Royal Ballet's Rehearsals of Marguerite and Armand.and The Dream

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I skipped class on Wednesday night to watch the live streaming of rehearsals for two of the ballets in the Royal Ballet's Ashton triple bill of Marguerite and Armand. Symphonic Variations and The Dream at Covent Garden. The programme will only appear between the 2 and 10 June and all but two of the performances are already sold out. However, it will be streamed live to cinemas in the United Kingdom and elsewhere on 7 June thereby providing welcome relief from this already very depressing general election campaign.

Being very long in the tooth I know all three works very well and love them very much.

I shall always associate The Dream with Dame Antoinette Sibley who is my all time favourite ballerina by a country mile (see Sibley 17 Dec 2013) and her noble partner Sir Anthony Dowell  and visions of them in the reconciliation scene rush to mind causing me to forget whatever I am doing whenever I hear Mendelssohn's glorious score (see the RAD's tribute to Dame Antoinette on YouTube and if you have any heart I defy you to keep a dry eye). I remember hearing it in Leeds in the next rehearsal studio as our teacher patiently gave instructions for an enchainment which completely washed over me as I listened to the music.

Almost as dear to me is Marguerite and Armand in which I saw Nureyev dance with Fonteyn whom I also loved and admired (see Margot Fonteyn 18 May 2015). Fonteyn was also one of the original dancers in Symphonic Variations along with Moira Shearer, Pamela May, Michael Somes, Brian Shaw and Henry Danton. Although it was first staged even before my time Somes and Shaw were still dancing when I first took an interest in ballet. Danton was the only one I missed even though - ironically and praise is - he is still very much with us.

Those ballets are the very finest examples of Ashton's work which is discussed in a talk by Prof. Stephanie Jordan that you can hear in the above video. Also in the video is a Q & A by Kevin O'Hare, Lesley Collier, yet another all-time favourite ballerina and the gracious Zenaida Yanowsky. 43 minutes and 29 seconds into that session Yanowsky demonstrated the famous "Fred Step". The reason I know that timing so precisely is that I have been practising the Fred Step. There are two lovely rehearsals in the film. One by Yanowsky as Marguerite and Gary Avis as Armand's father in the scene where Armand's dad warns Marguerite to stay away from his boy. The other is Francesca Hayward and Marcelino Sambé in the quarrel scene over the changeling boy and the reconciliation. They are nothing like Sibley and Dowell but I think they are just as beautiful in the way they interpret this work.  At the end of the Marguerite and Armand rehearsal, Avis said some lovely things about Yanowsky which made me admire both of them even more than I already did. The whole video is presented and moderated by Alexander Campbell who did a really first class job.

I have said enough, ladies and gentlemen.  I will leave you to watch this gorgeous video.

Ashton's Double Bill

Joseph Noel Paton: The Quarrel between Oberon and Titania

Source Wikipedia

Birmingham Royal Ballet, Ashton Double Bill, Birmingham Hippodrome, 20 Feb 2016

In Looking Forward to 2016 (30 Dec 2015) I wrote:

"To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth in 1964 Sir Frederick Ashton created The Dream. Antoinette Sibley was Titania and Anthony Dowell her Oberon. The Dream was one of the most beautiful ballets that Ashton ever created. Here is a snippet of the original production and another of a more recent performance by American Ballet Theatre with Alessandra Ferri and Ethan Stiefel. The ballet was part of a triple bill of works inspired by Shakespeare. The others were Kenneth MacMillan's Images of Love and Sir Robert Helpmann's Hamlet. To commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death the Birmingham Royal Ballet will revive this iconic work at the Hippodrome between the 17 and 20 Feb 2016. If you see only one ballet this year this is the one you should not miss.

Last night I saw that work with Nao Sakuma as Titania and Joseph Caley as Oberon.  As the orchestra played the final pas de deux I found myself rooting for a tissue for I cannot help associating that music not with Mendelssohn but with Sibley who remains the ballerina that I most admire (Sibley 17 Dec 2013).

It was that association that attracted me to Birmingham last night but it was also the reason for the production's only flaw. Sakuma, who is Japanese, was made to wear a blonde wig so that she looked (from row P of the stalls at any rate) just like Sibley.  That is not necessary and it is not healthy. There is no reason why Titania should be North European (after all the changeling boy is supposed to be Indian) and Sakuma is a magnificent dancer in her own right. There cannot be many members of the audience who remember Sibley and Dowell as I do.  There are not many snippets of their performances of The Dream on YouTube.  Even I wanted to see an interpretation by a modern ballerina and premier danseur noble - not an ersatz reproduction of a performance from another age.

