annamk

I agree with all the negative comments particularly - Winter's Tale & Giselle again so soon ? Age of Anxiety really ..... is there nothing better that could be revived ?

Yes I agree with other posters that Precious Adams, Streeter and Corales were also outstanding.

Interesting to read Gerald Dowler's review of this bill in Classical Source this morning. For me, he sums up perfectly everything that I disliked about The Human Seasons and if I recall correctly he's the only reviewer to mention the "dull, unfocused musicality". This really bothered me watching it : the fact that most of the time the movement bore little relationship to what was happening in the music. It was doubly brought home seeing the live relay of Russian Seasons, maybe not Ratmansky's finest piece but the dance fits the music like a glove. In Ratmansky's case whether it's a specific commission like Russian Seasons or an existing piece of music like Shostakovich Triliogy.

I really enjoyed this programme. From where I was sitting at the back of the First Circle the dancers looked very well rehearsed in all the ballets, I particularly noticed Hernandez in the Forsythe & Van Manen because I didn't much like him in Giselle but last night he was terrific. The Bausch Sacre is absolutely mesmerising, to me it makes MacMillan's version feel dated.

IMO both those casts are worth seeing - Stepin in particular is absolutely terrific, he has technique & charisma in spades. I'd rather see him than most of the others cast in principal roles.

If that means we won't be subject to Human Seasons again I won't be shedding any tears But on a serious note, & assuming Dawson isn't being tongue in cheek it's a childish reaction, aren't critics allowed to voice a negative opinion ?

Ticket for 21st has gone. 20th still available.

I'm selling SCS D6 for Mon 20th and D44 for Tues 21st £5 each. They're e tickets. Message me if interested. Anna

I think if you're a First Soloist in a company of the standing of the RB you really ought to be able to dance the Lilac Fairy variation (acknowledging of course that everyone has an off night) after all most First Soloists are aspiring principals. If you can't cope with the choreography then maybe you shouldn't be a First Soloist ) or there's something really really wrong with the coaching. I somehow wouldn't expect Choe or Nagdhi to have a problem with it.

To my mind the dancer who most fits your lyrical requirement is first soloist Oleysa Novikova - she's just wonderful and it's impossible to understand why she isn't a principal. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to tour much/at all. Of the current Mariinsky women principals and first soloists I would be very happy to see Kondaurova, Tereshkina, Vishneva, and Matvienko. I guess Vishneva is the most lyrical ? Lower down the ranks but up and coming are Batoeva and Shakirova. As far as the men are concerned my picks would be Kim (although he's been injured for ages so who knows whether he'll come) Shklyarov, Sergeyev, Steppin, Yermakov Of course these are generalisations - so much depends on the specific role and partner. If Shklyarov/Tereshkina dance Bayadere it would be top of my list.

Yet another great post Floss. For me also it's about the quality of the dancing in the minor as well as leading roles and which includes how the dancers embrace the character of the role. In this run I've seen some excellent performances but sadly not yet a compelling prologue. Only a few dancers have delivered quality fairy variations, generally the Cavaliers have been hopelessly out of sync (some of them seem to be only concerned with showing off how high they can jump) and not one Lilac Fairy I've seen has been able to give a decent account of the variation (maybe the RB should change the choreography if no one can dance it well) the Carabosse portrayals have all been impressive but it's not enough to prevent overall sag. Act 3 has similarly delivered some variable performances but because all the Aurora/Florimund I saw were executed to a high standard (Takada/Hay, Nunez/Muntagirov & Naghdi/Ball) the fact that some of the other variations were not seemed to matter less. However, when the wedding grand pas is preceded by a brilliant Florian (Sambe), and Bluebird/Florine (Hay/Takada Sambe/O'Sullivan) It's the icing on the cake. I already commented how impressed I was with Hay's outstanding Prince in the earlier part of the run & I still consider that performance to have set a new benchmark for me. On Wednesday though the theme of an unexpectedly good Prince Desire continued when the downside of missing Cuthbertson/Clarke was compensated for by seeing Naghdi/Ball. Naghdi is an impressive classical dancer who is understandably confident in her technique, it was Ball who surprised me. He's a dancer with a presence who acts well on stage but when I saw him in the Giselle pas de six last year I worried that he would not be able to execute the wedding pas to a good standard. However in the intervening months his classical technique seems to have improved considerably. For a young soloist it was an excellent performance & better than some principal performances I've seen in that role on the Covent Garden stage. There are some promising dancers coming up in RB & as I have no more performances I'll be interested to see how they've developed by the time of the next run. O'Sullivan/Magri for Lilac Fairy perhaps ? You never know maybe they'll re-choreograph the garland dance

£9 it's an e ticket. Message me if interested.

