Missfrankiecat

What an inspirational life -  Thank you to @li tai po for sharing this tribute and testimony to a life well lived, enjoyed to the full, giving support to others and living in their hearts and eternal memories.

I too am one of those who did not have the pleasure of meeting Linda in person but enjoyed and learnt from her post in the short time I have been a member of the forum.  Now, I can see from the heartfelt tributes and remembrances here what an exceptional person she was and how greatly she is missed.  May her memory be eternal and condolences to those to whom she was a dear friend.

7 hours ago, emmarose said:

 

Oh dear. Well, personally I find Act II the most beautiful and moving as well and probably smaller moments than the regular favourites. Obviously nobody is screaming during those, I usually release a small and content sigh...

 

But AFTER a solo, more than a smattering of applause is allowed and justified.

 

I honestly don't know if we love the dancers and art form why anyone would be talking the performers OUT of applause, but here we are.

I would add to that, I recall both Nunez and Muntagirov (and Hirano) received short bursts of applause for their entries on opening DQ last Autumn - I thought it was really a warm welcome back to their home stage.  I was never keen on the Broadway habit of applauding the star at their first entry but somehow I have changed my mind, certainly for RB stars after we haven't seen them for a few months.

18 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

Well, I can understand some of the programming. When we plead for more Ashton, and the tickets for the Ashton bill hardly fly out, against sell outs for the long runs of the 'war-horses' at premium prices, it must be a no brainer to put on long runs of said war-horses. And the likes of Cinderella and Alice, and R&J, will probably sell out as they are known names to the more casual ballet punter. So not satisfying for the die-hard fans maybe, but coffer-filling for the company. And of course, plenty of opportunities for up and coming dancers in lead roles.

I think it will be really interesting to see how much sells without fairly obvious discounting.  Cinderella for sure will do well but I'm not so sure about Alice.  Attractive to families perhaps?  But I'm pretty sure warhorses like Giselle would be better sellers.  Even Fille for family fun is better known to non-fanatics but also attractive to enthusiasts.  

It's hard to please everyone and, overall, I greatly enjoyed this year's offerings.  SL, DQ and Manon were all multiple viewings for me, as was the MacMillan triple and the coming Ashton.  I suspect next season I will be spending much of my dance budget elsewhere because only R and J and, possibly, Onegin will be multiples for me.  Cinderella is charming but I saw several casts last time and it seems like only yesterday.  The season does feel classic light.  

45 minutes ago, lady emily said:

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. 

No, you're not the only one.  I love Nutcracker and I prefer Peter Wright's version to all others.

19 minutes ago, FionaM said:

It was a lack of elegance and grace in all the swans.  
 

I disagreed re Marianela (although there was occasional flatfootedness) but I saw her point about the corps of swans.  Some of this I’d say was due to the ‘busy’ and complex choreography for the corps.  It needed more rehearsal to my eyes.  And the swans generally needed more lightness in their action.  All of which should have been addressed before first night

Gosh, I thought Marianela utterly superlative and I thought the swan corps very well rehearsed on opening  night.  The only raggedness I noticed was the men in Act One (and I do think the staging is very busy and crowded there, although I quite like it).  I thought the swans were a bit ropier in the Naghdi/Ball cast the other night (but I was much further away and higher and I do think viewpoint makes a difference - will be interesting how it looks on the Live stream.

PS - re the comment that Vadim is the only swan - I will say that the only 'disadvantage' of having Vadim in the RB is that almost anyone looks inferior by comparison.  And not just when dancing.  I can remember looking at him in Act 1 standing around doing not very much next to Benno (Luca Acri) and various others and, whatever their heigh, they all looked slightly muscle bound or otherwise 'chunky' next to those perfect lines.

2 minutes ago, FionaM said:

it is this type of response to an honest personal and individual opinion that turns forum members away and scares others from commenting.  
 

It is irrelevant what anyone’s expertise is.  Any reaction is valid.
 

I didn’t take the original comments to be rude or disrespectful.  Everyone’s turn of phrase is different.  Perhaps we should ask for clarification first.

 

I took the word heavy to mean the cygnets were perhaps noisy or even thudding.  They can be, the choreography and music almost requires it.  The art is to transcend that. The cygnet quartet are not always successful.  
 

