Herman Stevens

Last night I was at a The Hague (home of NDT) performance of La Bayadère, and clearly Ine Rietstap's show must have been on a much kinder gentler planet than mine. The corps was far from "exemplary". I'm not a stickler for everybody being 100% in line, but there comes a point when even my eyes can't gloss over a badly uneven ensemble. At some point I wished Solor would've handed me the opium pipe. It must have been a very bad night. I talked to Denvers during a break, the artistic director (he and Sunal do make a gorgeous couple!), and he said six soloists were down with injuries. Last minute changes can affect the entire company performance. Still I can't help but wonder how they got those injuries. Apart from a Solor variation or two (Howard Quintero) most of the dancing was taken in a rather unchallenging way. First I thought the legs didn't go up much because of some notion of stylistic accuracy. But gradually I got the feeling the dancers just weren't pushing themselves. They're apparently used to audiences who'll accept this anyway. You will be pleased, Viviane, our Nikiya was Aki Saito. However I was not impressed. She was fine, in that she made no mistakes, and in the Shades act things started revving up a bit. However in the 2nd Act pointy-finger dance at the engagement ceremony Nothing Happened. So based on my memory Saito really doesn't top Sunal. I'm truly sorry to be so harsh (that's why I don't write reviews, profesionally) but in Amsterdam this risk-avoiding dancing of Saito's would not have gotten her beyond demi-soloist (Grand Sujet) rank. And even then it wasn't like we were looking at an good company with the upper half of the troupe lopped off. When you're dancing Petipa a good show starts from the corps, rather than from the top. Just a question. Does the Flanders never ever dance with an orchestra? I mean, added to the constant touring that could be part of the problem too. Dancing to canned music is a rather dispiriting affair, because you can't go anywhere without parting from the music. Denvers told me they'll doing a Giselle next year, hopefully they'll be in better shape then. (Though again, you'd have to wonder, if that's going to be Denvers' and Sunal's last season.) Herman

Yesterday was the opening night for the Dutch Nat B's Balanchine Centenary program. Theme and Variations was beautifully danced by Larissa Lezhnina, who is obviously the best for this kind of material. She was partnered by Tamas Nagy, who seemed a little hampered by some kind of injury. Agon should be getting better yet with tonight's and Sunday's performance. It was a thrill to see the lovely Igone de Jongh between Gael Lambiotte (wonderful jumps!) and Boris de Leeuw (Igone's partner in the pdd). De Jongh was replacing Anna Seidl at short notice ntw. Who cares?. Great rôle for Altin Kaftira, who partnered Igone de Jongh in the The Man I Love pdd. Am I the only one who feels in this pdd the music just doesn't hold up the choreography? Great party afterwards. The schedule had been pretty tight, I believe, and so there's that relief of having come through.

Of course ABEBooks ships internationally. I use them all the time, and it's one of the best ways to get hold of those lovely luscious books from way back when the ballet boom was booming.

That is definitely not the way it works in France. I suspect that would encourage the guys in charge to do more Bausch.

Robert Gottlieb is rather ecstatic about this program in the Observer, too. I wonder how it feels, if you're Annmarie Mazzini, and your name has become inextricably linked to the phrase "who everybody adores."

I was thinking the same thing

Not as far as I'm concerned. Just looks-wise I prefer the rounder body type. Since it's (probably) more a visual thing than a weight matter, it doesn't affect one's mobility and litheness anyway. But perhaps I'm just a ballet buff from nineteenth C, since I rather like dancers with small feet, too. :rolleyes:

Oh, Lezhnina is definitely quite blonde, but there are a number of things that prevent her head just becoming a pale blob above the shoulders, as happens to some blondes (as explained by Mel and Victoria above). In the Kirov company she was not considered good for some roles because her head is unclassically big and a tad squarish (proportionally of course). With those delicate yet wide cheek bones it really presents a good "front" to the lights. And she's got those big blue doll's eyes and that radiant smile that really animate the face down to the last seat in the house. So I think the crucial issue is not really blonde or brunette, but whether you have big facial features to project expression across the lights. The NYCB's Tracy girls for instance are definitely brunette, but they do look rather unexpressive because their features are so small. This topic reminds me of another lights vs fysique thing. Some dancers seem to gain weight under the lights, some don't. When you meet them backstage they are just as skinny as the rest of them, but the lights make them look kind of rounder. I suspect it's caused by having a round rib cage (as opposed to a flat one), which reflects the light differently.

