The Sitter In

Well at least we are now going to get a full-length new ballet about survivors of a ‘bio-engineered apocalypse’ to cheer us all up…

Given they ARE The Royal Ballet, shouldn’t every season be an Ashton season? Imagine NYCB without much Balanchine…

 

October - Requiem (MacMillan)/A Wedding Bouquet (Ashton)/Les Noces(Nijinska)

November - Sylvia (Ashton)

November - Scènes de ballet/Devil’s Holiday Variation and pas de deux/Beauty Awakening pas de deux/Thaïs pas de deux/Five Brahms Waltzes/Voices of Spring pas de deux/Daphnis and Chloë (Ashton)

December - Cinderella (Ashton)

December - Swan Lake (Petipa/Ivanov)

January - La Fille mal gardée (Ashton)

February - Manon (MacMillan)

March - Rhapsody (Ashton)/Pavane pour une infante défunte(Wheeldon)/Duo Concertant/Symphony in C (Balanchine)

March - Tombeaux(Bintley)/Enigma Variations(Ashton)/The Rite of Spring (MacMillan)

April - Ondine(Ashton)

May - The Dream (Ashton)/Three Songs - Two Voices(Bruce)/The Rite of Spring

June - Les Biches(Nijinska)/Symphonic Variations(Ashton)/A Month in the Country(Ashton)

 

2024/25 makes me weep…

 

 

 

Frankly, this is one of the worst seasons by the Royal Ballet since I started going in 1983. The company’s riches of the repertoire are all but ignored and replaced with Pite, Wheeldon and, God help us, McGregor, Abrahams and Toonga…hardly de Valois, MacMillan and Ashton! Where too are the classical and Diaghilev works?  The idea that Les Noces is “too expensive” is self-justifying cant given the vast amounts of money spent on some real humdingers in recent years.

Thank goodness for the Balanchine bill, Onegin and Cinderella - three evenings by serious choreographers. R&J is a superb work but…not again!

VERY slim pickings indeed next season.

I simply cannot understand KOH’s preference for ‘un-mixed’ bills.

As for the ‘contemporary evening’, given the choreographers, I am sounding the alarm and will steer well clear. Yuk. A whole evening of Wheeldon titbits does not stimulate the balletic appetite while, having read material about Maddaddam in Canada, I am looking forward to that about as much as a bout of norovirus.

So depressed.

ROH Patrons and super Friends have had to book without casting and still no sign of it for lesser Friends.

Is this a first?  If so, it is worrying.  Surely someone MUST know, so why the secrecy?

For the RB/ROH to state (as they seem to have been doing) “well, it doesn’t matter because the company is so good” is not to accept that some patrons might just possibly want to see some dancers and not others.  I can think of several dancers who I wouldn’t want to see in the lead roles of Requiem…

Shame on the ROH/RB management…

and would they revive the two Nijinska works which she herself staged for the RB?

No way, not interested.

More RB hypocrisy to stage this an claim that they are honouring her legacy.

 

On Radio 3 now with Katie Derham saying Aston’s ballet is a masterpiece.

When for goodness sake will the RB perform it?

Instead we get XXX and YYY (insert the ballets of your choice)

@£14 each.

Meaghan Grace Hinkis and Luca Acri as Kitri and Basilio

 

It has been a noticeable feature of recent seasons (post-Covid?) that the RB’s audiences just aren’t there in the same numbers and that ‘full’ houses are often the result of numerous ticket offers in-house and to ‘selected’ groups.

I have identified some possible reasons:

1. The repertoire is no longer attractive. From a purely personal point of view this carries a lot of weight - there are works I simply do not wish to see either more than once or at all. This season features a number in that category. The near total absence of Balanchine (except Jewels) Robbins, Cranko, de Valois, Fokine, Nijinska and much Ashton has seriously impoverished the repertoire and the quality of works by McGregor and Wheeldon is simply nowhere comparable.

2. The scheduling is unattractive. Again, in my view, the severe reduction in triple bills and the often nonsensical composition of the ones which do make it to the stage is a turn off. The interminable runs of full-length works is similarly unattractive - if three programmes existed in the place of one long run of, say Swan Lake, I would be at the ROH three times as much.

3. The dancers are not interesting enough. This is a fraught question. For me, the company is very strong and likeable at present, but also very young and there are, apart from a few clear exceptions, no real ‘stars’ in the way that those who remember the 60s and 70s might understand. There is for me a certain uniformity and sameness which makes viewing multiple performances less likely - I simply don’t think that that would lead to any revelations.

