Balletfanp

Well, the final performance of Jewels tonight and what a fantastic one. Kevin O'Hare came onstage at the start to announce that Akane Takada had had a back spasm, and that Steven McRae and Sarah Lamb would be replacing her and Alexander Campbell. I had seen Takada and Campbell at the last performance I attended, so I was happy enough to see McRae and Lamb. I'm not McRae's biggest fan but I have to say he was amazing in Rubies - those chainées moving offstage! Lamb also brilliant although a couple of slips - slippery stage? And Tierney Heap shone - she excels in roles like this. I'm never really sold on Emeralds, although I love the music, but Francesca Hayward in particular was beautiful, melting dancing and such musicality. And Diamonds - what can I say? I don't know if Lauren read that horrible review in the Standard, but she had upped her game considerably tonight from when I saw her a couple of weeks ago - lovely and vibrant performance tonight. As for Vadim - I hadn't intended to see Jewels again but just couldn't resist seeing him dance this again. He was made to dance it. Every time I think he can't get any better, he proves me wrong. Tonight's performance was sublime. Such elegance , presence and technique! All of a sudden, the other male dancers' landings sounded heavy in comparison - how does he land so softly?? Wonderful. And for me, Olivia Cowley stands out for her beautiful arms in particular and her lovely face and stage persona. But everyone danced beautifully tonight. A fitting end to the run. I do wish Akane a speedy recovery.

Well, wow, just wow!! Tonight's performance started wonderfully, and built to the wonderful crescendo that is Diamonds. Naghdi, Ball and Mendizabal all lovely in Emeralds. Likewise Campbell, Takada and Heap in Rubies, but for my money Heap won the prize there for sheer presence - Takada's dancing is always beautiful but I struggle to get a sense of her personality, although she is definitely improving in that respect. However, Diamonds - from the moment the curtain went up and there was a collective "Ooooh....!" from the audience just for the sparkling set and costumes, you knew you were going to see something special, and who better to do it justice than Muntagirov. His sheer elegance and presence the moment he walked on stage made the audience around me sit up (literally), suddenly raising the interest level, and thereafter his dancing was just sheer heaven. The Pas de Deux with Cuthbertson was spellbinding and the entire audience seemed to feel it. And his solos.... Cuthbertson was also wonderful, and there was palpable chemistry between them, but I wonder wistfully whether he will get a chance to dance this with Nunez - that would be really special. He gained the biggest applause of the evening for his solos, and deservedly so.

I don't think so - Muntagirov was cast with Lauren in Diamonds from the beginning. Edited to say that I actually deleted most of the quote except the relevant bit about Golding but the new software seems to have restored it all after I submitted my post! Will take some getting used to.....

Geoff - the option is there under the filters at the top, but as I say above, I can't seem to get my preferences to stick!

It is driving me mad that I don't appear to be able to save my specific settings for filtering Unread Content. I save the changes but every tine I go back in it has reverted to the default settings. I don't want to have to chenge these every single time I go in - any suggestions??

Well said MaggiM. My own thought is that his post did not make him sound like a pleasant person, and that quite possibly any problems in rehearsals were down to his own attitude towards the dancers. I'm very concerned that this is still being reported all over the social and main media, and the dancers are not in a position to respond or give their version of events. And Mr Couchman would have know that when he wrote his, let me say, ungenerous comments. Time to let it die.

Reminds me of the saying "A poor workman blames his tools".... I haven't seen this Triple Bill but the reviews I have seen have been critical of the choreography, not the dancers, and their performances have been praised. Thinking of the dancers involved, I can't believe any of them could be accused of a lack of commitment and/or open mindedness. How disgraceful of Mr Couchman to attack them in this way, and how demoralised must they be feeling if they have seen it?

Just seen it too. Good heavens ????

I don't think you can necessarily use the number of followers of social media accounts as an entirely accurate reflection, simply because it depends when it was set up. Some dancers set up accounts years ago and have built up thousands of followers, whilst someone else may only have set up their account a month ago and have relatively few. Also, some dancers post prolifically on the social media and use it very much as a promotion tool (and I'm not saying that's a bad thing unless it's done to death - there's a balance to be struck), whereas others post rarely.

Fantastic!

The cinema broadcast was wonderful and well received in my cinema down in Plymouth - audible gasps and some applause. Nunez was a joy to watch and had obviously "bedded in" to the role since I saw her a couple of weeks ago. Muntagirov never disappoints with his glorious lines and stunningly impeccable dancing - the Act 2 solo was soulful and beautiful to watch; and I think he was rocket-propelled in his Act 3 solo! Other standouts - Annarose O'Sullivan is rapidly becoming The Name To Watch for me - beautiful fairy variation. And Sambe as Florestan. And I don't know if it was the cinematic close-ups, but Claire Calvert seemed to convey much more of the benign presence required from the Lilac Fairy than when I last saw her, and she managed the Act 1 variation well with no wobbles this time. The whole cast really was on form - I do hope they bring out a DVD. Surely it's about time for a new Sleeping Beauty one? I did put a comment on the ROH website about stopping the practice of Darcey and Ore talking over the curtain calls. I'm sure I can't be the only one who enjoys them and would like to see them in full and uninterrupted? I like to see the dancers receiving their well deserved acclaim. I know there are further announcements to be made, but surely they could wait a couple of minutes?

I heard the sneezing even in the cinema broadcast!

