Jump to content

The Royal Ballet: Giselle, January-March 2018


Recommended Posts

3 hours ago, MAB said:

  He may improve or he may not and yes, he's not a virtuoso but in my opinion he's already done enough to prove what a wonderful asset he is for the company.

 

Matthew Ball's dancing is improving all the time. That's one of the things that makes him so interesting. But, just as importantly, he is a riveting presence on stage and an actor whose every role rings true. A real talent who we are so lucky to have in the RB.

 

.

Edited by capybara
  • Like 12
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 508
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

14 hours ago, Lindsay said:

I’m with Aileen on this and think Naghdi deserves a much better partner.  Naghdi’s technique is irreproachable so, although there is clearly lots more she can and will do with this role once the nerves of a debut have passed, she was never less than compelling to watch.  Whereas I really don’t get what O’Hare sees in Matthew Ball - he has a pretty face but his characterisation didn’t really advance beyond plain arrogant and his technique did not stand up well to comparison with the excellent James Hay in the pas de six.  In my view, if Hay were taller or Calvin Richardson were British or Marcelino Sambe had not been injured this season, I think any of them could and should rightly have been cast ahead of Ball. 

What are you insinuating, Lindsey?  That Matthew Ball was cast in this role just because he has a pretty face and is British? Kevin O'Hare deserves more credit than that., as does Matthew Ball.  

  • Like 14
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Sharon said:

I so enjoyed today's performance, the corps were wonderful, congratulations to the rehearsal coach for the successful result. The pas de six I really enjoyed - but can someone please tell me what is wrong with Takane Akada's left point shoe and why it is always gaping open over her little toe, I do find it a distraction.

 

16 hours ago, aileen said:

Yes, I noticed something 'unusual' about Takada's foot too.

 

I've not really wanted to comment on this as it feels almost as bad as criticising a performer for their facial appearance!  But now that two of you have mentioned it... yes, Takada has a foot deformity (I'm assuming a large bunion) on the outer edge of her left foot, which she adapts her pointe shoes to accommodate.  I have sat "up close" for several of her performances in roles of various size, and I'm afraid I just can't not notice it.  (For the record, there are other - including some very famous and otherwise wonderful - dancers whose feet put me off wanting to watch them dance.)

 

I can only speculate that it may not be possible to do something about it surgically without risking her career.  But I'm sorry, it's pretty much all I can look at when I watch her dance in close proximity.

 

And that's my last comment on the subject.

 

Penelope, I'm so sorry for your travel nightmare.  It reminds me of the time I left nearly four hours' "float" to get to a performance of extreme sentimental value, and ended up on a rail-replacement bus and missing the first act.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, Lindsay said:

I’m with Aileen on this and think Naghdi deserves a much better partner.  Naghdi’s technique is irreproachable so, although there is clearly lots more she can and will do with this role once the nerves of a debut have passed, she was never less than compelling to watch.  Whereas I really don’t get what O’Hare sees in Matthew Ball - he has a pretty face but his characterisation didn’t really advance beyond plain arrogant and his technique did not stand up well to comparison with the excellent James Hay in the pas de six.  In my view, if Hay were taller or Calvin Richardson were British or Marcelino Sambe had not been injured this season, I think any of them could and should rightly have been cast ahead of Ball. 

And if Nureyev wasn't dead and Mukhamedov hadn't retired and Macrae wasn't injured...........

 

We could go on forever speculating on whom might or might not make a better partner for a particular ballerina.  Personally I am a big fan of Matthew Ball and although I missed Giselle, this couple's R&J was sublime and both have developed since that time.  Also, surely we have to accept that whoever leads RB has to look to the future and experiment and ultimately build exciting and enduring partnerships.   You cannot simply keep casting your front line principles and I have found that some of my best nights at ROH have come from seeing dancers in new roles.  I am sure Yasmine Naghdi will have many partners in her career but many of us feel that there is a connection with Ball and would like to see where it goes.

 

As for being British, I am sure that KOH is like most ballet fans in not giving a thought to a dancer's nationality.  For me it is totally irrelevant and this is the first time I have been made aware that Matthew is British.

