lady emily

She will be so greatly missed! I wish I had been able to be there!

Could they have gone to students at the school?

Ah I always wondered! It just seemed so inexplicable and couldn't notice that from the Amphitheatre! Since it was my first time with the new production I had wondered if they had changed the choreography.

And to cover up mistakes in later releases! I was there the night they did the first broadcast of the new Swan Lake in 2018. During the lifts in the diagonal in the White PDD, something went wrong and one lift didn't happen, with Marianela simply doing the port de bras while walking. There is no evidence of that happening on the recording!

I’m choosing to believe this is the true answer 😂

I don’t know if it’s because I saw the original cast of Campbell/Hayward/Takada but I have always found the sisters since dull at best. Hinkis was fine, safe as you say, but I’m not sure Tonkinson did much for me. I found her Act I variation very rough.

Gorgeous performances. I see two future principals here (one I think will be quite soon) and a blossoming partnership. Quite a standing ovation at the end, though in the stalls I’m never sure if it’s due to genuine exuberance or to see for photos when people in the front rows stand up. Sasaki was incredible in both white and black, and had the little details and flourishes you would expect of a much more seasoned O/O. Sissens is a powerhouse and was touching in his love for Odette. I felt his partnering was a tad shaky at times but just a slight quibble. I’ve enjoyed him immensely. I agree that Giacomo Rovero’s Benno was a joyful watch. He certainly was the shining star of the pas de trois. I also find Isabella Gasparini always manages to shine through, no matter how small the role. As others noted an especially moving final act, made even more sweet with their emotions at the end. I don’t usually find myself brought to tears by it but the way he pressed the “body’s” face to his was especially touching.

Love her attention to detail and his jumps are incredible. You could see on her face she was relieved the fouettés went well!

Joshua Junker could be Gary Avis’ son. When he came out I could have sworn he was Gary 😅

Gorgeous, gorgeous first half. This does not look like a pairing doing their first run! Joseph Sissens has the most gorgeous tour jetés.

This is my big splurge for the stalls performance of Swan Lake this afternoon and I am very much looking forward to the (almost) debuts!

Thanks! It still isn’t showing when I look myself, very strange!

Are cast sheets usually not up 90 mins before the show for a matinee?

I think all of us who are Friends should email to share our opinion. They will feel pressure from receiving many direct messages on the subject. I will 100% be dropping my Friend-ship (ha) if casting is not shared in advance of booking dates and will tell them so in my own email on the subject.

Completely agree. I don't think anyone was bothered by this before and I have no idea why they would put the time and energy into this when the majority of people will continue to refer to it as 'ROH'.

That font for the new logo is dreadful.

Oh this is such sad news, and I am so sorry for your loss. My time on her overlapped very briefly with Capybara, but I always enjoyed her insights and comments, which I almost always agreed with! The ballet world has lost a great friend and supporter. May she rest in peace.

I totally agree, I saw so many casts as it was the new production I still feel weary from it! Ah well, at least I will be saving some money...

Fair enough. But much like the rebranding of “Twitter” to “X” I wonder how much it will catch on. I do hope the font they have chosen for the new logo is not the final one!

I’m not really sure what the significance of “The Royal Ballet and Opera” rebrand is? Especially to then immediately separate them out in the press release. Is anything actually changing? So pleased to see such a long run of Onegin. I hope we will see many debuts! I am probably the only one but I really don’t like non-Nutcracker Christmases. It is such a tradition for me.

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!