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Mary

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  1. Mary
    I just checked Polunin's Facebook page which says he is dancing on Sunday. His Facebook page,like the Queen's, is in the third person- I had to chuckle thinking of the more homely and down to earth media pages of our UK company dancers, writing themselves- presumably- and telling us what they had for breakfast. I am very much looking forward to seing him dance.
  2. Mary
    My Picturehouse emailed me to say 4pm. Looking forward very much! It will be interesting to see Polunin. Also to compare this Giselle to RBs shortly ( well, early next year.)
  3. Mary
    I like new work and abstract work very much but having seen these before, I didn't want to see them again. I guess I am not entirely alone there.
  4. Mary
    I was very impressed with Matthew Ball in his rehearsal requence, he has his own presence that's for sure. The combination of a quite fierce energy and a flowing musicality promises good things. The Two Pigeons rehearsal was a brilliant insight into Ashton style. Christopher Carr , not only a fine teacher with much sensitiivity to the dancers, but a repository of so much knowledge . I don't normally watch rehearsals but these two will bear repeating.
  5. Mary
    What a treat the RB 5 hours is ! Fascinating watching class and spotting different dancers and their styles. Mc Rae is just phenomenal! his footwork about twice the speed of anyone else and absolutely precise.
  6. Mary
    Sorry I should have said-Paris was Valeri Hristov who danced in his usal elegant style- but, my point about the threat towards Juliet in that scene was a general one: I am not saying it was his interpretation-I think this is in the choreography,though stresed more or less perhaps by different dancers.
  7. Mary
    Saw the matinee this afternoon. It is always a joyful moment to be back in the ROH after the summer break that goes on for so long ( it seems), and this was a great way to start a new season. Cuthbertson/Bonelli . I thought she was a lovely Juliet ,very sweet in the early scenes, and terribly sad in the later ones. In particular she played the morning bedroom scene as pure sorrow, letting her body fall into almost total passivity foreshadowing the tomb scene to come. This worked well though I think there needs to be perhaps more of a mixture of emotions here( of ecstatic joy turning to despair when she realises Romeo has to leave). Her scene with Paris when she gives in to her parents was truly disturbing( I can't understand why people on the thread 'like' Paris! He is basically prepared to force Juliet if she won't have him- I think we are meant to understand that he is threatenng her physically in this scene) Her final scene was wrenchingly sad and I noticed in particular the way she played the death throes- after the discussion on this thread about pretty v ugly postures-Cuthbertson seemed to be veering towards the latter -very effectively. It wasn't pretty at all-but tragic. It was great to see her on good form after the injury problems and she had many cheers and a huge number of flowers, deservedly so. She and Bonelli look good together, and the balcony pas de deux was beautiful but I was just marginally less taken with them in Act 1 in the ballroom.There just didn't seem to be quite the spark of excitement I felt with Lamb/ Mc Rae. Cervera gave a very good Mercutio, James Hay was lively and charming and everyone's favourite Gary Avis made something new of the Lord Capulet role-more of the concerned father who eventually turns nasty out of impatience and frustration- and I did admire the way he danced in the ballroom with such commanding sweeps of the arm and disdainful turns of the head. The orchestra played very well with no noticeable problems, -at any rate I didn't notice any. I left pondering how much there is to enjoy in this fabulous ballet,-(I have see it often over about 30 years)-of course not every performance is perfect in every way. But there is so much to it, that there is always something to enjoy and admire and indeed discover. It did seem to me to be looking good: the cleaning up of a lot of the background action has brought the main events into sharper relief- perhaps. Certainly I noticed this more than at the cinema relay where, of course, the close-ups do stop you seeing the whole picture all the way through.
  8. Mary
    Yes the new system seemed to work well- the queue was not too long. Let's hope this is the answer.....
  9. Mary
    Sim, I too very much enjoyed and admired your review. When you say: Steven McRae’s acting has never moved me, but the sheer brilliance of his dancing often makes up for it, and so it was last night. His partnering of Sarah was strong and confident, and their balcony pdd was amongst the best I’ve seen. They both danced with such joy and such abandon that I truly believed they were two young teenagers in the grip of first love and first lust. ..it sounds to me like McRae (a happily married family man I believe) was acting ! :-)
  10. Mary
    I can't see that this makes for an unconvincing Romeo- there must be other reasons for thinking so. Romeo is meant to be a boy, after all, so I can't see the issue with slight stature... and I would find it very bizarre if the RB were to start casting principal roles on the basis of hair colour...
