My most popular post by far has been Empire Blanc: Dawson's Swan Lake 4 June 2016, my review of Scottish Ballet's performance of David Dawson's Swan Lake at the Liverpool Empire on 3 June 2016. I received tens of thousands of hits at the time and I am still getting a lot even now. I loved that show and I think readers must have sensed something of my passion behind my words.
Dawson's ballet was to have been revived for a tour of Scotland this Spring but sadly the pandemic got in the way. Scottish Ballet plans to reschedule it just as soon as Covid 19 is under control. To assuage the audience's disappointment at the postponement of the tour, Eve McConnachie has transposed part of the last act to film. It was premiered over the internet at 19:00 last night and I have already watched it three times. It is a work of art of considerable value in its own right. From the film, I have seen details of the choreography, lighting, costumes that my senses failed to take in the first time around. The camera takes the audience into the performance. It really is the next best thing to performing onstage.
After the film, there were short interviews with Eve McConnachie and Roseanna Leney. Leney was asked about differences between dancing before a lens and dancing on stage. An important difference was the absence of an audience. She described the experience of sensing its presence, The chatter before the lights go down and then the lull. Theatre is a collaborative art and the audience are as much part of the creative process as the artists though their participation is limited to the applause. That is particularly true of dance and maybe especially so in ballet.
Yesterday's performance was for Friends of Scottish Ballet. Scottish Ballet was the first company that I got to know and love. I was a fan even before it was Scottish largely for the sparky choreography of its founder Peter Darrell. I relished such works as Mods and Rockers and Houseparty. The company has grown and prospered over the years and as it has grown so has my affection and admiration.
Standard YouTube Licence English National Ballet The NutcrackerLiverpool Empire, 30 Nov 2019, 19:30
For many children who grew up in London and the Southeast in the 1960s and 1970s, the London Festival Ballet's Christmas seasons at the Royal Festival Hall offered a welcome alternative to pointless dialogues with the likes of Buttons or Wishee-Washee. Instead of chanting "It's behind you" or "Oh no it isn't", they could marvel at Drosselmeyer's wizardry or the Sugarplum Fairy's daintiness. The stage may have been less than ideal as the auditorium was a concert hall but those performances were superb. Countless children developed a lifelong love of theatre in general and ballet in particular by those shows. Many of them will have pestered their parents for ballet lessons. At least a few will have been inspired to dance professionally.
The company has evolved since then. It changed its name to English National Ballet or ENB many years ago. It has recently acquired new premises. It has an impressive repertoire that includes groundbreaking new works. It has performed to critical acclaim in many great opera houses and is recognized as one of the world's great companies. Notwithstanding all those developments, it still performs The Nutcracker at Christmas though in conventional theatres rather than the Royal Festival Hall. The version that it now performs was created by Wayne Eagling who directed the Dutch National Ballet between 1991 and 2003 and the English National Ballet between 2006 and 2012. He choreographed the Dutch National Ballet's version of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King(see the trailer for the current season). I had previously seen ENB's version at the Coliseum in 2013 with Vadum Muntagirov and Daria Klimentiva in the leading roles (see Cracking14 Dec 2013). I saw it again at the Liverpool Empire on 30 Nov 2019.
In my previous review I wrote:
"English National's current version of The Nutcracker is by Wayne Eagling and he has made a few changes to Petipa's choreography and Hoffmann's story such as setting it by the Thames rather than somewhere in Mitteleuropa, casting Clara as a grown woman fusing her with The Sugar Plum Fairy and letting the mouse hang on (literally) into the second Act which I am not altogether sure that I like. Turning Clara into an adult in particular takes away some of the innocence and indeed charm of a ballet which for me and many others is about sweets, toy soldiers and rampaging rodents."
