The success of a triple bill sometimes hinges on its diversity – something for everyone. Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo scored a perfect ten with its latest offering at the Grimaldi Forum. In a programme that included Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments, Ratmansky’s Wartime Elegy and a world premiere from Marco Goecke, La Nuit transfigurée (Transfigured Night), this mix not only provided variety for the audience but it revealed the versatility of the individual dancers across the company.
To execute the technical complexities of anything created by George Balanchine, with his musical precision and speed, a certain freedom combined with sudden juxtaposition, requires careful nurture and coaching. Just as The Royal Ballet recently enjoyed the expertise of former NYCB ballerina Patricia Neary, she brought the same knowledge and experience to Monte Carlo. She has been staging his works for 57 years but at 82, she confessed afterwards, that she thinks it’s time to stop. As testament to the generations of dancers she has gifted, the audience was filled with former dancers and directors wanting to show their gratitude.
The 4Ts, as it is affectionately known, is set to a commissioned score by Paul Hindemith, Theme with Four Variations for String Orchestra and Piano. First performed in 1946, it has become a part of the repertoire in many international ballet companies. It is a fine example of Balanchine’s visionary creativity, seemingly so far ahead of his time.
It is also very exposing. With the women in black leotards and pink tights and the men in black tights and white T-shirts, there is no room for error. The angular movements express the somewhat spiky music and while the dancers never once belied the difficulty that the choreography presents, the tension visibly dissipated as the ballet progressed. Within a superb cast, particularly impressive were Jaeyong An in Flegmatique and Juliette Klein in Colérique.
Alexei Ratmansky’s poignant Wartime Elegy, premiered by Pacific Northwest Ballet in 2022 in response to the outbreak of war in Ukraine, is 20 minutes worth of glorious, inventive, meaningful choreography and ravishing dancing. I could watch this over and over again, every second a revelation.
Split into four parts, the opening and closing sections are to Valentin Silvestrov’s Four Postludes for Piano and String Orchestra and sandwiched in the middle, some historic recordings of Ukrainian Village Music. It feels very personal – the first and last parts infused with the tragedy and sadness of war with yearning, fearful duets and softly lyrical solos. The folk dances in the middle are so upbeat and vivacious, first for the men and then the women, they are clearly a nod to the resilience and positivity of the Ukrainian people and also a reflection of the long history of Ukrainian tradition.
Lucía Alfaro Córcoles, Klein, Ashley Krauhaus and Ekaterina Mamrenko were breathtaking with the speed and height of their jetés, the intricate footwork, the rather flirtatious use of épaulement. Ige Cornelis, Kozam Radouant, Alessio Scognamiglio and Lukas Simonetto were simply astonishing, leaving the audience open-mouthed as they flew through the air, managed the petit allegro at high velocity and executed some hitherto unexplored choreography as if they had been born practising batterie! This was some of the most imaginative vocabulary I have witnessed in a long time – and so musical. The ‘human’ wheel has stuck with me. Wartime Elegy warrants multiple viewings.
Goecke’s La Nuit transfigurée to Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht for string orchestra was less easy to fathom. His movement language is not to everyone’s taste but it is nevertheless unique and instantly recognisable. It is also hugely challenging for classically trained dancers. Somehow the company have mastered the technique and appear to ‘get’ what Goecke demands of his cast. Schoenberg’s music was inspired by a poem by Richard Dehmel about a woman who has to confront the man that she loves and tell him that she is carrying another man’s child. It’s about the transformative effects of love on human nature.
This does not translate in Goecke’s piece, but that may have been his intention. It is punctuated with brief explosions of blasphemy (in English), quite a bit of cackling female laughter, some wholly unexpected moments: a woman has her breast bitten (at least that’s what it looked like); the dancers scuttle off to the rear of the stage like rodents. If the motivation was unclear, the dancing was, however, compelling. Goecke's fitful, convulsive movements were sometimes strange and baffling but the delivery was captivating. Most effective were the passages of ensemble work, where the sea of dancers moving in unison elicited incredulity.
At the the close of the piece, a dancer walked up to a strategically placed microphone, “Je te quitte maintenant,” she said. Whether it was directed at us was unclear, but regardless, I'd happily watch this triple bill again.
Deborah's trip was funded by Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo
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