CCL

There is a shop on Manchester Road in Altrincham called Fit to Dance, that’s quite a bit nearer than Warrington 😊 They have a website if you’d like to check them out

Thank you Sim for sharing such wonderful memories. I’m very sad to hear this news. I vividly remember Kevin as Tybalt (and Koen as Mercutio) at a performance of R and J at the Leeds Grand in October 1986. Utterly thrilling! After the performance I *had* to see it again and bought a balcony ticket for £1 for the Saturday matinee. I saw him in the years following in various roles including in the incomparable Swansong. A special dancer and clearly a special person, I am very sorry for your loss.

Thanks for this warmly enthusiastic review Odyssey- I’m on my way to Birmingham to see it, and this has given me a taster of what to look out for. It’s been a long time since I saw BRB and I’m very excited!

There was indeed a biography and photo of Mr Camargo in the red programme. It’s on the page before the bio of KOH, with the bios of creatives. I’ve tried to upload a pic but it’s too large!

I’ve just got home from today’s matinee, a really joyous afternoon. There was so much to enjoy, a number of strong performances. I thought Kaneko and Camargo were a delightful pairing, with plenty of chemistry. They thoroughly deserved the loud cheers at the curtain calls.

I’m going to the Bromley performance- this press release has certainly whetted my appetite!

 So Ballet Boyz will be on this week’s ‘Greatest Dancer’, following Rambert last Saturday - I’ll be watching with interest

Once I got to the virtual queue it moved rapidly...although I managed to accidentally exit and ended up re-queueing 🙁 hope people have managed to get the tickets they wanted

Same for me, Bruce 😔

I shall be at the Birmingham performance on March 2nd, a thoughtful Christmas gift, and very much looking forward to seeing it

I had to finish my comment this morning somewhat abruptly as I was going out for the day. I wanted to reiterate how much I enjoyed and appreciated ENB’s Manon, and that I think, like other posters above, that the partnership of Frola and McWhinney was something special. I’ve now seen Frola in The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and Manon, and his dancing moved me deeply every time.

8 hours ago, Irmgard said:

Please, please, please continue to watch ballets and let us know how you react to them!  Apart from paying tribute to the wonderful performances I am privileged to see, I would hope that my reports enhance your viewing pleasure by pointing out some of the lovely details to watch out for.  Yes, I do have specialist knowledge but the biggest pleasure of having that knowledge is to share it with others.

Irmgard, your long review above did exactly that for me when I read it yesterday morning and it really whetted my appetite for yesterday’s matinee, different cast notwithstanding. I’d like to echo the thanks of other posters for your deeply insightful responses. I was profoundly moved yesterday afternoon by the performance of Frola and McWhinney; the thunderous applause they received was richly deserved. They had total chemistry as a partnership, the first bedroom pd2 in particular was just everything I want to feel when I go to the ballet. 

Thanks JohnS, I hadn’t yet looked at all the TV and radio links so was not aware of this programme (I have the Radio Times double issue too, and have barely opened it!) I will listen to the programme this afternoon.

Link to article mentioned above

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/dec/16/tchaikovksy-nutcracker-ballet

I attended the evening performance on December 20th with my daughters. We usually go to a matinee between Christmas and New Year, so it was interesting to note the different response from an evening pre-Christmas audience- it was noisier but in a very appreciative way. I saw the same main cast that Irmgard mentions above, and I would echo her comments about both Shiori Kase and Francesco Gabriele Frola. Shiori Kase was utterly beguiling from her first entrance and I was very moved by her pas de deux with the injured Nutcracker. Daniel McCormack was also excellent here, and I look forward to seeing more of his dancing. The grand pdd in Act 2 was another highlight for me, Frola dancing with great power and charisma and Shiori also dazzling. My daughters were extremely impressed with Sophie Carter as young Clara, her dancing was assured and enchanting. I have mixed feelings about the character dances in Act 2, but I was riveted by Fernanda Carratalá Coloma in the Spanish, and excited to see one of my favourite ENB dancers, Rina Kanehara, in the Chinese dance. The music, as ever, was wonderful. May I take this opportunity to highlight a wonderful piece from the Guardian, written seven years ago, but still available to read online, written by Gavin Plumley, about Tchaikovsky’s music for the Nutcracker. It perfectly explained for me why aspects of the music never fail to have me in tears! I’ll try to get a link to the article. So - overall, a lovely evening and I’m greatly looking forward to Swan Lake on the 11th Jan. Happy New Year to all.

