17 replies to this topic

[cygneblanc]

It just has been announced to the AROP, so here is it !


Le Parc
Caligula, a new creation made by Nicolas Le Riche

Jewels

Dega's Litlle Ballerina

The Swan Lake

Demos by the POB School

School's triple bill
Balanchine's Divertimento n°15
Lifar's Between two rounds
Bejart's Variation Don Giovanni

Trisha Brown Dance Company

Forsythe's triple bill
Approximate Sonata
Herman Scherman
Artifact Suite

The Bayadère

Tripe bill Lagraa, Kylian, Teshigawara
Breathe of the Time
Air
Bella Figura

Nosferatu

Neederlands Dance Theater

POB's young dancers

POB's young choregraphers

Bejart's triple bill
Mandarin Merveilleux
Creation
Bolero

Neumeier's The Lady of the Camellias

[Naoko S]

Thanks cygneblanc for the info.!

The line-up looks f-aaaa-r better than the current season - don't you think? I'm particularly pleased to see a couple of ballets are featured in which Laurent Hilaire could appear; Le Parc and Mandarin (and hopefully Bella Figura). (Though I'm saddened by the absence of Raymonda for another season - we can't have everything....)

And I spotted in French language forums that their visit to Sadlers Wells this autumn (with Le Parc) was now official? Hooooray!

[cygneblanc]

Yes, Naoko, that's better and yes, it's official, they're going to London with le Parc at Sadlers Wells.

I like both Balanchine and Jewels very much but one more time Jewels! There are a lot of Balanchine's works that are so interesting, I hope we will got them in the future.

A choreo by Nicholas le Riche is a strange idea as I didn't like his first one but we never know.. I hope one day either Jean-Guillaume Bart or Jose Martinez will create something for the ballet, their previous creations were a lot of better than NLR one!

[Estelle]

Actually, I do find that season disappointing, and not terribly more exciting than the present one (which is quite awful). Well, there are a few new things like Neumeier's "Lady of the Camellias" or some new Forsythe works, but I'm disappointed that the only Balanchine work they will perform will be "Jewels" which has been already performed a lot of times in recent seasons, and I don't expect much from the Béjart creation considering what his latest creation for POB looked like (the work created for Legris, I don't remember its title- I had found it extremely boring, and a waste of Legris' talents)- and I can't say I have a fond memory of "La petite danseuse de Degas".

Also I wonder how successful "Nosferatu" will be, as it wasn't welcomed with much enthusiasm when it was created a few seasons ago...

The only program I'd be looking forward to seeing would be the Ecole de danse program. But how strange that it's only the school which dances some Balanchine works like "Divertimento n.15", "Le Tombeau de Couperin" or "Who Cares ?", which would fully deserve to be performed by the company itself !
And the way Lifar is neglected again is quite shameful in my opinion. Do they plan to wait until there is nobody able to restage his ballets ?

Also the 20th century neoclassical repertory is quite absent once again (no Robbins, no Tudor, no Fokine, etc.).

cygneblanc, I have seen nothing from Le Riche so far, but like you I regret that Martinez and J.G. Bart have not been commissioned some works by the company so far (only for the school or the "Jeunes Danseurs" programs), as they do seem talented, and interested in using the ballet vocabulary.

Sorry to sound so grumpy today, but I was so unhappy with the present season that I was looking forward to the announcement of the next one, and that's quite a letdown.

[cygneblanc]

No need to apologize for being grumpy Estelle, I'm not very excited either. I realize now that I don't like a lot of the works of the next season..

BL said the Lifar Tribute will be in 2006-2007. A bit late to my mind !

NL only creation was featured in Musiques au Coeur (it's a french TV programme) and well, I fell asleep ..It was featured at 2 AM..It was very modern..

I think I will try to see both the school demonstrations and the school performances, the Lady of the Camelias, and the young dancers. Maybe Jewels, the Parc, the Swan Lake and the Bayadere too, but since I have seen them several times, I'm think I may try to go to Hamburg once instead. Tickets aren't that expensive (77 euros for the most expensive ones and you can go there with easyjet..) . I'm also looking forward to see the ROB again..

[Naoko S]

Ladies - cheer up! A year ago, at the announcement of the current season's repertoire, we all thought things couldn't get any worse - and thank goodness certainly the new season's outlook, in my views, gives us the impressions we were not wrong? Surely they could have used a bit more of imaginations, and I share Estelle's dissappointments at the lack of Lifar and certain neo-classical works (particularly Balanchine!), but at least I can take a pleasure out of the fact that not a great deal of money seems to go to new commissions for ambiguous contemporary works....

I'm afraid you cannot avoid a certain mannerism watching the same company over and over again - so go out and see other companies of different styles and repertoire is a good idea, I think. (...oh that reminds me - isn't Kirov-Mariinsky coming to town in autumn? It should give you a nice change - particularly when they kind of promise Ulyana Lopatkina would take a lead in Swan Lake!)

[Estelle]

Ladies - cheer up!  A year ago, at the announcement of the current season's repertoire, we all thought things couldn't get any worse - and thank goodness certainly the new season's outlook, in my views, gives us the impressions we were not wrong?

Well, in my opinion the company's policy seems to be going in the same direction as for the present season, I'm afraid: a few classics, and a lot of modern works.

I'm afraid you cannot avoid a certain mannerism watching the same company over and over again - so go out and see other companies of different styles and repertoire is a good idea, I think.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I wish I could ! Not everybody has the time and money to travael to see some ballet... I live in Lyon now, and basically haven't seen any performance in months. I couldn't even manage to find the time to attend the POB school program, which was one of the only programs of the season I was interested in seeing

Well, I guess one positive side of the next season is that even if I can't manage to go to Paris, I won't have too many regrets... :rolleyes:

[Naoko S]

Well, in my opinion the company's policy seems to be going in the same direction as for the present season, I'm afraid: a few classics, and a lot of modern works.

