Balletfanp

I thought the first rehearsal with Vadim and Fumi struck the right balance of them dancing and then getting the detail on how to improve things. I found the second one a bit too much the other way. But just my personal opinion!

I really enjoyed last night’s Insight. The Winter’s Tale is a favourite of mine and Fumi and Vadim were a complete joy, especially as they were rehearing that heartbreaking pas de deux at the end of the ballet. I cannot wait to see Vadim’s Leontes in its full glory now - he got me from the moment he started to walk towards Fumi/Hermione. Fumi was so dignified - and what a beautiful straight back she has. Whilst I saw the point of the second rehearsal with Luca Acri and Sae Maeda, I did find myself losing interest a bit in as much as I would have liked to see them run at least part of the whole thing before all the minute breakdown - impressive though it was, it didn’t make for compelling watching as it was hard to get a sense of it. However, they were looking good and I’m sure will shine in the actual performance.

For Alison, and others who missed it, last night’s Insight available here.

In the Nureyev version, Siegfried does get a solo in Act 1 (plus a lot of extra dancing all over the place - well, couldn’t have Nureyev sidelined!). The Act 1 solo was a bit jaunty and didn’t really work for me in the context of the rest of the Act - it was as though Nureyev was determined to shove Siegfried in whatever! That’s the version with (for me) the rather bewildering ending in Act IV where Odette drifts off with Von Rothbart as Siegfried quietly drowns - I think that’s infinitely worse than the Scarlett ending! 😁

Itziar Mendizabal did it and was brilliant. I think Claire Calvert did it too. Oh, and Tierney Heap, I think. Well, she won’t be doing it and who knows if Claire will

I think you’ve summed up my feelings on Act IV, @Sim - it always feels so anticlimactic after Act III in this version. When I saw BRB’s version I enjoyed that much more - it didn’t feel like an anticlimax, from the swans rising up suddenly from the mist, to the proper fight between Siegfried and Rothbart. I do, overall, love the Scarlett version but Act IV really lets it down for me.

I’m on the fence re Matthew Bourne. I certainly found I enjoyed his shows a lot more once I stopped thinking of them as ballets, rather as shows.

I really like that the ROH have started to do this, to enable the dancers to see just how much they are appreciated. Lovely.

Well, Vadim is dancing with Fumi as well in Swan Lake early next month - that should be well worth seeing. I don’t really think there is anywhere other than the ROH website to buy tickets but I’m happy to stand corrected on that if anyone else knows differently. It might just be a case of haunting the site regularly in the hope that something appears….

Not quite - he does two turns consecutively, then a couple of steps forward and repeats the two consecutive, and the whole sequence once more. I’d add a clip in explanation, but I can’t find one on YouTube of him doing it that is actually legal! If you go hunting, there are numerous “unofficial” clips, though 😉

And repeats twice again!

It’s the tours en l’air both ending in fifth position - neither leg in second position.

I would think that to dance Oberon you would have to be a dancer who is very fleet-footed and able to cope with the fast footwork in the Scherzo especially. I’m not sure that’s Hirano’s speciality (no disrespect meant as he has other great qualities).

I think Vadim did dance with Smirnova in Bayadere (there’s footage on YouTube somewhere) when they both guested with ABT - but that was many years ago (Vadim can’t have been older than 21 or 22 then). It won’t help him now!! But if anyone can pull it off with aplomb, those two can!

Yes - I was supposed to be going on the 22nd but had to take a last minute decision not to go (wise, as it turned out) 😞.