text:
The Story Begins…
Actresses, gentlemen and the Parisian demi-monde gather in the courtyard of an inn near Paris. Among them are the student Des Grieux, the wealthy Monsieur G.M. and Lescaut, who is there to meet his sister Manon on her way to enter a convent. Manon arrives with an Old Gentleman who is obviously attracted to her. Lescaut takes the Old Gentleman aside to come to an arrangement with him over Manon. She remains outside and meets Des Grieux. They fall in love and decide to escape to Paris…
Manon Across the Ages
L'Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut is a novel by the Abbé Prévost, a 18th-century French writer whose extraordinary life encompassed Catholic piety, scandal and love affairs. The controversial novel was banned in France upon its publication in 1731, but became very popular on the back of pirated copies. Manon's story has since inspired numerous adaptations, among them operas by Massenet and Puccini, a film by Clouzot, and MacMillan's ballet.
From Controversy to Company Classic
Kenneth MacMillan believed that Manon's story would be a good basis for a large-scale, traditional company ballet. However, the choreographer's choice of a capricious and seemingly ruthless heroine was a challenge to ballet conventions. Critics expressed reservations about Manon after its premiere – 'basically, Manon is a slut and Des Grieux is a fool and they move in the most unsavoury company', one wrote. However, audiences immediately took to the work, and the power of MacMillan's choreography, as well as the relevance of Manon's message in modern society, has secured its place as a classic in The Royal Ballet's repertory.
Manon's Music
When MacMillan came to choose the music for Manon, he was advised to avoid the Puccini opera and turned instead to the music of Massenet. The choreographer asked composer and conductor Leighton Lucas to create an arrangement. With the help of Royal Ballet accompanist Hilda Gaunt, Lucas sifted through Massenet's overtures, ballets, music for plays, oratorios and operas – though notably not the composer's Manon – to create a new ballet score. This was re-orchestrated by Martin Yates for the work's 2011 revival.
A Story Told Through Pas de deux
As was his habit, MacMillan first worked on the ballet's pas de deux. These occur at key moments in the drama, and together poignantly track Manon's downfall. She and Des Grieux throw themselves at one another with passionate intensity as they fall in love in Act I, but by the time they dance their final pas de deux in the Louisiana swamps, much of their choreography comprises desperate reminiscences of earlier steps.
Manon runs from 26 September–1 November 2014. Tickets are still available. The production is staged with generous philanthropic support from Celia Blakey, Peter Lloyd and The Royal Opera House Endowment Fund. Original Production (1974) made possible by The Linbury Trust.]]>
Award-winning and internationally-acclaimed Royal Ballet Principal Steven McRae is a delightfully versatile performer. Whether cast as the love-struck Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake or the tap-dancing Mad Hatter in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the Sydney-born dancer rises to and excels in every challenge. But if there is one role he confesses is 'in my blood and in my bones', it's the title character of Romeo and Juliet, which the ballet star learnt and first performed on very short notice.
'I was at home on a Saturday evening and at midnight I got a phone call from [Royal Ballet Principal] Roberta Marquez', McRae recalls of his early years as a Soloist at the Company. 'She said: "I'm in Paris, and I've just done Don Quixote, but I have to do it again tomorrow, and my partner just hurt himself. Can you come and do it?"' He accepted instantly.
Despite having never danced with the ballerina, and arriving at the theatre with just under an hour to spare before curtain call, his performance was so well received that, upon his return to London, he was asked to understudy the part of Romeo. It didn't take long for him to debut in that role: 'The next day [former Principal] Johan Kobborg hurt himself, so that's when my chance appeared'.
For McRae, Romeo was not just a turning point in his life and career, but also a role he feels he has made his own. 'I had watched every single show since joining the Company, so when it came to actually doing it, I guess I knew it.' But he attributes much of his success with the ballet to Kenneth MacMillan's amazing choreography: 'The man was a genius. If you let the steps do the talking, it works.'
Listen to an extended version of the extract:
This interview was recorded at an ROH Insights event in April 2013. Find out more about upcoming events
Steven McRae will perform in Manon, Scènes de ballet, The Age of Anxiety, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Don Quixote, and Swan Lake in the 2014/15 Season.]]>
You come from a ballet family – did this inspire you?
My mum and dad were both principal dancers in Chelyabinsk, where I grew up – sometimes they even danced together. Now they have retired and are teaching. But my sister is a ballerina and still dancing in Chelyabinsk. When I was small it just seemed natural I should dance too. It also seemed natural I should go to the Perm State Choreographic College, as both my parents had studied there and my sister was already there, in her graduation year.
You went when you were nine – that's very young.
I was very little and happy to go but didn't know it was going to be so hard. I went on the overnight train because at the time we couldn't afford the plane and I still remember the view as the train moved off – watching my parents waving goodbye to me, and I was crying. The first nights in the dormitory at school were difficult too. You couldn't show you were crying and missing your mum. You had to hide it. But it got easier later and technology became better so I got a mobile phone and could reach my parents that way. I remember when I entered the arabesque competition. My dad had promised me a laptop computer if I won a prize – and I did, I got the silver medal. I was the first boy at school with a laptop. Suddenly there was a queue of boys all wanting to try it out.
How did you come to study at The Royal Ballet School? Was this your preferred choice or were there other schools in the frame?
After six years at Perm I entered the Prix de Lausanne competition and won a study scholarship – I had lots of schools to choose from, including the Vaganova Academy in St Petersburg, and The Royal Ballet School. To be honest I chose The Royal Ballet School mainly because it was in London. I was a teenager and fed up of Russia and thought it would be amazing to live in a great city in Europe. It was very difficult at first because I didn't speak any English. I shared a room with Benjamin Ella, who is a dancer with The Royal Ballet now, and a good friend, and we created a hybrid language of English and Russian to get by. I actually didn't expect to stay longer than a year, but after my first year Gailene Stock [the former Director of the Royal Ballet School] asked me if I wanted to continue and graduate, so I stayed. After graduation I was offered a contract with English National Ballet right away.
Tell us about your dream partnership at English National Ballet with Czech prima ballerina Daria Klimentová.
We get on so well together. We match each other in physique and she is Czech and the Czech and Russian culture is a bit similar. And our sense of humour is also the same. When you are really relaxed in rehearsals it gives you the confidence to explore new things. We can make jokes, or be really honest and say what's on our mind, then just let it go. If you're dancing with someone you don't feel so comfortable with you can feel scared and shy, which might mean you don't give your best.
Daria retired in May this year and has been quoted as saying she waited 20 years to find a dance partner like you.
That's lovely. At first I don't think either of us thought we were a particularly amazing partnership. We were just working on dancing together as well as we could and enjoying it. We weren't trying to push it and create something special, it just came naturally and it was up to the audience to decide whether we were good together or not.
And now you have joined The Royal Ballet. What are you most looking forward to?
It is a really exciting time because every role I will dance with The Royal Ballet will be a debut for me. There is Manon with Lauren Cuthbertson and also Don Quixote, Onegin and Swan Lake. I've already danced The Sleeping Beauty and The Winter's Tale with the Company. The Winter's Tale was particularly interesting for me to do because I'd never really done this style of choreography before, so it was a big challenge, and when you are young it is good to always challenge yourself.
What other highlights are you looking forward to?
I'm looking forward to all the different classes I will take part in – particularly to work with the Russian teacher, Alexander Agadzhanov. What I also love about The Royal Ballet is that, unlike other companies, you have your own dressing room inside the Royal Opera House itself and sometimes before you rehearse there are operas going on – it makes you feel closer and more connected to the stage. I think I will enjoy this aspect a lot. I hope to guest for other companies sometimes too. It improves you a lot as a dancer because you go to a new company and the production and the ballerina you dance with are both new, so you have to push yourself. It's a pressure, but a good one that makes you stronger. Then when you come back 'home' it makes you feel more special.
Tell us about dancing the role of Lensky in John Cranko's Onegin for The Royal Ballet.
I am really looking forward to this – it's a great story, a Russian classic, of course. A few years ago I was only thinking about cabrioles and pirouettes and how to jump high. Now I realize there are lots of amazing ballets where I can be an actor as well as a ballet dancer.
Do you enjoy the challenge of acting through dance?
Yes I do, especially when you know a ballet well enough, as then it seems to come naturally. Once you have mastered the steps and they are in your body and muscles, you can start to let go. That is when the acting comes in. But I don't like to force it as it is sometimes hard to push the acting in the rehearsal studio – the best time for me is on stage when I have danced two acts already. By that time I am so tired I don't think about the steps at all, they become automatic and that's usually the best moment when I can let go and really go for it.
You are a product of both Russian and English schools of ballet – have you developed an individual style?
I think I have. I can't say I am 100% Russian now, because I have worked at The Royal Ballet School for three years, and with English National Ballet for four and a half years. So I am a mixture of my Russian blood and training and the English school, which have very different styles. I don't want to change that though – it is good to have a bit of everything.
Vadim Muntagirov will appear in Manon, Symphonic Variations, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Don Quixote, Onegin and Swan Lake in the 2014/15 Season.
This article first appeared in the Royal Opera House Magazine, which is sent quarterly to the Friends of Covent Garden. Find out more about becoming a Friend.
Year after year, in opera houses around the world, audiences are reduced to tears by the story of a young woman torn between the pleasures of material wealth and her love for an impoverished student.
Manon Lescaut – whose tragedy has been retold countless times in at least two operas (Massenet's, Puccini's), a ballet (MacMillan's) and a clutch of films – is, in some tellings, a prostitute, and in others a foolish young woman. However, in all versions, Manon leaves the Chevalier des Grieux, the man she loves, to become the mistress of a wealthier older man. When she finally has (another) change of heart and returns to Des Grieux, she is arrested on prostitution charges and, in most versions, deported to America.
But if Manon's story is familiar, that of the man behind the tale is anything but. L'Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut, first published in 1731, was the work of the Abbé Prévost – or, to give him his full name, Antoine François Prévost d'Exiles. So who was he, this priest who created Manon's heart-breaking story of human weakness?
Prévost was born in Hesdin in northern France on 1 April 1697 and spent his early years deliberating between careers in the church and in the military. By the time he finally decided to join the Benedictine order in 1721, he had twice enlisted in the army, after an education with the Jesuits. In 1726 he was ordained a priest and remained with the Benedictines until 1728, when a falling-out with the abbot sent him fleeing to England.
In an introduction to his 1841 translation of Manon Lescaut, D.C. Moylon suggested a reason behind Prévost's apparent inability to stay put: 'The sanctity of the cloister was no protection to our young novice against the rebellious senses; with a heart too open to vain and illusory impressions, and a naturally fiery temperament, he panted for liberty'.
Once in England, Prévost converted to Protestantism and worked as a tutor – a job from which he was sacked in 1730, apparently because of a love affair. He fled to Holland but came running back to London just a few years later to escape creditors, only to be briefly imprisoned for forgery. Prévost finally returned to Paris and the Catholic faith in 1735.
In between fleeing creditors and zigzagging between doctrines, Prévost had somehow found the time to publish the first two volumes of his Mémoires et aventures d'un homme de qualité qui s'est retiré du monde, ostensibly the work of one Marquis de Renoncour. He continued to produce books fairly regularly until his death in Courteuil, Picardy, in 1763.
On a side note, Prévost's death – probably a fairly prosaic end – has been the source of lurid stories, including one that suggested his death was a result of an on-the-spot autopsy. Prévost is supposed to have woken up just as the scalpel was plunged in, and died from the wound.
It was only the seventh and final volume of Prévost's Mémoires – featuring the story of Des Grieux and Manon Lescaut – which captured the imagination of later generations. Perhaps the reason for this is that the story deals with experiences and weaknesses that Prévost himself knew only too well, as the influential French critic Jules Janin recognized:
'Must he not in some quarter or other study the passions he is about to portray – that particular section of the world of which he is going to write the history – those very vices even that he was afterwards to dramatise? and you surely could not expect that he should acquire all that kind of knowledge in a convent!'
Manon Lescaut runs 17 June–7 July 2014. Tickets are still available.
The production is generously supported by Rolex, with generous philanthropic support from Mrs Susan A. Olde OBE, Lord and Lady Laidlaw, Mrs Philip Kan, Marina Kulishova, Mrs Trevor Swete, Quentin Holland, Mercedes T. Bass, Bruce Kovner, the American Friends of Covent Garden and The Manon Lescaut Production Syndicate.
Manon runs 26 September–1 November 2014. Tickets go on general sale 15 July 2014.
The production is given with generous philanthropic support from Celia Blakey, Peter Lloyd and The Royal Opera House Endowment Fund. Original Production (1974) made possible by The Linbury Trust.
Manon Lescaut will be relayed live to cinemas around the world on 24 June 2014, and Manon on 16 October 2014. Find your nearest cinema and sign up to our mailing list.]]>
Booking dates
All the booking dates below open at 10am.
Royal Opera House 2014-15 Autumn Season Seating Plan and Ticket Prices (PDF 325KB)
Purchasing tickets as part of a Package will offer the best seat availability and a saving of up to 33%. Find out more about advance booking packages.
Ballet and Dance
Deloitte Ignite 2014
5-28 September
Free opening festival curated by The Royal Ballet and Minna Moore Ede.
BalletBoyz the TALENT (Linbury Studio Theatre)
16–27 September
Former Royal Ballet dancers Michael Nunn and William Trevitt and their award-winning troupe come to the Linbury Studio Theatre for the first time, with an all-new programme.
26 September–1 November; Live cinema relay on 16 October
By Kenneth MacMillan
Kenneth MacMillan's acclaimed tragic ballet is a modern masterpiece.
Scènes de ballet / Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan / Symphonic Variations / A Month in the Country
18 October–12 November
By Frederick Ashton
The Royal Ballet celebrates its Founder Choreographer, Frederick Ashton, with a mixed programme of some of his finest works.
Ceremony of Innocence / The Age of Anxiety / Aeternum
7–17 November
By Kim Brandstrup / NEW Liam Scarlett / Christopher Wheeldon
A Scarlett world premiere and two recent works by Brandstrup and Wheeldon: contemporary ballet at its finest.
Cassandra NEW (Linbury Studio Theatre)
30 October–1 November
By Ludovic Ondiviela
Choreographer Ludovic Ondiviela and singer songwriter Ana Silvera present a poignant exploration of what it is to be called mad.
Mapping / Document / Christopher Bruce (Linbury Studio Theatre)
25 –9 November
By Darshan Singh Bhuller / Ivgi & Greben / NEW Christopher Bruce
Phoenix Dance Theatre presents a mixed programme including a Christopher Bruce premiere and works by Darshan Singh Bhuller and the choreographic duo Ivgi & Grebem.
Don Quixote
25 November–22 January
By Carlos Acosta after Marius Petipa
Carlos Acosta's exuberant production of this classic tale of friendship, love and loyalty is bursting with joie de vivre.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
6 December 2014–16 January 2015; Live cinema relay on 16 December
Welcome Performance for Families 6 December
By Christopher Wheeldon
Follow Alice down the rabbit hole in Christopher Wheeldon's thrillingly entertaining ballet.
The Mad Hatter's Tea Party NEW (Linbury Studio Theatre)
6 December 2014–3 January 2015
ZooNation burst onto the stage with their family Christmas show, a wonderfully wacky take on the madcap characters of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Opera and Music
Anna Nicole
11–24 September
Mark-Anthony Turnage
Dir: Richard Jones
Cond: Antonio Pappano
A tale of sex, celebrity and scandal: Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera explores the dramatic life and death of Anna Nicole Smith.
12 September–6 October; BP Big Screen Live Relay on 17 September
Giuseppe Verdi
Dir: David McVicar
Cond: Maurizio Benini / Paul Griffiths
Corruption and innocence collide in Verdi's remarkable opera. David McVicar's staging emphasizes the depravity at the heart of the court of Mantua.
Il barbiere di Siviglia
19 September–5 October
Gioachino Rossini
Dir: Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier
Cond: Mark Elder
Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier's production of Rossini's sparkling comedy is full of wit and energy.
