jmhopton

Carlos Acosta did dance Spartacus in London in the fabulous Bolshoi season at the London Coliseum in 2006 or 2007. That was also the season we saw Osipova /Vasiliev debut in Don Q together. Those were the days!

Just to say that Teatro Colon still have several ballets available on Youtube including Swan lake, Sleeping Beauty, Merry Widow (with Nunez), Le Corsaire, Romeo and Juliet and Coppelia. All are full length and great quality pictures.

Thanks for this Janite. Much appreciated.

Janite, a while ago I think you gave a link to Sky Arts advanced programming. Could you give it again, please as I saved it as a favourite but later I couldn't get it to work. At the moment I can only get programming a week in advance and though it's not currently a problem it would be great to know a bit more in advance if we ever get round to going on holiday again. Also, is the Merry Widow they're showing the 1993 version with Steven Heathcote as the young Count or the more recent version that was shown at the cinema about 18 months ago when he was playing the older gentleman? I think I marginally prefer the older version though until seeing Marianella my overall favourite was the Canadian Karen Kain version. However, Marianella was stunning and made it her own. Would love to see her do it with Vadim though it was great to see her with the person I assume is her current partner. It seemed to be his last performance and got many flowers and much applause so was obviously wonderful to see her with him for that special performance. Also I see SkyArts is going to launch on Freeview in September. Good news for those who don't have subscription TV. No news of ballet or opera but we can but hope. Sky Arts director Philip Edgar-Jones said: “There’s never been a stronger need or demand for the arts, nor a more important time to champion and celebrate creativity. “That’s why we’re throwing open the doors to make Sky Arts a free channel. During lockdown we’ve seen audiences to the channel increase by 50% and our weekly live paint-along show, Portrait Artist Of The Week, reached 4.6 million people with over 20,000 portraits painted.” “As a free to air channel I hope that Sky Arts can help arts organisations and cultural institutions of all shapes and sizes across the UK, providing them with a platform to create and showcase their work to a broad audience.” As part of this commitment, Sky Arts will launch a series of bursaries worth £30,000 ($39,000) each, pairing leading figures from the arts world with diverse and emerging new artists on a mentoring initiative. Although the channel is moving out from behind the paywall, Sky Arts On Demand’s library of 2,000 hours of content will remain exclusive to Sky and NOW TV customers.

Me too! I thought Marianella terrific. The role could have been made for her. if only she could do it at the ROH with Vadim!

I'm afraid so. I was just quoting the Radio Times and forgot it could be open to misinterpretation. As I remember it the 1999 reopening gala was a terrific compilation of ballets the RB had become famous for, and really enjoyable to watch. I seem to remember the opera contribution as being a rather disappointing concert version of something that not even Placido Domingo could really make enjoyable (for me at least) though I have to confess as to not liking opera that much anyway.

BBC4 are repeating the ROH reopening concert this Sunday the 26th July at 11.20pm. It follows a broadcast of the 2020 ROH production of Fidelio through unfortunately not with Jonas Kaufmann.

Reminder of School of American Ballet performance 9-13 July. Includes Scotch Symphony. https://sab.org/virtual-workshop-performance-celebration/

Not a livestream as such but a friend sent me this YouTube link to a Shostokovich Ballet performed by Perm called Hypothetically Murdered. It's only short (about fifty minutes) and is very jazzy. You can see bits similar to Bright Stream and Golden Age with possibly a bit of the Bolt as well. There is also a link to plot but even with it I didn't know what was happening later on but it's still intriguing and possibly worth a look. https://permopera.ru/en/playbills/repertoire/68233/

I see Rishi Sunak is debating about giving everyone vouchers to spend in certain hard hit areas such as the High Street or the Arts. £500 for every adult and £250 for every child has been mentioned to try and kick start the economy. If this goes ahead (even if it's not as generous as this) it will be a great way to support the arts. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jul/05/sunak-considers-500-vouchers-for-all-uk-adults-to-spend-in-covid-hit-firms

Not a livestream as such but I noticed this version of Don Q on YouTube and wondered if I was allowed to share it. I've only skimmed it so I can't really comment on the quality of the dancing or choreography but it was the vibrant colours and well lit photography that initially attracted me. Also I've never heard of the Company, Stara Zagora State Opera. Apparently it's Bulgarian.

