"Paquita"

[MinkusPugni]

Paquita

Saturday, 9th of June 2007

The evening commenced with a new ballet, "Valetta" choreographed by a member of the company, Paul Knobloch set to music by Bruch. The short and simple piece choreographed for one girl and fourteen men fell somewhat short of charming and there was no chance for anyone to shine due to the scattered, unthoughtful and uninnovative choreography which seemed to bore most members of the audience and there is no doubt that the piece will be buried, never to show its head again.

Next on the programme was the pas de deux from Le Corsaire. Kirsty Martin danced with Nobuo Fujino. It was with great disappointment that I had to sit and watch these two butcher the pas de deux. Fujino's performance was cumbersome and sloppy and his technique was apallingly weak. Throughout his manege at the end of his variation, his legs were bent and he wasn't even close to achieving a split. The worst thing, though was that Fujino actually dropped Martin, only just catching her, while carrying her off at the end of the adage. I am amazed that he was allowed to step onto the stage in such form. Although nothing was majorly wrong with Martin's technique as Medora, her performance lacked energy and it looked like she was just in class going through her tendus. The most disappointing thing about Martin's performance was the Director's choice to use Gamzatti's wedding variation from La Bayadere as Medora's variation rather than the original one.

Following this was Lisa Bolte and Adam Thurlow performing the Black Swan Pas de Deux. Bolte's performance was extremely good for one sole reason: it finally confirmed how over-the-hill she is. Bolte stumbled and fell out of her pirouettes numerous times and even fell over at one point with Thurlow catching her, though this was well covered. Bolte's interpretation of Odile looked more like it should have been in Western Symphony as she overly wiggled her hips whilst walking. Bolte threw herself into each pirouette and lame-duck with excessive force but didn't pull off a single one and in the coda she opted for the easier poses in a circle rather than the thirty-two fouettes. She performed the poses much too slowly for it to look spectacular and it honestly looked like a cop-out.

Camilla Vergotis and Tristan Message performed in Messerer's short Spring Waters. This was one of the better performances of the night and a highlight was the section where Vergotis threw herself across the stage, caught by Message. The only problems were that each step was done a little bit tentatively and neither of them threw themselves completely into any situation and neither quite had the Russian showmanship required to pull-off such an intense pas de deux.

Miller-Ashmole's La Favorita performed by Reiko Hombo and Tzu-Chao Chou was next on the programme. This was clearly the best performance of the night. Both dancers had amazingly clean and precise technique and they stood out from the rest of the dancers of the night. The spectacular and almost perfect performance captivated the audience. One must wonder why on earth Chou is only in the corps de ballet when it is painfully clear that he is much better than any of the Australian Ballet's male principal artists. Hombo brought both flair and an almost "cute" charm to the performance making her a winner with the audience and Chou's power, strength and amazing flexibility stunned all who were watching. One can only hope that David McAllister has the sense to realise the amazing talent of these two and we get to see more in the very near future.

Diana and Acteon was perfomed by Lucinda Dunn and Robert Curran. Their performance was okay but any loyal Russian Ballet followers would have been horrified. Technically, the two were okay. No mistakes were made, all the lifts went well, everything was pulled off (except for Curran completely falling over in a double sissone to the knee), but neither dancer gave anything out to the audience. We did not feel a connection. We felt as though they were dancing for themselves.

Paquita was the last performance of the night with Olivia Bell and Adam Bull as Paquita and Lucien. The corps de ballet were not together and after the waltzing section at the very start of the ballet, they were in very non-straight lines. Again with disappointment, only four of the endless variations were performed (plus, of course, Paquita's and Lucien's variations). The highlight of Paquita was definately the variations of Amber Scott and Olivia Bell. Amber Scott performed one of the "harp" variations also seen in the ABT's production of Paquita. Her ethereal performance was both captivating and stunning, her pointe work was immaculate and her arms and body seemed to extend forever. Bell's solo as Paquita was also very good. It seems Bell has a particular talent for slow, pretty variations. This solo was much better than any other part of her performance as Paquita.

All in all, it was a fairly disappointing performance, though it was definately worth seeing for Reiko Hombo and Tzu-Chao Chou.

[Sophoife]

How sad that the performance you saw contained so many disappointing elements.

I went over to Melbourne on the following weekend, Saturday 16th June, and saw both the matinée and the evening performance.

Valetta actually reminded me quite a lot of chunks of Paquita and I think you'll probably see it brought out at least once more, Knobloch is Very Well Thought Of as far as I can tell so it will be given another chance. Matinée Amber Scott/Adam Bull/Remi Wörtmeyer/Kevin Jackson, evening Madeleine Eastoe/Remi Wörtmeyer/Daniel Gaudiello/Tzu-Chao Chou. Evening was much more enjoyable, seemed to have more life to it. Tzu-Chao I first noticed in Le Spectre de la Rose last year in Sydney, and I was blown away, he was so good. Daniel has also been getting more solo/featured roles over the last 12 months and he's one I'm keeping my eye on.