Perhaps it's because I myself didn't expect a radical, overnight change in POB's programming policies, I can appreciate certain differences from the current season, albeit small and barely discernible. (Maintaining the status quo is far better than moving forward towards advancements - in this case deteriorations.) Less classics, yes, but to me among them two "Petipa"-Nureyev works included is a good thing (current: just one) - and they are ballet blanc (current: none). As to contemporary works - I may be wrong but the line-up for the coming season looks less experimental; e.g. a new commission for a lesser known choreographer - just one? (current: certainly more than that). And an acquisition of a narrative work, a well-established 20th century ballet (La Dame aux camélias)......

 
I wish I could ! Not everybody has the time and money to travael to see some ballet... I live in Lyon now, and basically haven't seen any performance in months. I couldn't even manage to find the time to attend the POB school program, which was one of the only programs of the season I was interested in seeing

Oh no that's too bad Estelle... I wish you could get to see more performances in the new season.

[sophia]

I won't talk about Nicolas Le Riche as a choreographer, because I don't know his work, but the project seems to me very exciting: it is based on the character of "Caligula", hero of Camus' famous play, and he will work with the Comedie Française for that project. So, wait and see...
I won't call the next season "modern", most of the works are classical or neo-classical. Preljocaj is a contemporary choreographer, but "Le Parc" is quite classical. And Kylian, Neumeier, Forsythe, Balanchine -I will not mention Noureyev of course- is that modern and radical??? I don't think so... It does not mean that the next season at POB is the ideal season according to me. I find it hard to understand and to accept the absence of romantic repertoire, our natural and historical repertoire, and any Lifar's works of course. But, I'm not so disappointed; last year, I was afraid of the season: a lot of contemporary works and creations, but in fact, I enjoyed most of them... I appreciate this diversity, the possibility to see "Sleeping Beauty" and Angelin Preljocaj's "Le Songe de Médée", Neumeier's "Sylvia" and the "Spectacle de l'école de danse"... I think it's a real chance, even if my favorite company is a very traditional one, the Bolchoï.

[Leigh Witchel]

Sophia, welcome to Ballet Talk. There are a lot of POB fans here. I hate to be the wet blanket on one issue, but if you call Le Parc classical, then we are using different definitions of the word. Whether it's good work or bad is immaterial; Preljocaj is not a classical choreographer by any stretch of the imagination no matter what company does his work. He doesn't ask dancers for a classical placement of the body, nor does he use classical vocabulary.

[sophia]

I did not say Preljocaj was a classical choreographer (in terms of choreographic vocabulary)! But "Le Parc" is quite different from his other works, that's just what I said. People who are used to POB repertoire are not shocked by "Le Parc", they usually enjoy it, even the more "classical" and traditional.
About Preljocaj: he started as a dancer, he studied classical dance and knows it. At the beginning, he wanted only modern and contemporary dancers for his company based in Aix en Provence. But now, it's finished: he only wants classical dancers. I don't know if it's because he has worked with POB dancers several times... His work does not really use classical vocabulary, but for me, his work is real dance and he is a part of the history of dance. I would like to add that I am not a particular fan of him, but I can enjoy what he creates with critical spirit.

[sophia]

And thanks for your welcoming me (in fact, I have been registered for long).

[Leigh Witchel]

This is probably just semantics, because we aren't far off in opinion. I find Le Parc pleasant enough, just not "classical"!

Funny how all the dance rebels of the world now only want ballet trained dancers for their companies, isn't it? I find it a bit sad, if only because ballet trained dancers often don't bring as much to many of those works as the original dancers who had a different style of training. In Preljocaj's case, though, like Duato and Kylian he may be best off with them, more specifically dancers with ballet training but not a stereotypical ballet body or movement style.

[sophia]

I would not call Mr Preljocaj a rebel, he is very "politically correct", but of course, there's a kind of political correctness in some rebellions. As far as his choreographical work is concerned, I repeat that it is not at all radical avant-garde. I don't know if you have an idea of what contemporary creation can be in France, but I can assure you that Mr Preljocaj is very far from that (that does not make him a classical choreographer, I agree with you).
For Duato and especially Kylian (I really love him, he is the best to me at the moment), I think it's different, you really can't dance their works without being ballet trained. Kylian often uses pointes and movement is based on classical grammar (just like in Forsythe's).
You find it sad they employ classical dancers? It just proves the superiority of classical dancers maybe...

[Estelle]

I won't call the next season "modern", most of the works are classical or neo-classical. Preljocaj is a contemporary choreographer, but "Le Parc" is quite classical.

Well, I see that Leigh replied before me, but in terms of ballet vocabulary, "Le Parc"
is not classical at all. Also it has already been programmed very often in the last seasons, and while I find it not unpleasant to watch, for me I think much of its interest comes from the dancers, and not the choreography itself which I find a bit bland...

And Kylian, Neumeier, Forsythe, Balanchine -I will not mention Noureyev of course- is that modern and radical??? I don't think so...

What disappoints me in the next season is not a matter of being "radical" or not, it is that a large part of the company's repertory, and of dance history, is being ignored (and also that many of the works which are programmed have been seen again and again: why not programming other Kylian works than "Bella Figura" and other Balanchine works than "Jewels" ? There are many works which are already in the company's repertory and haven't been danced in quite a while). What about some Ashton, Tudor, Fokine, Nijinska,
Robbins... ?
But of course you're welcome to disagree, "à chacun ses goûts"

Also I wish there could be more ballet companies among the guest companies...