"Liebeslieder": Vienna State Ballet, January 25th, 2022

Don't let yourself be distracted by this gloomy and dark Programme cover, which has absolutely nothing to do with the Evening's content. This is a very happy Evening which has been very well planned – either purposedly or not. Robbins, Child, and Balanchine – to quote the Gershwin tune: „Who could ask for anything more?"

I must confess but that in times like these, one has so many preoccupations before attending a performance that all of a sudden I just realized the distinctiveness of the program while already sitting in my place at the 13th row... Yes, on the contrary to many countries, here in Austria there are 13th rows in Theatres and Airlines, even 13th floors at Hotels...

„Other Dances", created on Makarova and Baryshnikov by Jerome Robbins, premiered in 1976 and although originally made as a pièce d'occasion for a Gala, it received such critical acclaim (Clive Barnes called it „a masterpiece"), that it was soon added to ABT's and The New York City Ballet's repertories. It represents “a notch above” and sets quite a scale for other dancers to follow.

Having previously used Chopin's works in „The Concert", „Dances at a Gathering" and „In the Night" Robbins did not only surprise the more knowledgeable audience with the choice of those four Mazurkas and one Waltz (Opus 64, No. 3; the same one used by Fokine in „Les Sylphides") but surely also dazed Makarova and Baryshnikov, who were working with him for the first time (Note: remember that those were the times when just very Selden, ABT's staff mixed with The New York City Ballet's) with his quite unconventional methods during Rehearsals: He danced many times Baryshnikov's part, intentionally showing him WHAT he expected of the young, terribly talented (but still very green on more contemporary western terrain) Russian's Talent, who understood it perfectly. He called Robbins later „Stupendous"; referring to the experience of working with him as a „True revelation".

„Other Dances", beautifully coached and staged by Isabelle Guérin, which has the structure of a pas de deux with pas de deux, solos, and coda, could have worked in any different order as there is no story. It is not only quite tricky technically but also very difficult. First for its length as it is incredibly long for a pas de deux. Second, because its relaxed and harmonious general atmosphere is hard to achieve while waiting in the wings (One Dancer is never present on stage while the other one is dancing) – what turns the maintenance of the energy level into quite a task to be achieved and mastered. A task that Kiyoka Hashimoto and Masayu Kimoto managed quite well (It was announced at the very last minute that Hyo-Jung Kang and Davide Dato would not be capable of dancing yesterday's performance). Here and there, there were some technical difficulties, some flaws which, at least to my point of view, can be surely overseen for what counts is the general feeling that was left behind by this couple. Since they are homogeneously built physically, an extra kind of harmony (which I believe to be conditio sine qua non, extremely necessary in Ballet) is produced. They „suit each other", as so to say.

This physical harmony had been missing for quite some time and is something that I have been complaining about during the last 18 months – but I was to be quite positively surprised with yesterday's casting. More about that later.

© The Robbins Right Trust, Photo: Vienna State Ballet/ Ashley Taylor

Miss Hashimoto and Mr Kimoto did justice to the choreography that can be extremely Slavic with its constant use of strong „mazurka connotations" as stamping, cabrioles, and very specific arms that nearly border a kind of more character Dancing. On Mr Hashimoto's first solo, while turning diagonally through the stage, he sort of „loses" direction – a fact indicated by his head looking for the „right track". Some people thought that this had been quite a flaw. To those that still believe that, because of a certain lack of Ballet Knowledge, I would like to say that THIS IS INTENTIONAL and a part of the choreography, which Mr Hashimoto executed precisely. This is just „for the record".

Santo Loquasto's costumes are timeless and simply perfect, not only for this piece but also as ballet costumes. Costumes you can move with. By the way, there is an interesting comment made by Mr Loquasto referring to Mr Robbins – who was, according to many statements, not quite an easy person to deal with: Santo Loquasto said that he (Robbins) was „on his best behavior " while choreographing this piece due to his admiration for both Makarova and Baryshnikov.

Copyright: Vienna State Ballet/ Ashley Taylor

Lucinda Child's strong and precise signature is once more evident in „Concerto", a piece of conceptual Dance with minimalist movements in constant repetition. This may sound boring but it is not. Not at all. Due to her spatial explorations – be it in circles, diagonals, parallelism, geometry, and so on – every one of those (few) movements gets another connotation as the ballet progresses – be it in feeling, strength, dynamic, directness, simplicity, and (I pondered for a while before expressing that) texture. Yes. That is the general feeling. Very rich.

That is also another reason to return to this show. To watch THIS piece again, but from the gallery to understand better its formations and energetic disclosures.

Constant, continuous, never-ending, never stopping activity and movement in a brilliant and fascinating concept of simplicity that produces the most overwhelming, breathtaking effect. Dance. Just Dance.

Lucinda Child once said that she „responds to music when she choreographs". Also, it is known that she, when she started her company back in 1973, was interested in "creating dances with simple, geometrical spatial patterns". And as one sticks to principles, when they are good and worth the challenge, she demonstrated once more in „Concerto" (1993) these same but much more developed principles that she began to follow when she started professionally back in 1963. As the saying goes: „Good things take time".

I would not know where to begin when mentioning members of the cast. They were completely in unison and that is quite rare - and very special. That is why I prefer at this time, because of such a magnificent team work to mention every name that was seen yesterday on stage with such strong abandonment: Marie Breuilles, Natalya Butchko, Laura Cislaghi, Sveva Gargiulo, Jackson Carroll, Kristián Pokorny, and Daniel Vizcayo. Bravo, good show!

