Nina99

I’m very excited that Kaneko and Muntagirov are partnered together. Kevin, O’Hare saw them perform together in R&J in Osaka last month and certainly looked very pleased in the backstage photos there. I’ve only ever seen Muntagirov’s des Grieux on DVD and I thought he and Sarah Lamb were both wonderful. Nevertheless , it’ll be great to see him dance this time with someone younger than him and Kaneko certainly couldn’t wish for a better partner for her debut in this role.

I would love to see Kaneko and Muntagirov partnered together in Manon next season. 

Rachel Hollings has just posted on her IG story some nice photos from the wings and backstage both before and after the latest R&J in Osaka with Vadim Muntagirov and Fumi Kaneko. 

I remember Alex Campbell, saying on a podcast, that if the opportunity arose he would love to appear in anything with Vadim. I think they would be great together, especially if there was comedy involved.

Actually, one lovely solo that Vadim has done was posted by him on his Instagram in early August 2021, when he was on holiday in Russia with his parents. This post showed him dancing very beautifully round the empty halls of the Chelyabinsk Opera house, accompanied,  by the song “Once upon a December” which, funnily enough, is from the 1997 animated movie Anastasia.

57 minutes ago, oncnp said:

 

or given how much guesting they both do, and the lead times involved, they might be otherwise engaged earlier in the run 

Surely even Nela and Vadim wouldn’t be able to declare themselves unavailable in December because of guesting commitments.  I would’ve thought that the needs of the RB would be paramount.  It may be, as PeterS suggests that the RB want to boost post Christmas sales of the Nutcracker.

I really enjoyed the class on stage today. It was the second time I had seen it and I will definitely go again if I can.  It was a real pleasure sitting in the stalls, listening to lovely piano music, and watching such a wonderfully talented group of people.  I just got a bit frustrated, trying to recognise who they all were. As usual, Rob Clark, accompanied them beautifully, and we got everything from Tom and Jerry to romantic show tunes.  My favourite bit was at the end when they were doing their pirouettes and fouettés etc to huge appreciation from the audience who gave them all a big and well deserved cheer at the end.

Muntagirov and Lamb were fabulous together in Manon but I would also love to see Muntagirov partner Kaneko in this ballet. Maybe Bracewell and Nunez will do Manon together since Nunez’ usual partner Bonelli is no longer around.

One thing I omitted to say in my post above, was that I found out, as I was leaving the cinema (in Croydon), that the person sitting next but one to me, was Alfreda Thorogood, who was, of course, married to David Wall. I didn’t get to speak to her but I must say she still looks good for her 80 something years.

I’ve just come back from the cinema relay and I really enjoyed it.  This was my second viewing since I was there in person on opening night. I enjoyed being able to get a better look at the performers expressions, and in particular, the sets and costumes most of which I liked very much. I also enjoyed the extras that one habitually gets with cinema relay.  DarceyBussell and Petroc Trelawney are engaging hosts and Darcey, of course, knows what she’s talking about.

I agree with Tango Dancer and Linnzi5 that Marianela was superb, but that Vadim although also terrific but very much under used. No wonder he could afford to take time in the middle of final rehearsals for Cinderella, to go off and do a couple of performances of Swan Lake with the BRB!

I also agree about the sisters, whose antics, I thought, wore a bit thin after a while. Maybe seeing them in close-up at the cinema, make them a bit more dominant.

I thought it was a wonderful, enchanting evening. Lovely performances all round and I really like the costumes and designs, especially the last scene which I thought was absolutely gorgeous.  Compared with the Sleeping Beauty which was the last ballet I saw, it all seemed very fresh and new. Loved the music as well.

All in all, it was the perfect antidote to the rubbish day that I had had.

7 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

Yes, I was bewildered by the poster for Cinderella as well.  If it hadn't come in an email with Cinderella in the header, I would not have been able to guess what the ballet was.  It has been a while since I saw a production, but I don't remember sunlit flower meadows being a major feature in the heroine's life.  If someone had asked me to guess the production, I would have been hard put to come up with an answer.  

I absolutely agree with this. It’s a very attractive poster, but it certainly doesn’t relate to the production in my opinion. Something akin to the picture used on the website to advertise the gala performance would’ve been much better. i’ve seen several large versions of the flower poster in the tube, advertising the production, but I wonder if the marketing department didn’t rather waste their money.

With all the talk about filming, I noticed that Marianela, has reposted on her IG an audience members video of part of the Rose Adage from last night’s SB. Looking at the angle, I wonder if they were in one of the boxes where filming is possibly less disruptive to other audience members.  Even so, I still think that dancers should, at the most, only repost curtain calls.

There was no glitch in the cinema in Croydon where I watched it. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Being a rather cinematic work I thought  LWFC really benefited from being seen on the big screen where are you could see their expressions and really appreciate the performances which were universally excellent.
 