That is one beautiful post, Alexandra, the one about sitting down at the poets' table. I have to confess I too still have that Vanity Fair piece of Gottlieb's, and I always check the Observer for his stuff. It can be a problem, these old-timer critics. Some just go sour, some don't. In fact that's the difference between good and bad critics. There are ways, incidentally, people in companies can help prevent critics from going sour on them just because they are getting old. Just having a friendly chat occasionally really helps. And brilliant dancing of course is even a better idea. It's useful, btw, to occasionally check books like Croce's, as another form of critical memory. You'll find that even in one of the golden eras of the NYCB critics were saying the company was going downhill. :rolleyes: The Washington Post Peter Martins interview is a deeply unflattering piece. Of course Martins is a busy man, and too busy to coach Apollo or whatever to backwater European dancers. But to his own company dancers? I believe Farrell et al made it pretty clear they were never too busy to hand on the Balanchine tradition.

Our American friends won't understand what we're yakking about (just a hundred miles or so) but I'm completely baffled myself. A hundred miles on the incredibly dense and cjammed Dutch road system equals three hundred US miles, after all. And it's not like I've ever heard ecstatic stories about the stage floor in Groningen... And it's not just us who have to go there, but hundreds of orchestra members, dancers and crew. Where are the Groningers going to go? The Hague would have been a fitting location to my mind, a city with a beachfront and a former, late 19th C casino, with the art show in the pretty, contemporary City Museum. However, Groningen is where the Diaghilev Festival is going to occur.

I'm not really sure where to post this, but I just got a press release about a Diaghilev Festival in the last week of January 2005 in the northern Dutch town called Groningen. The Diaghilev Festival will feature the Maryinksy Ballet and Orchestra, the Royal Ballet, the Dutch National Ballet and the Concertgebouw Orchestra. The Festival is in conjunction with a big show in the Groninger Museum with lots of works by artists surrounding Sergei Diaghilev. Most likely the participating ballet companies will do their contributions to the program at other locations too. (My experience is when Gergiev graces a town with a special Festival, usually two other countries are graced with the same material - and why not?) In the preceding month, December 2004, the Dutch National B will do a Diaghilev program in their holiday season. I had already heard a whisper of a rumor that my prayers for a revived Les Sylphides might be honored. And I have a sneaking suspicion Petrushka or the Firebird will be presented, too, in the December show.

Hi Marjolein, Viviane and Marc will hopefully forgive me if I say there is only one way of finding out if the Bayadère is worth your time and money, and that's by going yourself. Who knows? Maybe you'll love it just like you did Nutcracker. And if you do, don't forget to post. I'm going in three weeks sharp. Herman

how about this? I thought I'd treat you to a quote from today's Bayadère review in the NRC Handelsblad (more or less the paper of record in Holland). After some remarks on the set and the awkward dresses it concludes: "What makes this production successful [de kracht van deze voorstelling ligt in] is the dancers' high level [kwaliteit] and spontaneity. If you're looking for the pure beauty of classical dance there's a lot to enjoy in the exemplary corps and in ballerina Aysem Sunal, who gives the deceived Nikia stirring nobility, poetry and passion." I should note the review is by Ine Rietstap (a dancer from the fifties) who cannot mention the DNB's Larissa Lezhnina without using the words "robotic smile". Herman

Fonteyn did dance Les Sylphides in the early sixties, if that's what your asking. I know because my mother saw her in that run (she's six years youngerthan MF). As it happens we talked about it recently and she got all teary talking about the moment in the 'prelude' bit (in the middle) when the dancer stands with her back towards the audience. Even Fonteyn's back was extraordinarily expressive. Is MF dancing the same part in the video? Herman

