Three Ballets By Kenneth Macmillan: The Royal Ballet

Im Internet kann man eine Kostprobe unter dem Suchbegriff Syncopations ansehen. Das har mir gereicht, die Disk zu erwerben. Dieses Ballett unterscheidet sich wohltuend von Choreographien, die eher wie gymnastische Übungen anmuten als für lebensfrohe Tänze. Mit dem klassischen Ballett haben die Syncopations allenfalls die Tänzer gemein. Eine gelungene Weiterentwicklung des Balletts.

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Mª Luisa Cuende

Me encanta

Granskad i Spanien den 21 november 2013

Elite syncopations, The Judas tree, y Concert , son tres ballets cortos modernos, el que me ha gustado mas es el primero,Elite Syncopation, un encanto de coreografía unos bailarines maravillosos y una música sensacional, solo por ver este ballet merece comprar el DVD, los otros dos son mas sencillos pero siempre muy bien interpretados.

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opera65

macmilla très bien

Granskad i Frankrike den 12 juli 2013

excellent programme varié pour qui veut découvrir un balet qui sort des grands classiques du 18° et Du début 19°

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mijcar

Absolutely Wonderful

Granskad i USA den 20 juli 2011

I have mixed feelings about watching ballet on a screen. Live ballet is the way to go.

And yet all too often it isn't, either because (in the case of good companies) we can only afford so much or because there is not enough worth taking the time to go to. Given my ambivalence, it is understandable that I approach each new DVD with a lot of doubt.

Well, no doubts linger with this wonderful DVD.

First the company itself: The Royal Ballet. For live performances, I would hate to make a choice between the New York Ballet performing Balanchine and the Royal Ballet performing McMillan. But on DVD, the choice is simpler. Without a live stage, without the thrill of being in the moment, Balanchine's pieces just do not have the same emotional impact, likeable though they may be. But -- at least on this DVD -- McMillan's emotional movements come through with stunning power, even when the choreography is as abstract as his interpretation of Shostakovich's Second Piano Concerto.

Only one of these three pieces comes close to being a true story ballet in the sense of a Romeo and Juliet or Giselle: The Judas Tree. And yet, Judas Tree will prove the most inaccessible for most watchers. Driven by a relentless contemporary score, the "story" is amibiguous, disturbing, sexual and suggestive. Of the three ballets, this is the one viewers will return to the least ... and yet many will return, indeed, trying to read below the surface, trying to understand beyond the dancing. It is not a piece easily abandoned. The dancing itself is too convincing. Casual, strong with modern dance elements, yet never letting go completely of its balletic roots, Judas Trees holds the watcher in place, even when we want to leave the piece and move on to something more comfortable.

And, yes, there is more comfortable. An impeccably balanced DVD of a night at the ballet, we are given two much more accessible works bracketing Judas Tree.

The lead-in to the evening is Elite Syncopations, a totally playful interpretation of ragtime music, the dancers delightfully costumed, the set simple and attractive. Presented as a day of dancing, various characters and groups meeting and dancing and flirting and dancing and showing off and dancing and ... well, you get the point. Nothing groundbreaking in this approach; what matters is the perfection with which this is realized. Tiny emotional nuances are what makes this more than mere dancing. And if Balanchine's nuances are in the area of visual delight, then McMillan's nuances (and that of the splendid Royal Ballet) are those of emotional delight. We know these people! Their foibles, the humor and/or pathos of their characters as they dance past us on the stage.

The close to the evening is the abstract realization of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2. The music itself is terrific and needs no dancers. Playful and compelling, the music is among the best of Shostakovich. But here, McMillan uses his dancers like a microscope, revealing the composition in ways our ears alone won't, done so well as to have a sense of inevitable rightness. It will be hard for me to ever listen to this piece again without wishing to see these dancers in front of me. Without any real story to tie it together, there is still a remarkable cohesion and emotional expression in the choreography. And the dancers bring only brilliance in their interpretation.

As for the camera, it is almost perfect. A few times, the feet are cut off when we wish they weren't, a close-up misses a pan we wish we could have seen instead. For that reason alone, I might have only awarded 4 1/2 stars or 4 3/4. Don't worry. This is a DVD not to be missed!

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Jenny

Intriguing triple bill

Granskad i Storbritannien den 28 december 2010

Three half hour works by Kenneth MacMillan, which run the gauntlet from funny, through grim, to relaxed and beautiful.
Elite Syncopations was, we are told in the brief introduction, created as an antidote to his darker, tragic works, and it succeeds very well. A cheery, lightweight piece, beautifully performed and characterised. I particularly liked Iohna Loots as the nice girl, and Sarah Lamb as the sexy starlet displays all her strengths. The duet between Paul Kay as the short boy, and Laura McCullock as his too tall partner is wonderfully funny. (Apologies for the misspelt names, by the way!) The design is witty and colourful, the rag time music performed by an onstage band with verve and enjoyment.

The Judas Tree is a very dark work, which I personally feel goes too far for public performance. Magnificently danced, at one level it is clear that the woman (Leanne Benjamin) has provoked the lusts of the men until she is gang raped, which also leads to her murder (and resurrection), the murder of a friend and a suicide. Outside that, however, it is intrigingly unclear. Is the woman real? Or does she represent, for example, lust? Is the piece about the need to control male sexuality, in other words, a new take on the old sex equals death theme? And exactly who has betrayed exactly what? Dark designs also intrigue, and the music, which I believe was specially composed, complements and supports the action. I shall be watching the piece again, trying to work out what it is really about, and also for the excellent performances, with various dancers exploring the dark side of masculinity, but not for evening relaxation, which is how I tend to use ballet DVDs, even the classic tragedies.

Concerto I found very beautiful. The coreography is wonderfully fitted to the (great)music, and there is no plot to distract from the sound and movement. The design is simple and calm, elegant and abstract, part of the work which is not always the case with some of the classics. I was slightly uncertain about the quality of Helen Chadwick as the solo girl, but I'm no expert on the technicalities of dance, and I often find a performance by an unfamiliar artist grows on me. Otherwise, it's gorgeous.

I thought this was a very well balanced triple bill from a top ballet company, great music and which I'd recommend to any adult (not children, not with the Judas Tree on the disc) who wants to stretch their knowledge of ballet beyond the classics.

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