The Press on San Francisco Ballet in Paris

[pherank]

theartsdesk in Paris: San Francisco Ballet 1

http://www.theartsdesk.com/dance/theartsdesk-paris-san-francisco-ballet-1

"A treat for critics too, and not (only) because we get to visit Paris when it sizzles. SF Ballet, as we were reminded on their last London tour two years ago, are a critic’s dream: they have company dancers of extraordinary quality trained to uncompromising standards of excellence, world-class principals, and a gifted artistic director (Helgi Tomasson) who combines strong heritage programming with a very lively commitment to new works."

This plug for Forsythe made me laugh:

"Tomasson’s sometimes over-fiddly partnering and its accompanying, rather bland music, Saint-Saëns' Second Symphony, left me desperate to see something like William Forsythe – nourishment for brain or heart, as well as eyes."

[Mathilde K]

theartsdesk in Paris: San Francisco Ballet 1

http://www.theartsdesk.com/dance/theartsdesk-paris-san-francisco-ballet-1

"Tomasson’s sometimes over-fiddly partnering and its accompanying, rather bland music, Saint-Saëns' Second Symphony, left me desperate to see something like William Forsythe – nourishment for brain or heart, as well as eyes."

This says more about the author (Hanna Weibye) and where her "brain" or "heart" are located, not speaking about the "eyes", than about Tomassón's «Caprice». I read a devastating review two years ago of Mariinsky's «Swan Lake» with Kondaurova and Korsuntsev, written by some Modern & Contemporary bolshevik whose name now escapes me. The language was more directly condemning but the meaning was the same.

[pherank]

This says more about the author (Hanna Weibye) and where her "brain" or "heart" are located, not speaking about the "eyes", than about Tomassón's «Caprice». I read a devastating review two years ago of Mariinsky's «Swan Lake» with Kondaurova and Korsuntsev, written by some Modern & Contemporary bolshevik whose name now escapes me. The language was more directly condemning but the meaning was the same.

I think I would pay money to hear Weibye and Alastair Macaulay face off over Forsythe.

[Mathilde K]

I am glad that Weibye noticed Kristina Lind to be "surely ripe for a promotion out of the corps de ballet soon". In my estimate, one of the most interesting dancers in the company, not just corps de ballet and, despite her rather difficult physique for a ballerina, showing potential for subtlety, finesse, and depth, not often seen today. Helgi Tomassón, I hope is listening.

[Mathilde K]

I would rather say it has to do with her use of social media and by extension ballet journalists that are in France prone to jump on an easy topic… This is quite rare we have full length reviews of what happened on stage in the media, French journalists are more interested to present the events before than to analyse them after… Froustey has spent years promoting herself through every means that exist before leaving and then made a fuss about her leaving Paris. That’s a lot of material. Sofiane Sylve is practically unknown, although I remember she already danced here few years ago an impressive Swan Lake with English national ballet…

You've made several interesting points. I would only add that ballet journalists not just in France are "prone to jump on an easy topic". Some of her recent interviews in French I found quite illuminating nevertheless.

[Quiggin]

I guess that's why most of the reviews have come from the British press – only one in LeMonde (behind a paywall) – members of which were also at the Festival D'Avignon. Regarding self-promotion in the media, you could say there's a precedent in Norman Mailer's Advertisements for Myself of 1960. Mailer was then critized for being distracted by doing occasional pieces and not working on his next novel – in the way we're all, posters and readers, distracted by the social media from doing more important things (and what were they?).

In dirac's link to the Financial Times yesterday, Laura Cappelle gives five stars (of five) to San Francisco Ballet second weekend performances and notes how strong and versatile a company they are. But then she touches briefly on the pas de deux problem and how many of heterosexual duos there were one after another, and how deadening the effect could be especially in the Tomasson-Scarlett-Liang program. (Though I do remember a nicely drawn male-male duet in the background of the second movement of Hummingbird.)

Cappelle says that only Ratmansky is exempted from the duo form – and you can see he seems to be a little bored by couples (Wendy Lesser has pointed this out in Threepenny Review) and excels in the pas de trois and larger figures. The passages for the sad couple and the "bluebird" in the first section of the Trilogy and for a family of three in The Bolt (video at Medici) are really thrilling – and a welcome relief from the pdd. A topic for another thread perhaps, but the more open ballets like the Trilogy and the Four Temperaments seem to have served the company well in Paris.

[Mathilde K]

From Laura Cappelle's review in the Financial Times:

The repertoire relies heavily on San Francisco Ballet's principals to carry almost every ballet, and in Paris they showed

themselves to be one of the strongest, most versatile groups in the world. The men Tomasson has nurtured are uniformly

outstanding; the women, meanwhile, are all intriguingly individual, from Chung's minute precision to the quirky versatility

of Maria Kochetkova. Sarah Van Patten was all mysterious, moonlit beauty in Ghosts and MacMillan's Concerto. Paris

also welcomed back two French ballerinas, the commanding Sofiane Sylve and Mathilde Froustey, who has grown immensely

since she left the Paris Opera and was full of mischievous energy at the Chatelet.

In these straitened times for the arts, San Francisco Ballet’s Paris tour this month happily defies belief. Instead of the warhorses trotted out every summer by the Bolshoi or the Mariinsky in London, Les Etés de la Danse, the local festival celebrating its 10th edition this summer, has allowed the American company to present 18 short ballets, half of them recent creations and Paris premieres. (Add to that the opening gala, and no fewer than 15 choreographers were represented.)

