I'd wondered if anyone had started a thread on the Royal Ballet's new ballet "The Cellist", based on the life of Jacqueline du Pre, but it seems not. It got plenty of coverage in the media and on Radio 3. It was broadcast to cinemas last week, and there may still be some "encore" performances doing the rounds somewhere. It's in a double bill with "Dances at a Gathering", to Chopin piano music.
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Did you see it? Dances at a Gathering was superb - for once I actually enjoyed most of a ballet, though the "emotions" expressed seemed mostly to be joyful, cheerful, etc. Nothing wrong with that but sometimes (I don't know why) seeing artistic works which deal with difficult subjects - sadness - bad human interactions (violence, treachery) etc. seem also very worthwhile.
I was less keen on the Cellist - though it was not terrible. Personally I didn't feel that it gave me much more insight into Du Pre's life than I knew already, and I thought it might have been much less comprehensible to anyone not familiar with her story. However, other people liked it. I would go to see the Jerome Robbins ballet again, but I'd be a bit less likely to go to a repeat of the Cellist. Nevertheless, I repeat, it is not terrible. I might understand it more if I saw it one more time, but I'm not rushing to do that. -
I liked Dances At A Gathering more, certainly (first cast - not so much second cast, which I thought suffered rather more from inexperienced dancers not quite nailing the interpretation), but not as much as the last run, which was probably a decade ago, and with different dancers.
I too have mixed feelings about The Cellist, although that may partly be because I had a restricted view on both occasions. This is the problem with bringing outside choreographers in: they tend not to be familiar with the viewing restrictions caused from the side seats (some house choreographers also have this failing, of course).Comment
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