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if anyone has a spare or can't use their ticket, please DM me. thanks

Selling Stalls Circle Standing D-46 for The Royal Ballet's Swan Lake on Saturday 20th April 1pm - £14 Yasmine Naghdi, Matthew Ball

Swan Lake tickets at the Royal Albert Hall for sale for Sat 22 June 2.30pm matinee. Really great seats in a box. I have also put them for sale on Twickets. Please dm me for details if interested.

Spare ticket swan lake wed 27th April 7.30 C58 balcony seat £35 Anyone interested please let me know asap Thanks Jules

I have D32, Stalls Circle Standing, Wed 17 April 7.30pm Naghdi/Ball for sale, £14

This is not the first time that a discussion about fouette has arisen on this forum. It has already been mentioned that the two legendary and most technically equipped ballerinas - Dudinskaya and Plisetskaya - proved that performing 32 fouettés isn't integral to dancing Odile. It was Natalia Dudinskaya, who danced on the Leningrad stage for 33 years and had the crowning role of Odile. (In 1930s, Vaganova in her production gave roles of Odette and Odile to different ballerinas.) During her lifetime, Dudinskaya was considered the ideal embodiment of St. Petersburg school but she never was doing 32 fouettés. The reason was the structure of her legs. With X-shaped legs, it is more difficult to rotate, since the axis of rotation is not straight enough, but Dudinskaya did other rotations perfectly and preferred piqué manège, which, by the way, is no less difficult to do. She had phenomenal coordination. Today, when it seemed that dance technique had advanced, ballerinas do not risk dancing at this tempo. Such speed was easy for Dudinskaya because she was short in stature. You can see her piqué manège here in 4 m 35 s: Her student Ulyana Lopatkina recalls: “She instilled in me and all her students with her faith that there are no insurmountable difficulties and that the difficulties themselves are nothing compared to creativity.”

1 x good SCS to be rehomed. Face value £14 please leave a message & send me a DM if interested thanks dream team cast of Kaneko/Bracewell

You are referring to the opinion of Alistair Macaulay, quoted on the Ballet Alert forum. The respected critic was wrong. Even when the Directorate of the Imperial Theatres was negotiating with Tchaikovsky about staging his ballet, Marius Petipa had already made sketches with black and white swans long before the opening night. On the official website of the Mariinsky Theatre you can see a photo of ballerina Vera Trefilova in a Black Swan costume. Her last performance in this role was in 1910, which is much earlier than the 1940s. https://www.mariinsky.ru/about/exhibitions/petipa200/swan_lake/

Yes - but as you say, when Siegfried falls in love with her - and whenever we see her - she's a woman (who nevertheless still looks like a swan...).

Putting this out there just in case. Am looking to swap a seat for Swan Lake at the ROH on Friday 15 March (Fumi/Will). Ideally want to trade for their matinee on April 1st. (Or will consider swap for any Fumi or Marianela date prior to 15 April.) My ticket is in the Upper Amphitheatre, Row S Seat 54 (No Armrests), £ 35.00. Will pay the difference if yours is a better seat. Or can just purchase, if you have a spare ticket for 1st April matinee with a good view for a short person. Thanks.

I’m curious about some of the touring ballet companies that have a lower profile than the big well known names. For example, I’m going to see Varna International’s Giselle in Oxford, in January. And I’ve recently come across Ballet Theatre UK who seem to be on the road a lot. Does anyone here have any experience, tips, information, views etc? On these or other companies, perhaps?

I’ve already commented on the Jill Ogai/ Marcus Morelli performance that preceded their on stage promotions. https://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/28711-jill-ogai-and-marcus-morelli-promoted-to-principal-dancers-of-australian-ballet-onstage/?do=findComment&comment=425468 I was lucky enough to see most of the other casts. Two of the principals who danced Odette/Odile impressed me enormously. One was Benedicte Bemet who, during the Company’s London visit, drew a lot of attention when she danced with Joe Caley in Diamonds and in the Don Q pas de deux. In these performances of Swan Lake her Odette/Odile was truly lovely. Her Odette was sublime and her Odile cunningly sensual. Another who impressed was Sharni Spencer. Her Odette, in particular, was beautifully danced and very moving. However the performance that stood out from all the others was the one I saw a few days ago. Rina Nemoto, a senior artist (equivalent to first soloist), who was a Lausanne apprentice at the Royal Ballet some years ago, was partnered by ex Mariinsky dancer, Misha Barkidjija. Misha really lived the role of Siegfried and I found his performance intensely moving. This didn't just come from his facial expressions. He was acting through his dancing, something I find quite rare and have experienced with very few male dancers. His partnership with Rina was electric. They were completely in tune with each other and their pas de deux, especially in the white acts. were absolutely beautiful and very moving. Throughout the performances, the dancers in the corps de ballet were exemplary. Laura Day, who is now the corps de ballet repetiteur, can be very proud of them. As a footnote, one interesting difference to the Royal Ballet is that the female soloist roles, in the performances I saw, were most often taken by members of the corps de ballet and coryphées (and an occasional soloist). Although senior artists sometimes took the soloist roles, on occasion, a senior artist was cast as a cygnet while lower ranks danced the soloist roles. In fact, despite having been promoted to principal dancer on the 16th, on the 19th Jill Ogai was a cygnet!