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yesterday’s performance of Giselle was one of the most heartbreaking I’ve experienced.  This was a real love story.  This was a performance that reached down into my soul and pulled out emotions that I hadn’t felt at the ballet for a good while.  I have long extolled the special partnership that is Naghdi/Ball, and yesterday was another moment in time that confirmed this view of mine. 

I loved Yasmine’s Giselle.  She was clearly deeply in love with Albrecht.  The adoring way she looked up at him, their physical tenderness, her pride in dancing for him and with him, the way she tried so hard to stay outside with him when Mum was dragging her in, her disappointment when the flower didn’t work.  This love was manifested so touchingly and effectively in the mad scene.  I can’t ever remember seeing it done like this:  it was all about heartbreak, about the despairing tears a girl cries when she realises she has been cheated on or lied to by someone she loves.  This was grief, a deep heart-wrenching grief that drove the young girl to distraction.  Gosh, the way she stopped sometimes and just cried from sheer sadness and despair.  The way she looked at her wound and started to cry.  The way she looked at her mother, blank.   The way she made any of us who have been deeply hurt in love remember how the pain can also be physical, making you feel like your heart is literally breaking.   This wasn’t just ‘madness’, it was raw, exposing heartbreak.  It gave me shivers down my spine.  Her Act Two was simply sublime,  the gentle, Romantic personification of forgiveness and pure love.  She has beautiful lines and musicality (mentioned elsewhere on this thread) and soft, exquisite arms.  Paired with the slowness of the tempo and the deep emotion etched on her expressive face, we could absorb every movement, every nuance,  from this ethereal, benevolent creature from beyond the grave.   It was like a breeze gently blowing through fields of white flowers.  

I loved Matthew Ball’s Albrecht.  Someone said above that his characterisation never progressed from arrogant.  I can’t understand that at all.  Let’s remember that in Act 1 he has to be arrogant, otherwise his sadness and contrition in Act 2 doesn’t work, and why would Giselle annoy Myrtha and condemn herself to never rising again if he doesn’t realise the error of his ways?  I think Ball played it beautifully.  Yes, an arrogant aristo in Act 1, but not as arrogant as some.  His feelings for Giselle clearly run deeper than he would like to admit.  Little touches in his interpretation show us this:  the way he holds her hand in both of his, the look of worry and confusion on his face when she gets up immediately after having to sit down when she has her moment of physical weakness, and his devastation and fury when she dies.  In Act 2, he is humbled and feeling the ache of love that he knows he will never experience again.  He is far from arrogant.   He loads all kinds of little, telling details into what he is doing:  I love the way he stops when he walking along the back of the stage with the flowers and looks back, as if deciding whether or not he should continue.  I love the way he inhales the smell of the lilies so deeply.  I love the way he keeps touching the grave each time Giselle disappears offstage, as if begging her to come back. I love the way it seems that he is really about to collapse and die when he has finished dancing just before dawn; at Giselle’s behest he lifts his head a bit, then lets out a deep breath as if to say “no, I can’t do this.”   It is then that she holds his hand to her heart and impels him to go on and live his life.   I love the look of despair on his face towards the end, when he has been able to hold Giselle briefly and thinks he can walk off with her, then realises that she is fading fast and that he will never see her again.  The look of gratitude, relief and redemption on his face as he slowly walked downstage at the end told us that it was all worth it, and that Giselle’s love and forgiveness would forever be in his heart and go with him always.  Nothing could or would ever take that away from him.   

