Odyssey

Resurrecting an old thread for this year’s Summer performances which features several Royal Ballet dancers. Apart from Melissa Hamilton, who Bolle appears to have forged a close and special partnership with over the years, William Bracewell  and Yasmine Naghdi have joined the tour this year.  So far, the troupe of dancers have appeared inFlorence and Verona  - particularly memorable for a violent thunderstorm just as the dancers were performing in the wonderful open-air arena. Incredibly, they continued to dance.

The extracts  on YouTube provides something of the incredible atmosphere, Bolle generates.

Good to have an opportunity to see the wonderful Theme & Variations . I last saw BRB dance it  (2015?) It’s worth a ticket just for this.

Today’s links includes Books to Awaken Your Inner Ballerina which I found to be an interesting list with accompanying reviews of some dance titles. 
 

True, but quite a few of the pictures of stars dressed in their finery are principal dancers and key figures in the company. 

2 hours ago, Ian Macmillan said:

You want photos?  Try some of this morning's ABT Links!

Whilst enjoying some of the photos of the production, I was amazed at the Gala turnout if the ‘stars’. Very much in the league of a Film Premier. Trying to imagine a similar fashion parade and turnout over here for RB opening night of the season. Would certainly give an  injection of publicity. A real sense of occasion.

Interesting, and nice to see, that Brandon hasn’t quite severed his links with the Company yet. Even though the statement doesn’t specifically say if he is dancing, I hope I’m right in assuming that he will be.

1 hour ago, emmarose said:

 

It's something that I can never quite understand, the RB have a stable of some of the finest classical dancers in the world and absolutely nobody to create anything for them.

That’s a  harsh assessment. Unfortunately a golden age of dancers doesn’t automatically equate to a similar embarrassment of riches in choreographers. There has been some very commendable, interesting works created on our dancers over the last ten years. We’ve also lost Liam Scarlett -a very talented young choreographer. 
 

A question relating to the programming of performances- is it entirely in the Director’s  hands to decide upon this, or are there other members of the ROH board who have ultimate say?

The BRB2 feature shown on Breakfast TV, which I mentioned earlier, is being repeated during  the day on the BBC 24 hour news channel. 

This morning, BBC breakfast ran a nice feature about this latest venture including  brief interviews with Carlos and several of the dancers. 

This is a lovely watch. Would love to have witnessed the performance. These two have brought so much joy over the years. I love how Brandon is always so generous in his praise for his partners during his career. I bet he’s a dream to dance with. We will certainly miss him here, but I’m hopeful he’ll be back working with a leading UK company in the future. 

2 hours ago, Scheherezade said:

Sadly, I think that hopes for James Hay’s promotion to principal are likely to go much the same way as those for Yuhui Choe a few years back. 

And Melissa Hamilton too. Such depth of talented dancers.

Very interesting. Thank you Alison. It’s an example of the kind of information and memorabilia there used to be on display at the old Theatre Museum. How I miss that place. The V & A have such limited space for the Performing Arts.

It’s the title he has chosen for the review which I find objectionable.  It is far from balanced and frankly, unpleasant and certainly undeserved. 

Yes, Janet is correct, I received an email from the theatre as an Early Bird booker which gave me the option to rebook for Vadim in Swan Lake. I didn’t perceive it as offensive and I chose not to take up the offer, but I did appreciate the opportunity.  

I have nothing concrete to back this up, but I get the impression  that Kevin O’Hare has a relatively relaxed attitude to guesting. This is probably because there really is an exceptional range of talent in the Company and he needs to keep them happy and interested. It has to be win win as it also promotes the RB abroad. But credit to him that the Company appears to be a very contented one.  Those annual interviews with dancers must be very interesting given thongs have to be planned so far in advance, 

Just read the latest comments on this thread, which has taken an interesting turn. I’d just add that there’s a bigger picture to consider. How many dancers return to companies they’ve been associated with earlier in their career to teach, choreograph or indeed direct a company?  Who’d have thought the wonderful Alessandra Ferri would return to the company that trained her and nurtured her early career to create a new role in her sixties? 

3 hours ago, capybara said:

Some casts seem to have the good fortune to be coached by former dancers who are not only well-versed in the Ashton style but allow their charges some freedom of interpretation. Others dancers do not 

necessarily benefit from the same level of specific coaching knowledge and are perhaps also more straight-jacketed.

 

Of course, I don’t know.  Just my impression from observation of open Insights and titbits picked up over many years.

I agree. To be coached by Morera, and particularly Collier who worked with Ashton, has to be beneficial in terms of passing on the torch. No disrespect to Ellis Soames as I don’t know how much teaching she does. Do we know who coached which couples? From an Instagram pic I recall seeing after the first night, I think Nunez and Muntagirov may have been partly coached by Alexander Agadzhanov .

Sorry, my mistake. I thought it was indeed today.

20 minutes ago, Richard LH said:

I don't recall hearing of this before...is it  some sort of special event?

I understand the matinee performance this afternoon  in which Fumi Kanenko  and William Bracewell, among others, made their debut was not open to the general public and was listed as a Paul Hamlyn performance. From what I recall the Foundation has been funding such performances for quite a few years - presumably as part of its education arm to widen  participation in the Arts. But I know  the Foundation recently generously supported a performance of the Nutcracker for NHS workers and  I can recall these ‘Hamlyn’ performances listed previously when the schedule of performances is released. I assume it may also be the case for Opera .

1 hour ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

 

I must say (sorry) from the various photographs I have seen from various sources that most of the costumes look hideous to me.  I hope they look better in real life.

Melissa Hamilton, who is dancing Fairy Godmother, in today’s performance ( Paul Hamlyn) has posted two  close ups of her costume on her a Instagram storyline and I must say it looks very lovely, with some intricate touches - much more so than in some of the distant photos, but that’s how the costumes are mainly going to be seen. I think the headdresses for all the fairies including the Godmother appear to be pretty hideous though. 

Perhaps I have misunderstood the brief Janet, but glancing through the original,press release it refers to it being an similar model to the Dutch National Ballet Junior Company  & ABT Studio Company, and elsewhere states 

 “This showcase puts the spotlight on the new talent in Birmingham Royal Ballet’s ranks in an exciting, crowd-pleasing and challenging way.” 

Opportunities for young dancers in the company to perform in a wider repertoire and to work closely with senior BRB staff. 
 

I’d also raise the thorny possibility of RB dancers guesting with BRB a little more frequently. I say thorny because  I know there’s an argument that this is robbing the home team of opportunities but, with the creation of BRB2, I think this has a  lesser  impact. I got the impression that the Company were pleased to be able to have Vadim Muntagirov taking  class with them in Plymouth and to observe him in a leading role at close hand.  Northern Ballet  has invited  Ryoichi Hirano this season. With Frederick Bonelli’s appointment, it seems possible such invites might extend to other dancers. I’m sure Bonelli is well aware of the pluses and minuses of the impact of guest artists.
A second house is a lovely, potential solution, but in this era of austerity, it seems an unrealistic prospect.  

It’s not permitted in the auditoriums of either the Palais Garnier or Bastille houses. 

18 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

11 reviews (of between 3 and 5 stars) to peruse in Today's Links (plus lots more items):

 

 

Thanks Janet. We really appreciate how busy you mods  are on days like these.

it would seem this production is having a marmite effect.