Attended the ballet at Consett Empire Theatre 30th Sept 2023. They performed Swan Lake. Considering the compact stage at Consett they had a corps of about 20 dancers and the performance was very good. The dancers appeared mainly Chinese with some Russian/ Moldovan surnames too. Technically they were very tight and disciplined. The man playing the Jester was amazing, he was full of humour and coordinated the comings and goings of the groups as well as putting in an exuberant dance performance himself. The price was £27 per person which was amazing value compared to more famous companies who visit our large theatres at Newcastle and Sunderland. The audience certainly enjoyed it, applauding enthusiastically.

I hadn’t seen this posted anywhere and it’s TONIGHT Livestream from La Scala of Nureyev’s SWAN LAKE Wednesday 27 September 2023 at 19.45 CET Two prices for different quality €11.90/9.90 Two special dancers in the lead roles … rising superstars in my opinion: - Maria Celeste Losa and Navrin Turnbull You do need to create an account beforehand … https://lascala.tv/en/show/94e62f3f-ab0a-4f88-b22c-30795401177e/ ‘see’ you there 👍

Just returned from a fantastic week in Amsterdam seeing three casts performing Dutch National Ballet’s Swan Lake. PRODUCTION The production is overly long 3.5 hours (including 2 intervals). I wonder if the choreographer Rudi van Dantzig used every piece Tchaikovsky wrote. Hmm. I love most ballet, so was happy to sit through the whole thing every time and of course Act 4 is the most emotional dancing and music, so not to be missed by leaving early! The storyline is thin … there is no transformation of Odette from a maiden to a swan in this version, and I missed the prince’s promise to be faithful to Odette 2 out of the 3 times 🙄. And there is no appearance of Odette at the ball to make him realise he’s been bewitched. There is also a different version of the ending to the RB/ENB/BRB endings. (How many can there be with only 3 main protagonists!) CAST - (Odette/Odile, Siegfried, Von Rothbart) 10 April: Riho Sakamoto 🇯🇵 (debut), Martin ten Kortenaar 🇨🇦, Dingkai Bai 🇨🇳 12 April: Salome Leverashvili 🇬🇪 (debut), Timothy van Poucke 🇳🇱 (debut), Giorgi Potskhishvili 🇬🇪 15 April: Anna Tsygankova 🇷🇺, Giorgi Potskhishvili 🇬🇪, Conor Walmsley 🇬🇧 All the debuts were super … Salome is exquisite and petite with a calm demeanour, Timothy has fine virtuoso technique and they had a lovely partnership. Riho’s performance was the most impressive … the surety of her quite wonderful control of her technique and the richness of her interpretation. Remarkable for a first outing. She deserves a partner who can match her. (I see why Roberto Bolle has included her in his shows … he picks the best dancers.) My main reason for travelling was to see Anna’s swan, which had been recommended to me. She is 43 now and was partnered by the young firecracker Giorgi who is 20 or more years younger than her. He has enormous height in his jumps and really quiet landings with strong upper body for difficult lifts, plus a dynamic presence. He showed subtlety as Siegfried in contrast to his menacing and stage dominating Von Rothbart. Anna and Giorgi’s chemistry together on stage was something else, in all the acts. In Act 2 for instance, … the sensuous way that he stroked her arms/wings, the way she brushed his face with hers, the closeness of their positions … they were making love in front of us. Fully impassioned. And so it continued. It’ll take me a while to come down from this high.

