Jasper

su-lian, sorry for my delay in reply!

Yes, Ivan Liska is still Artistic Director in Munich. How would you judge if an AD is successful? Most performances sell really well here, if that is a parameter. Some dancers will leave by the end of the season - but that's normal, I would say. Quality of performances is very difficult to rate and a matter of personal taste. As an addict of story-telling ballets I am happy we do have a lot of them; I do understand dancers ask for new choreographies, and from that point of view, some of the previous experiments with new choreographers have not been very lucky - but this is general problem and topic for another post, I would say...

Well, basically it’s nothing too extraordinary if some ambitious choreographer wants to stage this ballet and generally I am not too keen to watch some semi-amateurish dancers squeezing on a tiny stage dancing to taped music – but what caught my eye was the cast list which included Alen Bottaini as Siegfried plus two more dancers from Bayerisches Staatsballett (BSB; Patrick Teschner, Vincent Loermans).

The Company is called “Ballet Classique”, and although I don’t know much about the dancers, I figured out that there are some former members of BSB like Daniela Lungeanu or Elodie Lavoignat and some dancers of the second Munich company BallettTheater Munich.

And I was surprised to see how well this was staged on a really small stage (choreography: Rosina Kovacz-Pop, former dancer in Munich). Costumes were generally simple but ok (Siegfried’s costume for act III and IV strongly reminded me of the BSB production…), there was one scenic backcloth – only shame that there were no spotlights, so part of the dancing was really dark. There were 12 swans as corps de ballet who did well; Daniela Lungeanu tackled Odette/Odile – she was ok, and I liked her attack as Odile a lot. The three guys who are used to the huge stage and auditorium of Nationaltheater sometimes looked far beyond the back wall of the room (as they are used to dress circle height) and although most of the big leaps had been taken out, even some assembles landed partly in the wings. But what counted was the joy – especially Patrick Teschner won everyone’s heart as a charming Benno. Alen Bottaini was a good partner (who had not much else to do ;) ) – and he and Vincent Loermans had good fun in the final fight which in this version leads to a happy ending with Rotbart’s power being destroyed.

A note on the audience – it seemed to consist basically of two groups: Those residents of Unterhaching (a suburb of Munich) who come to the venue no matter what is performed (a lot of them seemed to be “first time ballet goers” as I took from some remarks, for example: “Look, she stands on her toes – that must be sooo painful….”) – and dancer/teacher colleagues of the dancers on stage. I noticed quite a few faces of BSB, but also some teachers from Munich ballet schools.

Having seen this, I must correct my attitude towards such “small scale productions” of classics – if they are done in such a professional way, why not – and maybe one or another now feels attracted to the art of ballet and finds his/her way to other performances – people who would never have ventured to watch a performance in the huge Nationaltheater?

su-lian, how wonderful to be able to "attack" such a piece and play it by yourself! good luck for next week - I am sure your love to this music will carry you through!

Su-Lian, the third pdd of Kameliendame is the one where Marguerite returns to Armand after he has hurt her so much when flirting with Olympia in the streets of Paris, and she asks him to stop such behaviour. They find together one last time - but when Armand falls asleep, Marguerite leaves him, remembering her promise to Armand's father.

Estelle, Luca Masala was listed in the programme as member of the Toulouse Ballet, so I assume he is still dancing there.

GWTW, you're fully right about Bat Sheva!

Thanks to you all for sheding more light on the parts that were so unfamiliar to me!

And - finally I have checked my programme; the tarantella was listed as "Chor.: Valentina Savina/trad." - whatever that means...

Thanks, Alexandra and Leigh!

And: All Luca Masala Fans (in Europe there are quite a few) - please forgive me! He did dance in this gala, and he and his partner Maria Gutierrez were lovely - it's just that their pieces were so unfamiliar to me!! ("Gambling Stones" by Jean-Christophe Blavier and "La Chanson des vieux amants" by Ben van Cauwenbergh (sp??) ) Sorry, folks, did not mean to drop this!

"Les Bourgeois" is a single, short piece danced to a song by Jacques Brel. Choreographer is also van Cauwenbergh. It's a solo that interprets the words of the song pretty well - a young student blaming "les bourgeois" while getting drunk...

The tarantella was NOT by Balanchine (I did expect that, too) - will have to check my programme (don't have it with me, again :-()

Déjà vu is one of the less popular works by van Manen (I would say) - it's a bit same theme as Sarcasmen, some movements also reminded me of that pdd.

