MacMillan at the Kennedy Centre

[Jane Simpson]

'A one-act expressionistic take on Shakespeare's "Hamlet," it [sea of Troubles]is hardly representative of MacMillan, who is known mostly for lushly romantic full-length ballets such as "Romeo and Juliet" '

I was rather surprised to read this in Sarah Kaufman's article today (see links), as to those who've grown up with MacMillan, a 'one-act expressionistic' piece is exactly representative of his work. After all, he made over 50 ballets of which only six were full-length. Is this how he is generally perceived in the US - lushly romantic?

[Alexandra]

Perhaps that' show he is known by people who've come to the ballet after the 1980s? I think if you asked Americans to name a MacMillan ballet they'd say "Manon" or "Romeo and Juliet." If you asked: Who choreographed "The Burrow," "Song of the Earth," "Gloria," "The Invitation" or the like -- well, I don't think many people would know.

I'd be curious to get other answers to this. If you had to describe or categorize MacMillan's work, how would you do it?

[Leigh Witchel]

Awful to say, but if you played Word Association with me and said "Kenneth MacMillan" - I'd say "sex".

I think of the MacMillan I've seen as being rather graphic erotic choreography where the woman tends to have multiple partners. (Manon, Fin du Jour, Judas Tree)

[dirac]

I wondered about "lushly romantic" also. I don't find romanticism to the fore in either R&J or Manon – the sensuality is more naturalistic than romantic. I guess you could call them romantic in that there's not a lot of groping in the pas de deux, and to me it's not a real MacMillan duet unless the ballerina gets seriously felt up at least once.

[cargill]

I was struck by Kaufmann's comment, too, but I think it is more a measure of which Macmillan is done here rather than a comment by someone who knows ballet history. As for his full-lengths, well, they all seem to me to be overstuffed, overpadded works with a one-act struggling to get out. (Which is the actual case with Anastasia.) I think of sex, certainly, but he also seems to be quite taken with beds and dead women--there are beds in Manon, R & J, Anastasia, Mayerling that I can think off off the top of my head, and certainly he has lots of dead women. I would not be surprized if Hamlet strangles Ophelia somewhere in the Sea of Troubles. And to think Washington could have seen Monotones!

[Alexandra]

I have to say I'm a MacMillan Skeptic too, and agree with most of the above comments. But I know we have a lot of MacMillan fans on the board, and I hope they won't shy away from responding as well.

[dirac]

Sorry. I was trying to describe and not appraise. When sex is the concern, beds do tend to come in handy. And having a dead woman or two about doesn't exactly constitute foreign ballet territory.

For some reason, I'm reminded of the bedroom scene in "Love and Death," in which Diane Keaton, as Woody Allen's unenthusiastic new bride, rebuffs his advances with "Please – not here." Totally off topic.

[Alexandra]

Oh, no apology necessary -- I was just trying to be welcoming to other points of view Often when a thread starts out tilted in one direction, those who disagree stay away.

And it is really a matter of "what is it" rather than "how good is it?" I agree. I wonder what those who think of "Romeo" and "Manon" when they think of MacMillan would react to the shorter works? ABT used to do quite a lot of them -- "Danses Concertante," "The House of Bernardo Alba," "Concerto."

[dirac]

SFB has "Elite Syncopations" for the first time this season. I am looking forward to it.