bridiem

14 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

The train crawled into Broxbourne, 2 policemen got on & removed a man! I don't know what's going on as I hadn't heard any disruption & I was only about half a carriage away. I've swapped onto another train that we were told was leaving first & is heaving. It doesn't help that all the trains today are going via Stratford for some reason thus extending the journey time.

 

@Suffolkgal Hope you make it. The trains have been a flipping nightmare this season. The only reason I'm venturing on them on a Bank Holiday is because I can't get to this cast's other performance next Saturday as I have no trains then due to engineering.

Good luck @Dawnstar! I hope you get there in time.

6 hours ago, TSR101 said:

Non-friends are lucky, if moderators were to be consistent with their fatuous rationale on not allowing the posting of the Macmillan offer code on to the forum, they would remove all of these posts until casting was officially announced by the ROH to the public. 

This is very rude and also a false equivalence. A special offer intended for Friends obviously cannot legitimately be shared; all that has now been shared is casting information that brings no benefit except knowledge. Who knows why the ROH hasn't got round to publicising the casting more widely, but it's clearly not privileged information.

8 minutes ago, San Perregrino said:

Just an observation that June is a month in which to be outside in the evenings to make the most of any summer weather especially for the young audience that the ROH targets. Also there are a lot of other productions competing for peoples’ attendance and money. 
e.g. I’ve got tickets to 4 tennis tournaments in June and, if the weather is clement, these will take precedence over being inside to watch ballet. Going to more than one of each Ashton & Sarasota is my rainy day plan B. 

I agree that the dates/crowded (and repetitive) programming in those few weeks won't help. 

22 minutes ago, annamk said:

Wow, I just had a look and am quite shocked and saddened by how low sales are, particularly given the top price is two thirds of Swan Lake. I hope sales pick up nearer the time or the RB might find it difficult to justify this kind of programming in the future.

Yes, I hope sales will pick up too. But I think that (as discussed elsewhere) marketing does matter in selling programmes. And if the whole thrust of the RB's 'sell' is geared towards the big MacMillans, Swan Lake/Nutcracker, and McGregor, it must make it more difficult selling other types of works/programmes. Labelling older works as 'heritage' is a big no-no as far as I'm concerned. And only programming such works in separate bills is unlikely to help. Audiences need to be educated (and I'm not saying that from a lofty standpoint - I'm still learning; but in my early years of ballet-going I was able to see all sorts of works of different styles/eras/choreographers, often at the RB). Ballet isn't just entertainment and/or tragedy and/or cool gymnastics. It's an incredibly expressive, interesting and flexible art form, and there are many wonderful works from earlier eras that should be shown regularly, and that's what audiences should expect. (Not everything can be sold in the breathless way that so many of the livestreams are sold.)

I like the blonde wig! (Ducks for cover...).

41 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

Ditto my disappointment about Hay not being in Rhapsody once again!! I agree re: Ball too (why not Hamlet??) 

Ball is guesting elsewhere - mentioned on another thread.

9 hours ago, Roberta said:

I suspect the problem is that the three big full length works form such a core part of the Royal Ballet's repertoire, with R & J, Mayerling and Manon performed on a regular rotating basis that to 'do more MacMillan' (and I agree, there is good and interesting work not performed which should be) that it would be seen to be MacMillan overload by some. 

 

MacMillan became a genius the day after he died, a wry comment from Lady MacMillan. 

Well I'd all in favour of MacMillan 'overload' if that's what it takes. (And no-one seems to worry about the current threat of McGregor overload.)

I understand Lady MacMillan's sentiment, but in fact MacMillan was known to be a genius by very many people during his lifetime. And his death was announced as a leading news item on national radio, even though he was no longer director of the RB. So although sometimes deemed to be controversial, he was certainly not unappreciated.

1 hour ago, Shade said:

Different Drummer was shocking. The destruction of a soul in front of us by social alienation, abuse by persons in authority, betrayal. Mr Avis was more evil in this than Manon -  hard to believe. Great performances by all. Mr Clarke surprised me an anguished performance and Marie suited Osipova so well.