Passomezzo is by Ohad Naharin - sorry, don't know much more about him;

and Intuition Blast is the big success of a German choreographer who has won several awards with this, but honestly, so far this is the only success he has had I can remember.

I was hoping so much someone would report since I have been madly busy at work – but ok, here we go again after quite a long pause… (and I apologize this again has got so long!) ;)

Together with her partner Oleg Makhov, former dancer of Bayerisches Staatsballett and now working for an event service, Maria Eichwald invited to a gala for the aid of cancer research, especially for children (sorry, I miss the accurat terms in English).

This gala obviously had some personal background (I read that a friend of Oleg had died of cancer), plus it was also considered a sort of advanced farewell gift of Maria who will leave Munich for Stuttgart end of this year.

Tickets were quite expensive (ranging from 50-120 Euro) – but fortunately they sold well so of the 1000 seats of the Prinzregententheater not too many remained empty. Plus there was an orchestra for most pieces – I have been to expensive galas where the music was taped!

Maria danced four times, twice with each of her main partners in Munich, Alen Bottaini and Lukas Slavicky. She danced everything with huge energy, but without visible effort – and she seemed to have chosen her top favourites… (Although I felt a bit sorry as I would have hoped for her attempting the “Dying Swan”…).

The programme was a mixture of classical and modern pieces as one would expect from a gala – and I am terribly sorry if my memory has some blanks and names may be spelled incorrectly or mistaken!

1) Diana & Acteon pdd

Maria Eichwald – Alen Bottaini

Big Applause when Maria leaped on stage – which seemed slippery, but she soon got used to it. Alen looked good – but I could not help compare him to Carlos Acosta who danced this part some time ago in another Munich gala – well, there was a bit of a difference… Still nice that he attempted it – plus the rapport with Maria of course was very nice.

2) Intuition Blast

Norbert Graf – Udo Kersten

This is always good fun in a gala – Amilcar Moret guested elsewhere, so Udo Kersten took over – and they had such fun on stage…! Although I do love Swan Lake, I must admit what Ralf Jaroschinski has put on the waltz and on the little cygnet always makes me laugh – especially when danced with such joy. For those who do not know this yet: It’s for two boys who start to “groove” to the music and try to compete in a sort of streetdance, with quite a bit of the success depending on their mime but also on improvisation.

3) Giselle pdd

Larissa Lezhnina – Tamas Nagy (replacing Viacheslav Samodurov)

WOW – this was a real Giselle! Her port de bras were so soft, floating gently – while here leaps looked effortless and incredibly high and were landed without any noise. Tamas Nagy was ok – would have loved to see Viacheslav Samodourov, but he was replaced last minute.

4) Deja Vu

Beate Vollack – Norbert Graf

Well, this is not one of my favourites, I must admit – but it was a nice modern break.

5) Grand Pas Classique

Maria Eichwald – Lukas Slavicky

Another bravoura piece where both showed off – nice finale of the first part.

- interval –

6) Kameliendame 3rd pdd

Maria Eichwald – Alen Bottaini

Wondering why they chose the third pdd which I find a bit difficult if danced separately – maybe because this is to piano solo and does not need full orchestra? But still it was amazing how both got in the roles of the desparate lovers in no time – huge applause.

7) Le Corsaire pdd

Barbora Kohoutkova - Stanislav Feco

While she has already left the company, Barbora came back for this gala. I was a bit surprised that she chose such a bravoura showpiece – but she did well. Her partner seemed to struggle a bit with the technique – but again, my personal problem was that I compared them with Lopatkina/Zelensky which I should not have done as I missed the effortless bravoura and the “sparkle” of this pdd…

8) Nutcracker pdd

Larissa Lezhnina – Tamas Nagy

In a classical version, not the one I know from Neumeier – they only danced the adagio, as a programme change to something modern planned previously. In one lift he almost dropped her – don’ t think they had much time to rehearse – and she looked very professional, plus also happy to be able to dance at all.

9) Les Bourgeois

Alen Bottaini

Ok, another typical showpiece that always brings the house down – especially when performed as charmingly as Alen did.

10) Passomezzo

Yael Schnell - Jesper Hansen Thirup

Had not seen this before – a lot of energy and good fun on stage!

11) Tarantella

Maria Eichwald – Lukas Slavicky

What a finale! Sorry, cannot remember the choreographer – the music was by Gottschalk, and it was just right as last piece of the evening. Both danced their socks off – and it’s not often that I have seen grand jetés performed so simultaneously by a couple!