Mention has been made of technique.  I thought that Ball danced beautifully.  I don’t think there is much point in comparisons;  there are some male principals in the company who can never land a jump with any accuracy, there are some who can’t jump that well, there are some who can dance but who can’t put anything emotional or dramatic across, there are those who can make me weep from their interpretation but make me look in disbelief at their relative lack of technical prowess.   I have seen all of them stumble or fall over the years so there is no point in mentioning a very slight stumble from a new First Soloist making a debut on one of the world’s great stages in one of the world’s great ballets.  Under the strict coaching of Alexander Agadzhanov he has improved leaps and bounds technically over the past couple of years, and will continue to do so.  He is naturally very passionate, and a very caring and attentive partner.  He executed the two Bolshoi lifts in Act 2 just perfectly, and held Yasmine up there for a long time, long enough to make it appear that Giselle’s spirit was hovering above him.  He jumped well, his tours en l’air were perfectly landed and his sissones were impressive without being showy.  Furthermore, if Miss Osipova thinks he is good enough for her, that is good enough for me.  I hardly think she would consent to dance with someone in a new production of the world’s most famous ballet if she didn’t think he were at a good level of technique and interpretation.  They danced together before and she clearly enjoyed the experience.   For me, in this ballet, how it affects me emotionally is much more important than executing the steps to a fabulous degree.

 I think Ball has the whole package, and will prove himself as one of the very best if he continues in this upward trajectory.   Someone said that Yasmine ‘deserves a better partner.’   She doesn’t necessarily want another partner;  it is clear that she and Matthew adore dancing together and have a rapport and chemistry that is there for all to see, and feel.  This is a truly special partnership, where everything runs deep, and I hope that it is allowed to blossom evermore. 

This was the second time in a week I had seen Fumi Kaneko dance Myrtha, and I was very impressed.  Such wonderful jumps, such beautiful turns.  The pas de six was one of the best I’ve seen for a long time, because all six of the dancers were beautifully in harmony and it was a joy to finally see the two men take off and land together, and not stagger around after landing their tours en l’air as they are going around the stage.  Big kudos to David Donnelly and Teo Dubreuil for this.  James Hay was simply perfection.  Can perfection be simple?  With him it can.  A real joy to behold.  Aside from his solos, it was great to see him partnering Akane again, after their wonderful Sleeping Beauty. 

I will once again say how beautiful and superb the corps de ballet is.  I said it last run and I will say it again;  I can’t imagine a better corps of Wilis anywhere at the moment. 

The fact that there are more ‘future Giselles’ than we can shake a lily at shows what great shape the company is in right now.  There is so much talent at all levels amongst the men and the women that sometimes I don’t know where to look.    My ballet cup runneth over, and I thank each and every one of the dancers, musicians, coaches and everyone else behind the scenes for an amazing two weeks of beautiful dance, with more to come no doubt.  With Koen Kessels there to guide the orchestra in a way that is sensitive to what is happening onstage but deep and lush in its sound, this must surely be another very special era in the history of this company.  Long may it last. 

  • Like 25
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you RuthE for answering my querie. It's a shame about this, what I've wondered though is why it's not possible for some shoes to be adapted for her, the box widened or something? Maybe not - otherwise it would of been done...But I can't help but think something could be done to help her. After all is she going to dance the rest of her career with her shoes in that condition? It goes without saying that an integral part of ballet is the feet and pointe work and shoes. Obviously we look at them, we are supposed to, we appreciate beautiful feet - like Claire Calvert's or Xander's, and we notice when the dancers have good footwork because it's a part of what makes ballet different from modern dance for example. I find it a distraction so I try to avoid looking at her feet, which is a shame. I feel sorry for her having to dance with her shoe in that condition and I hope it's not too painful and she is not exacerbating her condition/problem with the continued dancing.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, penelopesimpson said:

And if Nureyev wasn't dead and Mukhamedov hadn't retired and Macrae wasn't injured...........

 

We could go on forever speculating on whom might or might not make a better partner for a particular ballerina.  Personally I am a big fan of Matthew Ball and although I missed Giselle, this couple's R&J was sublime and both have developed since that time.  Also, surely we have to accept that whoever leads RB has to look to the future and experiment and ultimately build exciting and enduring partnerships.   You cannot simply keep casting your front line principles and I have found that some of my best nights at ROH have come from seeing dancers in new roles.  I am sure Yasmine Naghdi will have many partners in her career but many of us feel that there is a connection with Ball and would like to see where it goes.

 

As for being British, I am sure that KOH is like most ballet fans in not giving a thought to a dancer's nationality.  For me it is totally irrelevant and this is the first time I have been made aware that Matthew is British.

