Sophie_B

Thank you for the recommendations Clara! 

Since we're talking flamenco... Not strictly part of the flamenco festival, but Paco Peña's new show Solera (directed by Jude Kelly) is on at Sadler's Wells this week. I saw it yesterday and it was really fantastic - a well deserved standing ovation from the audience. In terms of aesthetics it was on the modern side but it really captured the essence of traditional flamenco for me which is the feeling of improvisation and dancers / musicians playing off each other, and highlighting all the different components (guitar, voice, percussion, dance) in turn with their own solos. It was up there with my favourite flamenco performances ever, possibly slightly influenced by the fact that it's been several years now without live flamenco for me!

The musicians and dancers are deliberately a mix of different generations. 2 male 1 female dancers - Angel Muñoz, Gabriel Matías, Adriana Bilbao. In particular the contrast between Muñoz and Matías was very effective - both very very good with a slightly different style. I don't know enough about flamenco to describe but Muñoz had a lot of masculine bravado and great footwork (legwork?) moving across the stage, and Matías had particularly beautiful (balletic?) arms and that very classic tall torso. Also 3 guitars, male and female singers, 1 percussionist. Aside from Paco Peña himself, who at 79 (!!) is still magic, Dani de Morón on guitar was fantastic as well. 

The first half is set in a rehearsal space and the whole cast wear practice clothes, the dancers sit on the floor and do the occasional bit of stretching when they're not dancing, people have their water bottles with them on stage. It felt really fresh and vivid and fun, but made sure to go through all the different styles of song and dance (Adriana Bilbao even wore 2 different practice skirts including one with a long train, I forget what it's called). The second half was different in style - with the stark lighting of a performance, more ensemble dancing and duets, lots of costume changes (pretty plain costumes - high on colour, low on the ruffles, all just focused on the dancing and music which is a good thing in my book). As an evening, I thought it worked tremendously well and the time flew by for me.

Hi Rob, FYI I know I said I was interested but the dreaded Covid has come in the way of all my ballet plans this week! (Which means I now also have a SCS to offer for tomorrow 7 April...)

Ooh I hadn't seen that, will DM you Rob thanks

Please post here or send a DM if you have one to sell - thank you in advance  Looking for Stalls Circle Standing specifically because I have one already and a friend would like to come too.

Having seen 3 casts in this Jan / Feb run, I feel very lucky to have seen some amazing dancing! I'd seen this ballet a few times before, and saw the film in 2019, but I never really "got" the ballet the way everyone else seemed to love it. Two things changed. One, I thought I learnt something entirely new about the ballet from both the Nuñez / Bonelli and O'Sullivan / Sambé casts, and I finally learnt to appreciate the style of the ballet for what it is. Sometimes it feels more like a performance of very physical theatre that happens to have some spectacular dancing in places, and I've learnt to love its sometimes slow pace where you then get to focus on listening to the music. (I know it seems very obvious, especially having read up on MacMillan now, but when I first saw it and I wasn't quite sure what to do with the lack of pointe shoes and the ball dance scene which is very visually impressive but doesn't "look difficult" to a layperson the way that a jumpy solo does).

I've never seen Nuñez dance and not loved it, but I thought the bits which were most spectacular were the utter heartbreak of the death scene, as well as some brilliant comic timing in her "pretending to be tired so she can be alone with Romeo" and making Paris's life hard when he tries to dance with her in Act 3. Plus, the intense love and desperation of the bedroom pas de deux which was my favourite moment between these two principals.

As for the O'Sullivan/Sambé cast... wow. I know their partnership has been praised many times on this forum but I hadn't seen it outside of gala type showpieces - this was quite another level. Completely believable chemistry and tension from start to finish. Obviously their dancing and technique is great (loved Sambé in everything I've seen him in) but especially the balcony pas de deux was just so beautifully emotionally intense. I've always appreciated watching other dancers in this PDD and I realise that how you react emotionally to dance depends on any number of factors, but this is the first time I got really emotionally wrapped up in it. For me personally O'Sullivan and Sambé were a lightbulb moment of "ah, THIS is how you're supposed to feel when you watch this". So basically, I'm a R&J convert now.

