DanJL

Saw your comment Rob S and rushed to Instagram to see the picture! Very excited to see this 😊

An absolutely wonderful evening from start to finish! Have to agree Muntagirov was out of this world. Something particularly comforting about seeing a big and incredibly executed pas de deux with him and Nuñez again - something like normal service is resumed! 

I loved Apollo and Dances at a gathering too though. Anna Rose O'Sullivan and Marcelino Sambé particularly sparkled for me in the latter. Matthew Ball was fantastic in the former. Can't wait to see the other cast next week! 

Just spotted on Instagram, Fumi Kaneko confirmed that she debuts as blue girl in the first cast and green girl in the second. You called it right capybara! 

2 hours ago, capybara said:

 

But the green girl in the second cast; the blue? in the first cast.

Yes, looks like different roles assuming the order is consistent in the casting. I've got tickets to one of each cast, so looking forward to see if she does dance different parts 🙂

Wow, I didn't see that coming! In the last few years of watching ballet she has been the dancer I've enjoyed watching the most. Very sorry to see her go, but best wishes to her for her new career! 

I noticed they also added Fumi Kaneko to the second Dances at a gathering cast - the role was previously TBA. So Fumi is in both casts! 

From various previous comments on this forum I believe it currently isn't possible to put on Cinderella (I'm afraid I don't know the reasons, but maybe others can remind us). So that isn't an option at the moment. I'd love to see it when that changes though! 

53 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

I've not seen either ballet live either. I was booked to see my first live Swan Lake on 28th March 2020 but we all know how that went!

Good to know I'm not the only one! I had a similar experience with Swan Lake. Hopefully next year we will both get to see it 🙂

Thank you zxDaveM, I'm really looking forward to finding out 😊

We knew about most of the ballets in the season already of course, but I remain very happy with the choices and even more so with the newly revealed details. As it happens I have a feeling there will be quite a few Romeo and Juliet casts I'll be very keen to watch, so I'm glad about the spacing across the season. I'll admit I'm in a different position to many on this forum having never seen Giselle in the flesh or the Royal Ballet production of Swan Lake, so I perhaps anticipate them more keenly than others. 

Ever since I started reading this forum (only about three years ago to be fair) there have been calls to do something different at Christmas as a change from Nutcracker. As far as I'm concerned, that call has been answered admirably. I remember enjoying a wonderful triple bill (including Les Patineurs and Winter Dreams) I think in 2018 and then Nutcracker replaced completely by Coppelia in 2019 - possibly quite a brave move financially. Unfortunately last year there were only four performances of a reduced Nutcracker to distanced audiences. So I think we're actually overdue a full run of Nutcrackers again and the chance to see those promised debuts. 

In terms of audience enjoyment, I forgot to point out that at least on the performance of 25th May, the most enthusiastic audience reaction was quite clearly for The Statement. 

Going back to the comments on the lighting, this was an interesting one for me. It's true that the lighting did occasionally make it harder to see who was dancing. But at the same time, I thought the lighting was excellent throughout in heightening the atmosphere. This was especially true in the incredible ensemble parts of Within the golden hour - where instead of seeing individual dancers I felt it drew greater attention to the wonderful patterns in the choreography. 

Well everyone has their own tastes and preferences, but I absolutely loved it this evening! Great performances and such a treat to see the dancers again. 

My first time seeing Within the golden hour in person and I was bowled over by the beauty of this ballet - so much movement going on that I hadn't appreciated from the filmed versions. I also thought the lighting was magical. 

Optional family was fairly short but full of intensity, both the music and the dancing. Really enjoyed this, but perhaps less depth than the other pieces. Not that everything needs emotional depth, it worked as a high octane, virtuosic divertissement.

I didn't have the highest hopes for the Crystal Pite pieces after today's reviews in this thread, but in the end they may even have been my highlights! Possibly helped by them being completely new to me in comparison to the more familiar Within the golden hour. The Statement was highly entertaining from start to finish, with wonderful movement. Not based on classical dance maybe, but surely possible to trace some lineage from the mime tradition in ballet.

