Alina Cojocaru. Photo Courtesy of Sadler’s Wells.

TBB: You have organised lots of galas before, on behalf of Hospices of Hope, and the Dream Project in Japan, for instance. How did this project come about and how does it compare to your previous ones?

Alina Cojocaru: Yes, I have had that experience. However, this is a different project, as I am taking care of all aspects of producing a programme: from music rights to choosing the repertory, to fundraising and finances. It’s a lot to do, as it requires opening and registering a company, building a team of technical producers, accountants, etc. So I am discovering these different aspects as I go along. The other interesting side to this programme at Sadler’s Wells is being able to showcase new works, and that adds a lot more. But what has been really great is getting to meet people, to build relationships and get some business knowledge, and all other aspects of our work.

TBB: What messages do you want to get across and what was the driving force behind the repertory?

AC: This programme took a lot of thinking. I’ve seen similar events and there is always the question: what do I want to say or what can I bring that is unique and different, so it can be appealing? It comes together by a process of elimination and by questioning myself and the choices I make, and I took it piece by piece, slowly building it. And the main reason behind it? As I mentioned, I really like collaborating with people and especially with choreographers. I was very interested in doing something new and having a mix, together with a piece I had not performed here that I really love (Marguerite & Armand), so this is how the repertory slowly came about. One of the pieces we went along with is Tim Rushton’s Reminiscence. He had started this work on Johan and me around 12 years ago, and we created part of it and somehow our lives and journeys took us in different directions and we had never quite finished it. We felt like this would be a beautiful thing to bring to life. Plus, it’s a chance to have Johan on stage with me. It seems like the right piece and the right place.

I also wanted variety and to try something new. To interact with someone I had never worked with, and see how it would play out. This led me to Brazilian choreographer Juliano Nunes. He has created a piece for us, Journey, a trio in which he is also dancing, so I am really excited: it is different when you have the choreographer on stage with you.

Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg. Photo: © Morgan Norman

TBB: You recently debuted in Johan’s new production of Romeo and Juliet (in Verona). How has your partnership changed at this stage in your careers?

AC: It is a time in Johan’s career where he is involved in many different projects and I am still dancing and also involved in different projects. It is beautiful for me to see how complementary these are. We work in the same art form, just from slightly different aspects. I think there is so much that I am learning from Johan and his experience, and from our conversations about what we are doing. I love it that we are able to say what we think, and share honest advice and opinions, especially when you are talking with someone who knows you so well. And I am very much looking forward to meeting him again on stage after all this time apart. One of the other pieces in the programme is his Les Lutins, which is a wonderful piece.

TBB: We heard the programme will include a couple of short films by Kim Brandstrup. Can you tell us about them?

AC: Kim had a dream to make a film that he eventually called Faces, which premiered at the Linbury Theatre when it reopened. I loved it and found very interesting, with its combination of dancing and the more intimate close-ups of dancers, and I thought it worked.

TBB: It certainly worked for us! It is great to see the emotion on the dancers faces, beyond what they can convey through their movement…

AC: …yes I think it works really well, and it adds something different. Here, we are going to focus on the sections where I appear, since that film is a bit too long. The other film we are editing at the moment – and which I really wanted to do, as it is very special for me – is on the theme of meetings, of celebrating connections. It brought me back to how ballet started for me, all the way back in Kiev, working with the teachers that I had, which I was very lucky to have. The idea is to celebrate them, so we went to Kiev to film and we were there for a couple of days. Some of my teachers are still working, and for me it was a very emotional journey: from the moment I entered the school, little to nothing has changed. It was quite surprising really. So that is what I am currently working on, choosing the right moments and making them interesting for people who don’t know much about me or my teachers.

Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg. Photo: © Morgan Norman

TBB: How did your former teachers react to the whole experience?

AC: Well, I think they were thinking they were going to be talking about me and that it would be like a documentary when, in fact, we were interested in having them on camera, their faces, their emotions just being there. But of course we filmed everything. We filmed them talking, we filmed them meeting us. We have some amazing material and hopefully some day it can become something longer, but for now we are trying to extract moments which can complement Faces.

TBB: The final ballet in the evening is Ashton’s Marguerite and Armand which you are performing alongside ENB’s Francesco Gabriele Frola. Why did you choose this particular piece?

AC: I think M&A has everything we are looking for in this programme. It is one act. It is a story ballet, and it is something I have never performed in London. I love Ashton’s work. My first years in ballet as a professional were spent dancing his pieces, and this is one I didn’t get to perform. But most of all, I just love the story. It has a life and I simply had to perform it here, so why wait!

TBB: You describe all the work that has gone into putting this programme together, and you have had to balance that with your work as a Lead Principal with ENB and a Guest Principal Dancer in Hamburg. How?

AC: To be honest, the key word here is “time”. In the sense of the desire to experience as much as possible, and to try to explore beyond what you have and what makes you feel comfortable. Somehow for me, being comfortable feels like I am not doing enough, that I am not growing, and I guess this might come from our training as dancers. Always trying something new, pushing yourself, a new class or a different teacher.

In our careers, all these encounters and collaborations are what make us grow. The same in life. So it is the right time to do more and pursue these opportunities. I have great support at home with Johan. At the same time, there is not enough “time” in a day, and that is a challenge. To be able to push in rehearsals and class, and be able to have the time to explore possibilities to work with choreographers, and decide who and why and when. And also with the projects we have in Japan, and being a mum. There are so many aspects to the day, daily life, that as everyone else, we just wish we had more time to make it happen and to enjoy it.

I guess being the dancers that we are, constantly trying to improve ourselves daily, the push to “do the best we can” inevitably becomes part of our lives. So it ends up being in the blood: to be the best mum I can be, to be the best wife I can be, etc. I don’t think it is a bad thing, and in a way this drive has helped me in my journey ahead. But to answer your question, I would also regret it if I didn’t do it. Considering everything that goes into it, I’d rather live with that knowledge and the result of that journey, instead of living with the regret of not having tried.

Alina Cojocaru. Photo: © Morgan Norman

Catch Alina Cojocaru at Sadler’s Wells from 20 to 23 February, 2020. For tickets and further information, visit the Sadler’s Wells website.

