The Australian Ballet's repertory is as rich or richer than American Ballet Theatre's. In addition to most major full length classics, AB's rep includes Billy the Kid, Ballet Imperial, Birthday Offering, Concerto, Facade, Fall River Legend, Forgotten Land, Gala Performance, Hamlet, Kettentanz, Paquita, Song of the Earth, Song of a Wayfarer to name very few of the nearly 400 ballets by over 140 choreographers that it has at its disposal. The company dances Cranko, Bejart, Robbins, Petipa, Ashton, MacMillan, Kylian, de Mille, Tudor, Welch, Ratmansky, Tetley, Balanchine, Wheeldon, and many other choreographers.
With good planning, AB could have landed in New York last week like a visiting team and slam dunked its way to victory. It could even have made us forget that year when we had to put up with Luc Longley. But instead of coming to town to win, AB came to town simply to play its version of an interesting game. It turned out not to be such a good game plan at all.
It's been a long time since NY saw a performance of Eugene Loring's Billy the Kid. AB has as its Associate AD Danilo Radojevic an acclaimed Billy during ABT's Baryshnikov era. Haglund would have loved to have seen how that character was passed down to the Aussie dancers. Instead, AB annoyed us with Wayne McGregor's Dyad 1929 during its repertory program.
It would be a mistake to refer to Dyad 1929 as a ballet – a mistake made by the NYT. The only reason anyone would call it a ballet would be to try to give it unearned respect or credibility. It is choreography of some sort and was performed by a ballet company, but it is not a ballet. Ballet is defined by a vocabulary that is rich and extensive with precious few dialects. It's a language that doesn't hold an annual conference to decide which new pop culture words will be added to its latest edition. It's a language that allows exploitation only after it has been mastered. Without that all-important initial mastering, the variations on pronunciation and reduction of vocabulary and grammatical structure turn the language into pidgin ballet.
McGregor's Dyad 1929 was full of quirks and choreo-morphemes with little meaning. It needed a singer standing in front of it.
The company opened the program with Luminous which was a selection of divertissements from its repertory that were cleverly woven together with a film about AB's history. Each piece taken out of context of its whole ballet looked like the stuff one sees at competitions. However, Haglund still retains the image of Rachel Rawlins' lovely feet engaged in a flurry of low entrechat quatre and tiny saute passes from Act II of Giselle which served as a reminder of the beauty of doing things the right way.
The final piece on the repertory program was the aboriginal based Warumuk––in the dark night. Choreographed by Stephen Page for a collaborative performance of his Bangarra Dance Theatre and AB, Warumuk relayed in contemporary dance language some of the myths of aboriginal astronomy. Aspects of it were interesting. The major problem was the dull modern choreography. There are only so many ways one can spiral the upper body and sweep the arms around on the floor while kneeling or seated. However, the music, lighting, costumes, and scenery did much to sweep this New Yorker into a different time and place.
Haglund would report on AB's re-telling of Swan Lake except for the fact that he left at the first intermission on Sunday. Swan Lake doesn't need continual rebuilding like a better mouse trap. There are more than 4400 U.S. patents issued for mousetraps. Still, after all these years of innovation, tweeking, and uber science, the best mousetrap is still the cat. Leave the cat alone.
The AB used the NYCB Orchestra for all of its performances. What beautiful music they made under the baton of AB's music director, Nicolette Fraillion. The musicians really seemed to enjoy playing music from Giselle, and it was downright frightening just how well they played it. Yes, it could happen and we all know it could – Giselle could be on Peter Martins' top secret agenda. At least we know the orchestra would sound wonderful. Arturo Delmoni's violin solo during Swan Lake on Sunday was beautiful enough to bring tears. It almost made Haglund stay for Act II.
It's great that AB came for a visit. They are cordially invited to return but they should bring a better game plan.
Sorry, no Pump Bump Award.