The Trial NEW (Linbury Studio Theatre)
10–18 October
Philip Glass
Lib: Christopher Hampton
Dir: Michael McCarthy
Cond: Michael Rafferty
Philip Glass, one of the world's most popular contemporary composers, creates a new work for Music Theatre Wales based on Kafka's nightmarish novel.
La scala di seta (Linbury Studio Theatre)
23–4 October
Gioachino Rossini
Dir: Greg Eldridge §
Cond: Jonathan Santagada §
The Jette Parker Young Artists present a fully staged performance in the Linbury Studio Theatre, in one of the most popular highlights of Meet the Young Artists Week.
§ Jette Parker Young Artist
I due Foscari NEW
14 October–2 November; Live cinema relay on 27 October
Giuseppe Verdi
Dir: Thaddeus Strassberger
Cond: Antonio Pappano / Renato Balsadonna
A despairing father is torn between love for his family and duty to a corrupt city in Verdi's searing early tragedy.
Idomeneo NEW
3–24 November
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Dir: Martin Kušej
Cond: Marc Minkowski
Love and sacrifice vie in Mozart's sublime early masterpiece, directed by Martin Kušej in his UK debut.
Glare NEW (Linbury Studio Theatre)
Søren Nils Eichberg
Lib: Hannah Dübgen
Dir: Thaddeus Strassberger
Cond: Geoffrey Paterson
Danish-German composer Søren Nils Eichberg presents a taut thriller about trust and reality.
L'elisir d'amore
18 November–13 December; Live cinema relay on 26 November
Gaetano Donizetti
Dir: Laurent Pelly
Cond: Daniele Rustioni
Laurent Pelly's acclaimed production of Donizetti's opera radiates tenderness, humour and southern sunshine.
Orfeo NEW (Roundhouse, Camden)
13–24 January 2015
Claudio Monteverdi
Dir: Michael Boyd / Trans: Don Paterson
Cond: Christian Curnyn
Autumn Season
Deloitte Ignite 2014
Free opening festival curated by The Royal Ballet and Minna Moore Ede.
Throughout September
BalletBoyz theTALENT (Linbury Studio Theatre)
Former Royal Ballet dancers Michael Nunn and William Trevitt and their award-winning troupe come to the Linbury Studio Theatre for the first time, with an all-new programme.
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 September at 7.45pm
By Kenneth MacMillan
Music: Jules Massenet, orchestrated by Martin Yates
Kenneth MacMillan's acclaimed tragic ballet is a modern masterpiece.
26 September at 7.30pm; 27 September at 12.30pm; 30 September at 1pm
1 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 16† | 25 | 29 October at 7.30pm; 4 October at 2pm and 7pm; 5 October at 12 noon; 11 October at 12.30pm
1 November at 7pm
† Live cinema relay
Scènes de ballet / Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan / Symphonic Variations / A Month in the Country
By Frederick Ashton
Music: Igor Stravinsky / Johannes Brahms / Cèsar Franck / Fryderyk Chopin
The Royal Ballet celebrates its Founder Choreographer, Frederick Ashton, with a mixed programme of some of his finest works.
18 October at 7pm; 22 | 28 October at 7.30pm
4 | 5 | 11 | 12 November at 7.30pm
Ceremony of Innocence / The Age of Anxiety / Aeternum
By Kim Brandstrup / NEW Liam Scarlett / Christopher Wheeldon
Music: Benjamin Britten / Leonard Bernstein / Benjamin Britten
A Scarlett world premiere and two recent works by Brandstrup and Wheeldon: contemporary ballet at its finest.
7 | 13 | 14 | 17 November at 7.30pm; 8 November at 2pm and 7pm
Cassandra NEW (Linbury Studio Theatre)
By Ludovic Ondiviela
Music: Ana Silvera
Choreographer Ludovic Ondiviela and singer songwriter Ana Silvera present a poignant exploration of what it is to be called mad.
30 | 31 October at 7.45pm
1 November at 2pm
Mapping / Document / Christopher Bruce (Linbury Studio Theatre)
By Darshan Singh Bhuller / Ivgi & Greben / NEW Christopher Bruce
Phoenix Dance Theatre
Phoenix Dance Theatre presents a mixed programme including a Christopher Bruce premiere and works by Darshan Singh Bhuller and the choreographic duo Ivgi & Grebem.
25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 November at 7.45pm
Don Quixote
By Carlos Acosta after Marius Petipa
Music: Ludwig Minkus, arranged and orchestrated by Martin Yates
Carlos Acosta's exuberant production of this classic tale of friendship, love and loyalty is bursting with joie de vivre.
25 | 27 | 28 November at 7.30pm
12 | 15 December at 7.30pm; 20 December at 1.30pm and 7pm; 29 December at 7pm; 30 December at 12.30pm
3 January at 1.30pm and 7pm; 5 | 7 | 8 | 14 | 19 | 21 | 22 January at 7.30pm
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
By Christopher Wheeldon
Music: Joby Talbot, orchestrated by Christopher Austin and Joby Talbot
Follow Alice down the rabbit hole in Christopher Wheeldon's thrillingly entertaining ballet.
6 December at 1.30pm (Welcome Performance) and 7pm; 10 | 16† December at 7.30pm; 19 December at 2pm and 7.30pm; 22 December at 12.30pm; 23 December at 1.30pm and 7pm; 24 December at 12 noon; 27 December at 1.30pm and 7pm; 31 December at 12 noon and 5pm
10 January at 7pm; 12 | 15 | 16 January at 7.30pm
† Live cinema relay
The Mad Hatter's Tea Party NEW (Linbury Studio Theatre)
ZooNation burst onto the stage with their family Christmas show, a wonderfully wacky take on the madcap characters of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Previews: 6 December at 12.30pm and 5pm; 8 December at 7pm
9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 December at 7pm; 13 | 20 | 22 | 23 | 27 December at 12.30pm and 5pm; 24 | 31 December at 12.30pm; 28 December at 2pm; 29 | 30 December at 5pm
2 | 3 January at 12.30pm and 5pm
Winter Season
By John Cranko
Music: Kurt-Heinz Stolze after Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
John Cranko's adaptation of Pushkin's verse-novel, set to music by Tchaikovsky, trembles with emotional charge.
24 January at 2pm and 7pm; 27 | 28 | 30 January at 7.30pm; 31 January at 12.30pm
2 | 4 February at 7.30pm; 7 February at 12.30pm; 11 February at 2.30pm and 7.30pm; 16 | 18 February at 7.30pm; 27 February at 2.30pm and 7.30pm
Swan Lake
By Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, additional choreography by Frederick Ashton and David Bintley
Music: Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
Anthony Dowell's production of the greatest romantic ballet draws upon the opulence of 1890s Russia.
10 | 13 February at 7.30pm; 14 February at 7pm; 19 February at 2pm and 7.30pm; 21 February at 1.30pm and 7pm
13 | 16 | 17† | 18 | 19 | 25 | 26 March at 7.30pm; 14 March at 12.30pm; 21 March at 1.30pm and 7pm
2 | 7 | 9 April at 7.30pm
† Live cinema relay
London International Mime Festival (Linbury Studio Theatre)
The acclaimed annual festival returns to the Linbury Studio Theatre.
TBC January
Murmur / Inked (Linbury Studio Theatre)
By Aakash Odedra
Aakash Odedra dances an exhilarating mixed programme, created in collaboration with choreographers Lewis Major and Damien Jalet.
23 | 24 January at 7.45pm
Draft Works (Linbury Studio Theatre)
By The Royal Ballet
Dancers from within the ranks of The Royal Ballet create and perform experimental new works.
24 | 26 February at 7.45pm
Ballet Black (Linbury Studio Theatre)
The award-winning company presents a dynamic mixed programme from leading choreographers.
10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 February at 7.45pm
Spring Season
The Bayadère Project (Linbury Studio Theatre)
By Shobana Jeyasingh
Music: Gabriel Prokofiev
In a new Royal Opera House commission Shobana Jeyasingh reimagines Marius Petipa's India-set classical ballet.
25 | 26 | 27 | 28 March at 7.45pm
The Four Temperaments / Hofesh Shechter / Song of the Earth
By George Balanchine / NEW Hofesh Shechter / Kenneth MacMillan
Music: Paul Hindemith / TBC / Gustav Mahler
Masterpieces by Balanchine and MacMillan frame a world premiere from Hofesh Shechter in The Royal Ballet's thrilling mixed programme.
27 | 30 March at 7.30pm
8 | 10 | 14 April at 7.30pm
La Fille mal gardèe
By Frederick Ashton
Music: Ferdinand Hérold, arranged and orchestrated by John Lanchbery
Frederick Ashton's joyful ballet contains some of his most brilliant choreography.
16 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 28 | 29 April at 7.30pm; 26 April at 3pm
2 May at 2pm and 7pm; 5† May at 7.30pm
† Live cinema relay
Summer Season
Woolf Works NEW
By Wayne McGregor
Music: Max Richter
Royal Ballet Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor presents his first full-length ballet for the Company.
11 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 20 | 21 | 26 May at 7.30pm; 23 May at 12 noon
Afternoon of a Faun / In the Night / Song of the Earth
By Jerome Robbins / Kenneth MacMillan
Music: Claude Debussy / Fryderyk Chopin / Gustav Mahler
The Royal Ballet's mixed programme brings together two of Jerome Robbins's masterpieces with MacMillan's powerful depiction of love and loss.
29 May at 7.30pm; 30 May at 12.30pm
1 | 4 June at 7.30pm
Welcome Performance for Families on 29 May at 1.30pm
The Architect / mixed programme (Linbury Studio Theatre)
By Kenneth Tindall / NEW TBC
Northern Ballet
One of the UK's leading touring companies visits the Linbury Studio Theatre with a mixed programme.
The Elves and the Shoemaker
By Daniel de Andrade
Northern Ballet
Northern Ballet presents new children's ballet from its award-winning series Short Ballets for Small People.
TBC May
Springboard (Linbury Studio Theatre)
Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance; Verve; Ballet Central; Dutch National Ballet
1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 June at 7.45pm
The Royal Ballet School Summer Performances
12 July at 12 noon (main stage) | TBC July (Linbury Studio Theatre)]]>
The 2014/15 Live Cinema Season will see a total of 11 Royal Opera House productions relayed to more than 1,500 cinemas in over 40 countries. The screenings include seven Royal Opera and four Royal Ballet productions:
Manon, 16 October at 7.15pm
The Royal Ballet
By Kenneth MacMillan
Music: Jules Massenet, orchestrated by Martin Yates
I due Foscari NEW, 27 October at 7.15pm
The Royal Opera
Giuseppe Verdi
Dir: Thaddeus Strassberger
Cond: Antonio Pappano
Cast includes Plácido Domingo, Francesco Meli and Maria Agresta
L'elisir d'amore, 26 November at 7.15pm
The Royal Opera
Gaetano Donizetti
Dir: Laurent Pelly
Cond: Daniele Rustioni
Cast includes Lucy Crowe, Vittorio Grigolo and Bryn Terfel
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 16 December at 7.15pm
The Royal Ballet
By Christopher Wheeldon
Music: Joby Talbot, orchestrated by Christopher Austin and Joby Talbot
Andrea Chénier NEW, 29 January at 7.15pm
The Royal Opera
Umberto Giordano
Dir: David McVicar
Cond: Antonio Pappano
Cast includes Jonas Kaufmann and Eva-Maria Westbroek
Der fliegende Holländer, 24 February at 7.15pm
The Royal Opera
Richard Wagner
Dir: Tim Albery
Cond: Andris Nelsons
Cast includes Bryn Terfel and Adrianne Pieczonka.
Swan Lake, 17 March at 7.15pm
The Royal Ballet
By Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov
Music: Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny NEW, 1 April at 7.15pm
The Royal Opera
Kurt Weill
Dir: John Fulljames
Cond: Mark Wigglesworth
Cast includes Anne Sofie von Otter, Willard W White and Christine Rice.
La Fille mal gardèe, 5 May at 7.15pm
The Royal Ballet
By Frederick Ashton
Music: Ferdinand Hérold, arranged and orchestrated by John Lanchbery
La bohème, 10 June at 7.15pm
The Royal Opera
Giacomo Puccini
Dir: John Copley
Cond: Dan Ettinger
Cast includes Anna Netrebko and Joseph Calleja
Guillaume Tell NEW, 5 July at 2.45pm
The Royal Opera
Gioachino Rossini
Dir: Damiano Michieletto
Cond: Antonio Pappano
Cast includes Gerald Finley and Malin Byström
All the booking dates below open at 10am.
Ballet and Dance
The Bayadère Project (Linbury Studio Theatre)
25–8 March
By Shobana Jeyasingh
Music: Gabriel Prokofiev
In a new Royal Opera House commission Shobana Jeyasingh reimagines Marius Petipa's India-set classical ballet.
The Four Temperaments / Hofesh Shechter / Song of the Earth
27 March–14 April
By George Balanchine / NEW Hofesh Shechter / Kenneth MacMillan
Music: Paul Hindemith / tbc / Gustav Mahler
Masterpieces by Balanchine and MacMillan frame a world premiere from Hofesh Shechter in The Royal Ballet's thrilling mixed programme.
La Fille mal gardèe
16 April–5 May; Live cinema relay on 5 May
By Frederick Ashton
Music: Ferdinand Hérold, arranged and orchestrated by John Lanchbery
Frederick Ashton's joyful ballet contains some of his most brilliant choreography.
Opera and Music
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny NEW
10 March–4 April; Live cinema relay on 1 April
Kurt Weill
Dir: John Fulljames
Cond: Mark Wigglesworth
John Fulljames presents a new production of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's furiously impassioned satire on consumerism.
Madama Butterfly
20 March–11 April
Giacomo Puccini
Dir: Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier
Cond: Nicola Luisotti
East meets West with devastating effect in Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier's production of Puccini's poignant opera.
Swanhunter (Linbury Studio Theatre)
4–11 April
Jonathan Dove
Lib: Alasdair Middleton
Dir: Hannah Mulder / Rachael Canning
In a new co-production, Opera North and The Wrong Crowd present Jonathan Dove's family opera, with a beguiling blend of evocative music, stunning puppetry and visual storytelling.
Il turco in Italia
11–25 April
Gioachino Rossini
Dir: Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier
Cond: Evelino Pidò
Rossini's irresistible comedy glows with Fellini-esque glamour in Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier's sun-drenched production.
Król Roger NEW
Karol Szymanowski
1–16 May
Dir: Kasper Holten
Cond: Antonio Pappano
Kasper Holten presents a new production of Szymanowski's sumptuously scored meditation on identity and desire.
Antonio Pappano Orchestral Concert
4 May
Cond: Antonio Pappano
Soprano: Anna Caterina Antonacci
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Antonio Pappano conducts a captivating programme that celebrates the award-winning Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.
The Virtues of Things NEW
Matt Rogers
Lib: Sally O'Reilly
Rising stars Matt Rogers and Sally O'Reilly present a new opera as part of the annual collaboration between The Royal Opera, Opera North and Aldeburgh Music.
La traviata
18 May–4 July
Giuseppe Verdi
Dir: Richard Eyre
Revival Dir: TBC
Cond: Marc Minkowski
Verdi's tragic tale of a Parisian courtesan who sacrifices all for love is vividly told in Richard Eyre's production.
art of fugue - fluid, inventive, imaginative. De Valois, Ashton, lambert, Macmillan et al would be proud
— Imogen Knight (@ImogenDances) February 7, 2014
Not entirely taken,shall we say,with #ROHTetractys. Though I did like the bit with Sarah Lamb, @_stevenmcrae and @paul5kay in black & white.
— Ruth Elleson (@RuthElleson) February 7, 2014
Tetractys brilliant but lost on audience that wants 'Midsomer - The Ballet' with Pam Ferris as Principal
— Matthew Temple (@MatthewTemple7) February 7, 2014
Steven McCrae EVEN more brilliant than usual, in Rhapsody. He's got great range but also very precise and neat, love him.
