I remember in music school and even after the advice to be careful what a conductor agrees to do, and especially when it comes to Ballet because of the danger of being typecast or pigeonholed as a Ballet conductor! Sometimes it’s a good idea not to listen!…..
Let’s think about this for a second, so it’s fine to conduct Firebird “suite”, Cinderella “suite”, Sleeping Beauty “suite”, Billy the Kid “suite” etc… in concert but god forbid to do them as they were originally intended in full collaborating with supremely gifted dancers, that would be career suicide?
Personally some of the most satisfying and exciting experiences as a conductor have been in the pit and especially with my current Ballet company the Metropolitan Classical Ballet. Looking back I think of how lucky I have been to have worked with such supreme talent, incredible choreography, great music and also the lessons Ballet has shaped me as a conductor. For instance: figuratively and literally the art of flexibility, how with strange tempos to be able to find a way to make something happen musically, adjusting on the fly and the visual satisfaction of seeing a dancer leaping or lifting to great heights at climactic moments, actually personifying the moment. As a conductor we can imagine and feel the power of climactic moments in a work, to see it physically realized is beyond words.
My company has a dichotomy with former Balanchine star and veteran Paul Meija and Bolshoi star and veteran Alexander Vetrov as co-directors. They are completely different in style, approach and philosophy which I deal with within the same program! With Balanchine, the music clearly comes first and last weekend (reviews here) we actually did one of Paul’s own ballets Romeo and Juliet, which is set to the Tchaikovsky’s overture. In the studio rehearsals, the talk was of how to make it exciting musically (a Balanchine trait), pushing the dancers with the music. It’s such a joy to interpret this way, for the dance to be exciting in response to the music. For Vetrov’s part of the program it was a series of pas de deuxs ranging from Saprtacus, Swan lake and several traditional Russian (and in particular Bolshoi) show pieces by composers I have never heard of. For these it was about the dancing first and foremost and with current and former Russian dance stars and in particular Olga Pavlova (pictured) who is like a moon landing! I have never seen or worked with any dancer with such a range both musically and technically, and with such complete command, it’s like time stops when she’s on stage and I sweat bullets to giver her what she needs from us for her to be able soar. Penn and Teller could only wish to have her kind of magic!
I would say to any conductor, you’re pigeonholed if you don’t do Ballet!