cjp

Thank you, I prefer this excuse to it being a senior moment!

I did mean Monday, oops!

Thank you for the welcome Anna With regard to the Naghdi/Ball partnership, or lack of it in Swan Lake, I agree. It did strike me on Saturday that the partnership between Ball and Osipova was looking like it might become established - they were certainly noticably appreciative of each other at the end. There was more connection between them than Yasmine had with Nehemiah Kish, but not quite the level of dramatic interest that Naghdi and Ball generate together, for me anyway. On Saturday night Osipova tended to dominate proceedings (natural given the role, but somewhat overshadowing Ball) whereas the dynamic between N/B feels to me like a more equal exchange, a true give and take. The Naghdi/Ball debut in Romeo and Juliet was electrifying and every debut since has seen them grow together as artists into something really special. I was speculating on the reasons for the change and thought perhaps they or KOH feel they need to more dance leading roles with others in order to develop as artists? Or that given the time needed for rehearsals for major roles, it was easier for everyone to mix things up a little? I suppose ultimately the RB needs to please the audience with high quality dancing and productions - and that certainly happened both times on Saturday in spades - and to retain its major stars. Despite this I hope we will see Naghdi and Ball dance together again.

I saw Muntagirov's performance on opening night, as well as the Naghdi and Ball debuts. I can only echo what others said about his dancing that night, it was heart stopping and the beauty of it brought tears to my eyes. I don't have the technical vocabulary to describe it I'm afraid, but I will never forget it. Having seen the production since, I think his performance that evening did disguise the relative lack of prominence of Siegfried, particularly during the first Act. Yasmine Naghdi was spellbinding on Saturday and I think I preferred her interpretation to Osipova's, who was undeniably brilliant, of course, but in a completely different style. Yasmine's fragile innocence as Odette contrasted so well with the evil sophistication of her Odile and built to a very moving conclusion despite her partner not quite matching her level of performance. I didn't think that the wobble in the fouettes was an issue as she recovered quickly. I am still a little sad on a purely selfish level that we didn't get to see her make this debut with Matthew Ball. . Matthew also made what I thought was a very strong debut; his dancing improves nearly every time I see him and and I didn't find his acting lacking, just that even his usually strong stage presence was slightly overwhelmed by Osipova's starriness. I think that this partnership was an interesting change in dynamic from that with Naghdi - maybe it did have that touch of Marguerite and Armand about it! Kudos to those on Saturday who danced twice, on what was a very warm day just for the audience, let alone the dancers! I Thank you to those who run this forum and to all who contribute, I have learned so much about ballet here and always enjoy reading all the comments, some of which are incredibly professional.