annamk

No, they are seats in row C stalls circle. Standing places are Row D.

Selling stalls circle C36 and C65 £15 each. Message me if interested.

A long time since I've seen a performance of Giselle that moved me as much as this evening did. The leads Cojocaru, Trusch and Kovalenko were exceptional. The production is sublime. It left me questioning whether most of the current productions and the way they're danced have become overly mannered and too athletic/gymnastic.

I thought Shevchenko was utterly delightful, I would urge you to see her, I am sure you will not be disappointed. I will go again. Have a look at Alastair Macaulay's Instagram comments about her, I agree with every word but can't put it anywhere near as eloquently as he does. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cidwi_1o0Kt/?hl=en This charming and more historical production has much more detailed mime than I am used to seeing, a notably quicker tempi and Ratmansky's trademark fast footwork. It reminded me yet again how much more athletic ballet has become - neither a bad nor good thing really just different. The order of much of the dancing in Act 1 is quite different from what we are used to seeing here - another reason why I'm looking forward to seeing it again. I was particularly moved by the mad scene, it seemed to me less histrionic in style than it is typically performed today.

What a fantastic evening. A very high standard of dancing and acting all round in particular from the principal dancers. The production was beautiful; familiar but with different touches. The Ukrainian national anthem was played at the end, the audience on its feet, the dancers and Ratmansky wrapped in their national flag singing their hearts out. A very sobering reminder of all they’ve lost. These performances deserve as much support as we can give.

I couldn't agree more Sim. Poor James Hay, what does he have to do to get cast ? He turned in a simply brilliant performance. He and Akane danced as one, the grand pas was stunning - it was unexpectedly one of the most enjoyable, joyous, wonderful Sleeping Beauty performances for years and yet he is passed over. Unfathomable.

Speaking for myself re the standing tickets because one has to book so far in advance plans can change or casting can change.

Just a few words on this which I saw at the matinee yesterday. I completely agree with the praise that's been heaped on it. The staging is fantastic; simple, dark and evocative. The costumes perfectly capture the period. The choreography is brilliant; in particular the pdd and the dramatic dancing for the young girls. The music worked superbly. Huge commitment from the all round excellent cast. Such a pity to see that it was poorly attended. I hope that doesn't mean they'll never bring it back to London although I'd travel to see it again, it's that good.

Ah I missed that thank you. Confusing to have different priority booking dates to the other productions !

Does anyone have a problem booking the New Lost Dog production ? I keep getting told it is not yet on sale even though it is in the new booking period. I've tried different browsers, clearing my history, logging in and out all to no avail.

Friends and I went to Stuttgart for a repeat viewing of the Stuttgart Ballet Mayerling production which premiered in 2019. Nothing has changed my initial view that this is a superb production giving the ballet a more contemporary feel while retaining an appropriate sense of period. Friedemann Vogel was Rudolf; for me he is as close to perfection as is possible to imagine in a male ballet dancer. In this role he is in a class of his own. His partnership with the wonderful Elisa Badenas as Mary Vetsera brings back memories of Kobborg/Cojocaru in their heyday. Vogel must regard himself as fortunate to have found a younger partner of such class since the retirement of Alicia Amatriain. The Spanish Badenas who trained briefly at the Royal Ballet upper school very much reminds me of a younger Laura Morera. We didn’t have a complete cast sheet but in other roles Angelina Zuccarina impressed us as Countess Larisch but Veronika Verterich as Princess Stephanie, possibly making her debut, wasn’t entirely convincing. The Stuttgart Staatstheater is smaller than the auditoriums we are used to and seeing the performance from the 2nd row in the stalls made it incredibly powerful, almost like watching a chamber performance or being an intruder on private happenings. It was interesting to see this soon after Like Water for Chocolate in that friends and I had been thinking how a number of scenes in LWFC were superfluous or ran on too long but the same can be said of Mayerling. Somehow though when one thinks about cutting anything one realises that they perform the essential function of slowing down the pace, giving time for the audience as well as the performers to catch their breath.

Yesterday afternoon we went to a screening in the Curzon Bloomsbury of this new documentary directed by Connie Hochman. It's full of old footage of Balanchine teaching class, excerpts of performances, extensive interviews with Balanchine dancers like Merrill Ashley, Jacques D'Amboise, Edward Villella, Heather Watts and others. It also featured contemporary rehearsal footage of dancers from NYCB, Miami City ballet, and ABT. There was a tantalisingly brief clip of what looked like the curtain call from the premiere of Diamonds, what an iconic moment ! What a genius Balanchine was. It was a really well constructed and fascinating documentary; as well as all the footage it covered Balanchine's progression from Russia to Diaghilev to the eventual founding of NYCB and Balanchine and Stravinsky. I assume it will be released on DVD and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves Balanchine ballets or just ballet. Following the screening was a Q & A hosted by Alastair Macaulay with Matthew Ball and Marcelino Sambe. The dancers spoke thoughtfully and intelligently in response to Alastair Macaulay's insightful questions.

The second cast were nothing short of a revelation for me. Naghdi/Corrales/Kaneko/Calvert all absolutely superb. The steps looked far far better and the chemistry between Naghdi/Corrales was intense. The whole thing was more vivid and emotional. And I enjoyed the music much more.

