Lindsay

how weird - must be a blip for me.  Have unfiltered everything, tried calendar view and still no joy.  Ah well - giving up.  Thanks everyone

can anyone else not see Swan Lake on the ROH site at all please? I have tried looking at all events, filtering and going via the Calendar View and it's not showing....

Interesting - thank you Janet.  I recently discovered that the Australian Ballet's version of the BRB production is on Marquee TV (for anyone who subscribes) and it reminded me of how beautiful the full production is.  Quite my favourite Nutcracker.

I agree with you Janet.  I saw this a couple of weeks ago, having not seen the BRB production for at least a decade (although my locally based family goes faithfully every year).  We were really looking forward to it and were very disappointed by the production changes.  Not nearly as 'magic' as it usually is so I didn't just want to write something critical on here.  Agree with you that the dancing was of a very high standard throughout but I think the production will have been a disappointment to many of their 'regular' Nutcracker audience.  Glad to hear that the usual production will be back next year - we didn't know that, I hope that others do!

Sympathy to everyone who has had terrible experiences with these schools and thanks to Luke for his important article.  I have no direct experience of ballet schools, but my family has been very closely involved in the investigations into specialist music schools, culminating in the IICSA enquiry.  The final report on the specialist music schools hearings has not yet been published but, given the evidence heard by the inquiry, it is likely to be extremely critical, including of very recent, rather than simply historic, management in multiple schools. 

All I wanted to add here is that our experience shows that it is well-nigh impossible for parents, individually or collectively, to exercise any influence with these insitutions.  During the years that it took to force an inquiry into music schools, even after shocking and well-publicised cases of abuse, multiple schools played off parents and existing student bodies against survivors and complainants.  These are boarding schools so parents are geographically isolated, and also often divided by experience, language and (especially) wealth and cultural status.  Parents who are donors or "in the industry" themselves, have a tendency to rule the roost in PTAs or other 'official' networks and to side with the school.  Governing bodies are the "great and the good" with little to no hands on experience of dealing with safeguarding issues.  In addition, there were instances of heads and senior staff at schools instructing current pupils to tell their parents to ignore "hostile trouble-makers" trying to "harm" their school, even instructing sixth formers to post defences on social media.  Alumni (with a few notable exceptions) rallied around on social media to defend the institutions - and in music (as with ballet) the UK industry is dominated by alumni of these institutions so their views count for students wishing to have a career.    It is easy, at a time when classical arts can feel increasingly under attack from many directions, to convince those who love them that they should defend the institutions at any cost and many well-meaning but naive people will do so.   So any 'complaining' parent faces a wall of at best apathy, more commonly hostility, and is often expressly told that their child just can't cut it in this special world.  Other parents believe this until something happens to their child and then the same pattern unfolds for them.

I would hope that the LADO in this instance has had an opportunity to study from and learn what has happened in the case of music schools.  The extensive evidence on music schools given to the inquiry can be found Here.  So whilst no one will disagree that parents should of course speak up for their children, I did not want anybody to feel that they had in any way 'failed' as a parent by not remedying a problem.. This problem is much bigger than any one individual or family.

Well said Pups mum! I have more experience of specialist music schools than dance, but it took a string of very nasty scandals for them to even begin to admit that it should be "children first, musicians second".  And given the recent testimony from heads and governors of various schools in front of the National Enquiry it seems that complacency is still alive and well in many places.  I really hope that specialist dance schools can wake up to the fact that they are first and foremost in a position of care for children and that their mission to protect standards of dance is a secondary consideration. 

2 hours ago, penelopesimpson said:

Well, that is indeed a lovely and distinguished list, Lindsay, but your post is somewhat disingenuous as it seems to be answering a statement I never made. 

 

Your point was that 'those engaged in higher level music education know that ALW's work is musically banal with a generous topping of ersatz emotional manipulation. '  That's a pretty bald statement on a message board devoted to opinions which are necessarily subjective.  I particularly dislike that you seek to employ a higher authority to make your point that those who really understand these things consider ALW rubbish, ergo, those who like his musical theatre must be, well, how would you express it?  Shall we go with Daily Mail readers, perhaps?  

 

I don't recall anywhere saying that Andrew Lloyd-Webber's work is superior.  It is of a type, as is the work created by many of the people on your list.  The one is not necessarily better or more worthy than the other.  Pertinently, as you must have understood, he is contemporary and therefore somewhat more available.

 

To  use the raison d'etre behind Open-Up, surely our goal should be to encourage people to experience a wide variety of artistic endeavours and then make up their own minds as to whether it floats their boat?  Pigeon-holing and then shaming them for their taste is hardly likely to enthuse them.  For my own part I've never given a damn when people tell me I should/should not like something because they say so.   

