Benjamin

4 minutes ago, Tony Newcombe said:

Health and Safety!!!???

I think it’s just cheaper as it’s a quite expensive to as you say have health and safety checks.

What they should do is have an announcement (at the same time that they proclaim that filming is prohibited) that it is possible to watch the full performance on ROH Stream (etc for different companies). No need to record it when you can find it online for better quality. There’s your solution! Not saying it would stop everyone, but I’m sure there would be less of it.

13 minutes ago, Pas de Quatre said:

Or do they have more a more exciting repertoire, and better productions of the classics?

Yes they do! If you look at their 23/24 repertoire it’s half half with exciting modern works and classics that are updated productions. Most exiting (presumably) for dancers is that they don’t do Nutcracker every year (Raymonda is on this Christmas).

18 minutes ago, oncnp said:

From Todays Links. Many thanks @Jan McNulty

 

 The RB comes to the US. Reading between the lines, may not be the entire company, but a more "curated" selection of pieces, similar to what they did in New York a couple summers ago.  Program to be announced early next year

 

Royal Ballet Principals Matthew Ball, Mayara Magri, Marcelino Sambé, Anna Rose O'Sullivan, and Sarah Lamb will perform in this engagement along with a vibrant array of the company's dancers. The opening night on Wednesday, July 3 will also include Principal dancer Natalia Osipova in Ashton's evocation of Isadora Duncan.

 

The Royal Ballet to Perform at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival for the First Time in 2024 (broadwayworld.com)

 

Ticketed Performances at Jacob's Pillow (jacobspillow.org)

Exciting! Will the rest of the Company be touring elsewhere? Wonder what the full repertoire will be.

3 minutes ago, Benjamin said:

I read this and immediately though Kevin O’hare was retiring and then I re read and realised it was Michael O’hare.

Oops!

And Michael O’hare was a great dancer and will be missed.

I read this and immediately though Kevin O’hare was retiring and then I re read and realised it was Michael O’hare.

Oops!

Can someone please inform me what happened? I don’t really have the time to look through 2 Pages. My current presumption is that Natalia could make the RB performance? Sorry as I wasn’t there and need some explaining.

Maybe I’ve got it all wrong.

1 hour ago, Benjamin said:

Watching a bit of the replay of Australian Ballets live stream, and from what I’ve seen this morning I’ve quite enjoyed. It includes a Swan Lake Cygnets rehearsal, The Dream Fairies rehearsal and A Marguerite and Armand pas de duex Rehearsal. Wish we were seeing as much Ashton here in the uk but it’s still good to see. I think there were some Ashton stagers there including Christopher Carr. A great start and I am very excited to see RB, Sf Ballet’s and as many other companies that I can watch Streams.

Oh and a great class! I think Grant Coyle teaching Ashton repertoire was there too.

8 hours ago, FionaM said:

Australian Ballet class has started 

 

Watching a bit of the replay of Australian Ballets live stream, and from what I’ve seen this morning I’ve quite enjoyed. It includes a Swan Lake Cygnets rehearsal, The Dream Fairies rehearsal and A Marguerite and Armand pas de duex Rehearsal. Wish we were seeing as much Ashton here in the uk but it’s still good to see. I think there were some Ashton stagers there including Christopher Carr. A great start and I am very excited to see RB, Sf Ballet’s and as many other companies that I can watch Streams.

It would have been so easy to throw in Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux after Anemoi with a popular cast and have a sell out! It’s only 10 minutes and yes, they did it in 2021, but that’s not a good enough excuse.

Just now, Jan McNulty said:

And now ... English National Opera is cutting the size of its orchestra:

 

https://musiciansunion.org.uk/news/mu-hits-back-at-english-national-opera-plans-to-axe-jobs-and-go-part-time

Just saw this, it’s not looking good for anyone, ENO’s orchestra and other companies that might have to follow suit.

I definitely agree with more Ashton, he was the founding choreographer and probably more De Valois as she was the founder. Personally I would love to see some more work by some international modern ballet/dance choreographers, I know that’s a big ask but I’m a bit tired of all the male, British, modern dance choreographers of the world. There so many amazing artists out there! I understand why it doesn’t happen/ isn’t practical, but I still think that would be wonderful.

11 minutes ago, Ondine said:

Two quick thoughts.

 

I do wonder if the Les Noces centenary had actually been simply forgotten until rumblings of discontent brought it to the attention of Kevin O'Hare, at which point of course it was far too late to schedule and revive and rehearse and cast and stage it.  It isn't something can be thrown together quickly. It's not been in the rep for a considerable time. I'm not even sure who could stage it, Monica Mason has of course danced in it. Hence the nod in its direction with the Clore event,  which is better than nothing I suppose. Not great but something.

 

I think to do it justice would have meant a number of associated events and other revived works, audience education,  dancer education, exhibitions, publicity. Clearly other things were in the pipeline which couldn't be dropped.

 

Nutcracker. I think the chance for the students from White Lodge and Upper School to dance plays a major part in why it re-appears year after year. Those students don't actually get many performance opportunities with the company, especially White Lodgers.

