capybara Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Your guess is as good as mine, Aileen. Only insiders have the answer to that question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valentino Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 I heard it was just a back spasm, and hopefully he will dance tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Apologies if this has already been answered but what is the logic of Ali dancing with his master's sweetheart? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Yes a bit strange I thought!! But I think Ali helps to rescue her at one point but we don't see much of the actual rescue before the big pas de trois.......do we?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Apologies if this has already been answered but what is the logic of Ali dancing with his master's sweetheart?  I may be barking up entirely the wrong tree here but when I first got interested in watching ballet I read quite a lot of books about the history. I think that for some of the big Petipa ballets the dancer who created the leading roles was mature and that additional characters were used to do some of the more vigorous partnering and dancing (I believe that may be the origin of the character of Benno in Swan Lake). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 I've just found these items in Wikipedia. The dancer I was thinking of (Pavel Gerdt) did not create the role of Conrad but performed in the premiere of the 1899 version:   Le Corsaire  Pavel Gerdt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 The earlier French production still bore some resemblance to Byron's poem, however the Russian version just includes the title and the characters' names. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 I may be barking up entirely the wrong tree here but when I first got interested in watching ballet I read quite a lot of books about the history. I think that for some of the big Petipa ballets the dancer who created the leading roles was mature and that additional characters were used to do some of the more vigorous partnering and dancing (I believe that may be the origin of the character of Benno in Swan Lake). I was another one who wondered if this was the case here, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane S Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 If you're really interested in this question you might like to take a look at a discussion on the BalletAlert forum from some years ago - the topic called Pas de Deux. The answer seems to be that no-one really knows. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Fortunately, ENB's amazing Conrads are leaping just as high as their respective Alis. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 I am seeing this on Saturday afternoon. I have got a bit confused as to who is dancing what. Originally it was Takahashi as Medora and Acosta as Conrad. Has anybody seen Takahashi?  I don't think I've seen any reviews of her performance, and she is one of my favourites.  Where do I get up to date info, as the website doesn't seem to correspond to the information people are giving here.  Thanks, and am REALLY looking forward to it. And afterwards, I might trot along to Patisserie Valerie (as mentioned elsewhere) :drool: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 The cast for tomorrow (Saturday) matinee is indeed meant to be Erina Takahashi and Yonah Acosta. Takahashi is really lovely in the role of Medora and Ksenia Ovsyanick (who is also scheduled to dance then) is a beautiful Gulnare.  I think that the main changes from the website casting have been because of last minute injury (e.g. Zdenek Konvalina). Some of us occasionally check with the dancers if the opportunity arises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Great! Thanks Capybara.  I deliberately steered clear of the two starry casts - Rojo and Cojacaru - as I have seen both dance many times before, whereas I don't get the chance to see Takahashi very often. Likewise Klimentova, although I couldn't manage any of the dates for her performances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 She only has the one performance, unfortunately . I guess Muntagirov is too well occupied partnering Cojocaru, dancing Ali and so on ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Goodness, has she? That didn't register, I just had the choice of two dates - tomorrow and Sunday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Daria and Vadim are as fabulous together in Le Corsaire as they are in other shows. Curiously, there still seems to be a lot of unsold seats for Sunday afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Not a surprise to me Capybara, the unreliability of public transport at weekends, Sunday in particular,makes a lot of us reluctant to book for Sunday performances. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonbfisher Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Well, I'm braving the Sunday uncertainties to see Daria : I keep thinking I may not see her for all that much longer . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Daria and Vadim are as fabulous together in Le Corsaire as they are in other shows. Curiously, there still seems to be a lot of unsold seats for Sunday afternoon.  Actually, I think that may be something to do with the website: until I realised thanks to a comment on here that that vertical red line was a scrollbar, I couldn't even see that there *was* a Sunday matinee. If you don't scroll down, it will only have become visible in the last few days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrischris Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Has the coli been full for the performances so far? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Not for Corsaire, no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Not a surprise to me Capybara, the unreliability of public transport at weekends, Sunday in particular,makes a lot of us reluctant to book for Sunday performances.  