Brendan McCarthy

Let me reassure Mel that there isn't a missing word. It was a 'tic' on the PR person's email. I should have deleted it and apologise for not doing so.

I disagree. I do not believe that ballet is somehow exempt from the conditions that govern the emergence of creativity in other areas of life. Dancers are taught, by and large, to execute movement with great precision. They are not taught, in the main, to be playful with ideas. If you do not acquire this playfulness when young, it is rather unlikely that you will acquire it later. Most of the directors at Snape accepted that the art has a crisis of creativity and that it is heavily reliant on a relatively narrow rep. When I was a producer with the BBC, one of the organisation's senior managers told me after a visit to 3M that she was astonished to find that a commercial organisation should be thinking more systematically about its creativity, than was one of the most important broadcasting organisations in the world. There is a well-sourced body of evidence for the conditions that support the emergence of creativity. All I was attempting to do in my earlier postings was to draw some attention to this. Indeed the organisers of the ballet summit were themselves open to the possibilities of learning from others' experiences. A former professor from the London Business School was among the few outsiders to be at the conference all weekend. By all accounts, the artistic directors found his interventions immensely helpful.

Alexandra, I did not mean to imply that the language of ballet was somehow inferior to that of contemporary dance. I simply do not believe that. However it is the case in the other arts, and in business, that in heavily prescriptive cultures, characterised by unyielding discipline, lack of independence of thought, and a punitive attitude to failure, you simply do not have creativity. Perhaps the heart of the discussion is this: that cultures that are very functional in terms of the disciplined reproduction of the master-works may not be very good for choreographers. Ballet choreographers have to grow through and emerge from the ballet system. But that system may be problematic for creativity. In music, creative and interpretative artists have quite different formations. Might there be a case for something of this in ballet?

I think there is one issue emerging from all of this that does bear further discussion: that the highly determined nature of ballet training tends to work against creativity. A culture reinforcing the discipline that means a corps of 32 swans moves in absolute synchronicity may not be a culture in which new ideas and new ways of doing things can flourish. Are there ways of managing companies that reconcile the (conflicting?) demands of classical aesthetics with those of creativity?

I think that is right Alexandra. Speaking to a number of the directors afterwards, I had the impression that they primarily drew solace from discovering that they had problems in common. I am not sure that they came to startling conclusions about ballet and its future. It is ever thus with end of conference communiques. When politicians meet, their officials have often drafted the final statement before the event. That said, it seems to have been a very meaningful event for those who attended. One director to whom I spoke this lunchtime said that he had gone to Snape expecting a clash of egos. It was very far from that, he said, but an honest sharing of problems in the knowledge that what was said would remain within the confidence of the meeting. Another participant told me today that it was the young directors present, who were most realistic about ballet's problems and about the extent of the creativity deficit that needed to be made good if audiences were to continue to be engaged.

