2016-2017 Season

[silvermash]

I only saw Dark Elegies in POB. This was the last Tudor performed I think and it was more than 20 years ago. Most of the dancers have retired and they surely didn't start rehearsals for a bill next December., they just started the Balanchine's for next July!

I believe on the opposite, the Kylian bill is more than welcome. It's quite common to see in dancers' interviews Kylian is one of the choreographers they want to work with (Mats Ek, and the late Pina Bausch are the other two quite often mentioned) and Kylian is a favorite of the audience as well.

[miliosr]

The Leaves Are Fading is not a new add to POB's repertoire, there was an All Tudor Program in the past.

According to the POB Web site, the company last performed The Leaves Are Fading in November 1986, along with Jardin aux lilas and Dark Elegies (and Hans van Manen's Grande Fugue.) 30 years is a long time in the life of a company. At this point, The Leaves Are Fading might as well be a new addition to repertory.

The Royal Ballet and the Kirov/Mariinsky are other major international companies that have danced Leaves are Fading in the past.

The Leaves Are Fading was part of the very ill-fated Ross Stretton season at the beginning of the 00s. (There's a thread about this on Ballet Alert.) Telling, I don't think it's been programmed since, and it certainly didn't appear at the Royal in 2008 for Tudor's centennial. (Monica Mason was asked if she was going to program any Tudor for his 100th, and she (in)famously replied that he wasn't part of the Royal's heritage.)

Le Figaro is certainly well-informed about the daily goings-on at the POB!

[silvermash]

Le Figaro is certainly well-informed about the daily goings-on at the POB!

Until last year or so, le Figaro was one the official sponsors of the company and was very well known for not reviewing the shows but for writing articles to present them. So more than dance critics, they are rather familiar with spreading gossips. Surely they still got some links

[naomikage]

The Leaves Are Fading had been brilliantly performed in 2014 and 2015 by two different companies in Japan, both staged by Amanda McKerrow and John Gardner. One of the companies, Star Dancers Ballet also performed an all Tudor program last year (The Leaves are Fading, Jardin aux Lilas and Pillar of Fire, Romeo and Juliet) and they also performed Jardin aux Lilas in a gala this April which was broadcasted nationwide (also McKerrow and Gardner came to stage). I had spoken with McKerrow and she was so enthusiastic about staging The Leaves are Fading for POB. So this consequence is sad. I don't think this work is limited for US.

For instance, at the Lefevere era POB had performed works such as DeMille's Fall River Legend (of course this was in the repertoire in the 90's) which is also a very North American work.

[Drew]

According to the POB Web site, the company last performed The Leaves Are Fading in November 1986, along with Jardin aux lilas and Dark Elegies (and Hans van Manen's Grande Fugue.) 30 years is a long time in the life of a company. At this point, The Leaves Are Fading might as well be a new addition to repertory.

The Leaves Are Fading was part of the very ill-fated Ross Stretton season at the beginning of the 00s. (There's a thread about this on Ballet Alert.) Telling, I don't think it's been programmed since, and it certainly didn't appear at the Royal in 2008 for Tudor's centennial. (Monica Mason was asked if she was going to program any Tudor for his 100th, and she (in)famously replied that he wasn't part of the Royal's heritage.)

The leadership of POB and Royal Ballet (or for that matter the Kirov/Mariinsky and any other company) of course will make the decisions they judge best for their companies. And as fans we can debate them .

I can't speak to the reasons for cancelling Leaves at POB, but I do disagree with any suggestion that the ballet is somehow undeserving of international interest or, for that matter, unsuited to it. (I would have though it is a rather more "translatable" Tudor ballet than, say, Undertow or Pillar of Fire.) And it genuinely surprises me that it isn't staged more often even at ABT.

With a Kylian program the company maintains its commitment to major contemporary dance.

[silvermash]

With a Kylian program the company maintains its commitment to major contemporary dance.

Well the company is running 18 Swan Lake in the same time in Bastille Opera and this bill has 22 shows so it was impossible to have another classic!

[Drew]

Well the company is running 18 Swan Lake in the same time in Bastille Opera and this bill has 22 shows so it was impossible to have another classic!

I was trying to make a narrower point. For my taste it's a shame the Tudor has been cancelled. But of course, I write solely from the outside.

[silvermash]

I would have loved to discover this ballet I've never seen but I welcome the Kylian bill all the same. Perhaps it would have been difficult to integrate it with Kylian's that obviously Aurélie Dupont seems to have chosen.