I booked (at different times) for all three ENB ballets at the Coliseum, and it looks like I have a Frola hat trick! I’m very excited about seeing him dance.

Thanks to this thread for making me aware of this offer! I’ve booked a decent balcony seat at the Sat mat for a tenner - and the surprise of whoever is dancing can be part of the fun 😊

Very sad news. Just went on to YouTube and watched him dancing the magnificent pdd from DQ with Anianashvili - wonderful

I’m very late in writing about Saturday’s matinee, but better late than never, I hope. I thought it was glorious.

i had never seen Jurgita Dronina dance before - I was very much looking forward to doing so, and she certainly did not disappoint- I thought she was exquisite. She was lovely in Act 1, full of joy and ebullience, and her Rose Adage was very strong. I very much liked Isaac Hernandez too - in Act 2 there was a lovely stillness to his presence. I completely believed in the relationship between Aurora and Desire and the chemistry between them was clear to me in both the Vision pdd and the radiant wedding pdd.

Other highlights for me - Sarah Kundi as Carabosse combined fury and spite with some wickedly humorous touches: I loved the contemptuous pulling off and tossing aside of Catalabutte’s hat and wig. I also enjoyed Rina Kanehara as the fairy of the woodland glade; I always think she has beautiful presence. 

There was so much to enjoy and admire - a wonderful afternoon.

Thank you for the heads up about ACCiW, Terpsichore- it sounds delightful - I hope it does indeed come to Sadler’s Wells later in the year.

 I enjoyed your longer review of ‘Cinderella’ on your blog.

2 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

The tiny red letters at the bottom of the post are a clickable link.

Thank you, Jan! How dozy am I?! 

This sounds interesting. I grew up in Sale - the Waterside theatre did not exist in its current form then, it was a tiny civic theatre, used for local amateur operatic productions. However, the Odeon cinema occasionally hosted Northern Ballet productions. I saw Giselle there, and a much-loved ballet called Miss Carter Wore Pink.

Would love to read more about this version of Cinderella- is there a link to your blog, Terpsichore?

Caroline

4 hours ago, Lynette H said:

Playlist 1,2 would sit very happily in one of Sadler's annual Sampled programmes, where they serve up a mix of excerpts from different companies and genres. The stalls seats are taken out and standing down there is cheap. I can imagine it going down very well with that usually very lively audience. 

What a fantastic idea! Hope someone takes note!

My sketchy thoughts from this afternoon - I enjoyed all four pieces and thought they complemented each other well. Fantastic Beings was absorbing and intriguing- sinewy dancing, sometimes playful, sometimes threatening, sometimes beautiful. The score was stirring and played with great vigour by the orchestra. I was fascinated by Approximate Sonata and its 5 different pdd, sometimes disjointed and almost deconstructed, yet it felt very intimate somehow, and again there was an element of playfulness. The Cage was thrilling: the almost impossible fierceness of the female creatures was a sight to behold, and Stravinsky’s score was so vivid and urgent. Finally, I loved LOVED Playlist (Track one, two). Virtuoso dancing and so joyful and euphoric - this must be the first time I’ve been to the ballet and wanted to stand up and join in! Overall I felt that ENB look strong,unified and at the top of their game.  I envy anyone who is yet to see Voices of America!

I’m going tomorrow afternoon- I’ll try to post some thoughts when I get home!

I also couldn’t get the info on a tablet, it was the same cast list for each date, even when I clicked “ all dates”. I had to switch to laptop to get the correct info. Anyway, I booked for the matinee performance of the 13th - very much looking forward to it.