I would still make those same criticisms today. However, I added:
"Despite those reservations, I thoroughly enjoyed The Nutcracker on the opening night of its Christmas season. It will be at the Coliseum until 5 Jan 2014. It is well worth seeing for Daria Klimentova and Vadim Muntagirov's brilliance, for Peter Farmer's designs, for the sparkling Spanish, Arabic and Russian dances and other divertissements in the second Act and the wonderful character artistry by Junor Souza as the Nutcracker and James Streeter as King Mouse. There are some cute touches like a rat in a kilt in Act 1 (which may become a regular feature in English versions if Scotland votes the wrong way in September), using a mousetrap as a catapult and the substitution of a balloon for a sleigh as a transport to the kingdom of sweets and the land of dreams."
Kase was a delicious Sugarplum and Brooklyn Mack her gallant beau. Streeter danced the Mouse King again in a thoroughly murine manner. So much so that he received a few unmerited boos at the reverence until he removed his mouse headgear whereupon h received deafening applause. Fabian Raimar was an impressive Drosselmeyer. Drosselmeyer is probably key to the success of any performance of The Nutcracker since he appears in almost every scene. I liked all the divertissements and congratulate all the artists who took part whose names are too numerous to mention. If I had to single out any single performer it would be Precious Adams who led the flowers and snowflakes with consummate grace. The advertised conductor was Gary Cornelius but the maestro who took the applause looked very much like Huddersfield's very own Gavin Sutherland.
Liverpool is a great place to watch ballet because the audience is always appreciative. Possibly the best place in the United Kingdom and I say that as a native Mancunian and an adopted Londoner. Liverpudlians are England's Neapolitans. If they like a show they do not so much clap and cheer as stamp and holler. The Empire's audience made a lot of noise on the Saturday night before last.
The Nutcracker is about to open in London where it will compete after Christmas with Birmingham's version in the Albert Hall but not with the Royal Ballet's this year. Both shows are worth watching but readers are warned tickets will not be easy to get for either show.
Standard YouTube Licence
One of the most remarkable performances that I have attended was David Dawson'sSwan Lake at Liverpool Empire on 3 June 2016. My review of that show has turned out to be my most popular post attracting nearly 47,000 hits, over 10 times more than my next most popular article. The reason I love this work so much is that it is innovative and original but still recognizably Swan Lake (see the synopsis).
I am therefore delighted to announce that Scottish Ballet has announced that this beautiful ballet is to be revived (see Swan Lake The Classic retold for new Generationon Scottish Ballet's website). The work will open at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh on 9 April 2020 and stay there until 11 April. It will then visit Aberdeen, Inverness and Glasgow finishing at the Theatre Royal on 2 May 2020 (see the Places, Dates and Times page).
Standard You Tube Licence Scottish Ballet, Swan Lake, Liverpool Empire, 3 June 2016 On my train back from Liverpool a young man asked to borrow my programme. He explained that he had attended Scottish Ballet's Swan Lake but had not bought a programme because he had not noticed any on sale. He added that this had been his first experience of ballet. "How lucky you are," I reflected as I handed him my programme "for I can think of no better introduction to the ballet that this one." The reason I say that is that David Dawson has distilled Swan Lake into a very potent concoction. When that young man sees a traditional Swan Lake, such as English National Ballet's in the round at the Albert Hall which I recommended strongly to him, he will understand and appreciate that work in a way that he would never have done otherwise. However, had he started with such a work he might well have been lost in a sea of tutus, feathery headgear or been diverted by the divertissements. Readers will have noticed that I used the word distilled in relation to Dawson's Swan Lake rather than "stripped down" as did Judith Mackrell in The Guardian (see Swan Lake review – stripped-back version even loses the lake20 April 2016) and Mark Monahan in The Telegraph (see You can strip a Rolls-Royce down only so far before it stops being a Rolls-Royce20 April 2016) for with all due respect to them they miss the point. This was Swan Lake all right in the way that so many other choreographers' versions are not. All the essentials of the story are there and Dawson is faithful to the characters - except perhaps to Rothbart whose role in the equivalent of the black act is performed by four men in masks. Dawson told the story directly and without distractions in a way that is appropriate to our times.
