Ondine

I suspect he'll be a show stopper! He was terrific at the Eric Bruhn Prize (with Viola Pantuso) where he won the male award and the Frederick Ashton Foundation 'Les Patineurs' last year where he was coached in the 'Blue Boy' solo by Wayne Sleep showed he could do the steps and the style, with humour. So many wonderful up and coming men in the company! Here he is over the years at the YAGP. 😊 Daichi Ikarashi - Through the Years at Youth America Grand Prix - YAGP Aw!

A (very) small link with this forum: one of his wives was ballet dancer Rosalind Tong

Guardian has published a tribute. Barry Humphries was a master of provocation and glorious grotesquerie Despite a legacy tainted by PC-baiting provocation, many will remember Humphries with affection as the carnivalesque Dame Edna and foul-mouthed Sir Les Patterson https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/apr/22/barry-humphries-alter-egos-dame-edna-everage-sir-les-patterson And an obituary. https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/apr/22/barry-humphries-obituary

At the beginnings of ballet, in the time of Louis XIV, I believe only men were allowed to participate. 😐 There have been many great male dancers, not only as 'porteurs'... though sadly that is what ballet did descend to at times in the 19th century. 😉 "Le dieu de la danse" - Auguste Vestris 1760 - 1842 (Actually Valentino Zucchetti...) as re-imagined by De Valois.

Indeed yes I as said, via today's Links, though without the added YouTube links! Added bonus 🤩 Such a lovely dancer isn't she?

Very disappointing, isn't it? Have they limited how many can watch online? Rather negates the purpose of putting it online doesn't it? Hopefully an error.

Via today's Links, the ROH publicity machine at work here I suspect but it's good to see this lovely dancer given the publicity and ballet to be given a feature in the 'popular press'. Matthew Ball and Olga Evreinoff also pictured. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/day-life-ballerina-dizzying-turns-29710342 Here she is pre RBS and company days, Prix de Lausanne 2011. Great promise now fulfilled! Classical Selections - Mayara Magri https://youtu.be/_4tc6_Wjfn4 and an interview from 2018 with more of her history.

The coach is magnificent isn't it? That's part of the magic, the appearance onstage of the coach, breathtaking, huge round of applause for the design and of course the craft involved in making it and making it work (no batteries required presumably). The ROH really is blessed with scores of immensely skilled people, not only those who appear onstage. The ballet itself has so many opportunities for dancers to shine, to put their own stamp on their characters, at all levels, and good that Marco Masciari was given that chance. Certainly one to watch. I'm firmly in the 'love Osipova' (apart from the shoes but we won't go there) camp and I'd have thought Cinderella was a role made for her.

Just posted on ROH FB Twitter etc Akane Takada in rehearsal as Cinderella Yes that's the Fred Step in the first part.

Guardian article here. Great photos. https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/apr/21/edward-watson-a-different-dance-royal-ballet-interview

Ah she has eternity with Vadim though, after they ascend that staircase to a heavenly happy ever after! Sigh.

Further encores of Cinderella and a small clip to brighten the day.

From the sublime to the mundane... close up photos reveal so much. Fumi Kaneko really has gone belt and braces with her shoes! Ribbons, thick elastic, and another piece of material sewn on in addition, with multiple stitching. That's before the extra stitching on the 'pointy end'! Not much chance of those popping off mid performance and loads of extra support. All this must take forever. No use being a dancer if you hate sewing is it? Men have it easy...

Mica Bradbury has just posted this picture of her as Fairy Summer on her Instagram. Lovely photo! https://www.instagram.com/p/CrN0ad4oIpQ/

I came across this little piece of 'Cinderella' and RB history. Unsure of the year, possibly 2003? https://www.rohcollections.org.uk/performance.aspx?performance=4925&row=7 but clearly the previous production! The choreography remains, even though productions and dancers change. And the choreography remains as beautiful as ever. https://www.facebook.com/dmakhateli/videos/found-this-in-my-archives-rehearsing-with-jaimie-tapper-and-my-coach-alexander-a/2672597049641613/ https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2672597049641613

Here is Yasmine Naghdi being transformed, showing off her beautiful gown with sash!

