CriticalDance Forum

The Royal Ballet has revived Dame Ninette de Valois' production of 'Coppelia', which has not been performed for 20 years. It comes a month after English National Ballet performed Ronald Hynd's production at London's Coliseum. The Royal Ballet production has not received quite the enthusiam that greeted the ENB version, particularly for the characterisations. To be fair, the ENB version has been performed many times over the past year, so there has been time for the production to bed down. However, it is another indicator that the there is little to separate the three major UK companies (the third is Birmingham RB).<P>Debra Craine makes the point that the high point of the ballet is the first Act, which I would agree with. At an ENB showing, I had a big grin on my face when the First Act ended and the grin was still there at the end of the Third Act, but not quite so wide. <P> <A HREF="http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/00/02/11/timartdan02001.html?1376249" TARGET=_blank>http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/00/02/11/timartdan02001.html?1376249</A>

I'd be interested to see this Royal Ballet version some day, to compare it with the ENB production which I have enjoyed ever since its premiere in the mid-1980s. I saw the ENB production again last month after a gap of many years, and still found it fresh and immensely enjoyable. The 2 casts that I saw - Oaks and Edur, Klimentova and Gruzdyev - were fine.<P>I gather that Balanchine's version is currently being performed by NYCB. I still haven't seen this production.<p>[This message has been edited by Kevin Ng (edited 02-13-2000).]

Two more reviews of 'Coppelia' by the Royal Ballet. Opinions clearly vary about the work, some seeing it as merely a ballet for children and others, including Kevin, as a humourous delight. Both views are valid, of course. I'm probably somewhere between the two.<P>Is it a popular work in the USA and other countries?<P><BR>Jann Parry in 'The Observer' <A HREF="http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/observer/review/story/0,3879,136133,00.html" TARGET=_blank>www.newsunlimited.co.uk/observer/review/story/0,3879,136133,00.html</A> <P>David Dougill in 'The Sunday Times' with a picture <A HREF="http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/00/02/13/sticuldnc02002.html?1376249" TARGET=_blank>http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/00/02/13/sticuldnc02002.html?1376249</A>

Coppelia is very popular in the U.S. Pacific Northwest Ballet will open its 2000-01 season with Coppelia. They program it approximately every other season.

By the way, Pacific Northwest Ballet will be touring Hong Kong this July with Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

I saw Fernando Bujones and Eleanor D'Antuono do Coppelia back in the 70's at City Center in New York. It was awesome!! Bujones has never gotten his due, I felt..somehow hasn't had the publicity of a Baryshnikov or a Peter Martins. Oh well-I think the company must have ABT or Joffrey that I saw do Coppelia..does anyone know what happened to Bujones..where is he now?

Kevin, I had been aware of the HK tour for awhile. Any insights you are willing to share regarding performance venues, etc.? I gather that you have already had some discussions that have been relayed to Kent and Francia. They had a lot of trouble with the Midsummer set due to the small size of the stage in Edinburgh. Will HK children be used for bugs, or will PNB be bringing their own? Also, any comments you might have about dance (ballet or modern) in HK? (Most of your commentaries have nothing to do with HK, but perhaps you think no one is interested?) I note that there is a modern company from HK that is currently being skewered in the UK press....

Francis, the modern dance company from Hong Kong that toured London last week was the City Contemporary Dance Company which was certainly the leading modern dance company here. It looks like they should have brought a more varied repertory to London, instead of a single work lasting 90 minutes. I haven't however seen that work from 1991, and so cannot comment. But they are going to premiere a new work next month for the Hong Kong Arts Festival, choreographed by Helen Lai, who choreographed the work they performed in London.<P>Pacific Northwest Ballet will perform in both the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and the Shatin Town Hall. The latter has a slightly smaller stage, and is further away from the town centre. Still the Bolshoi performed there last Dec. for 3 performances, and so did the Kirov the year before. However I don't know if local children will be used for Balanchine's Midsummer.<P>Actually I don't think the stage in Edinburgh was that small. I saw 3 of the company's performances there in 1998. Probably it is smaller than the stage in Seattle.