National Ballet of Canada 2023-2024 season

[volcanohunter]

When she was young, the technique of Agnès Letestu was the eighth wonder of the world. She remains unsurpassed in ballets such Suite en Blanc and Etudes.

[volcanohunter]

I attended the first three performances of the triple bill. I am completely baffled by the decision to present William Yong’s UtopiVerse, given its thematic similarity to Wayne McGregor’s MADDADDAM, premiered a year and a half earlier. I am just as baffled that Hope Muir didn’t point out to Yong that 40 minutes was just too long for his piece. UtopiVerse is pompous, bloated and, in my case, literally sleep-inducing. The movement vocabulary is uninventive. The signature move has the dancers grabbing their left ankle/foot/shin and extending it to their foreheads again and again. There is also a repeated modern-style renversé on a bent supporting leg, with the arms thrown behind the back with clawed hands. There are enormous video projections of dancers, which inevitably dwarf the action on stage (they always do), little glowing cubes signifying…I dunno, and a large metal oval above the stage that rises and falls.

The program stated that “UtopiVerse presents an alternative way of seeing traditional notions of utopia, paradise lost, the Garden of Eden, human evolution and the meaning of God. These iconic ideas are reimagined, each in its unique futuristic context, challenging our preconceived notions and inviting us to explore new dimensions of thought.

“The ballet dances between the domains of the hidden and the overt, unveiling the complexities of information and misinformation. Dancers embody the ever-shifting landscapes of truth and illusion, evoking a deep sense of wonder. On stage they embark on a journey of different mindsets, exploring the ideas of inventing, rediscovering, engineering and rerouting to forge a new utopia.”

I saw nothing that fit that description. I did see Christopher Gerty, dressed like a Franco-era tourism poster, and Ben Rudisin both looking extremely uncomfortable in the choreography and vaguely embarrassed. In the second cast Noah Parets and Siphesihle November fared a little better. The saving grace was Emma Ouellet, who has a wonderfully grounded quality of movement.

Had the music been less substantial, the shortcomings of the piece might have been less obvious. The score consisted of various and sundry pieces by Benjamin Britten, including the first movement of his violin concerto, well played by Alexi Kenney. This worked for dancing. Two excerpts from Britten’s string quartets did not. There were also a few selections from Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge. Hans van Manen made a ballet to the entire piece, and it occurred to me that had the bill included his Frank Bridge Variations instead, it would have made for a much better program: less pretentious and more concise.

Emma Portner’s islands was conceived as a commentary about how classical tutus physically distance women in ballet. So instead she dressed them in a conjoined pair of four-legged trousers. The first part of the duet plays on optical illusions in which the audience tries to figure out which legs belong to whom. (This is hardly a new idea; it has been used often enough by circus clowns and vaudevillians.) In the second part of the duet the trousers come off and they dance as if joined head-to-head, which looks a lot like typical contact improvisation. In the third part they separate and dance mostly side by side in unison. I thought the pairing of Heather Ogden and Ouellet on the first night was most effective in putting the piece across. I didn’t appreciate Hope Muir’s “suggestion” that the piece also be danced by a man and a woman. Sure, a man can physically perform the choreography, but the point of the piece is lost. Furthermore, Alexandra MacDonald’s legs did not look as though they could possibly belong to Alexander Skinner, so the visual element was dulled as well. What that pairing showed us is that women are bendier, and men have a higher vertical jump. During the intermission I also observed that the queue to the men's toilet was shorter than the queue to the women's toilet.

Serge Lifar’s Suite en Blanc proved to be an enormous challenge for the company. Lacking the numbers of the Paris Opera Ballet, the National Ballet’s staging had the Adage and La Flûte performed by the same ballerina, who also did the fouettés in the finale. The female soloist of the Thème Varié performed the manège in the finale. And the company followed POB practice by having the Mazurka soloist do the diagonal of barrel turns and the Adage man do the manège that follows.

On opening night Monika Haczkiewicz gave confident performance in La Sieste, while Svetlana Lunkina and Harrison James danced a marvellously regal Adage, followed by her highly refined Flûte. Everyone in between looked terrified to varying degrees. The dancers were vexed by the tight swivels in fifth from croisé on one side to croisé on the other side, by the quick changes from effacé to croisé and back again, by the super-slow fouettés, and by the weight shifts back and forth between en avant and arabesque. There was little chance of them dancing with the requisite French articulation or style. I found myself railing against the state of the company’s classical technique: it should be dancing Bournonville, it should be dancing a lot more Balanchine, there need to be frequent performances of Etudes and Suite en Blanc, different teachers need to be hired to teach class!!!

On the second night there was finally a majestic Thème Varié. Koto Ishihara looked much happier here than in the Pas de Cinq the night before (and did a sensational manège in the finale). Thanks to Naoya Ebe and James in that section and Lunkina in La Cigarette, we finally saw some first-class entrechat-six. Ayano Haneishi, making her debut a day early, seemed totally at ease in the Pas de Cinq. On the third night 19-year-old Aidan Tully delivered by far the best Mazurka I saw.

Although he didn’t have much in the way of batterie, I admired the elegance and musicality of Donald Thom. I also admired how Tene Ward shot out of the wings like an arrow in her diagonal in the finale. Emerson Dayton has lovely fouettés, even if she didn’t finish them immaculately the first time out. By the third performance the dancers looked much more confident and at ease, though my opinions about Bournonville, Balanchine, Etudes/Suite en Blanc and more persnickety teachers stand.