Too late to add to the previous post, so I'll add here. Interestingly (to me anyhow but I'm a self confessed nerd) the 1948 production was designed by Jean-Denis Malclès 1912 - 2002, one of only four ballets he designed in what was a clearly long and distinguished theatre career. Two of the four were for Covent Garden, Cinderella and 'Le Bal des voleurs'' chor Massine in 1965. http://www.regietheatrale.com/index/index/donateurs/Jean-Denis-Malcles.html Sumptuous! And like the new production, slightly surreal. Though I'm unsure how much of this was actually what the production looked like as a whole as these were prints for sale. How lovely. https://hprints.com/en/item/76856/Jean-Denis-Malcles-1949-Scenery-Costumes-for-Cinderella-Ballet A small delight, Moira Shearer's signed shoe (Freed) from the opening night is in the V & A archives, the Cyril Beaumont Bequest, beautifully darned but without its ribbons, no doubt carefully unpicked and re-used. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O61319/ballet-shoe-frederick-freed/ And here is her 'rags' costume https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O106188/costume-malcles-jean-denis/costume-malclès-jean-denis/ Her tutu https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/38351034313233272/? This, about Pauline Clayden the original Fairy Autumn (Alastair Macauley) History knows her - for years this was all I knew of her - as the original Fairy Autumn in Ashton’s Cinderella (1948). There’s an irony here: actually, Ashton sketched the Autumn variation, with its memorable off-balance pirouettes, not on her - she was elsewhere, and he was busy making his first three-act ballet - but on Pamela May. When May, the original Fairy Godmother of that production, first told me this in 1997, I wondered if this was accurate - May’s memory, around age eighty, had developed occasional blips, though few - but Clayden herself, whom I met later that year, was happy to make sure I knew that Ashton had indeed originally created the variation on May. May never danced Fairy Autumn in performance, but she was a dancer Ashton liked and trusted, having known her for over fourteen years. May - who danced Odette, Aurora, Swanilda, Myrtha - was seen as a “ballerina”, in the snob ballet sense of the word; Clayden, danced a number of leading heroine roles, but not the classical-tutu kind, although she certainly did dance the Romantic title character of Giselle, for some the ultimate test of ballerinadom. On her hundredth birthday, Clayden recalled with pride how Ashton coached her for the role of Giselle, which she then danced four times at Covent Garden; and she treasured the letter of warm congratulations he wrote to her after her debut on the role. https://www.alastairmacaulay.com/all-essays/gezp2a3zkz71jsc0j4cwa0hoyq5x3s

Ah. Perhaps the ship brought the oranges then took Cinderella and Prince off on their exotic happy ever after honeymoon? 😀 2011 production has trees too. Bottom photo. Shadowy and a bit sinister but presumably the stars are lighting the way to future bliss. https://www.flickr.com/photos/royaloperahouse/albums/72157630055939437

Well there we are. Spring is buds being sprung. Definitive. And Hilda Gaunt, stalwart of wartime touring. Re Cyril Beaumont, that must be the set with the ship I posted above from 1948. It is certainly in the open air and there are stylised trees and yes the men are wearing hats but not Somes as the prince. So, the new production reverts back to the original, though with no vessel in view bearing a fruit cargo! Further archival delving required I think. https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/sadlers-wells-ballet-in-cinderella-1948--439734351128957312/ A photo of 'Fred n Bobby' in their undies with those oranges. 1948. https://www.flickr.com/photos/royaloperahouse/6171434489/

Yes many of the tutus look as though they have been made to 'grow into' as my mother would have said! And to allow for shrinkage! They used to be so tight & boned Darcey Bussell had a strip of elastic incorporated next to the fastenings I seem to recall. It helps to be able to breathe. I also note the 'party frock' tutus have sashes and bows. When I was small, many many years ago, all party frocks had a sash and bow at the back, is this a revival? It also explains why there is a 'beige' strip on the basque of Cinders ball tutu above the net. It's the sash which carries on to the bow at the back. The costumes are magnificent, so beautifully made and fresh and new. The skill and talent involved is immense. Back to those oranges, which have been mentioned before. As well as the ref to 'The Love Of Three Oranges' oranges (and bananas) were certainly very hard to come by in the war years and after so the audience would have got the 'joke' of their appearance at the ball, and the sisters fighting over who got the largest. All echoes of the war years. I don't believe they were rationed, just pretty much unavailable. Huge queues when they did appear. Many items were still on ration in 1948. (For the younger reader, Rose Hip Syrup was made and distributed during WWII for the Vitamin C content. Children were actually paid to collect them, at 3d per pound in old money and measures.)

