patsomerset

Don Quixote was an out of this world experience on Saturday evening everyone from the corps onwards gave it their all! Osipova and Vasiliev danced with such exuberant pizzaz. What amazes me is that DQ is the ballet they are famed for throughout the world and that no matter how many times they perform each rendition has a tireless freshness to it, for the duration of theur time on stage you can tell they wouldn't want to be anywhere else. It was as though the ballet was made to showcase their skills.

 

I first saw DQ performed when the Bolshoi visited the Royal Opera House on their tour back in 2010 and this performance was every bit as enthralling to watch!

 

There were at least six curtain calls and a flower throw, the rapturous applause could have lasted forever!

 

I would however advise against trying to obtain an autograph post performance - I went to the Coliseum Stage Door after DQ with around twenty to thirty other people. I'm not sure if something was going on in Covent Garden or if there was concern over the sheer number of people wanting to congratulate the dancers post performance but three police vans turned up at the end of Bedfordbury Street . Then an elderly man arrived from out of nowhere and started insulting everyone and calling them idiots for waiting. I remember reading -  I think it was on the old Ballet forum boards of people meeting Ivan and Natalia post performance in 2010 and how gracious they were about taking photographs etc so I found it quite dispirting that this wasn't encouraged at the Coliseum. A security guard did come out to ask the troublemaker what he was doing so perhaps he is well known at ENO for trying to cause a disturbance but regardless I left without waiting to meet any of the dancers so I'm not sure if others decided to wait it out through the barrage of insults and police presence.

 

I am glad of the discussion about the correct pronunciation of Don Quixote as I have heard it proncounced so many different ways and I was beginning to think I was pronouncing it incorrectly!

I too saw their thrilling performance at ROH in 2010 and I have never forgottenn the electric atmosphere in the theatre that afternoon.  I have also seen the recent Bolshoi transmission which was also breathtaking.  For this reason I fear for the Royal Ballet and rather wish they weren't even attempting it!  I saw it way back in 2001, with what seemed to be stellar cast including Tamara Rojo & Johan Kobborg to mention but a few, and I can remember even now, my sense of disappointment that it failed to catch fire.  I wish Carlos all the best with his production and I am willing him to succeed but it simply may not be the right vehicle for the Royal Ballet 

As far as the daily Links trawl is concerned, we have been dealing with a New York Times partial access scheme for the better part of 2 years now, with similar schemes increasingly found elsewhere.  Has the Telegraph said anything about exceptions for access via Twitter or Google, I wonder - these can be helpful in increasing NYT access, for example. (That said, and despite the workarounds, the NYT has figured that I've had enough for this month and drew a veil over this morning's Alastair Macaulay piece.  The URL was still visible, however, so a Link could be produced, hopefully with a reasonably correct description!)  There are other approaches out there, too - eg The Australian and the Wall St Journal lock some articles for subscriber access only whilst leaving others open to all.  The Times content, of course, is completely behind the paywall and we have had to ignore it since that became the case a couple of years back.

 

Regulars may also have noted that we now link increasingly to non-newspaper content from some of the better blogs that we've found (eg Valerie Lawson's Dancelines) and, significantly, from internet magazines or journals like DanceTabs, ArtsBeat, Danceviewtimes and, of course, The Arts Desk.  Things are evolving out there and entities such as these are likely to be a part of the future - and it brings us once again to the issue of the future of paid journalism, often discussed here and elsewhere, and for which subscriber access may be increasingly needed if it is to remain viable.  And do remember that the internet entities - even ourselves here - have to be funded by someone.  In our case, enough of you rallied round last summer to ensure the future for a while longer but, as monthly payments are made for use of the forum software, in time we will have to rattle the tin once again.  The expectation that everything online can be 'free' is entirely unrealistic, albeit that in what are still early years, that expectation seems to grow by the day!

