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Jane S

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Everything posted by Jane S

  1. There certainly was a character who seemed much younger than the others - a girl dressed as a boy, or perhaps the other way round? (Though always danced by a female, I think.) She had a little dance of her own and was clearly presented as an extra tease for the customers.
  2. LFB did revive Apparitions, in 1987 - I think Peter Schaufuss persuaded Ashton to let them do it, although it's said he'd already refused permission to two directors of the RB. It only had 3 performances and although Ashton himself had been involved in the revival it was not thought to be a success, for reasons including casting (Makarova and Schaufuss), lighting, the sets, and the size of the theatre (the Coliseum). Iain Webb planned to revive it for the Sarasota Ballet last season but had to postpone it, for reasons explained in this article
  3. Yes if McGregor used Tippett's Fantasia on a theme of Corelli.
  4. Well it's 35 years since Alston's last piece for the company, so maybe they could risk another try? It was called Midsummer and had its premiere on the same night as Bintley's Consort Lessons - John Percival In D&D liked them both, and his last paragraph reads: "A final thought: how good it was to see the dancers as people - not playing roles, not being funny, not hidden behind the glossy body-tights that often turn them into shining objects, but as themselves: attractive, individual, different. I for one would enjoy seeing that more often." Oh yes. (And Alston has always acknowledged Ashton as a strong influence.)
  5. There are some things I'm very pleased to see in the announcement, but for my taste a season that is split - very roughly - into 1/3 19th century classics, 1/3 Macmillan and 1/3 everything else is not exactly well-balanced!
  6. I remember people saying the Tombeaux tutus were ravishing, some of the most beautiful ever designed! (I thought so too)
  7. In Leigh Witchel's review of the Osipova/Ball Giselle he writes: " Osipova’s Act 2 entry was an Osipovism where she altered the choreography to create a unique, larger-than-life effect: wild spinning followed by huge jumps picking her legs up under her. " This sounds very much like what I think I saw Naghdi do at that point - is it now standard? (Or did I imagine it?)
  8. There was a short piece in yesterday's Sunday Times about Ball stepping in for Hallberg, with some comments from him and a photo. Incidentally while I was watching Ball in Act 1 of his performance with Naghdi I kept wondering who it was he reminded me of and eventually realised it was... David Hallberg. Anyone else get that?
  9. This one? http://www.dancedirectory.co.uk/article/va-museum-acquires-nijinsky-ballet-costume-designed-by-leon-bakst.html
  10. Via Dansomanie, news of a gala in Montreux on March 3 including Rupert Pennefather, Ivan Putrov, Delphine Moussin and Agnes Letestu in an in-the-round piece based on Sartre's Huis Clos, with choreography by Ludovic Ondiviela. https://www.montreuxdanse.ch/ https://www.24heures.ch/culture/montreux-choisit-etoiles/story/19016279
  11. The French site Dansomanie gives a link to a complete version of the programme on Facebook - no guarantee it will stay there for much longer. The section with Harrison Lee starts about 2.01. (Also at about 2.48 you can see Kristina Shapran and Xander Parish dancing the pas de deux from Diamonds.)
  12. It was the opening night of Dowell's Directorship, wasn't it? And people looked at it as a sort of statement of intent. Programme was La Valse, then the 1st London performance of Bintley's Galanteries, then Opus 19, then The Concert. I believe Bruce Sansom did one performance of Opus 19 but I don't know if there was a second cast for Cynthia Harvey.
  13. Song of the Earth: I liked Rojo on opening night but she's been even better in the past and the rest of the soloists didn't live up to her - though the young Fernando Carratalá Coloma, the Messenger of Death, showed a lot of promise. So did Henry Dowden, making a very confident debut in the same role the next night, and I also liked Aitor Arrieta as the Man in that performance. Sylphide: A really attractive Sylph from Erina Takahashi last night and nice Jameses both nights from Isaac Hernandez and Ciro Tamayo (who would be even better if he could slightly turn down the volume on his acting in places). I like the way they are casting Effie, and Daniel Kraus as Gurn had the character very well. Praise also for the two leading sylphs, Precious Adams and Jia Zhang and - of course - for Eva kloborg's Madge and also for Jane Howarth in the same role. I didn't like the comedy act of the two farmhands, though, most especially when they were hamming about at the back of the stage when Effie was making her decision to accept Gurn. Some work needed on Wing Release and Cradle Management. I'm afraid I simply don't get Jurgita Dronina - I've seen her in three big roles now and she's disappointed me each time - nothing wrong with her dancing but she seems to me very short of expressiveness and she doesn't hold my eye - I saw a lot more of the corps de ballet work in last night's Song of the Earth than I ever have before. Others may see her differently.
  14. I'd like lots and lots of triple bills, packed with challenging choreography and with enough shows to allow a junior second or third cast to be shown. Also I really wish they'd think about different ways to present triple bills - I very much enjoyed the way Kim Brandstrup's Invitus Invitam was linked to the preceding work and it would be interesting to see the concept taken further. (It would also be nice to see some of Brandstrup's works revived.) And as I said last year, I'd love to see Balanchine's Donizetti Variations for Sambe (and others) - how can they resist?
  15. I can imagine a lot of men would happily accept a CBE and indeed might not mind being able to write KBE after their names, but would not even consider the title that goes with it.
  16. Well, not necessarily - it's enough for Siegfried's tragedy for him to believe she's real, I guess.
  17. But if Odette is Rothbart's magical creation, controlled by him, she won't really be dying?
  18. Well, with no disrespect to Alexander Campbell, I for one am extremely disappointed.
  19. Macleary did dance Aminta, but only a couple of times I think - the ROH Collection database makes no claim to cover everything, and there were at least 5 other casts for both Sylvia and Aminta in the 1950s.
  20. The Times 2 section this morning has a long interview with Irek Mukhamedov (by Sarah Crompton)
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