Valentino

I haven't seen previous Nutcracker by Staatsballett, but I can compare it to a lot of other versions I have seen around the world and I have to say I loved it! Perhaps I have more minimal taste, but I thought the setting was very tasteful, the story telling very simple, which suits Nutcracker - after all it 's all a dream - it doesn't have to make sense in it's chronology. And I found the choreography very musical and easy watching. They kept the tempos at original speed which kept the pace of the evening quite quick and easy. Coming from London I was also impressed by the quality of corps de ballet men in the company - it is so rare to see in most major companies! Both principal casts were wonderful. In total I thoroughly enjoyed the evenings, and in the two shows i watched the audience seem to love it (in contradiction what they wrote in the newspapers!), with little laughs in humorous moments and great loud ovation at the end.

Alison, I do agree and as audience I appreciate hearing any bits of casting so early on. It just makes me feel that for Tamara the other dancers are not as important for the company, which I disagree with... As for SOAW, as far as I know he was originally given one Saturday matinee performance, but then not given any rehearsals and taken out with no explanation.

As far as I know Konvalina was not injured during the Wayfarer last season, he was just not cast f

I heard it was just a back spasm, and hopefully he will dance tomorrow.

I just think it is deeply disrespectful of Tamara not to announce the casting for the other principal dancers. They all have their followers who would love to see them perform. As mentioned by others I very much hope to see Elena perform Juliet (I heard Derek Dean himself is pushing for her to be put on) or for example Zdenek Konvalina, who I always enjoy watching for his thoughtful interpretations of the roles and emotional performances (he had been sidelined a lot lately too!). Not to mention other wonderful dancer who she makes feeling completely unimportant to the company! As for using star power to attract audience, she should start promoting names of all her principal dancers, which would create awareness in the public not familiar with ballet, and would start attracting audience to ALL the shows. Just using already established in ballet world names, attracts only regular ballet goers, the number of which unfortunately is far too small to fill up the theatres for so many shows.

Yes, I believe Ksenia is dancing Gulnaire next Saturday afternoon not Fernanda.

I believe Yonah Is doing Ali tomorrow(tuesday) night. Well worth seeing!

Laurretta performed Medora this afternoon, and I believe Erina dancing this Saturday.

I believe on the Wednesday night Vadim performed Ali with Tamara, whereas on Saturday matinee it was Joan.

Ksenia still did Daria's show this past week, but I believe Daria is promising to be back next week. Fernanda has recovered and did her premier last Thursday.

Just stumbled across this: http://dancemusings.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/enb-promotions.html?m=1 Could not agree more...

Oh no! Is he injured? Is he not going to be dancing Wayfarer either?

In light of the latest publicity about ballet, it would have been very entertaining if Ksenia joined Royal Ballet.

Im surprised(and disappointed) to see Konvalina dancing only Saturday Matinee of SoaW, which I cannot make. From the acclaim he got for it dancing previously I was looking forward to see him do it. But indeed I'm very happy Elena is dancing Raymonda!

Another ENB's collaboration: Very interesting result..

"Songs of Wayfarer" is great spotlight for the men. I hope Zdenek Konvalina will be performing it, I heard he is fantastic in this role.

The video of original cast dancing Petite Mort: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7afrgC5l8I Cannot wait to see ENB dance it!

I absolutely agree, Rebrand and collaborations with other art forms are great, but when it comes to advertise the show, you need to tell the audience what to expect. You want to attract the audience who would enjoy these three ballets, rather then somebody who expects to see something about ecstasy and fashion. This is a great triple bill with 3 masterpieces, that would appeal to all types of audience. Plus all three are visually stunning to provide great images for advertising(just as edgy). I feel like a lot of people will miss out not seeing it, just because they had wrong idea about what is advertised...

I absolutely love "Solitude" by Zdenek.. may be I should make the most of this sale. I think it says sale ends 7th of January, which is today. I wonder how their sales in general are going

Interesting that I haven't seen ballet photography sold as artworks before.. These are beautiful and could definitely enhance any room!

You can also view(or buy) the photographs at http://24sevenart.com