This was the final communique: BALLET DIRECTORS WILL FORM INTERNATIONAL NETWORK FOLLOWING THREE DAY TANK HOSTED BY DANCE EAST The largest ever gathering of heads of international ballet companies concluded a three-day think tank in Suffolk this weekend (January 10-12), hosted by Dance East, with a commitment to form an international network of Artistic Directors to address issues of rights and royalties, creativity and risk-taking and corporate governance. Twenty-five Directors attended the retreat, representing fifteen countries and all scales of ballet company and individual experience. Five Directors have been in post for only a few months while others have been directing for up to 16 years. The directors identified the importance of on-going communication, open exchange and mutual support to help them fulfil their role as custodians of the art form. Every company director present confirmed a commitment to: . producing conditions conducing to the creativity which is at the heart of the art form; . including new work as part of an individual and distinctive balance of repertoire. They recognised that new work was vital for dancers and audiences. The following statement reflects the nature of the debate: "We recognise the impact of artistic, social, economic, technological and political change and the implications of these changes for the future of the art form. "It is clear to us that nothing happens in our art form except through the collaborative effort of many people and that ballet companies represent an international community of individuals working towards the same goal." The Directors agreed that certain issues were of concern to all companies represented at the conference, and that these could most effectively be addressed through working together. To that end, an informal, international network of Artistic Directors was established. Major issues discussed during the weekend included: . The need to find better ways of ensuring access to the existing repertoire, including addressing issues of rights and royalties; . The imperative to take risks as a vital ingredient in a healthy and creative environment; . The need to find new ways of supporting successive generations of choreographers and artistic directors; . The social changes that require a wider range of ways of encouraging dancers to develop a clear understanding of their artistic and professional responsibilities; . The ways in which the support of the whole team underpins the organisation, and is critical to the effective operating and continued growth and development of the individual ballet company – and thus of the art form as a whole; . Making explicit the responsibilities and the concomitant rights of artistic directors within the context of corporate governance. These issues will be progressed through the contacts and working relationships established over the weekend. The next comprehensive meeting of Artistic Directors will take place in 2005. Artistic Directors who attended the Rural Retreat: Ballet into the 21st century are: Boris Akimov (Bolshoi Ballet) John Alleyne (Ballet British Columbia) Frank Andersen (Royal Danish Ballet) Reid Anderson (Stuttgart Ballet) Mark Baldwin (Rambert Dance Company) David Bintley (Birmingham Royal Ballet) Dinna Bjorn (Finnish National Ballet) Christopher Bruce (former Artistic Director, Rambert Dance Company) Ricardo Bustamente (Ballet de Santiago, Chile) Iracity Cardoso (Gulbenkian Ballet, Portugal) Didier Deschamps (Ballet de Lorraine, France) Wayne Eagling (Dutch National Ballet) Espen Giljane (Norwegian National Ballet) Kevin Irving (Goteburg Ballet) Marc Jonkers (former Artistic Director, National Ballet of Portugal) James Kudelka (National Ballet of Canada) Ivan Liska (Bayerisches Staatsballett, Munich) Monica Mason (The Royal Ballet, London) David McAllister (Australian Ballet) Kevin McKenzie (American Ballet Theatre) Mikko Nissinen (Boston Ballet) David Nixon (Northern Ballet Theatre) Madeline Onne (Royal Swedish Ballet) Ashley Page (Scottish Ballet) Matz Skoog (English National Ballet) The Rural Retreat was supported by the Arts Council of England, East England Arts, the Jerwood Foundation, the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation, Freed of London, Visiting Arts, the Embassy of Sweden, Canada Council for the Arts/Conseil des Arts du Canada, Canadian High Commission, the Swedish Embassy, the Royal Netherlands Embassy, the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Royal Opera House and Aldeburgh Productions.

A pleasure. Happy New Year Alexandra!

Sylvia is being revived for the RB Ashton season next year. There is a RB film record, and there are enough former dancers who remember the ballet.

The news was announced this afternoon. There will be inevitable speculation about the appointment of an assistant. Whoever it is will be a strong favourite to succeed Monica Mason when her term finishes.

I'm in two minds. Young audiences really liked ENB's Nutcracker. If you want to play safe, go for the Royal Ballet's traditional Nutcracker. But book quickly. You may find it easier to book for ENB - and, if you do, you'll probably find that the production has been smartened up greatly by the time it gets to London.

I think Lillian may have in mind English National Ballet's new production of Nutcracker, choreographed by Christopher Hampson and designed by the cartoonist Gerald Scarfe. The production opened last week in Bristol. It is fair to describe the opening reviews as very mixed. The production will almost certainly be reworked before it gets to London. I am certainly interested enough to go and see it and I believe it to be worth Lillian's while to take a chance on it. The Peter Wright Nutcracker for the Royal Ballet, should, as Lolly says, be seen. You may already have seen it on a BBC/Opus Arte DVD. There will be another non-traditional Nutcracker in London this Christmas - by Matthew Bourne (as in male Swan Lake), which Lillian may also want to think about. Some ENB Nutcracker reviews Jann Parry, The Observer Judith, Mackrell, The Guardian Ismene Brown, The Telegraph I should mention that Richard Jones, a regular contributor to balletalert, took some of his students to see ENB's Nutcracker. They were greatly entertained.

