RDB 2018/19 Season

[mussel]

https://kglteater.dk/shows/?f-title=35988,35991,35994,35997,36000,36003,36006,36641,36644,36647,36650,36653,36656,34903,36662,35822,35846,36039,36042,36045,36048,36051,36934,36054,36057,34875,36060,36063,36066,36069,36072,36075,36078,35631,35634,35825,35828,35831,35834,35837,35637,35840,35843,35607,35610,35613,35616,35619,35622,35625,35628,35640,35643,35646,35655,37010,36665,37036,37027,37030,37033,35652&f-type=ballet&b=1819

Giselle

Carmen

Napoli

Alice in Wonderland

Cinderella

Dans2Go - Kylian's Symphony of Psalms, Lander's Dvorak pd2, ...

Afterite, Etudes

Neumeier's Kameliadamen

Hubbe Evenings 1 & 2

 

[CharlieH]

Random thoughts:

 

Yet another major Western European company turns its collective back on 19th-C classics.     Only two full-Evening classics - Giselle and Napoli - both of which sport non-traditional designs.

Is Wheeldon offering half-price discounts on Alice? It seems to be programmed everywhere.

Did I miss the memo informing the ballet world that Neumeier is the new Balanchine? Somebody please explain the “universal” fascination with this choreographer. To me, it’s beyong logical understand that he is so prominently programmed, especially in Europe...but also the Bolshoi?

Copenhagen has such a rich, beautiful Bournonville rep and historical links with Balanchine, yet they give precious programming space to Alice & Neumeier ?

Does the world need yet another balletic Carmen? The mere word “Carmen” must help to fill seats, I suppose.

Edited May 1, 2018 by CharlieH

[volcanohunter]

1 hour ago, CharlieH said:

Did I miss the memo informing the ballet world that Neumeier is the new Balanchine? Somebody please explain the “universal” fascination with this choreographer. To me, it’s beyong logical understand that he is so prominently programmed, especially in Europe...but also the Bolshoi?

Copenhagen has such a rich, beautiful Bournonville rep and historical links with Balanchine, yet they give precious programming space to Alice & Neumeier ?

Neumeier's association with the Royal Danish Ballet is one of very long standing. If anything, the company's link to Neumeier is stronger than its link to Balanchine. Did Balanchine create any works for the Royal Danish Ballet? (I don't know, that's why I'm asking.) Neumeier has created several ballets for the company, and I would argue that the best interpreters of his works are the Hamburg Ballet, naturally, the Stuttgart Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet. (The Bolshoi makes a hash of them.)

As for why they're programmed, I don't think it's hard to understand. Neumeier has been very prolific at producing evening-length narrative ballets. Conventional wisdom is that audiences want them.

[CharlieH]

Thanks for enlightening me on Neumeier, volcanohunter. I knew about the Danes’ preference for the Neumeier R&J versus the Ashton but not the others...well, except for that gawd-awful Little Mermaid. Just a matter of taste, I suppose. I’ve seen mostly “Eurotrash” from Neumeier but one man’s Eurotrash is another man’s Gem. Different strokes for different folks.

I’m not aware of any Balanchine creations for the RDB...he recoreographed several Diaghilev-era Fokine ballets (& even danced in some) but he was posted there in the early 1930s before going to America. Just the thought that the TASTEFUL genius of ballet was in Copenhagen for a good while. Sigh.

Edited May 1, 2018 by CharlieH

[Drew]

4 hours ago, CharlieH said:

 

I’m not aware of any Balanchine creations for the RDB...he recoreographed several Diaghilev-era Fokine ballets (& even danced in some) but he was posted there in the early 1930s before going to America. Just the thought that the TASTEFUL genius of ballet was in Copenhagen for a good while. Sigh.

Since the Danes have a unique heritage in the wealth of Bournonville ballets extending beyond La Sylphide and Napoli, it's always a little depressing when it seems as if those ballets are being allowed to go into any sort of extended hibernation. But I was under the impression that the Royal Danish Ballet has for some time had a somewhat ambivalent relationship towards its Bournonville heritage--or at least periodically, over the course of the last century, has gone through such phases. I vaguely remember an RDB souvenir program article from decades ago that even suggested a sort of Systole/Diastole on the Bournonville front.

On the subject of "tasteful"  -- those are irony quotes -- I also remember a long ago tour with Fleming Flindt's Triumph of Death. Next to that, Neumeier could be Bournonville.

Edited May 2, 2018 by Drew

[CharlieH]

I agree re Flindt, Drew.

[kbarber]

44 minutes ago, Gnossie said:

 If the Carmen was Petit's production at least, but It's not, what a horror, what a horror!

not sure how it can be judged a "horror" when it hasn't even been created yet.

[volcanohunter]

I've seen my share of balletic Carmens. No doubt the title is enough to sell tickets. But the actual choreographic results are nearly always abysmal. I'm more inclined to think that ADs are cynically looking at box office returns rather than harboring a genuine belief that their new version will be a masterpiece.