[sandik]

I would have loved to discover this ballet I've never seen but I welcome the Kylian bill all the same. Perhaps it would have been difficult to integrate it with Kylian's that obviously Aurélie Dupont seems to have chosen.

I'm not sure that's really the case -- there may have been casting difficulties, but I think Tudor's expressive approach would be an interesting fit alongside a Kylian work. They both use ballet technique selectively and expressively.

[miliosr]

And it genuinely surprises me that it [The Leaves Are Fading] isn't staged more often even at ABT.

I don't know. There was always a faction that thought it was interesting but problematic. Arlene Croce from 1975:

". . . the other dances, which are distinguished without being nearly so exciting [note: as the dances with Gelsey Kirkland and Jonas Kage], run far too long. Tudor surely knows this, and, as he hasn't cut the piece, he must be hoping it will lift in performance."

and

"The ballet should stay in repertory for as long as it takes dancers to master it or Tudor to decide that it's hopeless. It isn't a masterpiece, but in the variety of its classical dance shapes and dance sequences and in its curious musical refinement it challenges the company to a new and modern standard of expression."

In any event, as to the POB itself, the impression left at the moment is one of a company that doesn't know what it wants to be. Or, another way to put is that it wants to be all things to all people - a Herculean task.

[Ashton Fan]

I would hazard a guess that the cancellation of this mixed bill has nothing to do with the quality of the works being replaced or those that will be danced in their stead, nothing to do with coaches or potential casts and everything to do with the internal politics of the company. It enables Madame Dupont to establish her credentials as the director of the POB. I think that this decision is intended to be interpreted, particularly by company members, as a clear statement that as a former member of the company she respects and will maintain the POB's traditions which have been under attack.It is a quick and easy way for the new director to remind everyone that she is an insider, differentiate herself from her predecessor, establish her artistic vision for the company, indicate that she understands the concerns expressed about Mr.Millepied's choice of repertory and make the company feel good about itself.

Somewhat off topic Mason's comments about Tudor's ballets not being part of the Royal Ballet's heritage are accurate as the only Tudor ballets in the company's repertory before Stretton's directorship were Shadow Play made for the RB in 1967 and revived in 2000; Lilac Garden acquired in 1968 and revived in 2000 and Dark Elegies acquired in 1980 and not subsequently revived.The Leaves are Fading was first staged for the company during Stretton's short lived directorship.Thinking about it Stretton's directorship was similar to Millepied's in a number of ways.Both men were outsiders who appear to have been indifferent to their new companies' repertory and history and whose choice of ballets to programme suggested that they wanted to turn the companies of which they were director into the companies in which they had worked as dancers. The effect at the RB of ignoring its repertory and giving precedence to a series of ballets, none of which were outstanding works and did not really suit the company was to send company morale through the floor. These "new" works did not please the company's regular audience either.They stayed away.

As many of Tudor's greatest works were made for Ballet Rambert before he left for the US Mason probably felt relieved that Rambert rather than her own company would be expected to commemorate Tudor's centenary. She was criticised in some quarters because of the celebratory seasons that she had programmed in 20004 and 2006 although it should have been clear to those critics that she could hardly ignore Ashton's centenary in 2004 or the company's seventy fifth anniversary in 2006.

Stretton's experience in London, Millepied's experience in Paris and Kobborg's experience in Bucharest suggest that any one about to become director of a ballet company should familiarise himself/ herself with the its repertory, and whatever he/she thinks of its quality, programme a reasonable quantity of it during his/her first couple of seasons. A little humility and respect for a company's traditions costs the director nothing to bestow but the cost of withholding it can be very high particularly if it is accompanied by ill considered criticism of the company's dancers

[miliosr]

any one about to become director of a ballet company should familiarise himself/ herself with the its repertory, and whatever he/she thinks of its quality, programme a reasonable quantity of it during his/her first couple of seasons. A little humility and respect for a company's tradition costs the director nothing to bestow but the cost of withholding it can be very high particularly if it is accompanied by ill considered criticism of the company's dancers

This is precisely what baffles me about Millepied. Regardless of whatever mandate he thought he had from Lissner, programming a more balanced mix between the old and the new would have gone a long way toward getting buy-in from people and was in Millepied's own best interest!

