90 years of National Ballet in Finland (pt. 3 with More Opinions)

Yesterday I made it through the first half of the marvellous Gala. This evening I'll try to deal with the rest :P You'll find the programme info here.

Second half started with a Bang, so to speak. Don Quijote, con brio! I haven't seen it (and will not be able to do so this season - dislike!!!), so everything was interesting. The fandango was full of Spanish attitude, the noble spirit with dignity. And Ziegler again. I'm not complaining ;) Petia Ilieva was quite fiery in this one, nice contrast to her Odette.

Petia Ilieva with Wilfried Jacobs. Photo by Sakari Viika.

The married couple, Salla and Jaakko Eerola, had their glorious moment as Kitri and Basilio. Precise work with perfect amount of romantic atmosphere, touch of virtuosity (the jumps and pirouettes, wow!)... It was all there. They got maybe the biggest applause of the evening (after Minus 7 and the end of gala). And you know what? They sure did deserve it.

Salla and Jaakko Eerola. Photo by Sakari Viika.

One piece that everyone was surely waiting for, was an excerpt of Anna Karenina. Why? Because it had our soon-to-retire prima ballerina Minna Tervamäki, with Jani Talo as Count Vronsky. The pas de deux was Passionate - and so short... It's a pity we can't see her in this role again, even if the work comes on stage some day. But I consider myself quite lucky to have seen even this tiny bit.

Minna Tervamäki and Jani Talo. Photo by Sakari Viika.

Walking Mad was also presented as an excerpt. And it was one of those contemporary pieces.... But Again it happened! I liked it - a Lot! Music was Bolero by Ravel, a hypnotic experience every time I listen to it. Also a quite long one... This coreography used a plank wall very inventively, it had hidden doors, it was moved around the stage, it "fell down" and next it was a boardwalk of some kind. Then a wall again. In the beginning the dancers (one woman, one and then more men) were almost slamming each other against the wall, with loud bangs. But it didn't seem violent, the movement always continued softer. Until it was on the edge again. I'm really happy that this one was on the tv-version too.

Johanna Nuutinen, Wilfried Jacobs and Johan Pakkanen (not from the gala). Photo by Sakari Viika.

Something I waited for and something I was a bit disappointead with. I could have danced all night. I knew that the soprano is a good singer - and yet we couldn't hear much of her voice. I noticed she had an ear plug thingie, but don't know if she had a mic. The song was from the musical (Pygmalion / My Fair Lady), so not your normal opera stuff. I could only hear some of the very highest notes. And felt very sorry for her at the same time, she did her best. The dancing part wasn't much, to my opinion. It was all nice and pretty, but very musical-ish. "Fine and dandy", could some say. The reason they had this number on the programme was as follows: our opera turned 100 last year, so they wanted to have something that mixed these two species together.

Ballet Pathétique's male solo was something I saw in June 2011, right here in my hometown. And the dancer was the same, Antti Keinänen. I knew he'd be awesome again - and so he was! :) Luckily the home audience got to see him also, and so can You (the tv version will be availabe untill February 28th all over the world HERE but the interviews only in Finnish). This ballet is from the "hands" (or should I say brains) of the amazing and fabulous Jorma Uotinen! I think he's one of the most gifted people in dance business I've ever seen. This solo combined elements from classical ballerina variations (e.g. Dying Swan - those arms and the back - you really should see it), humour and deeper thinking. I think A. Keinänen has embraced the mood as magnificently as one ever could. Watch it people! :) And yes, it's a modern piece.

You won't get much out of this photo of mine, but this is from the dying swan -part. The Hands. 

...and if you'll be hush-hush, I'll share this video that I just found. Exactly the bit from the gala! Hope it doesn't disappear right away. (The hands are somewhere round 1.50 or so.)

As some might remember, I saw Scheherazade last Autumn (-11). So I knew what was to come - beautiful and emotional dancing. Lovely music. The excerpt was from the end, when the main couple finally find each other.  Nothing surprising there, I just watched and enjoyed myself.

