96 replies to this topic

[sandik]

Amy Reusch, on 16 February 2013 - 11:01 AM, said:

Perhaps if he comes in and fails they will be more than happy to take one of their own as AD?

Without knowing anything specific about the hiring process, that is a pretty common strategy in long-term planning -- there has been no mention of an "interim" director, but this may be a situation where the intention was to bring in an outsider to avoid inside friction.  Looking back over this thread I was thinking about how the situation at the POB does and does not relate to the transition here at Pacific Northwest Ballet when Peter Boal was hired.  There wasn't a powerful inside/outside dynamic at the time, but the shift in repertory (Boal's connection to contemporary choreographers of his generation, rather than the outgoing directors' context) feels similar.  I agree, I don't know that Millepied will have the time and space to continue his personal choreographic development (nor do I think that the POB as an institution is really the right place for his works as they stand right now) but he may shift his interest to the acquisition of work.  Including Winterbranch on his recent program in LA is perhaps a suggestion of what he might bring to the mix in Paris.

[Helene]

Boal has shifted the rep somewhat at PNB, and it feels much worse because he replaced my favorite Kent Stowell work after "Nutcracker" with the Maillot "Romeo et Juliette," but Russell and Stowell brought in William Forsythe, Nacho Duato, Thom Willems, Dominique Dumais, Tetley's "Firebird," "The Moor's Pavane," and they started the Choreographer's Showcase for in-house choregraphers, and even gave Mark Morris an opportunity before he was anybody.  (Not that this went very well, but they did.)  I can't remember if R&S first produced Tharp.

Peter Boal wasn't the first AD to bring in contemporary choreography or modern dance works into PNB.  Except for "One Flat Thing Reproduced," about which I have my own private disaster scenario when I watch it, I don't find the contemporary works Boal's brought in as particularly edgy, if some of them are quite moving.  He's fortified the neo-classical rep just as much, with works by Wheedon, Ratmansky, and Robbins.

Russell and Stowell didn't have a lot of money to spend on new choreography.  Stowell provided the company with much new choreography.

POB is going in the opposite direction, hiring a choreographer as AD, although with a company that size to run and a massive bureaucracy, I don't see him dominating.  He also has a bigger budget to hire choreographers, and POB is catnip in a way that a company in a city that many Americans couldn't find on a map when Russell and Stowell came (and some still think is in California) is not.  He might end up bringing a more neo-classical focus to the company.  Whether the audience will like this is another story.

[sandik]

Stowell and Russell accomplished an incredible amount at PNB, no argument.  They accumulated a very diverse repertory (all the more so when you realize that many of the contemporary works were far outside their personal experience as dancers) -- Boal has worked in a similar vein, but he draws from a different generation of choreographers.  It's like the difference between Glen Tetley and Molissa Fenley.

And yes, money does matter.  Stowell made work that the company could afford, and that taught them the lessons they needed to learn at the time.  I don't know specific dollar amounts, but Boal has a significantly larger budget for commissions and staging fees -- he shops in a very different store than Russell and Stowell did.

I don't have time to sort out the details, but when Stowell and Russell announced their retirement, I made all kinds of lists, and I was gobsmacked by the sheer number of works they brought to the company, of all sorts.  Boal has made his mark on the repertory as well -- some of his additions were long overdue, but he's been working with a great base.

(Boal got us the Tharp -- Nine Sinatra Songs in his first year, and then several after that.)

Where I think Boal and Millepied might be similar is in their repertory choices.  When he first came here, Boal mentioned several times that he chose works that he would have liked to perform himself, as well as other works from his personal company.  Millpied might not make dances for the POB, but he will most certainly be choosing new work for them -- I would imagine you could look at his choices for his own company to get some insight on what he might program in Paris.

[Helene]

I guess that despite the generational difference in choreographers, the contemporary rep doesn't feel that much different to me than it did under Russell and Stowell, and I suspect, if anything, the rep at POB might shift a little, but laterally, and may even become more neoclassical.

[Amy Reusch]

"Russell and Stowell brought in William Forsythe, Nacho Duato, Thom Willems, Dominique Dumais, Tetley's "Firebird," "The Moor's Pavane,""

Did you mean the composer Thom Willems?  Or did you mean the choreographer Ton Simons who has worked with Wiillems?

[Helene]

Yes, I did mean Ton Simons.  Thank uou for the correction.  PNB performed a work by Simons during their 1996 tour to City Center.

[sandik]

Helene, on 17 February 2013 - 12:08 AM, said:

...I suspect, if anything, the rep at POB might shift a little, but laterally, and may even become more neoclassical.

That's certainly Millepied's home base -- it's going to be very interesting, watching all this unfold!