Putting that grumble to one side I still enjoyed the show. Caley and Sakuma danced well, as one would expect. Matthias Dingman danced Puck with his usual wit and spirit. Yijing Zhang was a charming Hermia and Yasuo Atsuji a gallant Lysander - at least for most of the time. As for the other mortals Ana Albutashvili was an amusing but likeable Helena and Tyrone Singleton a haughty Demetrius. The rustics were hilarious - particularly Jonathan Caguioa as Bottom.  I should add that his role requires some pointe work which is rarely demanded of male dancers.  As for the rest of the cast I loved the fairies - the corps as well as those who danced Cobweb, Peaseblossom, Moth and Mustardseed. It was a delight to see Farmer's designs again and Mendelssohn's overture always leaves me wobbly at the knees.

The second part of the programme was A Month in the Country which was created in 1976 - several years after Ashton had ceased to be the principal choreographer. I missed it when it was first performed. In fact yesterday was the first time I ever saw the work and I enjoyed it very much indeed.

Based on Turgenev's A Month in the Country the ballet creates three very strong female roles:  Natalia Petrovna the lady of a country house somewhere in the Russian countryside who is bored with everything about the country including her husband, her ward Vera and the housemaid Katia. Their routine is disturbed by the arrival of a young student Beliaev who brings a kite for Natalia's son Kolia. All three women fall for Beliaev which leads to an almighty row between Natalia and Vera as a result of which Beliaev is sent packing (in the nicest possibe way) by Natalia's husband.

Yesterday, Samara Downs danced Natalia, Jamie Bond Beliaev, Laura Day Vera and Yiijing Zhang Katia. Tzu-Chao Chou was a convincing juvenile and Rory Mackay danced the husband well. The score was John Lanchbery's arrangement of Chopin which also included an earworm - in this case, Chopin's variations on a theme from Don Giovanni. Julia Trevelyan Oman's designs were breathtaking - particularly the drapes immediately after the curtain rises which reminded me a little bit of Leon Bakst.  Altogether, a production that I look forward to seeing again.

For some reason or other the theatre was far from full which is disappointing for a performance by a company of the calibre of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Although there were some cheers and bravos - mainly from me - and one or two people on their feet - there were not all that many curtain calls. It was a good show and BRB deserved more appreciation. I am sure they will do better when they bring Romeo and Juliet to the Lowry.  I may be wrong but it may be that audiences were put off by Titania's blonde wig. After all it seems to have generated some discussion on BalletcoForum.

As a Mancunian I get bored by the pretensions of Brummies - often endorsed by Londoners who have been to neither Birmingham nor Manchester - that Birmingham is the second city - notwithstanding the latest census returns that the population of Greater Manchester now exceeds that of the West Midlands. However, I have to concede that Birmingham has a world class ballet company and a wonderful home for it in the Hippodrome. Yesterday I tried the theatre's Circle Restaurant. While I found it a tad expensive - especially compared to the Chinese and other East Asian restaurants that surround the theatre - I was delighted to be served Lancashire hotpot. There are not too many places where that dish is on the menu even in Manchester and I have certainly never eaten it at the Palace or Lowry.

The Royal Ballet's Swan Lake - that's more like it

Huddersfield Odeon

I have not been too kind about HDTV transmissions of the Royal Ballet's performances from Covent Garden ("¡Por favor! Don Quixote streamed to Huddersfield" 13 Oct 2013, Good Quality Hamburger at the Very Least - Giselle streamed from Covent Garden 27 Jan 2014" and "Manon Encore at the Huddersfield Odeon" 20 Oct 2014) though I recanted slightly over The Winter's Tale ("The Winter's Tale - Time to eat my Hat" 29 April 2014). In general I have much preferred Pathe-Live's transmissions from Moscow. But yesterday I watched the recording of the Royal Ballet's Swan Lake which was broadcast on 17 March 2015 and it was all right. More than all right. It was good,

The performance itself must have been wonderful. I saw Golding and Osipova in Onegin last month and was bowled over by them. Avis, another favourite, danced Rothbart magnificently. The sets and costumes were sumptuous. The music is majestic. Although I had to miss the last season in order to have the time and money to see Northern Ballet's Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights and the Sapphire gala, I am familiar with this production and enjoy it very much. It is in fact my favourite Swan Lake though I have yet to see more than extracts from van Dantzig's.

