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Letter from London

Birmingham Royal Ballet on tour
London Studio Centre
Ballet Central
Mark Morris's "King Arthur"/English National Opera

by John Percival
copyright 2006, John Percival


Historical sense – what’s that? Well, for a start it’s something that ballet directors tend conspicuously to lack. Take the Royal Ballet for instance. After a glut of centennial Ashton, we’re doomed next season to go back to largely ignoring him. And when choosing dances to celebrate the company’s 75th birthday, one of its greatest choreographic discoveries, John Cranko, was almost omitted, while naturally Antony Tudor’s creations were entirely left out. Thank heaven for David Bintley’s regime at Birmingham Royal Ballet, where despite his determination to concentrate on creativity, he has made time also to restore some works by Ashton and de Valois that were long thought lost. Just now, too, for two simultaneous small-town tours, he has revived Cranko’s “Brouillards” and “Pineapple Poll” in the north-east and mounted Tharp’s “Sinatra Songs” in the south-west (I wish I could have seen them). But BRB’s programmes are a rare exception, which is one reason why we look forward each year to the “Images of Dance” tour by senior ballet students of the London Studio Centre, since artistic director Margaret Barbieri has a flair for choosing interesting programmes.

They are, if memory serves, always a mixture of old classics, new creations and valuable 20th century repertoire. The commissioned pieces obviously vary in their success, but it’s worth noting that Barbieri picked out Christopher Wheeldon way back in 1993 when he was almost unknown, and that she has also given chances to several other presentable talents. I found this year’s premiere, “Game Over” by David Fielding with music by Artem Vassiliev, uninventive, monotonous and too fidgety, but at least it provided some contrast for the dancers. More enjoyable was the Pas de Six from Chabukiani’s “Laurencia”, staged by Galina Samsova and ably danced at the Peacock Theatre, notably by Miguel Piquer.

Barbieri’s gift for choosing other rewarding ballets did not disappoint. When created in 1951, “Pineapple Poll” was one of the most successful ballets in years, and although largely neglected lately, it still looks pretty good. It was the then junior conductor Charles Mackerras (now 80, knighted and recipient last year of the first Queen’s Medal for Music) who suggested the potential of a ballet inspired by the immensely popular Gilbert and Sullivan operas, just coming out of copyright. Mackerras’s delectable selection of Arthur Sullivan’s music and Cranko’s clever adaptation of a plot from one of W. S. Gilbert’s poems, plus his robust and highly inventive dances, combine with Osbert Lancaster’s witty architectural and nautical designs to make a uniquely entertaining dance comedy. Barbieri staged it well; I wasn’t mad about Yo Kawamura in the title role, but Samantha Camejo showed charm as her rival Blanche, Iselin Bowen brought fun to the garrulous Mrs Dimple (who ends up as Britannia), and the men were not bad at all, led by Jamie Carter and Michell Alysson.

Tall, pale and fair-haired Carter was a surprising choice to play the lead in Peter Darrell’s “Othello”, but it was a real treat to see this classic dance drama by one of Britain’s best and most shamefully neglected choreographers, handsomely staged by Kenn Burke and well danced by its small cast.

In passing, let me briefly mention the performance I saw a few weeks ago by Ballet Central, the similar group of senior students from the Central School of Ballet. The eight short numbers given in Covent Garden’s Linbury Studio Theatre were a bit mixed in quality, but I enjoyed seeing Michael Corder’s revival of the “St Paul’s Suite” which he created four years ago, inspired by Gustav Holst’s music, to show off the classical qualities of an all-girl cast. Three of the same dancers (Eriko Abe, Julia Davies and Kozue Miura) also appeared pleasingly in a revival by Carole Gable of the Odalisques trio from “The Corsair”.

Over the past three months, English National Opera at the London Coliseum has put some emphasis on dance elements. I found Chen Shi-Zheng’s use of a specially imported group of twelve Javanese dancers disappointing in his production of Monteverdi’s “Orfeo”; luckily the musical aspects were more rewarding. I passed over “Nixon in China” this time round, but am reliably told that it was as good as before, including Mark Morris’s choreography.

Morris was both director and choreographer for a new production of Purcell’s “King Arthur”, performed by ENO with the Mark Morris Dance Group; it is billed as a co-production with New York City Opera, in association with Cal Performances, Berkeley. The programme book’s title page announces A Dramatick Opera; Music by Henry Purcell; Words by John Dryden. Inside, however, Morris announces that the work “is here presented as a pageant — a sort of vaudeville — a sequence of production numbers sacred and profane, small and large, sad and happy, sung and danced. I chose to discard the spoken text (which I don’t like) and keep all of the music (which I do)." For me, this didn’t work, partly because the dances, which go on and on around the singers, are often very dull — flat and repetitious. I recall only a couple of short sections with pleasure: a trio, and a copulatory ensemble. Otherwise, not vintage Morris. And when you cut out the dramatic context, you reduce the effect of the music. Incidentally, the opera originally carried a second title, “The British Worthy”, but several times I became very conscious that red, white and blue are American as well as British colours, and despite a crown that lay unworn all through, this seemed often a very Yankee vaudeville. “The setting is the stage. The time is now. The performers are themselves” Morris declares. But I think that’s not what the music intends, nor the words they sing (even Morris couldn’t cut those out).

Photos:
Front page: Mhairi Lawson and Mark Morris Dance Group in Morris's "King Arthur;" photo by Catherine Ashmore.
Top: Jamie Carter & company in "Pineapple Poll"; p hoto: Peter Teigen.
Middle: Jamie Carter & Janaina Castelleti in "Othello"; photo: Peter Teigen.
Bottom:William Berger and Seth Williams (Mark Morris Dance Group) in Morris's "King Arthur;" photo by Catherine Ashmore.

Volume 4, No. 27
July 17, 2006

copyright ©2006 John Percival
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©2006 DanceView