Kate

Due to a clash with previews for Angels In America I'm selling a Balcony Standing ticker B1 £9. It's an e-ticket so can email straight away.

Was lucky enough to see the schools matinee with my 7 year old. No Human Seasons, which despite the furore , or maybe because of it, I would have liked to have seen again. Beatriz Stix-Brunell and Eric Underwood were the lead couple in After The Rain and were gorgeous together , not as moving as I remember Nunez and Soares , but that is understandable perhaps given the experience and experiences that the latter 2 bring to this pas de deux. I have a soft spot for Underwood and Stix-Brunell, even when they aren't in lead roles I often find myself following them on the stage, and I would like to see them paired together in other works. The other dancers were Mayara Magri, Tomas Mock, Anna Rose O'Sullivan and David Donnelly all performed admirably but I have to confess that After The Rain is not one of my favourite Wheeldon works, if you take away the duet it feels rather cold and detached to me. I thought it wasn't the best example to the school children in the audience of what ballet can do, or express. My son comes with me quite often to see ballet at the Royal Opera House and even he was asking 'How long left?' halfway through the piece and he's quite happily sat through Woolf Works, Frankenstein and other much longer works! This however cannot be said for Flight Pattern- this received a rapturous applause from the children. Some found it a bit scary and frightening at first, they didn't know what was going to happen or if the ending was happy or sad but nearly all I spoke to (and overheard) loved it and to quote one 9 year old 'I didn't know ballet could do things like that!" I loved it too, and I echo many of the posters here about Sambe and McNally, the latter in particular I am always overjoyed to be given praise and celebrated. Wouldn't it be wonderful if O'Hare dared to commission a work from McNally for the main stage? I know, possibly an optimistic hope too far- but if Flight Pattern taught me anything it's the power of hope over experience. Would very much like to see Flight Pattern again to be able to make more coherent comments about the piece. Particularly loved the falling snow/ashes that was like the antithesis of the gorgeous snowflake dance from The Nutcracker -the dance of the snowflakes often brings a tear to my ear with the sheer beauty of it and Flight Pattern sent similar yet different shivers down my spine. My favourite ballets are those that marry beauty with devastation and Flight Pattern certainly carries elements of both. I hope it will return soon.

I think The Royal Ballet's record on female choreographers , or rather lack thereof speaks for itself bangnorballetboy. I confess to being completely biased and quite passionate on the this subject, but I also cannot understand why the few works by female choreographers that are within the Royal Ballet rep (e.g. Nijinska and De Valois) are programmed so infrequently-e.g Les Biches is long over due an outing by RB. As for the 90% ticket sales , the fact that only 1 out of 7 performances has currently sold out (I haven't included the schools matinee which is also sadly not sold out as tickets are still being offered to students) I thought was not a good sign but of course will be happy if this is not the case. Anyway this is getting away from the subject of this thread ( my fault for the diversion, apologies) which is the triple bill -looking forward to peoples reviews and opinions on it.

Just wanted to say how disappointed and frustrated I find it that Pite's new piece has been burdened with such a lacklustre programme-After The Rain has been over programmed to death these last few years and Human Seasons is pleasant enough to watch but it is certainly not a piece that I would come specifically to see. The fact that Pite is the first female choreographer in far too long to be commissioned for the main stage is a huge a deal and the poor ticket sales will probably be used an an excuse to continue to exclude and marginalise women choreographers. I'll go to see this solely for Pite's piece, but if it had more compelling or intriguing companion works I would go multiple times. Also 55 minutes of intervals for 125 minutes of dance... is not great is it? Or do other members think I'm being overly harsh? Interested as always in what people think here. Looking forward to the reviews and hopefully a viewing next week.

After putting off booking this for too long it's all sold out. If anyone has a spare ticket or 2 please let me know -any price bracket/area considered. Can do any day/night except next Tuesday or Friday.

Thanks for bringing this talented woman's work to our attention Amelia. All too often I never hear about these people ( women especially) until after their deaths. Will definitely go look at the exhibition.

