According to its website, The Lowry is holding an open day on 6 Aug 2023. It has not published any details yet though it has posted a video about the event in 2021. As we have a company class in Leeds on 5 Aug 2023 and I shall be speaking at the Cambridge IP Law Summer School between 7 and 11 Aug 2023 I would have given the event a miss had I not received an email about it from the Birmingham Royal Ballet last week.
That email carried an image of Carabosse doing her worse towering over a smaller image of Désiré and Aurora at their wedding above the banner headline "Join us at The Lowry Open Day on Sunday 6 August". The email announces that the Birmingham Royal Ballet will attend the open day between 10:00 and 17:00 bringing costumes for The Sleeping Beauty that visitors can try on. Between 11:00 and 14:00 there will be workshops where attendees can learn some of the choreography.
The Birmingham Royal Ballet returns to Salford to dance Sir Peter Wright's production of The Sleeping Beauty between 7 and 9 March 2024, Readers can view the trailer here. Companies around the world dance that production and I have seen performances of that work by the Hungarian and Dutch National Ballets. The best that I have ever seen was in Amsterdam on 17 Dec 2017 with Maia Makhateli as Aurora, Daniel Camargo as the prince and Igone de Jongh as Carabosse (see The Dutch National Ballet's "The Sleeping Beauty" - I have waited nearly 50 years for this show20 Dec 2017). That bit of ballet history will never be repeated but I have very high hopes of BRB's visit to the Lowry in the Spring.
Modern Films Coppelia BBC 2 18:15 27 Dec 2022 and iPlayer
On the evening of 27 Dec 2022, the BBC broadcast Modern Films' Coppeliain the UK. Readers who missed the transmission can still catch it on the iPlayer. It was choreographed by Ted Brandsen and has much in common with his production for the Dutch National Ballet which I reviewed in Brandsen's Coppelia on 12 Dec 2016. The main differences are that the score is by Maurizio Malagnini and not by Leo Delibes and it is very much shorter. Most of the dancers are or were in the Dutch National Ballet and some of the designs seem to be the same.
DePrince introduced me to the rest of the Junior Company which included some outstanding dancers. Through them, I got to know the rest of the company which has given me enormous pleasure over the last 10 years. Some of its members have become dear friends and acquaintances and I have made many more friendships among its regular ballet-goers. I am therefore grateful to her not only for her performances but also for the introduction to the company and its fans.
DePrince is now in Boston which is a lot further away. Modern Films' production was one last chance to see her with members of the Dutch National Ballet. She danced Swan, the lead role in the film. Traditionally the heroine is called Swanhilde though, in Brandsen's stage production, she is known as Swantje. Daniel Camargo who has also crossed the Atlantic but was formerly a principal of the Dutch National Ballet danced Franz. Dr Coppelius was danced by Vito Mazzeo. Swan's friends were Nancy Burer, JingJing Mao and Sasha Nukhamedov, Franz's were Timothy van Poucke, Sam Sjouke and Edo Wijnen and Igone de Jongh was the ballet teacher. Darcey Bussell, one of the few cast members not to be in HNB danced the mayor. Floor Eimers, Giovanni Princop and Rachel Beaujean were also in the film.
I enjoyed it more than Scottish Ballet's Coppelia but not as much as English National or Birmingham Royal Ballet's or indeed Ted Brandsen's stage version. I think that is because all those companies retain Delibers's score which contributes so much to the ballet. It was lovely to see DePrince again as well as other members of HNB. I am not sure that I would have liked it as much had the cast come from any other company.
Standard YouTube Licence Dutch National Ballet Swan LakeThe Music Theatre, Amsterdam, 24 March 2019, 14:00 Rudi van Dantzig is one of three towering geniuses who have given Dutch ballet its reputation for excellence, The others are Hans van Manen and Toer van Schayk. Van Dantzig and van Schayk collaborated in the 1980s to stage one of the best versions of Swan Lake that I have ever seen.