I would add a corollary to what you wrote, Ashton Fan, and that's for an incoming artistic director to understand just how much power he/she will actually wield in relation to the dancers. Being Angel Corella at the Pennsylvania Ballet is one thing. Being Benjamin Millepied at the Paris Opera Ballet is quite another.

[Drew]

I don't know. There was always a faction that thought it was interesting but problematic. Arlene Croce from 1975:

". . . the other dances, which are distinguished without being nearly so exciting [note: as the dances with Gelsey Kirkland and Jonas Kage], run far too long. Tudor surely knows this, and, as he hasn't cut the piece, he must be hoping it will lift in performance."

and

"The ballet should stay in repertory for as long as it takes dancers to master it or Tudor to decide that it's hopeless. It isn't a masterpiece, but in the variety of its classical dance shapes and dance sequences and in its curious musical refinement it challenges the company to a new and modern standard of expression."

In any event, as to the POB itself, the impression left at the moment is one of a company that doesn't know what it wants to be. Or, another way to put is that it wants to be all things to all people - a Herculean task.

I remembered Croce's review. But I admit your bringing it up makes me curious what your view is? I remember, from this discussion, you judge Leaves as a suspect choice for POB--but what do you think if it as a ballet? I haven't seen it in many years, so I am not in a good position to offer a detailed defense, but I know I have never thought my time was wasted (or ballet as an art trivialized) by one of the Tudor works I have seen.

Completely agree with Ashtonfan noting he is not part of the Royal tradition; don't exactly agree with any implication the Royal might not reasonably revive one or two of his works. I agree that respect for traditions is a (mostly) good thing in ballet companies. (I guess that means respect for Mcgregor in the Royal's future.)

I can't decide if I think Millepied and, even more so, Stretton, and much, much more so Kobborg, building their programs more slowly would really have made a difference to their ultimate fate.

[canbelto]

Well I think it's a sad day when Tudor's The Leaves Are Fading is considered unworthy of POB. It's an absolutely beautiful ballet.

Here's a clip from the Mariinsky. And actually, it's the sort of thing I could have imagined Aurelie Dupont doing masterfully when she was dancing.

[miliosr]

But I admit your bringing it up makes me curious what your view is? I remember, from this discussion, you judge Leaves as a suspect choice for POB--but what do you think if it as a ballet?

Oh, I didn't mean to imply that there's anything wrong with The Leaves Are Fading. All I was trying to say (however inaptly) is that Leaves wouldn't be where I would have started if I wanted to reintroduce Tudor into the POB bloodstream. If I were Millepied, I would have started with Jardin aux Lilas, which remains (in my opinion) as Tudor's greatest masterpiece to this very day. But Leaves or Jardin, it's all a moot point now in 2016-17.

[choriamb]

I think that (entirely setting aside the question of whether Leaves is great or not) it poses programming problems.

Abstract ballets and ballets with full characterization are easy to group into a bill with satisfying contrasts. Ballets with very lightly etched characterization--and little excitement--are harder: paired with a Millepied work (at least as far as I know his work) this would have been a very long evening.

Also, unlike Jardin, I can't recall seeing anyone praise a recent rendition of Leaves as entirely successful--even at ABT where, however neglected Tudor is, the dancers have at least some experience with his style. One isolated investment would not bring dividends.

I can't blame Dupont for making this call.

[Ashton Fan]

Only a fool would think that the directorship of POB was going to be anything other than a bed of nails for anyone who wants to change any aspect of the company. I'm afraid that I think that what has happened during Millepied's short directorship only illustrates just how much of an outsider he was and how little he knew about the company he was running.The company may now revere Nureyev and the productions he created for it but I don't recall that it was like that at the time he was in charge. It certainly was not "Roses, roses all the way". I would not assume that Madame Dupont is necessarily in for an easy time given what she is reported to have said about dancers entering the company and then waiting for their pensions and dancers faking it. But she is probably as well placed as anyone to re establish the company's credentials as a classical company.At least she knows what makes the company tick and she might even have a few allies in the company itself. She can use her former status as an etoile but she probably is well aware that she will need to work hard to gain the respect of her company now that she is the director. Selecting repertory that she believes will address the short comings that she has identified while appealing to the company's vision of itself is a sensible place to start. It will be interesting to see what the company looks like in a year's time and even more interesting to see whether she stays in post for any length of time.

