Bruce Wall

Calvin Richardson's male version of The Dying Swan was produced very successfully with the choreographer himself during the last RBS showcase on the main ROH stage last July and repeated several times during the Deloitte Ignite Festival in Hamlyn Hall in September where it was danced - when I saw it - with potency by the very talented Matthew Ball. (Sorry. I must have been typing this Alison when you were posting yours ... or I would not have daned on being so uselessly repetitive ... and sadly cannot - under the user terms of the site - delete my own item.)

Perhaps - even at this very minute - the ROH are working on re-developing that too! Who knows, it may - as with so many other things - be 'under wraps'.

NB: A SIDELIGHT: - Here's another little piece of the Hubbe choreographic touch with two RDB dancers surrounding an established classic (a dying swan as it happens - two in fact - and not a sylph in sight - at least that I could see) presented in support of a cancer charity last Friday. http://vmd.tv2.dk/2014-10-24-se-nikolaj-hubbes-dans-i-dommerdysten-0

Went to last night's performance and felt all glorious Ashton works looked in even better stead - more of a piece shall we say - than when I first saw them in this run the week previous (short of Ms. Shipway's determinedly clockwork keyboard performances. Still, even there, many will quite rightly hold consistency up as a virtue.) McRae was certainly not having an 'off night' last evening as some here suggested he was in the opening presentation of this string of SdeB. While Lamb may struggle with some aspects of precision in speed of Ashton's petits allegro (which Osipova and Hayward both joyfully elivate with ease) her central SdeB presence was that of an Aurora in full bloom. SV is, as ever, a masterpiece and came rather easier together by this team - the same as in the second performance - as one might well have expected. This was my first sighting of Crawford's Duncan and I was as much attracted to the muscular maturity of her take as the abbreviated pauses between the waltzes themselves. Month - again danced by the second team - appeared to somehow blossom. You could see Osipova's determination to simplify her initial (eg., opening) fussiness and, as ever with this fine artist, she bravely breathed her own life through the choreography. Even more on this occasion I was impressed by just how much closer her choices are to that of the Natalia Petrovna in Turgenev's play. She toyed frivolously with all until the games her petulance had inspired suddenly - and it was of a definite sudden - ran out; i.e., were proverbially up. Osipova's final moments in this role last night were amongst the most chilling I have ever witnessed and the capacity ROH audience seemed to explode in their deserved approbation. Hayward continues to dazzle as Vera and the mother/daughter cameos between the two women were ever radiant and telling.

(i) There have been some good reports on Golding's DG already this season. I remember Coated's review on this score. Might be interesting for you to look back at such, Melody. (ii) Why not? Bolle is simply fulfilling his contract and, sadly, was unable to fill simply the first of two contracted performances. As it is he is only coming from Milan. I ran into him on the street in Milan when I was there for business last month and he said how much he was looking forward to his return with the RB. I would assume he is already here and may well have rehearsed. This hand issue obviously came up very quickly and hopefully is sufficiently minor to allow him to undertake the second contracted performance. If not, assume Golding will be at the ready and certainly well prepared.

I thought the ideas employed in this production were quite clever - as they are for most MCB productions. I may have written a review. I certainly did for their Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty.

I think it is grand that they have decided to go forward with these plans privately ..... assuming that this does not, however, put any additional pressure on ticket prices. Having paid £12 per an upper amphi standing ticket for Andrea Chenier I was, I fear, all but winded. To sit in even the worst slips seat (e.g., little or no view) for such costs some £18. Frightening.

An interesting read, FLOSS. Gone are the days during the dance boom where if you didn't get your standing room place number by 6.30 am for for that evening's performance by Baryishnikov and Kirkland, or Baryishnikov and Makarova, or Dowell and Makarova, or Gregory and Bujones ... or any number of other heady mixes ... you would simply not get one of the 200 places - given that all of the 3,800 seats at the Met were already sold out. During those seasons my sleep patterns were regularly disturbed. Across the plaza at what was then 'State Theatre' it was of course the choreographer who ruled the roost .... not that the dancers weren't celebrated for their interpretations. Still it was the dance itself that came first unless it was a very special occasion, ..... say, any one of the five Farrell farewell performances. (I went to them all ... thank heavens there were no ticket limitations then - and how memorable they were ... ) Of course there were the Balanchine devotees who you would see at virtually everything ... their lives being dictated by such ... and the Robbins club ... and those who came for the music. Somehow it was different from at the Met. This was the House that George would build having built SAB ... It won't happen again ... it couldn't in the same way ... but it did pay off. It STILL is, albeit with refreshing differences. NYCB is dancing today with a zest that seems to have not been wholly remembered for decades. I think somehow Kevin O'Hare senses a need with the Royal Ballet and has chosen to re-construct/develop from the bottom up. This will take time, of course, and patience but I believe it to be prudent. It is, as you suggest FLOSS, a thankless job in many ways (i.e., casting in a company like the RB). Someone will damn you no matter WHAT you do as the options are seemingly limitless whilst the realities oh, so limited. I admire O'Hare's determination and feel it will ultimately mark his regime. He has, as I've said before, showed that he is willing to stick to his guns ... and the RBS seems to be happily following in his suit. This year's graduating class has some wonderfully prime candidates. (Let's hope a few of those can be even now enticed to find their way into the RB ranks.) I don't know why entirely sometimes, but I sense the future will be ... or should I say CAN be - rich. The potential is there. That's worth a smile at least. Fingers crossed. .