]]> http://www.theballetbag.com/2020/02/14/alina-cojocaru-sadlers-wells-conversation/feed/ 0 http://www.theballetbag.com/2020/01/15/best-dance-2019/ http://www.theballetbag.com/2020/01/15/best-dance-2019/#comments Wed, 15 Jan 2020 21:44:16 +0000 http://www.theballetbag.com/?p=9249 We’re a little bit late with this, but there’s still time to recap on our favourite performances of 2019. We had a good year, with San Francisco Ballet and the Bolshoi in London and ABT, The Royal Ballet and the Mariinsky in California. We were lucky to catch many noteworthy role debuts and watch young dancers develop and form new partnerships. If you saw any of the shows below, let us know if you agree – and feel free to tell us about your own picks!

Linda’s Picks:

1) Ivan Putrov’s ballet gala, Against the Stream 

I admit that I had given up on ballet galas before coming across this one. Why? Galas usually mean dancers that cancel at short notice, higher ticket prices and random programming. However, Against the Stream lived up to its name. Not only did Putrov manage to deliver on a solid cast (incl. New York City Ballet’s Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle) and a repertory that is not often seen in London (think MacMillan’s Images of Love), but we could feel he had really handpicked ballets to fit within the evening’s theme: works by choreographers who challenged the status quo.

2) Francesca Hayward and Cesar Corrales in Romeo and Juliet 

I know that MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet gets revived every other year at the Royal Ballet. However, evenings like this one – when Cesar Corrales debuted as Romeo to Francesca Hayward’s vivid Juliet in May 2019 – are rare. I was entirely transported, there was a sense you were seeing the characters come alive, transcending dance. They were so moving I was shattered to pieces. I also remember the supporting cast being superb: Matthew Ball’s Tybalt was brooding and menacing, while Marcelino Sambé’s Mercutio and James Hay’s Benvolio were best in class.

Cesar Corrales and Francesca Hayward in Romeo & Juliet. Photo © Alice Pennefather

3) Natalia Osipova and Jonathan Goddard in Arthur Pita’s The Mother 

This was as home run from everyone involved. In a production that can be described as “Guillermo del Toro’s imagination meets dance theatre”, Osipova was free to hone in on her gothic exuberance. Goddard plays death, or the many faces of death, and he is creepy, scary and yet, he’s also stylish. It works. The Mother is a unique creation, rich in metaphor and outstanding in every way. But it’s not a staging for the faint of heart.

Jonathan Goddard and Natalia Osipova in Arthur Pita’s The Mother. Photo © Kenny Mathieson

4) Ekaterina Krysanova and David Motta Soares in The Bolshoi’s Don Quixote 

Not long before the Bolshoi’s visit to London, I had chatted with Emilia and our friend Laura Cappelle about Don Q being overrated. Too much filler, not much substance. After my first Don Q of this tour, I was eating my hat. I now have no doubt that the Bolshoi does Don Q better than anyone. They have the panache, they understand this is not about depth, but about performance and pleasing the crowds. The three casts I saw were tremendous, but a highlight for me was David Motta Soares, the young Brazilian soloist, who was a charming Basilio and who coped very well with all the technical difficulties of the role (including those one-handed lifts). Krysanova was exuberant as Kitri and the adoring London audience showed its appreciation.

Margarita Shrayner and David Motta Soares in Don Quixote. Photo: © Elena Fetisova.

5) The Royal Ballet in Enigma Variations

No one is more surprised than me, since I had always considered Ashton’s Enigma Variations to be boring and twee. I didn’t get its appeal at all. But this revival was a true revelation, I was extremely moved by the ballet. Okay, technically not much happens: the composer Edward Elgar is at home in Worcestershire and invites some of his friends over. He awaits a message from London. The ballet is a series of vignettes for each of these characters, and we understand their stories through the steps. It’s a ballet about feelings, longing and the everyday. I honestly can’t imagine any other company doing justice to this work. Although both casts I saw were superb, Gary Avis debuting as Elgar and Laura Morera’s touching Lady Elgar were a highlight.

Artists of the Royal Ballet in Enigma Variations. Photo @ Tristram Kenton, courtesy of ROH

Emilia’s Picks:

1) ABT’s Harlequinade in Costa Mesa

My ballet year started off strong with the San Francisco Ballet Gala (which returns this week to officially kick off ballet season in the city, yay!) and a trip to Costa Mesa to catch Alexei Ratmansky’s Harlequinade. I’m not going to lie, this is not my favourite Ratmansky work. If we take his recent full-length narrative output, I much prefer the bonkers-surreal Whipped Cream. But there’s still plenty to admire in Harlequinade: the choreography is delightful, steps are pretty and suitably tricky, Robert Perdziola has designed some of the most gorgeous costumes out there (in particular, the long dresses and lark tutus from the second act), and I could not have asked for better dancers than Daniil Simkin and Skylar Brandt in the lead roles. As a huge fan of ABT and its artist-in-residence, this is a natural highlight.

ABT’s Christine Shevchenko and Thomas Forster in Harlequinade. Photo © Rosalie O’Connor

2) San Francisco Ballet in Ratmansky’s Shostakovich Trilogy

In this interview with SFB’s principal dancer Ulrik Birkkjaer, we discussed some aspects of Ratmansky’s ambitious Shostakovich Trilogy. How many choreographers have been able to successfully package so many facets of a complex composer and of his troubled times into a single evening’s programme? I continue to find this trilogy one of the most fascinating “abstract” ballets to watch. There’s always a new layer to get into, a new theme to dissect. This time for me, it was all about the opposite couples in Symphony No. 9. who represent conformism and fear of repression, or like Ulrik put it: “[the] couple that doesn’t work in that society, and that is trying to either find a way out or is just not functioning”. Oh, there’s also the glorious music. 

