MaddieRose

None of the performances I saw could ever be classed as 'second best'. Having seen some of these pieces performed by both BRB and BRB2 I think they were on equal level in technical ability. And one of the things I liked most about the performance was that the dancers were so compelling they made me actually like pieces I would hate if they weren't danced by someone with so much passion and charisma. Much of the audience in Nottingham were people who regularly went to the ballet, so much so that I had a chat with some of them who had seen the Acosta and Friends shows, and we were talking comparison in the presentation. I think there definitely could be room for a compère, like the 'An Evening of Music and Dance' shows, but I suppose the framing of the warm-up barre would have to be lost along the way. I will say, however, that I attended with people who had never been to the ballet, and the only one of the pieces they found confusing was Nisi Dominus, which I was a bit puzzled by as well.

I think it was Manon. It sounded very familiar to me when I heard it and this has just jogged my memory of thinking 'Oh that sounds like Massenet's violin work'. The ballet novices I was with thought that little interlude was going to lead into a whole shadow ballet. I also think we didn't get the intended effect of the shadows at the performance I attended, unless it was supposed to be comedic, as the shadow's ended up looking a bit grotesque at certain points because of the lighting.

I have a Royal Opera House souvenir brochure from the coronation season in 1953. The ballets in repertoire were Homage to the Queen, The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Swan Lake, Sylvia, Veneziana (an Andrée Howard ballet), The Shadow (a Cranko work), Les Sylphides, Checkmate, Ballet Imperial and Façade. On the Opera side was Gloriana, Elektra, Wozzeck, Norma, Aida, Il Trovatore, Die Meistersinger, Tristan und Isolde and Rosenkavalier. Beryl Grey said in her book something along the lines of 'there was so many attendants in Homage to the Queen so the whole company could be on stage in the piece'. They would have to have had many many more attendants in 2023 😂.

Casting now up for Sadler's Wells. Ryoichi Hirano and Minju Kang guest at 19th May 7:30 and 20th May 7:30 performance. https://northernballet.com/the-great-gatsby/casts

I did find it rather funny, at least the first few times. I couldn't figure out exactly where they were until they sneezed on the person next to me during the Second Act. At least 3 people, myself included, turned to give them tissues, and any further problems were averted. On the side of good behaviour there was a little boy in my row, about 6 or 7, and he did get up out of his seat a couple of times, but only ever to check whether there was anyone in the orchestra pit. And there were 3 groups from local dance schools in, and they were good as gold as well.

Very very amazing performance this afternoon in Nottingham! A standout was Enrique Bejarano Vidal in Rhapsody, Diana and Actaeon and A Buenos Aires. Confident jumps and a lot of passion and charisma. I liked all the pieces to a certain extent, although was slightly by Nisi Dominus (I read the synopsis and still didn’t get it). Regan Hutsell was very good in it though. I had seen the End of Time Pas de deux danced by Lawrence and Zhang, and Maïlène Katoch and Mason King were just as moving as them (I might have cried). Majisimo was also as fun as I remembered. Riku Ito lead that, and was wonderful, and was also hilarious in Les Bourgeois, dancing a drunk. I enjoyed the set up, with the dancers at a barre, although it did confuse the audience about when to clap at the end. We then clapped for everyone as they left, and the dancers received hearty applause over six or seven curtain calls.

In the interval at the BRB2 Gala. IF YOU INSIST ON WEARING BANGLE. BRACELETS DON’T JANGLE THEM!! ESPECIALLY NOT DURING THE QUIETEST PARTS!! (Oh and someone was blowing their noise in time with Swan Lake)

So looking forward to seeing this on Saturday!

Very happy to have the Sarasota lot over! I remember Iain and Margaret in their LBC interview said it was something they were hoping for, so I'm glad it's come to fruition. I wasn't expecting Rhapsody back so soon, but I'm not complaining. I know it's a long way away but I'm already quite interested to see who'll dance Five Brahms Waltzes.

RIP Mr Belafonte. I love and still regularly watch his performance of Turn the World Around on The Muppet Show. Jim Henson considered it the best work he did on the series, and Belafonte later performed the song at Henson's memorial service.