 

In closing let me use a Ballet analogy.  Quite the worst thing I ever saw at ROH was Twyla Tharp's one-act concoction two or three years ago.  It was so bad it made me squirm, the more so because it was ring-fenced with pretentious description that had lead me to anticipate the second coming.  But here's the point - there were very many people in the audience who engaged with it and loved every minute.  It was not the ballet that was wrong, it was me because it wasn't to my taste.  Lets celebrate diversity (can't believe I just said that) and allow people to find what moves them rather than fat-shame them.

I was not being in the least disingenuous and am a little confused as to where your accusation of  ‘fat-shaming’ came from.  I was responding to the binary that you set up in your previous post between musical theatre and Tippett/Stockhausen by giving examples of the musical theatre which is musically complex and sophisticated.  And as for the charge of resorting to “a higher authority” (by which I assume you mean expertise) I live with someone who works in tertiary music education and know scores of others but in fact it doesn’t take more than my basic training in theory and harmony to see that ALW’s music is harmonically basic and far more simplistic and less interesting than the work of the others I listed.

It is a free country in which you are entitled to choose to spend your money on ALW’s work.  But others are also free to express objective opinions about his music.  

True, but it felt unfair to mention Kander without him

Luckily for composers, death is no barrier to their works being performed

14 hours ago, penelopesimpson said:

Wow.  What a pity the great unwashed don’t appreciate  that his work is musically banal, a fact which you state with such certainty it simply must be true.  Or maybe they do and they just don’t care, them preferring to enjoy themselves on an evening  out watching a dramatic storyline unfold through catchy tunes and enjoyable music,  there being no Tippett  or Stockhausen on at their local Dog and Duck. You’ll be telling me they read the Daily Mail next.

 Here are some examples of composers of “dramatic storylines” that “unfold through catchy tunes” which my ears tell me are vastly superior to ALW’s derivative and simplistic efforts.  Hope helpful:

Lionel Bart

I think those engaged in higher level music education know that ALW's work is musically banal with a generous topping of ersatz emotional manipulation.  And of course, the reason Roger Waters has a problem with ALW's "genius" has long been known:

An astute businessman - undoubtedly.  An artist - hardly.....

I think the corps dances in the street scenes have been compressed and possibly the ball scene too.  The overture was also shortened.

I was actually a little underwhelmed by the film.  I'm not generally convinced that a "naturalistic" approach works in the context of ballet - any attempt at immersive realism is constantly interrupted by "oh she's just got out of bed but she has pointe shoes on" or "he's just stopped in the middle of a sword fight to do a pirouette".  Also ballet dancers are not professional actors and it shows.  Hayward has some talent in that direction and I can see why they chose Bracewell for Romeo, he looked very young on camera and has a nice smile (which they kept defaulting to as obviously it was his expression that came over best on film).  Sambe had good swagger as Mercutio and Ball was a moody Tybalt, but neither was subtle (which is hardly unexpected from dancers used to "stage acting") so the overall effect was of slightly mediocre acting.  And you couldn't really see how good the standard of dance was (except for a couple of moments during Mercutio's solos) because the film wasn't shot to foreground that, so the camera constantly cut away to reaction shots and didn't show feet.   

I'm afraid I don't buy that this is an exciting new way of telling a story through dance or that it will bring young people into ballet.   It treats the audience in a rather patronising way.  If one wants to see a R&J with "real emotion" I would prefer the film of Maillot's Romeo et Juliette - he uses dance steps in a far more intelligent way to remove the barrier of artificiality between the dancers and the audience.  Or just see the Macmillan production on stage where it works the way it was designed too.  This film is just a superficially attractive mish-mash.

I believe that Nikisha Fogo was also in that year and she is now a First Soloist, which is the highest rank available, in Vienna.  

1 hour ago, Shade said:

9

That’s very true. There were some nasty comments on the Raymonda clip on the ROH Facebook page. No other RB dancer seems to generate such nasty comments. I wonder if it is because Osipova is Russian, from the Bolshoi.

 

with respect JNCs comment above - I had every reason to know that Osipova can dance the choreography of both Swan Lake and Beauty as I have already seen her perform both at the RB previously. I had made considerable changes to my personal and work diaries to attend this week and I would have been very disappointed if the casting had been changed. Indeed, I recall the angst  when she was injured and couldn’t perform SB and Giselle. People would have booked months in advance and may have traveled from overseas to see Osipova and Hallberg this week. Where I was sitting there were quite a few Americans, for example.
 

I think it’s because Osipova is one of the most famous ballerinas in the world - amongst the RB dancers only Nunez comes anywhere close in terms of global name recognition.  And because right from the beginning of her career Osipova made bold artistic choices and her physical gifts and stage presence immediately marked her out as something quite different from the ‘ordinary’ run of talented ballerinas.  She is an absolute phenomenon and so people are more likely to have strong opinions about her, for good or for bad, then they will about dancers who turn in excellent but more conventional and predictable performances.  

46 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

I remember the furore over it when it was first aired and - naive and enthralled as I was with the scale and quality of the actual performances being put on - wondered at the time why it was seen as such an own goal.