I was at a performance of ENB Swan Lake last night as it starts its autumn tour of Swan Lake in Liverpool (Empire Theatre). The second evening after opening night. Fernanda Oliveira and Ken Saruhashi were the leads. It's the first return of ENB to theatres in North England since the pandemic and I think the last time they were here was Nutctracker in 2019. I've lost track over the pandemic but this might be their first touring location since the pandemic hit us? I've loved seeing ENB in Manchester and Liverpool over the years and was so good to see them again. I think the last time I saw them live was Swan Lake at the Liverpool Empire in late 2018. It was a really fine performance which was extremely satisfying. I had not seen Oliveira dance before and she embodied Odile/Odette so classically, brilliantly and convincingly. Such elegance in all her movement. I particularly enjoyed her Black Swan solo variation which she made simultaneously elegant and bravura. I am really glad to have seen her dance. And the elegance and grace of Saruhashi is so well matched to Oliveira. The Swan ensemble in this production has such exquisite quality and synchronisation, which I remembered striking me in 2018, and struck me again last night, they move with speed, grace, and accuracy, as one intense force of nature. One other highlight which struck me was the vivacity of Haruhi Otani in the Act I Pas De Trois. I'm starting to notch up quite a few Swan Lakes over the years and if I am honest it does get harder to recapture that first fresh impact/wonder/thrall that I first experienced. And also if I am honest when I saw both ENB and Birmingham Royal Ballet announcing Swan lake for their touring 2022/2023 to Manchester/Liverpool I was a little disappointed and a feeling of "not Swan Lake again". But I do know very well, especially since the pandemic, how luck we really are to have the chance to see it. I have to keep reminding myself of the joy/privilege of being able to go to a fabulous live ballet in an evening in a great city. It does feel like there's been a lot of complacent return to normality and a forgetting the long dark months of the pandemic, endlessly waiting for things to improve. And the masterpiece of Swan Lake and ENB's production which has such intense layers of spectacle to it from the gothic Act III, to the ethereal white acts, the glowing peasant scenes of Act I, and through it all the quality of dancing from ENB. I may well go and see another performance in Manchester next week. Look forward to hearing other peoples thoughts who have been to see this.

PRESS RELEASE 9 January 2023 BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET’S SWAN LAKE TO TOUR THE UK IN SPRING 2023 For spring 2023, ballet’s greatest love story returns in Birmingham Royal Ballet’s revival of Sir Peter Wright and Galina Samsova’s glorious journey into Swan Lake, a lavish production in which the Royal Ballet Sinfonia performs Tchaikovsky’s superb music live alongside BRB’s spectacular dancers. This romantic fable of ill-fated passion has bewitched audiences for generations and will tour to the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton; Birmingham Hippodrome; The Lowry, Salford; Sunderland Empire, Theatre Royal Plymouth and, for the first time, Edinburgh Festival Theatre from January - March 2023. This treasured production of Swan Lake is the third in a trio of Sir Peter Wright’s exquisite ballets performed by the company this season, following the first revival in five years of the joyous classic Coppélia in October, and the world-famous production of The Nutcracker at the Birmingham Hippodrome, following a million-pound refurbishment, for Christmas. The tour will also include guest performances from two of the world’s greatest dancers. Vadim Muntagirov, Principal Dancer with The Royal Ballet, will perform the role of Prince Siegfried at Theatre Royal Plymouth on Friday 17th and Saturday 18th March and Polina Semionova, Resident Guest Principal Artist with the Berlin State Ballet and former Principal Artist with The American Ballet Theatre in New York, will guest perform the iconic dual lead role of Odette and Odile at the Birmingham Hippodrome on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 February. Prince Siegfried is out hunting one night when he happens upon a flock of graceful swans. When one of them turns into a beautiful woman, the Prince is utterly smitten – but Odette explains that she has fallen under an evil spell cast by the evil Baron von Rothbart, which keeps her in swan form from dawn to dusk. Can Siegfried's love break the spell? Find out in this exquisite production of a true ballet classic. Swan Lake will visit the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton (2-4 February); Birmingham Hippodrome (15-25 February); The Lowry, Salford (2-4 March); Sunderland Empire (9-11 March); Theatre Royal Plymouth (15-18 March) and Festival Theatre, Edinburgh (30 March-1 April). Notes to Editors Choreography: Peter Wright, Lev Ivanov, Marius Petipa Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Production: Peter Wright, Galina Samsova Designs: Philip Prowse Lighting: Peter Teigen Principal Casting: Southampton Thurs Eve 02 Feb Gittens Lawrence Ito Fri Eve 03 Feb Shang Maslen Feng Sat Mat 04 Feb Kurihara Singleton Payne Sat Eve 04 Feb Gittens Lawrence Ito Birmingham Week One Weds Eve 15 Feb Mizutani Morales Feng Thurs Mat 16 Feb Kurihara Monaghan Bejarano Thurs Eve 16 Feb Shang Maslen Payne Fri Eve 17 Feb Semionova* Lawrence* Ito* Sat Mat 18 Feb Shang Maslen Feng Sat Eve 18 Feb Semionova* Lawrence* Ito* Sun Mat 19 Feb Kurihara* Monaghan* Bejarano* *Casting subject to change* Birmingham Week two Tues Eve 21 Feb Mizutani Morales Payne Weds Eve 22 Feb Hirata Dingman Bejarano Thurs Mat 23 Feb Shang Maslen Feng Thurs Eve 23 Feb Gittens Lawrence Ito Fri Eve 24 Feb Downs Singleton Payne Sat Mat 25 Feb Mizutani Morales Bejarano Sat Eve 25 Feb Hirata Dingman Feng Salford Thurs Eve 02 Mar Hirata Dingman Bejarano Fri Eve 03 Mar Mizutani Morales Feng Sat Mat 04 Mar Parma Chou Payne Sat Eve 04 Mar Downs Singleton Ito Sunderland Thurs Eve 09 Mar Parma Chou Ito Fri Mat 10 Mar Zhang Feng Bejarano Fri Eve 10 Mar Kurihara Monaghan Payne Sat Mat 11 Mar Downs Singleton Ito Plymouth Weds Eve 15 Mar Hirata Dingman Payne Thurs Mat 16 Mar Zhang Feng Bejarano Thurs Eve 16 Mar Parma Chou Payne Fri Eve 17 Mar Gittens Muntagirov Ito Sat Mat 18 Mar Kurihara Monaghan Feng Sat Eve 18 Mar Gittens Muntagirov Ito Edinburgh Thurs Eve 30 Mar Gittens Lawrence Ito Fri Eve 31 Mar Hirata Dingman Feng Sat Mat 01 April Mizutani Morales Payne Listings: Southampton Mayflower Theatre: 2–4 February 2023 Birmingham Hippodrome: 15–25 February 2023 The Lowry, Salford: 2–4 March 2023 Sunderland Empire: 9–11 March 2023 Theatre Royal Plymouth: 15–18 March 2023 Edinburgh Festival Theatre: 30 March–1 April 2023 Notes to Editors: Birmingham Royal Ballet Based at Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham Royal Ballet is the United Kingdom’s leading touring ballet company performing a range of traditional, classical and heritage ballets as well as ground-breaking new works with the aim of encouraging choreographers of the future. The Company’s Director since January 2020 is the internationally renowned Carlos Acosta. Birmingham Royal Ballet standardly performs at Birmingham Hippodrome for approximately ten weeks of the year and the remainder of the year tours throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. On average, the Company performs 175 shows a year nationally and internationally. The Royal Ballet Sinfonia is Birmingham Royal Ballet’s permanent orchestra, it is also Britain's busiest ballet orchestra. The Sinfonia also plays frequently for The Royal Ballet and other leading ballet companies, including performances withParis Opéra Ballet, New York City Ballet, Australian Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Kirov, Norwegian Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and La Scala Ballet.

