NYCB in Paris, September 2008

[liebs]

I understand that the estate of R. Strauss denied POB the right to use the Rosencavalier music and NYCB only has those rights for the USA. Thus the change of ballets.

[Estelle]

Thanks for the explanation, liebs ! So it has nothing to do with cleaning bills Pity for the lost opportunity to see "Vienna Waltzes" in Paris- but well, surely there will be much to enjoy in "Tchaikovssky suite n. 3".

[Jane Simpson]

Sad, and interesting - especially as they've danced Vienna Waltzes abroad in earlier years.

[Dale]

Official word from the company (and a "thank you" to NYCB for taking the time to clarify this issue):

NEW YORK CITY BALLET

TO PERFORM GEORGE BALANCHINE’S

TSCHAIKOVSKY SUITE NO. 3

IN PLACE OF VIENNA WALTZES

AT THE OPERA BASTILLE IN PARIS

New York City Ballet and the Paris Opera have announced that NYCB will perform George Balanchine’s Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3 as part of the all-Balanchine program that opens the Company’s upcoming season at the Opera Bastille, replacing the previously announced Vienna Waltzes.

The program will now consist of Balanchine’s Divertimento No. 15, Episodes and Tschaikovsky Suite No.3, and will be performed on Tuesday, September 9, the opening night of the Paris engagement, and again on Thursday, September 11, and the evening performance on Saturday, September 13.

The change in program was required after much negotiation with the estate of Richard Strauss, whose music from Der Rosenkavalier is used in the final movement of Vienna Waltzes. As the estate would not grant European rights for Strauss’ music to be performed with choreography, NYCB and the Paris Opera decided to present another Balanchine work rather than perform an incomplete version of the Balanchine masterpiece Vienna Waltzes without its final movement. Vienna Waltzes has only been performed outside of the United States on one previous occasion, in London in 1978.

Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3, which was created in 1970, features more than 50 dancers, and concludes with the choreographer’s Theme and Variations, which was originally created in 1947. These performances will mark the first time that NYCB has performed Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3 in Paris in nearly 30 years.

NYCB’s engagement at the Opera Bastille, September 9 through 21, will mark the Company’s first performances in Paris since 1995, and the first time that NYCB has been presented by the Paris Opera since 1965. The season will feature four different programs and include works by Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, Christopher Wheeldon, and a Robbins collaboration with Twyla Tharp. The season will also mark the first time that a non-French dance company has been invited to perform at the Opera Bastille, the modern opera house that opened in 1989 that, with the Palais Garnier, is one of two principal venues that is home to the Paris Opera.

In addition to the performances at the Opera Bastille, NYCB will also perform a joint gala performance with dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet on Thursday, September 18, at the Palais Garnier.

Prior to the Paris season, NYCB is performing a one-week engagement in Copenhagen, Denmark, which opened on Monday, September 1, at the Tivoli Concert Hall.

[cygneblanc]

Well, I have to say I'm very happy with the change.

Even if Suite n°3 has been performed by POB before, I'm really looking forward to see it danced by NYCB. It will change us from Jewels and the Four Tempers...

[Jane Simpson]

Vienna Waltzes has only been performed outside of the United States on one previous occasion, in London in 1978.

I hadn't realised how lucky we were! (though in fact it was 1979)

[Estelle]

Thanks to the NYCB for the detailed explanation !

cygneblanc, I guess that like me, you're nostalgic of the "Balanchine- Tchaikovsky" program that was performed by the POB about a decade ago during the Dupont era, aren't you ?

[cygneblanc]

Yes, yes, I'm nostalgic ofthe "Balanchine- Tchaikovsky" program .

If our current AD could resuscitate it...I know I'm dreaming but one never knows...

[Estelle]

cygneblanc, I have had the same wish for years...

But back to the topic- I'm looking forward to seeing some of the NYCB performances !

[cygneblanc]

So what are you going to see ?

I will see the Balanchine/Robbins program on september 10th, the Balanchine program on september 11th, and the Balanchine/Martins/Wheeldon/Robbins program on september 16th.

