redshoesgirl2

so how did Reese do as prince?

On 12/11/2021 at 04:30, FionaE said:

A conductor ‘should’’ adapt to each dancer for these.   As they should for a ballerina doing fouettés.  They are so difficult to do … the dancer can’t complete them if the musical timing is not exactly with them.  
 

Based on one viewing of Giselle this run I was not impressed with the conductor.  His timing was all over the place, BUT he was ‘with’ Federico for his 32 entrechat six ✔️
 

One neat entrechat six in itself is not that difficult, multiple ones are …in order not to lose form and timing.  I’m guessing that’s one of the reasons why Nureyev introduced the 32 version.  

Here’s a video of many (many!) Albrecht entrechat six.  In some you can hear the conductor adapting to the dancer’s timing, in others not 🙈.  The audience (Russian and Italian) applause is amazing … they understand the training and many years of effort that it takes to produce these.  When the conductor gets with the dancer m, it can be magical. 
 

 

ah polunin. nobody quite like him in the old days.

17 hours ago, AnticaFiamma said:

yeah yeah this is all true, but it's disgraceful that no one has even mentioned how ridiculously good looking Lukas B. Brændsrød was with a stubble.

 

and i think it is just fine you mentioned it. aesthetics are more than just ballet steps. 🙂

On 03/06/2021 at 13:52, Fonty said:

She is still quite young, isn't she?  I am surprised she didn't put her academic career on hold until she was closer to the normal retirement age for a dancer.  

good heavens, she could be 40 in that case. not that that is old. but as one who finally finished my academic career at 38 i can tell you it is not easy. when one is entering the job market as a late 30-something, one is competing against people many years younger. who knows what her principal prospects were too. she is going when it the best time for her to go.

On 03/06/2021 at 04:11, Ian Macmillan said:

The Statement mentions her move having been deferred owing to the pandemic - so something that's been on the boil, but perhaps not widely known? 

well california colleges were not holding on site classes due to covid. i understand they will open again in the fall.

1 hour ago, bridiem said:

I also thought Reece Clarke's début was excellent - in fact you'd never have known it was a début. His dancing is so beautiful and musical and although he's so tall he always seems to have so much time to complete his movements. He's elegant and assured, and he acts well and partners strongly.

 

...And those fouettés!! She went off like a firecracker, pouring all her strength and power and determination into them and turning so fast she was almost a blur. Absolutely thrilling. 

Gosh, i hope some of the production makes it onto youtube or facebook.

3 hours ago, Rob S said:

 

Yes, tomorrow. It's still showing as Hallberg for the other Osipova nights

thanks so much. i wonder if he is still going to be dancing after he takes over in australia.

is it wednesday night reese clarke makes his debut as siegfried? he announced it on IG but i can never figure out with the time change what night he was talking about. that should be very exciting with osipova!

On 22/12/2019 at 05:34, HopelessMummy said:

You don't happen to have the drina ballerina series by Jean estoril at all please? I read these as a child but can't find them for my DD. Many thanks x

they are on Amazon US.

21 minutes ago, capybara said:

I'm sure that I've seen social media references to David Hallberg being in the gym - possibly ones posted by him himself. But, you're right, Janet, the majority of us have no idea about the specifics of any dancer's training regime.

 

and yet above, someone said that Osipova should spend more time in class. i have no idea, i just know what i like to see, how it makes me feel.

the only time i've noticed someone shoes is fairly recently the toe was SO long it looked odd because you know the dancers foot is not that long from the arch to the toe.

1 minute ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

Basic physics and physiology and actually health and safety from an office environment show that lifting safely (and not necessarily over your head) requires use of your legs to help your back to cope with the strain.  I have always been told that technique matters even more than brute strength.  As capybara has pointed out elsewhere some dancers seem easier to lift than others, perhaps because they themselves help more with the lifting process.

 

Perhaps you could contact Mr Hallberg and ask him about his training regime because no-one else knows what he does.

sarcasm literally means to flay the flesh from. so as a form of communication, it is worthless.

6 minutes ago, Ivy Lin said:

I'm pretty shocked by some of the comments on Osipova by Russian balletomanes. One of them dismissed her with "she's Jewish." End of story. Nothing more to say for her at least. 

i tend to remind those nasty-naysayers that Osipova is a person, a human being, who shares her art with us even when her feet hurt and should not be the subject of attacks on social media. these lovely dancers do not exist in a vacuum, so what is said will eventually get back to them. unfortunately, if a reviewer goes on the attack, it is much more immediate. can you imagine what she must have felt to read that "fag" comment?

have you ever read anything approaching that level of dismissiveness about nunes? or cutherbertson?

