bridiem

Just now, Ondine said:

Add some Massine and Balanchine?

 

Nothing wrong with 'heritage' works!

Yes, Yes and Not at all! I just don't like them being pigeonholed like that. (KOH does tend to talk about 'heritage' works as if they're something rarefied and outside the mainstream. If they were programmed regularly, they would be part of the creative present too, which is precisely where they belong.)

6 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

Haha! Ondine beat me to the French birthday of Checkmate while I got carried away by the wish list. 😄 

 

I am voting D  😀

I want all four too, but I'd rather they weren't combined in what would no doubt be described as some sort of 'heritage' bill. They deserve to be programmed as part of the standard repertoire, not as historical curiosities. 

And even more so, seeing the RBS students in Les Noces which made me ache to see it again. If Nijinska is so important and mustn't be forgotten etc, why does the RB not stage her works?? It's precisely because the RB (etc) don't stage them that she's being forgotten! (Yes, I know about cost etc in respect of Les Noces; but it's really a question of priorities and choices.) I have to hope that this Insight is an indication that at least one revival is on the way.

16 minutes ago, oncnp said:

Sorry

It wasn't you, oncnp! It was the ROH copy.

6 hours ago, FionaM said:

What I say next I know will be at odds with many here … the truth is I’m so sad and disappointed to see the parody of herself that she has become.  I wish she’d retire from dancing the classics, so that the memories of her past glories can remain.  She should stick to narrative and contemporary ballets.  
 

I don’t understand the adoration today (many standing, not all) except as respect to her past achievements.  That I can agree with. 

I wasn't there yesterday but I saw her previous performance. I agree with some of what you say, but I think the adoration is because her past achievements are still present in her current performances. Disregarding her technique, she was and is so special for other qualities entirely, in my view (drama, commitment, vivacity, focus, unpredictability, power). She's the nearest I've seen to Nureyev, who continued to be adored when his technique was gone. Osipova's technique has not gone, but it is declining and is most exposed in purely classical roles.

Programme/cast sheet for tomorrow: https://static.roh.org.uk/digital/cast-sheets/Insights-the-legend-of-nijinska-cast-sheet-17-11-23.pdf

23 minutes ago, oncnp said:

From Todays Links. Many thanks @Jan McNulty

 

 The RB comes to the US. Reading between the lines, may not be the entire company, but a more "curated" selection of pieces, similar to what they did in New York a couple summers ago.  Program to be announced early next year

 

Royal Ballet Principals Matthew Ball, Mayara Magri, Marcelino Sambé, Anna Rose O'Sullivan, and Sarah Lamb will perform in this engagement along with a vibrant array of the company's dancers. The opening night on Wednesday, July 3 will also include Principal dancer Natalia Osipova in Ashton's evocation of Isadora Duncan.

 

The Royal Ballet to Perform at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival for the First Time in 2024 (broadwayworld.com)

 

Ticketed Performances at Jacob's Pillow (jacobspillow.org)

It will be interesting to see what they're going to perform. I associate Jacob's Pillow mainly with contemporary and/or small-scale work. If I was seeing the RB for the first time, that's not what I'd want to see them do. But I'm sure that whatever they do they'll do it very well.

I very much hope that the cinema relays wouldn't be replaced; they presumably reach a much wider audience than those paying for the ROH Stream, and watching on a big screen is a much better experience than watching on a TV or laptop.

3 minutes ago, FionaM said:

 Including a famous time for the Taming of the Shrew in Munich where the performance was delayed in order for her to get to the theatre from the airport, dress and warm-up.  

Was this an emergency stand-in situation? If not, it's bonkers.

27 minutes ago, capybara said:

So other dancers spend weeks getting the choreography ‘spot on’ (some of them subject to very ‘picky’ coaching) whereas Osipova can basically come on and do whatever she likes and that’s OK?

I suspect there is an element of truth in this!

I really enjoyed this afternoon too. For complicated reasons, I ended up much nearer the stage than anticipated so I had a bird's eye view of much of the proceedings. Osipova is - of course - unique. There are times when she looks less like a ballerina about to start a solo than a gymnast about to perform a difficult vault. And she doesn't generally try to hide the difficulty of what she's doing - you can see the preparation and the concentration, and the relief when it's over. But in the end, none of that matters because she has such charisma, such energy, such panache, that she is just completely gripping. 