— Sarah Ludford MEP (@SarahLudfordMEP) February 7, 2014
Oh #Rhapsody my heart is singing. Favourite piece of classical music by Rachmaninov - Frankie Hayward, James Hay and @YasmineNaghdi #divine
— Ellie Sharpe (@elliesharpe) February 8, 2014
Royal Ballet glorious in Rhapsody, Francesca Haywood was just beautiful #ROHRhapsody @RoyalOperaHouse @TheRoyalBallet
— Moonbootica (@Moonbootica) February 8, 2014
So whilst I was in tears as Ed went 'over The Top', people behind me laughed. I Have a hunch they didn't get the symbolism. #ROHGloria
— Margaret B (@MMB_1990) February 8, 2014
Wonderful #ROHGloria this afternoon!
— Rachel Holland (@LowerSlipsGirl) February 8, 2014
Loved #ROHgloria. Great performances all round.
— Gill Dunn (@gilltweet) February 8, 2014
The mixed programme runs until 15 February 2014. A small number of tickets are still
Tetractys – The Art of Fugue is supported by Outset in partnership with The Luxury Collection, and staged with generous philanthropic support from David Hancock, Linda and Philip Harley and two anonymous donors.
Gloria is staged with generous philanthropic support from Richard and Delia Baker.
'The ballet is a purely female thing; it is a woman, a garden of beautiful flowers, and man is the gardener' said George Balanchine. A characteristically sweeping statement from the choreographer perhaps, but one that chimes with a common perception of the art form as feminine, in which the ballerina is the star, supported by her male cavalier.
In the 19th century the male dancer's role was indeed secondary to that of the female. Innovations in choreography and technique at this time, particularly the development of pointe work, led to ballerinas becoming regarded as ethereal, magical creatures, to whom men were little more than consorts and porters. In spite of the rigorous training and tremendous strength required to perform the leading male roles in ballets such as La Sylphide and Giselle, it is names such as Marie Taglioni, Carlotta Grisi and Fanny Elssler that we remember, and not those of their male counterparts.
Over the last 100 years, however, there has been a shift towards the male dancer. The transformation can be attributed to several prodigiously talented performers, and choreographers eager to place them centre-stage. Carlos Acosta, one of the most famous ballet dancers alive today, explained in an interview for The Culture Show, 'Thanks to Nijinsky and then later on Nureyev and Baryshnikov we are given a role that is equal. We now have the opportunity to show off just like the ballerina'.
In 1911, Vaslav Nijinsky, a member of Sergey Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, launched the male ballet dancer onto the stage quite literally with a spectacular leap through a bedroom window in Michel Fokine's new ballet Le Spectre de la rose. The stunning entrance, and the idea that you could have a spinning, leaping male rose rather than a dainty female one, amazed audiences, and from this point onwards choreographers began to explore the male virtuoso.
If Nijinsky emancipated male ballet dancers, it was Rudolf Nureyev who cemented their position in the limelight. His re-interpretations of roles such as Basilio in Don Quixote and Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake – into which he interpolated new variations and gave the male character his own identity – made him an international superstar, and revolutionized the way people viewed the male dancer.
Mikhail Baryshnikov won worldwide acclaim for his performances of classic virtuoso roles. He also had parts created especially for him, one of the most enduring of which is the leading man in Rhapsody (1980). Zoë Anderson, Dance Critic of the Independent, describes how choreographer Frederick Ashton planned the ballet as a star vehicle, with Baryshnikov 'a dazzling visitor, shooting through the ballet like a comet… the triumphant virtuoso'. The role has since become one of the most coveted by premier danseurs, and a spectacular showcase for many of The Royal Ballet's men.
The Company's current repertory features a remarkable collection of virtuoso male roles, each of them with unique challenges and displaying different strengths. These range from Crown Price Rudolf in Mayerling – a physically and emotionally exhausting role created for David Wall by Kenneth MacMillan in 1978 – to the skittish and fleet Oberon created for Anthony Dowell in Ashton's The Dream (1964). Contemporary choreographers continue to explore what the male dancer can do: Arthur Pita's 2011 The Metamorphosis drew on the extraordinary technical abilities of Royal Ballet Principal Edward Watson to create a spine-chilling alternative to the classical virtuoso.
Male ballet dancers have emerged from the shadows and at last won recognition as extraordinarily talented artists in their own right – as the immense success of Ivan Putrov's all-male show Men in Motion confirms. The ballerino has arrived, and he's here to stay.
Rhapsody appears in The Royal Ballet's mixed programme with Gloria and Tetractys – The Art of Fugue. Performances run 7–15 February 2014 and tickets are still available.
The Dream appears in The Royal Ballet's mixed programme with The Concert and a new ballet by Alastair Marriott. Performances run 31 May–13 June 2014. Tickets go on general sale on 8 April 2014.
Two new additions to The Royal Ballet's rostrum of world-class male dancers, Matthew Golding and Vadim Muntagirov, join the Company later this Season during the revival of The Sleeping Beauty.]]>
A Very Special Occasion
Frederick Ashton created Rhapsody to celebrate the 80th birthday of the Queen Mother in 1980. Ashton frequently choreographed works for special occasions, and other examples include Homage to The Queen and Birthday Offering. Almost all of these have survived beyond their gala-specific origins to become staples of The Royal Ballet's repertory.
Variations on a Theme
Ashton selected Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, his exuberant final masterpiece for piano and orchestra. He was following in the footsteps of choreographers Mikhail Fokine and Leonid Lavrovsky – but unlike Fokine and Lavrovsky's narrative works, Ashton used the alternately passionate and lyrical variations of Rachmaninoff's music as the basis for a celebration of pure virtuoso dance. Rhapsody is particularly notable for its dazzling solo male role, created for Mikhail Baryshnikov as the culmination of his series of guest appearances with The Royal Ballet.
The Beauty of Numbers
Discussions of J.S. Bach's The Art of Fugue often explore the intricacies of its structure, and some even suggest that the work was influenced by the Pythagorean theory of numbers – in particular the pyramidal shape of the tetractys. These ideas inspired Wayne McGregor and Tauba Auerbach, whose choreography and designs for Tetractys –The Art of Fugue reflect the complex geometry of Bach's music. However, while it is fascinating to explore these links, McGregor is keen that the audience 'see the oneness' of his new ballet. In Tetractys, the combination of music, dance and design transcends the codes that fused them together; creating a new, abstract work of art.
An Intriguing Masterpiece
'What we know about J.S. Bach's masterly Art of Fugue is just about outweighed by what we do not know', says Michael Berkeley, who arranged and orchestrated the work for Tetractys. Comprising 19 fugues and canons all in the key of D minor, and with virtually no directions as to the order or manner in which they should be played, this masterpiece is just as baffling as it is astonishing. Its mystique has, over the centuries, resulted in many varied interpretations – Berkeley's arrangement, which uses seven sections of the work, is one of several which have taken Bach's four-line stave and translated it across the instruments of the orchestra.
Remembering the Great War
Kenneth MacMillan's Gloria, choreographed in 1980, laments the generation lost in World War I. Inspired by Vera Brittain's autobiography Testament of Youth, the ballet's powerful depiction of the brutality of conflict, as well as its moments of beauty and optimism, resonate as strongly in 2014 – the year which marks the centenary of the start of the Great War – as when the ballet was first performed.
Sensual Spirituality
Michael Somes, then Principal Répétiteur of The Royal Ballet, introduced MacMillan to Poulenc's Gloria in G major. Poulenc's setting of a section of the Roman Catholic mass has a profound spirituality while being very far from solemn. Joyous, daring and sometimes downright cheeky, this animated and earthy expression of faith provides a moving counterpoint to MacMillan's sobering exploration of the consequences of war.
The Rhapsody/Tetractys – The Art of Fugue/Gloria mixed programme runs 7–15 February 2014. A small number of tickets are still available. 67 day tickets will be available on the morning of each performance from the Box Office in Covent Garden at 10am.]]>
Kenneth MacMillan's Gloria is a profoundly moving response to World War I. The opening image instantly evokes familiar images of soldiers at Passchendaele or the Somme – men, silhouetted, the distinctive profile of their Brodie helmets clearly visible. But the choreography itself speaks powerfully of the consequences of war and the anguish of loss.
MacMillan's wife Deborah has spoken of how throughout MacMillan's career he had sought to create a ballet in response to war. It wasn't until quite late in his life, in 1979, that MacMillan encountered the spur that would lead to Gloria. A BBC TV dramatization of Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth inspired MacMillan with its elegiac tribute to the lost generation, told through Brittain's own experiences of working as a nurse and of losing both her brother and her fiancé to the conflict. Brittain's story is clearly represented in MacMillan's choreography, through limpid pas de deux and an excoriating, intense pas de trois, where the central woman holds the two men close to her.
But there's also a more directly personal element to Gloria. MacMillan's father William fought in World War I and died of pneumonia in 1946 when Kenneth was 16. William had not supported Kenneth's desire to dance – Kenneth had had to forge a letter from his father in order to audition for Ninette de Valois – and never saw him perform. William's death came at the same time as Kenneth received his first professional contract, and led to a personal crisis for Kenneth. He later wrote that on his father's death 'I was overcome by loneliness… I was unable to give my father the warmth he craved. It was an emotional paralysis that masked my real feelings for years to come.'
William never spoke to his family of his wartime experiences. He had enlisted in May 1915, at the age of 24, as a gunner with the Highland Fifth Royal Garrison Artillery. He was caught in a mustard gas-attack at the Battle of the Somme, which left him with lifelong pulmonary problems and sores on his face and neck. William nursed an intense contempt for the Army authorities, refusing further treatment or a disability pension after his discharge in 1919. He often spoke of moving his family to the Soviet Union. Kenneth later remembered his father forbidding him or his brother from joining the Scouts – his only explanation that he didn't want his sons wearing uniforms.
Many have suggested that Brittain's study of the Great War and its after-effects enabled MacMillan to begin to understand the horrors that his father had experienced, and to begin to unfold the guilt he had associated with his relationship with his father. There's anger in Gloria – the moment in the pas de trois where the three soloists point at the audience, a gesture that recalls the Lord Kitchener enlistment posters while also carrying a clear edge of accusation. There's pessimism too, in the moment where the corps de ballet gather in circular movements, a representation of the unending cycle of peace and war. But MacMillan's choreography also expresses tenderness, yearning and love in movements of intimate beauty. The sadness and horror expressed in Gloria is matched by a profound sense of humanity.
Gloria is a poignant tribute both to the fallen and to those left behind. MacMillan was able to invest his unique choreographic language with a deeply felt emotion. The result is one of his masterpieces, and a true act of remembrance.
Gloria appears in a mixed programme from The Royal Ballet that also features Rhapsody and Tetractys – The Art of Fugue. Performances run 7–15 February 2014. Tickets are still available.]]>
From some of the evidence available – at least in the arts – dancing can be very bad for your health (and often fatal). Occasionally it's self-induced: the Chosen One in The Rite of Spring has the honour of sacrificing his or her own life, pushing beyond the body's physical limits at the ecstatic climax to collapse in death.
Death through dance is transcendent for a willing sacrifice, but not a victim. In Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale The Red Shoes, a vain girl puts her obsession with a pair of shiny red shoes before her devotion to God. The shoes develop a life of their own, forcing her to dance without stopping. She even has her feet cut off – but still the shoes keep on dancing and only when she prays sincerely for forgiveness do they stop. The message is clear: God first, Manolo Blahniks second. But it is a psychological twist rather than a moral lesson in the film The Red Shoes, about a company performing a ballet based on Andersen's tale. The prima ballerina – played by Moira Shearer, who danced with Sadler's Wells Ballet (later The Royal Ballet) – is torn between jealous rivals for her love. As the strains become unbearable, the red shoes of her on-stage ballet character seem to dance her off stage, out of the theatre and straight under a train. Was it suicide, or the shoes bringing fiction into life? Michael Powell (co-director with Emeric Pressburger) relished the ambiguity.
A similar destructive blurring of fantasy and reality in a ballerina's mind brings death in Black Swan, with Natalie Portman's character Nina Sayers dancing the whole last act while fatally wounded. Sometimes, though, the ending is not entirely bleak. Heinrich Heine described a German folktale in which the spirits of vengeful women cause men to dance themselves to death, and this became the spur for Giselle. Two men are thus challenged – Hilarion is forced to dance himself to death, but Albrecht is saved by the spirit of his dead love.
The inevitability of these fatal endings stems from an association of dance and death that goes back some 1,500 years, if not longer. The skull-headed death figure leading mortals in a dance to hell was a long-standing representation of the mortality of all humans. That deep association re-emerged in the Gothic Romanticism of the 1800s with two musical ideas: the plainchant theme of the Dies irae from the Mass for the Dead, widely quoted in wild dances to suggest mortality (and later used in the opening credits of The Shining); and the tarantella, (wrongly) associated with a supposed cure for spider bite through energetic dancing. Such fatal hysteria and destructive energy appealed to the Romantic musical mind – composers latched on to its furious pace and seemingly perpetual fast, triplet melodies to evoke life-threatening frenzy.
Death seems to go in three-time – as in the Devil's violin of Camille Saint-Saëns's Danse macabre (familiar to many as the theme to 'Jonathan Creek'). By the early 1900s an air of decay and death also lingered around the waltz. The saturated atmosphere of Maurice Ravel's La Valse has often drawn associations with the spirit of its age – the aftermath of World War I – and the relentless ratcheting up of this whirling musical melée has widely been taken to suggest decadence leading to utter collapse. At the end of Ashton's ballet to Ravel's score the curtain closes on dancers still in motion. Should we think they are also condemned to dance till they drop?
Which dances to the death send a shiver down your spine?
Giselle runs from 18 January to 10 February 2014. A small number of tickets are still available.
The ballet will be broadcast live to cinemas worldwide on 27 January 2014. Find your nearest cinema.
The production is staged with generous philanthropic supportfrom Mrs Aline Foriel-Destezet, Celia Blakey and the Jean Sainsbury Royal Opera House Fund.]]>
Fave things in yesterday's #rohtriple: seeing @LondonBallerina back & in fab form + gorgeous Yumiko costumes for the ladies in #rohhuman ...
— The Ballet Bag (@theballetbag) November 10, 2013
Loved #ROHtriple tonight! V. Impressed by Mcrae. Little disappointed with Chroma (the one I was most looking forward too!) But overall FAB!
— Raedene Cheri (@RaedeneC) November 10, 2013
Now scanning the cast sheet for the 'All sets in tonight's triple bill have been sponsored by IKEA' note #ROHTriple
— Vampire Soup (@VampireSoup) November 9, 2013
Really enjoyed #ROHtriple tonight, excellent combination of pieces and outstanding cast, looking forward to seeing it again on Wednesday!
— allie.duthie (@allie_duthie) November 10, 2013
Your comments about Chroma...
First time seeing #ROHchroma tonight - completely blown away! #ROHtriple
— Lauren Whitehead (@LaurenWhitehead) November 9, 2013
I simply can't stand the way the women are manhandled and manipulated, pushed and pulled like props by the men. #rohChroma
— Milly Melon (@millymelon) November 9, 2013
Loved, loved, LOVED #ROHChroma tonight!
— Lee McLernon (@bangorballetboy) November 9, 2013
Your comments about The Human Seasons...
Really enjoyed Dawson work - didn't see human season stuff described in programme, but a visually v exciting work & gr8 music too #rohtriple
— Laura Dodge (@DodgeDance) November 9, 2013
DDawson's new Human Seasons @TheRoyalBallet = chasing beauty. Sensed cycle of time, seasons etc but net effect kinda opaque.
— Donald Hutera (@DonaldHutera) November 10, 2013
Loved lyrical and moving #ROHseasons. PdD for Nella and @federicouk beautiful. Great sets too. Can't wait to see it twice more :) #ROHtriple
— Fedja Hadrovich (@Hadrovich) November 9, 2013
Your comments about The Rite of Spring...
Regardless how many times I've seen it, #TheRiteofSpring still creeps me out - ending the #ROHTriple on a high note!