18 responses to “Australian Ballet @ Lincoln Center”
Hi Haglund,
I was wondering if you had seen the AB and what you thought. I saw Swan Lake on Saturday night (and I actually sat through the whole thing!). To call this the strangest Swan Lake ever would be an understatement. The story was completely convoluted, the music was all chopped up and rearranged, and it wasn’t exactly ballet–it was more like an athletic event with some dance moves thrown in. It was a very long 3 hours–I thought the performance would never end. I was happy when it was finally over (something I’ve never thought about Swan Lake before), but the audience seemed to love it. I even heard someone say, “What a treat!” Well… to each his own, I guess.
Hi Haglund,
I was wondering if you had seen the AB and what you thought. I saw Swan Lake on Saturday night (and I actually sat through the whole thing!). To call this the strangest Swan Lake ever would be an understatement. The story was completely convoluted, the music was all chopped up and rearranged, and it wasn’t exactly ballet–it was more like an athletic event with some dance moves thrown in. It was a very long 3 hours–I thought the performance would never end. I was happy when it was finally over (something I’ve never thought about Swan Lake before), but the audience seemed to love it. I even heard someone say, “What a treat!” Well… to each his own, I guess.
It’s likely that the first generation who never had to live through all the Diana, Charles, Camilla media frenzy would find a ballet based on it interesting. But that ballet should stand on its own and not try to capitalize on someone else’s genius. One of the common aspects of dumbing down art is the artist’s theft of other artists’ ideas and then twisting them to try to make them look like his own. Some of our great choreography is vulnerable due to the lack of copyright protections when it was made; so, artists feel they have free rein to steal and abuse. And they don’t even have to acknowledge the originator.
Mats Ek put Giselle in the insane asylum. Graeme Murphy put Odette in the sanatorium. Maybe there’s a public desire for a ballet based on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
It’s likely that the first generation who never had to live through all the Diana, Charles, Camilla media frenzy would find a ballet based on it interesting. But that ballet should stand on its own and not try to capitalize on someone else’s genius. One of the common aspects of dumbing down art is the artist’s theft of other artists’ ideas and then twisting them to try to make them look like his own. Some of our great choreography is vulnerable due to the lack of copyright protections when it was made; so, artists feel they have free rein to steal and abuse. And they don’t even have to acknowledge the originator.
Mats Ek put Giselle in the insane asylum. Graeme Murphy put Odette in the sanatorium. Maybe there’s a public desire for a ballet based on One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
I saw the mixed show which was OK except I didn’t think the long commercial (aka tribute or whatever AB calls it) was that interesting. And I’m not sure I’d call some of the dancing ballet.
Swan Lake I thought I was going to like more. Someone I was chatting with at Fiorellos before the show said it was “the best ballet I’ve ever seen.” The obvious follow up, which I declined, was “how many ballets have you seen.”
I like weirdness but I thought this felt Looooooooong. After the 2nd act one of my friends thought it was over. Another fell asleep. There were actually two more parts.
Haglund, you’re off on both the purpose of copyright (it isn’t to protect the creator. That’s a tactic toward a goal which is to promote artistic creation) and the nature (copyright doesn’t protect ideas).
I saw the mixed show which was OK except I didn’t think the long commercial (aka tribute or whatever AB calls it) was that interesting. And I’m not sure I’d call some of the dancing ballet.
Swan Lake I thought I was going to like more. Someone I was chatting with at Fiorellos before the show said it was “the best ballet I’ve ever seen.” The obvious follow up, which I declined, was “how many ballets have you seen.”
I like weirdness but I thought this felt Looooooooong. After the 2nd act one of my friends thought it was over. Another fell asleep. There were actually two more parts.
Haglund, you’re off on both the purpose of copyright (it isn’t to protect the creator. That’s a tactic toward a goal which is to promote artistic creation) and the nature (copyright doesn’t protect ideas).
Hi Ted. I also spoke with a couple of people, who may not have balletic technical knowledge but who go to a lot of ballet, say they thoroughly enjoyed AB’s Swan Lake. It didn’t occur to them not to like it because of what the Petipa-based Swan Lake is.
