annamk

Assuming Polunin's comments are sincere this interview is so interesting especially this "He (Polunin) says he wishes ballet companies would do a month of rehearsal and then 30 performances of the same show, "so you're just enjoying being on stage – not rehearse for a month then have one show, rehearse for another month and change the show. What's the point?" "So you would repeat a show 30 times?" asks a baffled Putrov." which is exactly the opposite of what I'd expect and it seems the reason he quit is far more prosaic than some of the speculations: in spite of his extraordinary talent he just didn't LOVE dancing. Very sad for us the audience.

Me too, I thought Stepanek's Paris was very well judged. To my eyes Alina Cojocaru in Act 3 gave one of those very rare, most memorable performances that you can wait a long time for and that make you feel fresh & powerful emotion in a work you thought you had grown tired of. I thought she was absolutely phenomenal.

I agree with you. I watched the clips of Ashton coaching Sibley and Dowell and then the clips of Stiefel and Ferri both on youtube. I didn't think they got what Ashton was looking for. The pdd has too much of the quality of a romantic pdd between two people, they don't capture the otherworldliness of the characters at all.

I realised it might make life easier if I include the existing policy ... you can find it where you register but here it is anyway. Forum Acceptable Use Policy The site administrator reserves the right to change the terms and conditions of the user agreement without prior notice to the user. It is the responsibility of the user to regularly review the terms of this agreement. The user agrees to the following terms 1. All information that you provide to us for your membership is correct. 2. You will not use your membership to spam, harrass, or exploit other members in any way. 3. Vulgar, Abusive, Racist, and Sexist Language will not be tolerated. We ask contributors to be respectful to others and in talking about performances, companies and other institutions. 4. No mass posting or flooding of the boards is allowed. 5. Ballet.co is a place for ordinary dance lovers to exchange thoughts and information in good faith - we are not a place for anybody to promote or describe goods, services, themselves, their offspring, their performances or organisation etc. Nor a place to undertake research for commercial or non-commercial organisations. If there are any errors on the forum then please contact us via email of course. Forum Webmaster New Forum Standard Rules (retained just in case!) Forum Terms & RulesPlease take a moment to review these rules detailed below. If you agree with them and wish to proceed with the registration, simply click the "Register" button below. To cancel this registration, simply hit the 'back' button on your browser.Please remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message.The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this bulletin board. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary.You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this bulletin board to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law.You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this bulletin board.

The existing acceptable use policy for Balletcoforum is the same as the old Balletco which it came into being many years ago. One of the tasks the committee has set itself is to review the appropriateness of the policy in today's world. In thinking about the policy we are looking at what other similar sites do and canvassing views from forum views on the policy. So folks over to you .... any thoughts to feed into the deliberations ? To get you going some issues to consider are: allowing blogs, critics, companies, self-promoting, hostile & highly critical reviews. Over to you.....

Review - Royal Ballet Dream/Song Louise Levene from yesterday's Sunday Telegraph magazine now on line http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/9074691/The-DreamSong-of-the-Earth-at-Covent-Garden-Seven-magazine-review.html

In his recent review of The Dream/Song of the Earth Clement Crisp remarked that "Both works show the Royal Ballet’s real qualities far better than any of the care-worn ‘classics’.....The Royal Ballet boasts a grand treasury of short ballets, covering a century of creativity. Not, alas, that we see these with any regularity." I thought this was a really interesting point and wondered whether others agree with him and if anyone knows what lies languishing in the treasury that they would like to see resurrected or performed more frequently than some of the old war horses like Swan Lake.

Indeed John. He must have liked it so much he went to see it again - I can empathise with that I've been 5 times ! Actually I meant to say that I thought this point in his first review "Both works show the Royal Ballet’s real qualities far better than any of the care-worn ‘classics’ was absolutely spot-on ! I wonder what other treasures there are in the RB rep that are worthy of resurrection ? See thread in What's Happening .....