To European ears American orchestras often sound quite different to ours: a little less nuanced, perhaps more showy, certainly warmer. American dancers also seem different to our eyes – sassier, and with a ‘larger’ and more legible performance style. Danses Concertantes, the programme that a group of New York City Ballet principals and soloists brought to Sadler’s Wells last week, was the clearest demonstration imaginable that ballet is alive and relevant, and that a new generation of choreographers are busy charting its future. For London audiences, sated with the events of the week at the Royal Opera House, it came as glad reassurance. Christopher Wheeldon’s Polyphonia was being shown for the first time in London (it has already been seen at the Edinburgh Festival). It contrasted interestingly with his Tryst for the Royal Ballet this spring. Whereas Tryst is often dark, reflective and ambiguous, Polyphonia is altogether more playful and engaging. Wheeldon pays particular attention to lighting and there were obvious parallels in the lighting of both ballets. Polyphonia unfurls and closes in an almost filmic way. Its opening section, however, is difficult and seems overly intellectual and passionless. The work is still, so to speak, in the shade and the eye strains to spot symmetries. As the work develops, it becomes increasingly clear both that Wheeldon has a heart and that he has wit. Whereas an early duet for the leading couple, Whelan and Soto, is stylised and passionless, their final solo, in which they sinuously close in on each other, is mesmeric and an absolute coup. Polyphonia deserves all its superlatives and it should feature strongly in the various awards ceremonies at the end of the year. The other (and inevitable) great success of the night was Balanchine’s Duo Concertant danced by Yvonne Borree and Peter Boal. Its sophistication is undimmed and it completely recalls the time of its making. Staggered counterpoints, playful piques and seeming spontaneity take the breath away. It is well mannered and giddy at once, always returning to centre with grace. While it was deliciously danced, my afterimages are of the dancers standing at the piano, just listening. Sometimes it is not necessary to show the music. Benjamin Millepied’s Triple Duet was a premiere, with Alexandra Ansanelli and Craig Hall its first cast. It recalls Duo Concertant in that it is danced with the solo flautist on stage. Millepied closely annotated the music (Bach’s Partita in A minor BWV 1013), almost as if he were adding an underlying continuo. It was well made and not overly literal. Jerome Robbins’ In the Night opened the programme and was, to my mind, the least memorable piece of the evening, with its images overwhelmed by the works that followed. Three couples represent love as alternatively young and lyrical, mature and harmonious, stormy and passionate. The central duet for Jennie Somogyi and Peter Boal was, however, sumptuous. Boal is a most exceptional dancer in a company that is itself very exceptional. Danses Concertantes whetted the appetite for a full NYCB season in London.

The reason I suggested that the new season would be a fait accompli for a new director is that it is usually announced in March. I will be surprised if a new director has been chosen by then. Even if one is announced in January/February, I should have thought that the lead times were so long, that planning for the coming season will be 'locked in' by the time of an announcement. As it is, I suspect Monica Mason will have charge of the company for some considerable time. The Royal Ballet is well used to pro tem arrangements. It still awaits a music director to replace Andrea Quinn. An announcement was supposed to await the arrival of the Royal Opera House's new music director, Tony Pappano. It will now, presumably, be further delayed until a ballet director is in place.