Hi Ted. I also spoke with a couple of people, who may not have balletic technical knowledge but who go to a lot of ballet, say they thoroughly enjoyed AB’s Swan Lake. It didn’t occur to them not to like it because of what the Petipa-based Swan Lake is.
You’ve been reading the AB’s “repertoire” PDF 🙂 Crikey most of the ballets you mentioned haven’t been seen down here in decades! Concerto and Gala Performance are the only two that’ve appeared in the last five years. I cry sometimes when I read what we could have and compare it with what we get.
There is a lot of Graeme Murphy’s work in the company’s current repertoire, and noone I know calls his full-lengths “ballets” – “dance drama” is the preferred term 😉
Very little is made of Radojevic’s dance career and I don’t know how much actual coaching he does. He’s married to a principal whose adage is glorious and they’ve just had a second daughter.
When we found out what they were taking to NY, some of us were distinctly underwhelmed. The dancers tell me the audiences responded enthusiastically at all performances, so…
I’m glad you liked Miss Rachel…it took me a long time to warm to her (I didn’t like her arms) but there are some things she does better than anyone else we’ve got.
The Murphy Swan Lake has been the only one we’ve seen in over ten years, finally in September we have a new “proper” one, which we await with somewhat-bated breath, as Stephen Baynes’ last full-length ballet, a 1950s Prince Rainier/Grace Kelly style Raymonda, sank without trace. He has done some beautiful one-act works though.
You’ve been reading the AB’s “repertoire” PDF 🙂 Crikey most of the ballets you mentioned haven’t been seen down here in decades! Concerto and Gala Performance are the only two that’ve appeared in the last five years. I cry sometimes when I read what we could have and compare it with what we get.
There is a lot of Graeme Murphy’s work in the company’s current repertoire, and noone I know calls his full-lengths “ballets” – “dance drama” is the preferred term 😉
Very little is made of Radojevic’s dance career and I don’t know how much actual coaching he does. He’s married to a principal whose adage is glorious and they’ve just had a second daughter.
When we found out what they were taking to NY, some of us were distinctly underwhelmed. The dancers tell me the audiences responded enthusiastically at all performances, so…
I’m glad you liked Miss Rachel…it took me a long time to warm to her (I didn’t like her arms) but there are some things she does better than anyone else we’ve got.
The Murphy Swan Lake has been the only one we’ve seen in over ten years, finally in September we have a new “proper” one, which we await with somewhat-bated breath, as Stephen Baynes’ last full-length ballet, a 1950s Prince Rainier/Grace Kelly style Raymonda, sank without trace. He has done some beautiful one-act works though.
Hi Anna. Wow, I’m sorry to hear about this. We have a similar problem here with ABT. That company has a treasure trove of classics that we never see and many of the ballets are ones in your company’s repertory as well. I don’t understand it at all.
I hope the new “proper” Swan Lake is well received.
Hi Anna. Wow, I’m sorry to hear about this. We have a similar problem here with ABT. That company has a treasure trove of classics that we never see and many of the ballets are ones in your company’s repertory as well. I don’t understand it at all.
I hope the new “proper” Swan Lake is well received.
We get occasional guests here, too, but hardly as many as ABT appears to. And I don’t think we can have as much money as ABT because we certainly don’t get Russians!
Stiefel did two performances in Melbourne and three in Sydney several years ago, as Basilio in the Nureyev Don Q, and it was hilarious as he held up his Kitri with one hand and encouraged the audience to applaud more with the other!
Carlos Acosta came down and did a few of Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun but when I met him at stage door he was shocked that anyone had waited because nobody had at his other shows. His guesting was hardly publicised either.
The current Nutcracker (not performed every year by the way) is Peter Wright’s from Birmingham Royal Ballet, and the last time we saw it, Chi Cao guested for a few shows. His partner was Madeleine Eastoe. Appropriate because she was Lori, Big Ballerina, to his Li Cunxin in the film Mao’s Last Dancer. Also he was replacing the unavailable-at-the-last-minute Cojocaru and Kobborg.
