SheilaC

Some Ashton!!

Collier didn't just dance the ballet with Baryshnikov- she created the role. My daughter and I spoke to her a few days before the premiere (on the Queen Mum's 80th birthday- Rhapsody was Ashton's birthday present; they were quite close friends). At that stage Baryshnikov still hadn't arrived in London so all the choreography that had been created then was on her and the small corps, she said. I wasn't able to get tickets for the queen mum's gala but we were able to go to the second performance when there was still glitter left from the gala celebration. It was wonderful to see two such fabulous dancers, dancing such musical choreography but a main memory is that Misha scarcely looked at Lesley. The gala performance was televised and if you watch it you will see what I mean, little communication with her, despite Lesley's heroic efforts.

For anyone in two minds about attending the show at Sadler's Wells, just take a look at Buddy's Lyrical Dance today- 2nd link 'a quick glimpse- Who Cares?' It shows an old clip of Tiler Peck dancing magnificently a solo from Balanchine's Who Cares. It's far from my favourite Balanchine ballet but Tiler is amazing in it, performing for one of Balanchine's most charismatic ballerinas, Pat McBride, who also used to dance that solo spectacularly. Tiler's an extraordinary dancer, well worth catching in a rare performance in the UK.

Not to mention the North East (where BRB used to have successful regional tours when the company divided in two) and North West (where BRB has cut down on its performances at the Lowry, as it did years previously to Sunderland, and to Bradford, where it no longer performs at all, despite several top dancers coming from that city!)

The film Red Sparrow is on again on Film4 at 9pm on Tuesday 17 January. It includes choreography by Justin Peck, dancing by Sergei Polunin and by Isabella Boylston as the dance double for Jennifer Lawrence. The cast includes Charlotte Rampling (who I've seen on her own at a ballet matinee in Paris) and Jeremy Irons among other good actors. Not a terrific amount of ballet shown and the film can end up feeling a bit long winded but worth watching once. Rhapsody and Two Pigeons are on SkyArts again next Saturday, 21st, at 7 am. On Radio 4 next Wednesday (18) Wayne Sleep discusses Jerome Robbins in the Dancing Legends series. I expect a lot will be about Robbins's fabulous contribution to musical choreography and production.

I agree with Fonty that Alain gets the last laugh, returning for his beloved umbrella after all the other dancers have exited the stage. Ashton obviously loved him and from Alexander Grant, the creator of the role, on, some dancers have portrayed him sympathetically and subtly. But others have not- from Alexander Grant's brother, Garry, on, crudely playing him for laughs in a way that has always been offensive and inappropriate.

Update- I have watched the link they sent me but it does not appear to be the one oncnp mentioned, which is relatively recent and includes Osipova. Fumi, Maia Makhateli, Eleanora Abbagnato, none of which are on the link I was sent, The Best of the Etoiles, from 2018, 2019 and especially 2020. It starts and ends with Nela and Vadim (Sleeping Beauty and Corsaire), plus the wonderful Kimin Kim in Bayadere, Vadim Shkiyarov, Jacopo Tissi, among others (the men are better than the women although Iana Salenko is good with Kim). So I still don't know how to get for free the Etoiles video that oncnp recommends!

Yes, it's very odd as it states clearly on the website that it's free- rather misleading as I commented in my reply to them. But many thanks for the tip-off- even though it didn't work for me. I have just this moment had a further message from them, a different person (if the chat was a person!) saying there are 2 online versions- one of which IS free, giving me the link. Unfortunately I'm too technically challenged to give the link here, can only do it by forwarding the email. If any one is very keen, message me with your email and I'll forward it.

I have just spent a miserable 50 minutes trying to access Les Etoiles. Although you say it's free, after registering, and the website claims it's free in fact you have to buy or rent- as I eventually discovered after waiting 20 minutes or so for advice from their chat-box.

I should have added that next week's Composer of the Week (R 3, at 12 noon, then on Sounds) is Max Richter, a composer many of you like much more than I do. His music used for ballet includes Four Seasons and that composed for ballet (notably Wayne McGregor) includes Infra, Woolf Works and the new piece based on Margaret Attwood's dystopian novels

Alison, I think it would be good to have a thread for radio programmes. A couple of weeks ago the R3 Composer of the Week was Chopin, heaven for people like me who are addicted to Chopin and to the wonderful ballets Robbins created to his music- each episode had music for one or more of Robbins' masterpieces. The following week it was Cesar Franck including the music for Symphonic Variations and Stravinsky's music for ballets or later used for ballets is frequently on. BBC Sounds retains the programmes for a month so one can always go back to it- as I am just about to do, as there's nothing for me on TV!

