capybara

51 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Loved the visit to the Acosta Dance space in Woolwich. Very easy to get to on Elizabeth Line then about 3-4 mins walk.
They  really went that extra mile to make us feel welcome. 
Very exciting to see a couple of the many projects going on in the centre….. like the Acosta Danza group rehearsing Carmen…terrific!! And the coaching of pre professional ballet students to prepare for their auditions. 
Many thanks to Javier Torres and the young lady who showed us around for their hard work and the unexpected tea and pastries was really delicious!  

The amount and variety of opportunity which the LBC is now offering Members is astonishing. And all for a £20 p.a. membership fee (which includes free access to Zoom only talks) - plus a little extra for individual events.

I think we all know how much work is involved in delivering such a programme so many, many thanks to the hard-working Committee.

https://www.tlbc.org.uk 

1 hour ago, San Perregrino said:

his stage presence more than compensates. 

Agree. I was simply answering your question!

19 minutes ago, San Perregrino said:

In what sense? 

Antonio is quite short of stature.

It is always possible that there are other, as yet unannounced changes in the mix. What is certain is that the RB dancers are very busy at the moment without much leeway to accommodate illness and injuries.

All of tonight’s main substitutes (Isabella Gasparini; Francisco Serrano; Melissa Hamilton) were terrific.

The cast sheet for the General Rehearsal is now online:

MacMillan-Celebrated-General-Rehearsal-Cast-Sheet-20-03-24.pdf

Anna Rose's exact words on her IG story are:

"Unfortunately, I'm out for a little bit of time to heal an injury.

Best wishes to the Company for a wonderful opening show tomorrow.

See you on stage soon."

15 minutes ago, Naughty Peregrine said:

 

perhaps these principals have been relieved of the MacMillan in order to focus on the Ashton pieces

Not at the 11th hour surely?

The Company seems to have been working exceptionally hard of late: that can take it’s toll.

Is there a display copy of programmes  in the ROH shop?

If not, there should be.

16 minutes ago, Don Q Fan said:

I have to say I was surprised Bolle came but then when he got his award at the end I thought 'aha is that why he came?'. He was quite off with fans at stage door he just pushed past everyone to meet his friends and left not a wave or pose for a photo nothing. Rather disappointing from him as usually he's quite amiable with fans. All the other dancers were very obliging. 

 

If I had to pick out dancers I would have to say Osiel Gouneo is one of the most charming in my book, every time I have met him he is charm personified. Also his colleagues Antonio Casalinho and Julian Mackay. Must be something in the air at Munich maybe?! Sergio Bernal is lovely too, but really they all are and all are very appreciative of fans' comments/praise for their work. 

 

I think it would be unfortunate if we came to ‘judge’ dancers on one Stage Door appearance after an exceptionally long and heavy day but, on the other hand, the Icons Gala could be regarded as a ‘one off’ meriting special ‘after-care’. And what you describe does mirror what I’ve seen from some of those artists following their shows elsewhere - both positively and negatively.

 I was amazed that, after his “……and Friends” show in Florence in 2022, a shouting Bolle led the dash with his colleagues from the stage into a nearby building never to emerge to acknowledge the 100s of fans who nonetheless waited to salute him.

In contrast and in more everyday circumstances, we (the fans) are extremely lucky to be treated with patience and courtesy by the majority of our favourite stars - and I am so grateful to them for that.

4 minutes ago, FionaM said:

I did like to see Aud Jebsen recognised for all she does to support ballet.  Frankly without her money (sponsorship or donation  might be more elegant words but let’s be real here), a lot of ballet organisations in the UK would be floundering much worse than they are.  This effort rather lost meaning with the awards all being given in a rushed and perfunctory way.  She should be recognised in a specialist one-off way IMO

 

 
Couldn’t agree more about Aud Jebsen.

A National Dance Award or some other more prestigious recognition seems long overdue.

With (mostly RB) exceptions where the dancers were concerned and a couple of interesting ‘new’ works it was no more than an evening of mediocrity for me - so I’ll be brief.

The best in the world being showcased? Some artists, undoubtedly yes, but more than half seemingly ‘making up the numbers’ as they do in galas ‘everywhere’.

Good to glimpse emerging stars like Antonio Casalinho but the hype which preceded Giorgi Potskhishvili led me to expect to see something quite extraordinary from him not the ragged ‘tricks for tricks sake’ he produced alongside a seriously under-powered Osipova (despite her obviously new shoes!). Don Q has been on the Icons programme for as long as I can remember and this rendition was just about as bad as it gets. 

’Way up there’ for me (in no particular order) were Melissa Hamilton, Sangeon Lee, Yasmine Naghdi (in McGregor!), Vadim Muntagirov (substituting in two works), Fumi Kaneko, Olga Smirnova and (in spite of myself) Sergio Bernal.

The atmosphere in the Coli was strange. Given all the Sold Out notifications it was surprising to see so many empty seats (for example, at least 100 in the relatively small side area of the Dress Circle where I was). A goodly number  of the people around me were busier on their phones than with what was going on on stage and the applause was often tepid at best. My immediate neighbour munched her way through two tubs of popcorn but I promise that the smell didn’t warp my judgement.

1 hour ago, Naughty Peregrine said:

Don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just reporting back. I don’t know anything about the organisation or the organisers so have no ‘opinion’ either way.

oh @Naughty Peregrine I’m soooo sorry you took it that way - I certainly didn’t

intend that.

4 minutes ago, PeterS said:

During the curtain call last night several ‘Ballet Icon’ awards were somewhat haphazardly presented and I’m not certain that the whole auditorium were aware what was happening. These included a special one to Aud Jebsen for ‘services to ballet’. I, for one, am glad to see her recognised and thanked. 

