Estreiiita

I'm sorry the link I provided before, didn't work. So for half an hour ago the new season for RDB was revealed! For me the coming season looks much better than this one. The information can be found on the website of the RDB, but I can say that we'll see 3 works of Balanchine in one set (Serenade, Symphony in C and 4 Temperaments) , "Folk tale" of Bournonville, "Blood wedding" (full time ballet by Eukene Saques, our solist), "Sleeping beauty", "The Nutcracker", "Don Quixote", "The Great Gatsby"(choreography of Arthur Pita!), Ballet de Luxe - excerpts from Bournonville's and Petipa's ballets ) and some children performances.

Yesterday I saw "Don Quichotte" performed by Opera national de Paris in Opera Bastille. It was the first time I saw this ballet in Rudolf Nureev's choreography and I liked it a lot. Hannah O'Neill danced Kitri. I like this ballerina since I saw her in "Le rouge au le noir" and I hoped for a brilliant performance on her part. However she was good but not at the level I expected. Basilio was danced by Germain Louvet, and his performance was not impeccable either; I'd say it was somewhat uneven, some parts were very good but there were some small faults especially in duos/lifts. Both Kitri's friends, Nais Duboscq and Bianca Scudamore were very good as well as Street dancer (Celia Drouy) and Espada (Arthus Raveau). The young gypsy (Daniel Stokes), two female gypsies (Katherine Higgins and Seohoo Yun) and the whole gypsy group along with the King and the Queen of gypsies danced very well in the 2nd act. The dream of Don Quichotte was danced brilliantly with the help of the corps de ballet, the Queen of the Dryads (Camille Bon), Cupidon(Aubane Philbert) and Dulcinee (Hannah O'Neill). To my mind, the 3d act was the best, everything went well and the performance ended with a lot of applauses.

For 10 days ago, on the 20th of March I attended the programme "Giant steps" at the Royal theater in Copenhagen. It consisted of Balanchine's "Serenade" , "4th Symphony of Sibelius" by Jorma Elo and Harald Lander's "Etudes". "Serenade" was danced beautifully (Stacy Caddell was the instructor), the main parts were performed by the principal dancers Stephanie Chen Gundorf, Wilma Giglio, Gregory Dean and the soloists Tara Schaufuss and Sebastian Pico Haynes, but some members of the corps de ballet , especially Isabella Walsh, Isabella Carroll, Katherine Stevens and Lania Atkins also were quite noticeable along with the soloists Mayo Arii and Eukene Saques. "4th symphony of Sibelius" was created by Jorma Elo especially for RDB and took premiere on the 2nd of March this year. This short ballet tells the story of 7 brothers that after their parents' death go to the woods to look for the fortune (it's actually based on the novel "Seven brothers" of the finnish writer Aleksis Kivi (1870). There are 11 dancers in this ballet, 10 men and a woman (danced by Wilma Giglio). 10 men dancers represent 7 brothers and also a group that creates a background (authorities, aggressors and an outside danger). Elo divides the ballet in 4 parts: the first one is somewhat mystical and sad, telling about the 7 brothers who just lost their parents. The second one shows the charm of the youth, first discovery of the opposite sex, first parties, first contradictions with the usual norms. In the 3d part there comes love in the form of a woman, probably a potential patner, but also the problems with the law and authorities take place. At last, in the 4th part everything seems to fall into place, most of the brothers find the person to marry with and in the book everything ends well, but Jorma Elo, using Sibelius' music that is very introvert and at the same time almost explosive, makes us think about the way we live - when the majority of us choose a very predictable life, get married when reaching a certain age, get children, become grandparents, pensionists, but the question is, do we live the life we want or do we live the life chosen for us by society? In this ballet there are some interesting duos and ensemble dances, performed by the principal Jonathan Chmelensky, soloists Tobias Praetorius, Guilherme de Menezes, Liam Redhead and the members of the corps de ballet. Most of all I liked "Etudes", where Emma Riis-Kofoed danced ballerina and Jon Axel Fransson and Alban Lendorf were her partners. Alban Lendorf especially was brilliant in his dancing and very attentive to the female partner. It was a very good performance. By the way, for those fond of classical ballet and John Neumeier's creations it'll be possible to watch "Raymonda" of RDB and "Neumeier's Gala" at Tivoli concert hall in Copenhagen during the same weekend in the middle of May.