We also had Royal Ballet’s Leanne Benjamin, an Australian, in Macmillan’s Manon in 2008, amazing, and it was interesting to note when she danced it most recently in London, with Steven McRae, another Australian, and many years younger than she (she’s 47), she had better reviews than she’d ever had in the role.
I think TAB’s rep over the last 10 years reflects its AD rather well: they’re either brand new commissioned by him or things he danced or things he would’ve liked to dance but didn’t. Maina Gielgud then Ross Stretton were the ADs for most of his career, Stretton was kicked out of the Royal Ballet after barely a year, Gielgud was kicked out of TAB (but after 12 years).
So boards can and do get rid of ADs. However from what I understand about ABT and possibly NYCB, and other US companies, private sponsors are much more thick on the ground and give proportionately much more money. Hell if I had $2 million and gave it to TAB, I’d damn well want a say in what they did with it (an all-Ashton season with my choice of casts, and a DVD of it, plus an all-Robbins season, ditto)!!
So maybe the sponsors and donors are well-looked after by ABT’s AD and therefore there’s always the threat of income dropping substantially if said AD is kicked out?
As far as the rep is concerned:
2012: triple bill of 3 world premieres, Cranko’s Onegin (first time since 1996), triple bill of 3 old ballets (The Display Helpmann 1964, Beyond Twelve Graeme Murphy 1980, Gemini Tetley 1973), new Swan Lake. Fifth season replaced by bullshit “showcase of Australian dance” while company in New York.
2011: Madame Butterfly Stanton Welch, triple bill (de Valois’ Checkmate, Macmillan’s Concerto, Wheeldon’s After the Rain), double bill of Stephen Baynes (Requiem, Beyond Bach), Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow, Graeme Murphy’s Romeo & Juliet.
2010: The Silver Rose (Graeme Murphy), Coppélia, gala bill to celebrate founding AD Dame Peggy van Praagh (Giselle peasant pdd, Garland Dance from Sleeping Beauty, pdd Act III Ashton Cinderella, Gala Performance, other stuff I can’t remember), triple bill (At the Edge of Night (Baynes), Halcyon (Tim Harbour), and Baynes’ Molto Vivace), and Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker.
2009: Welch Sleeping Beauty (2005, 2009), Murphy Nutcracker: Story of Clara, triple bill (Petrouchka, Les Sylphides (2006, 2009), Graeme Murphy’s Firebird), triple bill (Ratmansky Scuola di Ballo, Por vos muero (Duato), and the McGregor Dyad 1929), double bill (Suite en Blanc (2006, 2009), Welch’s Divergence – last seen 2001).
2008: Visit to Paris with Murphy Swan Lake and another Bangarra collaboration, Rites. Plus Manon, Murphy Swan Lake, triple bill (new pieces inspired by the Ballets Russes: Mrozewski Semele, Fonte, Baynes), Robbins tribute (Australian premieres of The Cage and A Suite of Dances, plus Afternoon of a Faun and The Concert), mixed bill (Ballet Imperial, pdd from La Bayadère, pdd from Act 3 of Sleeping Beauty, Grand Pas Classique, Esmerelda pdd and Paquita pdt), plus visit to Brisbane with Giselle and Adelaide with a mixed bill (Afternoon of a Faun, Symphonie Fantastique, Ballet Imperial).
2007: Nureyev Don Quixote, Peter Wright Nutcracker, mixed bill featuring Paquita pdt etc etc, mixed bill (After the Rain, Constant Variants (Baynes), Apollo), mixed bill (Les Présages (Massine), Symphonie Fantastique (Pastor), and something else I can’t remember), Japan tour.
2006: Baynes Raymonda, Fokine tribute (Les Sylphides, Spectre de la rose, Schéhérazade), Bangarra collaboration (Rites, Amalgamate), Giselle, RNZB triple bill (while TAB buggered off to the UK with, guess what, Murphy’s Swan Lake).
