My Third Attendance at the Royal Ballet's "Onegin"

https://www.rbo.org.uk/tickets-and-events/onegin-details

 

Royal Ballet Onegin Royal Ballet and Opera House, 15 Feb 2025, 13:00

Cranko's Onegin is a compelling watch.   its subject is a man who toys with the emotions of two young women and their champion kills a man in a duel without any apparent legal or social consequences and attempts to seduce a married woman in her boudoir whom he had previously humiliated.   An utter rotter who deserves to be horsewhipped and yet his only punishment is to be sent packing.   My sense of justice was outraged.

I had seen the Royal Ballet's production twice before (see Onegin: the most enjoyable performance that I have seen at the House since Sibley and Dowell 21 Feb 2016 and The Royal Ballet's "Onegin" 8 March 2020).  The ballet is performed by many of the world's leading companies and I have published reviews of the Dutch National Ballet's version by Remco van Grevenstein (see Dutch National Ballet's Onegin 11 March 2017) and La Scala's by Helen McDonough (A Tale of Two Onegins 12 Nov 2017).  The aspects of the ballet that had impressed me in the past had been Cranko's choreography, Stolze's score and Rose's designs.  They impressed me again but on this occasion, I also had memories of Matthew Golding and Thiago Soares as Onegin to compare to Matthew Ball who danced the role yesterday.

Ball was a very convincing Onegin.  He is an excellent actor and his looks remind me very much of Alexander Pushkin's image of his creation.  I have learnt a lot about Onegin's character from each of the performances that I have attended but yesterday he came to life to me.  In fact, Ball reminded me of all the Onegins I have met in real life and raised my indignation to the point of anger.  On the train back to Wakefield I posted to Facebook a reflection that cads like Albrecht and Onegin seem to escape the consequences of their wrongdoing.  Sarah Lambert pointed out that Albrecht gets his comeuppance in Dada Masilo's version which I reviewed in A Brace of Giselles while Bo Zhang observed pertinently:

"I don’t see why ballet the artistic form, instead of the dubious ideology of the authors/writers of these stories, has to bear the blame."

Perhaps because he is the most recent Onegin that I have seen, Ball was the most memorable.  But then he must know the ballet like the back of his hand as he danced Lensky when I first saw the workin 2016.

The other leading characters resonated with me too.   Just as Ball had been Lensky 9 years ago Yasmine Naghdi who had been Olga in 2016 became Tatiana yesterday.  I think she was the most memorable Tatiana I have ever seen.   Again because she is a superb dance actor.   Osipova was a great princess and Itziar Mendizabal was a vulnerable and impressionable young woman but Naghdi was impressive both as the young Tatiana and the grown-up one.   Leo Dixon won the audience's hearts as Lensky.  We felt his ire as Onegin flirted with a playful Olga.   In previous reviews, I had overlooked Olga as simply Tataian's empty-headed sister but Olga had to grow up quickly when Onegin picked up Lensky's gauntlet. It is actually quite a substantial role and Anna Rose O’Sullivan who danced Olga explored every aspect of it. I had not previously noted Harris Bell but I shall follow him in future because of his impressive role as Prince Gremin.

I learnt a lot about Pushkin's work yesterday.  Possibly as much as anyone could short of learning Russian and reading the original text.

An Enormous Loss

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I met Michaela Mabinty DePrince only once but I felt personally bereaved when I read about her death earlier today.  I first heard of DePrince shortly after my late spouse died of motor neurone disease.  My late spouse was also Sierra Leonean who shared something else with DePrince. We had been married for nearly 27 years and watching life drain away from the most precious person in the world was the most painful experience of my life.

The post about the success of a 17-year-old Sierra Leonean coincided with a postcard on my gym notice board advertising "ballercise" (ballet exercise) classes,  They were offered by a teacher who had trained in Brisbane and danced with the Queensland Ballet. I had studied a little bit of ballet as an undergraduate when I was bursting with energy and ambition.  I had never ceased to attend performances and I continued to devour every review book or article on ballet that I could obtain but there were no ballet classes at my graduate school in LA or indeed at the Inns of Court in London,

Irrational though it may sound to describe the coincidental appearance of the post on the BBC website and the advert as providential, that is just how it seemed.  I enrolled in the class and miraculously much of the ambition and energy of youth gushed back.  I have often told my teacher that her classes raised me from utter despair but I would never have thought of joining the class had I not read that article about DePrince.

Shortly after DePrince had won the Youth America Grand Prix, I learned that she had joined the Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet.  I flew over to Amsterdam for its first performance,  I reviewed the show in The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013 on 25 Nov 2013.  I described her as "simply the most exciting dancer I have seen for quite a while."  My review was read by the Junior Company's Artistic Coordinator Ernst Meisner which led to correspondence and eventually an opportunity to meet the dancers.  

Every year the Dutch National Ballet holds a gala followed by a party.  At the party dancers, musicians and the management of the company mingle with the audience.  It was on one of those occasions that I exchanged a few words with DePrince.  It was a glorious evening which I have described as The best evening I have ever spent at the ballet.   Just as I was leaving I spotted DePrince and greeted her,   It was a very short conversation as I was rushing for the underground but I left the theatre thinking how that exceptionally talented young dancer was as gracious off stage as she was magnificent on it.

Over the years I have made the acquaintance of many other members of the Dutch National Ballet and some have become dear friends,  I also met many members of the audience including a wonderful teacher who came to train Powerhouse Ballet a few years ago. I have also got to know the Netherlands well.  It is the one part of the world outside my country that I feel most at ease.   All of those acquaintances and friendships as well as my affection for the Netherlands I owe to that first visit to the Stadsshouwburg and ultimately to the artist who caused me to make that visit,

According to The Guardian DePrince's family has requested donations to  War Child, instead of flowers.  I am sure that her many fans around the world will respond generously to that request. 

BRB2 in Nottingham

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BRB2 Carlos Acosta's Classical Selection Theatre Royal, Nottingham, 28 April 1930

Nearly 10 years ago I was in Amsterdam for the first performance of the Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 2013  25 Nov 2013).  I had come to see Michaela De Prince about whom I had heard a lot.  She did not disappoint me, but she was not the only artist who impressed me.  The other members of the cast were super talented too. Several are now principals in the Dutch National Ballet and other companies.

The Junior Company has greatly strengthened the Dutch National Company by attracting some of the world's best young dancers,   Because of its success I urged British companies to set up their own junior companies.   The Central School of Ballet set up Ballet Central to tour the South, Ballet West had a company that toured Scotland and Northern Ballet had Manchester City Ballet which gave several excellent performances in the Dancehouse.  But that was not quite the same as the Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company as none of those student companies was associated with an established company.

