annamk

Very grateful for the tip easy to set up.

It's the same point : yesterday I noticed Jonny Cope and I was reminded of something he said in an insight evening towards the end of his career. I can't remember exactly the words used but I think it was in response to someone asking if he had any regrets ? His reply was something to the effect that he wished he had spent less time and energy concentrating on perfecting the steps ......

Simply terrific Romeo and Juliet debuts from Matthew Ball and Yasmine Naghdi. Throwing caution to the wind they danced and acted their hearts out and treated the oh so lucky audience to a display of the most believable young love seen on the RoH stage for a considerable time.

I've seen a few casts in this run (but not the first cast) and in every performance there has been plenty to enjoy (and also some things to criticise) but principally what has been lacking for me is that no couple has yet found a powerful chemistry of the kind that makes for a really memorable performance. I was reflecting yesterday that last summer Shklyarov & Vishneva injected the creaky Mariinsky production of Romeo & Juliet with more magnetism and passion than I've felt at Covent Garden this autumn. In this context I find these comments that Matthew Ball makes about Johan Kobborg and Sergei Polunin interesting http://www.gramilano.com/2015/10/matthew-ball-the-royal-ballets-prince-in-waiting/2/

Fiz, I feel the same as you do about McRae's boyishness - I don't book to see him as a romantic lead any more. Mark Mohanan reviewing this R & J in the Telegraph summed up what is missing for me when he said McRae "is a dancer more of boyish brio rather than animal magnetism"

Whatever his visa problem was it seems to have been sorted for the time being. He danced the Family Welcome Performance on Saturday and he and Francesca ran through the bedroom pdd in the Linbury yesterday evening. It was a combined RB/Cas Public Romeo and Juliet Insight.

Mary, on 23 Sept 2015 - 3:52 PM, said: Perhaps it depends what exactly "technical" means. There are different aspects, some of which may be down to body type. McRae is certainly incredibly quick: he turns at supersonic speed and he generally has neat feet but I think that others have more height on jumps and more elegant arabesques. I think Vadim Muntagirov is close to perfection and Matthew Golding can also be technically very good and Sergei Polunin had it all

SBF whilst I can understand your disappointment and frustration, I really don't think it's fair to insinuate that Sergei Polunin is not genuinely injured.

Casting is now up for the Bolshoi live relay of Giselle on 11th October. Zakharova & Polunin (interesting they bring in an outsider for a live relay), Martha is Shipulina.

I was also there but is it balletcoforum policy that rehearsals should not be commented on or is it ok to give some comments ?

Just for the record I don't think they sold out the Coliseum completely did they ? The Upper Circle on Sunday afternoon had plenty of empty seats and from the little I could see of the Balcony the same appeared to be the case. Nor did I see any sign of a standing ovation at either of the performances I attended. I agree that It was brave to put on a London season but personally I found the dancing average at best with the exception of the strong but workmanlike and emotionally flat Kolesnikova and Denis Rodkin, who was outstanding.

Certainly all the stalls circle standing D1-6 and the equivalent on the right side so that accounts for 12 of the difference.

For anyone interested the balletalert thread discussing Osipova/McRae performance starts here http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/40160-spring-2015-giselle/page-9 some interesting comments - not all positive.

Simon - I just found it on the Bolshoi Theatre YT channel

What an amazing lady she is thanks for posting this Amelia.

I hope they don't being Hamlet - not that I've seen it but it didn't get good reviews in Moscow. I believe it's more dance theatre than dance and I'd have thought that it would be quite risky for ticket sales.

Sooo disappointing :( I thought there was no "russian season" because of the new works to the house but it doesn't look as though that's the case unless the timing for work has fallen behind ?

I was in SCS for the last part and the amphi for the first two. I thought the amphi was a better place to be because with the SCS I could only see part of the wave projections. Maybe it's better in the central SCS ? Balcony standing must be the plum spot !

Yes I just realised. I saw him there so I just assumed and as someone told me at work many many years ago to assume can make an *** out of u & me

and there you have it - 3* from CC 'A luxurious production and fine dancing cannot redeem Wayne McGregor’s familiar choreography"

I had mixed feelings about it. Last night I thought I wouldn't want to see it again but now I think I will. These are rather random thoughts .... As with most McGregor there was plenty of striking imagery, I enjoyed the score and the lighting was incredible. Within each of the three very distinct parts I didn't feel that the choreography said anything notable to me about VW but then I'm not familiar with her writing - TIP it's vital to do some background reading beforehand. Part one was more neoclassical style choreography - old & young Virginia and friends attractively kitted out, engaged in a sequence of pdd around three giant moving wooden picture frames artfully lit with a back drop of video film. I wish I had known what the Watson/Dyer pdd represented at the time because it just left me rather puzzled. I found the 30 minutes it a bit boring, maybe I didn't feel the choreography told me anything about the characters, maybe I needed to understand what was supposed to be happening - it didn't help that the cast sheet didn't attach names to any dancer ? I'm interested in Bruce's comment about Kenneth MacMillan feel to this because my friends who were sitting much closer were really moved by this act whereas in the Amphi the reaction was quite muted. Act 2 is much more traditional McGregor choreography, plenty of fast movement and contortions. Some utterly ghastly costumes I guess supposed to reflect the cross dressing Orlando. The laser lighting was the star of this part - from above it was amazing ! It could almost stand on it's own as part of a triple bill though and again it didn't communicate anything about characters it was just a spectacular showoff piece. Act 3 reminded me of Carbon Life. Lots of the "class" style choreography - were the corps supposed to represent waves ? There was an enormous video projection with wave imagery. Again I found the choreography just a tad repetitive and boring. There was a standing ovation in the stalls which I thought was hard to justify but my friend said she had to stand up because the people in front of her and she couldn't see ! It will be interesting to read the reviews. I haven't mentioned dancers by name because everyone looked excellent. Anyway, it's a huge improvement on Raven Girl in every respect.

I think some of the Act III choreography might remind you of Carbon Life too

Me too absolutely loved the partnership: nothing showy, just genuine, unaffected charm & warmth with effortless dancing and perfectly pitched Simone from Tuckett and Alain from Kay

At those prices SCS are a bargain. Maybe other people have different experiences but it seems to me that demand for SCS now way outstrips supply. Unless you are at least a Premium Friend (or friend thereof) or student the only way to get SCS is to be super lucky in public booking, on balletcoforum, scouring the RoH website for returns or to day queue. Next season the day queue won't be an option.