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Houston Ballet 2023-2024

California

By California
in Houston Ballet

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nysusan

nysusan

Posted
Posted
On 6/18/2023 at 12:23 PM, abatt said:

NYSusan is there, and booked the trip to see Lane.  


Yes, I traveled to Houston last weekend to see Sarah Lane in the Sunday matinee performance of their production of Swan Lake.  I wish her well and hope she's doing better - I don't blame her for canceling but naturally I was super disappointed when she did not perform.

 
Fortunately I also bought a ticket to the Saturday evening show with Beckanne Sisk and Chase O'Connell. Sisk was absolutely wonderful with strong technique - fast chaines & pirouettes and strong fouettes. She had some beautiful long balances - lyrical in the first lakeside scene and striking in her black swan solo. Her epaulement in the white swan acts was exceptional, with long, yearning stretches of the neck, head and shoulders. Her arms were sometimes a little too swanny for me but that is understandable in this production.
 
As expected, she and O'Connell had great rapport and he partnered her very well. He certainly looks the part of a danseur noble - tall & dark haired with long limbs but his first act solos had hard, brittle landings and in the ballroom scene it looked to me like he couldn't land a tour, leap or pirouette sequence facing the audience squarely.
 
Soo Youn Cho subbed for Sarah in the Sunday matinee. She was fine, delicate & sad but kind of generic. She had a really strange ecstatic look on her face in the first white swan scene. She held a balance for a super long time in the black swan pas, but she didn't hold it strongly, her arabesque leg kept moving up and down. Still, it was impressive. I liked Ryo Kato as Siegfried, he danced it very well.
 
There are a lot of soloist roles in this Swan Lake and I thought all of the dancers at the corps and soloist level were really strong. At least as strong as we have in NY at ABT. Houston should be proud of them.
 
Now, about their production - I hated it. There are so many things i disliked , these are some of the things that annoyed me most:
 
The complete evisceration of the first act castle scene (here 1st act scene 2 at an encampment in the forest) and the 3rd act (here act 2) national dances. The national dances were completely re-choreographed by Welch and lost all of their folk dance character. Instead of being danced in heeled slippers each is danced by the princess herself, on pointe and with 1-4 of her male companions ( Ambassadors and Guards).
 
In the 1st act they have eliminated the pas de trois, again replacing the Petipa with Welch's choreography for the 4 would be brides and the prince's 2 sisters. They use most of the pdt music along with music from other parts of the ballet as well as music from the Tchai pdd. This production gave us far too much of the princesses/brides for my taste, although all of the dancers danced very well.
 
I read what I could about this production before making the trip and learned that it was inspired by John William Waterhouse's painting The Lady of Shallott and "takes its aesthetic from the fairy tale valence of pre-Raphaelite painting". Let me start by saying that I did not care for the court's costumes, they were not elegant enough for a royal court and seemed very inappropriate for a tale set in medieval Germany (although he certainly could have changed the time & place).
 
The painting also inspired the look of Welch's Odette, who we see in the first scene of the first act (when VR captures her) in a long white dress with bell sleeves and long beautifully arranged hair. OK, I am not a fan of preludes where we see how Odette was captured and cursed by VR, but it is becoming more common and not so out of left field here.
 
It also says that Siegfried first meets Odette "as a maiden". I wasn't sure how this was going to work but it turns out that this "maiden" Odette in a long white dress shows up at the beginning of the first and second lakeside scenes. And VR initially shows up at the ballroom in the 3rd act with Odile in a black version of the maiden dress.
 
In the first lakeside scene Siegfried & maiden Odette dance a pdd set to either the valse bluette or pas de neuf music (not sure which) which then segues into the climatic music from the last white act. I can't tell you how jarring it was to hear this music here. Then she goes off with VR and comes back in a white tutu and dances pretty much the normal 1st act meeting scene & pdd. This trend continues - in the black swan act VR comes to the ballroom with a "maiden Odile" in her black dress. She goes off with Siegfried, then when she comes back to do the Back Swan pdd she is in a tutu. When Siegfried goes back to the lakeside to find Odette she and several of her companions are in the maiden dresses, then they exit the stage and come back in tutus. This was incredibly distracting and muddled.
 
In traditional versions of SL we see Odette transform from a swan back into a woman through her dancing and then being transformed back into a swan at daybreak, all the while in a tutu. So here's an interesting question. If she is a maiden when in her white dress and a swan when she's in a tutu is Siegfried not dancing with a woman but with a swan in the pdd & pretty much the whole first lakeside scene? In the black swan pdd? And in the last scene when she drowns herself she has changed from her maiden dress into a tutu so already a swan - so at that point she really can't drown!
 
