Bruce Wall

Dear Angela, Thanks so for your kind correction. It is so very greatly appreciated. Perhaps it was because I only saw Haydee dance Tatiania very late in the day - as I did with Makarova, Seymour, Evdokimova, Kain and Maximova - that I got that impression. Certainly Cranko has graced the world with a work fully enabling such LEGENDARY artists to continue to place their stamp long after that period when they first established their own particular GREATNESS. I have every confidence that Osipova will happily join that legendary number in time. And, YES - Haydee - at least to my mind/memory - is a GREAT artist. She was the very FIRST Juliet I ever saw from a balletic perspective. (Bless my parents.) Although I now - as so many here - have seen an enormous range of fine - indeed "very fine" - artists in that role (and somewhere in my head 'very fine' ranks in its approximation in/around or certainly on the road towards 'greatness') - and in a wide variety of choreographic interpretations - Haydee's assured 'Greatness' in terms of the emotional electricity of her engagement as Juliet has (for me) never - ever - been bettered. It was - and has remained - a 'Platonic' privilege. As to age, I always hope artists can live in the wealth of their established artistry - and its varied variations - as long as possible; or certainly as long as a rightful discretion might allow. I prize my memory of having been able to watch so many of Balanchine's latter day ballerinas still blossom very late in their careers in those roles they originally created. I fondly remember seeing Ashely dance BALLO for the very last time when she was 50 and there was certainly no watering down of the zealous precision I remembered when I first saw her in it. Age without question withers (as it must) but when those decidedly GREAT artists cheat the balance it is oft times made richer. Somehow they seem even GREATER. Their enhanced glory unquestionably lays in our world's credit balance. Again, Angela, my enormous thanks for your generous largess as towards this kind correction. Bless you for this - and for keeping us all abreast on the happenings in Germany. (I so look forward to seeing the Ratmansky Paquita in Germany in a couple of weeks' time when I am there for work. I would not have initially known about it had it not been for your good self. Indeed I specifically arranged my Munich schedule - which I was aware needed to be honoured in early 2015 - immediately after reading your report of that Paquita's happening.) BLESS YOU FOR ALL. [i realise this is 'off topic' but I only wanted to respond to the item quoted above in this chain.]

I am sure he will do an excellent job. It would be wonderful if he was able to - in some meaningful way - additionally involve the candidates who also sought this role. They are fine artists all and I'm sure each has a huge amount to offer the future of this established company.

Oh, DonQFan, I would dearly love to read a review from your good self of the NYCB Nutcracker (if you had the time, of course). It's my personal tops of the many productions that I've been privileged to see of that perennial favourite. (Of course - as I've stated elsewhere - my current most treasured UK production of that same is certainly the Wright/BRB one. It is a fine exemplar.) Back to the RB DQ last night: There is NO question but that the two solo variations buried within the third act pas de deux for Kitri (the one so often performed outside of Russia with a fan) and Basilio were cut. They went straight from the adagio to the coda with but the small variation for the two girls who were friends of Kitri. (So nice to see Fumi back knowing that she herself had in the past been a victim of this production's stage floor.) Those cuts were entirely understandable given - as you have noted - (i) the time which had already over-run and (ii) in respect of both audience members' transport schedules and (ii) in consideration of the impending musician/production staff overtime. I'm sure no one complained. I simply mentioned it in my initial posting as but a matter of historical record.

I agree with much of what you say, FLOSS, and much admire the fact that you say it so articulately. Bless you. When I mentioned the costumes above I was really referring to the construct not the concept. Those bodices for Amour and the Queen of Dryads are works of constructive art in and of themselves. The detail of such is truly stunning. It is, of course, THAT artistry which the tax payers' money has unquestionably bought. My comments were at a remove I fear from the overall pallet of the production's dressing. I so additionally agree about your 'palm court' observation with respect to certain aspects of this soggy orchestration. The music so often - from my perspective at least - appears soused. It seems to me that Martin Yates wanted to fashion Don Q into something it was never intended to be in the first place - and certainly much too pallid. Why? Surely such peradventure can only lead towards an unhappy marriage. Where I wonder were the overseeing powers-that-be when the initial alignment of these objectives were first being muted?

Bless you, Vanartus, My definition above was, of course, - and as I think I pointed out - but my supposition. Still the defining thud of Osipova's fall was itself every bit as substantial as the velocity of audience's retort in alarm. I can't conceive that there won't have been some soft tissue injury under those frightening circumstances.