I saw the Nunez/Muntagirov cast on Wednesday night. Sleeping Beauty is not my favourite ballet but the whole cast performed it so well that they went a long way towards reconciling me to it - although I still find most of the divertissements in Act 3 pretty superfluous. Standouts for me were Marcellino Sambe as the Bluebird, and Anna Rose O'Sullivan as both Princess Florine (hard to believe it was her role debut) and the Songbird Fairy (exquisite). Also Kristen McNally as Carrabosse - wonderfully wicked and over the top! I thought Nunez was superb - perhaps not as innocent as Aurora as one might wish but to be honest her stage presence is so radiant it hardly matters. The Rose Adagio was a delight - perhaps a little tentative to begin with but then it was her first outing as Aurora this season. And Muntagirov - wow! His dancing just gets better and better - his solos! The Soliloquy in Act 1 was flawless and beautiful. I haven't seen James Hay dance it, but I defy any dancer to come close to matching Vadim's innate elegance and grace, his exquisite lines, and the lyrical flow of his movements, particularly his arms and head. And overall, just the sheer beauty of his dancing, which can bring a lump to my throat regardless of the context. I have yet to see any male dancer come close to him in these ways. The Act 3 solo was spectacular and drew huge applause - certainly where I was sitting there was a sort of collective "wow" from the audience around me before erupting. I took two friends with me this time who loved the whole thing, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again from a different perspective in the cinema!

Yes, Ellie is right, it started in Japan. They opened one in Totnes near us. I never went in but I passed it many times. I have to say that the cats appeared to be lapping up the attention, and as Ellie says, they had scratching posts, cat trees, toys etc. but also places to escape to if they didn't feel like interacting with people. The website said they were taken "home" each night, and each cat had been chosen carefully for having the right sort of temperament to be in that situation. That particular cafe became so popular that they were asking people to book a visit in advance. Then all of a sudden it closed down so I don't know what happened.

You're quite right, Amelia, and point taken. However, it still sits a little uncomfortably with me as it was still one short visit, plus these are, after all, the National Dance Awards - which sort of suggests (to me, anyway), that the winners of the Best Dancer categories ought to be UK based dancers. Others may disagree, of course. But having a couple of Best Visiting Dancer (Male and Female) categories would allow us to honour a bigger range of visiting dancers for their performances, rather than selecting just one or two to fit in with the other UK nominees, so to my mind would actually have a beneficial effect.

Congratulations to all the winners - all well-deserved. However, I do have a query about the categories, specifically the Best Male/Female Dancer ones in the sense of those nominated. Well done to Chase Johnsey for winning (I didn't have the good fortune to see his performance - it sounds like it was well worth seeing!), but I wonder if he should have won that particular award? To my mind, the Best Male and Female Dancer nominations should be dancers who have performed in a number and/or range of roles over the designated year, and consistently delivered quality performances throughout - rather than dancers nominated for individual roles, no matter how good. I remember being somewhat puzzled by Ed Watson's nomination last year - please don't jump on me, Watson fans - I have nothing but admiration for him, and he is a worthy contender for Best Male Dancer at any time - but possibly not last year, as he scarcely seemed to have performed. I remember a discussion in this Forum around the fact that he didn't seem to have performed much. And whilst I am not Steven McRae's biggest fan, I could at least see the logic in his nomination. This year, I felt that some of the dancers nominated - Hayward, Rojo, Campbell, Muntagirov - all filled the above criteria, having performed consistently in different roles and genres in the year under scrutiny. However, some of the others seemed to have been nominated for just a single performance, or a couple at most, on a flying visit - surely they would have been better placed in the Outstanding Male/Female Performance categories? Or maybe we need another couple of categories - Best Visiting Male/Female Dancers? ????

I'm afraid I would probably have had to say something eventually in that situation. Don't bring a small child to an occasion like that unless they can be trusted to sit quietly. And if it means you have to miss out on something because you know they are likely to get bored and start to fidget, then so be it. I missed a lot of things when my son was very small for that reason; luckily for me he was well behaved and able to be trusted in those situations pretty quickly.

I agree with Capybara. They have already brought in one guest (Bolle, for totally understandable reasons in this case), and I see no need to bring in another guest to dance it. It is such a plum role that it could well provoke some resentment amongst some in-house dancers longing to dance it if it were given to yet another guest. Don't get me wrong, Xander Parrish is wonderful and I have nothing but respect for his achievements, but I imagine that (whilst I'm sure no one in the company has anything against Parrish, probably quite the opposite), I'm not sure it would feel completely appropriate (to me, anyway ☺) to bring him in over and above candidates within the company already.

*Channelling my inner Citizen Smith*..... Power to the People!! ???? ✊️

The Giselle DVD is now on the ROH website for pre-order - out 3rd March. http://www.roh.org.uk/products/giselle-dvd-the-royal-ballet-2016 I couldn't see a Blu-ray option though. Have pre-ordered mine ????.

That did cross my mind - that, given it will be her last performances, they might have given her the choice of who she wanted to dance it with. Would still have loved to see Muntagirov and Ball in there, though....

Yes, I'm disappointed about Vadim too, although the fact that he is in Symphonic Variations (on my birthday too! ????) is a definite compensation - I missed it last time around and kicked myself afterwards. I'm not sure they would have Golding in The Dream again, since most of the reviews of his last performance I have seen were not complimentary.

Thanks Janet.

I wonder when we will know for Plymouth.....

I specifically asked if there were any cast changes last night, and if so, could I have a slip please. I was told there were none. Lo and behold, talking to someone else in the interval, and they had been given one. It seems that it is inconsistent.