Really? I got it ... but am going to stay quiet about it on this occasion as the money has already been paid. Perhaps, they've just figured out that it is an independent rental .... far from the Spalding dreams of making London 'a world mecca for dance'.

If that were to be the case Hayward would be SUPREME. 'Wouldn't it be loverly'

An early review from the opening here.

Terspichore, Denis Rodkin was one of the two prized private students of Nikolai Tsiskaridze when he was still with the Bolshoi Theatre prior to becoming the Acting Rector of the Vaganova School. The other was Angelina Vorontsova who was the (personal) partner of the dancer who is currently in prison serving a sentence for his conviction for masterminding the Filin acid attack. She is by all reports a lovely dancer and, no longer under the Bolshoi's employ, is now with the Mikhailovsky Ballet and features prominently in that company's NYC season at the Koch (formerly NY State) Theater next month frequently dancing with I. Vasiliev..

Did it say what they would be dancing (and did they suggest that it would be broadcast)? I thought her usual partner was Chudin, though I believe that she has danced with Hallberg very successfully in Oneign. Perhaps they will dance the Cranko with ABT at some point as she now seems to be becoming a regular guest artist there (taking the Cojocaru's spot?) ... what with her second guesting assignment there in a row next summer. Hallberg has gone on the record as saying he very much wants to dance more with Osipova - and is doing so it seems both at ABT next summer and La Scala.

Did Hallberg dance? (I didn't see the cinema broadcast as I was a Dylan Thomas Celebration.) Is Hallberg back from NYC/his injury/operation? I didn't see his name in the LoL cast list ... or was this from a preview of the upcoming encore of the most recent Bolshoi SB ... which is - as it happens - already out on DVD?

That is odd as I have bought a ticket to two different performances.

In my own defense on this issue, Mary: In my notation I didn't suggest that she 'be replaced' but that perhaps the RB might like to try/experiment with alternative keyboard artists when addressing these particular scores in the future. (They do the same with dancers - and often conductors - do they not?) This is, of course, a matter of personal taste. There may well be those who thought her particular renderings of 22.10 outstanding. Sadly, I, myself, could not honestly join in that particular throng. As ever we can only comment on the particular mesh of moments - the specific slice of history - which we shared.

I was present for this BA session as well and K. O'Hare - when asked about the potential for a new mounting of SL - smiled broadly - gave a little laugh - and, leaning back, said 'that might be on the cards'. He did in fact all but wink. Given the casual nature of the specific forum I don't think he could have been rightfully any more positive than he was (given his responsibility to ROH Trustees, etc.) I am wondering - with Christopher Wheeldon's fantastic success with The Winter's Tale - and his RB Associate position - if they might not adopt a working of his SL developments (now fostered for both Pennsylvania Ballet and the Joffrey) to claim as their next RB own. Interesting to note that almost universally all the crits of last night's launch of the new Scarlett contribution for ABT's 75th Anniversary Gala focus on its dark lighting - which many critics now seem to feel is becoming an all to regular feature of his oeuvre. Certainly under the harsh security of rehearsal lighting in the Clore I very much enjoyed the segment rehearsed of the The Age of Anxiety during World Ballet Day. It will be most telling to see how that particular piece brightens (or not) on the bigger ROH stage.

And don't seeming opposites attract in our so-called 'natural' world ... and even sometimes enhance? Certainly I've been told they can. (From a balletic perspective look at Makarova and Dowell for example.)

