IPalmer

Hello all former Ballet.coers! I was very grateful to have been given a ticket for this afternoon's matinee and I cannot not remark on the exquisite performance given by Alina Cojocaru , in which she brought her years of experience and artistry to the fore. What a tremendously rich and nuanced portrayal it was and I was very glad to join those giving a standing ovation in the stalls. On a general note about ENB, having also seen them earlier in the Coliseum residency, I think the company is looking in the best shape it has done for a while and really tremendous. It was also very lovely to see forum member MAB and her partner in crime after the show for a quick catchup. Best wishes to all. Ian Palmer

Greetings to all Ballet.coers and friends. I have not been this time around, but I remember Tereskina's fouettes about a decade or so ago at a little-attended matinee at the Birmingham Hippodrome, when she did exactly that trick with the fan whilst performing doubles. It remains with me as an extraordinary moment of ballet artistry from a truly great ballerina. I love this production, especially the Dulcinea sequence; I love the Bolshoi's also and celebrate the fact that both productions, in their different and engaging ways, honour a masterpiece that brightens our ballet-going days.

Hello all. I make a confession up front: I am a very good friend of Paul Arrowsmith, with whom Sir Peter collaborated on these memoirs. However, personal relationships aside, I think these memoirs are everything you would want memoirs to be. Yes, they are deliciously gossipy, and a fascinating insight into the earlier period of both Royal Ballet companies, and especially around the time of de Valois' retirement. Yes, there are few personalities in it that come out of the book completely unscathed, but they are dealt with with a refreshing honesty. Sir Peter is completely even handed: where he sees reason to praise someone, he does so. Where he sees they were at fault, he says so too. He's writes of people in their 3-dimensional way: not simply as heroes and heroines whose lives have become the preserve of hagiographies. A good example is how he writes of Michael Somes, whom he clearly loathed. He does not hold back and gives justification for not doing so, yet he also writes of his admiration for Somes such as when he was negotiating with Sol Hurock on a US tour, or when staging Enigma Variations in Birmingham in the early 90's. The chapters on the stagings of the classics are tremendous in their depth and authority and the chapters on Cranko, Ashton and the early years of Birmingham are worth the price of the book alone. In a chapter on new works he writes with real passion and love about the works of Pina Bausch and is not especially complimentary about Wayne McGregor, and gives an interesting perspective on the reasons he was selected to work with the RB. The silent heroine of the book, though, is his late wife, who though mentioned only very briefly, is a strong presence throughout. As she obviously was through his life. It is very cleverly ordered (thanks to Paul) and is therefore a book into which you can just dip in and out. Though I warn you - once you have started, you are unlikely to want to stop...

I was very glad to get the opportunity to be at today's matinee. Elisha Willis was superb as Kate and Ian Mackay also. It is a find retirement performance for her to be remembered by. The company performs this ballet as if they were born to dance it, with an even lighter touch than when Stuttgart Ballet brought it to Sadlers Wells a few years ago. Speaking after the performance at a Q&A to launch his new memoirs, "Wrights & Wrongs", Sir Peter Wright, who was responsible for introducing this ballet to what was then SWRB, after it was a dud at the RB, told the audience how much he had enjoyed this performance too. No higher praise is needed. Sir Peter's memoirs have been written with Paul Arrowsmith, who I am sure most here will remember as a contributor in the glory days of Ballet.co, and a good friend to many of us. The event after this performance to launch them was fascinating and Sir Peter spoke with the same candour that my brief reading of the book on the train home suggests he writes with. There is a superb chapter on Cranko specifically, and Wright's insights into the world of British ballet are perhaps as insightful and at times controversial as you could wish for. All steered so deftly by Paul. An absolute must read!

I was very glad to nip over to Cardiff yesterday to see the last day of the Mariinsky residency. The stalls seemed pretty full, but I was not sure about elsewhere. My feeling is that the pre-publicity was pretty non-existent. Had I not happened to glance at the Guardian Guide on the previous Saturday, I would not have been aware of these performances at all, and I am usually pretty up to speed with what is going on around the UK. It's been a long while since I last saw the company (a Christmas trip to Baden Baden in 2009 I think) and I am not in a position to recognize many of the artists now. There were no programmes left and I couldn't get hold of a cast sheet. But I think I spotted Konstantin Zverev in "Concerto DSCH" who has developed into a fine dancer, after last seeing him as Espada in DonQ. The central movement of that piece was really very good, with gorgeously musical choreography. The work itself seemed, to me, very Balanchine-lite, and I was not taken with those little hints at narrative and suggestions of relationships that never seemed to be followed through to a meaningful conclusion, but it was engagingly inventive and I would certainly want to see it again. "Sacre", I found tedious with too much meaning layered upon layer: for me it became a simply a game of "spot the sacrificial virgin". Who I think was Kondaurova, magnificent as ever. What a remarkable artist she is with the company! I was amazed that Gergiev allowed the score to be played around with so much, for the benefit of the choreography, as that is not usually his style at all. The orchestra was superb. Overall, it is always a pleasure to see Mariinsky artists, who even when presented with grit, turn it to pearl.

