Introducing.... Royal Winnipeg Ballet by Jane Simpson
Cindy Marie Small in 'The Rite of Spring' photographer Phil Hossack The Royal Winnipeg Ballet open their London season on October 14th at the Peacock Theatre. As it is so long since they were last here - and the Company has changed almost completely since then - here is a brief introduction. They have the reputation of a company who 'radiate the joy of dancing', and to choreography- starved Londoners their repertoire sounds wonderful. The Company Only 8 years younger than the Royal Ballet, the RWB is the oldest continually performing company in North America. Its Royal Charter dates from 1957 (the year after the RB's). The best known of its directors was probably Arnold Spohr, who ran the company for 30 years from 1958. Andre Lewis, the present Director, has been in charge only since last year, but he has a long association with the company, having joined as a dancer in 1979. There are currently 26 dancers in the company, which also tours with its own small orchestra. At home in Winnipeg, the company shares purpose-built premises with the RWB School - cause for envy for any British company! Besides its home seasons, the RWB tours both in Canada and world wide for nearly half the year, and the seasons at the Peacock Theatre and in Edinburgh are the last on their current tour of Europe. The Repertoire The RWB aims at a balance between classical traditions and new work - they have danced both Ashton and Cranko as well as the great choreographers represented in their two London programmes, and actively promote contemporary Canadian choreography. Their repertoire in London reflects this balance (in Edinburgh they're doing the full-length 'Giselle', in a production by Peter Wright - London just gets the Act ll pas de deux) and has more to look forward to than we've seen for a long time. Balanchine, Tudor and Robbins - what a feast! We've seen Balanchine's 'Concerto Barocco', to Bach's Double Violin Concerto, before - the touring RB used to do it - but not for some time; his 'Ballo della Regina' is much more of a rarity. He wrote it for Merrill Ashley, so expect a central role of challenging technical problems! Antony Tudor's 'The Leaves are Fading' is not one of his famous dramatic works - it's a gentle, plotless piece, last seen here done by ABT years ago. Gelsey Kirkland was in the original cast - Evelyn Hart has been dancing her role on tour. For London audiences the most familiar of the 20th century pieces will be Jerome Robbins' 'Other Dances', which the RB did not long ago and in which over the years we've seen some extremely starry casts, giving Hart and Manuel Legris a hard act to follow! It's a pas de deux to Chopin music - the title is usually taken to refer back to 'Dances at a Gathering', Robbins' famous masterpiece which was also based on Chopin. The other pieces in the repertory are all new to this country. Toer van Schayk's piece to Beethoven's 'Seventh Symphony' was originally written for the Dutch National Ballet, and the only person I've found who can remember seeing it describes it as 'rather good'. The music is certainly a challenge! Mark Godden, though American born, has been associated with the RWB since he joined the school in 1981; he also choreographs for most of Canada's other leading companies. His work 'Miroirs', set to music by Ravel, was created for the RWB about 18 months ago. The final work, 'L'Etiquette' is by Canadian Joe Laughlin, who trained as a gymnast before getting involved in dance. A correspondent who saw it in The Hague describes it as 'a crazy and very funny parody of Baroque dance at Versailles' - sounds just the thing to send us home happy! The Dancers Most of RWB's dancers are graduates of their school, though by no means all are Canadian. The principals are Zhang Wei-Chang, Jorden Morris and Suzanne Robio - who has attracted attention on the tour expecially for her performance in 'Ballo della Regina'. Much the best known is 'resident guest artist' Evelyn Hart. Herself a graduate of the RWB School - though she started her training in London - she is an internationally recognised ballerina who has appeared with companies all over the world. (She stars in the video of Makarova's production of 'Swan Lake' for ENB.) On this tour she has been attracting rave notices, not least from our friend in Holland who describes her as 'a living legend' and says she 'must must must' be seen! And the icing on the cake is the presence of Manuel Legris, here to partner her in 'Other Dances' - he is one of the stars of the Paris Opera, indisputably one of the finest male dancers in the world, and hardly known in London. Winnipeg performances,     'Winnipeg' in postings,     Winnipeg reviews?
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../oct97/royal_winnipeg_ballet.htm revised: 10th October 1997 Bruce Marriott email, © all rights reserved, all wrongs denied. credits written by Jane Simpson © email design by RED56