of The Sleeping Beauty that I have ever tried to learn are the fairy variations in the Prologue.  Each is very short but none is easy.  Isabella Howard, Rasanna Ely, Rachele Pizzillo, Reina Fuchigami, Sofia Liñares and Yu Kurihara danced the fairies of beauty, honour, modesty, song, temperament and joy respectively.  I learnt a lot from them.  They were a joy to watch.

Liñares and Pizzillo joined Enrique Bejarano Vidal and Shuailun Wu in the pas de quatre for Aurora's wedding.  I loved Gus Payne's cheeky Puss-in-Boots and Isabella Howard's coquettish White Cat. I must congratulate Riku Itu and Yaoqian Shang on their Bluebird pas de deux.  Itu started his career at Northern Ballet and it was good to see him again.  Tessa Hogge and Callum Findlay-White were an amusing Little Red Riding Hood and Woolf.

This production has been in the company's repertoire for nearly 40 years but it seems as fresh as ever. Philip Prowse's sets and costumes continue to awe.  Touches like the scattering of the stage with gold confetti continue to delight.  So, too, does the Royal Ballet Sinfonia. On 7 March it was conducted by  Paul Murphy.

The Sleeping Beauty itself occupies a special place in the history of British ballet as it was the first work to be performed by the Sadler's Wells Ballet at the Royal Opera House after the Second World War.  That show took place on 20 Feb 1946.  However, according to the Manchester Guardian review of that performance of 21 Feb 1946, it was not the first time that the company performed The Sleeping Beauty at Covent Garden.  The company danced The Sleeping Beauty there at a special performance for the state visit of the President of France in March 1939.   

As this review will appear early on Easter Day, I wish all my readers who observe the festival a Happy Easter and everyone in the UK a happy bank holiday weekend.

Powerhouse Ballet's First Class with Karen Lester-Sant since Lockdown

Powerhouse Ballet takes its name from the Coalition Government's proposal to rebalance the British economy by integrating and expanding the economic, social and cultural resources of the North of England, The company was always intended to be a Transpennine one and for the first two years our classes, workshops and other activities alternated between the studios of Northern Ballet School and Dance Studio Leeds. 

At some time during lockdown, there was a change of ownership at Northern Ballet School.  Its new management stopped letting its studios to members of the public.  We had to find a new venue in Northwest England as did the dance schools and teachers who also used to train and rehearse there.  We held classes in Bolton, Mold and Ballet Contours.   I am very grateful to all those studios for hosting us.

Last Summer Karen Lester-Sant, the Principal of KNT Danceworks, opened new studios at 114 Chapel Street.  I attended the pre-intermediate class there shortly after the studios opened.  I described the experience in My First Class in KNT's New Studios on 12 July 2023.  Karen has always been a great friend of our company.  She gave us our first opportunity to dance in public at KNT's 10th-anniversary gala in May 2019.  Before lockdown, she was also one of our most popular ballet mistresses.  She delivered a particularly memorable company class a few weeks later with the great David Plumpton as her accompanist.

.

On 17 Feb 2024, Karen Lester-Sant gave us another memorable class in her new premises.  This class took place just a few days after my 75th birthday and I was particularly touched that many members travelled long distances to attend.   Joanna Goodman travelled all the way from London and Sarah Lambert drove up from Birmingham.  Several others came from York and Ripon.

Karen gave us a very thorough class as usual.   A brisk barre.  A beautiful adagio.  The usual centre exercises.   A joyous grand allegro to finish.  I did my best to keep up but age and infirmity have greatly reduced my capabilities.  However, the other members danced beautifully.

After class, we adjourned to the Black Lion  where we drank a toast to Po Ling Katherine Wong on her recent wedding and birthday and my dear friends and acquaintances kindly toasted me.  As you can see  from the photo I received a beautiful calendar, some lovely roses, excellent wine and a delicious birthday cake,

I was also given a card signed by members of the company which I shall keep forever -  just as I have kept similar mementoes from the cast members of La Sylphide, Giselle and Aria.   I am very grateful to the members of the company who have contributed many hours of their time to our classes, workshops, rehearsals and performances.  I hope they have enjoyed our activities as much as I did.

