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Dawnstar

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  1. Dawnstar
    I loved A Month in the Country & Symphony in C (somewhat to my surprise, as I usually prefer dancing to have a plot) but didn't enjoy The Firebird as much as I thought I would. Apart from Naghdi as the Firebird, the other main characters seemed to spend more time walking around than really properly dancing. I've heard the Firebird Suite & thought that the best music in it would be for the Firebird herself but no, it didn't turn up until the very last scene & the music before that I didn't find very appealing. I'm glad to have finally seen Watson live & I suppose a relatively physically undemanding role is a good way to come back after injury but it didn't seem to give much scope for his talents. I thought Naghdi was very good. I must try to find out when the production dates from - some of the costumes I thought rather hideous! I confess that my heart sinks somewhat at the thought that, thanks to the Fonteyn Gala, this is the piece that I'll be seeing not just once but twice more in the next 10 days. I really enjoyed A Month in the Country. Lovely choreography, music, set & costumes. I thought the cast were all excellent. Nunez seemed far more suited to this than Juliet, acting & dancing both so good. Hayward seems to be weightless on stage; even from the front row I couldn't hear the sound of her pointes. Ball partnered both very well. Hay should have been spared that wig but his dancing was great. I love Avis as roue types (see also Col. Middleton). Having enjoyed Firebird less than I'd expected, I enjoyed Symphony in C more. So many amazing dancers. There did seem to be a minor glitch in the 2nd movement but other than that I thought everything looked great, which can't have been easy with the number of cast changes they've had to get round. Kaneko now seems to be down to dance the 1st movement in all 6 performances & pretty much every first soloist apart from those injured or Firebirding looked to be on. I'm glad that my knowledge of technique is nil as I was able to enjoy watching Hamilton as one of the subsidiery couples in the 2nd movement. I know the experts say her classical technique is wanting but to my ignorant eyes she's a lovely dancer. The sheer number of dancers you get to see in triple bills still amazes me. Tonight there were 8 principals over the 3 ballets & that's after losing some to injury. Or, using another method of comparison, 7 Juliets, 3 Romeos & 2 Mercutios! I loved seeing again so many dancers I've seen in the R&J run.
  2. Dawnstar
    Nice to meet some people beforehand. Apologies for not re-appearing in the intervals. By the time I'd extricated myself from the auditorium & been to the loo I didn't feel I'd have time to make it up there - though given the first interval ended up being significantly longer than 25 mins, in hindsight I would have had time.
  3. Dawnstar
    I'm now even more confused about what various Romeos may or may not have been doing in the ballroom scene! To be honest I didn't notice any differences in that scene between the 5 Romeos I saw. Though I did think Sambe did something different to Zuchetti in Mercutio's ballroom solo. No idea what it was technically but it was so fast he appeared to be on fast forward for a few seconds.
  4. Dawnstar
    As a year-round glove wearer that sounds perfect to me! I should get there around 7 (on the train to London now) so I'll go up to the amphi terrace when I arrive. For ID purposes I'm wearing a beige coat, black trousers & white gloves & have brown hair in a bun & glasses. Edit: train running late so may not arrive in time to get up to the terrace.
  5. Dawnstar
    Hamilton is the dancer I most want to see as Manon out of the RB candidates so to find out she's doing it but only in a non-public performance is jolly frustrating!
  6. Dawnstar
    May I ask which dancers have done which? I haven't the faintest idea what an assemble looks like but I presume that being able to do doubles in indicative of better technique?
  7. Dawnstar
    I love the comments on the various costumes. A pity that, at least for me, only the final photo is displaying so I can't see the apparent horrors of the Sleeping Beauty ones!
  8. Dawnstar
    It's difficult to keep up with all the Symphony in C cast changes but given the pairings for other performances are Magri/Sambe & Choe/Cambell then has Choe replaced Magri also but they've failed to mention it?
  9. Dawnstar
    Ouch! This season, with more frequent ROH attendance, I've mostly been making do with cast sheets, but I guess this probably is an occasion to buy a programme.
  10. Dawnstar
    Oh help, I hope not. If they expect the audience to recognise lots of excerpts without a programme then I'll be hopelessly lost. The only Ashton I've seen so far is Two Pigeons, to which I'll be adding Month in the County tomorrow, so I wouldn't have a clue what anything else is from!
  11. Dawnstar
    I wonder whether how this comes over depends on both the cast & the angle from which one is viewing. When I saw Hirano's Tybalt, with the Nunez/Tissi cast, I thought that, from the angle I was viewing it extreme SC right, it looked like he absolutely stabbed Mercutio on purpose. With other Tybalts it seemed to be more accidental but that may have been because I was viewing them from front on or SC left, where the view is less clear.
  12. Dawnstar
    Is he supposed to be retiring altogether soon or just leaving that company? I've not seen him dance so maybe I'd better book for Manon in case it's the only chance, although I'm slightly dubious about Nunez after finding her not ideal as Juliet. When she wasn't listed for Manon I did start wondering if she was leaving, but then I spotted her down for Concerto. I guess it wouldn't be too surprising if she did leave though, given she's not being given much to do. I can only think of 5 roles she's done the entire season: Mary Vetsera, Juliet, Patineurs, Rose Fairy & Arabian dance. Have I missed anything? It's hardly full time employment compared to most of the other first soloists.
