112 replies to this topic

[Birdsall]

I do know that in the opera world opera singers want to experience having a role composed specifically for them and many enjoy singing new works, but the fact is that most of the new works have trouble being revived. Often the work has no legs. I think this is because the vast majority of opera lovers want a good helping of Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Puccini, and a few others (verismo operas), etc. They hesitate to attend something that is new b/c often there are no arias or if there are they do not compare to the composers of yesteryear. New music often does not make us swoon the way 18th and 19th century works do.

I am sure all dancers get excited about working with a living and breathing composer, and I actually enjoyed Ratmansky's Symphonic Dances and look forward to seeing it again this coming year. I think new works might work better in ballet, but they often use classical music from previous times as opposed to contemporary music composed today. I think this is because overall older music makes us swoon like I said above. I am fine with exploring some new works.

But I understand what Cristian is saying. I would love to see what MCB might do with Swan Lake one day. It might take time, and I don't mind waiting. I actually think the approach that MCB has taken most years is a good one:  1 full length story ballet (not including Nutcracker) and the rest repertory nights with a good amount of Balanchine. I think that will satisfy most people, and it seems to be a formula that works for MCB. I don't think anyone wants to change that. Lopez doesn't sound like she wants to, and most MCB lovers don't want much change from the sound of it. I am okay with 1 story ballet per season. So I am not talking about rocking the boat either, but I personally would love MCB to start thinking about taking steps to present a Swan Lake in the future as Cristian suggests. I think it would be exciting to see what MCB might make out of it. I think Swan Lake is a cash cow, so it seems like it would be a smart financial decision, but I really don't know....maybe the cost of staging it versus the rewards does not make it worthwhile.

[brokenwing]

There is a new article in the NY Times with Gia Kourlas interviewing Lourdes. No big revelations here, but a nice article nonetheless.

http://www.nytimes.c...?pagewanted=all

[Helene]

I read that in today's Links.

I think there's more about her hopes for Morphoses, at least in one place, than I've seen before; she makes it clear that from a personnel point of view, there's one person who could be added to the MCB staff -- the only staff member at Morphoses now -- and she confirmed that her vision is that the dancers would be from MCB, and that she made it clear to the Board when she applied that she expected Morphoses to be combined with MCB in some incarnation.

[cubanmiamiboy]

Helene, on 02 November 2012 - 11:14 AM, said:

... that she expected Morphoses to be combined with MCB in some incarnation.

I guess I'm hopeless...probably more floor rolling for MCB and less tutus and tiaras...

[Helene]

She spoke about wanting the Morphoses concept to be for new work, almost like a lab.  It's possible that these will be, or at least start out to be, lab performances, rather than main stage works that have to tour to all three venues.

[Jack Reed]

Uh, oh.  From the latest Kourlas interview:

Quote

I think that’s what art is. It’s someone creating a work that an audience relates to because it’s speaking about the world that we live in.

That's especially bad news for anyone who wants MCB  to mount a ballet made in and about a time of princes urged to marry, and swan hunts.  Those times are not coming back, so we can't expect to see that one again (or to relate to it if it did).  Right.

Give me please art to take me away from the world I live in, art to provide me with another world for a while, to return me changed.

[cubanmiamiboy]

I know...there seems to be such a revolving little sensless whispering about the XIX century ballet not being fitted for modern audiences and this and that and lah lah lah...when in reality we all know we all go to all the Swan Lakes and Bayaderes and Giselles, and the theaters keep getting filled with its audiences as ever.  I say let's stop the damn myth...one that has no solid bases whatsoever.  If dancers and/or AD's-(or donors)- are being afraid of them, so say it, but stop saying the audiences don't want them.

[Drew]

cubanmiamiboy, on 17 October 2012 - 01:23 PM, said:

But I also think of Balanchine's famous phrase of the "last summer butterflies", and look at City Ballet now and wonder if they somehow are going around in circles without making an upward spiral...

