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FionaM

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Everything posted by FionaM

  1. FionaM
    Can’t help thinking that 2 days of La Fille in London is NOWHERE near enough for demand ….
  2. FionaM
    Didn’t the Pet Shop Boys already collaborate with someone in ballet? Putrov?
  3. FionaM
    Such a treat being so close! (Advantages to recorded music 😉)
  4. FionaM
    Now sold.
  5. FionaM
    Personally I’ve always found the way the veil is pulled off to be rather comical. But there is no easy solution to this one and if it’s sticking to what Mary Skeaping planned then so be it. It is minor. I did want to applaud the man in black’s skill … that supported lift across the back is so quick! I do agree with Matthew’s comment of the bits inbetween struggling to tell the story if the solos become only ‘show-off your technique’ pieces. Act 1 of any Giselle can be quite bitty like that, with the pauses in the music for applause and bows. This is how all the classics are… perhaps he is getting weary of traditional ballets. Then go see wonderful ENB in the Akram Khan Giselle! I don’t read Albrecht as a fool … he is any normal young person (man or woman, today or then,) who has got themselves caught up in a triangle of love and cannot extricate themselves because of Hilarion’s discovery and public pronouncement of it. Albrecht must then show us that he realises his true love for Giselle by the end of Act 1. This is important else there is no point to Act 2. it is a great story of love, betrayal and forgiveness!
  6. FionaM
    Front row seat for this sold out show £41 … will go back to box office if there are no takers in 48 hours. Performers are Matthew Ball, Alina Cojocaru, Kristen McNally, Tommy Franzen (‘strictly’ fame)
  7. FionaM
    Hmm I’m not sure it does explain why everything in this company is poor quality. Though the history which dominates this article is interesting. I’m personally delighted that BRB is returning to Bristol with Sleeping Beauty in April. The only other ballet company we get here is ENB for 4 days annually. Hardly ‘over-endowed’! (Matthew Bourne comes annually too but that’s never been ballet to me … musical theatre without the singing).
  8. FionaM
    Just noticed all the Psyche typos 🙈
  9. FionaM
    FYI The show is about 1 hour 15 minutes long, including a short interval (15 minutes) Last night’s show was described as a preview. Ballet doesn’t usually have those, maybe they should with press night being 2-3 days later. Hmm. The on stage dress rehearsal photos seem to have preceded La Strada, but after returning from Hamburg where Alina performed the long full length La Dame aux Camelias on 10 and 14 January. That is a challenging schedule.
  10. FionaM
    @Emeralds the Bath shows were announced way back in May 2023. The dates were shifted into February to allow for La Strada at the Wells.
  11. FionaM
    Rehearsal photos - Minotaur https://www.instagram.com/p/C2KWjLwqH2T/?igsh=cmQzb2wwZ3B5Y2to https://www.instagram.com/p/C2PtpOKqO_z/?igsh=MWs2d21mdmYxc2RhMA==
  12. FionaM
    Rehearsal photos - Pysche/Cupid https://www.instagram.com/p/C2Sg65bKG4F/?igsh=NXR6MWs3dHJsZXlq
  13. FionaM
    Highly recommend this double bill of the Minotaur and Pysche/Cupid stories. The show is created by Kim Brandstrup and commissioned by AD Deborah Warner for her annual season of programmes in the Ustinov theatre, one of three stages of the Royal Theatre in Bath. A handful of seats are available (literally 2 or so) for some performances. Don’t miss this! Amazing experience being in this venue where the front row is knee distance to the stage. And the seating is only 10 or so rows of 12 seats each. Yet the ceiling is very high. Imagine a chapel with blacked out walls. Your focus is brought entirely to the stage and the performers on it. (Though why would you want to look elsewhere!) Matthew Ball appears in both pieces, but as the programme says, his roles are unrelated. Tommy Franzen is the Minotaur, Kristen McNally is his half-sister Ariadne and Matthew is Theseus. Alina Cojocaru and Matthew Ball are Pysche and Cupid in the second piece. This is a well put together show .. interesting lighting and music choices (listed in programme). The scenes are identified ‘Combat’, ‘Seduction’ etc with their titles displayed on the set between scenes. To me it was pretty clear what was going on without those, but perhaps the audience needs to be led. Superb dramatic intensity from all these fabulous dancers. Alina is the only one on pointe, the others are all barefoot. Her partnership with Matthew is very interesting … seamless. I’ve no idea how Alina managed to switch from the emotional high of her personal commission of 5 shows of La Strada ending on Sunday, to this intense work on Monday. Matthew’s roles as two different lovers are quite a contrast. The challenge for Cupid in this version is to metamorphose from the unseen lover in the dark with no responsibility to open and seen commitment. A tale for all time.