Lots of applause and flowers for a great night. I was relieved to see such effort rewarded by a big success and will be so sorry to see Maria go end of this year – but Stuttgart is not that far away from Munich…!

;)

Ok, glebb, then welcome to that special "Poll"!

glebb,

as you can see from Marc's reply, my real name is Sonja - but you got the idea where I took my Ballet Alert name from. (Silly me forgot my password for username Sonja - so I took the chance to create a new one as "tribute to Cranko"...)

Not sure if Cranko's Swan Lake is performed anywhere outside Stuttgart, as there are zillions of other productions...?

Hi Stuttgart,

thanks for your news! Would be great to read a bit more about Bridget Breiner and Jiri Jelinek - I know Bridget Breiner has danced the role before, but think J.J. hasn't? A friend saw him dance I think in Prague and was fascinated by his high and easy jumps (in "Raymonda").

Hi Marc, sounds as if you really adore Jan Fabre's version ;)

YESS, I’ve finally seen it! And yes, I LOVE it – others may call this production old fashioned or even Kitsch, but it’s Swan Lake, and it’s Cranko. Some notes on the production and on the casts I saw (sorry, once again this is LONG):

Production

It is a classical Swan Lake, no modern production. Especially the second act Cranko left widely untouched, and with 24 swans in tutus this looks great (I had forgotten how nice tutus look for a change, being used to Munich and London long skirts).

Basically, Cranko wanted to show Siegfried as a real human being, not just as a “crane for the ballerina” (as written in the informative programme), and consequently made the role bigger than it was before. And since Siegfried is human and to blame for betraying Odette, there can be no happy end for the two lovers: he has to die at the end, and she has to remain a swan.

In the first act (the sets of Jurgen Rose reminded me somehow of “La Fille”), he’s celebrating with friends the day before his birthday, trying to escape the royal court and his mother – but when the Queen finds him and blames him for not behaving accordingly to his status, he cannot hide any more that inside, he is sad and lonely. Which leads to the second act.

For the third act, Jurgen Rose created an impressive set of the palace. There are four national dances (Mazurka, Spanish – with VERY strange costumes that reminded me more of medieval times, not of Spain -, Russian and Italian), only the Tarantella is danced in pointe shoes. It’s all quite bombastic and admittedly not modern – but on the other hand, why does Swan Lake always have to be modern? Of course, the third act also incorporates the Black Swan pdd – not sure whether it is Cranko or adapted for the various casts, but I found that Odile’s variation has been modified/simplified, while Siegfried’s variation looked familiar to me. And “of course”, there are the 32 fouettés.

Since Cranko has consequently taken out all the classic pantomime scenes, this is probably the only Cranko ballet where I found it a bit difficult to follow the story – it does not become entirely clear what he has done wrong, without his oath in both, first and third act – plus I also missed Odette in the background begging him to realize his fatal error before it is too late… In this production, when the Queen blesses Odile and Siegfried, Rotbart takes her away and laughs loud at Siegfried who frantically looks for his beloved – and realizes what he has done after he has run upstairs, looked out of the window and obviously seen Odette. Typically Cranko: Even the icy Queen becomes a mother when her son runs towards her in despair and buries his head in her lap.

Act four brings back basically a white act – but it wouldn’t be Cranko if there was not a final pdd for the lovers. Rotbart gives them a last short time together – the music is not Swan Lake, no idea what it is – but it’s beautiful. Odette is broken and almost too weak to walk, Siegfried tries to lift her up, holding her under her arms/wings, trying to put her on her feet, but she slips through his arms, down to earth every time.

The finale shows Siegfried drowning in the overflowing lake – really impressive if seen from the stalls, the impression caused by metres and metres of blue tissue “flowing” on stage.

Casting

The revival was not under a lucky star – one after the other princes had to pull out… according to an article in a local newspaper, Douglas Lee, Roland Vogel, Jiri Jelinek and also Mikhail Kaniskin are injured, so for a second cast, Jason Reilly had to learn the role in only one week. Plus Roberta Fernandes had to dance with him, not with her “normal” partner.

Understandably, they left out some technical tricks; understandably, she looked a bit nervous in some moments – but they got the spirit of the roles, and it would be interesting to watch them again once they have danced some performances.