Mathilde Froustey, Sasha de Sola, Yuan Yuan Tan and Ulrik Birkkjaer in Alexei Ratmansky’s Chamber Symphony. Photo: © Erik Tomasson

3) Merce Cunningham Movie

As I mentioned in my review, this movie was shot in 18 days, with limited funding. But it’s an amazing sensorial experience in 3D that honours Merce Cunningham’s genius as a choreographer and as artistic director. The spatial thinking, the high aesthetics and the beauty of balletic line are all celebrated in many memorable dance sequences. The movie has a wide appeal: you don’t need to know anything about the American visionary choreographer in order to understand it and enjoy it. Cunningham in 3D is pure escapism through art. 

Cunningham in 3D: the Summerspace sequence. Photo © Mko Malkshasyan

4) Mariinsky on tour

The Mariinsky’s visit to Zellerbach Hall in October was a ballet lover’s dream. It is a shame the company isn’t a yearly fixture in the Bay, but they made it count by treating us to 3 amazing casts (my favorite pair of the run? Definitely Ekaterina Kondaurova and Andrei Yermakov) and a solid programme, with La Bayadère on the bill. The glorious vision that is a Kingdom of Shades with 32 ballet dancers – as opposed to the 24 we get in the Royal Ballet / ABT production by Makarova - is an experience to cherish. And while I acknowledge there are problematic themes in La Bayadère, it has slowly become one of my favorite full length ballets, due to the two amazing lead ballerina roles it presents.

Viktoria Tereshkina and Vladimir Shklyarov in the Mariinsky Ballet’s La Bayadère. Photo: © Natasha Razina

5) We celebrated ten years! 

Although we didn’t have an official celebration, The Ballet Bag turned 10 in May, can you believe it? It was a busy time for us with our day jobs, and we didn’t manage to get together and plan something special. We didn’t even manage to update this site, despite planning it for months. It doesn’t matter. We continue to enjoy watching all these ballets and we want to keep sharing the performances we find truly special with you all. I often talk to people who enjoy dance — and who even used to do ballet at some point in their lives. And I am puzzled when I find that some have never heard of the great companies, of the great dancers of today and even the great choreographers. Sure, they have heard of Paris Opera Ballet and of the Bolshoi, but how can they not know how fab Danish National Ballet is? Not know about Justin Peck and his pop ballets in sneakers? How can any Brazilian dance lover not know about the ballerina Carla Körbes, and just how special she was during her acclaimed career with PNB? This is a place where we can tell some of these stories, and where people can (re)connect with this strange, ephemeral yet living-and-breathing art form.

One of the shorts was In Her Hands, filmmaker Alice Pennefather’s homage to French sculptor Camille Claudel (the other was Will Tuckett’s Nela). This movie completes Pennefather Films’s trilogy about 19th century artists, as she had mentioned to us a couple of years ago and, just like her previous shorts, it takes place in an evocative setting: a replica of Claudel’s studio. You can always count on Alice’s amazing eye for casting and here, Natalia Osipova brings her artistic sensibility to the tragic role of Camille. As she remembers her life story and relationship with Auguste Rodin, she dances a duet with the dreamy Matthew Ball, and imagines them both as sculptures. If this is the end of a trilogy, we certainly hope it is the beginning of another (we are already intrigued by the teaser for Esprit du Jardin), and that Pennefather Films keeps delighting us with works that are pure poetry on screen.

Natalia Osipova as Camille Claudel in “In Her Hands”. Photo: © Alice Pennefather

Speaking of the female eye on dance, a director who is making waves is Alla Kovgan, whose debut feature, Cunningham, is doing the festival rounds. Although this movie was not screened as part of the SF Dance Film Festival (and I did wonder why), it was shown at the Vogue Theatre here in San Francisco during festival week and it is simply one of the best dance movies I have ever seen. Cunningham is a sensitive and elevated piece of filmmaking, which must be seen to be believed. And for maximum impact, it MUST be experienced in glorious 3D.

Speaking to us after the screening, Alla mentioned that her departure point had been Pina in 3D, the dance movie that Cunningham is set to draw the most comparisons with. She told us about the particular challenges adapting her concept to a movie about the American visionary choreographer, and the initial skepticism with which her ideas were met, especially by producers. Despite all that, she managed to secure funding and her instincts to insist on the medium were spot on. Far from being a gimmick, the 3D is integral to her vision. Merce Cunningham, she explained, was always concerned with spatial thinking and, indeed, his choreography becomes a sensorial experience here, with audiences immersed into the dance space. In Summerspace, one of the many memorable sequences, I felt like I was being transported into a warm and whimsical infinite and that, at any moment, I might materialise on the screen. You just want to follow the dancers everywhere they go.

Still from Cunningham’s Summerspace. Photo © Mko Malkshasyan

The dance sequences cover a 30-year creative period, from 1942 to 1972 (they feel so fresh they could have been choreographed yesterday). They are interspersed with archival footage of Merce, his partner John Cage and their frequent collaborator, Bob Rauschenberg. Merce’s dancers, from past and present also feature. The pieces are wonderfully trippy and absorbing, showing us the choreographer’s genius in using the beauty of the balletic line, while also pushing boundaries. Shot in 18 days, with limited funding, this movie is a testament to the power of the make-it-happen mindset. It is a miracle. I could spend this entire article just saying how glorious Cunningham is, but I’ll wrap up: go, go, go!

Also made with limited funding was the film version of MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, a.k.a the Ballet Boyz’s Romeo and Juliet: Beyond Words, which is a completely different experience from the ballet itself. Shot in the same movie set as the series The Borgias, it has a fresh and contemporary feel, thanks to the emphasis on live action, and also because Nunn and Trevitt decided to opt for no make-up or wigs. We see the movement from an angle similar to that of a dancer on stage, as the action unfolds nonstop.

Francesca Hayward as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet: Beyond Words. Photo: © Reneff-Olson Productions

I thought there were pros and cons to this approach, with the main issue being that you’re always so close you cannot always take in the choreography as a tableau, or to admire the beauty of balletic line from afar. I imagine this was probably due to spatial limitations imposed by the actual film set. An example is the crypt scene, where Juliet’s tomb lies behind a gate. In order to have space to perform that last harrowing “pas de deux”, Romeo has to drag Juliet’s lifeless body to the foreground, but he later returns to the area behind the gate to drink the poison.

