capybara

33 minutes ago, annamk said:

I can’t find anywhere a complete list of performers and the programme. Am I missing something or do the organisers not publish it and so we just have the bits above that forum members have found online. 

The performers and their rep. usually remain ‘fluid’ until the night itself.

And some of the other dancers in the above list were also cast in the more modern works.

This does raise the question as to whether those who are thus featured should be given more shows of the classics/modern classics rather than the same kind of share as everyone else.

It’s not only Campbell who was/is underused.

@Rob S ‘s curtain call images of all the Manon/Des Grieux on his IG account have caused me to reflect further on the performances I saw.

Each was wonderful in its own way (what a run!) but, for me, three transcended the heights because of the way the two leads used the movement and every inch of their bodies to tell the story and convey the emotion.
 

A very special instance of this was Des Grieux’s beautiful desperation solo towards the end of Act 2. In three cases, the way this was danced was ‘off the scale’ amazing and tore at my heart strings like never before; in the others, the anguished facial expression was there but the movement itself felt more contained and so didn’t ‘speak’ the turmoil as effectively. (Isn’t the music at that point ‘to die for’?).

However, overall, I feel we’ve been very spoiled, with every performance reaching a particular kind of height, and this grateful fan is going to take a while to ‘come down’ to earth.

1 hour ago, Fonty said:

When watching the video, did anyone else feel like shouting at Mr O'Hare, asking why, if he held Campbell in such high regard, he cast him much less frequently than other male principals??

I said that under my breath as KOH spoke.

That speech did not hit the spot as far as I was concerned.

Vadim Muntagirov’s IG story today (10th March) is worth a look. Mutual respect in spades.

36 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

I think Opus Arte should issue an edition of The Art of Alexander Campbell (like they did with Nunez, Cuthbertson, Muntagirov etc etc) with some of his performances. They can put Dances at a Gathering (Boy in Brown) The Age of Anxiety (Emble), Within the Golden Hour and his Mercutio (Cuthbertson and Bonelli Romeo and Juliet), Nutcracker and Swan Lake (Benno with Nunez and Muntagirov) in a box set. It doesn't cost a lot to combine the short ballets in one DVD and put the other three existing full length ballet recordings with it in a box.   I think it will sell well in the UK, Australia and further afield.  😀

A great idea and another way to honour Alex.

But so much caution surrounds the production/issue of DVDs that it’s likely that Opus Arte would want to see evidence of demand before making any such move.

I have other comments for the parallel thread but I wanted to say what a pity it was that, last night, the Ushers began to throw flowers so soon after Manon and Des Grieux had stood up after their heart-rending pas de deux in the swamp. 
 

I don’t think that I was alone in needing to stay in the story (as usual), with a brief drop of the curtain drawing a close to the story and a start to the celebrations. 

I think I was the only person clapping and I my small hands  make very little sound.

I know the piece of music to which Des Grieux comes on but MacMillan was, I think, keen to avoid any welcome clapping.

Maybe just this once 😉

I have a feeling that the factors involved in settling on partnerships are multi-faceted to an extent which we will never be fully privy to.

5 minutes ago, Missfrankiecat said:

 

I watched him quite a lot on Wednesday due to our position in the SC and he definitely had an eye on the dancers .

Good - thanks for saying.

I get the impression that Kessels is a law unto himself. His head is usually more buried in the score than in connecting with the dancers.

4 hours ago, PeterS said:

As a way to introduce children to live ballet you might consider:

 

English National Ballet and English National Ballet School’s

My First Ballet: Swan Lake

4 – 13 April 2024 at Sadlers Wells 

 

followed by a visit to the Royal Ballet in May or June to see the full length production if your son is hooked. ENB are also doing Swan Lake in the Round at the Royal Albert Hall in early June. 
 

Taking a child to ENB's My First Ballet is an excellent starting point.

Can I just say “thank you” for all the reviews and information which have appeared on here during the run of Manon.