Just catching up on some of these posts, thank you everyone for all the detailed reviews and opinions! I saw the Saturday performance a few weeks ago with Kase / Cirio / Hernandez after which Kase got her well-deserved promotion on stage. Obviously some of the story is still thin / implausible, but I found the whole evening very enjoyable overall, particularly Cirio's solos, the Hungarian dances (more below on that), the dream scenes (I liked the nod to the Bayadere ramp), and (somewhat surprising since it took me a while to figure out who was even dancing) Natascha Maier's delicate Sister Clemence. I thought the whole ballet also had enough showy dancing and ensemble numbers to draw in people who might not have started out as ballet fans - I always wonder what ballets are good for taking people to who haven't seen much ballet before.

Obviously the presence of the Hungarians on the estate was a bit unexplained, but I have to say that I found it refreshing to see represented on stage a group of costumes and dances that actually felt recognisably Hungarian, my family being from there. Elements of proper hearty traditional peasant dancing befitting the new setting rather than the Swan Lake type versions which are obviously lovely but are so "balletified" in their costumes and steps that Poles and Russians and Hungarians all become essentially the same. Reading the notes in the programme, it's clear that they made an effort with the refreshed national dances.

I have a question for the "music types" here about some of the score written for the Saracen / Ottoman General character - would we still call the score itself Orientalist in parts despite the refreshed setting? I'm not saying it's not beautiful, but I mean, one of the dances is literally called Danse Orientale, the 19th century wasn't subtle - but I don't know if that music is considered any more "stereotypical" than the usual nods to Hungarian / Polish / Spanish music in your average 19th century ballet. I'm sorry if I missed a discussion about this already - trying to read 10 pages of forum commentary at once is a bit mind blowing! 

@LinMM haha enjoy catching up... if you don't mind the slight spoilers, the PDL put a useful video up yesterday containing all the finalists' classical and contemporary variations. I've been watching as much as possible live including the prize giving earlier, but I'm not sure I ever made it through all the non-finalist Boys & Girls B variations. A project for some evening next week...

No big surprises in the prizes, I think, although my favourite didn't place as high as I expected. I guess that's where the "being judged on the whole week rather than just the variations" stuff comes in.

Really enjoyed it as well! In the run-up I was most excited about the idea of seeing Daniil Simkin, because I'd never seen him live, and that Corsaire pdd was really quite sensational. That alone made the evening worth it for me.

Agree with Sim on all points really so won't repeat it, but I did really like Katia Khaniukova and Jeffrey Cirio's dancing. Much preferred Leonore Baulac and Julian McKay in the modern piece "At Sunset", I thought Baulac was really fantastic in that one. The Baulac-McKay best-of-Act-II Giselle compilation did little for me, though that wasn't necessarily to do with the dancing as much as with the idea of converting several pdd's that are supposed to be about storytelling into a mere showpiece. Maybe I'm just spoilt after all the recent suitably dramatic RB Giselles. Loved the Sergio Bernal flamenco and the Possokhov Snow Storm piece.

This was the first time I've attended this gala, and aside from the actual performance, I enjoyed watching the level of glamorous fashion that was going on among audience members in the stalls and boxes, quite different from your average day at the ROH. Also quickly realised that "Russian Icons Gala" as it's known in other years meant an above-average number of Russians in the audience, too, to the point that three different people tried to address me in Russian before they realised I don't speak it!

On 24/11/2021 at 11:19, jmhopton said:

Alastair Muir has been mentioned before on the Forum and after reading about him here I bought several ballet mugs for gifts (and for myself!) He does photos as well. Below is his homepage where he has links to theatre and opera photos as well as ballet. If you click on Ballet he has sections on Dance, Royal Ballet and ENB. Having said that, it's a while since I bought any and I seem to remember you just clicked on a picture and the options came up as to what was available. Now, it doesn't seem as clear. Perhaps try emailing him if you fancy any; alastair@alastairmuir.com 

 

https://photos.alastairmuir.com/

These are so great, thanks for the suggestion!

On 20/11/2021 at 17:07, LinMM said:

Sophie B are the photos on good quality photographic paper or more magazine-y quality if you get my meaning. 
There’s nothing quite like having that individual print in your hand. 
Rob S some of your curtain call pictures are real gems ...don’t tempt me if you are thinking of starting to sell them!! 
But I don’t know the ins and outs of rules surrounding photograph sales for these days. 

