bridiem

I thought both the production and the performances were a total joy. Glorious music, a riot of colour on the stage with the most beautiful sets and costumes, wonderful dancing and characterisation; truly 'such stuff as dreams are made on'. No doubt assisted by having the most superb cast - Francesca Hayward, Alexander Campbell and Gary Avis deserve 'all the superlatives'. And Fumi Kaneko was a gorgeous Aurora, with Itziar Mendizabal a positively spiritual Prayer. Yes, the plot is as thin as air; but like air, it transports you to other realms.

It's many years since I've seen Coppélia, and I wasn't sure how enthusiastic I felt about seeing it again. Now, it's right up there with Fille as the most joyous experience I can imagine.

Hamilton is replaced by Mendizabal as Prayer.

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?

8 minutes ago, LinMM said:

How exactly does the BRB one end then?

 You see Giselle rising above Albrecht, lovingly watching over him as he weeps at her grave.

1 hour ago, LinMM said:

I think it would be very difficult to add to the pathos of today's ending with the original one somehow but would have to see how exactly staged etc but the ending as it is now seems perfect to me as Giselle disappears forever and Albrecht is left alone on stage to contemplate what has happened! 

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.

15 minutes ago, Sim said:

This is on the same night as the live broadcast from the Bolshoi of Ratmansky’s new Giselle....

As far as I can see the Giselle broadcast is at 3pm in fact, not in the evening.

I think there might be a bit of shoe hysteria setting in now... 

I'm very glad that Takada and Hirano are back.

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 minutes ago, Rob S said:

And the answers are:

 

Naghdi

Hayward

Osipova

 

There are no winners tonight so the prize pot rolls over to next week and stands at an estimated 75p

Shouldn't the prize be a signed pointe shoe?!

Thanks for posting this, Xandra. I have somehow managed never to hear of/come across British Ballet Now & Then and it looks very interesting.

32 minutes ago, Jamesrhblack said:

I didn’t see the Insights when Dame Beryl Grey apparently jumped up and joined in but it did strike we watching this Insight on Beauty that although Samantha Raine worked very technically with the dancers there seemed to be no input at an artistic level to help define the nature of the solo. This struck me as odd ...

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!

50 minutes ago, bridiem said:

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.

Actually I see the Makarova production was 2003, not 2004 - so not even a decade of the previous production.

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.

4 minutes ago, Sim said:

It’s so sad what is happening to this country. 😢

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 minutes ago, Geoff said:

Yes Ashton indeed did and very good he was too. There is a wonderful American tv recording of the company doing (much of) Sleeping Beauty, available on dvd here: 

 

www.amazon.com/Tchaikovsky-Sleeping-Beauty-Fonteyn-Sadlers/dp/B0002VGRAE/

 

Incidentally may I add a plug for Beryl Grey’s iconic Lilac Fairy? The clips of her doing the Prologue variation seem to have sadly vanished from YouTube but she is captured in her full glory on this dvd. An object lesson in how to dance the part, and a corrective to some of the views expressed here about some more recent dancers who have attempted the part.

Thanks Geoff!

Another DVD to add to my wish list...

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?).

8 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

Speaking of the choreographic text - my favourite moment of the Rose Adagio (possibly of the whole ballet) as performed by the Royal Ballet is the passage about half way through, just after the shoulder lift, where Aurora bourrées on the spot with deep bends and extravagant port de bras. (See Fonteyn at the beginning of this video: https://youtu.be/Ff9wotb7pyM)

 

I *think* I've only ever seen RB and RB derived productions having this way of doing it: other companies' versions, as far as I've seen, range from an elegant sort of repeated charge forwards to some rather aimless twirling.

 

What I wonder is: is the RB version how Sergeyev instructed it, or is it perhaps another of those enhancements Ashton cooked up for Fonteyn? (The bends are certainly Ashtonian.)

 

Does anyone know the likely answer?

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!).

1 hour ago, JohnS said:

 

Did you manage to see Francesca Hayward/Alex Campbell this run - I thought they were astonishing?

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.

30 minutes ago, Odyssey said:

Re : Fish dives.

 

You might be interested in this rehearsal of Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell by Michael Soames

https://youtu.be/_k3g8DMOIOU
 

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.

It's just like being there. 😁

4 minutes ago, Sim said:

Not sure what Marianela Nunez or Natalia Osipova (or any of the other RB Principals) would say to FH being called 'the RB's principal dancer' !! 

Just goes to prove that another journalist is writing about something of which they have no knowledge or understanding...

6 minutes ago, Sebastian said:

 

Many thanks for drawing attention to this Xandra. Just one addendum: the writer says Aurora pricks her finger on her 16th birthday, which is a common confusion. The original Perrault tale does indeed say "fifteen or sixteen years" but the libretto for the 1890 premiere of the ballet clearly specifies she is twenty years old. 

 

Does anyone have any ideas as to why this change was made, the manners of the Imperial court perhaps, or the censor?

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?!

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!!

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.)

43 minutes ago, Clara_f said:

Yasmine naghdi is standing in for francesca Hayward this evening due to illness (according to public insta Post), dancing with Alexander Campbell. 

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.)