Isn't it fun? we're probably putting more thought into this than the reviewer did when he wrote the piece. Perhaps this wasn't Dunning's concluding sentence, and the piece was cut at the bottom, as is usual in newspapers. However, I think it makes sense to look a the previous sentence, which says the De Luz Bluebird wasn't a complete success. The funny things of the Bluebird pdd is, of course, it's one of the few times in classical ballet the man outshines the girl. And in this case, perhaps, Fairchild's talents were wasted (according to Dunning) in that she had to play second fiddle to a not entirely confident De Luz. Herman

I will tell you, Viviane and Marc, in March! So may I ask what you thought of Sofiane's Aurora, Viviane? Perhaps we should go to the DNB room, but I thought her Act I was simply astounding (I saw it three times in a row). It was Beauty and Beast in one, emphasizing Aurora's birthday girl audacity. Sofiane may have wanted to show Amsterdam one last time what they are going to miss for quite a bunch of years. I would love to hear how you felt about it. Marc, I think it's perfectly OK to be not quite the Kirov (if only for not having trilions of principals) and yet be a wonderful company, like the DNB. I love 'em. On the other hand I think the Flanders Ballet, which is a notch down anyway, isn't helped by having to tour the relentless way they do (with a limited number of good dancers). Herman

I checked one of the old program bookies, from Eagling's time, and you may be right, Alexandra. There is no English text, but the Dutch one comes close to saying the DNB is "on the same level as the Kirov, RB, POB and NYCB". I think that's pushing it. The current DNB can dance stellar nights in row. (I have seen the Kirov on an off night.) Technically all dancers are vastly more assured than they were in seventies when they visited NYC. Actually Hans van Manen went on the record on the occasion of the revival of his Schumann Pieces saying Gael Lambiotte and Boris de Leeuw dance roles Nureyev and Dowell used to dance and the younger dancers do it with much more ease and poise. However I'm not sure DNB has the depth of principals the companies above have. Also big stage personalities is not something that comes naturally in Amsterdam. I think DNB should make a Van Manen program and do a tour of the East Coast. Schumann Pieces, Five Tangos, Three Pieces for HET. You'd see these are great dancers. BTW, after all the adverse notices on this thread I think I should give the Flanders guys a chance and check out the Bayadère. Herman

Sorry, Alexandra, perhaps the wording has been changed, but the way the Dutch NB defines itself as an international company is by pointing out it has dancers "who either come from or are regular guests with" companies like the Kirov, the Royal Ballet, San Fran and NYCB. (No doubt my wife would like me to point out that there's a pretty neato group of Spanish dancers, too, in the DNB - she's from Spain herself.) The traffic goes the other way around, too. Sofiane Sylve was at the DNB for eight or more years, and now she's at the NYCB. There's a couple of DNB dancers who moved to the Royal Ballet, too, the past two years. A thing that's very important to me, too, apart from the quality of the dancers and the esprit de corps is the theatre and the orchestra. I.e. perhaps a company can tour too much. DNB has a good solid home base in the Music Theatre - the rehearsal studios are in the same structure as the stage, and its own orchestra. No tapes or pick-up orchestras. (I've never seen the Flanders Ballet with an orchestra...) Ultimately the question whether a company has international status depends not just on whether they travel, but whether people are willing to travel to come and see (as in the case of the Paris Opéra). Why don't you come on over to Amsterdam, Alexandra, for the Balanchine program (it's too late for Van Manen's lovely Schumann Pieces by now)? I'd be happy to buy you a nice dinner. Herman

