posted April 17, 2001 03:38            

'Symbiont(s)' with Deborah Bull and Edward Watson

'Covent Garden is thinking big by acting small.' ALLEN ROBERTSON in The Times talks about the innovative Artists' Development Initiative (ADI) at The Royal Opera House and previews the latest offerring from Wayne McGregor, which opens on Thursday this week.

posted April 22, 2001 01:27            

By Jann Parry in The Observer

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A beansprout of a leg gleams in the darkness, extending itself towards a light source high in the flies. It could be the antenna of some mutant creature until its owner is revealed as Edward Watson, whose six o'clock arabesque almost rivals Sylvie Guillem's.

In Duo:logue, Wayne McGregor's programme for the Royal Ballet and his company, Random, dancers are fantastic beings. He presents them as contradictions: sexy yet genderless; anonymous and entirely individual. In his creations for Random, he uses digital technology and laser lighting to make flesh and blood seem as insubstantial as computer animations. Here, he lets his performers create their own illusions through the speed and skill with which they move.

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http://www.observer.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,476332,00.html

posted April 22, 2001 01:29            

'Symbiont(s)' was as exciting as the first time I saw it with the dancers going hell for leather. Apart from those mentioned by Jann Parry above, Tom Sapsford made a big impression on a lot of people. Hopefully the Royal will make better use of him next season.

'Aeon' to wonderful string ensemble music by Marin Marais is all elegance and McGregor's Random Dance perform it with great skill. In a series of solos and conversations between the dancers, the troubled relationships that stand out for their variety. The ensemble pieces were very strong and Claire Cunningham and Laila Dialio excelled in their solos.

'brainstate' brought up to 18 dancers from both companies onto the Linbury stage. It kept my attention and some thought it the high-spot of the evening. However, it didn't leave as clear an image with me as the highly focussed earlier works.

This programme goes for one night to The Maltings, Snape and then to Washington alongside the Royal Ballet visit.

posted April 23, 2001 03:47            

By Judith Mackrell in The Guardian

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Wayne McGregor wasn't a complete ballet novice when he was invited to collaborate with Deborah Bull, Edward Watson and five other Royal Ballet dancers last year. But, for a choreographer so closely associated with modern dance and with digital technology his resulting work, Symbiont(s), demonstrated a startling sympathy with the classical vocabulary.

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More...

McGregor gives classical ballet a sexy glitter

BY NADINE MEISNER in The Independent (via the FT site)

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EVERYONE WANTS to see Wayne McGregor's choreography, now he has been working with the Royal Ballet. There is something irresistibly alluring about watching major-league classical dancers "slumming it", with modern dance and the members of McGregor's own Random Dance Company. Duo:logue in three parts is the culmination of a collaboration, spread over a year, between McGregor and the Royal Ballet, instigated by Deborah Bull's Artists' Development Initiative at Covent Garden.

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More...

Stuart adds: An unfortunate turn of phrase above, even if 'slumming it' is in inverted commas. 'Symbiont(s)' is generally seen one of the best new works by the Royal Ballet for several years. So substitute 'doing high quality new work'.

posted April 24, 2001 12:34            

Jenny Gilbert in The Independent reviews Wayne McGregor's 'Duo:logue' and also the 'Junebug Symphony'.

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/theatre/
dance/reviews/story.jsp?story=68244

Creature of fantasy leaps from the dark

Ismene Brown reviews Duo:Logue by the Royal Ballet and Random, at Covent Garden

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000148269364269&rtmo=r9aStDbX
&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/01/4/24/btlog24.html

posted May 25, 2001 04:03            

By Lisa Traiger for The Washington Post

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FOR Royal Ballet ballerina Deborah Bull, the opportunity to step outside the classical canon and perform modern work holds an undeniable appeal. "When you're going on stage in a classical role, you deal not only with the role and the choreography, but also with the audience expectations," Bull says.

"There's a particular thrill in doing new work, because there's no expectation," she continues, "but there's also a challenge in working with new movement language."

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Shame it's so short.

posted May 26, 2001 06:56            

Another thread is that principals are often under-utilised because they have only a choice of the big roles and, let's face it, there are a large number of principals who cannot all be on the stage at the same time. Deborah Bull, principal for many years, was able to show herself in work emminently suited to her style and in which she shone, and what a huge shame if we had never seen her dance like that - absolutely one of the highest quality and most energising performances I had seen in a long time. (I am talking about the first performance Royal Ballet/McGregor in the Clore Studio). I thought at the time, dance doesn't get much better than this.

posted May 26, 2001 07:22            

This might well change under the more adventurous Stretton, but not everyone will cheer.

Regarding the younger dancers who shone so brightly in Duo:logue, I really have my fingers crossed that the RB gives proper weighting to performances in The Clore and the Linbury as well as the main auditorium.

Thanks for the compliment Emma. It was the hierarchies topic in 'Issues' that lead to the article.

posted June 06, 2001 07:23            

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Wayne McGregor, the director of what has been billed as Great Britain's cutting-edge modern dance troupe, Random Dance Company, relishes choreography that's densely packed but which seems more utilitarian than dancerly.

Saturday evening at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater, McGregor's eight Random dancers shared a program of his choreography with members of the Royal Ballet, among them principal ballerina Deborah Bull.

The three works, under the rubric "Duo:logue," demonstrated McGregor's penchant for athletically challenging, highly scripted continuous streams of motion and partnering where the dancers tug, pull and manipulate one another with little regard for the humanity behind the steps.

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