Really mixed feelings after last night. First the good - Loved Carbon Life even more than I had remembered. Just grinned from ear to ear throughout -I actually preferred the previous/original singers/musicians involved. Biased probably as I have a soft spot for Boy George ( showing my age by saying I can still remember rowing with my dad when he first came on Top of the Pops that he was indeed a boy) and although I hadn't heard Alison Mossheart before I thought that she brought a fierce female presence. But last nights singers and musicians also got into the spirit of the piece which I think is a fun, sexy and at times touching work in which the dancers all looked like they were having a great time and throwing caution to the wind on stage. One thing that stood out in this piece compared to the rest of the evening was that McGregor really made the most of that huge ROH stage -often I feel like he doesn't do this and has dancers confined to certain repetitive areas of the stage which is both annoying as a viewer ( especially if sat in certain areas of the auditorium ) and frustrating in that it feels like such a waste of such a wonderful expanse of space. I think this may also add to the feeling of repetition in McGregor's choreography -but more of that later. Like I said I really enjoyed Carbon Life- I thought Nunez was in fine form in her trio ( sorry I don't remember the 2 men partnering her in this) I was quite close to the stage and her face was lit up throughout it. I also loved Ed Watson and Olivia Cowley's section which is aggressive and tender and I think one of McGregor'st most emotionally honest duets -I expect it's not to everyone's liking but I think Cowley and Watson have not only physiques that complement one another but also when paired together I think they both give some of their most raw, brutal, yet honest and sensitive performances. Another male/female pairing that stood out to me was Eric Underwood and Francesca Haywood-don't think I've seen Francesca go so hell for leather in a piece - she really threw herself uninhibited around that stage and was almost daring/challenging Eric to catch her. I thought the piece brought out a side to this exceptional talent that I've not seen before and I loved it, she did too by the look on her face. And last but by no means least I always love seeing Eric Underwood and Edward Watson paired up together and their fabulous black pointebooted duet was even better than I remembered it -more touching and sweet as well as fierce and fun. Like muummykool said last time they were both in pointe boots but I thought this worked better with Eric in pointeboots and Ed in standard flats. Love the costumes -blurring gender boundaries and demonstrating how costumes can contribute to the morphology of the body in dance works. Only disappointment in Carbon Life is something which always bugs me -why can't McGregor choreograph female/female duets as well and as, or indeed as often as his male/male ones? Why not pair Hayward and Cowley together in an extended dance like Watson and Underwood? But I guess that may open up the whole female choreographers, or lack thereof debate again ... Now the not so good- Chroma I enjoyed but I have to say that with repeat viewing this does lose a little of the wow factor and effect -I personally much prefer Infra, partly because the emotional/fractured narrative aspects of McGregor's work is what attracts me rather than the athletic contortions. I thought the Ailey dancers were a welcome addition,and they were a really lovely surprise addition to the evening but on the downside it did highlight how overwhelmingly white the RB is and I think this is something I often push to the back of my mind, like the lack of female choreographers it seems to be an unacceptable accepted fact. Does that make sense? And yes as mummykool also said I thought Eric Underwood was sorely missed in Chroma and some of the partnering looked a little wary and didn't have the attack and daring that is so needed to make Chroma roar. Multiverse was very disappointing and I'm afraid made me question whether a McGregor triple bill is a good idea at this stage in his ROH career, 10 years or not. I say this as a fan -Infra and Woolf Works are 2 of my favourite ballets in the RB repertoire and I love Carbon Life and Raven Girl. But of his other shorter works they are just too much of a muchness choreographically and can leave me feeling rather unengaged. One caveat to my initial impressions of the premiere last night is that I didn't actually get to see much dancing as I was sat in a box on the far left of the stage so I mostly spent the time staring at the tiles as they changed colour and occasionally seeing dancers run off stage. The costumes were horrible, the music/noise i struggled with before the orchestra kicked in, the set had promise- I definitely sat up and took notice when they showed the photographs and the paintings and thought it was going to turn into an overtly political work which would have been wonderful but then it seemed to merge back into a standard dancers walk on/run off and echo some distorted movements of one another in between. I would like to and all see it again to see if seeing the whole stage changes my views but I fear from the other responses here that it may not. It all seemed a bit like a bad attempt at a Cunningam/Cage piece.

Scary scary times. What a horrible week. Seems like the House of Commons has lost a remarkable young woman and Yorkshire a dedicated MP, but as all the tributes say its her husband and children whose loss is immeasurable.

Thanks Alison - will try book a couple or right leaning tickets for the matinee.

Can anyone advise if it is better to sit on the left or right of the auditorium for this mixed bill? I have yet to see it but hoping to book some tickets for the Saturday matinee. Agree with posters re the problem of reprogramming ballets for triple bills so soon-especial when there are many one act ballets that are well overdue an outing ( cough cough Les Biches)

The role of the Prince in Raven Girl allegedly has been increased and I'm not sure how I feel about this. Part of the reason I liked Raven Girl last time was that rather than a traditional romance narrative it seemed to be much more about Raven Girl finding her own way of being in the world that felt alien and hostile to her and her difference. The beautiful , uplifting last pas de deux to me was more like a metaphor for her finding herself rather than finding her Prince. Not sure i can make tonight now so will look forward to hearing what others think. Quintus there seems to be a bit of a push towards choreographers consulting dramaturgs to help edit their work into more clear narratives/storylines. I know that's probably irrelevant to Maliphant since most of his work is abstract but I do think/hope the dance world is becoming more open to ways of structuring work. Tamara Rojo was saying that a key part of the new ENB building will be a small theatre where new works can be tried in front of small audiences. It sounds like a very simple but essential way of ensuring choreographers can try things in a safe space before being exposed to a more critical audience. Anyway I digress -I hope everyone who is there tonight has a fabulous evening.

