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2016-2017 Season


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If the piece is called an improvisation, the audience won't scrutinize the choreography as carefully. :wink:

 

I saw Bélingard live on stage only once, in L'Arlésienne. To be honest, up to that point I had not understood his promotion to étoile, because he didn't exactly seem to be a classical paragon. Once I saw him in the flesh, I understood the promotion perfectly, because he really did have star quality, and also an incredibly potent sex appeal. I mean Taranda-grade sex appeal.

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14 hours ago, silvermash said:

I don't think so. It's quite complicated to film the Défilé for a question of rights and it was filmed recently. As for the homage, it has been organized in a hurry with, up to many, a rather poor bill.

 

What is on the program?

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25 minutes ago, miliosr said:

https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-16-17/ballet/an-evening-in-tribute-to-yvette-chauvire

Defile

Grand Pas Classique

Les Mirages (extract)

La Mort du cygne

Suite en blanc (extract)

 

Thanks for the list, and for the link.  I loved the interview that Anton Dolin did with her in Portrait of Giselle, and so I think of her associated with that ballet, but these choices seem much more specific.  It should be a very distinctive evening.

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The absence of anything from Giselle is difficult to undesrtand. Yvette Chauviré was named Etoile with the ballet Lifar created for her, Istar. Both ballets were part of the homage POB paid to the dancer in 1998, so perhaps Dupont wanted something different? Yet, 1998 is nearly 20 years ago...

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On 07/04/2017 at 8:48 AM, silvermash said:

I don't think so. It's quite complicated to film the Défilé for a question of rights and it was filmed recently. As for the homage, it has been organized in a hurry with, up to many, a rather poor bill.

 

Not to mention it's ridiculously expensive.

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Yes, Cunningham was booed at the Première and the following shows as well. I think this Cunningham in particular (compared to Un Jour ou deux which was created for the POB)  doesn't fit the French audience because even the regular ballet goers, if they didn't boo of course, were very critical. I think also that the POB audience (if it exists as such considering there is a lot of tourists in it)  is very tired (well I am in any case) of the triple or quadruple bills programmed by Millepied. This not a critic of the works (and I personally really liked Walkaround time) but it doesn't fit the company, it doesn't belong do its tradition. I’m not sure how to interpret the fact that nearly only very young dancers from the corps are dancing the Cunningham but well, it’s striking 

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15 hours ago, silvermash said:

Yes, Cunningham was booed at the Première and the following shows as well. I think this Cunningham in particular (compared to Un Jour ou deux which was created for the POB)  doesn't fit the French audience because even the regular ballet goers, if they didn't boo of course, were very critical. I think also that the POB audience (if it exists as such considering there is a lot of tourists in it)  is very tired (well I am in any case) of the triple or quadruple bills programmed by Millepied. This not a critic of the works (and I personally really liked Walkaround time) but it doesn't fit the company, it doesn't belong do its tradition. I’m not sure how to interpret the fact that nearly only very young dancers from the corps are dancing the Cunningham but well, it’s striking 

 

Personally I love mixed rep programs - I feel like I've had a full evening. And, if the program has been well-designed, the ballets can be easily compared and contrasted. But I concede that many ballet goers want to concentrate on a single narrative ballet, and submerge themselves in that one particular world.

Walkaround Time is a conceptual piece, which instantly marks it as "not for everyone". I have to think that the general ballet audience will have trouble with this:
'Nine dancers meander around them, occasionally posing as if they were part of an ongoing exhibition. Midway through there is a jokey “interval” during which the cast stretch and chat onstage.'

The audience paid money to see great dancing, so some of those people are going to feel that they have been robbed. It's not necessarily ignorance on their part either: those audience members are simply wishing for a different entertainment. In the U.S., however, it would be very unlikely that the dancers would have been booed - a subdued applause would be more likely if the audience was not happy.

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Well it’s not strictly about triple bills but about mixed bills that all looks more or less the same for the French audience. Roland Petit, Maurice Béjart, Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek, Angelin Preljocaj, etc. can all be accommodated in mixed bills and this is the diversity which is welcome. What I think is boring  is having so much of Balanchine, Forsythe, Robbins thrown in the seasons and repertoire (because much of it are new to it). It would be the same with the other choreographers even if it looks worse with those who are not familiar to the Parisian audience. 