Saw the Acosta Don Q this evening (my first for this season) and again remained entirely underwhelmed by the overall production ... especially as led by the entirely waterlogged orchestration. It is - in a word - shocking. For me it has an entirely deadening effect. Highlights of the evening were - once again - some of the (i) beautiful costumes - so stunningly constructed - (ah, what subsidy can buy), (ii) Francesca Hayward who glimmered delicately as Amour; (iii) Thomas Whitehead who dazzled as Gamache without ever going completely over the top or resorting to pulling focus and (iv) Morera's entirely enticing Mercedes. Hay also (v) impressed as the chief beggar boy. Osipova's Kitri added zeal to her first act - trying her very best to keep Acosta's different factions together. It was in her third Act One variation that she fell on (and then slid over) the floor with her right hand crushed under her thigh. The audience gasp/cry was completely audible. IF there was one element that might have contributed towards her downfall - and I do believe it was entirely an accident - it was the music .. rather than (or perhaps in addition to) the oft reported infamy of this production's stage floor. Osipova would be used to dancing that variation at a substantially brighter (e.g., faster) speed. She may have been trying to stretch her sense memory out and fell/slid as a result. She did some fine - lightning speed - diagonal turns immediately thereafter but her injury would not have had time to initially set. Her body would still have been in shock. In the adagio that followed she was grasping her own thigh under Golding's hold and you could feel the freeze of her pain begin to set in with an early onset of mandated stiffness. By the time she was placed on the cart to escape with her beau it was clear that Golding was asking her if she was alright ... and you could see the discomfort in Osipova's face as she was being wheeled out. Takada took over with distinction it must be said; holding clear and substantial balances in the third act adagio. Golding was manful but heavy throughout and the laughter that was reported in the matinee with Campbell in the first scene of this production's third act was here entirely absent. All somehow seemed forced. I should perhaps additionally point out that the third act solo variations for both Kitri and Basilio were cut entirely and the production itself over-ran by at least 45 minutes for completely understandable reasons. I would imagine that Osipova's right thigh will be well and truly swollen tomorrow and the soft tissue damage will take at least a month to subside in terms of pain and longer for the effects of the interior bleeding to be fully subsumed. I sincerely doubt that she will do her other two DQ performances. [it would not be prudent under the circumstances.] Additionally I suspect her Oneign outings might well be in doubt. (Given that the Cranko was built for a (very fine) ballerina at the end of her career, upper leg strength is at a minimum for the principal female dancer but - as a direct result - the amount of partnering included would mean that area which Osipova wished to understandably protect would be given undue focus.) Kevin O'Hare (who personally announced the replacement from the stage after a prolonged interval - during which period NO announcements were made in any ROH lobby) surely must want to protect Osipova's appearances in the RB cinema relays of SL and LFMG [if at all possible] given that they may well be hoping for a DVD release of at least one to join with the Osipova Giselle commercially distributed this year.

Osipva out of evening DQ due to nasty fall in Act One variation. Audience gasped. Takada taking place.

Source A great man. A good age. RIP.

It came with the general release on the Gala.

I agree, Fonty. That is exactly what Balanchine does in what is I think my personal favourite version of The Nutcracker; one decades older than Matthew Bourne's take. That said, I personally think it would be an error for ENB to, say, take on the Bourne Nutcracker (or for that matter Mark Morris' oft delightful 'Hard Nut') simply because - given that it IS the 'English National BALLET' - it's all the more important that the Company should strive to maintain the balletic idiom on behalf of the nation - howe'er that might be achieved. [Tamara Rojo has done a brilliant job inside this remit thus far.] Given that The Nutcracker is (understandably) repeated more than any other piece of the Company's VAST repertoiry that maintenance is I think even more vital - especially when - no matter how diminishing in real terms it might be - a segment of ENB's support comes out of the public purse. (Were the latter NOT to be true ... then the private company - (as, say, in AMP's case) - would be entirely free to mount any version in whatever manner they best saw fit in order to serve the largest commercial pull and not only ensure the outfit's survival but help see that it fiscally prospers/profits as, by definition, it then should/must.

The initial line-up of artists (sure to change) has been announced. It is an impressive one: The programme accompanied by the orchestra of the English National Ballet will be performed by Sarah Lamb, Steven McRae, Vadim Muntagirov, Marianela Nuñez, Natalia Osipova, Thiago Soares, Edward Watson (Royal Ballet), Semyon Chudin, Dmitry Gudanov, Artem Ovcharenko, Olga Smirnova, Anna Tikhomirova (Bolshoi Ballet), Kim Kimin, Xander Parish, Kristina Shapran, Alina Somova (Mariinsky Theatre), Alina Cojocaru, Tamara Rojo (English National Ballet), Mathieu Ganio, Dorothée Gilbert (Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris), Iana Salenko, Marian Walter (Berlin Staatsballett), Chase Finlay, Lauren Lovette (New York City Ballet), Kenneth Greve, Daria Makhateli (Finnish National Ballet), Bernice Coppieters (Ballets de Monte Carlo), Daria Klimentova, Giuseppe Picone and Igor Zelensky.

