{"id":57176,"date":"2018-11-22T22:52:26","date_gmt":"2018-11-23T03:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=57176"},"modified":"2018-11-22T22:52:26","modified_gmt":"2018-11-23T03:52:26","slug":"scrutiny-national-ballet-of-canadas-mixed-program-strikes-a-balance-between-old-and-new","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2018\/11\/22\/scrutiny-national-ballet-of-canadas-mixed-program-strikes-a-balance-between-old-and-new\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | National Ballet Of Canada’s Mixed Program Strikes A Balance Between Old And New"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
The National Ballet of Canada: Artists of the Ballet in The Dream<\/em>. (Photo: Aleksandar Antonijevic.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The National Ballet of Canada\/Being and Nothingness choreographed by Guillaume C\u00f4t\u00e9, and The Dream choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton, Four Seasons Centre, Nov. 21 to Nov. 25. <\/strong>Tickets available at 416-345-9595 or\u00a0national.ballet.ca<\/a><\/span>.<\/strong>\u00a0Details here<\/a><\/span>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a well-known fact in the ballet world that the full-length works put bums in seats. The mixed programs are a lesser draw, so it behooves an artistic director to make judicious choices to attract the crowds. In this respect, The National Ballet\u2019s Karen Kain has always been a savvy programmer and the current mixed bag of works is a case in point.<\/p>\n

Contrast is the key. The bill of fare should include a tutu work in classical style along with something new. In the relentlessly contemporary category is Guillaume C\u00f4t\u00e9\u2019s Being and Nothingness<\/em>. (2015). C\u00f4t\u00e9 is both a principal dancer and choreographic associate with the company, and having his piece on prominent display alongside a choreographic icon like Sir Frederick Ashton is a big career push for him. For the traditional work, Kain has reached back to Ashton\u2019s The Dream <\/em>(1964) based on Shakespeare\u2019s A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em>. This beloved ballet by one of Britain\u2019s greatest storyteller choreographers hasn\u2019t been performed by the National for seventeen years.<\/p>\n

C\u00f4t\u00e9 is not a shrinking violet when it comes to choosing choreographic material. Being and Nothingness<\/em> has been inspired by Jean-Paul Sartre\u2019s 1943 eponymous seminal work that defined his existential philosophy. According to the program notes, C\u00f4t\u00e9 has taken key existential concepts \u2014 questions of freedom, the nature of selfhood, and the meaning of existence \u2014 as his points of concentration for his dance. These abstractions are expressed in seven scenes (two solos, four duets, and a marauding corps of eleven male dancers).<\/p>\n

\"National
Jillian Vanstone with Artists of the Ballet in The Dream<\/em>. (Photo: Aleksandar Antonijevic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sartre wrote extensively about both humankind\u2019s search for individual completeness and the root of our sexual desire, and I see these ideas driving the piece \u2014 the former in the solos, the latter in the duets. As for the noisy male corps in their suits and fedoras, executing their synchronized movements, perhaps they are the mass herd who have no sense of individuality. The music score contains seven pieces for solo piano by Philip Glass, and the minimalism suits the angst-ridden choreography perfectly. Kudos to pianist Edward Connell who finds passion within Glass\u2019 limited chord progressions. David Finn provided the dramatic lighting, and Krista Dowson the 1940s costumes cleverly set in Sartre\u2019s time of writing.<\/p>\n

Each scene is built around specific props designed by Michael Levine. The solos feature the great Greta Hodgkinson entranced by a naked light bulb (The Light), and company newcomer and rapidly rising corps member Siphesihle November getting distracted in his own thoughts while shaving (The Sink). The four duets illuminate troubled relationships with one person being more committed than the other. Each has quite different choreography. Kathryn Hosier and F\u00e9lix Paquet are young lovers (The Bedroom).<\/p>\n

The pas de deux between Chelsy Meiss and Jack Bertinshaw has the woman\u2019s handkerchief as an anchor for the man suffering from spurned love (The Door). Svetlana Lunkina and Brendan Saye are a more evenly matched couple, but he still shows stronger feelings (The Living Room). Hodgkinson is joined by Ben Rudisin, as a telephone call takes precedence over his struggle for attention (The Call). As for the male corps, they show entitlement, over-confidence, power and violent tendencies (The Street).<\/p>\n