Now that Monica Mason is the interim director of the Royal Ballet, there is speculation about what artistic choices she will make in the short term. The Royal Opera House's management will take its time about making a new appointment. Few candidates 'tick all the boxes'. While there are several candidates who have the appropriate artistic background, for the most part they lack management experience. After Stretton, the issue of proven managerial competence will rank very high in the search committee's minds. Monica Mason's roots in the Royal Ballet could scarcely be deeper. When Lincoln Kirstein spoke of ballet's "apostolic succession", he could almost have had her in mind. Last year I watched her teach the role of the Firebird to Mara Galeazzi. Mason had learnt the role from Fonteyn, who had in turn learnt it from Karsavina, the first Firebird. It was the most vivid demonstration imaginable of ballet tradition being handed across the generations. She takes over the Royal Ballet's direction during the commemorative year for Kenneth MacMillan. She was The Chosen One in his Rite of Spring. Later he asked her to be his special assistant. Her knowledge of his ballets is consummate and she remains one of his strongest advocates. She cannot have been altogether happy with the Royal Ballet's plans to commemorate Kenneth MacMillan, and, in particular, with Ross Stretton's declared view was that MacMillan's one-act works were not really suitable for the Royal Opera House's main stage. It is highly likely that she is investigating her options for an enhanced tribute which would include some of the one-act pieces. If the Royal Ballet's search committee acts as slowly and as deliberately as I think it will, It will probably fall to Monica Mason to make the decisions about the repertory for the year 2003-2004.

Here is BBC Radio 4 Front Row's interview with Sir Colin Southgate: John Wilson: We start with the news that the revolving door at the Royal Opera House, having been still for a couple of years, has started spinning again. Ross Stretton, the Australian choreographer (sic), brought into lead and modernise the Royal Ballet has quit just weeks after reports that his directorial style was upsetting dancers. In a written statement, Stretton says he 'wants to develop the future of ballet', but doesn't explain why he couldn't do that in Covent Garden. On this programme recently we reported that the contentious casting decisions by Stretton had led to calls from dancers for a vote of no confidence in their artistic director. A short while ago I asked the Royal Opera House Chairman, Sir Colin Southgate, for his version of events. Sir Colin Southgate: There's a lot of difference between a classical company and a non-classical company. I mean a lot of the ballet that we put on, which we're renowned for, as other ballet companies in the world are renowned for, are the classical productions that have been developed over the last thirty, forty, fifty years. But he knew what sort of company you were, when he joined? I suppose he did, but the answer to that is that he came here obviously with that knowledge but, you know, he thought he could move the thing beyond that at a faster pace, than he could. Therefore that's not really satisfactory... Just as he knew what sort of ballet company you were, you knew what sort of ballet choreographer (sic) he was? Absolutely true. We knew his background very well. We obviously investigated his background very well. Has he resigned, or has he been sacked? He's resigned. He hasn't been sacked? My understanding is that this isn't just about artistic issues? Really? The ballet world is full of gossip. It's not just gossip. As far as I am concerned, he has resigned and he has gone with good grace and from both sides. My understanding is that he had a volatile relationship, not only with the dancers, but with senior managers, sponsors and other people connected with the ballet. No. I don't think he had ---- if you don't think artistic people don't have volatile relationships, you had better check around a bit more. Everybody has some fairly hot relationships. That's what the artistic world is all about. It was no worse or better than anyone else. But it is true to say, isn't it, that several weeks ago the ballet dancers themselves were pressing for a vote of no confidence in him, and their union advised them against it. That is true isn't it? Yea - the ballet world always are