The tribute of the Paris Opera & Ballet: https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/info/tribute-to-pierre-lacotte

French-language newspapers are beginning to report on the death of dancer and choreographer Pierre Lacotte. https://www.letemps.ch/culture/deces-pierre-lacotte-larcheologue-ballet https://www.parismatch.com/culture/spectacles/pierre-lacotte-le-grand-choregraphe-de-ballet-est-mort-91-ans-223994 Hugo Marchand has also posted about Lacotte on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cq2vreJNz1C/?hl=en

As with last year I'd like to express my wish for Symphonic Variations, preferably in an Ashton bill. If Alice came back we'd need new Queen of Heartses (is that the correct plural? 😂), I wonder who could take a crack at it?

They've finally released some Young ROH tickets for 28th-30th after previously saying they weren't going to be on sale for this production. I can't go on those dates, but it's interesting that they've decided to change their minds (when I emailed them about it they seemed very firm).

I'm not quite sure how to share the link as Facebook sharing is a nightmare (copy-pasting the link doesn't work) but Ratmansky has put a public-facing statement on his Facebook page, alongside a video of António Casalinho dancing. Ratmansky's statement: PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER. This is a reconstructed variation from the famous Act II Pas d'Action, a rare example of Petipa's choreography for the men, danced here by the brilliant António Casalinho. It is part of a larger ongoing project called 'Petipa Variations', a long time dream of mine. A filmed record of the notated 19c variations done by the best dancers. I wanted to post it on the day of PhD premiere at the Mariinsky. In the spring of 2021, after two years of preparation, I was able, together with my wife Tatiana, to stage close to two hours of reconstructed choreography and mise en scene of PhD at the Mariinsky and was going to finish the production in May 2022. We had complete runs of the material and the dancers (superb) were ready to go on stage. However when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 I left in protest and had to cancell (officially postpone) the premiere. UKraine is a home country where my family still lives, there was absolutely no other choice for me. My designer Bob Perdziola who at the time when the war started did most of his job already was just informed couple of weeks ago about the new premiere date and the new 'artistic team' taking over. This team consists of Toni Candeloro and Juan Bockamp, people I knew and corresponded with, who choose to become tools of putin's propaganda. Hope they realize that the taxes they pay in Russia are spend to kill and torture Ukrainians. And there is one more aspect. After seeing recent rehearsal footage I am suspicious that parts of my work might have been used. I won't make any statements until I see the film of the full production. All I can say now is that the PhD is the most painful professional experience in my life. And it does hurt.

(Note- there will be spoilers of the plot, just in case anyone wants to avoid them) Yesterday I saw the matinee performance of Northern Ballet's The Great Gatsby at the Sheffield Lyceum Theatre. The cast was led by: Jonathan Hanks- Jay Gatsby Sarah Chun- Daisy Buchanan Filippo di Vilio- Nick Carraway Harry Skoupas- Tom Buchanan Alessandra Bramante- Jordan Baker Rachael Gillespie- Myrtle Wilson Harris Beattie- George Wilson Archie Sherman- Young Gatsby Julie Nunès- Young Daisy I thought the performance was absolutely brilliant! I hadn't seen this ballet before, but I know the book well and I was excited to see how they adapted it. I thought they captured the era very effectively, and I liked the merging of traditional ballet steps with the 1920s jazz moves. The cast were all amazing, and the versatility of the company dances is always amazing. I thought Hanks did really well at getting across the emotion of Jay Gatsby; it must be quite difficult to express it just through dance, especially as in the book Nick in the narrator, and that's not something that can really be done in a wordless art form. I liked their utilisation of Nick in relation to his role in the book. He's there more often than not, but he's not as much of a major focus in scenes as Daisy, Gatsby or Tom. When I read the book I felt his character was there, but was often not a driving force. Fillipo di Vilio was wonderful in his role. Sarah Chun as Daisy was equally wonderful. Daisy's such an interesting character, and I think Chun captured how stuck Daisy is between Gatsby, her old love, and Tom, her husband. Chun and Hanks were a really good partnership, and they portrayed the reunion of their characters really well. Harry Skoupas as Tom showed the harshness of the character, and the double standards in his beliefs: he has an affair and that's fine, but he intervenes every time Daisy gravitates towards Gatsby and even Nick. One of my favourite moments was when Tom and Daisy's daughter comes in in the Second Act, and Tom picks her up and just looks at Gatsby as if to say- 'I've won'. I thought Rachael Gillespie as Myrtle was an absolute standout. In the party scenes in the 1st Act she had the free and loose way of dancing that almost defines the Roaring 1920s. This was immediately contrasted with how weak she feels after Tom hits her in front of their guests. As the mechanic George Harris Beattie was really good. The anger he showed in the Second Act, when he finds a fancy bracelet and realises his wife is having an affair, was as strong as the sorrow when he found Myrtle had been hit by a car. The costumes were amazing, and I think my favourite had to be Jordan's. Jordan's a bit more of a 'New Woman' compared to Daisy, and I liked the fact that her costumes, always slightly different from the rest of the women, reflected that. Alessandra Bramante was really fun in the role, with Jordan being one of the only main characters to not go through a lot of hardship during the events. Sherman and Nunès, as Young Gatsby and Daisy, had just as strong of a partnership as Hanks and Chun. In the First Act I thought the way Hanks and Sherman moved in the same way was really moving, and then was very happy when Act 2 features the older and younger pairs in sync. The ending scene, with Gatsby and the two Daisy, was absolutely beautiful, and so effective that everyone in the audience was astounded at the final gunshot. The orchestra was strong, especially the piano playing. The conductor was Lauren Wasynczuk, and she led the orchestra really well, and stayed when someone's phone went off in the front row TWICE! in the first Act (I wasn't chuffed with them, but luckily it was at loud moments). I thought the whole ensemble together were on the best of forms, and the ballet as a whole was really really good.

