CriticalDance Forum

Ondine
By Jann Parry for The Observer


Hans Werner Henze's sea-symphony score for Ashton's 1958 ballet Ondine is best left to the concert hall. Whenever the corps de ballet appears, the choreography is so out of sympathy with the music that you want to stop your ears. To close your eyes would mean missing ravishing Busby Berkeley groupings better suited to a Water Follies revue.


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Something to wash over me
The artists more than deliver, but the Royal Ballet’s Ondine has some serious lows, says David Dougill for The Sunday Times


Frederick Ashton’s final three-act ballet, Ondine, the latest revival in the Royal Ballet’s largely triumphant centenary celebrations of its founder choreo-grapher, is a mixed blessing. There are lovely things in it, but also dull and dated elements. The ravishing re-creation of his long-neglected previous three-acter, Sylvia, earlier this season — full of spectacle and surprises — has perhaps spoilt us and stolen the limelight from Ondine. Sylvia (1952) came up looking remarkably fresh; its 1958 successor is showing its age.


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Ondine
By Debra Craine for The Times


ONDINE is special. Not only is it one of Frederick Ashton’s few full-length ballets, it’s the only one with an original score. But unlike Cinderella, La Fille mal gardée and the newly retrieved Sylvia, Ondine, here revived as part of the Ashton centenary season, is never going to be a popular favourite at Covent Garden — simply because the music is such a let-down.

Ashton originally wanted William Walton to write his 1958 ballet about a sea nymph who falls in love with a mortal, but he eventually settled on the German composer Hans Werner Henze. The result of his collaboration with Henze is music that is lacking in warmth and individual character.

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I saw Tamara Rojo dance this last week, and I have to say that she is simply a beautifully expressive dancer and she simply shined opening night. what a treat!

Lucky you, Matthew! I saw her in the role when she was relatively new at The Royal Ballet and she made a very strong impression in this quirky, yet attractive ballet.