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annamk

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  1. annamk
    Me TOO and I absolutely loved it what bliss after the disappointment of Thursday cast. Such unaffected warmth and tenderness with the highest quality dancing from Vadim ! Should be filmed.
  2. annamk
    I hope not ! I think better physical and stylistic matches for both of them are to be found with other partners. I thought McRae/Marquez was a more complimentary partnership. They are physically better suited and Marquez has a natural warmth that McRae lacks, as I think does Osipova. That isn't meant to be a criticism, just saying that dancers are temperamentally different and it's a question of getting balance for a satisfying partnership.
  3. annamk
    Seeing Ospiova in her London Lise debut last night I thought what a huge challenge for her to assimilate quickly such a different style while dealing with all those fiddly ribbons with the added pressure of a live relay to come. Of course, being Osipova, the technical challenges of the dancing presented no difficulty although I feel that she has yet to master the Ashton gentleness. Her Lise was entirely believable if slightly too showy, (although this might just be a question personal preference), and in this respect I'm not sure McRae is the ideal partner for her. He danced and partnered well but he overplays it and the balance tends towards the flashy. Some of the comic timing was not quite right but I'm sure all this will be ironed out for the next performance and the live relay.
  4. annamk
    I did enjoy it ! A lovely interview - thank you
  5. annamk
    Thank you Amelia & Anna. I knew I should have gone: on Friday morning a great ticket appeared on La Scala website, and amazingly I also found a cheap flight (much cheaper than a few weeks earlier) but I would have had to have left the house in 30 minutes & I didn't have enough spontaneity to drop everything and run ! Since then I've been kicking myself Next time no hesitation.
  6. annamk
    I read the email as saying that there will be no more day tickets in the stalls circle standing area.
  7. annamk
    D1-6 and 48-54 are standing.
  8. annamk
    In the RoH Friends email today "Good news for those who like to book Stalls Circle tickets As requested by a number of Friends we will be including additional Stalls Circle tickets within Advance Booking for the 2015/16 Season. These are C92-96, C17-21, D1-6 and D48-54."
  9. annamk
    I hope not ! There's more to Albrecht than a bunch of entrechats six. I watched YT clips from the Bolshoi performance and found his Albrecht characterisation in Act 1 very strange. In my dream Sergei Polunin will be her partner.
  10. annamk
    I saw his Albrecht although it was an unlucky performance because he fell in the entrechats & sat out the rest of the music. Fortunately, he hadn't injured himself & was able to continue. He has a good physique (close to dancer noble) but it seems to be personal choice/style preference that taken him out of the classical rep. McRae I just don't find princely in temperament or look - although I admit I used to
  11. annamk
  12. annamk
    I agree re Matthew Ball, he is extremely promising but he's only an Artist. I'm uncertain about Nicol Edmonds potential, to date I've found he hasn't quite lived up to expectations in the soloist roles I've seen him dance.
  13. annamk
    I think height really matters for men in a company with a significant classical rep : Campbell & Zucchetti don't have the physique for danseur noble roles so I hope they don't get promoted any further. I think the way Gerald Dowler made this point about "metier" in his review here of McRae's Swan Lake was very interesting. http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=12722When I look at the First Soloists, Soloists and First Artists I can't see a single man who seems to have both the physique and the technique to make him a serious contender for Principal which I find really quite shocking.
  14. annamk
    Worth noting that Vadim's background is very different from Polunin's - he comes from a family of dancers. It seems to me that he has flourished at the RB with all the new roles he's been given: not a trace of nerves, outstanding dancing, and deeply thoughtful characterisation. In a single season he's established himself as the RB male principal I'd choose to see in anything .
  15. annamk
    I completely agree with others here re Muntagirov, he was outstanding in every respect, hard to believe he's only 24. I (and my friends) liked Salenko enormously too. As well as being technically secure, she communicated Odette's sorrow and vulnerability beautifully and her Odile was suitably seductive. I thought it was an excellent partnership and if she dances in Muntagirov's other shows I'd go back. I even managed to overlook the hideousness of the production and stay for the last Act From my standing viewpoint the corps didn't look tired, they were in good shape, Fumi Kaneko deserves a special mention as a lovely big swan. It's a pity the PD3 was so oddly cast and poorly danced.