Inevitably, circumstances and finances limit what one can see or research for oneself but performances I have missed have been brought vividly to life and many questions I have had in my mind for years have been illuminated.

I can’t believe that we are leaving the swamp and travelling to a lake. I’m not sure I’m ready to go (yet).

TeobDubreill was featured rehearsing Benno in the Insight but “with a later cast”.

I’m really glad that Luca Acri has the opening night . He will certainly get me through the overlong sequences which Benno dances while Siegfried stands watching.

12 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

It's hardly surprising that Sambe is in favour of current casting trends, given he's getting cast in almost everything at the moment. It would be much more interesting to hear the opinons of those dancers who are not getting cast as much, but I suppose anyone who might be less happy about it wouldn't be able to say anything publically.

You’ve said it @Dawnstar

10 hours ago, DoctorDerry said:

I pretty much agree with all of this. Currently too many principals,all doing a bit of everything.

Marcelino Sambe applauded this “everyone can do everything” development in a fairly recent interview whereas (as I have often belaboured on here) I do not regard it as a win/win.

Occasionally something quite marvellous happens but I get the impression that some dancers push very hard for roles and that multifarious factors (other than suitability to be cast) are increasingly coming into play.

6 minutes ago, Mary said:

It will be Matthew Ball, he always dances in rehearsals when I go.

 

Which is nice of him.

But not tomorrow 🤫

The cast sheet will be out very early 😊 as the rehearsal starts at 11.30am.

The RB dancers are having an overly busy time.

22 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

I was likewise very impressed with him at ENB but for whatever reason (maybe it's just me!) his early RB appearances didn't match up to his ENB form IMO.

 

I also have a bit of a thing about heavy landings and some of his were really clattering. I don't know if this is something that can be improved but they rather spoil the effect for me.

Cesar didn't do many roles involving partnering while with ENB and maybe this relative lack of experience, and an amount of stopping and starting through injury and the pandemic, showed when he joined the RB.

In common with a number of similarly illustrious male dancers at the RB (and elsewhere), Cesar doesn't always absorb his landings 'through his legs'.

However, in my eyes, he is a real star who will bring something very special to the RB's stage and I've everything crossed that he will be able to develop his career from this week onwards free of injury.

21 minutes ago, FionaM said:

@Richard LH there are plenty in all the lower ranks! 

Actually at all levels of the RB and with sufficient variety to suit all the hard 'taskmasters' on BCF.

When we lived hundreds of miles from London, my husband and I often did ‘Saturday doubles’.

We were able to make these work by having an extensive ‘debrief’ discussion in between the shows which enabled us to approach the evening performance with fresh eyes.

 
When, more recently, I have tried to watch two consecutively on my own, I have found it somewhat overwhelming and my appreciation of the second has felt diminished.

8 hours ago, alison said:

I've thought in so many cases that if dancer A had been given another run before being filmed in ballet B they would have given a better/more developed performance to be recorded for posterity.

I think that the cinema relays (and first nights) are now being shared among the RB’s dancers more evenly than used to be the case.
Where Triple Bills are concerned, the choice must become more difficult but, if mainly for commercial reasons, I would have fielded the first cast for Danses Concertantes. 

Of course, Hirano wasn’t originally cast as Des Grieux. He replaced the injured McRae who, by all accounts, had especially wanted to dance with Lamb - a pairing which looks to have impacted on the overall casting of the Manon season quite significantly.

But it’s lovely that this unexpected partnership has been such a success.

I spoke to Melissa at a Ballet Association dinner when she had been in Dresden for 2 years.

She had valued the opportunity to dance the classics there but felt that the RB was really where she belonged. “It’s my home,”she said.

I think that mention was also made of the varied opportunities she was getting by working with Roberto Bolle.

9 minutes ago, Legseleven said:

Francesca Hayward became a principal without dancing the big tutu classics as far as I remember. 

That promotion (2016) appeared to be linked to the insistence of the Japanese promoters that only Principals could lead performances on the RB’s tour.