Next Saturday we welcome back Fiona Noonan.  She is another very popular teacher.  She trained in Brisbane and danced with the Queensland Ballet.  She stepped in at very short notice last January when the ballet mistress who was expected to take that class was indisposed.   Fiona gave us a very demanding but also very enjoyable class.

Fiona's class will take place at Dance Studio Leeds on 30 March 2024 between 14:00 and 15:30.  I shall be sponsoring the class also it is free for those who attend.   For those who do not know the studios they are in Mabgate Mill about a mile from Leeds Central Station and half a mile from the main bus station and Northern Ballet.  There are several bus routes from the city centre.   The nearest bus stop is "Lincon Green,"   Those coming by car can park free of charge in the mill yard.

Manon

Standard YouTube Licence

Royal Ballet Manon Royal Opera House Covent Garden, 2 March 2024 13:00

While watching Manon on Saturday I was struck by the similarities to MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet.   Not so much with the libretti perhaps though Manon loses Lescaut and Juliet loses Tybalt and both sets of lovers come to a sticky end.  The similarities I had in mind were the choreography with its spectacular duets including one around a bed and great sword fights.  Also, Nicholas Georgiadis created the sets and costumes for both ballets.

Although this was an original thought as far as I was concerned  I doubted that it was novel.   I ran a Google search on "similarities between MacMillan's Manon and Romeo & Juliet"  The only comparison that came to light was Robert Gottlieb's Manon and Romeo and Juliet.   Mr Gottlieb does not seem to have been at all impressed.  He described Manon as "a piece of junk" and complained that Romeo and Juliet was "tedious at times" though "relatively stage-worthy."  

Some pretty uncomplimentary things have been said about the ballet by such critics as Mary Clarke and Jane King but the public seem to like it.  It will celebrate its half-century in a few days and it has been performed by the world's leading ballet companies.  The House was packed to the gunwales on the afternoon of 2 March 2024 when I saw it.  Not a few patrons rose to their feet at the curtain call which does not happen for every show.   I agree that the leading characters, Manon, des Grieux, Lascaut and Monsieur GM are morally flawed and the story is pretty sordid but that did not make it a waste of the lovely Antoinette Sibley or any of her successors.

For those who do not know the ballet it is summarized on the Royal Opera House website.   It is based on the novel  Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux, et de Manon Lescaut by Antoine François Prévost which had already been dramatized, made into several films, at least one other ballet and Puccini's popular opera Manon Lescaut.  MacMillan did not adapt Puccini's score even though it would have been familiar to many members of his audience.  Instead, he commissioned Leighton Lucas to compile a score from Jules Massenet's collected works

The advertised dancers for the lead roles were to be Sarah Lamb and Steven McRae.  McRea was unavailable on Saturday so the role of des Grieux was danced by Ryoichi Hirano.  Lamb reminds me a little of Antoinette Sibley who first danced Manon and Hirano is the sort of chap who could be expected to handle the eye-catching lifts and fish dives with ease.   James Hay danced Lescaut, not an easy role as he had to project a range of emotions.  In one scene he is drunk manhandling his mistress Meaghan Grace Hinkis in one of the few comic scenes from the show. Shortly afterwards, he is dragged in chains and roughed up by Monsieur GM,   That role was danced by the venerable Christopher Saunders who has been dancing in the Royal Ballet for almost as long as I have been following it.

As for the creatives, Koen Kessels conducted the orchestra, Laura Morera staged the performance and Christopher Saunders was the rehearsal director.

I lost count of the number of curtain calls. Sarah Lamb received enough flowers to set up in business as a forest. There were also some for Hirano which would never have happened in Dame Anroinette's day, She used to select one of her choicest blooms and present it to her partner who would sniff the perfume in gratitude. In a reversal of the old tradition, Hirano presented one of his flowers to Lamb.

There are now two different versions of this ballet in this country: the Royal Ballet's version with Georgiadis's designs and English National's that I mentioned but did not review in French Revelation: "The Three Musketeers" on 9 Oct 2018. The main difference between the two is that ENB's came from Denmark and uses the designs of Mia Stensgaard.