Ondine

They possibly were always JAs, more 'spear carrying' than dancing really. And all those adoring relatives to fill seats. I'm saying nowt about the dandelion. 🤐

Thank you! I'll try to be coherent. Cannot promise. I'm afraid getting to the ROH in person not very feasible for me these days but I have some knowledge of technique and ballet history so I'll chip in where I can. I did almost travel to the Alhambra in Penrith for the Encore today ... 😉 comfy seats. But didn't. And thanks too for those wonderful photos Rob S. So close you can smell the sweat and melting point shoe glue. Astonishingly good and lovely. The cossies... all brand spanky new and close up you can see the expertise which goes into making them, much of that lost viewing from the Royal Box I'm sure. They haven't been in the washing machine a thousand times. And oh so much better than that ghastly affair for the Lilac Fairy in SB. In these days of cinema relays you'd not get away with paper doylies as used in that famous 1946 'ration book' Covent Garden production of Sleeping Beauty, when real lace was impossible to find. Also BTW I loved Fairy Godmother's tiara. I thought Festival of Britain. Not so sure about the Nora Batty cut off stocking arm thingys close up but I can see they serve a purpose.

Hello. Long time lurker here, thought possibly it was time to occasionally join in! There will be typos, be warned. I''m a terrible proof reader. I've only seen the cinema live relay of this production, but I have watched and read pretty much everything I could find online about it. I'm holding my breath that it could be a Christmas TV special, you never know! All rather random, but here goes. I enjoyed it, I thought it utterly surreal and magical and dreamlike though I appreciate the cinema relay didn't do all the stage effects justice. A great deal of it was illogical if we were looking for a straightforward 'narrative ballet' but it isn't Giselle so I enjoyed it for what it is. The pumpkin transformation was better than when it used to be chucked off into the wings by Fairy Godmother. The ball in the garden was bizarre, I'd have preferred a ballroom, but hey ho. Why were all the dressers etc waiting for the return of the sisters? Why were the sisters wearing their vests? Why did the season fairies not bring seasonal gifts to aid Cinders transformation from rags to glory? I could go on, but perhaps there is some logical explanation for these and more which I've not thought of. However, given the illogical nature of so much else (fairies accompanying Cinders to the ball, along with dancing stars in tutus?) perhaps best not to overthink it. I liked the first act fairy costumes, up close on the cinema you could see how they were on top of leotards and presumably supposed to be gossamer, another detail was that none of the season fairies wore tights and shoe satin was dulled in order to look liike bare feet. I don't really understand why they changed into tutus for the ball. The child attendants cossies were certainly a mixed 'bunch', I note the children were Junior Associates rather than RBS students. I wonder why, easier to get parents to transport them? Cinders 'rags'... well. Most peculiar. But it's theatre and fairy tale and not real life. No use wishing for more 'prince' or less 'sisters', it is Ashton and 75 years old and best not muck around with the choreography. Other classics have had so many alterations from various adapters to suit changing times and improvements in male technique it isn't really fair to compare it with others and wish for more. It was really a vehicle for Fonteyn though Shearer took over after Fonteyn was injured. Michael Somes was very good at posing manfully, being princely, and hoisting his partner around, and Ashton no doubt choreographed with his 1948 abilities and qualities in mind. We have moved on since. Yes to the Fred step, though it was over by the time it impinged that it was. Sometimes it's only a glimpse isn't it, a scent, as at the end of that Fonteyn gala where Ashton joined her on stage for the final few bars of Salut d'Amour? Also yes I'm sure that the strange comedic 'trot' was very much a knowing reference to Fred and Adele Astaire's 'oompah trot' of which no doubt Ashton would have been well aware. After all the 'Fred step' he nicked from Pavlova! Look at the northern clog dancing in Fille! "One of the steps, incorporated into most of their shows, was the “oompah trot” or the runaround, where Adele and Fred, side by side, would ape riding in huge circles on an imaginary bicycle. Audiences went wild for this particular antic, especially in London, where the bright-eyed, exuberant Americans were welcomed even more enthusiastically than in their own country" https://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/fred-and-adele-astaire/ Times change. Stepsisters of course owe so much to panto dames, and the great joke would have been that Ashton and Helpmann played them. Modern audiences probably have little idea of the interwoven history of all this. Quite an interesting brief bio of Ashton here which details the breadth of his theatrical choreographic experience https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/artists/frederick-ashton I wonder if the pre transformation Godmother was meant to be more of a peddlar than starving old crone? The gift of violets I see as symbolic. "The violet can signify "Modesty" and "Humility" and is often looked upon as a sign of innocence..." Also of course it symbolises remembrance, appropriate for Cinderella who is grieving for her dead mother. And the 'transformed' FG wears violet. Cinders gives bread in return, sourdough hand baked by herself and all she had? Perhaps it's meant as simple escapist entertainment with nice frocks and dancing, and we are overthinking it all. The dancing was glorious. It's not Hamlet.