Ultimately, this way of presenting the ballet works because The Royal Ballet dancers are superb actors who look natural and effortless with the camera up close. They were well cast by the Ballet Boyz, with Francesca Hayward and William Bracewell leading a fab line up that also includes a menacing Matthew Ball as Tybalt, Marcelino Sambé as Mercutio and James Hay as Benvolio. Nicholas Georgiadis’s amazing costumes are another big plus. They are a thing of wonder and audiences are able to notice details and textures that even the best pair of binoculars won’t capture at the theatre. In a Q&A after the screening, we were able to ask Michael Nunn some questions, and I asked if he and Trevitt envisaged shooting other ballets in this style. The idea, he explained, is to have a MacMillan trilogy, with Manon and Mayerling as candidates for next instalments. Both seem perfect choices. Let’s hope Ed Watson is still around and dancing Prince Rudolph then.

Matthew Ball and Natalia Osipova in “In Her Hands”. Photo: © Alice Pennefather

Stay tuned for UK screenings

The BalletBoyz’s Romeo and Juliet:

• 9 December at Sadler’s Wells (includes Q&A with cast and creatives)
• From 16 December in a limited release at Curzon Cinemas

Cunningham in 3D:

• in cinemas from 13 March 2020

Since then, this production has toured widely, winning new fans around the world. Tickets for this revival at Sadler’s Wells were like gold dust, and it seems the ballet has managed to bring in new audiences, who will hopefully become ENB regulars. This was my first time revisiting the production, so I wanted to look at it with fresh eyes and see if the ballet would impress me again. I jotted down some quick thoughts to share here:

Artists of English National Ballet in Akram Khan’s Giselle. Photo: © Laurent Liotardo / ENB

1) An Universal Giselle

Despite changes in the ballet’s setting, its character motivations and in the actual choreography, Giselle remains the woman who gives her heart away to the wrong man and whose love eventually saves him. I noticed that Khan’s Giselle is perhaps more mature, and that the language he gives Giselle in her exchanges with Albrecht is more sensual. Giselle’s gestures and the way she touches Albrecht’s face indicate a degree of intimacy not found in the traditional version, and it is interesting to also note how two seasoned traditional Giselles, Tamara Rojo and Alina Cojocaru are fully at home in this new version.

2) Hilarion’s Star Turn

In the original run, César Corrales almost stole everyone’s thunder as Hilarion. I remember getting the feeling that Khan had been more invested in this character, who is trapped between two worlds and rejects his community, his own origins. He certainly gives the best moments to Hilarion, and this time around, the impression remains, with Jeffrey Cirio taking the character and making it his own. Dazzling and energetic, Cirio leaves a lasting impression and I’m still trying to understand how he could move at such speed.

3) The Scary Wilis

Stina Quagebeur remains a terrifying and authoritative sight as Myrtha. Akram Khan’s “white act” is eery and dramatic and makes me think of the army of white walkers in Game of Thrones (yet another wall!). We might not know who they really are, but we know they show no mercy towards Hilarion, who pays the ultimate karmic debt for his duplicitous behaviour.

Jeffrey Cirio as Hilarion with Fernanda Oliveira and Fernando Bufalá . Photo: © Laurent Liotardo

4) The New Score

I enjoyed Vincenzo Lamagna’s score even more this time around. Amidst layers of electronica and percussion, he calls back Adolphe Adam’s classic score  in a clever and effective way, setting the mood for each scene. The energising rhythms fuel the corps de ballet, driving their super fast movements across the stage. It’s the right choice for Khan’s choreographic style.

5) A Theme that is Eternal 

At its premiere, Khan’s ballet suggested connections to the migrant crisis and Trump’s wall. But in 2019, what resonates with me is how it speaks about divided populations along a variety of lines, and of the current cultural wars. If forgiveness, understanding and love are messages that Giselle is supposed to embody, these are cleverly emphasised Khan’s version. They are made even more explicit than in the traditional ballet. This is what makes this version so successful: it preserves the essence of the original, while allowing for new interpretations that are more relevant to our times – but is, at the same time, evergreen.

Alina Cojocaru and Artists of ENB in Akram Khan’s Giselle. Photo: © Laurent Liotardo

Thiago Soares as Crown Prince Rudolf. Photo: © Alice Pennefather

There’s also something interesting going on with Mayerling at the moment. We have been observing a renewed interest in the piece. When we first researched it, in order to write a cheat sheet during the 2009 revival, we noticed it was rarely performed outside the confines of The Royal Ballet, as it’s such a demanding theatrical work. But recently, the ballet has entered the repertory of many other companies, including Houston Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet (where it’s getting rave reviews) and, surprisingly (given it’s a company I associate with technical perfection more than with powerful acting), Paris Opera Ballet. What is it about a ballet that portrays the decadence of the Austro-Hungarian empire that is so attractive to audiences these days? Is it because of the surprising political shifts we are seeing around the world?

Thiago Soares as Crown Prince Rudolf. Photo: © Alice Pennefather

Judging from the reaction in L.A., Mayerling remains as impactful as ever. It was met with a standing ovation, and my companion at the Sunday matinee performance loved how contemporary the choreography felt and how the costumes were a marvel of engineering (they truly are!). The last time I had seen Mayerling live (not counting the 2018 cinema screening, which is being released on DVD soon), was in 2017, with Edward Watson and Natalia Osipova, and watching the company in L.A. brought back great memories of all these years attending the Royal Opera House and of so many great performances of this ballet. Yet, the first contact I ever had with this MacMillan masterpiece was the 1994 DVD with Irek Mukhamedov and Viviana Durante, who convinced me this was a much better ballet than Onegin (which I had seen around the same time, and had found extremely disappointing. I still do).

Many Mayerlings on, Thiago Soares’s Rudolf had somehow always eluded me. Finally, here was a chance to see him alongside the Mary Vetsera of Lauren Cuthbertson. Thiago is by far the most sympathetic Rudolf among the current Royal Ballet roster, which is surprising given he is a tall dancer who can project great power (for instance, as Lescaut in Manon). He has found a way to play the character that is unique and works for him: this Rudolf might look like a powerful man on the surface, but he’s fragile and introspective, as projected in small gestures and in the duets with his different partners. His dancing also has a touch of modern expression. Despite being injured, Thiago’s partnering skills and physicality were as impressive as ever, especially with Anna Rose O’ Sullivan’s Princess Stephanie (in an excellent debut) and with Lauren’s fiery and impulsive Mary Vetsera.

