BeauxArts
-
Posts
291 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by BeauxArts
-
-
7 hours ago, assoluta said:
The custom that you find disturbing has been common to most places with a developed balletomane audience. Long ago you could witness it in London. Unfortunately no more. You can witness it still at Bolshoi but, curiously, not at Mariinsky where the audience degenerated to the level of meeting and, frequently, parting with the dancers in near total silence, irrespective of the quality of their dancing.
I beg to differ: whatever the origins of this audience behaviour, as far as the Bolshoi are concerned we are talking about claques. I cannot see that they are evidence of a "developed balletomane audience" but rather they are entirely partisan in respect of the dancer they choose or - some say - are paid to support. Watching Sunday's performance in a cinema I found the applause breaking out after a jump or a single lift intrusive and at worst irritating. I am pleased they have moved on from this behaviour at the Mariinsky, and I am sure their dancers enjoy a fulsome response from their audience - that is certainly what comes over from the comments on the Russian Ballet Friends forum and video clips.
-
8
-
-
Here is the link to the interview if anyone is interested in viewing it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwPzfTymOVc&feature=youtu.be
The Staatsballett have today confirmed that he will be dancing Spartacus in March.
-
1
-
-
The interview Polunin gave on Monday morning is available on Youtube - I will post a link when next able. I have been told by a friend in Munich who went to both performances that he did not appear at the stage door at all, leaving many disappointed fans/admirers - some waited for 2 hours apparently before being told he was not going to be appearing. He seems to have an unerring ability to disappoint on so many levels.
-
3
-
-
Irmgard: I was not able to go to this performance - much to my regret - but your description has allowed me to have a real sense of what it was like, for which I am very grateful to you. I am wondering if you will be writing about the Takahashi/Cirio performance on Friday evening? You wrote about their performance on tour and this galvanised me to buy a ticket for Friday night (along with my own positive experience of seeing Cirio's Siegfried the week before and the valued opinion of another ballet-going friend)? I hope so!
For my part, I was really moved by Takahashi and Cirio's performance. She was exquisite, especially alluring in Act 2 I thought, and his reading of the role was vivd, intelligent and beautifully danced. I also saw Cojucaru and Caley - another wonderful performance but just not quite as moving for me as the later cast.
An honourable mention too for Daniel McCormick as Lescaut in the Takahashi/Cirio cast. (Perhaps not quite ready but surely he is an Onegin for the future?!).
I have really appreciated the opportunity to see how the company have danced this familiar, some might say over-familiar, work: it has been so refreshing. I hope we have the opportunity to see them dance it again before too long.
-
2
-
-
Thank you Angela. I still find it a perplexing response. No doubt the story will continue...
-
Hello - have sent you a PM.
-
Alison - I thought it was an exercise in obfuscation and ducking the issue, but maybe something was lost in google translate?! I think Zelensky is conflicted/compromised on this issue for reasons which are well-rehearsed elsewhere on the board. Whose interests will he put first, I wonder, if it goes to the line?
-
It would be an extraordinary coup for ENB or BRB to acquire the Ratmansky Bayadere, I saw Simkin and Anna Ol in the lead roles in November last year, and thought the entire performance and the production were splendid. Solor's role has been cut back from a choreographic perspective but he does have one fiendishly challenging solo (which Simkin danced brilliantly). I have to say - as with Bruce W above - for me the Ratmansky version is superior in pretty much all departments to the RB's version. The designs are wonderful. (And the parrots are still there....)
(This comment probably does not belong on this thread!)
-
1
-
-
The Munich Staatsballet have released this press statement on the current Polunin fiasco:
They seem to be reserving their position until he is in Munich for the forthcoming performances of Raymonda, when they will have the chance to speak with him. But the performances go ahead.
-
17 hours ago, Angela said:
I also think it would be good for Polunin to have one friend left who might have some influence on him... On the other hand, how will he hide the Putin tattoo in the Spartacus costumes at Munich? "Career over" is what Matthew Bourne twittered about the tattoo...
I think Zelensky was "the friend" the last time Polunin went off the rails post-RB departure, but Zelensky is-it would seem (CF: Crimea ballet school and theatre project inter alia) - aligned with Putin so is perhaps going to be conflicted on this issue. In any event, I am wondering if Zelensky will come under pressure at Munich to re-think Polunin's permanent guest status with that company.
The POB invitation seems to me to have been wholly unjustified on artistic merits: if you had your choice of leading male dancers to invite to guest in Swan Lake would you seriously consider Polunin on artistic merit? He is surely a shadow of his former self as a classical ballet dancer. I am not sure the invitation reflects well on Dupont's own judgement in the first place. All in all, a sad sequence of events, and until Polunin withdraws from social media and addresses whatever is going on for him it seems likely to continue on its downwards trajectory...
