Jamesrhblack

For what it is worth, all opinions my own, the Woolf / Septimus sequence is two people, one real, one fictional, driven by suicidal impulses but reaching, for now, different conclusions.
 

The fictional character is driven, literally, over the edge. 
 

The creator, for now, finds solace in their work and  the tranquillity of Monk’s House.

This is, of course, in stark contrast to the end of the triptych.

A pity for Cesar Corrales and Marcellino Sambé, but very pleased for Nicol Edmonds, who was so tenderly solicitous with Claire Calvert for their Swan Lake debut; also to see Itziar Mendizabal in a full dancing role (although I think she might, perhaps with Hannah Grennell, have been an uproarious Step Sister). Interesting to see James Hay cast as a Sister. In Sambé’s absence, he might have seemed a suitable partner for Akane Takada.

I’m just back from the matinée, still rather overwhelmed by what I experienced this afternoon.

Becomings remains a weakness for me: I can admire the extreme virtuosity of dancers such as Fumi Kaneko, Nicol Edmonds and Joseph Sissens (all in sensational form), but on a third viewing still can’t get an angle on the structure, whether musically or choreographically. Interestingly, my partner, who tends to take short shrift with anything they consider pretentious and who enjoys dance very much but is perhaps less regular in attendance them I am found it absolutely thrilling.

I Now / I Then seems to be a masterpiece, almost unbearably poignant as it explores our present reflections on our past, sometimes through melancholy, sometimes in sheer joy (The Older Clarissa rapturously replacing her younger self in duet with Sally) or the journey towards madness and suicide of two troubled individuals (the shattering duet between Clarissa / Woolf and Septimus reaching for now different conclusions). I was in tears as The Older Clarissa relived her past (or her aspirations) in the arms of Peter and as Septimus battled his demons in vain. The final sequence with past and present, author and her creations, intertwining, before finding temporary respite at Monk’s End touched me deeply.

And I think Tuesday unbearably poignant, from Gillian Anderson’s reading of the letter to the images of Woolf’s suicide, sometimes an expansion into water, sometimes a desperate struggle to escape and a final release into death, perhaps blessed by a brief memory of happiness. The image of the central figure removing her shoes in preparation  as the children laugh and play is unforgettable.

Neither my partner nor I was able to speak afterwards and as I write this the poetry and poignancy of Alessandra Ferri’s performance, as actress and, so remarkably, as dancer and the tenderly solicitous support of William Bracewell, together with the superb commitment of the dancers and orchestra under Koen Kessels’ baton continues to resonate vividly.

Am going to the General. I note that the cast sheet now identifies the characters for I Now, I Then (including Virginia Woolf / Older Clarissa) but not The Waves.

43 minutes ago, Linnzi5 said:

She has a lovely voice and is a wonderful actress, too.

And I’m delighted to be her General Manager in the UK 🌺

1 hour ago, Emeralds said:

Tony, that Manon dress rehearsal has acquired mythic status! If I had known,  with a crystal ball perhaps, that Melissa and James would be dancing Manon and Lescaut respectively in it, I would have bought Friends membership that year and taken a day of annual leave just to be able to book and watch that one dress rehearsal.....and it would have been worth it too. 

 

According to his bio, and it seems to be quite meticulously updated with the current important roles, apparently not (if you don’t count one dress rehearsal). I don’t recall seeing his name on the casting in the last few runs of Manon either. It’s a mystery as to why that is. 

I definitely saw him as Lescaut in ? 2017. Akane Takada was Manon with Alexander Campbell as des Grieux. 

7 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

 

Thank you both. It's the first gesture, the speak/listen one, that I was puzzled by. I did understand the Songbird mimicking one. (Though each time I see it I do wonder why she gives up after Songbird & Crystal Fountain & doesn't mimic all 5!)

 

 

Thanks. I'll have a look at that tomorrow, as I'm currently on the train home & I doubt the rest of the carriage will want to hear an explanation of ballet mime!

i think she guves up out of bad tempered exasperation…

20 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

May I ask if someone can explain what the mime gesture done by Carabosse of waving her hands to her mouth means? I think I understand all the rest of the mime but the meaning of that eludes me.

It could be “speak” as if pulling words out of her mouth, as in “Hear what I say,” as she begins the curse. When confronting the fairies it’s an irritated imitation of Songbird. I hope I’ve got the correct section / sections you mean…

47 minutes ago, alison said:

I thought the point of the ballet was that at the end she's overcome her demons and is Victorious, or something like that?

