National Ballet of Canada 2024-25

[volcanohunter]

November 9-16
León, Lightfoot/Glass: Silent Screen
Côté/Beethoven: Body of Work
Ashton/Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody

November 20-24
Wright, after Coralli, Perrot, Petipa/Adam, Burgmüller: Giselle

December 6-31
Kudelka/Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker

February 26-March 2
Dawson/Richter, after Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
Goecke/Jarrett, Lady Gaga: Morpheus' Dream
Tudor/Dvořák: The Leaves Are Fading

March 8-22
Kain, Binet, Stowell, Bruhn, after Petipa, Ivanov/Tchaikovsky: Swan Lake

May 30-June 5
Côté: Into the Fade
Côte/Ravel: Bolero
new Ethan Colangelo
new Jennifer Archibald

June 13-21
Spuck/Rachmaninoff, Lutosławski: Anna Karenina

Still no sign of Ratmansky's Of Love and Rage, which was a co-production with ABT, or of any replacement Ratmansky. Has the investment simply been written off?

Despite the Toronto Star's Michael Crabb trying to strong-arm Hope Muir into a declaration of undying admiration for James Kudelka, his Four Seasons is being replaced by a version by David Dawson.

I am, frankly, astonished that Muir has commissioned a new piece from Marco Goecke. To her mind Of Love and Rage has an misogynistic plot line, but spreading dog excrement on a woman's face is okay??? (Bummer that it's on the same program with Tudor.)

Another long run of the tasteless new Swan Lake. Well, something has to pay for the write offs.

The farewell of Guillaume Côté is going to be endless.

John Neumeier's Anna Karenina was a co-production for the National Ballet of Canada, which performed it in November 2018 and took it on tour to Paris. It never returned for a second run, and now it is being replaced by a different version by Christian Spuck. Again, has the investment simply been flushed down the toilet? Was it necessary to replace it so soon and burn bridges with Neumeier? How did Muir persuade the Board to agree to this?

https://national.ballet.ca/Tickets/Next-Season 

Edited February 27 by volcanohunter
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[Xiaoyi]

Pity that Hope Muir does not like John Neumeier as much as Karen Kain who arranged one Neumeier work for almost every season.

However, I understand Hope's idea of establishing new connections with more contemporary choreographers. And I cannot picture any ballerina in this company other than Svetlana Lunkina dancing Neumeier well.

[volcanohunter]

That's well and good, but she should have chosen something other than Anna Karenina. It looks like a repudiation of Neumeier, which was unnecessary and impolitic, and it's throwing away a lot of money.

I'm shocked, though, that she has commissioned a piece from Marco Goecke after his violent assault on Wiebke Hüster. Or do we excuse him because he's a "genius"? 

[Xiaoyi]

I am a big fan of Marco Goecke and excited to see his work on stage of NBoC 🤐 He is one of the few choreographers who have got a distinguished choreographic language that works.
Finger crossed there be less media backlash on Hope’s announcement. (His work has been removed from collective work “Swan Lakes” at Harbourfront Centre in April without the reason explained.)

Edited February 22 by Xiaoyi

[volcanohunter]

I think the reason for removing Goecke's choreography was obvious. He smeared a woman's face with dog feces in public, which was physical assault. Since she was a critic, I don't think other critics will be inclined to view his work favorably.

It's possible some dancers, especially women, will refuse to work with him. I will not attend a program that includes his choreography. I'm only sorry the program also includes Antony Tudor, whose Leaves is the only piece apart from Giselle that I'm interested in seeing. As it stands, I will probably attend only Giselle. At least it's also touring to Ottawa.

 

Edited February 22 by volcanohunter

[Fosca]

6 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

Since she was a critic, I don't think other critics will be inclined to view his work favorably.

Ask all the other German dance critics, they still love his work. Dancers love his work, especially the working process. As you don't read German, I suppose, you have no idea how cruel and hurting Mrs Hüster can be in her reviews. Which is absolutely no excuse for what he did, of course not, I'm just trying to explain why certain ballet directors still show his pieces: they are fascinating.

[volcanohunter]

I don't enjoy Goecke's pieces. Watching his choreography makes me feel as though a hole is being drilled into my skull. Sorry, but that's the effect they have on me.

