aileen

I saw all the casts except the Oliveira/Bufala one. Last night I took a friend who has not seen much ballet and she was bowled over. It was interesting to hear her insights. One thing that she wasn't keen on was dancers grabbing other dancers faces. I explained to her that, for Akram Khan, touching another person's face was a sign of intimacy but I felt that last night the touching was a bit too 'grabby' for my liking, whereas it had seemed more tender and caressing with the other two casts. She was mesmerised by Oscar Chacon and I was too. He was on absolutely spectacular form last night. As my friend said, you couldn't take your eyes off him. He was positively feline at times and at other times he scuttled about like an insect or a rodent. It seems that Hilarion has some freedom with the role and last night he introduced a number of little touches which really fleshed out the character and his role in the proceedings. Erina Takahashi was a more fragile and soulful Giselle. Unfortunately, she didn't get as much response from her Albrecht as I would have liked. Isaac Hernandez is not the strongest actor but last night he seemed rather ill at ease, although his dancing was excellent. Normally he and Takahashi have a good on-stage rapport but last night he seemed rather out of it. Crystal Costa gave a magnificent performance as a feisty Giselle in her debut on Friday afternoon. I found the last scene particularly affecting. Sarah Kundi was a commanding Myrtha. Ken Sarahusi was very good but couldn't quite match Cesar Corrales or Oscar Chacon's incredible onstage presence. In this run I have picked up on a number of things which I did not notice in the last one. First, I think that Giselle is an activist or a kind of shop steward or at least a spokesperson for her community and that she is killed because she is a troublemaker as well as because of her invonvenient relationship with Albrecht. I noticed far more references in the score to the sounds of a factory and looms moving backwards and forwards. Similarly, I realised how much some of the movement of the corps referred to the repetitive movement of a loom being operated. My friend thought that the water / sea sounds could refer to the water used to power the old water mills. Perhaps everyone else had picked up on all these things but they really became apparent to me this time round.

It's supposed to be two hours including the interval but it overran last night by quite a bit, which is not an usual occurrence at Sadler's Wells in my experience.

I understand that, particularly in these difficult economic times, arts organisations have to secure funding from private sources and that generous donors have to be pampered but there surely must be a way to reconcile this with the expectations / needs of the ordinary paying public. As Sim says, clear information on the Sadler's Wells website would help but it is no good releasing a large allocation of tickets only a few hours before the performance as very many people will not be able to make it to the theatre at such short notice. Patrons should be required to say whether or not they want tickets 72 hours before the performance and people wanting tickets should be able to sign up to e-mail alerts about returns once a performance is sold out. This ticket fiasco really annoys me. Last night there were over a dozen empty seats in the two rows in front of me in the first circle and no doubt there were other unoccupied seats elsewhere in the the theatre. I'm sure that there were lots of people who would have taken those seats if they had been made available earlier; there are plenty of comments by disappointed people who have been unable to get tickets on social media. Very poor show by the development department. I wonder whether ENB has any say in this business. It's not good for the company's image.

Well, my enjoyment of last night's performance was slightly tempered by the ridiculous ticket situation. I would have preferred to have sat much further forward than my seat towards the back of the first circle. Unfortunately, there was some distortion of the music at points and the balance between the 'industrial overlay' and the orchestral playing was not always right: in particular, the former was too loud and drowned out the recognisable Adolphe Adams' music at the beginning of the second act. I didn't notice these problems during the last run. Perhaps it was something to do with the acoustics in this part of the auditorium. Everyone was very good but I would really like to single out Stina Quaguebeur who is just perfect in the role of Myrtha. I really hope that she can be nominated for a Critics Circle award as she fully deserves recognition for her role in creating such a memorable character. I was trying to work out whether there had been any changes. I seem to remember Hilarion making some sort of gesture to Albrecht early on which acknowledged the latter's more elevated status but I didn't notice this last night. Did Hilarion put his hat on Albrecht's head last time?