  11. Mary
    Romeo is meant to be a boy, after all, so I can't see the issue with slight stature... and I would find it very bizarre if the RB were to start casting principal roles on the basis of hair colour... As unquestionably brilliant a dancer Steven is (arguably the best principal male in the current company), and as heartfelt an actor he also is, his slight stature and pale colouring inevitably make him an unconvincing Romeo.
  12. Mary
    I can't wait to see Muntagirov's Romeo - (his Colas was my performance of the year last year- that bottles solo....) He has an elusive quality- "charm". I agree his arabesque is probably more elegant than McRae's. I look forward to seeing and trying to compare from memory. (Whereas for Rhapsody I am really looking forward to McRae as he was fabulous in that-the speed, the quicksilver quality he has.)
  13. Mary
    Oh no you can't have "Polunin" - that's cheating! :-)
  14. Mary
    I agree - McRae, always very good, surpassed himself technically last night. I find him magnetic to watch but I am aware some prefer other male principals. Nonetheless, I would be interested to know if anyone thinks there is a better male principal, on a technical level, at the RB, and why- as he seems to me to be outstanding and, more unusually, so consistently outstanding technically in all his performances. What I admired so much last night was how he- and indeed the other dancers, kept up this level while also acting convincingly. The ballroom scene for example, the balcony scene, the trio before the ball, ( a favourite moment with many of us it seems) the death dance in the tomb. That combination is one of the things that makes ballet so uniquely wonderful ( and why I was irritated by the presenters/interviewees saying "You can almost forget it's ballet" and "It's not like a ballet it's a marvellous story" beforehand. We don't want to forget it's ballet do we?)
  15. Mary
    Another piece of fine and expressive dance acting was Benet Gartside as Escalus, the Prince. Rather than exaggerated arm gestures he did it all with the eyes. It was very fine, conveying a sort of weary disgust with the barabarism before him.
  16. Mary
    Terrific indeed-5 stars well deserved. When it comes to acting, really, it doesn't get much better. Gary Avis in particular was outstanding but all the cast were, I thought, at their best tonight and a very moving, as well as technically excellent performance from McRae and Lamb. Alexander Campbell was another highlight.To top it all the cinema audience were absolutely silent, and the worst disturbance was caused by me fumbling for a hanky , so moving was the whole evening. The only disappointment was the introduction and etc but draw a veil over that.
  17. Mary
    I was thinking much the same. Whenever I see the Bolshoi live screenings I am reminded that they have surely the best male dancers in any company- and would love the chance to get to know some more. Last season I became acquainted with Denis Rodkin, a great joy- and perhaps they are hiding more like him....:-) Much as it will be a pleasure to see Polunin again, I have to agree I would have liked to see a new ( to me) name. But- I am sure it will be a tremendous performance. dous performance.
  18. Mary
    Did anyone else watch this? If there is another thread on it, apologies. I really enjoyed it. David Bintley is such an articulate presenter. The documentary did have some silly features such as unnecessary bursts of pop music, but, on the whole, it was good I thought: pitched at an audience somewhere in the middle between complete newcomers and the experts. It is always hard to decide about a ballet seen on TV and I wouldn't want to say much about a first viewing on TV-but I liked The King Dances. It was perhaps difficult for the piece to reconcile the central paradox that it was a dance in modern style- for the most part- about dance of an older and different style. At times this worked and at times perhaps not. Also it was hard for it to have a meaningful narrative about a past dance form which involved 12 hour allegorical setpieces...the two just don't mix. So, Bintley's stated aim to make the pas de deux of the Sun King and a personification of the moon stand for ALL Louis's relationships with women including his wife, mistress and the dancers, struck me as a bit ambitious to say the least, and in fact the very attractive pas de deux didn't convey any of this to my ( ignorant) eyes. However, that said, lots of good dancing and some lovely moments.
  19. Mary
    Faces If only...At times I was lucky to catch a glimpse of a limb or two and even then was sometimes left wondering which bit of the anatomy it was!
