La tournée du Ballet Royal à Beijing en juin 2008

[Enya]

... some words about the RB's tour in Beijing in June this year, I'm late...

Program III - Gala
The Royal Ballet
26 June, 2008
National Grand Theatre of China, Beijing

The mixed programme, RB brought us something new, something old, ranging from pieces of traditional ballets to modern works.

Start with the new ones --

CHROMA
The opening of this gala, a contemporary ballet premiered at the Royal Opera House 17 November 2006, a multi-award-winning work of the Royal Ballet’s Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor, winner of the 2007 South Bank Show Award of Dance and 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production.

I used to sit in another work of Wayne McGregor, Qualia, in a Mixed Bill of RB in 2003, at Covent Garden. My impression of that work was just …so-so, because its noisy heavy metal music was not of my interests, and the choreography was too “avant-garde”, what I was impressed was its wonderful sets and usage of light. Still, this piece of dance was not my taste.

But Chroma it’s not the case that I’ve ever imagined. I was captured right away from the very beginning by the simplicity and the minimalist of its stage sets, by architect and designer John Pawson, and costumes by Moritz Junge. The starkly elegant use of light and space offered the dancers an ideal environment and atmosphere to convey the intension of choreographer. Danseuses and danseurs are in exactly the same costume – same style in same colour - made us ignore the difference between genders and just focus on dance itself. Yes, there was just only one thing, dance, nothing else. Tranquility and dynamism coexist, grace and enthousiasm interweave. Four pas de deux with different styles never made one feel boring: Mara Galeazzi and Edward Watson’s strength, energy and passion; Tamara Rojo and Johannes Stepanek’s charm and seduction; Lauren Cuthbertson’s elegance and grace with sharp contrast to Eric Underwood’s flexibility and dynamism; Sara Lamb and Federico Bonelli’s delicacy, agility and precision. We also enjoyed a lot Eric Underwood’s solo, so amazing his extension which is rarely seen in male dancers, needless to say his expressive interpretion. Pas de trois of male dancers by Johannes Stepanek, Liam Scarlett and Jonathan Watkins revealed the vivacity and vitality of RB’s male dancers.

Fantastic show case of the Royal Ballet, I like it!

THAIS PAS DE DEUX

A relatively short pas de deux with no dazzling variations (I doubt if this was not a full Thaïs pas de deux …?) , based on the “Meditation” from Thaïs by Jules Massenet, choreographed originally for Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell by Fredrick Ashton, in 1971. This fascinating oriental scene of dream fits into Leanne Benjamin and David Makhateli very well, tranquil, lyric and illusive, where I could appreciate again Benjamin’s exquisite and fine point steps and ports de bras, really like in a dream. However, in this pas de deux, David Makhateli seemed not to have too much to dance, left with us a lot of expectations for his interpretation in the last piece Homage to the Queen.

HOMAGE TO THE QUEEN

The closure of this Gala, this ballet was created by Fredrick Ashton in 1953 to celebrate the Coronation of H.M. the Queen Elisabeth II. Ashton sets the 4 elements of Earth, Water, Fire and Air to the score of Malcolm Arnold, however only the original choreography of part “Air” survived till today. The RB revived it in June 2006 to mark H.M.’s 80th birthday, Monica Mason invited three British choreographers, David Bintley, Michael Corder and Christopher Wheeldon, to create the other 3 missing parts Earth, Water and Fire, and, Christopher Newton re-created the Entrée and Apotheosis. The new designs of Peter Farmer were a magnificent visual attack.

However, I felt that this new production itself was much better than its choreography. The absence of David Makhateli was a great loss to the “Air” part of Homage to the Queen, although his name appears in the casts, what a great pity! For the whole tour of RB in Beijing this time, this should be the only opportunity for us to see him to demonsrate himself completely but… I was so sad and in a very low spirit that I could hardly concentrate on this ballet, though, there were impressive presentations of Leanne Benjamin’s Queen of Earth, Yuhui Choe’s Queen of Water and Marianela Nunez’s Queen of Fire. In the Pas de trois of part “Air”, we could also notice Ricardo Cervera and Lauren Cuthbertson’s elegant and graceful presence.