Wilfried Jacobs with Julie Gardette (not from the gala). Photo by Sakari Viika.

As Monsieur Greve and Madame Almi told us, the comedy bit of the evening was The Sofa. Hi-la-ri-ous!!! :D First a woman & man arguing, with some almost acrobatic moves (still dancing). Then the roles changed totally - this first man was in the woman's "shoes" and a transvestite-ish man was in his. And they did (almost) exactly the same moves as the first couple! :D And then they didn't put This on the tv version... Bo-hooooo... I would have wanted to see Everything again, though. Knowing our opera and their past ways of using social media (youtube, their own site, etc.), this tv programme was a Big thing. So I have to remind myself to be grateful. Yes. I am. 

Jaakko Eerola and Wilfried Jacobs (not from the gala). Photo by Sakari Viika.

The Grande Finale of the gala was from the Etudes. An excerpt, to which Mr Greve had made a small coreography for the ballet school kids to perform in the beginning. All of them got to be on stage and that's what they showed on tv of this last piece. Nothing more. Even though there were some pretty cool performances by Salla Eerola, Minna Tervamäki (unfortunately only a small bit from her), Jaakko Eerola, Michal Krcmár... I could only wonder how the dancers managed through it. I mean, they had already given so much of themselves to us and Still they had strength and pirouettes and everything to offer. I'm very proud that our dancers are this capable! :) And the choir dancers, they had been on stage almost all the time. Huge respect, I say. 

The kids, once more :) Photo by Sakari Viika.

So my opinions were quite positive, to put it short. But isn't that just good? :) Now I'll go to sleep and probably dream about dancing again, as I often do after blogging... :D

***

p.s. Found also this from youtube, straight from the gala... :) Might vanish soon, so watch it soon!

*** Good Night! ***

90 years of National Ballet in Finland (pt. 2 with Opinions)

First of all, this took me a bit longer than I thought, but here it is. My personal opinions of the gala! :) You'll find the whole programme here.

2 friends were able to see the main rehearsal for the gala, so I had some info about the evening's list. But still it felt like not knowing what to expect, in a good way! I was in a weird mood, didn't sleep too much the night before, had a busy day (training, lots of teaching), then back to hotel (wanted to sleep), put on the fancy clothes, took a tram to the Opera... Then started to feel the excitement of all the people round me. Searched for a programme leaflet. Went to my seat (on the 2nd balcony, out of 3), took a look down to the parquet and the orchestra.

The lights went off and a girl in a white tutu came to the stage, looking around. Doing some poses. Then Mr Greve (the big boss) emerged and soon they left, both pulling a curtain in their own direction. And so the show really began!

Clip of Etudes. 3 barres of the stage, each having a couple of ballerinas by, doing basic moves slowly. Adagio-style. Lighting was interesting, quite dark even.

Next up: Swan Lake. I was interested in this bit, as I haven't seen the particular production on stage. Did like it, the big pas de deux. Petia Ilieva's Odette was felt genuinely suffering, also romantic. A bit discreet maybe, but it didn't bother me. I've always found Odette somewhat shy as a person, delicate and graceful being other adjectives. Some other dancer might (and they do, I've seen many) interpret the role (well, this pdd here) more passionately, throwing themselves "to the flames"... But I liked what I saw.

Petia Ilieva and Jani Talo. Photo by Sakari Viika.

And the Cygnets. What can I say? They were Good. (And a bit hilarious - there were feathers flying around them as they went on... :D)

Linda Haakana, Annabelle Hellinckx, Claire Voss, Maki Nakagawa. Photo by Sergi Nicolau.

Seven Brothers was one of the works that really surprised me. One of those I didn't know what to expect of. But it was GOOD. Interesting. The music was kind of enchanting. Also after seeing a videoclip of Marjo Kuusela teaching the work to the dancers it felt even more special. And as I hadn't noticed the existance of the (female) fox on the leaflet, it was even More Suprising! :) Sara Saviola was very convincing, with all the little gestures of the animal. Seven Brothers is based on a play/novel by our national author Aleksis Kivi.

