Helene

The Whim W'him blog currently features a multi-part series about founder Olivier Wevers. The current post in an ongoing series describes why he left Belgium and how he got from Europe to Pittsburgh to Columbia City Ballet to Royal Winnipeg Ballet to Pacific Northwest Ballet: http://www.whimwhim.org/blog/taking-flight-olivier-wevers-2/

NYCB just tweeted: Someone asked if subscribers would get early access, and NYCB replied:

I don't know how common this is, but one of the reasons that singers have said they love coming to Seattle is that the volunteer corps here is so strong. At least for the Ring, volunteers pick performers up from the airport and drive them around when needed. People put them up in pretty nice-sounding houses and lend them cars and the house piano. The Ring in the summer, with its long rehearsal period, is often the stuff of a family vacation. I remember seeing a photo of Stephen Milling with his first son when he was very young from a hike in the mountains during a day off. I assume, though, that the singers pay their own airfare, unless there's an in-kind arrangement with one of the carriers. (Alaska is headquarted in Seattle.) I was thinking that I haven't seen much from Brett Polegato's Twitter lately: he often rates the books he's reading, and he often describes the woes of air travel and public transportation. Then today there was, https://twitter.com/BrettPolegato/status/498591694892179457 Speight Jenkins has retired and the singers are on their way to their next stop. (We don't have a really good weeping smilie to insert here.)

This post extends thoughts from a conversation I had with a dance critic earlier in the week. What do and what should people expect from a program like this? The content, choreographers, and intent were listed in a press release (picked up by different newspapers) and in several preview articles before the show. Three works were commissioned, and one was said up front to be an extension of two pieces Naharin already made, and there are YouTube videos with at least excerpts of both of these works, as well as a long video of other works by Naharin. There are also excerpts of work by Pita and Cherkaoui. I'm not sure if the latter choreographed for Guillem, but his work was presented on the same program at least once. While I don't think there's a requirement to spend a lot of time researching the choreographers -- even watching a bunch of Naharin gives me only a general sense of his Gaga technique, but none of specifics, let alone the subtleties; given a chance to see the program, it's possible I'd have been better off seeing it cold -- there was a lot of up-front information to set expectations that this wasn't going to be a program of classical works. It makes sense to me that the choreographers would either leverage existing works or make work in a similar vein to their existing work, as that's presumably what Osipova and Vasiliev would have seen and to which they would have been attracted. Naharin studied at SAB and Juilliard, and although took a different path, he has a firm understanding of classical technique. (He's old enough to have studied with the Russian faculty at SAB.) Cherkaoui has made work for companies ranging from Cedar to Royal Danish Ballet. My expectation that both would know how ballet dancers work and which of their works might be most appropriate. Even if Osipova and Vasiliev spent ten days with Batsheva Dance Company to immerse themselves in Naharin's Gaga technique, they obviously wouldn't be up-to-speed in that period of time. They are busy and aren't like Guillem or Baryshnikov -- and now Whelan -- who are/were trying to learn other movement styles after or at the end of their ballet careers. Baryshnikov may have been the big draw for White Oak Project, but whether he was dancing with geniuses of movement like Mark Morris and Rob Besserer -- he did a trio with those two -- or the lesser-known dancers, they all were much more idiomatic and drew my eye more compellingly, unless I wanted to concentrate deliberately on a great artist try gamely to learn something new. Guillem spends a lot of time collaborating with choreographers and trying to learn new styles and techniques in an in-depth collaborative way, and both she and Whelan are used to having many choreographers create works/sections of works on them and the various ways in which the process can work. Vasiliev and Osipova don't have the time to do that and they don't have decades of experience in the studio that way. I didn't see the show, but if I did and didn't like it, I'd have to distinguish whether this was because the dancers couldn't do it justice, or whether the work was musically, thematically, and/or structurally below par. However, even if the experiment failed, these aren't vanity choreographers -- they are well-respected in their genres/microstyles -- and I really couldn't reasonably expect to see more than two extremely talented dancers give the new styles their best shot. (Whether going there was advised is another story, but if I were anywhere near where they were performing, I'd have to vote on that with my wallet.) I understand why critics -- and especially why critics from London, where (especially) Cherkaoui's work is widely known -- could be positive about the program -- but I'm not clear on why audiences in London and California disagree.

Vacation.

