emmarose

46 minutes ago, JennyTaylor said:

I'll try to see if I can add anything to the wonderful reviews so far of last night's performance. 

 

First, I agree with everything said so far on its exceptional nature. I was just so thankful I had refreshed the ROH website countless times to get a wonderful Return ticket in the Orch Stalls.  I had booked for the last 2 scheduled performances which sadly were without Marianela, but not this one. My luck was finally in.  

 

I've seen Marianela and Vadim in this version of Swan Lake almost as many times as they have actually performed it, and they are always the best in comparison to anyone else (this is a very high bar). However, last night they hit heights as yet unimagined. 

 

The atmosphere was emotional from the start with the playing of the Ukranian anthem and then as the familiar overture started, my thoughts were - am I now fated to cry at every single RB performance I attend.  I never used to, but these tears lasted well into Act 2. 

 

This show was such a thing of beauty that it is indescribable. The audience were very enthusiastic with both Vadim's and Nela's entrances being greeted by cheers. I don't think I have seen this before. The lyricism of their dancing was so beautiful and so nuanced. How is Vadim so elegant in everything he does? The lines of every part of his body are so beautiful and that's before he even starts to dance. 

 

Vadim was a different Siegfried last night, than even last Saturday. This was such a deeply emotional display in every acting and dancing move. He was matched by Marianela in Act 2, whose Odette was beyond delicate, sad , suffering and immensely beautiful.  The music and the dance combined as never before with the technical excellence of the dancing but also its lyricism, and that was the key to the emotional experience they gave to the audience. 

 

Yes, I agree that Nela has upped her game as Odile.  The dancing of course was flamboyant and superb but I have never seen her so openly laugh as the deception is unveiled and give such emphasis to the flourishes at the end of each divertissement. The joy! - and the audience reacted accordingly.   I was almost surprised that the dancers on the stage did not join in the applause as I saw them once do at a rehearsal. 

 

Vadim's Act 3 was phenomenal, all the more so, because it appears effortless. It isn't as we know, and it takes my breath away every time I am privileged to see it. 

 

The entire cast raised their game as ever.  The RB is so strong!  24 hours later and I am still buzzing. I never want to forget this wonderful 3 hours.  

I so agree with every word you've said. I've seen these two before in this a few times also, but like you said, they raised their own high bar.

Nela as Odile last night seemed noticeably different from the very beginning of the act, I did wonder if perhaps her studying Myrtha in such detail this season maybe brought a bit of that over. The joy of being evil/cruel and the glint in her eye through it. I thought it was amazing to see how changed her eyes even seemed. The looks she was throwing to VR were a lot more conniving than ever and so comfortably assured with it. A hole other side of her in this role came through.

Like you, I'm still on a high tonight from it. I feel as though those two gave us this amazing gift last night and I can't help thinking how lucky I was to see it. It's something I know I'll cherish having seen. How lucky we were. 

2 hours ago, WoodlandGladeFairy said:

I meant to mention this on my earlier post but I also was very impressed by Yuhui Choe and Joseph Sissens in the Neapolitan PDD, been a long time since I felt the dancers got it and they did plus had a good tempo. 

 

Plus I loved how Marianela Nuñez in the Act III Black Swan PDD was so deliciously evil and even winking at the audience letting them know they are in on the deception, she is a ballerina at the peak of her power. 

 

Vadim Muntagirov was as always superb, his lines are just gorgeous and he just flies through the air, just a joy to watch him dance everytime

 

Luca Acri was good as Benno, Prince Siegfried's wingman, not too showy but who is able to run interreference with all the courtly duties and a lighter counterpoint to Prince Siegfried's mournfulness 

Yes! They were both very good in the Neapolitan together. I have to admit to a soft spot for both dancers, as I said the other day I love Choe's ease of movement and Sissens is a really great and expressive dancer.

38 minutes ago, Nina99 said:

 

Thank you very much LinMM. I have Swan Lake on DVD and have enjoyed watching it and it's good to be able to see their expressions, but seeing it live made me appreciate it so much more.  I hope it's revived again before too long although I feel it will be very difficult to recreate the magic of last night.

 

 

Wonderful review emmarose, your words are definitely not worthless but an eloquent summing up of a unique and special occasion!  You certainly summed up my feelings perfectly and I really don't feel I can add anything to your post except to add my appreciation of the orchestra who were on fine form.  

 

Thank you Nina, it felt that words alone were not enough to sum up what we saw last night as, like others, I was often left speechless, so it's not something that can even be broken down because it was above such things, above words really.

But I'm so glad you think I have expressed the experience well and done some justice to it.

I completely agree with you too, the orchestra were on excellent form (I was remiss to forget them) and so much so it felt that the music couldn't be separated from the dancers, perhaps that's why I forgot to even mention them. As Dan said so perfectly, it felt as if the music was emanating from Marianela herself. Seamless collaboration between the dancers and conductor to create such magic.

I'm so glad you enjoyed your first Swan Lake and that it was such a sublime performance for you. I'm sure it'll be a memory you'll cherish, I know I will too. That was just something else last night.

