This month I’d like to offer some thoughts on this year’s World Ballet Day. Last year’s online marathon of behind-the-scenes ballet viewing was, I felt, vital for our industry because it enabled dance-lovers to go behind the curtain and witness the kind of experiences that made me want to spend my life in dance. My enthusiasm remains, though 2018’s offering on October 2 seemed smaller in some ways. Focusing on three major ballet companies – The Australian Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet and The Royal Ballet – a much greater presence was given to an impressive range of guest companies. If you failed to tune in for the entire 15 hours, a full schedule is available here with links to each company’s footage via their Facebook pages. Casting your eye over several of the companies featured will show you how the studio can stimulate in different ways to the stage.
The rich relationships between ballet staff and dancers visible at The Australian Ballet gave interesting light to comments by Diana Vishneva in the Daily Telegraph on October 1, where the ballerina drew attention to the unrealistic expectations set by viral clips of ballet dancers on Instagram and YouTube, explaining how these can undermine a work ethic in young aspiring dancers. The clear ethos at The Australian Ballet would be an example to any neophytes. What shines through in the five hours of footage from Melbourne is how much of a dancer’s job is analysing and solving problems effectively with others. Dancers spend their training understanding the physical principles of technique, but life in a company is about reconciling that understanding with other people, with numerous other variables.
There simply is no short cut for experience. Watching a rehearsal of the Act III pas de deux from Alexei Ratmansky’s Cinderella with Ty King-Wall and Leanne Stojmenov was rewarding as it demonstrated the complex mechanics behind seemingly fluent and free-flowing steps, the dancers working together to find the perfect balance so that a luscious turn can transform into a silky unfolding of the leg. Thoughtful commentary from senior artist Jarryd Madden highlighted the way Ratmansky’s choreography takes advantage of épaulement, seeing it not only as a body design in the shoulder, but as “twist and torsion” within the entire body, and then interrogating how this extends to partner work. This constant spiraling, and using it to come on and push off balance is what contributes to the “look” classical dancers have today.
The collaborative approach of this rehearsal held true in a corps de ballet rehearsal of David McAllister’s production of The Sleeping Beauty, where the goal was about “finessing small details… little half counts” in the words of ballet mistress Elizabeth Toohey. I loved watching Toohey teach class during last year’s World Ballet Day, so seeing her prepare a dance for an upcoming tour to China, was inspiring; with her inclusive language, and the authoritative encouragement of comments such as “let’s take a look”, she showed the best of ballet.
Toohey’s words relate to pertinent comments David Bintley made during Birmingham Royal Ballet’s guest slot later in the day: “It’s not about how many people you command, it’s about how many people will follow you. People will only follow you if they really trust you”. Bintley’s reverence for “what a director can do in terms of other people’s careers… the pastoral care”, explains the touching sentiments from his staff and dancers.
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if ( ! Number( height ) Read more: dancing-times.co.uk
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