Balletfanp

I looked the other day at bookings and was rather puzzled to see that the earlier performances haven’t sold well at all, whereas most of the later ones are sold out (or were when I looked a few days ago). That seems strange and there doesn’t appear to be any obvious correlation as regards casts.

Thank you @li tai po - this just sums up what an amazing (and amazingly generous) person Linda, along with Michael, was.

I like his representation of ballet runs too 😁

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5mZjclyN2D/?igsh=MW4zMWU2bDB0aGxxOQ==
 

27 minutes ago, Sim said:

This is such sad news.  Even when it is expected, it doesn't diminish the sadness of loss.

 

I have known Linda for a few years, mainly through this forum, and then meeting at the ROH or wherever ENB might have been.  We have always messaged each other on a regular basis, and she often sent me messages of support when things on the forum were nasty or difficult.  We shared a love of the same dancers, and had the same outlook about many things, both balletic and otherwise.  In the past couple of weeks we were in close contact, and on the 21st she told me she had gone into the hospice for what she hoped would be a 'short term stay.'  Sadly, that wasn't to be the case (although, knowing Linda, she might have known that her time was coming and she wanted it to be a short goodbye).  On the 23rd, I sent her a message asking how she was doing, but sadly that was the day she left us.

 

In one of her last messages to me she said that the one thing she regretted was not being able to see Onegin next season.  She said she would have loved to see some new casts, and especially Vadim in the title role.  I told her a few months ago that on May 4th, thanks to someone's generosity, I will be sitting in the front row of the stalls to watch Vadim and Fumi debut as a pair in Swan Lake.  She said she would also be sitting there if she could.  Sadly, she can't, so I am sure I will feel her presence there in row A, where she sat for so many years as an avid attendee of her beloved artform.  I am also sure that Vadim will be thinking of her, and miss seeing her sitting there in the front row, supporting him as always. 

 

As with others, I was astounded by how she kept defying the doctors with her illness.  Mind over matter was something that Linda truly embodied.  She got to as many ballets as she could, even when she was feeling lousy, and I was so happy to see her smiling face in the audience at the Insight on April 16th.  A week before she left us, she was still able to get to the ROH and derive so much pleasure from being there.  She often used to open her messages with "I'm still here", and when I used to tell her how inspirational she was, she wouldn't hear of it.  

 

I for one will miss her messages, her support and her sense of humour.  I will always deeply appreciate the support, insightful contributions and encouragement she always gave to this forum, from the very beginning.  I will always appreciate, and never forget, the support and encouragement she always gave to my daughter with her ballet blog and then her podcast with Brandon Lawrence.  Let's face it, I will always miss her, full stop.  She leaves a huge void in the lives of all who knew and loved her, and in the wider ballet community as a whole.  Her steadfast support of companies and individuals has been widely and deeply appreciated, and has achieved much.

 

I would love to think that she is with Michael again, and I know that she will always be in the hearts of all those she loved, helped and encouraged.  My condolences go to all her friends and family.  RIP dear Linda, you will be deeply missed.

That is a beautiful tribute, @Sim, and I couldn’t have put it better myself.

She was really hoping to see Vadim and Fumi this weekend and I will be struggling to hold it together as her usual seat is right in my line of view from the Stalls Circle - we would wave and I would pop down for a chat in the interval.

One of the things I’m glad about is that she managed to pack in as many performances as she possibly could, right up until the end. And how delighted she was that her longstanding campaign (along with some others on this forum) to allow flowers onstage for the male dancers finally bore fruit!

I am heartbroken that Linda has gone - I have known about it unofficially for a few days. Over the past few years Linda became a great friend to me - we met via Facebook and the stage door initially, but bonded over our shared love of ballet and our similar opinions on many things. For the past several years we conversed online on a pretty much daily basis about anything and everything as well as ballet. I really valued her experience and opinions and her advice was always worth having. Linda was a very private person, but having got to know her better over time, she became a much-loved friend and I will miss her dearly. My last message was from the hospice she had just gone to and I was hoping to visit her next weekend, but when the messages stopped I knew it wasn’t going to happen 💔😢. Her courage in the face of her long-standing illness was astounding. I was so glad she managed to attend the recent Insight on the Winter’s Tale featuring Vadim and Fumi. She desperately wanted to see his debut as Leontes but I think knew it was unlikely.

I won’t say much more because Linda hated fuss and wasn’t keen on drawing attention to herself! But I’m sure we will all miss her posts here - always fair, always balanced and to the point. I am already missing my daily contact with her more than I supposed possible 😢.

Well, they have muted out the applause, which makes for very odd viewing with the dancers doing their big bows to resounding silence! Perhaps they think that will convince the powers that be that it is not ‘live’…..😁

Not the best streaming experience, with a very slight lag making the dancers seem ever so slightly off the music. And annoying changing camera angles - who wants to see a big solo from a 45 degree angle? Or an empty stage because the angle shift is missing the action? Quite annoying. But better than nothing.

Fumi and Vadim particularly gorgeous in Coppelia.