 

Actually I have no idea of the nationality of most of the dancers at the RB, unless I happen to have read or heard an interview with them or they have risen so high that it may get mentioned publicly.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree that Naghdi and Ball do have good on stage chemistry but at this stage of her career (a new principal who is debuting in a lot of new roles) I feel that Naghdi would benefit from dancing with a more experienced partner in some performances. I actually wonder whether Ball is being advanced a bit too quickly in his career and whether he wouldn't benefit from a period of consolidation without being cast in lots of very exposed new roles. I think that he is a fine dancer but, at the moment, Naghdi far surpasses him technically, dramatically and musically. It's not as if she's an experienced principal with many years under her belt; she is still learning and developing. herself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, so who didn't go to the matinee yesterday?! Great to see so many forum members yesterday and what a treat Giselle was.  It was a great performance and I love Naghdi and Ball together.  I think everything has been covered by others, but I 'd like to make a big shout out to the corps de ballet who were on sparkling form I thought - lovely straight lines and moving as one - Giselle as it should be done.  I also really enjoyed Kaneko as Myrtha.  I was a bit surprised to see Takada in the pas de six - anyone know why a principal was dancing this part?  This was certainly a very credible debut by both Naghdi and Ball and I look forward to their future performances together.  Some curtain call pics - including the mountain of bouquets received by Yasmine!

DVxcir5W4AA8T43.jpg

 

DVxcltnWAAAlGhE.jpg

 

DVxcqb7XkAAAI4_.jpg

 

DVxcyJ5XcAAYnVf.jpg

Edited by Don Q Fan
  • Like 14
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

I loved both performances, and wouldn't be without either of our lovely girls (as I think of them!) but I probably found myself more engaged with Hayward's Giselle (though if we must make odious comparisons, Naghdi probably edged it on technique). 

 

Which just about sums it up for me. Both wonderful and both partnerships were utterly convincing.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Sim said:

Yesterday’s performance of Giselle was one of the most heartbreaking I’ve experienced.  This was a real love story.  This was a performance that reached down into my soul and pulled out emotions that I hadn’t felt at the ballet for a good while.  I have long extolled the special partnership that is Naghdi/Ball, and yesterday was another moment in time that confirmed this view of mine. 

I loved Yasmine’s Giselle.  She was clearly deeply in love with Albrecht.  The adoring way she looked up at him, their physical tenderness, her pride in dancing for him and with him, the way she tried so hard to stay outside with him when Mum was dragging her in, her disappointment when the flower didn’t work.  This love was manifested so touchingly and effectively in the mad scene.  I can’t ever remember seeing it done like this:  it was all about heartbreak, about the despairing tears a girl cries when she realises she has been cheated on or lied to by someone she loves.  This was grief, a deep heart-wrenching grief that drove the young girl to distraction.  Gosh, the way she stopped sometimes and just cried from sheer sadness and despair.  The way she looked at her wound and started to cry.  The way she looked at her mother, blank.   The way she made any of us who have been deeply hurt in love remember how the pain can also be physical, making you feel like your heart is literally breaking.   This wasn’t just ‘madness’, it was raw, exposing heartbreak.  It gave me shivers down my spine.  Her Act Two was simply sublime,  the gentle, Romantic personification of forgiveness and pure love.  She has beautiful lines and musicality (mentioned elsewhere on this thread) and soft, exquisite arms.  Paired with the slowness of the tempo and the deep emotion etched on her expressive face, we could absorb every movement, every nuance,  from this ethereal, benevolent creature from beyond the grave.   It was like a breeze gently blowing through fields of white flowers.  

