The Ballet Bag » Opinion

The Future of Dance Criticism

Guest — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:21:33 +0000

Last year, in this post on the future of dance criticism, we wrote about the need for critics to embrace web 2.0 and social media, to engage with the online dance community and attract new readers. Among examples of writers who are using these new channels, we mentioned leading UK dance critic Ismene Brown and her colleagues at The Arts Desk.

Today we are delighted to welcome Ismene as our guest blogger. She shares below her thoughts on where dance criticism is headed and why it is still relevant:

Where’s dance criticism going now? We’re all asking that. One thing we do know is that the idea of chosen oracles, the handful of specialist arts critics whose reviews hold sway over public opinion, is being volubly challenged by the voices of the people.

The internet has created new rules of access for both giving opinions and rating others’ opinions. Finding a place to disagree with an official “critic” is no longer an insuperable obstacle. (In fact, it sometimes makes people fear they have no excuse not to know that there is such a plethora of openings offered, to tweet, share on Facebook, “Like”, comment or blog.)

And with its open door to protests against critics-as-high-priests, the internet has torn away the fiction that there is an elite entitlement to be “right”. Mobile footage instantly corrects official TV reports, punters will pile in on forums about a ref’s decision, and in the polite world of dance you’ll often get events like this week’s Fabulous Beast show at Sadler’s Wells and Some Like It Hip Hop at the Peacock, that, as they say, divide the critics. Who do you go for? Are they “right” if you agree and “wrong” if you don’t?

ZooNation Dance Company in Kate Prince's Some Like It Hip Hop. Photo: Sadler's Wells ©

This concept of the critic’s obligation to be “right” is right away with the fairies. When I was the Daily Telegraph’s dance critic I once discussed the purpose of us with Jann Parry of The Observer. She observed: “We are salesmen.” At that time I was awfully afraid that it was my duty to get the correct judgment out (I’ve known critics to be fired for being “wrong”). But the internet has called for more subtle judgements. You need tough skin to take the instant rebukes now, you can’t ignore them, you must accept that you need to be on your toes. Still, somewhere underneath you have to find the core motive.

I’m increasingly persuaded by Jann’s view that the true function of a formal dance review is to light a flame. It’s not about telling the reader what they will think, but about asking the reader to believe that being at a dance show and having great expectations is right. And that idea, to me as a critic, is one worth expending my best mental efforts to write about, to try to interest the reader in the very existence of the event.

Even for a trashy show the critic wished she hadn’t gone to, she’ll try to apply the same accuracy of judgment and clarity of expression as she would to a show full of riches. She won’t let her day at the office, her nightmare journey, her hope for a second date, dominate her professional pride in her memories and experience, and her desire to entertain you. Your professional critic is like a salesman: they may sometimes have a piece of crap kit in their bag, but it isn’t the crap kit that they’re selling – they’re selling the idea that you were right to desire more from the experience.

I was interested when Michael Clark told me a while ago that he found the “critics” were almost the only people he could find really engaging intellectually with his ideas, expressed in a sustained way that he could mull over whether they’d liked his work or not.

The Arts Desk in 2011.

Some shallower artists will say (as if it’s a matter of one or the other) that the “critics” didn’t like their piece but the “audience” did, so there. Bah, wishful thinking, given how often critics disagree among themselves and how impossible it is to assess the balance of views in a hall containing hundreds of people. But communication technology has always been an instrument to claim power with. When the printing press was developed, print overwhelmed the oral tradition in authority. Now it’s today’s electronic version of the oral tradition that’s fighting back against print. Three dissenting comments on your review and you’re badly wounded, even if you had stacks of letters of praise in the mail.

Ultimately, I think, it boils down to the sense that a reader has of it being time well spent reading or listening to this critic, their empathy with the way that critic thinks or writes. For all of us there will always be useful people who spend far more time trawling one of our favourite things than we want to, and we won’t necessarily agree with them. You disagree with friends and don’t stop seeing them.

Actually it’s reassuring that these critics are doing it, that they’re putting in the hours and the miles and the blanket coverage of the annual autumn madness that turns most of them into zombies and which no better-employed person would ever do, that they’re suffering so you don’t have to, and that they’re jumping up and down mystifyingly about certain dance shows you’d never go near. The enigma of people’s passions is a constant reassurance that there’s someone else who is more nuts than you are.

So are the oracles a dying breed? I doubt it. As long as media publications whether in print or online want to market themselves by hiring certain writers for what they say and how they say it, you’ll be lumbered with “the critics”. Never fear, they’re trimming their sails in the winds of the internet, but you’re never going to get them being as “right” as you’d like. Moreover, as our smartphones, Twitter feeds and Google searches become more and more swamped with offerings, we might welcome the critics’ prejudices and partialities, just because arguing with them is the cheapest and most effective personal therapy there is. Just who do they think they are? It’s a great feeling.

The Arts Desk and Dance UK are organising a Dance Question Time live debate on Friday 4 November 1.15-2pm at the Riflemaker Gallery (79 Beak Street, London). On the panel Tamara Rojo (ballerina), Arlene Phillips (West End/TV), Rosie Kay (independent choreographer), Val Bourne (Dance Umbrella), Alistair Spalding (Sadler’s Wells), Robert Noble (Matt Bourne’s New Adventures/Cameron Mackintosh) and Caroline Miller (Dance UK).

For more information visit www.theartsdesk.com

About the Author:

Ismene Brown was the Daily Telegraph’s dance critic for 12 years. She was instrumental in designing and setting up the first professional arts critics’ website in Britain, theartsdesk.com (aka The Arts Desk), in 2009.

Follow on Twitter: @ismeneb & @theartsdesk
Like on Facebook: The Arts Desk

The Royal Ballet 2010/11 Season Roundup

Linda — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:55:24 +0000

In one of their riskiest and most exciting ventures, The Royal Ballet wrapped up for summer with MacMillan’s blockbuster Romeo & Juliet staged for an audience of 40,000 (split over 4 performances). The so-hashtagged #RomeO2 event was the surprise hit in a season more memorable for the hasty return of works like Ashton’s Cinderella (4 separate runs in 2 years), Sylvia or Swan Lake.

