jmhopton

I haven't seen all of this production yet but found certain elements slightly strange. At the start and end there seemed to be audience noises and there were two twenty minute intervals that were timed on the recording as if there was an audience, yet bows and curtain calls were taken in complete silence. You'd think they could at least have done what the RB did and have a few socially distancing dancers /stage crew in the audience. 

Also the small girls and non dancers onstage were all wearing face masks. Not the dancers of course but it still looked a bit odd. 

Having said that I do love the production. The sets and costumes are so opulent I think they put the RB production to shame. Perhaps could do with some stronger lighting in parts but that often seems a problem with many filmed Bayaderes. They look great at the theatre but not strong enough lighting for film. 

What a fabulous review Balletfanp. I could almost imagine myself there (I wish!) I do so agree with what you say about Vadim and Marianela. We are so privileged to have two such great artists choosing to live and work in London we should never take them for granted. 

Your attempt to get back to your seat made me laugh. I could just see me doing exactly the same. why have they done away with the bell? Is it to stop people going back to their seats all at once. 

Would your performance be the last one before tier three? What a shame after all the dancers and ROH staff hard work to make the building safe. I bet its a lot safer than many London shopping areas which seem horrendous judging by photos. 

22 minutes ago, Don Q Fan said:

How many people are allowed in the auditorium now? 

870 according to Mark Monahan (assuming he got that right of course) 

10 minutes ago, fromthebalcony said:

I am so jealous. Truthfully, at this point, I would be willing to watch any professional company's Nutcracker live. I don't think Mr. Monaghan understands the huge undertaking of putting on a live show on stage in the time of covid. The ballet companies here in the states have to follow an inordinate amount of regulations just to be working in the studios on a daily basis, and I have heard the same in the UK. Enjoy your performances, and I pray that you do not go into Tier 3 so that the dancers can continue to dance on stage! 

I think you're right, from the balcony, when you say Mr Monahan doesn't understand the huge undertaking involved in staging a ballet in these difficult times. But that does rather beg the question as to why he is a professional ballet reviewer when so many non-professional balletgoers do understand the problems and are grateful they have been surmounted. Anyway, enough about him. Let's get back to the real joy of discussing actual live performances. I too am really jealous of those scheduled to sit in a theatre and watch a live performance. However, I'm really looking forward to Dec 19th when I can access the BRB Nutcracker and Dec 22nd when I can do the same with the RB version. Thank goodness for livestreams  as I don't know when I'll be going to a London theatre again much as I long to.  I hope the RB stream is still able to go ahead even if the London situation changes.

Yes, I'm with you Pas de Quatre about the wigs. Even though I love both Peter Wright Nutcracker productions I do have issues with the wigs. I know they do it to blend in with the sparkly pink/gold sets but I do find it spoils my enjoyment of the grand pas. That's why it was so great to see it performed by Vadim and Marianela so wonderfully in the Ballet Academy production earlier this week dressed just in practice clothes. For the first time I really appreciated the beauty of the pas de deux with no sparkly wigs to irritate me. (I also really dislike the blond wig forced on all Titania's with less justification as there is nothing really to blend in with here.)

Thanks bridiem. I thought of a lot more as soon as I'd posted it such as yes, ballet dancers are super fit but they still don't want to risk getting a disease that can leave them with long term breathing problems, not to mention the problems with transmission and widespread isolating that can result from even one dancer catching the virus. It just came over as an incredible petulant, self-centred review as if the performance was all about his enjoyment (or lack of it) and very little if any recognition of all the hard work and planning gone into making it possible at all. I could go on for ever but as soon as I do I find myself getting angry again. Sloooow down and deep breathing..... Think of the wonderful performance that gave pleasure to so many and not one idiot reviewer.

1 hour ago, MJW said:

 

Just read your comment on the T'graph's comment section - I agree entirely. I'm afraid the paper has been going down hill for some time.

Thanks MJW. I thought afterwards I'd overdone it. It's good to know it's not just me who feels strongly that the ROH should not be rubbished for trying to protect its workforce and visitors, and to create an environment where people can feel comfortable returning to the theatre. 