  16. annamk
    I've not been a fan a Golding since he joined the RB but to me he's improved enormously recently : Onegin & Siegfried. Personally, last night I think he think he did exactly the amount of acting necessary for the prince. When your solos and partnering are as superb as his were and your line as elegant and beautiful, no major embellishment is required. Osipova, on the other hand, puzzles me in Swan Lake. She's my number one reason for going to the RB these days and her Kitri, Tatiana and Giselle are the finest I've seen, I love how she develops her interpretation of these roles too. BUT her Odette doesn't move me at all, it didn't in the first run with Acosta and it didn't last night. I can't put my finger on it but only in Act IV did I feel the tragedy of Odette in Ospiova's movement - maybe in Act 2 she's too focused on dealing with all the mime ! She's probably more suited to Odile but was too gymnastic - she's so technically strong there's no need to push her fouettes until she looks in danger of coming off.
  17. annamk
    If it's Acosta's last season (is it ?) I wonder what he will choose for his farewell performance - presumably in June ?
  18. annamk
    I never seem to be able to buy any stalls circle standing anyway only day queue or odd ones that pop up on the RoH website. These days you need niftier fingers than mine on public booking day or to be a super high level RoH supporter.
  19. annamk
    Yes. It was my first time seeing Muntagirov's Lensky and I thought he was outstanding - he made everyone else on stage look ordinary. I can't describe his performance anywhere near as well as Luke Jennings in the Observer review (via the links on Sunday) so I'm not even going to try. To me the rest of it was rather ho hum. The mirror pdd was oddly flat and looked slightly fumbled, maybe something to do with the conductor but I couldn't be sure. Anyway, I didn't stay for Act 3, after all Lensky was dead
  20. annamk
    I also enjoyed last night as much for the display of promising talent of the future as for the present. I wouldn't count myself among Matthew Golding's fans but I thought his Onegin the best thing I've see him do at the RB. He dances beautifully, partners securely and has enough in the acting department to pass muster. But the honours of the evening go to the Natalia Osipova who showed us yet again what an extraordinarily talented dance actress she is. Her debut is full of little details unique to her that make her characterisation utterly convincing. She's the ballerina of her generation - it's easy to forget that she's still only 28. Unlike Bruce above, I thought the last pdd was reckless and incredibly emotional - they threw caution to the wind which is just how it should be. Yasmine Naghdi has clearly been one to watch for some time : a beautifully musical dancer who is more than ready to step into soloist and above roles. One of the most exciting aspects of this run of Onegin are the Lensky debuts for the company's younger dancers. Matthew Ball's debut was most impressive. It seems to me that young dancers who show promise in small roles often then freeze on stage when they make principal role debuts but not so with Matthew Ball last night. He had the courage to act and dance Lensky with the passion the role needs, and to develop the emotional intensity to the crescendo of the duel. He partnered Yasmine beautifully throughout notably in the stamina sapping Act 1 pdd. He has a lovely jump, beautiful line and he looks very princely ! Oh and he's tall ! Bravo !
  21. annamk
    I saw the FGR which wasn't like a rehearsal at all - it was terrific, not sure I have ever seen a better a rehearsal ! So maybe it was no surprise that I found the matinee disappointing - all the protagonists performances were significantly weaker. I liked Nicol Edmonds the most but I had hoped for better dancing from him in the pre-duel solo: there was too much wobbling and poor control. Kish's Onegin was out of the silent movie school of acting - all wild eyed staring and little else. I just didn't feel any chemistry between Kish & Mendizabal so it all felt flat and I left before the final act.
  22. annamk
    Here's Yulia Makhalina for those of us who prefer slightly less than 180 degree Somova extensions .......
  23. annamk
    If I can get a ticket I'll let you know Sim
  24. annamk
    To be honest I didn't think Carlos solo dancing was way worse than any of the other DG I've seen in this run. To varying degrees they all (Pennefather, McRae, Watson) wobbled & squeaked their way through the Inn solo. Sadly I didn't see Vadim. I think Thiago would be better as a Principal Character Artist I've always thought his classical dancing mediocre at best.
  25. annamk
    I agree. His inn solo was another case of squeaky shoes and wobbly arabesques but somehow I found I could overlook that because he was so much in the character & everything Osipova did was so interesting it was always possible to look elsewhere. As the ballet progressed his solos became more urgent & desperate so, unusually for me, I just didn't care whether he was technically outstanding or not.
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