Lauren Cuthbertson as Mary Vetsera and Thiago Soares as Rudolf. Photo: © Alice Pennefather

This is the first time I have seen The Royal Ballet perform outside its home theatre and I could, therefore, observe that most of the production elements and sets are preserved on tour, with the exception of the “Habsburg” ancestor pictures, which did not appear during the scene transitions. It also helped that I had amazing seats and that I could notice every detail and even secondary characters, like Princess Stephanie’s father, the infamous King Leopold of Belgium. With a new DVD set to be released soon (the third DVD version available), and with so many performances scheduled around the world, now is the perfect time to either discover or revive your interest in MacMillan’s fabulous Mayerling. 

1) #Ratmanskyness

We continue to be devoted Ratmansky fans, having been fortunate to catch so many of his works over the years. Emilia reported on the Shostakovich Trilogy when ABT premiered it in New York (2013) and I had also seen Piano Concerto #1 with SFB in Paris, and loved every single second of it: the two-tone unitards, the quick formation changes, the “wow” factor (I will never forget Maria Kochetkova cruising down the stage in a series of grand jetés). This time, it was my chance to see the trilogy as a whole and I feel Symphony #9 has now taken its place as my favourite work. As a direct musical response to the score, one can perceive darker undertones and a creeping sense of loss. The choreography is vivid, filled with details and images, and it was beautifully performed by the cast (Dores André, Joseph Walsh, Aaron Robison, Jennifer Stahl and Wei Wang).

Chamber Symphony is moody and introspective, and looked very different in the two performances I saw, both impactful: the first with Ulrik Birkkjaer, who recently spoke to us about this section of the trilogy, and later with Joseph Walsh in the central role. It tells us much about Shostakovich’s life and lovers, but it is a piece that invites multiple viewings and one that I would like to revisit.

Jennifer Stahl and Aaron Robison in Ratmansky’s Symphony #9. Photo: © Erik Tomasson.

2) Made in Italy

Angelo Greco and Carlo Di Lanno are two Italian dancers who have been promoted in the last few years. They both left a lasting impression. Easily  the best part of Stanton Welch’s Bespoke was Greco’s silent opening where we saw him perform a classical solo full of fireworks. Di Lanno brought his beautiful line and jump to Ratmansky’s Piano Concerto #1 and was the perfect partner to Sofiane Sylve, here channeling a red Amazonian Queen. Greco also made a big case for “king of the double tour” in the same ballet.

Frances Chung and Angelo Greco in Let’s Begin at the End. Photo: © Erik Tomasson

3) Dores André

She’s my pick for SFB’s MVP during the London season. This Spanish-American ballerina was literally cast in every work I saw, always showcasing her steely technique and kick-a*s attitude. She is a natural for the company’s style: neoclassical pieces that demand athleticism, but also some degree of emotion. She was witty and determined in Ratmansky’s Symphony #9, seductive in Pita’s Björk Ballet and uber cool in the Justin Peck. Plus, she made a solid partnership with fellow principal Joseph Walsh.

Her performances here made me wonder what she would be like in narrative work. YouTube tells me she has done Juliet in Tomasson’s Romeo and Juliet, Swanilda in Balanchine’s Coppélia and Olga in Cranko’s Onegin. Also Salome in Arthur Pita’s work of the same name.

Dores Andre and Joseph Walsh in Justin Peck’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. Photo: © Erik Tomasson

4) Björk Party

Speaking of Pita, I had been so disappointed with The Wind, which he choreographed for The Royal Ballet, that it is a huge relief to see him back at his most creative and having fun with the bonkers awesome Björk Ballet. Granted, this work might not be breaking any new ground, but that is not the point. It is seriously fun to watch and belongs in the same category as Wayne McGregor’s Carbon Life (Gig ballets? Rave ballets?). It also makes smart use of design, props, music and lighting to create a mood. When Pita throws a Pierrot-like character on a mirrored floor, while a pink-feathered ballerina struts down the stage, what’s not to like?

Sarah Van Patten and Nathaniel Remez in Arthur Pita’s Björk Ballet. Photo: © Erik Tomasson

5) Narrative bonus

Of all the ballets presented by SFB on this tour, only Cathy Marston’s Snowblind had elements of narrative. Based on the novel Ethan Frome, Marston focuses on the love triangle between Ethan, a farmer (Ulrik Birkkjaer), Zeena his wife (Jennifer Stahl), and his wife’s cousin, Mattie (Mathilde Froustey). The language is balletic, but owes a lot to contemporary dance, and even if some parts of the ballet can appear unclear to audiences unfamiliar with the story, the choreography makes room for these dancers to inhabit the characters. The final exchanges between the characters were powerful and Marston conveys the snowstorm that leads the ballet to its tragic conclusion with creativity and an effective sense of pace.

Mathilde Froustey, Ulrik Birkkjaer and Sarah Van Patten in Cathy Marston’s Snowblind. Photo: © Erik Tomasson

6) Justified Hype 

The adjectives “fresh” and “cool” are often used to describe Justin Peck’s ballets. I don’t disagree with these labels, but to me, the most interesting aspect of Peck’s Hurry Up We’re Dreaming is the fact that, despite being performed in sneakers (to a killer pop soundtrack by M83) , the language remains classical throughout. The positions are turned out, the upper body is lifted and two central pas de deux emerge amidst the various sections that also use a corps de ballet. Moreover, unlike many contemporary works out there, the piece had a point, it was not just dance for the sake of it. The ballet spoke of community and relationships, and had a sense of time and place. As the first song in the score tells us, Raconte-Moi Une Histoire.