How pretentious of the organiser to offer her Awards. Ballet Icons is no more than another commercial venture. A BCF ceremony would have had more meaning!!! 😉

19 minutes ago, TSR101 said:

 ...

Proximity or Closeness was switched with Diamonds and opened the second half.

This discussion has now moved beyond my ability to follow the 'argument'.

Francesca Hayward is now advertising her participation.

This Gala is beginning to feel as if it should be re-branded The Royal Ballet and Guests !!!

54 minutes ago, Suffolkgal said:

Decades ago in Leningrad as was I saw the Kirov as was with Asylmuratova in SL. As we went to the theatre on the coach (shepherded) the guide was explaining the plot and saying: of course we are Russian so we have a happy ending.  Take a moment there! Anyway it did … I remember the ticket cost three roubles. 

Asylmuratova in Swan Lake was as good as it can get. 
I remember her guest appearances with the RB. 

I couldn’t find any news about the Gala in the Osipova link you provided, Amelia.

34 minutes ago, PeterS said:

They did dance this together in the last run so it’s not completely from scratch. 

But it's always possible that we, the audience, don't know the half of it! [Their previous performance was over 2 years ago.]

And, after all, Fumi in particular was very tied up for weeks with the New Works (Twinkle) and her second Manon was only 3 weeks ago. Swan Lake represents a huge stylistic change from both and is surely one of ballet's most significant challenges at the best of times.

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

I evidently have a bit of an emotional blank spot when it comes to Swan Lake. I thought last night's performance was extremely well performed but I was never really moved by it. To be honest, I would have been significantly more moved if the same cast had for some reason had to swap to performing Manon at the last minute! Every cast of Manon I saw in the last 2 months had me in tears at least once per performance, some multiple times, whereas last night I never felt like crying. Admittedly I'm not sure the last part of Act IV in this production helps much from an emotional point of view. I find the lack of use of Siegfried particularly problematic. Him being knocked out easily by Von Rothbart & just lying on stage for ages doesn't really work for me.

 

I think I actually prefer Kaneko as Odile to Odette, perhaps because I expect her to be naturally very well-suited to Odette whereas it feels like she shouldn't be as naturally good as Odile as she actually is, if that makes any sense. Act III was, as usual, my favourite act. I do wish the audience wouldn't start applauding & cheering in the middle of the fouettes though, it makes it feel like a circus act rather than an art form.

 

I thought Dixon gave a very good Benno debut without being exceptional. Which to be fair is how I felt about most of the Bennos I saw in the last run. Only Jun from a technical point of view & Richardson from an acting point of view managed to be exceptional for me. (Does anyone know if Richardson is doing Benno this run? I had rather hoped he would be on last night, given he appeared with Bracewell in the last run, but obviously not.)

 

It's useful that the cast sheets are now crediting all the dancers in the Czardas & Mazurka, unlike the last run, so I'm not longer trying to identify who's who under the rather disguising head-dresses & hats! I was pleased to see Bailey in the Neopolitan last night, alongside Zuchetti. I think she did do it in the last run but I didn't see her.

 

Could anyone identify the Von Rothbart double last night? My best guess was Dubreuil but I'm far from sure.

 

 

During last night's performance I thought that it's a pity that Kaneko probably won't get filmed as Odette/Odile in the near-ish future, given that both her Siegfrieds have both already been filmed in this production.

I’m with you from the emotional perspective, @Dawnstar

I’m finding it difficult to extricate myself from the swamp and engage fully with the lake.

1 hour ago, Richard LH said:

The RB  is benefiting from some outstanding coaches and coaching at present.

Can't wait to see more casts as the run progresses....!

 

Finally it was super to have a quick word again with @Silke H and @Dawnstar and to meet @Linnzi5

I rather think that it is the coaches who are in luck with the extraordinary talent now at the top of the RB.

3 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

The Culture Whisper atricle in today's links previewing the Sadler's Wells run says that Cojocaru will be partnered by Maslen. Checking BRB's website, the casting has been amended on there. Presumably Dingman is injured?

Yes - Matthias Dingman has made it clear on IG that he is injured and has wished his fellow dancers the best.

While this substitution is great news as far as I’m concerned, one’s mind can only boggle at what dancers put themselves through to deliver galas like this.

It must be many years since Vadim last danced Diamonds; Olga Smirnova will doubtless be jetting in late today earliest (have they danced together before - at all?); the programme will also need to be rehearsed tomorrow ahead of the show itself; some artists (now including Vadim, it seems) are performing more than one piece with different partners; then they all have to put on a show worthy of ballet at its highest level from 7.00pm.

How do they do it - and, as far as the RB dancers at least are concerned, all in the midst of preparations for the upcoming mixed bill?

24 minutes ago, FionaM said:

I’m now hoping that he and Fumi Kaneko are performing it at this year’s Icons gala, as they have done it together elsewhere.  
 

https://youtu.be/YUZvVFs9DOY?si=-QbTfQrACY6w0HDy

Goodness, if Fumi is indeed dancing the GPC at the gala, she has a lot on her plate (first off is Swan Lake tomorrow).

13 minutes ago, Scheherezade said:

Agreed. I was just about to say he could show his versatility by doing them all but you beat me to it. Why not?

 
Why not - well, not yet…..

1) Lukas’s classical technique has some way to go;

2) the ranks above him are already overcrowded;

3) there are other soloists lining up nicely too

I do like him, though, and agree that there is scope for dancers to ‘double up’ in terms of the nature of the roles they portray.