Monthly Archive: December 2015

A Trivialized Classic

December 30, 2015 1 Comment

“Swan Lake”
Maryinsky Ballet
Festspielhaus Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden, Germany
December 23, 2015

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2015 by Ilona Landgraf

“Swan Lake” is an ever-present work in the Maryinsky Ballet’s luggage when visiting Baden-Baden. This time the white swans graced the large stage of the Festspielhaus on two evenings. The first performance was led by Viktoria Tereshkina and Timur Askerov in the roles of Odette/Odile and Prince Siegfried. I saw the second cast on the following day, a pairing of Alina Somova and Vladimir Shklyarov.

For all its classic status, “Swan Lake” has changed over the years. It varies from staging to staging. Yet the story, the tragic love between Prince Siegfried and Odette, the beautiful woman damned to turn into a swan, remains. (more…)

The Maryinsky Fabulously Horses Around

December 27, 2015 0 Comments

“The Little Humpbacked Horse”
Maryinsky Ballet
Festspielhaus Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden, Germany
December 20, 2015

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2015 by Ilona Landgraf

Traditionally the Maryinsky Ballet tours Baden-Baden at the end of December, offering ballet aficionados the opportunity to enjoy the troupe on the Festspielhaus’s stage during the holiday season. This time two performances of “Swan Lake”, three of “Le Corsaire” and a gala were included. The opener, “The Little Humpbacked Horse”, choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky in 2009, was extra candy in the box of treats.

“The Little Humpbacked Horse” (Konyok-Gorbunok) is a cute, fanciful and heart-warming Russian fairytale, written by Ppyotr Pavlovich Yershov in 1834. (more…)

Keeping Cranko’s Heritage Vivid

December 21, 2015 1 Comment

Georgette Tsinguirides
Stuttgart Ballet
Stuttgart, Germany
December, 2015

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2015 by Ilona Landgraf

Reviving a ballet from the repertory or mounting it for another company isn’t just learning the steps. The most crucial part of the work is to make the role speak. In story ballets, the characters’ personalities have to come across authentically. Most of all the choreographer’s intentions must have priority.

Today, when starting rehearsals, ballet masters and dancers usually refer to videos of former performances. They are the perfect tools to convey a piece’s atmosphere, the steps and lifts of a pas de deux or a solo variation. Depending on the perspective of the camera they also depict group patterns. But other details are lost. What exactly is each member of the corps doing from the third line back? What is the posture hidden by the costume? Learning from videos promotes copying. But isn’t the goal to develop one’s own interpretation of the role?

Stuttgart Ballet also draws on videos when reviving old choreography. The ballet masters’ and Reid Anderson’s recollections are trustworthy too. They have danced the ballets many times themselves. But first and foremost the company relies on Georgette Tsinguirides, choreologist, ballet mistress and coach. (more…)

Tracking Eleonora Duse

December 20, 2015 0 Comments

“Duse”
Hamburg Ballet – John Neumeier
Hamburg State Opera
Hamburg, Germany
December 11, 2015

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2015 by Ilona Landgraf

In his latest creation, “Duse”, John Neumeier explores the life of the famous Italian actress Eleonora Duse (1858 – 1924). The ballet received its world premiere earlier in December with Hamburg Ballet. Alessandra Ferri, guesting with the company, is dancing the leading role.

Duse rose to international stardom at a time when the reputation of acting had considerably improved in bourgeois society. At the end of the 19th century Henrik Ibsen’s dramas were the first to offer major character roles for women. As a result, more and more actresses left their mark on stage, motivated by a previously unparalleled enthusiasm for the theater. (more…)

True to Himself

December 13, 2015 0 Comments

True to Himself
Jiří Jelínek
Gelsenkirchen, Germany
November, 2015

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2015 by Ilona Landgraf

Jiří Jelínek’s dance career has been a journey. Born and trained in Prague he literally danced at the other end of the world, that is in Australia. Crisscrossing the world he gained invaluable experience with various companies and diverse repertories. Recently he danced with the Ballett im Revier in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. I took the rare opportunity to meet him the day after his last show in a café in Gelsenkirchen to talk about his career and his life.

Jelínek started to dance at the age of seven. A boy full of energy, he loved to move; he was very often outside, running around, playing and quarreling with his friends. The dance lessons in a children’s group was one hobby of several. “Then, when I was ten years old my mother urged me to audition for the Dance Conservatory in Prague. They took me and in the following four years I learned the basics.” (more…)

“As an artist it is my duty to speak up.”

December 7, 2015 0 Comments

Fabien Voranger
Dresden, Germany
November 30, 2015

Fabien Voranger, principal dancer of Semperoper Ballet Dresden, is French. Confronted with the terror attacks in Paris a few weeks ago he feels compelled to comment on the events.

“First, there is the right to free speech, which was massively threatened by the attack on Charlie Hebdo in January this year. As an artist I am grounded in freedom of expression. Second, the biggest massacre of the recent terror attacks in Paris happened in Bataclam, a music club. The theater, the stage is my home. This time the target was a music club, but what places might be attacked in the future?”

“What has happened is horrible and it is my duty to take action. I don’t want to focus on politics or discuss whether one religion is more right or wrong than another. Instead I feel the need, the responsibility, to fight for keystones of our culture: freedom of expression and pluralism. Culture evolves through influence from outside. Without that input it wouldn’t develop. We all know that. Therefor we should be courageous and take a clear stance. We believe in what can be achieved by art. We have an opinion. Ballet dancers are not naive. Hence we should encourage, foster and defend diversity. It is our fertile soil.” (more…)

Béjart in Abundance

December 2, 2015 0 Comments

“Suite Barocco”, “Syncope”, “Liebe und Tod” (“Love and Death”), “Le Mandarin Merveilleux”
Béjart Ballet Lausanne
Stuttgart State Opera
Stuttgart, Germany
November 27, 2015

As Stuttgart Ballet tours Korea and Japan, the guesting of the Béjart Ballet Lausanne on the last weekend in November was a welcome extra dose of dance for the aficionados in the Stuttgart audience. The troupe presented a mixed bill of four pieces. Three of them had been choreographed by Maurice Béjart, one was created by Gil Roman, the company’s artistic director since Béjart’s death in 2007.

Béjart’s “Suite Barocco”, a piece from 1997 to vocal Baroque music, has no clear storyline. (more…)