As always Dave, such excellent work, thanks for posting. Thanks also for feedback everyone, looking forward to seeing both these ballets in the flesh tonight and/or Thursday. I am sure debates about the merits and more challenging aspects of both will continue!

Wow that does seem quite a shortening, I am quite surprised- I thought adjustments to Raven Girl might have extended rather than shortened things but I guess the proof will be in the viewing. I can understand somewhat more now why the tickets seem to be comparatively cheap to the full evening and triple bill programmes. Good work with the cheap ticket grab Alison -it's always nice to grab a short notice cheap seat, especially at the start of a rather wet and miserable Monday!

Did anyone attend the rehearsal today and if so are they willing/able to comment on any notable changes to Raven Girl? Or indeed Connectome. (Sorry not sure of the ettique re being able or not to comment on rehearsals before the actual production run -apologies if this is not the done thing!) I know Raven Girl was not all that popular last time around but I have to confess to really liking it and thinking it had great promise as a modern fairytale about transformation and longing to belong. On a practical note too I was wondering about the order in which the ballets will be shown an when the interval falls -i.e. in the midst of Raven Girl or between Connectome and Raven Girl.

It wasn't just him to be fair another AD (Nixon?) did also. Glad this seems to be being objected to on twitter and that Tamara called them out on it. Go Tamara, definitely my feminist heroine of the day!

I quite liked the fact that the younger Woolf was taller than Ferri, can't quite explain why, but I don't think it's a bad thing that the contrast between our younger and older selves was shown.

Oh definitely -nobody wants a stray laser escaping planet Becomings!

P.S. Apologies for repeating what others said above re Cowley and the work being able to be withstand being separated into different triple bills, I have been trying to write/type whilst working, mothering and trying to grab another seat for tonight!

Went back for a second viewing last night and pleased to say it was even better than I remembered. The first section I Now, I Then demonstrates how much McGregor has learnt from being part of a repertory company like the Royal Ballet. Yes he still has his own very idiosyncratic style but he has absorbed some of the nuances and finally realised the power of understatement that comes with this incredible set of dancers. I don't think there will be a second cast of this section, for this run at least, because this cast is so so good. Watson and Ferri are the King and Queen of dramatic dancers, just divine, both of them. I took advantage of an offer to get £35 front stalls seat and I wish I hadn't in some ways as seeing them so close up, facial expressions, beads of sweat et al, its going to hard going back to my usual SCS/amphi-cheap as I can get without having half a stage unviewable seats. That said the power of these 2 exceptional dancer/actors carries right up to the furthest corner of ROH. I still wish Hayward and Stix-Brunell could have been given a more extended duet together like Watson and Dyer but this is a small gripe for what otherwise is a deeply moving, beautifully choreographed, wonderfully set piece of work which could indeed stand alone on its own in a triple bill programme. In fact that is what is so amazing about Woolf Works the 3 sections could all stand alone in a triple bill with other works but they do work as a whole world as well. That is no mean feat. Becomings I still think needs trimming by about 7 minutes but I enjoyed it more than i did last time and i was able to discern a slight pattern in the costume changes this time. Why the men have those amazing dresses but don't dance in them though I don't get and yes yet again the women's duets and group sections just don't hold up against the men's. Come on McGregor you know the women are just as strong and capable as the men so use them, so why restrict them? I thought the second cast were really good and Olivia Cowley ( I think dancing Ospiova's role from the first cast?) was out of this world amazing, possibly even better than Ospiova in this (controversial I know.) Cowley completely embodied the other worldly-alien like-futuristic- element of this section and for the first time i could see the link with Orlando-you could imagine Queen Elizabeth 1st, a Russian Princess, men, women and everyone in between being totally captivated by this creature that was Cowley. Ospiova was amazing the other night but I felt as though I was watching Ospiova and Watson rather than the other worldly creatures that the second cast produced. Tuesday-more powerful the second time around, Anderson's reading could have seemed cliched but it is so not, even against the crashing of the waves. One of my favourite moments is Bonelli's entrance in this section which is shown in the rehearsal video but looks so much more striking on a bare stage with just him and Ferri/Woolf. The corps in this section ebb and flow, build and build like waves and the lack of contortionist McGregor acrobatics means that the choreography is all the more powerful. On a practical note 30 minute intervals are far too long, being generous to ROH maybe the set changes make this necessary but I think it is more that they are hoping to recoup cheap seat sales at the bar!