Some of the most wonderful things of the night happened before the competition started. Seattle Opera had its share of issues with Wagner tubas over the years. In this news item from local NPR station KUOW, Principal horn Jeff Fair describes the woes of instruments owned and rented. Through contacts in San Francisco, Fair was able to test drive Wagner tubas made by the Andreas Jungwirth shop in Austria. Jeff and Martha Sherman donated four of them with inscriptions to Speight Jenkins in his honor. With several of the prizes already in his honor -- the Wagner and More for audience participation, and at least one of the main prizes -- there was another surprise in the works. After four players played the Valhalla leitmotiv on the new horns, new General Director Aidan Lang made an announcement: the Opera had commissioned the aptly named "Amelia" composer, Daron Hagen, to compose a special theme for Jenkins on those horns. The musicians then played the "Speight motif." Here's a list of the pieces sung: Part 1: Marcy Stonikas: "Dich, teure Halle" ("Tannhauser") Kevin Ray: "Wintersturme" ("Die Walkure") Tamara Mancini: Isolde's Narrative and Curse ("Tristan und Isolde") Ric Furman: "Ein Schwert verhiess mir der Vater" ("Die Walkure") Helena Dix: "Der Manner Sippe" ("Die Walkure") David Danhold: "Nur eine Waffe taugt" ("Parsifal") Suzanne Hendrix: "Geliebter, komm" ("Tannhauser") Issachah Savage: "Amfortas! Die Wunde" ("Parsifal") Roman Ialcic: "Abendlich strahlt der Sonne Auge" ("Das Rheingold") Part 2: Tamara Mancini: "Gerechter Gott" ("Rienzi") Ric Furman: "In fernem Land" ("Lohengrin") Marcy Stonikas: Senta's Ballad ("Der fliegende Hollander") Issachah Savage: "Mein lieber Schwan" (Lohengrin) Suzanne Hendrix: "Weiche, Wotan" ("Das Rheingold") David Danholt: Prize Song ("Die Meistersinger von Nurnburg") Roman Ialcic: Hagen's Watch ("Die Gotterdammerung") Kevin Ray "Siegmund heiss' ich" ("Die Walkure") Helena Dix: Liebestod ("Tristan und Isolde")

I don't think the instruction to focus on potential was any different, but the emphasis on those who would likely go on to Wagner careers may have been. As soon as he said it, I thought of Elza van den Heever, who was the co-winner in 2008, and whose career has focused on music other than Wagner, although the program says "She will reprise the role of Elsa in Lohengrin at Zurich Opera next year," which means she has some some Wagner. I then thought that may have eliminated Stonikas, who has sung major roles with Seattle Opera and elsewhere, but not Wagner roles. (She'll sing in "Ariadne auf Naxos" next season.) Similarly Furman, who did sing Froh in the 2013 Ring. I went back to the program to look at the Wagner connections: Danholt has sung in early Wagner ("Das Liebesverbot" and "Die Feen") as well as smaller tenor roles in other Wagner operas, and he was a finalist in last year's Wagner Society of England Competition. Savage hasn't had that much stage experience in Wagner, but he's covering Siegmund for Canadian Opera Company and has earned grants from three different Wagner societies. (He'll make his Met Opera debut in "Ernani," if there is a Met Opera season by then. I can't wait to hear him on Sirius). Helena Dix has received career support for Wagner. (Her "Liebestod" was lovely and her Isolde was a young woman, which doesn't always come across from singers who have to have voices that can still sing it after midnight, a long Act I, and a very tough Act II.) Mancini and Suzanne Hendrix were Valkyries in the 2013 Ring. Hendrix, whose done other Valkyries and small Wagner roles, is one of the three singers who could sing in the outdoor arena in Verona -- Savage and Stonikas were the others -- with her huge mezzo. (I would love to know what the judges thought of her.) She had a lot of stage presence in "Geliebter, komm" from "Tannhauser," even before opening her mouth. (My Flamenco teachers would have loved her.) Roman Ialcic covered Faffner and Hunding in the Ring. I wish I could have heard him; although I prefer him to a number of Hagens I've heard in the past, his voice seemed a little light for the role. Unfortunately, Faffner and Hunding aren't easily excerptable. Since he announced this before the prizes, until then I had thought the two winners would be Savage, who had a wonderful Heldentenor sound, and Stonikas, who chose from two of Wagner's earlier operas where he was still writing arias; she opened the competition with "Dich, teure Halle" from "Tannhauser" and sang Senta's Ballad from "Der fliegende Hollander" in the second half. (A challenge with Wagner is that much of his music isn't a stand-alone, and even the scenes where the character is alone, like in Isolde's Narrative and Curse, doing a monologue, it doesn't quite feel complete, unlike the "Liebestod.") I had voted for Danholt for the audience prize, because I thought he wouldn't get one of the top prizes. He wasn't on the original list -- usually there are eight and two alternates -- and if he was added at the last minute, the other contestants must be ruing that decision. $25K is not chump change. Danholt is a wonderfully elegant singer. His voice doesn't have the Heldentenor heft that Savage's does, but he's a reminder of how much Wagner admired Bellini, and his phrasing was gorgeous. I wasn't sure his voice would be considered strong enough, because although I thought his and Savage's starkly contrasting excepts from "Parsifal" were the highlights of the first half, his voice didn't quite ring through the orchestra in the Prize Song in the second. (The judges were the equivalent of eight rows behind me, and they would have heard almost the same thing.) As much as I liked new-to-Seattle conductor Sebastian Lang-Lessing, I missed the expert way in which Asher Fisch adjusted the orchestra subtly to make the voices in front of him shine through. Of course, Lang-Lessing did not have the rehearsal time with the singers that Fisch did for a Ring, nor did he know them from experience, but I got the impression of a pre-determined approach from Lang-Lessing in the more dramatic pieces in the Competition: while he was a sensitive accompanist to Danholt's "Nur eine Waffe taugt," he had a tendency to let the orchestra run elsewhere. Issachah Savage reprised "Mein lieber Schwan" from "Lohengrin," his second piece in the Competition, for the Speight Jenkins Celebration. I was so glad Tamara Mancini sang "Gerechter Gott" from "Rienzi." While I wouldn't want to hear the whole thing in one sitting, the first part showed the bel canto influence on Wagner's work. The second part sounded more lyrical Teutonic.