I must confess I have found the commentary on this particular Forum page a most alluring read. I, too, saw the 2014 Ashton bill (myself for the first time) on 22.10. I was not AS troubled by Osipova's Natalia Petrovna as some other commentators hereabouts. While I agree that some of Osipova's detail (especially in the opening) was more skittish/fussy than it might otherwise need have been (a phenomena that I'm sure will settle in the playing) I was intrigued at just how much she managed to capture - especially in the precision of the heart wrenching escalation of her opening solo - elements of the flighty and capricious behaviour of this character as are so clearly defined in the opening acts of Turgenev's original play. (Indeed, I, myself, wondered if Osipova might well have read the original in Russian. So much for us depends are varying translations.) By adding such I thought she made for a substantial character arc - albeit different from the simpler, more mature (and stunning) ones of both Seymour and Sibley - within the overall framework of this Ashton masterwork. The insolence of ever receding joy sliding into humane anguish as expressed by the sublime Ms. Hayward as Vera was entirely enthralling and - without hesitation - was delivered all of a piece from the very get go. Indeed so strong was Hayward's etching that I felt she thrust the mother/daughter scenarios into a particularly telling relief. What did MOST disturb me here, however - and even more with the Brahms - was the actual (and sometimes cruelly inaccurate) playing of the piano score. I sincerely hope the RB will toy with the employment of another keyboard player in the future. The musical landscape of both pieces is much more rich than was represented last night and heaven knows the Ashton deserves to have his own magical musicality rightly cherished. The musical direction otherwise under the baton of the talented Emmanuel Plasson was fine. I so adore SV. This is a piece that deserves to be seen as a core work by the RB, if not every season, then every second season at least. If such were the case it would I feel remove some of the telling pressure on the casting scenarios such as we have and are experiencing. While I certainly would not hold this performance up to be the best that I have ever seen, Muntagirov's entrechats were simply spectacular and it was - as I think I have suggested - just such a happy occasion to once again to be reminded of the overall shape of the SV brilliance. So too was it with Scenes de Ballet. What a SPECTACULAR work this is, and rightfully deserving of the Stravinsky touches of genius. I can well understand why Ashton chose it as a personal favourite. I did mark with interest one point Sarah Crompton made in her notation vis a vis SdeB: I will quote but a few sentences to abide by the BcoF regulations: "Ashton’s stillnesses exposed some wobbly technique, which was also a problem with Scènes de Ballet, which opened the night. It’s clear that despite the post-war vintage of these works, they are a challenge for the Royal’s dancers. Their director Kevin O’Hare clearly recognises Ashton’s deep significance for his company; if they dance his works more, they will begin to perform them better. There is clearly the talent there but perhaps not the familiarity." I agree. Watching this extraordinary piece again I knew instinctively that this is very much a ballet to be seen (as are so many of Balanchine's 420 works) from above. (On the couple of occasions when I had the GREAT good fortune to actually speak to Balanchine during the late 70's/early 80's he himself made this point. [He was, happily very approachable once one had summoned up sufficient courage to simply dane,] I remember him saying that he usually watched the performances - and he was at most of them - from a seat in the wings, but that it was from the Fourth Ring standing room that you could really appreciate the whole he said. Indeed, I think ALL critics who similarly review Ashton's SdeB and SV should best do so from above as opposed to their usual stalls perch. Again, it was just so damned refreshing to be in this masterwork's (SdeB) presence once again. That said I did feel that it was slightly fudged; the womens' lines were - as Ashton might have put it - oft 'buttery' .... and the men were sometimes wayward. I'm sure with greater exposure the RB will build up its company strength. Under K O'Hare's fine direction I'm sure of it. (The last two years' intake from the RBS is already proving a firm foundation and the 2015 RBS graduating class is particularly strong. Things can but improve.) Yet how (he thought to himself) I would love to see the current NYCB (now in fine stead) dance this piece. I can see in my current mind's eye the brilliantine bedazzlement and the 'smiling' play within the scales of dramatic phrasing - for the score and Ashton deserve nothing less - being there well celebrated at this particular point in time (as opposed - from a NYCB perspective - to say, six or even four years ago). Again, - that said - I am sure (like Ms. Crompton) that the RB team will come into focus much as they did with that DAZZLING performance of Rubies as led by Osipova and McRae ... and THAT a work that had once been removed by the Balanchine Trust from the Royal Ballet's rep because it was not felt to be 'in its character'. In the word's of yet another telling Russian heroine gifted with foresight, Chekhov's Sonya: 'Have faith, Uncle Vanya. Have faith'

How wonderful. That fine Chitchester production was actually the first time I saw Turgenev's play. I had the privilege of co-founding the charity I currently run with Dame Dorothy. She was in every way quite extraordinary.

Is Golding injured? Does anyone know?

Thank you, John.

I know it is an ACE stipulation for the ROH, NT and RSC as they go over a specific funding barrier. There was talk at one point about ring fencing their funding away from the other ACE commitments but that was dropped - wisely I think.

Oh, dear. What a shame. Another reason, I suppose NOT to be ROH 'Friend'ly

I believe - and I stand to be corrected - that while the cinema audience figures can attest towards development and diversity outreach - the funding for screen arts is not within ACE's specific remit. Certainly that is the case with the ACE funds that the small arts Charity I run has received. You may I suppose be able to apply a small portion of the ACE funds towards your 'effective evaluation' budget vis a vis 'screenings', but I should think that is all ... but this is ALL, I fear, shop talk ... and happily well out of the bounds of the glorious BcoF remit.