Location, location!

While some loved watching ballet at the O2 arena, those sitting very high up found the format more difficult to adapt to. I thought it a refreshing experience, as my £10 floor ticket allowed me to be closer than I have ever been to the stage. The catch? I couldn’t see the dancers’ feet, but screens allowed me to transport myself to Verona. This was a special production that challenged performers and ballet goers alike: gone were the proscenium arch, the set changes, the intimacy of the theatre. In their place, the giant screens and HD close-ups, video extras, hot-dogs and beer. On the Saturday evening performance – led by Alina Cojocaru & Johan Kobborg – if there was popcorn flying around me, I hardly noticed.

Tamara Rojo as Juliet at The O2. Photo: The Ballet Bag ©

Arena productions are not the only way to widen the reach of ballet. Smaller in scale but equally exciting was The Royal Ballet Creates, an initiative we mentioned when compiling our list of “Ten Things we love about British Ballet” for the blog “Behind Ballet”. Royal Ballet soloist Kristen McNally choreographed a new work set to Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy in the middle of a busy Apple Store on a Saturday afternoon. Sessions were interactive and people who were probably there to test drive the latest iPad model were given the opportunity to sample classical dance and to win free tickets for The Royal Opera House.

Sergei Polunin as the Knave of Hearts and Lauren Cuthbertson as Alice in Christopher Wheeldon's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Photo: Johan Persson / ROH ©

New Work

The other big event of the season was the premiere of Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a visual feast with the potential to draw families for many seasons to come (a Nutcracker for the Easter season perhaps?). Alice may not be Wheeldon’s most original piece, but it is undeniably a fun evening out. An entertaining ballet, with themes that are relevant to our times. Plus the work’s production budget, its scale and the buzz it generated made the other two new additions to the repertory – Kim Brandstrup’s Invitus Invitam and Wayne McGregor’s Live Fire Exercise – seem muted affairs by comparison.

Power couples. Left: Tamara Rojo and Carlos Acosta. Photo: Dee Conway / ROH © Right: Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg. Photo: Bill Cooper / ROH ©

Star Power

Audiences grow to love a company in part because of its dancers, and The Royal Ballet has unique artists who continue to capture the imagination of regulars. And when it comes to star power few companies can boast partnerships similar to Rojo/Acosta’s and Cojocaru/Kobborg’s.

The company also has many talented individual performers and I can only thank my lucky stars for being able to watch dancers like these work their magic so often:

Tamara Rojo’s Manon & Juliet – you can count on marveling at the detailed interpretations Tamara gives to some of ballet’s most complex characters.

Zenaida Yanowsky’s Swan Lake – her Swan Queen made me forget about the production’s dated designs. Here was the most elegant Odette, with beautiful phrasing and port de bras and an intoxicating Odile who had thrilling rapport with Will Tuckett’s Von Rothbart.

Edward Watson’s “Chosen One” in MacMillan’s Rite of Spring. His dance to death was piercing. We could see the panic in his eyes and the despair in his steps.

Steven McRae’s Rhapsody. Mr. Clement Crisp said it best; we were “dazzled, bowled over, knocked sideways, blown away“.

Alina Cojocaru / Johan Kobborg. A partnership for the ages. I am keeping their performances in Onegin, Giselle, Manon and Romeo and Juliet this season as souvenirs and pining over the fact they are not scheduled to dance together anytime soon. And that with every season, Kobborg gets closer to hanging up his ballet shoes.

Steven McRae in Sir Frederick Ashton's Rhapsody. Photo: Tristram Kenton / ROH ©

Next Chapter

The Royal Ballet currently finds itself in a period of transition. Monica Mason retires next year and the Company has recently announced the appointment of Kevin O’Hare to succeed her, a choice that suggests continuity. At a time when ballet companies are struggling to strike the right balance between “thinking globally and acting locally”, O’Hare will face the challenges of preserving the Ashton/MacMillan/Petipa/Balanchine canon while looking at opportunities to commission work from the best new choreographers out there. In that task he will be assisted by McGregor & Wheeldon. O’Hare will also face steep arts cuts, the fact that some of the Company’s box office-friendly works need to be rejuvenated asap, and, as Graham Watts notes, he will have the responsibility of nurturing the Company’s dancers. Expectations are high and right now we can’t wait to see what happens in the next chapter.

Musicality

Linda — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:07:07 +0000

A few months ago we wrote about what makes a dancer graceful. When looking at elements of Grace, we mentioned musicality as a quality in dancers that “will trick you into forgetting about the orchestra pit and thinking that his or her movement is creating the music.” Musicality is a common discussion theme between balletomanes and critics, who often mention it in their reviews. Like Grace, it is also a subjective concept, as some might find a dancer extremely musical, while others not so.

It’s a hard task to come up with a precise definition of what makes a dancer musical, even though we may recognise it when we see it. Unsurprisingly, the greatest dancers in the history of ballet have been renowned for their musicality and, in this post, we look at some of them. In an interview with Dance Magazine in 2005, American legend Gelsey Kirkland shared her advice on musicality:

A person’s body first has to learn to sing in silence. Then you can talk about what you are going to do with a phrase. First and foremost, anticipation. Then, where to rob and steal time: You might delay one part of the phrase, and catch up later. But the extent to which this is done is defined by the character you are portraying. For example, innocence moves in a certain way, and that affects how you use the music. If you are doing a character who is struggling between opposing forces, the movements need more resistance and weight. For example, in Act II of Giselle, Giselle is caught between Myrta, who is trying to pull her into the dark world of the wilis’ bitterness, and her own need to save Albrecht from destruction. Mastering a binding quality in the transitions between the steps is essential in order to see the struggle, and this becomes a musical challenge as well.