However, it was the recording that I want to commend today. I like to think that those responsible for the HDTV transmissions have been listening to moans from people like me or at least looked at the Bolshoi transmissions and learned from them. I thoroughly enjoyed the interviews with Anthony Dowell, Jonathan Cope and Cynthia Harvey. I now know why Swan Lake is set in 19th century Russia rather than medieval Germany despite the Teutonic names of the main characters. According to Dowell that was the suggestion of the designer, Yolanda Sonnabend, who was inspired by Fabergé. Dowell spoke warmly about his conversations with Sonnabend though he thought things might have been taken a little too far when an egg appeared in her studio one day.

In the past I have criticized Bussell as a presenter but her contribution yesterday was valuable.  She spoke about her coaching by Fonteyn. Fonteyn had told her always to remember than she was a woman and not a swan. Bussell referred to Acts II and III as "white" and "black" Acts referring to the colours of the ballerina's tutu - terminology I had never heard before - and she said that she like other ballerinas had never been entirely satisfied with her performance as Odette and Odile in the same performance. One was always stronger than the other.

I also enjoyed the clip of the rehearsals and coaching in the second interval. I recognized the studio in which Cope trained Golding. Sibley and Crisp had spoken there last year (see "Le jour de gloire est arrive - Dame Antoinette Sibley with Clement Crisp at the Royal Ballet School" 3 Feb 2014). So although I must have seen many performances of Swan Lake in my lifetime I learned something new yesterday.

Something of the magic of last Tuesday's performance filtered through to the audience of the Huddersfield Odeon yesterday. Everyone laughed when Osipova picked up the toy swan during her curtain call. Finally, I felt a twinge of pride when the credits mentioned additional choreography by David Bintley for Bintley was a local man. I wonder how many members of the audience picked up on that.

More Things I do for my Art - Autumn Gala of Dance and Song

Star Studded Gala in aid of the Yorkshire Ballet Summer School, Sadler's Wells, 29 Sept 2013

This elegant monogram stands for Yorkshire Ballet Summer School. It is a 2 week residential summer school at the York St John University where students between the ages of 9 and 19 and their teachers can learn from some of the best dancers in the world. To appreciate the value of this school just take a moment to watch this video. The enthusiasm of those students is infectious.  As I am sure that at least some of you will want to support this worthwhile cause here is a link to the Summer School's support page.

Every so often a gala of dance and song is held to raise funds for the Summer School.  In previous years it has been held at the York Grand Opera House and my late spouse and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary there in 2007. It was a great show as you can see from the review in The Press. This year the gala was held at Sadler's Wells and I followed it to London.  I have just returned after driving through the night. Hence the title "More Things that I do for my Art".

However, my journey was by no means the longest. Sergei Polunin had woken up at 05:00 to take a flight from Moscow to perform at the show and according to Sir Derek Jacobi who compèred the show with Sir Anthony Dowell a taxi was waiting to whisk him back to the airport for his return flight. Scottish Ballet's Sophie Martin and Christopher Harrison had come from Glasgow. And I had seen Birmingham Royal Ballet's Samara Downs dance Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty the night before in Salford (see "The Sleeping Beauty - a Review and why the Ballet is important" 29 Sept 2013).  The difference was that they danced - powerfully in Polunin's case  - whereas I had only to watch, clap until my palms stung, cheer until I was hoarse and, of course., drive to and from Luton Parkway,

The show was, to use the language of the Guide Rouge "vaut le voyage". Many of the stars I saw in York in 2007, such as Wayne Sleep, Samantha Bond and of course Sir Anthony and Sir Derek were there but there was plenty of new material:

• Birmingham Royal Ballet's Brandon Lawrence whom you saw in the film.
• Kenneth Tindall's "Bitter Earth" danced by Northern Ballet's Tobias Batley, Jessica Morgan and Nicola Gervasi;
• the Royal Ballet's Elizabeth Harrod whom you also saw in the film who danced "You" choreographed by the Summer School director Marguerite Porter;
• English National Ballet's Lauretta Summerscales and Fernando Bufalá in the pas de deux from Le Corsaire;
• the all male company BalletBoyz who danced Serpent from  The Talent spectacularly;
• Rambert's Dane Hurst who danced "Inala" to music by Ladysmith Black Mambazo;
• Lawrence and Downs in Kenneth Macmillan's "Solitaire";
• the Royal Ballet's Stephen McRae dancing "I got Rhythm" to his own choreography;
• Harrison and Martin dance the pas de deux from Christopher Hampson's "Perpetuum Mobile"; and of course
• Polunin.

There were songs from Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton and a lot of levity from Jim Carter who auctioned off a back stage pass to Covent Garden for a whopping £2,000.   All in a very good cause.