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nickwellings

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  1. nickwellings
    It was a lovely moment. Watching her dance yesterday I honestly thought 'you really should be a Principal' and lo and behold!
  2. nickwellings
    I did the double bill on Saturday, and I'm glad I did. Just must say that Isaac Hernández was astonishing as Ali. And I too loved the Odialesques, especially the little variation with travelling type entrechats. Both dancers did those so well. The show as a whole deliciously silly, and well worth catching. Happily I have the Rojo cast again I think on Saturday 23rd. Lots to look forward to once more!
  3. nickwellings
    Or D-Law? You are right though, Tony. The minute I saw them at Sadlers I knew I had to see them again. Just beautiful dancing from both.
  4. nickwellings
    I have chanced it and bought Brandon/Delia yesterday. (It's not like I have been checking every day for a month ) I also have bought for the matinee too. Fingers crossed for the trains on my 4 hour trip down
  5. nickwellings
    Wonderful stuff, Bruce. Would you say the company is worth flying over for? I hear prices of goods, tickets etc in Romania also good value vs £?
  6. nickwellings
    I must admit, I'm tempted by all the shows they are doing, but I wasn't bowled over by them last year. I'm a fan of each ballet they are doing, but I don't know if I'm a fan of how they'll do them plus, for the price of one ticket, I could almost go to London and back and see an RB/ENB show...
  7. nickwellings
    A top tip this one, and I have found it the ebst way too. Don't queue and queue by the revolcing door.Stroll in Bow St way, be met by two ushers at a door and job done.
  8. nickwellings
    Mr Abramov, mentioned in that article, is also interviewed in the forthcoming Bolshoi Babylon film. The stacato clapping is really a form of standing ovation, without standing. One can hear it in France often too. In england, though the same clapping is more reserved for "why are we waiting"? the Bolshoi "O! O!" bravo-ing person is a claquer, and he's audible in just about every cinecast. The Nutcracker GPDD does seem to lend itself to premature clapping, but I suppose if that's what people want to do, no one can stop them. I don't mind it too much, but I do mind as FLOSS above was saying, talking. And that's best placed in the Audience Behaviour thread, so I won't go into that here I will clap at virtuosity, and at the end of variations, but really I would prefer things with as little clapping as possible, to sustain narrative - if it's a narrative ballet of course! In the real world, this won't happen of course.
  9. nickwellings
    Urk! All this talk of broken bones is giving me the heebie jeebies! *shudder* Lest we forget just how demanding ballet is!
  10. nickwellings
    For me, of shows in the UK: 1 Bournonville Celebration at the Peacock 2 Salenko and McRae in RB Swan Lake (for Salenko's Odette) 3 Osipova in Onegin 4 Delia Mathews and Brandon Lawrence in BRB Swan Lake 5 Woolf Works
  11. nickwellings
    The pointe shoe tree is indeed wonderful! Today's Matinee was really very nice. Lauretta Summer scales was delightful, and the orchestra sounded gorgeous. Special mention must go to Cesar Corrales for bringing the house down as a Trepak/Russian!
  12. nickwellings
    Last night was wonderful, but as FLOSS said Mr Campbell did seem to look a little tried in places. Nevertheless he did a great job once more. Can't say enough good things about the cast. Salenko and McRae were their usual highly polished selves. Even SM's arms in the 'run to me, I'm going to catch you!' were beautiful.
  13. nickwellings
    Loved Gary Avis tonight, and Hayward is a perfect Clara. Add Yasmine N as Rose Fairy and I felt rather spoiled. Bonelli a replacement for Golding, but I liked him. Alexander Campbell really enjoyable to watch too. Truly a lovely evening.
  14. nickwellings
    Here were my thoughts of the penultimate performance, aileen, drawing upon my first viewing of MN +TS as R+J https://theoperatunist.wordpress.com/2015/12/03/romeo-and-juliet-nunez-soares-underwood-the-royal-ballet-dec-1-2015/
  15. nickwellings
    I nearly left in the first interval last night, as I had a poor seat and missed most of the dancing. I moved (shhhh) into the standing slips right, which was slightly better. It was heartening to see a young kid of about 8yrs old (maybe a future Eric Underwood) with his Mum. It wasn't his first ballet and he was enjoying it. I have to agree about Mr Underwood. And Mr Soares looked to have a bit of bother in the PDT in Act I....but for me redeemed himself with some strong acting. However, I'm glad I stayed. Act 3 from MN was strong, because of her dramatic intelligence. One felt her grief. Overall, pretty good, but not the best I've seen!
