SMballet

Anjuli wins the prize. This would seriously be the best ballet ever. And no more or less illogical/believable than all the others (what happened to that funny thread where everyone was giving one line synopses of ballets? I was scratching my head trying to work out which was which. It was the best thread ever! Lin, as a "young person" here (below 25), I must confess that I find nice guys, even the good looking ones, SOOOOOOOOO boring.

Thank you for the lovely review Lin. I'm so glad you were able to watch it at the ROH, and I felt I was there thanks to your vivid review. But actually I can't really manage to imagine what it must have felt like to be there. I watched it on screen, and like all the other commenters here, was absolutely blown away. i can't add much new to what everyone has already said about Osipova and Acosta, but I did find myself thinking that I now finally understand why so many of the leading ballerinas of the world want to dance with Acosta: he's just so generous, by which I mean he lacks vanity completely: he was content to let his ballerina shine, whereas a lesser dancer might have tried to compete, in some way, for audience attention. He didn't. Truly a great. As for Osipova... what more can I say?

Just adding my voice to the chorus of well-wishers for Vadim, who is not only a wonderful elegant dancer but also radiates niceness and kindness. I'm sure this move was done professionally and perfectly nicely, and I have a feeling that RB and ENB have very good working relations - esp with Miss Rojo at the helm at the latter - and that, even though the news is surprising to all of us (it really is) I'm sure all the higher uppers were in the know from long ago. I wish Vadim well in his new / old home, and I'm delighted that we'll see so much of him in London. I love the ENB and feel sad for it that it has lost a star, but I realise that this is all just a giant moving chess board, as someone said above: I was similarly sad for RB when Alina moved to ENB. These things happen; this is the world of ballet; and for those of us in London (and in the UK) we should just be happy to have two wonderful world-class ballet companies, playing chess with each other. I do feel sorry for all those who can't come to London easily, like Janet, and who will thus perhaps miss seeing Vadim that often, but, in recompense, they'll get Alina! And god knows who next. Ballet is such an exciting world, it wouldnt be what it is without all these surprises and shocks. After all, who wants it to be a staid old placid world, like most work-places? And I'm so glad that that silly "perilously understarred" business will end now... Last thought: I feel your pain, Aileen, but I'm sure that there was no letting of anyone down on Vadim's part. Obviously I don't know him at all, but he exudes the "perfect gentleman" from every pore. Vadim if you're reading this: congratulations, and, from the bottom of my heart, good luck.

I wonder if we might have a separate thread to discuss the news about dancers requesting a proper lunch hour and protesting that they weren't given that, and keep that separate from the news about Dawid T.'s leaving, which I suspect (and agree with most of you) had nothing to do with the treatment of dancers and lunch hours and so on, and more to do with his own preference for greener pastures/promotion/perhaps other personal reasons to do with preferring to live in Romania and thus closer to home. To be honest, I'm so shocked to learn that dancers don't get time to eat their lunch that I've forgotten to react to the sad news about Dawid T's leaving. They don't get time to eat lunch!! And they work so hard, punishing their bodies, all day, for their art. And then we wonder why so many of them are injured so often. I'm so glad they're pushing for a proper formally allocated lunch hour, and I'm really shocked and disappointed that it had to be demanded. The members of the corps have little power, and if a choreog. requires them to be in practice without time off for lunch, what can they say? I'm so glad that their basic rights to food and rest - and thus good health - are being protected. God, what a world! Sorry if this sounds like an overreaction, but, really!

Oh, wow. Kobborg poaching!

Look, I don't want to hijack the RB/Jewels thread any further. Calling a dancer "irredeemably pedestrian" is, in my opinion, uncalled for and mean spirited..For me it was the straw that broke the camel's back. I thought Alistair Macaulay's last review of the RB was kind of pointless and rambling, but I usually quite like his pieces written for the NYT. I'll reiterate what I've already said above: I enjoy reading well-informed dance critics, and I look forward to reading their reviews, especially the two dance critics of the Guardian. When they dislike a piece they criticise respectfully and without disdain. I can't imagine Judith Mackrell calling any dancer "irredeemably pedestrian." If she did, I'd dislike her too. Having said that, I will admit to not thinking very highly of dance criticism on the whole, but then I don't think much of criticism in general, so I suppose it is a personal bias against those who "criticise" instead of "create." But the reason I dislike the FT guy is not because he is a critic, but because his style - at least how he comes off in his pieces these days, I obviously haven;t read him since 1980 or something - and because he really seems pompous and elitist. I'm not alone in that opinion, surely, as I didn't even start that thread. I will admit I wrote my last post when feeling unduly annoyed, and I really ought to have waited till I'd cooled down a bit. But I do think I've been far more polite than he is in his reviews, when he's carelessly dismissing some supremely talented hard-working dancer or the other who doesnt match up to the standard of some other dancer he saw in 1932. When I read his reviews I feel that he didn't even bother to cover the performance he saw; it always seems like an excuse to show off about how much he knows more than anyone else and how he can string together words in his own unique style which clearly pleases him very much. I realise many of you adore him, and, well, obviously he's a famous critic for the FT and I'm a nobody, so you should all ignore me. And no, I'd prefer not to share my full name. I don't on any internet forum, because I have my entire professional life ahead of me. If that means I can't be on this forum, well, so be it. I've been reading for a long while (and learning from ALL of you) without having joined in, and I'll just go back to that silent reader status. Thanks all.

