Lynette H

I thought I might try to dig out some reviews from 2013 for comparison: probably by no means comprehensive, but here they are.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/9978935/La-Bayadere-Royal-Ballet-review.html

http://www.markronan.com/2013/05/la-bayadere-with-acosta-nunez-kobayashi-royal-ballet-covent-garden-may-2013/

https://www.ft.com/content/94d1b41c-a030-11e2-a6e1-00144feabdc0

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/apr/07/royal-ballet-la-bayadere-review

https://metro.co.uk/2013/04/09/ravishing-yet-timid-roberta-marquez-in-la-bayadere-at-royal-opera-house-3587892/

Interesting to see who was involved then vs, now. 

Dis this article about pointe schoes escape the links team earlier ? 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/10/26/brown-ballet-shoes-made-first-time-uk-move-hailed-historic-diversity/

"Dancers from minority ethnic backgrounds can now get pointe shoes in both bronze and brown instead of traditional pink to match their skin tone.

The footwear is made by Freed of London - Britain's oldest manufacturer of ballet kit.

Cassa Pancho, founder and artistic director of Ballet Black, a professional company of black and minority ethnic dancers, hailed the news as marking an "historic moment" in British ballet. "

A trivia question: what do you think is the card that Larisch selects and hides and then produces in triumph to convince Mary that she is meant for Rudolf ? 

King of Hearts ? Queen of hearts ? Just wondering......

18 hours ago, Saodan said:

Well, it would now appear official: cast change slips are no longer being issued.

 

At last nights performance of Mayerling, Olivia Cowley was replaced by Lara Turk in the role of Princess Gisela. There was a notification on the screen in the cafe, and a board showing the cast change at the booth selling programmes at amphitheatre level. However, when I asked, no cast change slips were available.

 

I wonder if this is a new policy across the board or whether the role is not deemed important enough to warrant cast change slips anymore.

 

Alison,  I thought I saw you with a cast change slip that evening. Am I imaging this ? You were the only one who seemed able to find one. 

20 hours ago, alison said:

 

I'd always thought it was the restricted view from the curve of the tier, rather than legroom? 

 

 

I was quoting prices for the central block of the amphi where the view is clear, not the ones further round the curve where there may be some restriction. It is very snug in there, shall we say. 

It may not be the ROH's deliberate intention to reduce frequency of attendance but that might be the outcome of the price rises they are implementing this season. 

Consider the prices for row A of the amphi. This used not to be in the top price band for the amphi because of restricted leg room. It's in the top price band now, for the normal seats.  There are a handful of seats which are cheaper because of the extremely restricted leg room ones with a pillar by the knees. 

For Mayerling, the price for one of the extra-restricted spaces was £50. 

The prices for the same seat for Don Q is £60. For Frankenstein it is £55. For Romeo and Juliet it is £74. That is for a seat which is a very tight squeeze.  

The ordinary seats in row A (and the central block A- D) are Don Q £73, Frankenstein £70, R & J  £85.   That's some pretty steep price increases over previous years and even during a season. 

I don't see any response from the ROH on the point about price rises. 

I don't think that's the case. It looks like the Arts Council prefer to invest in younger choreographers

"Mr. Alston said that he had “absolutely chosen” to step down as the artistic director of The Place, but that closing the company has been a more complicated decision. He said his troupe has received most of its funding through an Arts Council England grant given to The Place, which last year applied to be a National Portfolio organization — a company or institution that is regularly funded over a four-year period. “That essentially requires you to reinvent yourself, and The Place decided to focus on younger artists and tour them,” he said. That meant his company would no longer be in residence at The Place and would lose most of its funding."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/08/arts/dance/richard-alston-dance.html

There is finally a reply on the ROH news page to some of the comments raised on the "new" ROH. It confirms 

"We'll still be sharing information and updates via our News section, but the bulk of our content offer will move to our hugely popular social media channels including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

We're also shifting our focus towards more filmed behind the scenes content, which I'm sure will be of interest, so will be ramping up the amount of Facebook Live films and rehearsal clips, as well as artist features.

In doing this, we'll be able to reach millions more each week with the magic of opera and ballet."

This is part of the new exhibition there, Ribera - Art of Violence. Performances are on Sundays - see details here

https://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/2018/september/animalis-sunday-dance-performances-choreographed-by-dane-hurst/?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Octoberenews-Friends&utm_content=version_A&sourceNumber=208

So if there is currently no booking office what happens when people turn up to queue for returns ? 

