Sophoife

I really hope, @Emeralds and @Dawnstar, that they don't feel they have to go on strike. I remember the one in the 80s - I was in the theatre that night, on Special Cultural Leave from boarding school (they hated it, but the headmistress agreed with my mother), and I've still never seen that production of Hunchback! #firstworldproblems One of the issues with going on strike is that more than 60% of the company's revenue (as quoted in the article) comes from bums on seats. Government funding (made up of federal, Victorian state, NSW state, and some from SA and Queensland state governments) totals about 22.6% of revenue in a normal year. They've lost subscribers, too, as a result of Covid - people lack confidence that a season will go ahead (the company's communication with its subscriber base was not exactly either timely or 100% honest in 2020 and 2021). I had already, as usual, booked and paid for a hotel for all my subscription nights in 2020, for example, and the company didn't want to admit the performances wouldn't go ahead (which Blind Freddy would have known given the government-imposed restrictions at the time), so every damn time it was about a week before a season was supposed to start before they cancelled it. I mean, if the government says theatres are closed until further notice, which they did, just cancel the damn seasons! They wanted me to donate all my ticket costs to the company, which at the time I could not afford to do. I was super lucky as the hotel refunded me the whole year's worth immediately, without me even having to ask (imagine my surprise the day my bank account was about $1,500 better off than I had thought 😂) but kept my bookings in the system just in case the situation changed.

It is an absolute disgrace what is happening. The dancers' pay agreement includes a clause that guarantees pay will keep pace with inflation, a guarantee that has been in place for more than 20 years, to recognise dancers’ comparatively short career span. Management is now refusing to include this clause in future agreements. The Reserve Bank of Australia has raised the cash rate 12 times in almost as many months, taking it to 4.1% on Tuesday, adversely affecting mortgages and other financial products. When Covid hit in 2020, AusBallet cut the dancers’ wages by 20% and then briefly by 50% to reflect the reduced workload. The company drew on the federal government’s JobKeeper scheme to pay workers. In 2021 the dancers returned to full pay, but agreed to a pay freeze for one year. In February this year the dancers received a 4.3% “catch-up” pay rise to meet the obligations of the CPI clause, after receiving just 2.5% in 2022 when inflation peaked at over 7%. They have been offered a pay rise of 1% this year. This is clearly not within the terms of the agreement. Private health insurance in Australia is individual and not contributed to by an employer. More than 60% of the company has cancelled private health insurance, as it is too expensive. Not every health issue a dancer has is strictly work-related. Annual premiums to "cover" hospital and extras run to about $3,200, it doesn't cover visits to a GP, specialist bills may be only partly covered whether in-rooms or inpatient... They typically work six days a week and spend about five months of the year touring. AusBallet is also not a company that typically retains dancers much past the age of 35. Those who do stay, such as Adam Bull, are rare. Unlike the Royal Ballet, they have no Character Artists, and God knows they need some!

I'm so pleased for Laura Morera, Marcelino Sambé, and all the other winners. Mr Sambé also collected his award from 2021.

We were given printed cast sheets at the Opéra Bastille for the Béjart programme. In Denver, Colorado Ballet's free programme booklet also included accurate casting. Apparently they insert a loose page if anything changes. Australian Ballet is sadly using online cast sheets only and even worse not all the named roles are listed. At Don Quixote in Melbourne I was reduced to bailing up one of the dancers and demanding information, as the only roles named were (in order) Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, Kitri, Basilio, Lorenzo, Gamache, Street Dancer, Espada, and Queen of the Dryads. I had to ask for Lead Romani, Cupid, Lead Bridesmaid, Kitri's two Girlfriends... although to be honest I'd already known who all but the Romani were. In Sydney, by contrast, the online cast sheet named (in order) Don Quixote, Kitri, Basilio, Sancho Panza, Gamache, Lorenzo, Street Dancer, Dryad Queen, Espada, Lead Romani, Cupid, Lead Fandango woman, Lead Fandango man, Lead Bridesmaid, and both Girlfriends. Loud complaints had been made by many including me on the disrespect shown to the dancers by failing to name them.