 

When I came across it again a few years ago, it was very clear what I'd missed first time around: there's some serious incompetence on display from managers. In the first episode, I'd also single out the attitude of the Opera Company Manager towards the excellent and very likeable Denyce Graves as unpleasant and unprofessional.

 

It comes across as a poisonous place to have worked back then.

I think “unpleasant and unprofessional” is a very charitable way of describing her behaviour Lizbie1......

I used to temp at the ROH in the 90s (a couple of years after this so I do not feature in the programme, although my husband does) and do remember it being incredibly ‘jobsworthy’ and unprofessional in some departments.  There were quite a few people who had been there for years and considered their way of doing things sacrosanct (for no particular reason except that it had “always been done that way”) and who looked down upon any incoming staff or visiting artists.  Especially if they were “foreign”.  Unless they were an acknowledged “star” in which case they fawned all over them.  Put me right off a career in the arts!

I also think the Florine tutu is the most flattering.  The worst in my opinion are the pouffy Florestan's sisters tutus, with the ugly little neck ruffs.

By the way, for anyone wanting a look at the costumes from the 1990s production of Sleeping Beauty, the old (and notorious) BBC six-part documentary on the ROH has appeared on youtube. You can see the final London rehearsal of the production before its Washington DC premiere in episode 2 - which includes Dowell's rather exasperated comments about an injured Darcy rehearsing Aurora on a shiny floor - as well as much amusement from a female dancer at the Lilac Cavalier outfits the men are er 'burdened' with.  The US premiere, with the Clintons and Princess Margaret in attendance, appears in a later episode.

)   

37 minutes ago, Tebasile said:

It wasn't that bad. I did think that Osipova could perhaps do with going to class a bit more often, but she still brought something individual and special to the role. At times her dancing was breathtakingly beautiful; at others, it was messy and disappointing. I have often felt this ambivalence with her performances, but I would still rather see her than someone who does all the steps perfectly but dances without flourish or personality. Though I agree with some of the misgivings about her technique in the Rose Adagio, I loved her characterisation here. Why does every princess have to be shy and reserved? It's her 16th (or 20th) birthday party, after all. I was actually more disappointed with Hallberg who, though elegant, was rather weak in the 3rd act, and the fact that they had to change the choreography to avoid some lifts flattened the overall effect. They certainly don't have much chemistry, but I don't think anyone's to blame for that. 

I agree with this.  Osipova is many things but she is never boring.  You can tell that she has spent hundreds of hours on stage and is a thoroughly theatrical animal.  Although for anyone who has seen more than a couple of Rose Adagios it was evident how much she was struggling in Act I  (shaking and at times off the music and what on earth was going on with the hand gestures on the supported attitude turns and constant hand fluttering in her solo?) she delivered it like the pro she is and most of the audience roared their approval.  I was then amazed to see her come out and deliver an immaculate and rock steady Act II.  I don't know what she took in the interval but it worked.  I also agree with Tebalise that Hallberg, although his line is undeniably beautiful, was the weaker of the two in Act III - I thought that skipping all the overhead lifts was shocking - although they sold it with such aplomb that anyone not familiar with the pas de deux would never have known.

BUT, and it is a big but, I was not bored at any point in the proceedings.  And this is by no means my favourite ballet, even when immaculately performed.  Totally agree with everyone that this was not an evening for lovers of pure classicism but as a spectacle it was entertaining!

I wondered about that too capybara but they were only in the prologue so could have left by the end of Act 1

Lilac Fairy was Mendizabal.  And other than Fumi in the prologue none of the “other” Auroras were on tonight.

I defer to you JNC - I wasn’t that close so you will almost certainly know better.  I was however close enough to see and be amused by the corps men coming out as “trees” for Red Riding Hood.  I assume they sent the kids home since it was getting so late.

I thought it was Akane but my eyesight isn’t perfect - would make sense though as there is no real dancing or pointe work required and she was already in the costume....

Poor thing - what terrible luck

Also James Hay was an incredible bluebird!

Not obvious, no but Takada looked less secure than she usually does (which is to say she was still very good but not as flawless as I have seen her on previous occasions).  They restarted with the Lilac Fairy taking the prince in his boat and Takada stayed to do the awakening scene.  Then Yasmine Naghdi danced Act 3.  The pas de deux was a bit cautious as you would expect but no major mishaps, extremely professionally done and they were both calm and smiling throughout - and their individual variations were lovely.  

Well much drama tonight - Akane Takada is unable to continue after Act 1 so interval extended while we await another ballerina. 

39 minutes ago, Sim said:

Somehow the world kept turning before the invention of mobile phones...

It did Sim but they are here now, like it or not, and it seems a little unfair for those who have benefited from a more civilised work culture in the past to be making critical assumptions about the mobile phone habits of workers today.  I am thankful to be old and senior enough to have some control over my communications (although if I choose to disappear offline it often means dropping more junior people into additional work/trouble) but I know lots of 20 and 30 somethings trying to make their way in the 'gig economy' - not least in the arts world - who cannot afford to miss an single opportunity.