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bridiem

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  1. bridiem
    I don't get Dance Europe and I'd missed this completely. Matthew Ball has clearly been involved for some time. I wonder when and for how long he'll be away from the RB? I hope the film is good and a worthy tribute to Spessivtseva - the dancers involved are certainly top quality! I wonder why there's no mention of Diaghilev in the casting?
  2. bridiem
    You see Giselle rising above Albrecht, lovingly watching over him as he weeps at her grave.
  3. bridiem
    She doesn't disappear in the BRB production, and I absolutely love that ending. This one promises to be even more radical (literally). For me, the concept is powerful (Giselle's forgiveness and love so complete that she wishes only for Albrecht's future happiness). But as you say it depends how it's staged - will be very interesting to see if/how it works.
  4. bridiem
    As far as I can see the Giselle broadcast is at 3pm in fact, not in the evening.
  5. bridiem
    I think there might be a bit of shoe hysteria setting in now... I'm very glad that Takada and Hirano are back.
  6. bridiem
    Lovely to see the footage of Seymour and Nureyev. They were my first Aurora/Prince (only my second ever ballet performance, in November 1977) followed a few weeks later by Collier and Dowell with Seymour as Carabosse! Could any of the current Auroras also be a convincing Carabosse?! A certain Natalia springs to mind...
  7. bridiem
    Shouldn't the prize be a signed pointe shoe?!
  8. bridiem
    Thanks for posting this, Xandra. I have somehow managed never to hear of/come across British Ballet Now & Then and it looks very interesting.
  9. bridiem
    I noticed that too, but I assumed that that kind of input comes from others in the company and that Samantha Raine's input is primarily technical. i.e. she's a ballet mistress, not a coach. Not sure if I'm right about that though!
  10. bridiem
    Actually I see the Makarova production was 2003, not 2004 - so not even a decade of the previous production.
  11. bridiem
    Really interesting - I watched the ROH programme when it first aired in ?1995, but I didn't remember it in any detail. I've just watched Episode 2 as posted above by Lindsay, and Episode 3 in which the production premières in Washington led by Darcey Bussell and Zoltan Solymosi (who both seem to have done a very creditable job in incredibly difficult circumstances). All horribly stressful and exhausting just to watch! The irony being that with the benefit of hindsight we know that the production, the overspend on which was at least in part justified by the fact that it would last 'decades', would in fact only last one decade before it was replaced by the (short-lived) Makarova production in 2004. The designs for the 1994 production were very dramatic but honestly - poor Aurora/Darcey having to come down a very steep, awkward flight of steps at her first entrance (as if the prospect of the Rose Adagio isn't bad enough!), and I laughed when Vanessa Palmer said wryly 'I feel as if I should be in a Dracula movie'. Quite. Makes me feel rather more kindly towards the designs of the current production. Great fun seeing the dancers rehearsing, chatting in their dressing rooms, flying to the US, etc - many familiar faces, including some who still perform now (e.g. Gary Avis!). It would be fascinating to know how different things might be at the ROH if such a documentary were to be made now in advance of a big new production. Though something tells me that any such documentary would be a bit (or a lot) less candid/open than this one was.
  12. bridiem
    It's not possible to ask someone to sit back in their seat (if they're leaning forward when a performance starts, as sometimes happens) without touching their shoulder (lightly). I've done this many times (and I then ask politely if they could sit back, and say thank you if/when they do). I'm probably lucky I haven't been knocked to the floor subsequently... Terrifying.
  13. bridiem
    Thanks Geoff! Another DVD to add to my wish list...
  14. bridiem
    So Helpmann was Carabosse as well as Florimund?!! I hadn't remembered that. So there must have been more changes to the text than I realised, since there are times now when both are on stage at the same time. (Did Ashton ever play Carabosse?).
  15. bridiem
    I don't know the answer to your question, Lizbie1, but that's one of my favourite moments too. It was especially beautiful on Tuesday evening as performed by Yasmine Naghdi - it was as if she was turning and bending almost in a trance of joy as her life opened up in front of/around her. Exquisite. (And a terrific Rose Adagio from Fonteyn on the video!).