First cast were Stuttgart’s youngest first soloists, Alicia Amatriain and Friedemann Vogel – and what a debut for both of them! They look great together, and there is a lovely rapport between them. She looks fragile and is very flexible – and she did not show off her high extensions beyond limit this time! I loved how she changed from the vulnerable Odette to a vicious, seductive woman and back to a broken being – this impressed me!

Friedemann Vogel looks like a true prince – and he can look so deeply sad and melancholic one does feel sorry for him. As a contrast, when it comes to his variations, he flies through the air without any visible effort. And I loved his arabesques and scissonnes!

Despite of the nervosity of a first night, it was a great performance (frantically applauded by Stuttgart audience) – and it had improved already in their second performance the following night. I am sure they will develop an interesting partnership on stage if they are allowed to.

A note on the orchestra: When playing the evening performances under Davor Krnjak (sp?), they sounded pretty good! (The matinee under Glenn Prince I found played a bit unattentively, even for my not well trained ears…)

And a note on Stuttgart audience: This is ballet city for me – wish we had only some of the flowers thrown there! Thanks, Stuttgart, for adding a special extra to three unforgettable performances! (I hope to be back later to see other casts – although I would not mind seeing the above two again either…)

For Bavarian State Ballet, Munich: Lisa-Maree Cullum - because she is the one who steps in whenever anyone is injured. With any male partner. Last Nutcracker series (Neumeier, some years ago) she danced almost every performance after one after the other Louises had to pull out...

This season, I heard she was waiting in the wings during the Don Q performances as it was not sure whether the lead would be able to carry on, although I have no proof for this...

(This is not meant to disqualify any of the other dancers, of course!)

I am looking forward to seeing Cranko's Swan Lake for the first time (provided I manage to get tickets for Stuttgart....) - and have been wondering if anyone could tell me in advance about the particularities of his version - I am sure he has added some "typical" or unusual elements, or maybe given the whole story a new twist?

Would be very grateful for any hints or reviews...

Thanks in advance!

liebs, thanks for your reply! Showing off how many pirouettes one can do is in my opinion about the worst possible approach to the role... you don't remember by chance the name of the young Italian, do you?

(By the way, on 4 Nov, another Italian will hopefully dance Lenski in Munich: Alen Bottaini. And I am looking forward a lot to his portrait since he's a fine actor who catches the spirit of roles very well!)

Last Sunday Egon Madsen gave a Masterclass in Munich, for the roles of Olga and Lenski

Dancers were Barbora Kohoutkova and Lukas Slavicky who have both not danced these roles before.

Parts of the rehearsal:

1) First appearance of Lenski and his solo

2) first pas de deux Olga – Lenski

3) „fare well solo“ Lenski

Cranko Style

E.M. stressed how important it is not to walk and gesture like a dancer, but like ordinary people. He did not want to see any ballet poses or preparations for pirouettes – it should all look natural and coming from inside (this reminded me a bit of the Manon Masterclasses we had before). When they created Onegin (and also Romeo), they watched a lot the acting company and tried to copy parts of their gestures. Watching Lukas, we noticed how hard it can be for a dancer to “switch” between classical ballet and “normal” movements.

Inspiration from Pushkin

To give Lukas a short break between the pdd and his final solo, Ivan Liska asked E.M. how he prepared for the role, if he studied Pushkin’s book etc. He also told us about a performance he (Ivan Liska) danced with Natalia Makarova: When he knocked at the door of her dressing room before the performance to wish her good luck, when he opened the door, he found her putting on her point shoes and at the same time looking at the open book which was placed on her desk. E.M. agreed that Pushkin is a huge source of inspiration, especially for every Russian dancer in this ballet, but also said it was very difficult to find his own Lenski. He even admitted he felt he only found him when he stopped dancing, at the age of 40 – almost 20 years after he had created the role.

One of the most difficult scenes (which was not rehearsed on Sunday) he called in act 2, when Lenski is standing front left (seen from the audience), the playing cards in his hand, Olga is flirting with Onegin, and he has to walk across the whole stage to the other side. There is no choreography, he must neither do too much nor too few, just walk – and express through his body what he is feeling.

First appearance Lenski

At first, Lukas was too wild – „Lenski is a poet!“ – „He doesn’t simply come on stage – with your first steps you tell your whole story.“ – “No poses – not: I’ve done the steps, I have finished” – it’s all fluent between ballet steps, walking and acting (easily told, but so difficult to do…)

Pas de deux

„Contact – with the eyes, even when you are back to back. Lukas – you know that she is there!“

This first pas de deux of Olga and Lenski must tell the audience how much they are in love, how happy they are – and about the character of their love. If it is danced well, it’s all looking easy, happy.