Well, that suggests that they are tickets held back for Sadler's Wells patrons / major donors. It's still ridiculous to release them so late. I would have preferred a better ticket for last night's performance but it was too late to take advantage of Sadler's Wells generous exchange policy.

And lots more have appeared this morning. It looks as if ticket allocations have just been returned and I suspect that it's too late to sell them in full. It's ridiculous when most of the performances have been shown as sold out for months. I do think that ENB / Sadler's Wells need to look at the ticketing policy as this is an unsatisfactory practice.

Nice opportunity for Sarah Kundi. Looking forward to seeing her in the role

I agree that Chacon was very good in the role: very different from Corrales but equally effective. As MAB says, he played Hilarion as a rather sinister character (you wondered what else he was involved in) whereas Corrales was more of a wide boy on the make with a ruthlessness and propensity for violence if his interests were threatened. Is anyone else cast as Hilarion? Does anyone know who is dancing Myrthe in this run? I assume that Quagebeur is not going to dance in all seven (back-to-back) performances at Sadler's Wells next week! I'm taking a friend next week. She's not a ballet regular and I'll be interested to see what she makes of it.

Your daughter must have had a very serious health problem or a very serious accident to have needed an operation which had a recovery period of two years. The first thing that I would consider is whether your daughter has been left with any physical weaknesses or limitations which would preclude a demanding career as a professional ballet dancer. Your daughter has obviously lost a lot of time and even at 14 RAD Grade 5 is not a particularly high level for an aspiring ballet dancer. It's not just a question of technical level but the training of the whole body for ballet. I agree with Lin that the odds are stacked against your daughter. However, if she has a perfect ballet body, good clean technique at the level she is working at and a certain something that a school is looking for then there is a small possibility that a school would take her. It is unwise for your daughter to set her heart on a particular school or company. The competition for places in schools and companies is fierce.

There were five soldiers tonight.

Just a reminder that this is being livestreamed tonight, via the Sadler's Wells website I believe. It starts at 7:30 and there's a Q&A session after the performance.

Or Yoko Callegari. I suppose that they might still be waiting for work visas.

I have one ticket for sale. The seat is C9 (a bench seat) and the price is £17. Please PM me if interested.

Solor, I don't agree that ENB has had a retention problem 'over the last few years'. The number of departures this year is unusually high which is or may be a cause for concern; I can't say as I have no inside knowledge. A company like ENB with its more restricted rep, gruelling schedule and touring commitments will always lose dancers who move onto pastures new. Carlos Acosta and Maria Kotchekova, among others, as well as TR herself, passed through ENB more than a decade ago en route to other companies. If you look at the other companies (with the possible exception of the RB) they all have a fair number of departures, sometimes quite a few in some years (e.g. NB 'lost' about a dozen - and it was a smaller company at the time - a couple of years ago). I just think that the discussion about TR's salary has been exhausted now.

What other dance company puts employee feedback in the public domain? I really am curious about who you are, Solor, as you keep posting along similar lines and seem to have some personal animosity towards Tamara Rojo. I think that this thread should be closed now as it's becoming repetitive and unproductive

There was a fair number of tickets left for this last night and plenty left for the Friday matinee. Tickets go on sale to non-members tomorrow.

I saw tonight's performance and enjoyed it much more than Wednesday evening's. I thought that Hernandez was exceptional as Romeo. He managed to make the intricate choreography really sing. Takahashi was also brilliant. Like Hernandez, her lightness and fleet footwork are perfect for this production. I was really impressed with Bufala's buoyant yet refined dancing and strong characterisation. Streeter was, as expected, a powerful Tybalt and clearly relished the sword fighting. At the end there was a send off for Grant Rae who is retiring from dancing. I hope that the dancers all enjoy their very well deservd holiday after their *thirteen* month season.

It's surprising to read that the Russian dancers have technical weaknesses. British audiences have always been rather in awe of the 'big two' Russian companies. I saw an embarrassingly wobbly performance by a male principal (I think that he was from the Bolshoi) a few years ago. More generally, principal dancers from various other companies haven't impressed me as much as I had expected. I don't think that I'm being partisan when I say that there are plenty of dancers dancing in the UK companies who compare very favourably with dancers from other (overseas) companies which I have seen. As someone said above, you can forgive some technical weaknesses if the dancer really inhabits the role and brings the story to life but if s/he can't do that then the dancing needs to be pristine technically otherwise you feel short changed.