The reason why Rothbart was all but written out of the story is that he is not essential to it and his cape waving gets in the way. Dawson does not need Rothbart because nobody has cast a spell over Odette. She is described in the synopsis as
"a beautiful woman by the lake. Goddess-like and barely human, she is the Swan Queen, Odette, replenishing her powers from the waters of the lake. She morphs between forms both human and swan."
In her excellent programme note, A Swan Lake for a New Generation, the Glasgow Herald'sballet correspondent Mary Brennan explains:
"And the Swan herself. Dawson refuses to show her as a victim. 'In my version she is not a prisoner of any kind of spell. Rather she is a goddess, a divine being in her own right - and free to make her own choices in her relationship with Siegfied.' Rather than take the 19th century Romantic version at face value, Dawson went researching into other source material. He came across a mythic version that sparked his imagination: 'It described those goddess creatures who once every hundred years would come to bathe in the lake so as to replenish their beauty and immortality. The chances of anyone ever seeing them ..... it shouldn't happen, but Siegfried has, yet again, gone off by himself and - like something out of his own inner imaginings - he encounters the exquisitely ethereal Odette.'"
Given that scenario there is no need for a Queen Mother, or a bow, or the contrived show of generosity which seems a bit artificial for an 18 year old even in Petipa's version:
"Gee thanks Ma. A crossbow for decimating the local bird life. Just what I really wanted. I mean everyone has an iPad and what would I do with a Porsche? "
However, there is a need for Benno, Siegfried's good mate in Petipa's version. His role is greatly expanded and he stays with Siegfried throughout the ballet.
As in Petipa's version the focus is on Siegfried who is described in the scenario as "portent and pensive", a lovely phrase for just plain moody. Yesterday that role was danced by Victor Zarallo. Although there are plenty of moments when his considerable strength and stamina requires he is most effective when he is alone on stage, sometimes motionless, other times a barque on a stormy sea of conflicting emotions.
Good hearted, kindly generous Benno who sticks with his friend even after Siegfried threatens him, was danced by Nicholas Shoesmith. Tall, athletic and commanding girls flock to him in total contrast to his maungy mate. He tries so hard to entice Siegfried out of his moodiness. Standing with his arm over his friend's shoulder he presents one delectable maiden after another to distract Siegfried from his dark thoughts. When Odile appears and Siegfried flips he tries in vain to keep him grounded. The equivalent of the fluttering image of Odette through the French window doors in the traditional version is Benno's urging Siegfried to be sure that he has found the right girl.
The star of Swan Lake is of course Odette-Odile. It is a role that not every ballerina can dance convincingly because it requires the projection of two personalities from the same body. I may be wrong but I should imagine the easier part is probably the seductress Odile despite all those fouettés because she is manifestly human. It must be far more difficult to become a swan. Bethany Kingsley-Garner, who has recently been elevated to principal, was perfect in both. She first came to my notice as Cinderella in Edinburgh (see Scottish Ballet's Cinderella20 Dec 2015) and she has already entered my canon of all time greatest ballerinas. The only other Scottish dancer in that rare company is Elaine McDonand (see Elaine McDonald in her own Words11 March 2014).
I should say a few words about John Otto's sets and Yumiko Takeshima.
Judith Mackrell complains that there is no lake. She is wrong, It is there. Indeed it is central to the ballet. It is the boundary between the real world in which Siegfried and Benno live and the ethereal world of Odile. Otto cleverly creates that boundary with his translucent screens and backdrop.
"Where are the tutus and feathery headgear?" one might ask. Takeshima has lost them and rightly so for their only purpose is to represent the body and movement of a swan and Dawson's choreography does that so much better. Her characters are dressed simply and timelessly: white leotards as swans, full skirted Dances at a Gathering style dresses as party guests or in trousers, T-shirts and jackets in the case of the men.