Well, it is happening. Not the best streamed experience - there is a slight delay between the movement of the dancers and the sound, which makes the dancers look slightly off the music. Plus shifting camera angles (and generally the wrong angle at the wrong moment - do we really want to watch a big solo from a 45 degree angle?). And they have muted out the applause which makes for very odd viewing as the dancers do their big bows to resounding silence….

Still, I suppose it’s good they are streaming it at all.

That’s a shame. Well, we’ll see. It’s still counting down on YouTube so fingers crossed.

Amazing! I’ve rather lost touch of figure skating in recent years, but I’m aware that Stephane Lambiel (also in the photo) has expressed his admiration of Vadim before. Very exciting for all concerned, I’d imagine!

Vadim was being entirely serious, as far as I can tell, he has said so more than once. In the case of Act 2 Swan Lake, any breather is probably more for Marianela’s benefit, she has a big solo coming up and these things become harder the older one gets.

I have found that Marianela and Vadim stay in character when taking a bow at the end of the Act 2 pas de deux - they don’t become “all smiles.” Plus, it’s hard to avoid taking a bow when the applause is such that one is obviously expected. Neither of them are show-off characters so they don’t do it for egotistical reasons.

I thought the first rehearsal with Vadim and Fumi struck the right balance of them dancing and then getting the detail on how to improve things. I found the second one a bit too much the other way. But just my personal opinion!

I really enjoyed last night’s Insight. The Winter’s Tale is a favourite of mine and Fumi and Vadim were a complete joy, especially as they were rehearing that heartbreaking pas de deux at the end of the ballet. I cannot wait to see Vadim’s Leontes in its full glory now - he got me from the moment he started to walk towards Fumi/Hermione. Fumi was so dignified - and what a beautiful straight back she has.

Whilst I saw the point of the second rehearsal with Luca Acri and Sae Maeda, I did find myself losing interest a bit in as much as I would have liked to see them run at least part of the whole thing before all the minute breakdown - impressive though it was, it didn’t make for compelling watching as it was hard to get a sense of it. However, they were looking good and I’m sure will shine in the actual performance.

For Alison, and others who missed it, last night’s Insight available here.

In the Nureyev version, Siegfried does get a solo in Act 1 (plus a lot of extra dancing all over the place - well, couldn’t have Nureyev sidelined!). The Act 1 solo was a bit jaunty and didn’t really work for me in the context of the rest of the Act - it was as though Nureyev was determined to shove Siegfried in whatever! That’s the version with (for me) the rather bewildering ending in Act IV where Odette drifts off with Von Rothbart as Siegfried quietly drowns - I think that’s infinitely worse than the Scarlett ending! 😁

Itziar Mendizabal did it and was brilliant. I think Claire Calvert did it too. Oh, and Tierney Heap, I think. Well, she won’t be doing it and who knows if Claire will

I think you’ve summed up my feelings on Act IV, @Sim - it always feels so anticlimactic after Act III in this version.

When I saw BRB’s version I enjoyed that much more - it didn’t feel like an anticlimax, from the swans rising up suddenly from the mist, to the proper fight between Siegfried and Rothbart.

I do, overall, love the Scarlett version but Act IV really lets it down for me.

I’m on the fence re Matthew Bourne. I certainly found I enjoyed his shows a lot more once I stopped thinking of them as ballets, rather as shows.

I really like that the ROH have started to do this, to enable the dancers to see just how much they are appreciated. Lovely.

Well, Vadim is dancing with Fumi as well in Swan Lake early next month - that should be well worth seeing.

I don’t really think there is anywhere other than the ROH website to buy tickets but I’m happy to stand corrected on that if anyone else knows differently. It might just be a case of haunting the site regularly in the hope that something appears….

Not quite - he does two turns consecutively, then a couple of steps forward and repeats the two consecutive, and the whole sequence once more.

I’d add a clip in explanation, but I can’t find one on YouTube of him doing it that is actually legal! If you go hunting, there are numerous “unofficial” clips, though 😉

And repeats twice again!

It’s the tours en l’air both ending in fifth position - neither leg in second position.

6 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

I'm trying to work out when Hirano last danced anything Ashton so if he last appeared in Two Pigeons in 2016 then that's earlier than Sylvia in 2017 so the latter appears to be the last time he danced Ashton, unless anyone else can find anything more recent.

 

Hirano's not really considered a virtuoso type of dancer, is he? At least he doesn't seem to be known for his jumping.

 

As I've not seen The Dream yet I don't know the choreographic requirements & it's not due to height, as I can imagine the similarly tall Muntagirov or Ball (who I know isn't cast) in the role. I guess I just don't think of Hirano as an ethereal dancer but as a strong & muscular one so I can't imagine him playing a fairy. This may be a deficiency in my imagination.

I would think that to dance Oberon you would have to be a dancer who is very fleet-footed and able to cope with the fast footwork in the Scherzo especially. I’m not sure that’s Hirano’s speciality (no disrespect meant as he has other great qualities).

I think Vadim did dance with Smirnova in Bayadere (there’s footage on YouTube somewhere) when they both guested with ABT - but that was many years ago (Vadim can’t have been older than 21 or 22 then). It won’t help him now!!

But if anyone can pull it off with aplomb, those two can!