A brief Ballet post

So, last night we went to the ballet, a most unusual thing for me. I've never really got the ballet, something I will openly admit. I mean, sure I enjoy ogling the hot bodies of the males and admire the athleticism, but it does not move me. Not the way a good opera performance will. But that is me, others will.

So, there we were at the ballet, seeing three pieces from the Australian Ballet's past, put together as Icons. All three are significant works from the past of the company, and in many ways, each has helped to define the company through the years, being works that keep being presented at regular intervals.

The first one, "the Display" I am will openly say I did not like. It seemed both an unlikely piece and one that portrayed Australian society in an unpleasant light. A girl goes into the bush for a picnic, watches a lyrebird dance, is joined by her boyfriend, his friends and their girlfriends. the boys drink beer, play Aussie rules and then an outsider turns up. He flirts with the girl, the other males get annoyed, the boyfriend fights the outsider and they all leave the outsider for dead. The girl comes back later, finds the outsider, who then "rapes" the girl, they get disturbed by the lyrebird, causing the boy to run off. The lyrebird mounts the girl, with her apparent willingness.

Now, don't get me wrong. I could see most of that happening (apart from the lyrebird mounting a girl, obviously) But, as a ballet I found the subject lacking the beauty I was expecting. Where was the pleasure I was paying to get (Although I had not paid in this case, it was a gift from a friend for us) To be sure, it spoke volumes about our fractured society in Australia, that even a bird paid more attention to a girl, than the man she was supposed to be in love with. But there was no one I felt any thing for. Not one person left me moved, not even the plight of the girl. I just watched, impressed by the dancing, unmoved by the story (and there was much to admire in Sir Robert Helpman's choreography, especially the football scene).

Which makes my love of the next piece all the more interesting.Gemini (set to the music of the recently deceased Hans Werner Henze Symphony 3) was a totally abstract piece, with no story, just movement and the interplay between the four dancers. Yet it left me utterly gripped. Amazing performers dancing on a stage whose scenic elements looked like it was a nightmare of a 70's disco, with plain lycra costumes, it gripped you. It was long enough to ensure it did not overstay its welcome, yet left us feeling "that was special" As I said afterwards "that was everything I don't like about ballet, yet I loved it" If I knew ballet well, I could probably explain why, just accept the fact that while it ticked every box that should have set my wankometer into overload, it didn't through some weird alchemy of impressiveness.

Which leaves the final piece, "Beyond Twelve" a piece choreographed by Graeme Murphy to Ravel's Piano Concerto in G. This on paper sounded even more self absorbed and wankerous than the previous piece. The title refers to the age of the dancer of the start. A young boy, caught between his love of (Aussie Rules) football, and the ballet, and his awkward relationship with his parents. The second part of it looks at the same performer after 18, approaching the peak of his power, and experiencing first love, with his dance partner. And the third part (danced to the slow middle movement of the concerto, just to confuse) was about the same dancer as he approached the end of his dancing career, looking back on his life in dance, and towards an uncertain future. You can see why my wankometer threatened to go through the roof for that!

Yet this was definitely the most moving piece of the night. It was funny, it had believable characters and it had humanity. Graeme Murphy has always been a choreographer who at his heart likes to tell stories, and this worked beautifully. Yes, it was self referential,  but it was concerned with universal themes, with ageing, and the way that men struggle to deal with growing old, if they dare to stop and think about the changes. It ended with a dance between the three men who performed the different aged performers, which managed to not be in any way homoerotic, while still demonstrating the power and athleticism of each dancer. The others then left the stage, as the mature dancer took the spotlight, while the scenery was removed, leaving the backbones of the stage, reflecting the uncertain future out of the spotlight. It was a moving ending and an unexpected coup de theatre that felt just right. Just like all of this third part of the night.

The Display, music by Malcolm Williamson, Choreography by Sir Robert Helpman
Gemini, Musc by Hans Werner Henze (symphony 3), Choreography by Glen Tetley
Beyond Twelve, music by Maurice Ravel (Piano concerto in G), choreography by Graeme Murphy

Happy families, not...

Ok, so Salome and her crazy family. I just saw them today. And, yes, they are all nuts. Mum clearly does not like her husband, and is jealous of her daughter, but also clearly taught her well. Daughter uses her beauty to get her step dad to do what she wants. Clearly she has learnt to twist men around her finger, but not anything about right or wrong.

Which really gets to the heart of the matter. Salome is both femme fatale and yet naive innocent. She knows how to get What she wants, but she clearly has no moral compass. She meets someone with a powerful one, but fails to convince him to succumb to her charms. And from there it all goes pear shaped.