It's pretty good quality in that the pages are a decent thickness (bit thicker than a magazine but thinner than a poster?) and the quality of the images is good, but it's obviously not meant to be displayed necessarily so I don't know if the photos will fade over time at all. For the £12 or so I paid for the diary (less in the sale last year) it seems like a good deal! (The blurriness of the pictures in my photo is mostly due to me compressing the image so it would let me upload)

FWIW last year I bought the book-form diary from the ROH shop (mainly because I misread the website and I thought I was buying a wall calendar). It is full of lovely full-page colour photos which I ended up cutting out with a Stanley knife and buying matching frames to put up in the hallway. I have bought next year's diary as well so I can update the frames I have with new photos in the same size when I feel like it

On 16/11/2021 at 20:32, WoodlandGladeFairy said:

I almost forgot General Booking opened today for the Royal Ballet's Winter Season but luckily managed to get tickets for the 10th March to see Vadim Muntagirov and Marianela Nuñez in Swan Lake and for a treat went for orchestra stalls seats, was all set to see them in the ballet last year till lockdown and COVID-19 happened, so making up for lost time!

 

 

I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time! I didn't book for Muntagirov / Nuñez this time around because I saw them in March 2020 from the stalls and, partly because of what came after, it's become such a special memory that I think I'll just leave it intact for now. (But I know myself... if anyone wants to get rid of some cheapish tickets on here closer to the time I'll probably snap them up). Instead I've booked for Kaneko & Bonelli and Takada & McRae. The latter on the basis of how special Takada's White Swan pdd was in one of the early post-lockdown gala style performances last year, I think with Campbell on that occasion? Very excited. 

I'm not sure I can add anything except to say that I don't regret booking for both Nuñez & Muntagirov last night and Takada & Corrales today! Such perfection from Nela and Vadim as always (I sometimes think I've hyped them up too much in my head and then they bring the magic every time). I did sort of forget about the story of the ballet at some points in Act II because I was so busy admiring the perfection happening on stage. With a smaller audience at the matinee today the atmosphere was less giddy than last night, but I enjoyed that there was never any danger of people clapping in the middle of a scene. Corrales got the loudest cheers for his rather spectacular Act II solo, although Takada certainly would have deserved them too, some truly ethereal moments in there. Lots of enthusiastic cheering for everyone in the end though!

Leticia Dias made a lovely peasant lead today. I know a lot has been deservedly said about Mayara Magri's fantastic Myrthe already, but Annette Buvoli did a great job as Myrthe as well, she really owned that stage. I was impressed with Buvoli when she had a solo in Coppelia 2019 (which also involved a lot of bouréeing across the stage), happy to see her again. Oh, and edited to say I almost forgot to mention Gina Storm Jensen as Zulme last night, I thought she hit that balance between willowy and fluid and threatening well. And she then transformed into a marvellously disdainful Bathilde today, to the point where I didn't think she'd want to rest in the peasant house, surely it would have been too dirty for her...

3 hours ago, oncnp said:

Didn't see this in the  links(too late?) ..apologies if duplicate 

 

Giselle review – the stuff of dreams from the Royal Ballet | Royal Ballet | The Guardian

Thanks for this! How weird to have two reviews of the same production within 10 days. Mind you, the original one (Osipova, 5 November) was a bit strange - it read like a rave review but awarded only 4 stars.

Well, I can now understand all the hype around Osipova's Giselle, which I hadn't seen before (despite owning the DVD - I guess I ran out of lockdown time to watch it?). Thoroughly believable peasant girl, heartbreaking ethereal ghost. All those jumps and turns just felt like a necessary part of the story, rather than steps being done. Reece Clarke was very good. On those entrechat sixes in Act 2... I mean they were nice, but I always think of other parts of the Albrecht solo being more important, like those jumps in the diagonal when he begins what's supposed to be his dance to the death? Ah well, he danced all of it well and there's clearly something about this partnership that really works, the pas de deux were rather special.

Mayara Magri made an absolutely wonderful Myrthe, as expected I suppose, but what an impressive performance. All the 6 peasants were great, but special mention to Yuhui Choe in the lead couple, just so lovely on those balances in her solo, great to see her back. In act 2 I was also impressed by Isabella Gasparini as Zulme.

5 minutes ago, FionaE said:

@Sophie_Bthe IG person I mentioned is Alistair Macaulay… dance critic, writer and historian for the FT and NY Times for 25+ years.  Not that it matters what his ‘qualifications’ are  … I sometimes agree, though more often disagree with his reviews 😉

Thank you for this information! I'll be honest, I was too lazy / distracted to scroll back and /or Google

I loved last night's performance! It sort of goes without saying that Nuñez was brilliant. I thought both Ball and Naghdi were excellent. Every time I've seen Naghdi, I've been awed by her grace and technical precision. Last time I saw her (I think as Juliet and Aurora?), I was not that moved by her acting, a little bit too much "Yasmin Naghdi acting with great determination rather than taking me in the story with her" if that makes sense. So I do sort of know what the Instagram person referenced above means - but I didn't really feel that yesterday, I thought there was real emotion throughout her performance. And no, I didn't cry, but then I don't usually. Except for the first few post lockdown performances last year when I bawled my eyes out because it was so overwhelming to be back in the theatre!