I first learned about BRB2 when I attended An Evening with Ashton at Elmhurst.  That was a master class on Ashton's Rhapsody given by Lesley Collier.   Ashton had created that piece for Collier and  Mikhail Baryshnikov and the dancers Collier taught were Frieda Kaden and Oscar Kempsey-Fagg,  Carlos Acosta introduced them as members of BRB2, Birmingham Royal Ballet's junior company (see An "Evening with Ashton" and the Launch of an English Junior Company 30 Jan 2023).

The company is now on tour.   According to the programme, their debut was in Northampton on Tuesday 25 April 2023.  Nottingham is their second stop.  Their next will be Peterborough on 3 and 4 May, London on 13 and 14 June and finally Wolverhampton on 24 June.  When I visited Elmhurst someone told me that Northampton would be the best place to see them because they would have a live orchestra.  Had it been possible I would have been there.  Sadly, barristers tour at least as much as ballet dancers and I had a breakfast meeting in Colwyn Bay at 09:00 the day after their Northampton show.  Even without an orchestra, BRB2 were impressive.  I would have trekked down the M1 to see them again tonight had Powerhouse Ballet's company class not been scheduled for this afternoon in Salford.   I will try to catch them again at the Linbury or elsewhere on the tour. 

The format of last night's show was very similar to the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company's.  Except for Majisimo which was the finale the show consisted of solos, duets and pas de deux. The first part consisted of four very well-known works plus Carlos Acosta's bolt-on of  Descombey's Dying Swan to Fokine's which he called Dying Swans.  The second part of the show consisted of seven less familiar works.  Two of the works that I saw yesterday were also in the Dutch National Ballet's opening performance, namely the pas de deux from Act II of Swan Lake and Diana and Actaeon.

The show opened with an empty stage except for a travelling barre and other touring paraphernalia.  One by one the artists walked on stage.   They limbered up as if preparing for class.   Two of them, Kaden and Kempsey-Fagg, peeled away and approached that front.   A backdrop fell to hide the other dancers and they performed Rhapsody just as Collier had taught them at Elmhurst.  They had impressed me even in the master class.  Yesterday they were polished and confident and executed the piece with flair. There could not have been a better start to the show.

The backdrop was lifted to reveal the company again.  This time Olivia Chang Clarke appeared in a romantic tutu and Eric Pinto-Cata in a kilt to dance the pas de deux from La Sylphide. Their piece turned out to be the high point of my evening.  That may have been partly because I love Bournonville's ballet very much and know it well but credit must also go to the dancers.  Pinto-Cata was the perfect James with his powerful tours en l'air and Chang Clarke was a delightful sylph, playful and flirtatious.  I almost wept at the thought of what Madge's shawl would do to her.

Maɨlȅne Katoch and Mason King followed with the pas de deux from Act II of Swan Lake. Interestingly, Katoch had written on her web page that her dream would be Odette-Odile because she finds it interesting to be able to interpret an ethereal and delicate swan and then a mischievous swan.   It must have pleased her to have been given a taste of her dream role so early in her career.  I am sure it will not be long before she performs the whole role.  King partnered her gallantly.  Not hard to envisage him as a principal in the not-too-distant future.   

I had seen Javier Torres perform Descombey's Dying Swan at Northern Ballet's 45th anniversary in 2015 and had admired the work greatly (see Sapphire  15 March 2015).   I would have enjoyed watching it again in its original form and I am sure that Jack Easton would have danced it magnificently.  I would have enjoyed Fokine's Dying Swan even more for the reason I gave in to Sapphire.  I am sure that Regan Hutsell would have danced it exquisitely.  Combining the two works and their music to create a solo did not work for me.   I had to switch between the two alternately as though I was watching two separate ballets at the same time. That way I appreciated Easton and Hutsell's considerable virtuosity.

Diana and Actaeon had been the highlight of my evening in Amsterdam because De Prince and Sho Yamada displayed exceptional virtuosity.   The ballerina enters the stage to Pugni's punchy music practically jumping on pointe.   I had described De Prince as "quite simply the most exciting dancer I have seen for quite a while" and she will always be my Diana just as Antoinette Sibley will always be my Titania.   Beatrice Parma's interpretation was softer, more delicate, more Ashtonesque perhaps? Enrique Bejarano Vidal was spectacular.

Part 2 opened to a blue background with several dancers seated around tables.    There is a suburb of Buenos Aires near the cemetery where Eva Peron is buried called La Recoleta which is famous for its cafes.   As the second piece was Gustavo Mollajoli's A Buenos Aires to Astor Piazzolla's music I was transported there.   

However, the second part began with Ben Stevenson's apocalyptic End of Time danced hauntingly by Lucy Waine and Kempsey-Fagg to Rachmaninov's Cello Sonata in G Minor.   Stevenson started his career with the precursor of the Birmingham Royal Ballet and he did great things in Houston including sheltering Li Cunxin according to Mao's Last Dancer. 

Kaden and Easton were the first couple to leave the table to dance A Buenos Aires.   They were followed by Hutsell's spirited Je ne regret rien tIt io Ben van Cauwenbergh's interpretation of Edith Piaf's famous song.  She was followed by Vidal's Les Bourgeois also by van Cauwenbergh.   He tottered around the stage clutching a bottle executing unusual jumps and turns to Jacques Brel's music prompting loads of laughs from the audience.   As bouré is another word for "drunk" in French I quipped on Twitter that he gave a whole new meaning to pas de bourrée.  It is however very difficult to clown successfully in ballet and those who can carry it off are abundantly talented.

I enjoyed Acosta's Carmen much more than his Dying Swans.   Chang Clarke reminded me a little of Zizi Jeanmaire who will always be my Carmen though I had seen her only on film.  Wearing her hair loose she danced the pas de deux with Cata passionately.  it was one of my favourite pieces from Part 2. My other favourite from Part 2 was Will Tuckett's Nisi Dominus danced by Lucy Waine to Montiverdi's Vespers.  Sacred music does not often fit well with ballet for many reasons but Tuckett's choreography seemed to work well with the score.

The evening finished with Kaden, Vidal, Katoch and King together with Rachele Pizzillo, Ryan Felix and Ava May Llewellyn in Jorge Garcia's Majissimo to Massenet's music.  The piece focused on each of the artists to demonstrate his or her skills and strengths.   It was a good way to round off a very successful evening.