2005: Bournonville 200th birthday tribute (La Sylphide, Le Conservatoire, Flower Festival in Genzano PdD, and Walter Bourke’s Grand Tarantelle), Welch Sleeping Beauty (premiere), WA Ballet La Bohème, mixed bill (Kingdom of the Shades from La Bayadère, Suite en Blanc, new Adrian Burnett), mixed Kylian bill (Forgotten Land, Stepping Stones, Petite Mort and Sechs Tanze).
2004: La Fille mal gardée (first time since 1993 plus we got Angel Corella as Colas!), Murphy Swan Lake, Balanchine tribute (Serenade, Symphony in C, Agon)…you get the idea.
We get occasional guests here, too, but hardly as many as ABT appears to. And I don’t think we can have as much money as ABT because we certainly don’t get Russians!
Stiefel did two performances in Melbourne and three in Sydney several years ago, as Basilio in the Nureyev Don Q, and it was hilarious as he held up his Kitri with one hand and encouraged the audience to applaud more with the other!
Carlos Acosta came down and did a few of Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun but when I met him at stage door he was shocked that anyone had waited because nobody had at his other shows. His guesting was hardly publicised either.
The current Nutcracker (not performed every year by the way) is Peter Wright’s from Birmingham Royal Ballet, and the last time we saw it, Chi Cao guested for a few shows. His partner was Madeleine Eastoe. Appropriate because she was Lori, Big Ballerina, to his Li Cunxin in the film Mao’s Last Dancer. Also he was replacing the unavailable-at-the-last-minute Cojocaru and Kobborg.
We also had Royal Ballet’s Leanne Benjamin, an Australian, in Macmillan’s Manon in 2008, amazing, and it was interesting to note when she danced it most recently in London, with Steven McRae, another Australian, and many years younger than she (she’s 47), she had better reviews than she’d ever had in the role.
I think TAB’s rep over the last 10 years reflects its AD rather well: they’re either brand new commissioned by him or things he danced or things he would’ve liked to dance but didn’t. Maina Gielgud then Ross Stretton were the ADs for most of his career, Stretton was kicked out of the Royal Ballet after barely a year, Gielgud was kicked out of TAB (but after 12 years).
So boards can and do get rid of ADs. However from what I understand about ABT and possibly NYCB, and other US companies, private sponsors are much more thick on the ground and give proportionately much more money. Hell if I had $2 million and gave it to TAB, I’d damn well want a say in what they did with it (an all-Ashton season with my choice of casts, and a DVD of it, plus an all-Robbins season, ditto)!!
So maybe the sponsors and donors are well-looked after by ABT’s AD and therefore there’s always the threat of income dropping substantially if said AD is kicked out?
As far as the rep is concerned:
2012: triple bill of 3 world premieres, Cranko’s Onegin (first time since 1996), triple bill of 3 old ballets (The Display Helpmann 1964, Beyond Twelve Graeme Murphy 1980, Gemini Tetley 1973), new Swan Lake. Fifth season replaced by bullshit “showcase of Australian dance” while company in New York.
2011: Madame Butterfly Stanton Welch, triple bill (de Valois’ Checkmate, Macmillan’s Concerto, Wheeldon’s After the Rain), double bill of Stephen Baynes (Requiem, Beyond Bach), Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow, Graeme Murphy’s Romeo & Juliet.
2010: The Silver Rose (Graeme Murphy), Coppélia, gala bill to celebrate founding AD Dame Peggy van Praagh (Giselle peasant pdd, Garland Dance from Sleeping Beauty, pdd Act III Ashton Cinderella, Gala Performance, other stuff I can’t remember), triple bill (At the Edge of Night (Baynes), Halcyon (Tim Harbour), and Baynes’ Molto Vivace), and Peter Wright’s The Nutcracker.
2009: Welch Sleeping Beauty (2005, 2009), Murphy Nutcracker: Story of Clara, triple bill (Petrouchka, Les Sylphides (2006, 2009), Graeme Murphy’s Firebird), triple bill (Ratmansky Scuola di Ballo, Por vos muero (Duato), and the McGregor Dyad 1929), double bill (Suite en Blanc (2006, 2009), Welch’s Divergence – last seen 2001).
