Susan Jaffe named artistic director of ABT

[JuliaJ]

I don't really have a problem with ABT updating Corsaire and Bayadere to get rid of the "oriental" settings and other unfortunately dated elements, but I hope the choreography pretty much stays in tact.. It would be a shame to completely do away with two solid full-lengths from the rep. I'd rather see the company spend money on new versions of those than on additional mediocre contemporary pieces, personally. In any case, I'm thankful I saw the "real" Corsaire during the 2019 run. 

[ABT Fan]

5 hours ago, JuliaJ said:

I don't really have a problem with ABT updating Corsaire and Bayadere to get rid of the "oriental" settings and other unfortunately dated elements, but I hope the choreography pretty much stays in tact.. It would be a shame to completely do away with two solid full-lengths from the rep. I'd rather see the company spend money on new versions of those than on additional mediocre contemporary pieces, personally. In any case, I'm thankful I saw the "real" Corsaire during the 2019 run. 

Same! Given what Jaffe said in that interview about Bayadere’s second act I doubt she’ll change that, and agree it would be a shame to lose much of the choreography. But I hope the “troublesome” elements are dealt with.

[Papagena]

20 hours ago, JuliaJ said:

I don't really have a problem with ABT updating Corsaire and Bayadere to get rid of the "oriental" settings and other unfortunately dated elements, but I hope the choreography pretty much stays in tact.. It would be a shame to completely do away with two solid full-lengths from the rep. I'd rather see the company spend money on new versions of those than on additional mediocre contemporary pieces, personally. In any case, I'm thankful I saw the "real" Corsaire during the 2019 run. 

I think Le Corsaire is off the repertoire for a long time. La Bayadere has much more artistic merit and iconic scenes across all acts to justify putting in the work to keep it. I imagine the most of the (for me, welcome) choreography changes would involve side characters - like the Fakir costumes and choreography need to go. 

I would love to see the Corsaire pas de deux (Ali / Medora version) stay on mixed bills. I'm fine with tossing all other parts of the ballet. It was a fun McKenzie era favorite but it feels more and more dated each time they bring it back. 

[Drew]

On 7/27/2022 at 9:22 AM, Papagena said:

I think Le Corsaire is off the repertoire for a long time. La Bayadere has much more artistic merit and iconic scenes across all acts to justify putting in the work to keep it. I imagine the most of the (for me, welcome) choreography changes would involve side characters - like the Fakir costumes and choreography need to go. 

I would love to see the Corsaire pas de deux (Ali / Medora version) stay on mixed bills. I'm fine with tossing all other parts of the ballet. It was a fun McKenzie era favorite but it feels more and more dated each time they bring it back. 

Baryshnikov staged the Jardin Animé as a stand-alone one act -- It's not as wondrous as the shades scene in Bayadere but I wouldn't like to have it lost...

[Buddy]

It’s probably good to remember that these works have been fine-tuned over decades or more. To make abrupt changes, even for modern standards of social rightness, should be dealt with sensitively. This might apply to 'historic restorations' as well. These are great works of art.

Also, as much as some of the major world companies like to consider themselves adaptively modern, their strength mainly lies in the classics, derivatives of the classics and the classical sense of beauty. For me, this has been true of ABT.

I, personally, would like to see most of La Bayadere kept in tact, but could live with only the Jardin Animé and a duet or two, such as the Ali/Medora one, from Le Corsaire.

I also feel that certain questionable elements and scenes have been treated differently, often quite successfully, by different companies and performing artists, without changing the major fabric.

Added: The one world-class company that’s been the most successful, that I’m familiar with, in moving between ‘modern’ and ‘classical’ is the Miami City Ballet. It might be a good example for other companies wanting to broaden their scope, but there’s still nothing wrong with acknowledging and respecting the value of ‘classical’ works and ‘classical’ beauty.

 

Edited August 1, 2022 by Buddy

[volcanohunter]

I am not at all convinced that Le Corsaire is great art, and it hasn't been so much fine-tuned as sledgehammered by multiple choreographers to even more composers than the five or so listed in most programs. It's Petipa and his successors who have done real violence to Byron, whose work is melodramatic, but nowhere near as silly as the ballet's plot would suggest. In the original Medora is never enslaved. She is Conrad's wife and never goes near the palace. Believing Conrad to be lost forever on the other side of the Aegean, she commits suicide. Gulnare is enslaved, but she is no damsel in distress. She's the one who kills Seyd in his bed and rescues Conrad from a dungeon. There is no slave market, no Lankendem, no Birbanto, no pirate mutiny and definitely no Ali. Just about the only element retained from the original plot is that Conrad gains access to the palace by dressing up as a pilgrim. So I think modern producers would be perfectly justified in adjusting the plot, if it were possible. Verdi followed it much more closely in Il corsaro. Naturally, Byron's tone is pro-Greek and anti-Turkish.