Yes that makes sense. Also see original set in photo below, were the oranges fresh off the ship in the background? So many details which Ashton & designers no doubt had thought through to make for coherence have been lost along the way. It's quite a fascinating delve into the archives to see the long list of all involved in the first and subsequent early performances. Sadly so many future 'stars' appearing as er... stars no longer get a mention! https://www.rohcollections.org.uk/performance.aspx?performance=1038 And this of course, which may have some bearing on why the role was eventually split in two. NP Royal Ballet; some revisions including new variation for the Fairy Godmother to music from Prokofiev's Visions fugitives, opus 22 No 7, orchestrated by John Lanchbery; SC Henry Bardon and David Walker D Cinderella: Margot Fonteyn; The Prince: David Blair; Stepsisters: Frederick Ashton, Robert Helpmann; Fairy Godmother: Annette Page; The Jester: Alexander Grant; The Fairy Spring: Antoinette Sibley; The Fairy Summer: Vyvyan Lorrayne; The Fairy Autumn: Merle Park; The Fairy Winter: Deanne Bergsma FP Royal Opera House, London, 23 December 1965 http://www.frederickashton.org.uk/cinderella.html Why Ms Sabadoch remains a mystery, why not a company member? Lovely photo here of original Cinderella (Shearer), The Prince (who doesn't have a name) Somes and the fairies & partners. https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/sadlers-wells-ballet-in-cinderella-1948--439734351128957312/

Interesting to note in among the original cast 'A Negro: Ronald Kaye'. Now vanished. I'll say no more. Lackeys. Times certainly do change. Also Pamela May as 'The Ragged Fairy Godmother'. Not listed as 'old crone'. 😉 Incidentally, was Olga Sabadoch, 'fairy godmother in disguise' as she is now listed, playing the role at all performances so far? And does anyone know why she was brought in for the role? Cinderella: Moira Shearer; Cinderella's Stepsisters: Frederick Ashton, Robert Helpmann; Cinderella's Father: Franklin White; The Ragged Fairy Godmother: Pamela May; A Tailor: Donald Britton; The Dressmakers: Anne Negus, Margaret Dale; The Shoemaker: Paul Reymond; The Hairdresser: Leslie Edwards; A Jeweller: Henry Legerton; The Dancing Master: Harold Turner; The Coachman: Robert Lunnon; The Fairy Spring: Nadia Nerina; The Fairy Summer: Violetta Elvin; The Fairy Autumn: Pauline Clayden; The Fairy Winter: Beryl Grey; The Prince: Michael Somes; The Jester: Alexander Grant; Suitors: Alfred Rodrigues, Donald Britton; The Prince's Friends: Bryan Ashbridge, Philip Chatfield, Kenneth Melville, Kenneth MacMillan; A Negro: Ronald Kaye; Violinists, Pages, Lackeys, Stars, Courtiers, Guests, Townswomen, Footmen: corps de ballet FP Sadler's Wells Ballet, Royal Opera House, London, 23 December 1948

It is worth turning on the You Tube subtitles for unintentional hilarity.

It could be argued she's not right as Lilac Fairy either. I'm not sure her qualities are as any sort of fairy. She's not 'fey' enough, not 'other wordly', looks too robustly healthy and outdoorsy and modern to me! I think there are roles in which she'd be far better cast and would shine. The problem is with a long run of a ballet like Cinderella is that everyone needs 'a a 'go' and there are not too many roles in which to appear. I recall a cinema relay of SB where she didn't quite pull off the solo either. I'm sure she did it impeccably in rehearsal, and every other performance. So why she is cast as fairies I have no idea, perhaps I have an old fashioned view, I'm not in tune with the twenty first century fairy realm, and this is the modern fairy. I should visit the bottom of my garden more.