I feel to even put lasts nights performance into words cannot do it any justice. I feel honoured to have seen them both give that performance, it was a complete gift.

There are certain moments in my life when I've had chills and tears  because I realised I was seeing something truly special and the peak of an art. It's rare, I remember once seeing Federer at Wimbledon, when you just know.

This was one of those times. 

I think Nela's slightly tweaked her black swan, she seemed to be giving it even more, completely in control of the situation and the prince. 

Vadim was flying, literally the person behind me gasped that during the coda, such light landings and holding the arabesques afterwards just to show off what total control he has of his landings. Effortless.

Nela was in a form of her own. Complete control over all her movements, holding everything that bit longer, we had an applause during her balance in act 3, she was still holding it, no wobbles. 

Act 2 PDD was so slow and controlled, simply perfect, it was a thing of beauty, I wish I could've bottled it in some way or made my brain video it. I felt like right then I was seeing something special.

They both made it all look so easy, as if this is just expected, simple. No force anywhere, just ease.

Of course the whole show was amazing, the corps were wonderful and there were some great performances, Isabella Gasparini was lovely and charming and Gina was excellent in the Spanish dance (such a lyrical back she has). But it was really difficult to see past those two because they eclipsed everything else.

Everything I've just said is worthless, because it cannot do justice. It was a rare moment of perfect beauty and artistry combined and given by two artists in complete control of their powers. 

On my way home, so just quickly to say that that was really something especially special. 

I was emotional at one point because I knew this was something else. 

Just beautiful from both. 

Nobody will know why she feel really.

But, I really dislike the clapping through everything, either along with the music or way too early, it's just not needed and spoils it.

What do you even do with a situation like this? Did they clap through her falling or stop all together?

5 minutes ago, LinMM said:

There’s a lovely video of her somewhere dancing in Voices of Spring with Alexander Campbell. 

It's still on Youtube I think, I won't post it as I'm not sure what we're allowed to regarding YT videos, but it's there.

17 minutes ago, LinMM said:

I love Yuhui Choe’s dancing. She hasn’t the most extreme technique but never looks strained she sort of relaxes into the dancing so is always a pleasure to watch. 

Yes, she has a real ease of movement, nothing is pushed of force, very natural and easy to watch.

Great to hear the reports from last nights double debut.

Such a shame Anna Rose had a fall, but everyone falls, it's how you get up and it sounds as if she carried on to finish beautifully.

I can't wait to see them in a few weeks, I really enjoy their dynamic together, both are great technically and bring a lot of emotion into their dancing too.

Lovely photos too. Yuhui Choe really has the most gorgeous face, she makes a beautiful swan!

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

 

I'm baffled. All I ever post are flower photos & curtain call photos & I'm sure no-one could find any of those offensive! All taken by me, so no copyright issues either. I've appealed - in order to do so you have to send them a photo of yourself holding a piece of paper with a code they send written on it, which feels like a hostage photo! - and ma waiting to hear back from them. Since most of the RB dancers only use Instagram, it's extremely annoying not being able to see their posts about Swan Lake.

Oh yes, you didn't do anything wrong, this happened when they changed things over.

This happened to my old account and the app kept malfunctioning so I lost that account and had to make a new one. I only have it to follow ballet dancers and bookish people/authors on there.

3 hours ago, AnticaFiamma said:

ooh that's exciting! He's very underused, but I always thought that his lead mandolin dancer was a highlight in R&J

Yes, he was amazing in that role, a real highlight of the night, I can see him being a standout as Benno too. His elevation was insane!

25 minutes ago, oncnp said:

 

Depends if Nunez can dance on Thurs. A huge ask of Naghdi but would they give Muntagirov another new partner? 

As someone with tickets, I hope Nela dances, if not I hope they may put in Fumi (but that's my own wishful thinking).

13 hours ago, Stephenwolf said:

Dear emmarose,

Well, as I am only active on this forum, I saw, (or didn't see) the comments here. However, please don't misinterpret my opinion. It's a fact that when you are in support of a particular entity, no amount of feedback can be enough to reinforce your own inclination, particularly when you're not so sure whether you are in a majority, or a minority. The fact is, I became instantly entranced by Fumi, and I just couldn't get enough comment about her. It just seemed to me that she didn't seem to be getting the recognition that I thought she deserved. In my (limited) view, she is the at the very apex of a company that surely, currently, has to be at the very apex of world ballet. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Yours very sincerely,

Stephen

I didn't even see any on here about her smiling in the role.

I'm of a little different opinion in that I think if I enjoy, not support necessarily, but enjoy them in whatever arena, be it ballet, dance or sport, I'm just happy enough to enjoy them and it doesn't really matter to me if who I support or like is the majority opinion or not, I just understand that everyone has their own taste and are drawn to different people for many different reasons.

Fumi is for sure a beautiful dancer and she always seems to earn wonderful praise for it, as she should. I've never seen anyone here say otherwise. She is one of the many in a company that at the minute is absolutely spoiled for choice of world class ballerinas who are the apex. But she is very special, you don't have to worry about that, but if you enjoy her, don't worry.