I loved Matthew Ball’s Albrecht.  Someone said above that his characterisation never progressed from arrogant.  I can’t understand that at all.  Let’s remember that in Act 1 he has to be arrogant, otherwise his sadness and contrition in Act 2 doesn’t work, and why would Giselle annoy Myrtha and condemn herself to never rising again if he doesn’t realise the error of his ways?  I think Ball played it beautifully.  Yes, an arrogant aristo in Act 1, but not as arrogant as some.  His feelings for Giselle clearly run deeper than he would like to admit.  Little touches in his interpretation show us this:  the way he holds her hand in both of his, the look of worry and confusion on his face when she gets up immediately after having to sit down when she has her moment of physical weakness, and his devastation and fury when she dies.  In Act 2, he loads all kinds of little, telling details into what he is doing:  I love the way he stops when he walking along the back of the stage with the flowers and looks back, as if deciding whether or not he should continue.  I love the way he inhales the smell of the lilies so deeply.  I love the way he keeps touching the grave each time Giselle disappears offstage, as if begging her to come back. I love the way it seems that he is really about to collapse and die when he has finished dancing just before dawn; at Giselle’s behest he lifts his head a bit, then lets out a deep breath as if to say “no, I can’t do this.”   It is then that she holds his hand to her heart and impels him to go on and live his life.   I love the look of despair on his face towards the end, when he has been able to hold Giselle briefly and thinks he can walk off with her, then realises that she is fading fast and that he will never see her again.  The look of gratitude, relief and redemption on his face as he slowly walked downstage at the end told us that it was all worth it, and that Giselle’s love and forgiveness would forever be in his heart and go with him always.  Nothing could or would ever take that away from him.   

Mention has been made of technique.  I thought that Ball danced beautifully.  I don’t think there is much point in comparisons;  there are some male principals in the company who can never land a jump with any accuracy, there are some who can’t jump that well, there are some who can dance but who can’t put anything emotional or dramatic across, there are those who can make me weep from their interpretation but make me look in disbelief at their relative lack of technical prowess.   I have seen all of them stumble or fall over the years so there is no point in mentioning a very slight stumble from a new First Soloist making a debut on one of the world’s great stages in one of the world’s great ballets.  Under the strict coaching of Alexander Agadzhanov he has improved leaps and bounds technically over the past couple of years, and will continue to do so.  He is naturally very passionate, and a very caring and attentive partner.  He executed the two Bolshoi lifts in Act 2 just perfectly, and held Yasmine up there for a long time, long enough to make it appear that Giselle’s spirit was hovering above him.  He jumped well, his tours en l’air were perfectly landed and his sissones were impressive without being showy.  Furthermore, if Miss Osipova thinks he is good enough for her, that is good enough for me.  I hardly think she would consent to dance with someone in a new production of the world’s most famous ballet if she didn’t think he were at a good level of technique and interpretation.  They danced together before and she clearly enjoyed the experience.   For me, in this ballet, how it affects me emotionally is much more important than executing the steps to a fabulous degree.

 I think Ball has the whole package, and will prove himself as one of the very best if he continues in this upward trajectory.   Someone said that Yasmine ‘deserves a better partner.’   She doesn’t necessarily want another partner;  it is clear that she and Matthew adore dancing together and have a rapport and chemistry that is there for all to see, and feel.  This is a truly special partnership, where everything runs deep, and I hope that it is allowed to blossom evermore. 

This was the second time in a week I had seen Fumi Kaneko dance Myrtha, and I was very impressed.  Such wonderful jumps, such beautiful turns.  The pas de six was one of the best I’ve seen for a long time, because all six of the dancers were beautifully in harmony and it was a joy to finally see the two men take off and land together, and not stagger around after landing their tours en l’air as they are going around the stage.  Big kudos to David Donnelly and Teo Dubreuil for this.  James Hay was simply perfection.  Can perfection be simple?  With him it can.  A real joy to behold.  Aside from his solos, it was great to see him partnering Akane again, after their wonderful Sleeping Beauty. 

I will once again say how beautiful and superb the corps de ballet is.  I said it last run and I will say it again;  I can’t imagine a better corps of Wilis anywhere at the moment. 

The fact that there are more ‘future Giselles’ than we can shake a lily at shows what great shape the company is in right now.  There is so much talent at all levels amongst the men and the women that sometimes I don’t know where to look.    My ballet cup runneth over, and I thank each and every one of the dancers, musicians, coaches and everyone else behind the scenes for an amazing two weeks of beautiful dance, with more to come no doubt.  With Koen Kessels there to guide the orchestra in a way that is sensitive to what is happening onstage but deep and lush in its sound, this must surely be another very special era in the history of this company.  Long may it last. 