Artists of San Francisco Ballet in Justin Peck’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming.
Photo: © Erik Tomasson

Jonathan is well-known for high profile collaborations, the latest being with Arthur Pita in The Mother (his second with the choreographer after Stepmother/Stepfather in 2016). Based on Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of a mother trying to rescue her child from the arms of death, the production premiered at the Edinburgh Festival last year and opens this Thursday 20 June in London, at the Southbank Centre. Performing alongside Natalia Osipova, he gets to inhabit the character of Death or, more specifically, multiple versions of Death. This follows a string of equally complex roles in productions like Dracula, The Odyssey, Macbeth, all with Mark Bruce, and MacMillan’s Sea of Troubles and Playground, with Yorke Dance Project. 

We sat down with Jon shortly after he had returned from Russia, where The Mother was being toured, to talk about this new show, his career and what is next:

TBB: How was The Mother received last year at the Edinburgh Festival and how did it feel to do those first performances?

Jonathan Goddard: It felt good. It was a little bit crazy on first night because it is such a complicated production. It is really ambitious and it is brilliant for that, but the first time it was definitely quite crazy. It was really well received, so that felt good. We had four weeks and we had a rehearsal set, a revolving set, lots of props, lots of costumes, so I was well prepared for what I had to do, but still doing it, it was quite an experience.

TBB: Did Pita make any changes from that first version of The Mother to the one that is now being toured?

JG: Yeah, there have been some changes already. We have just performed it in Moscow, in fact we arrived back yesterday! We have reworked a few bits from the Edinburgh version, one section has changed quite a lot. There is a whole new character, which I will not spoil. I think Arthur is brilliant at looking at things and solving problems. He is great at sensing what the audience is feeling. He loves being able to watch with an audience and work out what it needs.

Jonathan Goddard and Natalia Osipova in Arthur Pita’s The Mother. Photo © Kenny Mathieson

TBB: Sounds like he’s into living pieces that are not static…

JG: … yes and Arthur thinks about it a lot. I was talking to him recently and asking if he thinks he is going to be changing anything else in the production. And he said ‘no, I think it’s good’ but I bet we’ll get to London and he will say ‘ooh, we are going to do this’. But I really trust it comes from a place of thought.

TBB: You are known for your performances in narrative works. Of course just as in ballet, contemporary dance features important narrative works. But in your case, it has really become “your thing”. How did that happen?

JG: I don’t know, because I spent most of my career doing very very abstract work. I mean, I just did the Cunningham Centennial and that was great because it felt like going back to doing that. Very pure. I wouldn’t say it is not dramatic, because it is pretty dramatic but, it is very abstract and you are just being judged on what you are doing physically. I found it a bit nerve-wracking, but when it came to the performance, I thought ‘let’s just go for it’. I am in a bright yellow unitard, let’s make it work.

Jonathan Goddard in Arthur Pita’s The Mother. Photo © Kenny Mathieson

TBB: But you also just worked on a MacMillan piece with Yorke Dance Project, Playground. How did that come about?

JG: With Yorke Dance, the show they did before at the Royal Opera House featured MacMillan’s Sea of Troubles and that was the first one they got from Deborah [MacMillan].  It is a ballet loosely based on Hamlet, and I think it was a work that was made for Russell Maliphant and a group of Royal Ballet dancers who had started working with contemporary dance troupes. So he made it on contemporary dancers, or dancers who were transitioning into contemporary from ballet. I jumped onto that one quite late. I danced it with the company at the Clore Studio and I really enjoyed it. I think Deborah enjoyed it too, and then she offered Yolande [Yorke-Edgell], who runs Yorke Dance, this piece called Playground, which was made on The Royal Ballet in 1979. Yolande invited me and proposed I dance it with Romany [Pajdak] from the Royal Ballet, which is very nice since that is a role on pointe. So it is actually a ballet made on The Royal Ballet, but that is how I came to be cast. It is a weird piece, but it was great to do.

TBB: It is very MacMillanesque… very dark…

JG: It really is. The company also did it in Bournemouth, and I had to jump in at the last minute after the dancer doing the lead role got injured. So the first night it was: ‘let’s just get through it’. But the second night I was thinking ‘this is so strange, what I am doing is so strange!’

I was there during the reconstruction process and they were quite strict about not telling us what was going on. I asked them lots of questions about when Kenneth worked on it, but he had not told the dancers anything. He just made the piece. Obviously, he knew what he was doing, but he didn’t tell the dancers and the stagers wanted to preserve that. But it is nice to work like that, as I can develop my own interpretation.

Jonathan Goddard with Yorke Dance Project in MacMillan’s Playground. Photo: © Pari Naderi

TBB: We remember we once spoke to Edward Watson about MacMillan and he mentioned that “everything was in his choreography”  and that you only had to trust the steps because it was there.

JG:  Yes, it is all there. You can’t lay something on top of it. These things happen and everything is constructed in a certain way. You have to be there, and be there properly in the moment.  From the audience’s POV, I can say that the weirdness you are perceiving, we also see it as performers. Because you are in this bizarre world, where you know something is off, but can’t point out what it is until the twist is revealed. And it is really dark!

I think MacMillan was experimenting at that time with what could be done. I feel like there were lots of ideas that were going around in theatre around that period, at the Royal Court, trying to push that imagination, what could be shown on stage in naturalistic terms. Playground has this psychological aspect. It was the beginning of that trend.

TBB: On the topic of working with ballet dancers, what was it like to work with Natalia Osipova in Pita’s The Mother?

JG: What I find very inspiring about Natalia is that her vision of dance is not classical or contemporary – she sees it all as one thing, which it is to an extent. There are just some practical implications for which you have to invest the time like dancing on pointe… But at the end, it is all just movement. She has a really good take on it and I was quite spoiled by that.

TBB: Do you have any current projects with longtime collaborators like Mark Bruce, or the New Movement Collective?

JG: Mark is making a new piece. I am not on it, but that was a mutual choice. I have done three with him, a trilogy, and I feel very happy. I love working with Mark and I’d love to continue working with him. Given that he also works with film, it would be fun to do something on film together.

As for New Movement, we have been working for two years now with robotics. So we have developed a robotic exoskeleton and we will be working at Sadler’s Wells next year, in an unusual space within Sadler’s. The idea is to make a piece where we put the audience inside the robot. So it is going to be a small piece, maybe one or two audience members, there might be more people watching, but we choreograph the audience. That is the idea.

