annamk

I am looking for up to 2 SCS for this evening, if anyone can't make the performance this evening please message me.

Anna

28 minutes ago, Balletfanp said:

I’m probably going to need to take cover for saying this, but I’m not sure it feels entirely fair that people are already bemoaning the fact that Fumi will be partnered by someone else for two ballets. It gives the impression that she and Vadim are already being judged as “not as good as….” before they have even stepped on stage together. Obviously Fumi and William are a great partnership, but I think she and Vadim could be just as good - they both have to dance with other people sometimes and it’s good to mix things up. I just hope people haven’t already decided on their verdict.

I really hope that all the Manon and Swan Lake combinations will be wonderful and I will be going along to a number of the performances to find out.

But I can't unfeel what I have felt and unsee what I have seen with the Kaneko/Bracewell partnership: it is my raw emotional reaction to a chemistry that is as rare as hen's teeth. Together Kaneko/Bracewell have moved me more than any partnership with the exception of Cojocaru/Kobborg in 25 years of ballet going. Surely it is ok to express this feeling on the forum without it being taken as a judgement on other casts ?

Before Fumi Kaneko’s two serious injuries took her off stage for extended periods it was obvious she had an extraordinary talent. But just what a special ballerina she is has become increasingly apparent this last 12/18 months. That she is a brilliant technician is absolutely a given but she is so so much more than that: elegant, effortless, engaging, thrilling, daring, joyful and yet also poignant. On me Fumi has the emotional impact that Alina Cojocaru used to. I could be reduced to tears by the simple act of Alina bouree-ing on to the stage; she had an emotional depth that I could read in her eyes and that I could sense very strongly. Every role Fumi touches turns to gold and when she is partnered by William Bracewell it is simply ballet heaven. The oh so brief grand pas in the opening night of Nutcracker was a thing of exquisite magical beauty, both better than I have ever seen them. As others have mentioned it was something of a bittersweet moment given the upcoming casting. One waits years for the partnership of a generation and then it’s snuffed out just as it’s reached its’ apogee.

The first night cast were uniformly excellent: in particular I was charmed by Sae Maeda , Joe Sissens and Mariko Sasaki, Lukas B. Brændsrød’s rock solid partnering in the Arabian with the lovely Melissa Hamilton, Leo Dixon’s Cavalier and Joonhyuk Jun with Taisuke Nakao in the Russian dance.

14 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Is this clearer when seeing the production live? When I watched the TV broadcast in 2021 everyone just seemed to have rather random whiteish smears with little clouds of chalk visibly coming off dancers. I found Inferno pretty confusing all round. On the cast sheets the titles of some of the sections sound really interesting - "The Pope's Adagio", "Pavan Of The Souls In Limbo", "Stations Of The Cross" - but when watching it for me it was all just a bunch of difficult to recognise dancers in greyish unitards doing similar-looking choreography. (I have abandoned hope that I will ever "get" McGregor!)

@Dawnstar absolutely how I felt about it.

What a missed opportunity; if only the choreography had been the equal of the score, sets and lighting the whole would have been a masterpiece. Instead, we have the wonderful dancers of the RB doing their best to inject some meaning into largely meaningless steps.  

Only yesterday ENB put this Giselle rehearsal clip on YT - Alejandro Parente rehearsing Fernanda Olivera and Frola. 

Maybe it means nothing, but I am living in hope.

This opened tonight.

I had seen Cerberus before and I didn't get it at all; Goat also is not a new piece but is new to me.

I really enjoyed Ben Duke's Ruination at the Linbury last Christmas.

Anyway, for me this was an exceptional 5* evening. 

Two unique pieces of dance theatre that are funny, inventive, quirky and utterly bizarre; absolutely brilliantly performed by the superlative Rambert dancers who do contemporary choreography like no one else here. The music and the vocals were terrific.

If you loved Ruination I can't recommend highly enough.

Tx spoken for. 

16 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

A friend of mine, who sees a lot of theatre but ballet only occasionally, is thinking of seeing SL & has asked my opinion on which cast to go for. I suggested Nunez/Muntagirov as the safest bet, with Kaneko/Muntagirov, Naghdi/Ball & Lamb/Hirano as other possible options. I thought, for my own interest, I'd try asking on here if more experienced ballet viewers agree with my suggestions or not?

I'll probably only go to one performance this time and my choice is Kaneko/Muntagirov; if I were to go to 2 performances I'd pick Kaneko/Muntagirov again !

£12 each, message me in interested. 

23 minutes ago, OnePigeon said:

No, we don’t currently have a magnetic, virile performer in the mould of Acosta or Mukhamedov - which I do miss and wonder if the RB will opt to bring in a dancer of their ilk again - 

Is this a role Corrales might have fulfilled had he not been derailed by injury since joining the RB ? Here's hoping he gets back on stage before too long. 

18 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

I do find it a bit depressing reading this forum, as it does tend to imply that some of the golden age of 21st century big ballet names has passed - Osipova gets the most negativity on here from what I’ve seen, the greats like Acosta/Rojo/Bussell are no longer dancing, McRae is not as active as he was (I still think he’s brilliant and commend him for his tenacity), etc. 

 

I feel a bit sad that I seem to have missed this era, going by the past glories referenced on this forum. All I can say is, I didn’t feel the slightest bit disappointed after the matinee last Saturday with Osipova and Clarke.

You're not alone ! I feel like this sometimes when people reminisce about Nureyev, Baryshinikov, Guillem and others because I hadn't found ballet as a passion when they were dancing but as you said there are moving, golden performances to be discovered in every era. 

Tx spoken for

£14 each, message me if interested. 

i am sorted for bb thank you.

On 13/11/2023 at 06:59, PeterS said:

The early performances of The Dante Project appear to have sold well. Only 3 tickets left for opening night 18 November as I write.

(22/11 = 123 tickets, 25/11 = 147 tickets)

Quite surprising given how many were unsold until relatively recently. 

12 minutes ago, Fonty said:

The fact that it hasn't been danced for 6 years is tragic as far as I am concerned

 

It would somehow be less tragic if other masterpieces had been on offer instead, but oh no ........ 

What happened to YBDY ?

8 minutes ago, Sim said:

Wrong about what?  Are you just assuming that every single dancer who goes to the RBS wants to get into the RB?  I have spoken to many over the years whose first choice was elsewhere, in the UK and abroad.  

Davi Ramos at Dutch National is another example. He joined the company in 2019 from the RBS and he has already danced Siegfried and Albrecht; there is absolutely no way he'd have danced those roles if he'd joined the RB. Plus Amsterdam seems like a nice place to live 😃

Reading these reviews I am just gutted that I didn't go on Friday evening. I adore Will and Fumi individually but together some rare alchemy seems to happen;  @DoctorDerry you described it beautifully. So sad there's not much captured on film of them together. 

you go for it Alison, I'm not up for a 3 hour stand !

I'm looking for a ticket to this if anyone finds they have a spare.

I really enjoyed this POB class even though I know very few of the company dancers; it was a particular pleasure to watch Paul Marque and his dazzling technique. 

Posting because I nearly didn't spot it myself; this sublime, inventive Ratmansky choreography is worth much more than 20 minutes of any ballet lovers time !

Actually there are performances in June so I guess that explains it. 

No Akane Takada 🥲

And where are Reece Clarke and Natalia Osipova ?