-
Posts
30 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Everything posted by yvonnep
-
Favourite underappreciated dancers
yvonnep replied to maryrosesatonapin's topic in Performances seen & general discussions
I only knew Deborah Bull from the ballet documentary she hosted and danced in. Her Two Pigeons final pas de deux with Adam Cooper remains my favorite version aside from the original cast(They were coached by Lynn Seymour). Also that pas de deux from The Invitation might be the only recording on the Internet of the dances between the Wife and the Boy. I was amazed by her after watching the documentary and was very disappointed to find out that few recordings were made of her. James Hay’s lines and legato-style movements always remind me of the sense of harmony I see in great dancers of the past generations. I hope he’ll get more chances to prove himself in the future. -
Cinema casting (Royal Ballet)
yvonnep replied to Sharon's topic in Ballet / Dance news & information
As far as I remember, Cuthbertson was’t cast in any big classic in cinema broadcast in the past 10 years except Beauty. Nutcracker hardly counts. Her Beauty with Pulunin was never commercially released. (Possibly because of Polunin’s departure from RB) so people who live in other countries can only rely on pirated videos to see her in the role of Aurora. IMO It is only wise to record her while she’s at her peak and sickness and injuries seem to not have occurred for a while, otherwise there might not be a chance to (as in the case of Morera). I cannot understand why this is a problem, as some other dancer was cast again and again in almost every major role in RB rep in cinema broadcasts and nobody seemed to have opened a thread to complain about it. Maybe it’s because this time they are all In the same season? -
In the Khan version, she was pregnant from the beginning. Their first meeting in the ballet was she trying to tell him about it but not being able to. Khan explained it when the company performed that scene in NYC.
- 22 replies
-
- casting
- English National Ballet
-
(and 2 more)
Tagged with:
-
Royal Ballet Winter 2019/20 casting
yvonnep replied to Lizbie1's topic in Ballet / Dance news & information
It was a deliberate choice because their interpretations of Odile are just different. I wouldn’t say either of them is a lot better than the other. Cuthbertson is more luring and subtle, while Nuñez is more aggressive and straightforward.- 302 replies
-
- 1
-
- Royal Ballet
- Winter
-
(and 3 more)
Tagged with:
-
Royal Ballet Winter 2019/20 casting
yvonnep replied to Lizbie1's topic in Ballet / Dance news & information
Yes, I saw her with Muntagirov in Swan Lake in Vienna last Christmas. From the dramatic perspective my personal opinion is that she’s much better in the role of Odette than Nuñez (who’s been casted more than once in live cinema). Speaking of Beauty, although Cuthbertson was casted in live cinema broadcast ten years ago that version was never commercially released if I remember correctly.- 302 replies
-
- Royal Ballet
- Winter
-
(and 3 more)
Tagged with:
-
Performances in the U.S.A.
yvonnep replied to Ivy Lin's topic in Performances seen & general discussions
Yes. I should have rephrased it as "that he felt an urge to reflect in ballet". Thanks. -
Performances in the U.S.A.
yvonnep replied to Ivy Lin's topic in Performances seen & general discussions
There is a huge difference between loving the theme of abuse and treating abuse as a reality that needs to be reflected in ballet. I see most of his ballets (especially the ones that I love most, like Romeo and Juliet, Manon, Mayerling, Requiem, Song of the Earth) not as works that “entertain” me, but works that profoundly expand the horizon of human compassion in the world of ballet. -
Ballets you'd like programmed every season
yvonnep replied to Lizbie1's topic in Performances seen & general discussions
The Dream paired with Song of The Earth Symphonic Variations Concerto Monotones Winter Dreams Rhapsody Coppelia Dances at a Gathering (I wonder if it's still in the RB repertoire...) There isn't any official recording of Requiem available, is there? I was deeply moved upon seeing a solo performed by Viviana Durante in a South Bank documentary last week and wonder why a DVD was never released... (maybe the same reason as why Darcey's farewell performance of Song of the Earth was never released?) -
ROH Membership - is it worth it?