On opening night Charles Jude, who had staged Suite en Blanc for the company, came out for a bow. I was sorry that most people in the audience didn’t seem to know who he was.

Edited March 27 by volcanohunter

[Raina]

17 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

The first part of the duet plays on optical illusions in which the audience tries to figure out which legs belong to whom. (This is hardly a new idea; it has been used often enough by circus clowns and vaudevillians.)

I agree that Portner's idea is not original. islands reminded me of the duet Fukuoka that Spanish choreographer Marcos Morau staged for Montreal's Les Grands Ballets. We had the opportunity to see it in 2021 during the company's Covid-era stream. The duet was influenced by flamenco and was more interesting and wittier than islands.

https://themontrealeronline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/gbcm_fukuok.jpg

 

https://themontrealeronline.com/2021/06/les-grands-ballets-offers-a-series-of-new-webcast-works/

 

 

[volcanohunter]

Sara Mearns has been visiting Toronto again. Her Instagram stories include the Côté/Lepage Hamlet, which played last week at the Elgin Theatre, and the CN Tower.

Edited April 8 by volcanohunter

[Xiaoyi]

"New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Sara Mearns will perform with the National Ballet in George Balanchine’s Jewels, onstage June 15 – 22.

Toronto audiences will have a unique opportunity to see Sara, one of Balanchine’s most acclaimed interpreters, perform in each act of Jewels – Emeralds on June 19 at 7:30 pm, Rubies on June 20 at 7:30 pm and Diamonds on June 21 at 7:30 pm. In demand as a guest artist around the world, Sara performed previously with the National Ballet last June when she made her debut as Juliet in Alexei Ratmansky’s Romeo and Juliet."

Great arrangement. Sara's NYCB page only listed Emeralds and Diamonds. https://www.nycballet.com/discover/meet-our-dancers/principal-dancers/sara-mearns/

[volcanohunter]

I disagree. With only six performances of Jewels, I don't think any should be taken away from the company's dancers and turned over to Sara Mearns. NYCB performed Jewels in the fall. It will perform them again in Washington in June. Typically it performs the ballet every other May or so. In other words, a lot. If NYCB has never cast Mearns in "Rubies", I don't see why the NBoC is obliged to provide her with the opportunity, just so that she can complete a Jewels trifecta before Mira Nadon does.

Edited April 17 by volcanohunter

[Rosie2]

Well, yes Toronto audiences will have the "unique opportunity" to see an acclaimed Balanchine ballerina dance all three roles in one of his iconic works and, normally I'd be thrilled to do so - but not at the expense of our own dancers.   There are way too few performances of Jewels scheduled in June and three opportunities taken from the company dancers is three too many.   I suspect there are more than a few pissed off people in the company right now questioning why and how this decision was made.  Additionally, Sara Mearns can't have come cheap - so why add extra expense at this time.   I don't think it was something Cote had a hand in, as I believe he doesn't have that kind of influence anymore.  So, I'd like to have been a fly on the wall when this casting decision was made and the reasoning behind it.  I don't hold any resentment towards Mearns - if she was invited and wanted to do it, she's perfectly intitled to except.   She isn't scheduled in any of the three shows I have booked and, once casting is finally posted, if I do change dates, it will be due to which dancers I want to see.

 

Is there some sort of competition between Mearns and Nadon about who dances all three roles first?   This is something I've never heard about .... is it common knowledge amongst New York ballet fans? 

[abatt]

Mearns learned the tall girl role in Rubies a long time ago but due to injury she never performed it.  She retired Emeralds from her rep a number of years ago.  Now she only performs  Diamonds at the House of Balanchine. 

[Rosie2]

20 minutes ago, abatt said:

Mearns learned the tall girl role in Rubies a long time ago but due to injury she never performed it.  She retired Emeralds from her rep a number of years ago.  Now she only performs  Diamonds at the House of Balanchine. 

"House of Balanchine" .... love that!

[Jayne]

These guest opportunities would go over much better if they are equal exchanges: say if an NBoC principal is dancing with NYCB in Jewels.  
 

[abatt]

Cote has danced with NYCB, with Mearns.  In fact, I would not be surprised if  he appeared as a guest artist at NYCB during the run of Swan Lake in Feb 2025 as Mearns' partner.    

[volcanohunter]

Possibly, but I wouldn't expect much. He didn't dance in the company's new production of Swan Lake in 2022. He hasn't danced any after-Petipa ballet for several years. This season he has only danced two performances of Onegin with the company. I saw the second and thought he was weak. Since then, no Nutcracker, nothing in the long run of Wheeldon's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, nothing in Suite en Blanc or anything else in March. I would be astonished if he suddenly appeared in Don Quixote.

And by February 2025 he will be 43 years of age. Even Joaquín De Luz didn't dance that long.

Edited Thursday at 05:11 PM by volcanohunter

[Rosie2]

On 4/25/2024 at 9:13 AM, abatt said:

Cote has danced with NYCB, with Mearns.  In fact, I would not be surprised if  he appeared as a guest artist at NYCB during the run of Swan Lake in Feb 2025 as Mearns' partner.    

I think Swan Lake is well beyond his technical abilities now. 

[volcanohunter]

Besides, when Guillaume Côté danced Swan Lake with Sara Mearns in New York, it was as an emergency replacement for an injured Tyler Angle. Arguably, his presence was essential. Mearns' performances with the National Ballet were announced two months in advance, when it's impossible to know who, if anyone, would be on the injured list and require a replacement.