While musicality in ballet has to do with the ability to become one with the music (seamlessly blending movements to it), it shouldn’t be merely understood as a dancer’s skill to observe a specific count or to execute steps flawlessly. Some key elements are:

The ability to perceive the various layers in the music, melody, harmony and rhythm which is instinctive and personal. Two “musical dancers” might have very different ways of responding to the same music. Some dancers are incredibly sharp when it comes to following counts and beats, but this doesn’t automatically translate to a musical quality. Alastair Macaulay referred to certain aspects of this in his recent review of ABT’s Giselle. Alina Cojocaru, he noted, adjusted her dancing to arrive “after the beat” – a signature of “Romantic responsiveness” – whereas Diana Vishneva “unlike many Russians, danced a few steps on the beat, pingingly”.

Now compare these two Giselle clips. First, Alina Cojocaru has a very naturalistic, instinctive take on the role. See her solo towards the 5.40 mark:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wysjooQ8DSg

Contrast with Diana Vishneva’s more mannered, yet not less musical rendition of the same solo:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVc-Uy7oVQw

A combination of gift and technique. Some dancers are born with the talent of responding to the music, but this gift can be perfected with time in the studio; finding a way to elongate a phrase here, or to cut it short there. Watch this clip of (again, we know!) Alina Cojocaru in The Sleeping Beauty‘s Rose Adagio. Observe how she employs her arms during the developpés to make the choreography sing:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG4XpSF9j1c

There are dancers who, despite not having the most beautiful port de bras or footwork, are wonderfully musical, so the overall effect is harmonious. Musicality is different from quality of movement. For example, while Baryshnikov might be considered the more technically flawless dancer, Rudolf Nureyev had the edge on musicality, which was very much part of his renowned artistry. Here he performs Prince Desiré’s Act III variation from The Sleeping Beauty.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag_r-_lPvJ8

From an audience perspective, one can also look for signs in the choreography:

Some choreographic works might be intrinsically musical, but this has little to do with the dancers being musical themselves. For instance, Balanchine focused on musicality and form over plot and character. However, certain dancers will know how to find space in the music to give a personal interpretation on top of what may already be a “very musical work”.

Phrasing, emphasis and pauses – Consider a specific choreographic phrase. Some dancers might emphasise the initial steps, others the later ones, with pauses inserted to produce a “breathing effect”, with very different results, as we saw with the Giselles of Cojocaru vs. Vishneva. In the same review quoted above, Macaulay notes of Cojocaru’s dancing and phrasing:

Connections and contrasts continually illumine her dancing. In Act I a series of small, quick to-and-fro jumps suddenly arrive in a lingering arabesque; in Act II the series of soubresauts is crowned by another arabesque that becomes a moment of release, and the diagonal of entrechat-quatre is topped by a succession of impassioned arabesques in which she opens herself up to the night air.

Here are additional examples of dancers renowned for their musicality. Feel free to post your own list!

Past:

Gelsey Kirkland (ABT)
Margot Fonteyn (The Royal Ballet)
Merle Park (The Royal Ballet)
Suzanne Farrell (NYCB)
Violette Verdy (NYCB)
Allegra Kent (NYCB)
Kyra Nichols (NYCB)
Viviana Durante (ex-Royal Ballet)

Present:

Ashley Bouder (NYCB)
Sara Mearns (NYCB)
Ekaterina Krysanova (Bolshoi)
Maria Alexandrova (Bolshoi)
Aurélie Dupont (POB)
Miyako Yoshida (ex-Royal Ballet)

Video examples:

Legend Galina Ulanova was recognised as being an exceptionally musical ballerina. In fact, she once described dance as “the embodiment of music in movement.” Here Ulanova and Mikhail Gabovich dance the Bedroom Pas de Deux from Lavrovsky’s Romeo and Juliet:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDV3qcw4Lac

The Danes are reputed for their musicality and Lis Jeppesen, here in a variation from Bournonville’s Napoli – though we also recommend her Sylphide – is lovely to watch:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWkEVUOQ8hk

Anthony Dowell was one of the Royal Ballet’s most elegant and refined dancers, with full command of the music. Here he performs Des Grieux’s Act I solo from MacMillan’s Manon, a role he created:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU3iKCexmR8

Further Reading:

Balanchine: through the eyes of choreographers now – Balanchine Lives by Wendy Perron. Dance Magazine, January 2004.
Interview with Liam Scarlett. In the name of Auguste Vestris. May, 2008.

With special thanks to Eric Taub and Laura Cappelle for their help.

Editorial: Happy Anniversary to Us

Emilia & Linda — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 10:05:17 +0000

How time flies! It seems like yesterday that we kicked off The Ballet Bag (then in WordPress.com) with a totally fangirly post about Alina Cojocaru’s return to the stage in Giselle. We had no idea anyone would pay attention to our dance musings, but soon after, we started tweeting and discovered many other like-minded ballet enthusiasts who were instrumental to the way our online project has evolved. Two years later and we truly wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for all of you.

We have enjoyed the opportunity to take a peek at the ballet world from both sides of the curtain, hearing fascinating stories from choreographers, performers, historians, company directors, connecting with ballet goers and industry professionals. We thank you all for your support and trust. It has been a lot of hard work but we continue to have fun and to broaden our horizons, which is very rewarding.

To commemorate our two years online, we decided to create two separate word clouds (thanks Wordle!), each featuring five of our favourite articles/features from the archives. Curiously, we thought the results were an appropriate representation of what interests, drives and inspires us to keep giving ballet a new spin. We hope you agree:

(Click on images to download or view our Wordles in higher def. / PDF format)

Emilia’s Wordle

Tell Me What You See: Dance Criticism Today and Tomorrow + Cherry Blossom Girl 2: Tokyo Ballet Fashions + Ballet in Peril: a Conversation With Jennifer Homans + Thrills, Chills and Spills: Black Swan Review + Ballet Meets Pop (guest blog for Dance Pulp) =

Linda’s Wordle

Grace + Edward Watson & the Way into MacMillan + Frederick Ashton: One Step Closer + Rambert Dance Company in Rehearsal: Monolith + Bridge Over Troubled Water: Ballet on YouTube =

Over to you: what are your favorite posts over here, what should we do more of/less of? Your feedback and suggestions would be really helpful.