pressing for different things. At the end of the season, they had been on a six week tour, they had been absolutely exhausted, they'd worked very hard and they were interested in a different method of scheduling, which, in fact, we have implemented and it has nothing whatsoever to do with Ross Stretton's departure. Was it a mistake to employ him? Was it a mistake? The people we interviewed in detail, he was definitely, in the opinion of the interview panel, a man with a lot of the right qualities. The ballet world does not actually, you know, produce managers automatically. The artistic world doesn't do that. You have to be therefore conscious that some of these things don't work out as well as you would like them to work out. You say it's with deep regret that you accept his resignation, but it must also be with deep regret that you employed him in the first place ? (Laughter) Well, I'm sure you will read into it what you would like, but as far as I'm concerned, the employment of Ross Stretton was handled carefully. We did everything we needed to do to check it out. And, you know, it's just one of those things that hasn't worked out. Just to get to the core of this issue? What is the main reason he has gone? I've just given you that. He has resigned, because he doesn't actually enjoy the mixture of the classical work with his objectives for taking ballet forward. So it's an artistic reason then? Artistic reasons - from his point of view. Sir Colin Southgate, Chairman of the Royal Opera House. I'm joined now by Ismene Brown, the dance critic for the Telegraph. This is a sudden departure, but not entirely unexpected is it? Ismene Brown: Not unexpected at all. This is an expected resignation and I think that it's been expected for the last couple of months. Really, the rumours of increasing dissatisfaction among the dancers, the heavy criticism, really, of Ross Stretton's artistic approach have really combined for it to make it impossible for him to stay on. He was quite clearly the wrong man for the job and I think Sir Colin Southgate and the board would be right to sound very sheepish. Because, when he was appointed, he was appointed precisely because he knew almost nothing about the company and they thought this would be valuable - a fresh eye from the outside world. What do you make of Sir Colin's point that his approach was wrong: that the Royal Ballet was almost too classical for him to handle? I don't buy that, I'm afraid. The thing is that Stretton was actually appointed on the grounds of being a moderniser. What has really gone wrong is that he hasn't proved a moderniser. He has actually shrunk the opportunities for new work in the company and vastly increased the runs of classics. He has also further reduced the runs of programmes, the Royal Ballet has been doing. Even under his predecessor, Sir Anthony Dowell, who was thought of as conservative, the number of programmes was 14 to 15 a year. This year there are just 10 and as they get nearly £10 million a year in subsidy, that represents a million pounds spent for every first night that you see. Now I think that a lot of people would say that wasn't particularly good value for money. Another problem, I think, is that Stretton himself didn't realise that he could have been a great deal more ambitious than he was. It isn't as if the Royal Ballet is a stagnant classical company with no repertory. The point is that there is a large repertory that it could draw from, that it hasn't done, and it is very adventurous repertory that Anthony Dowell had been neglecting. There is every good reason for bringing in ballets from outside. There has been recent calm at the Opera House, does this move signal new chaos? I think it does in that it has shown, above all, that the board proved itself quite inadequate at appointing the right person for the job. One has to hope that they look at themselves very very carefully because Ross Stretton's failure is their failure. It comes down to their doorstep. They have got to choose the next man right and it is absolutely essential in a ballet company - the fame of a ballet company is difficult to maintain; it is a delicate and fragical thing and the next person has to be chosen because he or she has to understand what matters inside the company, what makes it unique in the world, not try to turn it into a sort of internationalised all-purpose company the way Stretton did. Ismene Brown, thank you very much