Carlos Acosta and Kit Holder, BRB2's artistic coordinator, are to be congratulated.  The company could not have made a better start.   One of the strengths of the Dutch Junior Company is that they draw heavily on their heritage as well as their talented up-and-coming choreographers.   There is always a van Manen and van Dantzig in their repertoire as well as new works by Ernst Meisner and  Milena Siderova.  The Birmingham Royal Ballet also has a rich heritage. In future, I would like to see a little more Ashton and maybe some MacMillan, Peter Wright and Bintley as well as perhaps pieces by Holder himself and other young choreographers.   

Now that two of Europe's leading ballet companies have junior companies it is likely that a friendly rivalry between the two will spur them both to even greater achievements.   But I also hope there will be more than rivalry.  I would love to see what BRB2's artists would make of In the Future or No Time Before Time. The Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company remains my first love.  I will continue to support it in any way I can.   But I can now take pride in an excellent English junior company.  I shall follow, encourage and support it too. 

Amser Da - Dutch National Ballet New Season

National Opera and Ballet

Author Jane Lambert © 2022 Powerhouse Ballet All rights reserved

 

The Dutch are good at puns.  It may be because every schoolchild in the Netherlands is expected to learn enough English, French or German to hold a simple conversation in any of those languages.  One of the best puns came from Remco van Revenstein after the 2020 US presidential election.  It went like this: "Question: "Why does Mr Trunp have to leave the White House?" Answer "Because it's for Biden."

Here is one pun that not even the Dutch will have dreamt up. The Welsh for "Good time" is "Amser da" and of course almost the name of their leading city. If I ran a travel agency, airline or the Dutch tourist board in Cardiff, Swansea or Newport I would be flogging that pun for all that it is worth and then some.

That is because the Dutch National Ballet has just announced its new season in a press release dated 29 March 2022.  It will attract theatre-goers in droves from around the world including, no doubt, many from Wales and the rest of the UK. Highlights will include:

• Celebrate between 13 to 28 Sept 2022: A mixed bill consisting of Yugen by Wayne McGregor to the music of Leonard Bernstein, Christopher Wheeldon's The Two of Us, Ted Brandsen's The Chairman Dances  to the music of John Adams and Milena Siderova's  Regnum to the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart;
• The Sleeping Beauty between 12 Oct 2022 to 2 Jan 2023;
• Balanchine, Van Manen and Arques: 9 - 19 Nov 2022  a national tour with Balanchine's Four Temperaments, various works by Hans van Manen and Arques's Manoeuvre;
• Dawson 8 to 18 Dec 2022 a double bill consisting of a new work by David Dawson and Dawson's The Four Seasons to the music of Max Richter;
• The Junior Company Ballet Bubbles 26 Jan to 15 Feb 2023;
• Verdi Requiem in collaboration with the National Opera 9 Feb - 25 Feb 2023;
• Swan Lake 11 May - 16 June 2023;
• Dorian by  Ernst Meisner and Marco Gerris of IDH Dance Collective to the music of  Joey Rouken; and 
• Forsythe Festival between 10 and 27 June 2023.

The company will also take part in the Fall for Dance Festuva in New York this autumn.

So what is the Dutch Style?

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That was a question that I put to Ernst Meisner in the Q&A following his interview by Graham Watts in the London Ballet Circle's Zoom call last night.  I asked Ernst that question because the Dutch National Ballet will perform a mixed bill entitled The Dutch School between 12 and 26 June 2021 to which he is one of the contributors.  Thinking also of Balanchine's Jewels in which emeralds were attributed to the French, rubies to the Americans and diamonds to the Russians, I wondered what would be the Dutch jewel if Mr B could plan a sequel.

Ernst replied "simplicity" when Graham Watts read out my question.  That is certainly true of Embers and No Time before Time, two of the most beautiful short pieces that have ever been created for the stage.  It is quite impossible to watch either of those works dry-eyed.  But what about the others?  Van Dantzig, van Manen, van Schayk, Ochoa and Brandsen?  To name just a few?  "Simplicity" is not the first word that comes to my mind when contemplating Mata Hari or In the Future.

Yet there is undoubtedly a quality of Dutch dance that makes it recognizable anywhere and that is its fluidity. That is the characteristic that I think all the works that I have seen in Amsterdam have in common.  It is the je ne sais quoi of Embers and No Time that tugs at my emotions. But it is the one quality that I think the maker of abstract historical ballets shares with the creator of moving architecture.  I might also add another word that is close to fluidity, namely fluency.

Don't all successful works of choreography have that quality? Many will ask.  Yes, but in the same way as all male dancers jump spectacularly but perhaps not quite in the same way as the Russians.  Similarly, there is a certain lyrical softness to say Lise's solo as she is locked up with the sheaves of corn that all dancers display but perhaps not to the same extent which perhaps explains why I have never seen Ashton performed outside England quite as well as his work is danced here. 

If I were thinking of awarding the Dutch a jewel I think it would be mercury, the only metal that exists as a liquid at room temperature.  Not a gem that can be worn on a ring or in the hair but something equally rare, just as beautiful and much more elusive.

The Finale - Dutch National Ballet;s "Dancing Apart Together"

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Dutch National Ballet Dancing Apart Together Music Theatre, Amsterdam, 20 Sep 2020 14:00

Ib her review, Dutch National Ballet - "Dancing Apart Together", Yvonne Charlton described the show's finale:

"Extending the stage by moving the side curtains and the backcloth, Anna Tsygankova appeared in the centre. Slowly all the other dancers joined her coming from between the stage lightings filling the whole stage with social distance. A sublime grand finale with the whole ensemble of the National Ballet and the Junior Company."

It must have been a wonderful moment.

Happily, I have just found a video of that scene and it seems to have been every bit as impressive as the scene that Yvonne described.   Listen to that applause.   It's deafening.  Yet the auditorium was only a quarter full.  It represents the affection in which Amsterdam - indeed the whole world - holds that magnificent company.

Ballet in Lockdown

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Dutch National Ballet Ballet connects dancers in lockdown 21 April 2020 YouTube
This is the first new ballet that I have reviewed since lockdown.  It is on screen rather than a stage but it is fresh, relevant and eloquent.  It expresses the anxiety, frustration, isolation and tedium that each of us suffers whether artist or audience member during these miserable times.