As to the tattoo: I think that he is seen covering up all of his earlier tattoos in the Dancer film when performing in Giselle, so I guess this is one more to be included!
-
7
-
-
A very early contender for outstanding performance of the year - Jeffrey Cirio as Siegfried. I will be amazed (and delighted, of course!) if I see a more rounded, more technically accomplished performance this year in this role. He was excellent in every respect, and I especially appreciated his total commitment dramatically and as a partner. I fully agree with all of annamk's comments above about Alina, the company and the orchestra; they mirror my own feelings about the performance. Well done ENB.
-
1
-
-
I was able to see this programme twice and found both performances to be an unalloyed pleasure. I have seen both of Yudes' performances as the Blue Boy and thought he was exceptional last night - really well-danced and musical. Winter Dreams: Morera and Hirano: I actually found Hirano to be more imposing both dance-wise and dramatically than on the first outing together before Christmas, but strangely I was not as moved last night as I had been by their first performance, although the stand-out on both occasions has been Morera - she is exceptional in this role. Very happy to see The Concert again - a lot of fun. What an excellent triple bill this has been.
-
1
-
-
In no particular order:
1. Danii Simkin/Anna Ol - Ratmansky's Bayadere (Berlin); totally committed performances and spectacular dancing in a spectacular production.
2. Vladimir Shklyarov - Onegin, Spartacus and Des Grieux: a beautiful and multi-faceted dancer.
3.Laura Morera - Winter Dreams; a clever artist -less is more.
4.Alina Cojucaru - Sleeping Beauty; exquisite in every way,
5.Matthew Ball's debut in Mayerling - a bit of a white-knuckle ride but for me it was really impressive.
-
8
-
-
Have sent you a PM
-
Please may I have 27.2?
-
That is true for all of his cinematic ventures to date (other than Dancer, of course). He has certainly extracted the maximum from these appearances though, in terms of media exposure.
-
Hello
I would like to take this please.
-
-
Hello Daisy
I would like to take the performance tickets please.
-
Polunin has given an interview recently in which he says that he intends to rent a flat in Moscow and to start en educational programme in schools to teach ballet in a ‘positive way’. He compèred a gala this Summer in the Crimea, arranged by Zelensky and attended by Putin, and there is a big project afoot to build a ballet school and performing arts centre there: I am sure all these events, including the tattoo, are entirely unconnected ...😉
-
Good for you! It is an even bigger part for Nikiya than in the RB version - she carries the entire drama and has alot of dancing.
I really enjoyed it and hope you do too!
-
3
-
-
1 hour ago, BeauxArts said:
Akada
That should be Akane (or Takada) (of course!)
-
1
-
-
Last night: I thought the dancing in S in C was effervescent - it was a really enjoyable performance. Infra made for fascinating viewing (for me, at least) but I found the young cast did not pack the emotional punch that I had experienced when I last saw it danced by the Mariinsky. Also, I was not sure that the all dancers had really mastered the particular choreographic idiom, although I agree that Akada was completely compelling. Last and very much least, for me, was the US: I think that this is a facile work, far too derivative, and not helped by the music (composed by numbers?) or designs (ill-conceived). It is a sign that something is awry , surely, when the spoken extracts are more effective than the dance content.. I think that it was a wasted opportunity, and reflects serious errors of judgment by a number of people involved (not on the stage). I absolve the dancers because they danced with full commitment but I don't think that anyone could salvage this vapid piece.
-
3
-
-
Corrales made a very strong debut as Solor. I thought he handled the task with aplomb and intelligence: he paced himself well as there is a lot of partnering to get through. He is a fine partener for such a young dancer - no problèm with the supported pirouettes or lifts: he was attentive to both leading ladies. Technically he is of course very strong - spectacular pirouettes in particular. But his virtuosity was at the service of the role rarher than vice versa. My personal reservation is that I am not keen on his line, but there is no doubt that Mr Corrales is a real star in the making. The corps were excellent in the Shades Act.
-
10
-
“The White Crow" - a film about Nureyev
in Ballet / Dance news & information
Posted · Edited by BeauxArts
I was lucky enough to see this when it was shown at the London Film Festival last year. I really enjoyed it and the scenes at Le Bourget in particular are really gripping even though we know the outcome! Ralph Fiennes has drawn an amazing performance from Oleg Ivenko who has never acted before. He is pretty good at dancing too! Fiennes himself is also excellent - as are the rest of the cast. I strongly recommend it.