I'm unable to make the Naghdi/Ball performances so I'm really interested to hear what people felt were the differences between the dancers. Why do we have to think of it as a competition ?

IMO James Hay danced it better - not something I'd have expected to say. Nunez & Muntagirov have very different stage presence - she has a slightly overwhelming smile throughout whereas he is much more restrained, so for me I'm not entirely sure it's the perfect partnership but they both danced extremely well, as you'd expect. Nagdhi's fairy variation was perfection & O'Sullivan impressed me very much too.

Glad you enjoyed it so much I saw the company twice last year and the performances were among my dance highlights for 2016. It's heartening to see what can be achieved with a (presumably) modest budget. For me Alston's choreography fits the music like glove and the dancers interpret it so movingly. I was very happy that Alastair Macaulay gave them a great write up earlier this month.

We went to the matinee on Saturday. We arrived in the Amphi bar area between 5/10 mins before the start. We wanted to check our coats in but we were told that the cloakroom was too full & only bags could be checked in. We didn't have enough time to trek back down to the basement cloakroom so we had to take them in with us - if they had said at the main entrance that the upstairs cloakroom was full we probably would have gone to the downstairs cloakroom. Plenty of other people were similarly being turned away after us. It was freezing in the Floral Hall in the intervals.

I read an interesting blog recently which compared the performances in the two videos ..... I assume it's ok to post the link here ..... http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/mayerling-comparison.html

I'm a friend but I only became one again recently because I wanted to book a few shows and it seemed cheaper with all the discounts listed above. I've never had a problem getting tickets for Sadlers Wells, there are plenty of cheap seats upstairs (it's not as if there are the equivalent of the RoH standing places) and shows rarely seem to sell out until near the time so I have no interest in priority booking.

Also supporting friend and my experience of standing for any of the Watson/Ospiova perfs was the same - I think only the very end standing remaining which are hopeless unless you're tall. My daughter is a student and there were no standing left for anything when she looked and all that was left in the student amphi perf were far side slips.

A bit different to my thoughts on the performance you mean .... but people will always have different views so I'm not quite sure why you needed to make a post about it.

A rather flat, and thus disappointing evening for me. I came away preferring the tinkered with choreography of the RB and Russian versions to this historically correct Skeaping. That may have been to do with familiarity or to do with the central performances which felt as tired as the production did yesterday. I was looking forward to seeing Cojocaru reprise a role I have adored her in on a number of occasions but her performance was faded like a shadow of her former brilliance. Hernandez is a competent if unexciting dancer but I felt zero chemistry between him & Cojocaru. Summerscales's Myrtha was strong and convincing, she has a terrific jump and a secure balance. Her attendants made no impression but the performance of the corps was respectable. I was in the Upper Circle and it was sad to see it was at least 1/3 unsold for the opening night although it meant my friend and I could move to great seats in the centre near the front.

Jewels doesn't look as though it's sold well in Friends booking. Currently for the mat on 1st April there are plenty of tickets left in the Amphi inc the front row on the side blocks & also plenty in the Balcony, front row availability is in the side blocks. The stalls has barely sold at all. On top of this will be the extra tickets released for public booking whichever they may be.

Highlights Viktor Lebedev's Albrecht - Giselle (Mikhailovsky) Oleysa Novikova's Giselle (Mariinsky) Akram Khan's Giselle (ENB) Akane Takada/James Hay Two Pigeons James Hay's flawless Act 3 variation in Sleeping Beauty (RB) Frankie Hayward luminous in everything (RB) Obsidian Tear especially Calvin Richardson (RB) Richard Alston Dance - An Italian in Madrid w Liam Riddick & Vidya Patel Kim Brandstrup's Transfigured Night (Rambert) Crystal Pite The Seasons' Canon / William Forsythe's Blake Works (Paris Opéra Ballet) Ratmansky's Plato's Symposium & Shostakovich Trilogy (ABT) Bolshoi London tour - Maillot's Taming of the Shrew and dancers Olga Smirnova, Semyon Chudin & Yulia Stepanova Mariinsky Ballet in Cardiff New York City Ballet Paris tour Low points RB Frankenstein , Strapless, Anastasia Osipova at Sadlers Wells

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