Ballet in Lockdown is a very short work to the music of a Rotterdam band called Di-rect. The track is "Hold on" which Di-rect recorded about ten years ago.  It is certainly appropriate now.   As it is on YouTube I shall let my readers discover it for themselves.   All I will say is that the film begins with solitary dancers in their homes wearing expressions that are the epitome of gloom.  One by one they begin to bourée, to stretch, to turn, to lean or press against their walls as though in adjoining rooms.  Icons of the individual dancers are assembled in gallery view.  The very last frame of the dancers erect, facing the camera, their arms outstretched, their hands held high expresses hope and promise. An assurance that this plague will one day end,  If we only hold on,   I was moved by this piece.  I have played it several times.  Each time I have noticed something new.  It is a gem that deserves preservation.  I would love to see its transposition to a stage if that can be done.

This work was created by Milena Siderova who has an impressive portfolio of work. I had previously seen and admired Full Moon which she had created for Bert Engelen when he was in the Junior Company and Withdrawn for the company's New Moves in 2017, Full Moon was about those nights when it is hard to sleep where the bedclothes seem to have minds of their own, In that piece,  Engelen struggled with his pillow to the music of Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights.  Withdrawn was more reflective.  In my review I wrote:

"The finale was Milena Siderova's Withdrawn. Siderova had created Full Moon for Bart Engelen who is now with the Norwegian Ballet........... I expected much from her next work and I think that we got it. Withdrawn was a work for 10 dancers to the music of Emilie Satt's Butterfly. It appears to have been inspired by a passage from Carol Becker's essay Thinking in Place, Art, Action and Cultural Protection of a dystopian future in which human social interaction is replaced by the interaction of electronic devices. Each of the dancers carried a torch which I guess was reminiscent of the screen of a mobile phone. They seemed to wander in a sort of limber rather like the lost souls in surgical gowns in Tran-Phat's In Limbo that launched the show."

A work from her repertoire that I have never seen but would very much like to is The Spider which she crested in 2011.  Her observation of the animal's movements and behaviour is knife-sharp. Their translation into dance is the best I have seen  Petipa's Puss in Boots and White Cat duet in the last act of The Sleeping Beauty.

I wish more companies could attempt something like this.  Video streams of past performances are all very well but they lack something.  In another article, I compared it recently to encountering a stuffed animal in a museum.  Better than nothing I suppose but there is no life to it.

Registration is open for Maria Chugai's Online Class

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Last year I featured Maria Chugai of the Dutch National Ballet.  You will see from my article that she is a very special dancer.   She trained at the Vaganova Academy which produced such greats as Pavlova, Karsavina, Nureyev and Makarova.  She must have been one of its best pupils for she was cast in the lead role of The Nutcracker at the age of 17, one year before her graduation.  She first came to my attention in a performance of Giselle where she danced the Queen of the Wilis (see Mooie 10 November 2018.  She was the best Myrtha that I have ever seen in over 60 years of ballet going.

Earlier today she offered Powerhouse Ballet an online class over Zoom on Tuesday, 21 April at 18:00.  Needless to say, I accepted with alacrity.  Anyone who wants to attend should register through Eventbrite immediately.   Those tickets are unlikely to remain for very long,

To attend this class you will need to download at least the free version of Zoom.   We shall have a rehearsal on Monday at 18:00. An hour before the rehearsal I shall send those who register a link and invite them to join the meeting.   Should there be any problems our chambers IT guru will be on hand to sort them out.

If you wish to join the class, here is the link to Eventbrite.   If you find you can't make it let me know as soon as possible.

Balanchine by the Seaside

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Dutch National Ballet Best of Balanchine 17 Nov 2019 15:00  Zuiderstrbdtheater, The Hague  

The Best of Balanchine triple bill must have been a big deal for the Dutch National Ballet for they presented Symphony in Three Movements and Who Cares? at the opening night gala on 10 Sept 2019, performed it in Amsterdam for the last two weeks at the end of September and then took it on tour to the Dutch provinces in November.  I make no complaint about that because we do not see as much of Balanchine as we should in the United Kingdom. The Dutch dance Balanchine's works very well. From what I have seen, they dance his work as well as any company outside the United States.

Balanchine was born, trained and started his career in Russia but he made his formidable international reputation in the USA. The works in the triple bill reflected that history. Ballet Imperial to the music of Tchaikovsky was pure Russian whereas Who Cares? was a celebration of America. Symphony in Three Movements to a score by Stravinsky was a blending of the two. Created in America for American dancers but a tribute to another great Russian émigré.

I had intended to see the Best of Balanchine in Amsterdam on 29 Sept but a nasty fall down the steps to a car park in Birmingham the day before put paid to that plan. Instead, I saw it at the Zuiderstrandstheater (literally "the Southern Sands Theatre") on the coast a few miles outside The Hague on Sunday. That theatre is one of the most beautiful I have ever visited. It has an ample stage allowing a good view from every part of the auditorium. I was in the middle of row 17 of the stalls which was far enough back to take in the whole stage but near enough to see the dancers' features. Even more beautiful is its settling, literally yards from the sea behind a big sand dune on one side and overlooking a small harbour with a coastguard cutter at berth on the other.  This was only my second time in The Hague but I really took to it. The 28 bus from the railway station took me past the Netherlands Dance Theatre's home base, the Houses of Parliament and the royal palace, the International Court of Justice, several embassies and a lovely park before reaching the Zuiderstrand which, for some reason or other, is called "Norfolk."

The leading dancers in Ballet Imperial included three of my favourites - Maia Makhateli, Artur Shesterikov and Riho Sakamoto. I took particular delight in seeing Sakamoto because I featured her when she joined the Junior Company (see Meet Riho Sakamoto of the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company 6 Dec 2014).  I had an inkling then that she would do well and so she has. Another member of that cohort, Cristiano Principato, also had an important role in the pas de trois  It was also good to see some of the latest recruits in that work such as Leo Hepler, Sebia Plantefeve, Claire Tjoe-Fat and Wenjin Guo as well as Junior Company alumni such as Alexandria Marx and Conor Walmsley who are now élèves and Clara Superfine and Melissa Chapski who are in the corps. The work is created on Tchaikovsky's Second Piano Concerto which was played enchantingly by Michael Mouratch.

In Symphony in Three Movements the women dancers exchange their buns for ponytails which immediately relaxes the mood.  Not too much, however, for this ballet was intended as a tribute to Stravinsky who composed albeit innovatively in the classical style. It is a ballet that flows though some of the positions are quite angular. Parts of the ballet are explosive and exuberant.  Other parts such as the duets require almost mechanical precision. There are three principal couples - Sakamoto with Edo Wijnen who won the Radius prize this year; Qian Liu and Jared Wright; and Floor Eimers (another artist I follow closely) and Vito Mazzeo - and five solo couples. All were exquisite.
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The finale, Who Cares? to the music of Gershwin as arranged by Hershi Kay was danced to a backdrop of Manhattan in the 1930s with the Chrysler Building, the Woolworth Building and other landmarks. The cast consists of one male lead - in this case, Constantine Allen - three female leads = Yuanyuan Zhang, Nina Tonoli and Maia Makhateli, five male soloists and five female and the corps. The ballet opened with the whole cast on stage. The next tune left only the corps. In the next scene, the female soloists in red and black costumes entered. They were followed by the male soloists in white shirts, ties and waistcoats.  There were some beautiful duets and solos. It was a great way to end the matinee but it was over far too quickly.

