Lady of the Camellias Streamed from Moscow

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Bolshoi Ballet, The Lady of the Camellias, HDTV transmission for Moscow, 6 Dec 2015

We don't see enough of John Neumeier's work in this country which is a shame because it is dramatic and beautiful. I saw a bit of it live on stage this year in two galas.  In March Alexandr Trusch and Lucia Solari danced the final pas de deux from his production of The Nutcracker in Leeds at Northern Ballet's Sapphire gala. In September I saw Marijn Rademaker and Igone de Jongh dance an excerpt from the Dutch National Ballet's production of La Dame aux Camelias (see A chance to see more of Neumeier's work: Dutch National Ballet's La Dame aux Camelias 18 March 2015) at the opening gala of the Amsterdam ballet season (see The best evening I have ever spent at the ballet 13 Sept 2015).

Yesterday afternoon I saw the whole of that ballet (albeit in two dimensions) streamed live from Moscow to the Huddersfield Odeon. I like other British ballet goers have been brought up on Ashton's Marguerite and Armand which he created for Fonteyn and Nureyev and is also based on the Dumas novel. Neumeier's ballet created 15 years later for the great Brazilian ballerina Marcia Haydée to Chopin's music is at least as beautiful and perhaps even more dramatic.

The synopsis for those who missed the transmission is here. Marguerite was danced magnificently by Svetlana Zakharova who was Giselle in October (see The Bolshoi does the Business - Giselle streamed from Moscow 12 Oct 2015) and Armand by Edvin Revazov. The production had been facilitated by Kevin Haigen of the Hamburg Ballet who represented Neumeier in Moscow. The excellent Katerina Novikova interviewed him during one of the intervals as well as Anna Tikhomirova who danced Manon Lescaut in the other. She was interviewed in costume which was gorgeous as Ms Novikova observed. The designs were Jürgen Rose's originals.

The ballet was beautiful but emotionally draining to watch as I tweeted at the end of the second interval

Awed by.@BolshoiOfficial's performance of The Lady of the Camellias. Very beautiful but also emotionally draining.

— Terpsichore (@jelterps) December 6, 2015

I long to see this whole ballet on stage. I could kick myself for missing it in Amsterdam earlier this year when I had the chance. Too much loyalty to Ashton I guess.

Bradford Dance Centre

Folk like to knock Bradford.  I don't know why because it is a city of over 500,000 souls with some fine buildings such as Bradford Cathedral, City Hall, the National Media Museum and Salt's Mill. It has St George's Hall, the oldest concert hall in current use in the UK and the Alhambra Theatre which stages world class drama, opera and dance. Not only that but it has produced such great names as Frederick Delius, J. B. Priestley and David Hockney. It has also produced some fine dancers like Thomas Whitehead and Brandon Lawrence. The city has magnificent parks and open spaces including the new City Park with its mirror pool and it is surrounded by beautiful countryside.

Bradford will soon have three other major attractions:

• the Westfield shopping centre;
• the Bradford Odeon; and
• the Bradford Dance Centre.

The last of these is a is a new creative space located at 108 - 114 Sunbridge Road which is very close to the Westfield and the Odeon and will open in August 2015.  

According to the Centre's website it will provide a professional, dedicated dance space and creative hub with the primary aim of advancing, encouraging, promoting and facilitating learning, education, training and personal development in dance. To be more specific 

"Bradford Dance Centre has 4,500 square feet of dedicated dance space, with three professional dance studios, changing facilities, a kitchenette, office and meeting room space and a large, open communal reception area, perfect for informal gatherings and networking."

For those intending to make a career in dance it offers a Foundation Course in Professional Contemporary Dance (QCF Level 1-4) and a Diploma in Dance Teaching - Children and Young People (QCF Level 6). For the rest of us it promises to offer adult dance classes.   I hope that will include ballet.  Whatever they offer I will take one of the courses and review it.

If you want further information about their phone number is 07801 655577 and email address is info@bradforddancecentre.co.uk.

Manon Encore at the Huddersfield Odeon

I did not book tickets for this season's Manon at the Royal Opera House for two reasons. One was a very good reason and the other not so good.