\"National
Jillian Vanstone and Harrison James in The Dream<\/em>. (Photo: Aleksandar Antonijevic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Being a member of the company, C\u00f4t\u00e9 knows his dancers well and his choreography fits them like hand to glove. His movement signature is total physicality manifested in choppy, staccato, nervous energy. The body negotiates through angles, flexes, bends, awkward limb thrusts, and a highly expressive gestural language, interpolated by surprisingly graceful jumps and turns.<\/p>\n

The duets exhibit inventive partnering featuring dangerous lifts and whirlwind changes in direction. Trying to find the philosophy within the piece is not the way to enjoy it. Rather, C\u00f4t\u00e9 has presented a parade of human experience and the visual images he has created are what make Being and Nothingness<\/em> so compelling.<\/p>\n

As always, The Dream<\/em> is charming, even though the fifty-minute piece has the action galloping along at lightning speed. This ballet is not about character development. It is bare bones condensed plot. Characters are introduced, and given their hurried moment in the sun.<\/p>\n

\"National
Kathryn Hosier and F\u00e9lix Paquet in Being and Nothingness<\/em>. (Photo: Karolina Kuras)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The imperious Oberon (Harrison James) dominates the ballet. He wants Titania (Jillian Vanstone) to give him her Changeling Boy. He interferes with the Athenian lovers, Helena (Tanya Howard) and Demetrius (Giorgio Galli), and Hermia (Chelsy Meiss) and Lysander (Ben Rudisin). He commands Puck (Skylar Campbell) to bring the flower that will make people fall in love, although it is Puck on his own volition, who turns Bottom (Joe Chapman) into a donkey. There are also Titania\u2019s four leading fairies (Miyoko Koyasu, Meghan Pugh, Jordana Daumec, and Rui Huang), along with the female corps de ballet.<\/p>\n

The cast includes some of the National\u2019s best classical dancers. Ashton\u2019s refined English style suits James perfectly, and he executes Oberon\u2019s virtuoso choreography with aplomb.<\/p>\n

Vanstone has always been an exquisite technician, and she finds just the right tone of delicacy for Titania. The couple\u2019s final duet is simply gorgeous. Campbell gets to perform Ashton\u2019s famous choreography for Puck, which he does brilliantly. The quicksilver role has the dancer being mostly in the air via jumps, with the legs in constantly shifting positions. Chapman is another in a long line of Bottoms who can perform in point shoes that emulate the donkey\u2019s hoofs.<\/p>\n

Ashton gives the lovers delightfully quirky partnering to illustrate the misunderstanding of both Demetrius and Lysander being in love with Helena, and the quartet seems to be having lots of fun. The leading fairies, needless to say, are dainty and ethereal, although the female corps did sound a bit clumpy on their landings. In their defence, Ashton did give the fairies rather a lot of jumps and hops.<\/p>\n

\"National
Greta Hodgkinson and Ben Rudisin in Being and Nothingness<\/em>. (Photo: Aleksandar Antonijevic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The late, great arranger of ballet music, John Lanchbery, had fashioned Felix Mendelssohn\u2019s incidental music for Shakespeare\u2019s play, into a lovely score for The Dream<\/em>, which conductor David Briskin and the National orchestra executed smartly.<\/p>\n

The boy sopranos from St. Michael\u2019s Choir School provided the sung text, and although their diction was muddled, their sound was sweet. The music is by turns rushy for the fairies, jagged for the rustics and Bottom, and stately for Oberon and Titania, and these divisions were clearly defined in the playing.<\/p>\n

David Walker\u2019s towering forest greenery and over-stuffed Victorian costumes seem old-fashioned, but they still work.<\/p>\n

This mixed program is for all tastes. Traditionalists have their tutus, and modernists their rough edge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The National Ballet of Canada’s mixed program is for all tastes. Traditionalists have their tutus, and modernists their rough edge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":57181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14761,20,52,63],"tags":[24717,1494,2346,24537,24719,24718],"yst_prominent_words":[24709,24720,13340,24721,24695,24700,24697,24716,24713,24712,24706,24714,24711,24710,24698,13922,24708,24707,24696,24694],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/11\/national-BALLET-of-canada-REVIEW.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-eSc","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57176"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57184,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57176\/revisions\/57184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57176"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=57176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}