Thanks Janet, I tried to search for a full list but couldn't find one. Disappointing that there is no ballet nominee- an all too depressing sign of the times. But Mary Evelyn was a wonderful contemporary dancer and has done a great job at LCDS. However, I am delighted that Edward Lynch is being awarded an MBE. He was an early member of Phoenix in their dynamic all-male years, although not one of the 3 founding members. Years later, when he had an artistic post at the City of York, and I was careers director at York St John University, he ran some workshops on careers in dance for students on our dance degree, and very inspirational he was.

Once again Sunderland misses out. Birmingham and Plymouth get famous guest artists, Sunderland doesn't get BRB stars such as that wonderful danseur noble, Cesar Morales, yet again, nor Celine or Brandon.

Yes, Alison, it was the usual cast. But it was fascinating to spot all the future soloists and principals dancing in the corps, and even a walk on part, I think, by Joe Sissons. Nice to see Matthew and Mayara dancing together all those years ago!

I totally agree Fonty, that's how I voted, on the grounds that the Ashton programme was a very well balanced and varied bill, with music from 3 different composers, and choreography that was musical and expressive for ballets that followed different styles. (I actually worded it a lot better than that!)

I've been on several trains when a passenger was taken ill and the help of the train manager (as guards are now called!) and other staff was essential. Train staff are also necessary to intervene when passengers are disruptive. If I've been to a matinee when my train reaches York scores of drunks invariably get on the train. Train staff are needed even though transport police usually come on board as well. Another threat to passengers' service is that the train companies want to close ticket offices on stations. But the staff don't just sell tickets, they give advice and can answer questions to help customers select the journey best for them. And they are essential when a train is badly delayed or cancelled, as happens all the time in the North. In September my direct train to Liverpool to see ENB was cancelled ( as were all the other direct trains that day) and the advice of the ticket office staff was invaluable. And the staff are multi-skilled in small stations, providing assistance to passengers with mobility problems. There are real safety issues and customers' needs should be taken into account. The focus of the media on the effect of the strikes (which will impact on me, too- I'm taking my granddaughter to London on the 16th, her first visit to London and to see her first Nutcracker so I understand the concern) tends to ignore the disruption passengers in the North face, with trains constantly cancelled by TransPennineExpress and Grand Central as well as the notorious Avanti. I decided against seeing Northern Ballet in Leeds and Newcastle on evenings in the autumn as the risk of not being able to get home was too great; TPE warned passengers to check before travelling even if a journey had been booked, which means that they were ducking the usual responsibility to ensure that all passengers were entitled to get to their destination and their rights to delay repay. Train companies are given half a billion pounds a year by the government yet are not required to provide a proper service, so that even Avanti has been rewarded despite their appalling service- or lack of it!

Alex Beard attends many performances, usually in the back row of the stalls, on the side block . He also made the effort to go to both performances at Doncaster in the autumn and was friendly and sympathetic to Friends who were able to attend.

So far I’ve only read about 30 pages but was surprised to notice a bad error, when Homans claims that the Royal Ballet had previously been called Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet - which obviously was the touring company, now BRB.

Doesn’t Peter Schaufuss own Ashton’s production? Might that affect RDB’s ability to mount it again?