I have a feeling that Sunday theatre performances, even matinees, haven't necessarily gone down too well with certain sections of the theatre-going public. I mean, I'm pretty sure that even guaranteed sell-outs like Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake take rather longer to shift Sunday performances than virtually any other date. And yes, who wants to commit large amounts of money to buying tickets on a day when they may well find the journey to the theatre takes 3 or 4 times as long as usual (problem I'm having with the Bolshoi on Sunday, too)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 It hasn't unfortunately, chrischris. Â This evening I saw the first night cast again, but with Erina as Gulnare and Shiori dancing as one of the Odalisques. I felt that the performance had even more verve than before, and the story seemed clearer for some reason even though I was high up. The pdt in Act 2 was electric and garnered huge applause. Vadim and Alina were fantastic together in the 'bedroom' pdd. Vadim was the boss of the pirates and his fight with Yonah was really exciting. Yonah can certainly do brooding resentment well. The stage was almost too small for Vadim and Junor. Dimitri was a revelation in the role of Lankedam. I don't think that I've seen such good solos from him for some time (although he's always a very confident partner). Erina was very good as Gulnare. Although Alina is not always the strongest dancer technically where fouettes are concerned, for me her dancing has a lovely quality and she interacts really well with the other characters on the stage. Tamara is rock solid technically (not quite as good in the air) but was less convincing in the role which is a bit too girly for her. There's a touch of the pantomime with all the creeping around, the DelBoy character of Lankedam and the podgy Pasha with all his bling, but the dancers commit themselves to the story, although it makes little sense (why, for example, doesn't Conrad, who has all that treasure in his pirates lair, just buy Medora and why does Medora have a change of clothes with her when she escapes with Conrad the first time?!). I think that the humour is just about right. I wouldn't like it to become any broader. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTL Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 I thought the Cojocaru Italian fouettés went well tonight, they got a few "brava"s. . All in all, it was a thrilling evening, who cares about a sensible plot with dancing like that? World-class leads and not a weak link throughout. I was really disappointed that Daria Klimentovά's only perforance is a Sunday (no good for trains, plus family commitments) but the Cojocaru/Muntagirov partnership is very promising, I didn't even notice the height difference, which must actually be considerable. I agree with Aileen about the pdd, I think they raised it a notch or two tonight from the first night. I would hate to think that less-than-full houses might force "Le Corsaire" out of the ENB repertoire but I don't think the London pricing policy worked this time, I certainly found it quite confusing: having watched the first night from a relatively cheap Stalls seat, I came out wanting to see it again but had to wait for the offers before rebooking (the ROH non-Friends booking period 3 having taken a large chunk out of my budget). My other piece of advice to ENB is to promote Junor Souza and Yonah Acosta before they lose them to a company offering them more than "Junior Soloist". 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 It is strange, isn't it, but the Coliseum never seems to have full houses for ballet.  Does it have many more seats to fill than the ROH? Or is it really just a snobbish thing - the "if it isn't the Opera House then it must be a second rate company" idea?  Or is it something else? Prices? They are normal for London theatres, I think. Although it is annoying that I booked my seats, and then a week later a deal comes up. On that basis, I should never book an ENB ticket until the day before I want to go, on the grounds that I can pretty much guarantee I will get a good deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coated Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 The Coli has 102 more seats than the ROH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Yes, it was a thrilling evening (and the fouettes went well last night) and I agree that the partnership between Alina and Vadim is very promising. The partnership between Tamara and Vadim didn't really work for me, which is nobody's fault - it's just down to personality and chemistry. Having said that, the pdd between Tamara as Medora and Vadim as Ali was electric last Saturday evening. I agree that both Junor and Yonah deserve promotions. Tamara wouldn't want to lose them to the place up the road! Speaking of promotions, and without wanting to re-open the debate, Ksenia also deserves a promotion to a soloist's position. I heard lots of comments from people around me last night saying how much they were enjoying the Le Corsaire. Let's hope that they book for something else. The season brochure was on view last night, but only on the table with the programmes downstairs and not in the leaflet racks which were pretty empty. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balletla Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Looks like there may have been a few of us at the performance last night. Absolutely loved it but agree with a couple of posters about Alina not being as strong technically as I expected. This is the first time i have seen her dance so not sure if this is a recent development. Yonah Acosta was super - definitely needs promoting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Macmillan Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 It says here that Tamara is dancing with a "French Adolphe Adam" - new Soloist at ENB? Â http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2276841&Itemid=1 Â (It is, of course, a very poor partial translation of a much longer original.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 I would second Junor and Yonah being promoted!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Looks like there may have been a few of us at the performance last night. Absolutely loved it but agree with a couple of posters about Alina not being as strong technically as I expected. Well, she wasn't when I saw her last in Swan Lake at the ROH, but I don't know whether that was a "blip". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrischris Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 The Coli has 102 more seats than the ROH. Â Is that all it is? The coli seems so much bigger than the ROH. Â I don't know whether I would prefer to have fewer dance opportunities at the RB but be guaranteed an almost full house, or dance loads with the ENB but have a house with loads of empty seats. It must be so dispiriting, particularly when it seems that they are dancing their hearts out and putting on a great show. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 I think it has to be said, though, that if the RB put on as many performances of a given work as ENB do, their performances wouldn't be sold out either, so I guess really it's a question of performing things so often that they become a part of you, or more works but less frequently. I don't think either company has hit the happy medium: Sir Peter Wright, I think it was, during the recent Giselle insight evening, commented on the difficulty of getting into a role when you only dance it perhaps a couple of times in a run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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