lady emily

Really nice time seeing the Sleeping Beauty this afternoon for my first performance with BRB. A very sublime performance from Momoko Hirata and a flawless Rose Adagio. A really mature, refined performance where you didn't ever feel nervous that the balances would tip. Well worth the cost of the ticket for this Rose Adagio alone. Tze-Chao Chou's dancing was also good but his partnering I thought was top-notch. During the diagonal fish dives in the PDD I often flinch in fright of it going terribly wrong, but these were perfect. I personally wasn't as impressed with a lot of the soloist performances, but really enjoyed Olivia Chang Clarke as a fairy and found my eye drawn to her in everything else all evening. Really, really enjoyed having the Lilac Fairy as a character dancer rather than on pointe in a tutu. Her interactions with Carabosse and the miming seemed much more balanced. I too was annoyed by the lack of lilac in the costume, especially when they had stressed the significance of the colour to the ballet in the programme! Anyone else notice the ornate guards who looked like they were from ancient Rome who appeared for moments in the Prologue and then left? A bit confused about the divvying up of the acts and intervals. Having the intervals after the Prologue and Act I makes sense as then each section takes place in the same time period. The end of Act II can seem like the end of the ballet and with the non-usuals audience there this afternoon I did see some people get their coats and leave at the second interval. I had no issues taking photos at the curtain calls and was sat on the end of a row near to the door.

A few days ago someone on here (sorry, I don't remember who!) shared an email reply they received from KOH which basically confirmed no La Fille.

Your assessment of the seats did it for me; not having to get the train back with drunk hen parties another significant plus to switching. Very excited to see the performance and glad to see the performance is close to sold out!

After Alina Cojocaru's withdrawal from performances I am contemplating which cast I would like to see. I have never seen the BRB before in-person so am not so familiar with the dancers of the company. I currently have tickets to the Saturday evening performance with Yu Kurihara. But I get the impression on this thread that the superlative performance with the BRB is Momoko Hirata's Aurora. Is this the performance I shouldn't miss? It would be a no brainer for me to shift my tickets (and avoid the late train back from London) to her matinee performance but the stalls seats left for that performance are very limited to the sides and towards the front. I have never been to Sadler's Wells so am not sure how impacted the view would be from the far end of row C.

And wow, not sure how I missed this old news but checking her Instagram just now I see she has been appointed OBE in 2023!

I posted in the other thread too but so devastated by this. I saw SB many times last season at RB and was hoping to take a break from it (it is a long evening!) and had only booked to see Alina, who I consider the greatest (or at least my favourite) current Aurora. And I had splurged for good seats! I hope all is well.

Me too. I probably will still go but had arranged specifically to see her. Her Royal Ballet DVD of the Sleeping Beauty is what got me into ballet in the first place. I used to watch it on repeat!

Really sad about this. I had considered it probably one of, if not the, last time I would see her dance a full-length classical ballet.

They really depend on Magri as a replacement, don't they? She'll be going to the lake many times this run!

And I received this about Winter's Tale casting: Tuesday 21 May, Tuesday 28 May and Saturday 1 June, 7.30pm Ryoichi Hirano is replaced by Nicol Edmonds as King Leontes. Anna Rose O’Sullivan is replaced by Sae Maeda as Perdita. Friday 24 May, 7.30pm Claire Calvert is replaced by Olivia Cowley as Paulina. Monday 27 May, 7pm Claire Calvert is replaced by Olivia Cowley as Paulina.

Surprised not to see Takada in The Dream, given she seems to be fit right now? Or soon at least, given the SL casting.

The Ashton Celebrated casting is finally announced

Although unorthodoxly done I don't think Osipova is infamous for not finishing her fouettes or looking like she's struggling. I would book it. As Campbell's recent retirement shows you never know when a dancer will be done and I it sounds like you wouldn't want to regret it!

Thanks for sending this, what a wonderful career reflection. What strikes me is 1) how humble he is! He repeatedly mentions how his success and promotions were about being in the right place at the right time, rather than his abundant talent! And 2) how he seems to have always been quite canny about not taking things for granted and always planning the next steps.

Wow, great to see this huge investment into ballet. Do you have the article link?