As I entered the auditorium, I saw a screen bearing a likeness of Tchaikovsky, his name and the title of his ballet in Dutch and Russian. As the house lights faded and the orchestra struck up, the principal characters of the drama appeared behind the screen. The tale of Odette's enchantment by Von Rothbart is sketched out. The screen rose to reveal the palace gardens where Prince Siegfried's coming of age took place. From there until the final act the ballet proceeds in the same way as most other versions of Swan Lake until the last act. There, the story deviates.
According to the programme notes:
"Von Rothbart tries to drive Siegfried away from the lake, but although Siegfried manages to defy him, he drowns in the waters."
That appears to be an accident rather than a deliberate sacrifice by Siegfried and Odette to break von Rothbart's spell as in other versions. The drowning is represented by a pale blue sheet of silky material suddenly fanned across the stage. The lifeless Siegfried is carried ashore by his companion, Alexander. The programme concludes:
"In Alexander, Siegfried's ideals will live on."
That is how the ballet ends. No epilogue of lovers ascending to heaven on a swan-shaped barque as in the versions with which we are familiar.
Every performance of Swan Lake turns on its lead ballerina. She has to assume two very different personalities in the same work. There are some who dance Odette well but are less convincing as Odile and vice versa. The superabundantly talented Maia Makhateli can do both. She is pure and delicate as Odette and brazen and explosive as Odile. Never have I seen Legnani's 32 fouettés performed with greater aplomb. Her virtuosity is thrilling and her acting was compelling. She was perhaps the best Odette-Odile I have seen since Sibley.
Sibley was partnered in Swan Lake by Sir Anthony Dowell who later created a beautiful version of Swan Lake for the Royal Ballet. Comparisons are odious but Camargo does have a lot in common with Dowell. He is equally graceful and just as strong. His solo in the seduction scene was a thrill to watch emphasized by a single fiddler striking out his tune.
Swan Lake is a struggle between good and evil as personified by von Rothbart. Liam Scarlett portrays von Rothbart as a treacherous courtier as well as a magician. Indeed the costume and makeup department make him look like the real-life head of a nuclear-armed potential adversary. In that regard, he was truly scary. Van Dantzig dressed his evil one in a suit of green which is the colour of reptiles, slime and decay. Jared Wright flapped his wings with menace and paced the floor with foreboding.
Jane Lord, a former principal with the National Ballet who is now with the National Ballet Academy, danced Siegfried's mother. Tall and elegant she exuded regal authority. Her role is pivotal. By insisting on his contemplating marriage and acknowledging his state responsibilities, she started a chain of events that ended with the drowning of her son. The tragedy is that she brought about this catastrophe out of an abiding sense of duty. That prompted home thoughts from abroad about another female leader courting catastrophe as a result of such a sense of duty.
Van Danzig has expanded the role of the prince's companion. The companion is called "Alexander" in this work and the role was danced by Semyon Velichko. Alexander comforts the prince as he bemoans his approaching adulthood and state responsibility. He is with the prince when he is asked to choose a bride. He tries to warn the prince that Odile might not be Odette. Finally, as I observed above, it is he who retrieves Siegfried's body from the water. Benno plays a similar role in David Dawson'sSwan Lake for Scottish Ballet (see Empire Blanche: David Dawson's Swan Lake4 June 2016). Since seeing van Dantzig's work I have been wondering just how far his Alexander inspired Dawson's Benno.
There were some interesting little touches in van Dantzig's ballet that I have not seen elsewhere. I have already mentioned the fiddler in the prince's solo during the seduction scene. Here is another. One of the prospective brides breaks from the others and hides. She is coaxed back by one of the other girls. When she dances, she does so with flamboyantly and energetically. On the other hand, no images of Odette fluttered onto the screen during the seduction scene or after the palace is destroyed.