The disaster of the two swans I took to mean that they were not coordinated, had bad style or were poorly rehearsed.  Maybe there were other problems.  
 

I will finish with a quote from an audience member friend, who is hugely experienced and well traveled to the major theatres of ballet, who said of the opening night of Swan Lake at ROH :

 

”Vadim is the only swan on this lake”

 

That’s fairly damning of the staging of this production.   I do hope it has improved over the run.  

Did your friend offer more detail - on the face of the comment I would judge it as damning of the overall standard of the dancing or at least characterisation rather than staging but maybe I misunderstand?  

36 minutes ago, Rachelm said:

I love Hamilton, and I very much see her as a principal. I understand that she may not dance Aurora, or Odette/Odile, but her performances elsewhere more than make up for that as far as I’m concerned.

 

I still miss Beatriz Stix-Brunell very much from the First Soloist Ranks.

Me too - she was a huge loss.

4 hours ago, alison said:

I wouldn't agree that the filming of DD was sub-optimal.  It was just a different viewpoint, with different choices.  That's one of the benefits of going to the cinema relays, in my view - particularly seeing dancers' acting up close rather than the bigger picture from way back in the auditorium.  Especially back in the days when it was actually more expensive than going to the ROH in the cheap seats.  And if you look at every other company that's done live relays, I think you'd see other "mistakes".  Certainly I've seen choices at the Bolshoi, POB and Australian Ballet which I though were less than optimal.  I presume that all the other cameras are still running and their footage recorded when a particular viewpoint is being shown - it will be interesting to see whether different views are edited in prior to streaming/DVD release.  I believe that was done in the Swan Lake DVD, where there's no sign of Francesca Hayward overbalancing in a landing in the Act III pas de trois, for example.

Magri's tumble in DQ last Autumn was edited out of the Encore screening let alone subsequent streaming/DVD.  I was impressed that they must have got a new version out within 48 hours!  

1 hour ago, MildConcern said:

Hirano has posted pictures from his surgery bed… amazing that he was able to exit the stage so gracefully in the circumstances!

I agree - good that the surgery was successful and he is looking cheerful.  He also posted two lovely photos of Liam Scarlet in his insta stories with a touching inscription about missing him.  The ROH also posted a more conventional photo saying he and his family were in our thoughts but I note turned off the ability for followers to comment which is unusual.  

2 hours ago, Scheherezade said:

 

And Requiem was, as before, just sublime. Sarah Lamb and Lauren Cuthbertson bought very different qualities to this work. For me, Lauren, whose performance was imbued with a serene humanity, seemed more the instrument, with an other-worldly Sarah more the author, of what was happening around them. Both were exquisite. And as no one has mentioned Isobel Lubach, I thought she brought depth and integrity to her performance and held her own brilliantly. 
 

 

You have perfectly articulated what I was thinking about their respective performances.  They were both radiant.

Re 'door piano', aka Ryoichi Hirano, it looks from one of his instagram posts as if the issue might have been a worsening of the issue for which he is going to have surgery.  Fingers crossed for a successful procedure and speedy rehab.

8 hours ago, capybara said:

Isabella Gasparini substituting in Requiem shows what an absolute trooper she is too. 👏👏👏

 

Thank you to those who have given eye witness reports.

Yes, Isabella has had a wonderful few weeks showing her versatility and character.  I always find her to be such a graceful, classical dancer and hope she will have further impressed the powers that be over the past weeks, so we see her in more leading roles.

19 minutes ago, Sim said:

Gosh, that sounds so disturbing.  I hope it didn't ruin everyone's night, including the ROH staff.  

 

Back to happier things....is that Kevin in the photo giving the champers to FH and MS?  If so, what a lovely gesture of thanks.  I wonder if other last-minute subs get given the same if it is a House gift?

In @Rob S photo, Francesca looks genuinely surprised to receive it.  I agree it is a nice gesture to thank those who slot in at the last minute whatever plans they had to keep the show on the road.

50 minutes ago, Roberta said:

 

How sad, hope it isn't anything serious for Reece and of course I'm sure we wish him well.   Only thing to do given the special nature of this ballet is to swap all leads. 