Loved 'I Now, I Then' (Mrs Dalloway inspired) -the set design and costumes were simple yet beautiful and I thought all the cast in this section were superb. Ferri lived up to the hype giving a nuanced and heart rending performance- even when she stood still it was difficult to take my eyes off her. Hayward and Stix-Brunell worked very well together but I do have a slight caveat in that McGregor seems to be great at male/male duets but much more hesitant and less confident with female/female duets not just here but in all of his works the feminist in me wishes he would work to develop the latter more. The feminist in me did approve of the tender kiss between Haywward and Ferri, nothing salacious but nice to see only the 3rd sapphic embrace of the ballet stage (Les Biches and Pita's Dream Within A Dream being the only other 2 that i know about but happy to be corrected!) For me Now I, Now Then, was the strongest choreographically and dramatically of all three, I wish it were longer. McGregor proved here he can choreograph for characters and a narrative, I hope it will encourage him to perhaps do more of that. Becomings (Orlando inspired) was the most disappointing of the evening -it could do with losing about 10 minutes and generally needed tightening up -the section towards the end when they gather in large circles and the dancers take turns in the centre looked a mess and as though he'd run out of time/ideas. It opens with the whole (very impressive) cast spread across the stage in a variety of different futuristic Elizabethan style costumes but these costumes weren't really incorporated into the choreography as much as i had hoped. There are several great quotes from Orlando in the programme where Woolf talks about people being dictated and changed by what they wear, so I had hoped that the changing costumes of the cast would alter the movement styles of the dancers but no matter what they wore the movement was the same. Also it was a bit heavy on the female dancers being moved and manipulated by the male dancers- towards the end i wanted to yell 'Just put her down for goodness sake!" Ospiova needs no one to make her body do incredible things. And again the male solo and group male dances were much more inventive and energised than the women's section. The lighting was fantastic and was a key part of the set, to be honest it was my favourite part of Becomings (that and Eric Underwood taking his curtain call in a McQueenesque gold Elizabethan dress). Tuesday (The Waves) was a suitably moving and poignant end to a premier of much promise. I -like Dave M was secretly hoping for Gillian Anderson to be there reading the letter in the flesh but it worked oh so well as a voiceover/introduction to this section/ Loved the costumes (especially the headpieces which looked amazing from amphi) and had some really lovely moments choreographically with the corps de ballet but to me it wasn't quite as strong as the opening Act. Max Richter's score , superb throughout, really got my heart racing in this final act and i really hope that it will be recorded and released on CD (or even vinyl). Overall I don't think it will convert anyone who doesn't like McGregor but I do think it will repay repeat viewings if you go with an open mind. I fear it might be one though that rewards certain seating more than others - I was up in the amphi whereas usually I prefer SCS but I am worried the latter might suffer from this staging. Would love to know what others think.

Am really hoping that Hamiliton returns. I think she is an exceptional talent who has fought hard for her career (I know all dancers do but to be disregarded by Elmhurst and end up a RB soloist is no mean feat) In MacMillan's ballets she seems to thrive and in McGregor's work I think she brings out the humanity and fragility from within the sometimes torturous geometrics. Quite sad she will not be able to take the lead in Raven Girl again ( i know it's not a very popular ballet on the forum but I think it has a great deal of potential). Good on O'Hare for allowing this young artist time away to stretch her wings -fingers crossed she will return.

Great photos Dave as always-when is that book coming out ;-) Is the piece with the women in the orange trousers the McNally work do you know? I still haven't worked out why O'Hare (or Mason for that matter ) haven't let her loose on the main stage.

Also at The Courtauld there is an exhibition which ends Sunday with work by Natalia Goncharov who designed sets and costumes for the Ballets Russes (including Les Noces and revised 1926 The Firebird )and Alexandra Exter who collaborated with Bronislava Nijinska when she started her own company. Not sure if any ballet/theatre designs will be included but should be interesting all the same. http://www.courtauld.ac.uk/gallery/exhibitions/2014/jack-of-diamonds/index.shtml

Looking forward to a double dose tomorrow then. As well of course, as any discussions here post premiere.

Any thoughts on Age of Aniexty post rehearsal performance?