I was slightly confused at one point having not read the synopsis beforehand.  We were actually given a piece of paper with the cast list and a QR code on it which provided a link to the full synopsis but unfortunately I couldn’t get the link to work. 
 

This is the second ballet that I’ve seen at the cinema, and although nothing beats the thrill of seeing a live performance, I still found it a really enjoyable experience to see ballet this way, and at a fraction of the cost of a seat at the ROH.
 

1 hour ago, emmarose said:

Anyway, I was there last night and what an absolute treat, there's not much more to say about Marianela and Vadim that hasn't already been said in the past, but they just work so beautifully together with complete ease and both were sublime on their own and then magical together.

The Rose adagio, well, towards the end my heart was beating so fast, I don't know how the ballerinas keep their cool, but flawless, not a wobble in sight!

 

What a gorgeous Lilac Fairy Fumi makes, enchanting us all throughout the whole evening. Kristen was a fabulous Carabosse. And the standouts were the Bluebird pairing of Joseph Sissens and Isabella Gasparini, just wow, I love Isabella, she has such a beautiful and light quality to her dancing that was perfect here and Jo just was exceptional, it wasn't just his leaps, but the crispness of his technique that really stood out.

1 hour ago, EVWS said:

I agree absolutely with everything that @emmarose wrote! One of the better Sleeping Beauty's that I've seen in a long time (even Act 3 which I do often find can drag a bit until the final PDD...)

 

Marianela & Vadim were subline in everyway, so lovely to see two artists with such strong, controlled technique which really then allows them to be in the moment and almost 'play' with their musicality and phrasing. What a treat to be able to see them both! I may be wrong, but I also thought that they were dancing at a faster tempi compared to previous years, which I think is a good thing - it adds a freshness and excitement to what you are watching on stage. 

 

Loved Fumi as the Lilac Fairy, radiating such warmth and benevolence all evening. I thought Claire Calvert as the Woodland Glade & Yuhui Choe as Golden Vine were the standout fairy variations in the Prologue. Joseph Sissens and Isabella Gasparini were fantastic in the Bluebird, I've long admired both of them and it was lovely that they were given this to dance for the opening night. 

 

Special mention to Kristin McNally as Carabosse - wickedly fantastic! 

This was my first full length live Sleeping Beauty and I really enjoyed it, even though it's not my favourite ballet. I saw Act 3 at the ROH when it was done post Covid as part of a triple bill and found it rather sparse and unengaging.  However seeing the whole thing is much better especially with such great performances all round.  

I can't really add anything to the above reviews with which I agree absolutely.  I thought Marianela's Rose Adagio was incredible - and deservedly got a very warm round of applause from the audience. The biggest cheer went to Vadim for his Act 3 solo which was just breathtaking.  Talking of Vadim, I noticed that at the end of the clips on his IG stories he's posted a picture, obviously taken on his way home, of him standing on a tree stump, holding a bunch of flowers and doing an arabesque!  Bit different from the usual post performance pictures!

I recently took out a subscription to the stream and have been enjoying it. However last night I decided to watch Coppelia but found it very difficult to watch because it was so juddery and jerky with oversaturated colour. I know it’s not my television since other performances on the stream look perfectly normal. I was wondering if anybody else has had this problem. 

I do voluntary part-time work as an usher in a certain medium size concert hall in London and I would say that taking photos by the audience is one of our major problems. The thing is with it anything can be done about it it’s often a matter of where the person is sitting. If they’re in the middle of a row towards the front of the auditorium it’s very difficult to get them to stop filming while the performance is going on, without causing disruption.

I could be wrong, but I think that Class on Stage is only available online  if it’s been part of the world ballet day, which this year was early in November. I certainly didn’t notice any filming being done yesterday.

I was there yesterday, sitting in the orchestra stalls which was certainly a treat for me. I was lucky that I had a good view since there was only what looked like a couple of young ballet students sitting in front of me. 

I think that Marci Sambe was the only principal there – that was an interesting knitted onesie that he wore to start with! I don’t remember seeing James Hay.

This was my first time seeing the class on stage and I will definitely make the effort to go again sometime. It was quite instructive to someone like me who knows very little about the technical side of ballet. It was also exciting to see the men at the end doing their manèges round the stage which they mostly managed to finish off in style.

I’m glad someone mentioned Francisco Serrano – I take it he was the one with a mass of dark curly hair. He certainly stood out at the end along with Junhyuk Jun who was amazing.
 

I absolutely agree with your review Tango Dancer.  I saw this at the cinema and really enjoyed it. This was my first ballet cinema relay,  previously I had only seen a few plays. However it was great to have the best seat in the house and to really be able to appreciate close up, all the fabulous dancing, the costumes and, of course, that gorgeous music.