Annoying that the RBS / Two Pigeons performances are not included in the package booking offer. 

Thank you (and all the other volunteers) very much for all your efforts. 

Rambert has put online a searchable performance database of everything they have done. It goes right back to the very early years - there is a helpful timeline, and the first entry is for Ashton's A Tragedy of Fashion in 1926.  It includes details of dancers, choreographers, venues, music and so on.  It looks very comprehensive and seems easy to search.  You could spend quite a lot of time in here, recalling some of your favourites....

http://www.rambert.org.uk/performance-database/

Oxford University Press has this information on its web site about a forthcoming biography of Petipa by Dr. Nadine Meisner.  Note that the estimated publication date is in 2019. 

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/marius-petipa-9780190659295?cc=gb&lang=en&#

The overview describes this as

• "First biography in English of the creative genius behind Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker.
• Richly illustrated with archival photographs.
• Uses never before seen original material from Petipa's 63 years in Russia."

There is a chapter listing and a few other further details. 

2 hours ago, Xandra Newman said:

I don't know the NYCB at all and have found all the above posts interesting to read.

 

When you say NYCB has limited rehearsal time and a massive rep (so does The Royal Ballet in London), and that it is hard for junior dancers to make debuts that leave lasting impressions...the AD at the RB manages to give his most talented junior dancers debut opportunities and they do leave lasting impressions, why wouldn't NYCB be able to do so too? 

They have a very busy concentrated schedule in the autumn - from Sept 18 to Oct 14th I think I counted 26 different ballets in eight different programmes. That's fairly intense. The RB's performances are spread over a much longer period, and don't involve so many different works. 

https://www.nycballet.com/Season-Tickets/18-19-Season-Page/Fall-2018.aspx

He was a unique figure. I tried to search for details of a piece of his that I recall Rambert doing called (I think) The Parade's Gone By.  What I did find (which I hadn't explored before) is a mass of detail and filmed interviews from the Rambert archive, available online.  Here's Kemp, filmed in 2016 recalling works made for Rambert. 

http://www.rambert.org.uk/explore/rambert-voices/cruel-garden-bruce-kemp-1977/

Oct 15 is students-only in the amphi.  Maybe look at another part of the house ? 

20 hours ago, Two Pigeons said:

BRB performed Le Tricorn under Peter Wright.   The dancers were taught by Lorca Massine, son of the main man himself.  Despite this the ballet was popular with neither the dancers or the audience.  I would love to have seen Dupond in it.

 

 

I recall this fondly from 1995, I think. BRB at the ROH. Joseph Cipolla was the Miller. 

I see from the plan that there are 5 spaces for wheelchairs - is that more or less than there were previously ? They are all a side-on view rather than a clear view of the stage. 

For those wondering why some RB principals do not appear to be cast so much as you might anticipate in the autumn season, it's worth considering that the RB will be represented in a multi company programme in the USA this October.  Dates are 31 Oct to Nov 4th. Details here

https://www.nycitycenter.org/pdps/2018-2019/Balanchine/

The RB present Tarentella and Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux. No casting details that I have found so far. 

It’s been far too hot to sleep. I tried creating a complete Royal Ballet season as an alternative to counting sheep.  It follows the standard pattern prevailing over the last few years of approximately seven full lengths and six mixed bills. Includes both revivals and new work.  it came out like this (not in chronological order).  

Full lengths

Cinderella (Ashton)

Giselle (Peter Wright’s version)

Manon (MacMillan)

Ondine (Ashton)

Woolf Works (McGregor)

Winter’s Tale (Wheeldon)

Nutcracker (inevitable I suppose but a Christmas without it would be fine by me)

Mixed bills

Les Biches (Nijinska) / Checkmate (de Valois) / A new work from Cathy Marston

Apollo (Balanchine) / Les Noces (Nikjinska) / Firebird

DGV (Wheeldon) / Prodigal Son (Balanchine) / Requiem (MacMillan)

Chroma (McGregor) (Or a new piece from him) / New work from Liam Scarlett / Flight Pattern (Pite)

Scenes de Ballet (Ashton) / various Ashton divertissements including Thais pdd, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, A walk to the Paradise Garden, Dance of the Blessed Sprits/  A month in the country (Ashton)

Tombeaux (Bintley) / Invitus Invitam (Brandstrup)  After the Rain pdd (Wheeldon) or a new short piece from him / Lilac Garden (Tudor)

I would like Kristen MCNally to create an alternative Christmas piece for the Linbury possibly based around the dysfunctional home life of Mrs and Mrs Claus.

