The Swan Lake's are now over (at least for now) which brings the return of Giselle. A gorgeous ballet that's also attractively short. Opening night brought the partnership of Carlos Acosta and Marianela Nuñez and boy was it a strong evening.
Nuñez just seems to get better and better. She recently put together an absolutely terrific Swan Lake, but the sombre tone of Odette rather missed her. Here, on debut in the role, she looked absolutely stunning as the happy go lucky Giselle of Act I but then transformed herself to produce a heart rendingly mournful Giselle in Act II. Her incredibly sure footed but light and breezy dancing was simply enchanting. Acosta has never been a great actor and here was no different. Does this Albrecht love Giselle or is he just a mean hearted bastard who toys with her and then feels guilty later? It wasn't really clear here as it was pretty much just Acosta walking through the mime. His pure dancing was as strong as ever, although this isn't much of a showcase for him with relatively little choreography on offer. Gary Avis is an absolute treasure for the company, listed as a character artist yet more capable than many younger members of the company, and Hilarion was perfectly suited to him. His Act I mime was easily followed and as he danced to death he carefully trod the line between dancing brilliantly and showing the near dead tiredness of the character. High marks to Genesia Rosato for ably handling the difficult mime of Giselle's mother.
The smaller roles all brought some very fine dancing to the party. Helen Crawford made an extremely cold-hearted, almost vicious Myrtha. Her hard edged dancing perfectly suits the role. Samantha Raine and Hikaru Kobayashi both danced impeccably and the support from the corps was just terrific, I don't think I've ever seen such precision from the Royal Ballet corps. Laura Morera and Ricardo Cervera impress (yet again, why are they always given these small parts?) as the lead couple in the pas de six, Cervera in particular looking frankly incredible in the air.
Giselle is a marvellous ballet, an epic showcase for a top dancer and in Nuñez the Royal Ballet have that ballerina. From divinely lovely peasant girl to protective, mournful wili; I couldn't fault her even if I tried. Acosta did what was required with customary flair but not a lot more. The corps was in blazing form as were all the supporting cast. Absolute magic.
Nuñez just seems to get better and better. She recently put together an absolutely terrific Swan Lake, but the sombre tone of Odette rather missed her. Here, on debut in the role, she looked absolutely stunning as the happy go lucky Giselle of Act I but then transformed herself to produce a heart rendingly mournful Giselle in Act II. Her incredibly sure footed but light and breezy dancing was simply enchanting. Acosta has never been a great actor and here was no different. Does this Albrecht love Giselle or is he just a mean hearted bastard who toys with her and then feels guilty later? It wasn't really clear here as it was pretty much just Acosta walking through the mime. His pure dancing was as strong as ever, although this isn't much of a showcase for him with relatively little choreography on offer. Gary Avis is an absolute treasure for the company, listed as a character artist yet more capable than many younger members of the company, and Hilarion was perfectly suited to him. His Act I mime was easily followed and as he danced to death he carefully trod the line between dancing brilliantly and showing the near dead tiredness of the character. High marks to Genesia Rosato for ably handling the difficult mime of Giselle's mother.
The smaller roles all brought some very fine dancing to the party. Helen Crawford made an extremely cold-hearted, almost vicious Myrtha. Her hard edged dancing perfectly suits the role. Samantha Raine and Hikaru Kobayashi both danced impeccably and the support from the corps was just terrific, I don't think I've ever seen such precision from the Royal Ballet corps. Laura Morera and Ricardo Cervera impress (yet again, why are they always given these small parts?) as the lead couple in the pas de six, Cervera in particular looking frankly incredible in the air.
Giselle is a marvellous ballet, an epic showcase for a top dancer and in Nuñez the Royal Ballet have that ballerina. From divinely lovely peasant girl to protective, mournful wili; I couldn't fault her even if I tried. Acosta did what was required with customary flair but not a lot more. The corps was in blazing form as were all the supporting cast. Absolute magic.
5 comments:
Who do you think would be a better male lead to catch in this ballet?
Well, I would agree with you on some points about these performances but not about Carlos Acosta.
It concerns me too that your first comment might have swayed someone from seeing Acosta in this role.
Obviously you've got to say what you see as a critic, but I wonder how much experience you have of watching Acosta dance ?
To say he cannot act is plain wrong.
Have you seen him dance Spartacus ?
I think that in the early days of his career, Acosta himself would say that acting was not his priority, rather the virtuoso steps for which his background prepared him. But that is why he came to the Royal Ballet - to learn the artistry, and he certainly has done that.
Giselle doesn't have a lot to offer him especially in Act 1, which makes it unfair to make a sweeping statement based on Giselle.
I would suggest watching him in Manon, Mayerling or La Fille Mal Gardee if you want to see the real quality of his acting.
Don't forget too that it depends where you sit or stand in the auditorium - from some distance you are not going to be able to pick up every nuance however good your eyesight so that's worth bearing in mind.
I'm happy to take criticisms but you're quite wrong on several counts. I've seen Acosta in a great many roles (you'll find at least four or five reviews on this blog)including Mayerling and La Fille Mal Gardee (both of those were before I started reviewing I'm afraid). I haven't seen his Spartacus, I was away when he danced the role with the Bolshoi a couple of years ago. His Mayerling was the worst of the four casts at the last revival (I saw them all). He might be a much better pure dancer than say Ed Watson but when it came to taking on the role he entirely missed the point. He inserted extra spins all over the place, which whilst impressive, left the supposedly drug addled, syphilitic Rudolf rather healthier. Personally I don't think I've ever seen him truly embody a role, although he often delivers a lot of emotion in more abstract works, his brown boy in "Dances at a Gathering" for example.
For reference, I was in the stalls circle and had binoculars. I wouldn't got to a Nunez performance if I couldn't perfectly see her enchanting smile. You might think to say Acosta can't act is plain wrong, but I'm going to have to beg to differ. To my mind he's the weakest actor amongst the male principals. It's ballet so every person will have a different experience, especially when it comes to characterisation. I don't have a problem with differing views but that's no need to suggest mine is wrong.
TTC
I couldn't agree with you more when you say that it's completely fine to have differing views, and let's face it, everyone does.
Where I do think everyone has to be careful is in reporting something which is your opinion, rather than fact.
And that's why you can't just come out at say that Acosta can't act. You can say that it's your opinion. I'm not saying that your opinion is right or wrong, just that you made it sound factual that he could not act and my concern was that you might put people off seeing him - even your first comment alluded to just that.
It's a shame you never saw Spartacus; I think that was the moment when a lot of people revised their opinions about Acosta's acting.
I agree it was a great shame, I'm away for all of the Kirov residency this summer as well (plus Gotterdammerung which abridges my Cycle disappointingly). I can't be everywhere. Thank you for your response, I like positive dialogue. If you read my little manifesto in the bar at the side, I expressly state these are my opinions. I'm not sure what reviews aren't? No critical comment about Art has ever been fact. Personally I wouldn't recommend him in this show and would encourage people to see the other male leads, I'd have gone for a different cast if it weren't for Nunez's debut.
I should also point out I don't think I stated anywhere "Acosta can't act". I said he wasn't "a great actor". I then said why I thought that. I've yet to see him truly become a role as some can, although I imagine the virility of Spartacus would suit him well (although that again raises the issue of whether he's just playing Acosta, Spartacus being quite a lot like him).
TTC
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