Duck

I was apprehensive last summer when I read the various headlines with regards to "return to hierarchy". At the moment, I am just lucky as the dancers that I like are cast in lead roles. I was struck, however, by the number of performances with the same cast (it started with just 4 casts for Odette/Odile and Siegfried for such a long and dense run; Mathieu Ganio was also cast as Wolfgang; Francois Alu was cast as Wolfgang and in the PD3, the PD3 often had the same dancers). A wider casting would give additional chances for other dancers. edited to add second paragraph

The Opera de Bordeaux just finished a run of their Coppelia, based in the US in the 1950s. There are a number of videos and pictures in the following link, have a look whether what you see rings a bell http://www.opera-bordeaux.com/danse-coppelia-2466 I don't know whether there is a DVD though. edited for typo/ added last sentence.

A longer video of last night's promotion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM_gt1hVO4w It seems that views differ. I found her Juliet deeply involved in the choreography.

I spent only part of the year in London hence not much from there Best Rhapsody with Francesca Hayward and James Hay Eric Gauthier – Nijinski (Gauthier Dance) Léonore Baulac and Germain Louvet in Nureyev’s Romeo and Juliet in spring, and their promotions to Etoile in December (POB) Crystal Pite -The Seasons’ Canon (POB) Jérôme Bel – Tombe (POB) Glen Tetley – Arena (Stuttgart Ballet) Glen Tetley – Voluntaries (Ballet Nice Méditerranée) Roland Petit – L’Arlésienne (Ballet Nice Méditerranée) I enjoyed least Strapless, The Invitation and the documentary Relève. edited for typo

Leonore Baulac has been promoted to Etoile tonight https://twitter.com/operadeparis/status/815309079891574784. This was her debut in the role of Odette/ Odile. Here a link to the only video I've been able to find so far https://twitter.com/chedloiret/status/815311036723134464 . I am very happy, she was such an incredibly expressive Juliet in spring 2016. She and Germain Louvet have been cast together quite a bit (Nutcracker, Romeo & Juliet, Sonatine, Brahms Schoenberg Quartett; possibly others?). Fingers crossed this will continue. edited/ added last two sentences

Louvet's debut was on Sunday; Pagliero had danced Odette/ Odile previously apologies if my earlier post gave the wrong impression of Pagliero.

Barton22, your understanding is correct - the annual concours only goes up to promotion from Sujet to Premier Danseur. While the results are published right away, the promotions are effective on 1st January. So Germain Louvet in fact bypassed the stage of Premier Danseur. This was only his second performance as Siegfried, the debut being on Christmas Day. Someone posted a longer video of the announcement on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-iKROTSHJ4.

Thank you so much for post, Don Q Fan! I nearly bought a ticket for the matinee on 25 December, purely to see Germain Louvet perform, one of my favourite dancers with POB following his Romeo earlier in the year. With this, I am delighted to read on Twitter that he was promoted to Etoile following the performance tonight https://twitter.com/operadeparis/status/814221233176899589. Someone took a video of the promotion - https://www.instagram.com/p/BOk4eXzgp14/ Sujet since 2015, he won the annual concours in November for promotion to Premier Danseur. -------- edited to add last two sentences

Ballet Nice Mediterranee has advertised auditions http://www.opera-nice.org/fr/news/2016-11-07/la-ville-de-nice-recrute-4-danseuses-et-ou-danseurs

The second Colours International Dance Festival will take place at the Theaterhaus in Stuttgart from 6 – 23 July. The line-up includes Ballet Zuerich (Spuck’s Romeo & Juliet), Russell Maliphant (Conceal Reveal in a version for Stuttgart), Hofesh Shechter with a production that will have its world premiere in Paris just a few days earlier, Gauthier Dance with a triple bill, and many more. The second week of the festival will see five young choreographers at work, creating a new piece which will then be performed during the final week. There will also be events in various places in the city. There are a number of videos on the web site – a trailer, a teaser, and extracts from performances. http://www.coloursdancefestival.com/en.html

Julien Favreau for his stage presence, his elegance, his artistic expressiveness, his ability to show emotions simply through a twitch of his eyes.

Swan Lake as seen by a contemporary comic strip https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/magazine/dessine-moi-le-lac-des-cygnes (in French only though an online translation tool should work as the text is straightforward).