I don't think the Dutch National Ballet would be terribly eager for this nonsense plan. Re. Keersemaeker etc being "the world's envy": Modern Dance companies do "travel" better than mid-tier Ballet companies (plus they travel a hell of a lot lighter, usually). In Holland the N Dance Theater has visited NYC etc successfully; they are an excellent group and they have original material. However it wouldn't be very worthwhile for the Dutch National Ballet to visit NYC and dance Swan Lake or a Balanchine program, or bring Giselle to Paris. You need to bring something new to the party. If they could do a Van Manen program and some Krystof Pastor, it would be a different story... The jeremiads above remind me of a remark I overheard last Fall. The program had featured the one-act Paquita and a (IMO) depressing premiere by a young choreograph. However someone behind me said he'd liked the new piece best, because in modern stuff he didn't have to worry about dancers being absolutely synchronous. Suddenly I understood why the modern piece always gets the ovations. :shrug:

"One Slight Problem" That's very funny, Michael. Unfortunately I don't know how the Kiss Scene is in Martins' production. In the Peter Wright production (Royal Ballet + Dutch National) it's very hard not to laugh when the Prince Dufus at last spots Aurora in her bower. So he runs like a beagle, only to return to Lilac, miming "But you didn’t tell me she was asleep! It's too late!" "Why don't you think of something?" she mimes, pointing at her head. "Think? Why?" he says. And only then it dawns upon him this is the Girl He's Supposed to Kiss. This reminds me, btw, of a hilarious X-rated version of this entire scene, as told to me by a Kirov Aurora. Let's just say the four cavaliers got there first. Herman

Ballet Terrorist Most likely a security detail is on its way to take out Mel now. However they will have to work with maps provided by the CIA or FBI, so it might take a couple of weeks...

Just kidding, Alexandra, but I could well imagine the cross-word orchestra members would retort it's bad decorum to peek into the pit while the show is on. Whom I really pity are the rehearsal pianists. Last Fall I attended a bunch of Swan Lake rehearsals in Amsterdam. As I recall corps rehearsals started two months in advance (it was the first time in four years or more). At first the pianists looked pretty pleased at playing these gorgeous tunes, but in the last week I saw one of them looking at his hands as if he was totally ready to strangle Pjotr should he by any chance enter the studio... Probably no one thinks at age 13 "I wanna be second violin in a ballet orchestra when I grow up." In Amsterdam the orchestra gets a few symphonic outings during the off-season to keep the happy juices flowing. However the really scary news in the Terry Teachout link above is IMO that T.T. is working on "a brief biography" of Mr B. Is it just my suspicious mind that's telling me the word "brief" means no original research will be done for this book? What we really need is a good, big, thoroughly researched new generation biography, rather than a quicky to preempt the market. I'm rather suprised no such book was launched for the Centenary - or am I missing something? Herman

Hi, I'm breathing some brief life into this old thread just to say I'm a total sucker for Les Sylphides. Recently I purchased the ABT dvd mentioned above, and I just have to keep myself from watching it twice a day. Even the music is fascinating. Who ever thought of turning the rather cynical A flat Nocturne into a dreamy prelude? And the orchestration of the C# minor Waltz is just so wonderful. One of the reasons I got the Barysh dvd is I have kind of given up on seeing this piece ever again. Ages ago, when I was a kid, me and my mother (who used to run a school) saw a Sylphides and that was it, apparently. I saw La Sylphide recently (great part for Larissa Lezhnina), I saw Robbins' The Concerto - so the inspiration and the satirical commentary seem to be in circulation. No Fokine, however. Perhaps Les Sylphides is out of fashion* not just because it's very hard to do right, while it looks easy, but also because it's impossible to pin down what it is about? To me that's perhaps the biggest fascination of all. It's completely elusive. In fact one might say that's what it's about. Herman *There is very little talk about it on these boards, too.

So we're talking hair extensions? Not that there's anything wrong with that. (Thanks, Perky and Carbro.)

Thanks, Marc, for your response. I guess I really haven't seen the Flanders Ballet often enough. Don't hesitate, however, to mention some names of those matinee dancers you (or others) so prefer over Sunal. And, if the he and she Denvers are leaving, shouldn't this then mean that you'd get to see more of the dancers you like? Perhaps there's some good coming with the bad... Herman