  14. FionaM
    An alternative view from Matt Paluch https://www.gramilano.com/2024/01/giselle-we-have-a-problem/?fbclid=IwAR1KxZn8zXDgdhFV3DCU4l0UEoizgNtKSMYe30XeqTbMFsl9b5e11igCh6k_aem_AQ0T5GYNOI1rqL-ROuPRGp0eO9lhtb1GRpJcfSR6-wU-U4VrwNbPxemzMx5C-oCmEV4 discuss!
  15. FionaM
    Cast?
  16. FionaM
    @SPD444 the RB School don’t enter candidates under the current leadership. I asked why not and was told because they’d have to offer the opportunity to all their pupils and they don’t have the resources to do it !!!! Some years there are candidates from other UK schools and independent candidates. There is a pre-filtering system too. So there may have been candidates that didn’t make it through.
  17. FionaM
    @Emeralds thank you for your impressions and thoughts on this first commission by Alina. Helpful to my understanding. also … there were at least 2 gargouillades! (One on each side) 😉
  18. FionaM
    @Angela I’m not understanding what you are saying. The music for Alina’s production did not have a problem with coherence. In a few places (and it really was only between 2 or 3 pieces of the 40 or so used), the pause between felt somewhat abrupt. Maybe it needed better fading in and out. That is all. It’s a very minor point to pick on.
  19. FionaM
    Apparently Nino Rota and Stravinsky were friends … which might explain why the piece “La Rabbia (anger) di Zampanò” used in this ballet for the accidental killing of Il Matto begins with a direct rip off of Le Sacre du Printemps.
  20. FionaM
    @Angela regarding music. In the programme it says “Horecna selected music from Nino Rita’s film compositions so they had an emotional coherence that fitted her ideas for the production” The programme has a complete listing of the circa 40 pieces of music used including from Il Casanova, Il Gattopardo, La Dolce Vita, and others. Only a handful are from the movie score for La Strada.
  21. FionaM
    Regarding the music gaps … these were less noticeable on subsequent viewings as the dancers breached the gaps with ongoing movements or action.
  22. FionaM
    I’ve now seen the show three times and was moved to tears by the emotions and thoughts conveyed. Also (as others have mentioned) by the beauty of the dancing. I’ve come to the conclusion that if one is expecting a literal narrative telling of a story in the usual sequential way, then this ballet is not that. it is something else entirely. it is ground breaking and innovative in an entirely different direction. To me it is about conveying thoughts and emotions of the characters. There is a very real journey for Alina/Gelsomina in her understanding of her hopes for her two partners and the realisation of their flaws. The ballet is primarily this. Il Matto (Johan) is unable to commit or give her the unconditional love she seeks. Zampano lost her love with his abusive behaviour. He then leaves her with his coat and treasure (the trumpet) to show that he actually did care.
  23. FionaM
    It’s where Mara Galeazzi’s husband works.
  24. FionaM
    I’m curious if anyone has made it to the Royal Opera House in Muscat to see the Bolshoi in Raymonda Tickets were cheap! Less than £100 for the best. I found out about it too late. https://bolshoi.ru/en/news/guest-appearance/7067-Oman-tour-2024-01/ 25th of January, 19:00 Raymonda — Yulia Stepanova Jean de Brienne — Dmitry Vyskubenko Abderakhman — Mikhail Lobukhin 26th of January, 19:00 Raymonda — Alyona Kovalyova Jean de Brienne — Artemy Belyakov Abderakhman — Nikita Kapustin 27th of January, 14:00 Raymonda — Ekaterina Krysanova Jean de Brienne — Dmitry Smilevski Abderakhman — Mikhail Lobukhin The Bolshoi Orchestra Conductor — Pavel Sorokin
  25. FionaM
    I’m think it is sold out. Alina confirmed elsewhere that she appears in every show.
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