Leave a comment below or, if you have a few minutes to spare, create and share with us your own Wordle!

Editorial: Happy New Year & Reader Survey

Emilia — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 14:33:55 +0000

Happy New Year everyone!

Before Linda and I get swamped again it’s time to get philosophical. Our year in dance was metaphorically bookended by two very different ballet movies; two opposites in mood: we started 2010 writing about Only When I Dance, a heartwarming documentary about two Brazilian favela dwellers overcoming obstacles to pursue a career in ballet. But towards December our gears had shifted to the slightly more pessimistic landscape of an art form excessively preoccupied with preserving its past traditions, not only via the launch of Jennifer Homans’ Apollo’s Angels but also thanks to Aronofsky’s Black Swan, a reminder of how bizarre the ballet world may seem to those looking in from the outside.

It didn’t help that autumn season in London had two Ashton works that are screaming for a makeover: the anachronistic Sylvia and his passé version of Cinderella. In the midst of all this questioning our encounter with Homans was a real milestone. She worries about the future of ballet and for us it’s clear that any art form needs to be constantly refreshing & revitalising itself, but what can be done when the concept of innovation is on a collision route with the current box office constraints of the world’s biggest ballet companies?

Not all hope is lost, there are plenty of young choreographers out there taking the art form in new directions and artists of high calibre that are capable of finding new nuances in roles and making them relevant for our times. We wouldn’t go as far as claiming there’s a buzz about ballet; we don’t see it yet. We’re more inclined to agree with Alastair Macaulay who wrote yesterday that ballet is merely undergoing a transition as it has done so many times before. You never know where the art form might take you, but we are still here for the ride. After all, ballet has come a long way.

So we had balletic highs and lows. On the plus side our reader numbers have been steadily going up (thanks to you!) and we’d like to think that we have worked hard towards our ballet myth busting objectives. We have collected dividends via being linked to or mentioned by conventional and new media publications we greatly admire (The Guardian, Vanity Fair, Slate, Time Out and those wonderful Fug Girls – thanks all!) and by being involved in this year’s Move It Show (as part of the “Ballet Rocks” segment), a project we’re really excited about. We don’t want to set ourselves formal resolutions, but in 2011 we hope to be able to continue discovering new work including contemporary dance; we hope to be more diverse. We feel that The Ballet Bag has evolved organically from an educational blog into a varied ballet webzine and that diversity is key to interesting content.

Of course most important for us have been the relationships we formed with you all: from dance professionals to colleague bloggers, from critics to dance audiences. We have met wonderful, very opinionated people via our love of ballet and by being active on social media. We continue to highly recommend Twitter and Facebook as two essential channels for anyone with an interest in following the evolution of dance around the web.

We would like to get to know you even better this year so please do take part in the short survey below. Your participation will help us steer this dance webzine in the right direction:

If for any reason you can’t see the survey, please click here (5 questions only)

View Survey

Many thanks for your support.

Feel free to leave a comment with feedback and/or your suggestions for topics you’d like us to cover in 2011!

Giselle: Fab or Fail?

Emilia — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 16:58:12 +0000

Fans of Romantic masterpiece and audience favourite Giselle usually have a choice production against which they measure all others. Over here one of our favorites is Sir Peter Wright’s critically acclaimed staging, which returns to Covent Garden early 2011. We were reminded of its virtues and the respect Sir Peter shows for his source material this summer when the Mikhailovsky and the Bolshoi brought their Russian Giselles to London. Despite very touching, wonderful performances by Irina Perren and Natalia Osipova in the title role, we missed some of the ballet’s key elements:

Left: Irina Perren as Giselle. Photo: Mikhailovsky Theatre ©. Right: Natalia Osipova as Giselle. Photo: Elliot Franks ©

In Russian productions Berthe’s pivotal mime scene is usually absent, meaning the villagers (whose clothes and gauzy light dresses are, by the way, too fancy to be credible) do not hear this important premonition: that her daughter Giselle’s obsession with dancing will lead to disaster; that Giselle will end up as a man-hating Wili. The way events are crammed and cut into Act 1 also mean harvest celebrations and loud merry-making take place by Giselle’s cottage while the nobles are having a snooze inside. There is also the major difference that Giselle – despite going mad – tends to die of a broken heart rather than commit suicide.

Alina Cojocaru as Giselle in Peter Wright's production of Giselle. Photo: Bill Cooper / ROH ©

Giselle librettist Théophile Gautier supported the idea of the peasant girl dying from a wound inflicted by Albrecht’s sword and the original Coralli/Perrot version was developed accordingly. But in Russia suicide was thought problematic, so Petipa settled for death caused by a weak heart. This results in major inconsistencies in Act 2 as Giselle’s tomb lies in unconsecrated ground deep in the forest whereas a natural death would have meant a cemetery burial.

But perhaps the biggest issue we had with the ballet this summer was the way both the Mikhailovsky and Bolshoi characterise their Myrthas, who tended to behave gracefully like Sylphs rather than as one of balletsphere’s most menacing villains. All this Giselle nitpicking inspired us to create an approval Matrix à la NY Mag (or à la Wired). We asked our Tweeps (Twitter friends) for some of their favorite and least favorite aspects of Giselle and have included answers into the chart below:

We want to hear about your ideal Giselle, so use the comment form below and tell us what you like/don’t like in this ballet.

With thanks to everyone who sent in suggestions & special thanks to @TightsAndTiaras @IanWhalen1387 @sarahp119 @annakardar @Bennet76 @VirnaSophia @bellafigural @ManInSeatD26 @webcowgirl @MarijnRademaker @catchip @AkikoTYO @Fleegull

Tell Me What You See

Linda — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 10:25:17 +0000

The task of reporting the news has, for better or for worse, spread far beyond standard media. From Michael Jackson’s death to yesterday’s headlines, sharing the news is now the work of an online global community. Phones, computers and gadgets are propagating information in real time and the internet is overloaded with individual opinions on everything. This is one of the factors affecting traditional dance criticism, often said to be an endangered species. Performance discussions now happen in real time: in forums, on Facebook, via text messages; they are blogged or tweeted about within a few hours of taking place.