The interviewer notes that Ratmansky severed his partnerships with Russian theatres for 'political reasons', so Fateev was probably talking in that context. Though the interviewer enquires on the process of coming to the decision, there's no proper detail given by Fateev (although further on in the interview he is complementary of the work Ratmansky did on the project).

There's quite a long interview in Russian about the production with Yuri Fateev: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5887128?fbclid=IwAR16b1HidyeoDHeToCmmYQ1l1Y3jf6ouviHd4S3C839j8iC_ZGHIMk0CDgs I won't translate the whole thing, but some key parts are: 'Ratmansky said that it was impossible, that he could not continue to work on the production. This was in Spring 2022'. 'But now Tony Candeloro has completely re-choreographed it. Nothing remains of what his predecessor [Ratmansky] did'. There's then mention of how the Stepanov notations can be interpreted in different ways. Fateev says there is no danger of Ratmansky claiming the choreography as his because the recording of the 'failed production' was banned, and Candeloro hasn't even seen it. To do with the production, the claim is that it will be about 90% accurate to the 1898 version, using the Stepanov notations and videos provided by Candeloro, who was doing his own research into the ballet before being approached about taking over the choreography. However the ballet will be condensed into two acts, so the 'modern viewer will not get bored'. The design is referred to as a 'fresh look at the past'. He also says the ballet can be performed by the Mariinsky 'forever', though refuses to give any further details. Balanchine's Jewels is also in the repertory until 2025.

Going to miss Brandon's dancing (and this news has been a bit of a one-two punch after Yijing's final performance). I wrote in the Swan Lake thread how I enjoyed Brandon and Yijing in the End of Time Pas de deux, but I also feel lucky to have seen him in the Coppélia Act III Pas de deux, in which he was delightful. Best of luck to Brandon in Zurich!

I think the most moving dancing I've ever seen has been Yijing Zhang and Brandon Lawrence in the End of Time Pas de deux. An unforgettable performance from both of them, I feel honoured to have been able to watch it. I will miss her dancing.

Today Yijing Zhang is giving her final performance with the company: https://www.brb.org.uk/stories/yijing-zhangs-final-performance-with-brb

Melissa Hamilton posted on her Instagram story the other day with a photo of Hannah Grennell, Yuhui Choe and Mica Bradbury and said the three of them would be dancing fairies (I can't remember who was who but I think it was Autumn, Winter and Summer).

There was a lady behind me at Sleeping Beauty last week giving a hushed running commentary, alongside some rather-harsh opinions on the dancers. This proceeded despite the people either side of her asking her to be quiet, so in the first interval someone two rows behind me asked her a bit more directly to shut up. There was also a latecomer who was let in right at the end of the first interval but wasn't able to get to her seat in time because someone was sitting in it. I'm not sure what the problem was but the usher was very obviously not pleased, and the latecomer had to wait until the second interval to actually make it to their original seat.

The Bolshoi brought Pharaoh to London in 2004 and 2006 I think? The Marius Petipa society has a page on the ballet and its history: https://petipasociety.com/the-pharaohs-daughter/

Oh that was lovely wasn’t it! I was the tall young lady with the walking stick, which I think may be the easiest way to describe myself 😂