  20. Mary
    I agree with all Aileen's points. It was my first viewing of this programme I would only add that the overall standard of dancing by ALL the dancers seemed to me very high indeed -and, in Dust, exceptional, and I was really impressed. A moving evening. The very powerful choreography for the corps women in Dust was one of the best such things I have seen. Khan found a way to represent tremendous inner strength and dignity yet with great emotional sway that was quite unlike anything else I've seen. What a good change that was. By contrast, though I liked a lot about No Man's Land especially some parts of the pas de deuxs, it seemed rather old fashioned in the way women's role was represented. The munitions workers were very feeble in comparison with Khan's and their transformation into the traditional floating angels seemed a bit cliched to me. Agree James Streeter and Max Westwell were superb-what strong lead men ENB have now. Rojo and Cojocaru seemed ideally cast in roles that really showed off their strengths. The dim lighting throughout the evening was very frustrating indeed as I just wanted to be able to see more and more clearly.
  21. Mary
    I agree too re the drinks in the Coli. But I had an even worse experience at SL-the woman across the aise from me arrived early as did I and sat very quietly throughout the 15 minutes before the performance began, and throughout the first Act. Come Act 2, a lake....monnlight...those beautiful shimmering chords...at this moment she decided it would be just the right time for a snack, and after rummaging in her bag as the swans glided on to the stage, took out a family size pot of coleslaw and started to eat it with a large plastic spoon. Yes it did put me off I must say. Last winter at the EB Swan Lake the woman behind me in the stall was eating a burger before curtain up. What is it about that theatre?
  22. Mary
    Upper circle wasn't packed, but it was a respectably full house I agree. Once again Denis Rodkin was the great success of the performance for me, with some spectacular jumps, great dignity and poise and an ability to carry off wearing a sort of nylon lilac two piece that not many men could wear to effect. The first act seemed very slow, with, as my companion said, an awful lot of walking around. Act 3 did hot up with a not-- too- wobbly Kingdom of the Shades, (though one corps member was struggling throughout ) and that super Kolesnikova/Rodkin pas de deux. She seemed much better suited to this ballet. and to be taking it seriously, (!) rather than playing to the gallery as in SL. The snakes did seem to be mismanaged ... perhaps they were having a fit of temperament but both times they leapt out of the basket at what seemed the wrong moment and lthen lay inert rather than doing any convincing biting/slithering.Solor seemed to die by rummaging in what looked like a knitting bag and then hurling himself to the ground. It was all great fun.
  23. Mary
    I think it was less to do with the production, more to do with the fact that, as Scheherezade says above, Koleskinova was projecting all the time to the audience rather than to Rothbart, or indeed her prince- heaven knows why she should thus have neglected him! and he was trying his best. But she was not enagged with the story the dance was meant to tell- only with showing herself to us with the ballet as a background. I have seen some rather odd Kirov and Bolshoi productions, but always the production was forgiven for the wonderful dancing of the leads- and for many moments of magic thus created -not so here.
  24. Mary
    I went last night for two reasons- feeling ballet-starved was one, but wanting to see Denis Rodkin whose performances I so much enjoyed in last year's Bolshoi live screenings was the main one. He did not disappoint: a truly beautiful dancer with perfect physique, stage presence and technique for the little , too little, he had to do. Otherwise agree with the above posts.... Kolesnikova did not convince at all. She had the music slowed to stopping point for her emoting and speeded up for the difficult bits... at which points her arms seemed to whirl out of control last night. There was no interaction between the dancers on stage ( most damagingly in her complete disregard of Rothbart, who is meant to be controlling her) and no drama- really it wasn't like Swan Lake at all, but a star vehicle for her. A shame. The corps were very good, very together and sharp. I liked their costumes- very traditional tutus- but the 6 princesses seemed to be dressed up like the ku klux klan! bizarre!- and the national dances costumes were messy. The dancing of the national dances was also messy and almost a shambles at points. Overall one was left feeling that noone in charge of the company cared what was happening when Kolesnikova was not on stage. I totally agree,Scheherezade-I actually did laugh at the end- the first time I have ever ever laughed at Swan Lake, the fight was so absurd. In sum I would say it was well worth going for Rodkin -appearing again in the run I believe.
  25. Mary
    Seconded Nina, I have suggested Ms Bull to present the live relay myself more than once, such an intelligent, knowledgeable and thoughtful interviewer. A series on the radio with her interviewing dancers would be a good second best.
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