Jonathan Goddard and Natalia Osipova in Arthur Pita’s The Mother. Photo © Kenny Mathieson

TBB: Who are you working with for the robotics?

JG: We have been working with lots of different universities on this, but Fenyce Workspace are the lead digital artists doing it. It is really difficult, but amazing. It is really cutting-edge stuff. It has taken a while because this technology is so young. They use it in the army and it is used in car factories when they are lifting massive objects. And also for medical reasons, but it had not been used for artistic purposes, so that is what is exciting to us.

I am also doing my own work in the summer. I’ve been working with a playwright who is doing a dance play, Eve Leigh, and with a theatre director, Lily McLeish. And that’ll be presented at The Place in October and Dance East. I have four brilliant performers, who can do both dancing and text, all very exciting.

TBB: How do you see the process of funding for your new piece, and for future projects?

JG: Funding in dance is very challenging, I am not going to lie, there is no money. All the money is, rightly or wrongly, in the bigger institutions so I think that is why you see contemporary choreographers moving to make work for ballet companies, because they can finance their work. As a result, small to mid-scale touring has almost disappeared. It is a bit sad, but fine. You just have to be more innovative about how you find the money, or who you get to support you. Making my own thing made me acutely aware of trying to find the right amount of money, and I concluded that one does not need a huge amount of money to create something. You just need very good ideas. The less money you have, the better your ideas have to be.

Arthur Pita’s The Mother, starring Jonathan Goddard and Natalia Osipova, is at the Southbank Centre (Queen Elizabeth Hall) from 20 to 22 June 2019.

We recently dropped by Here East, a complex in East London that is also home to Studio Wayne McGregor, to photograph the rehearsals. Staging a ballet “in-the-round” requires extra large rehearsal spaces, given the extra number of dancers needed to fill the Royal Albert Hall, plus the stage’s lack of wings has to be considered. On the day, Christopher Wheeldon and his team were directing rehearsals of the ballroom scene and little prepares you for the scale of it, since what we actually saw were a number of different sections all being rehearsed within the same space. The whole thing ran like a well-oiled operation, with the main group of dancers rehearsing the waltz and midnight sequences and smaller groups preparing other sections: we saw Associate Director Loipa Araújo rehearsing Emma Hawes and Francesco Gabriele Frola (Cinders and her Prince Guillaume), and towards the back of the space, we spotted Maria Kochetkova, who co-created the role of Cinderella and is currently guesting with ENB, going over some of the group lifts.

It is hard to fully describe how complex these rehearsals are, given the number of people involved and the fact that, in addition to the “in-the-round stage” factor, this is a new production for the company, with new choreography and stage directions. However, we hope that these photos give you a flavour of what is coming:

English National Ballet presents Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella at the Royal Albert Hall until 16 June 2019. For tickets and more information visit ENB’s website.

• Programme B is the most eclectic in terms of mix of styles. We have contemporary chic in Edwaard Liang’s The Infinite Ocean alongside Cathy Marston’s mini narrative gem, Snowblind, and the fantastically surreal Björk Ballet by Arthur Pita to close. Unmissable. 

• The irresistible Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming – the Justin Peck work in Programme C - is pure joy, and is paired with a nice Liam Scarlett piece, Hummingbird, which had its European premiere during SFB’s 2014 tour to Paris. We’re less into Programme D, with all the swirling bodies in the Wheeldon and Dawson works, but still worth checking it out for the beautiful lines of Sofiane Sylve (Anima Animus). 

• The ambitious Shostakovich Trilogy forms the must-watch Programme A. We discuss some aspects of the work in this interview with principal dancer Ulrik Birkkjaer:

TBB: You are cast as the lead in Chamber Symphony, the second work in Ratmansky’s Shostakovich Trilogy. How are rehearsals going?

Ulrik Birkkjaer: It has been really amazing because I am big fan of Alexei’s work. He claims it is an abstract piece, but I find so many backstories to it… it’s a very Russian work and I’ve been reading a lot about Shostakovich, so I have this feeling that I would want him to see the ballet Alexei has created, because he was so censored and he was not really a free artist at his time, which in turn might also have inspired him. It could have been a good/bad thing for his art ultimately, yet it is so apparent in his work and I feel that is what Alexei shows in this piece. I find it so touching and especially for Shostakovich, it would have been great for him to see these ballets because I think they reflect his own inspiration for the compositions.

Mathilde Froustey, Sasha de Sola, Yuan Yuan Tan and Ulrik Birkkjaer in Ratmansky’s Chamber Symphony. Photo: © Eric Tomasson

TBB: What can you tell us about your three muses in the ballet?

UB:  The piece is super autobiographical. Shostakovich had three loves in his life: the first, whom he didn’t marry, was his young love during the war. The second one, with whom he had two children, was the main love of his live and when he was older he met his third wife, who was actually only 27 at the time (he was in his late 50s), and who took care of him and supported him. So that is why I don’t see it as an abstract piece, as the pas de deux are very clearly about them. There’s the young love (Sasha de Sola), and then Mathilde Froustey comes along and there is this flirtatious pas de deux and later she dies, and the angels take her away and that is my favourite part of the ballet. And after that, with the last wife (Yuan Yuan Tan) there is this feeling of deep, supportive love. At the end of the piece, he organises the company members in a formation, and he composes his last note, his last composition and goes to rest. He sets them up and moves them around as if he was composing and then there is one note, gesture, and then the ballet ends. It is so cool…

TBB: …And quite an imaginative choreographic response to something like Chamber Symphony, which is so complex.

UB: It is also very interesting that we are coming straight from performing Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid and, in that ballet, I was performing the role of the poet, and it is also kind of autobiographical, so in that sense the roles are similar. Obviously, they are very different in tone and I try to keep a fresh take on it, so it is not the same person twice, when we rehearse back to back like that.

San Francisco Ballet in Alexei Ratmansky’s Chamber Symphony. Photo: © Eric Tomasson

TBB: Are you involved in any of the other two ballets?