I had just one disappointment. Michaela DePrince appeared in the programme for Who Cares? There was no announcement that she was indisposed but I just do not remember seeing her in the show.  It was she who led me first to the Junior Company and then the Dutch National Ballet in 2913. I have not seen her in anything since the 2918 gala when she returned to the stage after a long recuperation from injury. I sincerely hope that there has been no recurrence of that injury. She is a beautiful dancer and I long to see her fly again.

Though again there was no mention of his name in the cast list, the orchestra was conducted by Matthew Rowe.  Always a pleasure to see him at the rostrum. 

I see a lot of ballets every year and have seen some particularly good ones this year but this matinee triple bill is among the best so far.

Wheeldon's Cinderella in Manchester

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English National Ballet Cinderella Palace Theatre 19 Oct 2019 14:00

I have now seen Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella no less than four times: twice with the Dutch National Ballet once in London and the other time in Amsterdam; and twice with the English National Ballet once at the Royal Albert Hall earlier this year and most recently at the Palace Theatre in my home town.  It is a sumptuous ballet with gorgeous costumes and elaborate sets. It is also very witty with glowering portraits and hilarious faux-pas from Hortensia as she downs the bubbly at the prince's ball.

The Palance has the smallest stage upon which I have seen this show and it struck me as I looked at the somewhat blurry cloud scene that it would not di justice to the animations that are built into the sets. I need not have worried because the dancing attracted and held my attention.  Erina Takahashi danced the title role and she fitted it perfectly.  Joseph Caley was her prince and I can't think of a better partner for her. He delighted me in the first duet in the palace where they fell in love and then in the last scene when she produced the missing slipper.  But there is a lot more to this ballet than a love story which is why the supporting characters are so important.

At the Albert Hall, it was Sarah Kundi who nade the ballet for me,   She danced Cinderella's stepmother, Hortensia, who made an exhibition of herself even before the wine was served. As the second act continued she became tighter and tighter and behaved increasingly outrageously.  She turns up at the breakfast table with a head the size of a balloon, a vile temper and eventually throws up in the porridge bowl. At the Saturday matinee, that role was danced by Tiffany Hedman, Now she is good - particularly technically - but I think you have to be brought up in the country that invented pantomime to carry it off s well as Kundi.

The other theme of Wheeldon's ballet is the romance between the prince's childhood companion, Benjamin, and Cinderella's stepsister, Clementine.  He was danced by the American guest artist Brooklyn Mack and she by Katja Khaniukova.  I also enjoyed watching Alison McWhiney who danced Edwina amusingly. 

There are scenes from other productions of the ballet that Wheeldon leaves out such as the dancing lesson and substituted wood spirits and seasons in their place.  I am still not sure how that works but I suppose it gives an excuse for woodland sprits and other strange creations to take their place in the queue for the shoe filling with the knight in armour brandishing a halberd.  I enjoyed the second where an alarmed Benjamin jumped straight into the prince's arms.

After Manchester, this show went on to Southampton where it seems to have run its course for the time being.  That is a pity because I think it is English National's best show in the repertoire and I am sure that other audiences would like to have seen it.  Most classical companies feel compelled to do The Nutcracker at this time of the year which is fair enough but they could have rested Le Corsaire and Akram Khan's Giselle for just a little longer.  Especially since audiences will have Dada Masilo's excellent production in their recent recollection.

World Ballet Day - Dutch National Ballet

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Sometimes one can have too much of a good thing and World Ballet Day is one of those times. There's a great temptation to drop everything to watch a whole day of classes, rehearsals, interviews and shows.  This year I rationed myself to just one contribution on the day and this is it.

It will surprise nobody who knows me that I have chosen the Dutch National Ballet's slot.  I have been following that company for the last 6 years and I have watched careers blossom like cherry trees in Spring. One of the folks I interviewed as a member of the Junior Company in 2014 was Martin ten Kortenaar. He is now one of the leads in Rudi van Dantzig's Romeo and Juliet. 

The recording shows three scenes from the work:  the Dance of the Knights, the balcony scene and the bedroom scene just before Romeo takes flight.  I have seen many versions of this ballet: Lavrovsky's, Maillot's, Pastor's, James's, Nureyev's and, of course, MacMillan's but there seems to be a unique exuberance to this work. According to Ted Brandsen, the Director of the Dutch National Ballet this was the first full-length work to be created in Holland.  With designs by Toer van Schayk, it must be gorgeous.

But, so too, will be Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's Frida.  I have long admired the work that she has done for Ballet Black, Scottish Ballet and other companies. This promises to be a tour de force. With Floor Eimers in the show, how could it be otherwise?

I have said many times in this blog that I can't watch Ernst Meisner's Embers without the tears welling up. I have seen it performed beautifully by different artists - Cristiano Principato and Jessica Xuan at last year's gala, Thomas van Damme and Nancy Burer and Cristiano again with Priscylla Gallo at Trecate in Italy.  In this clip you will see two new young dancers in Embers whom I am sure will go far,  They are Sebia Plantefȅve and Davi Ramos. I can't wait to see them live on stage.

Tomorrow I shall watch another clip from a favourite company that performed yesterday.   A Russian company other than the Bolshoi or Mariinsky perhaps. Or maybe an American company that is not from New York.  There is no shortage of choice.

The Dutch National Ballet's 2019 Gala

Xander Parish and Maria Khoreva in "Diamonds"

Author Michel Schnater, © 2019 Dutch National Ballet: all rights reserved

Dutch National Ballet Gala 10 Sept 2019, 19:30 Music Theatre, Amsterdam

The opening night gala of the Dutch National Ballet's new season is one of the highlights of my year. It is always a grand affair, the gentlemen in dinner jackets and the ladies in gorgeous evening attire.  The Music Theatre (or Stopera as the building that combines Amsterdam's city hall (Stadhuis) and opera house is unofficially called) is packed. The video on my review of last year's gala conveys some of the excitement and atmosphere.