Off topic but I cannot let this pass without responding: At NYCB Sarah Mearns, Ashley Bouder, Tiler Peck, Sterling Hyltin, Robert Fairchild--in my opinion even a less heralded principal such as Teresa Reichlin or more limited talent such as Megan Fairchild--are decidedly making upward spirals. In a few of those cases way, way, way upwards right into the pantheon of world's great dancers. And it's not due to dancing Peter Martins' version of Swan Lake...(which I don't even hate as much as many others do).  Mearns' solo in Ratmansky's Namouna--I would put that performance right next to any in the pantheon of performances in 19th- or 20th-century classics; Hyltin in Symphony in Three Movements--all due respect to earlier generations, I thought she was better than anyone I have ever seen in the role. Etc. And these are (in my judgment) ballets that matter.  Maybe it's a little soon to pronounce on Namouna--but Symphony in Three Movements? Whether or not it's to everyone's personal taste--no great art is--it matters.

I do indeed love the nineteenth-century classics; I believe strongly that the "major" companies that give them attention and quality performances and productions are keeping the art of ballet alive.  (Swan Lake in particular has suffered from productions that tinker with it excessively, even -- if not especially -- at the major companies.) And less than major companies play an important role in introducing people to these great works of the tradition. I myself saw my first La Sylphide, my first Giselle, and my first Coppelia with the National Ballet of Washington (not, though my first Swan Lake which they did not dance). If MCB wants to take on Swan Lake, then best of luck...Certainly they have better resources than many companies.

But I also remember that when dancers such as Nureyev, Baryshnikov, and Makarova defected from the Soviet Union they made it clear that they did not want to be restricted to dancing nineteenth-century classics plus what they evidently judged to be the very limiting and limited Soviet repertory. They weren't leaving the classics behind, but they did want to try other choreography whether Ashton, Balanchine, Graham, Macmillan, Tharp  or...well, you name it.  And they did so, with varying degrees of success.

As an audience member, I too want the twentieth-century classics next to the nineteenth-century ones--and not by any means always danced by the same companies (sometimes yes, sometimes no: depends on the company)--and I have to say that after a middle-aged lifetime of attending the ballet, ballet today feels a lot more thrilling than it has in decades because some substantial new choreographers are on the scene. Particularly Ratmansky. ABT with Ratmansky premiers and revivals of great 20th-century works (by which I mean Ashton and Tudor) is a great deal more exciting than ABT without.  I write this as a someone who is genuinely passionate about getting the chance to see fantastic ballerinas in Giselle and Swan Lake etc.

I will add, too, that  I would KILL to have a local company with the fabulous repertory of MCB.  (Okay, that's an exaggeration, but not by much.) This season the Atlanta ballet is treating us to Dracula, Nutcracker, a children's Cinderella and an evening of modern dance. There is a program with David Bintley's Carmena Burana that I may try to see. Otherwise, I'll save my ballet budget for travel.  As soon as I find a date that works with my life, MCB is on the list--and I won't be traveling to see them dance nineteenth-century ballets but to see them dance Balanchine, Ratmansky, and Scarlett.  Of course, the local audience matters much more than I do -- absolutely -- just trying to say how it looks to one outsider.

[kfw]

Jack Reed, on 02 November 2012 - 06:25 PM, said:

Uh, oh.  From the latest Kourlas interview:

Quote

I think that’s what art is. It’s someone creating a work that an audience relates to because it’s speaking about the world that we live in.

That's especially bad news for anyone who wants MCB  to mount a ballet made in and about a time of princes urged to marry, and swan hunts.  Those times are not coming back, so we can't expect to see that one again (or to relate to it if it did).  Right.

Give me please art to take me away from the world I live in, art to provide me with another world for a while, to return me changed.

Amen to that. I don’t object to attempts to extend the ballet language, although I tend to dislike most attempts I see (give me jumps, not bends and arm whirls). But when people start talking about “speaking about the world that we live in,” I want to ask what’s changed about the human condition. If audiences can’t relate to swan maidens and princes, whose fault is that?

[cubanmiamiboy]

kfw, on 03 November 2012 - 12:12 PM, said:

If audiences can’t relate to swan maidens and princes, whose fault is that?

But...why do we need to relate to everything...? Can't we just enjoy it...? When I started watching ballet, or listening to classical music or watching masterworks on museums I was too little to know anything about relationship or identification.  My senses were exposed, just as it is supposed to happen, and the rest is history.  Is that a foreign concept already...?

