ninamargaret

I belong to an on line forum connected with knitting and sewing crafts. It is very well run - I always think of it as the craft version of Ballet Forum! A member recently posted a question complaining that she had been told by she could no longer take her knitting to the theatre! She was horrified by this and couldn't see what was wrong with doing it. Other posters agreed,saying they had taken knitting to ballet performances, the RSC etc. I'm happy to say that the majority responding were totally against it. Hope this lady doesn't put in an appearance at any performances attended by members of Ballet Forum!

So sorry to see him go, especially as I can no longer see live performances. Just thankful that I saw him in quite a few roles, including Manon and Romeo, but particularly memorable was his Two Pigeons with Yuhui Choe. What a pity he seemed to have been so under used of late.

I've recently had problems watching via the streaming service. Tried to watch the new Nutcracker and the transmission, or whatever you'd call it, stopped 7 times during the first act. Easy to just press OK and carry on but not a good way to watch. Tried things I had watched before without difficulty, same happened. I've_contacted the Box Office,told them I'm using a Fire Stick and am slightly relieved to have been told that other people using the service by the same method have complained. They are looking into it, but no time scale or apology or offer to suspend subscription is given. Wonder if  they're having technical difficulties?

There's also what is listed on Europadisc's website as the Stuttgart ballet documentary available from late October. Also listed on Amazon but shown as being unavailable. It has documentaries about Marcia Haydee and Friedemann Vogel, plus others. 

1 hour ago, Pas de Quatre said:

What about the Antony Tudor ballets? Shadowplay, Lilac Garden, Dark Elegies & Gala Performance, just to name a few. Magnificent ballets that seem to have been lost in UK.

Totally agree about those you have named. I'd also love to see Les Noces and Les Biches ( a bit academic as I can't attend performances now) and I could, like any elderly ballet goer list many other ballets that I think should be seen. I suppose the problem is that to mount revivals of these is expensive,  and in harsh economic terms unlikely to be worth it. We all know how ballets that are unknown to the general public are difficult to sell and obviously the ROH is cautious about adding to its precarious financial state. Don't know what the answer is - just glad I'm not Kevin!

On 31/08/2023 at 10:30, andrewfarmer said:

I have experienced this issue also watching via Amazon Firestick 4k and the most annoying thing is that the trailer for Like Water For Chocolate plays perfectly with a super crisp picture but the full ballet continually jerks and jumps making it impossible to watch. ROH Stream have never got back with a working fix, changing the stream bandwidth makes no difference and my broadband speed is more than adequate enough.

Still having problems. Have contacted ROH about this and get different answers according to whoever answers my email! I was told that they transmit in 4k , but your comment about this would seem to employ that this is not the answer. I also use Marquee and a couple of other apps and have no problems, and my Fire stick is not the 4k variety. It was suggested that the version I was using was out of date, but the Fire stick automatically downloads and I can see no reason to think that it would not have downloaded ROH updates.

I wish technical problems could be sorted out before future streams are issued. All the streaming up until Like Water were fine. I tried to watch Like Water and gave up because of buffering problems. I hadn't realised that this could possibly be improved by adjusting 'settings' as there had been no need to do it in the past. The Ashton triple had the same issues - thanks to this forum I made the alteration to settings and was able to watch it, although the quality was far inferior to earlier streams. I have good broadband speeds and have no problems with other streaming, so what's_the problem with ROH?

Loved watching him dance. Always looked as though he was thoroughly enjoying himself. And  particularly notable in Pineapple Poll.

Have greatly enjoyed reading comments and seeing pictures of the Japan tour. By all accounts it appears to have been a huge success. Wouldn't it be wonderful if some sort of recognition by our arts loving government could be given, or even a small.mention in the press? 

7 hours ago, Jane S said:

If you didn't understand Harlequin in April I'm not surprised - nobody else did either!

 

Cranko didn't help by prefacing it, in the programme notes, with the opening lines of T.S.Eliot's The Wasteland - 'April is the cruellest month...'  - giving rise to endless critical speculation about how this had influenced the choreography and what it all meant - and then, when the ballet was revived some years later, he admitted that it didn't have much to do with it at all and dropped the quotation.

 

(I never saw it but once wrote a long piece about it for Dance Now)

Thank you Jane. Being an avid reader of Dance and Dancers in my childhood I had at least heard of it! But I think Nutcrackers were more attractive to me at the time!

I know it dates me, but one of my earliest memories of seeing real life ballet is when I saw a triple bill containing an early Cranko ballet called Harlequin in April. Please don't ask me what it was about - I remember being very disappointed that there were no pretty costumes to admire! Pineapple Pool was, I think a bit later. In later years I came to love Onegin, Taming of the Shrew, and regret that Card Game and Brandenburgs 2/4 were not kept in the Royal Ballet repertoire. As others on the forum have said it was good to be able to see performances of RBME etc during lock down. Could love to see more from Stuttgart, and wish we had more in the Royal Ballet repertoire.

