Quintus

On 16/04/2017 at 11:10, Vonrothbart said:

Probably been covered but, people who use words like "amazing" or "incredible" etc, when the situation is quite average. 

I agree with the point but I'm enjoying imagining your ruthless honesty when congratulating someone on their quite average-looking new baby which in no way resembles its father but does look a bit like a pug  

for me, Adele's James Bond theme song goes "is it trifle? is it crumble?"

"I'm humbled" when it actually means "I'm proud".  Increasingly seeing this on social media when dancers and other people pock up awards, honours etc and it strikes me as both completely illogical and irritatingly disingenuous!  If you want to tell the world you've been recognised, than just say how proud you are  - there's nothing wrong with that....

I don't know Hulme, but my son is studying at a Manchester music production college BIMM and lives in nearby Moss Side, the mention of which similarly filled me with horror.  He has to carry expensive kit around and is very much into the club scene, so we were very worried. In the event, despite the area still being pretty grim, resembling a suburb of Kabul, he's had no issues at all so far, but says in Manchester generally you do need to be a bit street savvy around where you go when.  His view is that most violence is related to the binge drinking scene, which is concentrated in a few streets in the city centre. He has also taken precautions in his digs like putting a translucent film over his window so that people outside can't see his valuables.

2 hours ago, MageFilms said:

 

 

Ive never heard of a leading role for a black actress in a ballet film, for any kind of role.

 

 

Can't think of one in a fiction film.  However, the 'reality' film First Position strongly featured the young Michaela de Prince, and MGM has since acquired the rights to her biography. Misty Copeland is also the subject of a dedicated documentary film, where her race is prominent in the discussion  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4504040/

18 minutes ago, angel said:

I saw this posted this on FB http://www.dancemagazine.com/is-ballet-brown-bagging-it-2343051742.html  Thought provoking 

It is interesting, though I think largely written from a US perspective where race just seems still to be a bigger deal than it is here in the UK.  I wonder also whether Frankie Hayward really spends much time thinking of herself as a 'black ballerina' as described there. She is mixed race and has been brought up by her white grandparents, and her reputation here is all around her talent and her beauty; she doesn't get picked out as some kind of race ambassador.   My children are mixed race in a largely white family environment and it just doesn't come up in tier daily professional or social lives. Depending on environment of course but I think that sometimes race is a bigger deal for 'outsiders' looking in than the people involved..

6 hours ago, MageFilms said:

 

You have a group of dancers who must be indistinguishable, uniform ....basically the exact same. You see how being the only ethnic minority might make this formation problematic ? ha

 

 

There are plenty of Asian, Latina and a fair number of black dancers in corps, and audiences happily absorb such superficial visual anomalies in the same way that they happily accepted Carlos Acosta as a masked Romeo being unrecognisable at the ball when he is the only non-white guy in Verona.  I think that barrier has long been broken in Europe and the US.   I imagine that does vary by country however, I couldn't comment on the Russian companies for example.

how about the approach and transition to a career after professional dancing ? not everyone presumably can stay on in a coaching or admin role in a big prestigious company after the dancing is over, so there must be some dramatic material in a dancer approaching that crux.  haven't personally seen that addressed.

Here's a trailer for Russian film 'Bolshoi' launching in May..  Seems to follow the usual arcs, but looks quite fun.

https://www.facebook.com/class.ballet.school/videos/1848892545350674/

The clips of the Akram Khan used in the documentary must have been filmed at the working stage rehearsal; I was sitting next to ENB's new-ish CEO that evening and he told me the BBC were filming for a documentary.  It would be wonderful if they did decide to turn that into a full blown Giselle DVD release, with this documentary as an 'extra'

A contributor to coughing in the auditorium at Sadlers Wells must be the siting of the air conditioning inlets above where all the nicotine addicts rush out at the intervals to have a cigarette - it sucks the smoke straight into both the foyer and the auditorium. It really stank of smoke on my last visit.  It would make sense to have no smoking zones and explanatory notices that channel the smoke a short distance away from the immediate front of the theatre...

Thanks Capybara - I was pretty confident it was not Francesca Velicu as I took a brief video clip of the curtain call and could see her in the line up before the chosen one ran back on for her bow.  I haven't seen Emily Suzuki enough to recognise her.  The two performances, even when viewed remotely and with a rapid dropping of binoculars for sartorial respect's sake after the 'choosing', also looked quite distinct to me.  I wonder if it is all part of the Pina Bausch ethos to treat the cast as an ensemble, and not highlight those in the more prominent roles?

Does anyone know who danced the Chosen One on Friday night?  I'm pretty sure both from my own eyes and a subsequent social media photo that it wasn't Francesca, indeed I thought I saw her among the other non-chosen dancers, but couldn't recognise who it was. 

Hope  they got the potatoes in....

Is it real soil? Or compost? If so I hope it was peat-free or I might have to write to the director.

It is peat from a German supplier taken from Börgermoor; there were pictures of the sacks posted in initial rehearsals.  Given its origin, I imagine the Pina Bausch custodians mandate what has to be used, so it's not at the director's discretion - otherwise it would doubtless have been easier to get a load of John Innes number 1!