Bless you for this information, Mummykool.

Thanks so for this, Artem. A very impressive list of venues.

I fear I tried to write a review within the 1/2 hour window of BcoF's stated policy. I should of course know better. There was a whole gob of it left unfinished. I am now committing myself to NOT write ANY message of more than three lines (i.e., the limit legally allowed to quote from an outside publication on this much admired Forum) without first typing and initially reviewing such in WORD. I do this only because of my disability. I am - as you no doubt know - a more than middling (and indeed card carrying) dyslexic. I would be most grateful if a moderator - for this time only - might please remove my earlier posting (i.e., No. 3 above) in favour of this. I would ask that this message might stay on top of this item lest it be of ANY assistance to anyone else who may be afflicted as I have been for the vast majority of my life (well, as long as I can remember.) With respectful thanks. I was privileged to attend Rambert's 'New Choreography' Programme on 16.12.14 in the inspiring space that is THE PLACE. (I believe - vis a vis the title of this particular BcoF page - that the 'Choreographics' nomenclature belongs to the esteemed ENB programme such as is overseen by the much admired George Williamson. A Moderator may wish to change this titular nomination in order to avoid any confusion. The Rambert [free] programme clearly identified this outing as 'New Choreography' - created and performed by Rambert dancers.) I found much of this particular Rambert effort to be woven from 'New Emperor's' cloth - such as has been persuasive in much of the Company's original work over the past three years IMHO. In this showcase much of the choreography on display was suffused with wafting generalities that seemed to travel in no specific line either in terms of (i) the music/text employed or (ii) the overall clarity of a vision - of any vision - through dance. This was made particularly telling by the example of Dane Hurst's O'DABO (which translated from Yoruba means 'until I return' or 'goodbye'). Why? Well, this was the exception that broke the otherwise - and oft ponderous - rule that sadly marked much of the evening. Although the piece mentioned employed only one dancer - the sinuous Mr. Hurst himself - it was ram packed with more character than any of the other more populous pieces. (Wisely the order of the programme was changed on the night from that laid out in the programme in order to allow Mr. Hurst's O'dabo to finish as a beacon of hope.) Paul Gladstone Reid's score was certainly the most dramatically vivid of the evening. With it Mr. Hurst literally drew a line from without his own native South African sand and, through doing so, affirmed both his own and the world's admiration for the iconic Nelson Mandela. This piece was very much inspired by Mandela's December journey on Dingane's Day - one defining December 16th - such as had been incarcerated in his own visionary blood, sweat and tears. Whether pounding a drum beat of smoking chalk from off his contracted pectorals - as initially he did thrice - or dragging his frame through gyrations of flourishing curlicues, undulating arcs and fixating deflections - each constructed in/around an established and vitally clear choreographic vocabulary – Dane Hurst took us with him through every element of his own 'Long Walk to Freedom'. By O'dabo's dramatic climax, when Hurst broke through to a profligate run of abandonment - we too shared his amazement and joy in such because the thrill of his dance making had been generously interactive. We too had breathed Hurst’s passionate joy in his choreographic conversation with Mandela. Viscerally it had stung. At no point here were we at a remove such as had been the case in so many of the earlier works. That inclusion defined Hurst's outing, making it completely outstanding from the rest. I did stay to hear the choreographers speak but when the promised five minute break lapsed into twenty I fear I joined with many others and departed into the night.

I was privileged to attend Rambert's 'New Choreography' Programme on 16.12.14 in the inspiring space that is THE PLACE. (I believe - vis a vis the title of this particular BcoF page - that the 'Choreographics' nomenclature belongs to the esteemed ENB programme such as is overseen by the much admired George Williamson. A Moderator may wish to change this titular nomination in order to avoid any confusion. The Rambert [free] programme clearly identified this outing as 'New Choreography' - created and performed by Rambert dancers.) I found much of this particular Rambert effort to be woven from 'New Emperor's' cloth - such as has been persuasive in much of the Company's original work over the past three years IMHO. As a showcase much of the choreography on display was suffused with wafting generalities that seemed to travel in no specific line either in terms of (i) the music/text employed or (ii) the overall clarity of a vision - of any vision - through dance. This was made particularly telling by the example of Dane Hurst's O'DABO (which translated from Yoruba means 'until I return' or 'goodbye'). Why? Well, this was the exception that broke the otherwise - and oft ponderous - rule that marked the evening overall. Although the piece mentioned employed only one dancer - the sinuous Mr. Hurst himself - it was ram packed with more character than any of the other more populous pieces of earlier on. (Wisely the order of the works were changed on the night from that in the programme in order to allow Mr. Hurst's O'dabo to finish as a beacon of hope for us all to end with.) Paul Gladstone Reid's score was certainly the most dramatically vivid of the evening. With it Mr. Hurst literally drew a line from without his own native South African sand and, through doing so, affirmed both his own and the world's admiration for the iconic Nelson Mandela. This piece was very much inspired by Mandela's December journey on Dingane's Day - one defining December 16th - such as incarcerated through his visionary blood, sweat and tears. Whether pounding a drum beat of smoking chalk from off his contracted pectorals - as initially he did thrice - or dragging his frame through gyrations of flourishing curlicues, undulating arcs and fixating deflections - each constructed in and around an established and vitally clear choreographic vocabulary - Hurst took us with him on every element of his own 'Long Walk to Freedom'. By O'dabo's dramatic climax, when Hurst finally finally broke through to a profligate run of abandonment - we too could share his amazement and joy because the specific nature of his dance making had made us an interactive part of this specific realm. We too had breathed within Mandela's passionate joy through Hurst. It stung viscerally. Certainly we were not at a remove as in so many of the earlier works. That inclusive aspect defined Hurst's outing; making it completely outstanding from the rest. I did stay to hear the choreographers speak but when the promised five minute break lapsed into twenty I fear I joined with many others and departed into the night.

