Jump to content

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 176
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

What I hope will happen:

 

Matthew Ball to First Soloist

Reece Clark to Soloist

Calvin Richardson to Soloist

 

Yasmin Naghdi to Principal (had to drop the e on her name because my auto-predict insists on Jasmine!)

Olivia Cowley to First Soloist

Anna-Rose O'Sullivan to Soloist

 

Those are my top six but I am sure I'll think of more!

  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would agree with all of Sim's above except Calvin Richardson. He's an Artist now, so surely First Artist is next for him, but for sure a candidate for promotion and eventual Soloist, if not more, status. I would add Gina Storm- Jensen and David Yudes from Artist to First Artist. I also think that Christina Arestis deserves some sort of promotion. She's so versatile...so wonderful in Monotones, as Bathilde and in Sleeping Beauty -  company backbone. Ashley Dean possibly? Yuhui Choe possibly? In the less contentious possibly arena I would add David Donelly and Isabella Gasparini.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I understand what you mean about Richardson rank-wise, Darlex, but I just think he can do soloist roles now. However, I would be fine with waiting another year!

 

Funnily enough I was going to put David and Isabella on my list but then decided I had to think about whether they are quite ready for soloist roles yet. Having decided that DD would make a good Lensky, I guess he is! I haven't seen enough of IG to make a proper judgement, but I like what I have seen and that smile alone deserves promotion!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay Sim, if this is the game we're playing, catapulting dancers through the ranks, I would catapult Anna Rose O'Sullivan to First Soloist. And while we're at it, I'd do the same to Reece Clarke. However, I have every faith that K. O'Hare will be able to make all the right decisions on our behalf. Thank goodness for him! I do think he's doing a great job on the whole.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have seen some exceptional dancing by many of the younger dancers this Season, and especially during this SB run.

 

Mr O'Hare knows his dancers best of all. The higher the rank the more physical and mental pressure a dancer will be under and not all of the younger dancers have gained enough experience to deal with such pressures. Doing time in the Corps greatly benefits dancers for various reasons. We have seen promotions in the past, which in my opinion happened far too fast, and those dancers got injured as soon as they joined a higher rank and were off dancing for a year. Some of the younger ones may have given us an impressive performance but joining a higher rank also means consistently dancing at that level as well as tackling increasingly demanding roles. Some dancers are more injury prone so Mr O'Hare has to carefully judge if a dancer will benefit staying another season at the same rank or move up. 

 

Based on the many performances I have seen this Season my guess is:

 

Yasmine Naghdi to Principal:

Naghdi has certainly earned her stripes having danced various repertoire to great acclaim. As a First Soloist she has had to tackle great Classical roles, she capably took over various demanding roles at short notice, danced Mathilde Kchessinska in "Anastasia" (the hardest Pd2 in the ballet repertoire) successfully (and with a partner too short for her), considered by many as the best Sugar Plum Fairy of all debutantes, was superb as the Rose Fairy, her highly successful performance as "Aurora"- described in detail by Jonathan Gray and other reviewers as outstanding- she has also shown her great versatility over the past seasons dancing difficult works by Ashton (Monotones, Symphonic Variations,...), MacMillan, McGregor, Balanchine;  she has also shown her great dramatic abilities dancing Juliet in "Romeo & Juliet", in "The Invitation", just to name a few. 

 

Olivia Cowley to First Soloist:

She has done her time at Soloist level, is strong in the Contemporary rep. and can also tackle classical roles.

Perhaps also Marcelino Sambe.

 

Anna Rose O'Sullivan to Soloist

Reece Clark to Soloist

 

Calvin Richardson to First Artist

Gina Storm-Jensen to First Artist

 

Mayara Magri was lovely this season too but imo could benefit from at least another year at Soloist rank (she only got promoted to Soloist last Season), same for Matthew Ball.

Edited by Nina G.
  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My wish-list:

 

Yasmine Naghdi to Principal - if this doesn't happen I'm tempted to start a petition

Matthew Ball to First Soloist

Yuhui Choe to Principal (although sadly this is about as likely to happen as a new Manon dvd :( )

Anna-Rose O'Sullivan to Soloist

Olivia Cowley to First Soloist

 

And promotion for Sambé although in my pre-coffee state I can't remember his current rank - apologies.