Here's a picture from tonight of a heavily raked stage 

Nick - I was in second circle tonight and got out of the building just after 10; from there you have to allow a good 5+ minutes to get down the stairs

I agree very much with Living The Dream above - I was also at the rehearsal.  I'd pick out Crystal Costa in In The Middle; I've seen her dance this before and it suits her dynamism and energy to a tee.  It was great to see Francesca Velicu get a chance at a prominent role (blame my ignorance if she already has in the past) and boy did she give it her all. It's a hugely exposing role and takes a brave and committed performer. After the performance as we were all filing out she came back on stage and sat in a corner of the dirt, looking completely drained. I agree that Precious Adams was also outstanding.  Dancers were commenting on social media later how much they had enjoyed performing - and I think this enthusiasm really came across on stage and added that extra something.

I'm so looking forward to seeing the performance tonight.

From all the hubbub, I was expecting Human Seasons to be a car crash but in the event I found it OK - nothing spectacular, but it had its moments and kept me watching.  Yasmine and Frankie were, as ever, highlights for me.  I wasn't keen on the floor sweeping and pass the parcel routine, which I thought rather demeaning, but didn't have a programme so couldn't tell whether it was making some kind of deliberate point or was just incidental.  In After the Rain, I loved Marianela and Thiago's PDD, which took the piece up several notches.  

I was personally less enthused by Flight Path than pretty much everyone else clearly has been, but think I'd need to see it more than once to really get it, and ideally from another viewpoint.  I found myself interested but not really emotionally engaged.  I was however seated rather high and distant, which focuses you on watching group shape and pattern at the expense of being able to see individuals' portrayals.

Think also I was still on a high from the previous night's Pina Bausch Sacre rehearsal, which is familiar territory and far easier to be swept up in.

I see you have tickets for the ENB triple bill.  I saw the full rehearsal last night and the Pina Bausch Rite of Spring in particular is superb - you're in for a treat.

Just came past the US Embassy, bristling with armed police.  

 

We get a new production - entitled Project Polunin 

I stopped using my binoculars when it became apparent that there was an alignment mismatch between his sparkly thong and the underlying support which created an alarming lump to one side.  The evening could well have been called 'Hanging Out with Sergei'.

Well I've returned inspired................... to fish out my old karate groin-guard and glue sequins on it.  Mrs Quintus is in for a real treat.

It was't great, but it had its moments, most of which belonged to poor Natalia, who can make the most of anything she's landed with.  The Soviet Icarus piece was rather dull but worthwhile as a showcase for some big jumps, and could be watched with detachment as a period piece - good too to see Vasiliev at curtain call.  That piece did get enthusiastic applause from the audience.

The second piece was  just not my cup of tea, or indeed coffee. One person would say something in German and the other would render it either correctly, over-elaborated or completely off into Spanish. People were laughing at that but I can't say I found any of it funny. Then there was a bit of slow wrestling, at which point I was lost. I hoped after the first blackout that it was over, but sadly we had to plough on for an age.

As for Narcissus, I didn't mind the music and again I enjoyed Natalia Osipova (and will happily buy her costume designer a beer), but much of the dancing felt sterile and unchallenging. The lighting and set design was unfortunate in that it made Narcissus' reflecting pool look like a mound with a small smoking volcano crater on top.  Not sure why the nymphs rather than Narcissus turned into flowers either, or why he got dragged into the volcano.  Or indeed why he was lounging on a large orange much of the time. Towards the end I really was getting the giggles, when the two TV screens were showing Sergei's selfies and he was running round the stage - it did descend into farce at that point...  

Oh Lord, I just drove up from the sticks to see this tonight - the omens don't look good. Luckily my ticket was less than a tenner.  I shall attempt to view it as postmodern irony and see if that helps...

 "two old ladies"   "we therefore to assume that you yourself are a youthful male adonis?"

Sorry, 'two old ladies' is a factual description, not an insult.  It also has no relevance to my relative age or appearance - how does 'therefore' come into it?  I would describe myself as a middle aged man and would have no problem with anyone else doing so.   I found your initial response very patronising, otherwise I'd not have bothered expanding on my experience.

I shall indeed relay my thoughts to ENB about the number of reserved seats.  Paying for higher tiers of membership rightly brings access to limited-membership events, but within any given event, all attendees should be treated equally.

Please let's not be too hard, Quintus, on the people whose money helps ENB to continue to thrive, to mount new productions and ones new to the Company AND, importantly, to take risks with its touring repertoire which hugely benefit the art form we all love by 'spreading its wings' to different audiences.

 

I don't think that it's ever been the case, has it, that the whole of the front row at Insight Evenings has been reserved for sponsors? I am a long term patron and have never had the advantage of a reserved seat. So I, too, have strained to see from the second or third rows or have stood up at the back in order to see better. And I am not bejewelled with a bloated neck !!!!!!

 

Fortunately, it will not be too long now before ENB has an HQ worthy of the Company and space to do justice to a wonderful range of events.

As far as I could see the entire front row was reserved last night.  There were a few senior staff members on it but they appeared to be man-marking wealthy individuals. Maybe they were whatever the grade above patron is. Obviously my description of the patrons was jocular.  I'm not hard on contributors to the ENB coffers - I love the company and I am one of them.  I am however hard on ENB sifting its 'friends' into pay grades and seating them accordingly.  Last night cost £25 for the ticket, and given I was peering sideways through the gap between two old ladies in the reserved seats in from, one of whom was wielding a large fan beside her face, I saw precious little of what was going on.  I normally get a lot out of these evenings , but came away disgruntled yesterday.