The last time I saw Dance Theatre of Harlem and Royal Ballet of Flanders do "Apollo," it was the longer version. PNB did it as well when Francia Russell staged it, which was until the last time the company performed it a couple of years ago, when Peter Boal staged the later, shorter version he danced with NYCB. When I get home I'll check which version Ballet Arizona and San Francisco Ballet performed. Edited to add: Ballet Arizona did the full version that Ib Andersen, who did the staging in 2009, would have danced before Balanchine changed it while working with Baryshnikov. The San Francisco Ballet production in 2004, which was staged by Jacques d'Amboise "assisted by Sandra Jennings" also has Leto and the Nymphs, but they are listed as "Mother" and "Handmaidens." The Balanchine Catalogue (print edition) lists the characters as "Leto, Mother of Apollo" and "2 Goddesses."

Did they come again? I saw them at BAM, I'm quite sure in the '80's, but definitely when I lived in NYC, which was last in 1994. They also did a classical piece. I'll check when I get home.

Please don't stop: ballet on China is part of ballet history, but less known to us because there have been far fewer tours, and not the wealth of DVD's, YouTube clips, and HD broadcasts that there have been from the Russian companies. Some of the Soviet ballets have been overtly political, while others have been influenced by the political powers, like happy endings for "Swan Lake."

It's first intermission at the Seattle Opera International Wagner Competition, Third Edition. Nine contestants. Crazy good singing. I'm really glad I'm not a judge. The audience gets to vote for the Audience Prize, and I don't think they'll let me rip my ballot into pieces.

This is a discussion board. Members can express their opinions, as long as our posting rules are followed. If anyone has a problem with a post, click the "Report" button by the post, and we will review it to see if it violates any site rules. Do not discuss the discussion.

Petipa created male solos that were not danced by the hero, but by a surrogate of sorts in some of his ballets. Also, Petipa did choreograph male solos: in two of Doug Fullington's presentations, a dancer demonstrated Prince Florimund's Wedding PDD variation from the notations, and it looked a lot more similar to Bournonville in style than the big sweeping variations we see today. Also Doug noted that in at least one case, the male dancing toward the end of Peitpa's life had already changed the variation to what we would think of as a more modern "after Petipa" style. (It may have been Gorsky.)

Best of luck to you and your family!

Ian Poulis, who danced with Ballet Internationale, BalletMet, Ballet Arizona, Louisville Ballet, and Kansas City Ballet, and who taught during his dancing career, has been named Artistic Director of Peoria Ballet. http://thecommunityword.com/online/cwnotes/2014/08/06/peoria-ballet-welcomes-new-artistic-director-classes-resume/ I was lucky to have seen him in Phoenix with Ballet Arizona. I still remember his extraordinary performance as the Death figure in La Valse opposite Natalia Magnicaballi. Congratulations to him

Is the ticket to see Stepanova on Monday cheaper than the ticket to see Lopatkina on Wednesday? Are the audiences who see Stepanova expected to see less than they'll see from Lopatkina for their GBP? If a company presents two or five ballerinas on tour, and all other things are equal -- no one is injured or dancing a last-minute back-to-back performance -- then audiences who see the entire performances in the same run have every right to compare them, even if one just graduated from the Academy and the other is a Prima. That works both ways.

Just so I understand, a comparison of dancers is now a contest between the way they handle one specific detail of the choreography in one performance?

It is a one-off performance, this Thursday. However, the descriptive text says, Now it's seven dancers, including Renko and Generosa. I'm sure this was accurate at the time it was written, but anyone reading it and using it as background material might assume it was the most current info.

[Admin beanie on] Official sources only. Details are in the Rules thread. One commonality is that all officially sourced news is public-facing. Only Editorial Advisors are exempt. [Admin beanie off]

The Robbins documentary narration says that he donated his royalties from "Fiddler on the Roof" to the NYPB to support the dance archives.

According to the website, the Henry J. Leir Stage is "new" or "newly rebult." From the slide show on the "Your Visit" page, it looks like a high raised outdoor stage with audience on one side and the mountains on the other, and it looks big enough for "State of Darkness". If my memory isn't playing tricks, there are also low, slightly raised outdoor smaller platforms where the audience is a lot closer, but also not much real estate. I wish the text was updated, since two more PNB dancers have performed the role this spring, Matthew Renko and Angelica Generosa, both of whom were brilliant. I understand why the brochure couldn't be updated to reflect the change in rep -- "Brief Fling" was scheduled originally -- but the pixels could be.