Her opening paragraph sounds very strange to me: is Cappelle so ill informed about San Francisco Ballet that she isn't aware that the company is simply not capable of bringing to Paris, or anywhere else, "the warhorses trotted out every summer by the Bolshoi or the Mariinsky". Instead, they brought what the company excels at. I talked to a number of dancers before they left for Europe and told them: just do your absolute best, and then the success in Paris is guaranteed.

A similarly odd sounding is her "The repertoire relies heavily on San Francisco Ballet's principals to carry almost every ballet". San Francisco Ballet has almost twice as many principals (20) as soloists (12).

[LauraC]

Dear MathildeK,

I'll reply directly since you find me so ill-informed.

Very few dance festivals in Europe can afford to bring any ballet company for close to 3 weeks solely with mixed bills, and the Châtelet hasn't been full over this SFB season. That's the main reason given over and over in London for the Swan Lakes/R&J/DonQ the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky bring every year (they sell, including productions that aren't critical hits - see the Bolshoi's Swan Lake in NY). Some London seasons have been slightly more adventurous than the current NY one, of course, but they also come more often.

When SFB came for the first edition of this festival 10 years ago, to give you an example, they brought their production of Don Quixote alongside mixed programs. Miami City Ballet came with a mix of short works a few years ago and the season didn't sell particularly well. Programming only mixed bills again this year was a big financial risk for a festival that receives no public subsidy, and one that Les Etés de la Danse should be commended for taking, IMO. Commercial - not artistic - success was by no means guaranteed in a city where the company is relatively unknown, and they could have requested a Swan Lake or a DonQ, regardless of its quality.

And the kind of mixed bills they brought are indeed reliant on principals to carry them - many of the recent works SFB showed were built around 2-3 couples. I reckon 8 to 10 principals were on stage most nights here. With the "warhorses," you'll get 2-3 principals, and the quality of soloists/corps will be crucial to the success of a Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty.

Laura

[sandik]

Since I don't read French, I'm dependent on translations to follow along with the press, but I have noticed that French arts critics get more opportunities to write previews and analytic pieces than their colleagues here in the US do. They also enjoy a long tradition of public intellectuals which assumes that a general readership will look for that kind of work. I don't know that they eschew post-performance commentary so much as they just don't prefer it.

I was heartened by the mixed-rep focus of SFB's programming -- we've spoken often here on Ballet Alert about the dearth of mixed-bill programming and I was thrilled to think that the company would take this route on tour!

And I thought Weibye's opening comments on Tomasson's newest piece

Tomasson is an exponent of the lushly pretty school of contemporary ballet. The promise of Balanchine-spiky neo-classicism, suggested by an opening tableau of a single dancer backlit between two quasi-Doric columns, is quickly lost amid swirls of gossamer arms, tasteful antique gold tunics, and a series of pas de deux for two principal couples

were clear and articulate. You may not agree with her, but she pointed out a specific kind of work and put a quick finger on how she sees it.

[sandik]

Tangential to the commentary on the programming, in her recent review of Daniel Ulbricht/Ballet 2014's recent performance at Jacob's Pillow, Deborah Jowitt noticed a similar plethora of duets. If you're touring, you need to travel light!

Pas de deux gluttons rejoiced (I talked to one viewer who thought I was crazy to venture that three would have sufficed, with perhaps a trio or a quartet for contrast).

[tomorrow]

I too find the lack of attention Sofiane Sylve's received quite bizarre. I thought the French championed their artists' achievements abroad, or at least in anything other than dance it seems!

I get the sense Mathilde Froustey is just very media savvy and the French certainly like their glamour, if you know what I mean ;-). Laura Hecquet was also seen as having huge potential to be an etoile but despite being closely associated with the dancers trapped in the corps Laurent Hilaire has tried to push forward, was never given any of the key roles or opportunities Mathilde Froustey had. Laura Hecquet's first lead role in 11 years of employment disgracefully didn't even see her interviewed.

Aurelia Bellet is also on a sabbatical dancing in Spain and wasn't given any publicity either. Mr. Hilaire sadly now leaves the company a scapegoat, whether at the hands of Stephane Lissner or the scary Socialist party is unclear, but there are a lot of wonderful dancers he should be credited for supporting. Unsurprisngly, none of them are given any attention in the French press.

I think the press in France has changed considerably over the past few years though. I cannot recall the dancer's name off the top of my head, but gone are the days where dance journalists felt Marie-Agnes Gillot's promotion to etoile robbed another dancer of their's. Of course, back then there was a limit on how many etoiles there could be and Wilfrid Romoli was in a similar sotuation, only promoted once Laurent Hilaire left his etoile contract 'officially'. They weren't sujets however. If anything the French press today often seem reluctant to criticise the POB negatively, and some editors even consider one line a review ;-).

[silvermash]

The French press as you call it has simply no interest in ballet, less Le Figaro who is a "sponsor" of the Paris Opera so is probably most of the time "on duty"!!! They cover the events with the Press info prior the performances most of the time. Sometimes, the Press officer can have either one of the two main TV channels to cover a minute of a Premiere or the appointment of an Etoile, but not all the time... What's left is scarcier, Les Echos with a very limited word count, and some more or less serious websites... Why would they care about the Sujets you mentioned, they probably don't even know they exist! So with no interest in POB, why would they invest in trying to find out who is Sofiane Sylve or Pascal Molat? There is no such thing as French pride! If you give a bit of a scandal, suddenly yes, they are a little bit more interested like the acid attack or the Polunin affair...