Yasuo Atsuji is promoted from First Soloist to Principal.

Yvette Knight is promoted from Soloist to First Soloist.

Brandon Lawrence is promoted from Soloist to First Soloist. 

Maureya Lebowitz is promoted from Soloist to First Soloist. 

Miki Mizutani is promoted from Soloist to First Soloist. 

Yaoqian Shang is promoted from Soloist to First Soloist.

Karla Doorbar is promoted from First Artist to Soloist.   

Max Maslen is promoted from First Artist to Soloist. 

Lachlan Monaghan is promoted from First Artist to Soloist.

Aitor Galende is promoted from Artist to First Artist. 

Beatrice Parma is promoted from Artist to First Artist. 

Brooke Ray is promoted from Artist to First Artist. 

Edivaldo Souza da Silva is promoted from Artist to First Artist.

Daria Stanciulescu is promoted from Artist to First Artist.

The following dancers join the company:

August Generalli will join as an Artist from Boston Ballet II. 

Alexander Yap will join as an Artist from Northern Ballet.

Louis Andreasen, graduate of the English National Ballet School, will join as an Artist. 

Callum Findlay-White, graduate of the Royal Ballet School, will join as an Artist.

Tori Forsyth-Hecken, graduate of the Royal Ballet School, will join as an Artist.

Isabella Howard, graduate of the Royal Ballet School, will join as an Artist.  

Yu Kurihara, graduate of the Royal Ballet School, will join as an Artist.

Lennart Steegen, graduate of the Royal Ballet School, will join as an Artist.

Yuki Sugiura, graduate of the Royal Ballet School, will join as an Artist.

Eilish Small, graduate of the Australian Ballet School, joined as an Artist earlier in 2018.

Joseph Taylor, graduate of Elmhurst Ballet School, will join as an Apprentice for the 2018/19 season. 

 Plus a list of 8 leavers

It's there now

https://www.brb.org.uk/post/joiners-promotions-leavers-201819

A big list !

Some details of the programme are now available here

http://www.grosvenorlondon.com/whats-on/ballet-in-the-square/

.

Act 1
Hide and Seek- London Contemporary Voices
White Swan pas de deux – ENB
Black Swan pas de deux - ENB
Akram Khan’s Giselle pas de deux - ENB

Act 2
Life of the Party- ENBYouthCo
The Wolves- ENBAlumniCo and London Contemporary Voices
Chrysalis (an excerpt) - ENBYouthCo

Act 3
Don Q pas de deux - ENB
Dust pas de deux - ENB

*Please note the programme for Saturday 28 July includes The Dying Swan and Unbreakable performed by dancers from English National Ballet instead of the excerpt from Chrysalis and Life of a Party by ENBYouthCo.

Some of the old postings on the previous ballet.co forum are available via the Wayback site. You can easily lose an entire afternoon in there.  I was struck by this list of finalists from YBDY from 2007

"The 16 Finalists are:

Yasmine Naghdi(15) Year 10, Royal Ballet School, White Lodge
Nicole Cato (15) Year 11, Royal Ballet School, White Lodge
William Bracewell(15) Year 11, Royal Ballet School, White Lodge
Fabio Lo Guidice(15) Year 11, Royal Ballet School, White Lodge
Nicola Henshall (17), Royal Ballet Upper School 2nd Year
Nancy Osbaldeston (17), English National Ballet School 2nd Year
Chelsea Thomas (16), Royal Ballet Upper School 1st Year 
Delia Mathews (17), Royal Ballet Upper School 2nd Year 
Freya Thomas (16), Royal Ballet Upper School 1st Year
Laurretta Summerscales (16), Susan Robinson School of Ballet
Anouska Wilkinson (16) Royal Ballet Upper School 
Charlie Peters (17) Elmhurst School of Dance 2nd Year Upper
Jonathan Hanks (17) Royal Ballet Upper School
Jeremy Curnier (17) Royal Ballet Upper School
Alex Harrison (17) Elmhurst School of Dance 2nd Year
Sergiy Polunin (17) Royal Ballet Upper School 2nd Year"

The link to the thread is here  http://web.archive.org/web/20090903035632/http://www.ballet.co.uk:80/dcforum/happening/6191.html

Lots of familiar names in there, and some possibly not so familiar.