The BBC website, which accompanies this series, is now up and running. It is rather handsome, to say the least of it, and contains quite a few video clips from the series, while also giving a fair impression of the science underlying the programme. The first programme is shown in the UK tonight. I would expect it in time to be shown internationally: it should 'travel well'.

Time Out NY offers its features online several weeks after publication. A month ago Gia Kourlas wrote about the Kirov's rehearsals for its recent performances of Balanchine's Jewels. "For the Kirov to add the ballet to its repertoire, the George Balanchine Trust, which oversees all productions by the late choreographer, chose four former NYCB dancers—Elyse Borne, Sean Lavery, Sara Leland and Karin von Aroldingen—to stage it in St. Petersburg. Perhaps that's why the director of the Ballet Company of the Mariinsky Theatre, Makhar Vaziev, doesn't find it intimidating to have the Kirov perform Jewels in NYCB's backyard. "We did not aim to copy the performing style of the New York City Ballet," he says. "This, in any case, is impossible. Our task was to reproduce George Balanchine's choreographic text as precisely as possible, though the intonation with which we pronounce this text will, naturally, be our own." Time Out New York

The Independent story is the original one. The BBC and Evening Standard merely recycle the Independent report.

According to today's Independent, members of the Royal Ballet in the performers' union Equity have held meetings at which they came close to passing a vote of no-confidence in Ross Stretton. They are concerned, in particular, at the lack of information on casting. "We never know", one dancer said, "whether we will be involved in a production or when that will be."

For the record, here, as it appears on the Royal Opera House website, is a list of those joining and leaving the Royal Ballet. JOINERS. The following dancers join the company in September 2002. Robert Tewsley from Stuttgart as Principal. Jose Martin from Boston Ballet as Soloist. Deirdre Chapman from Rambert as First Artist. Isabel McMeekan from BRB as First Artist. Valeri Hristov from Pacific Northwest as First Artist. Tim Matiakis from Royal Danish as First Artist. Thiago Soares from Brazil as First Artist. Andrej Uspenski from Royal Swedish as an Artist. Ryoichi Hirano (Prix de Lausanne winner apprentice) as an Artist. LEAVERS The following dancers leave The Royal Ballet at the end of the 2001/2002 season. Hubert Essakow Viviana Mastrella Justin Meissner Leire Ortueta Ashley Page Jenny Tattersall The Royal Ballet also wishes to announce that Donald MacLeary retires at the the end of the 2001/2002 season after 48 years service.

Estelle, The paper by Benn and Walters, is available online on this link . To my surprise, one of the authors is Dorcas Walters, principal with Birmingham Royal Ballet.

I'm staggered that this is an 'A'; not because of the intrinsic merits or otherwise of the case that she makes, but because of the student's overwhelming reliance on one source. For all I know, she may have simply made a precis of Gordon (1983) with adversion to a few additional sources so that this was not so nakedly obvious.

Alexandra, I didn't intend to express an opinion one way or another. But I am told that the Australia tour was planned pre-Stretton and that it is not something he would have chosen to do in his first year. As it is, there seems to have been a considerable amount of rehearsal on the run for the Onegin/Don Q/Coppelia season. Of this I am less sure: I have a sense that the Royal Gala crept into the diary quite late - that when this current season was being planned last year, no-one had any inkling of a Gala. The actual announcement, as far as I remember, was made only three months ago. Perhaps others can confirm the actual circumstances. The late planning may have been as much to do with the Palace as with the Opera House. On the issue of royalty, I believe that social and political currents in the UK are relevant to the question of the RB's identity. While there is a touch of Swiftian saeva indignatio about kb's postings, he is not altogether off-beam.

I wasn't at the Gala but Valerie Lawson's review for The Age sheds useful light on the choice of programme. "Why then, did the program not feature works from the past 50 years? I have no inside knowledge but my guess is this: firstly, as the Royal Ballet has been touring Australia for more than a month, returning home two weeks ago, there was no time to prepare and rehearse a comprehensive program. Secondly, was there sufficient money to spend on an ambitious event? Thirdly, the gala was wedged in the middle of a three-week summer season with Don Quixote given the night before and the night after. How much on-stage rehearsal time was available? Not enough, with the gala dogged by set-change problems." Valerie Lawson's review

Lolly - while I agree with you that the RB needs to pay more attention to its heritage, I feel it equally important that the company develop new work out of its own history, genius and imagination. Television and film have had to develop 'lean production' techniques. I wonder if the RB needs to do something similar. It would be a dereliction of duty to banish all new work to the Clore and Linbury studios, with only one new commission a year on the main stage. Ashton and MacMillan were producing new work all the time for the main stage: some of it was less than wonderful. But it was only because they had regular opportunities on a large stage that they were able to refine their craft. Some of our young choreographers, such as Cathy Marston and Tom Sapsford, deserve a chance on the main stage - to fail, if necessary, and to fail and fail again. Licence to fail is the sine qua non of eventual success. Relegating new choreographers to the safe margins of the Clore and the Linbury is not to risk anything at all.