I love the Giselle score and the mood it creates with the dancing. I'm not a music expert but I did think the tempo was a bit off in the first act especially - one of the peasant dances sounded like it was meant for elephants thumping slowly across the stage rather than the RB's nimble footed dancers?

2 hours ago, Tebasile said:

The same happened to me, but I received an email from the box office saying there was ‘nothing they could do’. A waste of both my money and someone else’s opportunity to buy last-minute seats!

Oh, that's such a shame!

On 13/10/2021 at 19:16, Lizbie1 said:

Worth noting that you need to give 24 hours' notice though.

Yes, thank you, just came here to say that! Although they were generous about it this week - I tried to return my ticket "for resale" and by the time I had been enlightened about the new rules, it was less than 24 hours before the performance. They still gave me the gift certificate (and, as it turns out, also resold the seat on the day of the performance so everyone wins).

I also really liked this one! I loved the changing moods and pairings of the first act, Inferno. Such a treat to see the parade of principals, and some younger first artists / soloists being featured (Calvin Richardson and Joseph Sissens were great but really this was about the whole company being thoroughly excellent). I only managed to pull up the cast list in the interval and it would have definitely helped to have known the names of the different group dances / sins they represented, but not knowing anything I still really enjoyed it. I also bought the programme later because I've never read Dante - though now I think I will! Just about every review has also commented on this, but the set with the mountains and different light projections was great. Some of the costumes were on the edge of making the legs blend into the same-coloured background to the point of making it hard to see the dance from the amphi, but I suppose if you're going to have a dark and bleak hell you might as well lean into it.

Act 2 was enjoyable, I particularly liked the score here actually - a fusion of styles and a mix of vocals on tape and the orchestra playing into it. Marco Masciari being featured very prominently and getting to show his Contemporary chops, what an opportunity for him (and nice to see him on stage after the big covid hiatus, I'm glad the RB extended the PDL / Aud Jebsen contracts). Act 3 (Paradiso) was lovely to watch, I thought less surprising choreography-wise, but a nice uplifting end. Watson did a wonderful acting job especially at the end of acts 1 and 3, looking into worlds beyond the stage. 

As an aside, the people sitting next to me were there for the music and Adés rather than the ballet, which was interesting. There seemed to be quite a few normally-opera-not-ballet types around, so it was good to see this collaboration attracting a varied audience. 

Amphitheatre row B, £30, evening performance on Friday October 15. Happy to send you a screenshot of the ticket or meet you at the entrance, whichever is easier. (I have the other seat on the ticket, my friend is ill and has had to bail on me)

On 03/10/2021 at 14:34, oncnp said:

 

just me then...thanks!  

Whatever this new system is it does seem to be bug-y... When I'm on my normal browser including after I sign into my ROH account (non friend), ALL R&J performances are currently showing as unavailable. It offers me a link to "Find out more about premium booking". I now know I have to open it in an incognito window instead and then I get the option to buy tickets, but it seems that any number of cookies or maybe browser extensions can upset the system.

Weirdly, I had to put the browser in incognito mode to access the package booking (and same for viewing the seat map, although like others I can no longer see any seat views) but apart from that I got all the dates I wanted  

On 13/07/2021 at 22:24, capybara said:

 

Margarita thanks her mother Annarella on Instagram today, but that might be a turn of phrase.

She will be only 16 when she starts in Munich.

 

 

 

I also read in an interview that Margarita is Annarella's daughter. It's surprising to see both of them being hired at this level (especially her, so young!) but I look forward to seeing what happens with their careers.

Thanks Capybara and LinMM for your additional comments about Broken Wings - I looked up an extract on Youtube and it seems like in the original there were SKELETONS watching Frida and Diego dance, making the lighter moments of the lovers' dance seem more like denial in the face of tragedy / cluelessness as to what's around the corner which makes a lot more sense. I would have liked more menacing skeletons and darkness, basically  With my comments I was thinking about moments like when the lyrics were going "the flowers of the cemetery... they are weeping" and on stage Frida was being lifted and fluttering her hands as if she didn't have a care in the world. It was still good dancing, of course!