At 19:30 the lights dim and the conductor enters the orchestra pit.  He (I have not yet seen a woman conduct an orchestra in the Music Theatre though I am sure many will do so in future) raises his baton and the orchestra plays the polonaise from The Sleeping Beauty.  The curtain rises to a row of children, the first-year students of the National Ballet Academy.  The first years are followed by the second and subsequent years, each year in different coloured uniforms.  The Academy is now under the direction of the magnificent Ernst Meisner, still a young man but already a widely acclaimed choreographer. He is also artistic coordinator of the Junior Company  The students are followed by the Junior Company, then the élèves, the corps de ballet, the coryphées, grands sujets, soloists and finally the principals. The women appear in dazzling white classical tutus and the men in dashing tunics. This is known as the Grand Défilé and although it is very simple it is an impressive spectacle.

The company then performs scenes from its current repertoire or works that are staged specially for the occasion.  There is always something from Hans van Manen, usually something from one of the other great Dutch choreographers, Rudi van Dantzig and Toer van Schayk and often works by the company's artistic director, Ted Brandsen, David Dawson, Juanjo Arques and, of course, Meisner.  I particularly look forward to Meisner's works because his choreography appeals to me more than almost any other. His Embers and  No Time Before Time are among the most beautiful works that I have ever seen and I can't watch them without emotions welling up. Much of Meisner's work has been created for the Junior Company who must be the 12 most beautiful dancers on the planet.  Their performance is always the highlight of my evening much as I admire the company's principals and other fine dancers.

Brandsen usually makes two speeches at the gala.  One to welcome the audience and introduce the show.  The other to present the prima ballerina, Alexandra Radius, in whose name the company's Friends award a prize to the dancer of the year.  Usually, the winner is a principal but last year it was Timothy van Poucke who joined the Junior Company in 2016. Brandsen usually delivers long passages of his speeches in English as many members of the audience are from countries other than the Netherlands.

The gala is always a party.  Wine, beer, soft drinks and canapés are offered the moment guests enter the theatre.  The hospitality continues during the interval and after the show.  As soon as they have changed the dancers make a grand entrance down the staircase of the lobby.   This is the audience's chance to mingle with their heroes and heroines and perhaps dance with them in the disco at the entrance to the theatre.  In that regard, anyone can say that he or she has danced with the Dutch National Ballet in the Music Theatre.

This year's gala was a little different from previous years.  For a start, it seemed to be shorter.  Only five pieces were performed in the first half and one on the second.   There was no performance by the Junior Company as such though some of its members were in other pieces.  Nor was there any work by Meisner.  I would have been a little disappointed had I not reminded myself that I had seen the Junior Company at the Linbury in July for the first time in several years (see Welcome Back! Junior Company returns to the Linbury 6 July 2019) as well as in Dancers of Tomorrow at the Music Theatre a few days later.  The third way in which this year's gala differed from previous years was that Brandsen delivered his entire speech in Dutch which is not unreasonable since the show took place in Amsterdam.  Dutch is the first cousin to both English and German which I studied at secondary school and as I visit the Netherlands several times a year I have picked up a little bit of the language. I think I understood most of the director's speeches.

Despite those differences, I enjoyed the gala very much indeed,  Matthew Rowe, one of my favourite conductors, lifted his baton. The Grand Défilé was as impressive as ever.  Having seen those excellent young dancers in Dancers of Tomorrow in July I felt particularly close to them.  I am doing my best to support the Academy in any way I can and I hope that I will be able to arrange for funding through lifetime gifts or legacies for talented young dancers like Conor Walmsley who studied in Amsterdam, joined the Junior Company and has recently graduated into the senior company.

The show continued with the pas de deux in Diamonds from Balanchine's Jewels by Xander Parish and Maria Khoreva from the Mariinsky.  I have been following Parish's career since July 2007 when he and his sister Demelza appeared at A Summer Gala of Dance and Song at the Grand Opera House in York.  I did not blog about ballet in those days but Charles Hutchinson of The Press reviewed the show.   Those two young dancers performed with the likes of Samara Downs and Marianela Nuñez but it was their piece that impressed the audience the most and it has been etched in my memory ever since.  Since then I have seen Parish in London as Romeo in 2914 and in Ballet 101 in Leeds in Northern Ballet's 45th-anniversary gala.  I also had the pleasure of meeting him at the London Ballet Circle. Parish has always thrilled me but his performance on Tuesday was masterly. He commanded the audience's attention like a king. I do not recall seeing Khoreva before but I shall follow her in future.  Not only did she partner him well. She showed considerable virtuosity in her solo.  That pas de deux alone justified the trek to Amsterdam.

Parish and Khoreva were followed by Maia Makhateli and Young Gyo Choi in a pas de deux from Le Corsaire.  I was very puzzled by the programme note for it stated that the piece was created by Samuel Andrianov and premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre on 12 Jan 1915. As the music for Le Corsaire was composed by Adolphe Adam who wrote the score for Giselle I knew that this ballet must be very much older.  According to Wikipedia, it was first performed in Paris in 1856 but all modern productions are based on Marius Petipa's of 1863. I had never heard of Andrianov until I read the article on Balanchine in the French Wikipedia where I learned that he had been one of Balanchine's teachers. There is no similar mention in the English article.  A short paragraph on the piece in Dutch - not a language that I have ever studied formally so I may well have got the wrong end of the stick - the piece was created for students and was introduced to the Netherlands by Rudolf Nureyev in 1965. That would make sense for Young is a powerful dancer who reminds me of Nureyev. Makhateli is always a delight to watch.  The crowd was delighted.

The only work that seemed to be completely unconnected with Balanchine was van Manen's Trois Gnossiennes.  This was set to a piano score by Erik Satie which was earlier used by Sir Frederick Ashton in an orchestrated version for his Monotones.  Van Manen uses a single piano played by Olga Khoziainova mounted on a platform on castors which was pushed gently around the stage by four young male dancers. The dancers were Igone de Jongh and  Jakob Feyferlik of the Vienna State Opera House's Ballet Company.  It was very beautiful.   I just can't make up my mind whether I prefer van Manen's work or Ashton's.

The last work of the first part of the gala was the first of Balanchine's Symphony in Three Movements to the score by Stravinsky by the same name.   This is a work for 12 dancers including 6 soloists - Quian Liu and Young Gyu Choi, Anna Tsygankova and James Stout and Floor Eimers and Jozef Varga.   This is an exuberant piece with a lively score. The women wore simple leotards and their hair in ponytails.  It was fast and slick and left the audience on a high.