I'll remind Forum members that AusBallet opens its Melbourne season of Identity on 16 June. Today, June 3, we do not yet have casting available 🙄. I want to know which alumni and current company members I'll be seeing! For Jewels, which opens on 29 June, and for which arguably casting is more important to know, naturally we do not yet have any casting available 😔.

The subtitles on YouTube are auto-generated. Those on the DVDs are not. The lines are: Grace: I think it's a bridge-building kind of day. Ollie: They're doing Giselle... Ben: I thought it was De Piana. Tara: De Piana, then Giselle. It's a fictional ballet, and if it's the one with Tara and Grace dressed as chickens, it's a) a rip-off of Fille and b) as listed in the credits, uses an extract from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition: V. Ballet of the Chick[en]s in their Shells. The choreography is by Stephen Colyer, a graduate of ABS, who has worked as a theatre director and choreographer after dancing with AusBallet, Royal Ballet of Flanders, and Opera Australia among others. As an aside, I personally find it amusing that the Australian actor Barry Otto (whom I interviewed in about 1988) plays Sir Jeffrey, the "National Ballet Company" AD. In the film sequel to the series, the new AD, Madeline Moncur, is played by his daughter, Miranda Otto.

Unfortunately the video is unavailable to me. Which episode of Dance Academy was it? I have the DVDs so can check it for you.

She's half Australian 😉

Vadream won her last start at Newmarket, a Group Three, at 7/1. A month earlier, she won at Doncaster - her first win since October 2021. Kieran Shoemark seems to get on well with her, as in between she ran at Newcastle with a different jockey up and finished sixth. She's entered for two Group Ones at Royal Ascot, the King's Stand Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, a bit of a step up but it'll be worth checking which one she runs. I must say, I do like her colours. Well, her owner's colours.

Incidentally, am I the only person not to know there's a 5 year old mare racing in the UK called Vadream? She's entered for some prestigious races at Royal Ascot later in June, coming off a decent win at Newmarket.

Just to whet the appetite for the gala programme, Alice Topp has posted this on her Instagram account. Little Atlas to be part of gala

I think Alexander Neef, as overall director of the Opéra, would have had a say as well. Remember it was he who announced Alu's nomination as étoile, Dupont was in Paris but not present in the theatre. Re the Ukraine gala, "Dance For Ukraine was produced by the dance charity, Inspiration in Motion. Net proceeds went directly to the Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC), Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. "All of the dancers donated their services and the English National Opera waived their rental fee for the London Coliseum. The ENO Orchestra, ENO Chorus and friends also volunteered to musically support the evening." As did the conductor. Thumbs up to all!

I had two infected and two impacted so had the lot out under a general anaesthetic about 35 years ago. Looked like a chipmunk for a week! Antibiotics and stitches did the trick and I was lucky enough to have an incident-free recovery - apart from the stitches on one side working their way out and revealing themselves on a piece of bread I'd just bitten into - sitting next to former Australian cricket great Bill Lawry at a posh function at the Melbourne Cricket Ground 😳

...and when Mathieu Ganio came out to greet her, he picked her up and swung her around in his arms - reviving memories of that Giselle curtain call! Link to twitter post showing Ganio sweeping Renavand into his arms after both Giselle and Boléro

@Richard LH Thank you, you have most beautifully articulated my thoughts after seeing Miss Takada and Mr Hay on Thursday 11 May!

Yes @Angela but then he is Manuel Legris 😂

Ooh, I think so. 50+ years of watching including Nureyev himself, good basic German, and people management skills qualify me, surely? 🤣 The one thing they haven't asked for is some German-language skill/expertise and surely that would be useful especially in dealing with admin...?

I didn't mean that I am amused by it, I meant that I would love to know AusBallet casting in advance - but given the timings to which we are subjected that I offered in my post, that's impossible and most likely never going to happen. The very idea of being given principal casting before booking even opens is, to me and other Australian ballet audience members, a fantasy (Queensland Ballet doesn't do it either), and frankly, Royal Ballet audiences are extraordinarily lucky in this regard. I should have used the word "despairingly" instead of "hysterically" maybe, to make my meaning more clear? I've just returned to Australia from a European trip it took me six years to save for, during which I was privileged to be able to afford three trips to the ROH and two to the Opéra Bastille, and I don't really care that because of injuries I saw Amandine Albisson twice in Boléro, and Natalia Osipova and Hugo Marchand not at all, I'm just so happy to have had the opportunity to see the Royal and Paris Opéra companies live once more.