No need to talk about too much about the other familiar pieces: Lauren Cuthbertson’s beautiful presentation in Tchaikovsky Pas de deux; for Don Quixote Pas de deux, without any doubt Tamara Rojo showed her dazzling and strong fouettes, while Federico Bonelli was as urbane as a student; Romeo and Juliet balcony Pas de deux, under such circumstances it lost its heart-touching power, I prefer Galeazzi’s presentation in the first ballet Chroma rather than Juliet.


Casts on 26 June, 2008

CHROMA
Mara Galeazzi + Edward Watson,
Tamara Rojo +Johannes Stepanek,
Lauren Cuthbertson + Eric Underwood,
Sara Lamb + Federico Bonelli,
Liam Scarlett, Jonathan Watkins

ROMEO AND JULIET PAS DE DEUX
Mara Galeazzi, Viacheslav Samodurov

TCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX
Lauren Cuthbertson, José Martín

THAIS PAS DE DEUX
Leanne Benjamin, David Makhateli

DON QUIXOTE PAS DE DEUX
Tamara Rojo, Federico Bonelli

HOMAGE TO THE QUEEN
Earth: Leanne Benjamin (to replace Mara Galeazzi)
Her Consort: Martin Harvey
Pas de six: Hikaru Kobayashi, Iohna Loots, Samantha Raine, Yohei Sasaki, Bennet Gartside, Johannes Stepanek

Water: Yuhui Choe
Her Consort: Johan Kobborg
Pas de trois: Ricardo Cervera, Laura Morera, Lauren Cuthberson

Fire : Marianela Nunez
Her Consort: Thiago Soares
Spirit of Fire: Ryoichi Hirano
Pas de quatre: Elizabeth Harrod, Bethany Keating, Jonathan Howells, Brian Maloney

Air: Isabel McMeekan
Her Consort: Kenta Kura (to replace David Makhateli)

For the other performances, please wait for a while...

[haydn]

Merci beaucoup pour ces nouvelles, Enya!

[Enya]

Program II - Sleeping Beauty
The Royal Ballet
With Orchestra of the National Ballet of China
And with participation of students from the Secondary School of the Beijing Dance Academy
Soirée 21 June, matinée 22 June, 2008
National Grand Theatre of China, Beijing

There were 4 performances of Sleeping Beauty from June 21 to June 23, including a matinée in the afternoon of June 22. The casts were all different for each performance, I should have gone to see all of them, but, very occupied in June, I chose only two: soirée on June 21 and matinée on June 22.

RB’s new production of Sleeping Beauty, I guess it’s the same version which was released on DVD recently. Monica Mason and Christopher Newton created this production based on the Sergeyev / De Valois / Messel production, closely following Petipa’s original text that was first performaned by the Company in 1946, and with additional choreography by Fredrick Ashton, Anthony Dowell and Christopher Newton. It was premiered at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 15 May 2006. And now, it comes to the stage of the National Grand Theatre in Beijing, for the Olympic Performance Season.

I’ve no idea about the very first version of 1946. What I know is a production of Antony Dowell, based on Petipa’s choreography and with additionals of Fredrick Ashton, Kenneth McMillan and Feodor Lopokov, a DVD of this production was released by Pioneer based on live performances on November 23 and 26, 1994, at Covent Garden. As for the choreography, I feel these two RB’s productions are very similar. The major differences between the two:

- Stage sets and costumes are completely re-designed, sumptuous and spectacular.
- “Garland Valse” in Act 1 is a new creation by Christopher Wheeldon, the famous valse music of this part with which we’re familiar is changed to a new one.
- Pas de quatre “Precious Stones” in Act 3 is changed to a Pas de trois “Florestan and his Sisters”: the introduction of Pas de trois is newly created, boy’s variation and Coda are modified, however the other two variations (of his Sisters) are still kept the same as in the old Pas de quatre (girl’s variation 1 and 3).
- Carabosse is not acted by a male dancer anymore but a female dancer, beautifully, seductively and of course wickedly presented…I like it. (…who stipulated that Carabosse should be ugly and old?)