And I agree with all the comments above about the débuts - Clarke was excellent, and I loved Lukas BB and Annette Buvoli - both so strong and so stylish. For me, Annette Buvoli is already a real ballerina. I'm not sure exactly what I mean by that, but I just want to say it. I thought Sumina Sasaki did really well as Queen of the Dryads - very secure and really quite powerful. I look forward to seeing her in other roles. And Calvin Richardson was a very amusing Gamache.

Gary Avis as Lorenzo - almost unrecognisable, but totally brilliant. Funny and completely credible, and as usual bringing immense depth of characterisation to a role that in other hands could go for not very much. What an artist he is.

4 minutes ago, Ondine said:

Yes but small scale I think.

 

Latest on Saturday's march is here. Get into London as early as you can and as near the ROH as possible is my advice!

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/10/pro-palestine-march-will-be-one-of-uks-biggest-ever-protests-organisers-predict

So from an ROH point of view, this looks like the crucial bit: 'People are being asked to assemble at about midday at Park Lane before starting the march at 12.45pm. The route goes past Grosvenor Place and Victoria, then over Vauxhall Road and on to Nine Elms and past the US embassy. Marchers will be asked by organisers to disperse at 4pm, with the police having put a 5pm deadline on when the march must end.' I'm hoping that means that the Covent Garden area itself should be OK (but will definitely avoid Victoria including the station).

7 hours ago, JennyTaylor said:

17th November is now Sold Out again. 

 

I was very disappointed to see what I perceive as negative comments to my earlier post on ticket availability. 

 

I put this information up in good faith with the aim of trying to be helpful to anyone who was looking, as I have been for the past week. 

 

Perhaps, I did help someone out there - who knows. 

 

The reaction I received including one comment from a Moderator, will make me think twice in future. 

 

I'm sure the reaction was not to your helpful post, Jenny, but simply to the price of the tickets - a continuation of previous reactions to this issue.

8 minutes ago, LinMM said:

I was just looking up Nutcracker performances and see that Steven McRae is cast as dancing in this. 
Does that mean he is recovering well from his recent knee injury or have they just not announced a replacement yet? 

According to his Instagram account he was going to have surgery recently, so I think it's the latter.

That was in June 2017.

24 minutes ago, emmarose said:

I think the reason why Nunez and Muntigirov were held back from the royal performance was for the simple fact that then everybody in attendance would realise who the true king and queen of the ROH were and they would be the ones performing. The king surely couldn't have that.

 

* This is a joke, before anybody gets on me for disrespecting Mayara and Matthew, both of whom I greatly respect. I probably did mean the slight disrespect to Charles and Camilla though... 

King Charles is head of state of so many countries that I'm sure he would happily cede sovereignty of the ROH to Nunez and Muntagirov.

I do wonder if the audience starting to clap during a difficult solo sometimes causes a dancer to lose concentration which can lead to a fall (possibly what happened on Tuesday evening). I know it's very difficult not to join in if others start clapping when something brilliant is happening on stage - I've found myself doing it a few times - but I think it's both better and safer to wait until it's finished. A huge burst of applause at the end is more appropriate and adds to the drama, whereas clapping as it happens reduces it to a kind of spectacle in which the dancer is doing tricks. 

Just as an aside: after the State Opening of Parliament and Don Q yesterday, I assumed that King Charles (who is nearly 75) would take things easy today. In fact, I see that he visited the Korean community in New Malden this morning, then held an investiture at Buckingham Palace (including knighting Terry Waite), and (with the Queen) is hosting a reception for humanitarians at the Palace this evening. Me? After watching Don Q at a cinema in Wimbledon last night, I (who am 63) was rather tired because of the late night and so today I just pottered around at home... I have to say: rather me than him. (AND I get to read all the posts on this forum, which I don't suppose he's had time to do yet.)

10 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

He fell over too? Oh dear, it sounds like they would have been better broadcasting the performance on 28th, when I don't recall anyone falling over, than last night's! I hope he wasn't injured, given his Espada debut is due shortly.

