patsomerset

I am just home after a fabulous evening at our local Odeon in Taunton. Very well attended and everyone stayed to say farewell to Carlos. I am not normally a fan of mixed bills but this was a really well put together programme with some wonderful dancing. The whole cinema was buzzing. An evening

to remember

That's very good news.  May I in turn thank all those who give up their  time and of their expertise to keep the forum running so smoothly, as well as those who step in where/if necessary and help to attract such a wonderful cross section of contributors who improve our knowledge of ballet and dance as well as encouraging the lively and (mostly) friendly exchange of views.  Long may it last! 

 

It would have been more surprising if she was relaxed and happy. When men are fighting at the front, their wives at home do worry.

 

From the Synopsis:

“Ivan leads Russian regiments into the battle side by side with Kurbsky. 

Death mows down the soldiers, but the harbingers of victory portend defeat for the invaders. Russian regiments force the enemy back. The battle is won! 

Anastasia is anxiously awaiting Ivan’s return.”

 

http://www.bolshoi.ru/en/performances/576/libretto/

 

And thank you from me.  I clearly missed the point of Alison's question!

Was I the only one who went to see Ivan the Terrible last Sunday? I was hoping someone could tell me why Anastasia was so miserable in her Act I solo?

No,  I was there too but I am sorry I can't answer that question.  I can only suppose that she wondered about her fate, she was chosen by Ivan and I image did not have much say in the matter.  I have seen Nikulina dance several times and do not think she is a great actress although she is a lovely dancer with an amazingly supple body and wonderful long legs, and had to cope with some very difficult lifts.  We noticed she had a large bruise on her thigh

Lobukhin was just amazing.  The speed with which he moved around the stage was dazzling and his descent into madness painful to see.  He emerged for his curtain calls looking completely exhausted as well he might after such a powerful performance

Praise too for the Corps especially the large contingent of male dancers

Our cinema was fairly well attended especially on what was a fine Sunday afternoon and the reaction afterwards was stunned silence, but in a good way.  As usual Miss Novikova was an impressive compere in several languages

Perhaps someone with more technical knowledge than me could give a review?

Hello readers. We have recently been noticing problems with accessing certain reviews/articles on the daily links. For example The Times and The Australian ask readers to subscribe before they can access the online versions of the papers, and others such as the Financial Times give a monthly allocation of views after which a subscription request appears. We would be very interested to hear of any similar problems.

 

Speaking of our daily links section, we note that readership of this has declined recently. Would the above access difficulties have anything to do with this? Again, we would be interested in hearing your views about the links section, how often you look at it, how useful you find it, or any other comments you may have.

 

We look forward to hearing your views.

 

Many thanks,

 

Simonetta Dixon

Chair

BalletcoForum Committee

I too visit the links section every day and always find something of interest, particularly when there are multiple reviews of the same performance/same cast.  Yes, it is true that I can no longer access certain reviews without being asked to subscribe and I am most certainly not going to be coerced into doing that.  The one I miss most is Arts Desk.  Sometimes I can access the reviews, sometimes not, not sure why.  I very much appreciate the work that the links people put into this and amazed at the scope of the links they find.  Maybe people express their views and read the views of others more through social media these days?  I don't know as I don't subscribe to social media but I can only say that I have never found the tweets which appear across the screen at live transmissions very profound or helpful!  Please keep on providing the links 

Just had an email from ROH advising that the casts for two performances of Month in the Country are switched, so it's now:

 

5 November: Bonelli/Osipova

 

12 November: Pennefather/Yanowsky

I am not at all pleased.  I had managed to get a front row seat and a hotel for the night which, for some reason was not easy on 12 November, so it will be difficult to change my ticket now so will have to go along with the change.  I too wanted to see Osipova in Month in the Country.  Quite disappointing really

Attendance was not great here in Taunton either considering that the ROH transmissions are now totally booked up.  I echo what everyone said about the sound.  We mentioned it in the interval and they turned it down although they said it was well below what the distributors recommend already.  We had a very brief (less than a minute) break in transmission

I agree with Don Q about the shades costumes.  They looked rather cheap to me and the lighting turned the ones at the front of the stage yellow which was rather a shame for what is supposed to be a white scene.  I thought the corps very good by and large, and so well matched in height and physique.  When they were lined up with their backs turned to the stage every waistline seemed to be at the same height and every leg the same length

As Don Q says, it was not Valery Gergiev conducting

Loved the Golden Idol especially and enjoyed the whole evening.  It was an unexpected treat in what is usually a pretty dull time for ballet lovers.  It did not however prompt me to rush for tickets to the season in London.  The dullness of the repertoire and the constant cast changes are very off putting

Yes, I have found the same.  Now back to normal but it's always good to know that you are not alone when things like that happen!

Yes

By Jove, I seem to have fixed it! This seems to be a well-known problem with I.E. 11 and I've just installed a little workaround.

 

Pat, is that any better?

 

John Mallinson

 

(Posted with I.E. 11 under Windows 7)

You are a star, you have indeed fixed it.  One very happy person here,  so many thanks to you and to all the other forum members who offered advice and help

The quote button no longer works for me.  When I press quote all that happens is that a reply box opens after the last post, but no quote.  What am I doing wrong.  Please has anybody any ideas?