Ive just done a reply to the Mark Monahan Telegraph review. The more I read it the angrier I got about it. I hope I kept to the rules and don't get deleted. I finished with saying I'm glad I've just ended my online subscription if this is the level of ballet reviews in the Telegraph and I'm sure readers would get a much better impression of the performance by reading the Times review. 

Just purchased my livestream for this. It looked like the same payment set up as the ROH streamed performances. Am going to purchase the RB streamed Nutcracker too and BRB Nutcracker and the Young dancers Academy livestreamed tonight with Vadim, Marianela, Matthew Ball and Yasmine. They are great initiatives to see world class ballet ballet that even in normal times I wouldn't have been able to see (not all of them anyway) but increasingly I can't wait to get back to the 'real thing' in a theatre and see them onstage.

Thanks for this Don Q Fan. Looking forward to it. 

Re SkyArts Christmas ballets the good news is there is a ballet a day from Sat 19th to 27 Dec. The bad news is they've all been shown before with one possible exception. That exception is:- 

Rumpelstiltskin  by LORENT Ballet. Sat 19th Dec 11am until 12.30pm. It's not actually showing as a new performance so it could have been on before and I've just missed it. The other ballets are as reported previously all with unspecified casting.

Sunday 20th Dec Moulin Rouge 6am

                              12 noon RB Nutcracker 

Mon 21 Dec          6am RB Giselle 

Tues 22 Dec         6am Ashton triple

Wed 23 Dec         6am Anastasia

Thurs 24 Dec       6am RB Sleeping Beauty

Fri 25 Dec             6am RB Nutcracker

Sat 26 Dec           6am RB Alice

Sun 27 Dc            10am Matthew Bournes Swan Lake

                              9pm Cats: the musical (not ballet but hopefully Gillian Lynne's choreography.)

Going through the Radio Times yesterday I noticed the Boxing day screening of the October concert is only scheduled for 90 minutes (7pm until 8.30) whereas the actual concert was 3 hours. While hoping that a lot of Anita Rani may be edited out even that can't account for 90 minutes. I wondered if they may not be showing Elite Syncopations as there is no mention of either it or of Yasmine in the list of principals performing. Also, the orchestra received their applause after Marianela and Vadim did the Don Q pas de deux so it could be a natural place to stop if they wanted to (but why should they?)

Great idea Janite. Goodness knows when I'll be in London again but when I am it will be something really interesting to do in the afternoon before an evening performance and if you have someone with you to enjoy it with that will make it even more special. 

Had to go and walk the dogs but now I'm back just thought I'd search 'ballet' on the BFI website and came up with 1312 matches! Just browsed the first few pages and there seemed to be several items from the 1950s directed by John de Vere Loder. There is a Fonteyn Daphnis and Chloe with Michael Somes filmed at Sadlers Wells, a 1958 Festival Ballet Nutcracker and a 1958 Royal Ballet Pineapple Poll (which I might have on a BBC dvd with The Lady and the Fool). There is also a 1934 Cinderella rehearsal with Frederick Ashton as the Prince and a whole series of Lord Wakeham Ballet Film collection from the 1960s. Number 10 has Doreen Wells performing Sylvia (not sure whether or not it's complete). It sounds a fascinating archive of goodies though I suppose many will be poor quality and I don't know how many are actually available for watching.

I even found my Torvill and Dean programme with Igor and Darcey in 1996 though it was just called Dance! and also featured Wayne Sleep, Adam Cooper and Leanne Benjamin among others.

I see the BFI as a sort of British Library for film and tv and a fascinating archive of our media history (and hopefully present as well). It would be wonderful if stuff could be digitised and available on a pay per view basis but that would obviously cost serious money and might also infringe copyright. At least we can see it in London whenever we're able to get there again.

If you follow this link you should get to Record Breakers

http://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/results

or just Google BFI catalogue

Click on the first reply BFI Collections - Collections search

Click on Search the Database 

Ensure 'Film and Television works' is ticked (it's the first and probably default option)

Key in your search

Searching for 'Record Breakers' (don't put 1973 as you don't get any relevant results) brings up 13 pages of results. Page 9 has 10 results for 1973 but when I clicked on 'cast' for each I couldn't see any mention of Wayne Sleep but the info was very meagre.