I should like to see the RB have another attempt with Tudor's works but I have to accept that the Royal Ballet's relationship with Tudor's ballets has been extremely limited and not that happy. Shadow Play was not judged a first class work when it was new and it probably owed its revival in 2000 to Dowell's imminent departure. The same could be said of Lilac Garden which was revived with less than satisfactory casts in the same year. As far as Dark Elegies.is concerned its company premiere in 1980 was not judged a success. It lacked the power of the Rambert company's revival in the late sixties. In 1980 there were a lot of people around who knew the ballet from performances by Rambert and found the RB performances rather anaemic in comparison. As for The Leaves are Fading that ballet belonged to perhaps the worst period in the company's entire history which everyone wanted to forget as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for those of us who like and admire Tudor's ballets and would like to see more of them I don't think that, even now, the RB is ready for another encounter with his works.

In 2008 Mason arguably had a far more pressing list of things to do in relation to the state of the company and its relationship with vast tranches of its own core repertory than reviving ballets about which most of the audience would have had very mixed feelings. Anyone who only knew of the choreographer from the company's recent revivals of his work would not have been particularly enthusiastic about the centenary being the occasion for more revivals of his work.

The great shame is that Rambert did so little during Tudor's centenary year and no longer seems to have dancers who can do full justice to his choreography. They seem to lack the weight of movement required and when it comes to a work like the Judgment of Paris all the dancers look far too fit and healthy to play the bored whores overwhelmed by the tedium of trying to entice their drunken client.

[canbelto]

I think POB did a great job with Robbins' Dances at a Gathering and The Concert. DAAG requires the same kind of studied spontaneity and simplicity as Tudor (anyone who worked with both men talked about how were merciless and tireless in getting their dancers to achieve a sort of "unaffected" naturalness).

An issue Dupont will have to handle is the training of the students at the conservatory. She's complained loudly and publicly about the type of training she feels she received there (although that was with Claude Bessy), so let's see if she presses for changes.

[ricaineballet]

An issue Dupont will have to handle is the training of the students at the conservatory. She's complained loudly and publicly about the type of training she feels she received there (although that was with Claude Bessy), so let's see if she presses for changes.

Let's be clear. Aurelie Dupont has complained about the treatment at the Ecole de Danse (implicating Claude Bessy) but not necessarily the training itself. That was more Millepied's domain.

[miliosr]

Aurelie Dupont has complained about the treatment at the Ecole de Danse (implicating Claude Bessy) but not necessarily the training itself. That was more Millepied's domain.

I would agree with this. Aurelie Dupont has always confined her criticisms to Claude Bessy and her methods when she was the head of the school. But I've never read anything where Dupont has criticized the technique and style taught at the school or indicated that what is taught is somehow "false" or that the school should fall under the direct control of the POB's artistic director.

As ricaineballet noted, Millepied is the one who has carped and complained about not having more control over the school and its teachers. But, if I'm Elisabeth Platel, I would say that the split system worked because continuity of technique and style were maintained at the school in the face of an artistic director's regime imploding after less than two years. If a director were able to come in and change everything at the school only to leave in short order, there would be a break, after which it might be hard to recover what was lost.

[silvermash]

The managing style of the school has changed a lot since Claude Bessy with Elisabeth Platel. Aurélie Dupont complained about how hard pupils were treated from a psychological point of view

[miliosr]

Yesterday was Aurelie Dupont's first day as the official director of the company:

https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/artists/ballet/ballet-direction

Love the photo! I feel like I'm back at the Carrington mansion on Dynasty!!

[choriamb]

Love the photo! I feel like I'm back at the Carrington mansion on Dynasty!!

Especially contrasted with the union-approved paragraph below.

(On US non-profit's site, the text would be suspiciously sweeping and artificial while the image would neutral and bureaucratic.)

[silvermash]

Sophie Delaporte is a fashion photographer especially known for working on colors and contrasts...

[miliosr]

(On US non-profit's site, the text would be suspiciously sweeping and artificial while the image would neutral and bureaucratic.)

The photo does have attitude to spare!

In other news, Laura Cappelle has an interview with Hannah O'Neill in Pointe Magazine:

http://pointemagazine.com/featured-article/poise-and-polish/

Her quote about Aurelie Dupont:

"It's exciting because she [Dupont] was such an amazing dancer," O'Neill says. "But she's talking a lot about the hierarchy. Even as a premiere danseuse, I hope I will still get the chance to dance."