Don Q Fan

From another thread - the Mikhailovsky are due in London at the Coliseum in March 2013 with Don Q, Swan Lake and others.

Polina Semionova (ex SB Berlin) and Marcello Gomez (ABT) are dancing the opening night of the Mikhailovsky's 180th season in Giselle. Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev will also dance Giselle.

I see Polina Semionova is dancing Giselle with Marcello Gomez at the Mikhailovsky in September. Interesting.

Oh how wonderful I've been waiting for Mikhailovsky's Don Q to come here for ages and now we have the prospect of Natalia & Ivan as well - I think I've died and gone to heaven. Hurrah!

I didn't get to to go to the gala but am delighted to hear that Ludmila Konovalova was dancing- I saw (and met) her in Berlin a few years ago before her move to Vienna and I thought she was fabulous dancer then. Would have loved to see her here in the Don Q pdd!

Despite my frustration at the original cast being replaced for Sunday's matinee I was not disappointed in the replacements. Anais was a lovely Odette/Odile and congrats to her on her debut - I noted in her bio on the web that she really wanted to dance this role. Her arms were great! She travelled quite a bit on her fouettes I counted 30 full fouettes but it was 32 if you counted the 2 pirouettes that got her going! No mean feat anyway. Junor was good too - very elegant I found and landed very softly on his jumps. They made a nice pair. The swans were very good -nice and tidy and thankfully ENB have proper tutus not floppy ones. It makes such a difference. I would have liked brighter colours for ACT3 costumes especially for the Spanish Dance which was a very dull black, old gold and green?!

Have to say I agree SusanR - I too am getting tired with the 200 mile trek for things that are not quite what you booked for!

In Royal Ballet's favour they usually do manage to stick to their very early published castings and BRB leave it so last minute you can't book to see anyone in particular so you go for the ballet itself and in BRB's case are usually delighted with whatever you see anyway. On this occasion I feel a bit "cheated" and that I would rather have had tomorrow resting at home now but the tickets were too dear not to go tomorrow.

Well I am not at all pleased at the cast change I only booked very recently when I "thought" it was Daria and Vadim for Sunday matinee - at great cost both ticket and trains. So I am very very very annoyed . I reckon this was the plan all along to get us punters in then pull the plug last minute .

Re the visa issue seems to me admin at ENB is very short sighted you check these things re visas well in advance and plan for it. Someone is not doing their job properly if you ask me - no proactive thinking. Quite unbelievable really.

Only thing now that I have to look forward to is seeing Anais in her debut but not one principal among them? Poor show. Am very disappointed.

I saw Anna in Swan Lake earlier this year and was very impressed with her too! Lovely to see her get a mention here.

Again lovely pics Dave - thank you for sharing. Tamara looked pretty emotional at her Birthday Offering curtain calls too. Hopefully we will get to see her dance with ENB in the future. Interesting times ahead.

A super pictorial record of this occasion - thank you for sharing it with those of us who could not get tickets Dave!

If Rojo returns as guest then she's not entirely leaving and I imagine she won't break her dancing links to the company entirely.

 

I appreciate that this is basically the fan site of the Royal Ballet, but perhaps it's time to recognize the actual limited ability of so many of the dancers compared with other companies. There is talent there to be sure, though some of it unacknowledged, but on the whole the company is in the doldrums. Perhaps the presence of a dancer like Osipov will act as some sort of spur.

I have to say I tend to agree with you. In my opinion RB need to sharpen up their act and "raise the barre" - look no further than BRB to see a thriving company doing interesting rep with precision. I am a little bored with RB - their dancers = same old same old nobody really coming through from the ranks - Davvid Tresensimiech(sp?) and Valentino Zucchetti perhaps. No wonder they snapped up Alexander Campbell from BRB!!! Maybe he can breath some life into the company. For the money the tickets are costing now (£120 for top Swan Lake OMG!) they need to up their game. I for one am delighted that Natalia Osipova will guest albeit with Acosta.

Latest Russian news of note:-

Bolshoi tour to London confirmed for 2013.

Natalia Osipova guesting at Royal Ballet with Carlos Acosta in Swan Lake 10/13/25 October.