Fare Well Solo

Key Words for Lenski: „Moonlight – Farewell – Floor“

Here E.M. used a lot of very vivid images that still sound in my ear – a few of them were: “The whole variation is one cry.” – “Your body is crying.”

Dancing into the floor – and after the last arabesque: „You are dead now. Empty.” – „You don’t know where to go. It’s all over.”

And all this in such a tricky variation – which must not show any effort, but despair – with soft landings, with long, smooth movements...

General remarks

It’s amazing how fit Egon Madsen is – now 60, but still active with NDT 3 – he showed many parts with an incredible energy! He was good humoured, giving very clear images of how he thought things should be done, clapping on the dancers’ shoulders, but sometimes it was the unspoken that was more important than what he said – I felt he was not (yet) happy with Lukas’ interpretation of Lenski’s character, so it was a tough masterclass, especially for Lukas – and for us, the audience, it gave an impression how hard rehearsals can be. Now we’re looking forward to Barbora’s and Lukas debuts tomorrow (with Maria Eichwald’s debut as Tatiana, partnered by Norbert Graf who has danced Onegin a few times with Elena Pankova.)

It's just me - silly me forgot the password for my old user name, thus after a long holiday could not log in any more... So I had to think of a new ID - and loving John Cranko's early ballets, this is what I came up with

Hi Leigh,

thanks for your welcome - but guess who's behind this post??

(Was really hesitating if I should post this reply since I LOVE Jasper... ;))

Sunday 6 and and Monday 7 October Munich audiences had the chance to watch „Raymonda“ for the last times this year – both performances with not uninteresting casts...

Following are some of my impressions:

Sunday

Cast included: Maria Eichwald (Raymonda), Lukas Slavicky (Jean de Brienne), Alen Bottaini (Abderakhman – Viviane, again you were not here ;) ), plus Barbora Kohoutkova and Michelle Nossiter as Clemence and Henriette (both performances) and Norbert Graf plus Roman Lazik as Bernard and Béranger.

It was Maria’s second Raymonda – and it was pure joy of dancing. Although Ray Barra in his version wants to give the whole story some depth by adding some psychologic details (like he did with Swan Lake, transforming it into a psycho drama of the prince), this aspect was not the overwhelming one on Sunday night – and I admit I loved it! Maria is so light, so quick on her feet, and often she seems to get carried away by the music. She threw herself into every single variation like there was none to follow – an incredible bundle of energy! I have never seen the coda of the dream variation performed like this before, the manege of grand jetes often is transformed into a manege of little jumps, but Maria flew around the stage as if her life depended on well executed grand jetes.

Lukas Slavicky is one of the few who make something out of what I would call a “not so interesting role”. He’s very present, and also bursting of energy.

Completed was the “trio infernale” by Alen Bottaini – Maria and Alen always have a great rapport, plus he seems to have a great time to be the “wild one”, though well educated when it counts to convince Raymonda’s aunt.

Barbora Kohoutkova looked more happy dancing one of the friends than in the title role some months ago – she and Michelle look so similar, one has to have a close look to know who is who! Will be interesting to follow her career here in Munich!

Monday

Was the big Munich debut of the new First Soloists (the highest rank in Munich) Lucia Laccara (Raymonda) and Cyril Pierre (Abderakhman), plus Roman Lazik (Jean de Brienne) and Lukas Slavicky swapping roles compared to the day before.

What I found most striking about Lucia Laccara are her long limbs – her arms and legs seemed soo long. She looked rather mature (in a good way) on stage, knowing about her experience and her good looks – but still Munich audience at first seemed to frighten her a bit – or was it more the company watching? It was a strange atmosphere, reminding me of a competition – and she did well. In the scene when Abderakhman is killed, her dramatic skills shone for a moment and made us look forward to her debut as Tatiana.

Cyril Pierre danced Abderakhman for the injured Amilcar Moret – he’s by far the tallest dancer in this role, consequently some twists and turns were replaced for him. In the pas de deux with Raymonda they showed a beautiful rapport – this is a couple who knows each other really well, something I was missing in the pdd Raymonda – Jean de Brienne (plus I still find the first pdd of them the weakest part of the ballet…).

To cut a long review short: these were two totally different performances, both with a quality of their own and I am glad I went to both. (But my heart and soul belonged to the Sunday cast…)