art_enthusiast

He certainly brought the drama! He and Lauren were brilliant together. I didn’t know what to expect when I first saw the casting of this pairing as I’m not sure if they’ve danced together before, but I was extremely impressed tonight. The whole cast was brilliant of course - it goes without saying that Marcelino and Francesca were spectacular, and I loved Marco as Brother Clown, with Meaghan as Shepherdess - I was hoping to see him cast in this role. Act 2 was so joyous and lively. Wonderful performance overall!

Yes, assuming it’s partly because of Tom Holland being cast

Yes, I think he said she was too good/performance ready and there wasn’t much feedback to give at some points!

190??? That is wild. Basically 200. And 145 for dystopian Maddaddam? Is it really that good?

Another Ballet Deconstructed from Kathryn Morgan - featuring Yasmine Naghdi & Matthew Ball in the Bluebird Pas de Deux I love her analysis - so perceptive about the active balances

I agree. I haven't got a ticket anyway, and this video certainly wouldn't entice me into purchasing one.

Is it? I don't know much about it at all except from watching random clips on YouTube - which I found very enticing, the music is beautiful. I've booked for tonight's cast and one other - would probably have booked more if not for the expense! Yesterday I watched the nice long rehearsal video from the 2018 run on ROH's YouTube which featured Fumi and Akane. Akane is absolutely beautiful in that video - she literally floats through the choreography! I'm sad that she isn't performing in this run but hope to see her back soon.

I’m a bit confused - I have a ticket for the 24th performance, why has it completely vanished from the website? It doesn’t even say sold out, it’s just gone. Has it been cancelled for some reason?

Looking forward to it, I have a ticket for the 16th

That totally makes sense and that's what they should do if they can't give casting - e.g. in the case of the Macmillan and Ashton triples. Booking blind, as people have said previously, isn't always possible when you have to book transport, schedule around time off etc, and with the increased prices it's not possible to buy for several different nights on the off chance that you might see the pairing you want. For the Ashton triples recently, I went through booking blind and then went back and exchanged a few, losing the £4, after they released the cast the day after public booking. I then had to shuffle other things round, as I'd booked for Next Generation festival events that now clashed with my new Ashton dates, leading to more returns. It may only be £4 but it is annoying and it does add up - and as @JennyTaylor said, that money is now gone from me and although I can use it for future credit, that doesn't count for much in the present moment.

Oh dear, I hope she recovers soon. I had been looking out for any clips or pics on her Instagram

I personally have no interest in purchasing any ballet themed clothing that does looks exorbitantly overpriced - I would probably only purchase from their shop if I was getting a novelty gift for an international friend

I'd say one or two Ashton works per season as a minimum definitely would make sense. NYCB seems to honour Balanchine a lot more in comparison. I assume that triple bills can have multiple different choreographers on them, so there's flexibility there - though I believe it's more common to have every piece from the same choreographer?

A fat fee for a logo that looks like it was made using a WordArt font! I think Ashley Dean (who I believe does her own art) could have designed a better one.

For Manon I think there is applause when she enters? I remember applauding. But as people have mentioned, Des Grieux is so subtle that no one sees him appear on the stage! I didn't ever see him enter, and I went to about 5 performances this run

I see that Act 2 entrance as her first, the Prologue as more of a sort of vision sequence/this is what happened earlier type of thing. I love the Act 2 grand jeté onto the stage, I find it very dramatic and moving and will always clap regardless.

Oh yes, I forgot about all those Balanchine Trust rules. Such a shame!

Very sad to hear this. I really enjoyed her insightful posts on this forum. I will be thinking of her when I see the Winter's Tale this week.

Could you name some of the other ones you think they should have chosen? I'm just curious. My knowledge of all the classics aside from Tchaikovsky big 3 and Bayadère isn't very big - I sometimes get confused with what's defined as a classic and what isn't. Is a classic everything choreographed by Petipa basically? I wish they would bring Raymonda Act 3 back, I love the recording with Osipova and Muntagirov. And I would much rather have had Coppelia at Christmas instead of Cinderella which feels way too recent. Oh well, at least I'll be saving money there!

Exactly, surely it would make way more sense to stream the Balanchine triple and Onegin (not sure if there are recent recordings of it? Can't be that many though) I love R and J but surely there have been enough cinema streams and recordings of it. There are 2 casts already on ROH Stream I think, and way more in the backlog they can share.

Good to know, that’s what I thought

Maybe more interesting from my perspective as I have never seen Onegin or Alice! I hope that Anna Rose and Mayara will be debuting Cinderella this time around.

Sounds like an interesting season, very promising with the Balanchine triple bill, Onegin and hopefully some exciting R and J debuts. Also intrigued about Alice but not overly so - depends on casting. (I was hoping for R and J in the Autumn instead but oh well) Looks like I will mostly be going after the New Year And none of the Tchaikovsky big three - refreshing (not that I dislike any of them, there’s just been a lot of them lately)

So how should it be done then? I’m intrigued. I personally do like it as it is, but I am aware that the lack of similarity in looks between human/swan dancers cracks the believability a bit. I still find it quite dramatic and exciting though as it’s the first glimpse of Odette before the rather long opening waltz and so on.

Yes, definitely. Also curious - has Fumi danced Alice in Alice in Wonderland? Or is she likely to be cast as Queen of Hearts? Trying to guess casting, I'm sure it will be a while before anything is announced though.