 

Coppelia and Alice have both been tried but I suspect again, there were rumblings of discontent. So it's become the annual tradition. It's not actually a bad one IMO.  Yes bums on seats, but also audience building and many roles for company members.

 

I'm mentally processing the rest of your post @FLOSS

 

 

 

 

Though it is a great opportunity for RBS students but wouldn’t the company’s dancers get tired with over 25 performances of the Nutcracker every season? I hope they don’t because that would be horrible. I’m pretty sure the main reason is that it’s a guaranteed ticket seller unlike even some other classics ie Cinderella which wasn’t a sell out.

The Australian Ballet recently announced their 2024 season and with the recent excitement about their London Tour, I thought this would be an interesting topic.

One piece of repertoire that stood out to me, the creation and performance of a new work by Christopher Wheeldon, titled “Oscar” it is a ballet about the life and stories of Oscar Wilde. I know Christopher Wheeldon has created new productions with other companies besides the Royal Ballet, but I believe this to be his first one to feature an original story with an original score by Joby Talbot. The Australian Ballet states: “a full-length production commissioned exclusively for The Australian Ballet.” So not a co-production, but presumably at some point in the coming years it will be performed by other companies. What are your thoughts on this announcement?

More details can be found on the Australian Ballets Website.

The season dates for Oscar are:

Melbourne 13 - 24 September 2024

Sydney 8 - 23 November 2024

Here’s the rest of the Australian Ballet’s Season:

Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland (Wheeldon’s production first performed in Australia 2017)

Sydney 20 February - 5 March (16)

Melbourne 15 - 26 March (13)

Carmen (Johan Ingers production also being performed at English National ballet in 2024, The Australian Ballet’s first time performing this work)

Sydney 10 - 27 April 2024

Etudes/ Circle Electric (double Bill, Etudes and a new work by Australian Choreographer Stephanie Lake)

Sydney 3 - 18 May 2024

Melbourne 2 - 9 October 2024

Jewels (Touring to another major capital in Australia, Adelaide, after seasons in Sydney, Melbourne and London in 2023)

Adelaide 12 - 18 July 2024

The Nutcracker (1990 BRB production has somewhat frequently been revived in Australia since 2007)

Sydney 30 November - 18 December 2024

On 27/08/2023 at 00:24, Sophoife said:

I've just read an interview with her from early 1983 informing the readership that Mayerling had been removed from the year's plans due to inadequate rehearsal time (one of the dancers' issues leading to the strike), which she was disappointed about because she and "Kenneth" had felt it would be a good fit on the company.

Unfortunate, does that mean that if they did they would have been the first company outside the Royal Ballet to have performed it? I wish they did back in the day because then other companies could have performed it too, not when those companies finally did it 20 years later. Wonder if they will do it Under David Hallberg, presumably he performed it but my memory doesn’t serve me well.

29 minutes ago, alison said:

 

No, they always used the RDB's version.  Wayne Eagling did ask Monica Mason if they could use the Geordiadis designs, but she refused.  Probably just as well, because they would have been a nightmare to tour, I suspect.  Also, the RB did have Manon scheduled that year as well, ironically.

I wonder if ENB has ever thought about completely new deigns, maybe even as a co production to save on costs. I suspect that would be possible, but they might just have Manon as somewhat of a rarity (with DNB’s designs) and leave most performances to the RB, despite how unfortunate that would be.

Just now, Benjamin said:

I think this casting is pretty good, unlike the prices, so unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be booking for as many casts as I used to. Interested to see how these debuts go but it’s still a while away. 

Very happy about Campbell doing a few more shows and a Vadim/ Fumi ROH performance.

I think this casting is pretty good, unlike the prices, so unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be booking for as many casts as I used to. Interested to see how these debuts go but it’s still a while away. 

4 hours ago, capybara said:

Filming rights not included in a contract?

I can only assume there’s some contract problem meaning they can’t keep the streams up for over a month. Some companies shorten the streams and re upload them, some keep them up and some are completely gotten rid of.

Well these prices are crazy. Let’s see how well Manon sells. I’ll happily go to Boheme or Cav/Pag rather then another session of Manon with those prices. Also interested to see more details about Festival of New Choreography.

Enjoyed Jewels and the gala (but I don’t usually write reviews on here) and I just wanted to say The Australian Ballet is also streaming their productions but unlike RB you can watch them from your home. They have Swan Lake on in September and The Dream/ Marguerite and Armand in November. 

Some people have probably already heard about this and the streams aren’t free but here’s a link if anyone’s interested: https://australianballet.com.au/performances/live-on-ballet-tv

Here’s the website with a touch more information and a sign up link: https://worldballetday.com

Yes they have changed, with me I’ve booked more bench/ standing seats with worse views. There’s some performances I’ve hesitated on booking, because not all of the vital casting has been announced (Cleary a lot of the people are doing this especially with the price increases).

15 minutes ago, annamk said:

Was there a list of all the dancers somewhere ?

You can find it on their website: https://australianballet.com.au/our-dancers  (still don’t know if I’m allowed to post links but this is ok, right?)

I saw BRB’s video and it looked like Brandon Lawerence was doing Apollo? I assume that’s just a old video they put in, because they probably want Carlos to do as much of he can of that.