I have just been back to the Telegraph e-mail and no mention is made of Twitter or Google but I am a Telegraph subscriber anyway so perhaps they wouldn't think it applied to me.  I imagine that 20 articles a month might suffice for Balletco

I am sure that you will have to ask for funding for Balletco in the future and I am sure you will get the support you need, particularly as we seem to have so many new members lately

I haven't had one of those yet, although I see the "modest charges" are £1.99 a month for the web version and £9.99 for the fancy digital edition for iPads and the like.  Personally, I don't think it at all unreasonable for people to expect to view an average of 1 article a day for free (The Times please note) - especially given that many things don't make it into the physical editions of papers these days - but I don't see why they should expect to do, in effect, the equivalent of reading a full newspaper online for no charge at all, any more than I think people should be allowed to do loads of viewing of TV programmes via iPlayer without paying the license fee: neither model is economically sustainable in the long run.

Totally agree Alison

Oh no, when did they announce that?  Let's hope they're a little more generous than The Times.

I had an e-mail from The Telegraph this morning.  I gather that non subscribers can view up to 20 articles a month free of charge.  After that there will be what they call a modest charge.  I think that 20 articles a month is fairly generous but this will of course depend on how wide your interests are 

I've just got back from seeing it too, at the Vue in Westfield shopping centre in Shepherd's Bush, where a disastrous technical blip towards the end nearly ruined it for us all; the screen suddenly went blank,  the lights came and we were treated to about ten minutes of ads for the Vue Cinema with the sounds of the ballet still audible (Stephen McRae tapping).  At last the relay came back, just as a lovely Lamb-Bonelli pdd began and all was well until the end -  seven or so minutes later -  when the screen and went blank again to allow the management to apologize and  hand out complimentary tickets for a future Vue showing.

 

Apart from that, Mrs Lincoln, I enjoyed the show - Sarah Lamb's dancing was magnificent (truly. the only way I can describe it) and Bonelli - whose dancing is always perfect - was a romantic dream of a partner; he's my absolute favourite of the RB male dancers. I was sorry that the necessarily abrupt ending of the screening didn't allow for the cast list to appear because I couldn't recognise who was dancing what under the elaborate costuming and makeup, apart from Ed Watson and Zen (both terrific, Zen a real comic gem).  My only grumble was that I thought the music in Act 1 was pitched uncomfortably  high for a small cinema, but there may have been techinical reasons for this.  I loved the tweets, by the way, especially one from, I think, France saying "I want a jam tart NOW!"

Ann, we had the same problem with the sound at a Bolshoi transmission a year or so ago.  We found the manager in the interval who fetched a zapper, identical to the ones you use on your TV, and turned it down to an acceptable level in a flash!  I imagined it was beyond the control of the individual cinema but it seems not!  I agree uncomfortable levels of sound do spoil a performance.  I think cinemas still have a lot to learn about handling ballet transmissions and the audiences that go to them ie a cast sheet is good, people coming in late is not,  and the music does not need to dominate the performance

If you use the links to the individual performances listed in the email from the Hochhausers, you come to what looks like the usual ROH "sorry, tickets not yet on sale" page.  There's a box to the right-hand side of that where you put the code in.  Do not use the link to the general Hochhauser/Bolshoi page on the ROH site.

 

Oh, and not all performances are displaying the "we'll select your seat for you" page - only the first night of Jewels, of the ones I tried, was.

Thanks Alison.  Spurred on by all the comments, I have been able to select my own seat for the last matinee.  When I first went in this was displaying the "we'll select a seat" too, but it wasn't when I tried again.  I am afraid I have no idea what I did the second time so can't pass on any advice.  Just try again!

The code box was there when I tried just after midnight, BTW, but it now seems to have vanished.  I've tried Firefox and Internet Explorer.

The code box is there now, I have just tried.  If you go onto the ROH website direct and then type in the code, it brings up a list of 'best available' .  It tells you the seat you have got before you go to the pay screen, but I am going to wait and take my chances when the public booking opens. I like to select my seat myself I'm afraid.  I shall probably only be able to go to one Bolshoi performance so would like to ensure, as far as possible, that I can see and am not behind the tallest/broadest man in London!