Nevertheless, we did seeswans and that was through Dawson's expressive choreography. The fluid arm movements in open fifth to suggest the expansive flapping of wings. The glissades and low level lifts and turns to suggest gliding and hovering over water. There was so much detail. Miming, Benno's facial expressions even a high fives at one point in the first scene.
Although Dawson created every single step there was still a lot of Petipa in his ballet. The cygnets, for example, was still a pas de quatre albeit free moving, energetic, high jumping, young swans just as one can find on any waterway. In the seduction scene, first Siegfried then Odile did fouettés. I was bolt upright on the edge of my seat with excitement.
While waiting for my train at Lime Street I tweeted congratulations to Christopher Hampson, David Dawson and Scottish Ballet. I am sure the company's founder Peter Darrell would have been proud of this work had he lived to see it. And though some may disagree with me, I think Marius Petipa would have been proud of Dawson too.
Why the Empire Blanc title to this review?The first Dawson work that I had seen on stage was Dawson's Empire Noire in Amsterdam (see Going Dutch29 June 2015). I saw Swan Lake in the Empire Theatre in Liverpool. And "blanc" because most swans outside Australia at any rate are white. Despite a lot of sweeties packet rustling, a constant hum of commentary and all sorts of liberties taken with mobile phones the Empire was a good place to see this ballet. Liverpudlians are warm and passionate folk and they showed those qualities in their cheers and clapping at the end.
A typically generous tweet from one of my favourite dancers whose company has also been busy with its performances of 1984 at Sadler's Wells and Jane Eyreat Richmond. The "fabulous ballet tradition" to which Hannah Bateman refers is probably the one referred to by Graham Watts:
I am personally delighted by both promotions because Bethany Kingsley-Garner delighted me with her performance as Cinderella last December (see Scottish Ballet's Cinderella20 Dec 2015) and Constance Devernay with hers in Hansel and Gretel. I might add in passing that I hope Hampson's renewal of the tradition spreads to other companies because I can think of at least one female leading soloist whose elevation to "premier" (or principal) dancer I should like to see very much indeed.
Yesterday I tipped Scottish Ballet's Swan Lake in What's On Tonight28 May 2016 even though I have not yet seen it. I felt safe in doing so for two reasons. The first is that I have seen David Dawson's work before and trust him to do a good job (see my reviews of Empire Noire and 5 in Going Dutch29 June 2015 and Ballet Bubbles16 Feb 2016). The second is that I know and trust the company having followed them ever since they were in Bristol. I love them dearly and they have never disappointed me. I can't say that of many other companies. Not even the Royal Ballet.
Dawson was commissioned to create a new Swan Lake andthe synopsis suggests that is exactly what he has done. It is possible to be innovative without being gimicky and his story seems to be one that is believable and within human experience yet faithful to the classical tale. However, it is not just Petipa that inspired Dawson. According to Scottish Ballet's website he also drew inspiration from Zbigniew Herbert's poem Study of the Object.
Does it work? I shall find out on Friday when I see the ballet for myself at the Liverpool Empire. However, one Northern Irish ballet goer seems to think so:
— Friends Ballet NI (@FriendsBalletNI) May 28, 2016
And the conclusion was:
Definitely room in life for 2 Swan Lakes,traditional with beautiful corps & evil villain & scintillating thrill-ride that's @doublediamond1
— Friends Ballet NI (@FriendsBalletNI) May 28, 2016
I have never met Friends Ballet NI and do not even know the author's gender but I know from his or her tweets that he or she is very knowledgeable and perceptive about ballet. I remember tweeting to Friends Ballet NI from Leeds station last March about another company's Swan Lake which I did not like nearly as much as he or she seems to like Scottish Ballet's. If Friends Ballet NI who has had to take a flight or cross the sea to see it enjoyed last night's show, I don't think anybody who took my tip yesterday will be sharpening a claymore out for my blood for wasting his or her evening.