— edwin (@dwintan) November 9, 2013
I never get bored of Macmillan #ROHrite. Love the outlandish alien look and movement. Great to see it again :D #ROHtriple
— Fedja Hadrovich (@Hadrovich) November 9, 2013
Best #rohtriple ever. #ROHRite was best. I love Stravinksy's ROS on its own merit, but to finally see it danced - wow! @TheRoyalBallet
— Kate McAuley (@Its_KateMcAuley) November 9, 2013
Press reviews:
The Evening Standard ★★★★
The Telegraph ★★★
The Arts Desk ★★★
What did you think of The Royal Ballet's Mixed Programme?
The Chroma/Human Seasons/Rite of Spring Mixed Programme runs until 23 November. Tickets are sold out though returns may become available]]>
We may think of Shakespeare as England's poet, but he's a lot more international than that. In De Oscuro's MacBeth the dancer-actors speak extracts from Shakespeare's play not just in the original English, but also in a new Welsh translation by Mererid Hopwood and occasionally in Polish and Hebrew. They're far from the first to let Shakespeare loose in other languages.
Shakespeare originated an estimated 2,000 English words commonly used today – including 'bump', 'swagger', 'eyeball' and 'obscene'. Modern English wouldn't be what it is without Shakespeare. But the plays written 400 years ago by a man from the Midlands have had a global appeal for centuries.
The Globe to Globe Festival at Shakespeare's Globe on Bankside in 2012 was testament to that. Over a few months the complete stage works were performed in 37 different languages. Troilus and Cressida in Maori, The Merry Wives of Windsor in Swahili, Richard III in Mandarin, All's Well that Ends Well in Urdu, Love's Labours Lost in British Sign Language – the feast of languages was a full debauch. The Globe is planning to invert that festival between 2014 and 2016 with the world tour to end all world tours: Hamlet (in English), performed in every single country in the world.
Groundbreaking though the Globe's festival was, it did not showcase a new phenomenon. Shakespeare has been around in translation as far back as the poet's lifetime. In the early 1600s English theatre companies on tour in Europe performed versions of Shakespeare's plays, first in English but soon adapted to the local vernacular – a German version of Titus Andronicus was published as early as 1620. In some places the popularity of the plays engendered a whole new culture of theatre – Shakespeare is still seen as a key progenitor of German theatre.
Though German came first, translations to other languages followed in the 18th century, with Voltaire's French translations in the 1730s, Sumarokov's Russian in 1750 and translations into Italian (1756), Spanish (1772), Czech (1786), and more translations across the rest of Europe. On the back of the British Empire, Shakespeare was performed in Calcutta in the 1780s in Marthi, Gujurati and Parsi, and Urdu translations came in the 19th century. Elsewhere we have translations into Hebrew (1874), Japanese (1885), Arabic (1890s), Korean (1921) and Chinese (1922). With the translation of Hamlet into Klingon in 2000, you could say the final frontier has been crossed.
There are also huge numbers of successful adaptations where Shakespeare's original poetry is just a side show: the host of Shakespeare operas; musicals such as Kiss Me Kate or West Side Story; films such as the brilliantly atmospheric adaptations by Akira Kurosawa (including Throne of Blood and Ran); and modernized recontextualizations such as 10 Things I Hate About You or O. Or if you want to dispel the smoke of words altogether there are ballets of Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Winter's Tale – and a raft of silent films from the early 20th century (including Svend Gade's 1921 Hamlet and Dmitri Buchowetski's 1922 Othello) that transcend linguistic boundaries all on their own.
When it comes to Shakespeare, the world is but a word – give or take a few. There seems to be no medium in which he won't flourish.
What Shakespeare adaptations do you love?
The Rite of Spring was the focus of a recent ROH Insight session with the original 'Chosen One' Monica Mason, Royal Ballet Artist Claudia Dean, and conductor Barry Wordsworth.
'Today we're more used to seeing contemporary dance so perhaps it doesn't look as odd now on classical dancers as it must have done but it's really not like anything else.' said former Director of The Royal Ballet Monica Mason as she rehearsed with Claudia.
The Rite of Spring is a ballet filled with discombobulating and revolutionary rhythms, intentionally incorporated in to the score by its composer Igor Stravinsky: 'He had bits of paper with 'two' and 'three' [written on them], so that the score would be completely without a pattern; he threw them up in the air, picked them up and wrote this piece in the order of the pieces that he picked up off the floor,' Royal Ballet Music Director Barry Wordsworth told the audience of a particular section examined at the Insight session, 'Suffice to say that this passage never gets any easier because he wrote it so that you couldn't predict where the twos and threes come...it's that which gives it the tension and excitement'
Watch our playlist of Rite of Spring films:
The Chroma/Human Seasons/Rite of Spring Mixed Programme runs from 9 – 23 November. Tickets are sold out, though returns may become available.]]>
What's in a Name?
The word 'chroma' can mean either intensity of colour or freedom from white. It is the second definition that inspired choreographer Wayne McGregor and designer John Pawson. Against an expansive, stark white set, the movements and contortions, groupings and colours of the dancers' bodies in Chroma are strikingly highlighted and exposed.
A Musical Fragment
Joby Talbot's music for Chroma was inspired by a short musical fragment he discovered on his dictaphone late one night. From this was born a dynamic orchestral fanfare, Hovercraft, which composer and choreographer used as the basis for an electrifying score. Arrangements of Talbot's own short pieces are woven together with his orchestrations of music by American rock band The White Stripes.
The Human Seasons
Introducing David Dawson…
Former Royal Ballet School pupil David Dawson is one of Europe's most sought-after choreographers. His works have been performed in more than 25 countries and have entered the repertories of many ballet companies. He is admired for his atmospheric and emotionally resonant choreography that draws on classical ballet idioms.
A New Ballet in the Making
In his first work for The Royal Ballet, Dawson has joined forces with two regular collaborators: set designer Eno Henze, whose work is often inspired by scientific and philosophical concepts, and costume designer Yumiko Takeshima, who is also a principal dancer with Semperoper Ballet. The specially commissioned score is written and performed live by electronic/post-classical artist Greg Haines.
The Rite of Spring
A Centenary Celebration
The 1913 premiere of The Rite of Spring in Paris provoked outrage, pushing its audience to the verge of rioting. In the century since that incendiary first performance Stravinsky's explosive, driven score has lost none of its power to shock, and has inspired numerous ballets. Kenneth MacMillan's 1962 Rite is the powerful version performed by The Royal Ballet today.
The Chosen Ones
MacMillan created the role of the Chosen Maiden – the sacrificial virgin who must dance herself to death – on Monica Mason, then 20 years old. He had selected her for the part after seeing her unrestrained dancing at a disco. Since then the role, which demands extraordinary stamina, has been taken on by both male and female dancers.
The Chroma/Human Seasons/Rite of Spring Mixed Programme runs from 9 - 23 November. Tickets are sold out, though returns may become available.]]>
'The music of Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) baffles verbal description...it has no relation to music at all as most of us understand the word'. So ran a 1913 review in the Musical Times of perhaps Igor Stravinsky's most iconic ballet score. Still, despite initial criticism and the much-discussed 'riot' at the premiere, Stravinsky's contribution to dance has proved to be a considerable one. With The Royal Ballet's Rite of Spring returning to Covent Garden this Season, we thought we'd take a look at a few of the composer's other wonderful ballet scores:
The Firebird
From its eerie opening with chromatic low strings to its glowing and exultant finale, The Firebird is a masterpiece of a ballet score. It was the first of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes productions to have a completely original score composed for it, and with its folktale-inspired narrative, the piece was originally intended as a Russian nationalist ballet. A number of different versions of the score exist, including at least three orchestral suites for concert performance – the first of which had its premiere in 1911 – which have led The Firebird to become a popular concert work as well as an acclaimed ballet. Stravinsky had been Diaghilev's second choice as composer for the score of The Firebird (he originally wanted Anatoly Lyadov) but the success of the premiere made Diaghilev realize that he was onto a good thing in working with the 28-year-old composer. 'Mark him well', Diaghilev told ballerina Tamara Karsavina, 'He is a man on the eve of celebrity'.
Les noces
This ballet about a peasant wedding had its premiere in 1923, but Stravinsky first conceived the idea of it in 1913, while working on The Rite of Spring, and he originally planned the work for a similar-sized expanded symphony orchestra. Stravinsky rewrote Les noces several times – one of his versions was scored for roll-operated instruments including pianolas, however this was abandoned when the Parisian piano firm constructing some of the instruments repeatedly delayed delivery. Les noces's score is written for four solo singers and chorus as well as instruments. Stravinsky writing the libretto himself, using lyrics from Russian folksongs. The ballet has an extraordinary sound world: in place of an orchestra, Stravinsky eventually scored the work for a vast battery of both tuned and untuned percussion and no less than four grand pianos.
The first of several collaborations between Stravinsky and Russian/American choreographer George Balanchine saw the composer inspired by 16th and 17th century French baroque music, in particular works by Jean-Baptiste Lully. The youthful 24-year-old Balanchine took visual cues from Stravinsky's music, later writing that when he heard the score, all he could see was pristine white. Such was his clout at the time of the 1928 premiere, that Stravinsky had a great influence on the ballet's choreography - wanting a classical style of dance to match the serenity of the music. 'Dancing is music made visible,' Balanchine later quipped, in one of his oft-quoted and trademark Balanchineisms.
'Rubies' from Jewels
Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, the score used for 'Rubies' from Balanchine's Jewels, had previously featured as the score for a ballet by Léonide Massine twenty years prior to Balanchine's choosing it for his 1967 triptych. Still, the piece took on a new life as part of one of Balanchine's most acclaimed ballets. Stravinsky composed Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra from 1926 to 1929 while living in France – he had settled there after the Russian Revolution made it impossible for him to return to his homeland. It was intended as a 'breadwinning' piece, with a virtuosic piano part that (naturally) Stravinsky hoped to perform himself. Capriccio was influenced by the Romantic German composers Carl Maria von Weber (who Stravinsky termed 'a Prince of Music') and Felix Mendelssohn, and is a contrast to the composer's early Russian-infused works, and even his 1928 ballet Le Baiser de la fée (which was inspired by the music of Tchaikovsky). However, despite its neoclassical style Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra sounds distinctly modern, with almost jazz-like tinges to the music. Balanchine's joyous choreography provides plenty of visual sparkle and pizzazz, giving the piece, transformed into the ballet 'Rubies, an almost Broadway-esque appeal.
Which are your favourite of Stravinsky's ballet scores?
The Rite of Spring runs from 9 - 23 November 2013. Tickets are sold out, though returns may become available. Day tickets will be available on the day of performance.
Jewels runs from 17 December 2013 - 7 January 2014. Tickets are still available.]]>
Tonight I cried not only for sad ending but also glorious @LondonBallerina's comeback on stage! #ROHRomeo
— Yosh M (@yoshkosh10) October 19, 2013
Huge shout out for *everyone* in #ROHmeo I adore the interactions between each character, main or townsperson, they make it all believable
— Carol Newton (@ROHvCotswolds) October 19, 2013
1 of many notable perfs in #ROHmeo was Valeri Hristov's meaty Paris in contrast to many former exponents resigned to playing a plank of wood
— Graham Watts (@GWDanceWriter) October 19, 2013
Totally blown away by tonight's #ROHmeo!!! Congratulations to all the dancers, and Lauren & Federico are the perfect partnership!!!
— Caterina Pellegrini (@KateCatepell) October 20, 2013
Oh god, that was Traumatic. What a way to go - fighting until the end. You died most nobly, @balletboy09. #TeamTybalt #Woe Damn That #ROHmeo
— Vampire Soup (@VampireSoup) October 19, 2013
So good to see @LondonBallerina back on the ROH stage! Great comeback! And @federicouk always manages to make my heart melt! #ROHmeo
— Fryni Panayidou (@frynip) October 19, 2013
Ferocious #ROHmeo! It doesn't get better than watching @balletboy09 & Ric sword fighting. Pity they both end up dead. #Twyla
— Karen McLernon (@BBB_Mrs) October 19, 2013
#ROHmeo was amazing! @balletboy09 and @LondonBallerina were both absolutely incredible. So intense.
— ROHUniOfLeeds (@ROHUniOfLeeds) October 19, 2013
What did you think of Romeo and Juliet?
The Royal Ballet's production of Romeo and Juliet runs until 7 December 2013. Advance tickets are sold out, though a limited number of day tickets will be available on the morning of the performance. Returns may also become available.
The production is generously supported by The Paul Ferguson Memorial Fund and staged with generous philanthropic support from Peter Lloyd and the Artists' Circle.]]>
'Never was a story of more woe'
When Romeo and Juliet meet at a ball they fall passionately in love. But their families are sworn enemies, divided by a bitter feud. Can their love survive against a backdrop of hatred and hostility?
The Heart of The Royal Ballet
Kenneth MacMillan's powerfully emotional Romeo and Juliet, an adaptation of Shakespeare's great love story, is a 20th-century classic. The ballet exploded onto the stage of the Royal Opera House in 1965 and received one of the most rapturous receptions of any work in ballet history. It has been at the heart of The Royal Ballet's repertory ever since, amassing over four hundred performances at the Royal Opera House.
Controversial Casting
MacMillan created the title roles on Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable, who were both integral to his conception of the work. However, to MacMillan's distress, Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev were chosen as first cast for the premieres in London and New York, on the basis that their popularity would guarantee ticket sales. Seymour and Gable were obliged to teach the roles to Fonteyn and Nureyev, and made their debuts (as the fourth cast) at the ballet's fifth performance.
Music and Politics
When Sergei Prokofiev wrote the score for Romeo and Juliet, he faced a desperate struggle to keep it intact against Soviet censorship. Commissioned by the Kirov Ballet, the work in its original form was completed in 1935 but was denounced as 'undanceable' through fear of it being criticized as 'modernist', and wasn't performed until 1938. A revised version was created for a 1940 production, which eventually formed the basis of three popular orchestral suites. With its dramatic and famed centrepiece 'The Dance of the Knights', the work is today considered to be one of the greatest of all Russian ballet scores.
Choreographic Highlights
MacMillan's choreography draws out the emotional and psychological intensity at the heart of the story. Set against the backdrop of Nicholas Georgiadis's monumental designs, highlights include fierce marketplace swordfights and the three passionate pas de deux around which the rest of the ballet is constructed: the lovers' first meeting, the famous balcony scene and the devastating final tragedy.
The Royal Ballet's production of Romeo and Juliet runs from 19 October–7 December 2013. Advance tickets are sold out, though a limited number of day tickets will be available on the morning of the performance. Returns may also become available.
The production is generously supported by The Paul Ferguson Memorial Fund and staged with generous philanthropic support from Peter Lloyd and the Artists' Circle.
Lauren: 'You fall in love again with anything you're performing because you feel very connected to it... ' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Lauren: 'Anything that has its own identity and draws you in - #ROHrite, Marguerite, The Concert, Song of the Earth' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Chandra: How does preparing for an abstract or plotless ballet differ from preparing for a story ballet?
Lauren: 'Even though you grow into a role as you rehearse, with an abstract ballet it's more about exposing yourself...' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Lauren: '...With a story ballet you have a role you build on, with abstract it's a blank canvas' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
.@chloecjoly: What is your favourite ballet score? Who is your favourite ballet composer?
Lauren: 'For full length narrative #ROHromeo, Manon and Alice because the scores tell the story...' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Lauren: '...and carry you through. I also love Infra, DGV, Song of the Earth + #ROHrite for short works' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
.@artsworth: As an English Principal ballerina @TheRoyalBallet, how do you see English ballet evolving?
Lauren:'The RB is a very international Company in terms of British ballet,I think that evolved from our heritage rep...' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Lauren:'...+I believe with the amazing works from @waynemcgregor,Wheeldon,Scarlett,Dawson that are being created now...' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Lauren: '...we'll continue to make our mark and be one of the world's top ballet companies.' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
.@akikoTYO: Who inspired you the most and why?
Lauren: 'I've been really fortunate that throughout my training+career I've been hugely inspired by coaches' advice...' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Lauren: 'For me artistic inspiration is more of a sensation that something that comes from 1 person I idolize.' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
.@kankan328: Do you get nervous before you dance on stage? Do you have your own way to relax?
