105 replies to this topic

[JMcN]

Having had second thoughts from my previous nomination, I'd like to add Peter Schauffuss' "Diana the Princess, A Celebration" - not that it could really be called a ballet (it defies description!) and Massimo Morricone's Jeckyll and Hyde.

[drb]

Farrell Fan, on Aug 29 2007, 10:33 PM, said:

I forget the occasion, but Watermill was also danced post-Villella at NYCB by Jean Guizerix..

I see in the Sunday Times that Watermill will be performed in NYCB's Spring Robbins celebration.  Who would you select for the Villella role?  It would, I feel, require a mature dancer, and might just make a fine retirement vehicle...

Another candidate for most boring ballet will also return this Spring, with ABT reviving The Merry Widow.

[bart]

drb, on Sep 8 2007, 11:05 PM, said:

[I see in the Sunday Times that [i]Watermill[/i] will be performed in NYCB's Spring Robbins celebration.  Who would you select for the Villella role?  It would, I feel, require a mature dancer, and might just make a fine retirement vehicle...

drb, I'll be interested in the answers you get to this.

Here's something that might help you all to make the selection.  It's a story from Leo Lerman's journal, printed in the newly published The Grand Suprise:  the Journals of Leo Lerman.

Quote

July 23, 1972, New York City.  Villella, driving me home, said "Tonight I had a real trip [in Watermill] ... I went in so deep. When I came off Jerry [Robbins] grabbed me and shook me.  He said, "I want that trip.  I want that trip.'"  Eddie has Italian humor, deep funniness, and sadness.  So many ballet people are Renaissance in looks -- from early to high Renaissance.

Incidentally, Lerman thought Windmill was a work of

Quote

genius  ... I was utterly absorbed, so much and so deeply that I ached -- achtually ached all over.  Some brutish dowds booed this work that leads to a new world.  I must see it again.  The long Balanchine disscipline gave Jerry the dancers, but only Jerry's genius made them into theis superb creation.

I'm not saying I agree, just quoting for the record.

[papeetepatrick]

drb, on Sep 8 2007, 11:05 PM, said:

I see in the Sunday Times that Watermill will be performed in NYCB's Spring Robbins celebration.  Who would you select for the Villella role?  It would, I feel, require a mature dancer, and might just make a fine retirement vehicle...

Too bad Hubbe is not staying just a little longer.  He's the only one I'd be interested to see do it.  It's so special and singular a piece that none of the other dancers there come to mind as being able to have the presence for it.  This is a true example of the Arlene Croce quote made on the ABT thread today about 'ballet is only good when it is great', and this one is so specialized that it is close to impossible to make great, is impossible without the right dancer.

[carbro]

Oh, casting is absolutely crucial here.  It is a shame Hubbe won't be around.  First reaction to the ideal of Woetzel is that he lacks the emotional gravitas, but who knows?   Who would have predicted that Villella could do this before he actually did?  I'd be willing to give Damian his chance.  And I wouldn't rule out Albert Evans -- in fact, he'd be my first choice.

I have confidence that in a few years, Tyler Angle could be a worthy candidate.

[cygneblanc]

Oh,  the answer will be very easy: Véronique Doisneau (that's the title)!  

It was created by Jérome Bel. The idea wasn't uninteresting but it was so boring. It was supposed to show the life of a dancer at POB. The only dancer on stage was Véronique Doisneau. It has a lot of spoken parts and not  that much danced ones.  The worse was  the depicting of a swan's part in  Swans' Lake. The music was played during a very long time and Véronique Doisneau stayed motionless on stage.

I would like to tell I have absolutely nothing against Miss Doisneau as a dancer but that creation was definitively dreadful.

[niamh]

This may get me in trouble, but I have never liked Coppelia. I've tried really hard, but I find it hard to even care about why I hate this ballet. Maybe it's the characters. Except Coppelia herself, I can't stand any of the characters. The one scene I like is when Swanilda and friends sneak in to Dr. Coppelius' workshop and you have all those wonderful little variations. Other than that, I have a really hard time making it through any production of Coppelia that I've ever seen.  

Niamh

[bart]

cygneblanc, on Sep 10 2007, 05:41 PM, said:

The worse was  the depicting of a swan's part in  Swans' Lake. The music was played during a very long time and Véronique Doisneau stayed motionless on stage.

Sounds like the ultimate deconstruction of "dance" as non-movement.  I can imagine the long explanatory essay on sale in the lobby.    10 euros at least.  

This does, indeed, seem to take the cake in the "boring" category.  Thanks, cygneblanc

P.S.  Come to think of it, I could probably stand still through quite a lot of ballet scores.       Apollo?  Faun?  Albrecht?  James?  I can do that!

[4mrdncr]

With apologies to Larissa Ponomarenko (sp?) at Boston Ballet, who I think is a beautiful dancer, and Jormo Elo, who I can find interesting, but also repetitive and boring...
A recent performance (sorry forgot the name of the work) this past season where Larissa was mic'd, and danced solo to Mr. Elo's seamless but emotionally flat choreography while simultaneously carrying on an endless monologue in Russian--I don't remember any music except at the beginning of each sequence, but maybe I just blanked?  Since I am not fluent in Russian (in fact I only know about 10 words), and Mr. Elo has never been one to provide a dramatic arc to his choreography, it was only her inflection (between gasps for air) that provided some clue to a purpose, if there ever was one.  Consequently, it just became an endurance ordeal for myself (and maybe Larissa too?).  If anyone was able to do a simultaneous translation, maybe they could explain it to the rest of us?

[vipa]

"Design for Strings" for both seen and been in

[Ray]

vipa, on Sep 12 2007, 10:07 PM, said:

"Design for Strings" for both seen and been in

A ballet that Taras--ahem--"recycled" as Trio in A for PBT in the late 80s-early 90s!

[Mel Johnson]

Hey, I liked "Designs With Strings", both to see and be in.

[ggobob]

mjbelkin, on Aug 12 2007, 12:16 PM, said:

papeetepatrick, on Aug 12 2007, 04:44 PM, said:

I find 'Mayerling' boring and also hate it.

Me too, and I'm usually a huge fan of MacMillan's ballets - his Romeo and Juliet, and Manon usually have me in tears by the end.

I think that Mayerling is trying to tell too convoluted a story, with too many people having too many affairs, and what is it with the opera singer in the middle?

I'll take several Mayerlings to avoid one Isadora

[ggobob]

This post attempts to generalize instead of being specific...I know this is treasonous (I live in the Bay Area) but 95% of Helgi Thomasson's one acters meet or exceed the boring quotient.

[Ray]

ggobob, on Sep 23 2007, 11:40 AM, said:

This post attempts to generalize instead of being specific...I know this is treasonous (I live in the Bay Area) but 95% of Helgi Thomasson's one acters meet or exceed the boring quotient.

I saw his 7 for 8 (?) recently, and could not stay awake.  What a waste of a major company's time.