 

Also, the 'other' cast are total troopers, especially Marcelino Sambe who has danced non stop this week or so it seems! 

 

The joys of running a  ballet company...  Kevin OH must be exhausted too!  

 

 

Sambe has been an absolute trooper.  They all are but he has had a particularly gruelling schedule these past weeks.

1 hour ago, San Perregrino said:

As I said he’s got a lot to do once out of the starting gate. Partnering is dancing surely as it’s integral to the choreography? 

Another random thought is, in an era where obviously great store is given to chaperoning princesses and young women, why is Odile allowed to disappear alone with Siegfried running off after her and what could the pair of them possibly be doing together out of sight of their elders? 

I always think that too - they are off alone for a long time.  Of course, in reality they are limbering up for the big climax!

36 minutes ago, Jake said:

As aspects of the ending seem so universally disliked, is there any chance that it could be revised one day, or is the choreographer’s ‘vision’ sacrosanct?
With whom would the ‘copyright’ lie, I wonder? Liam Scarlett’s heirs, or the RB which commissioned the version?

I'm not sure the ending is 'universally' disliked.  It works for me and for some others.  There are always problems in applying logic to myths/fairy stories but I don't have any problems with Sigfried's 'lack of agency' or failure to put up an effective fight in the final battle.  It is entirely consistent with his character throughout and he is, after all, the only human on stage in the final act - all the others are supernatural beings to some extent, representing forces of good and evil.  If we are looking at a cosmic fight between good and evil, it is hardly surprising that a mere human stands no chance in defeating evil through his puny attempts.  I have always regarded SL as mirroring aspects of the Christian theology/mythology (depending on your faith view). Evil doesn't win by Odette's self-sacrificing death, rather this is a familiar story of self-sacrificial death by a pure being resulting in redemption from the clutches of evil for her followers - this presumably includes Siegfried (the hopeless human) who will be able to return to rebuild the ruined court now that Rothbart is destroyed.  If the true endgame is less to do with a flawed man (who can't even tell the difference between his true love and an imposter that all the audience see a mile off!) getting the girl and more to do with the redemption of a whole kingdom from supernatural evil, then the euphoria in the final music also makes sense. 

2 hours ago, JNC said:

I agree with this - I think I found his Red Shoes a disappointment in part because I was expecting a ballet! For his Swan Lake therefore I was prepared for it to be not ballet (or at least not classical) and enjoyed it much more. But also having seen it once don’t feel the need to see it again (but I could see classical Swan Lake many times over!) 

This is how I feel - though I think I have seen and enjoyed his Swan Lake more than once over the years.  As much as the choreography, his overall concepts for productions and designs are so strong, and so "Matthew Bourne" that I always enjoy a first viewing but wouldn't really want to see each show again.

2 hours ago, art_enthusiast said:

Yep, totally. I’m of the same opinion. I have booked for Natalia’s Titania (as well as Lauren Cuthbertson’s) and her Odette/Odile. Everything crossed she will be able to do her Swan Lakes. (I have also booked for Akane Takada who I am also really hoping to see).

Great minds think alike ... I too am hoping Takada is back to dance with Sissens when I have booked (also Osipova).  Takada is such a soulful dancer, I am really interested to see her SL.

1 hour ago, LinMM said:

Have to disagree about Yasmine being like Margot Fonteyn either in looks or performance! 
I love Yasmine but her style is very different to Fonteyns. Yasmine has a much stronger technique than Fonteyn ever had but she doesn’t really have the emotional vulnerability on stage of Fonteyn. 
This is not to say Yasmine can’t give emotional performances but doesn’t (yet anyway) have that real abandon that Fonteyn could bring out of nowhere. 
I don’t think anybody has this particular quality in the Royal at the moment …not even Hayward….though she has some of her naturalness and maybe it will remain unique to Fonteyn. 

Love the piccie of Yasmine above! 
 

I guess part of my problem is I can only go on the relatively rare and poor quality recordings of Margot, which are mostly from late career.  One can easily see the difference in technique and I think a lot of her obvious charm and artistry does translate but the precise quality of emotional interaction with an audience is more ephemeral.  