The decision was made to show the feast that is repeatedly referred to throughout the opera. They are at the back of the stage, raised up but also hidden behind a curtain of clear plastic strips, letting us know they are there, but seeming them not noticing what happens outside. "Outside" is a circular platform with a huge metal grate in it. There are a series of about 7 curved stairs down to the floor level of the stage. Most of the action takes place on the round platform, or the stairs in front of them. The grate of course, is raised up to allow access to Jokanaan, when needed. Costumes are best described as regie-light. Yes, none of them match the period this opera is set in, but they all are appropriate for the person wearing them. Herod looks like a overweight pimp in a shiny yellow suit. Salome and Herodias have out there trashy look at me look at me dresses, with head gear to match (and OTT hairstyles often too) . The religious guests at the feast are all dressed in the costume appropriate to whatever type of priest they are representing. (They are not all Jews here) And Narraboth and the soldiers are a mix of army camoflage pants, with upper body armour that looks like it came from some scifi movie. As I said, regie light costuming.

So. You begin to get a sense of what it looked like, what did it sound like? Well, to be honest, mostly very good. No one stood out as bad, most were very well cast, some were astonishingly good. I heard no bad singing, and a lot of amazing singing. I also saw a lot of powerful acting in what ultimately is a how not to guide to family values.

None of the minor characters stood out as bad, most surprised with how good they sounded. The fact that Kanen Breen was relegated to mere First Jew, gives you an idea, that luxury casting was applied. David Corcoran was seriously good as the doomed Narraboth. His death early on, both shocked and upset (as it should) when he realised that Salome in person, was not the beautiful ideal he had in his mind, but a twisted soul trapped within a beautiful facade.

Salome herself, performed by Cheryl Barker, was a monster, in the best way. Her performance was gripping, moving and also believable. She portrayed Salome as both victim and as active participant who causes things to happen. Yes, I still think Salome needs a bigger voice, but Cheryl makes a strong case for not needing a dramatic soprano in this role. To be sure, there are times when her voice struggles to deal with the combination of heavy orchestra and the vocal writing, but she rises above it to deliver a towering final scene that had us believing. And moved. And it has to be said, she does have something of the girlishness about her voice still, that this role should have, but few do.

As her mother, Jacqui Dark was suitably demented. She adds to her list of demented monster roles, a Herodias who you seriously do not want to meet in the street. There was nothing subtle about the performance, but then, Herodias was not written to be subtle. Her stentorian tones blasted across all others in the take no prisoners style we expect. You almost do not blame Herod for looking at his stepdaughter, when his wife has become such a vile harridan of a creature.

And Herod? Well, John Pickering was amazing (and creepy). This is the first time I have encountered him in the flesh, and, well, I hope to again. Im thinking he would make an excellent Mime or Loge. Here he makes light work of an incredibly wordy part, flinging off huge amounts of dialogue through the music, while remaining totally musical and in character. He was far and away the best performer, in my opinion, in a very strong cast.

As our Jokanaan, we had the ever reliable John Wegner, portraying yet another tortured soul. This one though, is physically tortured, while his soul is elsewhere. I was perhaps less convinced by him acting as the otherworldly prophet, but there was no complaints about his sound. I felt that using speakers for him when in the cistern, was probably unnecessary, but I also recognise that with the stage at the Opera House, putting him in the pit to sing his "in cistern" lines, would not give him much time to get to up to where he needed to be when he emerged into the light. It was probably unnecessary, but it also worked. It gave his prophetic pronouncements more power, making him more the person to be afraid of, even when imprisoned. At times I did wonder if I needed to see more otherworldliness from him, but then, he did seem comparatively sane, in a world going mad around him.

Now, about the Dance. That fraught thing about Salome, is most singers who are believable in the famous Dance of the 7 veils, are not likely to be capable to sing the role. Rather than have Cheryl do some sort of big long dance number shedding clothing, our director opted to have each of the seven veils represent a different female character, an archetype of men's fantasies of women if you will. It works, probably better as a concept than in reality, but if you know it in advance, it certainly made sense. And it was a lot more believable than her doing a solo dance for the almost 10 mins of the dance, shedding clothes as she goes….

So, to sum up, on a scale of 10? I would give this production, as seen today a 9. Not quite as amazing as Lucia, but still awesomely sung, and brilliantly theatrical. And yes, moving. Though, to be honest, I have no idea why I cared about such vile people. That I think says all you need to know.







Here is something of the infamous dance:

And ABC TV's news report: