annamk

Ticket spoken for. 

Bumping this up before I return to the BO.

Both tx now spoken for.

D38 is spoken for. 

£14 each, message me if interested.

Anna 

Frankly, irrespective of the fact that Sergei Polinin’s dancing is a poor shadow of what it once was, his open support for Putin (see his Instagram) means that I never wish to see him dance again. 

11 minutes ago, bridiem said:

The problem with the 'all dance is beautiful' approach is that it denies the particular qualities of the various forms of dance and the specialised training, skill and experience needed to perform them as they should be performed. And, more specifically, it ignores the fact that he has been appointed director of English National BALLET. I see another name change looming... 

Totally agree with you, the phrase a jack of all trades and master of none comes to mind.

I really had my eyes opened by Tiler Peck's Turn it Out; two dancers particularly caught my eye : Jillian Meyers and lex Ishimoto. They danced with an extraordinary fluidity that I have not seen here in classically trained dancers in contemporary work. I think the forum has discussed this in relation to Natalia Osipova's forays into contemporary work. 

D37 £10

Message me if interested. 

Anna 

After all that the Don Q standing are £14 ! Pleasantly surprised as I didn’t see the earlier posts. 

This doesn’t fall strictly in the title of the thread but as it’s the summer ballet recess I have to get my fix from clips on youTube and Instagram. 
 

There’s a very exciting young (just 22) Georgian dancer (Giorgi Potskhishvili) that at Dutch National Ballet who’s recently been promoted to Soloist - one rank below principal. Only a matter of time before he hits the top slot.  

https://www.operaballet.nl/en/dancers/giorgi-potskhishvili

He puts clips on his Instagram account 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CuPDu8bIDVY/?igshid=Y2I2MzMwZWM3ZA==
 

10 hours ago, Angela said:

Today is the 50th anniversary of John Cranko's death, he died on June 26th, 1973 in a plane on the way from the USA to Ireland. For this occasion there was a commemoration talk in Stuttgart with his remaining "Initials" Haydée, Keil, Madsen and other companions from back then, where Reid Anderson said that he had just home come from Toronto, where he had selected the dancers for Onegin at NBoC. And then he said that Onegin will also be back at ABT, the Royal Ballet and in Paris. Just to let you know. For the big Cranko Gala on Friday there seem to be no guests invited and we will see a choice of his ballets in chronological order. Rumours say it will last up to five hours.

Interesting what Reid Anderson said re Onegin and the Royal Ballet. Hopefully that means we can expect it in the 24/25 season. Fingers crossed. 

I was wondering if anyone saw Lauretta Summerscales performance in Bayadere  in Munich. 

@Sim  "perfectly pleasant" really sums up Wheeldon's choreography for Cinderella. I'd also add that I found pdd repetitive and full of unnecessarily complicated, awkward lifts. Such a pity because it just didn't enable the two fine dancers (Takahashi and Frola) to shine as brightly as they could have done. 

6 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

Hope other members enjoyed it whether in person or at home.  @annamk, hope they sent you the link in time to join it. 

Thank you, they did ! And I believe it's available for 2 weeks to re-watch at leisure  

30 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

Oh no 😮, @annamk

 

If it helps, my link and passcode email was received today just before 8am. Have you checked your spam folder just in case? 

I have checked it and I have emailed them. 

Hmm I have a zoom ticket but I haven't received my link .....

I think it would be amazing if Ratmansky were to create something on Vadim. 

11 hours ago, JNC said:

To me I feel we don’t have a Balanchine/Ashton/MacMillan of our generation (maybe Forsythe is the closest?) and we should be encouraging those, not any old dance choreographer (as successful and talented as they may be). I’d be happy to have McGregor and Pite etc choreograph for the Royal Ballet, but this is different to holding the resident choreographer position. 

 

One of the things I love about ballet (and dance more generally) is that it often reflects music. Whether it is music personified, amplified, my favourite works and favourite dancers have a relationship with the music (think Symphony in C, Scenes de Ballet or Sleeping Beauty).

@JNC I found your review very interesting, thank you

I've probably said this before somewhere on this forum but I feel it's our loss here in London that we do not get to see much Ratmansky in this country. I'm not thinking so much his reconstructions but the outstanding one act ballets for  example: Concerto DSCH, Russian Seasons, Seven Sonatas, Pictures at an Exhibition, Serenade after Plato's Symposium. 