11 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

 

Not sure where you get that from, as I've found Yasmine one of the lovliest, friendliest, warmest dancers I've met (though yes, definitely elegance personified!)

No wonder I'm biased! 😉

I didn't mean to convey any pejorative description - of either Yasmine or Dame Margot. In our over-sharing world, it seems 'reserve' and a certain distance are now regarded as personality defects.  Not by me!  I would, however, maintain that, when interviewed in the company of others, Yasmine is often the more reticent and considered in her responses and she doesn't share much as much personal stuff on her social media as others.  For eg Marianela - whose cats I could pick out of an ID parade just as I could tell you what colour her bathroom tiles are.  Not a criticism of either woman.  

Yasmine reminds me a lot of Margot Fonteyn - who, btw, I have only seen on film.  Not just the looks (especially the smile and the chin tilt) but both have/had slightly aloof elegance and a certain reserve in their public personalities.  

2 minutes ago, emmarose said:

I don't really have much to add and I'm utterly exhausted. But I agree with how much of a privilege it was to be there last night and opening night and there's ballet and there's dance but those two are living and breathing art, there is no act, it's all being lived on the stage organically.

 

The ovation was quite moving and you could see they were both moved in the curtain calls and where I was in SC it was a beautiful view of a full Orchestra Stalls all standing up and applauding.

They lifted the full lights fairly early in the red run so they could see the audience enthusiasm.  I thought Vadim looked slightly choked up.

There are so many intriguing partnerships in the next run - I think Francesca Hayward and Will Bracewell would be a very interesting contrast to Marianela/Vadim.  Frankie Hayward's great acting skills will be right at home with the Odette/Odile split.  I am looking forward to Joe Sissen's Siegfried debut (his partner seems to be an alarmingly moveable feast atm) - I'm sure he is a star of the future and, naturally, I will also be enjoying Osipova and her vulgar fouettés!

What a beautiful start to my short holiday last night down at the Lake.

As others have mentioned, electric atmosphere last night - right from the collective sighs of relief and nervous giggles afterwards, when the cast replacement announcement was made, it was obvious who many people had come to see, confirmed by warm applause for Vadim and Marianela's entrances.  But there was so much in addition to enjoy.  I was front row, a rare treat and chance to really drink in details - only the footwork (not an insignificant detail!) is compromised from row A, but more than compensated by the ability to see every facial expression [not an advantage when it comes to Liam Boswell's grimaces btw - why oh why doesn't someone sort this out; he has great lines but pulls the most effortful faces when lifting], and the fabulous detail of set and costuming.  I love the magnificent set for Act 3 in particular and it seemed better lit than usual last night.  The swan corps was so good, not a feather out of place.  Such kudos to them, to the repetiteurs who drill them to such perfection and the artful arrangement of a company which has quite a diversity of height.  Luca Acri was a very engaging Benno, Isabella Gasparini (what a couple of weeks she has had) and Meaghan Grace Hinkis were lovely sisters - it's a shame that they don't get separate curtain calls.  Even on such crowded sets, Gary Avis is able to compel attention - I loved him in Act 3, sitting in front of the Queen Mum, like a Svengali-suited bovver boy, giving the visiting delegations the evil eye.  What more is there to say about the dream team?  Individually sensational, they are sublime together.  Marianela drains every last drop of meaning from each note of music, her ability to make her limbs and even spine at times look liquid when her core is performing such miracles of balance and control is completely unparalleled in this company, at least.  Her Odette was imperious injured pride, melting into tremulous trust, dignified disappointment and finally determined redemption.  Her Odile (always my favourite) is sexy, powerful malevolence.  She and Vadim sizzled in Act 3.  Sim is right - Vadim is phenomenal.  His lines are so perfect, you want to weep and he just makes every technical feat look so effortless that you start to think it must be easy.  I swear, even close up, there is no sign of sweat being broken, breathing being controlled nor a hair out of place.  He always partners beautifully but there is a special sympathy with Nunez and their lines match perfectly; I saw she mouthed what looked like a 'thankyou' at the end of the Act 3 coda as they took their bows - the only time they were out of character.  I felt privileged to be there last night.