Gosh blow me down .... that's the first compliment I think I've ever seen Clement Crisp give Roberta Marquez !

Review Royal Ballet Dream/Song late out (I think) this one from Gerald Dowler (Classical Source) "The Dream shimmered as it has not done for many a season, indeed, the performance ranks as one of the best I have seen in 30 years of ballet-going." http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=9923

Wonder what anyone else on this forum thought of Gomes as Oberon last night ? Vary different from Steven McRae which made it interesting to observe. His characterisation was excellent and his mime crystal clear. His partnering of Alina was generally excellent although there were a couple of points where he rather tossed her around - I guess he's used to heavier girls ! But these things had to be good because his solo dancing was really so-so, he just didn't have the footwork and it looked as though he didn't even bother to try some of the difficult solo work in the scherzo section. Interesting to have the opportunity to see him in London although I didn't see anything to warrant bringing him back as a guest in other roles rather than using RB dancers.

Gosh Benjamin Ella as Oberon ? I know he joined the RB as someone with potential and was then unlucky with injury but to be honest I can barely recall seeing him dancing since he joined, was it 2 years ago. I would like to see him stand out in some minor roles before I was convinced he could give Oberon a fair go.

Yes that's right re Valentino, he certainly deserves to be used more. Re Don Q, indeed who could dance it ? As the most vocal member of the Steven McRae fan club on balletco I have to add his name ! I think Kobborg is too old now (ouch, sorry) and Bonelli hasn't really got over his op properly at least not on the evidence of his solo dancing in Romeo recently. It is a depressing situation.

If I look below principal level at who I would like to see in a major/principal role right now because I think they "may be ready to tackle it" then I can honestly only pick Akane Takada, definitely as the Sylph and Aurora and possibly other roles too. Very close is Valentino Zucchetti but I would wait maybe another year then I would say I would like to see him as Solor and plenty of other roles, definitely Colas. I also like James Hay but I can't think of a specific role that he is ready for yet. Edited to add some more .... The RB management obviously thinks Melissa Hamilton is ready for Juliet and we don't have long to wait to make up our own minds. I think I am probably being harsh on what "ready" means but to me Akane and Valentino have so much more potential and once I have picked them I find it harder to add others. Another thought is that it is harder for the men because of the demands of the partnering.

Maybe it's quite hard for. Company to work out if someone in the "lower levels" is really ready. I remember when Kobhorg was injured in 2007 McRae stepped in to his Romeos and the rest is history but Zachary Faruque, another promising young dancer, was given one of his Solors's which whilst it wasn't a disaster it didn't go terribly well and shortly after that he left the company to pursue a career outside dance. Of course it's possible the two things are unconnected or I remember the timing wrongly. As for Brian, it's great to see him back on stage but I have a hankering to see Alexander (one of these days I'm actually going to write Alistair) Campbell as Colas. Did he dance it at BRB ?

There was a review in the hard copy Telegraph today but it's not online. It's by Laura Thompson and she gives it 4* . She described most of the cast of Dream as looking "vaguely shell-shocked" & McRae "seemed uncharcteristically overwhelmed by his spinning solos." Of Carlos and Tamara in Song she says "What true, intelligent artists these two are..." Hopefully it will appear online soon.

Oh I WOULD describe Kobborg as a virtuoso dancer, not quite so sure about Watson, but I put both in the not spring chicken camp for the purpose of Oberon. Also I wouldn't say Polunin has speed but he does have virtuosity. Maybe we're splitting hairs here and I hold my hand up and say I'm not an expert.

Exactly.

Steven McRae was injured months before The Dream last time, I think Johan and Alina were the 1st cast and I have a feeling Ed didn't dance in the last run but the one before that ? in 2004. I reckon the RB would have made sure there was no visa issue before announcing the casting. Going back to the issue of a cover - isn't the point of a cover that they are more or less up to speed so that they can step in if necessary ? I think the problem is deeper for the RB and it's a shortage of experienced but still relatively young virtuoso (I think that's the right term) male dancers.