Interesting to see enthusiastic comments kicking off this thread and sad to say I didn't feel the same myself, I found the insights intriguing and I was hoping to enjoy it. On the positive side I thought the complex story was well told, mostly the ideas and events were pretty clear although I had read the detailed synopsis. The staging and lighting are in large part slick, attractive and inventive; the ending in particular is beautiful and original. The choreography, though largely classical, has elements of generic Broadway musical in the large numbers for the corps - I am thinking of the wedding scene and the revolutionaries. I didn't feel generally that the choreography gave any real insights into the characters and I found the big pdd unsatisfying and often ugly in places, particularly some of the lifts in the final pdd. There were certain flashes of quality choreography but far too little and far too much "frollicking" and "dance theatre". Overall I thought there were too many boring and mediocre scenes and too few genuinely good ones. The highlight for me was the telling of the tragedy of young Mama Elena (Morera) and her lover Jose (Sissens). The lowlight was the transformation of Gertrudis (O'Sullivan) into a revolutionary tart to be carried off on a bucking horse by Juan Alejandrez (Corrales). It was just embarrassing and in my opinion demeaning. I suppose given the same design team as Alice and Winter's Tale it isn't surprising to find echoes of those ballets here. The ghost of Mama Elena bears more than a passing resemblance to the Red Queen in Alice, the ambience and scenery in Act 2 invoked Winter's Tale to me. The biggest problem for me was the music, but I admit I have an unsophisticated tin ear when it comes to music. Yes, it had some melodic moments with some echoes of Mexican music but overall it was very recognisably Talbot doing what he's done for Alice and Winter's Tale. It often had little connection with the emotional content of the story that was being told on stage, for example, the music for the pdd between Tita and Pedro didn't tug at my heartstrings like Tchaikovsky. LWFC is a tragic story of unfulfilled love and death but the music doesn't tell it in a way that made me care or actually feel any emotion at all. Of course, all the dancers gave committed performances and did their best with the material they were given.

Nogoat, thank you for posting the video and for your fascinating review. I also wish I'd seen the video before the performance, everything would have been much clearer. I enjoyed the evening; it was an interesting concept, attractively staged and well danced. I liked seeing Osipova with non Royal Ballet dancers, particularly Kittelberger and Hernandez. The latter's emotional intensity was something of a revelation in this and he danced beautifully, as he always does. It seemed to me that Osipova is now more comfortable in the grounded contemporary dance style. I preferred Act 2 and particularly enjoyed the pdd between Osipova and Kittelberger.

As far as cultivating new audiences and creating new works this is a road that Rambert are also travelling. The recent Triple Bill at Sadlers Wells received mixed reviews from the critics, I enjoyed it but it didn't enthuse me or anyone else here enough to make a discussion thread (surely saying something perhaps for Britain's foremost contemporary company). The more important point I wanted to make is that the ticket sales at Sadlers Wells were shockingly poor. Even on the opening night there were swathes of unsold seats and the 1st Circle was only saved from empty embarrassment by clearly being packed with "friends and family".

There's plenty of food for thought in a very interesting interview in the links this morning with Susan Jaffe, the next AD of ABT. Amongst other things, she says she aims to shelve, temporarily, ballets such as Corsaire and Bayadere which "contain offensive stereotyping or run counter to contemporary sensibilities." I know we have discussed these issues ourselves but is this the first time an AD has made such bold statements ? "Counter to contemporary sensibilities" is quite a broad statement. I wonder if, for example, the character of Alain in Fille mal Gardee might fall foul of this ?

Most of the comments on this forum are extremely positive and it’s a rare occasion when someone says something very critical. It’s unfair to diminish "Joe Public's" criticism based on the fact that a dancer may be having a bad night. Does that mean we can never say anything negative about a performance because there may have been extenuating factors? Criticism would die. As far as "more qualified to comment" is concerned, I suppose someone "more qualified" is able to say whether the steps were perfectly performed although I've even heard RB coaches express different opinions about a performance. Dancers have different skills, not everyone can pull off 32 perfect fouettes but not everyone can dance and act an exceptional Juliet. I don't understand why it is a problem to discuss this on the forum ?

Everyone recognises that dancers can have an off day, I was simply replying to your first post which said “perhaps they could refrain from criticising a professional's very occasional mishap” An off day doesn’t mean one can’t or shouldn’t comment on a performance - if you can’t say one performance isn’t so good then what is the point of ever saying a dancer is good. Praise becomes pointless if criticism is invalidated.

What are you saying here ? I'm not capable of doing any of the things the dancers do on stage but I don't see why that means I should refrain from making any criticisms.

I also think it would be too soon. This is only his first year as soloist and IMO his dancing is inconsistent.

I felt the same, what a memorable performance. I've never seen such emotional intensity from Muntagirov; I was spellbound watching him in that moment when Beliaev sits on the chaise longue after they have been discovered. He and Morera were a masterclass indeed, absolutely wonderful. I was very impressed with Liam Boswell's Kolia in the Osipova/Bracewell cast.

They really were incredible.

It seems that the ROH website has now migrated to the new seat selection system, only the whole auditorium seat map appeared which at the moment doesn't even seem to work - trying to "grab" a seat is getting me nowhere.

Ticket spoken for.