I apologize to any Houston Ballet fans I may be offending but I just found this production to be a muddled hot mess. But I do think the Houston dancers were wonderful and I'm glad I got to see Sisk.
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ABT Fan

ABT Fan

Posted
Posted

Thank you nysusan for your report. I’m very sorry you didn’t get to see Lane. I would have been equally disappointed. This production does sound like a hot mess; good to know in case it ever crosses my path. Happy that Sisk was as incredible as I’d expect her to be.

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California

California

Posted
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Posted
2 hours ago, ABT Fan said:

 This production does sound like a hot mess; good to know in case it ever crosses my path. Happy that Sisk was as incredible as I’d expect her to be.

Julie Kent has staged Swan Lake for the Washington Ballet. I wonder how long before she is able to make revisions in this one or do a new version entirely. No doubt Welch has some contractual rights, but still...

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nysusan

nysusan

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, ABT Fan said:

Thank you nysusan for your report. I’m very sorry you didn’t get to see Lane. I would have been equally disappointed. This production does sound like a hot mess; good to know in case it ever crosses my path. Happy that Sisk was as incredible as I’d expect her to be.

You are very welcome. I feel its important for anyone contemplating going to this production to know that it is NOT a traditional staging. On the other hand, I would go if the opportunity arises to see them in anything else. They are a very good company.

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Rose

Rose

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, nysusan said:


Yes, I traveled to Houston last weekend to see Sarah Lane in the Sunday matinee performance of their production of Swan Lake.  I wish her well and hope she's doing better - I don't blame her for canceling but naturally I was super disappointed when she did not perform.

 
Fortunately I also bought a ticket to the Saturday evening show with Beckanne Sisk and Chase O'Connell. Sisk was absolutely wonderful with strong technique - fast chaines & pirouettes and strong fouettes. She had some beautiful long balances - lyrical in the first lakeside scene and striking in her black swan solo. Her epaulement in the white swan acts was exceptional, with long, yearning stretches of the neck, head and shoulders. Her arms were sometimes a little too swanny for me but that is understandable in this production.
 
As expected, she and O'Connell had great rapport and he partnered her very well. He certainly looks the part of a danseur noble - tall & dark haired with long limbs but his first act solos had hard, brittle landings and in the ballroom scene it looked to me like he couldn't land a tour, leap or pirouette sequence facing the audience squarely.
 
Soo Youn Cho subbed for Sarah in the Sunday matinee. She was fine, delicate & sad but kind of generic. She had a really strange ecstatic look on her face in the first white swan scene. She held a balance for a super long time in the black swan pas, but she didn't hold it strongly, her arabesque leg kept moving up and down. Still, it was impressive. I liked Ryo Kato as Siegfried, he danced it very well.
 
There are a lot of soloist roles in this Swan Lake and I thought all of the dancers at the corps and soloist level were really strong. At least as strong as we have in NY at ABT. Houston should be proud of them.
 
Now, about their production - I hated it. There are so many things i disliked , these are some of the things that annoyed me most:
 
The complete evisceration of the first act castle scene (here 1st act scene 2 at an encampment in the forest) and the 3rd act (here act 2) national dances. The national dances were completely re-choreographed by Welch and lost all of their folk dance character. Instead of being danced in heeled slippers each is danced by the princess herself, on pointe and with 1-4 of her male companions ( Ambassadors and Guards).
 
In the 1st act they have eliminated the pas de trois, again replacing the Petipa with Welch's choreography for the 4 would be brides and the prince's 2 sisters. They use most of the pdt music along with music from other parts of the ballet as well as music from the Tchai pdd. This production gave us far too much of the princesses/brides for my taste, although all of the dancers danced very well.
 
I read what I could about this production before making the trip and learned that it was inspired by John William Waterhouse's painting The Lady of Shallott and "takes its aesthetic from the fairy tale valence of pre-Raphaelite painting". Let me start by saying that I did not care for the court's costumes, they were not elegant enough for a royal court and seemed very inappropriate for a tale set in medieval Germany (although he certainly could have changed the time & place).
 
The painting also inspired the look of Welch's Odette, who we see in the first scene of the first act (when VR captures her) in a long white dress with bell sleeves and long beautifully arranged hair. OK, I am not a fan of preludes where we see how Odette was captured and cursed by VR, but it is becoming more common and not so out of left field here.
 
