Jamesrhblack

Although neither is a “go to” dancer for me, I also feel so sorry for Yuhui Choe and Melissa Hamilton, taken out of Aurora and Manon. Five years ago, Choe was the dancer chosen to replace Osipova as Aurora. Hamilton hasn’t had RB chances in the classics but her MacMillan work has been much admired. It must be incredibly difficult to maintain motivation as the next generation rises and passes you by when early signals suggested you were that next generation.

I remember when I was a JA all the press excitement about Lesley Collier’s Swan Lake debut and the sneering “more pigeon than swan” comments afterwards. I can understand HappyTurk not feeling sure that Francesca Hayward will be cast in Swan Lake. Without wishing to set one dancer against another, it has been remarkable to see how Yasmine Naghdi seems to have risen to every challenge across the repertoire this season, but I look forward to seeing how Francesca Hayward consolidates on her return to a full season. Her Aurora, Giselle, Manon and Rhapsody have all been memorably exquisite.We are so lucky to have two such outstanding young principal ballerinas and the next generation ofallerinas (Kaneko, Magri, O’Sullivan, Stix-Brunell) is already on the rise....

I note that Kish isn’t cast in anything. I appreciate he has been moving, very well from what I have read here,, in to more character roles and might have expected him to feature as Elgar. I know he can polarise opinion on here, but I’ve always enjoyed his work, and thought his Creature in Frankenstein really moving both times that I saw it.

I so agree. I didn’t see her in this role until after her return but the memories are indelible. The very last one in 1988 with Dowell remains one of my most cherished ballet memories. There’s also a wonderful clip on You Tube our her dancing the Bedroom PdD with Wall. On Matters Manon, I’ve just clocked that Hamilton hasn’t been cast. Given that she lost Nutcracker last season, this seems particularly sad. She’s not a favourite dancer of mine, but her story is an inspiring one of dedication and application, and I think it a pity, even cruel, that a role to which she is, I understand, very well suited, and for which she has received critical acclaim, has been taken away, particularly as no new Manon has been cast. I’m also sad that Campbell won’t dance Lescaut. He was incredibly moving as Des Grieux in his last minute debut and I’m thrilled that he will dance this with Hayward as I think their on stage relationship really works, but I’m old enough to remember when Dowell and Wall used to alternate the roles and think there could have been some interesting possibilities there. Did McRae ever dance Lescaut? Whilst pleased that Acri gets his debut, am I the only one who thinks it strange that he should be with Morera and Bonelli who are, dare one write, considerably senior in every which way...

He was jolly good as Polixenes in The Winter's Tale. I was surprised at how strongly and maturely such a young a dancer projected and he held up really well opposite Bonelli....

Just a surmise (never speculate), but perhaps Clarke isn’t cast as Des Grieux because it is anticipated that he may not be back to full fitness after the injury that took him out of Romeo and Juliet. I’m not intending to further ignite the Hallberg question, but as he had to miss his performances through injury last time, it may have been felt that it was appropriate to revisit the invitation while he was still dancing. And, of course, it has been often attested by Osipova and Hallberg how much they enjoy dancing together.

Although her Act 2 Ashton solo is just about perfection on that relay...

Delighted to see Alexander Campbell fully and properly cast, including as Des Grieux. No Des Grieux for Reece Clarke though (didn’t he dance it last time) and no Aurora for Yuhui Choe now.. Also, delighted to see that Christina Arestis will danceThe Lady again. I guess because he has been one of the greatest dancers of his time and remains a beautiful dancer and a great artist ...

And was taken out of Sugar Plum Fairy this season too...