UB: I am also involved in Symphony No. 9. I am preparing the second couple pas de deux in that one. The piece features such a dream couple. It is this Soviet dream couple, a “propaganda poster” couple, and the second couple is maybe the opposite… the couple that doesn’t work in that society, and that is trying to either find a way out or is just not functioning. And I find it such a unique theme, not fitting in a society. The fact Alexei can show that in a ballet is amazing. That is when ballet becomes the right medium for that expression.

TBB: Since coming to San Francisco Ballet, you have been cast in lots of different roles and have had roles choreographed on you. At this stage in your career, how do you feel about being here?

UB: When I first joined, it was literally at the start of the Unbound Festival so my first three months with the company were spent creating four new ballets, so that was an amazing experience. It is a dream to start like that in a company, not having to fill old shoes. I feel very lucky about that, and it is funny because I have met people who asked me if I missed the storytelling aspect of ballet, because the image of a North-American company like SFB is more contemporary. But then, I find myself in a situation where I can do a lot of storytelling anyway and a lot of other artistic development, so I am really enjoying that.

Ulrik Birkkjaer, Yuan Yuan Tan and Wei Wang in John Neumeier’s The Little Mermaid. Photo: © Eric Tomasson

TBB: It is interesting you mention this contrast, because the other Ratmansky ballet we saw you in (some time ago) was The Golden Cockerel, which is pure storytelling.

UB: I think that might have been the last one, but when I was growing up, Ratmansky was a Royal Danish Ballet principal. I must have been 14-15 years old, and I admired him greatly as a dancer, and then he also started choreographing in Copenhagen. I remember he got this last minute gig. A director pulled out from The Nutcracker and he stepped in, with just a few months to prepare. So I was part of that when I was 16, dancing in the corps de ballet. I did a mouse and one of the bees in his Waltz of the Flowers.

TBB: Is his Nutcracker for RDB similar to the one he did for American Ballet Theatre then?

UB:  I haven’t seen the whole of ABT’s version, but I’ve seen clips of it. We did that Nutcracker for a number of years and then I understudied the central pas de deux, so I know that old version quite well. I’ve now watched some clips of ABT’s Nutcracker on YouTube and my reaction is ‘oh my God, that is the same, but it looks so much harder now’. It must be one of the hardest pas de deux ever.

TBB:  Coming back to The Golden Cockerel, you created the role of Prince Guidon?

UB: The Golden Cockerel was a very Russian piece – the sets were so colourful and extreme – and maybe the RDB was a little bit like ‘huh?’. So I remember him telling us to forget about small, natural gestures, that they had to be ‘Bolshoi gestures’. I remember when I created Guidon, the solo was so intense. Working with him in the studio was the best, he is such a demanding balletmaster!

Sarah Van Patten, Ulrik Birkkjaer and Mathilde Froustey in Cathy Marston’s Snowblind. Photo: © Eric Tomasson

TBB: Do you have any current side projects or future plans?

UB: My immediate future plan is that we are going to be at the Joyce Theatre in New York this July, with a group of dancers from the Royal Danish Ballet, which I am actually organising because I already did something similar there, the Bournonville Celebration, which we also did in London (in 2015).

TBB: We remember it and it was an amazing evening!

UB:  The Joyce asked us to do it again. So we want to bring it back, but not just repeat the programme completely, which is a little difficult because you could in theory take other work that hasn’t been performed in a long time, but if the dancers haven’t done it recently, it would take a while to put together. We are still bringing the second act of La Sylphide, because it still is Bournonville’s most  important work, and we are also doing Napoli. Besides that, we are doing different ballets which are also currently in rep at the company.

What I found effective last time was the simplicity of the message: what it is about Bournonville that makes him special in the dance world. One thing is the sense of community on stage, and also in a lot of ballets, like Kermesse in Bruges, you have the “love pas de deux” taking place in front of the whole village per se. All these typical villagers coming together and within that there is a story about normal people taking place. So I wanted to do with this programme as well, so we will try. For this year, the first part of the programme represents the darkness, going through some trouble and finding the positive at the end. So we are starting with La Sylphide Act 2. And the second part of the programme will take place in a village setting, with the love story of the Kermesse in Bruges that everyone watches, and then the lovers become the wedding couple from Napoli.

Dores André and Ulrik Birkkjaer in Benjamin Millepied’s Appassionata. Photo: © Erik Tomasson

TBB: In London you had dancers like Gudrun Bojesen, who are no longer performing. Who is coming this time, a new generation?

UB:  That is also the challenge, and part of the reason why I chose Kermesse, because it has a younger feel. Some of the younger dancers can excel in that. And tours like that are important for them to realise how vital Bournonville is to the Royal Danish Ballet.

TBB: You’ve had a long career performing so many different roles from so many genius choreographers. Are there any other ballets left to conquer?

UB:  Of course, Mayerling and Onegin for instance, I haven’t done. But I think it is important not to wish you were anywhere else in a sense, because if you are always striving, saying ‘if only I were like that’ or ‘if only this happened to me, then I would be happy, and then I would be the artist I want to be’. Ultimately, it is about whatever process you are in. So yes, I would love to try Mayerling and Onegin, but it is way more about process and who you are working with, balletmasters or partners, rather than any ballet. Smaller works can also be amazing experiences.

Then that becomes a real experience, and if you are always dreaming away from the moment you are in, then you won’t really experience it. And you might get to do Onegin, but you might not get along with your partner, or the person who sets the ballet doesn’t like you. There are so many variables and then it can be a horrible experience even if it is an amazing ballet. So I try to live by that, at least. It is about making every day your life.

San Francisco Ballet is at Sadler’s Wells, London until 8 June 2019. For tickets and more information on the four different programmes being presented, visit the Sadler’s Wells website.

This week, the company is celebrating 20 years of its creation by Yorke-Edgell with a set of performances at the Royal Opera House. Joined by some terrific guest dancers like Jonathan Goddard, Dane Hurst, Romany Pajdak (The Royal Ballet) and Oxana Panchenko (Michael Clark Company), Yorke Dance Project is at the Clore Studio until this Friday 17 May performing works by Yolande herself (Between and Within), Kenneth MacMillan (Playground), Robert Cohan (Communion) and by LA-based choreographer Sophia Stoller (Imprint). We checked in on the ensemble earlier this month: