"Promethean Fire", Vienna State Ballet (Wiener Staatsballett), Volksoper, March 12th, 2023

Mar 13

Mar 13 "Promethean Fire", Vienna State Ballet (Wiener Staatsballett), Volksoper, March 12th, 2023

Even with tickets being sold for „banana's prices" until the very last minute, the house was not full. To be quite honest I did not even bother to count the number of empty seats around me. There were too many.

The present ballet direction's supporting team has not yet realized that we are not in a province, as they were in Düsseldorf and Duisburg. They keep on trying to give „lectures" before the shows about the choreographies that are going to be shown. I arrived purposedly late to avoid this „embarrassing situation" (These are the only words I can find to define such „events"). I must say that I attended once such an event but after Marius Petipa’s name was mispronounced many times by the Chief “dramaturgist” (!?!) Anne do Paço, offending my ears, I had to leave. Furthermore, I refuse to be told what I am going to „see" and, most of all, what I have to „feel" while watching a show. This „didactic" way may have proved efficient at the Ruhrpott (Note: Ruhr Valley in Germany) but it does not work here. It is somehow insulting.

Funnily enough, this evening was not (once more) „labeled" with a creatively invented, artificial name but carried the title of Paul Taylor's piece, „Promethean Fire". Strange. To my way of thinking and because of its peculiar composition, the evening should preferably carry a name such as „I have seen this before – many times" or even something that would remember the original title of Erich Maria Remarque's novel „All quiet on the Western Front": „Im Westen nichts neues".

Well, whatever.

Copyright: Vienna State Ballet / Ashley Taylor

„Promethean Fire", a quite dated and not very exceptional work by Paul Taylor, gave the audience, at least, the chance to see some very professional and precise execution by the corps de ballet members Céline Janou Weder, Géraud Wielick, Marian Furnica, Marie Breuilles, Igor Milos, and Chiara Uderzo among some others.

Aleksandra Liashenko shined with a precise performance and impressed the audience with the subtle use of her arms, especially while turning.

Tomoaki Nakanome, in contrast, appeared to be unsure of the part, nearly uncomfortable in it, and had a strange tendency of not quite finalizing the movements.

„Iontano" and „ramifications" are „neat", very light works by Mr Martin Schläpfer that were written quite a while ago, probably for smaller stages, using fewer dancers, and not showing off the 120 dancers of the Vienna State Ballet. For the first time, the Vienna audiences can see a less pretentious work of the above-mentioned choreographer to realize that this kind of choreography, on a smaller, lesser scale, is what he does best.

Even though the choreographies are not challenging to dancers as Ioanna Avraam, Elena Bottaro, and Sveva Gargiulo, it must be established that they did the best they could, out of such material.

„beaux" by Mark Morris is a beautiful, homo erotic, choreography. If well executed. And that was, except for talented Zsolt Török, not the case. I will not go into details, except for mentioning Hanno Opperman's extremely stock-still stiffness. Definitely a big casting mistake.

The company consists now of many dancers who are much more „contemporary" and have a certain difficulty with a more classic attitude. Dancers nowadays have to be much more flexible than this.

I am not talking about muscles but about versatility, and the ability to command the classical technique as well as Modern, Contemporary, even Tap and Flamenco and, and, and!

But the company has been turned within less than three years into a (pseudo) „contemporary" one.

This a difficult situation for a repertoire House.

The Vienna State Opera, as in Paris, London, and Milano is not a provincial House (as mentioned above about Düsseldorf and Duisburg) with just „local" audiences. The requirements are completely different.

And that is what the Opera's director, Bogdan Roščić, did not understand. As „Ballet" is definitely not his „forte", as we can plainly see.

Wondering about next Season's „return" to the classics (as the present programmes did not bring the success and the wished-for occupancy and profitability for both Operas which are paid for with our tax money), I cannot help but fear what we will be facing in the near future.

Looking at yesterday evening's cast, I cannot imagine dancers as Rashaen Arts, Calogero Failla, and Junnosuke Nakamura, among many others (many, also girls who were not on stage yesterday), in a more „classic repertoire", due to their visibly technical limitations... Sad, especially when I think of so many talented dancers who are out of a job.

The last question is: why couldn’t the (perhaps even less capable) dancers of the Volksoper not be used on such an evening? At the beginning of this present direction period so much was said about “one company”. Now this seems to be a forgotten issue. I'll leave you with that today.

This not very significant evening…

But reminding you of Remarque's book „All quiet on the Western Front": „Im Westen nichts neues". Or should I just say „I have seen this before – many times"?

Ricardo Leitner

March 13th, 2023