This is a most interesting analysis and the clips are wonderful. I don’t know how to embed video here but there is also an astonishing clip of his dancing a variation from Beauty at the Bolshoi (not the Act 3 one but an interpolation in to Act 2). I bought Hallberg’s book and read it with great interest and sympathy having been struck by the “impact” of his dancing in the curtailed Giselle with Osipova at the RB. Not having seen him otherwise live until the much discussed Romeo & Juliet on Wednesday, I am in no position to make comparisons and I’m absolutely willing to concede that three years of injury (plus of Anno Domini) cannot but have an impact. Nevertheless, I believe that the truly great artists (and my hunch is that he was one of the superlative dancers of his generation) carry that within them. As a dancer, the elegance of his line, the beauty of his feet, his astonishing control in turns - able to slow down mid turn without seeming artifice, created memories that will live with me, and as an actor that seemingly cool charming exterior at the start transforming to the bleak anguish of the tomb scene (an earlier poster bad reminded me of his trying to re-arrange Juliet on her bier) as he dragged Juliet by one arm still move me greatly in recollection. Surely, if the flirtation with Rosalind is too serious it makes nonsense of the thunderbolt of his meeting with Juliet and the burning intensity of that glance left this viewer in no doubt of that impact. For me, even if he may not be the dancer that he was, it was a privilege to see an artist and dancer of that quality.

I entirely agree. I’ve always really enjoyed her work since I first noticed her almost 1940’s style glamour in DGV (a little like Deirdre Eyden in that respect). I thought she was sensational in Corybantic Games and am really sorry she won’t be in Firebird, even though she still seems to be listed on the ROH website for that ...

Alexander Campbell’s Des Grieux was extraordinarily, and perhaps unexpectedly, moving. I find that, as with David Wall, he is such a superb actor that one often doesn’t even notice he is dancing, although it is also clear from his performances in Age of Agony and Within the Golden Hour that he has honed both his solo and partnering techniques to a superbly high level.

It was certainly completely involving from the Balcony...

Probably much truth in this. In the opera world, debate swirled, often aggressively, about the relative merits of Maria Callas and Renata Tebaldi for example ...

Absolutely. Astonishing how differently last night has read to different people.

It’s always interesting to read varied opinions. I would absolutely agree with bridiem and HelenLoveAppleJuice that tonight was very special. I too was moved to tears during the Balcony PdD (as was my sister sitting next to me) and spent much of the last act damnp about the gills too. Unlike annamk, I loved Natalia Osipova’s wildness: I’m sure Lynn Seymour was anything but a wilting flower in the role and am sure I read somewhere that MacMillan used this blazing energy to drive the narrative process. That silent scream was indeed chilling as it coursed through her body. It was also a privilege to see a dancer of David Hallberg’s quality: such beautiful legs, such elegant feet, such understated but not cold elegance. Was Erik Bruhn at all like this? To me, the characters’ instant, mutual fascination and attraction read completely and movingly. Much else to admire. I was hugely impressed with Ryoichi Hirano’s Tybalt and enjoyed very much the dancing and characterisation of James Hay and Tristan Dyer, although I didn’t find them physically well matched with Hallberg in the Act One PdT. Are any taller dancers performing these roles this season? I’d not seen Romeo and Juliet for some years and for all the splendour of Prokofiev’s score I share the doubts of those who find rather too much padding, especially in Act Two. Nevertheless, I was truly pleased to be there this evening and shared in the enthusiastic applause of what seemed a majority of the audience.

I really fear this ship has sailed, the clearest indication being that this season she was not cast in Bayadère as Nikiya or Gamzatti, despite having danced both before. Nor is she cast as Stephanie for the American tour. I had thought it might have happened after she replaced Osipova in Beauty but that, incredible how time flies, was over five years ago.

Promotions can surely only occur if vacancies arise. That raises the risk of speculations that none of us would feel comfortable making on a public forum....

I’m intending to if I can get a ticket ...

Well, Manon and Fille are compilations, although to be fair what we hear in the theatre for Beauty and Swan Lake doesn’t exactly reflect what the composer originally wrote. I’m not sure that Minkus as a composer per se ranks with Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky, although much his writing is fluent and rhythmical (and was, indeed, preferred, if my understanding is correct as “fit for purpose” by the dancers of the late nineteenth century).

How wonderful to see. Monica Maon’s Explanation of the architecture of the choreography is just wonderful. I habe such lovely memories of Deirdre Eyden in this solo and wish it were still in the Florestan Pas de Trois...

There’s a similar instance in today’s Times review of The Magic Flute where the photograph credits Rupert Charlesworth as “the petty villain Tamino.” Of course, Tamino is the hero if the piece and the “petty villain: is, as the holy of the review makes clear, Monostatos, sung by Daniel Norman.