While it is clear readers are no longer sitting and waiting for printed media in order to form a view, the rise of dance in web 2.0 does not correlate with decline of interest in traditional reviews. A professional write-up is still valued for its educational value and for the additional insights it may bring. Many are wonderful to read. In the UK, eminent dance critic Clement Crisp produces reviews that are practically works of literature. In the US, many of Alastair Macaulay’s pieces dig deep into symbolism and meaning. As he said in this recent interview for Ballet.co Magazine: “There are so many ways to look at dance…So I’m always trying to stretch myself – to find more things to see and more ways of looking…I think what I’m learning from them will actually give me more to see in the forms of dance with which I’m better acquainted”.

iPad versus Newspaper. Photo: Brian Brooks ©

Traditional Dance Criticism vs. Online Media

By distancing themselves from what goes on backstage (and because they do not have to act as publishers on top of writing reviews) traditional dance critics are better able to keep standards of objectivity as compared to bloggers. In effect, some argue that only critics that are held at arm’s length from the field they write about can really be objective. Others think closer involvement leads to a better understanding and sensitivity towards the art form. Dance blogger Tonya Plank made very interesting points on this topic in her notes about this recent panel on the state of dance criticism.

Though traditional dance criticism still has the power to generate debate and to engage the reader, it continues to face a battle for survival. And it’s ironical that online media, while putting pressure on the printed business model, makes it possible for traditional criticism to go viral and reach a broader readership – think of how many reviews are shared and linked to everyday. In the same way dance companies are embracing new media to attract audiences dance journalists will also need to embrace new technologies and ways of communicating. Perhaps critics should pay closer attention to the online dance community in order to better serve the interests of their readers (an increasing number of critics are turning to Twitter). Media and journalism are changing and dance criticism has to evolve accordingly.

A review needs to become part of a bigger conversation where the critic becomes its moderator, its leading voice. This has been suggested across many fields in the arts as we embrace the age of “curation”. In this model dance reviews have the potential to become interactive, the critic would manage and select information coming from both traditional and independent media. For instance, a review that explains obscure terms / jargon (think words like rubato, legato, fouetté rond de jambe en tournant, etc.) or that includes illustrative videos is not only informative, but also useful reference.

Contemporary Dance Criticism

More recently a number of professional dance critics have started to explore these avenues. One example is Ismene Brown, former dance critic of The Telegraph, who now heads The Arts Desk, an independent arts e-magazine. Freed from the constraints of 400-word reviews, Brown and her colleagues write features and publish on-the-night reviews, often including video examples. In the US critics Roslyn Sulcas, Tobi Tobias and Apollinaire Scherr favor blogging and addressing audience queries to provide audiences with a richer, all-round experience. At The Guardian, Sanjoy Roy links to YouTube videos and other online media in his outreach series Step-by-step guide to dance.

Left to right: Ismene Brown & The Arts Desk, Apollinaire Scherr's Foot in Mouth and Sanjoy Roy's Step-by-step guide to dance

If this is the future of dance criticism, will it still possible to find dance pages in a newspaper? The answer is a “complex yes”. While the arrival of such new technologies as the iPad will increasingly drive media consumers to non-print content, it is clear that web 2.0 makes it easier for keen audiences worldwide to educate themselves and feed off good content. Consider that just over five months ago, Washington Post dance critic Sarah Kaufman won the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism. And in a Q&A with Post readers she was positive that dance criticism still has a place in the newspaper: “newspapers cover news. Art is news”. Mark her words and stay tuned.

Join the conversation: use the comment form below and let us know how you like to keep up with dance (and the arts in general) in the web 2.0 age.

Time Has Told Me: Reconstructing Ballet

Linda — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:53:51 +0000

Last month I attended the opening night of Laurencia by the Mikhailovsky Ballet. This Chabukiani ballet, very popular with audiences in the Soviet era and a vehicle for Russian virtuoso performers, had been dropped out of repertory somewhere around the seventies. For a while all that was left of it were selected extracts performed in galas. If the ballet had not stood the test of time why bring it back now? Would this reconstruction spark the interest of modern audiences?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYQQoYyrf7o

Artists of the Mikhailovsky Ballet in a rehearsal of Chabukiani’s Laurencia,
with Irina Perren as Laurencia

A few days later the Bolshoi Ballet brought to London four historical reconstructions: Coppélia, Petroushka, the Paquita Grand Pas and Le Corsaire. These productions were a success with critics and audiences and it was easy to see why. They are grand, with lush costumes and elaborate designs. Despite the fact that works like Coppélia and Le Corsaire are over one hundred years old these stagings felt fresh. I thought again of the restaged Laurencia – which had not been as heavily publicised over here – and its place in ballet history; the way it bridges the classical tradition of Petipa and the strong dramatic vein of works such as Grigorovich’s Spartacus. I am now hoping it won’t disappear from repertory again.

Unlike a piece of music or a painting, choreographic works are not set in stone; performers, coaches and modern choreographers, all contribute to their evolution as You Dance Funny’s Steve Ha recently discussed. With so many reconstructed works being toured around, I wanted to better understand what goes into them and, in particular, the intricacies of recreating Petipa’s originals:

Artists of the Bolshoi Ballet in the Ratmansky/Burlaka reconstruction of Le Corsaire. Photo: Damir Yusupov / Bolshoi Theatre ©

What is a reconstructed ballet?

The term refers to a work that is restaged after having virtually disappeared (dropped from repertory) or restored to its original form post substantive alterations.