29 minutes ago, capybara said:

To Stephenwolf…….

My perception is that there is huge appreciation for Fumi Kaneko on this forum.

As for last night, I have seen nothing but praise across social media with the exception of Alastair Macaulay on Instagram who is known for taking a contrary position in various respects.

And online too, on Inta and Youtube her videos are filled with very positive comments (again, deserving) and amongst her peers too, I've seen other principals comment on post very lovely things towards Fumi quite often.

38 minutes ago, Stephenwolf said:

I’m so glad that I read Sim’s post, because I am also in thrall to the divine Fumi, and beginning to doubt myself because of a perceived (by me) lack of appreciation among other Balletco members of her performances so far since becoming a principal dancer. As I have mentioned in previous posts, Fumi is the single reason that I became interested in Ballet just prior to the first lockdown. I noticed her in the role of Rosaline in RB’s film Romeo and Juliet Beyond Words. Though a relatively minor role, for me it was a standout performance. Her haughtiness towards a besotted and persistent Romeo really caught my eye. I was mesmerised by her, but I had to wait until October last year for live ballet to resume and I finally saw another mesmerising performance in Romeo and Juliet, but this time with Fumi in the title role.

 

Unfortunately, she has been underutilised since then (again, my opinion). I saw her as Satan in The Dante Project, but nothing else, until last night. Oh what a debut! What a performance! What a night!

 

Following her Juliet last  October I expected that, like me, others would be in raptures after witnessing such a stunning performance (partnered, of course, by a wonderful Romeo in William Bracewell), but comments have been relatively low-key.  In the build-up to the opening of Swan Lake there was even a suggestion that in rehearsal for Swan Lake she smiled too much! Why not smile? I thought. But then I’m just a novice. Maybe I should rely upon the judgement of other more seasoned balletomanes, I thought. Maybe my instinctive adulation is just because of the novelty of immersing myself in (for me) a new art-form. Well, after last night all that negativity has evaporated. My instincts were true. Others think that Fumi is as wonderful as I do. Comments that I heard last night were “a performance out there with the best!”, and “she is almost certainly going to become a ballet superstar!” She already is, for me!

 

Thank you Sim. I couldn’t agree more with your post. But “dizzyingly fabulous.” That says it all for me. I know exactly what you mean. I’m sixteen again, and in love for the first time!

Where exactly were you seeing these comments? 

And for what it's worth, most people are usually (deservedly) very complimentary of Fumi online from what I've ever seen.

Amazing photos and reports from last night.

I knew Fumi would make the most beautiful of Swan Queens, she's simply gorgeous, it's a shame they only have the one public performance, but there will be so many chances to see her in this role in the future (fingers crossed, all being well).

Such a lovely showing for Fede too, what a lovely person and wonderful dancer, he'll be missed for his caring and wonderful partnering, he seems to have gotten the farewell he so richly deserves. 

It must have been a special night on both accounts. 

3 hours ago, Fonty said:

Fantastic pictures @Rob SI am intrigued by all the close ups of the female pointe shoes, and the different variations of elastic and other extras.  Plus the fact that all the shoes have seen some really hard work. 

Natalia's shoes always look very 'worn' by the end of the performance.

I don't know how some of them still look pristine at the end though.

Rob, your photos are all, as always amazing.

What I love about your work is that it captures perfectly the emotions and the beauty. I love to see them, thank you for always sharing.

17 minutes ago, Sim said:

Although you must mean Ukraine, the people of Russia also deserve  a lot of sympathy.  Many of them will suffer in various ways and many of them do not want this aggression.  Many have taken to social media to say so, not to mention the streets of Russian cities.  This is not in the name of the Russian people, I am sure.

Quite.

So many in Russia have friends and family in Ukraine. The people don't want this, it's all the action of one man's ego, there will be Russian casualties who want no part of this.

I fear for Russian people living in the UK/US or elsewhere in the world, as with COVID and anti-asian attacks increased through ignorance, it'll probably be a hard time for Russians trying to live their lives elsewhere right now.

6 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

I'm not coming from Liverpool (given ongoing transport issues with Avanti) to see a production I don't really care for (despite loving the Benno role!).

Well, at least here is a vote for the Benno role at last! 

Just now, BalletcoForum Moderators said:

In line with our position mentioned 11 months ago, we ask that comments placed on this forum are limited to Scarlett’s work and artistic legacy.

Apologies.

6 minutes ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

Remembering a friend is hardly a public whitewashing of anything.

 

Are you going to a performance of Swan Lake Emmarose?

Yes, to a few.

Will you be attending Jan?

1 minute ago, AnticaFiamma said:

 

I assume you mean Ukraine! But it's very possible, they announced that the Ukrainian anthem will be played before every performance this week so he'll probably come to announce that at the very least

He's been stepping out in front of the curtain quite a bit lately, I think he's secretly getting a taste for it!

6 minutes ago, oncnp said:

It depends on who owns the choreography - the ROH or the estate. 

Ah yes, true.

3 minutes ago, Sim said:

I just love him.  

Such a beautiful person.