Just seen the Bolshoi Romeo and Juliet advertised on Odeon Culture Plus website. Live broadcast to be shown on 12th May. About a dozen cinemas listed including Blackpool, Manchester, Covent Garden and Taunton for Pat of Somerset! Been on the Bolshoi website but when you click on casting for that date it brings up casting for April 2012!!

I seem to remember watching my old Bolshoi at the Bolshoi video with possibly Irek and Bessmertnova with Alexander Vetrov as a very powerful Tybalt and there was very little in the way of scenery or sets. I kept waiting for some to appear! Does anyone know if this 2010 revival has proper sets?  Also, is Grigorovich still at the Bolshoi? I know he was taken on again as 'caretaker' to his own ballets when Burlaka started but haven't heard anything of him recently.      Joan

Joan, how kind of you to remember me personally!  I have booked for 12 May.  According to my Odeon Plus Culture leaflet Anna Nikulina is Juliet and Alexander Volchkov is Romeo but you never know with Bolshoi casting.  I too had the same experience with the Bolshoi website ie it brings up the casting for April 2012 so maybe this is where the information came from.  Taunton Odeon now seem to take all the RB and Bolshoi transmissions and they have been rewarded with virtually full houses, so long may it last!

Thank you again Joan

There were two "runs" of Onegin in that season: one in Dec/Jan and one in July so your mind is not playing tricks. The ROH performance database has Jane Burn performing Olga on 20 July (eve).

Thank you.  Two runs in a season is surely unusual.  My cast list for 20 July (evening) definitely lists Gemma Bond as Olga but who am I to argue with the ROH performance database!  I guess there must have been a last minute change of cast 

Rojo danced Tatiana in the first RB run of Onegin (in the Stretton era). It was during rehearsals for the second run that Reid Anderson took her out of the role.

I saw this too and have just managed to find my programme and cast lists.  This was in the days when I had a friend living in London who would put me up for the night, so I managed to see Onegin twice.  I see that it was 2002 but it seems like yesterday.  Another sign of advancing years I fear!  I see that the dates on the cast list are 19 January, this one with Rojo, Cojocaru and Adam Cooper and the other one on 20 July, with Cojocaru, Bond, Kobborg and Putrov.  I can't now believe my luck at the casts and it became one of my favourite ballets.  I had to do a double take as the two dates are so far apart..  Does anyone know why this happened.  I am assuming it was not a misprint on the cast list!  I no longer have the tickets and the inside of the programme makes no mention of the July performance.  It's a mystery to me

My Odeon was advertising Rite of Spring for 31 March although it has been cancelled.  Do you know what they are showing Jopan?  Have I missed something?

 

 

Pat 

 

It's supposed to be Esmeralda in the UK, I believe.

Thank you and my apologies for giving Joan a 'p' in the middle of her name. A typo - sorry

Pat

Saw the Bolshoi Don Q yesterday and it was even more amazing than what I remembered 2 years ago.

There are the usual minor gripes about sometimes the camera not being where you wanted it but that was more than cancelled out by getting great close ups (something you really miss when you're in the amphitheatre). You pick up all sorts of 'business' you would otherwise miss. I'd forgotten the wonderful Andre Mercuriev was the matador which I think he also was in the recent Kirov Don Q featuring Sarafanov before he left the Kirov.  I hope Andre comes with the Bolshoi this year for Flames. He's great in that too. Osipova and Vasiliev were really something else. I've only ever seen Nina Anashvilli compare with her for fouettes. I don't know which would win that competition. But her backbreaking leaps too and when she soared into Vasiliev's arms; she just took off like a rocket. he too was amazing. His jump where he turns and does the splits mid-air and that amazing turn when his legs and feet seem to be going in opposite directions. his most amazing feat was when he did the one-handed lift. Amazingly he does it on tiptoes and the second time he went into arabesque at the same time!!

