mnacenani
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Posts posted by mnacenani
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8 minutes ago, Fleurdelis said:
Most probably she could no longer afford the Bay Area rents.
(Fleurdelis you disappear and reappear like Odile in Burmeister's Leb. Ozero !)
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A more comprehensive resumé gleaned from Culturebox, the cultural website of France Telévisions (Google translation) - link to original post below :
"Paris Opera: big malaise in the ballet led by Aurélie Dupont
In office for two years, ballet director Aurélie Dupont is facing a crisis of confidence in the ballet of the Paris Opera. This is revealed by an unpublished survey of the dancers of the prestigious company, already shaken two years ago by the sudden departure of Benjamin Millepied.
The poll, which was obtained by AFP, was prepared by the Artistic Expression Commission, an internal body elected by the dancers. They asked more than one hundred questions, of which 108 out of 154 dancers responded, on condition of anonymity. In responding, they hoped that pinpointing the problems would help move forward.
In the document, 89.8% believe that they are "not the subject of good management", 76.8% say they have been the victim of psychological harassment or have seen a colleague undergoing such treatment and 25, 9% even say they have been or have witnessed sexual harassment.
Amazement on both sides about the diffusion of this document - the Director of the Paris Opera, Stéphane Lissner, has told AFP he has "total confidence in Aurélie Dupont", saying she was "an excellent director of dance". Highlighting his "astonishment" at the press release of this internal document, he promised that a dialogue will be established to "calmly think and understand what the dancers mean" when they demand listening.
A hundred dancers, including many stars, expressed their "amazement" after the release of the document. "The disclosure of this questionnaire was done without the consent of the dancers and at no time did the interviewed artists conceive that this document would be used for purposes contrary to their interests," the statement said.
But beyond the figures of the survey, it is the comments collected from the dancers who are hard on Aurélie Dupont, the replacement of Benjamin Millepied in February 2016.
"The current director does not seem to have any management skills, and no desire to acquire such skill," says a dancer. Others denounce a "glaring absence of accompaniment", a "lack of knowledge or refusal to listen to the aspirations of many dancers" and especially a "lack of dialogue". "We are human beings, not pawns that we move as they see fit," one of them is still indignant.
In January 2017, however, we remember that Aurélie Dupont said: "When I arrived, I found the dancers disappointed, disappointed, not supportive enough ... A year later, they are again full of ambition, they Once again, this is a group spirit, a feeling of being happy together ".
Regarding cases of sexual harassment, Mr. Lissner said there was a "zero tolerance" and called on the dancers concerned to talk to management about it.
"Outside, the legitimacy of Aurélie Dupont is undeniable. (...) Inside, the legitimacy is more difficult to install," said Le Figaro. "First of all, if she is from the seraglio, she must impose herself against dancers who were with her in the ballet", analyzes the journalist Ariane Bavelier. "Men are angry at him for bidding farewell with Roberto Bolle, star playmaker at La Scala, rather than a star or a young girl in the company, with the girls, who were stars at the same time , the climate remains tense. " Finally, says the newspaper, she was not a ballet master.
The predecessor of Aurélie Dupont, Benjamin Millepied, had created the surprise in 2016 by announcing his resignation after a little over a year at the head of the ballet, one of the most famous in the world. -
59 minutes ago, Gnossie said:
Yes, I posted it last night.
When Millepied took over in 2014 I was shocked as I thought he would dump classical in favour of contemporary, but was pleasantly surprised when he scheduled more classical than under the tenure of Lefevre : Bayadere had a run of more that two weeks if I remember correctly. I don't really care what goes on at POB any more since I discovered Russian classical ballet - did not renew my longtime membership of AROP this season and won't.
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On 4/13/2018 at 2:11 AM, Gnossie said:
She makes no comment about the disgraceful situation of L'opera
Posted short while ago extract of yesterday's Figaro article on "the situation at POB" !
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in Russian only : https://www.mariinsky.ru/ru/playbill/nextplaybill?next_playbill_month=show
However, there still is no playbill posted for coming June, just 6 weeks away
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The French website "Danses avec la Plume" has posted an extract of a comprehensive article by Le Figaro which it posted online last evening (Sunday 15th April). I don't speak French so did a Google translation, as follows. Links to DalP and Figaro posts below.