[Drew]

On 2/22/2024 at 3:02 AM, Fosca said:

Ask all the other German dance critics, they still love his work. Dancers love his work, especially the working process. As you don't read German, I suppose, you have no idea how cruel and hurting Mrs Hüster can be in her reviews. Which is absolutely no excuse for what he did, of course not, I'm just trying to explain why certain ballet directors still show his pieces: they are fascinating.

if Goecke is a choreographer loved by directors and dancers and "all the other German dance critics" as you describe, then rather obviously one critic's attack on his work had not damaged his career in any fundamental way. His ability to choreograph and develop his art was not suffering.  In fact, if Goecke's work is as widely admired as you report, then his physical attack on this one critic seems all the more childish and misogynistic --and would make me a little wary of trusting him not to explode similarly in other situations.

Hüster's writings are not the issue. I do read German--and there is Google translate to help when I hit a roadblock. When the attack happened, I made a point of checking out some of her reviews --out of curiosity, not because I thought that anything she wrote could justify Goecke's appalling response. She could be biting. But I've seen as bad and worse on multiple occasions in the New York Times and even the New York Observer. She is not the first biting critic in the history of ballet -- and he is not the first artist to be on the receiving end of such criticism. (Ask William Forsythe, ask Wendy Whelan, ask Ed Watson; heck, in the New Yorker Croce once referred to the Bejart repertory as "diseased." Goecke can get in line.)

I also read Goecke's own statement about why he did what he did and it was shocking to me. What he called his "deep apology" was immediately followed by pompous declarations of his philosophical intent ("to start a conversation...") and continued vituperation against his victim. When you are still blaming your victim, then you are not making an apology at all, but giving excuses under the disguise of an apology. And once you attack someone physically you have put an end to any possibility of conversation. Of course he didn't want to converse with her--he wanted to degrade and humiliate her.  (My quotes are from a New York Times article from February 16, 2023.)

I believe strongly in second chances and comebacks when people make missteps at work or in their private lives--even some very bad ones. Nor do I think such chances should be dictated by someone's gifts as an artist: the same compassion should be shown to all. That said, in a case of this kind, it's not enough to just forgive and forget, no matter the seriousness of the actions involved and without some reckoning.  Had Goecke shown genuine remorse, made genuine amends, and faced some serious consequences, then I might better understand the willingness to bring him back into the dance/ballet fold --even if I personally don't agree that such physical violence should be quite so quickly overlooked. But I haven't seen such a reckoning.  He lost some work, but still continues to have his ballets staged regularly even though this all happened barely more than a year ago. As for genuine remorse? genuine amends?  or a period away from the stage to take stock of why he lost control (that is, take stock without blaming his victim)? I haven't seen or heard anything like that. 

 

Edited February 25 by Drew
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[volcanohunter]

It's behind a paywall, but Globe and Mail columnist Marsha Lederman has written about the Goecke commission.

"The National Ballet of Canada’s winter season will kick off with what it is billing as the world premiere of a work by Mr. Goecke. The piece was originally developed for the Stuttgart Ballet in 2021 and is being adapted for the National Ballet under a new title, Morpheus’ Dream.

"Artistic director Hope Muir told The Globe and Mail that the company does not condone Mr. Goecke’s behaviour during the incident in question, 'but feels he has since demonstrated sincere regret and apologized publicly,' she wrote. 'This and time to reflect has informed our decision.'

"This project has been in discussion since 2021, and subsequently postponed twice. Mr. Goecke has previously worked with the National Ballet, which Ms. Muir called a very positive experience. 'He is an important and gifted choreographer and I feel that his work will enhance the repertoire of the National Ballet and should not be cancelled.'"

(Hope Muir was not affiliated with the NBoC when Goecke worked with the company in the past.)

Lederman, who was previously the paper's arts correspondent in Vancouver, noted that she was been on the receiving end of verbal "poop" as a result of her writing: "Not only from anonymous trolls – and not from choreographers, generally, as far as I know, but from people who hold what would be considered respectful positions (usually male, in the case of my own inbox). The sticks-and-stones theory of bullying has long been disproved – names can hurt, and you should see some of the names we are called.

"True, it would be a lot worse to be on the receiving end of an actual feces-laden attack, but in this environment where the discourse has reached new, often expletive-filled misogynist and racist lows, verbal smears also deserve condemnation."

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-two-things-you-wouldnt-expect-to-find-together-the-national-ballets/

Edited February 27 by volcanohunter
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[volcanohunter]

As was pointed out by Marsha Lederman in the Globe and Mail, Marco Goecke’s planned piece for the company is not, despite the advertising, a world premiere, but a retitled adaptation of his duet Nachtmerrie, which was first presented by the Stuttgart Ballet in 2021.

https://www.seeingdance.com/stuttgart-ballet-new-works-210701/