As in previous years, complimentary drinks and savouries were served during the interval.  These were a bit different from ours in that chunks of cheese, ham or sausage were served without bread or biscuit. I took a sample of each of them as well as a glass of quite potable wine.  I have got to know some of the Dutch ballet goers over the years and met several in the lobby. I usually find myself at the merchandise stand buying cards or t-shirts for friends in England but, as that stand has disappeared on Tuesday, I took advantage of the interval to stand on one of the terraces overlooking the Amsel and take in the September night air.

After we had returned to our seats, Brandsen stepped back on stage and announced that the time had come for the Alexandra Radius award.  He explained that the money had been raised by Friends of the company and asked us to stick up our hands.  At least, I think that is what he said because the conversation was entirely in Dutch.  He then introduced Alexandra Radius who is still beautiful.  He announced that the winner of the 2019 prize was Edo Wijnen and played a short film which showed Wijnen's achievements. Radius presented Wijnen with his prize which included a trophy.  He gave a short acceptance speech part of which was in English. Both he and Radius received enormous bouquets.

The rest of the evening was taken up with Balanchine's Who Cares? A great celebration of New York to the music of George Gershwin and Hershi Kay.  Readers can gain an idea of the energy and exuberance of the piece from the YouTube trailer. De Jongh and Makhateli performed solos in the piece together with Vera Tsyganova and Constantine Allen who joined the Dutch National Ballet only in 2018.  I think this was the first time that I had seen him and it will certainly not be the last   Yet again the audience rewarded the dancers with a standing ovation. One that they truly deserved.

Last year I missed the party because one of my guests was a child. This year I stayed and met many friends and acquaintances from the company and the audience.  I had been looking out for Xander Parish, Ernst Meisner, Michaela DePrince and Matthew Rowe but I did not encounter any of them. Hardly surprising as the crowd was massive and the noise deafening.  As far as I know, no British company holds a party for its audience after a gala like this.  That is a shame because it is one of the reasons why every Dutch person I know has great pride and great affection for the national company even if he or she never actually attends any of its performances.

Dancers of Tomorrow

Dutch National Ballet Academy and the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company Dansers van Morgen Theatre of the Dutch National Opera and Ballet, 9 July 2019, 20:00

On 13 Sept 2018 Ernst Meisner was appointed artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet Academy (see Ernst Meisner appointed as interim artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet Academy and René Vlemmix as business manager 13 Sept 2013 Amsterdam University of the Arts).  He combined that appointment with his existing role as artistic coordinator of the Dutch National Ballet's Junior Company. I featured Meisner and the Junior Company in Ernst Meisner’s Work with the Dutch National Ballet on 2 Dec 2014.  On Tuesday 9 July 2019, Meisner's students from the academy and his artists from the Junior Company united to perform Dansers van Morgen (Dancers of Tomorrow)

The performance took place in the principal auditorium of the Dutch National Ballet with the company's own orchestra under the direction of Matthew Rowe, its director of music. Seven works were presented:

• Part of Paquita by Marius Petipa
• Together(E) by Wubkje Kuindersma
• Part of Wayne McGregor's Atomos
• Revelry by Ernst Meisner
• Made in Holland by Didy Veldman
• Ode aan Fred by Iva Lešić, and
• Bolero by Gregor Seyffert and Larisa Dobrozhan.

I enjoyed all of those pieces, particularly Revelry. Ode aan Fred ("Ode to Fred") and Bolero.

If I understood the programme notes correctly, Meisner created Revelry for the 2017 gala for which I had been unable to get a ticket.  Set to Lowel Liebermann's composition of the same name  An infectiously exuberant work it is perfect for dance and particularly well suited for the individual personalities of the members of the Junior Company.  Guests arrive at a party and throw themselves into the celebration with gusto.  Clearly, they have a good time.  So much so that when the music ends the audience see each and every one of them prostrate on the floor.  This was the first time that I had seen Revelry but it is already one of my favourites.  It is a work that they could easily have taken to London last week and I am sure the audience would have loved it.

I am guessing that "aan" means "to" in Dutch.   When I saw Ode aan Fred  I thought this would be an ode to Ashton and that we would see lots of developpés, arabesques, pas de bouré and pas de chat.  In fact, this Fred was a well-loved instructor at the National Ballet Academy.  The music started with what sounded to me like didgeridoos and I wondered whether Fred Berlips was an Australian. On consulting the programme notes I found that the opening had been Andrea Geraks Jews Harp Music and that there was also music by Goran Bregovic. I understand from friends who know him that Berlips specialized in teaching younger students.  He was invited onto the stage for the curtain call and auditorium exploded in applause.  Meisner came on stage and made a short speech.  Berlips was presented with an enormous bouquet.  The affection for the man was palpable.

The last work was set to Ravel's Bolero and was quite different from Maurice Béjart's which I had seen at the Coli or the Wells many years ago. It began with a spotlit single dancer but in this version, it was a young woman on the floor.  The arc widened to reveal more women on the floor and then more. As the music gathered pace so did the dancers.  The stage cleared and another group of dancers performing ever more energetically than the last.   As the music reached its conclusion the stage erupted in colour and movement.   It was the perfect way to end a perfect evening,

The show started with Paquita cannot be the easiest work for students. It includes a pas de deux which requires a lot of lifting, some spectacular jumps and turns and 32 fouettés which seem to be at least as difficult as Kitri's in Don Quixote or Odile's in Swan Lake.  There were several difficult solo bits for both men and women as well as work for the corps.  In the absence of a cast list, I cannot identify the dancers otherwise than by the colours of their costumes but I have to commend Yellow for her jumps.  White, of course, was also impressive.

Set to Anthony Fiumara's haunting Aerial for piano and orchestra, Together(E) featured the academy's younger students.  The music reminds me of waves breaking on a beach and that was reflected in the precise movements of the students,   With its bar of red light and almost sculpted dancers, the hand of Wayne McGregor was unmistakable.   Another difficult piece which was executed well by the students.
Having seen Sense of Time in [Un]leasted just a few days earlier I was curious to see more.  Set to Simeon ten Holt's Canto Ostinato which is another work for a single pianist Made in Holland was a beautifully crafted work.

Meisner appeared on stage immediately after Paquita with the academy's business manager.  As his speech was in Dutch (a language I have never formally studied) I did not pick up every word but he explained that he was the artistic director and described the works that were to follow. He said that several of the pieces had been written especially for last Tuesday's show, that the programme included one of his own works and that Wayne McGregor and Didy Veidman had contributed works for the performance.  He also introduced the National Ballet's Orchestra and its illustrious conductor.  The manager mentioned the need for funding and tight management, He and Meisner had worked well together and he looked forward to their future collaboration.