Lauren: 'I get nervous just before everything comes together in the rehearsal process.Also just before I go on stage...' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Lauren: '...But by the time I'm on, luckily you're so into the moment that you're not conscious of your nerves...' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Lauren: 'When I was younger I suffered more because I was trying to emulate a perfect rehearsal on the stage... ' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Lauren: 'Whereas now, the stage is the best place to be to deliver a better performance - you have to throw yourself in' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Lauren: '...but whilst using your inner confidence to stay calm and keep concentration' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Kate Hester: Do you have lucky mascot for performances?
Lauren: 'Yes, I have a performance basket which the dresser carries. In it is a Russian witch with gangly legs...' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Lauren: '...from my late coach Anatoli, rosary beads from my Nan, and a wooden Japanese doll from Monica Mason...' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Lauren: '...from when I came back after being ill. I also have a mini teddy from my childhood best friend.' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Carmen Lucia Murgel: What does "Giselle" mean to you?
Lauren: 'It's the ultimate romatic classical ballet. It's very unique in style, technically it's v demanding...' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Lauren: '...and yet it's a ballet that epitomizes poetry in motion.' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
.@llinnet: Would you consider opening your own ballet school?
Lauren: 'I definitely want to help young dancers, whether I'll have the energy to open an entire school...' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Lauren: '...when I've finished my fouettes will need a bit more thought!' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
.@DaveTriesBallet: Do you find on revisiting roles (i.e. Juliet) that your interpretation changes?
Lauren: 'Yes.It's fascinating when you come back to a role to remember what you really focussed on...' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Lauren: '...the previous time+how that differs when you come back. It's to do with developing as a person,an artist...' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Lauren: '...and being more in control of your technique and even more awareness of the ballet as a whole...' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Lauren: '...and not just your part within it.' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Milly: What would you say to any aspiring dancer/ballerina?
Lauren: 'Ask questions. Dancers shouldn't just be seen and not heard when in training.' #AskLondonBallerina
— The Royal Ballet (@TheRoyalBallet) October 10, 2013
Over the coming months Lauren will perform in Romeo and Juliet, Chroma, The Human Seasons, The Nutcracker, Jewels, Giselle, and The Sleeping Beauty.]]>
In his article for The Royal Ballet's programme book, Professor René Weis delves into the history of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and discusses its remarkable success as a story that transcends translation.
From very early on Romeo and Juliet was a highly prized work. Proof comes from the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays in the Bodleian in Oxford. For 40 years after its publication in 1623 the volume remained chained to the shelves of the library for use by students and eventually, in 1664, the university traded it in for a Third Folio of the poet's works. Between 1623 and its sale Oxford's First Folio was browsed extensively. The edges were worn away, without a trace of tear. It was evidently the favourite play of bright young things.
Romeo and Juliet is Shakespeare's best-known story but scholars rarely rank it alongside the mature tragedies. They think it is a terrific tale, but not his greatest work. Then again, that may well be a somewhat jaded, middle-aged perspective. The young of course adore the play, presumably because it is first and foremost a teenage love story, a tale of lightning love and bliss turning to tragedy. What renders the play special as literature is its daring and dazzling use of metaphor, nowhere more so perhaps than those rich conceits about Juliet's eyes trading places with the stars for a break in heaven where, streaming through the firmament, they will illuminate all creation. The play is full of such arresting rhetorical moments, with Shakespeare pulling out all the stops to make us experience – and not just witness – the sheer beauty of this pair of innocent and star-crossed lovers.
It would seem that such a play could only succeed through the medium of its original words from the mid-1590s, but the success of its countless translations and adaptations indicates otherwise. Not much of the elixir of Shakespeare's poetry survives in Franco Zeffirelli's cult film or Baz Luhrmann's dystopian version of the play, more West Side Story than Shakespeare. Nevertheless, these two very different films succeed on their own terms even without the lyrical score of Shakespeare's language – which will be tested again in Julian Fellowes's new adaptation, released this Friday. These films are carried by plot and types: Leonardo DiCaprio looks like everyone's preconceived idea of Romeo while Olivia Hussey is Juliet just as Darcey Bussell was in the production of Prokofiev's ballet (choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan), in my view the greatest, because most magical, adaptation of Shakespeare's play to date.
When he dramatized the story of Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare pared it down to its bare essentials, to make it fit two hours of playing time. Reshaping his sources he created a contrapuntal structure through a series of artful oppositions between youth and age, light and dark, night and dawn, life and death, that have inspired successive generations every bit as much as the play's language. The plot of the play is simple and stark and its stylized storyline moves us even without words. It celebrates the power of love and the essential innocence and idealism of children, Shakespeare's included, which may just be why he lowered Juliet's age from his source to exactly that of his own daughter Susanna, who was 13 when her father was writing Romeo and Juliet.
The full article by René Weis is in the programme book that accompanies Romeo and Juliet. It is available in the theatre at performance times and from the ROH Shop.
The Royal Ballet's production of Romeo and Juliet runs from 19 October–7 December 2013. Tickets are still available.
The production is generously supported by The Paul Ferguson Memorial Fund and staged with generous philanthropic support from Peter Lloyd and the Artists' Circle.
A pair of pointe shoes signed by former Royal Ballet Principal Mara Galeazzi, and worn at her final Covent Garden performance, have been won by Pointe Shoes Appeal supporter Ms C Tonkiss.
Everyone who gave a donation - of any size - to this year's Pointe Shoes Appeal, was entered into a prize draw to win a very special pair of shoes: one of the two pairs that Mara wore for her final performance as Mary Vetsera in Mayerling. The performance saw her partnered by Edward Watson as Crown Prince Rudolf.
Edward and Mara fronted this year's Pointe Shoes campaign, which aimed to raise awareness of the amount of effort, commitment and cost that goes into preparing footwear for The Royal Ballet - the cost of which is over £250,000 a Season.
Hundreds of you generously responded and have helped us raise £30,000 since the campaign launched in April. Thank you.
We continue to welcome your donations and would like to congratulate Ms C Tonkiss, who has been supporting the appeal since 2009, on winning Mara's special shoes.
Read reaction to Mara's final performance
Watch Edward and Mara explaining how dancers prepare pointe shoes for performance:
Find out more about the Pointe Shoes Appeal.]]>
Our next BP Big Screens relay will be The Royal Opera's La rondine on 11 July.]]>
Boxes are still available for some of the most popular productions this Season.
Due to a quirk in our booking system that we are working to address, we are unable to sell boxes for our current Summer Season on the ROH website. This means that there are still tickets available for sought-after performances including Renée Fleming in Capriccio.
Boxes seat up to four people and allow you to enjoy the opera or ballet sequestered away from the crowds. Something to try at least once, it is a unique experience and ideal for a special occasion. A box in the balcony can also be great value, with some ballet boxes priced at just £80 for the four seats. Due to the nature of our historic building, the sight lines of the stage are not the best in the house, but the experience is second to none. Other locations and performances will be more expensive.
You can check availability by calling the Box Office on +44 (0)20 7304 4000.
The Royal Box, which was traditionally paid for by season, is also available on general sale. Members of the royal family have been regular visitors since the 1830s, when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert would frequent the Royal Box up to four times a week in high season.
The late Queen Mother used to visit every year for her birthday, last visiting for her 101st birthday. Most recently, the Queen attended the One Extraordinary World gala performance in October 2012. Following tradition, when the Queen attends gala performances, the lampshades in the box below are changed from red to cream, a custom initiated by Queen Victoria who wanted to avoid appearing red or flushed.
In Victorian times, the auditorium looked rather different: the boxes in the Grand Tier used to face each other directly as it was considered to be more appropriate that patrons could see each other rather than the stage, and the stalls circle used to be composed entirely of boxes rather than rows of seats.
However, in the post-Victorian refit, the boxes in the Grand Tier were angled to enable visitors to see the main stage, and the boxes in the stalls circle were removed to allow for more seats. On the Grand Tier, you can still see the numbers of the boxes that no longer exist. Find out more about the rebuilds of the Royal Opera House.
For an exclusive look behind-the-scenes and to find out more about the Royal Opera House and the auditorium, there are a series of tours available. Find out more.]]>
Mara Galeazzi and Edward Watson, The Royal Ballet Principals fronting this year's Pointe Shoe Appeal, recently took time out of rehearsals to explain the importance of footwear in ballet.
'Our shoes are so important to us,' says Edward, ' You have to feel like you're in the right shoes - sometimes if I'm wearing the wrong shoes it's like I've got someone else's legs on - it's a really odd feeling!'
All the shoes worn by The Royal Ballet are handmade and many of the dancers have their shoes custom-made by one shoemaker throughout their career, such are the precise demands of the art form. Jane Latimer from the Pointe Shoes Room explains: 'Mara, until recently, has been completely reliant on Bob Martin who made her shoes from the moment she came into the Company. It was a terrible day when Bob retired because the dancers get very used to their particular maker'
That said, he did make a huge surplus for Mara and she will be dancing out her Royal Ballet career in his Innovation shoes. You can win one of the two pairs she wears in her final performance by making a donation, of any size, to the appeal.
Find out more about the Pointe Shoes Appeal and make a donation now]]>
'There are so many pairs of boots' exclaims Jane Latimer, Ballet Footwear Supervisor, when asked about how the staff in the Pointe Shoes Room are coping with Mayerling.
'Most of the boys need a different pair of boots for each act as they are set in completely different locations. Crown Prince Rudolf wears four different pairs: plain cream, caramel with a gold trim, black with a gold trim and brown. Then there are other characters: Bratfisch, Colonel 'Bay' Middleton, Count Larisch, Prince Philipp of Coburg, Emperor Franz Josef, Count Hoyos, Loschek, Count Eduard Taafe and of course, the four Hungarian officers - they have three pairs of boots each!'
A pair of ballet boots needs to be as well-crafted as a pair of pointe shoes so that they fit the foot but also the ankle and the calf. They also need to be snug against the front of the shin. Every dancer who wears them has a special fitting before master leather-worker and cobbler, Lewis Jones crafts the boots. Lewis takes the measurement before making a single pair, knowing that he will probably still have to make a couple of further alterations to ensure they really are the perfect fit.
Since MacMillan's Mayerling was first staged in 1978, most of the boots worn have had to be replaced at some point, despite the best efforts of the Company to reuse them. Edward Watson, who is fronting our Pointe Shoes Appeal alongside Mara Galeazzi, and is renowned for his performances as Count Prince Rudolf, always tries to make his boots last. The pair he wears in the climactic final scene have recently had to be turned inside out and leather patches sewn into the soles where he has worn them through.
The care taken by the Pointe Shoes Room means that we keep replacements to a minimum, but inevitably the boots have a limited lifespan. With a pair of custom made ballet boots costing £320, perhaps you might consider supporting their work and the needs of our dancers with a donation to the appeal? Every donation counts and supports the work not only of our dancers but all the people who support them behind the scenes.
Find out more about our Pointe Shoe Appeal]]>
The Royal Ballet's Mayerling will be screened live, for free, to BP Big Screens around the UK next Thursday (13 June).
The annual BP Big Screen events attract thousands, many of whom bring picnics to enjoy while they soak up the unique atmosphere.
A shocking true story
This summer, audiences will have the chance to see one of The Royal Ballet's signature works; a dark drama of political intrigue, twisted romance and morbid obsession. Kenneth MacMillan's ballet, set to a score by Franz Liszt, is based on the true story of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, who entered into a suicide pact with his teenage lover Mary Vetsera. Find out more about the real-life events behind Mayerling.
The work featuring a number of real-life characters, from emperors and princes, to baronesses and mistresses. Read our essential guide to who's who.
Rehearsals and preparations
The cast for this relay will include Edward Watson and Mara Galeazzi, who are fronting this year's Pointe Shoe Appeal. The live relay of Mayerling will be Mara's final Covent Garden performance with the Company before her retirement at the end of the Season. The duo recently gave an insight into rehearsals for the work. Watch our Mayerling Masterclass rehearsal film.
The role of Crown Prince Rudolf is one of the hardest male roles in the repertory. Find out how Edward Watson prepares for the role.
Tell us what you think
On the day of performance, we'll be giving an exclusive look into preparations through our social media activity so be sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook before the big day. We'll be using the hashtag #BPbigscreens so tweet us your thoughts, as well as a picture of your picnic to be in for a chance of winning a picnic hamper.
Read audience thoughts about the production, and add your own.
Watch the trailer
Mayerling is staged with generous philanthropic support from Celia Blakey, Lady Ashcroft, John and Susan Burns and Gail and Gerald Ronson through the Gerald Ronson Foundation.]]>
Eighty young people from the Chance to Dance programme and Youth Opera Company performed in the Linbury Studio Theatre at the weekend, in a unique double bill of dance and music.
The 100th anniversary of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring was celebrated with an adapted version of Kenneth MacMillan's controversial ballet. The piece was performed by 30 primary school-aged children and Royal Ballet dancers Tristan Dyer and Valentino Zucchetti. Royal Ballet Soloists Kristen McNally and Thomas Whitehead adapted and created new choreography for the Chance to Dance Company, while Tristan and Valentino were coached by former Director of The Royal Ballet Monica Mason. MacMillan created the central role of 'Chosen One' on Monica when The Rite of Spring had its premiere in 1962. Costumes used during this Linbury production included some historical pieces from The Royal Ballet's Rite of Spring.
The Youth Opera Company performed Gone Fishing, a unique work created specially by Karen Gillingham and Suzi Zumpe. The piece uses extracts of music from composers through the ages, from Monteverdi and Rameau, through Mozart and Rossini, to Britten and Adams. Youth Opera Chorus members had to master singing in French, German, Spanish and English and performed with soprano Sarah Redgwick.
Both performances were accompanied by members of the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and Southbank Sinfonia graduates.
View photos from the event:
A selection of audience tweets:
Find out more about Chance to Dance and the Youth Opera Company.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have generously supported Chance to Dance and Bjarne and Yvonne Rieber for supporting the Youth Opera Company.]]>
The Rite of Spring burst onto an unsuspecting public a century ago today (29 May).
The ballet with its folk music-inflected avant-garde score by Igor Stravinsky caused an instant sensation, provoking a near riot at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on the evening of its premiere. Opinion differs over exactly what happened that evening; whether it was the music or the radical choreography that caused outrage and even how ferocious the reaction to the ballet was. Whatever actually happened, the performance quickly became the stuff of balletic and musical legend, fuelled by reviews such as the one run by Le Figaro which labelled the work 'a laborious and puerile barbarity'.
The premiere of The Rite of Spring was 'a key moment in cultural history – a tumultuous scandal' writes George Benjamin, composer of Written on Skin in a celebratory piece in the Guardian, 'This, in a way, is cubist music – where musical materials slice into one another, interact and superimpose with the most brutal edges, thus challenging the musical perspective and logic that had dominated European ears for centuries.'
The score has entered into popular culture, and has been featured in a number of films including Walt Disney's Fantasia.
Listen to Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmonkier's recording of the score in full, one of our recent recommended recordings from the Royal Opera House Shop:
A century on from its premiere, The Rite of Spring sounds remarkably fresh and has inspired many adaptations. It has even become something of a jazz standard.
With the original choreography by Nijinsky lost until the 1980s when it was revived by the Joffrey Ballet of Los Angeles, a number of choreographers have made the work their own, including Kenneth MacMillan whose version of The Rite of Spring was first performed in 1962. MacMillan's Rite of Spring will return to Covent Garden in November 2013. Other versions of the ballet include a punk rock reimagining by Michael Clark, a solo version by Javier de Frutos, and a version by Paul Taylor which references gangster films. A modernized staging by Michael Keegan-Dolan and Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre stressed the work's erotic elements. Alongside the Southbank Centre's Rest is Noise festival, the venue's blog is examining an adaptation a day, illustrated with YouTube clips.