In RB’s production, each Fairy, including Lilac Fairy, is accompanied by Her Cavalier, and the Cavaliers dance a little as well, while many other versions are different, this is interesting. For both RB’s productions, the famous violin solo (No.18 Entr’acte in original score) in Act 2 is completely dropped (for me it’s a pity), while Nureyev makes it an extremely long variation for the Prince, and while Kirov uses a little of it for the Prince and the rest as Entr’acte as it is. For the character dances in Act 3, RB’s version chooses three: Puss-in-Boots and the White Cat, Princess Florine and the Bluebird, as well as Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. Perhaps only the new production of Kirov’s Sleeping Beauty has recovered almost all the character dances according to Tchaikovsky’s original score, I guess

Marianela Nunez’s Aurora, this was the right reason to go. I believe she’s one of the best Auroras of her generation, so incredible that I feel I could not find right words to describe her, her merits, her flawless techniques, her vivid performance. Every step, every movement, every gesture, for her, everything seems so easy to execute, no, for her, it was just to play, play with great ease and pleasure, perfect. So I think any words for that moment would be unnecessary, and, I had described her before already in early this year, for her presentation in a Gala of International Stars in Beijing. When we look at those video clips with links provided by Sophia, we could have a concrete impression. Formidable!

… but, Nunez’s perfection caused somewhat some “problems”: we find a gap between her and her partner and the other dancers. Thiago Soares looked too mature that it was a little bit hard to convince me that he should be the Prince to awaken Aurora, he was rather like one of the 4 princes in the Prologue, or a young king, or a faithful cavalier. Yet he was her faithful and reliable partner, willing to be covered in her brilliance.

Another partnership was Sarah Lamb and Ivan Putrov presented in the matinée on the second day. Sarah Lamb is a “new” face to me before RB’s tour in Beijing. Two days ago, I saw her in Manon as Lescaut’s Mistress, she looked too pure that one could hardly believe that such a lovely “little” girl was a Mistress in such an environment; on the other hand, this impression strengthened my confidence that she could be a wonderful Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, which I had decided to sit in -- a right choice. Although she was not as brilliant as Marianela Nunez, she looked naturally a little Princess of sixteen, very slim, sweet and adorable. It’s unfair to compare her with Marianela Nunez, in terms of techniques and presentation manners, for she has her own way and style to interpret: delicate, agile, clean, stable and precise, nothing show-off -- this made me hardly believe that she was trained in the U.S.A., surprisingly not American style, excellent. Apparently she had prepared herself elaborately, and she knows how to make herself distinguished from the other ballerinas. On the other hand, Ivan Putrov, Prince Florimund, who was also the reason for me to attend this matinée, looked lack of energy and passion, a little below my expectation…

The same matinée, in the Prologue, I noticed a young boy, Her Cavalier of the Fairy of the Song Bird, although he had not much to dance like all the other cavaliers, he seemed quite visible, with his elegant manner of appearance and promenades, and extremely supple and beautifully arched and eloquent feet which should belong to a ballerina (sorry this is the only way I could describe my feeling at that moment), he is Sergei Polunin! He must be a “black horse”, I thought, when I looked at the casts during the interval, he was still an artist (quadrille), but he was casted in the Act 3 Pas de trois “Florestan and his Sisters” , which is normally done by a first soloist (danseur premier). He didn’t made us disappointed, in fact, I was far more than happy to have “discovered” that he was highly gifted: very flexible and well-controlled movements and turns at will, flying grands-jetés with no weight, beautiful ports de bras (not usually seen in RB’s male dancers), lyrical arabesques, beautiful lines and charming smile… but nothing was exaggerate or excessively overdone, everything looked as just simple and nature as it was. I consider myself fortunate not to have missed this performance, because it seemed that this was the only performance he appeared in Beijing. For me, to enjoy a performance of a great étoile is of course very agreeable, however, to “discover” a potential future rising star seems more interesting. Focusing on him, I lost somehow my attention to the other 2 girls in the Pas de trois, Helen Crawford and Emma Maguire, this was of course unfair to them, although they were quite good. Another combination of this Pas de trois, by Valeri Hristov, Lauren Cuthbertson and Samantha Raine was more balanced.

The Lilac Fairy: Isabel McMeekan was undoubtedly very competent by her strong techniques and expressions, while Laura McCulloch looked much closer to the role of Lilac Fairy.

The variations of Fairies: Yuhui Choe was exactly a Fairy of the Crystal Fountain, crystal, tranquil and poetic. Lauren Cuthbertson as Fairy of the Enchanted Garden enchanted us with her confident and charming smile, beautiful lines, exquisite steps and lyrical movement.

