Sebastian

Here is a recent article from the New York Times about, among other things, Ratmansky’s reaction to the recent production: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/25/arts/dance/alexei-ratmansky-mariinsky-pharaohs-daughter.html This article is behind a paywall but that is usually not too difficult to deal with. The article is headed “The Star Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky on Russia’s Cultural War”.

All tickets now gone

Just noticed this short passage from that lovely book Borzoi by Igor Schwezoff (beloved of a certain generation of balletomane). Perhaps of interest:

These tickets have now gone

An update on ticket sales at the Coliseum. Here is a (broadly) positive review of the current run of Die Tote Stadt / The Dead City: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-operas-a-masterpiece-but-the-production-doesnt-quite-come-off-enos-the-dead-city-reviewed/ Sales in the Balcony have been so poor the ENO have been closing it. Seems the campaign to save the company is not being matched by much public enthusiasm for this show.

Is anyone interested in PatKop (too hard to spell Kopatchinskaja)? Two cheap (only £30 the pair but excellent as near to PK), Sunday 16 April, Barbican, 7.30pm. Please send me a message as well as post here if interested.

22 April now spoken for. The matinee on Saturday 15 April is still available.

Sending you a PM now

I have just returned from London’s Wallace Collection, where we were treated to an early chance to see some of the new work by Mauro de Candia “Carnival of the Animals”, performed by Professional Trainees of the ENB School (now led of course by the incomparable Viviana Durante). Most impressive. it is likely that this unusual, entertaining and thought-proving piece will have a life beyond the School. In any case it is one of three new works premiered in this upcoming programme at Sadler’s Wells, two performances on Wednesday 29 March: https://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/english-national-ballet-school-mixed-bill-2023/ Recommended.

The best free resource for dance books I know in central London is a library just off Leicester Square. Sometimes they even sell off duplicate stock. There is an old thread about it here.

Just checked. The 1955 recording is currently available, with among others Margot Fonteyn, Michael Somes, Frederick Ashton (a wonderful Carabosse) and Beryl Grey.

The late Beryl Grey. A clip of her Lilac Fairy has sometimes been on YouTube but gets taken down. However she can be seen in at least one of the “historic” complete RB Sleeping Beauty’s available on DVD. Just check the cast list and buy in complete safety that you will have a wonderful experience, not just with Lilac but also the rest of the cast. You may however have to search secondhand/Ebay etc, not sure what is available retail at the moment.

Work commitments mean the following tickets are now available: - Saturday 15 April 2023, 1pm | Naghdi, Matthew Ball, Amphitheatre Upper Slips, AA-2 £22.00 Amphitheatre Upper Slips, AA-1 £22.00 - Saturday 22 April 2023, 7pm | Takada, Nicol Edmonds Amphitheatre Upper Slips, CC-2 £22.00 Amphitheatre Upper Slips, CC-1 £22.00 Would prefer to sell pairs. Please send a PM as well as posting here if interested.

And when we were doing ROH's La Donna del Lago in the early 1980s this production had, unsurprisingly, a lady on a lake. The lady was supposed to be drifting across the lake in a sort of punt, which was radio controlled from the wings but rarely worked (or rather it worked in rehearsal but then repeatedly got stage fright). This led to a colleague of mine lying between the lady's legs in the punt, dressed in a black monk's cowl in an attempt to hide his presence, working the motor by hand. Happy days.

Not sure how tactful it is to point this out but those interested in Petipa might like to know that the Mariinsky is about to premiere The Pharaoh's Daughter (the Bolshoi have a production, available on disc) See here:

My post was, as I thought I made clear, about the UK. It is highly likely that if amazon.co.uk are currently showing the book then independent UK bookshops will also be able to obtain the title. That was what I meant, sorry for being unclear.

Happily, we in the UK may be ok - the book is currently showing as a possible pre-order on amazon.co.uk (both in hardback and Kindle).

Just a quick heads up that Marina Harrs's forthcoming book on the life and work of Alexei Ratmansky is set for publication this October:- https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374102616/the-boy-from-kyiv I am great admirer of Ratmansky's work and am much looking forward to reading this.