It also says that Siegfried first meets Odette "as a maiden". I wasn't sure how this was going to work but it turns out that this "maiden" Odette in a long white dress shows up at the beginning of the first and second lakeside scenes. And VR initially shows up at the ballroom in the 3rd act with Odile in a black version of the maiden dress.
 
In the first lakeside scene Siegfried & maiden Odette dance a pdd set to either the valse bluette or pas de neuf music (not sure which) which then segues into the climatic music from the last white act. I can't tell you how jarring it was to hear this music here. Then she goes off with VR and comes back in a white tutu and dances pretty much the normal 1st act meeting scene & pdd. This trend continues - in the black swan act VR comes to the ballroom with a "maiden Odile" in her black dress. She goes off with Siegfried, then when she comes back to do the Back Swan pdd she is in a tutu. When Siegfried goes back to the lakeside to find Odette she and several of her companions are in the maiden dresses, then they exit the stage and come back in tutus. This was incredibly distracting and muddled.
 
In traditional versions of SL we see Odette transform from a swan back into a woman through her dancing and then being transformed back into a swan at daybreak, all the while in a tutu. So here's an interesting question. If she is a maiden when in her white dress and a swan when she's in a tutu is Siegfried not dancing with a woman but with a swan in the pdd & pretty much the whole first lakeside scene? In the black swan pdd? And in the last scene when she drowns herself she has changed from her maiden dress into a tutu so already a swan - so at that point she really can't drown!
 
I apologize to any Houston Ballet fans I may be offending but I just found this production to be a muddled hot mess. But I do think the Houston dancers were wonderful and I'm glad I got to see Sisk.

Every story ballet by Welch is "a muddled hot mess" in my opinion. Thank you for sharing your opinion because nobody down here seems to agree with me! Welch's abstract ballets are better but still leave much to be desired. It's a shame they waste millions of dollars on that crap. I don't think the big donors know any better. Houston Ballet dancers are amazing despite the ballets they are given. Just think how bad it would look if they weren't. 

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nysusan

nysusan

Posted
Posted
On 6/23/2023 at 4:45 PM, Rose said:

Every story ballet by Welch is "a muddled hot mess" in my opinion. Thank you for sharing your opinion because nobody down here seems to agree with me! Welch's abstract ballets are better but still leave much to be desired. It's a shame they waste millions of dollars on that crap. I don't think the big donors know any better. Houston Ballet dancers are amazing despite the ballets they are given. Just think how bad it would look if they weren't. 

Yes, I believe the whole run sold out and the audience was very enthusiastic. Their love their Welch SL down there!

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MRR

MRR

Posted
Posted (edited)

Also saw Houston Ballet's production with the same cast as nysusan.  Welch's Swan Lake is indeed a shock to the system to those expecting a traditional production (ABT/McKenzie's is downright demure and logical in comparison).  I could maybe see it appealing to someone unfamiliar with the ballet: this version is not lacking in camp, scenic elements, quick changes, and Olympian dancing.  The Frederickson designs are somewhat minimalist with a Neptune blue, wavy scrim and tree drops in the lakeside scene, followed by a mosaic Ball set with long walk down staircase.  Inexplicably the last act features a dragon that never wakes up or does...anything....but at least Stanton restored the double suicide ending (the production originally had Siegfried attempting to shoot Rothbart, but missing and hitting Odette instead).  

The first act features the extended music for the Prince's entrance and Dance of the Goblets (without goblets, instead all the men carry crossbows), with NO waltz and no traditional pas de trois.  The huntsmen dominate the scene, though with Houston Ballet's excellent, top-down roster of men, this is one of Welch's more defensible choices.  The princesses are major characters each with solos before coming back in the Ball; Siegfried also has two sisters who appear in a duet and recur throughout the ballet.  The music of the traditional pas de trois variations is used (entirely rechoreographed) as well as much of the Ashton pas de quatre, including the Grigorovich/Bourmeister Black Swan assigned to the Hungarian Princess who performs fouettes before Odile. Despite the often lovely dancing from the princesses (Tyler Donatelli as Neapolitan, Alyssa Springer as Russian, Aoi Fujiwara as Hungarian, Jacquelyn Long as Spanish) the extended roles made their rejection entirely redundant by the Ball.