Le Corsaire: matinée Madeleine Eastoe/Nobuo Fujino, evening Leanne Stojmenov/Marc Cassidy. I have to agree with you about Fujino's performance in this, such a disappointment although not nearly so much fluffing as you saw, especially after (again) last year's Golden Idol in Schéhérazade. Evening was OK but basically forgettable, I like Leanne Stojmenov but I always have to work hard to focus on her, even when she's the only woman on stage. Madeleine Eastoe tried, though.

Black Swan: matinée Stephanie Williams/Ty King-Wall, evening the same pair you saw, Lisa Bolte/Adam Thurlow. The first pair showed some promise but she was seriously not in character. Bolte IMHO was either a radically different dancer from the one you saw, or had had a bad shock the day you saw her. She didn't stumble once, didn't fall out of or over anything, and in the coda she did the fouettés. In a circle but have you ever noticed how relatively shallow the stage in Melbourne is? Yes it's bigger than the Opera House, but there is no room to do 32 fouettés across the stage. Thurlow was there. That's all

Spring Waters: matinée Reiko Hombo/Andrew Killian, evening Madeleine Eastoe/Robert Curran. Again, Reiko is really something to watch, but Eastoe/Curran were simply dazzling. Easily comparable with Lucette Aldous/Kelvin Coe (as per the photo in the programme - I saw it to remember all these years later). Curran is just better and better as a partner, any girl would feel rock-solid with him waiting to catch her! Best performance of either session.

La Favorita: I don't really like it, never did even watching Liz Toohey and David McAllister. That said, Rachel Rawlins/Remi Wörtmeyer just had no pizazz/pizzaz/pizzazz (how does one spell that!) but I totally agree with you about Reiko Hombo/Tzu-Chao Chou. We had them in the evening and they were truly a feast for the eyes.

Diana and Acteon: matinée Lucinda Dunn/Robert Curran, evening Rachel Rawlins/Kevin Jackson. I always enjoy Dunn and Curran together (opening night of Melbourne season of Don Quixote this year!) but the pas de deux as a whole left me yawning. Both sessions. Rachel Rawlins as I say has no however-you-spell-it. My worst spend this year was on 2 performances of Don Q in Sydney at Easter (naturally) just to see Ethan Stiefel. Rawlins' Kitri was boring. Petulant. And their partnership (yes OK I know they didn't have a lot of time to work together) was basically IMHO not a partnership at all.

Paquita: matinée Olivia Bell/Adam Bull, evening Lucinda Dunn/Robert Curran. No, the corps were not together, but the variations were enjoyable. Yes it was a very short programme, but the more recent New Romantics was shorter still. Bell/Bull were very pretty together, you already know my favourable opinion of Dunn/Curran.

I felt the night should have finished on a dazzle - take Spring Waters out of the first half, stick it at the end - after the Paquita grand pas.

If I can think coherently (still dazzled) I'll write something about the New Romantics programme in the next day or so.

[bart]

Thanks for those wonderfully detailed and descrdiptive reviews, MinkusPugni and Sophoife.

Inconsistency and bouts of technical weakness seem to occur in many companies when they perform the 19th century classics -- especially the bravura classics -- relatively infrequently. Contrasts with highly trained superstars in Russian (and other) videos are inevitable. I always admire the dancers who are willing to give these pieces their best shot.

Any other thoughts from our Australian correspondents?

[balaw]

The Black Swan Pas De Deux is only done correctly, when the dancer does 32 foutees, Which is turning around on the spot 32 times, and it does not matter how shallow or deep the stage is, because the dancer is supposed to remain on the spot....., so Watching whom ever turning in a circle around the stage, is incorrect...Had you seen Oliva Bell perform the Black Swan, then you would have seen the 32 foutees correctly done, as well as the young couple, whom you saw Saturday Matinee...at least she did 32 foutees. The Australian Ballet Company is looking great, and it is wonderful to see the young up and coming dancers given a go, and maybe it is time for some of the long in tooth, hanging up their point shoes.

[Helene]

The Black Swan Pas De Deux is only done correctly, when the dancer does 32 foutees, Which is turning around on the spot 32 times, and it does not matter how shallow or deep the stage is, because the dancer is supposed to remain on the spot....., so Watching whom ever turning in a circle around the stage, is incorrect...Had you seen Oliva Bell perform the Black Swan, then you would have seen the 32 foutees correctly done, as well as the young couple, whom you saw Saturday Matinee...at least she did 32 foutees. The Australian Ballet Company is looking great, and it is wonderful to see the young up and coming dancers given a go, and maybe it is time for some of the long in tooth, hanging up their point shoes.

There are a number of people who would agree with you and a number who would not:

How important are Odile's 32 fouettes?, and what do they add to the ballet?

[Sophoife]

Thanks all for comments - ppl are reading!

Talking about "loyal Russian Ballet followers" - the last time I saw a Russian company in Australia I was appalled - I think it was the Russian National Ballet. Simply dreadful - sloppy, shortcuts, scratchy recorded music...