4. The ROH is not exactly keen on ‘regular’ ballet goers and does little or nothing to encourage loyalty. I think anyone with any memory of years past could not deny that this is certainly the impression given, although it may not be the intention. The pursuit of ‘new audiences’ is all very well, but, balance is essential not to alienate those who, of their own accord and without incentive, turn out on a wet November night…

5. The prices are too high. It is clear that, in pursuit of maximising income, the ROH is squeezing the pips out of its paying audience (and not all pay full price…). The exponential rise in seat prices means that, at the top end, fewer people will ‘take a punt’ on unfamiliar works and/or unknown dancers (£150 for Don Q featuring two non-principals is, frankly, extraordinary - and no disrespect to the two dancers, both of whom I like and am eager to see in the roles). At the lower prices, the rises have been as painful for many regulars on limited incomes. Result: people will see one or two performances and not the several of times past.

 

I would be very interested to read any thoughts fellow forumites might have

apologies. I missed the fact that this information is already known. Moderators, please delete.

The following is from a media report/  press release on the company’s June visit to London. A pity their ‘gala programme’ clashes with the first night of the RB’s second Ashton programme…

Still, finally something to get excited about at the ROH.

 

Program Information

Program 1
(2024 – June 4, 5, 6, 9)
Valses nobles et sentimentales
Dante Sonata
Sinfonietta

Gala Performance
(2024 – June 7)
Valses nobles et sentimentales
Varii Capricci
Façade

Program 2
(2024 – June 8, two performances)
Valses nobles et sentimentales
Ashton Divertissements
Façade

Alas, it doesn’t look like the post of Resident Choreographer will be up for grabs any time soon.  The current incumbent has been there far too long and seems he can do no wrong, spend however much he wishes and thoroughly dominate proceedings with an internal profile far greater than either Ashton or MacMillan.  More Balanchine, Robbins, Nijinska v. more McGregor? No contest in my book.  When will. it all end?

what was the source of your post @The Sitter In? 

 

Press release.

The Australian Ballet – 2023 London Tour 

 

Orchestra:        Royal Ballet Sinfonia

Conductor:      Jonathan Lo

 

Jewels

Wednesday 2 August 7:30PM

Thursday 3 August 7:30PM

Friday 4 August 7:30PM

Saturday 5 August 1:30PM

Saturday 5 August 7:30PM

Tickets

£4 – £115

Choreography

George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust

Music

Emeralds Gabriele Fauré, extracts from “Pelléas et Mélisande” and “Shylock”

Rubies Igor Stravinsky, “Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra”

These performances of Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra by Igor Stravinsky

are given by permission of Hal Leonard Australia Pty Ltd, exclusive agents

for Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd.

Diamonds Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky, “Symphony No. 3 in D Major, Op. 29”

Staging

Sandra Jennings

Costume Design

Barbara Karinska

Costume Design Associate

Carole Divet

Set Design

Peter Harvey

Associate Scenic Designer 

John Carver Sullivan

Lighting Design

Perry Silvey

Casting

Wednesday 2 August 7:30PM

Emeralds

Pas de deux 1:  Sharni Spencer, Callum Linnane

Pas de deux 2:  Rina Nemoto, Mason Lovegrove

Rubies

Pas de deux:  Ako Kondo, Brett Chynoweth

Diamonds

Pas de deux:  Benedicte Bemet, Joseph Caley

Thursday 3 August 7:30PM

Emeralds

Pas de deux 1:  Grace Carroll, Jarryd Madden

Pas de deux 2:  Imogen Chapman, Jake Mangakahia

Rubies

Pas de deux:  Jill Ogai, Chengwu Guo

Diamonds

Pas de deux:  Sharni Spencer, Callum Linnane

Friday 4 August 7:30PM

Emeralds

Pas de deux 1:  Grace Carroll, Jarryd Madden

Pas de deux 2:  Imogen Chapman, Jake Mangakahia

Rubies

Pas de deux:  Ako Kondo, Brett Chynoweth

Diamonds

Pas de deux:  Benedicte Bemet, Joseph Caley

Saturday 5 August 1:30PM

Emeralds

Pas de deux 1:  Grace Carroll, Jarryd Madden

Pas de deux 2:  Imogen Chapman, Jake Mangakahia

Rubies

Pas de deux:  Jill Ogai, Chengwu Guo

Diamonds

Pas de deux:  Sharni Spencer, Callum Linnane

Saturday 5 August 7:30PM

Emeralds

Pas de deux 1:  Sharni Spencer, Callum Linnane

Pas de deux 2:  Rina Nemoto, Mason Lovegrove

Rubies

Pas de deux:  Ako Kondo, Brett Chynoweth

Diamonds

Pas de deux:  Benedicte Bemet, Joseph Caley

Premiere

April 13, 1967, New York City Ballet, New York State Theater

The performance of Jewels, a Balanchine® Ballet, is presented by arrangement with The George Balanchine Trust and has been produced in accordance with the Balanchine Style® and Balanchine Technique® Service standards established and provided by the Trust.

