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Xandra Newman

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  1. Xandra Newman
    https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/jan/19/marianela-nunez-interview-royal-ballet-onegin-swan-lake Paragraph 5 - interview with Nunez she states she danced Tatiana for the first time in 2015.
  2. Xandra Newman
    The RB scheduling of Onegin has more to do with the Cranko Estate/ Reid Anderson having absolute control (when, and who is allowed to dance Tatiana/Onegin/Olga/Lensky). I was always under the impression The Royal Ballet is supposed to dance Onegin at least once every three years, but this time it was last danced five years ago, when Marianella made her debut as Tatiana.
  3. Xandra Newman
    Friday we'll get to see three debuts (incl. one major one): Anna-Rose O'Sullivan's debut as Olga and Joseph Sissens 'debut as Lensky as well as the debut of The Royal Ballet's newest Tatiana: Yasmine Naghdi.
  4. Xandra Newman
    In said rehearsal photos one can see the first cast dancers (Nunez is not in the photo but Lamb, 2nd cast to Nunez, is wearing pink) in the following colours : Marianella Nunez - Pink Francesca Hayward - Mauve Yasmine Naghdi - Apricot Laura Morera - Green Fumi Kaneko - Blue William Bracewell - Green Frederico Bonelli - Orange Valentino Zucchetti - Blue (Campbell and Acri - not visible)
  5. Xandra Newman
    What gorgeous Auroras The Royal Ballet has right now, from Nunez to Naghdi, Kaneko , Takada and also young O'Sullivan. All such wonderful Auroras in their own right. Next time SB is on I'll have to buy multiple tickets to see each one of these again. Well done to Fumi Kaneko, happy all went well for her, she was really beautiful. Naghdi and Ball were exquisite in their Bluebird Variation. Naghdi dances with such great ease and Matthew Ball was also impressive. I love their partnership.
  6. Xandra Newman
    and on top of Tatiana in Onegin Naghdi is also rehearsing Dances at a Gathering, plus her IG post showed she is dancing with Vadim Muntagirov in Tokyo soon (it showed her and Vadim in Swan Lake rehearsal photos and video). Happy to see her and Matthew Ball dance the Bluebird Variation in cinema tonight, and Fumi Kaneko. Best of luck to her!
  7. Xandra Newman
    Sad for Cuthbertson but good opportunity for Fumi Kaneko. I assume as Yasmine Naghdi had the honour of dancing the Opening Night of Sleeping Beauty, and with her Tatiana debut in Onegin coming up next week, it would have been a really big ask (after all she also replaced Akane Takada in Act 3 with no notice). As Naghdi is scheduled to dance Bluebird with Ball (their one and only Bluebird pd2 in this run) it would have been a nightmare for Mr. O'Hare to switch many scheduled dancers around.
  8. Xandra Newman
    I don't think so...(which date did they perform the pd2?)
  9. Xandra Newman
    I believe Naghdi/Ball did not dance the Bluebird pd2 during this SB run... so they'll dance it exclusively for the live cinema relay next Thursday?
  10. Xandra Newman
    Does anybody know if the full cinema cast Cuthbertson/Bonelli has been released? Who will be dancing the beautiful Bluebird pd2? and the other divertissements?
  11. Xandra Newman
    Itziar Mendizabal already danced her debut as Tatiana in 2015 on 24th January, 2nd and 11th February (also replacing Lauren Cutbertson I think (?)
  12. Xandra Newman
    That's what I have always been told Alison. The Cranko Estate has the first and last word on who they want to cast. Mr O'Hare may suggest but apparently the decision is theirs. Please do correct me if what I have always been told is wrong.
  13. Xandra Newman
    Puzzled why they didn't replace Lauren Cutbertson by Laura Morera as Tatiana. The Cranko Estate selected Lauren Cutbertson and Yasmine Naghdi as their new Tatiana's (with only four different casts Laura Morera and Sarah Lamb lost out). Obviously they went for Itziar Mendizabal instead of Laura Morera...
  14. Xandra Newman
    A faux-pas of the ROH/RB? How can we know? The question is: did they (or did they not) intentionally omit two of their British Principals (Yasmine Naghdi born in London and Francesca Hayward born in Kenya)? Why did they only use a picture of these two British Principals Lauren Cuthbertson and Matthew Ball? Is it a coincidence?? An oversight? It doesn't bother me but it does not reflect well on the ROH/RB who are so keen to show their all-inclusiveness and diversity, certainly not in the current climate, and this ROH/RB campaign opens itself up for potential misinterpretation.
  15. Xandra Newman
    I am really shocked by this ROH/RB campaign. So disappointed, so sad the way things are gradually evolving.