  16. nickwellings
    Good. I saw Hannah O'Neill in POB Swan Lake and was very impressed. She had had a bit of coverage in NZ press and a few ballet magazines I think. Well deserved, and Congratulations to her. Don Q, I think you will enjoy! Thank you for the news Arky.
  17. nickwellings
    Having very much enjoyed last year's Swan Lake (the transition from Princess to Odette memorable!) so much so that I saw it twice, I am tempted by their Snow Queen. I just wondered how long the performance is, please? I am beholden to trains! Thank you.
  18. nickwellings
    Agreed on poor old Matthew G. What an appalling outfit. The insipid dance he was given too wasn't best use of his talents. Nuñez was spirited and committed as ever, but she couldn't set the ballet alight all by itself. The chair pushing and 'human cartwheels' were my low points, but I liked moments in the MN CA pdds. They were grinning ear to ear at one point so they definitely were enjoying it. Faun passed beautifully for me, Lamb and Muntagirov a great pairing with nice chemistry. The piece worked better than with Ms Hamilton, I thought. VM beautiful from his first 'phrase'. Salenko and McRae blasted through Tchaikovsky, and I think everyone loved it, the reaction was great. I'd need to see Viscera again to be honest. I enjoyed the scenes of synchronised dancing, but the duet of Stock and Kish didn't quicken my pulse, sadly.
  19. nickwellings
    Having seen three Lakes from BRB, I am still thinking about Delia and Brandon. I would travel to see them again!
  20. nickwellings
    Thank you to those who recommended to see Delia Mathews and Brandon Lawrence. I have rarely been so moved by the Act II pdd. Exquisite dancing from Mathews, and noble partnering and acting from BL. I was loving it, until a lady decided the sweet moments of their new found love and redemption would make a really good moment to do some sustained text messaging. I liked the production a lot too. More than any I have seen it invests the story with narrative drive and dramatic impetus. Mr Weight sure knew what he was doing. PS Kevin O'Hare and Liam Scarlett were there at the matinee (only realised when I was leaving and was walking down the stairs directly behind them, I had the urge to say something...but didn't of course.)Perhaps they were judging reactions,comparing versions, looking for talent for the as-yet unmade ROH Swan Lake of the future?
  21. nickwellings
    Great! thank you for this, SBF (I think I will fast-forward past the bouncing-tree bit though....)
  22. nickwellings
    Zakharova fell but recovered splendidly. I wonder if the stage is slippy. I saw a swan fall in their Act II opening entrances, again at Bolshoi. Polunin was beautifully engaged with Giselle in act I and wonderfully brooding in Act II. (He broods magnificently.) There is a definite magnetism there which holds one's attention. The wilis were excellent, I thought. The house crowd very strident in their praises, which I found got a bit tiresome. I especially liked the trapdoor method of the couple's parting. One sees the grasp slip away, all the more tragic. Overall, a good night put, though not so much at Ipswich, where we were in hats and coats, with no heating! I hope to write a blog post about my thoughts soon.
  23. nickwellings
    Swan Lake is of course very 'white' for half its length. In terms of costuming I am almost certain we will see skirts for the swans more like the ROH's now dormant staging: net/tulle, knee length, and soft. No pancake tutus there. Photos exist of dancers from 1895 wearing the rounder type of bell tutu. This shape is more in keeping with the demure leg extensions Petipa/Ratmansky favours. (Also rather than championing Petipa alone, Ratmansky will have to start praising Ivanov too ) There's lots of freedom for Act I and Act III with costuming, I suppose. Lacking the source of an iconic older staging as you rightly point out, FLOSS, will return the production team to contemporary visual evidence, where it exists. And force them to work to, I imagine, a new aesthetic of their own,in keeping with the feel of the steps. We're unlikely to be offended by the costuming, nor disappointed. I will be interested to see choice of set/scenery though. Again as you say FLOSS, the text is pretty much intact as far as I have read about it, how it is actually given life will be what matters!
  24. nickwellings
    Not a fish dive fan myself, but what a good post from Gramilano. He really sums it up perfectly. Thank you for posting, SwissBalletFan.
  25. nickwellings
    Looks great, and a lot of company premieres!
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