I happened to see "La fille mal gardee" in Opera Garnier on the 27th of March. It was the first time I watched this ballet live and I liked it enormously. Clara Mousseigne danced Lise, and she was charming, flawless turns, impeccable jumps - light like a feather! Also her acting was superb. Her Colas, Antonio Conforti, danced and acted well but somehow didn't leave any remarkable impression, something was lacking. I liked Aurelien Gay as Alain a lot, there were many funny nuances in his performance, and Florimond Lorieux as Mother Simone was both a woman of character and a loving mother wanting the best (according to her ideas) for her child. Jean-Baptiste Chavignier played Thomas, Alain's father and was quite believable in his performance. And of course Le Coq (Aurelien Hoguet) and the four chickens were very funny through the whole performance. The whole ensemble did their best to create a very enjoyable ballet and I left the theater wishing to watch "La fille mal gardee" again!

Oh, I'm so sorry, I somehow managed to publish just the contents of the programme which I intended to write about! It was a wonderful programme in Paris, in Theatre des Champs-Elysees, last Monday and Tuesday!

Last Monday I saw a very interesting programme of short pieces in Theater des Champs Elysee in Paris. It lasted just for 1 hour 15 min and included: 1) Giselle: Acte II- pas de deux (Giselle et Albrecht). The dancers from the Ballet de l'Opera National du Rhin Ana Enriquez and Avery Reiners danced very well but the modern choreography of Martin Chaix didn't impress me at all. 2) Gravite (Extraits) performed by dancers from Ballet Preljocaj (Mirea Delogu, Antoine Dubois, Clara Freschel, Baptiste Coissieu (choreography of Angelin Preljocaj) - a beautiful piece showing a great capability of the dancers both in balance, acrobatic lifts, pilates-similar movements and in general creating a very nice impression. 3) Softly, as I leave you - piece for 2 dancers, performed by Helene Bernadou and Kylian Tilagone from Ballet d'Opera National de Bordeaux, choreography of Sol Leon and Paul Lightfoot - somewhat dark piece, starting with the brusque movements of a woman restricted by the box she's kept in. 4) On the Nature of Daylight - duo performed by Ana Enriquez and Avery Reiners from Ballet d'Opera National du Rhin, choreography of David Dawson - light, beautiful, very positive. 5) Who cares? - last piece performed by 4 etoiles (Dorothee Gilbert, Hannah O'Neill, Valentine Colasante and Mathieu Ganio), chorepgraphy of George Balanchine to the music of Gershwin : absolutely joyful, a pleasure to watch, and most of alI I liked Hannah O'Neill, she especially was superb! Theater des Champs-Elysees is very much worth of checking: it will host Norwegian ballet, Boston ballet, the ballet about Audrey Hepburn and, I'm sure, many other fine performances!

Our "newest" prima, Astrid Elbo, has a height of 180 cm. In one of the interviews she says that when one is that tall, it requires a lot to control the body and during her first years in the theater she often felt herself like Bambi on the ice. She remembers that Nikolaj (Hubbe) said to her:"When one is as tall as you, it's either to be always in the back or try to be extremely good, to be placed in front". And she adds that for her it was no doubt, what would she aim for. I'm looking forward to see her in a new creation of Sebastian Kloborg in April. She dances now mostly with Ryan Tomash, also quite tall. By the way, I was quite impressed by a new member of our danish corps de ballet, Lania Atkins, who's also quite tall - I saw her as a Fairy Godmother in "Cinderella", and she was excellent, a true queen of the ballet! So the tall female dancers can surely find their place even in the companies where the majority of dancers is of average height.

I hope you'll write about the performance as I'm going to see it on the 20th of March.

I saw "The Peony Pavilion" they performed in December 2016 in Sadler's Wells and liked it enormously though it was not a pure ballet, more a combination of the opera, folklore and ballet. I remember beautiful girls of the same height and complexion from the corps - amazing uniformity! And the principal dancers were great! Here's the article of Graham Watts about the performance: https://bachtrack.com/es_ES/review-peony-pavilion-national-ballet-china-sadlers-wells-november-2016

I was at the day performance the next day after the premiere and I would say, the theatre was almost full, the audience consisting mainly of elderly spectators; the reviews though are quite encouraging so I won't be surprised if some performances will be sold out, especially those of the end of the week and with Alban Lendorf as Virgil.

