I went to the ballet yesterday, with a very 'ballet knowledgeable' friend. I had not been to the Royal Opera House since, oh my, 2004 - or was it 2005? I am not a balletomane. But I wanted to see Monica Mason's restaging of The Prince of the Pagodas by Kenneth MacMillan and so I went.
The Prince is an amazing ballet, choreographed by MacMillan three years before his death. A young Darcey Bussel took the leading role and she did leave her mark, so much so that no one would ever step into her shoes. Nineteen year old Darcey had these amazing long legs and lent a Balanchinian quality to the dancing which is very, very difficult to match. But now that she has officially retired, other dancers are being given a chance and they are taking it. Life goes on, for sure.
The Prince is a very traditional ballet, a fairy tale that brings together King Lear and Sleeping Beauty. First choreographed by Cranko, it has a score by Benjamin Britten. MacMillan rechoreographed it in 1989, as the Royal Ballet wanted a traditional ballet in the repertoire.
The most intriguing thing about it is Britten's score. Britten composed the music score for the 1957 production and the music is entirely based on a transcription of Javanese and Balinese gamelan melodies onto western instruments. Britten went to Bali to recuperate from a nervous breakdown and fell totally in love with the music of the island. He inserted traditional gamelan melodies into the score - they are out of copyright, so the question of plagiarism does not arise, though one wonders...
This you tube video by Christomacin uses Britten's score with photos of Balinese rice fields, so you can hear it for yourselves
Going to the ballet is definitely an experience. It's a world apart, that of ballet, with its own hierarchies. Yesterday there were quite a few cast changes due to injury. I got rather agitated believing the substitute dancers would not be up to the task. 'You must be joking', said my friend, reassuringly. 'They will be very good, perhaps not exceptionally good as in outstanding, but they are all so well trained, you will hardly know the difference'. Absolutely true, The dancers were incredibly proficient and danced beautifully.
The Royal Opera House was packed. Who says that ballet is dead?
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