Fool's Paradise, not so

by Gwen Herat from the Royal Opera House, London

Fool's Paradise is not an overnight choreographer's dream but a ballet that developed stage by stage with a cast of only two dancers at the beginning, ending up with a sumptuous nine dancers that I see right at the moment. Watching the dance as it proceeds, gaining momentum, I personally think that six dancers would have been adequate. Nine are too crowded and hinder the display of these dancers’ movements whereas six would have the opportunity to stretch themselves out across the width and length of the wide stage.

I am thrilled to see them leap, bounce in their specialised contemporary movements, each supporting the other with sheer accuracy.

In 2011 Fool's Paradise saw the final and finished work that I am watching and since then there has been no change in the choreography of Wheeldon. He along with music director, Talbot has placed the ballet firmly with the Royal Ballet who is boarding it at the Royal Opera House this evening. May be in the coming years, we shall be seeing a different version with a bigger cast.

Process of ideas

The combination of Wheeldon and Talbot makes Fool's Paradise as a process of ideas being influenced beyond a single ballet. But in this ballet where the cast appears overloaded, they both break down their departments of work in choreography and music-direction to drive more force and intensity to it. This level of shared creativity has envisaged their own development. Talbot responds to the new context and purpose of his music which makes it very accessible to Wheeldon's choreography. He reduces the music in length while maintaining structural narrative integrity.

In Fool's Paradise, dance and music come together to create the worldly feel to which the audience responds. Though contemporary, there is a bit of classicism in the ballet's movements. It is really interesting for me as a person who has had nothing to do with any form of school of dance other than classical ballet. I realise more and more why successful dancers let go classical training and opt for modern, jazz and contemporary. For me the perfect dancer, male or female, must have the bite attack and the daring of a Nureyev dancer and be in a position to combine it with lyricism and placement. May be it is easily said than done but seated here at the ROH, it seems possible. There is a lot of those like me (in writing) who can shape and influence the dance world.

Fool's Paradise is an enduring, endearing collaboration not only in music and choreography but with the rest of the ensemble's necessities, and of course, its wonderful dancers.

I am seeing Sarah Lamb and Fredrico Bonelli for the first time. They are a perfect combination for the ballet and rise to exceptional heights. Blessed with vibrant personalities, they have the capacity to blend one with another in a smooth flow of movements. They are the ultimate in visual art.

Dance explosion

And this state-of-the-art is brought about by plucky choreographers such as Wheeldon as we live in the midst of dance explosion where dancers and audiences enjoy dance more than yesterday. The extraordinary diversity of this phenomenon stretch from classical ballet to avant-garde modern dance. Impressively panoramic, contemporary movements are super-charged and explosive as against the traditional dance from the syllabus.

All these work through my mind as I sit and wait for the curtain to rise not so much with a fondness to modern dance but to take a look at contemporary and how far it has proceeded since I saw The Maple Leaf Rag which the doyen of dance, Martha Graham choreographed and when she took me back stage at the New York City Ballet to have chat. She was ninety six and died hardly a week after I returned home. Fool's Paradise along with Viscera and Infra are the two ballets that the ROH mounted in the first week of the wintry season. All three ballets had the same dancers performing. I liked Sarah Lamb as the best of the new generation of dancers. She excelled in all three with different dancers.

[Credits]

Choreography – Christopher Wheeldon
Music – Joby Talbot
Costume Designs – Narciso Rodriguez
Lighting – Penny Jacobs
Guest Ballet Master -Jason Fowler
Asst. Ballet Master – Jonathan Howlells

[Ensemble]

Sarah Lamb Milissa Hamilton Yuhui Choe

Fredrico Bonelli Edward Watson – Steven McRae
Alexander Campbell Itziar Mendizabal – Dawid Thezenimiech
Conductor – Barry Wordsworth
Concert Master – Peter Manning with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Choreographer – Christopher

Wheeldon Born in Somerset, began his ballet training at the age of eight at the Royal Ballet School. He won the Gold Medal at the Prix Lausanne competition when he was with the Royal Ballet from 1993. Later, he was invited by the New York City Ballet to join them as a member where he was promoted as a Soloist. He rose very rapidly and by 1999 created workshop performances and the NYCB'S 50th anniversary season.

He did this with his fellow artist, Ian Falcone. He created a massive volume of work up to 2007 and has been in demand by many other leading companies. His work spanned from San Francisco Ballet, to the Royal Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet and the Pennsylvania Ballet while choreographing at least one ballet a year for the New York City Ballet.

Spirit of innovation

Always with the future in mind, he has provoked new choreography while working with other artistes. He worked with many renowned composers and leading artistes, especially author/actor John Lithgow. He founded the Morphoses/Wheeldon Company to bring out the spirit of innovation and to foster and collaborate among choreographers, artistes, designers and composers, classical ballet.

Wheeldon has waded through a haze of dance forms and ballet and he was bestowed an all-Wheeldon evening at the NYCB in January, 2012. He is a member of the New York City Library Young Lions and Honorary International Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science. He choreographed for the London Olympic Closing Ceremony. He has won a Southbank Award. Composer – Joby Talbot – Because his scores are aesthetic, classical and contemporary, choreographers are naturally drawn to him.

Some of Europe's leading dance specialists such as Wayne McGregor collaborates with him to electrify ballets with out-of-this-world sounds. He has worked with the Paris Opera Ballet before he was commissioned by the Royal Ballet along with the National Ballet of Canada. This virtuoso on concert platforms, has wielded the baton for major orchestras, soloists and vocal groups. Works for large ensembles included the trumpet concerto Desolation Wilderness for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Sneaker Wave for the BBC Symphony Orchestra along with Purecell's Chacony in G minor all of which were commissioned by the BBC Proms. Talbot's major new works premièred in 2011 with the Philharmonic Orchestra and Netherlands Dance Theatre with the return of Alice's Adventure, Chroma, Fool's Paradise and Path of Miracles were highly acclaimed internationally and pushed him to the top bracket.