Ballet Notation & Nicholas Sergeyev

Ballet notation was adopted in Russia in the late 19th century to preserve choreographic text. Before then, ballets were passed down from teacher to student “word of mouth”. The Imperial Ballet was the first company to document repertory using notation with the assistance of young anatomist Vladimir Stepanov. In 1893 Stepanov experimented notating Lev Ivanov’s one-act ballet La Flûte Magique and Jules Perrot‘s Le Rêve du Peintre. The project was approved by a committee led by Petipa and funded by the State and, thus, other choreographic works began to be notated.

Stepanov died in 1896 leaving Alexander Gorsky in charge of notating works. In 1900 former danseur Nicholas Sergeyev took over the job. The Russian Revolution broke in 1917 and Sergeyev left Russia, taking the notations with him. He fled to the West where he began staging Petipa works, including:

The Sleeping Beauty for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes (1920).
Giselle for the Paris Opera (1924).
The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Coppélia and The Nutcracker for the Vic-Wells Ballet (in the Thirties).

Sergeyev died in France in 1951. He left the notations to an associate who sold them to Mona Inglesby, who at that time headed a touring company (International Ballet). She sold them for little money to Harvard University. The collections were thought to be of historical value but no practical use as they required decoding the intricate Stepanov notation.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzXkZEg2Qa8

The Rose Adagio from the Mariinsky’s reconstruction of The Sleeping Beauty
with Evgenia Obraztsova as Aurora

What goes into a reconstruction?

The notations part of the The Sergeyev Collection were conceived as Aide-mémoires rather than definite records and some are incomplete. Scholars, choreographers and ballet masters working to revive Petipa’s masterpieces need to decode the difficult Stepanov notation and fill in any gaps by creating new choreography or lifting passages from other productions of the same era. Often interpolating passages from other ballets – choreographic text common to a number of ballets – are used to that end.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3h-nLnUD4Q

“Le Jardin Animé” scene from the Bolshoi’s reconstruction of Le Corsaire
with Svetlana Zakharova as Medora and Ekaterina Krysanova as Gulnare

Reconstructions also involve researching original music, sets and designs. The Sergeyev Collection includes music (mostly for piano and/or violin) but, in general, additional sources need to be consulted for tracking back and rearranging musical passages. The process of restoring sets and designs is relatively simple by comparison: the Collection includes an extensive library of photos and additional records of Petipa stagings can be found at the St. Petersburg State Theatre Library or the St. Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music.

Reconstructing Petipa Ballets

The first modern use of the collections happened in 1984 when Sir Peter Wright and Roland John Wiley researched the 1892 Nutcracker to assist with their production for the Royal Ballet. But in the late nineties Sergei Vikharev, a Mariinsky dancer, became interested in preserving Petipa’s classics after observing how much work was done to safeguard Balanchine and Fokine choreography. With the support of Mariinsky director Valery Gergiev, who had an interest in uncovering Tchaikovsky’s original score, Vikharev tapped into The Sergeyev Collection to restage The Sleeping Beauty. This reconstruction premiered in 1999 to great acclaim. Other recent reconstructed works include:

The Pharaoh’s Daughter by Pierre Lacotte for the Bolshoi (2000). With the assistance of American scholar Doug Fullington, Lacotte used notated choreography for the Grand Pas d’action.
La Bayadère by Sergei Vikharev for the Mariinsky Theatre (2001)
Jardin Animé scene from Le Corsaire by Doug Fullington for the Pacific Northwest Ballet School (2004)
Le Corsaire by Doug Fullington for the Bavarian State Ballet (2006)
Variations from Raymonda and Le Réveil de Flore by Doug Fullington for the Pacific Northwest Ballet School (2007)
Le Réveil de Flore by Sergei Vikharev for the Mariinsky (2007)
Le Corsaire by Alexei Ratmansky and Yuri Burlaka for the Bolshoi (2007)
Paquita Grand Pas by Yuri Burlaka (2008)
Coppélia by Sergei Vikharev for the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre (2001) and for the Bolshoi (2009)
Esmeralda by Yuri Burlaka and Vasily Medvedev (2009)

Many other works that were dropped from repertory during the 20th century have been reconstructed from photographic, video and other records by various scholars given their historical importance:

Nijinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps by Millicent Hodson, Kenneth Archer and Robert Joffrey, for The Joffrey Ballet (1987)
Sir Frederick Ashton’s Sylvia by Christopher Newton for The Royal Ballet (2004)
Messerer / Gorksy Swan Lake by Mikhail Messerer for the Mikhailovsky Theatre (2009)
Fokine’s Petroushka by Sergei Vikharev for the Bolshoi Theatre (2010)
Chabukiani’s Laurencia by Mikhail Messerer for the Mikhailovsky Theatre (2010)

Reconstructions Today

Some arguments have been made against reconstructed ballets. A number of experts claim it is virtually impossible to fully interpret the historical notations and therefore a work can never be fully restored back to original form. There are also those who feel that works built on top of past productions have already improved upon the original. Those who worry about ballet getting “stuck in the past” feel reconstructions stand in the way of creative freedom, innovation and authenticity. Yet, recent interest in undertaking reconstructions and restorations seems to point to a change in perception. As historians would say, it is important to look at the past to understand the present.

The Mariinsky Ballet in Petipa's Le Reveil de Flore (The Awakening of Flora). Photo: Natasha Razina / Mariinsky Theatre ©

In our globalised times, where every major ballet company has adopted the same type of repertory, reconstructions go beyond the curiosity factor. Modern audiences might be drawn to their serious approach and the way they present a contrast to later productions which have become either diluted or overblown. And given the revived interest for narrative ballets, stylish productions of vintage masterpieces do have their place. Besides, as Mad Men proves, Retro is “in”.