Frans Valkama, Jaakko Eerola, Kare Länsivuori, Johan Pakkanen, Nikolas Koskivirta, Aki Pakarinen, Antti Keinänen. Photo by Sakari Viika.

Suite Murder by Jorma Elo. I've heard a lot about this man's works. He's talented and so on. But I have a teeny-tiniest "feeling" always with contemporary ballet (same thing was with the Brothers, might I add). With this excerpt of the Suite - there simply was No time to think and feel weird, it was happening snap-snap-snap, right from the beginning to the end. And again I enjoyed myself. The only thing bothering me was my glasses. I should get new ones, can't see too clear with the current ones.

Many people were waiting for Pessi and Illusia a lot. I was curious, but not too much. If you know what I mean. Just the normal amount. Not, like, anxious. This ballet is based on a fairytale written by Yrjö Kokko (in 1944), about a troll and a fairy. Nicol Edmonds was Pessi, and what a musical & talented troll he was! I liked him maybe a bit more than Aino Ettala as Illusia-the-fairy. But all in all, the excerpt was done beautifully. Would be interesting to see the whole thing some day.

Nicol Edmonds and Aino Ettala. Photo by Sakari Viika.

Now I might be a bad person, but in my opinion the Springtime Encounters wasn't needed in the programme. Okay okay, the kids were adorable and danced well enough, but the coreography wasn't interesting. I understand that they wanted to show the schoolers more than the bit in the very end, but this... Well. I've said what I think.

Seventh Symphony was FireWorks the whole thing through, like Elo's piece. But even More! Also I got to see the new star, Maria Baranova, in action. There sure is a lot to see in her, fine, precise working. Dancing. Soul in it, too. Mr Greve has said about this Symphony that it is a difficult piece. I agree after seeing only this finale. The music and Uwe Scholtz's steps are Fast, one really has to know exactly what to do and when. (Well, the dancers have to anyway... Haha....) Something to recommend, this piece. I hope we'll get the whole of it some day Again. (p.s. Baranova was dancing with my currently favorite male soloist, Nicholas Ziegler. Yay!) (p.p.s. The other soloists in this were up to their job, too. Very very well, I'd say. Without forgetting the corps of course.)


Swan of Tuonela was first performed by Jarmo Rastas (Lemminkäinen) and Ulrika Hallberg (the swan) in 1976. They taught the work to Jarkko Niininen and Tiina Myllymäki for this gala. We got to see a videoclip from the rehearsals and some funny bits in it, too! :D It's really too bad that this piece wasn't in the tv-version of the gala. *grumpy face* The music was of course amazing, by our very own composer, Jean Sibelius. He was born in my hometown Hämeenlinna and went to the same school as I did (my high school). His birth home is a museum these days, I've been there couple times. Just too bad he didn't write any cool stuff for flute... (Some orchestra solos, but that's it.) Back to the dancing -> The music is relatively long (9 minutes), but the piece kept it's touch to the end. And the body language, the coreography had captured the music's soul. Or that's what it felt to me. There was a certain tension, it was persistent, slow but not drowsy. I'll put a video here (from youtube) that has a short explaining in the beginning, about our "national legend" Kalevala and the meaning of Tuonela's Swan. There are sketches from an animation that would have been part of Fantasia, if it ever would've been finished.

Tiina Myllymäki & Jarkko Niininen rehearsing, Ulrika Hallberg & Jarmo Rastas watching. (Photo from here: http://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/Kansallisbaletin+juhlagaala+tulee+my%C3%B6s+televisiosta/a1305554310227)

The last piece before intermission (Minus 7) was a suprise for the audience. We did know the name of it and stuff like coreographer & music, but what most of us did Not know.... The dancers came and took some people on stage! :D To dance with them! It was at first a bit like a rave, then some latin moves, then a slow dance. And in the end - furious applause! 