At the Royal Opera House, the centenary will be celebrated with a special version of The Rite of Spring adapted by Royal Ballet Soloists Kristen McNally and Thomas Whitehead for 30 children aged 9-10 involved in the Change to Dance Programme. The piece will feature both sections of MacMillan's choreography as well as creative input from the children involved. Tristan Dyer and Valentino Zucchetti are being coached by Monica Mason - Kenneth MacMillan's original Chosen One - and will perform the role in the Linbury on 31 May and 2 June. The piece will be performed in a double bill along with Gone Fishing, a unique operatic work performed by the Youth Opera Company and soprano Sarah Redgwick using music from a number of composers including Monteverdi, Mozart, Britten and Adams. A small number of tickets for this double bill are still available.
Watch Monica talking about how the choreographer developed his adaptation and see her rehearsing with Steven McRae, who recently danced the Chosen one in MacMillan's ballet for The Royal Ballet:
The Rite of Spring runs from 9 - 23 November 2013 in a Mixed Programme with Wayne McGregor's Chroma and a New Work by David Dawson.
The production is staged with generous philanthropic support from Richard and Delia Baker.
Kenneth MacMillan's Mayerling – like many of this brilliant choreographer's greatest works – depicts a mind driven beyond despair. For this 1978 Royal Ballet commission MacMillan and his dramaturg Gillian Freeman turned to a historical event: the Mayerling Incident, a tragedy and scandal of the late 19th-century Austro-Hungarian imperial family that shocked a continent.
The events one night in Mayerling, a Viennese hunting lodge belonging to the Empire's Crown Prince Rudolf, have been variously romanticized, scrutinized and mythologized; but in its simplest form the story is of a group of people at once instruments and victims of the rot eating at the heart of imperial Europe.
Early on 30 January 1889 the bodies of the 30-year-old Crown Prince Rudolf and his 17-year-old mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera were discovered in his bed at Mayerling, with his gun beside them. Mary's uncles were urgently summoned; her corpse was dressed and her hair arranged over the bullet hole; propped upright by a broomstick, her body was escorted by carriage to a nearby graveyard and secretly interred. Rudolf's death was announced, first declared as a heart attack, then as an accident. At last his father, the Emperor Franz Joseph, officially acknowledged his son's suicide but not Mary's death, then opened an inquest only to close it abruptly and charge his Prime Minister with burying the investigation. For the rest of his life Franz Joseph maintained a rigorous silence, breaking it only to declare, 'The truth is far worse than all versions'.
That truth can never be fully known, but with the gradual release of letters and documents, and even some self-exonerating memoirs, a tapestry of facts begins to emerge. Rudolf's series of suicide notes suggest that some of the wildest conspiracy theories are wide of the mark. The notes themselves specify no further reason for the murder and suicide than that Rudolf's honour demanded it. Various rationales have been proposed: that Rudolf was heavily in debt, that he feared pressure from the Hungarian nationalists with whom he had become involved, that he feared the venereal disease that afflicted him, or the madness rife in his mother's family.
All no doubt played a part. But for much of his life Rudolf seems to have had an obsession with death, writing that 'the opportunity of watching someone die and hearing him breathe his last… is always a remarkable spectacle for me'. He seems to have needed a companion in death, and had begun his search months before the Incident. In December 1888 he asked his demi-monde mistress Mitzi Kaspar to commit suicide with him; she alerted the police chief, who apparently simply filed the report away. In the end it would be Rudolf's cousin and old flame Baroness Marie Larisch who played the gruesome role of procuress.
Marie fostered a relationship between Rudolf and the impressionable Mary Vetsera, who had been entrusted to Marie's care by her mother (herself allegedly another former mistress of Rudolf's). In her memoirs Marie claims she was trapped between the aggressive demands of the volatile Crown Prince and her duty to Mary's mother, who relied upon her daughter's success at court to boost the family's ailing finances. She further hints at a possible coup-d'état headed by Rudolf and a sinister conspiracy to suppress it. Whatever her reasons, letters from the time track a chilling story: Marie Larisch encouraging Rudolf in his suicide-wish, calming Mary's fears, even delivering the young woman to Mayerling on the night of her death.
Ultimately this was a time rife with corruption, endemic hypocrisy and grotesque decadence, from which no one player in the Mayerling drama comes through unsullied. It's difficult not to conclude that the whole era was at fault.
Nearly 90 years after the original incident, MacMillan and Freeman scoured letters, diaries, official reports both ostentatiously proclaimed and suppressed. What emerges is a series of portraits of uniquely compelling intensity. The result is MacMillan's masterpiece.
Mayerling runs from 19 April – 15 June 2013. Tickets are still available. The production is staged with generous philanthropic support from Celia Blakey, Lady Ashcroft, John and Susan Burns and Gail and Gerald Ronson through the Gerald Ronson Foundation.]]>
Kenneth MacMillan's dark and majestic Mayerling is one of the choreographer's masterpieces, with grimly intense pas de deux, intoxicating crowd scenes and a taste of the opulent splendour of the Austro-Hungarian empire set to a decadent score by Franz Lizst.
The ballet is based on the true story of the downfall of Crown Prince Rudolf and its cast includes key figures of the Austro-Hungarian Royal Family, as well as friends, lovers and servants. To help unravel the at times complicated relationships between the characters, we've created a family tree in partnership with The Ballet Bag:
(Click to enlarge)
Mayerling runs until 15 June 2013. Tickets are still available.
The production is staged with generous philanthropic support from Celia Blakey, Lady Ashcroft, John and Susan Burns and Gail and Gerald Ronson through the Gerald Ronson Foundation.
What did you think of Mayerling?
Mayerling runs until 15 June 2013. Tickets are still available. The production is staged with generous philanthropic support from Celia Blakey, Lady Ashcroft, John and Susan Burns and Gail and Gerald Ronson through the Gerald Ronson Foundation.]]>
Franz Liszt (1811–86) died less than three years before the horrible double suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf and Mary Vetsera at Mayerling in January 1889, and almost a hundred years before his music was used for Kenneth MacMillan's ballet based on Rudolf's life. Like the Crown Prince, Liszt had suffered from depression in his precocious teens. His mother claimed that Liszt was cured by the booming cannons of Paris's 1830 July Revolution.
Liszt went on to a distinguished career as a virtuoso concert pianist and a pioneering conductor. His gloomy romantic temperament, which found an outlet in the religious devotion of his later years, was offset by the serenity and sweetness of his compositions.
However, this gentle outlook is hardly an ideal match for the decadent, neurotic world of Mayerling, which was orchestrated from Liszt's music by composer and conductor John Lanchbery in the 1970s. There's no place in the ballet for the great melodies of Liszt's two best-loved piano pieces, the Liebestraum no.3 and the 'Sonetto del Petrarca no.104' from Années de pèlerinage.
Instead, Lanchbery's musical choices for Mayerling tend to relate to Liszt's more complex works. He turned to the symphonic poems Tasso: lamento e trionfo, Mazeppa, Festklänge and Héroïde funèbre, in which Liszt developed a more radical harmonic language. And for the first scene of Act II, when police raid the tavern in which Rudolf is carousing with his Hungarian friends and mistress Mitzi, Lanchbery used Liszt's dramatic and sensual Mephisto Waltz no.1.
Liszt always liked to stress his Hungarian roots and he absorbed influences from this heritage into his music. Lanchbery drew on several of the Historical Hungarian Portraits to provide local colour in Mayerling, and orchestrated Trois Morceaux en style de danse ancien hongrois for the scene in which nationalist Hungarian officers plead their cause with Rudolf.
Lanchbery's most important debt is to the sombre colouring of Liszt's quirkiest - and possibly his greatest - orchestral work, A Faust Symphony (1854–7). The opening movement of this piece – a musical portrait of the character Faust – provides the funereal prelude of the ballet as well as the leitmotif of the pistol, which is fired once in the first- and second-act finales and twice in the ballet's climactic, final scene.
For Mayerling's fraught music of love and desire, Lanchbery used his own atmospheric arrangements of several of the Transcendental Études. Among these 12 masterpieces, which Liszt assembled in 1851, the last ('Chasse neige') provides material for the disturbing bedroom scene in Act I where Rudolf threatens his hapless bride Princess Stephanie with a revolver, before violently making love to her. The third ('Paysage') combines with the Faust music for the parallel scene in Act II between the prince and his new 17-year-old mistress. And the grand, complex 11th étude ('Harmonies du soir') sounds the note of death at the end of Act III.
Mayerling runs from 19 April - 15 June 2013. Tickets are still available. The production is staged with generous philanthropic support from Celia Blakey, Lady Ashcroft, John and Susan Burns and Gail and Gerald Ronson through the Gerald Ronson Foundation.
Royal Ballet Principal Edward Watson, praised for his dramatic roles, is busy preparing the part of Crown Prince Rudolf in Kenneth MacMillan's Mayerling. Given the rapturous reception he received in the role last time around (the Telegraph described him as 'an extraordinary interpreter'), it's quite a surprise to learn that he has danced it only six times before.
'It's funny to be known for something I've done so little,' he says. It's also testimony, though, to the impact he has made by pushing its visceral qualities to the limits – especially as it is probably the most substantial and extreme ballet that any male dancer can tackle.
Among the company's full-length masterpieces, this ballet is unique in being inspired by an historical incident: the suicide pact between the increasingly deranged and violent Crown Prince Rudolf, heir to the Habsburg Empire, and his 17-year-old mistress, Mary Vetsera, at the Mayerling hunting lodge near Vienna. This horrific event sparked the downfall of the dynasty.
'It's a fascinating story,' Watson says. 'It sounds like a movie, but when you know it's real it draws you in to find out more. You can look into all kinds of matters: Austria being so buttoned up, all those cover-ups, and Marie Larisch [Rudolf's ex-mistress and a vital character in the ballet] writing a memoir so that she wouldn't be implicated.' It was Larisch who introduced Mary to Rudolf.
'But it's all there in the choreography. For me it's about rehearsing carefully and making moments say what they're supposed to say. It's always a joy in rehearsing that ballet that you find something new all the time. A movement that looks ordinary, like an arabesque, can mean hundreds of different things, depending on the way you do it.
Edward Watson as Crown Prince Rudolf and Iohna Loots as Princess Stephanie in Mayerling © ROH / Bill Cooper 2009
Rupert Pennefather as Crown Prince Rudolf and Helen Crawford as Mitzi Caspar in Mayerling © Bill Cooper/ROH 2009
Melissa Hamilton as Mary Vetsera and Rupert Pennefather as Crown Prince Rudolf in Mayerling. © ROH / Bill Cooper 2009
Melissa Hamilton as Mary Vetsera and Rupert Pennefather as Crown Prince Rudolf in Mayerling. © ROH / Bill Cooper 2009
Melissa Hamilton as Mary Vetsera and Rupert Pennefather as Crown Prince Rudolf in Mayerling. © ROH / Bill Cooper 2009
Melissa Hamilton as Mary Vetsera and Rupert Pennefather as Crown Prince Rudolf in Mayerling. © ROH / Bill Cooper 2009
The role's challenges are enormous, both physically and dramatically: 'In the first act alone there's a huge number of pas de deux, as well as group scenes and solos. And conveying Rudolf's personality, being that tense, that wired and often aggressive, is a real demand. Half way through you're thinking, "Oh God, I never want to do this again, it's so hard". But by the end you're thinking, "I never want to do anything else!"'
The story's violence is far removed from a classical dancer's usual world of control and streamlined beauty: 'It's great!' Watson laughs. 'Getting out of that kind of tense, upward, symmetrical thing. It's a gift to let go and it's what everyone's screaming out to do. At least, I am...'
'Kenneth MacMillan proved that you can tell those kind of stories in ballet,' he adds. 'When Mayerling was first done, perhaps people weren't ready for it, but now I think that that kind of theatricality has become as British as Frederick Ashton is. Certainly for my generation, it's what excites us.' At 36, Watson is too young to have worked with MacMillan – but he is godfather to the choreographer's small grandson.
Rudolf remains, astonishingly, one of only two balletic princes he has ever danced (the other is Albrecht in Giselle, who's more dramatic than most). Not for him, he says, 'a prince who kisses a princess to wake her up, or falls in love with a swan. They've never come my way. There are people who do that brilliantly, and as long as I can do the stuff I'm good at, then I don't mind.' And as long as he dances Mayerling, his fans will be more than happy.
Mayerling runs from 19 April – 15 June. Tickets are still available. The production is staged with generous philanthropic support from Celia Blakey, Lady Ashcroft, John and Susan Burns and Gail and Gerald Ronson through the Gerald Ronson Foundation.
As with The Royal Opera, over the years The Royal Ballet has seen a number of roles created on particular dancers by choreographers. We thought we'd take a look at a few examples:
Kenneth MacMillan and Lynn Seymour
One of MacMillan's first works for Deutsche Oper Ballet, Concerto is an exuberant showpiece of the outstanding abilities of the whole company. The lyrical second movement was based on Lynn Seymour's warm up for rehearsal: "I used to become fascinated by what she was doing rather than what I was supposed to be doing, and I decided to incorporate the idea of the barre work into the choreography." The central pas de deux, danced by Seymour in the first performance, is an sensual transformation of the dancer's graceful exercises.
The Rite of Spring
Kenneth MacMillan and Monica Mason
Kenneth MacMillan plucked the 20-year-old Monica Mason – later Director of the Royal Ballet – from the corps de ballet to create the gruelling part of the sacrificial Chosen One. It was a part she would dance for the next 20 years. MacMillan explained his choice: "For one thing, she has tremendous power… rare in English dancers, who tend to be more elegant and refined. But she has a real athletic quality, which struck me in rehearsal – also she is tremendously musical."
He drew on Mason's knowledge of Zulu dances, gained during her South African childhood. As Mason remembers, it is "absolutely not feminine choreography" – something MacMillan made use of in 1987, in the ballet's first revival after Mason retired from the part in 1982. He departed from Stravinsky's original scenario and cast a man (Simon Rice) as the Chosen One: "I realized the steps I'd worked out on Monica were just as suited for a man. In fact, I'd picked Monica out of the 'tribe' of the corps because she was so much more athletic than the others, with real energy and attack." In her 2011 revival of the ballet, Monica followed MacMillan's adaptation, also casting men for the part: Edward Watson and Steven McRae.
Marguerite and Armand
Frederick Ashton and Margot Fonteyn
Frederick Ashton had long been looking for a subject for Margot Fonteyn and her new partner Rudolf Nureyev when he came across Alexandre Dumas fils's La Dame aux camélias, also the inspiration for Verdi's La traviata. Fonteyn was far older than many other leading dancers, but her electric partnership with Nureyev had revived her career.
In this story of a courtesan forced by propriety to give up her beloved, Ashton showed audiences a dancer whose technical abilities were beginning to decline but who retained a profound emotional power.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Christopher Wheeldon and Steven McRae, Lauren Cuthbertson, Edward Watson
For The Royal Ballet's first full-length commission in 15 years, Christopher Wheeldon produced a wealth of fabulous creations including a discombobulating Cheshire Cat, a sinuous caterpillar and a tap-dancing Mad Hatter – created especially for McRae, almost unique among Principal ballet dancers for his brilliance as a tap-dancer. Wheeldon was no less exacting with the casting of his principals: "As soon as I decided I was going to do Alice, Lauren [Cuthbertson] was absolutely for me the key to making this production work, because I knew she would embody the kind of Alice I wanted to portray. She has a unique ability to make her dramatic persona on stage natural, honest, fresh and to the point…as for Edward [Watson], he and I have been friends from school, and we grew up together…I want my White Rabbit to be a little bit bad, a little belligerent, and Ed's great at that. He does bad-tempered – a little bit tortured – really well!"
Do you have a favourite specially-created ballet role?
Marguerite and Armand runs from 12 - 23 February 2013 while Alice's Adventures in Wonderland from 15 March - 13 April 2013.]]>
Kenneth MacMillan's masterful Mayerling is one of the most choreographically and psychologically rich full-length ballets in The Royal Ballet's repertory. Based on the life of Crown Prince Rudolf, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it's a dark work encompassing everything from love and lust to political intrigue; drugs and violence to insanity and suicide.
MacMillan began working on the ballet in 1977 when he was the Artistic Director of The Royal Ballet, creating the lead roles on David Wall and Lynn Seymour. When he retired from the position in 1978, it was to focus his energy on choreography; a decision triumphantly vindicated when Mayerling received a standing ovation on its premiere at a Royal Gala in 1978.