The Royal Ballet in Sweden have just presented a wonderful triple bill, varied and well balanced, comprising three masterpieces: Robbins' In The Night, The Concert, and Balanchine's Theme and Variations. (When will we see a good triple bill again?) I was able to attend two performances. According to a video discussion available on the company website it was the first time the company had performed works by either choreographer so the level was competent rather than exceptional. The Concert never fails, one of the very few funny ballets where the humour survives, and mostly the dancers didn't overdo the humour, always a risk as Robbins coach Ben Huys said on the video. (He himself was amusing when describing Robbins' own notorious rehearsal technique, describing how he would make the dancers spend infuriating hour after hour gazing into the distance at that passage in Dances at a Gathering when the dancers are together, immobile, at the end.) Robbins' choreography, like Ashton's, looks much less difficult than it is, and it can be difficult for dancers new to his work to capture his style, but overall the dancers did well. The second pas de deux in In The Night almost invariably presents partnering problems ( true when The Royal did it) and this was no exception. But at the second performance I saw Rikako Shibamoto and Kentaro Mitsumori were exceptionally good in the first pas de deux, musical phrasing , capturing the delicate emotional engagement wonderfully. The theatre is grandly baroque inside but the auditorium feels quite intimate. There was a display of Swan Lake costumes and information on the history of Swan Lake in Sweden. It turns out that the first time Swan Lake was danced in Sweden was 1908, with the Mariinsky and Anna Pavlova in her first performances outside of Russia. But it wasn't called Swan Lake- but Swan Pond! The Ballets Russes also called the ballet Swan Pond when they took it to Stockholm in 1937, starring Igor Youskevich (who created Theme and Variations 10 years later, with Alicia Alonso, a coincidence that the theatre didn't note). The company itself has had seven productions, including by Mary Skeaping, Mts Ek, Peter Wright and Nureyev. There is a dance museum, quite close to the theatre and all the royal and government buildings, and on a main shopping street. Currently it has an exhibition on Nureyev that includes many of his costumes and many photographs, including some not seen in public before, owned by Charles Jude, one of the wonderful dancers Nureyev nurtured, and who, with his wife, did much to support Nureyev in his final months. The general material in the museum includes information about Pavlova, including the film of her in The Dying Swan, and a sculpture of one of her feet! It also has a pair of tiny pointe shoes owned by Galina Ulanova, and a huge sculpture of her dancing. There's a considerable amount of information on the Ballets Suedois in the 1920s and other key figures in Swedish ballet history. Well wort visiting.

She was a wonderful Tatiana and was nominated for it. Before joining LFB she was a valuable member of the Royal Ballet touring group shining in the many diverse ballets that company performed. She was guest teacher several times at the Yorkshire Ballet seminars, demanding high levels of discipline and concentration. But one of the most important contributions to ballet was assisting Rudolf Nureyev in mounting and rehearsing ballets and, as a ballet mistress at the Paris Opera Ballet, helping him mould the wonderful dance artists he formed at that company. The recent comments on former directors of the POB concentrated on the length of time served but in terms of regenerating the company and producing dancers of the highest class I think he was the best- in no small part due to Pat Ruanne's commitment and contribution.

But there have been rumours for some months that Le Riche might move in December so I was hoping initially that he might move to ENB, or more likely, POB. He's done a wonderful job in Sweden, in terms of raising both artistic and technical standards and rep. He is an artist of the highest standards and integrity. I never really rated Martinez as a dancer but it is true that he has been successful as a director.

Lucky you. I, too, was inspired by theorist's posting to book, for the opening night, and was surprised I had to pay £75 (with a slight reduction for being elderly- rare to get that nowadays at a theatre!) for a seat in the upper circle. I didn't know of the Try it On scheme but wouldn't have been eligible as I booked for Opera North and Phoenix for Dane's West Side Story: Symphonic Dances last autumn. In addition to having been one of the most eloquent dancers of his generation he is a gifted choreographer so it is excellent news that this project is still going ahead despite all the changes that Phoenix, and he, are undergoing.

Booking opened this afternoon at the yorktheatreroyal.co.uk (01904 623568). Box office staff are very helpful. The information so far is still just of the 3 excerpts I listed earlier and one from a ballet Tribute to Peace. The Theatre Royal is an exquisite small Matcham theatre. It is very convenient for the station, the art gallery, the cathedral, not to mention Betty's! And if you don't know York, Emeralds, it is a lovely old city with lots of museums and small independent shops.

Having just read Jane S’s reference to twitter I’ve checked it and wonder if Akram Khan was backstage if it was the 100th performance. One of the things I didn’t mention in the rather rushed posting was that during the applause at the end, Tamara ran to the wings to encourage someone to join her and the rest of the dancers on stage, but whoever it was refused and she shrugged her shoulders and ran back. I wondered at the time if it could be Akram Khan and it now seems even more likely. Also Loipa was on stage, she must have been a major support and mentor as well as being such a renowned teacher.