All we need now is the dvd. I've emailed BelAir but first they kept saying it was due out last year and recently they've just stopped replying to my emails. Oh well, there always March to look forward too!!    Joan

I too saw the Bolshoi Don Q yesterday.  It was a recording but none the worse for that.  I saw it and 'them' at ROH two years ago and can still remember the excitement and the joy they seem to take in performing. They lend themselves to Don Q so well.  He is an amazing jumper who seems to hang in the air and she moves across the stage at the speed of light. Yes, the camera was not always on the feet when you wanted it to be or full stage when you would have liked, but very small gripes for what was a wonderful afternoon.  Does anyone by any chance have a full cast list please?  The credits rolled very quickly at our Odeon and of course they had no printed cast lists

My Odeon was advertising Rite of Spring for 31 March although it has been cancelled.  Do you know what they are showing Jopan?  Have I missed something?

Pat 

Me neither!

Just been to see the live streaming of the Bolshoi Bayadere and had to say how much I enjoyed it. I had heard they were gtting new sets and costumes for Bayadere but wasn't sure if they had already got them. Well they have and very splendid they are too. Last time I saw their Bayadere it was at the Coliseum and I think it was the year Carlos danced Spartacus and Osipova and Vasiliev debuted Don Q and I thought their production of Bayadere looked old and tired by comparison to these ballets. The new sets are very splendid though I always think you could do with a bit more light in the first act (at least for filming). The palace in red and cream was very sumpuous and the set for the betrothal scene was slightly reminiscent of the Royal version; palace in the background and the foreground as if on the edge of a tropical forest; just a slight disappointment they didn't have an 'elephant' for Solor to make his entrance on! The dancing too was excellent; Zakharova and Alexandrove gave their usual very assured performances and Vladislav Lantratov who played Solor was also excellent; Vasiliev could hardly have danced it better and he had a good warrior bearing; looked as if he would have made a good prince. I'm  mentioning this here rather than under the cinema heading because it's definately made me want to see their production when they bring it here. Before, seeing it and thinking of my disappointment last time I wasn't sure whether or not to bother but now it's definately a must!!    Joan

I have just commented on  the cinema thread Joan but was delighted to see that you had enjoyed it so much too.  Yes, the new costumes were very lovely.  Like you I was not going to put this on my list for the summer but I might just do this now. 

I saw the live relay of Bayadere in my local Odeon this after and I thought it magnificent.  It was a long performance but everyone seemed to be enthralled and what a well behaved crowd!  No coughing, no popcorn, no talking, not even any fidgeting.  It made for such an enjoyable afternoon.  I happen to love Svetlana Zakharova and I thought she gave a stunning performance, which was much appreciated by the Moscow audience who are much more vocal than most audiences in this country.  Someone quite near me who had not seen Bayadere before was very puzzled by the dance of the Golden Idol as he did not appear again as a 'statue' as he does in the RB production.  The Bolshoi version ends with the 'Shades' which, lovely though it is, does not round off the story

The performance in the Taunton Odeon went almost without hitch.  Just one momentary screech in the sound track. We thought the camera work and production excellent.  They switched from close up to full stage, to overhead views at just the right moment and the presenter did stirling work in Russian, French and English

I am now looking forward to Don Quixote on 10 February.  Though not 'live' I am sure it will be another feast of wonderful dancing

I hope others enjoyed it as much as well all did and that other cinemas had a glitch free relay.  I should love to have comments from the more knowledgeable forum members

The Odeon have just announced the repeated Bolshoi Don Q on their Culture Plus at 3pm Feb 10th. Blackpool again, hurrah!!! The cinemas listed are Blackpool, Braehead, Chelmsford, Hatfield, Kettering, Taunton, Tunbridge Wells. It's worth keep checking as they usually add more cinemas as time goes on. The thought of seeing Osipova and Vasilev again is keeping me going through this cold, miserable weather. A bit of Spanish warmth and colour to look forward to and the Mikhailovsky still to come!!

