betterankles

Re Les Sylphides, English National Ballet also danced it in 2009 and, in my opinion, their performances were vastly superior to those of the Royal. When I asked a member of the ENB staff about this, she told me that Maina Gielgud had been responsible for the coaching and that she, herself, had been coached by a dancer from the Ballets Russes. If my memory is correct, that dancer was Tamara Karsavina. I believe that Maina Gielgud is a reader of this forum. Maybe she could confirm or ask someone else to confirm on her behalf? Yes - Maina Gielgud was responsible for coaching Les Sylphides in that production. She studied with Tamara Karsavina, both classical technique and mime classes, and was coached by Lubov Egorova in a number of classical solos, in particular from The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. In her dancing days, she performed Mazurka, Prelude and Pas de deux in Les Sylphides, for which she was mainly coached by Rosella Hightower who had been coached by Fokine in his latter days. During her directorship of The Australian Ballet, Maina invited Irina Baronova, who worked with Fokine during the Ballets Russes days, to stage the ballet.

So more time to be devoted to paperwork and less for teachers and directors to devote to the teaching... The ludicrous amount of paperwork involved is seriously dissuading teachers from working or staying with major schools already...

Find another teacher...

However - dancers all over the world really love to work with McGregor. He is very special in the rehearsal room, interesting and indeed collaborative.

My theory is that it is because more and more artistic directors are asked to 'justify' their casting choices... Perhaps without even realizing they are doing so or why, they have been slowly but surely resorting more and more to casting by a measurable criteria: height of extensions, number of pirouettes or fouettees, height of jump, amount of instep ! The amount of and gist of posts regarding this on balletcoforum, is perhaps going to help. Perhaps many posts on the ROH website as well could help the ADs realize that they need to use more subjective criteria and revert to the suitability by personality, temperament, movement and musical qualities of dancers for roles being cast. Artistic Directors will be ciriticised anyway, because not everyone holds the same views about this - but that is what an AD is for, to use their experience and nouse to produce the best possible performances of each ballet every time - while still taking into account the need to give opportunities, even unlikely ones on occasion, in which case the surrounding cast needs to be very sound. The expectations of principal dancers that they will perform every principal role, which has arisen, is a problem, as is that of their particular audience - and is self perpetuating, as it means that the audience may never see the right type of dancer to enhance a ballet, and so will never know how the role was meant to be - and consequently how the ballet was meant to be. At worst this leads to a first rate ballet being thought to be second rate as has been already pointed out... There is a necessity to educate the audience which is part of the ADs' role.

Stage presence/ dynamics Acting skills/style Technique/virtuosity Classical lines/proportions (beauty) Suitability

Well - I for one am very happy that many older people are going to the ballet. The younger people will come more often when they have time - when they too are older. Another PC thing 'getting the young people into the ballet'. To generalise - and there are always exceptions - It has always been that children are taken to the ballet, teenagers are busy with study and their social lives, young people have jobs, maybe children to look after and very little extra time on their hands. But after retirement is perfect to have time to more regularly go to the ballet. Of course this is more likely if they love it through having seen good performances as children, and or taken ballet classes as many children do..... Regarding all the PC stuff - I don't understand anything about it. Should films plays and ballets not show murderers and suicides - should they not show war situations, sexual harrassment etce etc etc. Surely these are much more uncomfortable making, then seeing 'gypsies' or even blacked up people dancing? When actors or dancers wear character make up - eg to depict someone old, or a Kostchei (spelling) with a big nose, or wear a wig - eg try to look like a different person then they are in life to create a character on stage, why does that not fall into the same category as blacking up to portray Othello or the blackamoor in Petrushka...? Difference between putting on a false nose/chin and wrinkles, and blacking up anybody? We are all different, why not show this on stage in all its forms - surely this is one of the most important roles of the arts...

A decade or so ago, the dancers of the Royal Danish Ballet wished to abolish their only once weekly 'Bournonville class'... I'm not sure how their relationship with the great choreographer (which was very much 'love/hate'stands at present...

Shiori Kase was already a fantastic dancer when she started studying at the Royal Ballet School. She danced a Black Swan solo at a showing in the studio theatre of completely mature technique, musicality and stagecraft! I believe she was only 14...

No wonder the audience was sparse for Manon - the publicity was practically non existant, and the poster abysmal...