Does anyone know anything about Winter's Tale? I mean, about Wheeldon ballet, not the Shakespeare of course. Any advance peeks, etc? I'm curious.

Stephen K: I'm afraid I find him neither erudite nor interesting (though he is certainly informed). He's a pompous old ass, and, in my opinion, a terrible writer much given to run-on-sentences, overblown purple prose, some VERY mean-spirited opinions, and the worst sort of self-indulgent ramblings. Every time I read his stuff my eyes roll so hard I worry my contacts will fall off. I dislike his reviews whether I agree with his opinion or not; it has nothing to do with a difference of opinion. As I've said before on this forum, I like reading other critics like Judith Mackrell and Luke Jennings who seem genuinely interested in actually writing about the performance they saw, and provide sincere critiques, not shpw-offy reminisces about how it was all better a century ago when only HE had the privilege of seeing some performance in Moscow or Scala or where have you which none of us plebians would know anything about. Pompous, arrogant, elitist, insufferable. Sorry, I've hijacked this thread!! Needed to blow off some steam. If I didn't like the Guardian critics so much, I'd lead a call on this forum to an end to all "professional" critics. I've honestly learned more about the art form we all love from reading this forum, than I have from a 100 FT reviews by that guy.

Seriously this FT guy needs to go. Pompous is the word.

Oh Chris Chris I;m so glad you mentioned that FT guy, Clement Crisp. I know some of the posters here like him or at least respect his judgment, but I really can't STAND him, because he keeps harping on some performance he saw in 1925 or something, And his writing style is so grating and overblown, at least to me, I can't stop rolling me eyes when I read anything he's written. I read his reviews when linked here because I'm always curious to know how he'll judge a performance, and I always come away annoyed at myself for having wasted the time . I love Judith Mackrell and Luke Jennings and many of the other dance critics, so it's nothing against critics per se (though, to be honest, I don;t really put much store by what any critic says and would much rather read dance blogs, twitter etc to get a sense of a performance, any day).

Seriously confused and pointless article. What's with his obsession with everyone's hair colour? I disagree with his comments on Soares and Kish, and I really find this sort of "best" "worst" listing of dancers to be tasteless and awful. I really wish critics would stop doing that. These opinions are entirely subjective and different dancers excel at different roles, and some, like Marianela, at all of them. But still, to say some are the "best" just sounds off to me. In other news, thank you to all of you who suggested I get Jewels tickets. I did, at great price, and am so grateful to all of you!

Janet I'm dying to know what your imaginary conversation was about! I'm still laughing about that, what a clever trick! Must keep it in mind if I'm ever put on hold that long, though I fear I'll never have your patience and hang up before the phone does!

Wonderful news. Congratulations to him, and I'm sure he'll do wonderful things there. I'm sure, too, that his lovely lady will be guesting a lot! Did you watch their La Sylphide last night, Annamicro? And if so, do tell us how it was!

I'm sorry Erica, I think I'm to blame for the digression. But I'd like to stress that I'm a HUGE ENB fan, and my digression started with my excitement about going to see ENB's nutcracker!

Yes! La Syphide is what I had in mind. Your turn!

OOO how exciting. I never watched the ROH documentary, can some kind person tell me if it is available on YouTube? The one on the ENB is Agony and Ecstacy, right? I loved that one!

Not the one I had in mind, DaveM!

Thank you all for your suggestions. I think I unfortunately dithered too long, and no RB Nutcracker tickets available any more at my budget So, Jewels it is, and I'm looking very much forward.