6 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

I think that is an assumption too far I'm afraid....

i am not assuming anything. it is basic physics and physiology. without good upper body strength, a man can't lift a woman over his head easily. just as if his legs aren't strong he isn't going to be jumping well.

my question was he training enough. just a question, nothing more. 

6 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

I doubt it.  He has recently come back from a very serious injury (he was out for a couple of years) and that could change many aspects of a dancer's performance.

actually he was out for more than 2.5 years, came back, and on his first night back - at the ROH no less last year, was injured again. i would imagine as he approaches the time when many male dancers retire, he dances with a certain apprehension.

but if he is not taking time to strengthen his upper body,  lifts are not going to work well or be easy.

19 hours ago, Tebasile said:

It wasn't that bad. I did think that Osipova could perhaps do with going to class a bit more often, but she still brought something individual and special to the role. At times her dancing was breathtakingly beautiful; at others, it was messy and disappointing. I have often felt this ambivalence with her performances, but I would still rather see her than someone who does all the steps perfectly but dances without flourish or personality. Though I agree with some of the misgivings about her technique in the Rose Adagio, I loved her characterisation here. Why does every princess have to be shy and reserved? It's her 16th (or 20th) birthday party, after all. I was actually more disappointed with Hallberg who, though elegant, was rather weak in the 3rd act, and the fact that they had to change the choreography to avoid some lifts flattened the overall effect. They certainly don't have much chemistry, but I don't think anyone's to blame for that. 

do you think hallberg simply needs to work out in the gym more? to become stronger?

6 hours ago, LinMM said:

Hallberg looks really great in that video ...thanks for posting.

i totally agree! i think he wrote about that entrance in his book, or talked about it in an interview, his introduction to the russians!

2 hours ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

Thank you for posting that video, @serenade - Hallberg is the epitome of a ballet prince here.  It makes me wish I had seen him dance live at the height of his powers.

i saw him on a Kings of Dance tour several years ago. he was absolutely riveting. i only had one complaint, he wore a big black pleated skirt during one of his solos. i mean, here is a guy with some of the best legs in the business, and they dress him in a skirt. 

9 hours ago, Shade said:

Gosh that had to one of the most toxic reviews I have ever read. Did mr monahan drink a pint of bile before writing it?

 

I was there and I had bins and didn’t see the same things at all. 

i've noticed that reviewers and just plain folks online find it acceptable to totally trash Osipova. complaining about her back, her shoes, her arms, her hands, her pelvis, everything. i've never noticed any other dancer being subjected to same sort of nastiness. there were some really unpleasant people on facebook who were just demeaning her and her shoes for heaven's sake.

there are dancers i am not fond of, but i am not going to express what i consider their faults ad nauseum.

it's sad.

Merci beaucoup!

i don't see the first episode on youtube, at least labeled as such. 2-6 are there...

12 hours ago, Xandra Newman said:

The only 3* review Sleeping Beauty has received this run...after Natalia Osipova danced Aurora on Wednesday. 

I wondered why so few had commented on her Aurora. 

Mark Monahan explains it all. 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/dance/what-to-see/sleeping-beauty-review-royal-ballet-royal-opera-house-schlepping/

"this is an Aurora who has reluctantly stubbed out a fag on the way into her own 16th birthday party and can’t wait for the whole blasted thing to be over"

oh. my.

17 hours ago, HelenLoveAppleJuice said:

 

There is a very low quality video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zytPve7iEG4  

 

And here is a photo

 

I much prefer the old version, more "fairy" like in my opinion. But I admit that it is really up to personal taste... 

 

these long waisted tutus make the dancers legs look short and their upper bodies way too long. in the fonteyn video i loved the shorter tutus, those are the type i remember from when i was much younger. 

21 hours ago, Odyssey said:

Re : Fish dives.

 

You might be interested in this rehearsal of Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell by Michael Soames

https://youtu.be/_k3g8DMOIOU

 

well that is interesting. dowell's legs in the fish are in a totally different position than now, especially the second one. looks as if he was getting ready to lift weights. but the speed was certainly exciting.

9 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

Speaking of the choreographic text - my favourite moment of the Rose Adagio (possibly of the whole ballet) as performed by the Royal Ballet is the passage about half way through, just after the shoulder lift, where Aurora bourrées on the spot with deep bends and extravagant port de bras. (See Fonteyn at the beginning of this video: https://youtu.be/Ff9wotb7pyM)...

 

wow! that is amazing!

17 hours ago, bridiem said:

 

No, unfortunately not - I'd booked for Tuesday evening when Naghdi stepped in. But 'lumbering' was a bad choice of word in my previous post in any case - the fish dives I've seen in this run have been good; they're just a lot slower now than in the Sibley/Dowell clip. You can see them unfold, whereas they used to be a real and apparently reckless headlong dive.

i remember the first time i ever saw one, years and years ago and i literally gasped!