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On ‎4‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 8:40 AM, silvermash said:

Well it’s not strictly about triple bills but about mixed bills that all looks more or less the same for the French audience. Roland Petit, Maurice Béjart, Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek, Angelin Preljocaj, etc. can all be accommodated in mixed bills and this is the diversity which is welcome. What I think is boring  is having so much of Balanchine, Forsythe, Robbins thrown in the seasons and repertoire (because much of it are new to it). It would be the same with the other choreographers even if it looks worse with those who are not familiar to the Parisian audience. 

One day, I hope someone writes a book about the Millepied era at the POB because I would love to know what was said by management to him during the hiring process and afterword regarding repertory. Was management so out-of-touch that they thought Millepied could import a completely different repertory and no one would notice?

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5 hours ago, miliosr said:

One day, I hope someone writes a book about the Millepied era at the POB because I would love to know what was said by management to him during the hiring process and afterword regarding repertory. Was management so out-of-touch that they thought Millepied could import a completely different repertory and no one would notice?

Well, there's the film Reset

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Constructing an effective mixed bill is an art in itself. It is not simply a question of selecting the right dance works for an evening  as even the sequence in which they are performed can have a significant impact on the audience's response to the programme as a whole. Comments on French ballet websites about programming at Covent Garden suggest that French audiences find mixed programmes containing contrasting elements something of an anglo saxon eccentricity and much prefer, or are used to seeing, programmes with a significant unifying element to them. A programme of dance works set  to Chopin's music by a number of different choreographers would not be the subject of comment about the lack of  variety whereas a programme of contrasting works by a single choreographer would almost certainly be  criticised for its lack of a unifying element. Perhaps the problem in this case was opening with the Cunningham.

Edited by Ashton Fan
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On 4/22/2017 at 9:40 AM, silvermash said:

Well it’s not strictly about triple bills but about mixed bills that all looks more or less the same for the French audience. Roland Petit, Maurice Béjart, Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek, Angelin Preljocaj, etc. can all be accommodated in mixed bills and this is the diversity which is welcome. What I think is boring  is having so much of Balanchine, Forsythe, Robbins thrown in the seasons and repertoire (because much of it are new to it). It would be the same with the other choreographers even if it looks worse with those who are not familiar to the Parisian audience. 

 

You lose me at "Bejart." There are plenty of European choreographers worthy of respect but Bejart's "choreography" is of the vilest, most vulgar, disgusting, self-indulgent quality and classical ballet companies should be ashamed of even having one Bejart work in their repertory. There's no excuse for such vulgarity.

 

I mean, this is an absolute abomination:

 

As is this:

 

Edited by canbelto
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15 hours ago, silvermash said:

 

Not really, Reset is rather a hagiography.

As I wrote in my review of Releve elsewhere on this site, it's worthwhile for giving such an in-depth look at 'Generation Millepied', which should more appropriately be named 'Generation Platel/Lefevre/Millepied'. But it only portrays a sliver of what was going on in the great house during the Millepied era (and perhaps not even the most interesting part.)

 

14 hours ago, Ashton Fan said:

Constructing an effective mixed bill is an art in itself. It is not simply a question of selecting the right dance works for an evening  as even the sequence in which they are performed can have a significant impact on the audience's response to the programme as a whole. Comments on French ballet websites about programming at Covent Garden suggest that French audiences find mixed programmes containing contrasting elements something of an anglo saxon eccentricity and much prefer, or are used to seeing, programmes with a significant unifying element to them. A programme of dance works set  to Chopin's music by a number of different choreographers would not be the subject of comment about the lack of  variety whereas a programme of contrasting works by a single choreographer would almost certainly be  criticised for its lack of a unifying element. Perhaps the problem in this case was opening with the Cunningham.

Another factor that comes into play is whether or not works that were designed for much smaller spaces -- like those by Cunningham -- "read well" when transferred to opera houses and opera house stages. I would argue that much of Antony Tudor's repertory falls into this category. The Moor's Pavane falls into this category. And certainly the Graham repertory ran into problems when the company started playing the State Theater in New York during the late 70s.