Edited August 1, 2022 by volcanohunter

[FauxPas]

21 hours ago, Drew said:

Baryshnikov staged the Jardin Animé as a stand-alone one act -- It's not as wondrous as the shades scene in Bayadere but I wouldn't like to have it lost...

Alexei Ratmansky and Yuri Burlaka staged "Le Corsaire" for the Bolshoi in a much longer, much more faithful version than the one ABT has performed since the late 1990's.  

His Jardin Animé includes a large number of children and stunning visual tableaux that makes ABT's look skimpy.  As of now, Ratmansky is right there in the house.

How about a Ratmansky "Corsaire" (or at least "Le Jardin Animé")  taking in some of the issues that Jaffe has brought up?

Of course, it would not be a historical reconstruction because the Petipa original naturally would have been guilty of orientalist clichés and racist stereotypes.

BTW:  I believe that the slave dealer Lankendem was in the original libretto a mercenary and vicious Jew along the lines of Shylock.  That one blessedly never made it into the more recent restagings.

Edited August 2, 2022 by FauxPas

[Drew]

31 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

BTW:  I believe that the slave dealer Lankendem was original a mercenary and vicious Jew along the lines of Shylock.  That one blessedly never made it into the more recent restagings.

Lankedem as mercenary/vicious Jew -- sort of a ballet Fagin -- most certainly did make it into the Ratmansky Burlaka staging. I saw it in London shortly after its premier. Gennadi Yanin performed it brilliantly and it made me quite queasy.

I agree that the Ratmansky/Burlaka Jardin Animé makes for a very full, splended spectacle.

Edited August 1, 2022 by Drew

[FauxPas]

Wow, well it's Russia Drew.  

Anyway, wasn't there also talk of a planned Ratmansky "La Bayadère" that would replace ABT's classic Natalia Makarova staging?  

Again, some political and cultural corrections could be integrated into this new production.

It would all depend on whether Ratmansky renews his contract with ABT.

[nanushka]

30 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

Again, some political and cultural corrections could be integrated into this new production.

It would all depend on whether Ratmansky renews his contract with ABT.

And whether Ratmansky is on board with such “corrections.”

[volcanohunter]

1 hour ago, Drew said:

Lankedem as mercenary/vicious Jew -- sort of a ballet Fagin -- most certainly did make it into the Ratmansky Burlaka staging. I saw it in London shortly after its premier. Gennadi Yanin performed it brilliantly and it made me quite queasy.

It's right there in the synopsis on the Bolshoi website. 

"Medora begs Seyd-Pasha to grant her her freedom but, seeing that he is unrelenting, complains of cruel treatment by her guardian; Seyd-Pasha orders the eunuch to send the Jew packing."

https://2011.bolshoi.ru/en/performances/198/libretto/

Edited August 1, 2022 by volcanohunter

[California]

1 hour ago, FauxPas said:

Anyway, wasn't there also talk of a planned Ratmansky "La Bayadère" that would replace ABT's classic Natalia Makarova staging?  

Again, some political and cultural corrections could be integrated into this new production.

It would all depend on whether Ratmansky renews his contract with ABT.

Ratmansky did reconstruct Bayadere, for Staatsballet Berlin in 2018: 

https://www.staatsoper-berlin.de/en/veranstaltungen/la-bayadere.2789/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/arts/dance/review-bayadere-alexei-ratmansky-berlin.html

https://dancetabs.com/2018/11/staatsballett-berlin-la-bayadere-premiere-of-ratmansky-reconstruction-berlin/

[Helene]

Jaffe promoted five dancers at Pittburgh Ballet Theatre and signed more (link via Dance Edit):

https://www.broadwayworld.com/pittsburgh/article/Pittsburgh-Ballet-Theatre-Signs-New-Dancers-For-2022-2023-Season-20220812

Good for her and the dancers

Edited to add:  the article says she signed five new dancers, but I only see three (Chernyshev, O'Matz, and Pinto) named in the article.

[lmrook]

I think the other 2 are the apprentices, bringing the total to 5. 

[California]

An interesting new interview with Jaffe on YouTube focusing on programming decisions for the next few years. 

 

[Papagena]

32 minutes ago, California said:

An interesting new interview with Jaffe on YouTube focusing on programming decisions for the next few years. 

For those without the time to watch, she mentioned choreographers David Dawson and Helen Pickett so I imagine we'll be seeing their work in the Koch. 

[abatt]

I thought I heard Jaffe say that McKenzie had commissioned Cathy Marston for Summer and Smoke, which is a coproduction with Houston Ballet. Houston will premiere it in March 2023.  