I can't wait to see everyone, especially Darci Kistler and Ashley Bouder

[cygneblanc]

http://www.femmes.com/culture/spectacles/l...a-de-paris-5128

A day at NYCB seen by a french journalist

[carbro]

Thanks so much, cygneblanc. Here is how Google's elves have translated it: http://google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2...sl=fr&tl=en

New to me:

If you read French seulement un peu and are confused by some of the less colloquial interpretations, pass your mouse over a sentence and you can see the original French text. Neat feature!

[Estelle]

cygneblanc, thanks for that link !

I'm going to see the three programs of the 12th and 13th (so no chance to meet you, unfortunately).

I'm looking forward to seeing Ashley Bouder too (but for Darci Kistler, the reviews of some of her performances posted here make me feel a bit cautious, alas...)

[abatt]

Casting is up on the NYCB website for the week of Sept 16. Sebastian Marcovici is doing Apollo. Sara Mearns and Tess Reichlin are also listed for Apollo.

[cygneblanc]

A review of the first night

http://www.lejdd.fr/cmc/culture/200837/new...ain_148099.html

I'll write tomorrow or friday a review of tonight's performance since I'll be also on the opera tomorrow night...

[cygneblanc]

http://www.liberation.fr/culture/351311.FR.php

another review

[cygneblanc]

Overall, I can say it is a revelation for the french public, who is used to see Balanchine danced by POB, to see the NYCB. The musicality of all the dancers is amazing, as well the fluidity of their dance. While POB dancers have clearly the two parts of the body separated when they dance, NYCB’s dancers’ body is only one piece. The result is maybe less aristocratic, but it is more musical and much more dynamic in the ensembles.

Serenade

A very nice beginning. Women skirts would gain to be a bit shorter. I’m afraid the not so good critics I read about Darci Kistler were true. If she demonstrated a real stage presence, she was very clearly eclipsed by a brilliant Ashley Bouder.

Symphony in three movements

A very plesant surprise.

I’ve seen the Niels Christe’s rendition of this Stravinski work danced by POB’s school. It was a very strong, serious, and dark work. I wouldn’t have imagined something lighter could have been done with this music. Well, Mister B. did it, and how well !

The piece is light and humoristic but yet is very musical. All the soloists, and especially Albert Evans and Wendy Whelan, displayed a great musicality. The dancers’spirit were excellent. They were dynamic and precise.

My favorite work of the night. It reminded me Rubies. This work was extremely well received by the audience

Brahms/Haendel

A light disapointment, the costumes are beautiful but besides that, it was a bit boring. The dancers were all excellent but the music wasn’t very inspiring and the choregraphy is quite conventional…

To be continuated tomorrow with the Balanchine’s triple bill

[Helene]

Many thanks for the review, cygneblanc I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts on the next program.

When I first saw "Brahms-Handel", it was ready-made for me to love: it featured my two favorite male dancers, Ib Andersen and Bart Cook (dancers about as different as night and day, except for size and their inherent musicality), an at-peak Maria Calegari, and Merrill Ashley, as well as a number of great soloists, and an anticipated collaboration between Robbins and Tharp.

What I saw was a disappointing mush to what I agree was dull music. (Maybe in its original, the Handel is more interesting.) Not even Andersen/Calegari/Cook/Ashley could save it, even seeing it with them three times.

[Brice]

cyneblanc, thanks for the links you provided, but how do I get to the reviews in English?

[carbro]

Hi, Brice.

Enter into your browser http://google.com/translate . From there, you get a page where you can enter the address of the page you wish to translate -- cygneblanc's links in this case. You should make sure that both menus (which are defaulted as Spanish to English) read French to English. There are two menus, one for a website address and one for brief passages.

You'll find some less than colloquial -- some very humorous -- interpretations. If you place your cursor over the English passage, you can see the original French text, so if you have some French, you might get a better idea of the sense of the sentence or phrase.

You can also try http://babelfish.yahoo.com/ . I didn't test whether it displays the original over the translation.

Edited September 12, 2008 by carbro
To add Babel Fish link

[cygneblanc]

Finally a review in english

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/905a30c2-80ea-11...?nclick_check=1

Mine are coming. I've been very busy the last few days but the one thing I can say is Wow! Wow! Wow!

[bart]

Thanks, cygneblanc. What a review. (The contrast between Crisp's response to NYCB in Paris and his feelinsg about NYCB in London last year is fascinating.)