You'll get the idea... ;) Photo from here: http://www.ooppera.fi/palvelut/yleisoyhteistyo/erityisesitykset/tarjoukset_koululaisryhmille

***

It's Really late now and Viuhti-the-cat is getting very annoying. Have to try to sleep a bit. But tomorrow's a day off, so I'll write (try to) about the second half then :) Goooooooood night! :)

90 years of National Ballet in Finland (pt.1)

As promised and planned, here's the first part of my gala report. It will include a lot of names - works, coreographers, dancers, composers... I'll mention the soloists' names (and corps de ballet - if they were on the same piece). If there were no solos, only cdb, won't mention them separately (too many names to write :P). In the second part I'll share my opinions about them :)

Participants were:

- Conductor Pietro Rizzo
- Hosts Kenneth Greve (Artistic Director of the Ballet) & Heidi Almi (Press Manager)
- Finnish National Ballet
- FNO Ballet School
- FNO Opera Orchestra
- Many important technical people!

The evening was said to last 2 hours and 50 minutes, including 1 intermission. Well... It started at 19.00 (7pm) and ended at 22.30 (10.30pm)! And I can tell you, it was ALL worth it. All 3,5 hours.


First half included:

• Etudes (excerpt) - choreography by Harald Lander - music by Carl Czerny, Knudåge Riisager - Premiere at the Finnish National Opera Ballet 14th January 1965 - no soloists in this bit

• Swan Lake (Pas de deux from the 2nd act, Cygnets) - Kenneth Greve / Marius Petipa - Pjotr Tshaikovsky - Premiere 17th January 1922 / this production 23rd October 2009 - Odette / Petia Ilieva, Siegfried / Jani Talo, Cygnets / Linda Haakana, Annabelle Hellinckx, Maki Nakagawa, Claire Voss

• Seven Brothers (excerpt) - Marjo Kuusela - Eero Ojanen - World premiere at the FNO 23rd August 1980 - Juhani / Kare Länsivuori, Tuomas / Johan Pakkanen, Aapo / Aki Pakarinen, Timo / Nikolas Koskivirta, Simeoni / Antti Keinänen, Lauri / Jaakko Eerola, Eero / Frans Valkama, Female Fox / Sara Saviola

•  Suite Murder (excerpt) - Jorma Elo - Bernard Herrmann - World premiere at the FNO 25th October 2008 - Milla Eloranta, Mai Komori, Maki Nakagawa, Terhi Räsänen (females), Yusuke Hikichi, Ville Mäki, Samuli Poutanen, Eemu Äikiö (males)

•  Pessi and Illusia (excerpt) - after Irja Koskinen, Doris Laine - Ahti Sonninen - World premiere at Riihimäki 29th May 1952, premiere at Helsinki 23rd October 1952 - Pessi / Nicol Edmonds, Illusia / Aino Ettala

• Springtime encounters - Satu Soldan - Adolphe Adam - World premiere - Darja Gustavsson, Ada Kaijala, Rosa Säilynoja (girls from the FNO Ballet School), Bruno Baer, Schonan Greve, Colin Jacobs (boys)

• Seventh Symphony (Finale) - Uwe Scholtz - Ludwig van Beethoven - Premiere 28th February 2009 - Mai Komori & Jani Talo, Maki Nakagawa & Wilfried Jacobs, Maria Baranova & Nicholas Ziegler, corps de ballet

• Swan of Tuonela (pas de deux from Lemminkäinen) - Imre Eck - Jean Sibelius - World Premiere (Lemminkäinen) 15th January 1976 - Swan of Tuonela / Tiina Myllymäki, Lemminkäinen / Jarkko Niininen

• Minus 7 (excerpt) - Ohad Naharin - collage (music) - Premiere 7th May 2010 - no soloists, but some of the audience got to participate!!! :)

Second half included:

• Don Quijote (Fandango, Grand pas de deux) - Patrice Bart / Marius Petipa, José de Udaeta (fandango) - Ludvig Minkus - Premiere 21st October 1930 / this production 20th October 1995 - Kitri / Salla Eerola, Basilio / Jaakko Eerola, Two friends / Annabelle Hellinckx & Maki Nakagawa, Fandango / Petia Ilieva & Nicholas Ziegler, corps de ballet