[angelica]

4 hours ago, abatt said:

I thought I heard Jaffe say that McKenzie had commissioned Cathy Marston for Summer and Smoke, which is a coproduction with Houston Ballet. Houston will premiere it in March 2023.  

Oh God, another "ballet" without dancing, like Jane Eyre. All I remember from Jane Eyre is Thomas Foster's leg extending quickly to impede someone's progress.

[vipa]

7 hours ago, California said:

An interesting new interview with Jaffe on YouTube focusing on programming decisions for the next few years. 

 

Thanks for posting California. It sounds like new, full length, narrative ballets are of great interest to Jaffe. I'm not a fan so I envision myself going to see ABT less and less. I wonder what current rep she is interesting in preserving?

[Papagena]

3 hours ago, angelica said:

Oh God, another "ballet" without dancing, like Jane Eyre. All I remember from Jane Eyre is Thomas Foster's leg extending quickly to impede someone's progress.

I really want to be able to enjoy a Cathy Marston piece (she adapts a lot of interesting material) but it feels like she shuffles through the same sequence of moves over and over. Floor bound and whirly. 

[matilda]

I'm not so sure about Jaffe's tastes. She says she'd love to create something like a reimagined Coppélia with contemporary choreography (hypothetically, in the future). Eek. I guess Tamara Rojo did that with Giselle at ENB but that's not really what I go to ABT for. Would rather see them bring back the old Coppélia, plus Cinderella, Manon, Bayadère, Corsaire... if Jaffe wants to sanitize the dated elements out of the latter two, then fine, but please keep the original choreography! I admit I really do like seeing 32 fouettés on the Met stage. 

Interesting (and sad) that ABT can only afford five weeks of rehearsal time per season. Maybe that's the standard in the US? It puts things in perspective regarding what they're able to put on each year, and also how slow it takes for some company members to get deserved opportunities and promotions (if ever).  

[maps]

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Edited July 27, 2023 by maps
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[FauxPas]

By the way, much as we are lamenting the banishment of "La Bayadere" and "Le Corsaire" from the repertory - do we really think the current roster of dancers could sustain a full week of those ballets?  The version of "Corsaire" by Anne-Marie Holmes adapted from staging by Konstantin Sergeyev after Petipa has three bravura male lead roles - Conrad, Ali, Lankendem plus the more character dancer Birbanto.  Cornejo was wonderful back in the recent day but is over 40 now.  Camargo would make a fine Conrad and may dance Ali as well.  Certainly Aran Bell is promising.  Also how about ballerinas for the roles of Nikiya and Gamzatti in "Bayadere"?  Schevchenko has been a fine Gamzatti and could be a gorgeous Nikiya.  I wonder if the one-act "Kingdom of the Shades" is exempt from being culturally insensitive?  That used to be programmed often as a standalone work and could work for few ballerinas in the company like Schevchenko.

[angelica]

16 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

Schevchenko has been a fine Gamzatti and could be a gorgeous Nikiya.  I wonder if the one-act "Kingdom of the Shades" is exempt from being culturally insensitive?  That used to be programmed often as a standalone work and could work for few ballerinas in the company like Schevchenko.

Since Shevchenko's promotion to Principal, I have thought of her as a world-class ballerina, but unless she dances more in major roles, I'm afraid she's going to be left behind. Both Bayadere and Corsaire have the kind of roles that keep a dancer in performance shape. As someone said above, she was kept too long in soloist purgatory. Please, do whatever it takes to keep those ballets in the repertory and give Shevchenko two performances of each. The more she dances, the better she'll get.

[matilda]

Last run of Corsaire (2019) they recruited Brooklyn Mack for Conrad and Simkin for Ali. Bayadere was scheduled for the cancelled 2020 season. From what I remember, Kimin Kim and Olga Smirnova were supposed to appear as guests. Boylston and Seo got Nikiyas (of course), maybe Teuscher too. I think Murphy, Trenary, and Hurlin got Gamzattis. Bell was supposed to debut Solor. I don't remember the rest. 

There are enough qualified principal women for both of those ballets (Shevchenko, Brandt, and Hurlin would be my top picks) but they would probably have to get some guest men from elsewhere to fill a whole week. Stearns and Whiteside can't be relied on for those kinds of ballets at this point in their careers, and they were never ideal for them anyway. Not that Corsaire of Bayadere will come back soon.

Le Corsaire was the ballet where I "discovered" Shevchenko. She blew me away. I immediately bought a ticket to her Swan Lake afterwards and wasn't disappointed. 

Another loss for the company was Jeffrey Cirio. He was wonderful in the ENB Giselle when it came to Brooklyn last summer.