Hello again. Not wishing to hog this thread, but I do just want to make one further observation that "TwoPigeons" also has mentioned, which is regarding the size of the stage at the Hippo, versus the set (which I believe is a direct transfer from ROH). I agree the stage is not large enough, and this was most apparent in Kolya's solo with the kite. At ROH I seem to remember, though perhaps I am mistaken, that he circles the stage in ever increasing rotations, and that the last rotation is the one where he jumps over the chaise longue and out through the veranda. At the Hippo he has no space but to jump over the chaise longue initially and continue to do so, and I felt the effect of that scene was lessened as a result (I also thought at the matinee he got the string caught a bit, so the kite didn't trail as much as it has done upon Kolya's exit into the garden, as in other performances) . Interesting comparing sets and stage sizes with the recent RB revival of Two Pigeons, where the opposite was the case. The ROH stage was far too large to accommodate the set and the RB performance suffered, I felt. As the owner of the ballet, Dowell has complete control over casting. I think it is wonderful that Matthews and Downs have been given this opportunity and done so well.

Hello all. It was a real treat to see so many old Ballet.coers in Birmingham this afternoon after such a long time. I won't dwell on The Dream which was very perky and had just too much of the Duracell Bunny about its performance for my tastes; but A Month in the Country was, for me, simply the best performance I have seen BRB give. I find it quite extraordinary that it was only their second performance of the work. I was told that Dowell was in tears at the end of the opening night, and if that cast even came close to this afternoon's then it is very special. Samara Downs' beautifully nuanced Natalia showed, so intelligently, the inner narrative logic of this flawed character, and shaped Ashton's choreography through her lusciously bending back and arms; really showing how much the costume also feeds into the movement. There were so many detailed moments I cannot list them all, but I particularly remember her facial expression as Rakitin approaches her from behind, she assumes it is Beliaev, turns and realises her mistake. Beautiful. Jamie Bond was young, ardent, gorgeous as Beliaev, and his opening soliloquy reminded me how differently (perhaps better?) Ashton wrote for Dowell here than Macmillan did for Dowell in the famous Manon soliloquy. Laura Day (new to me) was hugely impressive as Vera. It's a while since I've seen the RB do this work, but BRB far surpassed my memories of those performances. A very, very fine achievement for Brum!

Hello again all on ballet.co, as was. Whilst the rest of the world was at the Rhapsody first performance, I slipped in to the Corsaire matinee. It was the third time seeing ENB doing this production in various places around the country and bizarrely (and not with intention) my third time seeing Takahashi as Medora. She convinced me far more than ever this time round, though it is such a tricky one for any ballerina. In the first act I loved her "soubrette" manner but it did not quite transfer to the Jardin Anime sequence. I would love to see Cojocaru in this role, as I imagine she can traverse all the acts in the same way that Assylmuratova used to. I've seen American Ballet Theatre do this production in New York and the Bolshoi's one is pretty similar too. At ABT they had such a plethora of male stars that each role was defined by their personalities. In the Bolshoi production the male roles are differentiated by whether they are character dancers, demi-cararetere , soloists or a danseur. I did not get this sense of definition among the male roles in this ENB performance and I thought it suffered thereby. Clearly, however, the standard in the female dancers at ENB has gone up significantly since Tamara Rojo's tenure and the Odalisques were superb. I really don't like the Pas de Deux "a trois" in the second act and the Chabukiani insertions. Unless Ali is going to be done in the high camp Farukh Ruzimatov way, can it not just be for Conrad and Medora?

Hello all. It is a long time since I wrote anything on here, so please forgive my breaking the silence. But as the topic is about the choreography of the Nutcracker through the ages, I thought I would just put in a brief mention of the current production offered by the Staatsballet in Berlin, which I was glad to see on New Year's Day at the Staatsoper. This is another of Yuri Burlaka's historical adaptations which he has prepared from the Stepanov notations of the the imperial productions held at Harvard and even includes reconstructions of the original sets and costumes from the 1892 production. The first act is a bit of a bore, though the pas de deux for the toy prince and princess (better known as Harlequin and Columbine in London) was pretty. The second act is something else however and absolutely splendid! The GPDD is pretty much exactly as we see in the two Wright productions in the UK, though it does also include the travelling "reika" upon which the ballerina is pulled across the stage by the Prince Coqueluche, and which used to be part of the RB production before the House closure. It looked rather clunky and the ballerina appeared terrified, which is, I imagine why Wright chose to remove it from the RB production - though Paul Arrowsmith (if he is still around on the forum) should be able to give us Wright's definitive reason. Kind regards and a Happy New Year to everyone! Ian Palmer

Hello all on Balletcoforum. I am just popping up on this thread to say a farewell to Jane, who has been the most inspirational writer for me ever since I started to read her all those years ago on ballet.co. I am bereft to think that I will not have the opportunity to read new pieces of hers again. There has always been a wonderful quality of rigour about Jane's criticism that can illuminate a performance like no other writer; and the absolute integrity of her judgement clearly arises from the respect and often the love (I think of her writing on Ashton) of the works she is reviewing, about which she shares her knowledge so elegantly. She has opened our eyes to the Royal Danes' recent activities and I, personally, have lived their seasons through her. Jane, you deserve a rest in your retirement, though I am sure this will not be a retirement from watching ballet. Thank you for the splendid reviews and interviews over all the years, and for your amazing work with Bruce and Brendan on the Ashton archive, and do know that one of your most avid readers will miss you dreadfully. Ian Palmer