[kfw]

cubanmiamiboy, on 03 November 2012 - 01:58 PM, said:

kfw, on 03 November 2012 - 12:12 PM, said:

If audiences can’t relate to swan maidens and princes, whose fault is that?

But...why do we need to identify everything...? Can't we just enjoy it...? When I started watching ballet, or listening to classical music or watching masterworks on museums I was too little to know anything about identification.  My senses were exposed, just as it is supposed to happen, and the rest is history.  Is that a foreign concept already...?

Sure. I'm not sure we're disagreeing here. Art obviously requires more of its audience than entertainment does, and if a work of art has lasted for generations, it's probably work making the effort required to ( sooner or later) enjoy it. Some level of identification with the art or the artist is part of that enjoyment, I think, but it shouldn't have to be there at the start to spur people to approach acclaimed work.

[cubanmiamiboy]

kfw, on 03 November 2012 - 03:41 PM, said:

cubanmiamiboy, on 03 November 2012 - 01:58 PM, said:

kfw, on 03 November 2012 - 12:12 PM, said:

If audiences can’t relate to swan maidens and princes, whose fault is that?

But...why do we need to relate to and identify everything...? Can't we just enjoy it...? When I started watching ballet, or listening to classical music or watching masterworks on museums I was too little to know anything about identification or being related to anything.  My senses were exposed, just as it is supposed to happen, and the rest is history.  Is that a foreign concept already...?

Sure. I'm not sure we're disagreeing here. Art obviously requires more of its audience than entertainment does, and if a work of art has lasted for generations, it's probably work making the effort required to ( sooner or later) enjoy it. Some level of identification with the art or the artist is part of that enjoyment, I think, but it shouldn't have to be there at the start to spur people to approach acclaimed work.

Amen

[Birdsall]

What I love about story ballets is that you get to see how a particular dancer acts as well as how she/he dances. So they are doing two very difficult things (acting and dancing). In abstract ballets they usually just have to have a certain emotion on their face. I do enjoy that also, but it is personally more fun to compare and contrast different dancers dancing as well as acting.

For example, Viktoria Tereshkina's Odile is so evil and delicious. In contrast Novikova who usually has a very "sweet" and "innocent" look sparkles with complete confidence and exudes her own sort of evil in the role. Both dancers act, and some will prefer one over the other, but they both make you think about how the role can be interpreted differently. So for me the "acting" adds more artistry to the dancing, but that is a personal preference.

But I don't mean to take this topic away from Balanchine or dismiss Balanchine. I love Serenade, Theme and Variations, and Ballet Imperial among many others, so I like that too and look forward to Nov. 30 when I will see Les Patineurs/Apollo/Piazzolla Caldera! I try to enjoy everything I see, and I usually do.

[dirac]

Drew writes:

Quote

As an audience member, I too want the twentieth-century classics next to the nineteenth-century ones--and not by any means always danced by the same companies (sometimes yes, sometimes no: depends on the company)--and I have to say that after a middle-aged lifetime of attending the ballet, ballet today feels a lot more thrilling than it has in decades because some substantial new choreographers are on the scene.

Exactly. And I'm sure the dancers in those new works feel the same way.

[cubanmiamiboy]

dirac, on 03 November 2012 - 09:33 PM, said:

Drew writes:

Quote

As an audience member, I too want the twentieth-century classics next to the nineteenth-century ones--and not by any means always danced by the same companies (sometimes yes, sometimes no: depends on the company)--and I have to say that after a middle-aged lifetime of attending the ballet, ballet today feels a lot more thrilling than it has in decades because some substantial new choreographers are on the scene.

Exactly. And I'm sure the dancers in those new works feel the same way.

I then say lucky you all you have been exposed substantially to such great new choreographers.  As per me, I can't say I'm particulary thrilled with the contemporary stuff I've seen not only in the last decades, but during my whole lifetime of ballet viewing.  My greatest memories are all about the great Giselles, Sylphides, Chopinianas, Swan Lakes, Filles, Coppelias, Nutcrackers, Bayaderes, Paquitas, Grand Pas de Quatres and a handful of XX Century ballets by Balanchine, Tudor, Ashton, and Robbins.  My loss probably....