Thank you! That's really good news. I didn't see it first time around in the cinema but I did see them live at ROH (was it two or three years ago). My local cinema is on the list you gave, so here's hoping. We will try and book when we go to Bayadere this Sunday. That is,if it is has stoppped snowing. It's been falling for nearly five hours now and I live in the town. What it's like on Exmoor or up on the hills, I hate to think. Thanks you for cheering me up

Has anyone else tried to book online for this Sunday's streamed Bolshoi 'Bayadere' at any of the advertised Odeons? I realise that all cinemas these days are coy about publishing their direct 'phone numbers lest it deprive them of the benefits derived from the enforced use of their premium numbers, but even so... ..I've been frustrated at every turn in making a telephone booking for this event at any of the few advertised London Odeons - their system refuses to bring up the necessary booking form. is anyone else experiencing this?

Yes, Anne, I booked online as soon as the booking opened and it was as easy as usual, so I am sorry to hear you are having trouble. You need to select your cinema from the list but to make the actual booking you click on the time. You then should get a seating plan up and you move however many people you are booking for to the seats you want. I don't know whether this helps.

I know what you mean about the Odeon telephone and their seeming shyness about events such as these. We have taken to printing things out from the website and taking them to our bridge club, and such places where we know people will be interested. Result, our local Odeon is now nearly booked up for Sunday

I hope you manage to book somehow. I see from the above which came in while I was replying, that you have!

I am looking forward to it also

Well, in this case, cinemas have already had it with pretty much the same cast, so perhaps they didn't think there'd be the interest there. They did do Ondine live to cinemas when it was on the big screen 4 years ago, I think, but am not sure how that went. I know I went to Trafalgar Square rather than walk the couple of hundred yards up to Leicester Square to pay £20 or whatever for the cinema experience!

I don't remember Mayerling being relayed to cinemas, nor Ondine for that matter. I stand to be corrected but I do not think that many cinemas outside London or other big cities carried these, or may be not the Odeon group. Those of us who live outside London or other big centres do not have the luxury of choosing between a Big Screen relay or a cinema just up the road and quite often have only one cinema in the town even in this day and age

How very odd that Hirano only has one scheduled performance of Symphony in C. Watson has none in the same role, I see, but that may be a reflection of the relative demands of their two roles in Raven Girl.

 

Incidentally, I suppose this should really go in Period 3, where it technically belongs, but the Big Screen relay this year will be Mayerling, some time in June - I haven't got the booking programme to hand.

Big Screen relay is on 13th June I think. I do wish they could relay it to cinemas at the same time

Thanks Pat....have now sorted it out. Seems it was a 'cookies' issue!!

Glad you have been able to sort it!

Does anyone know what is wrong with the ROH website? I have been trying to get onto it since yesterday morning and it keeps telling me it is unavailable. maybe they are doing a big maintenance job, or maybe it' s just me?!

I used it yesterday and just a few minutes ago with no problem, so maybe the problem is with you. Sorry!

I didn't think the original leaflet went much further than December, anyway?

You may be correct. I can't put my hand on mine at the moment. I may have given it away to a friend who is not on line

I see the Odeon Culture plus have announced their locations for their screening of the Bolshoi Bayadere on Sunday January 27th. At the moment they are; Basingstoke, Blackpool, Braehead, Colchester, Covent garden, Guilford, Harrogate, Hatfield, Kensington, Kettering, Lincoln, Maidenhead, Milton Keynes,Salisbury, Taunton, Whiteleys, and Wimbledon. if it is anything like The Pharoah's daughter other venues may get added later. From a personal point of view I'm very pleased and relieved to see Blackpool still on the list, despite there being only a handful of people attending Pharoah' Daughter there. I'm surprised they don't show it at Preston where I attended the RB Nutcracker and there seemed to be about 100 people in the audience. I wish someone would publicise these screenings more. I'm sure they'd get better audiences if people knew they were being shown.