Princess Florine and the Bluebird: the most disappointing part, none of the 2 Bluebirds was convincing, awkward brisés-dessus-dessous, heavy entrechats-six, stiff ports-de-bras… why not casted Ricardo Cervera, or Sergei Polunin as the Bluebird? ... However, Yuhui Choe was the right Princess Florine, made this Pas de deux agreeable.

Something regrettable: some excellent male dancers were casted in the Prologue as Cavaliers, such as Ricardo Cervera, Valeri Hristov, Rupert Pennefather, Sergei Polunin; and in Act 1 as four Princes, such as David Makhateli (!!!), Edward Watson, Ersnt Keisner. However, I felt it a huge waste of talents, because, none of them had an opportunity to demonstrate their “virtuosities”, their existence was just the partners of Princess and Fairies, with almost nothing to perform. Particularly for the four Princes, they were wrapped in heavy costumes, hidden behind heavy big hats and gross wigs, beards and moustaches, who could distinguish “who was who”? They had even less to do than the Cavaliers, in fact nothing else to do but to support Aurora… Now I understand more why Adam Cooper didn’t like to act one of the four Princes in the past when he was in the RB…

In the interval of the matinée, I met Madam Monica Mason in the hall and checked with her the casts, as I couldn’t distinguish a few dancers and I believed there were some changes in the casts. Madam Mason was very kind, she answered all my questions, and explained to me roughly some other dancers by referring to the performances of Manon, as she asked me if I sit in those performances. After that, she asked me curiously, “Are you a dancer?”, “No, I’m not, not a professional dancer.” “Not professional?”, she was bewildered. “I’m not professional, but I dance a little as an amateur. I’m a fan of ballet.” I thanked her and left… this reminded me of another thing in last winter, when Alvin Ailey Company visited Tianqiao Theatre. We had a ballet course in the rehearsal hall of Tianqiao Theatre that afternoon, but we were asked to terminate our course a little bit early than usual, because Alvin Ailey Company would use the hall to rehearse before their performance in the evening at Tianqiao Theatre. I stayed with another classmate and would like to have a look at their rehearsals. When I asked the professor for her permission, she asked us, “Are you dancers?” I answered in a similar way, “We’re not professional dancers. We’ve just finished a ballet course here, and we would like to see your rehearsals.” She was puzzled as well, “Not dancers? But do you dance?”, “Yes, we dance but we’re not dancers.” She was confused and said, “OK, do you dance?”, “Yes, we dance, we’re amateurs and we have ballet course here every week.” Then she said, “All right, this doesn’t make any difference. If you dance, you can stay here, and if you like, you can join us to do the exercises, you’re welcome.” And this time, it was our turn to be confused, no difference?! But anyway the result was fantastic! …… oops, I’m going far away from the subject.


Casts of Sleeping Beauty

21 June
Prince Aurora: Marianela Nunez
Prince Florimund: Thiago Soares
King Florestan XXIV: Christopher Saunders
His Queen: Elizabeth McGorian
The Lilac Fairy: Isabel McMeekan
Cattalabutte: Alastair Marriott
Carabosse: Genesia Rosato

Prologue -
Fairy of the Crystal Fountain: Yuhui Choe
Her Cavalier: Ricardo Cervera
Fairy of the Enchanted Garden: Lauren Cuthbertson
Her Cavalier: Valeri Hristov
Fairy of the Woodland Glade: Mara Galeazzi
Her Cavalier: Kenta Kura
Fairy of the Song Bird: Iohna Loots
Her Cavalier: Bennet Gartside
Fairy of the Golden Vine: Laura Morera
Her Cavalier: Brian Maloney
Lilac Fairy’s Cavalier: Rupert Pennefather

Act 1 -
The French Prince: David Makhateli
The SpanishPrince: Martin Harvey
The Indian Prince: Valeri Hristov
The Russian Prince: Thomas Whitehead
Princess Aurora’s Friends: Helen Crawford, Celisa Diuana, Bethany Keating, Hikaru Kobayashi, Victoria Hewitt, Samantha Raine

Act 2 -
The Countess: Sian Murphy
Gallison: Joshua Tuifua

Act 3 -
Florestan and his Sisters (Pas de trois): Valeri Hristov, Lauren Cuthbertson, Samantha Raine
Puss-in-Boots and the White Cat: Ricardo Cervera +, Iohna Loots
Princess Florine and the Bluebird: Laura Morera, Yohei Sasaki
Red Riding Hood and the Wolf: Caroline Duprot, David Pichering

