serenade

I saw it on Friday night...I was really looking forward to seeing it as I saw Penguin Cafe about 5 years ago and loved it so I was pleased for the opportunity to see it again. Unfortunately I actually really disliked Arcadia. Brandon Lawrence was Pan- he was great, everyone danced well of course. It was just a combination of the music and the choreography that did it for me. I think the music was slightly worse than the choreography...I think it was the worst ballet score I've ever heard! I definitely think my opinion was not the norm as people around me were really positive and the saxophone player (who also composed it I've just noticed) got a massive cheer (not that he shouldn't have of course, nothing wrong with his playing!) so I don't know what happened, I splashed out on great seats right at the front so maybe I got a bit too close for comfort to the saxophone! The choreography was for me not the best, it was all just a bit flat and nothing special. Of course there was still positives- the dancers as I said were great, the set designs were really beautiful and so were the costumes. I really enjoyed La Baiser...I just really liked the story and the way it was told. Jenna Roberts was the fairy, Lachlan Monaghan was the young man and Momoko Hirata was the bride- they were all strong, great- Jenna Roberts really formidable. When she pretends to be the bride at the end, ah- I loved it. Some really great moments and the ending was brilliant I loved the Stravinsky score. I can't believe the whole thing was 45 mins, it felt like it was over so quickly. I've never seen the MacMillan version, it's a shame I missed it this time round. I will be interested to see it in the future. Penguin Cafe did not disappoint...it's one of my absolute favourites. It's hard to sum up why it's so special...I just love it. Everyone danced brilliantly, music was amazing, the zebra's entrance is just about one of my favourite things ever, and the whole thing is just so unique. So all in all a mostly great night!

Arcadia is 26 mins, La Baiser is 45 mins and Penguin Cafe is 43 mins and there was two 25 minute intervals...

I think this sounds like literally the best birthday ever...

I was going to buy the Bolshoi La Bayadere DVD with Svetlana Zakharova from Amazon but I discovered it is actually free to stream (on Prime video) if you are a Prime member which I am but I think you can get a month free trial if you're not. I did a search for ballet and there's quite a lot of full length ballets on there... Royal Ballet- Sleeping Beauty Cojocaru and Bonelli version POB- Raymonda, Giselle, Swan Lake (recent recordings) Mariinsky- Jewels Bolshoi- a couple of older recordings and the newest La Bayadere recording I already mentioned. Anyway, just thought it would be of interest. Also, I just got the new Giselle with Marianela on Amazon for £18.83...I don't know if it's just a freak occurrence and it will go back up to £24.99 soon or not...

I saw the matinee today. I was going to give it a miss but I've always wanted to see Tarantella and also wanted to see Osipova in Strapless. It was definitely a mixed bag for me but I mostly really enjoyed it. My surprise favourite was The Vertiginous Thrill...I didn't want it to end. I loved the Schubert, and I think the choreography was just perfect. They danced how the music makes you feel really well. I have never seen anything by William Forsythe so I guess I should read up on him. Also...funky costumes! Tarantella was great, so much fun and exciting choreography. Alexander Campbell had so much energy...I really loved him in this piece. I thought Meaghan Grace Hinkis danced really well but I don't think she quite matched his energy but that said I still loved it. I have to agree with the majority re Strapless...it really isn't great. The positives for me were that I found the story to be interesting. I was interested in how this piece of art inspired Wheeldon into creating this piece and was intrigued as to how it would pan out. I love the way Osipova dances so she can make some things work for me that might not with another dancer so I did really enjoy her solos. I enjoyed Edward Watson in it and the set was really lovey. The negatives for me were I think quite a lot of it was actually just plain bad. Some of the lifts were horrible. The music was really not good at all which didn't help matters but really I just thought the choreography was very poor in places and just didn't work. I didn't really enjoy Symphonic Dances which is a shame. I thought everyone was dancing on absolute top form- there was no real stand out for me I just thought everyone was brilliant. I quite like the music and some of the choreography worked really well. There was some great stuff for the corps and some exciting choreography for the men to dance. The only stuff I really didn't like was the running around and the exercise related dance moves! But there was a lot of good stuff in it. Unfortunately it didn't really make me feel anything and I just kept thinking about how well everyone was dancing instead of being swept away in it. I also caught myself thinking about what I was going to cook when I got home so obviously I was not as engaged as I wanted to be So overall, great dancing which just left me cold unfortunately. It got a great reaction and Laura Morena got a massive cheer so that was nice.

I think... Still Life at the Penguin Cafe Tchaikovsky pas de deux danced by NYCB Serenade. of course!

I saw it at the cinema last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. I've got to say I thought Kristen McNally did a really nice job and was a vast improvement on Darcey for me. Although I like Darcey and think she does a good job when she presents TV shows etc, I really don't think she's very well suited to the live presenting. She seems very nervous the whole time and fluffs lines a lot whereas Kristen nailed it. Anyway, I thought Beatriz Stix-Brunell was the stand out in Emeralds. I thought every movement she made was just beautiful. Rubies was a really great team effort- everything just came together brilliantly and I really enjoyed McRae/Lamb together. Usually they don't really do it for me when they are dancing together but I think Rubies is really well suited to their partnership and plays to their strengths. Diamonds was gorgeous and Marianela was perfection (I don't think she's capable of giving an average performance!), not so sure on Soares- I don't think it was his strongest night. I think I actually enjoyed Emeralds the most out of the three which was a surprise as Rubies is usually my favourite but the whole feeling/mood of the piece was so well captured that I ended up being swept up in it. I thought the whole company looked on really top form...