Georgina Parkinson with members of The Royal Ballet during rehearsals for Mayerling © Roy Round 1978
At the time of its premiere 34 years ago, Mayerling was the first full-length British ballet in which a male dancer had the central role. Current Royal Ballet Principal Edward Watson loves the work:
"There's nothing like Mayerling – nothing so focuses on the male protagonist. The choreography is incredible to get into, and emotionally it's completely exhilarating and exhausting."
The lead role of the violent and tortured Crown Prince Rudolf of Vienna places exceptional demands on the dancer, requiring dramatic theatrical ability and interpretation as much as physical athleticism.
David Wall described the character in an interview with Mark Monahan for About The House magazine:
"The day after a performance of Mayerling, I used to feel as if I'd been run over by a steamroller. One has to have total confidence in one's artistry and in the fact that one can be subtle within the role, and not just treat it as a big male virtuoso piece. It involves a lot of intelligence of interpretation... "
David Wall as Crown Prince Rudolf, Laura Connor as Mitzi Caspar and members of The Royal Ballet performing in Mayerling © 1978 ROH Collections / Donald Southern
David Wall as Crown Prince Rudolf and Laura Connor as Mitzi Caspar in Mayerling © 1978 ROH Collections / Donald Southern
The rollercoaster-like ballet is set to the dramatic music of Franz Liszt, arranged by John Lanchbery.
The Royal Ballet's Mayerling returns on 19 April. Booking opens to the Friends of Covent Garden on 4 December and to the public on 15 January. The production is staged with generous philanthropic support from Celia Blakey, Lady Ashcroft, John and Susan Burns and Gail and Gerald Ronson through the Gerald Ronson Foundation.
With twenty years having passed since his death, Kenneth MacMillan remains a towering figure in the world of ballet. He choreographed works that have become core pieces of the repertory including Romeo and Juliet, Mayerling, The Rite of Spring and Manon; his work still delights audiences and the dancers performing them alike.
As well as these full-length works, MacMillan choreographed a number of shorter works such as Concerto, Requiem and Las Hermanas; which make up this current Royal Ballet Mixed Bill.
Kenneth MacMillan's career saw him dance as well as choreograph and we took a look into the archives to find some behind the scenes images from his time at Covent Garden:
Kenneth MacMillan as The Great Admirer of Mademoiselle Piquant in Children's Corner © 1948 Royal Opera House/Roger Wood
Kenneth MacMillan, Beryl Grey and John Field in Ballet Imperial, 1950 © 1950 Royal Opera House/Roger Wood
View more photos and videos on our Kenneth MacMillan Pinterest Board.
What's your favourite Kenneth MacMillan ballet?
Concerto/Requiem/Las Hermanas Mixed Bill runs from 17 November - 5 December 2012.]]>
The work of choreographer Kenneth MacMillan was the subject of a recent ROH Insights session with Lady MacMillan.
Deborah MacMillan spoke of her relationship with her husband as well as about his career and creative process.
On her husband being labelled a rebel, Deborah said: "I think people thought at the time that he was doing something ghastly to classical ballet. Kenneth was very clear about being very different if he was going to make his mark [but] I don't think he ever set out to shock."
"It has a sort of quirkiness and a surprising way of using music," she said about what makes his work unique, "the way he used music was astonishing, totally surprising and off the wall sometimes but always finding something in the music that worked for the steps and the storytelling."
Listen to highlights from the event:
Find out more about Kenneth MacMillan's work.
Kenneth MacMillan works Concerto, Requiem and Las Hermanas will be on stage from 17 November - 5 December 2012. This Mixed Programme is supported by Marina Hobson as well as Richard and Delia Baker (Las Hermanas); and Lindsay and Sarah Tomlinson (Concerto).
The choreographer behind some of the greatest ballets of the 20th century, Sir Kenneth MacMillan (1929-1992) is an illustrious figure in the world of dance.
Kenneth MacMillan was the first British choreographer to be produced entirely by the Sadler's Wells Ballet, now The Royal Ballet. His works remain at the heart of the repertory of The Royal Ballet and his full-length ballets Romeo and Juliet, Manon and Mayerling are danced by companies around the world.
Edward Watson as Crown Prince Rudolf and Iohna Loots as Princess Stephanie in Mayerling © ROH / Bill Cooper 2009
MacMillan discovered ballet in 1940, at the age of 11, when he was evacuated from his home-town, Great Yarmouth, to Retford, Nottinghamshire. Although he had already learnt tap and Scottish country dancing, taking part in entertainments for soldiers at American air force bases, it was ballet that became his passion. On his return to Great Yarmouth, he began lessons with dance teacher Phyllis Adams. MacMillan came from a poor background and could not afford classes so Adams, recognising his talent, taught him for free and encouraged his dance ambitions. For MacMillan, whose mother died when he was just 12, she became a hugely important figure in his life.
At the age of 15 MacMillan wrote to Ninette de Valois pretending to be his father "my son, who is nearly 15, wants to be a ballet dancer and many people think he is very talented" asking for an audition for the Sadler's Wells Ballet School (now the Royal Ballet School). MacMillan arrived late and De Valois had him join a Company class and dance alongside Margot Fonteyn and Beryl Grey. She was impressed by what she saw and he was awarded a scholarship. MacMillan was a founder member of Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet in 1946 and over the next ten years appeared with both the Sadler's Wells Companies, dancing the role of Florestan in The Sleeping Beauty during the company's first tour of America in 1949. A talented classical dancer, he also appeared in romantic roles such as the poet in Les Sylphides. His first created role was as The Great Admirer of Mademoiselle Piquant in John Cranko's ballet Children's Corner in 1948 and other created roles include Moondog in John Cranko's The Lady and The Fool and the title role in Margaret Dale's The Great Detective. Although he enjoyed great success as a dancer, MacMillan found himself becoming increasingly interested in choreography.
MacMillan created his first choreographic work, Somnambulism, a ballet set to jazz music by Stan Kenton but based on classical technique, for the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet's First Choreographic Evening in 1953. He prepared it in just a week, in a room at Sadler's Wells Theatre so cluttered with skips and wardrobe baskets that there was barely enough floor space to move. It was apparent to everyone present that here was a new and highly individual talent. In 1954 De Valois commissioned his first stage work for Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet Danses concertantes, which was very well received. By this time, MacMillan was suffering from increasingly crippling stage-fright and panic attacks, so De Valois offered him work as a choreographer and in time he became resident choreographer. He explained in an interview for BBC Omnibus:
"I stopped dancing when I was about 23 mainly because I had just terrible stage-fright and I hated performing. I turned to choreography as a release from dancing and I was lucky enough that the first thing I did everyone liked."
MacMillan began to create for The Royal Ballet what would become a huge body of work, and his early ground breaking one-act ballets include The Burrow (1958), The Invitation (1960) and The Rite of Spring (1962). Over the following years, he cemented his reputation as a choreographer of the first rank. From the oppressive setting of The Burrow, a work that reminded many of The Diaries of Anne Frank, to the graphic depiction of rape in The Invitation much of MacMillan's work focused on the theme of the outsider, the rebel and the downtrodden.
Jann Parry, author of the biography of Different Drummer: The Life of Kenneth MacMillan explains that MacMillan was the first choreographer to express the feelings and anxiety of the post-war generation:
"He was rebelling against the conventional idea that ballet was light entertainment… and using ballet to express things that are inexpressible in words."
In 1965, he created his first full-length ballet, Romeo and Juliet, on Royal Ballet Principals Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable. It is based on the Shakespeare tragedy and like Shakespeare's play the ballet is an earthy treatment of the story. MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet are recognisably two teenagers discovering love and sex for the first time. It includes wonderful dancing for the corps de ballet whether it's the two Montague and Capulet gangs street fighting or the stylised court dancing of the Capulet's ball. It received an unprecedented number of ovations at its first performance when the title roles were danced by Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn and is widely regarded as his masterpiece. Find out more about the excitement surrounding the build-up to the premiere.
MacMillan created over forty ballets during his career, winning the respect and admiration of dancers worldwide. Lynn Seymour, on whom he created many leading roles, explained that, "he had the gift of revealing each individual's talents and had won their respect and belief in his work. To be in one of his ballets, even at the humblest level, was seen as a special bestowal of regard and made you one of a select, elite chosen few." Read more of Lynn Seymour's thoughts about MacMillan.
MacMillan worked extensively with The Royal Ballet until 1966. In 1963 Las Hermanas was commissioned by choreographer John Cranko for Stuttgart Ballet. MacMillan and Cranko had become friends and collaborators first at Sadler's Wells Ballet School and then at Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet. When Cranko became Director of Stuttgart Ballet he invited MacMillan to create works for the company including one of his greatest ballets Song of the Earth in 1966. From 1966 MacMillan spent four years as Director of the Deutsch Oper Ballet in West Berlin creating Concerto for them during that period.
Kenneth MacMillan as The Great Admirer of Mademoiselle Piquant in Children's Corner © 1948 Royal Opera House/Roger Wood
Kenneth MacMillan, Beryl Grey and John Field in Ballet Imperial, 1950 © 1950 Royal Opera House/Roger Wood
MacMillan returned to London in 1970, to take up the post of Director of The Royal Ballet, which he held for seven years before retiring to focus on his choreography. He continued to work with The Royal Ballet becoming Principal Choreographer of The Royal Ballet as well as working as Associate Director of American Ballet Theatre (1984 – 1989) and Artistic Associate of the Houston Ballet (1989 – 1992). Later works created for The Royal Ballet include the one-act ballets Elite Syncopations (1974), The Valley of Shadows (1983), Different Drummer (1984), Winter Dreams (1991) and The Judas Tree (1992) and the three full-length ballets Manon (1974) and Mayerling (1978). MacMillan died unexpectedly on 29 October 1992 backstage at the Royal Opera House during a performance of his ballet Mayerling.
A choreographer who changed the nature of classical ballet, he has left a powerful legacy in the dance world. Watch this interview to find out more.
In Autumn 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of Kenneth MacMillan's death, The Royal Ballet is performing three of his one act ballets: Concerto, Las Hermanas and Requiem. This triple bill runs from 17 November - 5 December. Mayerling runs from 19 April - 15 June 2013.]]>
Former Royal Ballet Principal Jonathan Cope is currently in rehearsals with The Royal Ballet in preparation for the return of MacMillan's The Prince of the Pagodas. Jonathan performed in the role of the Prince alongside Darcey Bussell in the 1996 production, and now works with the company as répétiteur, teaching dancers.The ballet has not been performed at Covent Garden for 13 years, and includes some of MacMillan's most challenging choreography. We caught up with Jonathan ahead of opening night to find out more…
You last danced in The Prince of the Pagodas in 1996 alongside Darcey Bussell. How does it differ this time around?
For this production Monica Mason has had permission from the Britten Trust to cut the score, which is what Kenneth MacMillan wanted to do originally. Kenneth always said to me that there was a great ballet there, it just needed to be edited and sorted out. Now, many of the numbers that don't add much to the narrative, and are just a bit of padding, have been cut. The second act has been reduced and there has been some re-ordering – shifting numbers around to make more sense of the plot. As a result, the whole piece is tighter and more involving. In that respect, we hope as a ballet it will come to life.
Britten's music is quite inventive and exotic, and includes sections influenced by Balinese gamelan music. How do the dancers react to this?
It creates an atmosphere, particularly in Pagoda Land with the Salamander solo. When those instruments coming in, it makes the world seem quite alien and quite strange. The music is very effective from that point of view. I personally like the score – it's clever but very challenging. All the dancers are counting in nines and fives, and sixes and threes - it's all over the place!
Are there any particular sections you'd recommend watching out for?
Rose's three main solos are difficult. They're classic solos, but each with a twist. In particular, the one inthe second act with a violin solo is musically incredibly difficult. For the Prince, he has to bring across the contrast of being a salamander and changing quickly into the romantic prince. The Salamander is a lot of work on the floor – slithering and rippling, looking weird, strange and not very human, while the Prince is very normal – charming and handsome.
The piece is quite rare. How is it different to other ballets? What do you like about it?
It's different to other classical ballets as, even though the shapes are classical, it has a MacMillan twist. The choreography is arranged so that, rather than doing a conventional position, there's always a twist to it. For example, a hand will be on a shoulder instead of round a waist, or an arm will be twisted and behind you instead of rounded. Even though it's still within classical lines, it's not completely conventional classical ballet. It has a style that relates to MacMillan.
What is the role of a repetiteur? Do you help with technical steps or can you influence artistic expression as well?
I can certainly encourage the artistic expression. You're never looking for a carbon-copy of yourself and the way you expressed it, but you can certainly give them ideas. You're working as a team rather than dictating. They're all individual and they're all marvellous as artists. Obviously, the plot is there and you have to interpret it a certain way for the story, but there's so much fine detail that you can put in individually – the way you feel things.
As you previously danced the role of the Prince, are you protective of the role?
Not at all. If anything, I want it to move on now. I encourage the dancers not to dance the role like me – choreographically to use the structure, but to bring something more to it than we did; to bring the story a little bit more to life. When I danced it, we were young and focused on the technical side of it more than the artistic side. Now it is the opportunity to really let rip with those roles.
Watch Jonathan performing the role of The Prince:
The Prince of the Pagodas runs from 2 - 29 June.
The Royal Ballet is to perform The Prince of the Pagodas after a 16 year absence from the stage of the Royal Opera House.
A mix of traditional fable and oriental fairytale, the ballet was originally choreographed by John Cranko in 1957 before being restaged in 1989 by Kenneth MacMillan and travel writer/novelist Colin Thubron.
The ballet is a magical fantasy, often described as a combination of King Lear, Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast. It includes some of MacMillan's most demanding choreography, ranging from the reptilian twists of the Salamander-Prince to the entrancing pas de deux finale with Princess Rose and her Prince.
Watch Royal Ballet Principal Marianela Nuñez rehearsing the first act solo with Director of The Royal Ballet Monica Mason and notator Grant Coyle, filmed during Royal Ballet Live:
John Cranko's The Prince of the Pagodas had its premiere at Covent Garden on New Year's Day 1957, and ran for 23 performances over the subsequent three years. View archive photography of this production:
Anya Linden as The Moon in the Sadler's Wells Ballet production of The Prince of the Pagodas 1957 © Roger Wood/ROH 1957
Svetlana Beriosova as The Princess Belle Rose and David Blair as The Green Salamander in the Sadler's Wells Ballet production of 'The Prince of the Pagodas 1957 © Roger Wood/ROH 1957
Julia Farron as The Princess Belle Epine in the Sadler's Wells Ballet production of The Prince of the Pagodas 1957 © Roger Wood/ROH 1957
David Blair and Svetlana Beriosova in the Sadler's Wells Ballet production of The Prince of the Pagodas 1957 © Roger Wood/ROH 1957
The 1989 production featured 19-year-old Darcey Bussell in her first lead role. After a spectacular first performance alongside Jonathan Cope, she was offered the position of youngest ever principal with The Royal Ballet. View a gallery of costumes worn by Darcey and Jonathan
The ballet is set to an inventive score specially commissioned by Benjamin Britten, who was partly inspired by his trip to Bali in 1956. Britten's only ballet score includes the exotic sounds of Balinese Gamelan music. Next year marks the centenary of Britten's birth. Listen to excerpts of the music:
Royal Ballet Principal Tamara Rojo is to leave the company to take up the role of Artistic Director at English National Ballet. Tamara will stay with The Royal Ballet until the end of the current season, dancing all scheduled performances before taking up her new post in August.
Director of The Royal Ballet, Monica Mason said of the news:
"I'm obviously very sad that Tamara will be leaving The Royal Ballet, as she is a wonderful artist and has been a loyal and committed Company member for the past 12 years."
Tamara joined The Royal Ballet in 2000 from English National Ballet. Prior to this she danced with Scottish Ballet and during her career has danced all the main classical roles, as well as a wide variety of the MacMillan and Ashton repertory. She has also created new roles for contemporary choreographers such as Liam Scarlett and Wayne McGregor.