  16. bridiem
    No, unfortunately not - I'd booked for Tuesday evening when Naghdi stepped in. But 'lumbering' was a bad choice of word in my previous post in any case - the fish dives I've seen in this run have been good; they're just a lot slower now than in the Sibley/Dowell clip. You can see them unfold, whereas they used to be a real and apparently reckless headlong dive.
  17. bridiem
    Wow! Now that explains to me why, although I'm still aware that they're difficult, I don't find the fish dives nearly as exciting as I used to. The dives in this rehearsal are a) much faster, and b) much deeper - real dives! Sibley almost ends up vertical. Makes today's fish dives, even when well done, look almost lumbering.
  18. bridiem
    It's just like being there. 😁
  19. bridiem
    Just goes to prove that another journalist is writing about something of which they have no knowledge or understanding...
  20. bridiem
    That's interesting, Sebastian. The current RB synopsis says it's her 16th birthday, and I've always had that age in my head. I don't know, but perhaps 20 was some sort of coming-of-age age in Russia at the time, whereas 16 wasn't?? And now 16 does still have some of that connotation whereas 20 doesn't? Just speculating. (And 16 - or even earlier in some eras - would be an age when a princess would have been expected to be married off in past ages, whereas by 20 she would have been positively middle-aged!). I was thinking last night that if Aurora hadn't pricked her finger, she would have been married off to one of the Princes in Act I and maybe ended up in India or Russia. I wonder how her life would have turned out then?!
  21. bridiem
    I wanted to add a special word for Romany Pajdak as the Fairy of the Crystal Fountain; she is such an expressive dancer, and she made her fairy a real personality so you see the familiar solo as new. Brilliant. I also thought that Mayara Magri was a vibrant Fairy of the Enchanted Garden, and Anna Rose O'Sullivan a thrilling Fairy of the Golden Vine. These two dancers go from strength to strength and are a wonder to behold. Magri was also a dynamic, characterful Princess Florine, and Cesar Corrales a high-flying Bluebird. I do however find his noisy landings distracting (and a bit worrying), and he always looks to me as if his shoulders are slightly hunched. Magri and Corrales do have great chemistry and I hope they will dance together more often. And a final word for Gary Avis's majestic King; gracious, handsome, imperious, loving, and as usual every gesture and every meaning clear across the whole sweep of the auditorium. He is a national treasure!!
  22. bridiem
    Beautiful performance from Naghdi and Campbell tonight - both brilliant technically, but both also masters of stagecraft and so able to present their characters with theatrical flair and confidence. As Geoff has said, Naghdi danced incredibly in Act I - with an openness and grace that surpassed even her first night performance. AND, unlike on opening night, Carabosse (a slightly manic and very effective Hayley Forskitt) was visibly shattered in the mirror over the bed at the moment of the kiss, so clearly showing her defeat and destruction. Yay! (I like the fact that when Carabosse escapes down the hatch in Act I, the Lilac Fairy emerges through the haze of smoke that lingers after her; evil leaving its stench behind, but goodness able to come through it, dispel it and bring the clarity of love and truth in its stead. And Claire Calvert was a tranquil, authoritative Lilac Fairy, well able to bring about the resolution of the drama.)
  23. bridiem
    Oh no! I am very happy to see Naghdi again but I was so looking forward to seeing Hayward and Campbell together and this is their last performance. I hope Hayward recovers quickly. (Whose Instagram account is this on, please Clara_f? It hasn't appeared in my feed.)
  24. bridiem
    Except that that would infringe Aurora's personal privacy; probably best if he just leaves her to sleep and lets Carabosse triumph. Who really cares after all - it's only a silly fairy tale.
  25. bridiem
    I did wonder if it was just me, but there were some very negative online comments on YouTube from people who'd clearly (and not unreasonably) been expecting only the RB.
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