Haven't seen it yet and am much looking forward to ENB in April

1987 saw the creation of Béjart Ballet Lausanne, 2007 the death of Maurice Béjart. The current programme “Béjart fête Maurice” honours the double anniversary; I saw the double bill on Saturday evening. Part 1 is a new piece with the title t’M et Variations, choreographed by Gil Roman. It is inspired by the many letters that Maurice Béjart wrote to Roman during his lifetime, and Roman’s choreography is seen as a response to these letters through dance. It celebrates dance, and it is, to quote from the programme book, a “declaration of love to Maurice Béjart and to life”. Roman explains the piece as “the heritage provided by Maurice as I see it and as it continues to live …”. There is no explanation given in the programme book as to what “t’M” stands for; I’ve been reading this in terms of “t’aime”, “t’aime, Maurice” or “toi, Maurice”. t’M et Variations shows dancers in the studio and in their interaction with others through a series of PDD/ pas de trois, a solo and a few group elements. Performed to a marvellous mix of percussion live on stage by Thierry Hochstaetter and jB Meier (and using a lot more than just drums) and music on tape by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, dancers wear smart colour-coordinated practice clothing. Dancers react in amazement at a colleague’s arabesque. A dancer takes a bow at the audience’s applause which is played on tape. In a solo, Elisabet Ros is unhappy with her dancing on pointe, takes off the shoes, puts them on her hands as if they were gloves, and uses her hands to practice the virtuosity that she was unable to achieve with her feet. Another part shows a relationship triangle between a woman and two men. Etc etc. The part that I enjoyed most was a duet to string and guitar music on tape by Gabriel Arenas Ruiz and Vito Pansini, walking casually next to each other, almost holding hands, moving to a PDD, and in the end splitting up. If the first part was looking into the future, the second part “Béjart fête Maurice“ was showing where the company has come from. Sitting in a corner of the stage, Gil Roman read a text about the barre, the mirror and the floor as part of a dancer’s daily routine while various dancers came on stage to do basic exercises at the barre. What then followed were ten short extracts that Roman chose from the many works that Béjart had created. Most of them were from works that I hadn’t even heard of previously – 1789… et nous, Heliogabale, Wien Wien nur Du allein, Light, Patrice Chéreau, Dibouk, Hamlet, Rossiniana, Bhakti. Using music from different corners of the world, making references to theatre and historical figures across the centuries, and using a vast range of choreographic styles. The last part was particularly moving as the dancers who performed an extract from 1789… et nous were joined one by one by the dancers of the other pieces, all still in their respective costumes. They then all performed signature movements from their own pieces until the whole company, and including Gil Roman, was united on stage, and the barre that featured at the beginning of the piece was carried back on stage so as to complete the circle. The audience was ecstatic. Many loud and admiring shouts of bravo. Rhythmic clapping. Standing ovation across the stalls. The woman next to me was very much at the shrieking end of shouting (and I don’t mean this in a negative way). I had bought the ticket when the details of the programme had not been confirmed yet, and I was a little disappointed initially when I realised that I wouldn’t be seeing any of Béjart’s trademark pieces. It turns out that the evening was an eye opener for me. It highlighted the breadth of topics covered and choreographic styles used by Béjart. What struck me with regards to many dancers of the company was the intensity of their glances, their eyes. The one dancer, however, who positively stunned me on Saturday evening with his intensity and expressiveness was Julien Favreau. Based on what I’ve been watching on the web since, I guess next time I’ll be at the shrieking end of shouting, too. --- edited for typo

If Firebird , then I would also go with Faun (Cherkaoui), Spectre de la rose (Goecke), Sacre du Printemps (Bejart, Bausch) Swan Lake (Keegan-Dolan) From my limited knowledge, maybe Bourne stands out as he has done so many of them?

Glorious ☺

I really enjoyed Golding's Onegin, too.

When Laura Hecquet and Josua Hoffalt withdrew from the current run of Swan Lake earlier in the month, most of their performances were reallocated to Myriam Ould-Braham and Mathias Heymann. Tickets sometimes become available on the main POB web site, in addition to the ticket exchange forum. E.g., there is currently a ticket available for tomorrow night. From experience, last-minute travel costs can be so high, however, that the ticket on offer becomes unattractive.

Stuttgart Ballet will perform a quadruple bill in February/ March that bears exactly that title ... "Seduction" https://www.stuttgart-ballet.de/schedule/2017-02-03/seduction/

I've been following this thread from afar. East and North Yorkshire are very dear to me. I love Beverley Minster in all its gothic splendour. Nearby St Mary's Church has a pilgrim rabbit carved in stone; this rabbit is said to have been the model for Lewis Carroll's The White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. If you leave Beverley towards the west, beware the cows on Westwood as the road goes through common land A little later, the road drops steeply into the Vale of York, creating a marvellous view at dusk and on a clear day. Taking a few day trips from Beverley - over in North Yorkshire, Howard Castle near Malton is just stunning. A little further north, near Helmsley, is Rievaulx Abbey, tucked away in a small valley in the North York Moors. My favourite drive through the moors is the road from Helmsley up north towards Middlesbrough. The road slowly climbs up a long valley, up to yet another viewpoint, before it drops steeply.

I've just finished reading the book and was laughing out loud a couple of times. This is so funny. Thank you for posting the link.

There is, thankfully, an array of styles available at the ROH that goes beyond the classics and McGregor. If someone who goes to see McGregor at the ROH and then maybe doesn’t come back for Sleeping Beauty/ Swan Lake, they may well decide to do so, however, for works by other choreographers, whether past or present. Past seasons have seen Wheeldon, Scarlett, Dawson, Ratmansky, Shechter, Marriott, etc., create new works. I think that all of these can be learned from as part of the creative process.

I haven't seen the current triple bill and am thus unable to comment on Multiverse. I enjoyed, however, most of the pieces by Wayne McGregor that I saw at the ROH between 2008 and 2016 - Chroma, Infra (& this introduced me to Max Richter's music), Carbon Life, Raven Girl, The Art of Fugue (... introduction of Bach's The Art of Fugue), Woolf Works (... introduction to Virginia Woolf), Obsidian Tear. I look forward to Tree of Codes next year. The last eight years would have been a lot less interesting without.

Promoted to Premiere Danseuse: Sae Eun Park Promoted to Sujet: Alice Catonnet Promoted to Coryphee: Camille Bon https://twitter.com/BalletOParis/status/794927545800151041 https://twitter.com/BalletOParis/status/794889402858307584 https://twitter.com/BalletOParis/status/794860003853221888

The annual concours at POB has been held for the male dancers today (for the female dancers to follow tomorrow) Promoted to Premier Danseur: Germain Louvet Promoted to Sujet: Paul Marque Promoted to Coryphee: Francesco Mura and Thomas Docquir Congratulations to the promotees. From what I understand, the promotions become effective Jan 1, 2017. https://twitter.com/BalletOParis/status/794551674471849984 https://twitter.com/BalletOParis/status/794505869656551428 https://twitter.com/BalletOParis/status/794489603101257728