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Tudor ballets at Edinburgh Festival


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Slipped into the advance publicity for the Edinburgh Festival in 2004 is a programme of ballets by Antony Tudor. No more details - no ballets named and no company. Does anyone have any idea which company it might be - certainly couldn't be any of the UK companies as Mr Tudor is very poorly represented in their repertoires. So I guess it must by a US company as it's a very long time since the Paris Opera did any of his work and I can't think of any other European company which could put on an entire programme.

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That's quite great to hear about it- there are not that many opportunities to see some Tudor...

As you wrote, the POB hasn't danced it for a while (and I think it's a real pity :( ): as far as I know, they last danced "Dark elegies" around 1997 (and I missed it because of some exams, grrrrr :( ) and "Jardin aux lilas" perhaps around 1994 (at least I'm sure I saw it then, but perhaps it was danced later), and most of the principals who had performed it have retired since then. (Nureyev also had added some other works to the repertory but sadly they don't seem to have been performed since the 1980s).

Some other French companies have danced some Tudor: the Ballet du Rhin danced "Jardin aux lilas" in the early 1990s, but since then the direction has changed and the repertory includes modern works. It might have been in the repertory of the Ballet National de Nancy et de Lorraine when its director was Pierre Lacotte, but I'm not sure, and anyway now the Ballet de Nancy has gone the same way as the Ballet du Rhin. The Ballet du Capitole de Toulouse, under Nanette Glushak's direction, performed it a few seasons ago. It might also have been danced by the Ballet de Bordeaux, but I'm not sure. Anyway, as you wrote, none of those ballet companies could stage a whole program... But perhaps there could be some programs with some ballets performed by several companies (as in the Balanchine programs in Washington one or two seasons ago)?

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Perhaps they might invite more than one company. A few years ago, they concentrated on Hans van Manen, and Dutch National Ballet, NDT I, II and III all appeared, some on the same bill.

I'll be interested to see what venue they appear in. Ballet often appears in the Playhouse - a huge place with a shallow stage. I think Tudor (Lilac Garden, for instance) might benefit from a smaller , more intimate auditorium with better sightlines.

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I would love to see Lilac Garden on a small stage. That was a comment from British viewers from the first time ABT brought it (aside from missing the original cast, of course) -- that it just didn't have the impact in a larger house.

I want to see "Knight Errant." No chance of it, I suppose, but I'd still like to see it -- perhaps Birmingham Royal wil revive it?

There are some American dance scholars reviving "The Planets" piece by piece. I saw a bit of it last spring and it was certainly interesting enough to warrant further work. It's very external -- Tudor's interest in the psychological and internal motivation is obvious, but he hadn't figured out how to do it yet, and so he makes the characters' actions the result of planetary influences.

Tudor's centennial is coming up in 2008. It's never too soon to start......

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I would love to see Lilac Garden on a small stage.  That was a comment from British viewers from the first time ABT brought it (aside from missing the original cast, of course) -- that it just didn't have the impact in a larger house.

I remember that some French critics complained about it too when the POB danced "Jardin aux lilas" at the Opera Garnier in 1993. When it had been staged in the mid-1980s, it (and the other Tudor works) had been danced at the Opéra Comique, another French public theater which is smaller, and the critics found that it was better suited to that work. But now the Opéra Comique's direction is distinct from that of the Paris Opera, so I don't think they could perform there easily, and both Garnier's and Bastille's stages are quite big.

I did see some performances at the Edinburgh Playhouse (the NYCB a few years ago) and yes, the sightlines is far from perfect (and the building itself isn't exactly beautiful... :green: )

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