Yesterday's matinee was a stupendous performance that was aptly rewarded by a standing ovation, but not by many curtain calls. Had the show taken place in London there may not have been a standing ovation but there would have been umpteen curtain calls many for the lead dancers and the stage would have been covered with flowers. A bouquet certainly for Makhateli and probably also for Lord and several of the other female dancers who richly deserved them. Amsterdam and London are very close but we have very different ballet traditions. A ripple of applause meets a principal when he or she appears for the first time. We count Legnani's fouettés and explode with applause and roars on the 28th turn - never on the 27th nor the 29th. There was applause for Makhateli but it started just as Camargo got into his stride.
I could not say that this is my favourite Swan Lake. Derek Deane's for English National Ballet is very hard to beat (see English National Ballet's Swan Lake: Kanehara conquers the Empire25 Nov 2018) and I also love David Dawson's for Scottish Ballet. However, it is certainly up there with them.
This show will continue until 2 June. There are convenient and inexpensive flights to Amsterdam from most British airports. My seat in the centre of row 14 of the stalls cost a mere €87 and that includes the programme. I have paid more than that for the amphitheatre before now. Tariffs for hotel accommodation, food, drinks and public transport are about the same as in Manchester. It would be a shame to miss this show.
Standard YouTube Licence The Dutch National Ballet The Sleeping Beauty, Stopera, Amsterdam 17 Dec 2017, 14:00
It's funny how some performances stand out in one's memory over the years. The performance of The Sleeping Beauty by the Royal Ballet on 22 July 1972 was one of those. Dame Margot Fonteyn danced Aurora and Rudolf Nureyev Florimund. It was a glorious evening and I saw the show when I was at a high point of my life, shortly after graduating from St Andrews and just before I was due to take up a scholarship to UCLA.
I've seen many excellent performances of The Sleeping Beauty since then by Birmingham Royal Ballet, the Hungarian National Ballet and lots of other companies including the Royal Ballet. None has come close to that show on 22 July 1972. It was for me the gold standard. At least not until last Sunday. Now, over 46 years after that remarkable performance by Fonteyn and Nureyev, I have seen its peer.
The matinee that I attended on Sunday afternoon had been staged by Sir Peter Wright, It is a production that I had seen several times before and know very well, Although the music, choreography and designs appeared to be the same as those I had seen before, Sunday's show had a freshness, an energy, a je ne sais quoi that somehow distinguished it from all previous performances of that ballet since 1972. The reason why it was so good is that HNB is one of the world's great companies and very special as Sir Peter noted in a YouTube clip to promote a previous revival (see Sir Peter Wright has wonderful words for the company (Dutch National Ballet)HNB 6 Dec 2010). In fact, when a gentleman in the seat next to me asked how it compared with London I replied that for my money HNB was the best company in Europe if not the world.
HNB has some brilliant dancers. Aurelia was danced on Sunday by Maia Makhateli. Although she trained in Georgia and the USA she seemed to dance very much in the English way displaying a pleasing line and considerable virtuosity but without exaggeration or gratuitous theatricality. Her rose adage was superb and readers can see her performing it in Maia Makhateli Sleeping Beauty Rose Adagio28 Oct 2016 YouTube. It is the best I can remember. I should add that Ms Makhateli is as charming off stage as she is impressive on it for when I asked her to sign a card to my contributor, Helen McDonough, in a signing session after the show she knew exactly to whom I was referring.
Ms Makhateli was partnered gallantly by Daniel Camargo. He is a very powerful but also very graceful dancer and he can also project emotion and feeling as well as any voice actor. In those regards he reminds me very much of Nureyev at the same age. Sunday's performance was the first time I had seen him in a major role and I was impressed, His rise to principal in Stuttgart over just a few years was meteoric. Although he is still quite young, he has already achieved a lot. His potential must be considerable.