"This is how Le Figaro stirred up a banal Sunday night, with an article titled The great malaise of the Ballet Opera Paris. The content reveals that the CEA, the commission of artistic expression, this week communicated to the artists of the troupe the results of a survey on "the life of the company". And the result is not flattering for Aurélie Dupont: "Nearly 77% of dancers believe they have been victims of moral harassment or have witnessed scenes of moral harassment and 26% of sexual harassment." 87% consider that recourse mechanisms are not efficient, effective and reliable, "explains Le Figaro.
The article attacks Aurélie Dupont quite hard, both on her artistic choices and her way of managing. Two issues that can indeed cause debate, given what has been scheduled for a few months and the internal atmosphere at the lowest level of the troupe. The article does not disclose, however, on how these results were provided to the press without the consent of the dancers. Will the management of the Paris Opera discredit Aurélie Dupont? Stéphane Lissner would never have wanted to be the Director of Dance. It also seems unlikely that Le Figaro would post an article that would also blame him with the direction of the institution"https://www.dansesaveclaplume.com/hors-scene/584214-revue-de-presse-dansee-s17-18-ep24/
French speaking members : now it's your turn !!
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Just noticed on the cast sheet that Lesley Collier and Viviana Durante are coaches at RB. Saw Collier only once in the early Nineties, but Durante-Mukhamedov must have been our preferred partnership - I saw most of the ballets we had booked had them as leads when I looked up the cast sheets. Durante had this unique quality (for me) with her timing and PdB, of seemingly becoming really weightless and flying when Irek lifted her overhead.
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3 hours ago, JMcN said:
I'm afraid I prefer the English more subtle style and the Danish to Russian bravura
Dear JMcN it should be no surprise for you that as a Turk of Uzbek ancestry I would have little appreciation of the "subtle" ...... and at 70+ my eyesight is more attuned to six o'clock extensions and 190-degree splits than "intricate footwork" ..... I love it !
PS - on the serious side : I have yet to learn about Bournonville, but it has been and still is an intriguing subject for me whether "English style" evolved due to Ashton having to work with "the material he had at hand". Every time I bring this up somewhere I get some backlash from the British, but this popped up in my mind when I watched Darcey Bussell's 2014 docu monologue "A Ballerina's Life" where she talked about how Guillem's capabilities had opened up the eyes of the RB director/s as to what Darcey might also be able to do (the only "athletic" dancer at RB I knew of in the Nineties). I regret having seen very little of Darcey, would have loved to see her Nikiya if I had been into ballet at the time.
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10 hours ago, volcanohunter said:
But that wasn't the substance of your initial argument. Now you're just moving the goalposts
Where I come from this is called "business as usual" !
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Just landed - no contest except for Le Parc : if this is "ballet" I am Apollo !!
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5 minutes ago, Mashinka said:
There I must strongly disagree, the ENB prima is Romanian.
I can live with that - was schooled in Kyiv = closer to Russia than Spain is !
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1 hour ago, volcanohunter said:
all but two of the POB's étoiles are French, and the exceptions aren't Russian.
No wonder someone said they were dancing like "civil servants" ...... with the CdB looking like "flowers on wallpaper"
(do forgive me)
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17 minutes ago, Liza said:
Oh? I hadn't realised that Margot Fonteyn was Russian. You learn something every day!
Век живи, век учись
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Was hesitating whether I should say this - please do excuse me but the primas of a great majority of the European companies are Russian or Ukrainian - surely not without some reason. The prima (ass.) of RB is Russian and that of ENB Spanish!
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PS : I have a slight "hangup" regarding Natasha - I would like to see her always as Kitri (never could), Swanilda, Lise, Jizel, Silfida ..... as much as "maya lyubimaya artistka" she is, could not really click with her as Vetsera and Mehmene Banu, though somewhat clicked with her Manon.
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Marcelino Sambé as Lescaut : no doubt he is an excellent dancer, but in my view somewhat miscast in role - looks too young and "naive" to fit the "scheming brother" role but my subjective take only.
Gary Avis, "that old war horse" once again pulling off his role in excellent fashion - wonder who RB will find to replace him once he retires.
Now, my discovery of the evening : Yasmine Naghdi as Lescaut's mistress. We have real talent here Ladies & Gentlemen, don't think I am getting too big for my boots but I know one when I see one. Great presence, would anyone second it if I said she has an "air" of the young Tamara Rojo about her ?? Again I don't want to stir up controversy but : you can tell in a couple of minutes that a dancer who catches your eye must be Russian, by her eyes, her aura, her "electricity". Even if I didn't know her name I would have detected that YN must have some "hot blood group" - could have thought she was Spanish.
