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Sarah Frater's rating
, Boy meets girl ballet
By
Sarah Frater
26 Mar 2008
Dance fans have no reason to grumble. After two weeks of New York City Ballet comes Stuttgart Ballet, the little-seen German troupe who dance Romeo and Juliet. London sees umpteen Romeos but this is the work of John Cranko, the South African born dance-maker who transformed the Stuttgart troupe in the 1960s, as well as ballet itself.
Cranko was uneasy with ballet’s aristocratic manners. He thought dance should be of “life itself” and convey authentic emotions in naturalistic ways. In his Romeo, first made in 1958, you see him cast off the old imperious formality, making everything fresher, younger and sexier. You also see how much of the spadework he did for Kenneth MacMillan, whose own Romeo (the one danced by The Royal Ballet) is much influenced by Cranko’s.
The Stuttgart dancers are pretty good, if artistically immature. Their interpretation of the story is strictly boy-meets-girl, although Friedemann Vogel (Romeo) and Katja Wunsche (Juliet) are a great boy and girl. He has an awesome leap, and nice floppy hair, and she is gentle and sweet. However, there’ s no deeper resonance, no friction between their emotional boldness and our romantic timidity, and without that we’re rather in the realm of photo love stories.
That said, there is some terrific dancing. The Act I pas de trois for Romeo, Mercutio (Filip Barankiewicz) and Benvolio (Marijn Rademaker) is tip top, as is the carnival dancing in Act II. The balcony duet for Romeo and Juliet includes ingenious turns and rapturous lifts. Other good touches include Mercutio twanging Tybalt’s sword, implying his impotence, and Romeo stroking Juliet’s hair in the bedroom scene, a gesture he repeats as they die. There were also great sword fights and sets and costumes that conveyed the balminess of an Italian night.
Until 30 March (0871 911 0200, www.eno.org)
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Reader views (1)
How frustrating it must have been for Cranko to see his Romeo and Juliet moulded into an even greater work by MacMillan just a few years later. It’s a moot point whether the later piece could have emerged so fully formed without the groundwork laid by its predecessor (of which the visiting Stuttgart can be justly proud). Yet, something was missing at its heart at last night's opening - a Juliet to whom the audience could truly warm. Although Katja Wunsche’s dancing was nigh-on impeccable, she was just too worldly, too sophisticated and too self-reliant to move you. Her superb Romeo - Friedmann Vogel - had just the right amount of coltish, devil-may-care, youthful braggadocio in spades and his dancing was outstanding. Crisp solos, high leaps, clean footwork and considerate partnering set a standard to which he and this well-drilled company adhered all evening. And, for MacMillan fans, it was instructional to see how he amplified the Cranko’s template of steps to such electrifying dramatic effect (in the bedroom pas, the tomb scene and elsewhere) in his own later take on the story. But Cranko’s interpretation more than held its own in this vibrant version that is certainly up there up there with the very best of them. As, on this showing, is the company itself.
- Clive Burton, London, 26/03/2008 15:56
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