Classical ballet and contemporary dance

[innopac]

An interesting discussion about narrative vs abstract ballets...

Classical ballet and contemporary dance Jan 14, 2011

As the Royal Ballet rehearses Christopher Wheeldon's Alice in Wonderland, its first new full-length ballet in 15 years, Peter Aspden talks to Royal Ballet principal Tamara Rojo, Sadler’s Wells artistic director Alistair Spalding and FT critic Clement Crisp.

Does Alice represent a return to traditional values? Are ballet companies doing enough to encourage new work? And, what is the relationship between classical ballet and contemporary work?

Produced by Griselda Murray Brown

Link

[Simon G]

An interesting discussion about narrative vs abstract ballets...

Classical ballet and contemporary dance Jan 14, 2011

As the Royal Ballet rehearses Christopher Wheeldon's Alice in Wonderland, its first new full-length ballet in 15 years, Peter Aspden talks to Royal Ballet principal Tamara Rojo, Sadler’s Wells artistic director Alistair Spalding and FT critic Clement Crisp.

Does Alice represent a return to traditional values? Are ballet companies doing enough to encourage new work? And, what is the relationship between classical ballet and contemporary work?

Produced by Griselda Murray Brown

Link

Thank you for posting that Innopac. What a bloody infuriating self congratulatory load of word salad. That seems to wilfully ignore some pretty key facts:

1. The Royal Opera House and the Royal Ballet are not the only schools of ballet and venues for ballet in the UK and narrative ballet was what Balanchine dedicated a life's work to reacting against some 70 years ago.

2. Contemporary dance is NOT ballet. Modern ballet is NOT contemporary dance. Akram Khan & Javier de Frutos are NOT ballet choreographers, nor full length works created by contemporary choreographers are ballets.

3. Spalding incensed me by totally ignoring the history of contemporary dance. How can you even begin to discuss narrative or anti narrative within the modern dance tradition without talking at length about Martha Graham. The history of non narrative contemporary dance dates back to the 50s as a reaction to her theatre, indeed Doris Humphrey was creating non narrative contemporary dance in the 40s, ditto Sakolov, Dudley.

4. He further annoyed me greatly by totally ignoring the work of Robert Cohan, Robin Howard and London Contemporary Dance Theatre dating back to the 60s as establishing a contemporary dance school, tradition and heritage within the UK. He says that contemporary dance in the UK has floundered without bringing up the enforced closure of LCDT by the ARts Council in 1994, though Crisp could have brougt this up to, he being a huge fan of LCDT and author of a book of LCDT in 1987.

5. To argue that Chroma ushered in a new age of ballet in the UK is specious. Chroma didn't sell to a young audience because of the choreography. It sold because Joby Talbot from the group the Divine Comedy composed a work which incorporated passages of music by the White Stripes - and the most expensive seats in the house were only £25-£30. One swallow does not make a summer.

This is what really saddens me about the attitude in the UK to modern/contemporay dance. It is an art form in its own right, it's not an adjunct to ballet, it has techniques, schools, traditions which don't rely on or are not derivative of ballet. If there's one reason why I "hate" (strong word, I know, but it's how I feel) te work of Mattew Bourne, it's because he's done nothing but borrow the glamour and names of narrative ballet for modern dance purposes. And it's cheap modern dance, no steps, no technique, just wafting. He comes undone by the music of those great ballet scores, and in the end makes a mess of both ballet and contemporary dance.

There are so many venues within the UK where quality contemporary dance still occurs, Chisenhale, Laban, The Robin Howard Theatre, Greenwich, The QE Hall where contemporary dance as a rightful tradition in itself is still performed. Though with the lion's share of all dance arts funding going to ballet the tradition that Robert Cohan started of contemporary dance being performed in the Opera houses and grand theatre's of the UK is tragically long gone. (ditto the tradition of Graham performing on those same grand stages, and Limon, and soon Cunningham will be added to that list too.)

Cohan actually stated about his greater vision for contemporay dance, for all he achieved and the parlous state it is in now "I had a vision of taking dance out of the studios and onto the stages of opera houses, and I did, but now it's back in the studios."

Perhaps I'm overreacting, it was after all a tidbit conversation for an FT podcast and intentionally scant of detail and generalised, but I do think for such knowledeable people whose lives are devoted to dance to be so cursory and homogenise all dance forms into the cover all of ballet is a bit wrong. Interestingly Rojo was by far the most lucid and pertinent in her comments, being a ballerina and rooting the conversation firmly in ballet which is what this was all about.

I expected an interesting coversation about new short modern ballet works vs full lengths, what I got was a bit saddening, contemporary dance is its own unique entity, it deserves the respect of being treated as such even in passing conversation. If Crisp & Spalding don't make distinctions how can a casual listener be expected to. And meanwhile Matthew Bourne warms up for his 10 millionth sell out, cash cow season of the "ballet" Swan Lake.