22 June matinée
Prince Aurora: Sarah Lamb
Prince Florimund: Ivan Putrov
King Florestan XXIV: Gary Avis
His Queen: Genesia Rosato
The Lilac Fairy: Laura McCulloch
Cattalabutte: Joshua Tuifua
Carabosse: Elizabeth McGorian

Prologue -
Fairy of the Crystal Fountain: Victoria Hewitt
Her Cavalier: Jonathan Watkins
Fairy of the Enchanted Garden: Laura Morera
Her Cavalier: Fernando Montano
Fairy of the Woodland Glade: Hikaru Kobayashi
Her Cavalier: Kenta Kura
Fairy of the Song Bird: Iohna Loots
Her Cavalier: Sergei Polunin
Fairy of the Golden Vine: Helen Crawford
Her Cavalier: Ernst Meisner
Lilac Fairy’s Cavalier: Ryoichi Hirano

Act 1 -
The French Prince: Bennet Gartside
The SpanishPrince: Edward Watson
The Indian Prince: Kenta Kura
The Russian Prince: Ernst Meisner
Princess Aurora’s Friends: Yuhui Choe, Leanne Cope, Celisa Diuana, Caroline Duprot, Bethany Keating, Hikaru Kobayashi, Emma Maguire, Romany Pajdak

Act 2 -
The Countess: Victoria Hewitt
Gallison: Jonathan Howells

Act 3 -
Florestan and his Sisters (Pas de trois): Sergei Polunin, Helen Crawford, Emma Maguire
Puss-in-Boots and the White Cat: Ricardo Cervera, Leanne Cope
Princess Florine and the Bluebird: Yuhui Choe, Brian Maloney
Red Riding Hood and the Wolf: Romany Pajdak, Johannes Stepanek

[sophia]

Thanks for your wonderful review, Enya!

It's funny because when I saw this Royal Ballet production of Sleeping Beauty two years ago, it was almost exactly with the same casts (Nunez/Soares and Lamb/Samodurov)! Viacheslav Samodurov, Sarah Lamb's partner, is still the best "Sleeping Prince" I have ever seen both on stage and in film (my "career" is short!).

Basically, I agree with you concerning the "gap" between M. Nunez and T. Soares. Here is probably what distinguishes a fine soloist from a true star (POB should also think about it!...). But apart from technical considerations, I find the main role fits Lamb better, as she's certainly more a "danseuse noble" than Nunez. Anyway, this Marianela is an incredible performer and there are probably few dancers of that level in the world today...

Specifically about Sarah Lamb:

[maraxan]

Thanks for the reviews. I would have loved to see Ed Watson as the Spanish Prince !!! I saw a couple of Auroras this year at Covent Garden and thought Sarah Lamb was the only one who saved this production .
On the other topic launched (more or less) by Sophia, I think that the idea of “principal dancer” over here is not the same as what is an “Etoile” in French minds. That’s why the word is so special no? In France, there’s a kind of magic as described by Rudolf Otto in his book on the holy attached to the word “étoile”. In London, some principal dancers are more blessed than others but basically everyone is entitled to choose the beloved in a selected category.
Being a principal in London is just the regular progression in your career and most of the time, if you are given the roles, then you're ending in getting the title, otherwise, you don’t dance them anymore.
Two years ago, ENB tried to introduce somewhat artificially something which bears the idea of “the best of the best” in creating the category “senior principal dancer” but nobody fully understood it, except the split of the actual category “principal dancer” rose some to “senior” and others, who thought they were at the top, weren’t anymore…
In Paris, there is a lot of “Premier danseur” and even “Sujet” who are dancing regularly and for long main roles. This is pretty rare in London. Of course, there are fewer shows but if one principal is injured, it’s very rare he’s not replaced by another principal. And those who are not getting the title as quickly as they wish, well they move elsewhere, mostly also because a lot of high level dancers of these companies are foreigners and they don’t care about moving.

[Enya]

Thanks Sophia for sharing with me your opinions, especially the background information about Sarah Lamb. No wonder, she turns out to be gifted by a prestigious heritage! But unlike many Russian ballerinas’ outburst of enthusiasm, she has a temperament of serenity and tranquillity, even in the contemporary ballet Chroma – I like her style.