Taking the good reason first, one can't see everything because there are not enough hours in the day and not enough noughts in my bank balance. If I saw everything that I want to see at the Royal Ballet I would never have time or money for anything else. Now I know the Royal Ballet is the gold standard and I love it dearly but that does not mean that everything else is rubbish. My beloved Northern won the Taglioni award this year and there is great work coming out of Birmingham, Glasgow as well as Leeds not to mention places like Grantham, Newport and Taynuilt, all of which deserves attention, criticism and support.

The less than good reason is that I am a Sibley fan (see Ballerina 1 July 2013). Manon was created for Dame Antoinette as she recalled at her talk to the London Jewish Cultural Centre on 1 Feb 2014 (Le jour de gloire est arrive - Dame Antoinette Sibley with Clement Crisp at the Royal Ballet School 3 Feb 2014). I was afraid that I would be disappointed by anyone else in the role. A moment's reflection would have persuaded me that such a fear was groundless for many reasons not least of which is the fact that Sibley is coaching modern ballerinas in that role. But the real clincher came when I saw the rehearsal on World Ballet Day. Marianela Nuñez is not Sibley but as you can see from the clip she is a very convincing Manon.

As it was too late to book for the House and as I was busy on Thursday I decided to see the encore at Huddersfield Odeon this afternoon and very good it was too. This is a gruelling role demanding a lot from the ballerina and her partner but Nuñez was up for it as was Federico Bonelli who danced des Grieux. They were strongly supported by Ricardo Cervera as Manon's brother Lescaut, Christopher Saunders as GM and Gary Avis as the gaoler of the penal colony.

The presentation was a lot better than in previous years with interesting interviews with Kevin O''Hare, Nuñez and Bonelli though the Royal Opera House are still some way behind Pathe-Live. They  could do themselves a favour by omitting the gushing but in many cases ill-informed tweets which are very irritating for those of us who actually do go to the ballet regularly.  The Bolshoi and Pathe-Live do not see the need to do that and neither should Covent Garden.

The Winter's Tale - Time to eat my Hat

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I am just about to place a couple of hats in the microwave. One is The Winter's Tale which I damned with the faintest of praise in Royal Ballet "The Winter's Tale" 14 April 2014. The other are the Royal Opera House's HDTV transmissions which I described as "good quality hamburger" in Giselle and I was even less polite about Don Quixote. Tonight I floated out of the Huddersfield Odeon after watching the HDTV transmission of The Winter's Tale with a smile from ear to ear.  Act I, which had dragged last time, simply flew for me.  The tension was palpable.  Act II, which had saved the ballet for me the first time I saw it revealed fresh delights. Act III with the triple reconciliation was sublime.

Now this is how I should have felt on 12 April 2014 when I saw the same show in Covent Garden. This is the reason why I think I got it this time but not then.  Act I, the longest of the three Acts, is crucial to the appreciation of this ballet and the key to appreciating that Act are the contortions of Leontes's body and the expressions on his face. These were prominent on screen but I missed them entirely when I was in the House.  It may be that the interviews before the show - particularly the one with Watson - were helpful for they alerted the audience as to what to look out for.  Wheeldon had remarked how Watson could turn his body into the most remarkable shapes to express his anguish and so he did. Those contortions and facial expressions exerted enormous tension.  In the second interval Wheeldon had described his cast as "actors who dance" rather than the converse. Leontes's build up of jealousy and loathing until his explosion of rage exemplifies those qualities magnificently.

Having cracked Leontes's emotions I found myself appreciating the other features of Act I. The complex textures of Joby Talbot's score, Bob Crowley's designs and Natasha Katz's lighting.  I even got to see the bear.  Its muzzle, which was so clear on screen, was just a length of cloth when I saw it live.  I was already looking forward to Act II but I found new detail in the dancing, new rhythms in the score and best of all the expression on Lamb's face when McRae asked her to marry him. I had also liked Act III on 12 April but this time I took in Cuthbertson's final pas de deux with Watson properly. As an expression of love it was simply beautiful.

I noticed from the tweets that I was not the only one who enjoyed the transmission more than the live show. This was a particularly good broadcast, much better than Giselle or Don Quixote.  I think this is a ballet that does work well for cinema but I also think it is a work that needs to be seen more than once to be appreciated properly.

I love the Royal Ballet very much having followed it for nearly 60 years. I love the House more than any other theatre in the world.  I love all the dancers who have ever trod its boards. It is so good to be able to write this review.