Roberta

Dreadfully sad and shocking news. Lost for words.

There would also be hugely increased need for more rehearsal time, dancers need to learn and rehearse roles, more coaching, not to mention more work and rehearsal for the orchestra and so on. There are only 24 hours in the day. Even if old ballets were revived for this, costumes and sets would no doubt have to be refurbished / renewed. Dancers also enjoy having new work created and that cannot be a rushed process for the company. There are many practical and financial considerations in running a big company, a hard life for an AD! I think being a guest with other companies and appearing in international galas is an accepted part of the job these days once a dancer reaches a certain level. It probably pays well and a dancing career is short.

Yes but the harlots have to appear somewhere in every season surely? It's obligatory! I know there are tarts in Alice but it isn't the same. (R & J & Alice both good company ballets, plenty of opportunities at all levels.)

Was it ever on the cards? The ENB Les Noces was a new version by choreographer Andrea Miller surely?

Sleeping Beauty was last spring, wasn't it, Don Q & Nutcracker recently and now Swan Lake of the 'big classics', no doubt by 2025 autumn there will be a return to Nutcracker etc etc. It's hardly as though these are neglected is it? A short rest won't harm the company. In fact it's possible the corps will be relieved. Ashton's Cinderella was always on the cards for this Christmas, it should still be fresh in memories so not require weeks of rehearsal. A fortune was spent on it last year. The RB needs to get its money's worth. Alice will need that rehearsal time. It's been a while. It's actually a good choice for the company right now, many parts to keep the aspiring in the lower ranks occupied and a good leading role in Alice. Pantuso maybe? The Red Queen... who in the company is ready to take that on? A tap dancer... for the Hatter... MADDADDAM (a palindrome, WM does enjoy his wordplay) will no doubt bring acres of love / hate posts; no matter what is programmed you can't please 'em all. Onegin... seems a sound enough choice. Etc etc. Oh and a return of The Statement. Great. Actually I think it's a pretty decent mix myself. Bit short of opportunities for harlots until R & J I admit.

There's a small discussion going on on another thread about the ROH social media feeds and today of all days. International Dance Day! I'd not get too excited that Fille is making a comeback and it's a secret, I suspect it's simply a stock photo posted by one of the media team.

Do you think today's audiences are as widely read, or has Disney coloured our views? I do know the Dore illustrations but as I said, fairies and fantasy tales really have never been my thing. Chopping off toes and heads and the rest leaves me cold. Even if it's women doing the chopping as justified revenge. (Hans Christian Anderson, also more dismal and baffling to me as a child than the movie with chirpy Danny Kaye.)

Indeed. A kimono flash sale is promoted on the ROH Twitter feed. Today's post? This.

Thanks for this! I wasn't big on so called fairy tales as a child. I was given a Grimm one Christmas and yes, found it grim. It was part of a set which included Little Women, which I adored (and still do). Possibly I need to catch up on that missing childhood reading. (Fantasy fiction isn't my thing, nor Magic Realism. I've just read The Lost Bookshop and thought it would have been better without all the so called magic. Baffling.) I do wonder if audiences in the past were well versed in all the tales and characters, or if they simply watched and enjoyed the dancing.

I confess until recently I had not considered why there was a White Cat specifically, dancing with Puss In Boots. I bought a book 'The Lost Princess Women Writers and the History of the Classic Fairy Tale' by Anne E Duggan* and the penny dropped. https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/the-lost-princess Wiki has the details. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Cat_(fairy_tale) *Edit: the blurb "A recovery of the lost, plucky heroines of historic fairy tales. People often associate fairy tales with Disney films, and with the male authors from whom Disney often drew inspiration – notably Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. In these portrayals the princess is a passive, compliant figure. By contrast, The Lost Princess shows that classic fairy tales such as ‘Cinderella’, ‘Rapunzel’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ have a much richer, more complex history than Disney’s saccharine depictions. Anne E. Duggan recovers the voices of women writers such as Marie-Catherine d’Aulnoy, Marie-Jeanne L’Héritier and Charlotte-Rose de La Force, who penned popular tales about ogre-killing, pregnant, cross-dressing, dynamic heroines who saved the day. This new history will appeal to anyone who wants to know more about the lost, plucky heroines of historic fairy tales."