Concerning Viacheslav Samodurov, he was still the partner of Sarah Lamb in Manon: Lescaut and his Mistress. I’m coming to that later… he also partnered Mara Galeazzi in Romeo and Juliet Pas de deux in the Gala. Two years have been past, the time has left a mark on him, how emotionless the time is!

I agree that there are differences between a true star and an excellent first soloist, and it’s really not easy to find a right title to differentiate a true star. Sometimes we do find that there exist some etoiles on the level of first soloists…

Thanks Maraxan as well. I have a question which has puzzled me for a long time: from the past two decades to present, why are the RB’s principal dancers dominated by foreign dancers, while the British famous Royal Ballet School keeps on training and developping their own native dancers? On the other hand, for the other prestigious companies - the Paris Opera Ballet, the Kirov or the Bolshoi, etc., keep a relatively closed sources of dancers from their own ballet schools, there are rare exceptions that etoiles are not native dancers or not coming from their own ballet schools, for exemple, Jose Martinez, although he’s Spanish, he received his most important trainings and educations in Paris Opera Ballet School.

[maraxan]

Well people from this forum are probably more qualified to give an answer about the POB and the POB School.
Without going into the political field, what I can tell about UK is first there is an open international recruitment of the pupils both at the ENBS and at the Royal Ballet School in the Upper school so already the dancers are from different origins there. A lot of the foreign ENB and RB dancers are coming from these UK schools (either as a regular enrolment or on a scholarship from international youth competitions). Besides, the entry in the companies is not ruled by a “concours” as in France which offers a career long contract with a quota reserved for the school pupils… and later on, the progresses in the hierarchy have less constraints, especially the step by step ruled again by the concours which is a tradition the POB seems fond of. You can easily enter, especially at ENB, at any level. Both companies here are practical, they want to fill the gaps with what they consider the best. In any case, ENB is a small company so most of the time, there is no obvious dancer who can fill in when one dancer is leaving and there is no other choice than to recruit elsewhere.
To sum up, these are reputable companies, they are London based (!), the competition is open, so they attract dancers from all over the world.

[sophia]

[maraxan]

Yes it’s not that long the Royal Ballet is that clearly opened and as a matter of fact, despite the corps de ballet is more or less coming from the school now, there is a lot less homogeneity than in the Paris one. When I started to attend quite regularly the Parisian performances, I couldn’t keep noticing this homogeneity, even in the contemporary repertoire and I must say it’s a pleasure for the eyes. It’s not only a matter of synchronicity but a matter of style. RB corps the ballet is quite a mess compared to it even if they tend to programme more classical stuff than in Paris. Up to me, ENB is a lot better mostly because it has a very small repertoire so the dancers are working on the same ballets over the seasons and there is a small turnover among the dancers… As for the soloists, it is still a lot complicated to reach a high level of satisfaction when there is a discrepancy between the dancers style and it’s obvious some attempts of partnerships don’t wok. That was I think one of the main flaws of the recent performances of Dances at a gathering lately, so up to me, there is no need of 50 Swan Lake a year to appreciate the cohesion of the dancers.

[Enya]

Wow~~~! Thanks a lot for Maraxan and Sophia’s elaborations!

Perhaps it’s a paradoxe between “diversités” and “spécificités”, between “hétérogénéité“ and “homogéneité”. “Diversités” and “hétérogénéité“ are important for a ballet company to present its variety of roles and styles, however it might be a disaster for the corps de ballet. I have a feeling that the RB is becoming more and more similar to the ABT - big gap or differences between principal dancers and corps de ballet, discrepancies of style between dancers, asychoronization of corps de ballet… we’ve noticed these more or less in Sleeping Beauty and in Manon, and this of course destroyed more or less the integrity and consistency of the whole ballet… dommage. I don’t know if Maraxan had seen the performances of the National Ballet of China a few days ago at Covent Garden or not. The NBC is an opposite example, their dancers come from the Beijing Dance Academy mostly, I could say that the NBC’s corps de ballet of girls is one of the best in the word – its wonderful 24 swans in Swan Lake, 24 willis in Giselle, or 32 shades in La Bayadere. However, it lacks of diversities of principal dancers. Apart from two ballerinas (Zhang Jian and Wang Qimin) who can be boasted on the level of ballerina in the world, we can hardly find a convincing male principal dancer. If there are no enough numbers and variety of danseuses and danseurs etoiles, then, no matter how wonderful the corps de ballet is, the spetacles become boring gradually after several years, as there is hardly something special to refresh the eyes.