Possibly the spring & summer fairies should be dressed in grey, with attendants holding umbrellas, to better reflect the British weather? In fairyland, however, it seems spring is gloriously golden and summer vibrant. No clouds, or drizzle. If only real life was like a fairytale. Re the sisters. No matter how hard current casts try, 'Fred' & 'Bobby' Ashton & Helpmann were men of the theatre in a wider sense than anyone in the RB is these days and it's difficult for any company member to be able to replicate what they did. As I said in an earlier post a great deal of the humour originally was surely the fact THEY were playing the sisters? Their offline 'relationship' and rivalries seem to have been carried on on stage too, with the outrageous antics changing regularly and neither letting the other know what was about to happen until the onstage performance? Ad lib is a skill which not all have. As with the 'oompah trot'; while we can laugh at the fact it's an amusing step, the history behind it and reference to the Astaires would have been part of the joke at the time and no doubt appreciated by audiences. (Humour doesn't always travel to the future does it? Why this step became such a huge audience favourite when performed by the Astaires is another theatrical mystery really. But I digress.) It's difficult to convey to modern audiences that Fred n Bobby playing the sisters, in that ridiculous makeup & those frocks, WAS a big part of what was amusing. Others can follow and try to inhabit the roles, the audience may laugh, but it isn't the same. Helpmann acted in movies and Shakespeare. He choreographed dramatic ballets. He was a huge, magnetic stage presence in serious ballets. There are a couple of fascinating interviews online with Dame Monica Mason where she discusses Cinderella and the role of the sisters and how the company would crowd into the wings to try to see what new antics they would bring on stage each performance, totally upstaging Fonteyn as Cinderella. Constant improv. Well worth watching! 'Fred was Fred, Bobby was Bobby, and Madam was (pause) Madam' . (I only met her once, briefly, but yes, Madam was certainly Madam.) Dame Monica Mason discussing Robert Helpmann with Anna Meadmore https://youtu.be/za9H1PsuT4Y Dame Monica Mason remembers Robert Helpmann https://youtu.be/VcTqYmRJ58U (with Rupert Christiansen) And though I have no magic answers as to how to play the sisters successfully in 2023, good luck to those who have been cast, as part of this by Alastair Macauley he mentions that though Ashton choreographed a number of roles for himself where he was a woman, he 'disliked drag'. I wonder what he'd have made of this new production. https://www.alastairmacaulay.com/all-essays/frederick-ashton-gender-sexuality-community " Of course, Ashton was not unique in his personal involvement with women’s roles. Maria Tallchief, who was Balanchine’s third wife, said that she could never dance the Swan Queen as beautifully as her husband (Taper, 1963, p. 23). Other Balanchine ballerinas have said the same; and some of them say the same about Jerome Robbins too. But Balanchine and Robbins did not make female roles for themselves or spend time imitating female dancers of the past or dressing up as women of the Victorian or Edwardian eras. For a man to have a penetrating understanding of femininity is one thing, for a man to need to keep representing himself in female guise is another. Ashton’s performances as the Ugly Sister and Mrs Tiggy-Winkle are famous; as many people know, he was a fine Carabosse; if you have David Vaughan’s book on Ashton, you will have looked a hundred times at the photographs of him as Queen Victoria and Queen Alexandra; and some of you may know the photographs of him as an Edwardian dowager in Cecil Beaton’s My Royal Past (Vaughan, 1977. p. 195 et seq.; von Bülop, 1939). Ashton made male roles for himself too - in Façade, Foyer de danse, Nocturne, Les Sirènes, Salut d’amour and others - and it would be wrong if we thought of him as some kind of drag artist. Interestingly, like Mark Morris (who also made female roles for himself), he disliked what he called drag – by which he meant, I think, all the Priscilla: Queen of the Desert kind of maquillage and coiffures and glamorous frocks. Nor was he without heterosexual experience. But it is very interesting to watch what the ballets tell us about sexuality."