2008: Visit to Paris with Murphy Swan Lake and another Bangarra collaboration, Rites. Plus Manon, Murphy Swan Lake, triple bill (new pieces inspired by the Ballets Russes: Mrozewski Semele, Fonte, Baynes), Robbins tribute (Australian premieres of The Cage and A Suite of Dances, plus Afternoon of a Faun and The Concert), mixed bill (Ballet Imperial, pdd from La Bayadère, pdd from Act 3 of Sleeping Beauty, Grand Pas Classique, Esmerelda pdd and Paquita pdt), plus visit to Brisbane with Giselle and Adelaide with a mixed bill (Afternoon of a Faun, Symphonie Fantastique, Ballet Imperial).
2007: Nureyev Don Quixote, Peter Wright Nutcracker, mixed bill featuring Paquita pdt etc etc, mixed bill (After the Rain, Constant Variants (Baynes), Apollo), mixed bill (Les Présages (Massine), Symphonie Fantastique (Pastor), and something else I can’t remember), Japan tour.
2006: Baynes Raymonda, Fokine tribute (Les Sylphides, Spectre de la rose, Schéhérazade), Bangarra collaboration (Rites, Amalgamate), Giselle, RNZB triple bill (while TAB buggered off to the UK with, guess what, Murphy’s Swan Lake).
2005: Bournonville 200th birthday tribute (La Sylphide, Le Conservatoire, Flower Festival in Genzano PdD, and Walter Bourke’s Grand Tarantelle), Welch Sleeping Beauty (premiere), WA Ballet La Bohème, mixed bill (Kingdom of the Shades from La Bayadère, Suite en Blanc, new Adrian Burnett), mixed Kylian bill (Forgotten Land, Stepping Stones, Petite Mort and Sechs Tanze).
2004: La Fille mal gardée (first time since 1993 plus we got Angel Corella as Colas!), Murphy Swan Lake, Balanchine tribute (Serenade, Symphony in C, Agon)…you get the idea.
Well, Anna, it looks like 2005 was the year to visit Australia. It doesn’t look like things are improving, does it.
Didn’t TAB invite David Hallberg down for a series of Nutcrackers recently?
It’s great that you got to see Leanne Benjamin. I love her in MacMillan. While she never guested at ABT, her mother was a revered ballet mistress there for a long, long time. When she died, her important charges (Abrera, Murphy, Messmer) were seemingly abandoned by ABT.
Well, Anna, it looks like 2005 was the year to visit Australia. It doesn’t look like things are improving, does it.
Didn’t TAB invite David Hallberg down for a series of Nutcrackers recently?
It’s great that you got to see Leanne Benjamin. I love her in MacMillan. While she never guested at ABT, her mother was a revered ballet mistress there for a long, long time. When she died, her important charges (Abrera, Murphy, Messmer) were seemingly abandoned by ABT.
The rep is just Murphy Murphy Murphy.
I forgot we had Hallberg! Sorry 🙂 He did 3 Nutcrackers in Melbourne in 2010. But spent nearly a month here and as a guest wasn’t allowed opening night by the union.
Leanne B I first saw here in 1987 dancing Lise in a pdd with Roland Price at TAB’s 25th anniversary gala. Been watching out for her ever since.
And yes, we want a Mayerling too but we’ll never get it as one of the two main theatre stages TAB uses is too small for the proper effect according to Lady M. Or so I am told.
The rep is just Murphy Murphy Murphy.
I forgot we had Hallberg! Sorry 🙂 He did 3 Nutcrackers in Melbourne in 2010. But spent nearly a month here and as a guest wasn’t allowed opening night by the union.
Leanne B I first saw here in 1987 dancing Lise in a pdd with Roland Price at TAB’s 25th anniversary gala. Been watching out for her ever since.
And yes, we want a Mayerling too but we’ll never get it as one of the two main theatre stages TAB uses is too small for the proper effect according to Lady M. Or so I am told.