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AnneL

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Everything posted by AnneL

  1. Yesterday evening’s Dornroschen (Sleeping Beauty) in Dresden featured debuts from Susanna Santoro as Aurora and Rodrigo Pinto as Florimund. I thought they both did a fantastic job, no debut nerves were visible to me. Santoro’s Rose Adage was beautiful, she encapsulated the youth of Aurora but was ever so slightly regal with it, as befitting a princess. overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and it was good to see a slightly different ‘take’ on one of my favourite ballets.
  2. Thank you, @FionaM for posting this! I am going to see it on Thursday. can’t wait!
  3. Since the opening scene of Act III has been mentioned, I would just like to say (as someone who has taught, and therefore researched criminal justice history) that I always sit there thinking that there are WAY too many women on the stage at that point. The male-female ratio in penal colonies was much in favour of the male. Subsequently, the new women getting off the boat would have been snapped up pretty quickly by the men ( soldiers first, then possibly any convicts who had achieved the status whereby they could take a partner), rather than doing their little misery dance by themselves. They would most likely have done that BEFORE embarking on their ship. On arrival, they would probably have done a happy dance, having actually survived a dangerous voyage. But then, as someone else said, we shouldn’t expect much logic, or indeed realism, in ballet plots.
  4. The performance I went to in 2018 seemed very well attended. Perhaps we were at different ones, or maybe because I was in the cheap seats!! I do remember it being a lovely performance. I really think it’s one of the best ballets for children and I hope it seems well in all venues. A better starter ballet than Nutcracker, in my controversial opinion. Agree re ‘hats off’. Carlos’ own Colas was great, so he will coach well, I suspect. He and Mukhamedov are my all-time favourites in the role.
  5. I did see Fonteyn’s Giselle (with Nureyev) in 1969 and will never forget it, especially the end of Act 1.
  6. Sadly, I don’t remember the Benois designs, it was such a long time ago. As I mentioned, it was my first Nutcracker and it was in fact my third ballet, after Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. I enjoyed it, but not as much as the Royal’s Beauty, which I continue to prefer to any version of Nutcracker, despite the latter’s great music - not to mention the snowflake scene, which always brings tears to my eyes. I never objected to the length of the ballets as a child - I distinctly remember never wanting them to end!
  7. I am glad to see this discussion of comparative and historic Nuts! My first Nutcracker in January 1968 was the then Festival Ballet one with Alain Dubreuil as the Prince! I don’t remember it very well, but the programme tell me that one of the divertissements in Act 2 was called Madam de Bonboniere, which I guess must have been the equivalent of Mother Ginger. This production had some revisions to the Petipa/Ivanov choreography but designs by none other than Alexander Benois. It was performed regularly in the 1960s at the Festival Hall, which was where I saw it. My programme tells me that ‘the management are indebted to Mme. Tamara Karsarvina for her advice on the production’ . What a lovely link that is to ballet history! So I have wondered for some time when this Mother Ginger dance - also in the Berlin Staatsballet version I have on DVD - was dropped by Festival Ballet/ENB because as stated in the post I quoted, these children’s dances no longer feature in versions shown in this country, other than of course the party scene. My daughter’s first Nutcracker was the ENB liquorice all-sorts version also mentioned in a post on this thread which I think also included mobile phones! Quite honestly, the current Eagling version is A big upgrade on that. But I think my all time favourite has to be the Wright BRB version especially when I saw Yoshida as the SPF. As an aside, I find it strange that Balanchine renamed the main child characters- why Marie and not Clara?
  8. Does anyone have any advice for booking one of these events? I am thinking of arranging a trip for one of the summer 2024 performances. I have looked at the website but it is in Danish, although I do try to figure some of it out. Tickets went on sale earlier this month but there seem to be availability still. Any tips will be appreciated!
  9. It was a very enjoyable performance all round. Hayward and Campbell gave a lovely performance in the grand pdd and it was very hard to believe Acri had stepped in at the last minute! His partnering seemed very good, as if he’d rehearsed a lot with Sae Maeda and I loved the way he did the mime in the second act. Another highlight was Melissa Hamilton as the Rose Fairy and of course Gary Avis. It’s controversial of me, I know, but I am not the biggest fan of the Nutcracker - music apart - it brings out the grinch in me as there are certainly two or three ballets I would much rather see at this time of year. But I had a pleasant evening and was thankful to see it, since last year I had to return my tickets because of the rail strike and had failed utterly to pick up any others in the Friday rushes.
  10. I don’t know if this is the right thread to post this, but I just wanted to say that I booked tickets for the Dresden opera house this week and it was one of the most straightforward online ticket purchases I have ever had! Really outstanding even for a non-German speaker. Now looking forward to seeing Aaron Watkins’ Sleeping Beauty in March, not to mention the city of Dresden.