  13. Dawnstar
    I'd bet that you're more knowledgable than I am & goodness knows I've been rabbiting on enough in this thread! It seems a shame that reports indicate that the cinecast isn't going to have the strongest supporting cast. Presumably once certain dancers have been promised the cinecast then it can't be taken away from them.
  14. Dawnstar
    That Enigma cast is my first choice too - purely on liking the dancers. As far as I can work out unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any way of seeing 3 different casts in the 3 ballets over 3 performances, with 1 of the 3 performances being the cinecast, which I would ideally like to do. Maybe I should take up Sudoku instead, it might be easier than trying to work out these cast combinations!
  15. Dawnstar
    I suppose all you experienced ballet viewers are used to processing triple bill castings but upon studiying it more closely & realising that due to cast variations there are in fact 6 cast combinations for Concerto & 5 for Enigma Variations I ended up so confused that I've had to put together a spreadsheet to get my head around it! From which I've worked out that I'll definitely be trying to book for 25th October but trying to decide on a second date is difficult. I don't know any of the pieces being performed. Would people say that Concerto or Raymonda is the more important piece in terms of leads?
  16. Dawnstar
    This evening's brief swordfight in Andrea Chenier was decidedly disappointing compared to all the brilliant ones I've seen in R&J recently!
  17. Dawnstar
    Oh goodness, this is going to be expensive. I want to see 4, possibly 5, of the Manon casts (is Nunez considered to be more suited to Manon than Juliet?), although I'm disappointed to see Hamilton isn't cast as after loving her Juliet I was hoping she would be. Thank heavens the Manon prices are reasonable, at least compared to the other 3-acters. Having finally got round to checking the breakdown of the Sleeping Beauty prices - and having retrieved my jaw! - I think I'll have to limit myself to one visit, assuming I can get an affordable ticket at all given my first choice cast is Hayward/Campbell & I'm away for 2 of their 3 performances. Several appealing casts in Coppelia, especially Magri/Corrales & Morera/Campbell (have they danced together much before?). So many triple bill cast combinations I can't deal with them on my phone. I think it might take a spreadsheet to work out the most appealing possible combinations! Apropos guest casting, if they're going to do it then I think I'd prefer they had a variety of dancers rather than one dancer 3 times in 6 months. Hallberg's dancing as many lead roles as some of the RB male principals & first soloists are in the same period, which doesn't seem quite right.
  18. Dawnstar
    Magri's now on the website in place of Heap. Whether or not they've sent round an email yet I don't know as I'm not seeing either of those 2 performances. I'm glad they've finally announced the opening night Symphony in C cast changes. I was starting to wonder if they were going to draw names from a hat on the night, like the ENB's Rite of Spring! I'm both pleased & unsurprised to see Muntagirov replacing McRae - there don't seem to be that many RB men that Osipova dances with so he seemed the obvious option.
  19. Dawnstar
    They don't seem to specify anywhere whether more than half the tickets under £65 includes the 22,000 low-priced performances. It must make quite a difference to the figures depending on whether they're included or not. Ditto whether or not non-main house performances are included. Page 23 "Improve our understanding of audiences" - not sure whether the regular part of the audience would give them very high marks for this bit! I wonder what the "Ethics Committee" does?
  20. Dawnstar
    I did wonder if Magri was Heap's replacement when her Instagram story yesterday said Firebird stage rehearsals. I'm now rather regretting not having a ticket for that Firebird cast. If the ROH can put photos on Facebook then why can't they update the website, where Heap is still listed?! So that's all 3 Veras then: Hayward, Hinkis & O'Sullivan. I wonder if the Month in the Country rehearsal photos are a mix of casts or all one cast, i.e. could Muntagirov now be dancing opposite Nunez?
  21. Dawnstar
    Given that the blurb on the website says "works indelibly associated with" Fonteyn I'm hoping that there won't be anything ultra-modern so decided I'd take the risk! I've never been to a ballet gala so it'll be a new experience. I'm assuming they'll wheel out a reasonable number of (the uninjured!) principals & 1st soloists.
  22. Dawnstar
    60+ tickets currently available on the ROH website across all areas, from £5-£125. Goodness knows where they've all come from but weeks of checking have finally paid off! I've just snaffled a pair of £55 side stalls circle for me & my mother.
  23. Dawnstar
    Slightly tangental by now but it appears from Muntagirov's Instagram that was recently dancing Swan Lake in Russia, which presumably explains why he couldn't fit in any extra Romeos opposite Nunez, as previously discussed some pages back. In view of the ROH having to borrow 4 dancers from elsewhere at short notice over the last few months, I wonder if they'll reconsider how much guesting they allow company dancers to do in the future?
  24. Dawnstar
    I can understand that they might be holding off the autumn casting announcement because of injuries but they must know who will/won't be recovered in 6 days' time! It's clear from dancers' Instagrams that rehearsals for the triple bill have been going on for weeks. I think it was the first week in May that Hinkis posted a photo of her & Hallberg rehearsing for Month in the Country.
  25. Dawnstar
    Am I the only one currently obsessively email checking in the expectation of a cast change announcement for the mixed bill opening night & slightly baffled that none has yet arrived? Given both Takada & McRae have been officially ruled out of the Japanese tour surely they're not going to be in Symphony in C next Tuesday?
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