All the cast were excellent but I must just say – Melissa Hamilton and Lukas BB in the Arabian dance"….…wow!

I really enjoyed  my evening seeing the Gala yesterday.

As has been said before Meagan Grace Hinkis was injured warming up for her performance in Fille and was replaced at very short notice by Anna Rose O’Sullivan.  In spite of this I thought she and Luca Acri were both very good and even managed the bum lift at the end with seemingly no problems. This and the following PDD from Manon made me long to see both works live in full. To date I have only seen them both on DVD.

I quite enjoyed Qualia although it seemed more an exercise in flexibility on the part of Melissa Hamilton.

Much more to my taste, being something of a Wheeldon fan, was For four which I loved. It certainly played to the strengths of the different cast members and I hope that this work is kept in the repertoire of the RB. It’s certainly got the biggest cheer of Act 1.

I really wasn’t very impressed by Joseph Tonga’s See Us – although you couldn’t fault the dancers commitment. The music wasn’t too bad but the rather grungy costumes and dim lighting didn’t do it any favours.

Dispatch duet was ruined for me by the awful music. Such a shame really, with two such great dancers as O’Sullivan and Bracewell.

I quite liked concerto with its pleasant If a bit sugary music. It suited Osipova and McRae very well although I agree that McRae looked as though he had just got out of bed!

I enjoyed Prima but like others was somewhat distracted by the costumes, although they didn’t look quite as bad from a distance as they did in the photos I had seen previously.  However, why someone thought it was a good idea to put the gorgeous Frankie Hayward in a dress that looked as though it had a couple of dinner plates stuck to the hip, I can’t imagine!  

Diamonds, which I’ve never seen before in full, was lovely and beautifully danced by all. I was sorry not to see Marianela Nunez  but Sarah Lamb was superb and very well partnered by Ryoichi Hirano.

21 hours ago, MJW said:

I’m booked for the Royal Ballet in class on stage on 16 December ( which is also a perfect excuse not to go to my employer’s Christmas do!) and have just received an invitation for Friends drinks do afterwards.

The way I read this is that it is not so much a "drinks do" as an opportunity  to purchase mince pies and a cup of tea/coffee from the bar after the Class on Stage. Still, we are promised "an insight into the importance of ballet class with an exclusive discussion with special guests from The Royal Ballet."  

37 minutes ago, capybara said:

Interesting that the enthusiastic comments on Muntagirov's Rudolf on here now number over 40 (excluding the interjections about flowers, Russian dancers etc.).

That in itself is a massive accolade and great to see.

Actually  looking back on the autumn casting thread it’s interesting to see that some people were initially a bit lukewarm about Muntagirov’s debut as Rudolph and were more interested in seeing what Sambe could do with the role. Of course the latter may surprise us but I think it will be difficult for him to come anywhere near the magnificence of Vadim’s performance.

Absolutely agree!! Vadim really inhabited the part - he was Rudolf!!  Amazing evening!

@dancersdiary has posted on his IG some lovely photos of some of the performers in the MiM gala on Sunday.   

There are several reviews today in the dance links and I was pleased that they are mostly favourable although there were differing opinions about some of the individual items.  All the reviewers thought that Matthew Ball  was one of the stars of the evening and I would certainly agree with that.  IMO his duet with Joe Sissens was a definite highlight and I also loved his performance of the Matthew Bourne Act 2 PDD with Luca Acri.  Luca appeared in Spectre de la Rose  and I must admit to being slightly disappointed with his performance and wishing that Vadim Muntagirov had danced it instead with Fumi Kaneko who was gorgeous.  Vadim himself performed two items both very well, as one would expect, although there was some disagreement among reviewers about the second one, a Russian piece name Adagio. I agree that it was very reminiscent of Dance of the Blessed Spirits but danced by someone of Vadim's calibre I enjoyed it very much.

I enjoyed the two Arthur Pita numbers especially Ed Watson in a spangly leotard and heels which was definitely worth seeing and showed that he still has his old flexibility.  I thought Leo Dixon also did very well and I thought that it was very funny the way the curtain came down before the second to last number and some people made a rush for the bar thinking  it was the interval, only for Dixon to appear in front of the curtain and strip down to a Spiderman costume.  This, incidentally wasn't recognised by one of the reviewers who thought he was dressed as the devil.  

As far as I was concerned the only number that was a real dud for me was Affi, the second number by Matteo Maccini which I found tedious and far too long.  However the rest of the evening was for me on the whole pleasingly varied and enjoyable with the added bonus of being able to admire, as FionaE says, so many sculpted male bodies! Bravo to Ivan Putrov for getting it all together and I hope this gala is repeated in London before too long.