annamk

Totally agree with other posters here who praised Cesar Corrales Jeune Homme - what a powerful and unbelievably mature performance Cesar gave this afternoon and what terrific chemistry between him and Jia Zhang's woman. I can't wait for the opportunity to see more of him at the Royal Ballet next season. It worked out that I saw largely the same Sylphide cast in both performances : Alison McWhinney, Aitor Arrieta ,Henry Dowden and Stina Quageneur. ENB may be losing one of their star male dancers but they seem to have others absolutely ready to take on leading roles and Aitor Arrieta's James blew me away: nuanced acting, great balon, razor sharp feet. I hadn't come across Henry Dowden before but I'd be happy to see more of him. This afternoon I found Alison McWhinney's Sylph very touching and Stina Quageneur was marvellous on both outings. The entire company danced with charm and sincerity. I really regret not seeing more casts.

Just to put a different opinion out there I wouldn't put Watson in my top three Des Grieux any more. The RB has many wonderful Manon's and it's hard to choose between most of them but for Des Grieux I'd choose Bonelli, Hallberg, Munti (alphabetical order) however, if I was restricted to one cast I might just pick Reece Clarke making his debut with Lauren Cuthbertson.

Hi, I'm interested. I sent you a PM. Anna

I am sorted for this

If anyone has a ticket they can't use please message me. Anna

I couldn't agree more !

I'm pleased that KoH has chosen to give a promising soloist an opportunity in such a major role. Ben Ella danced and acted his recent Hans Peter very well indeed and at the time I mused that it would be interesting to see him dance something substantial - I didn't for a moment see it coming this quickly though. Best of luck to him !

Following the cast change I'm looking for a stalls circle standing if anyone has a spare. Please message me.

I saw the matinee and Act 2 this evening. There was plenty to enjoy in both performances but my particular highlights were James Hay’s outstanding Hans Peter, (not only in his ability to execute the steps faultlessly but in his attention to all the little details that flesh out a character) and Fumi Kaneko’s exquisite SPF.

I thought William Bracewell acquitted himself very well, particularly considering it was his debut in a principal role at the RoH and as such was probably pretty nerve wracking. He was an attentive and careful partner, his solos were tidy, his pirouettes finished with control. Job well done IMO. Fumi was outstanding: she has the most gorgeous fluid arms and she moves exquisitely, through and beyond the music. I was talking to a friend this morning who said she has soul and I thought that captured perfectly the very special quality that she has.

Actually I just found one on the RoH website so I'm sorted.

You could ask the box office to reprint it and leave it for me - if that’s not too much trouble ?

Does anyone have a spare ?

Bumping up - D34 still available.

I messaged you. D45 is yours.

Message me if interested. Anna

All tx spoken for.

D6 has gone

D7 spoken for.

£9 each. Message me.

I have 2 tickets to the sold out NFT showing of the film Bolshoi plus a Q & A with the director Valery Todorovsky. It's this Friday at 8.30 pm and the seating is unallocated. The tickets are £16 each and I could post them. Message me if interested.

£5 - it's an e-ticket, message me if interested.

Tx now gone.

D44 & D45 £5 each. E-tickets.

I enjoyed The Illustrated Farewell. The first half of the pdd for McRae/Lamb was terrifically exciting with plenty of opportunity for them to show off their tricks. The second part had to be quieter, if nothing else to give them a chance to recover, but I felt it flagged (I had an involuntary shopping list moment) and the transition to the original piece might have worked better if other dancers had been introduced earlier. I thought the second part showed off the RB dancers very well, they looked fabulous dancing the interesting Tharp choreography - I agree that Sissens and Magri stood out although I was impressed with the other five soloists too. At times there was so much going on on stage it was sometimes difficult to know where to look. The Wind - well on the positive side the music was evocative , the staging and lighting created some memorable images but the choreography could have been made by a child. What a waste of talented dancers especially Osipova thrashing around at the end for far too long. The characters were caricatures none more so than Tom Whitehead strutting around as Wirt Roddy which brings me neatly by biggest issue - why oh why, in this day and age, do male choreographers think it's still ok to depict abuse against women on stage ?