Anna Okuneva and Anna Tatarova as Swanilda's Friends in the Bolshoi Ballet's production of Coppélia. Photo: Damir Yusupov / Bolshoi Theatre ©

Sources and Further Information

Reconstrucing Ballet’s Past – part I: Swan Lake, Mikhailovsky Ballet by Ismene Brown. The ArtsDesk, July 2010 [link]
Reconstructing Ballet’s Past – part II: Master restorer Sergei Vikharev by Ismene Brown. The ArtsDesk, July 2010 [link]
Interview with Millicent Hodson by Suzanne McCarthy. Ballet.co Magazine, September 2002 [link]
The Kirov’s Reconstructed Sleeping Beauty by Doug Fullington. For Ballet Lovers Only, 1999 [link]
Fateyev discusses Mariinsky’s direction in Ballet by Kevin Ng. St Petersburg Times, May 2009 [link]
Wikipedia entry: the Sergeyev Collection [link]
For Ballet, Plots Thicken, or Just Stick? by Alastair Macaulay. The NY Times, August 2010 [link]

Fun That We Have

Emilia — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:38:18 +0000

Over the past few weeks the big ballet companies have been all over social media flaunting their new seasons, in some cases with fabulous, state of the art, trailers (like San Francisco Ballet and Dutch National Ballet). Hot on their heels and conspicuously earlier comes The Royal Opera House: their next ballet and opera season is wrapped and announced well before the arrival of spring.

There’s one catch though: we’re missing the casting details for the autumn ballets which used to be provided at the same time. While we wait for them, many tweets are being exchanged about dream casts and there’s also this interesting discussion thread going on at Ballet.co.

Season details can be downloaded from [here]. Below we take a quick look at what will make us tick from Oct 2010 to June 2011:

Emilia’s picks

Onegin – We are thrilled to see Cranko’s masterpiece back at Covent Garden after a rest of 3 seasons. The balletsphere is currently buzzing with cast speculations and we’re certainly hoping for some new Onegins and Tatianas, with much finger-crossing for Marianela Nuñez – given what she said in our Valentine’s special interview. In other words, we’re watching this space.

Mixed Bill: La Valse/New Brandstrup/Winter Dreams/Themes & Variations – Ashton & Balanchine’s works are the perfect opportunity to display the Royal Ballet’s corps de ballet in all its glory. We are curious about Kim Brandstrup’s new work: will it match this atmosphere of “grand occasion” or, rather more likely, pair up with brooding Winter Dreams which completes the bill? Bring on the Ballroom Blitz!

Manon – Last time this work was revived injury robbed Rupert Pennefather, Sarah Lamb and Steven McRae of making their debuts as Des Grieux, Manon and Lescaut. We’re hoping we can finally see them in action, together with some MacMillan dream casts: Mara Galeazzi and Edward Watson, closely followed by Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg. Count me in for many performances.

Wheeldon’s brand new Alice in Wonderland – Here’s the question on everyone’s minds: will it be Alice in Tweeland or darker shade of Alice? We’d take “darker Alice” any day but one way or another it’s great to see a brand new full-length piece co-created for the Royal Ballet and NBC. We’re curiouser and curiouser…

Swan Lake – Yes I know, why-oh-why Swan Lake again? But the Bag Ladies don’t usually brood for long… We have been limiting our exposure to this ballet so that come January 2011 we can relish the opportunity of seeing new pairings. Ok, confession time: what we reaaaally want to see is Alina finally showing up at the Lake after her absence from the last two revivals. And surely Sarah Lamb must be an Odette of greatness?

New McGregor – Wayne McGregor always rocks my socks, even more when coupled with mega hard Balanchine’s Ballo Della Regina. DGV returns a bit sooner than we would have expected but at least this bill will have a nice energy to it. As mandatory as triple bills go.

Triple Bill: Rhapsody/Sensorium/Rite of Spring – Reviving last year’s Sensorium alongside such masterpieces as Rhapsody and Rite will only serve to expose its weaknesses but perhaps putting something light in the middle gives audiences room to catch their breaths for the emotional intensity in MacMillan’s Rite? We’re rather liking the idea of a “male chosen one”, so bonus points to compensate for bland Sensorium.

Linda’s picks:

Onegin – The Royal Ballet are well versed in MacMillan’s gritty dramas and therefore on familiar territory with Cranko’s Onegin. This narrative ballet is at its most powerful when danced by a strong leading cast and one of my all-time favourite performances happened in the last revival: Johan Kobborg in the title role and Alina Cojocaru as his Tatiana. If there is a ticket I will splurge on, this is the one. The cherry on the cake would be having “El McRae” cast as Lensky.

Giselle – I can’t get enough of Giselle. It has everything one could wish for in a ballet: gorgeous dancing, beautiful music, a story with infinite interpretive possibilities. While the company boasts some of the best Giselles in the business… I must confess: I am team Myrtha all the way. It’s a girl power thing.

Manon – Will Marianela Nuñez have a go at Manon? Will the Bag Ladies FINALLY get to see Johan Kobborg and Alina Cojocaru in this MacMillan blockbuster? Is Manon the prey or the hunter? Watch this space as we gear ourselves for this Pas de Deux heaven.

Mixed Bill: La Valse/New Brandstrup/Winter Dreams/Themes & Variations. From Ashton’s beautiful ballroom to contrasting views of Russia and ballerina grandeur, there’s something for everyone and plenty of challenges for the dancers. Watch out for the Ashtonian upper body in La Valse vs. Balanchine’s speedy footwork in T&V.

Ballo de la Regina – New Balanchine for The Royal Ballet with a legendary ballerina lead which goes beyond true allegro technician (feet feet feet!) and demands an extremely musical dancer. Off the top of my head I’d bet on Marianela Nuñez, Alina Cojocaru and/or Tamara Rojo getting the gig.

Triple Bill: Scènes de Ballet/Voluntaries/Still Life at the Penguin Cafe: The Bag Ladies are puzzled with this triple bill. We can’t find a common denominator between these works by Ashton, Tetley and Bintley. Scènes, which evokes Imperial Russia in its use of intricate, mathematical dance patterns (make sure to get a seat in the heavens for this one), is always welcome but if I had my wish it’d be mixed with Symphonic Variations and Rhapsody to form a rather lovely Ashton Triple Bill.