This type of question, and answer, always makes me laugh, almost hysterically. AusBallet opens its next Melbourne season on June 16, and has not yet made available any casting. God forbid they should announce Swan Lake casting (season opens 19 September) before, oh, about 6 September. Next year's subscriptions will open in September this year, and we will as always be expected to book in complete ignorance of casting. On the one hand, yay we can discover dancers we may not have seen before, on the other hand, it can get extremely expensive booking multiple shows in order to hopefully get as many different casts as possible, or a favourite cast. In my case I have also to factor in travel and overnight accommodation as a) it's a seven hour round trip by road and b) there is no possibility unless it's a matinée of making the round trip by train in one day - the last train leaves Melbourne at 8pm.

That's Squeaky Door, coached of course by Miss Gielgud (source: Miss Gielgud's Instagram).

That clears up a question I had, thank you! I noticed the dancing of the girl in skin toned tights and shoes and wondered who she was (now revealed apparently to be Miss Van Tiggelen), then saw another girl with similar skin tone who was in "standard" pink tights and shoes (now probably known to be Miss Tsembenhoi) and got all confused 😊

It's all over. Yes, when Cinders produced the second shoe and they both fitted and the Handsome Prince and his new Princess hugged, a tear might have risen to my eye... Just gorgeous from all concerned. Now I have to wait until the end of June to see Sleeping Beauty . Unfortunately the cinema people forgot to turn down the lights so we couldn't clearly see about seven minutes at the beginning of act III.

Second interval and all I can say is, what beautiful dancing! Vadim Muntagirov and Marianela Nuñez, in solos and the pas de deux, are indeed masters of their art. I still don't see the relevance of the Jester and his anachronistic outfit in this particular ballroom, but wow to Taisuke Nakao's dancing. Lukas B. Brændsrød is a wonderful Wellington, and Philip Mosley an adorable Napoleon. Also not quite sure why the fairies appear at the ball...

Resurrecting the thread because back in Oz and in the interval of the encore screening of Cinderella. I'm noticing so much more detail thanks to the close-ups (having sat in the front row of the amphi when seeing it live). Luca Acri is a wonderful Stepsister, and I want Gary Avis' violet satin marabou-trimmed robes 🤭 The Fairies - talk about luxury casting! Beautiful Fumi Kaneko as L̶i̶l̶a̶c̶ Fairy Godmother, and Anna-Rose O'Sullivan, Melissa Hamilton, Yuhui Choe and Mayara Magri as the Seasons. The attendants and their weird-arse outfits I'm simply ignoring as they're completely irrelevant. Wonder why Cinders is wearing immaculate satin pointe shoes and the fairies are in canvas? Miss O'Sullivan clearly in the Osipova school of The Tattier The Better when it comes to shoes 🤭 Was it director's choice of shots or was the change of Godmothers really that clunky? As others have commented, the transformation of the pumpkin to a carriage is rather underwhelming, and Cinders just appeared in the carriage rather than being magically gowned. Where did the mice come from?? Oh and Darcey's purple trousers!!! Further impressions at next interval.

Adam will actually take his final bows during (?at the end of?) the Melbourne season of Identity, @Emeralds Although he has danced in Jewels in Sydney, the two programmes are running in rep there, whereas in Melbourne Jewels will follow Identity. If my subscription night isn't one of his I'll have to change it as I very much want to see him one last time. I remember when he was made senior artist and then principal six months later - and it was another four years before he really came into his own, in the Manon bedroom pdd with guest Julie Kent for the AusBallet 50th anniversary gala. Last time the company did Giselle in Melbourne, in 2018, I asked him why the brisés volés not the entrechats six and he said "old knees" 🤭