Just wanted to say that with Ryanair today you can go to Bucharest from Stanstead for as little as £32 RETURN!!!!!

Lynette, do you know if you will be able to watch this AFTER the live stream? I would love to see it ... but I am at the opening of Ballo tomorrow at the opera house (ironically - so close and yet so far) and won't be able to watch it live for obvious reasons? I looked at the web page but couldn't figure out an answer to that question from it.

Thank you, Bluebird. A link at the bottom of this understandably stellar review in Le Figaro shows an article in that same publication - an brief interview with Christopher Wheeldon - in which he talks about (i) the relationship between the current AN AMERICAN IN PARIS and his first one act ballet for NYCB, (ii) the pressures of actually choreographically writing a work for Broadway and (iii) the importance of Jerome Robbins and Gershwin to his own career. It can be found here. It, too, is in French ... but I don't think that should stop us. Il ne devrait pas , devrait-il?,

Much obliged, Janet.

Bless you, Anne. A slip of a key. You were kindly quick enough off the draw to allow me to correct my own embarrassment in the body (if not the title - sadly). Doesn't happen that often hereabouts. Bless you big time

Hard to miss Precious. She was certainly vivid on Sunday afternoon in the Snow sequence and Russian variation.

I had the great good fortune to see POB's La Source at the Palais Garnier the other week and after having heard much fuss about the second coming of Francois Alu (a natural successor to that spot left by the extraordinary Nicolas La Riche?) I, at last, could see for myself what all the fuss was about as he appeared in the principal male role of that production, Djemil. Alu was, in a word, electric; always strongly lyrical, consistently immaculate both in his placement as well as in his easy partnering and emphatically masculine throughout. You can learn more and see clips such as are included on the dancer's website. He is a POB Premier Danseur and is only 21. I see some eager beaver has actually filmed him in a La Source variation from the full length POB production which you can see here. Alu has just been voted 'sexiest male 2014' out of a selection of 50 international men (I see Zac Efron is one of them) in what I read is Paris' (France's?) leading Gay magazine, Tetu.

Wonder if this includes Lar Lubovitch's Othello (done for ABT) ... or, one of my favourites, Jose Limon's The Moor's Pavane. Perhaps they will premiere the Jean-Christope Maillot Taming of the Shrew (done for the Bolshoi) in the UK. It looked most fetching when that illegal Russian film (live) was still up on YouTube. .

There is a very good/legitimate reason for this inclusion on 'Balletcouk', Ian,and that is fact that this particular take on AN AMERICAN IN PARIS began its life - in this particular Wheeldon adventure - as a one act ballet for NYCB. I'm in fact surprised that this originating aspect is not more oft mentioned (much as Fancy Free (ballet) would become On the Town (musical comedy) for the Robbins/Bernstein combo). Indeed, in this light Mr. Wheeldon is simply following in the footsteps of his own true NYCB mentor, Jerome Robbins himself ... much as Robbins had followed his own balletic mentor, Balanchine, on a similarly diverse creative trajectory Wheeldon notes himself that his own work on the developmental AN AMERICAN IN PARIS 2013 workshop in Manhattan (again featuring both Fairchild and Cope) in fact led to a new narrative maturity which was clearly/subsequently evidenced in the creation of A WINTER'S TALE, which I'm convinced will be a major narrative balletic work to last through time; perhaps the first significant one of the 21st Century. The major beneficiary of that latter route of achievement is surely the Royal Ballet.

It was hard to tell that from the cast sheet, Capybara - given that it specifically said: "*changed from advertised casting due to injury" I will assume in Ms. Glurdjidze's case it was due to her [two] partners' injuries. Most sad. I was looking forward to seeing her.