 

47 minutes ago, canbelto said:

 

You lose me at "Bejart." There are plenty of European choreographers worthy of respect but Bejart's "choreography" is of the vilest, most vulgar, disgusting, self-indulgent quality and classical ballet companies should be ashamed of even having one Bejart work in their repertory. There's no excuse for such vulgarity.

 

Suzanne Farrell would probably disagree with you as she has two Bejart works in her company's repertory. Personally, I like Bejart's Bolero. It's not art by any means. But it is fun ballet entertainment, which I find a whole lot more tolerable than the badly costumed, dimly lit, contortionist "art" that roams ballet stages these days.

Edited by miliosr
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Suzanne Farrell had a personal relationship with Bejart and danced in his company for several years. She's loyal. But personally whenever I see those beautiful POB etoiles contorting and twerking their way through Bolero I cringe. That's not even entertainment. It's ballet's equivalent of a striptease.

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1 hour ago, canbelto said:

Suzanne Farrell had a personal relationship with Bejart and danced in his company for several years. She's loyal. But personally whenever I see those beautiful POB etoiles contorting and twerking their way through Bolero I cringe. That's not even entertainment. It's ballet's equivalent of a striptease.

Both things can be true. Farrell remained steadfast in her personal loyalty to Bejart (who hired her when no one else would) and was able to find and isolate those parts of Bejart's repertory that would sit comfortably beside her larger concern, which was and is Balanchine's repertory. I don't think Farrell would have programmed bad work by Bejart just for the sake of pleasing him. I think she presented what she liked and what she thought American audiences might like.

 

Regarding Bolero, I saw it in Chicago in 2012 with Nicolas Le Riche and Aurelie Dupont atop the table. (I missed Marie-Agnes Gillot performing it which, knowing what I know now, I could kick myself for.) All I can say is that the audience response to both performances was tremendous -- to the positive. And the POB dancers appeared to be enjoying performing it. Beyond that, I'm reminded of something Arlene Croce said back in the 90s: "Personal taste always operates. But you can't argue about this with people. Either they like it, or they don't."

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52 minutes ago, Mashinka said:

Bejart's Bolero should only be danced by a man, looks wrong when a woman dances it.  Have fond memories of Farrell's Bejart days.

 

But Bolero was first performed by a female dancer (Duska Sifnios), and Maya Plisetskaya is one of the most famous interpreters as well as Sylvie Guillem.

 

You can see how different the work looked when you see the Duska Sifnios performance that pops up on YouTube.

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8 hours ago, naomikage said:

 

But Bolero was first performed by a female dancer (Duska Sifnios), and Maya Plisetskaya is one of the most famous interpreters as well as Sylvie Guillem.

 

You can see how different the work looked when you see the Duska Sifnios performance that pops up on YouTube.

 

I support this! I've seen Boléro perfomed a lot of times, and it can be just great both with either a male or a female dancer. It a masterpiece and I can't help to see it again next year with new dancers... 

 

As regards to other comments on Béjart, well it's not my favorite choreographer, I think he often belongs too much to his time (a bit like Cunningham in fact). I haven't seen Le Sacre du printemps for a while but I have fond memories of this work. Firebird is also a powerful piece. 

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7 hours ago, silvermash said:

 

I support this! I've seen Boléro perfomed a lot of times, and it can be just great both with either a male or a female dancer. It a masterpiece and I can't help to see it again next year with new dancers... 

 

As regards to other comments on Béjart, well it's not my favorite choreographer, I think he often belongs too much to his time (a bit like Cunningham in fact). I haven't seen Le Sacre du printemps for a while but I have fond memories of this work. Firebird is also a powerful piece. 

 

Basically my opinions are as same as yours, Bolero could be great by either male or female dancer. But recently Aurelie Dupont danced this in Tokyo in March and that performance was disappointing lacking much stamina and strength, her days as a dancer has been gone now. 

 

Bejart is also not my favorite choreographer, I also think many of his works are dated but there are still some masterpieces that stood the test of time, such as Firebird, M. 

 

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