I have made it my business to see student shows ever since 2007 when I saw Xander Parish and his sister Demelza and his sister steal a gala that included Marianela Nuñez and Samara Downs (see Charles Hutchinson Review: A Summer Gala of Dance and Song, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday 31 July 2007).  I have seen many great shows in that time but I think last Tuesday's was in a class of its own.

Campbell and Magri in Royal Ballet's Don Quixote

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Royal Ballet Don Quixote 30 March 2019, 13:30, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

Except when I was a graduate student in Los Angeles, I have visited Covent Garden several times a year, every year, since 1969.   Seldom have I enjoyed a performance at the Royal Opera House more than last Saturday's matinee of Don Quixote. I had already seen that production several times in the cinema and once on television and had been somewhat underwhelmed by those transmissions (see ¡Por favor! Don Quixote streamed to Huddersfield 17 Oct 2013). I think that must be because no screening comes close to communicating the colour, movement and energy of the live show.

Although Gerard Davis referred to this production by Carlos Acosta as a remake in the programme notes, it seems to be pretty much the same as other companies' versions of the ballet.  The prologue begins with the dotty Don Quixote sheltering the shoplifting Sancho Panza.  The rogue kits the old man out with a bedpost for a lance and a shaving bowl for a helmet.  He is dubbed a knight by an imagined dulcinea and is confronted immediately by equally imaginary hooded demons.  As in other versions, he meets Kitri and Don Basilio in the town square and helps them elope.  On their travels, they meet gipsies.  He falls ill fighting ambulatory windmills.  In his delirium dreams of dryads or tree spirits.  They return to the town where Kitri's suitor is partnered up, KitrI marries Don Basilio and Don Quixote and his squire slip away for more adventures.   I  understand that the score had been rearranged and reorchestrated by Martin Yates but I did not detect any variations even though I know the music well. Aspects of the show that impressed me particularly were the lavishness of Tim Hatley's sets and costumes and the slickness and energy of the dancing.

My enjoyment of the show was facilitated greatly by the casting of Alexander Campbell as Don Basilio.  A year or so ago I read about his taking part in a scheme by the RAD and MCC to encourage kids to take up ballet and cricket.  Perfectly natural in my view as I have always had a passion for the two.  I think it was Arnold Haskell who observed that cricket had predisposed the British to ballet pointing out many parallels between the two.  Like another of my favourites, Xander Parish, Campbell had been a promising cricketer as a boy. I had long surmised that that might be the case before I had read that article for Campbell commands the stage like a batsman at the crease.  There is something about his manner - perhaps his grin - that makes it impossible not to like him.  He wielded his guitar while wooing the coquettish Kitri as an extension of himself just as a batsman holds his bat.  As he seized her fan in the same scene I imagined his diving for a catch. In his jumps and lifts, he is much an athlete as an artist.  It may be a figment of my imagination as it may be have been years since he last played the game, but I think that his youthful cricketing prowess has contributed more than a little to his appeal as a dancer.

Campbell's Kitri was the Brazilian first soloist, Mayara Magri,  She excelled in that role.  I was told by a well-informed acquaintance whom I met in the interval that last Saturday's matinee had been her debut.  If that was the case, her performance was all the more impressive.  I mentioned her coquetry in the previous paragraph but the role also requires virtuosity and prodigious stamina.  She displayed those qualities in abundance, particularly in the last act where she dances in the pub and in the final pas de deux where she performs lots of fouettés.    She dazzled me with those displays.

Other artists who particularly delighted me included  Itziar Mendizabal as Mercedes, Claire Calvert as the queen of the dryads. Lara Turk as the Dulcinea and, of course, Gary Avis as Don Quixote.  It was also good to see Jonathan Howells as Sancho Panza.  I had been looking forward to seeing Thomas Whitehead as Gamache. I am one of his fans and that is not just because he comes from Bradford.  That role was danced by Benet Gartside whom I also follow. I hope that Whitehead's absence was not the result of injury or illness but, if it was, I wish him a full and speedy recovery.  Valentino Zucchetti had been advertised to dance the matador and he was also indisposed through illness or injury. I wish him a full and speedy recovery too.  He was replaced if my memory is correct, by Reece Clark but sadly he was also hurt and had to be replaced (I think) by Thomas Mock. Like the rest of the cast, Mock and Clark danced well.  I wish Clark too a full and complete recovery. I congratulate everyone who took part in that performance.

I have been lucky enough to see two other fine performances of Don Quixote.   On Christmas day of 2017, I saw Mathieu Ganio and Isabella Boylston in the ballet company of the Paris Opera (see
Paris Opera Ballet's Don Quixote 28 Dec 2017).  I wrote:

"Spectacular choreography needs virtuoso dancers and Isabella Boylston is a virtuoso par excellence. She launches into grands jetes almost as soon as she appears on stage and hers seemed as graceful and effortless as any I have seen before. She danced Kitri who ends the show with spectacular fouettés. I have seen plenty of those from lots of Odiles but the excitement that Boylston generated with hers at the Bastille last night could not have been exceeded by Legnani herself."

A few weeks later, on 28 Feb 2019, I was delighted again by Sho Yamada and Riho Sakamoto in the lead roles in the Dutch National Ballet's performance of that work (see A Day of Superlatives - Dutch National Ballet's Don Quixote  1 March 2018).  I enjoyed that show a lot:

"I don't think I have ever seen a better Don Quixote even though I have seen artists like Isabella Boylston and Marianela Nuñez dance Kitri and Carlos Acosta dance Don Basilio. Above all, I don't think I have ever seen the Dutch National Ballet dance better."

Comparisons between three great performances by three great national companies would be odious.  They all had strengths.  For me, the Royal Ballet's were Hatley's designs and the casting of Campbell, Magri and Avis.  It is enough for me to say that the Royal Ballet's  Don Quixote is right up there in my esteem with the Paris Opera's and HNB's.

Without wishing to be too political I had booked my ticket to Don Quixote to cheer me up for what had been scheduled to be the day after brexit.   As it happened it wasn't but that has prompted me to think of parallels. Don Quixote lived in the past and looked back to a mythical golden age.  In that regard, he reminds me very much of our brexiteer MPs living in the past with their notions of English exceptionalism being the modern equivalent of courtly love and chivalry.  The battle with the windmills raises obvious analogies with our noble ministers battling against an intransigent commission.  Cervantes intended his novel to be a satire.  He would have had a field day had he been alive now.