There's been a bit of a debate on twitter about the Royal Ballet and guest artists, specifically Marcelo Gomes coming to dance Oberon, wondering what folks here think ? Personally, as opportunities to see Herman are few and far between I'm happily looking forward to it although I'm worried that the RB doesn't have anyone else who is ready to dance Oberon - in my opinion there isn't anyone. Which leads me on to worry that the company is not currently in a position to put on ballets like Rhapsody, much as I love McRae he can't dance them all. Anyway, I'm sure there are plenty of folks who disagree with me !

I love rehearsal photos (in the studio not in costume) - it's one of the things that makes me decide whether or not to buy the programme. I often think the RB are lazy and re-hash the same articles and photos that were in the programme last time round.

Good for her, she's a wonderful dancer and the Mariinsky were mad to let her go. I do hope we get to see her in London soon although it's not looking like it .....

Brief thoughts on the opening night. Alina Cojocaru showed us why it really is CRIMINAL that she has been on the RoH stage so little this season, she is a world class dancer and the RB is not exactly stuffed with them. She's pitch perfect as Titania, never overstated, never mannered with exquisite dancing. Personally I MUCH prefer her as a partner to Steven McRae, her classical ease and elegance are a better foil for his natural exuberance and showy tendancies although neither were in evidence last night. I like Steven's distinctive colouring but darkening his hair and lightening his eye make up were masterstrokes. I've had the benefit of reading Ismene Brown's review this morning and as far as his solos were concerned last night I am puzzling as to whether there is something in what she says about his stamina. Side by side with Valentino's virtuoso Puck Steven looked understated which is not normally a word I'd associate with him but then he isn't he supposed to be more majesterial and not "competing" with Puck for dancing ? The final pdd was faultless so at least for last night I didn't mourn the absence of Polunin. Valentino's Puck debut was very exciting, he's a beautiful dancer with a HUGE jump, especially for a short guy. I didn't feel he overdid anything in the way Ismene Brown described but perhaps that point of view depends partly on where you are in the auditorium. Tamara Rojo was the star of Song and I can't express it better than Ismene Brown so here she is http://www.theartsdesk.com/dance/dream-song-earth-royal-ballet The company dancing was all of a very high standard and I it was especially nice to see Brian Maloney back on stage after almost a year !

It was an enjoyable insight. Christopher Carr is a hard taskmaster but always with an eye to engaging the audience and making it interesting for us. Seeing Valentino and James rehearsing the same role gave us an opportunity to appreciate the difference between them. They're both small dancers but stylistically distinct: I find James very elegant and classical and Valentino quick and exciting with a high jump. I'm looking forward to seeing his debut. I agree with Lee, someone in the Education Dept needs to give Claire Thurman some guidance on how to introduce these insights and on interviewing content and technique.

Yet another gala with a title and cast that offered plenty of potential for a fascinating evening but with a disappointing outcome for me. I understand that Le Spectre de la Rose has historical significance but it's a museum piece and as far as I'm concerned it would be better in a museum and not on the stage. Igor Kolb's dancing didn't look like the standard you would expect of a Mariinsky principal but maybe having to wear a ladies flowery pink bathing hat did not help him. Afterlight was much praised by all the critics and yes the lighting was mesmerising and the music,choreography and dancing all beautiful but the effect of the whole on a Sunday afternoon in January was totally soporific, another minute and I would have nodded off. Still it was much better than Putrov's Dance of the Blessed Spirits which opened the second half. Things picked up with Igor Kolb's Solo which was followed by easily the most dynamic performance of the afternoon: Polunin's Narcisse. He's such a brilliant dancer, it's gut wrenching that we won't be seeing him at Covent Garden for the forseeable future, if ever. The afternoon ended on a real low : Ithaka by Putrov, an utterly tedious and very ordinary piece of choreography. Altogether a surprisingly low energy and insubstantial afternoon.