Ah, Alain. Readers with long memories will recall we have over the years discussed such aspects of Alain several times and most interestingly. I just did a search for him and his umbrella and learned a lot from what people have posted in the past. Might it be ok if I now add a comment relating to the subject of this thread? There are some remarks in a 2015 Dance Tabs review of the then new production of Sleeping Beauty by Ratmansky which might be relevant: https://dancetabs.com/2015/05/american-ballet-theatre-the-sleeping-beauty-new-york/ The review is by Marina Harrs, who is the author of the forthcoming book on Ratmansky and someone who has interviewed him at length. She opens her discussion of the production with these observations: Perhaps the most striking element in Alexei Ratmansky’s new Sleeping Beauty for American Ballet Theatre is its musicality, the way the steps, peppered with accents and breaths, unspool within the music. In most productions of Beauty, the tempi are constantly being adjusted to accommodate the size or difficulty of the steps...Another striking quality is an overall danceiness that we don’t usually associate with the high classicism of Sleeping Beauty. Nothing is static or grandiloquent, and every instant is filled with movement...The choreography just bubbles along, more concerned with exemplifying an emotion or a thought – warmth, happiness, yearning – than with impressing upon the viewer the skill of the dancers.

Thanks for your reports Jeannette and Ivy Lin. I still haven’t yet managed to catch up with this recording so wondered if you had any comments in regard to what I asked earlier…

Thank you very much Jeannette, this is most helpful. My particular interest is in detailed work on meaning, for example on the nature, amount and timing of the mime. How does this aspect compare to Ratmansky's work? The digital program notes are informative. The répétiteur I mentioned (the Titus document you refer to as "one other") is described along with much else. Here is a small extract about it from the program notes (within copyright limits I hope) for the interest of people on the Forum who haven't read Marian Smith's original paper:- The Titus manuscript. According to the Theatre Museum in St. Petersburg—where it is housed today— this 156-page manuscript (for violin and cello) was brought to Russia in 1842 by the ballet master Antoine Titus to aid him in the staging of Giselle in that city. Its great value lies in its copious annotations (in French), which describe the mime scenes, showing specifically how the action matched up to the music...Such annotations disclose not only what music and mime were intended for each other in Giselle in particular, but also open the door to understanding in general how composer and choreographer worked in complementary fashion to create Parisian ballets of this era. Indeed, every note, every phrase, every shift from loud to soft or major to minor is designed to provide the dancers with a vital resource for communicating the drama, moment to moment—a resource that is not always recognized today as such.

Thank you Jeannette, although it’s a rather busy time I am very much hoping to catch this. Do you happen to know who was responsible for the “historically-informing”, what they used and how they worked? Maybe there is a programme note online or such like? Since Marian Smith’s important 2000 publication “The Earliest Giselle” we have known about the répétiteur (annotated violin score) so together with the later Sergeyev/Stepanov materials there is a fair bit to draw on. Fascinating to see what use this company makes of the research.

As a follow up to this discussion I just noticed this post on another thread on the Forum, which is perhaps related:

This confusion seemed worth drawing to ROH's attention. So I wrote to the ever helpful Graham Boland of ROH Customer Services. He replied (and I told him I would update the Forum with what he said): >>Whilst we encourage all to attend our performances, we do have an age guidance of 5 years and above. Sometimes, it is difficult to gauge a child's exact age and occasionally when asked, a parent might provide a slightly older age which can prove difficult for a member of staff to decide upon. This is why the team will advise customers with young children to be aware of their environment with fellow audience members close by and request politely that they leave at the first sign of noise or irritation. I am sorry if this was not explained clearly to the customer before the performance on this occasion. In response to your request for clarification, please be assured that the matter is being addressed at this very time. Our Visitor Experience department, Front of House and Digital teams are working to ensure we have a consistent, departmental approach for delivery of this guidance for all our customers, both online and when visiting. We are aiming for this to be concluded in the coming weeks...It would be remiss of me to comment on this until the group has come to a fuller explanation. As ROH is engaged in a discussion about the issue I presume they would appreciate feedback from its patrons. Graham will no doubt be pleased to feed in any new ideas (I suggested they check the discussion here).

I am looking for one SCS ticket for this performance. Please let me know if you can help out. Many thanks!