• Anna Karenina (pas de deux) - Alexei Ratmansky - Rodion Stsedrin - Premiere 16th February 2007 - Anna Karenina / Minna Tervamäki, Count Vronsky / Jani Talo

• Walking Mad (excerpt) - Johan Inger - Maurice Ravel - premiere 25th October 2008 - Linda Haakana, Johanna Nuutinen, Anna Sariola (females), Henrik Burman, Antti Keinänen, Nikolas Koskivirta, Johan Pakkanen, Samuli Poutanen, Emrecan Tanis

• I could have danced all night - Marilena Fontoura - Frederick Loewe, Riku Niemi - World premiere - no soloists (dancers), Hanna Rantala (soprano/singer)

• Ballet Pathétique (excerpt / male solo) - Jorma Uotinen - Pjotr Tshaikovsky - World premiere at the Helsinki City Theatre 22nd September 1989, premiere by the FNO in front of the House of Parliament 13th August 1992 -  Antti Keinänen

• Scheherazade (excerpt from the end) - Kenneth Greve - Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov - World premiere 29th October 2010 - Scheherazade / Eun-Ji Ha, Shahryar / Wilfried Jacobs, Dünyazad / Annabelle Hellinckx, Shahzarem / Frans Valkama, corps de ballet

• The Sofa - Itzik Galili - Tom Waits - Premiere 21st November 2009 - Antti Keinänen, Anna Konkari, Samuli Poutanen

• Etudes (excerpt from the end) - Harald Lander / Kenneth Greve (chor. for the Ballet School) - Czerny / Riisager - Premiere 14th January 1965 - Salla Eerola, Minna Tervamäki (female), Jaakko Eerola, Michal Krcmár (male), Petia Ilieva, Eun-Ji Ha, Maria Baranova, Maki Nakagawa (female), corps de ballet, FNO Ballet School students (all of them!!!)

Ballet School kids - Photo by Sakari Viika

So, that was it. Quite an evening. Oh boy... Tomorrow is the day our country gets a new president. In honor of this important event I'll write the second part ;)

p.s Today's ballet was Good. Latino jazz wasn't - because we didn't have the class at all (teacher sick). Waiting for tomorrows JAZZ!

My Gala outfit

Would have been easier to have someone else take these photos, but it doesn't matter that much in the end :D

So, here's the dress and the bolero-type thing. And the new black (plastic) beads.

...my laptop on the floor... :D

Next up (or down - to be exact) -> the shoes.

Yap, the same ones I got last (2011) July :)

Aaaaaand finally, Le Me in le dress! :D

Didn't have the shoes on - and wouldn't have been able to take a pic with them (wall too close to the mirror-door). But quite okay still :) I really like the dress. And the pockets! My hair was pooffier than what it looks like. And more red. The lights make it look very different :o

One closer-up of the beads :)

Almost the same kind I had as a kid :D Just different color.

I'll take a photo of my ear decorations later, it's a fun piece of "jewelry"! :)

***

Tomorrow: no ballet. Thursday: no ballet. Friday: YES ballet!

Here's the National Ballets dancers' congratulations - in 21 languages! They showed this bit in the gala :)

***

About Le Weekend

Saturday evening was Amazing, to put it shortly. I started to write a post about it right after, but it took me so long that I had to give up and sleep (training waiting the next morning). But also decided to post twice about it. First to list the works, second to give my opinion. My goal is to do both this week, preferably sooner than later :)

If you want to see a programme made of Saturday's performance, you can watch it online (for about 28-29 days left). It IS available also abroad, unlike said before! Have to say that I was personally disappointead with the amount (or lack) of dancing in it, they cut some works and left many totally out! What's with that?? BUT: the programme still is interesting and you'll see one of my favorites in it (a male solo from Ballet Pathétique, by Jorma Uotinen, danced by Antti Keinänen). The interviews are in Finnish, no subtitles.

The National Ballet of Finland - 90 years!

p.s. Took those 2 classes on Sunday (contemporary and ballet). Derriere aching at the moment. Was very much worth it! :)