 

Also agree re Christina Arestis.

  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually, I think the new Manon DVD is rather more likely, Anna.

 

By comparison with other ADs I've experienced, it seems that O'Hare doesn't tend to hang around with promotions, sometimes basing on (perceived?) future potential rather than achievements to date, which I find rather more difficult to predict successfully.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Based on what I have seen this season,

 

Yasmine Naghdi to Principal

Christina Arestis to Character Principal

Olivia Cowley to First Soloist

Anna Rose O'Sullivan to Soloist

Reece Clarke to Soloist

Calvin Richardson to First Artist

 

Invidious to speculate, but I am sure Zenaida Yanowsky will not be the only dancer leaving....

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Based on what I have seen this season,

 

Yasmine Naghdi to Principal

Christina Arestis to Character Principal

Olivia Cowley to First Soloist

Anna Rose O'Sullivan to Soloist

Reece Clarke to Soloist

Calvin Richardson to First Artist

 

Invidious to speculate, but I am sure Zenaida Yanowsky will not be the only dancer leaving....

 

O'Hare has previously said there will be no more promotions to character artist (principal or otherwise).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My wish-list:

 

Yasmine Naghdi to Principal - if this doesn't happen I'm tempted to start a petition

 

I have already said that if it doesn't happen I will be chaining myself to Mr O'Hare's door.  Dave M will be joining me, so please feel free to also join our merry band should it be necessary!!  Actually, we won't be so merry....  :)

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have already said that if it doesn't happen I will be chaining myself to Mr O'Hare's door.  Dave M will be joining me, so please feel free to also join our merry band should it be necessary!!  Actually, we won't be so merry....  :)

I'll be right there with you!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

O'Hare has previously said there will be no more promotions to character artist (principal or otherwise).

I think I'd also read that somewhere. It does beg the question though of how to reward a fine artist who isn't going to be dancing the lead in the classics (I recall years ago that Rosalind Eyre was a Principal and I think her only "dancing" role by that time was Lady Elgar).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 It does beg the question though of how to reward a fine artist who isn't going to be dancing the lead in the classics

 

Bennet Gartside being the obvious example. Though maybe he could do Siegfried sometime if that's what it takes...

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay Sim, if this is the game we're playing, catapulting dancers through the ranks, I

 

Unfortunately, Kevin O'Hare doesn't seem to go in for jumping ranks although he did promote Tierney Heap twice within a year.

 

The last dancer I recall doing so (from First Artist to First Soloist in 2008) was Yuhui Choe.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

O'Hare has previously said there will be no more promotions to character artist (principal or otherwise).

 

I guess that Kevin O'Hare is being cautious of giving "jobs for life" which is how one current 'character' specialist once described the rank of Principal Character Artist.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

The last dancer I recall doing so (from First Artist to First Soloist in 2008) was Yuhui Choe.

 

Didn't Beatriz Stix-Brunell miss a rank?  I'm pretty sure she was promoted from Artist to Soloist after doing a couple of principal roles very early in her career (Alice and Princess Rose).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Didn't Beatriz Stix-Brunell miss a rank?  I'm pretty sure she was promoted from Artist to Soloist after doing a couple of principal roles very early in her career (Alice and Princess Rose).

 

 

Yes indeed but this happened under Dame Monica Mason's Directorship.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know this might sound controversial, but do we need another female principal at the moment?  Isn't there more opportunity for first soloists to have a crack at leading roles, if there aren't too many above them who would automatically expect to be cast?  

 

Just saying.... :)

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Zenaida Yanowsky, very sadly, is retiring at the end of the season, so that is one female principal leaving. And if Yasmine Naghdi's performances this season aren't recognised as being of principal level (especially from what I hear - sadly I didn't see it - about her taking the Kschessinska role at very short notice and being considered by many to have given the best performance of the Anastasia run) then I shall clearly not be alone in wondering what on earth is going on. It appears that her performances have been at least equal to those of the principal dancers and I can't imagine why she should be expected to wait for official endorsement of that. Plus if they believe a first soloist is capable of dancing principal roles then they cast them - as Naghdi has proved.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't see any principal promotions. Everyone raves about Naghdi but what about several of the others who are just as wonderful. I can see promotions through the ranks though. For principal, they could do with poaching from another company perhaps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know this might sound controversial, but do we need another female principal at the moment?  Isn't there more opportunity for first soloists to have a crack at leading roles, if there aren't too many above them who would automatically expect to be cast?  