A blast from the past as they say, when Odette and Odile were danced by two different people! It was simply magic that meant Siegfried didn't notice, presumably.

I heard a rumour that Scarlett had considered for Siegfried to saw Von Rothbart in half in the final act. I certainly feel that would have made an interesting ending. 😇

Good.

Surely not this? The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, produced by The Royal Ballet Studio Programme, had a sell-out run at its premier in 2014 at The Royal Opera House, Linbury Studio. It returned in 2016, reimagined for the unique space of the Roundhouse. https://zoonation.co.uk/productions/the-mad-hatters-tea-party/ Edit: @San Perregrino and I posted at the same time. It is then. Official video (extract).

If you do a YouTube search there is a flavour of that. Carla Fracci and Vladimir Vasiliev in Giselle Channel of goldenidol Here, Carla Fracci as Carlotta Grisi and Vladimir Vasiiev as Lucien Petipa recreate the original Giselle pas de deux. It is either the original choreography or choreogaphed to give Vasiliev more camera time. Either way it is charming. All wreathed in mist and melancholy! Also, same from Gramilano Giselle - Carla Fracci and Vladimir Vasiliev which I assume is officially sanctioned so I will post the link. https://youtu.be/enrzR5-ThSE?si=vZBJwUJlyEjRSm12 GISELLE, 1841, with Carla Fracci as Carlotta Grisi and Vladimir Vasiliev as Lucien Petipa. In 1987 a two-part television programme called The Ballerinas featured Carla Fracci, with some of the top male dancers of the period, in a series of reconstructions putting various ballets and their interpretors in an historical context. Fracci was an amazingly youthful 51 when she danced these extracts. Both have many interesting comments under.

Lilac comes in different shades, as well as mauve there is pink, also magenta, white and deeper purple. Not, I agree, grey. However it is perhaps the name of the fairy which is important? Lilac was a symbol of wisdom. The Wisdom Fairy. Russians believe that holding a lilac over a newborn will bring wisdom. Apparently, in the symbolic language of flowers, Violet lilacs symbolize spirituality. Blue lilacs symbolize happiness and tranquility. Magenta lilacs symbolize love and passion. Lilac, the color for which this flower is named, is a light purple that symbolizes a first love.

And we in the UK? (wry face emoji)

Finally... you can watch one of the performances (there were three with different leads) of 'Star on the RIse - La Bayadere Re-imagined' online on demand! Indiana University students, dancers and musicians. https://iumusiclive.music.indiana.edu/#/

Took ages for it to begin for me and I gave up thinking it was never going to happen (two people writhing over and over though). I see it's all there now from the beginning (silent intro?) at around 12 minutes in so that's all OK! I can catch up.

Yes. As with Frankie Hayward.

There are three in stock via Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sleeping-Beauty-Sadlers-Wells-Ballet/dp/B0002VGRAE

https://www.dancetheatreofharlem.org/dthondemand-creolegiselle/ Still there! https://youtu.be/LreKPkVoUnk?si=-6tlXKhduYIx-FsH

The making of the Swan Lake tutus

A reminder that the Insight I posted above is this evening 25th April 7pm. However if you miss these normally remain on the ROH Youtube to catch up later. https://www.youtube.com/live/L6TDBmzurYc?si=QWxFKNtZqSbh76Y7

Wonderfully enthusiastic reviews on Amazon! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Swish-Curtain-Pamela-Brown/dp/0955242800#customerReviews "If you like vintage children’s books I thought this was a charming example, good-natured, amusing and a wonderful glimpse of life in the late 30s – although the attitudes towards class are quite striking at times. It also set off a curious craving for cocoa, chips in newspaper and ‘lashings’ of tea and cake. The book’s been in and out of print since the 40s and was recently re-published by Pushkin Press, it was the first in a series and Pushkin is slowly bringing out the rest endorsed by Eileen Atkins and Maggie Smith." "A wonderful story of growth, accepting and using your differences, as well as your strengths and to fight for what you want in life. Just DO NOT forget to have fun while doing it." I can actually still recall the moment I picked this book down from the school library shelves, and began reading. That was it, I was hooked! I read a great deal of it (as I spent so many lessons doing with other books) on my lap under the desk as I couldn't put it down.