I agree, and whereas in the first cast I found the Doctor and the Captain quite cartoonish and there was some laughter around where I was sitting, this time I found them absolutely terrifying. That may partly be thanks to the many illuminating posts I've read here since last week, especially @JohnS's reference to Otto Dix paintings; but since this time there was also dead silence around me, I think it may have also had something to do with the performance/cast. I thought that both Gary Avis and Kevin Emerton were brilliant.

I hope that the largely very positive reviews for this bill will have encouraged Kevin O'Hare to regard MacMillan one-acters as as important to his oeuvre as the full-lengths, and to programme various of them regularly and not just as a one-off celebration-type bill. Yes, MacMillan was a genius. So, make use of him!! (Ditto Ashton, of course...).

1 minute ago, Emeralds said:

I don't know if there is a distinction between someone who uses social media as an extension of their profession eg Steven McRae, Marianela Nunez, Tiler Peck etc ....they may have a lot of followers and have lots of advertising offers and freebies, but I  think most people who know these things say they're technically not influencers but experts who are top of their field so they attract advertisers and followers the way Roger Federer and Andy Murray also attract million dollar advertising offers and many fans. Your cousin's daughter is probably in a similar situation in that she's using her skills that she trained in, her videos may offer instruction or advice, which I think is different to the influencers that just prance around posting where they went for coffee, what funny sights they saw, and what new clothes they bought, etc

Well, I'd like to think that, @Emeralds, but I'm not too sure! She does have skills and she does offer advice etc, but it's all done in a very - er - silly way, frankly, and there's a lot of fluff too - that all seems to be part of the attraction... But it's all done very deliberately, and it's clearly very successful. Oh well.

That must be my most bizarre booking experience ever: I'd booked 3 of the Ashton bills 'blind', and now having just received the casting I realised that they didn't produce the right combination of casting at all. So I've returned all 3 tickets I'd booked and have booked for 4 other performances instead... oh well. At least I am now managing to see most of the (very enticing) casts.

1 hour ago, Emeralds said:

 "Influencers" are just random folk who open a social media account to use it to earn money- previously only  Instagram but now usually with Tiktok and X/Twitter as well. They post lots of videos and photos, usually at least a few a day, carefully photographed (and stage managed).to look as photogenic as possible, posted on public setting, to attract as many viewers  as possible. It'sike the digital equivalent of the street entertainer or unlicensed busker. Or as my older relatives call it, being a hustler! 😄 

 

Teens and young folk have a more forgiving view- I'm informed by a young relative that having a YouTube account or Instagram account that attracts a lot of viewers and followers can earn you a tidy sum in advertising revenue, and just about every  teen knows of people who cheerily post rubbish on social media and YouTube every day (from whining about traffic to pop gossip to gaming anecdotes) while holding a respectable, useful job, and the social media account actually pays more money than their real job!

 

Eventually if you have a lot of followers, companies might ask you (perhaps after you have approached them by tagging them) to photograph yourself with their products or their business premises and put them in your posts and pay you for doing so. If you have lots of followers and attract advertisers in this way, you can be called an influencer. 

Yes, although to be fair there is sometimes a degree of professionalism behind what they do. My cousin's daughter did a course in make-up for stage, screen and etc, and does (very idiosyncratic) make-up/lifestyle videos on TikTok that have attracted more and more viewers so she now has 1 million followers (!). She evidently makes a lot of money from brand sponsorships etc, and she now travels a lot. She's now in her early 20s... I find it completely baffling and meaningless, but she does work hard at what she does. (Whether it's worth doing is, of course, another matter entirely...).

15 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

I'm contemplating trying to see Osipova in SL in June but the comments on her technique are a rather offputting. I've previously only seen her do Act IV, at the Ukraine Gala performance, where I found I liked her more in the role than I was expecting to, but then Act IV isn't as technical as Acts II & III. It doesn't help that SL is so expensive so do I want to fork out if she's currently not at her best technically? But then if her technique is deteriorating due to age then maybe I should see her this season because it might be worse come the next SL run....?

To be honest, I think that it would be well worth seeing Osipova in SL even if her fouettés (if she does them) are not at their best. She's still an amazing dancer in so many ways. 

1 hour ago, San Perregrino said:

NB. It would be nice to be proved wrong but I suspect that as soon as the season is announced major disappointment will be expressed about what isn’t being presented and that there will be demands for casting details to be known the day before yesterday. It happens every time. Not worth coming down, IMHO, on the ROH like a ton of bricks though. 

