I am very starved of ballet since I moved to Abu Dhabi 3 months ago. So, today I went to the Emirates Palace to see a performance of the Moscow City Ballet with their version of "The Sleeping Beauty".
Well, well, well, where do I start? I was in fact debating whether to let the whole thing drop as if it had never happened, but it was so ridiculous that it actually deserves a review to be shared with you esteemed blog-readers.
Before the performance my colleague Nawal and I went to Le Café at Emirates Palace and had a snack, I chose the scones with different jams and what a good choice that was! This was the deciding factor that when my parent come to visit I will take them to the Palace for an Afternoon Tea. Absolutely delicious!
For the ballet Nawal and I opted for the cheapest tickets at AED 95 (~£18) which in hindsight was exactly the right decision. The seating in the auditorium at the Emirates Palace is so well designed that one has a great view of the stage from every angle, we were in the plush balcony seats. Unfortunately the same focus on quality of the seats wasn't applied to the sound system, this I have experienced here before when attending film screenings.
There was no orchestra, the music was played from some recording on the tinny sound-system the Emirates Palace's otherwise wonderful auditorium is equipped with. As you might have guessed this awful sound only added to the ridiculousness of the performance.
Also, the lighting left something to be desired, the spot-light wasn't necessarily following the main soloist on stage and sometimes some of the dancers were even left in the dark completely. I am not sure if this was Emirates Palace's fault or lack of attention of Moscow City Ballet company's lighting technician.
Now, I am still trying to sort my thoughts into something comprehendable but am struggling slightly, so please accept my apologies in advance if this post seems a little mumble-jumble (in that case it's actually just in line with the performance in general).
During the overture the curtain opened (25 minutes late btw!) and we saw a Lilac Fairy standing there for about a minute or two before she started simply walking around the stage, intercepted with a few port-de-bras and some pointing to something in the wings (I have no idea what/who it was she pointed at). All along people were still taking their seats in the auditorium and taking photos despite a vocal announcement prior to lights down in addition to clear signs outside the auditorium. Rude, just plain rude of these patrons, no matter the quality of the performance, such behaviour is just disrespectful of the dancers.
Prologue: The Lilac Fairy did not exude the confidence and wisdom you'd expect of such a prestigious role and was in fact outshone in technique and stage presence by the girl who danced the Songbird Fairy. Little Songbird Fairy was probably the highlight of the evening. Although, none of the choreography was the Petipa-version known to anyone who's ever seen a classic Sleeping Beauty. In fact, the choreographer must be a very dull person if his creative output is anything to go by. In my opinion any Liam Scarlett choreography for White Lodge students is better: more varied, more logically put together, more sophisticated, much more musical, not to mention better executed by the students.
The Carabosse character was The-Little-Hobbit-meets-Little-Britain's-David-Walliams-for-a-Red-Nose-Day-sketch. I just call it character as I'm not sure what it represented, I think it was a male dancer in some kind of cape-y dress with a walking stick.
The mime wasn't very clear throughout the whole ballet (luckily Sleeping Beauty is a well known fairy tale) and especially when this caped, crouched over character just stomps around the stage one feels one has blundered into a British Christmas panto-performance without the audience interaction.
Act I: The 4 princes all wore the same outfits, no distinction between them, no wonder Aurora is not taken by any of them, I personally wouldn't want to marry some nondescript, bland numpty either.
Well, Aurora, what can I say, she had super-high extensions but only danced the steps, she didn't put any heart and soul into the role. The Rose Adage was a very shaky affair, there were literally no balances. Yes, the only original choreo-bit that had been kept were the 2 attitude balances when Aurora meets all the princes. Only tonight our Aurora did not hold a single balance, quickly grabbed (!) the next prince's hand and still looked very uncomfortable. Maybe she "returned the favour" as the main-partner-prince seemed to manhandle her more than actually partner and support her. During Aurora's partnered pirouettes he stood in a wide second position almost in a grand plié and spun her around like a potter spins his wheel.
At no point during this act did the Lilac Fairy soften Carabosse's spell from death to long sleep. A big FAIL in my opinion!
Interval: No Emirates Palace staff knew how long this interval was going to be. So, Nawal and I made sure not to stay out too long and get back to our seat promptly. Good thinking that was, too, as there was one announcement "Act 2 of the performance is about to be" (sic!) the lights went down and the performance commenced. Again, patrons were streaming back into the auditorium whilst the dancers did their bit on stage. Very weird, wouldn't happen in Covent Garden.
Act II: Prince Florimund appeared on stage and this guy immediately reminded me of Thomas Anders during his 1980s Modern Talking heydays, and I am sure Thomas Anders would have been as good a Florimund as this guy of MCB tonight, possibly even with more charisma.
And, as flexible as Aurora was as stiff was this Florimund, his arabesque did not even reach a 90 degree angle (he made me think of him as a croaky attic door), plus he walked around the stage as if he was doing his weekly grocery shopping, no grace, no inspiration, just doing a chore.
The vision scene wasn't lyrical and imaginary at all and I suspect that a big chunk of the audience was wondering why he was dancing with Aurora already before even having kissed her (she was still wearing her pink birthday tutu). Ach yes, the kiss... was there actually a kiss? I don't think there was, but that might be because of the ban of public displays of affection in the UAE.
Act III: Puss in Boots had forgotten to put on his boots, he must've left the house in a hurry and was still wearing his comfy bedroom slippers. Blue Bird had definitely had one (or two or ten) caterpillars too many. At this point I was oh so very close to a laughing fit, especially when Nawal leaned over and whispered "this guy is FAT". Indeed, he was more like a blue elephant than a blue bird.
Seriously, the men in this company are terrible, no turn-out, stiff as a board, no stage presence, bad partners, all in all rather misplaced on a stage.
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| a grainy BlackBerry photo of the final tableau |
As soon as the final tunes of Tchaikovsky's otherwise beautiful music faded out, Nawal and I were out of our seats, leaving the auditorium. I have not applauded once during the whole performance. Am I mean? No, I don't think so. I just know what a good dancer looks like, in fact the Royal Ballet School would have shown this troupe up a million times. Any RBS Linbury performance (Lower and Upper School) has more oomph than tonight's show.
Ah well, we'll file this under experience, not necessarily an experience I need to repeat, but we gave it a go and now know that Moscow City Ballet is not a company I will rush to see again.
On the other hand, the food before and the view of Emirates Palace after clearly make up for quite some rubbish in between those two.
Furthermore this evening confirmed my love for the Royal Ballet and the knowledge of how spoilt Londoners are to have Royal Ballet and English National Ballet on their doorstep plus regular visits from other renown ballet companies at Sadler's Wells.
Royal Opera House Covent Garden, be ready for my visit in January, 3 days in a row. Whoopee!