Last Sunday I was in Copenhagen to see " The Dante project" and liked it even more than the previous time in Paris. Gregory Dean was Dante in our performance and was great both technically and artistically, creating a very convincing image of a poet. Alexander Staeger was Vergil but to say the truth, he hasn't left any special impression with his performance. Holly Dorger was grown up Beatrice and danced beautifully, as well as Eukene Saques ( young Beatrice) and Freja Danchell ( Beatrice as a girl). The first act was the one that I liked most ( well, it's also a longest). The corps de ballet performed great through the whole performance, though I would probably preferred more subtle portraying of the sinners : thus, when Francesca and Paolo ( Eukene Saques and Jon Axel Fransson) were on the scene, some parts of their bodies ( evidently, those, mainly taking part in committing sin), were quite noticeably marked with the chalk, almost on the border of satire - I' m not sure if it's choreographer's idea or just the dancers' (who danced their duo very sensually and beautifully). I like both Eukene Saques and Jon Axel Fransson; Eukene could not, probably, be considered as having classic ballet dancer's body type but she manages to create a good character while being on scene and always leaves a good impression - with her artistic abilities she reminds me Kizzy Matiakis. And Jon Axel, being one of the principal dancers of RDB always provides a high quality of dancing. I also liked the ferrymen: Guilherme de Menezes and Silvia Selvini, both of them soloists. Meirambek Nazargozhayev was excellent as Odysseus( Ulysses in the original version?), soloist Camilla Ruelykke Holst was wonderful Dido and the pas de quatre of the "angry": Lania Atkins, Tomoka Kawazoe, Stephanie Sahlgren and Isabella Walsh was superb, well performed at a good speed. Nathan Campiano danced Pope's adagio very well and a the end of the first act the principal dancer Wilma Giglio came out as both tempting and cruel Satan. The orchestra played great under the guidance of Robert Houssart and though the music sometimes could sound somewhat dissonant, it suited the ballet's content quite well. The ballet was received with a lot of applauses and "Bravo" shouts, and as I could see, the public was very content, so I hope, it will stay with RDB for some years. Many thanks to Wayne McGregor, Thomas Ades and other creators of this wonderful ballet!

Probably somebody have already seen this, but still - a youtube video about the World Ballet Day 2023 in Royal Danish ballet, including a rehearsal of "Dante":

Let's hope there'll be another chance to say "hello", I'll surely try to visit Berlin as often as possible! I'd love to say hello to Victor Caixeta as well, especially to tell him how much I liked his debut as Albrecht! I saw later on Instagram that John Neumeier was in Berlin as well - evidently, "Bovary" is quite popular!

Oh, I'm so sorry - Tramp, of course! 😅

Yesterday I travelled to Leipzig (about an hour and a half from Berlin) to see the day performance (luckily it was a holiday in Saxony) of Mario Schroder's ballet "Chaplin". First of all I should say that Leipzig itself is very much worth of visiting and with luck you can both have sightseeing, theater visit and even gastronomy experience. The trip can be easily organised from Berlin, though in our particular case we had some troubles with German railroads (Deutsche bahn), or rather DB had troubles with the trains and timetable. Leipzig has a big and impressive opera house quite close to the railway station and city center. "Chaplin" was created for some 10 years ago and was filmed on DVD; I've found a good article about this ballet : https://www.hdvdarts.com/titles/chaplin.html , so I'll just write about my impressions. Through the whole performance (1,5 hours, no break) I kept staring fascinated at the stage. Chaplin itself (Alessandro Repellini) and Trump (Monica Barbotte) caught our attention from the start, but each one of the performers was delivering the great dance experience, every movement, every glance, every expression. The mother was danced by Ester Ferrini and she indeed managed to show the loss of mind and the torn soul. The father was danced by Carl van Godtsenhoven, Mildred by Kalina Petkova, Paulette by Soojeong Choi, Oona by Vivian Wang and Dictator was Joao Ludwig. The corps de ballet did amazing job at the incredible speed. It's difficult to name the scene I liked most, everything was presented at the highest level but of course Charlie and Trump were absolutely divine. It was my fourth ballet in four days but the first one with true ovations in the end and Mario Schroder himself was on the scene to receive them.