Linnzi5

Yes. I noticed this too and thought it a bit strange. I wonder, if I would have noticed if I was sitting in ROH though? I must mention that I thought Yasmine's Act II White Swan Coda was stunning. I forgot to mention that earlier. I absolutely love that part of Act II and I thought she was gorgeous - one of the best I've ever seen.

My companions and I thought there was a lot to enjoy about the cinema relay last night. The orchestra was on top form under the baton of Martin Georgiev. Magnus Johnston's playing was just divine and I much preferred his solos to the previous concert master's ones this run (being a violinist, I am picky, and this is just my personal preference of the interpretation of the solos). I preferred Georgiev's interpretation generally to the previous performances I've been to this run - and what a lovely man! The costumes looked absolutely stunning and were so visually pleasing. Standouts for me were Joonhyuk Jun as Benno. His dancing was excellent, so confident and light, but he was such a happy and joyful dancer that I found myself smiling alongside him. Leticia Dias shone as one of Siegfried's sisters, as did Annette Buvoli, though I found their height differences a bit jarring, especially when they were dancing in unison. Nadia Mullova-Barley shone again in the Spanish Dance and I thought Leo Dixon and Isabella Gasparini were adorable in the Neapolitan Dance - and the tambourines behaved! (I always get so nervous when they throw them!) Yasmine Naghdi was as technically brilliant as I expected. Her fouettés as Odile were showy, technically excellent, and, especially considering this was a cinema relay, were confident and dazzling - they certainly hit the spot for me when they needed to! Bravo to her as I can only imagine, not only how technically challenging hers were but how absolutely nerve-wracking it must have been to deliver those so perfectly! All of my party were blown away here! I found the Act II PDD to be technically excellent, but for me, would have liked to have seen more vulnerability in her Odette - just my personal taste. I did feel she came to her own in Act IV though, where she emoted brilliantly and I felt her despair and pain at Siegfried's betrayal. This I found very moving and I think I liked her best in this movement as I felt so much emotion myself here. Yasmine's Odile was playful, flirty and seductive but didn't quite have the malicious, evil/cold streak I like - again, I think that's personal taste on my part. Overall, I thought she was excellent and so confident - I never once felt unsure of her and she made the choreography look easy and technically, I feel she is one of the best dancers at RB. I can't deny I didn't feel Matthew Ball was at the top of his game last night - he is such an excellent dancer and I really like him. Though I thought parts of his dancing were as technically excellent as he usually is, something was missing for me at times. I also found his Siegfried a little expressionless sometimes, as did my companions, though we all felt that in Act IV, he came to his own. I wonder if nerves played a part? I certainly couldn't blame him if that was the case! His partnering was assured, supportive and excellent, I thought. I thought the Corps was excellent but do take on board some of the earlier comments about the Big Swans and Cygnets. I found them to be absolutely fine and I had nothing to complain about specifically, but didn't feel they were the best I've seen for some reason. The quality of the relay itself was sadly not the best. For the first act, for some reason, the picture on the screen was too high and the dancer's feet were cut off! I found that really frustrating. The sound was too low and we had some horrible distortion in the sound again - hearing it in Stravinsky is one thing, in Tchaikovsky, it's a crime. I also did not like some of the cut-in shots - I found some were random and the dancing I wanted to see was missed. I have preferred other Swan Lake relays in that respect, I'm afraid. However, overall, it was an enjoyable night that was definitely Yasmine Naghdi's - congratulations to her and to the whole cast.

I've done the same and rebooked for 13th and cancelled 7th May.

Me too! I don't necessarily agree with some, but I never mind as it's so interesting to read what other people think and how they interpret things. @Buru, please keep expressing your thoughts

Lovely insight. I particularly enjoyed Fumi and Vadim and always enjoy Ed Watson's coaching. I got a real sense of where they were taking their roles. I didn't enjoy the second rehearsal as much - as others have said, the dancers were stopped what felt like every two seconds and I found myself losing interest (I could see they were, perhaps, at a different stage of learning their roles though). It was an enjoyable experience overall though.

Happy birthday! 🎉

I received it on Friday too and filled it in. It was quite comprehensive and I was happy to give my perspective on a number of items - including how important it is to me knowing the cast in advance of booking . . .

Oh dear. That all sounds rather unfortunate! Sorry to hear Hirano was injured? If so, I hope he recovers quickly.

I actually like the end. I agree that Siegfried being supine isn't the best use of him (then again, does he really get to do that much anyway?) but I do like that Odette is the strong one and ends her life as she can't bear to continue as she is - all on her own terms. I also wonder if she sacrifices herself so Siegfried can live? I took it that Siegfried was killed by VR and the two swans revived him at the end - they certainly go over to him and wave their arms over him, which I just interpreted as them restoring his life? I do quite like the traditional ending of the two of them heading off on a swan boat together, united in death but also find it a little sickly sweet. The only ending I didn't like was the one where Siegfried is swimming under a sea of silk (mimicking waves) - I just laughed inside at that!

Me too.

Thank you for this. So, opening with Alice, Cinderella instead of Nutcracker (damn, I'll be spending more then!) and R &J in the Spring. I wonder when Onegin might be then?

I think he'll be brilliant!

I did recognise some from Danses Concertantes - but only because I'd memorised the cast list and worked it out by a process of elimination! The men looked so different with the head adornments on! I still don't know who half the supporting female dancers were in Requiem, as their hairstyles were so similar. I did recognise Meghan Grace Hinkis and Annette Buvoli though. To be fair, I'm pretty poor at recognising most dancers.

I cannot deny that when the first glitch happened that I thought, hmmm, I don't remember the Stravinsky being this dissonant and unattractive! I then realised, after the second one, that it was definitely a sound issue! I can't deny that I felt a bit embarrassed at myself for not initially realising it actually wasn't meant to sound like that! To be fair, I don't know the Stravinsky well 😂 I agree. I actually I agree with all of your review but I tend to waffle on, so cut the other bits out of my reply! I agree that Petroc does seem genuinely interested and so knowledgable and I am certain he is both.

Wow. Sounds really dangerous to me. I do not like heights, so can't understand why anyone would do that! 😱