Sim, what a fabulous review. You took the words out of my mouth. I agree with everything you wrote. The whole company were amazing and I'm so glad I managed to get a ticket and see be present at what I'm sure will be a performance that we will all remember for years to come.

Can I just mention that after the performance Yasmine quickly changed out of her costume, but with her Giselle hairdo & makeup intact, came to the stage door to meet & greet her adoring fans. She spoke to everyone, had photos taken and was just utterly lovely and thankful for all the love and admiration. What a wonderful young woman she is!

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't regard my comments as 'Ball-bashing', Scheherazade. I believe that they were respectful. If we're only allowed to express one point of view then there's really no point to this forum. I'm not interested in 'group think'. I stand by my opinion that Naghdi deserves to have the opportunity to dance with more experienced partners who will develop her artistically. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, aileen said:

I can't be bothered with this forum if my views are not to be respected. 

 

I think it was the comment that Mr Ball is just a pretty face that upset people, a comment you didn't make.

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, Sim said:

Alina Cojocaru always had a huge bunion on her foot but this sure never affected my awe and appreciation of her artistry and her performances!

Mine neither, although I did notice it, and I think that Alina changed her shoe brand also - a wider fitting?? - because it did become less noticable.

A bunion I can live with, but Akane is dancing in shoes that are cut/or open down the side which is something I have never seen before.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, aileen said:

I don't regard my comments as 'Ball-bashing', Scheherazade. I believe that they were respectful. If we're only allowed to express one point of view then there's really no point to this forum. I'm not interested in 'group think'. I stand by my opinion that Naghdi deserves to have the opportunity to dance with more experienced partners who will develop her artistically. 

 

I think your comments were both respectful and interesting, aileen, whether or not I agreed with them. It's excellent that different views are expressed, sometimes robustly.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Indigo said:

Francesca Hayward & Alexander Campbell were terrific, as others have said. I especially enjoyed Francesca’s Act I. However, while greatly admiring their artistry, I was never really emotionally caught up in their performance. (My loss, I know!)  I’ve previously found this with various of Francesca’s performances ...

 

Another example of how performances affect us all differently. From the first time that I can recall seeing Francesca (her Vera to Osipova's Natalia Petrovna when, to my astonishment, she was the one I could  not take my eyes off), she has touched me emotionally in a way that very few others have managed to do. I agree totally with Mark Monahan's 'new-minted' comparison, which is exactly how I felt when I saw her Giselle. Similarly the subtlety of her Act 1 portrayal and her other-worldly delicacy in Act 2.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 minutes ago, aileen said:

I don't regard my comments as 'Ball-bashing', Scheherazade. I believe that they were respectful. If we're only allowed to express one point of view then there's really no point to this forum. I'm not interested in 'group think'. I stand by my opinion that Naghdi deserves to have the opportunity to dance with more experienced partners who will develop her artistically. 

 

I totally reserve your right to disagree with me, Aileen. I did not for one moment suggest that your comments were disrespectful and my comment was not directed specifically at you. Equally, I might point out, your comment could be taken as denying me the right to disagree with you but I don't take it that way. I do, however, hold to my view that Ball-bashing has featured in a number of recent postings. C'est la vie!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, Scheherezade said:

 

Another example of how performances affect us all differently. From the first time that I can recall seeing Francesca (her Vera to Osipova's Natalia Petrovna when, to my astonishment, she was the one I could  not take my eyes off), she has touched me emotionally in a way that very few others have managed to do.

 

Snap!  It was her Vera that convinced me I was looking at a future ballerina too.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, aileen said:

I don't regard my comments as 'Ball-bashing', Scheherazade. I believe that they were respectful. If we're only allowed to express one point of view then there's really no point to this forum. I'm not interested in 'group think'. I stand by my opinion that Naghdi deserves to have the opportunity to dance with more experienced partners who will develop her artistically. 

 

And you will see elsewhere on this thread that you are not alone in your opinion - specifically, post #150 from jamesrhblack.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, Sharon said:

Mine neither, although I did notice it, and I think that Alina changed her shoe brand also - a wider fitting?? - because it did become less noticable.

