lyn

Hi All,

I'm interested in understanding how valuable co-productions really are.. and what I have in mind are things like the Royal Ballet's co-production of Obsidian Tear with the Boston Ballet, or its co-production of Winter's Tale with the National Ballet of Canada (not for the premier, but only in stagings in 2017 onwards, I believe).

Might anyone be able to shed light on exactly how valuable these co-productions are, or why they are pursued? Off the top of my head, I guess it helps to share the cost of a new production across multiple companies.. but then again, the costs of shipping everything across oceans/reproducing sets or costumes seems astronomical and perhaps not quite worth the money after all.

As far as I can tell, it's also not something many other companies do.

Hi!

Just had a really random question pop into my head.. does anyone know if companies discuss their repertoires with each other beforehand? I ask because you don't often see a conflict of say, one giselle from both ENB and RB in one season. Or do they not conflict because they have different licenses to the material? Does the central Ashton foundation for example, decide who gets to produce what/when? What about works that don't have gatekeepers like that?

Curious to know how it all works!

Thanks!

4 minutes ago, Two Pigeons said:

How long is the programme please?

2h 55min!

Guess I was watching too critically! Such a treat regardless though. 

By the way, how do final performances work..? Does the audience bring in flowers that they might throw them on stage..?

The Dream was absolutely amazing!! I've never been so completely wowed by everything on stage. Dancing and acting from every single member superb, orchestration excellent, so hard to pick a favourite moment in this piece. Splendid all around. 

Symphonic good as well, but Ashton's non narrative works are simply not my thing so i can't comment :/

M&A I loved, such searing emotions of course from Yanowsky and Bolle. But the dancing really left me a little wanting.. if only because I've seen what these two are capable of, and tonight just wasn't them at their best! I sat up close so saw the moment when she fell off his knee, or a couple of missed arabesque landings. They kept being just millimeters off and it constantly stunted their emotional heights. It got much better as it went though, so here's to the 7th!

One thing the 

7 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

One thing I've been mulling over since seeing this mixed bill is the relative talent of Wheeldon and Scarlett. Even adjusting (a lot!) for Strapless being far from Wheeldon's strongest work and Symphonic Dances far from Scarlett's weakest, I was left thinking that Scarlett rather than Wheeldon is "the real deal". I just feel that there's more to his choreography.

 

Or is it just me?

One thing the evening convinced me of was how much Scarlett continues to experiment, while Wheeldon seems to apply the same style in different contexts. Somehow nothing Scarlett has done falls into a real 'pattern' for me, and I'm very admiring of that. Maybe it's just a matter of age.

Clore Studio, 7:15pm, seat on the Right!

18 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

I suppose the idea was to show her in all the possible aspects of her, or a woman's, persona. The problem being that some of the depictions, both in terms of concept and also choreographically, seemed to me to be so horribly clichéd and simplistic. Glamour = swirly dress and red lights; strength = haughtiness or adopting male-style clothing; etc. I think perhaps that I reacted so strongly against the design and lighting from the first moment that it coloured (so to speak) the rest of my view of the work. But since I appear to be the only living person to have disliked it so intensely, I must give it another go when it returns (which no doubt it will).

 

Actually, I will say the costume trope is one thing I think Scarlett handled amazingly, but I may have been reading too much into it. I loved that the choreography for 'skirt swishing' was almost exactly the same in the 1st/2nd movements, with or without the skirt. I'm referring to the part in both movements where she stands in the middle of the circle, in a second plié, waving her arms about her. It seemed to mean that she had that power, regardless of what she was wearing. Another bit I absolutely loved was when the men came around her waist to form a kind of human skirt in the 2nd movement, somehow showing that they fed into the myth of its power.

Personally I think the 1st and 2nd movements together made some of the most pointed and meaningful choreography I've ever seen. It's just that darned 3rd one.. Someone above mentioned (or was it a review?) that it just feels like he lost energy and inspiration halfway through, and I have to concur...

I'm annoyed at the whole third movement really, not just the ending.. It seems to me like the first two movements were about her ability to defy gender norms and lead the pack.. that is, until the right man comes along to 'subdue' her. 

On 24 May 2017 at 08:27, Mary said:

Agree with every word, standingticket. I will always remember seeing Muntagirov and McRae side by side. Hope it isn't the last time though.

 

I queried the 'squashed' moment of the ending on first night- does anyone have any idea what is the significance of this bizarre ending? I can't say it added to the piece in my eyes.