I'm sure there will also be pleasure at (at least some of) what IS being presented; and casting details are only an issue if/when they are getting later and later. Your characterisation (caricature?) of members' reactions is therefore rather unfair, imho. And you do seem to interpret any criticism of the ROH as 'coming down on it like a ton of bricks', which it isn't (necessarily). But I don't think we need to just nod appreciatively no matter what is happening.

23 minutes ago, FionaM said:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C40i9MSIhgt/?igsh=dDdncGxzbDUwdGli
 

This influencer is dressed up as a ballerina in the ROH … and clearly isn’t one.   This offends me.  

It's ridiculous; and how does she fit in a seat wearing a tutu?! Or did she take it off before sitting down? Actually, I don't really want to think about it any more...

17 minutes ago, Roberta said:

In which case, a white tutu and feathered headdress not a many coloured tutu may have been more appropriate!

 

As quoted by @Sebastian above and pictured in the link from the Mariinsky   >>ART OF THE PRIMA BALLERINA recording says the following: "Today, we usually see Odile dressed in a black version of Odette's costume; but this is a recent innovation. The original Odile was dressed in a brightly colored, festive costume, and she won the prince by her beauty and charm, rather than by virtue of any magic spell. Diaghilev's production featured this brightly colored attire, and Markova wore a yellow tutu topped with gold brocade and trimmed with pearls when she first danced it with the Vic-Wells."

 

But Odile's 'beauty and charm' are a trick used by her and Rothbart to lure him away from Odette - they're not genuine (whether or not there's an actual magic spell involved). And if a black swan-like costume helps to emphasize both the evil and the intention to confuse and deceive, I think that's very effective and appropriate (and more interesting).

38 minutes ago, Roberta said:

Possibly, though I do wonder if over the years when Odile seems to have morphed more fully into being THE 'Black Swan' tutu and all if these haven't become more exaggerated?

 

I have read that in early productions (I'll look for the ref again) it was the 'beauty and charm' deployed by Odile which won over Seigfried, which really does make more sense than being a full out vamp. If it was gentle Odette he fell for by the lake, surely he'd have been rather confused by the man eater Odile unveiled at the party?

Well he'd already fallen in love with Odette, so (from the evil point of view) the more Odile looks like her the better. He's being tricked, not just being seduced by another woman.

4 minutes ago, Roberta said:

There are productions though where she 'flies' in as a swan!  FLapping overhead! Then appears on stage in human form, in a tutu, as swans turned into women do. 

 

I don't think Odile in any production is ever anything except a woman.

At risk of repeating myself: Odile exactly imitates (the extremely swan-like) Odette in order to deceive Siegfried. So referring to the 'black swan' does not seem to me to be unreasonable. But I think we have different acceptance-levels of what is or isn't reasonable, so perhaps there's no point discussing it further.

4 minutes ago, Roberta said:

Though surely Odette IS a swan at times? That's the spell she's under? Otherwise that's a lot of dancing over nothing. 

Yes - but as you say, when Siegfried falls in love with her - and whenever we see her - she's a woman (who nevertheless still looks like a swan...).

1 hour ago, Roberta said:

Yes it's minor, or is it?  I think the point is we talk of the 'Black Swan PDD' and Odile being a black swan, but logic dictates actually she's not a swan at all.  It's Odette who takes the form of a swan at times then becomes a woman and it's the woman Siegfried falls in love with ( otherwise it's a bit... er... kinky?) 

 

So when Odile entraps him into swearing devotion (thus meaning poor Odette is doomed to remain part swan part woman forever) she's a woman not a swan!

 

So whatever colour dress she wears is really immaterial, though I suspect any production now veering from the now accepted norm of black would be badly received, just as many think 32 fouettés are set in stone, handed down from on high.  

 

It's a ludicrous story. 

Well yes - as you say, when Siegfried falls in love with Odette she's not a swan, but she's doing a pretty good impression of one... so Odile, in order to deceive Siegfried, imitates Odette. Neither are actually swans, but who cares.

I think it's a scintillating story.