I have looked on their website and the Coli's website and although we can buy tickets, I can't find a cast list anywhere. On the ENB site it says 'click for cast and creative team' and all I get is the creative team! Am I just being stoooopid, or is it not publicly available yet? Or have I missed something? Thanks!

headline is 15% off all upcoming productions: Triple Bill, Raymonda, Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Creature plus generous discounts on digital platform services. https://www.ballet.org.uk/blog-detail/world-ballet-day-2022/?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MAR_GP_WorldBalletDay_221102&utm_content=version_B

ENB has announced casting for the Liverpool and Manchester Swan Lake performances on social media and posted a link to check dates and casts. They have announced that Kase, Oliveira, Takahashi, Hawes and Mair will be dancing Odette/Odile, and that Frola, Saruhashi, Arrieta, Mack (as a guest principal) and Trossello (joining this season from Northern Ballet) will be dancing Siegfried, and Souza (when oh when will he get to dance Siegfried?!), Streeter and Reimair are cast as Rothbart, but not which dates and whom they are the each partnering. On the link (to their website), they seem to have forgotten to add casting....or am I the only one who can’t see it?? 😮😆 (No casting for the Sadler’s Wells triple bill yet, although tickets for that are already selling briskly.)

As I have had enough of clearing broken branches following the storm on Friday, I thought I might as well start a thread for the Royal Ballet's performances of Swan Lake which start next week. I am very much looking forward to my trips on 1st (Nunez and Muntagirov) and 16th March (Bracewell and Hayward) and it will be the first time I have been to Opening Night. Here are some rehearsal photos from ROH's Flickr of Cesar Corrales and Mayara Magri https://www.flickr.com/photos/royaloperahouse/albums/72177720296700854 and from 2020 with William Bracewell (who I am particularly looking forward to seeing having seen his Romeo) https://www.flickr.com/photos/royaloperahouse/albums/72177720296516106

lamb/hirano due to illness, a friend can no longer use this ticket. face value £11. please DM me and leave a message if you are interested. thanks Peter

o'sullivan/mcrae due to illness, a friend can no longer use these tickets. face value £11 each. please DM me and leave a message if you are interested. thanks Peter

cuthbertson/bracewell due to illness, a friend can no longer use these tickets. face value £11 each. please DM me and leave a message if you are interested. thanks Peter

Calvert/Edmonds débuts and only performance during this run. face value £11, please DM me and leave a message if you would like this ticket. Thanks Peter