I've been wondering for ages what has happened to him and actually mentioned him in one of my letters to Kevin O'Hare (but didn't get a reply on that subject at least) I don't recall seeing him since the Bernstein trilogy where he had quite a large part and was really good and I think featured on cinema posters . I thought that might kick start his career then never heard of him since. I wondered if he had already left but he was still listed and then if he was injured. Didn't even notice him in corps but put that down to not being able to get to many performances. Will be sorry to see him go but perhaps he had to make a difficult decision. I wish him well for whatever he now chooses to do.

A friend sent me this link to ENBs next Wednesday offering; La Sylphide.

It's back!!!!! Just seen Vadim, as beautiful and moving a performance as ever I've seen. What a great artist and how lucky we are to have him in London. Was definitely worth the wait. Just going back to see it again.... and again...

I'm glad people mentioned the problems other people are having as I'm having them too! I missed the start and put it on to rewind it when it had finished as I only wanted to see Vadim and it didn't seem to have the rewind facility when playing but all I'm getting is OFF AIR! I'm in the middle of emailing customer support wondering if the problem is just mine but apparently not. Have been waiting all day (well all year actually!) to see Vadim so hugely disappointed. I hope they'll have sorted it out by tomorrow. Doesn't bode well for people paying for next week. Why couldn't they show it on their own website or YouTube rather than Vimeo? Surely they could have managed payment on either of those sites.

Brilliant! So glad it's had the recognition it deserves. Sorry, I was so taken with the film I didn't investigate the site itself.

Great that we're getting 2 ballet performances at long last though I wish Matthew had been performing The Sun is God (one of the Alice Pennefather films he danced so beautifully) with Mayara. Also slightly disappointed Alex Campbell and Claire Calvert had been passed over; would have been even better to have three ballet pas de duex!) Still a great line up and really looking forward to it. Will be shelling out my £4.99 again. You can take it for granted tonight's has already been paid for a while ago and am counting down the hours!

I enjoyed all the films but thought The Sun is God exceptionally stunning and moving. it is a perfect combination of beautiful choreography, fabulous locations and exceptional and very emotional dancing. Why has it not won some sort of award? Far superior to most modern ballets on stage at the ROH. I can't recommend it strongly enough. I too have downloaded it and keep watching it and have recommended it to several ballet friends. I hope to see more of Alice Pennefather's productions and Valentino's choreography. Could he take the place of Liam Scarlett as Artist in Residence? I'd far rather see his work than that of the RB official choreographer.

Signed it myself and forwarded it on to others who've also signed. Reached over 135,000 signatures.

I'm sure it will be money well spent, Jeanette! Let us know what you think if you do.

You and me both, Tango Dancer. I find everything about his movement is just sheer perfection; even playing basketball on Alex Campbell's Instagram compilations! Everything is just perfect from his port de bras, his jumps, his exquisite partnering and just his general very likeable, diffident, personality. I've paid my £4.99 for this Saturday just to see him and if it works out £1 a minute I don't care. I could watch him forever. I already love the Ashton rehearsal featured above and it's a pity it's not a more widely performed piece. I can't remember it being done on the ROH stage before though I might be wrong. Indeed there are several pieces I've never heard of that are covered in the Ashton Foundation rehearsal videos that would be great to see as an actual performance. it seems a shame to get dancers and coaches to put so much time and effort into rehearsing ballets that aren't going to be actually performed either on the main stage or even in the Linbury when there are plenty of people who would love to see them.

Thanks very much for all those who clarified my original query about a vimeo account. Judging by all the different replies everyone seems to have slightly different takes on it so I suppose I will just have to sign up for a vimeo account. Can I do that in advance without signing up to a paying version? I suppose there is a good reason why the ROH didn't stream it either on their own website (which they rather seem to despise these days) or YouTube but it would have been a lot simpler if they had. I say that and I'm keen to see the concerts (well the ballet at least) so how do they expect those more marginally interested to manage or take the trouble to register and then buy?

Do you have to set up a Vimeo account to access the ROH pay per view or even free concert? I thought Vimeo was a service you had to pay for to access. That is pay to access vimeo itself and then you had access to their archive; how much access depended on how much you paid. Not sure if my interpretation of vimeo is correct but I'm saying I don't really want a vimeo account unless I have to. Of course if I have to have one in order to see Vadim dancing Ashton I'll get one but would rather not if I don't have to.

Thanks for the info everyone. I'm looking forward to it.

Does anyone know how long it will be online?