capybara

Seeing the photos of the Royal Party and the dignitaries (Board members) surrounding them makes me want to address the latter thus: ”You, yes YOU. It’s all very well turning out for important occasions like this, but do you realise that you are presiding over an organisation where key aspects need urgent sorting? And are you calling the Executive systematically to account for improvements in these respects?”

Lovely to see all these upbeat reviews but sympathies to those whose cinemas let them down (again). I was just in the process of enquiring about the atmosphere in the House when @Silke H’s post popped up. Are others who were there able to give their perspectives, please. PS Regarding who the unsold tickets went to. My use of the term ‘given away’ was overkill but, when I had paid £100+, £12.50 felt that way. My ‘take’ on the recipients of the tickets came in the form of a reply to me from Alex Beard. Anyway, the need for ‘sell-offs’ is hopefully all over now.

I thought I was clear. The groups from which tonight’s audience has been drawn were also given the opportunity to attend the poorly sold performances of Don Q and Anemoi/The Cellist so tonight was no longer the special ‘one off’ that it was intended to be.

And the reason they didn’t (indeed couldn’t) make a big splash about this earlier is that thousands of tickets for Don Q and Anemoi/The Cellist were also ‘disposed’ of to the same ‘partners’.

Just a reminder that the dancers taken into the RB in 2009 were Benjamin Ella, Leticia Stock and Tristan Dyer. 2010?

Fumi Kaneko has posted on IG that last Friday (3rd Nov) was exactly 10 years since she injured herself in her debut as Kitri. I think it was an ACL tear which, IIRC, took her some time from which to recuperate. Subsequently, she tore her other ACL.

There are some photos from Alina's Galas in China on Johan Kobborg's IG account: https://www.instagram.com/johankobborg/ But hurry as most are on his story for today.

If, indeed, the King and Queen are to watch Don Q tomorrow night, they will surely be very tired after the State Opening of Parliament with all its ceremony and heavy robes. They are in their mid-seventies, after all ......

It looks from the casting as if Bracewell is needed in other partnerships. I would particularly like to see him and Takada together again as in the first run. I am glad that Muntagirov is going to dance with someone in addition to Nunez. It’s a bonus for it to be Kaneko.

Exactly so, @Dawnstar I remember people (including on here) being disappointed that Bonelli's last show would be inaccessible to his fans. Then there was a further wave of 'indignation' when Bracewell came in as the replacement and the first Swan Lake outing together for him and Fumi was 'hidden' from public view.

William Bracewell explained in an interview for The Ballet Association that around 2015/16, when he found himself repeating rep. at BRB, he approached Kevin O'Hare (KOH). The contact between them led eventually to William transferring to the RB. https://balletassociation.co.uk/pages/reports-2018-william-bracewell As @oncnp has said, in his book, Vadim goes into some detail about his resignation from ENB and his being signed by the RB (2014). I remember an 'In Conversation' at The London Ballet Circle where KOH was asked whether he would like to have Vadim in the RB. His response was emphatically to the effect that he would not poach dancers and anyone who wanted to join the RB would need to make the first move.

Apologies. Yes, Yasmine joined around Easter 2010 having also ‘skipped’ the RBS second year. You are also correct about Sander @Bluebird

Vadim refers to his recruitment into ENB in his book: From Small Steps to Big Leaps as follows: " I have been asked, often, why I thought the RB didn't want me and all I can say is, "I don't really know". But I have always felt that the people around me at the time had my best interests in mind." https://shop.roh.org.uk/products/vadim-muntagirov-from-small-steps-to-big-leaps-book My personal take on the where both Bracewell and Muntagirov went initially is that they could be given more and earlier opportunities for leading roles in BRB and ENB respectively than would have been possible in the RB. Anyway - aren't we lucky to have them both at the RB now? Edited to add that Vadim himself also covers the detail of the offer from ENB in his autobiography but it doesn’t seem appropriate to quote from it at any length here. The Year William graduated (2010), IIRC no dancers were taken into the RB. Others who were prominent students that year went to ENB (Angela Wood and Barry Drummond) or, initially, Scottish Ballet (Imogen Chapman).

They are seasoned performers but cinema relays alone undoubtedly add a certain frisson the the occasion. Yes - that’s how the ‘mixed casting’ needs to be approached: with excitement and an open mind.

Just to point out that Yasmine Naghdi will have been a Principal for nearly 7 years before she dances Manon. And wasn’t Francesca Hayward cast before she became a Principal? So the timing of debuts inevitably varies.

Exactly. It is from the GT that patrons who booked before the evening became 'closed' are being moved. The view of the stage from The Royal Box is dreadful and, on Tuesday, there will be a camera woggling around in the line of sight as well.

The arrangements for official visits are kept very closely under wraps - maybe the more so now given current international circumstances.

Sarah Wildor was peerless in this respect.

I think I observed on another thread that Mayara was being used significantly more than other female Principals (including a one-off Mercedes on the opening night of DQ (why?) and the DQ cinema relay as Kitri). And, looking from the outside, that doesn't seem fair to other dancers and does make one wonder about the factors which come into play in casting. But to follow up on what I said earlier on this thread about each one of us having our personal hierarchies, mine has others 'above' Mayara no matter how often she performs.

Neither 😉

But those have been private visits, not official ones by the Monarch. It seems that a few people who originally bought tickets in the Grand Tier have been asked to move so …….!?!?!

Sumina Sasaki has posted on IG that she will debut as The Queen of the Dryads on 11th Nov - presumably as part of the Osipova/Clarke cast.

I agree that Fumi’s performance last night was off the scale. Everyone else on sparkling form. Whilst I also agree about the (sometimes confusing) doubling up of soloist roles, I think it is possible that at least some of this has been necessitated by illness or injury. For example, Philip Mosley was back as Sancho Panza last night when (reportedly) his last scheduled performance in the role was a fortnight ago. Now looking forward to the cinema relay and to seeing those of you with tickets having your “night out with The King”.

Lists exist within companies which imply a hierarchy even if that is not intended. Also, I have heard dancers say, for example, “I’m only 4th cast for Swan Lake” so the order does seem to mean something to them, especially if they are not scheduled to dance for weeks after opening night. But we (the audience) have our own views anyway! And one thing’s for sure, the last partnership listed on the RB’s Swan Lake casting is not going to be the 9th best - possibly the complete reverse.

Thank you, Alison. I hadn’t realised that. But shortened forms of names aren’t always the best ones to use on here. And, now, news of La Strada is also on the Alina Cojocaru news thread.