 

60^th Anniversary Celebration 

Sunday 6 August 1:30PM

Tickets

£7 – £135

Casting

Alexei Ratmansky, 'Larks' from Harlequinade

Sharni Spencer, Marcus Morelli

Kenneth Macmillan, Pas de deux from Concerto

Amy Harris, Nathan Brook

Johan Inger, I New Then excerpt

George Balanchine, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux

Ako Kondo, Chengwu Guo

Justin Peck, Everywhere We Go

Yuri Possokhov, Act Two Italian Pas de deux from Anna Karenina

Amy Harris, Nathan Brook

Pam Tanowitz, Except from Watermark 

Alice Topp, Little Atlas

Dimity Azoury, Jarryd Madden, Jake Mangakahia

Rudolf Nureyev, Act Three Grand Pas from Don Quixote

Benedicte Bemet, Joseph Caley

2 best Upper Slips @ £10 each.

 

The ROH ought to be ashamed of itself. It trumpets is accessibility yet keep hiking prices for shows which don’t sell out. Does no-one in the little Floral St bubble realise that the two are related?

For people who, in some cases, have loyally attended the ROH through thick and thin iver many decades, this is a slap in the face. What organisation consciously prices out its most devoted followers?

Anecdotally, I know of many regulars who are now coming very little or not at all. I shall not book a single seat for Don Q - a ropey production of a ropey ballet danced by a company it doesn’t suit.

Shame on the ROH.

This made me laugh so much.  Completely irrelevant, useless and costly, which just about sums up much of what the ROH is currently doing.  Instead of focussing on the art forms that it houses, it bangs in about empty puff while encouraging as many people to come in and share the experience i.e. come and buy overpriced food and booze so they can try to cover what we’re losing on over-priced seats which people are not buying and which they later have to offer highly discounted…

Hugely long runs of Swan Lake and Nutcracker are never good news but bring in the cash.  Dante Project? Oh please - shut your eyes and listen to the score.  Anemoi / The Cellist, possibly the weirdest pairing imaginable - dull, dull, dull.  Hurrah for the MacMillan triple - at last a chance to see his variety in three very interesting, stylistically and musically different works plus Manon - excellent.  Winter’s Tale…if you like that sort of thing. Don Q - it just doesn’t suit the company.  The Ashtons - well, thank you, thank you, especially that Sarasota are coming and doing many of those fascinating pieces the Royal and certainly BRB have no interest in.  I could have done with something other than The Dream and Rhapsody from the RB, like Symphonic Variations, but at least June will be a treat and we have a whole year to save up.

No Nijinska?  An absolute disgrace.

Interesting stuff in the Linbury, which is fast outstripping the Wells in terms of putting on good non-mainstream dance.

 

Pretty disgusting that Candeloro and Perdziola have taken Putin’s Penny to work in Gergiev’s stronghold no less.  But then, as Jooss shows us in The Green Table, in times of war, there are always profiteers.  There will be plenty of claims about ‘art being above everything’, but for these two to travel to Russia at this time is nothing less than reprehensible.

Depends on the severity of the attack.

The fact that Goecke is a choreographer does not mean that his actions were not criminal.

In the UK, he would be charged with Common Assault by beating which would have the aggravating factors of it being a revenge attack and a public humiliation of his victim.

He would probably receive a Community Order with compensation to pay, although imprisonment (suspended or not) would also be a possibility.

The Fred Step which, in addition to the endless little variations he gave it including doing it backwards, means that I am watching an Ashton ballet.  Pure bliss in itself.  There is no choreographer who gives me as much pleasure, delight and satisfaction.

Oliver Symons.  Used to do Widow Simone etc.

13 hours ago, Finnbarr said:

Hello, RB experts

 

can anyone tell me who it is who plays the delightful old retainer who features in the Christmas party in The Nutcracker, wandering around with a candelabra as everyone goes to bed ? He has been in all the performances I have seen and I think he is a great comic actor. Is he an ex- dancer? 

 

The Lesson…