Sim

It was sad not to see Morera, but O’Sullivan was a more than worthy replacement!

They were wonderful, Sharon. Mr O’Hare, please give them Swan Lake next season!! I thought this was a great evening and paid fitting tribute to Dame Margot. More tomorrow.

THE BALLET BOYZ Them/Us Vaudeville Theatre, London The Ballet Boyz were formed by two classically-trained ballet boys, Michael Nunn and William Trevitt. I must admit to not having seen too much of their work over the past 18 years of its existence, so I was looking forward to this programme. Them/Us is definitely a game of two halves. For the Vaudeville Theatre run, each half is introduced by a video that shows interviews with the dancers and choreographer/s. This is very useful as each video sets the scene of what is to come. We are told that Them was choreographed by the dancers as they went along, under the watchful eyes of Nunn and Trevitt and rehearsal director Charlotte Pook. With so many people involved, it was going to be very difficult for much clarity of narrative or theme to be apparent to the audience. The result was thus a disjointed piece, not quite knowing what it was or where it was going. The dancers came on and off the stage, did a few dance steps, then moved on to rolling a large metal cube frame around the stage. What followed was mostly gymnastics; jumping in and out of the cube, somersaulting over the bars, using the top bar as a perch from which to watch the proceedings below...until a few minutes from the end, there wasn't much dancing. When it did come, we finally got to see what these dancers are about. They are of course all good, and when they got going they and the set gave me a feel of the opening sequence of West Side Story (minus the genius of Robbins' choreography). So a rather frustrating piece in which the dancers weren't shown at their best (although Benjamin Knapper managed to make his presence felt in a very positive way); we got a taste of cool urban chic, but that was about it. Charlotte Harding's music was appropriate to the generally metallic feel of the whole thing. When a real choreographer got hold of this talented group of boyz, the result was infinitely more satisfying and indeed very moving. Us was choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, one of the foremost choreographers working today. In the introductory video he described what a delight it was to work with these dancers, and said that he did have in mind a narrative, but he didn't want to be too explicit. He just explained that it was about two men in a relationship, and he didn't want it to be overly emoted or sexual. Us offered up some typically Wheeldon movements, such as the whole group moving as one at a rapid pace, something I first remember seeing in DGV and then reprised in Within The Golden Hour. I could feel the electric current running through the group, who were as one, but each dancer could separate and dance alone, then seamlessly come back together as a group. They lost layers of clothes as the piece moved along, perhaps to signify different moods and different stages of a relationship. These were the scene setters, building up to an incredibly moving and intense pdd by the two central men, alone on the stage, bare chested. Huge kudos here to Harry Price and Bradley Waller, who must have danced this many, many times, but still managed to display a depth of emotion that made it look like the first time. Interestingly, these two dancers are very similar physically, and look almost like mirror reflections of each other. Was there a bit of the Narcissus here? Finishing the ballet with this pdd, Wheeldon succeeds in making the audience think about what they had just seen. Was this about love? Loss in love? Joy and happiness in love? For me, it was all of the above. The music for Us (written by Keaton Henson) builds up slowly to a much quicker climax, then morphs into a heartfelt piece for the two men, who interpreted every note with feeling. I liked it very much. On the whole I enjoyed this double bill, but that was really thanks to the second piece. These men are all very good dancers, and I hope that next time I get more of a chance to see what they can do; one piece out of two wasn't enough to do justice to their talents.

Wow that’s beautiful. A true likeness. Thanks Margaret!

Mho agrees with yours, Sebastian!

The sacrifices parents make for their children! 🤣.

And check with your closer cinema to see if they do a repeat showing, which they often do.

You definitely must, Dawnstar!

It’s fine to make a negative comment, of course. But as you say, it’s also fine to disagree with it. And if the RB shows something to the public, no matter what it is, that then opens it up to comment. Such is the nature of social media!

It’s fine if it is shown to the public.

Don’t be too hard on them, Douglas. This WAS a studio run through. And bear in mind that not everyone watching the live stream knew this ballet, or even perhaps any ballet. Taking it slowly shows what’s involved to those who might not know. When they do this on stage the pace is quicker and flows beautifully. And let’s not forget how tired these incredibly hard-working artists must be at the moment. Going all-out in a studio run-through is probably the last thing they felt like doing this morning, so a gentle pace was the right approach methinks!

Not sure how many of you know about this that was on Facebook this morning....

Hello Andrew, and welcome to the Forum!

They have clearly had to rush out this press release due to the original cock up. What a farce, and a shame for the other dancers.

They can only do this if all the dancers involved have been given the news, and this is by no means certain.

A big embarrassment for the RB press department. I am also thrilled for Marcelino, but I think it’s fair to all the promoted dancers that the promotions are announced at the same time, which is the norm. So I think the announcement will come when everyone has had the chat with KoH.

Couldn’t agree more!

I have never noticed that Alexander Campbell does this more than any of the other men. I think they are very happy to have come through something difficult and to share this happiness with the audience. They are, after all, doing it to please and impress us. I think that last night Campbell was simply showing us how thrilled he was to be back on that stage!

Thanks FionaE. Somehow I don’t think this is for me!

Yes it was her debut last night.

I so enjoyed this evening. Yasmine Naghdi was a fierce, fiery and feisty Firebird, with such effective use of her eyes and those beautiful arms. As for her jetes....wow! So high, so precise, so softly landed. She is a very special artist. Sadly I had a big argument with someone standing next to me just before Month started, so I was feeling miffed and angry throughout so wasn’t concentrating as much as usual. However, I really liked this cast and how the piece was put across. I always love Francesca Hayward in Ashton pieces. She really seems to get it. A very assured debut from Matthew Ball, wonderful dancing from James Hay, and a suitably nuanced performance from Marianela Nunez. I do think the company could benefit from dancing more Ashton, but sadly this isn’t really going to happen next season. Symphony was a joy (what a beautiful debut from Fumi Kaneko, replacing Natalia Osipova. I can’t wait to see her in Swan Lake- assuming she will get the role!) and by the time it finished I was happy and content again!

This ticket for tonight is still available.

D33 £8.00. I will be there to do the exchange. Please PM me if interested. Thanks, Sim

One of my favourite quotes ever from Eric: “The best Kitri I ever saw was her Giselle...!”

Same with the Telegraph!