An unforgettable evening last may 31st. An evening filled with some sort of “frisson” in the air, a very normal thing in these galas which have been presented at our “Volksoper” – thanks to the enthusiasm, “nose”, talent, Marketing-power, knowledge of his “metier” and sensibility from Manuel Legris, Étoile from the Paris Opera, who in fact, is one of the greatest gifts that the Viennese cultural scene received during the last years.
Ten different pieces. Grand Pas from "Raymonda" (Anna Mendakiewicz as Raymonda… excellent in the very affected Hungarian “Variation de Raymonde”!), "La Sylphide" (a delicate, etereal Ioanna Avraam who already conquered a very big space in the hearts of the viennese audiences), "Jeunehomme" – an incredible choreography by Uwe Scholz which I did not know – with the marvelous Reina Sawai (and she IS a beutiful “queen” => Reina, in spanish ) and the strong partner – simply dressed to kill - Alexandru Tcacenco, "Mopey" – a piece that requires extreme talent and versatility, exactly what Andrey Kaydanovskiy has lots of to offer, Pas de Six from "La Vivandiére" in which not only Ioanna Avraam once more shined, but also Laura Nistor, a very special and gifted dancer, caught my eye, "Aunis"(that, in the choreopgraphy aspect – Jacques Garnier – «stole» the evening) with Marcin Dempe, Richard Szabó and Géraud Wielick and "Who cares?" – not exactly Mr.B. (Balanchine) «at his very best» but a happy divertissement… Unfortunately in this last piece, the orchestra, conducted by Elisabeth Attl, sounded extremely bad… in fact remembering an orchestra in a cruise ship for american tourists in the Caribbean… Gershwin wouldn’t have liked that… I may not know much about Donizetti but Gershwin lives deep in my heart!
But the real Stars of the evening, for me, were
1) the enchanting, young italian (21 years old) Davide Dato. Rarely have I seen such jumps like his – this was so much more real on the stage from the Volksoper which is much smaller that the one at the Opera, where I have seen him many times. Blessed with classical beauty, stage presence, technical precision and lots of self-esteem Davide is turning out to be the new “darling” of the viennese audiences. A tittle that belonged up to now exclusively to Mihail Sosnovski…
2) The divine japanese Kiyoka Hashimoto that “brought down the house” in the Donizetti Pas de Deux (with Davide Dato, above) and in her very “energetic” interpretation from “My one and Only” (one of the parts from “Who cares?” from Mr B./Gershwin). No words. A marvellous dancer.
3) Ahhhhh… and the scottish Greig Matthews… first I thought that there would be no words to register what happened yesterday evening at the stage of the “Volksoper”. Then, peu a peu, I began to realize that I had witnessed a very, very special moment and also to articulate what I had seen, felt. As one of his colleagues (who doesn’t like to be mentioned at the Internet) very well put: “This guy’s gonna be a Star!”
Greig danced two pieces: Prince Florismund’s Solo then “The Sleeping Beauty» and the Pas de Deux « Delibes Suite » .
Florismund’s Solo… what shall I say? One of the most ingrateful variations for the “Danseur” (compared in terms of thanklessness to the entrance from Myrtha in the second act of “Giselle” or to all the masculine part from the Pas de Six from “La Vivandiére” bravely mastered yesterday evening by Dumitro Taran).
Technically very difficult, it does not have the “effect” on the audience like, for example, Donizetti Pas de Deux (choreography by Manuel Legris), which in itself is a big platorm for virtuosity demonstration. And intended to “milk applause”.
Altough Florismund’s Solo is located on a much higher level over the (not easy) circous virtuosity of the Ballet, it does not “bring down the house”. I think I was the only who shouted “Bravo” while Greig was bowing (In comparison, for example, the Donizetti Pas de Deux is so full of circus virtuosity that it always impresses an audience which does not understand much about Ballet!
His second interpretation was in “Delibes Suite”, from José Martinez, beside the beautiful Prisca Zeisel: strongly based in the Coda from “Coppelia”, I prefer to call it “Variations on Swanilda and Franz” (!) Once more Greig demonstrated a great maturity on stage – We should not forget that we are talking about a really YOUNG talent: Greig will celebrate his 19th Birthday on June 2nd!
I was extremely impressed with his Manége since I had never – yes, really never – seen something like this: the choreography requests that the dancer does not make the Manége with his back facing (to say so) the center of the (imaginary) circunfernce but the other way 'round. Technically an “horror”! I do not think that the audience realized how much technique is required to perform it well. Ballet audiences should also take classes... just to understand...
After the performance I wanted to thank Greig for his kindness in giving me the ticket to watch the performance and we went to a nice, cozy little Restaurant that I like very much: “La Bohéme” (where only Opera music is played and where you don’t have “Starters”, “Main Course” or “Dessert” but “Ouvertures”, “Intermezzo”, “First Acts” and “Finales”). There we talked a lot about family, schools, Vienna, N.Y., Ballet, friends… and I was amazed to find out that this gifted young Man started taking ballet classes with 15… just a little bit longer than three years ago! And here he is: performing Solos and full of modesty! It is so good to meet Talent like that!
Note:
A very special THANK YOU to Monsieur Legris for making all this possible in Vienna!
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