In fact, as the piece was homage to Zenaida, very richly deserved, I thought it was a very unfortunate choice!

 

 

So I'm not sure she's always meant to be squashed.. on the 23rd, the final light shone on her just as she did a triumphant, arms-open yearning toward the sky.. on the 25th, she was face down on the floor when the light hit.

Actually, we asked her at the stage door what the piece meant (because I likewise really didn't understand the last moment, nor the whole third segment).. and she didn't seem to be sure either 

Anyone have a ticket to spare? I'll take anywhwere!

Hm, for some reason today's performance was much better! Perhaps they finally got to sink in to their roles, because it sure looked like most of the rehearsal time had to go into making sure they didn't get run into by a bathtub or squashed by a wall.

Zenaida had a really rich interpretation going on today, and they clearly amplified a lot of the subtleties like Gyula Nagy's Paul pretending to have been sleepwalking, or Paul Curievici's narrator pausing a lot more out of irritation.

Or, maybe they just really wore me down by my third viewing.

So, it's a very nice visual and audial menagerie, but you really don't need the likes of Zen and Ed to pull it off.. and especially knowing what these two could have otherwise done with these themes, it is quite the let down.

YANOWSKY/BOLLE M&A!?!? THANK YOU ROH. Best send off ever.

Edited: oops answered my own question! sorry! 

sigh. this is the moment i've been dreading.. but thankfully saving up for!! Shall be heading to the ROH a hell of a lot this season.. and then never again 

Can't wait for her premiere in a scarlett piece!!

And speaking of that dance actress Zenaida Yanowsky,... a new poetry mashup by Will Tuckett, demonstrating some of that exquisite acting talent: 

Sadly at the matinee the ending was spoiled by a lighting error - the blackout happened a few seconds too early, so you never saw the dancer (Benjamin Ella in that cast, I think?) throw himself off the back. Somebody on the technical crew must have been kicking themself hard...

I actually originally thought that was a nice bit of artistry! Where they caught him just as he was deciding what to do.

I did peer overly hard for blue badges but could find none! I suppose I did have my head down in twitter all night as well..

Well, that was fascinating. I don't even particularly like Rite of Spring but that interview has made more sense of it for me, so hopefully I'll get more out of it another time.

Likewise! As much as I love her I absolutely hated the piece in Riot at the Rite, but now have completely new appreciation for it.

There seem to be a few tickets still for the 16th..! http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/elizabeth-by-will-tuckett

Saw it last night and loved it! The movement, text, singing and music all play very well off each other. The actors are speaking excerpts from different texts by or about Elizabeth, and Carlos and Zenaida essentially dance out what it is being narrated, then have spaces where they engage in some very beautiful pdds. There's a lot of emotion to the piece, what with all of Elizabeth's different romances fraught with infatuation, obsesssion, betrayal, etc -- so it's really choreographed to a T for Zenaida. I absolutely love watching her portray so many layers of emotion at once, both Elizabeth's surface regality and her underlying true motivations. Her brow can say one thing while the arch of her back says another, and her whole body can soften or tense on a dime.. ever captivating. Carlos was also in turn adorable then pompous then suave, and had many delightfully hilarious moments. He is such an entertainer!

But it many ways the whole thing was a too literal for me.. I'm so used to watching ballet and intuiting another layer of content from the movement.. but they essentially spoke and mimed everything so I had nothing left to do. Nothing remained to sink in, no message for me to take away, no lingering thought.

Anyway.. going again tonight and tomorrow (got to make the most of my Zenaida-time)! So I'll try to eke out something else.

Thanks Duck, appreciate it.

for ref, https://twitter.com/TheRoyalBallet/status/595530050813853696

Hm, anyone know if the show will be running beyond November?

boy, what this Zen fan would do for a Yanowsky Juliet...~ *wishful thinking*

For me, contemporary is anything that isn't inside this book: http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Ballet-Technique-Gretchen-Warren/dp/0813009456-- anything that departs from the standard RAD (or equivalent) library!

My dance teachers (and dancers themselves) often make the distinction that's been made above -- the earthiness. It's quite characteristic of contemporary to keep your center of gravity as low as possible. When you go for contemporary class, they keep emphasizing the use of quads and remaining close to the ground. You might even notice that contemporary dancers are built different from classical ballet dancers.. with much larger thigh muscles.

Personally, anything 'high', like with pointe, huge extensions, but non classical ballet vocabulary, (i.e. Wheeldon/McGregor/La La La) I personally call "modern ballet", which I would park under contemporary.