 

Just saying.... :)

 

 

I can understand this question coming from an audience point of view and one can also ask: "do we need another First Soloist next season?" or "do we need another Soloist next Season?" and "did we need 2 female and 2 male new Principals last Season?" when there are already many good Principals, First Soloists and Soloists? Why promoting X to rank Y when there are already many good ones in that rank?

 

A promotion is given by the AD in recognition of the talent of a particular dancer who has not only worked extremely hard all Season long, who has proven herself/himself to be increasingly outstanding, who has proven to be able to tackle various styles, roles and choreographies, etc. Certain dancers in a particular rank stand out amongst their fellow ranked dancers and their talent has to be recognised and rewarded with promotion when the AD sees fit.

 

Keeping extremely talented and capable healthy dancers in the same rank... until they are needed in a higher rank carries risks too: they may leave and join another company, or their passion and desire may wane, or....

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A promotion is given by the AD in recognition of the talent of a particular dancer...

 

Do we know this to be true? It seems to me that their are plenty of other reason not to promote a dancer: financial, logistical, structural, pastoral. There are certainly a number of dancers that the company presumably believes are good enough to dance principle roles regularly, and yet are not principles. Whilst we would like to think that dancers are justly rewarded for their talent, I fear the world (and corporate structures) can be unjust. It seems to me that you may have the roles of audience and AD the wrong way round when it comes to considerations for promotion. 

 

​Either way, this whole discussion seems a touch premature considering we have only just entered the second half of the season. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't see any principal promotions. Everyone raves about Naghdi but what about several of the others who are just as wonderful. I can see promotions through the ranks though. For principal, they could do with poaching from another company perhaps.

Why on earth would we want someone 'poached' from another company when RB has such wonderful talent in its ranks?  And yes, people do rave about Naghdi - for good reason.  She is quite exceptional and deserves to be a Principal.  I for one hope we don't see too many outsiders coming in to guest for a while - unless for reasons of injury etc.  KOH has nurtured home-grown talent and more power to him for doing so.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

​Either way, this whole discussion seems a touch premature considering we have only just entered the second half of the season. 

 

 

 

Do we know this to be true? It seems to me that their are plenty of other reason not to promote a dancer: financial, logistical, structural, pastoral. There are certainly a number of dancers that the company presumably believes are good enough to dance principle roles regularly, and yet are not principles. Whilst we would like to think that dancers are justly rewarded for their talent, I fear the world (and corporate structures) can be unjust. It seems to me that you may have the roles of audience and AD the wrong way round when it comes to considerations for promotion. 

 

​Either way, this whole discussion seems a touch premature considering we have only just entered the second half of the season. 

 

 

With all due respect but I wasn't really talking about reasons not to promote dancers but about reasons why to promote dancers. 

Sure, your reasons not to promote are very valid reasons indeed.

 

Season 2016-17 started on 27th September and there are only 3 months left now.

 

I personally feel discussions can never be premature: a discussion is a discussion, an opinion is an opinion, a thought is a thought, and I think those of us who have wished to express their opinion have done so; those who feel it is premature are free to wait until May or June. 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

With all due respect but I wasn't really talking about reasons not to promote dancers but about reasons why to promote dancers. 

 

That is true. I guess I find it difficult to separate the two. 

 

 

I personally feel discussions can never be premature: a discussion is a discussion, an opinion is an opinion, a thought is a thought, and I think those of us who have wished to express their opinion have done so; those who feel it is premature are free to wait until May or June. 

 

 

Not trying to stifle discussion. I simply meant that technically we are still in the Winter Season, spring starts with Jewels, so technically we are still in the first half of the season. I'm not sure that matters though. We have certainly had enough performances to give the management something to think about, so its only fair we should think about it too.