As Perrault's tale is essentially a struggle between good and evil, the most important characters are perhaps the lilac fairy and Carabosse. Erica Horwood was a delightful lilac fairy but the prima ballerina, Igone de Jongh, was the best Carabosse I have ever seen, Both appeared with their attendants and Carabossse's were particularly creepy. The other fairies, Jessica Xuan, Suzanna Kaic, Yuanyuan Zhang, Naira Agvannean, Aya Okumura and Maria Chugai, danced exquisitely There were strong solo performances in the final act. I particularly liked Young Gyu Choi's and his partner Suzanna Kaic as the bluebirds and Clotilde Tran-Phat and Daniel Montero Real as the white cat and Puss'n Boots. Everyone in the cast danced well but this overlong review would resemble a telephone directory if I gave every artist the credit he or she deserves.
It was thrilling to sit in centre of the second row of the stalls just a few feet behind the celebrated conductor Boris Gruzin. It was tantamount to being in the orchestra pit. Indeed, it was almost like being on stage.
The Sleeping Beauty will run to New Year's Day but, sadly, almost every performance is fully booked. However, Birmingham Royal Ballet's version, also produced by Sir Peter Wright and also very good, is about to go on tour. It will visit Southampton between 31 Jan and 3 Feb, Birmingham between 13 and 24 Feb, Greater Manchester between 28 Feb and 3 March, Cardiff between 14 and 17 March and Plymouth between 21 and 24 March.
Finally, I must apologize to readers for the long and embarrassing delay since my last post in November. I have made made copious notes of Rambert's Ghost Dances at the Alhambra, Northern Ballet's The Little Mermaid in Sheffield, Birmingham Royal Ballet's The Nutcracker in Birmingham and the Russian State Ballet and Opera House's Romeo and Juliet in Harrogate not to forget the preview of Sharon Watson's Windrush, cinema relays of the Bolshoi's Le Corsaire and the Royal Ballet's Alice in Wonderland and The Nutcracker, Martin Dutton's inspiring Nutcracker intensive, great classes at Pineapple and Huddersfield and the Arts Council's seminar on grant applications. I will try to get these out to you by the end of the year.
Daniel Camargo and Sasha Mukhamedov in an Extract from La Bayadere
Photo Altin Kaftira (c) 2016 Dutch National Ballet: all rights reserved Reproduced with kind permission of the company
It will come as no surprise to my readers that the slot for Dutch National Ballet between 16:00 and 16:30 was the highlight of my World Ballet Day. If anyone missed it I have shared a recording on my Facebook page. It is well worth watching as were all the contributions to yesterday's feast of dance.
There three several reasons why I enjoyed the Dutch National Ballet's programme so much.
The first is that I love the company. I am one of its Friendsin the formal sense. I have visited the Stopera (the company's home) several times over the last few years including the opening night galas this year and last (see Dutch National Ballet's Opening Night Gala - Improving on Excellence8 Sept 2016 and The best evening I have ever spent at the ballet13 Sept 2015). Over the years I have been lucky enough to meet the company's artistic director Ted Brandsen and many of its dancers, choreographers, technical staff and officials some of whom are Facebook friends or followers on twitter. One of my birthday treats on 14 Feb 2016 was to tour the Stopera with a group of Friends of the company (see Double Dutch Delights17 Feb 2016).
Daniel Camargo as Solor on 7 Sept 2016
Photo Altin Kaftira (c) 2016 Dutch National Ballet: A=all rights reserved Reproduced by kind permission of the company
The third reason why the Dutch National Ballet's slot was the highlight of my day is that Ted Brandsen was interviewed by Michaela DePrince, That remarkable young woman, who joined the Junior Company in 2013 and is already a grand sujet attracted me to the Junior Company and later to the main company. I met her briefly at last year's gala after which "I left the Stopera thinking how that exceptionally talented young dancer was as gracious off stage as she is magnificent upon it." I have written quite a lot about DePrince over the years for various reasons one of which is that I also have connections with Sierra Leone, the country of her birth. You will find links to some of those articles at Michaela DePrince at TEDx Amsterdam28 Nov 2016.