  11. I agree 100%. Music is crucial. I have never seen Job but I love the score. Perhaps if the old choreography is dated a contemporary choreographer could use it? Or would that be prohibited? Music is the reason that Firebird is a favourite of mine and why I would like to see Daphnis and Chloe again. If the ballets are lost to the rep then the danger is that the music is neglected too (unlikely perhaps for the Firebird). I know it can be played in concerts, but a ballet score needs to be used for its real purpose at least sometimes. There is a rich 20th century musical repertoire which was created for the burgeoning ballet scene of its day and it needs a chance to live.
  12. According to my personal performance database, I saw Michael O’Hare in the Nutcracker, Fille, and Le Tricorne, all with BRB, all 1994-5 and in three different London theatres, all presumably the principal roles. I would like to thank him for the entertainment he gave me and wish him a pleasant retirement.
  13. I agree with Jan too! For what it’s worth, the fouettés went well at the other filmed performance, the Saturday before last. Our lighting was a bit dark, but it only bothered me when I couldn’t see number two windmill very well.
  14. Also it says 7pm start while my cinema ticket says 7.15 AND it says Thursday 7th November and I could have sworn it’s Tuesday today. How confusing!
  15. Only if you don’t count principal character artists! Some years ago I saw a Fille cast on a Saturday evening led by Choe and Zuchetti, neither of them principals, then or now.
  16. I have not even received one discount offer for any ballet, just Opera ☹️
  17. Some random observations: I have seen the RB Les Noces twice, the first time with Svetlana Beriosova and Derek Rencher. It was unforgettable. I would love it to be dome again with the memorable Stravinsky score. Its link to the RB is because of Ashton, who asked his mentor, Nijinska to stage it. So as with the Firebird- another masterpiece - it links to the Ballets Russes via the RB. The RB is therefore part of these works’ histories, in a similar way to - say - Swan Lake. I agree the programming is currently uninspiring for regular fans like me and I admit to not being a big Nutcracker enthusiast. Yes, it’s bums on seats, but there are plenty of other productions in town, and the RB is in receipt of public subsidy, so why is money such an overwhelming consideration? ( I am not denying its importance). In earlier decades the RB would mount different ‘family’ ballets at Christmas - maybe Coppelia or Cinderella. I think this would be a healthier approach and would be very surprised if they didn’t sell out at that time of year. As traditions go, endless RB Nutcrackers is a recent one (unlike for NYCB). ‘Everyone wants Nutcracker at Christmas’ has become a self-fulfilling prophecy when people are only offered Nutcracker at Christmas. Re Alain, the part was created by Ashton for one of his favourite dancers, Alexander Grant, so how can it be anything but an affectionate portrait? Finally, I would love to see Sylvia again- one of the greatest yet most underrated ballet scores!
  18. I think Canterbury is new, and it’s very welcome.
  19. I don’t like Mayerling and don’t book for it when it’s on. Twice was enough for me - in 1979 and the late 2010s. But I must admit to some regret not seeing Mukhamedov in it! I prefer Manon and although I do find the characters hard to empathise with, they are not quite as repellent as the Mayerling ones. Hopefully I will see it once or twice in the upcoming run.
  20. I am sorry to inject a note of dissent into the conversation, but I saw the Nunez-Bolle pairing during each of the last two Manon runs, and thoroughly enjoyed their interpretations. Personally I find Bolle’s interpretation of the role more convincing than many others I have seen, as evidenced by the Paris Opera Ballet dvd he is in, and he and Nela work together well. It remains to be seen whether he is now too old, given that one has to suspend disbelief with these characters for any dancers beyond their early twenties!
  21. I still remember the shock when I heard of Cranko’s untimely death. I was a ballet obsessive in my early teens and had read of his work in Stuttgart in the Dancing Times. (Still to this day I haven’t been there to see the company, but hopefully there’s still time! ). Many years later I saw BRB perform Pineapple Poll and the RB Onegin and loved them both. I have only seen his Romeo and Juliet on film, but I liked it very much. This is a sad milestone to mark, but a chance to remember Cranko’s great talent.
  22. Not forgetting that the 20th century also gave us Fokine, Massine, Nijinska, Petit, Tudor…. I could go on (and I am not suggesting this is an exclusive list, or that everything they did was great, but it was a pretty special century). When I was younger, my favourite contemporary choreographer was Christopher Bruce - I have fond memories of his work. There are a fewer of today’s choreographers who interest me, but perhaps it is not such a rich period? Hopefully that will change and I understand completely that things move on. I would also love to see some of Ratmansky’s work.
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