What a wonderful tribute to Divertimento No. 15 and the way NYCB danced it.:

The choreography smiles as it emerges from the score. It is a great marvel. (In moments of blackest despair as a yet more gruesome travesty of dancing emerges from a Nederlands troupe, or from some accursed proponent of Tanztheater, I think of this ballet, and know that there is a choreographic heaven where nobly trained bodies offer movement that is perfect in shape and pure in intent.)

If I were the NYCB's advertising director, I'd select a few of the following and scatter them all over a full-page ad for the upcoming NYC season:

bright and witty ... and my heart, like that of the audience, sang.

marvellous ... Thrilling ... wonderful

what absolute assurance ... the glorious realisation of [balanchine's] ideals and hopes for classical ballet in a new land ...

the women are alert, speedy, potent in their skills. At their heart, in a superb performance, was Wendy Whelan, surely one of the greatest dancers of our time, inhabiting music and choreography as her native element, an artist faultless, and thrillingly so, in her roles ...

NYCB is in fine fettle and the season has begun admirably well.

So, do you think he liked it?

Looking forward to your own review(s). And ... anyone else?

[cygneblanc]

September 16, 2008

Duo Concernant

A very nice Pas de deux danced by Yvonne Boree and Robert Fairchild. It allows dancers to show some versatility. Both dancers showed a great technics. It’s a very intimate work. One may think dancers could look lost on the very big stage but I was under the impression I was alone with them.

Hallelujah junction

From what I’ve seen form NYCB until now, it’s definitiveny my favorite work. It’s just brilliant. The choreo is amazing. It allows NYCB dancers to show us their vitality, their joy, and their excellent skills. You want to go on stage and dance with them!

After the rain

I need more than this pas de deux to be convinced by Christopher Wheeldon’s works. Of course, things could have been worse, but they could have been better, too. That being said, Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall were so beautiful and brougt us in their world.

Dances at a Gathering

I can see now where french choregrapher Jean-Guillaume Barre took his inspiration for Péchés de jeunesse. It’s a very subtil work, very light, with pastel toned costumes.

We were for one hour in another world, in the country with a blue sky. All the dancers were excellent, and although there is no story behind this work, everyone played his part very well. This work gives you a canvas so that you can build your own story. I liked that very much.

Overall, my favorite night until now. Everything was extremely well received by the audience and the theater was full!

[cygneblanc]

Balanchine’s triple bill, september 11, 2008

Divertimento n°15 is a jewel, but if a diamond is missing, everything fails ! The jewel wasn’t broken on september 11. Divertimento was so well danced. I was particularly impressed by the women soloists (Ana Sophia Scheller, Erica Pereira, Kathryn Morgan, Tyler Peck and Megan Fairchild) who were all impeccable. The men weren’t bad but I’m under the impression this work was designed for women. Consequently, they weren’t able to impress me much.

I was a bit afraid of Episodes, and I was right. All the dancers were excellent, the choreo translates the music, the full thing is very reflective, but I got it really only during the Fugue. No doubt, it was just too cold for me! That being said, this was well received by the audience while Divertimento’s reception was a bit cold

Tschaikovsky’s suite n°3

There is Themes and Variations, and the others parts. Ashley Bouder was really the STAR of the night, she was shining. Some people were standing for her at the end, which is very rare in Paris. Her partner, Gonzalo Garcia, didn’t equal her, but was good! The corps de ballet was really a jewel-case for Miss Bouder.

As for the others parts, the elegy was nice and very lyrical, while both the walz and the scherzo would gain to be shorter!

[bart]

In case you missed it, Mme. Hermine has a Link today to Roslyn Sulcas' New York Times review of a joint performance of NYCB and POB dancers at the Palais Garnier:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/20/arts/dan....html?ref=dance

It was a mostly Balanchine performance, ending with Symphony in C. Some of the author's comparisons of New York-versus-Parisian style were quite interesting.

Did anyone see this? What did you think of it? Even for thsoe who weren't there, what do you think of the entire 2-week engagement? What about the $2.3 million price tag. Was it worth it? What impact, if any, will this engagement have on NYCB in the future?