Well, Polunin sold out his shows without any trouble at the Wells. However, it's not known how much this was down to Osipova's involvement. Is she to dance in these performances?

This exhibition runs from 22 September until 21 January and features several of the projects which he worked on including English National Ballet's previous production of The Nutcracker which he designed for Christopher Hampson.

It's obviously a bit of a marmite production. I noticed a lot of unfamiliar faces yesterday. Extra dancers from ENBS (and elsewhere?) are drafted into the corps and some of them were doing the rather tricky flag dance; there was a very young looking dancer who stood out (in a good way). It's surprising that a reviewer could describe the production as 'lifeless'. Whatever its faults it's pretty lively and there's always plenty going on. I agree that some of the lighting was rather dim though.

I saw last night's performance. Seeing this production for the first time is overwhelming as there's so much movement and so much going on plus there are several extra details that are unfamiliar if you have only seen the MacMillan version. Fortunately, I had attended the insight session at the Southbank Centre the day before and so I had more idea of what to expect. I just want to say that the session was very well thought out and, at £25 for four hours, very good value. It was hosted by Lyndsey Winship who kept things on track and asked some pertinent questions. Gavin Sutherland spoke about the score, and then Gerry Tiernan talked about the design, making and maintenance of the costumes (she had brought some of them with her) which provoked a lot of interest and questions. We then had the opportunity to watch company class. After that there was a Q&A session with James Streeter (a wonderful ambassador for the company), Jane Haworth and Laura Hussey. They talked a lot about the acting side of things and it was interesting to hear how they spoke the words in their heads to help with the pacing and rhythm of their interactions with the other characters. Finally, Jane Pritchard gave a very informative talk (with slides) about the history of R&J as a ballet and the creation of the Nureyev version. Someone commented above about some of the steps not being very balletic. Jane Pritchard said that by the time Nureyev made his version for LFB he had worked with some contemporary choreographers (Cunningham?) and this experience had led him to include some floor work in the choreography. Returning to the performance, I thought that Laurretta danced very well. It's rather touching to think that she's getting married (to last night's Mercutio) at the weekend. I quite liked Josua Hoffalt but felt that he was outshone by Laurretta. Nureyev's choreography for Romeo is over fussy with few moments of stillness and I suspect that only the fleetest of foot and most technically secure dancers can make it look really good. I assume that Nureyev was the master of the pirouette as there are about a million of them in the ballet. Acosta made a suitably cheeky Mercutio - it's a peach of a role. Reimar as Tybalt looked older than Lord Capulet (Streeter) which was a bit of a problem for me. This version is boisterous and the action is almost non-stop. The dancing for the corps is lively and varied. Mercutio's death is particularly well handled. The extra scenes (Juliet imagining taking the poison, Friar John's murder on his way to bringing the note to Romeo and Romeo's grief at being told of Juliet's death by Benvolio) and some of the extra details (Romeo putting on the red jacket and Juliet later seeing his green one underneath, Juliet seeing the cross in the dagger leading her back to Friar Lawrence) are welcome additions IMO. However, as an audience member you are left feeling bombarded by steps. The effect is one of relentlessness and there is little space for the choreography to breathe. Nureyev had obviously not heard of the concept 'Less is More'.

Returning to those who have stayed with the company, I think that it's a nice set of promotions covering all the ranks and there's nobody obvious (to me at least) who has been overlooked. I'm not going to comment on whether those who have left should have been promoted.

I agree with Juliet. The reason that there are so many positions available at Bavarian State Ballet is that the company has seen a lot of departures following Zelensky's appointment and, according to a quotation in a post on another thread, some of the dancers who left were fired!

Is this the first time that the Mariinsky tour has not sold out? There are a lot of tickets left for the second Contrasts performance.