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I find Macmillan a real master of the PdD, his creations so original (for me) and "emotional", but his ensemble choreos are imho too "cluttered" if one can say so : too many characters doing too many things, the ubiquitous "harlots" (forgot whether there were harlots in Mayerling too)(PS - sure there were, whaddyaexpect?), dances which can be interchanged between his ballets with just a change of costume ...... do I make sense ?? (tbc)
Osipova I liked, once again making good use of her God-given talent for mime. Shklyarov is my default Romeo, 1/3 of the cause of my instant addiction to Russian classical ballet (2/3 being Vishnyova as Juliet). The two bedroom scenes, avant and apres G.M. were imho excellently executed. The final scene, was it Gnossie who wrote "good luck with those swamp PdDs", was also excellent. But was there any "real chemistry" between Manon and Des Grieux ?? I am a bit doubtful, cannot say I picked up any strong electric current flowing, am not sure. But "bravo" to Shklyarov who had only 3 weeks to learn the role from scratch, no mean feat with all those high-risk throws and all. What an excellent, elegant dancer he is, in any role.
PS : re "those swamp PdDs" : did anyone see Aurelie Dupont's farewell Manon at POB, live or on webcast 3 years ago ? Noticed how she came within 1 inch of getting her face smashed up in spite of Bolle partnering her ??
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Considering my history with Osipova, and recently Hallberg, and the interesting "day-date" combination, I flew in resigned to my fate and picked up the cast sheet with more than slight apprehension - not this time ! It would have been real cruel fate if either Natasha or Volodya had dropped out during the day, added to the indescribably bad BA flight and the 65 minute wait in queue to gain admittance. A few words, no pix (all were terrible - if anyone can recommend a mobile with camera which will not blur out the "white faces" at curtain calls I will be much obliged) :
Macmillan's ballets I take with a pinch of salt : they do not comply with my minority view that ballet should be self-explanatory through dance+mime and music only, that one shouldn't have to go to a pre-performance lecture and memorise the synopsis and keep the cast sheet in hand to be able to make out the story and connect with it. On this basis Mayerling fails on all counts, Manon is slightly more accessible, only Romeo&Juliet passes but this isn't original Macmillan ! Again, there are too many "mothers-in-law" in Manon too, maybe not as much as in Mayerling which will one day surely get surtitles setting out where in the storyline one is and who Rudolf is dancing with (tbc)
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On 4/11/2018 at 11:31 PM, Quinten said:
fouettés can be an unwelcome distraction when anxiety over whether the dancer will perform them well intrudes on our enjoyment
Indeed !
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5 hours ago, Gnossie said:
but she's been on one side of the stage and Dupont in the other.
Wasn't it Bessy who said in an interview at the time of Dupont's farewell that at ballet school she was "lazy and sloppy" ??
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4 hours ago, Gnossie said:
It should be punished by law to destroy such a beautiful ballet!
Nureyev and Grigarovich had the good judgement (imho) to know where to stop, but once again "chacun a son gout".
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16 minutes ago, Gnossie said:
I so disagree with you in this particular case, Bayaderka isn't Bayaderka without Act 4, that's where the real stuff is!, Bayaderka is my favorite ballet
It's my favourite ballet too, minus the 4th Act
. I really could see all performances of a 4 day run at the Bolshoy. If you will excuse me for saying so, Nikiya chasing Gamzatti around in the Makarova staging (hope I remember correctly, has been some time) is a farce.
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11 minutes ago, Gnossie said:
the full Fourth Act with the Temple destruction saw the light. The temple destruction is on Youtube.
If I may be allowed to express an opinion : I attach as much importance to the drama, if not more, as to the execution. Imho the fourth act of Bayaderka is an anti-climax and spoils the preceding drama. The drama ends when Nikiya dies, and the third act is a "vision" where the "descent" is so effective and emotional that the variations (in effect divertissements) are tolerable. The fourth act is totally superfluous (imho). It's akin to a third act being added to Giselle, where the second act stands on the intense drama of the first.
(Fleurdelis you disappear and reappear like Odile in Burmeister's Leb. Ozero !)
Maria Kochetkova leaving San Francisco Ballet
in Ballet News & Issues
Posted
I sure hope so, but I think there is real chemistry between Danilo and Yana - I had touched on this previously, posting some videos from galas they appeared in.