I read it as returning to the yacht of the First Act and that Anna Anderson was hopelessly trapped in her own delusions as to her identity which would play over and over in her mind ....

2 hours ago, Emeralds said:

I too don’t really like these height “rules” but they’ve been around for over a century so examples include Monica Mason, Zenaida Yanowsky, Deborah Bull, etc not being cast as Aurora, although I don’t think they’d have done worse than some shorter dancers who have been cast. Likewise the shorter ballerinas don’t get cast as Lilac Fairy even though you might feel they could easily manage the technical and acting demands (eg we’re very unlikely to see Akane Takada, Meaghan Grace Hinkis or Francesca Hayward as LF). The unwritten rule also exists in other companies, although if you have a company that’s very tall to begin with eg Mariinsky Ballet, then everyone has a more equal chance. Likewise, Myrtha in Giselle generally also has to be a tall dancer to look imposing next to both Albrecht and Giselle- but she doesn’t have to be taller than Albrecht.

 

The LF also can’t look significantly  shorter than Carabosse as they are supposed to be equals in their powers and authority/status. Otherwise you could end up with a Thumbelina-versus-Goliath effect....probably not what Petipa intended! The original LF was actually a mime role like Carabosse is (still preserved in Peter Wright’s production for BRB, Dutch National Ballet, etc) and they still cast dancers who are not very short so that Carabosse and LF look similar in height and authority. 

Of course, both Deborah Bull and Monica Mason did dance Aurora with The Royal Ballet, although, if I recall correctly, Mason only for one series of performances and Bull only as a replacement. Ironically, she was ill for her only scheduled performance (at Hammersmith during the ROH Closure) and was never cast again.

Some beautiful pictures in ROH Facebook of Annette Buvoli rehearsing Lilac Fairy with Dame Monica Mason and Samira Saidi.

9 hours ago, art_enthusiast said:

Joseph Sissens and Isabella Gasparini, an iconic Bluebird/Princess Florine pairing! Superb.

It’s good to see Isabella Gasparini being given more mature challenges: not just Florine but Enchanted Garden rather than Songbird, as well as Stephanie and Louise in Mayerling. I’m not really a Nutcracker person, but my understanding is that she also danced Rose Fairy. I fjnd her a delightful dancer and presence on stage.

I know we’re not supposed to comment on rehearsals but absolute Kudos to the company going full out today especially with the last of a long run of Nutcrackers this evening.

Although I admire its formal perfection The Sleeping Beauty doesn’t often move me with the exception of The Vision Scene Pas de Deux with the glorious ‘cello solo. I also think Ashton’s Act 2 Aurora solo (which I recently read was created on the late Dame Beryl Grey) is my favourite female solo in the canon.

That said (written?) I enjoyed this rehearsal very much: the company, including the orchestra, who had a long Magic Flute last night, seem in wonderful New Year form.

5 hours ago, LinMM said:

Sae Maeda and Calvin Richardson look like a great combination for Bluebird. 
I don’t know whether they’ve danced the roles before but I’m pretty sure not together. 
Would love to know how that pairing goes today! 

I had an impression that Calvin Richardson was being seen as in the line of Edward Watson so it’s good to see him being given more formal challenges such as Nutcracker Prince and Bluebird.

1 hour ago, PeterS said:

I harbour a secret wish that Gary Avis or even Ed Watson might pop up as Carabosse at some point. 😉

Of course, Edward Watson was Carabosse in the Makarova production of ill-fated memory…

Unexpectedly at Sleeping Beauty General. Delighted that it’s Fumi Kaneko and William Bracewell and also interested to see Hannah Grennell, who I really like very much, as Carabosse.

Just now, oncnp said:

But more recently has been a First Soloist, has it not?

Often with rather mixed results though.

4 minutes ago, oncnp said:

 

'Was hoping for Claire Calvert/Campbell but am sure Kaneko will be lovely.  I know @capybara mentioned it but wonder why Principals are dancing the Lilac Fairy?

Perhaps because it is a role with a notoriously tricky solo that also benefits from authority and experience. In the 1970’s it wouid have been unusual not to see a principal: Deanne Bergamo, Vergie Derman, Monica Mason and Marguerite Porter all spring immediately to mind.