If you could find out from the BBC or whoever created the programmes an exact date for his record you might get lucky. The downside is  (I think) you have to view the film at their South Bank viewing centre. However, I'm not sure of this. It might be possible to get a copy but I seem to remember when I last used it (many years ago I was very keen on a recording of Igor Zelensky and Darcey Bussell dancing the Tchai pas de deux on the Torvill and Dean Christmas show) film wasn't available for home viewing presumably because of copyright.

You pay by length of programme even if you only want to see a clip but I have no idea how much.

it is a great resource for anyone wanting to see something from bygone times. Presumably films as well but I haven't tried searching them.

Good Luck!!!

SkyArts is also showing Australian Ballet Cinderella (Ratmansky version) on Tues 15 Dec 7am. I have this tv guide kindly sent to me by Janite which I have saved as a favourite and click on about once a week. It's set to a ballet search but it doesn't include Netflix. I thought it did but it turned out to be Nickelodean!

https://www.tvguide.co.uk/mobile/search.asp?title=ballet

SkyArts has been very disappointing lately with little ballet anyway and nothing not shown before and Christmas is just more of the same. As the only dedicated Arts channel (unless you count BBC4) I thought they might have done better for Christmas. There must be many frustrated arts lovers out there with very little to watch just waiting for an Arts channel to come along and give them something to enjoy.

I thought Osipova did the Dying Swan In the Nov concert and did Medusa in the Oct one, unless they're combining some of the dances or swapping  Medusa for Dying Swan. 

Russian gala, courtesy of Don Q fan who told me about it. Vadim/Sarah Lamb doing the Manon bedroom pas de deux. Also the Tchaikovsly pas de deux which for me didn't take off quite as much as the WBD rehearsal, partly spoilt by poor filming. But at least I've seen him do it in performance. No idea how long it's available for. Lasts about 2 hours.

Program:

1. “Scheherazade” duet of Golden Slave and Zobeide Dancers: Nadejda Batoeva and Konstantin Zverev- Principal dancers at the Mariinsky theatre. Choreography by M. Fokin, music by N. Rimsky-Korsakov

2. “The Dying Swan” Dancer: Nina Kaptcova- Prima-ballerina at the Bolshoi theatre in Moscow. Choreography by M. Fokin, music by C. Saint-Saëns

3. “Mémoires de la Belle Époque » Dancers: Claudio Cangialosi and Nicola Wills- Principal dancers at the Royal ballet of Flanders. Choreography by Claudio Cangialosi, music by Andrey Leshukov

4. « Sonata » Dancers: Silvia Azzoni and Olexandr Ryabko -Principal dancers at the Hamburg Ballett choreography by Uwe Scholz, music by S. Rachmaninoff

5. “Manon” Dancers: - Vadim Muntagirov and Sarah Lamb - Principal dancers at the Royal Opera House, London. Choreography by K. MacMillan, music by J. Massenet

6. “Vse ne tak” Dancer: Mikhail Loboukhin - Principal dancer at the Bolshoi theatre in Moscow. Choreography by M. Iwata, music by V. Visotsky

7. “End of Eternity” Dancers: Yumi Aizawa, Sasha Riva - Principal dancers at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. Choreography by Sasha Riva, music by Philip Glass

8. “Faun” Dancers: Claudio Cangialosi and Nicola Wills- Principal dancers at the Royal ballet of Flanders. Choreography by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, music by C. Debussy

9. “Last Tango” Dancers: Nina Kaptcova and Mikhail Loboukhin- Principal dancers at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow. Choreography by Vyacheslav Gordeev. Music by A. Piazzolla

10. “Falling the art of flying” Dancers: Silvia Azzoni and Olexandr Ryabko -Principal dancers at the Hamburg Ballet, Germany. Choreography by Natalia Horecna. Music by J.S. Bach

11. « L'Histoire du soldat » Dancers: Yumi Aizawa, Sasha Riva and Simone Repele- Principal dancers at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. Choreography by Simone Repele. Music by T.G. Albinoni

12. “Le Parc” Dancers: Nadejda Batoeva and Konstantin Zverev- Principal dancers at the Mariinsky theatre. Choreography by Angelin Preljocaj. Music by W. A.