Once more there was a strong physical homogeneity. All of them very thin, beautiful dancers. I would like herewith also to mention Ty Boomershine's wonderful work in rehearsing this production.

Some people may call Balanchine’s „Liebeslieder Walzer", which premièred in 1960, „old-fashioned", „dated" and even „dusty", an expression loved exactly by, “of all people”, the Viennese when something resembles an old-fashioned Operetta production of the (former) „Volksoper" or “Raimundtheater”. But this is a great misunderstanding, or perhaps, I'd say politely, a „lack of information". I particularly see „Liebeslieder Walzer" as a concession that Balanchine probably did for some special reason, for the financiers of „The New York City Ballet". One must understand the Ballet World in America, as good and wonderful and diversified as it is – it is dependent on the Financiers. It is not a „State Thing" like in Europe – also Dancers don't have f.o.c. Conservatories, State Schools etc. but have to pay for their education themselves. It is a different system. A much harder one. Somebody may have given this commitment (and paid for it) or the Finacial direction may have wanted something more „classy" (a term used by Americans because of the lack of knowing how to express themselves). So, to make a long story short, Mr B. packaged this most superficial of Stories in the cellophane of lyricism by Brahms, gave it a „classy" touch and the „excuse" that in the first part the Dancers are people dancing and in the second part, these same Dancers represent their souls. I never “bought that”, by the way. There is no involvement and surely no serious commitment in all that. Also not choreographically - but it is beautiful anyway.

Michael Birkmeyer, Judith Gerber, Franz Wilhelm, Susanne Kirnbauer, Lilly Scheuermann, Ludwig Karl, Lisl Maar & Karl Musil. Copyright: Vienna State Ballet (1977)

It was good to open the program and see such familiar faces as LillyScheuermann, the handsome Ludwig Karl, Michael Birkmeyer, Judith Gerber, Susanne Kirnbauer, and even a not very young Karl Musil back in 1977 on the stage of the Opera and being coached by Mr B. (1904-1983) personally. I have seen this production for the first time in 1984 (Tanz ‘84) but with a slightly different cast: the great Marialuise Jaska and Heinz Heidenreich were also in it and the production was by then, after Balanchine's death, supervised by the unforgettable Karin von Aroldingen (1941-2018).

Claudine Schoch & Roman Lazik. Copyright: Vienna State Ballet/ Ashley Taylor

Four couples in a ballroom. The women with satin ballroom dresses and high-heels. The men wear tailcoats and gloves. The choreography is smooth and quite linear. There is no chance for some dancers, to rely on their abilities (this has nothing to do with technique). They are quite „naked", figuratively speaking. And that is good as a „theatrical exercise". Therefore it was good to see Liudmila Konovalova more „down to earth", more human, and Maria Yakovleva, looking beautiful and fragile (stealing the show, by the way), who was the only one of the women who surely knew what she was doing with a full comprehension of the staging and visual effects of this piece, using them for her best advantage. Elena Bottaro was, as usual, very pretty and neat, very „nightingale and roses" but with no real consistency yet as a dancer and still with lots to refine technically.

Maria Yakovleva & Masayu Kimoto. Copyright: Vienna State Ballet/ Ashley Taylor

Claudine Schoch a bit uneasy in certain parts of the choreography and sometimes lacking the necessary projection a Soloist should have, impressed me, on the other hand by her professionality while sitting – to „wait" on stage should not be understated and is a difficult thing to do for it takes more energy than one thinks. She was the only woman on stage with a sweet look of affection and balance (and 100% attention) while looking at the others perform. This touching quality revealed a completely new side of her personality to me, although I must confess that I have not seen her much on stage yet.

Liudmila Konovalova & Zolt Török. Copyright: Vienna State Ballet/ Ashley Taylor

Zolt Törok gave a correct performance. This was the first time I have seen him confronted with such a big challenge but this was a good start. Masayu Kimoto, who had been already in “Other Dances” gave also very correct performance but seemed to be lacking a bit of concentration on the contrary of Denys Cherevychko, whose performance surprised me a bit by its reserved duality. Sometimes I think that there is a tendency of believing that Mr Cherevychko can take any dancer and make her give a good performance. Well, that does not always work. Roman Lazik, our only Danseur Noble for more than a decade. Elegance, Pouvoir, Distinction, Class, Emotions and Technique. Always a pleasure to witness such performances – the ones that understand not only what should happen within one's own body but can locate himself beautifully in the surroundings he is in.

I must just add that it surely makes a difference that Bart Cook did not come to Vienna for the second cycle of rehearsals in January. This would have surely made a difference in the quality of the given performances.

Elena Bottaro & Deny Cherevychko. Copyright: Vienna State Ballet/ Ashley Taylor

The „break" between Parts 1 and 2 took this time too long – Members of the audience, who were not familiar with the piece, began to feel uncomfortable and restless. A bit of „acceleration" would be recommendable to shorten this “waitung time”. The second part (Women in point shoes, Men without gloves) is richer in different aspects of emotion, which did not always come through. As mentioned before either because of a lack of „consistency" or „experience" or „concentration". Having just witnessed Child’s „Concerto" before (no comparison intended) on which all dancers were more than aware of another, suddenly it was inevitable to realize that each couple was dancing for itself without truly acknowledging what was happening around it.

For those who like „Liebeslieder-Walzer" and „Neue Liebeslieder", which I do not consider in the same category of other Brahms'compositions, a joy, especially with the clear vocal talents of Johanna Wallroth, Stephanie Mailand, Hiroshi Amako, and Ilja Kazakov.

As I have mentioned before:

a very well-planed Evening, filled with distinctiveness. A MUST to Balletomanes. Highly recommendable.

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