The music for Odette's maiden pas with Siegfried features the Nureyev moody solo and the Act I Finale Andante (not the Scene Moderato heard in McKenzie's).  This is a MacMillan style PDD where Siegfried and Odette make out onstage against flickering lights and Rothbart appearing in the background, destroying the magic of Odette's entrance and making the story less, not more, logical.  The staging sets the first lakeside scene in the day, so Odette is assumed to be in swan form throughout the pas de deux, variation, and coda.  Welch's slashing of mine would be the envy of the Soviets, but I suspect not his other interludes: the corps waltz repeating after the pas de deux, the laborious entrance of the White Swan solo where the audience is heard coughing for 45 seconds, or the black swans' appearance in the coda, performing the entrechats with Odette.  The spell is finally explained to Siegfried at the end of the act before Odette exits in nondescript fashion (well before the traditional music), quick changing into maiden Odile flanked by Rothbart, two Rothbarts-in-waiting, and the aforementioned evil black swans.

The Ball features a mostly normal structure with not well choreographed national dances for the four princesses and their entourage.  Odile makes a wild, feral entrance in maiden form before Siegfried chases her; she next appears in tutu for the pas de deux.  Black Swan has everyone exit the stage except Odile, Prince, and Rothbart, an effect that gets stranger as the pas goes on, but at least the choreography is kept intact.  There is no vision Odette; instead Odile has to quick change into maiden Odette, appearing in the palace in a forlorn state, with the Prince realizing his infidelity when Rothbart pulls off the veil of maiden Odile as a different ballerina.  The finale of the scene, with the circular design on top of the stairs opening up to a starry night backdrop, has Rothbart jump into the abyss. 

The final lakeside scene, after intermission, begins with maiden Odette commiserating with her fellow maidens in one of the better choreographed ensembles of the ballet, before each of the maidens runs frantically across the stage with another ballerina behind her as a transformed swan.  Siegfried does not search for Odette amidst the clusters of swans as that already happened before the Act II PDD.  The traditional music of the double suicide is given to Odette and Rothbart in two major lifts that cover the stage, the first an arabesque presage and the second a Manon style flip where she pushes off his shoulders to face the ceiling, before Rothbart lowers Odette to his chest, lifting her in arabesque all over again.  Odette and Prince finally jump into the lake on the next "big" music, before the Swans create the ending, symmetrical formation of vigorous flapping bourrees, staring the audience defiantly as the curtain closes.  

I share most of the plaudits of Beckanne Sisk who is competitive with several, and perhaps all, of ABT's current O/Os.  Her proportions are  an unusual mix of long, muscular limbs, a short neck, and high arched but wide feet. She was well coached and more dramatically subtle than expected, with a strong range between adagio and allegro.  Whatever their merit, the maiden scenes suited her, and she had Herculean stamina for Welch's version which demands the Mount Everest dual role on steroids.  Her tutu Odette, strongly danced, exposed a somewhat limited flexibility in her back and not the greatest detail of elbow and wrist. Odile was perhaps the better fit with vigorous forward momentum, turns, and balances all very much in her wheelhouse.  The solo showcased rock solid triples to single attitude and a shaky triple to start an otherwise strong set of single and double fouettes.  She was dramatically varied and engaging in both roles and brought something of herself to what is an extremely heavy handed, saturated production. 

Chase O'Connell as Prince has Paris Opera lines when you envision them stretched to a 6'5'' frame.  He has a beautiful enterchat six, well positioned quad pirouettes and elegant posture, and there was some dramatic commitment in the first act.  Unfortunately his Black Swan solo and coda were marred by double tour that were cheated on preparation and landing, but less forgivable was his lack of projection or command of space.  For such a tall dancer, he gave no sense of making the stage look smaller than it is; the jetes did not soar, appearing earthbound.  One can't fault his security of partnering, but his solo work was without volume, giving a muted and streamlined, if elegant, rendition of the role.

Houston Ballet has consistently had a strong roster of men and women right down to the apprentices.  The opening male ensemble made a strong case that men can do corps de ballet, and well, no matter how difficult the sequences (an ensemble series of double-double tours!).  Simone Acri was a particular highlight with a master class of technique.  The swan corps were coached in a somewhat abrupt, staccato style, the usual diet for Stanton ballets, but their commitment, clarity, and cohesion as an ensemble were admirable.  Of the princesses, Tyler Donatelli was the standout and ideally suited to Neapolitan with a true entrechat six, everlasting turns, and a buoyant, spunky disposition.  

 

Edited by MRR
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