And finally Solo echo - absolutely beautiful music, wonderfully played and reflected incredibly in the choreography. Obviously stylistically similar to Flight pattern, but a very different theme and feel, which I thought drew clearly and emotively on the poem that inspired it.

I'll add as a final thought that for me, one key ingredient in my favourite ballets is enjoyment of the music and successful (and emotional) reflection of this in the dancing. All of the music tonight, varied as it was, was to my taste - but I do understand that it might not be to everyone's.

Can't wait now for the live stream followed by a different cast on Sunday 🙂

Across the three programmes I think there's a good balance of modern, 20th Century and a bit of 19th Century ballet. With heritage works perhaps being represented in the divertissements. Seems like there should be something there for most tastes? Not a bad outcome given the current restrictions. And we know that next season is stacked full of classics. 

I've not looked around extensively but the reviews I've seen have been pretty positive. I'm off to find out for myself tomorrow anyway, so will report back!

I've only seen Meaghan Grace Hinkis dance in a few things, but she was really wonderful in Onegin and I enjoyed watching her the other times too. So I for one am very happy that she has been rewarded with a promotion! As I am for the other dancers of course 🙂

Never fear, they are available for the time being 🙂

Ferri: https://youtu.be/uaHuDdTiFxM

Murru: https://youtu.be/Pv7GgZQDU2s 

A Balanchine and Bournonville streamed programme from Norwegian Ballet, available now

https://operaen.no/en/Productions/balanchine-bournonville-ballet/

Features Serenade, Tchaikovsky pas de deux and excerpts from Napoli, Flower Festival in Genzano and Ponte Molle.

More new streaming from La Scala this week, with a "Great Choreographers" gala on Saturday https://www.teatroallascala.org/en/season/2020-2021/ballet/great-choreographers-soiree.html

And before that Manon masterclasses with Massimo Murru tonight

https://www.teatroallascala.org/en/season/2020-2021/ballet/massimo-murru-masterclass-manon.html

And Alessandra Ferri tomorrow night

https://www.teatroallascala.org/en/season/2020-2021/ballet/alessandra-ferri-masterclass-manon.html

For some reason the first programme was the one I found most difficult to get seats for in the area of my choice. I did eventually, but had to go for my third choice of date. I'm happy with what I've ended up with and can't wait to see the dancers and the ballets, just seems odd if this is the programme that's sold least well.

Didn't one of the announcements mention that the season is bookended by the new ballets? Dante project opening and Like water for chocolate closing the season. Or have I imagined that? They may have changed plans since then of course.

Then with the clues in the link we seem to have Giselle in late autumn, Nutcracker over Christmas, Romeo and Juliet early in the New Year, Swan Lake in spring.

45 minutes ago, Jamesrhblack said:

No Sarah Lamb in WTGH or DAG and no Tierney Heap either...

Lots of casting I'm really excited about and can't wait to see 😊 But no mention of Sarah Lamb anywhere is my main disappointment. Hopefully she may still appear in the third programme 🤞🏻

Just checking back - unless I've misremembered there's only been one full performance (the streamed one) of WTGH in almost two years.

It's worth remembering that the last time WTGH was planned, all public performances were cancelled with only the streaming to an empty auditorium surviving. Having effectively cancelled a whole run it makes sense that they should bring it back for those who bought tickets and missed out on seeing it live and of course for the dancers who trained for it and didn't get to perform.

Didn't the announcement from the ROH mention three ballet programmes for the spring / summer season? With Petipa mentioned for one of them.

The draft works was also announced to be streamed in early May. So they could be rehearsing a wide range of things at the moment.

Well spotted! My experience of that run of Sleeping Beauty is that in the five performances I saw, Ashley Dean was the White cat every single time - though often as a replacement for the original person cast. And she was certainly recognisable in the filmed performance. I hadn't noticed the discrepancy in the credits though.