Vienna State Ballet: presenting the new Season 2021/22 (June 17th, 2021)
How does the old (and always captivating) song go? „Another Season, another reason for making Whoopee". Yes, and here we go again...
Last June 17th, the Vienna State Ballet has presented the actual plans for the new Season. I must underline that I am still being quite careful while talking about a new Season by just mentioning the word „plans". As we all know, nobody can be quite sure whether there will be another Lockdown or not after this Summer. It all depends on how careful and disciplined people are… But I don't want to let my perhaps too careful, attitude bother you.
During a quite informal and very well-structured hour - a novity which we have not experienced for years during the former direction’s period - Mr Martin Schläpfer (Ballet Director), Miss Simone Wohing (Commercial Director) and Miss Anne do Paço (Head Dramaturgist) talked positive and charmingly to the Members of the fourth State about all that is planned for the 2021/22 Season. That is exactly the "key" in which I want this report to "sound"; positive, charming.
Apart from a series of Special programmes and different initiatives as „Tanzpodium", open classes, Masterclasses etc. (Very interesting: „Dance in Film", a cooperation with the „Wiener Kinos Film casino and Filmhaus), six Premières will take place (Three at the Vienna State Opera, three others on the smaller stage of the Volksopera). Four of these programmes rely on the „Three Ballets Evening" formula, not so popular in Europe as in, for instance, Florida. Here a more knowledgeable audience seems to enjoy more of what you could call „Ballets with a plot" (I rather prefer the use of the linguistic term „story-telling" as this is what people are really looking for – a Story), but some of the „classics" as "Onegin", „Swan Lake", „Giselle" will be shown a few times - I still have the „childish hope" ("childish" because it does not take into consideration rights, scenery, costumes, other economical reasons such as royalties etc.) that someday a better version than Miss Tschernikova's "Giselle" could be staged here in Vienna, like Kevin McKenzie's one for the American Ballet Theatre, for example – this also goes for Nureyev's „Lake", which at some points is nothing less than a kind of "extreme ego trip" and, in the usual Nureyev manner, a celebration of the male dancer – forgetting that the ballet is called „Swan Lake" and that in this case the „Swan" roles are danced by women. The present version in Covent Garden would be my ideal choice. Quoting „The Royal Opera House" page: „The reimagining of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov's towering masterpiece by Liam Scarlett (Note by the author: reimagining based on Frederick Ashton's staging & work) is testament to the late choreographer's abiding love of classicism and innate musicality which shine through the production."
But back to the New Season in Vienna, works by Balanchine, Robbins (unfortunately and sadly NOT the ones that are never shown in Europe), Cunningham, van Manen, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Lucinda Childs, Marco Goecke but also 4 new works by Martin Schläpfer are on the Première list. Some evenings have a very daring, sometimes even eclectic combination of musical pieces that, frankly, are a bit too much for me – but that is a question of personal taste and one should never be influenced by his own, personal preferences. The audience's response to them is what counts.
All in all, one can feel a very positive attitude towards the future – and that is really what we all need at the moment. Positiveness.
Two principals will be leaving the Company: Nina Poláková, who will assume the Ballet direction of the Slovakian National Theatre – a great loss for Vienna: we wish Miss Poláková the very best for her future – and Robert Gabdullin who wants to dedicate himself more to instructing. I can well imagine that he will, at last, find his particular forte in such an occupation.
Some „new faces" will be joining the company, such as Miss Hyo-Jung Kang (Principal with Stuttgart Ballet) and Alexey Popov (Principal with The Bavarian State Ballet but in fact, more a Soloist than a Principal), both gifted Artists whom I had the chance to see on stage while still in Germany.
„Coming Home" is Miss Alaia Rogers-Maman, who had already been a part of the Ensemble from 2014 to 2020, before joining the Royal Swedish Ballet. A very welcome return!
Still to add to this positive conclusion is the fact that 57 performances at the State Opera and 33 at the Voslksopera are planned for the next Season (The same quantity level as during the last seasons with the former direction). Worth mentioning is the interesting visual C.I. presence in the combination of the photographic works of Ashley Taylor, an extremely accomplished and sensible Dance Photographer and Peter M. Mayr, who, although not displaying much of "Dance" (not at all in fact, at least in the pictures I have seen up to now), in his pictures, captures the essence of emotions, moods and hidden feelings very contemporarily and marvellously – a good combination. Unfortunately, I could not find the name of the responsible person for styling, who works for Mr Mayr's pictures, the kind of styling that enhances even more his very unusual and singular sense of perspective.
The only disappointing note is that the present direction seems to have refrained from any further work, at least for the moment, with the gifted, internationally acclaimed conductor Kevin Rhodes.
Résumé: Let us look straight ahead into the future, stay healthy, hope for a certain „Normality" (I don't use this word very comfortably as I think that „Normality" will gain a new meaning and a new „appearance" within the next months) so we can all once more enjoy again our cultural lives.
In this „Spirit" I welcome and salute „Another Season, another reason for making Whoopee".
Yes.
Ricardo Leitner
a t t i t u d e
June 19th, 2021