15 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

My condolences on your brother's passing, @bridiem- hope it's ok to offer you virtual hugs. Requiem has the same significance for us- we used In Paradisum for the funeral of a young family member's sudden death from illness. When I see this triple bill it will be only the second time seeing the In Paradisum section after her passing...I'll be bringing extra tissues. 

Thanks very much, @Emeralds - very kind of you. My condolences to you and your family too.

3 minutes ago, BeauxArts said:

Following on from Sebastian’s comment above, in 1983 MacMillan made Valley of Shadows, one of his darkest works, about the Holocaust.  As with Different Drummer Ferri was his muse,  and he was able to draw on the inspirational dramatic dancers in the RB at the time, including Wall, Jeffries, and later in DD Wayne Eagling. As to the programming 40 years ago,  I saw Valley of Shadows on a programme with La Bayadere White Act! Quite a suspension of disbelief required but possibly  an indicator  of a deeper/more challenging  artistic vision for the audience’s experience than we find today. 

I agree, but I suspect that for me, this was part of the problem with Different Drummer at its première/in its early years - it followed on from MacMillan's recent creations of Isadora and Valley of Shadows and I'd just had enough. Torture, anguish, murder, suicide etc all over again, this time plumbing the depths (of a bath) with what almost seemed to be a deliberate attempt to be as grim and relentless as possible. I knew - and know - that this wasn't the whole picture for MacMillan, but it was beginning to feel like it.

15 minutes ago, postie said:

Everything was so fresh; brimming with confidence, ideas, and witticisms, meaning, pathos.

I agree with this; when watching Danses concertantes, I was reminded of how I felt when watching Duo Concertant at Sadler's Wells the other week. The realisation that this was a choreographer who had complete belief in ballet as an art form and complete mastery (already!) of how to use it in a way unique to them.

On the subject of Balanchine... on the tube last night after leaving the ROH, I heard a couple of men talking and heard his name mentioned. So I looked up in interest to see who was talking. But as the conversation went on, I realised that what one of them had actually said was 'balance sheet' not 'Balanchine'... Oh well. I suppose it just shows how completely ballet-focussed I am.  

When the curtain went up on Danses concertantes, I was both surprised and delighted at the designs, which I hadn't remembered at all (strange, because they're pretty memorable!). I also thought that the backdrop was more like John Piper than Georgiadis, and that added to the period air of the piece. The choreography was so inventive and consistently interesting and unexpected; a bit like Scènes de Ballet on steroids. Can't wait to see it again.

Different Drummer: for the first 15 minutes or so, I was feeling quite dismayed (as before) with this - it seemed to me to be not so much nightmareish as cartoonish (and there was quite a lot of unfortunate giggling going on around me, which I don't think was the intended reaction). I think the problem mainly applies in respect of the Captain and the Doctor. But as the work progressed I found it more and more absorbing and some of the images and moves were very powerful, though it still seemed to be more a series of vignettes rather than a coherent work. But by the end, I'd been drawn in and I did find it both moving and shocking. The murder is horrific; I don't think the suicide is very clear (just as well I'd read the programme) since he seems to just wash his hands and then lie down in the bath and pull the cover back on. So ultimately I found this an unsatisfying work, but with much more to recommend it than I felt when I first (and last) saw it. Francesca Hayward was superb as Marie; I thought that Marcelino Sambé danced beautifully and gave it everything, but he doesn't strike me as ideal casting for the role - I would have liked to see Bracewell and/or Richardson do it.

I find it difficult to write about Requiem. It seems to be to have come to fruition fully formed, as if no other steps could have been used and MacMillan was simply expressing what was already there. I think I barely breathed from start to finish. Unbearably beautiful, and unbearably moving. Especially because today (now) is the first anniversary of my brother's death, and we used the In Paradisum movement at his funeral (and indeed at our mother's funeral in 2014). To watch the souls being led gently into Paradise, all fear gone, with their heads held high, was quite overwhelming. All the dancers were magnificent, and rightly got a great reception. Why this masterpiece is performed so infrequently I will never understand. 

9 minutes ago, Rob S said:

I need a dose of Symphony in C after all that 🫣

Or of Requiem...

19 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

A happy memory has just popped up on Facebook.  I hope you can see it.

 

https://www.facebook.com/bhamroyalballet/videos/793862724356050/

Wonderful!