Ratmansky's work always has such a strong connection with the music and he seems to inspire dancers to produce their best performances, drawing on their classical training - although 24 Preludes for the Royal Ballet was not particularly well received, Rupert Pennefather was a revelation in it.  By contrast, Wayne McGregor puts what is, to a significant degree, contemporary choreography on to classically trained bodies. The Royal Ballet dancers are outstanding classical dancers but maybe this hybrid style of McGregor does not show them off to their best advantage and vice versa. 

52 minutes ago, MAX said:

The Paris Opera Ballet is forced to come to London to steal english ballets such as Dante, Mayerling, Manon, La Fille...

it’s really not all so one way  ….

Crystal Pite created the outstanding Seasons Cannon (IMO way superior to Flight Pattern) and William Forsythe’s Blake Works 1 both of which I travelled to Paris to see. 

As for La Fille - we in London will have to go to Paris to see it next season since it has not been scheduled here for some years. And I can add to that Bayadere which I enjoyed at the Bastille last year. Balanchine seems to be revived more in Paris than London …. 
 

19 minutes ago, Ondine said:

Wayne McGregor is a major figure in dance.   Don't like it,  don't buy a ticket. 

 I just don’t understand why you feel it necessary to make a comment like that. 
 

McGregor’s early work for the RB was thrilling and groundbreaking but for a number of years I have found most of his new work choreographically uninteresting.
 

Nonetheless, as a huge dance fan I live in hope and of course I’d give a new MvGregor a go. Sadly, this latest work (which I only saw at the rehearsal) has done nothing to change my view that McGregor has run out of ideas for the RB and they both need to move on. 

1 hour ago, capybara said:

 

While I am writing, can I just ask why it is that, in many McGregor and other modern pieces, the choreography seems to be disassociated with the music being played.

 
I could be wrong but I think I recall from an insight some time ago that McGregor doesn’t choreograph to the music. He creates the choreography in silence and  the music is added later. It sounds odd but maybe explains why there’s no connection between the dance and the

music in most of his work for the RB. 

Selling D49 & D50 £9 each.

Message me if interested. 

@christine

thank you so much for sharing your thoughts of the Manon performance. I very much regret not going. 

Some years ago a friend and I booked to see Friedemann Vogel and Alina Cojocaru in Manon in Bucharest at the time that Johan Kobborg was directing the Romanian Ballet. Sadly, there was a huge falling out between the management and JK shortly before the performance and the guests withdrew. We went anyway as it was too late to cancel flights and hotels. The Romanian Ballet company principals did their valiant best but we were left feeling "if only" ! 

After I saw the Jurgen Rose Mayerling redesign for Stuttgart Ballet it became my dream that Stuttgart would acquire Manon, Jurgen Rose would would weave his magic on the design and I would get to see Elisa Badenas and Friedemann Vogel in the lead roles. If only.  

7 hours ago, Velvet said:

I watched last night. It was the most stunning production. The orchestra are superb. Staging, costumes, lighting great. But of course the most important bit, the dancing. I have never felt so drawn in and moved by ballet before. Friedemann Vogel and Sarah Erin Keaveney have tangible chemistry. Their acting ability is off the scale so they captivate you with their story telling. Friedemann at 42 is majestic and magnificent. Sarah at 22 is tiny with a light ethereal quality. I was riveted from start to finish and have never experienced a ballet fly by before like this. At the end the audience erupted out of their seats into standing ovation, many of us with tears streaming down our faces. If you want to experience beautiful dancing and story telling then I highly recommend this production. So much so I have booked to watch again on Monday. 

I am crying into my tea ...... I dithered about going and now it's too late  

Please tell us what Monday evening is like. 

1 hour ago, Lizbie1 said:

My problem is with the quality of the choreography itself, which I don't think is in the same class as, for example, Forsythe or Ratmansky.

 

I find McGregor limited and repetitive, but I'm happy enough to watch his shorter works "in the moment" (though I'm not keen on the overuse of manipulating the women into extreme positions). Wheeldon is IMO bland for the most part, OK sometimes and wilfully ugly at others.

 

I don't normally air all this because I realise it's down to personal taste, but since I was asked...

You express exactly how I feel about McGregor and Wheeldon.  Their residencies have been at the RB for many years now and I feel it's time they were moved on.