Thank you bringing this to my attention. To my delight my local Odeon are showing a Bolshoi transmission for the first time. I did think that no one was listening to me but perhaps they are after all. The RB transmissions are now always virtually sold out so I am hoping this will be equally popular. It was not of course on their Culture leaflet which they gave out at the start of the season so let's hope the good old word of mouth works once again

Hello everyone! As Chair of the BalletcoForum Committee I'm delighted to mark this, the first anniversary of the Forum. It was a year ago today that Bruce Marriott registered ballet.co.uk's offspring and we were up and running.

 

Ballet.co.uk was always going to be a hard act to follow, but one year later I think all of us are very happy with how BalletcoForum is going. We currently have 890 registered members with almost 28,000 posts made thus far. Each month the numbers are going up, and we are thrilled to see that. We are also very pleased to see members here from all corners of the globe, many of whom regularly post up and let us all know what is happening in dance in their part of the world, and for this we are very grateful.

 

I'm sure you will all join me in giving a huge thanks to the whole team of Forum moderators and admin folk who do so much work behind the scenes. Running a forum such as this one takes a lot of time, effort and dedication, and I can't think of a better team than the one that is in place now. So big, big, big thanks to you all. We don't always agree on how to approach things, but we always get there in the end! It is a pleasure working with all of you.

 

Finally, in turn, the whole Forum Committee would like to thank you, our members, whose thoughtful, fun and interesting contributions make BalletcoForum the thriving site that it is. We also owe all of you who contributed to our fund raising appeal earlier in the year a big thanks; as a result of your generosity BalletcoForum is secure for at least another year. I know that many a friendship has been forged through ballet.co.uk and through this site, and long may that continue. Even though most of us will never meet, we all come on here at any time of day or night and find the thoughts, opinions and advice of people we trust, admire, or just plain like. Of course we are all passionate about dance, and this leads to some very diverse opinions and points of view; on the whole, these debates are always conducted with respect for the views of those with whom you disagree, and this always makes for very interesting reading! So a huge thank you to all of you, and we look forward to the continuing success of BalletcoForum in the coming year and beyond....don't forget, it is only as good as you make it, so please keep all your postings coming in.

 

From all of us to all of you, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years, and here's to another wonderful year of dance, debate, reviews, links, the huge variety of non-dance related topics posted about, photos, finding tickets for those performances you thought you couldn't attend.....and fun!

 

With very best wishes,

 

The BalletcoForum Committee:

 

Alison, Annabel, Bruce, Dave, Ian, Janet, Julie, John, Lee, Sim and Trog

I think we, the users, owe you the Committee, a huge vote of thanks for your hard work in getting the new site up and running in the first place and the dedication and work it takes to keep it running from day to day. I, for one, am amazed by the variety of topics discussed. I cannot always join in, not having a dancing daughter for instance, but it certainly adds to one's knowledge and appreciation of ballet from many different points of view

May I in turn wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year of dance. A lot to look forward to next year I think

best wishes

Pat

He finished his solo O.K although I thought there was something odd about the ending. Normally the SPF Cavalier is facing diagonally across the stage when he turns his upper body towards the audience and raises his left arm. I wonder if something happened at this moment. The SPF solo following is of course one of the longest solo pieces in the classics and whatever had happened, there was time to arrange things without stopping the performance. During the finale there were only 2 Rose Fairy attendants and Cavaliers and at the red runner only 3 couples took a call. I did not notice which Rose Fairy attendant missed out. The 4th Cavalier of course took his call with the wonderful Miss Nunez, The whole situation was handled so seamlessly that I am sure that quite a few people in the audience were totally unaware of what had happened.

Thank you Tony. Obviously something happened but no one knows what as yet. What a wonderful example of 'the show must go on'