Not sure how it is now, but the Royal Danish Ballet used to cancel performances for reasons of sickness or injury of cast members quite often..

Although there are many many productions of Giselle around the world, it is probably the least mangled ballet of all the classics. While of course some productions tell the story (often through good casting) better then others, it is only the Mary Skeaping version as danced by ENB which completely adheres to the beautiful romantic style, and in both acts. The Cuban version, originally also staged by Skeaping has become distorted through the decades). I am here of course only referring to the traditional version.

Manuel Legris might have something to do with the development of the Vienna company? )))

He did not have an outgoing personaliy on stage when at RBS because of his shyness. A DQ pas de deux at the RBS studio theatre showed Eagling and his staff a moment which promised the future. Eagling immediately after offered him a Corps de ballet contract, and promised him that he would dance Gisellle at the Coliseum that season if he joined. I believe he had also been offered a soloist contract at the Bolshoi. Within the first month after joining ENB he danced the role of the Poet in Les Sylphides in Barcelona on tour, started rehearsing Giselle, showing immediately a natural instinct for acting, with a stagecraft which only needed developing with experience and good coaching...

Manon is not a technically challenging ballet, and hardly has any jumps in the choreography. I believe all, but if not certainly most, of the injuries sustained by the dancers as mentioned above occurred in the partnered slide at the end of the bedroom pas de deux ....

Young man red bandana cut tights = Teo Dubreuil - beautiful dancer!

Managed thanks

How does one edit spelling mistakes?

indeed he is... a real Prince in waiting of whom there are SO few these days. Like Berlanga, another...and Parish (fortunately not waiting any more )

The most important thing to consider is how much your daughter or son NEEDS to dance (not just would like...). You would know about that...

It will be interesting indeed to see if Zakharova dances in the beautiful old style Ratmansky has so lovingly staged.. Oh, and Jacopo Tissi is a very talented young man, who was with Manuel Legris at Vienna Opera last year, and has only just joined La Scala.

Concrete proof yet again that Paris Opera does import guests from other countries/companies...

Australian dancers (people), from a very young age, appear to have an innate sense of stagecraft - and lack the inhibitions so often found in British dancers (people). They are also more overtly ambitious, and don't have the 'be a good loser' attitude of the British...(there are thankfully some exceptions these days). Those children who wish to become professional classical dancers (and presumably those entering the Genee are not those who dance as a hobby...) need to put in the hours of work, to gain technical proficiency (and polish these days), before the teenage years, otherwise they spend much of the time in the rehearsals studio trying to increase their technique so as to cope with a ballet's demands, instead of being able instead to work mainly on the artistic and musical qualities, with only some refining of the technical side. And they often remain fearful of the technical demands of classical ballet, throughout their career. I say before the teenage years, because those are usually the awkward years, (even for Australians and South Africans!) - and if virtuoso steps like fouettees have not been acquired (even if 'dirty') when they seem exciting to attempt before the teenage years, not daunting as later, they remain - scary.... It's not for nothing that the Japanese as well as the Australians are the ones who have the strongest technique - check the early training: no such thing as 'don't try two pirouettes until you have done a perfect single'!! Indeed, although competitions can seem to glorify technique and virtuosity - they nowadays have great advantages as described by others above. And they do mean that students get one to one coaching, so that their individual stagecraft can be encouraged and discussed - something that in technique class of 10 hours a week, there is no time for... IMO FAR too many dancers nowadays, become such as a result of 'the right physique' and being told they have everything to become ballerinas - so they love the IDEA of being a classical dancer, rather then having the NEED to dance, as necessary as the air they breathe ... yes this does exist, and my does it show on stage!

Don't worry about how you end before you begin - go for the turning part of it, and find out what works best for you - releve - rise - whatever.. Grand pirouette (hopping) every day in second with pirouette in second, then attitude, then pull in, finding front to start from for each releve. - that's how they used to be taught by pre Vaganova Russians. Watch youtube videos of dancers with good turns and copy - and If all else fails go to Cuba - they all turn without problem, taught from early days.....

Paris Opera do bring in guest stars, and to replace their own. Stars are born and not made - although it is true that there is presently a sprinkling - of real stars, and real ballerinas (not necessarily the same thing) - untapped in the international market... As long as they get seen, potential stars become stars because the AUDIENCE recognizes and promotes them beyond a principal or soloist status.