Wheeldon’s brand new Alice in Wonderland: New full-length after recession year can only mean a kiddie-friendly Alice… or perhaps not (as Bag Lady E. hopes)? But the real question for me is: can Wheeldon pull off a 2 hour long narrative ballet? Will he? Let’s for now remain optimistic and busy ourselves with the search for a blue dress and matching headband to wear at the premiere.

Cornerstone

Linda — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:21:27 +0000

In the last two years Twitter has widely grown in popularity. Even though it has been labeled a fad like other social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, etc.), it continues to flourish and establish itself as one of the most effective and versatile social media channels.

Twitter can be used as a tool for staying in touch with friends and family, as a real-time search engine, as an information outlet and in many other ways. Over here we use it for networking with dance fans, companies, writers, dancers and choreographers anywhere around the globe. We have been positively surprised with the amount of information we can exchange and use for spreading, together with other ballet fans, the notion that “Ballet Rocks!”.

We are enthusiastic about the use of social media to promote inclusion and attract new audiences to certain art forms. It is an effective way to get a message across and we certainly approve of art organisations jumping onto the bandwagon. But many of these organisations have been too hasty in embracing social media and have no clear strategy, goals or any understanding of how to leverage off these channels. We have often seen new Twitter users quickly become wall spammers (ie. overpromoting their services with little additional information or dialogue with followers) or adopt erratic tweeting behaviour (ie. short bursts of activity followed by prolonged silence).

But aren’t we all on Twitter to promote a service anyway? Most Twitter sceptics view it as a self-promotion wasteland, but given that it has little or no impact on box office sales why do companies even bother maintaining a Twitter presence? And how can they improve their Twitter strategy, toning down on spamming and overpromotion? These are the questions we attempt to answer below:

How can dance companies use Twitter

As a promotional tool: It can be used for announcements, providing related links, to launch competitions, promotions and engage audiences.
As a networking resource: to seek solutions and get real-time feedback. Direct questions/polls can be used to profile audiences without the need to chase after statistical studies or feedback forms. Any Twitter user can also get live information and find what audiences are talking about via Twitter Search + relevant keywords.
To engage/maintain a dialogue with followers: to learn about audience demographics and understand which areas need to be developed/focused on.

As a live feed/relaying events, helping international followers feel included in an event (@RoyalOperaHouse did a great job with their BP summer screenings and their Twitter Opera project). A core network of followers (ie. a community of supporters) can also help spread the company’s news/events via retweeting or RT’ing (ie. forwarding information).

Practical examples:

@DutchNatBallet, @mariinskyen and @nycballet do great links to videos & production photos.

@BRB, @BostonBallet, @MiamiCityBallet, @sfballet link to interesting related blog posts & articles, as well as programme notes, pictures, casting details, etc.

@BRB, @paballet @NorthernBallet @ScottishBallet and @BalletBlack are examples of companies who often engage, retweet and exchange tweets with their followers. They even post job vacancies from time to time.

How can dancers use Twitter

Dancers lead very busy lives running from class to rehearsal, from rehearsal to performance, so why should they waste what little spare time they have on Twitter?

It can help dispel myths regarding their profession and provide a glimpse into their daily activities, without getting too personal (ie. unlike the concept of “Facebook friends”).
It can help them build relationships and engage with fans and audiences in general. Interviews and traditional media features might be forgotten or skipped, whereas Twitter is a continuous flow, helping the dancer maintain an internet presence.
It can help them network with other dancers, choreographers and in the case of freelance performers, dance companies and festivals.

There might be a preconceived notion that Twitter, like Facebook, is “just another place for procrastination”. However, Twitter is the least intrusive of all social media tools: it can be accessed from any mobile phone and it takes less than a minute to compose a 140 character message. Twitter is based on linear messaging (displayed as a timeline) so there is no additional browsing, photo albums to maintain, no Farmville games and such to divert one’s attention.

Examples of dancers who are great on Twitter: @Bennet76, @balletrusse, @MadisonKeesler, @ashleybouder, @daniil, @EvanMcKIE, and @MarijnRademaker, among others.

How NOT to Tweet

Don’t spam. Followers need to be interested and care about the information they get. Too much, and they will lose interest. Too little and what’s the point? Don’t say it all at once, spread your tweets during the day.

Don’t be a one-track mind. People will be quick to unfollow if your ticketing or product page is the only thing you tweet. Post articles of interest, blog posts, reviews, polls… the sky is the limit.

Don’t be self-centered. It is good “Twitter etiquette” to retweet (RT), ie. give credit to whom credit is due. It is all about spreading the word.

Don’t just talk & talk. Twitter is a social network and as such is built on relationships. One cannot build a relationship if there are no conversations. As you speak, followers listen & if they reply to your tweet or ask a question they want to know you are listening back. Do respond.

Why should companies, dancers, etc., follow others?

There are several Twitter strategies. Over here for instance, we might not follow everyone back but that’s because we try to keep track of those we do follow and their individual posts (It would be impossible to pay attention to everything that’s being said if we reciprocated all the follows). However, if someone we do not follow engages with us or asks us a question we will always engage back. This seems to us a more authentic way to establish a dialogue.

Another strategy is to follow everyone back and use certain filters (via TweetDeck or another third party Twitter application) to keep track of only the tweets that are relevant to you. The disadvantage here is that tweets “slip through the net” and if you are an active user you might be missing out on potentially relevant information.

The punch line: We do not think Twitter is another social media fad. Major companies and individuals have embraced it as a tool which can be used for:

Promoting events, content, and to spread the news.
Building a community. Be generous and reciprocate.
Sharing your thoughts, ideas and links.
Providing a live summary/description of events or presentations.
Thanking your audiences.

Further Information on Twitter and how to use it:

Twitter? It’s What You Make It by David Pogue. State of the Art Column at The New York Times, February 2009. [link]
Why Twitter Will Endure by David Carr. The New York Times, January, 2010. [link]
How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live by Steven Johnson. Time, Business & Tech. Jun 2009. [link]