I didn't see exactly what happened and I didn't realise it was him, but there was just a trip/stumble  - he didn't actually fall over so I'm sure (and hope) that he wasn't injured.

3 minutes ago, Odyssey said:

I am going to have to don my hard hat because I didn’t feel wowed by last night. I have to preface this with a long-standing coolness towards DQ and a general preference for the production which Carlos has since produced  for BRB - far less cluttering of the stage ( also less busyness) and a wonderful  windmill scene.

It’s not a ballet which has much light and shade, but I was hoping for a more interesting interaction between Kitri and Basilo, but even though our two principals danced their hearts out of their various variations - in particular the  grand pas de deux, I didn’t find myself responding to them as a couple in the way I hoped I might. I also found Leticia Dias as Mercedes, though technically very secure, lacking any real characterisation. For me, the stand out performances were James Hay, Gary Avis and Leo Dixon, who were totally convincing. Having said that, I think the Company is dancing with an attack and energy that is great to see. 

Don Q is very far from being my favourite ballet, in any production, and I do find that some of this one is a bit repetitive and choreographically uninspired. (I can only take so much olé-ing, skirt swirling and bare-chesting...). And I'm afraid I completely agree about Leticia Dias. But for me, the sheer energy, commitment and brilliance of the dancers make it work.

1 minute ago, Jan McNulty said:

I think you must be right about the clever editing Silke - I didn't notice any clap-happiness, whooping or screaming in the cinema - or did I just edit it out of my brain?

I didn't notice any of that either - I suppose it just didn't carry through to the broadcast. And the only other on-stage mishap I saw was a matador having a bit of a challenging time at one point... 

2 hours ago, Fonty said:

So, what was the official reason for the attendance by King Charles?  And who were the specially invited guests?

See an item in today's Links: the guests were 'hundreds of NHS workers who had been invited to the show in recognition of their work and service, as well as teachers the Royal Opera House works with, and members of the Songs for Ukraine chorus – which invites displaced Ukrainians to come and sing at the Royal Opera House'. So, deemed to be a special performance worthy of a royal visit. 

5 minutes ago, Ondine said:

Upcoming Insight to be streamed

 

The Royal Ballet in Rehearsal

 

Nov 23rd 7.30

 

 

21st November, not 23rd in fact. But thanks for the reminder, Ondine. (It's a Nutcracker rehearsal.)

14 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

IIRC and most definitely paraphrasing did not Mr Balanchine say if someone fell it showed they were giving it their all and taking risks?

I don't know, but if so he was right! Unfortunately, however, a fall breaks the spell of the performance - you're suddenly reminded that this is a human being doing something that is in fact immensely difficult, and not the character and world that they and everyone else have been busy creating through both acting and technique. So sadly I think it does matter, and risk-taking does have to be tempered with good judgement about when to rein back to avoid disaster. But these are split-second decisions made under huge pressure, a pressure that would have been much higher even than usual last night because of the occasion. (And, in my experience the audience is always immensely sympathetic when someone falls, and they get even more applause than if they'd stayed upright!! Which is I think a very heart-warming tribute to human nature at its best.)

I'm so sorry for those who missed this because of technical problems - that must have been so disappointing and frustrating. At Wimbledon Odeon there were a few momentary losses of sound but nothing too intrusive so we were lucky. I thought it was a terrific performance and I'm very glad the King and Queen were there. So many highlights, as mentioned by others above - especially Gary Avis's monumental performance as Don Q, James Hay's magnificently funny Gamache (the timing! the eyes!), Calvin Richardson's elegant, sultry Espada, Annette Buvoli's strength and beauty as Queen of the Dryads, Isabella Gasparini flitting joyfully as Amour, and in Magri and Ball a leading couple who gave everything in a brilliant technical and expressive display. I felt so dismayed when she fell because she'd been superb and it was just so sad that that should have happened. But the company were in top form - amazing. And the horse!! I just love that horse. And I loved hearing from the props man in one of the intervals. A reminder of the people who perform such crucial roles behind the scenes but who are rarely lauded as they should be. Thanks and congratulations to them and everyone else for putting on such a great show.