A bunion I can live with, but Akane is dancing in shoes that are cut/or open down the side which is something I have never seen before.

 

I've seen dancers make a slit in their shoes to allow for a bunion, especially if they have tapered toes.  Cojocaru has a very wide platform on her Gaynor Mindens but the difficulty is that if you have a *box* wide enough to make room for the bunion, your feet will likely sink down in the pointe shoes.  The wings need to be tight enough to hold the metatarsals firmly enough to stop this happening, but if your bunion is painful then it will be squeezed.  So sometimes cutting a slit in the shoe is the only option. 

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Anna C said:

 

I've seen dancers make a slit in their shoes to allow for a bunion, especially if they have tapered toes.  Cojocaru has a very wide platform on her Gaynor Mindens but the difficulty is that if you have a *box* wide enough to make room for the bunion, your feet will likely sink down in the pointe shoes.  The wings need to be tight enough to hold the metatarsals firmly enough to stop this happening, but if your bunion is painful then it will be squeezed.  So sometimes cutting a slit in the shoe is the only option. 

 

All I can say is: poor flippin' dancers!! How amazing that they do what they do in spite of these problems.

 

  • Like 10
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like Aileen, I believe I am entitled to an opinion.  I was simply wondering why, when there are several other upcoming male dancers available whose classical technique appears to me clearly superior to Ball’s (and I’m not talking about stumbles here - the very best dancers stumble or trip) and who have put in excellent performances in full length classics (James Hay in SB was extraordinary and Sambe in Fille was a revelation) this particular dancer is being given so much exposure.  My surmise is that the company likes to promote upcoming British principals in an attempt to replicate the ‘Darcy’ effect. Why, for example, did Hayward receive so much publicity when Takada, Hirano and Campbell were promoted at the same time? All four are excellent dancers but obviously her ‘story’ is considered most likely to resonate with the British public; it certainly does not hurt a dancer’s profile if they have an attractive face and the PR department has their job to do. 

 

This is not an attack on anyone - just a statement of an opinion which i believe is reasonable and based on many years of watching ballet.  I have very much enjoyed Matthew Ball’s performances in McGregor’s work.   But, having now seen him in several full lengths, I do not think he is the company’s best available choice for a classical lead.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, bridiem said:

 

All I can say is: poor flippin' dancers!! How amazing that they do what they do in spite of these problems.

 

 

Isn't it! My daughter has a bunion and fortunately it rarely gets inflamed or painful now but in the past we have had all sorts of modifications in her pointe shoes.   :)

 

Anyway, apologies for going off topic but I thought I'd explain what might be going on with Takada's shoes! 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Lindsay said:

Like Aileen, I believe I am entitled to an opinion.  I was simply wondering why, when there are several other upcoming male dancers available whose classical technique appears to me clearly superior to Ball’s (and I’m not talking about stumbles here - the very best dancers stumble or trip) and who have put in excellent performances in full length classics (James Hay in SB was extraordinary and Sambe in Fille was a revelation) this particular dancer is being given so much exposure.  My surmise is that the company likes to promote upcoming British principals in an attempt to replicate the ‘Darcy’ effect. Why, for example, did Hayward receive so much publicity when Takada, Hirano and Campbell were promoted at the same time? All four are excellent dancers but obviously her ‘story’ is considered most likely to resonate with the British public; it certainly does not hurt a dancer’s profile if they have an attractive face and the PR department has their job to do. 

 

This is not an attack on anyone - just a statement of an opinion which i believe is reasonable and based on many years of watching ballet.  I have very much enjoyed Matthew Ball’s performances in McGregor’s work.   But, having now seen him in several full lengths, I do not think he is the company’s best available choice for a classical lead.

 

Are you wondering about casting or perceived PR "pushes"? You appear to be conflating the two.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Lindsay said:

All four are excellent dancers but obviously her ‘story’ is considered most likely to resonate with the British public; it certainly does not hurt a dancer’s profile if they have an attractive face and the PR department has their job to do. 

 

Well I think you've answered your own question, really.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...