Busy with watching Olympic Games, my words about Manon (Oops, there was a fatal typing error. Thanks Katharine!) might be postponed…

[Katharine Kanter]

Mammon - a MOST appropriate misnomer for that particular ballet!

Sorry, Enya, but I beg to disagree.

ENB, RB, NBC, POB - name the acronym, the basic 'industry product' (yes - that's the term in current usage!), is the same.

The issue, as I see it, is whether classical dancing will finally decide to go back to being an ART FORM,

OR

whether we plan to remain stuck in GYM-PORN, which is the contemporary equivalent of Soviet-era DRAMBALLET.

I have seen the NBC, recently, and came away very concerned by the concessions to fashion - the extreme laxity, the hyper-extensions, the etiolated, gymnastic shapes, the tendency to place the musical accent on every hyper-extension and so on. Precisely what has destroyed the Maryinskii School. It's all no different from what one sees at Paris, Saint Petersburg, London or New York, but does that make it any more acceptable?

[Kevin Ng]

>Apart from two ballerinas (Zhang Jian and Wang Qimin) who can be boasted on the level of ballerina in the world, we can hardly find a convincing male principal dancer

Actually there are three ballerinas in the NBC who are of world class. You have omitted Zhu Yan, who has guested with the Royal Danish Ballet. I agree that the male principals are weaker in comparison.

[Enya]

For the NBC (an acronym is faster to be typed. In the current high-tech era, we’re used to use many, too many acronyms, sometimes they are abused more than usual), what Katharine concerns is also ours, I mean, those of Chinese ballet fans. But the raisons for the current situation, from my personnal point of view, it’s not the concessions to the fashion, but because it lacks of adequate information about the development of ballet outside China, and lacks of adequate exchanges with the outside world. We know that Chinese ballet has been in a very closed situation for quite a long time after the withdrawal of Russian masters, its openning to the outside world is just some 20 years. Dancers almost come from the Beijing Dance Academy, where ballet is only one of its departments, and, it’s not the most important department, as there are Chinese Classical Dance Department, Chinese Folk Dance Department and others. The training system follows the Russian tradition, or, to say, not always up-to-date in time. A very odd phenomenen is there are rare dancers becoming professors in the Academy after they retire from the NBC, on the other hand, most of the professors don’t have experiences of being professional dancers at all, they are just trained as professors. It’s not hard to find that there is a huge gap between the training objectives and the real requirements for a dancer. For the Academy, they are not developping true dancers because they are far away from the stage, the focus is on the techniques and the aspect of performing is more or less neglected, because, the technical abilities are more concrete, visible and measurable, while the sense of artistry is more difficult to grasp, especially ballet is an art imported. Another reference, the techniques of Chinese Classical Dance is even more hyper-extensive in the eyes of ballet spectators, for example, a good Chinese Classical Dancer, girl or boy, can easily raise her/his leg more than 185 degrees, no matter it is front, back or “a la seconde”, needless to say the dazzling turns and jumps, it’s coming from a different system, and a different culture background, but it’s rooted deeply in its rich culture base and nothing looks strange and excessive to us. But the result for ballet in China is different, the ballet students become more and more like athletes, and when they are engaged in the NBC as dancers, there is a long way for them to be re-shaped and it’s not an easy thing. We criticize very often “at home” that they dance with no heart. But Chinese ballet needs more opportunities to be exposed to the outside world, so that Chinese dancers can learn more from the others, and can be synchronized to the whole ballet world. On the other hand, if Chinese dancers keep something Chinese specific, then, why not… acceptable…?

Thanks for Kevin’s remind. I haven’t forgotten Zhu Yan, in the NBC’s list of Ballerina, she is, for sure. But putting the NBC in the whole world of ballet, frankly speaking, I would rather say that she is a ballerina on the level of a first soloist. Of course this is all my personnal view as a spectator (after the impression of having watched her performances for almost ten years), it’s not representing any opinions of any others…

[Kevin Ng]

Actually I disagree. I've watched Zhu Yan since 2000. To me, she is more a world-class ballerina than Zhang Jian.

[Florine]