2 replies to this topic

[Lynette H]

I was very struck by the statement in the Melbourne review of the Royal Ballet

"If Swan Lake was an odd choice for the company to bring - there has never been a version with which the company has been closely associated - then including this work of Tudor's was inspired. " Leaves are Fading is described as "quintessentially English".

This seems a very odd statement to me, but perhaps it just shows how differently we view things. To me, based in the UK, Tudor doesn't look quintessentially English at all, and the company didn't look to me to be at all at home in it. And I would thought associate the Royal very strongly with Swan Lake - even if we are never likely to see Ashton's version again.

[Edited by Alexandra to add:

Here's the link to the Melbourne review.  The Swan Lake reference is at the bottom.  I'm moving this thread over to the Royal Ballet forum in case there's more discussion]

[Alexandra]

I thought it odd, too, Lynette.  Perhaps the critic is too young to have remembered that the Royal Ballet once defined the way Swan Lake was danced in the West!  (Of course, there are history books.....)

About Leaves -- I hadn't thought about its nationality.  It doesn't seem particularly American, or English.  Perhaps because expatriates never quite fit into either world?

[cargill]

I thought that was a very odd comment too.  After all Fonteyn WAS Odette to many people, and Swan Lake was one of the first of the classics de Valois put on.  I do agree, though, that their current production looks like they don't know very much about Swan Lake.