The remainder of the 2011/12 season sees Tamara dance roles in The Prince of the Pagodas, La Sylphide and Birthday Offering.
View insights, clips and rehearsal clips featuring Tamara on iTunesU]]>
As we hurtle towards an Olympian summer, we've launched a new World Stage film for Spring 2012.
The film features Edward Watson, Principal of The Royal Ballet and is set to a soundtrack by acclaimed pop act Florence + the Machine, following its highly successful predecessor which showcased the talents of Lauren Cuthbertson to the sound of indie rock band The Horrors.
World Stage puts the spotlight on the world-class dancers and singers who appear at the Royal Opera House, but also makes a connection between the physical skill of these artists and that of sportsmen and women. The Spring 2012 film will be seen in over 700 cinemas in 22 countries during our Cinema screenings, as well as online.
Acclaimed dancer Edward Watson has been with The Royal Ballet since 1994 and was promoted to Principal in 2005. Since then he's danced a wide array of roles including Romeo (Romeo and Juliet), Des Grieux (Manon) and Oberon (The Dream). Last year he memorably created the role of Gregor Samsa in Arthur Pita's The Metamorphosis.
In 2012 Edward will be dancing roles including Romeo and Lewis Carroll/The White Rabbit (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), as well as a number of parts yet to be announced.
See content featuring Edward on iTunesU.
The track used in the film is Florence + the Machine's 'No Light, No Light', taken from the album Ceremonials. Acclaimed by both the press and audiences alike, the band's sound has been described as "somewhere between classic soul and midnight-on-the-moors English art rock" and with a penchant for the epic that reflects the scale of the World Stage campaign.
We went behind the camera on the shoot for the Spring season World Stage film.]]>
This week, The Royal Ballet stage a double bill from two of the choreographic heavyweights of 20th-century ballet, Sir Frederick Ashton and Sir Kenneth Macmillan. The Dream and Song of the Earth were created just two years apart in the middle of the 1960s, and yet they speak to the audience in strikingly different ways.
Last week, Royal Opera House Insights invited Director of The Royal Ballet, Dame Monica Mason, and Guest Ballet Master, Christopher Carr to explore these works in front of a live audience.
Dame Monica and Christopher tackled a number of questions during the evening. What were Fred and Kenneth like to work with? Where did they draw their inspiration from? Was there a creative tension between them? And, are there elements in their ballets that make them inherently British?
Listen to an extract from the discussion. We will be uploading a longer version later in the week.
You can buy tickets to The Dream and Song of the Earth on the Royal Opera House website.]]>
Thank you to everyone who came along to last night's BP Big Screening of Manon. It was a superb night: wonderful performances, beautiful weather and lovely crowds (over 6,000 in Trafalgar Square.)
Don't forget, if you enjoyed last night, please come back for Madam Butterfly on 4 July and Cinderella on 13 July.
Follow BP Big Screens on Twitter @bpbigscreens
Thanks to everyone that posted twitpics
Top row: crowds start to arrive, backstage with the Trafalgar Square lions, inside the Main House at half time.
Second row: sun starts to set, programme and poncho – essential kit, Des Grieux dances out his love for Manon to hushed crowds. Zeb Soanes – compère for the night.
Third row: al fresco dining – picnics at the Screens
@ClarkFoyster @MaraMinc & the weather seems to be holding up nicely! #Manon
@bpbigscreens lovely sunny evening in Plymouth - chilly but loving the performance
rwagage Ravindu Wagage by bpbigscreens @bpbigscreens With @elenjones watching Manon and having an awesome time. Definitely will be back to see Cinderella on 13th July!
A_Nemere Assel Nemere by bpbigscreens "@theballetbag: The Royal Ballet's Manon relayed @bpbigscreens across the UK this evening" - and its AMAZING!
bpbigscreens @ @richardlebus I can't think of a finer way to enjoy a Wednesday night!
EowinKenobi Nerea Fernández @RoyalOperaHouse BEST BALLET EVER. (I didn't even need 140 characters).
Barbara_KL Barbara L @RoyalOperaHouse I saw this wonderful ballet at the Royal Opera House. Though, good seats are expensive. Thank you for showing it for free!
tiffanyhyu Most beautiful couple ever RT @RoyalOperaHouse Alina Cojocaru & Johan Kobborg have recently got engaged nyti.ms/lMadlW Congrats!#ballet
JudithFlanders Wow. @RoyalOperaHouse 's Ricardo Cervera so wonderful as Lescsaut, maybe he won't have to die in Act 2. #alternativeworldmanon
JudithFlanders Serious question: is @RoyalOperaHouse 's Alina Cojocaru the greatest dancer I've ever seen? #verypossibly
AlpanaLDN At live screening of Manon in Trafalgar Sq fr @RoyalOperaHouse; superb atmosphere. And all free! http://yfrog.com/h7ogarzj
AnnishaShah @RoyalOperaHouse I'm in trafalar sq! Very excited! Thank you for putting this on! #Manon xxx
When Kenneth MacMillan choreographed the first British Rite of Spring in 1962 the role of the Chosen Maiden – the virgin who dances herself to death in a sacrificial ritual - was a then 20-year-old Monica Mason. Shortly thereafter the then Royal Ballet Principal Wayne Eagling became the first male dancer to take on the central role. In this current revival, Monica Mason has brought back the concept of a male 'Chosen One', with Edward Watson and Steven McRae - one British, the other Australian, both well-versed in MacMillan's dramatic universe - set to make their debuts this weekend. We asked both Edward and Steven for some brief thoughts on the ballet:
TBB: Monica Mason has remarked in the past that MacMillan's choreography for The Rite of Spring is 'absolutely not feminine'. What do you think male dancers can bring to it?
Edward Watson: The steps aren't feminine at all. When a woman dances it, I think it shows the strength of the human spirit but when a man dances it, it's completely the reverse; the same steps show how vulnerable we are.
Steven McRae: I believe the Chosen One is a role that can be brought to life by either a male or a female dancer. The role is very demanding physically and getting through the piece requires a lot of psychological strength. Obviously the physical approach to the role may differ. The choreography has a lot of allegro work, something males are used to performing regularly.
TBB: How are you approaching the role? What emotions are going through the Chosen One's head?
Edward: By making sure I know the music well and that I know the stage patterns and so on. I think about the terror and pride going through the Chosen One's head and about the inevitability of the ritual.
Steven: You will see!
TBB: Who is coaching you? What have preparations been like?
Edward: Monica Mason has been coaching me. I haven't needed to do any reading or other preparations as it was created for her and she knows it inside out.
Steven: I actually spoke to Wayne Eagling about the role recently at a function in Buckingham Palace; I am loving being coached by Dame Monica Mason. Working with the person the role was created on is the closest thing you can get to working with the creator. I was fortunate to work with Lesley Collier on Rhapsody early in the season, and again that was incredible because you are being exposed to details about the piece and choreography that perhaps other people may not know.
TBB: What was your previous experience with this ballet? What were your impressions?
Steven: I have danced it as part of the corps de ballet. In fact, it was my first season in the Company. Unfortunately someone was injured and I had to jump into the ballet on opening day. I loved performing it. The adrenaline and sheer power of having the entire Company move at speed on stage is something I will always remember. I look forward to having the ensemble filter that power towards me as I dance to my death!
Edward: I have never been in the ballet before but I've always watched it from the audience and loved it. It never occurred to me I would get to dance The Chosen One – it was just one of the ballets I liked watching.
TBB: This version of The Rite of Spring - the first British one - draws heavily from aboriginal culture, painting a 'nightmarish vision of aboriginal Australia'. Steven, were you exposed to some of that growing up, how authentic does the production feel to you?
Steven: In Australian schools, Aboriginal art is something most students are exposed to. I studied a bit of it at school. We used to do many 'hand' paintings as well as 'dot' paintings, both very uniquely aboriginal. This Australian link is quite a special connection to have in the piece for me. Sidney Nolan did a fantastic job on the designs.
TBB: What's unique about MacMillan's Rite of Spring?
Edward: It's very tiring! I think it's one of the most intense ballets I have danced – there seems to be a whole act's worth of dancing compressed into about ten minutes.
TBB: How would you pitch The Rite of Spring to someone who's new to ballet?
Steven: Seeing an entire stage full of dancers giving it their all is breathtaking. The piece requires complete concentration and watching the Company become "possessed" on stage generates a powerful force of nature. Truly a must-see!
Scènes de ballet / Voluntaries / The Rite of Spring 28 May- 11 June
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About the Author:
The Ballet Bag is an online resource for the best of ballet around the web: performances, companies, dancers, interviews and other websites. With the aim to "Give Ballet a New Spin" and make it more accessible, editors Emilia and Linda write dance content, mashing it up with pop culture. They use social media to network with dance fans, companies, performers, writers, bloggers, etc. sharing what's good, fun and interesting in the balletsphere.]]>
Happy Birthday to Royal Ballet Principal Rupert Pennefather, who turns 30 tomorrow and will make his debut as Des Grieux in Kenneth MacMillan's Manon. He was perform alongside Sarah Lamb, who also makes her debut in the title role.
See Rupert in character as Des Grieux in our recent World Stage campaign shot in moonlit Paris.
Rupert said, "I first got interested in dance as a young boy when I used to come to many, many productions at the Royal Opera House with my mum. We would sit way up in the gods. Mum was a big influence on me, but I first realized that I wanted to dance professionally when I saw a video of Mikhail Baryshnikov dance Don Quixote. That was when I realized what I definitely wanted to do."
See Sarah in our recent World Stage campaign shot in Arizona.
Sarah said, "The first time I appeared onstage at the Royal Opera House was as one of the solo couples in Requiem, in October 2004. I was being promenaded by Yohei Sasaki and I remember looking out into the audience for the first time – I couldn't believe how close the people were. None of the theatres in the US had boxes, as there was no royalty, and it was startling to look out and see faces instead of just a black abyss."
10 reasons why we love Manon, read The Ballet Bag 's blog
The 80th anniversary of Kenneth MacMillan's birth has been an opportunity to re-discover the breadth of his creativity, and the Insight Evening for The Royal Ballet's upcoming MacMillan triple bill followed in this path last week. The event brought together artists who got to know Kenneth MacMillan intimately, from composer Brian Elias to former Royal Ballet dancers Irek Mukhamedov and Julie Lincoln, and all spoke with singular warmth of different facets of the British choreographer, best known for his Romeo and Juliet or Manon. The one-act ballets introduced that evening demonstrated the scope of his inspiration, from The Judas Tree, an extreme tale of betrayal and guilt, to Elite Syncopations, a light-hearted romp to ragtime tunes - what emerged in the end was a unique vision of a choreographer fascinated with human nature and its contradictions, who pushed the boundaries of ballet far beyond expectations.
The evening started with a discussion around the music for The Judas Tree, commissioned in 1992 from Brian Elias. Barry Wordsworth, The Royal Ballet's Music Director, led the conversation, explaining that he and Elias attended the Royal College of Music around the same time. The Judas Tree was the composer's first ballet score, brought about by Deborah MacMillan, Kenneth's wife, who arranged the collaboration after going to one of Elias's concerts. MacMillan was actually very nervous about commissioning music, the audience learnt, as it used to be impossible to have a clear idea of what a score would sound like until the last rehearsals - and it became clear over the course of the evening that MacMillan knew what he wanted and kept close control over his creations.
For The Judas Tree, Kenneth MacMillan originally thought of working on the Last Supper - his interest in betrayal had been triggered by the Tiananmen Square massacre, in April 1989. Brian Elias recounted how the choreographer took him to ballets regularly during the process of creation, but refused to give him a scenario - what he wanted was a symphonic piece around Judas's iconic figure, divided in symbolic parts, from calm to massacre. The powerful, sometimes terrifying images the ballet conveys thus offer layers of meaning; each of the solos for the men, Elias explained, drew on the Apostles and their respective attributes, and yet their realistic expression of sexual passion and violence unfolds on a building site, among wrecked cars. Philip Cornfield's playing of excerpts at the piano showed exactly that provocative ambiguity, leading on to a practical session around Judas and the sole woman among the workers.
The Judas Tree rehearsal was led by Russian-trained star Irek Mukhamedov, who created the role of Judas in 1992. Principal dancers Thiago Soares and Mara Galeazzi took on the two central characters, going through their violent pas de deux before the enigmatic woman, defined as a 'present' for the workers, is killed for eluding Judas. Irek Mukhamedov talked the audience through intricate details in the choreography which convey the characters exactly, from the angle of a head to the accusatory finger the woman points at her murderer. The raw physicality of the choreography, requiring Mara Galeazzi to achieve extreme positions in the arms of her partner, drew gasps from the audience - The Judas Tree is ballet technique extended to express the most violent situations, from jealousy to rape, and the dancers admitted to relishing the challenge. For Thiago Soares in particular, the role, which requires fantastic strength, is a departure from the traditional princes of ballet and as he brutally killed the woman and drew her figure on the floor with chalk, as if overcome by fear and guilt, the heavy dramatic power of the ballet became clear.
The mood lightened considerably with a rehearsal of Elite Syncopations, one of MacMillan's most playful, carefree creations; in this ballet, dancers in sassy, colourful unitards bring their comic flair to a series of popular ragtime tunes from the likes of Scott Joplin. Julie Lincoln, a former Royal Ballet dancer and now stager for various MacMillan ballets, guided two corps de ballet dancers, Nathalie Harrison and Michael Stojko, through the Alaskan Rag, a humorous pas de deux for a tall girl and a small boy. The aristocratic woman played by Nathalie Harrison finds her diminutive partner endearing and tries to shine despite his difficulties, their height difference becoming the pretext for many gags. Just as Irek Mukhamedov explained in connection to The Judas Tree, the steps here make the character and the choreography full of whimsical lifts and falls and fits the syncopated music to perfection. Julie Lincoln emphasized the importance of acting and comic timing, and as the audience started laughing more and more at every turn of the pas de deux, the dancers' confidence seemed to grow, allowing them more freedom within the choreography. An uplifting end to the evening, and the promise of new star turns in MacMillan's lasting creations.
Laura Cappelle]]>
Mayerling is a complex, forceful and uncompromising ballet. It deals with big themes of politics, privilege, infidelity, violence and insanity. It is a ballet that takes you to the edge of your seat and holds you there to feel the full agony and ecstasy that the young Crown Prince Rudolph must have felt during his short life. It is the gripping and decidedly adult story of the double suicide scandal that hit the Austro-Hungarian court over a hundred years ago.
Kenneth MacMillan's ballet was first performed in 1978 to audiences who immediately took to its dark and troubled themes. Despite early mutterings about the complexity of the plot, it is recognised and appreciated as a modern classic.
Although the underlying themes are strong and dark, the ballet is well rounded and enjoyable. Amongst the intensely emotional pas de deux and daring lifts between Prince Rudolph and Mary Vetsera, his 17-year-old lover, there is also pretty and athletic dancing. Rudolph's cab-driver Bratfisch was danced on Monday by Steven McRae, who provided some fluid and delightful moments. Mara Galeazzi as the young Baroness Mary Vetsera was point perfect and a tantalising mixture of youthful exuberance and sophisticated temptress.
Any account of Monday evening's performance, however, would be incomplete without acknowledging the formidable and accomplished performance of Edward Watson in the leading role of Prince Rudolph. By turns childish and unsure, then violent and cruel, now lustful and passionate he danced our hearts out by evoking sympathy and disgust in equal measure.
It is a tribute to MacMillan's story telling that both the depravity and difficulty of Rudolph's life are so graphically illustrated. It is a hugely demanding role but Watson seemed to become more sure footed, and his dancing more daring, as the evening wore on.
Once the tale had been told and the dreadful deeds digested, the audience needed a moment of quiet to take in all that had happened. As the final curtain fell there was silence before Watson stood alone to take his bows. The auditorium exploded with applause and appreciative whistles.
In the cold light of day it now seems almost impossible to find the right words to describe this stunning performance. But isn't that the whole point? Without a word, ballet shows us aspects of humanity that our chattering tongues never come close to finding. It's well worth seeing if you can make it before the 10November 2009.
Caroline Eveleigh, Getting into Excellent]]>