Royal Ballet's Sleeping Beauty

Shocking news

“Chroma", "DGV", "The Four Temperaments"
The Royal Ballet
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London
November 17 - 29, 2006

by John Percival
copyright 2006 by John Percival

Two new works premiered in one programme; that's quite unusual, writes Royal Ballet director Monica Mason, and for her company it is. We have to remember that their schedules are fixed partly to fit in with the Royal Opera sharing the theatre, and no doubt partly by the choreographers' other commitments, but let us assume that it was a deliberate artistic choice. It came with special circumstances and was followed by a great shock. Was it wise? We'll see.

When booking opened, many months in advance (as is customary at Covent Garden Royal Opera House), the only details advertised about the new works were the names of the choreographers, Christopher Wheeldon and Wayne McGregor, and the latter's set designer. Composers and the other designers were "to be confirmed"—how can you confirm what hasn't been revealed? But potential customers, including those who had never seen the company before_and we are assured there are always such—were told that Wheeldon bridges the classical past with the fascinating future, whatever that means, and that McGregor's work is eclectic, unexpected and imaginative. Does that help? They might observe that there were only five performances, compared with 22 of "The Sleeping Beauty" or 25 of "Nutcracker", and that the top ticket, covering almost all the good seats and some not so good, was "only" £37.50. That's a little less than West End musicals and a lot less than other Covent Garden productions—"Coppelia" £79, "Sleeping Beauty" £87, operas from £90 to £170, all at two US dollars to the pound. How far did that factor account for heavily sold houses, more than the interviews and other mentions, mainly about McGregor, which the press office managed to get into the papers nearer the opening?

By then it was known that McGregor had chosen Joby Talbot to provide his score, a name which means more to others than it does to me, since at 35 his back list includes respectable concert commissions and appointment by the music radio station Classic FM as their first composer in residence, besides many film and television scores and arrangements for pop artists including Paul McCartney and Tom Jones. Much taken by a spirited short piece by Talbot, McGregor discussed a possible collaboration with him and they agreed to add orchestral versions of three chamber pieces Talbot had written, together with what the composer calls orchestral re-imaginings of three songs by "the utterly uncompromising and musically wonderful two-piece rock band The White Stripes". That probably sounds an odd mixture but makes a surprisingly cohesive although varied whole, conducted enthusiastically by Richard Bernas with the ROH Orchestra. Anyway it sounds to me as if McGregor uses music for mood background rather than structure.

The other main collaborator on "Chroma", as the ballet is called, was John Pawson, a successful architect making his first stage design. McGregor was attracted by his book "Minimum", a quality which Pawson defines as the perfection that an artefact achieves when it is no longer possible to improve it by omission. Pawson's vast and simple structure is not only minimal but wonderful, surrounding three sides of the stage but with an aperture in the back wall which could appear to move with changes of light. But although the choreographer claims to have been captivated by this notion of subtraction, "which seems to reduce elements to make visible the invisible", the production is still full of his usual deluge of perversely twisted gestures and monstrous exaggerations, weird duets and jerky distortions. The title "Chroma" can mean freedom from white, and apparently refers to the colours seen in the dancers against Pawson's white structure. The cast of four women and six men danced with surprising confidence and great energy; their reward was intense applause. But I wonder how often even its admirers would want to see the ballet, since it does not offer the shape or feeling that can explain the repeated appeal of more classical works.

And I'm not sure how well Wheeldon's new work "DGV" is going to wear. It is set to music by Michael Nyman that was commissioned by the Festival de Lille when France's TGV (Train a grande vitesse — high-speed train) opened its north European line with Lille as a major junction. He called his score "MGV" (high-speed music, but it isn't all such) and the ballet similarly carries an explanatory subtitle Danse a grande vitesse. Wheeldon started with just four couples but felt the need to add an ensemble of 18 further dancers whose massed movements turn out to provide much of the interest. There isn't much railway reference in the dances except when impelled by Jean-Marc Puissant's striking set which at times puts one in mind of a crashed Eurostar train. Each of the featured couples has its own style and impetus, with lifts, carries, embraces, twists or leaps marking them out.

This work too was warmly applauded but I felt some niggling doubts which did not arise only from Nyman's rowdy and for me boring contribution, so I avoided a firm assessment until after a second showing. And then I decided that I didn't really think it good enough.

I suspect that Wheeldon is taking on too many commissions from too many companies. Note that he is only about 32 or 33, and McGregor is 36. The other work on this programme was "The Four Temperaments", made exactly sixty years ago when its choreographer, George Balanchine, was already 42 years old. But quite a few of us felt that it looked a fresher, newer, younger work than either of the premieres, and that its inventive originality did far more to advance the progress of ballet than they are likely to achieve.

And now, the big shock. Two days after the final performance of "Chroma", on December 1, Monica Mason announced that she had appointed Wayne McGregor as resident choreographer of the Royal Ballet, with immediate effect. In that position he follows Ninette de Valois, Frederick Ashton, John Cranko, Kenneth MacMillan and David Bintley. The last-named resigned in 1993 and the position has remained vacant until now, the management conspicuously not appointing former company members Ashley Page or William Tuckett when they were making frequent ballets there. McGregor is a surprising choice: a man who reportedly has never taken a ballet lesson in his life, who runs his own modern-dance group Random as a resident company at Sadler's Wells. The London Times, reporting the appointment, quoted Mason as telling the dancers that "you always have to try to keep pushing the boundaries" and that ballet "is only kept alive by being bold and daring and exploring new territory". Whether rash might be a more apt word than daring remains to be seen; one obvious question is whether his innovations might bring more injuries among the dancers. There is also the need to balance any new patrons he might attract against any existing supporters whom he might put off. The Times critic praises his startling awareness of how alien the body can be made to look: an odd prospect for the Royal Ballet.

American readers, meanwhile, may be pleased to learn that Eric Underwood, who has just joined the company from Dance Theatre of Harlem and American Ballet Theatre (as a First Artist = coryphee), was chosen by both of this programme's choreographers for prominent roles and did well in them. Good dancing also from Leanne Benjamin, Darcey Bussell, Alina Cojocaru, Marianela Nunez, Tamara Rojo, Federico Bonelli, Steven McRae and Edward Watson among others.

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