Deborah Bull cites the phrase in “The Everyday Dancer...”

Corrected, Mary 🙂

A few brief comments on Tuesday’s performance (was travelling to Europe with work yesterday). I’d seen the original run with Tristan Dyer, Sarah Lamb and Nehemiah Kish, and, with reservations, essentially enjoyed. Despite what I had read on here, the theatre was almost full (including the extremes of the Upper and Lower Slips) and the audience was noisy in its enthusiasm. The lady visiting from the USA next to me who had been discussing her favourite companies during the interval “absolutely loved it” and admitted the construction whereby after the expository narrative of Act One the dancing increases through to the climax. I’d agree it was odd that there were no red-runners though, especially with two debuts. The Frst Act still doesn’t really work for me: it starts promisingly with the children, the switch to the adults (helped ny the fact that Alexander Campbell and Meghan Grace Hinkis were able to look so young) and the really lovely moment when both sets are on stage at the same time (“the child is father to the man” - probably need to write “The child is parent to the adult”) which reminded me of the end of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia. I’d not previously noticed that it is Victor’s dizzingly excited spin around his mother that triggers her collapse, although somebody in the advanced stages of pregnancy dancing en pointe even within the ballet convention is unlikely to end happily. It helps set up Victor’s guilt over his mother’s death though. The dissection scene goes on too long surely, and the Tavern scene adds nothing, surely being there only to cover some scene setting. Being set stage left probably does nothing for sight lines in a horse-shoe shaped theatre either. The ‘Let’s Make a Body’ scene essentially works on the pyrotechnics and some dazzling dancing from Campbell, who is becoming a real virtuoso. Maybe Scarlett brings it out of him: I remember a new brilliance in his execution (which has always been very accomplished) during Age of Anxiety last year. Yes, the initial meeting with The Creature is surely too brief although I have read varied and convincing explanations for that. Act Two again starts with what I think is unnecessary: we don’t need to see The Creature attacked. It adds nothing, other than raising unnecessary questions, such as why he hasn’t found any other clothes during the period or, indeed, discovered The Book. I’m not convinced by Victor’s nightmare either. However, once we move to the mountains, I think the ballet picks up dramatic and choreographic pace very well. The relationship between William and Justine is beautifully charted, the pas de deux between Victor and Elizabeth is beautifully eloquent and breautifully danced Baty Campbell and Hinkis. He’s a true dance actor who brings such variety to all he does, whilst she surely deserved the epithet I once read to describe Sibley of “swallow swift.” The Creature’s solo of discovery is also beautifully set out and I think this one of the finest things I have seen Kish do: I’ve always enjoyed his work, and his long limbs seem convincingly “baggy” and stitched together here. The pas de deux with WIlliam (exacting stuff for a child and superbly delivered by Ptolemy Gidney) is also first class dance theatre and the climax of the act sheer horror. Act Three, with its tribute to La Valse, makes an eloquent start. I’m not sure everyone else can see The Creature. After all, he’s dressed now in an approximation of breeches and jacket, whereas when he returns at the end he is back to his “naked” self. The start of the killing spree isn;t entirely convincing: Father simply discovered lying on the staircase. However, the Pas de Deux for The Creature with Elizabeth is very powerful as he attempts to force courtesy on her and the way in which she wants with horrified fascination as the denouncement builds towards her own death is truly unsettling. Campbell and Kish bring real passion to their final duet and The Creature’s desperate attempts to win his Creator’s love become truly moving. His actions may become monstrous but he is not a monster: others have brought him to that. Of course, the sets are magnificent and the orchestra played wonderfully well to deserved cheers under Barry Wordsworth. It’s not a perfect ballet, and I am surprised that more revisions do not seem to have been made. However, I cannot agree with those who think it meretricious and find it examines ideas of responsibility, relationship, creativity and loss in ways that can move one greatly. I thought it significant that the loudest cheers were reserved for Kish at curtain call as Scarlett had managed to turn on the conventional head the anticipated response to such a character.