Haha, me too! As for the ballet, to be honest I was not too much of a fan. There was many things I did like about it- it kept me entertained and it was pretty fun. I loved Ekaterina Krysanova in it- I thought she was really excellent. I also really liked the music and costumes (well the women's costumes!) The negative for me was the choreography. There was a lot of parts that just didn't work for me and I really hated the 3 million lifts they did everytime Nina Kaptsova was on stage. I felt like everytime she had a pas de deux her feet were barely on the floor and some of the lifts were quite ugly and looked awkward. It's not a criticism of the dancers- I love Kaptsova and I thought everyone did a great job- but just because a lift can be done doesn't mean it should be done is basically where I come out on it. For me, it just killed the romance between them because she couldn't catch a break before she was having to get into another awkward position and be swung around Skvortsov's neck. Anyway, although it won't be a favourite of mine I'm pleased I saw it. I was having a bad day and it did cheer me up so you can't say fairer than that

I agree...I like Darcey but I do find her a bit hard work when it comes to the live feeds! As for the show...I saw it at the cinema- some of the ballets weren't my favourites but I still really enjoyed the show as a whole. Viscera was danced really well but not really my cup of tea- it was still interesting to watch though. Afternoon of a Faun is one I really just don't like- of course it was danced very well but it just doesn't do it for me at all. Tchaikovsky pas de deux is one of my absolute favourites so it's always a pleasure to see it performed! As for Carmen, I actually thoroughly enjoyed it...I don't think it was anything earth shattering but I thought it was a real treat to watch. It was really nice to see Carlos' last performance. All in all, a good ballet night!

These are great recommendations...I love reading ballet biographies. Probably not the best one but my absolute favourite is Ballerina by Monica Loughman. She's an Irish dancer who went to the Perm ballet school in Russia then joined the company. It is a really great read and just very inspiring and interesting. Most of my other favourites have already been mentioned but I read the biography of NYCB's Jenifer Ringer which was pretty interesting and ABT's Misty Copeland which was also interesting but I wasn't that keen on how it was written but that's just me. I also read Daria Klimentova's book and although it is not one of my favourites it is still worth checking out. A really good book also is Out of Step: A Dancer Reflects by Alida Belair although it can be quite a depressing read. A book I've just started is The Sugarless Plum by Zippora Karz which is about her experiences in the NYCB and dealing with her diabetes so I think it will be quite interesting.

Funnily enough it was Centre Stage that got me into Balanchine I desperately wanted to find a full version of Stars and Stripes after seeing the clip of it in the film and things went from there.

I have often wondered the same! I think it's a real shame that there's nothing much in the way of recent filming available. I really love their youtube channel and they have a lot of good footage on there but it's all just clips. Even if they didn't want to release a DVD I would pay to stream/download something. Maybe in the future they will do something like that, fingers crossed anyway.

Thanks! I've checked it out and there's a Vue near me doing an encore (thankfully not Islington!) so I'll go along to that.

Went to see this tonight....really enjoyed it except for the middle bit ! My thoughts are: The Four Temperaments: unfortunately had a pretty bad view for this one due to the fact I paid £6 for my ticket They seemed to dance in the bit of the stage I couldn't see for the first half but the second half my view improved and I enjoyed what I did see. I do like a bit of Balanchine. Music was great too...I will have to find it. Untouchable: the only positive I could say about this one is some of the music was quite funky but I found the whole thing a bit rubbish really! I think it's a real shame that this was on instead of some ballet. Ballet to me is what it is, an art form completely different to anything else that's stood the test of time- it's never going to be cool or edgy and that's ok! I feel like they think to be experimental is to bring new forms of dance onto a ballet stage but that's not being experimental in the realms of ballet- that's just showing us different forms of dance when we've paid to see ballet! It got a huge applause though and I heard everyone around me talking about how great it was so I wonder if more people do want to see this kind of work at the ROH? Song of the Earth: I loved it so much! It was just gorgeous, could happily watch it again! Everyone danced beautifully!

I really enjoyed this show. I love the BRB and I went to see this a few days after my Swan Lake and £96 down the drain disaster and was so happy to watch something so enjoyable. Serenade is one of my favourites (obviously haha) but I'd never heard of Carmina before. Although Serenade was definitely my favourite part of the evening the music from Carmina totally blew me away. I had heard some of the famous parts before but it was incredible hearing it live sung through. I downloaded it as soon as I got home! I have to admit I liked the music more than the ballet itself as I wasn't a big fan of the choreography (although I really love some of Mr Bintley's choreography, Still Life for eg is one of my favourites) it was still a great evening.

Thanks to both of you for the help! I will make sure I get myself to the cinema to see it as the seats that are left leave a lot to be desired Thanks again!

Hi, sorry this may sound like a bit of a stupid question but I was just wondering if every time the RB do a live cinema screening does that performance usually always get released? I know the last few have but I was just weighing up my options on La Fille and whether I should just presume I will be able to buy it on dvd if I miss actually going on the night or to the pictures to see it. Thanks!

Thank you Janet

Dear all, I have been reading the forum for a while and have decided I should just join in the discussion! I was pretty disappointed myself when I saw this production. This is the first time I've seen this production and found it very flat in comparison to BRB or ENBs version. I am a huge fan of Osipova so treated myself to expensive seats for my birthday thinking it would be a great night. I am not knowledgeable about the technique of anything and in my view everyone danced to a brilliant standard but there was just no atmosphere to me and I found it quite dull. I went on the night it was filmed and read a lot of people saying how amazing it was but I was there and felt nothing which is unusual for me. Certainly think it's a good thing they are getting a new production.