I am with Alison on the popcorn discussion.  I hate the smell, but more than that people tend to have a large tub into which they delve at intervals making a rustling noise.  I find that quite antisocial at a ballet  especially if they choose quiet moments

Sorry,  I can't reply directly with a quote as I can't make thequote facility work at the moment

I seem to remember Johnny Cope presenting something as well and very good he was too

I have just seen on the ROH website that Tetractys has been cancelled this evening due to injury and illness.  This must  be a quite unusual . Patrons are being given the choice of leaving and getting a full refund or staying for the two other ballets and getting a third refund.  Very disappointing if you have come from a distance indeed 'a bit of a disaster darling' as someone once said.

Does anyone know whether the gala is being recorded and will be shown in the UK?  The opening ceremony contained some dancing but very little 'ballet' and the merest glimpse of Zacharova & Vasiliev.  More of Vishneva but I would not have known it was her unless the commentator had told me.  The ceremony itself was very spectacular and very, very well done. I thought the commentary excellent too

I still can't make the 'quote' button work but I should like to report on the attendances etc at the Taunton Odeon.  They were showing 'Giselle' in two screens last Sunday.  The screens have 422 seats between them and all but the front rows were taken.  By no means all females, but not many people under 50 and I saw only one small boy.  The Odeon is the only cinema in Taunton but there is a privately owned cinema in a town about 6 miles away which was also showing 'Giselle'.  The Odeon always have a good turn out for RB performances but usually only open one screen

As for the Bolshoi; we had an insert in our cast sheets which included Bolshoi transmissions, but the attendance is always disappointing, even for quite well known ballets. It might be because they are always on a Sunday afternoon. I really don't know

I agree  with everything Joan says (above) although I can't make the 'Quote' feature work at the moment.  My local Odeon showed it in two screens and was sold out.  I think Carlos Acosta is a big attraction even though the critics and others will persist I saying, rather unkindly, that he is past his best technically.  He has amazing 'presence', connects brilliantly with the audience and is a great partner.  I thought there were too many close ups and sometimes in the wrong places but on the whole it was an enthralling, totally absorbing evening of wonderful dancing, music and acting

I must pay tribute to my local cinema who have now really 'got' the live transmissions.  Last evening they accommodated everyone who wanted to come, provided us all with cast sheets and a synopsis of the plot, and a faultless transmission.  The audience were well behaved too!

I don't know whether anyone else has read the comments on the ROH website.  They are all pretty nice except for someone in Rome who couldn't find anything nice to say.  Most comment on the number of close ups and several commented on Myrtha's dancing and Darcey Bussell's interviewing skills or lack of the same!  There are some quite personal comments which of course we do not make here!

I hope they do 'encore' it.  I shall be there again for one

Lovely to hear from other people who were there too and that you took the opportunity to talk to the dancers afterwards.  Although they are pretty special dancers, it difficult to say why one performance turns into something so wonderful and memorable for no apparent reason 

No, I do not think they say 'in' and 'out' or anything else but I am not sure

You bet, I always queue.  It's what I'm used to and how I was brought up I suppose and I still believe, like you, that order should prevail.  Compared to several other venues I can think of, the ROH is fairly well endowed with ladies loos but I think the 'in' and 'out' doors do genuinely puzzle some people and there are always a large number of visitors at ROH some of whom have never been before and who do not seem to speak English. As always there the selfish and rude rather like the drivers on the motorway who will not merge lanes until the very last moment and then cut in front of the drivers who have been queuing patiently.  An attendant (at ROH) might be a good idea.  They may not take up the idea unless a fight breaks out!

Yes, until now, the most moving Giselle I have seen was a matinee on 5 February 2011 with Cojocaru/Kobborg.  Alina's performance was so touching that there was complete silence for a while after the curtain came down of Act1.  It wasn't long before someone broke the spell and applauded but I can still remember the atmosphere and the silence

Yes, I have witnessed this behaviour too ie people going in through the 'out' door and looking with pity on the poor souls who are stupid enough to queue!  Most people seem to accept that in this country anyway, we queue.  I am not sure we enjoy it, but it is something we have always done because it does seem to ensure fair play, so to speak.  And, yes, we hold the door open in turn too.  What else can you do when you are standing in the doorway?

I didn't know there was a PV in Bedford Street.  What great news. It's my favourite and I have never got over the one in Brompton Road closing.  PV's cakes and gateaux are to die for.  What a mine of information this forum is!

I totally agree.  I was very disappointed with Lauren Cuthbertson's performance when SB was first transmitted live to the cinemas and I think I said so on this site.  It did not reflect at all well on the RB considering it was transmitted world wide.  I wondered at the time why this performance had been chosen for live transmission particularly as there were other Principals in the RB at the time who I would have thought could have represented them rather better.  Lauren had after all appeared in one live transmission in R&J.  It seemed strange to select the same Principal twice

A surprising amount of ballet related content actually.   A brief view of the interior of the school but a detailed look at those two lovely porcelain figures and Margot Fonteyn's make up box together with a chat with Darcey Bussell herself .  Very enjoyable I thought