And now we have Natalia Osipova guesting at RB with Carlos Acosta in Swan Lake in October!!!! And Tamara Rojo and Sergei Polunin are set to return for 3 farewell performances of Marguerite and Armand next February. I'm happy.

^^ I agree they do not seem to keep the website up to date!!

^^ Truly amazing to see wasn't it?

Great news to hear the Bolshoi are coming back! My wish list includes Esmerelda and Pharoah's Daughter and Bright Stream as well as Don Q although if they don't do Don Q it won't surprise me. Looking forward to perhaps seeing Evgenia Obratsova and Nina Kaptsova as Principals, I can't see them inviting Osipova and Vasiliev - it would be fun if the Mikhailovsky come to London too - they are overdue a trip! I suspect we may be in for Russian overload next year, better start saving now

I am really pleased to see Tzu-Chao Chou getting a promotion I really like him! Also William Bracewell although I thought he was already higher up the ranks! Great to see Momoko returning too. congrats to all.

Great news for Alexander Campbell I am so pleased as I almost felt he was "wasted" at RB after taking on full Principal roles at BRB e.g. Will Mossop in Hobson's Choice. Looks like they were testing him out just to be sure. He certainly put in good performances in Birthday Offering and Les Noces recently - he partnered Principal Laura Morera in all the Birthday Offerings I saw. I have some photos from curtain calls but I can't see how to upload here easily.

I am also delighted to see Dawid Trzensimiech and Valentino Zuchetti promoted, well deserved. Congrats to all.

I saw both casts on Friday and Saturday and enjoyed them all.

I could watch Birthday over and over I loved that with all the variations and lovely costumes, just my cup of tea.

Big contrast between Alina and Zenaida in Month in the Country Alina I found did Month in a more comedic way and there was audible laughter from the audience. Alina made quivering leg movements in her pdds which were more or less non existent in Zenaidia's performance but overall Zenaida was hands down the better of the 2 in the role she was just fabulous.

Les Noces - I am intrigued to know what it is people like so much about this ballet. It is dramatic and has interesting/unusual formations but I can't seem to get anything more out of it

Know what you mean about light - have to say that my new camera has a much stronger zoom and takes great pics without flash so I don't feel so obvious taking any at the curtain call! Although I have a long way to go to match your fab pics!

Great photos Dave - thank you!

Thank you Amelie as well for you detailed analysis of the house - I often wonder why the Opera Garnier has no seating plan with the numbers of seats on it online and also why you cannot chose your own seat - every time I get a survey from them I ask for this option! I have had seat 3 in a box and been put on the front row and I have definitely had number 2 and been put on row 2 to my fury! It is a really confusing illogical system or maybe the ushers don't really know the seat numbers properly either way I think it is time for a change!

I always book a decent front row centre stage facing box if I can. Stalls are OK I only did them once but not much rake. Forget anything too close to the stage at the sides as you wont see much. Worst seat I ever had was in the Baignoires nearest to the stage - the overhang kills the view. The theatre is boiling hot as well and generally very cramped and poorly ventilated.

The Amphi is to be avoided at all costs as it is unbearably uncomfortable - your knees are in the person in front's shoulders the "seats" are a bench no more than about 6 inches wide and hard and the backrest is the same - I vowed never again after a the torture of sitting there - don't do it!

I saw the Thursday evening performance and yet again another amazing evening of dance. Grand Tour was wonderful so evocative of the 1920s era and Victoria Marr's comedic skill was nothing short of brilliant. Fabulous costumes complemented the fabulous dancing.

Faster was good - very fast as per the title - in particular I liked the pas de trois with Ambra Vallo, Jamie Bond and William Bracewell(? correct me if I am wrong) - how does she do all those splits OMG!!!

The Dream was just lovely - so visually pretty! William Bracewell made a fine job of Oberon alongside the lovely Natasha Oughtred as Titania, but stand out performer for me was Tzu Zao Chi as Puck - he was ama-z-ing! On this form BRB is a must see.

Yes a good night sadly I forgot the early start so missed Birthday but it was good by all accounts I caught a little on a monitor but it's not the same - Month in the Country was delightful, not sure about Les Noces an unusual piece with lots of dancers on the stage making some impressive formations. Month in the Country was wonderfully danced by Zenaida just a lovely lovely piece!