Aha! And I didnt realise there was a video, I'm going to hunt for it on You Tube! My love for Acosta's dancing can't possibly grow any greater than it already is, but I'm going to hunt that video down now right away. OK, ballet trivia my turn: In which ballet do the male and female leads only touch each other once?

Don Quixote?

Perhaps this is the wrong place for this subject, but has anyone else been following the increasingly lurid Dimitrichenko trial in Moscow? I can't seem to tear my eyes away from it - though I should really know better; I feel like a rubbernecker - and it does seem, regardless of what we are to make of the young American dancer Joy Womack's allegations, that there were many really very iffy goings on at the Bolshoi under Filin. Latest allegations, which I feel dirty even mentioning, but - humour me people! - are that 1) he has been having an affair with Olga Smirnova, and hence her meteoric rise to the top (and she was the only dancer who apparently testified at the Dimitrichenko trial who appeared to be on not-friendly terms with Dimitrichenko; all the others, including Evgenia Obraztsova, seem to genuinely like him) 2) but also apparently, at least according to this latest report from the trial: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/28/arts/dance/in-acid-attack-trial-dancers-trade-stage-for-stand.html?ref=international-home&_r=0 - that Filin had, or wanted to have, a romantic/sexual liason with Dimitrichenko's wife! And if you add all these (completely unsubstantiated, I hasten to add) rumours to Joy Womack's story, well, then... I thought Hollywood couldn't get any worse, when it came to depicting the world of ballet, than that stupid Black Swan movie, but I'm afraid it is beginning to sound to me like the off-stage shenanigans at the Bolshoi are far worse than even Hollywood could dream up. If someone were to make a "real" documentary about the Bolshoi, at least as it seems to be under Filin's tenure, I think it would make the fictional ballet company and dancers in the "Black Swan' movie appear quite tame in comparison! Anyway, I only mention it here because, as I think I've noted before, my love of ballet began, as a young girl about a decade ago, watching the Bolshoi on a tour in my country, And it makes me sad to think that the Bolshoi is, in reality, such a viper's nest for dancers.

Many thanks for the advice Janet. I knew nothing about BTUK, but have just read your review about it; sounds fascinating. Will check it out. Meanwhile, could anyone tell me what they think of Jewels, I mean, what is it like to watch? Is it boring? I've generally always preferred "story" ballets.... PS Janet, you watched RB's Nutcracker almost a decade before I was born!! I don't mean that in any way other than, it's amazing for me to be able to hear, and learn, from someone like you who is so much more experienced than me!

Dear wise balletomanes: I've now booked to see the ENB's Nutcracker at the Coli, largely thanks to Janet and Capybara's reviews here. But am now wondering if I should also book to see the RB's Nutcracker, or if I should see Jewels?. I'm leaning towards Jewels because I fear it would be boring to see two Nutcrackers in one month, but I don't know anything about Jewels. I can't manage all three ballets on my budget, so I really do have to choose b/w RB Nutcracker or RB Jewels. Any advice?

Thank Janet! Just got tix thanks to your review! Was dithering about whether to go, and now have decided !

I don;t get it, what's so wrong with this interview? It's the usual kind of fluff piece, nice picture, stupid questions, but nothing offensive as far as I can tell. He does say some interesting things about using emotion from real life while dancing, What's so wrong with saying he goes out to drink and smoke at night, is that what is annoying you guys? Come on he's 23! And as for the not rehearsing bit: well, when Natalia Osipova is flying in one week before R+J after having performed in Milan and NY and god knows where else just the previous week, how much is she rehearsing with the whole company before the show. How much is Alina Cojocaru, for that matter? I think ballet dancers in general don;t give the best interviews - I found Alina's in the Guardian the other day really cringe worthy, for example, but I would feel bad about judging her for that because, well, they;re dancers, not intellectuals. And they're all speaking in a language that's not their own. At any rate, going back to Polunin, he's a great, talented dancer, and he seems to have found a happy place for himself in Moscow; his performances in Bayadere, judging from the clips on You Tube, were absolutely marvelous; isn't that what matters? Anything that happens outside the stage is not anyone else's business. Would you all like him more if he was like one of those tortured, serious, give everything for my art types, who in interviews talked only about how he practices 20 hours a day? (Sort of like the Olga Smirnova clip that someone posted here some time ago; I was far more annoyed by that than by this fluffy piece in Vice , which is anyway a fashion magazine and not a dance magazine. I'm honestly baffled by the reaction here. Do we need our ballet stars to be like nuns and monks, taking vows of abstinence from the pleasures of real life so that they can suffer for their art? I don't think Nureyev or Barishnikov were that different, when it came to their lives outside the stage.