Tony Newcombe

Now we know why Acosta promoted Yu Kurihara to soloist after only 5 minutes in the Company.

She was absolutely sensational this afternoon in her debut as Juliet. From the moment she burst into

fits of giggles on her nurses shoulder as Paris departed after their introduction in the first act, one became

aware that we were seeing a wonderful actress on stage. When partnered by Paris in the ballroom scene you noticed

the tiny shocks to her body as Paris touched her. Then she saw Romeo and you saw her confusion. This was different

to the feelings that Paris had aroused in her.  

This was very much her own take on the role and if anyone is within a few miles of Plymouth on Saturday evening, get a ticket.

We have yet another wonderful Japanese BRB ballerina.

1 minute ago, Jan McNulty said:

Miki joined the company in 2012 and Shang in 2013 - they are both wonderful and both senior soloists.  Their BRB careers have gone along side by side with them both making major debuts at different times.  SDB chose both of them, when very new in the company, for the leading role in Prince of the Pagodas and we knew then that they were both something special.

Miki first came to the attention of BRB regulars when dancing Humboldt’s Hog-nosed Flea in Penguin Cafe. Her Lise with Lachlan Monaghan in Fille was as good as it gets. Her Juliet last evening was a wonderful debut. Just off now to see Yu Kurihara and Lachlan Monaghan make their debuts in R&J.

I’d like to add Miki Mizutani of BRB. I’m off to Plymouth next week to see her debut as Juliet.

Also right at the beginning of her career with BRB is Yu Kurihara already promoted to soloist

who also will be making her debut as Juliet. There has been a wonderful succession of Japanese

ballerinas  at BRB.
 

3 hours ago, zxDaveM said:

will they be auditioning for 'character' artists? I've got my own inbuilt fat suit, if that helps

Anything to do with Don Q coming up?

I lived in the Middle East for 20 years. One day in the local news/bookshop I was delighted to find a book on Ballet Companies of the world. In the chapter on Nederlands Dans Theatre was a photograph of a nude ballet. The naughty bits had been blue-pencilled out!. I was aware that it was the responsibility of bookshop itself to carry out this censorship. Imagine having to go through all the foreign newspapers each day to check that no pictures that might cause offence. Of course someone from high up had the job of checking all newspapers and books before sending the orders out to the individual bookshops!

3 hours ago, alison said:

"Alert (15/10/21 16:45 BST): Due to a technical fault some customers who have booked tickets for performances this weekend may not have received their E-tickets via email. To access your e-ticket please sign-in to your Account and select ‘View eTickets’ from the ‘Events’ tab. We hope to resolve this problem as soon as possible and apologize for any inconvenience."

 

I, on the other hand, have probably about 15 separate emails in my inbox sending me my ticket for one performance next week.  Definitely a technical glitch!

Same for me as well

Not commenting about the in and outs regarding no cast sheets at the Opera House but R&J printed cast sheets are available for BRBs production. They are also available on line

Sorry to keep this thread moving, but in view of the ticket sales for this Saturdays performance, if you can get there do so. You will not be disappointed. Kaneko and Bracewell are magnificent

1 hour ago, alison said:

 

But she only gets the one show?

Be thankful for small mercies

47 minutes ago, taxi4ballet said:

Oh good grief, she's my MP.

 

I don't know how much she knows about culture, but she didn't give a toss when I contacted her about funding for vocational dance training several years ago. 

I think you have answered your own question. I long for the days of Chris Smith in the Blair government, then again he didn’t last long. Too pro arts I seem to remember

It’s on again next year

Wonderful afternoon. Totally agree about Magri and Bracewell. The timing was spot on. 

3 hours ago, capybara said:

Maybe their preparation schedules and/or cost saving?

The two dancers on the publicity are not dancing together unfortunately.

Probably still in bubbles

19 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

Great idea.  I loved it the last time I saw it.  It is a wonderful opportunity for students to play the young girl as well.  If my memory serves me correctly, last time it was Julia Roscoe, who is now in the company?

Julia debuted in 2005. Last time in 2012 the role was danced by Annabel Pickering and Sarah Keaveney. I remember Julia being asked if she had any advice for the the girls. Just enjoy yourself was her answer.

8 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

Sadly NB rarely announce casting in advance...

Sad. Would love to go and see her

13 minutes ago, JennyTaylor said:

Hi everyone, I attended today's performance and thoroughly enjoyed it.  More of that later, but if you are going tomorrow - take large hat, sunscreen and plenty of water.  It's extremely hot.  Also, don't trust your SatNav. Go back to the tried and trusted, good old fashioned maps. 

So you had the same problem as me with SatNav?. Agree great afternoon

Campbell and Choe; Zucchetti and Maguire were spot on back in 2013

4 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

https://www.brb.org.uk/post/birmingham-royal-ballet-announces-promotions-joining-and-departing-company-members-for-2021

Yu Kurihara from artist to soloist. Only a couple of years since we saw her as a prologue fairy in RBS performance. She debuts as Cinderella next week having already danced the lead in Lazuli Sky

5 hours ago, Sim said:

But it is a fiendish pdd, and they have to wait for two hours to come on and do it, with no warm up onstage and time to get into the flow of the whole.  Most ballerinas I have spoken to about this all say how difficult it is.  So I think the ******all they have done for the previous two hours is more than made up for in the 15-20 minutes they are on.  

Maybe my posting needed a bit of context. Whilst at RB she had danced a lot of roles in The Nutcracker but never TSPF. At BRB she finally got to dance this role. In no way was she belittling the difficulty of the role. It was just rather nice to get the applause at the end.

4 hours ago, capybara said:

 

For sure, there are very difficult balances to be achieved in casting but 6 or 7 shows over a four month period, especially when dancers are re-visiting works and one of them (The Nutcracker) amounts to no more than a pas de deux), cannot be enough for a top ranking artist. 

As Natasha Oughtred once said, they come on at the end of the ballet having done ******all for two hours and get all the applause

2 hours ago, alison said:

 

'Twas ever thus   If someone wants to go back through the archive and see how many scheduled performances e.g. Ravenna Tucker had per year before she moved to Birmingham, please feel free.  I know it was an abysmally low number.

I remember  when she was  asked why an earth would she want to move to Birmingham. More performances was her reply! 

5 hours ago, Sim said:

Yes, I had that thought too

21 minutes ago, Sim said:

They were wonderful tonight…as were everybody else on that stage.  More tomorrow, but meanwhile I will just say that Romany Pajdak has got to dance Juliet.  Period.  

Just been discussing this with a friend on my train journey home. Couldn’t agree more

The great lady who introduced me and got me hooked into ballet

5 hours ago, Margaret said:

I also saw her dance in a Festival of Ballet in  Coventry in 1961.  She danced Spectre de la Rose with John Gilpin and other pieces.  The evening also had  dancers such as Anton Dolin and Rosella Hightower.  A wonderful evening.

 

 

That Festival of Ballet in Coventry was my introduction to ballet and it was Fracci who caught my attention. So beautiful.