  16. Xandra Newman
    I applaud the effort made by all involved to translate a ballet into another medium but I really have very mixed feelings about this film, and it didn't do Macmillan's choreography any justice. I disliked the filming of the balcony scene and especially the bedroom scene: the curtains and bed pole obstructing the view really annoyed me. The beauty of Macmillan's pd2s did not translate well and at times the camera used odd angles and it felt so wrong to me, a lot of the beauty of the pd2s choreography was totally lost in translation. The actual dancing scenes didn't come over very well (but perhaps I am too used seeing R&J and those beautiful pd2s on the stage of the ROH).
  17. Xandra Newman
    I encountered him last week too (near the Piazza entry) and I was very surprised to have to deal with such an unfriendly, unwelcoming chap. He checked my handbag but VERY superficially (glanced from a distance) but he did not pay any attention at all to the fact I was also carrying a plastic shopping bag with a parcel inside. He wasn't bothered at all.
  18. Xandra Newman
    I had no intention on commenting on last night's Naghdi/Ball performance as I have commented previously on their 23rd December evening performance. However, FionaE's comments made me reflect on something I have noticed too since Naghdi's Aurora performances. Quote Fiona E: " She seemed to have oodles of time for all the technicalities with delicious held balances and slow developpes" . This is one striking aspect of Yasmine Naghdi's dance quality which was also very visible when she recently danced Aurora. The dance critic J.C.Dowler picked up on this too describing her dancing: "Throughout, her dancing was characterised by a fine musicality which allowed her to ‘ride’ Tchaikovsky’s music and to phrase the choreography in great arcs of movement" http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=16942 This particular quality was again very visible last night. She has enriched her dance quality. Her technical mastery, control and experience now facilitate - and allow her - total freedom to "ride high on the music", as if she is "surfing" on the musical notes whilst simultaneously in dialogue with the conductor (there were moments last night when it felt as if she was "conducting" the music). Her Swanilda was exquisite.
  19. Xandra Newman
    On her partnership with Matthew Ball, and others. http://www.balletposition.com/blog/yasmine-naghdi-striving-for-perfection
  20. Xandra Newman
    There was a time (ten, twenty years ago) when I would attend a RB performance and a debut was literally "a debut": a bit rough around the edges, room for improvement, and I knew I'd need to see the dancer again and give her/him a second chance before forming an opinion. Not so any longer since Mr.O'Hare became the AD. The results are there for all to see. Debuts no longer mean debuts as such. Again so last night, what a glorious Coppelia danced by Yasmine Naghdi and Matthew Ball. To see a very different and comical side of Yasmine Naghdi during Act 2 was a real revelation and I agree with Capybara, Yasmine Naghdi's facial expressions read so easily no matter where one is seated. Matthew Ball and Yasmine Naghdi look so at ease dancing with each other now and I am greatly looking forward to see them dance Swan Lake together. Their Act 3 Wedding pd2 so beautifully danced and impressive, Naghdi's difficult backward hops on one leg on pointe was flawlessly executed, her overall technical control, precision and strength are now a total given, she is on top of her game, totally delightful. Matthew Ball has gained a lot in maturity and technical strength and he has become a natural on stage. The Naghdi/Ball partnership is now one of my absolute favourite partnerships, I can only imagine how they'll grow their partnership over the next decade! I loved Gina Storm-Jensen's Prayer, and Claire Calvert's Peasant Girl, Bennett Gartside was good as Dr. Coppelius but no one can get is as right as Luke Heydon did in the past, he WAS Dr. Coppelius and I greatly miss him in this role.
  21. Xandra Newman
    I wonder where you were seated Dawnstar? I sat in the Orchestra Stalls, and I barely heard anyone cough, perhaps I am going deaf??
  22. Xandra Newman
    I have no intention whatsoever to waste my money on this movie (I rather spend it on a ballet performance) but my neighbour's children (13 and 15) went last night and said it was an awful movie, boring and repetitive, they didn't like it one bit.
  23. Xandra Newman
    Any form of experience does change people yes, but it does not guarantee it always helps them to grow in a positive way, some experiences can/may have profound adverse effects on people. I feel the UK reviews have been kinder to her, but not so much the USA reviews. The Wall Street Journal wrote: "The innocent/slinky Victoria—whose perpetually arched eyebrows, ever-parted lips and “tail perpendicular” (to quote Eliot) suggest that a litter might be arriving in about two months’ time—is played by the lovely but voiceless Francesca Hayward, a principal at London’s Royal Ballet. From what we can see, her dancing is quite fine, though the editing of the musical numbers is so heavy-handed it doesn’t do her justice".
  24. Xandra Newman
    I feel rather sorry for Steven McRae as he hardly got any publicity at all for his efforts. He deserved better. Does anybody know why Olivia Cowley vanished from the Cats set?
  25. Xandra Newman
    Don't take me wrong, I am not cynical here at all, but that's very easy to achieve when various fashion labels jump onto every opportunity to flash their designs as a way of advertising their goods, using anybody currently in the spotlight. I'd love to see a 2019 Best Dressed list of "Women-on-a-Budget".
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