yvonnep replied to JNC's topic in Performances seen & general discussions
I second it. She might have changed the intention of some pieces of the choreography (not the choreo itself though) in order to suit her own portrayal of Manon but imho her dramatic dancing in Act 1&2 is much more impressive than some of the other dancers I saw. The chemistry between she and Alex Campbell was simply the best among all the couples I saw in the last run. TBH i hadn’t expected that at all and am most glad that I didn’t miss the chance of seeing her.- 51 replies
-
- 2
-
- Royal Opera House
- Friends
-
(and 1 more)
Tagged with:
-
Sorry, I think that link expired. I uploaded it again to another site and here it is:
-
Thanks, Odyssey! Yes, I also saw posts requesting for it in other forums like BalletAlert. It seems that some people did manage to download it at the time the book was made available, but most of them have stopped going to the forum, so the request didn't reach them. On finding that there has been no post about it here on this forum, I thought I'd try my luck I wholeheartedly agree that the books on Fonteyn and Royal Ballet from Keith Money are wonderful! I also love the book from Leslie E Spatt on Sibley and Dowell. In the preface of the book the author said that there were over 1000 pictures of them in her collection. I always wondered if there is a chance that she could publish a sequel to that book...However, I also recognise that there might not be sufficient demand for it as illustrated in the case of the Keith Money book on Christopher Gable
-
Before seeing this picture of Dowell I had never given it a thought…
-
I’ve been having a huge crush on Christopher Gable since I saw pictures of him dancing in Sylvia, 2 Pigeons and Les Sylphides... In Ballet Association’s News on 2011-05-03, I saw this: The distinguished ballet, theatre and documentary photographer Keith Money has made his 279 page book available for free download in pdf format. In the author's words: "The major portion of this volume comprises a photographic essay which focusses on the complex art of balletic partnership, as exemplified by one particular dancer, Christopher Gable, whose brief yet extraordinary dancing career, principally in the early sixties, brought fresh emphasis to the nuances inherent in ballet double work…" Unfortunate the link doesn’t work anymore. I’m wondering if anyone who has downloaded it could kindly share it with me? Much appreciated!
-
I agree completely with HappyTurk on Naghdi's Juliet. I don't seem to get Ball's Romeo, either. He dances a lot of Romeo's steps with such a princely manner that they have become quite out of context. I don't think MacMillan intended Romeo to be a typical princely character as Albrecht in Giselle. The close-ups in cinema broadcast also didn't do him favour, because clearly he didn't know what kind of expressions he should put on under certain circumstances such as Mercucio's death. His partnering was exceptionally good, though.
- 1,139 replies
-
- Royal Ballet
- Romeo & Juliet
-
(and 3 more)
Tagged with:
-
Yes. Lynn said that in the documentary Deborah Bull made about choreographers. Three years ago I knew nothing of this ballet when I first saw clips of the revival broadcast. I didn't like Lauren Cuthbertson in it -- She didn't seem to move her upper body enough as suggested by the music. She's a very good dancer actress, and I liked her in roles like Juliet, Marguerite, Manon and Mary Vetsera, but her dancing doesn't have that liveliness required by TP. Later I found a recording of dress rehearsal with Seymour and Gable in the NYPL Digital Collection (Gable is also marvelous in it) https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/3c8814e0-f87e-0130-4822-3c075448cc4b I believe the short clip on YT below is from this recording. It is available for access onsite at NYPL for Performing Arts at the Lincoln Center in New York if anyone's interested.
- 454 replies
-
- 3
-
- Royal Ballet
- Asphodel Meadows
- (and 6 more)
-
The "new" Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
yvonnep replied to Geoff's topic in Performances seen & general discussions
Thanks, Rob! Unfortunately I live in the U.S. so I have to rely on the online ship most of the times I'd like to get a DVD of Royal Ballet. Fortunately I had just ordered most of those from the online shop the day before the new version went live, but I do wonder if ROH has decided to remove them from the online shop permanently 🤔 -
The "new" Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
yvonnep replied to Geoff's topic in Performances seen & general discussions
I'm also wondering whether anyone has noticed that they took down a lot of ballet DVD classics from the online shop. To name a few, I can't find any of these: Fonteyn's Sleeping Beauty Fonteyn's Cinderella Dowell&Penney's Manon Irek&Vivianna's Mayerling Alina's Giselle The MacMillan Classics Collection with The Prince of Pagodas DVD which contains a wonderful documentary on Kenneth MacMillan I'm wondering if ROH has decided to not sell ballet DVD classics any more or it's just a technical glitch with the new version of the website. If it's the former, I'm wondering what made them think that these DVDs are not in demand anymore... -
Royal Ballet School holding more international auditions
yvonnep replied to DD Driver's topic in Doing Dance
@ArucariaBallerina If you take a look at the DVDs released by ICAClassics (Nedia Nerina's Giselle, for one), it is clear that dancers of their times were not in any way less technically advanced than dancers nowadays. Take the ending of Giselle's variation in Act 1 for instance, I've never seen anyone respond to the music like Nadia did here: https://vimeo.com/138445109. It is jaw-dropping. I was as stunned as the time when I saw Fonteyn hopping in arabesque on pointe in the Sleeping Beauty Act 3 coda. -
Does RB make most money by cinema broadcasts and the DVDs they sell? If that is not the case, IMHO who gets relayed in cinema should be decided based on artistic merit instead of popularity, because it is also the company's responsibility to promote the best of the British ballet school, which in turn will produce more stars at RB and benefit the company financially in the long run. P.S. Instead of a Mayerling broadcast I would rather get a Winter Dreams one which hasn't been broadcasted for more than two decades if I remember correctly, but that is another question of course
- 649 replies
-
WANTED: Mayerling @ ROH 15 Oct x2
yvonnep replied to yvonnep's topic in Ticket Exchange & Special Offers
Oh I didn't know that... Thank you!