13. « Tschaikovsky Pas de deux » Dancers: - Vadim Muntagirov and Sarah Lamb - Principal dancers at the Royal Opera House, London. Choreography by George Balanchine. Music by P.I.Tchaikovsky

14. FINAL with all stars.

1 hour ago, oncnp said:

 

Curious...How much was the BRB Lazuli Sky program?  And other streams folks have purchased?

I think the BRB Lazuli Sky was £10. 

ENB have several streamed (previously recorded) performances for hire. Can't remember the prices of all of them but they vary according to length and subject.

I bought their Le Corsaire with Vadim and Alina Cojacaru which was £7.99 and also the doc. about ENBS visit to Paris Opera House to perform it which cost £4.99. The main snag with ENB is you only get three days to watch them which seems a bit mean when you're paying. You think they could manage a week at least. 

SkyArts are showing Giselle again Friday 20 Nov 7-9am. So it looks as it they're reverting to Friday again. Like the previous screening it says it's the Acosta/Osipova version but who knows?

What a tantalising clip of such a historic ballet. I'm sure the RB staged it not too long ago (10 years?). it would be great to see it again.

22 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

Milwaukee Ballet streaming Michael Pink's Dracula!!!!  Many longstanding friends of Northern Ballet have very fond memories of this production:

 

https://vimeo.com/469873929/5ee47dee00

Thanks very much for this Janet. I'll definitely be watching this. I'm one of the ones who loved this production and prefer it to the more recent one. Brings back fond memories of the great Jeremy Kerridge as Renfield. I still have my plastic coffin with chocolate in it and box of 2 garlic bulbs from 1998 (though I've changed the garlic bulbs a few times!)

Just noticed a couple more ballet/ballet related programmes.

5 Select Freeview Friday 6th Nov. 1020am and  11.25 am A Nutcracker Christmas (short film)

Jaded former ballerina Lily is forced to come to terms with the life - and love - she left behind when her niece Sadie, herself a ballet prodigy, is asked to take the starring role in The Philadelphia Ballet's production of Tchaikovsky's festive favourite The Nutcracker. However, the production is being directed by none other than Lily's old flame Mark. Festive romantic drama, starring Amy Acker, Sascha Radetsky and Sophia Lucia

SkyArts Tuesday 10 Nov. 7am-9am Moulin Rouges ballet.

Production of the ballet based on Baz Luhrmann's 2001 musical romantic drama, choreographed by Jorden Morris

I've seen it before and quite liked it though I know it's not to everyone's taste.

Still no word of either of the upcoming performances being filmed, alas. I'd LOVE to see a filmed performance of the Tchaikovsky pas de deux if nothing else; whether Marianella/Vadim or Marcellino/Anna Rose. That was definitely one of the WBD highlights for me. I enjoyed the Company class but did it last longer than normal? I thought it was usually and hour whereas this time it was 90 minutes. Much as I enjoy Company class I think I would have preferred more rehearsals but I suppose you have to go with whatever they're doing. I too thought there were too many distant shots of the auditorium and I wished the dancers had something with their names on (or Brian refer to them by name more) so I didn't spend quite so much time trying to figure out who was who.

Another highlight was Valentino's choreography. What an amazing piece and what talent he has. I must confess to much preferring his choreography to that of either Christopher Wheeldon or Wayne Macgregor. I thought his previous pas de deux The Sun is God was one of the best pas de deux I've seen and was rather disappointed it wasn't done for the Oct concert. It would have been great to highlight such home grown talent but I'm glad we're seeing his work now. I keep hoping that when finances permit he will be appointed resident choreographer as there is a current vacancy. That would be a great way of harnessing his undoubted talent and keeping him in the Company.

It was also great to see Fernando Montano too and doing Dance of the Blessed Spirits. Wonderful to see him again and given a solo role which his talents deserve.

All in all a great four hours and haven't even got round to seeing any of the other offerings yet. I never thought we'd get to see WBD this year and it's been a great treat and much needed antidote to the medical doom and gloom.

1 hour ago, oncnp said:

And while roaming the ROH site noticed some of the Nutcracker dates have prices listed from £63–£600. Probably a typo (or a family/bubble ticket?) but, if correct for a single seat, I'd better be able to take the Prince home with me. 

if the prince was Vadim I'd pay the £600 to take him home with me!