5 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

No, I haven't, only the Scarlett one (first the cinemacast when it was new in 2018 & then finally live in 2022, as the 2020 performances I had booked were covid victims). So my reference points when it comes to SL are extremely limited. While I have yet to be really moved by the ending of SL (at least moved in the way I am by R&J, Manon, Mayerling) I think on reflection it's nicer for both of them to die & be reunited in death than for one to die & the other left alone. The Vienna production seemed particularly bleak as not only was he dead & she alive but, if I understood it correctly, she was still under Von Rothbart's spell, so nothing had been achieved by their suffering.

The Vienna ending is closer to the original scenario which has Siegfried tearing the crown from Odette’s head at which point the waters rise and drown him with the last image being of the swans on the lake. 

So, grasping the nettle (and, hopefully, not running the gauntlet: these things are entirely subjective and all opinions my own), with the proviso that, with the exception of two Galas, my experiences were entirely Royal Ballet at The Royal Opera house based (something i intend to remedy in the New Year, a visit to Northern Ballet being a particular priority), some thoughts on 2022.

My most sheerly joyous dance watching experience this year was seeing Francesco Gabriele Frola in Flower Festival at Genzano at the Nureyev Legend and Legacy Gala. Neatness, yet brilliance, of execution, delightful choreography and an endearing partnership with Emma Hawes. 

Dancer of the Year for me was William Bracewell, who seemed fully to come into artistic bloom. Whether nursing either an eloquently mature, but occasionally tiring, or an unexpectedly tense and unsure partner through the rigours of 19th Century classicism, dancing solos with seemingly new assurance and technical brio, or bringing complete conviction as an actor, every movement valid and expressive, he was consistently impressive and his promotion richly deserved.

Otherwise, it was very much a year of partnerships, combined artistry heightening the experience: Alexander Campbell and Yasmine Naghdi in Romeo and Juliet (the curtain coming down in complete silence); Fumi Kameko (inevitably much to refine in terms of interpretation but thrillingly abandoned) and Federico Bonelli (embers still burning bright) in Swan Lake; Laura Morera and Vadim Muntagirov just about perfect in A Month in the Country (this surely was the cast that should have been filmed): Akane Takada and Alexander Campbell in Like Water for Chocolate (is it a cliché to write they were incandescent, and not just at the end); Matthew Ball and Joseph Sissens in Wheeldon’s Us at the Men in Motion Gala: Matthew Ball and Laura Morera, and then Marcellino Sambé and Francesca Hayward, powerful but also moving, in Mayerling (with a nod to Sarah Lamb, not usually a favourite, who was stupendous as Larisch).

It was good to see James Hay back on stage, gloriously fluent and musical, whether in For Four or as Bratfisch; Leticia Dias, Leo Dixon, Calvin Richardson and Joseph Sissens consolidated their place on the cast list as dancers I’m increasingly inclined to book to see; Ashley Dean, Mariko Sasaki, Liam Boswell and Francisco Serrano have all made an impact making me eager to see them again.

However, in memory, the performance that glows the most is Claire Calvert’s debut as Odette / Odile with Nicol Edmunds as Siegfried. Her grave beauty and serenity, her musicianship, her ability to execute every technical challenge with an ease and musicality that eluded some of her more obviously starry colleagues, and a sense, again in partnership, of subsuming self to a bigger whole, together with a feeling of love and pride both from those on stage and in the audience that was almost palpable, made for a, possibly unexpectedly, moving evening.

I enjoyed reading jmhopton’s account of their dance watching year.

i agree that Morera and Muntagirov were superb together in A Month in the Country. They did dance two runs of La fille mal gardée together in 14/15 and 15/16 but that’s a while back now, and I agree they would have been an intriguing partnership in Mayerling.

So many riches on which to reflect: I’ve get to get my own thoughts in shape on this one…

I imagine it’s not allowed to post the actual links, but do check the YouTube of Dame Beryl at The Bolshoi. Newsworthy then and still dazzling today. 

I have to say (write) that I think the current Cav / Pag production (which I also saw in its Gothenburg Opera transfer when one of my artists took over Mamma Lucia) is masterly in the way it manages to link the two pieces and has some thrilling visual imagery.

I also liked aspects of the Kosky Carmen, particularly in Acts 1 and 2, but certainly felt it was a production aimed at an “informed” rather than wider audience.

Of course, all reactions are personal, opinions my own and it’s an utterly subjective topic.

Managed to get a return for the matinêe. Having enjoyed the cinema broadcast very much, I’m looking forward to enjoying the experience “live” and to a now more informed viewing of the new works.

Not sure why my post from Wednesday has just reappeared. Might a moderator please delete. Thanks