When I attended ballet a lot in the 70s/80a my seat of choice was front row stalls. Perfect view - no obstructions as long as you avoided the seats behind the conductor. For some performances centre stalls circle was equally good. After the major revamp, I found that if I sat in front row stalls I could only see dancers from the knees up, and if someone tall was in the back row stalls my stalls circle seat became restricted  view. It seems to me that in an attempt to improve the rake in th stalls they raised the back of the stalls and lowered the front,thus improving some sight lines and making others worse. Wouldn't it be marvellous to have a purpose built theatre for ballet that gave everyone perfect sight lines? We can dream!

2 hours ago, Bluebird said:

 

Stalls £240 - £325

Stalls Circle £25 - £325

Grand Tier £310-£325

Grand Tier Boxes £193-£310

Balcony £25-£294

Balcony Boxes £87

Slips £14-£43

Amphitheatre £14-£146

 

Edited to add that I've only quoted the lowest and the highest price for each area.

As is often the case with opera, there seem to be huge gaps in price ranges. I decided I might, at a pinch, be able to afford a side stalls circle at £113. But the next price in stalls circle is £193! Mobility issues mean that I am limited in where I can sit, so if, as I suspect, the £113 seats will have vanished by the time Friends booking opens I'll do without.

Not especially relevant to you, but she was married to the marvellous conductor Gennadi Rohzdestvensky for a while

4 hours ago, Emeralds said:

That’s the easiest bit - lots of piano dealers hire them out, eg Steinway, Yamaha, Kauai, etc etc - and can arrange or recommend a good tuner to service the pianos before each performance. 

They could, if course, use the original version which doesn't use pianos. It's just been released on a cd, and is far more percussive than the four piano version.

23 hours ago, alison said:

Where's enb getting four pianists from?

And four grand pianos?

It would be nice if they could fix a technical glitch which means that several of the insights cannot be seen in the streaming service. If you try to watch them it only allows you to add them to your 'to watch' list. I've been in touch with ROH and they say they know about it but don't know why it happens! Their only answer is to use the website link. That, combined with the lack of anything new or not already on DVD, makes the streaming service pretty superfluous.

2 hours ago, MargaretN7 said:

The first time I saw Cinderella, 29th December, 1958, Fonteyn and Somes, the step sisters were Moyra Fraser and Margaret Hill. If assume Ashton was involved with that, then he was casting women early on.

I saw this as well, and have tried to remember the name of the person playing the second sister. I think Moyra Fraser had actually appeared in revue- don't know if she trained as a dancer. I may be wrong, but I don't think they were actually members of the company.

Sorry to be awkward, but I rather like the score!Having said that, when I first saw the ballet in 1958 i wasn't enthusiastic, particularly disliking the big minor key waltz in the ball scene.I wonder if it's just a case of expecting something 'prettier' to go along with our ideas of the Cinderella story? Prokofiev  obviously didn't have the same idea and I find his sharper and rather more melancholic take on the story refreshing. 

Just watched it on You Tube. For some reason, although it's listed on the streaming service it was not available to watch. Strange, especially as I received an email from the ROH telling it was available, together with Sylvia.

I feel so lucky to have seen her in quite a few roles. Apart from being a glorious Juliet, she could also be extremely funny - a ballet like Cranko's Card Game suited her very well. Very sad to read of her death.

An I the only person old enough to remember that in the early 50s you could order tea trays at matinees which would be brought to your seat at the interval? I think this was never a feature of ROH performances, but certainly was common enough at drama performances  for critics to complain about the rattling of teacups at the resumption of the play. And at one time a chocolate manufacturer produced theatre chocolates, which were wrapped in a non crinkly paper! 

I found the whole thing absolutely beautiful! For a start, the opera is just about my favourite, and I found James Hay's dancing marvellous to watch. I admit he is one of my favourite dancers - each movement seems to use his whole body - difficult to explain, but a simple foot movement seems to finish Archie fingertips! If anyone can tell.me what I mean I'd be grateful. And certainly 'yes' for Lensky, double 'yes' for Onegin!

! 

33 minutes ago, alison said:

I'd so love to see Muntagirov dance it.  As well   

 

Trying to remember who I *have* seen dance it: Bruce Sansom, Stuart Cassidy, Federico Bonelli and Ed Watson, I think ...  Did Inaki Urlezaga do one season, too?

Christopher Gable made a pretty good job of it! And if course my first Daphnis had to be Michael Somes. That dates me!

Yes please, particularly the Tudor and can Manen!