Edited by Saodan
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't want to ignite a 'who is better' argument but it is very interesting to see that Naghdi appears to have followed a very similar career projectory to Hayward over the last season or so, with debuts as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Aurora, Juliet, the girl in The Invitation, ?Frankenstein happening at the same time as far as I remember? Furthermore she has danced with a more junior-ranking (I don't for one second mean anything more than that by pointing this out) partner in those ballets rather than Hayward who has often been partnered by another principal, which must surely be considered as less nerve-wracking when making a debut in that I imagine that a dancer of equal or more senior ranking could generally be considered a safer pair of hands and may well have experience in partnering that role.

 

I remain amazed that a first soloist was the choice to learn and perform Kschessinska at short notice and to do so to considerable acclaim, gathering more plaudits it would seem than the principals also cast in that role. That alone must surely show how highly she is regarded by RB management. With all due respect, a pas de deux of such acknowledged technical difficulty would probably be danced only by carefully rehearsed principal dancers in the vast majority of cases and by itself I would have thought should have catapulted Naghdi to principal status.

 

And finally, when a dancer cast as the Rose Fairy is just as eye-catching and positively luminous as those cast as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Clara in the Nutcracker, even in the cinema screening, then I consider (and obviously others may disagree) that that dancer has something very special. I referred to it as star quality - I very much enjoyed Cuthbertson as Sugar Plum and Hayward as Clara in that performance but to be captivated by Naghdi's Rose Fairy to just the same extent (if not more so, especially when considering the Rose Fairy's brevity in comparison) was very special indeed.

 

As far as I can see, Naghdi should already have been promoted. I very much hope that she is at the top of Kevin O'Hare's list of promotions for the new season at least.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also seem to remember that some eyebrows were raised when Hayward was promoted as she hadn't danced the traditional 'tutu' principal roles by then? If that is correct then at least there can be no criticism of Naghdi's chances of promotion in that respect.

Edited by Legseleven
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd like to pick-up on a point made by a previous poster saying "there are many wonderful dancers..."

 

Just as there are many "wonderful" tennis players... but what sets Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Murray, Serena Williams apart from those many "wonderful" tennis players? 

 

What are the criteria used by people when saying someone is a "wonderful" dancer? A wonderful dancer in company X or Y would not be considered a wonderful dancer in a top company such as The RB, the Paris Opera Ballet, or the Mariinsky. 

 

A first time ballet go-er will likely find most dancers to be wonderful, a seasoned ballet go-er will have developed criteria by which to separate a wonderful from a "not-so-wonderful" dancer. Some will find a dancer who is able to do a 6 o'clock penchee a wonderful dancer. To be a truly wonderful dancer means so much more. 

 

When a poster on here said "Everyone raves about Naghdi but what about several of the others who are just as wonderful"  I'd like to ask him/her: how many of those others who are "just as wonderful" have danced a tear-inducing Juliet and got a standing ovation? How many of those others have danced the Sugar Plum Fairy and Aurora and Rose Fairy and Mathilde Kschessinka, just to name the great roles danced this Season alone, to equal great acclaim? 

 

I would like to point out that I am not defending Naghdi but simply stating facts, acknowledged by reputable dance critics, many RB Patrons as well as Forum members.

 

My criteria for considering a dancer to be wonderful lay high and a dancer needs to have it all: stage presence, artistry, superb classical technic, able to connect with the audience, dancing a demanding role flawlessly, dancing consistently at a high technical level, and if that dancer also has a beautiful classical line...well that for me is what I consider a truly wonderful dancer.  

 

For clarity's sake: "Red Riding Hood" caught my eye at one of the SB performances, she was really wonderful. The cast sheet showed: Isabella Gasparini. She was so lovely in that role but would she be wonderful as a Sugar Plum or an Aurora or...?

A dancer can be wonderful in a McGregor work but not so very wonderful dancing Ashton, MacMillan or Balanchine...

 

Wonderful dancers can be found in any rank, in any company, but the truly wonderful do stand out and are absolutely wonderful across the repertoire of the Company.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...