Monthly Archive: November 2024

Coming Out

November 27, 2024

“Oscar©”
The Australian Ballet
Sydney Opera House/Joan Sutherland Theatre
Sydney, Australia
November 19, 2024 (live stream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2024 by Ilona Landgraf

1. C.Linnane (Oscar Wilde), S.Spencer (Constance Wilde), and J.Caley (Robbie Ross), “Oscar©” by C.Wheeldon, The Australian Ballet 2024 © C.Rodgers-Wilson One long year has passed since The Australian Ballet’s last live stream, and it was uncertain if the company would dance again for an online audience. But after moving from Melbourne’s State Theatre (which is closed for major renovations) to their temporary home at the nearby Regent Theatre, they are back online. Christopher Wheeldon’s Oscar© was the first ballet streamed live from the Sydney Opera House. Moreover, it is the first full-length commission by artistic director, David Hallberg, who has been friends with Wheeldon for twenty years. As a choreographer, Wheeldon is “hot property,” Hallberg stated. Oscar© combines biographical aspects of the well-known, yet divisive, Irish author Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) with two pieces of his oeuvre.

As usual, Hallberg and presenter Catherine Murphy co-hosted the live stream, conducting backstage interviews and chatting about the piece. Hallberg quickly made clear that when approaching Wheeldon, he had a bold, unapologetic story in mind that wouldn’t shy away from telling uncomfortable realities, such as Wilde’s homosexuality for which he was persecuted and sentenced to two years in prison. (more…)

Exhausting

November 16, 2024

“Dragons”
Eun-Me Ahn Company
Forum Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg, Germany
November 09, 2024

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2024 by Ilona Landgraf

1. Ensemble, “Dragons” by E.-M.Ahn, Eun-Me Ahn Company 2024 © S.YunTwo years ago, the South Korean choreographer Eun-Me Ahn’s company toured the Forum Ludwigsburg with North Korea Dance. Last weekend, it presented the 2021 piece, Dragons. Ahn handpicked five dancers from Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Malaysia to participate in the production who couldn’t join rehearsals due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. Instead, their dance parts were captured on video and then animated into 3-D digital avatars of superhuman size and abilities. They shared the stage with the seventy-year-old (and usually shaved bald) Ahn and her company. Because the five dancers from abroad were all born in 2000, which, according to the Chinese zodiac, was the Year of the Dragon, Ahn called the piece Dragons. The current year also marks the Year of the Dragon (the Chinese zodiac is a repeating twelve-year cycle), which may be the reason for touring Dragons in Europe and the UK right now. (more…)

Unstoppable

November 10, 2024

“Spartacus”
Ballet of the Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre
Hvorostovsky Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre
Krasnoyarsk, Russia
October 18, 2024 (video)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2024 by Ilona Landgraf

Photos: 1. Y.Kudryavtsev (Crassus) and ensemble, “Spartacus” by Y.Grigorovich, Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre 2024, photo by E.Koryukin © Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet TheatreThis October, the Krasnoyarsk Ballet revived Yuri Grigorovich’s epic Spartacus, which had been absent from their stage for seventeen years. The production was therefore announced as a premiere. As Spartacus has rarely been danced by Western companies (the Bavarian State Ballet performed it in 2017, and the Ballet of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma in 2018), I was glad to view a video of the opening night in Krasnoyarsk.

Spartacus is an icon of Russian ballet culture. Its title character, the captive King of Thrace, leads the slave uprising in the Third Servile War (73-71 BC) against the Roman consul Crassus. A man of honor and principles, Spartacus fights for freedom no matter what. But female intrigue undermines the strength of his army and leads to his execution in an unjust one-against-many showdown. Spartacus’s unfaltering—and ultimately self-sacrificial—courage resonates with Russians who have great esteem for their war heroes. (more…)

Battling Self-Doubt

November 2, 2024

“Cyrano de Bergerac”
Ballet NdB (Národní divadlo Brno)
National Theatre Brno
Brno, Czech Republic
October 27, 2024

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2024 by Ilona Landgraf

1. Ensemble, “Cyrano de Bergerac” by J.Bubeníček, Ballet NdB 2024 © Ballet NdB Ten years ago, I watched one of Jiří Bubeníček’s early ballets—The Picture of Dorian Gray—which he created and danced with his twin brother, Otto. Since then, the Bubeníčeks regularly cooperated on many productions, with Jiří usually contributing the choreography and Otto the design. Their latest ballet, Cyrano de Bergerac for the Ballet of the National Theatre Brno in the Czech Republic, is also a product of family cooperation, especially given that Jiří’s wife and longstanding artistic collaborator, Nadina Cojocaru, joined the team as costume designer.

Cyrano de Bergerac is based on the eponymous 1897 romantic-comedy verse drama by the French dramatist Edmond Rostand (1868-1918). Rostand modeled the hero after Hector-Savinien de Cyrano (1619-1655), nicknamed Cyrano de Bergerac. A fabulously heroic swordsman, he served in various regiments before quitting the cadet’s life and dedicating himself exclusively to writing prose and love poetry. The prominent nose that affected the love life of his literary representative also graced the real de Cyrano, though it was more moderately sized. (more…)