Sim

1 minute ago, Dawnstar said:

Checking @Saodan's website, Cuthbertson did her 2 previous Nutcrackers that season & only missed the cinema performance.

Of Nut or Sleeping Beauty?  Fumi definitely took over with just a few hours' notice and was sensational.  

1 minute ago, AlwaysBallet said:

Price £175 please

I think you might have more luck returning it to the box office...

I would like to take this opportunity to extend a huge thank you to Blossom and Sophoife for having very kindly offered to help us with the Links.  I think you will all agree that they have both settled in beautifully and are doing an awesome job.  Thanks as ever to Jan for co-ordinating it all, and to Ian who continues to step unto the breach when needed.  Again, huge thanks to all of them.  

 

 

Links – Wednesday, 3^rd April 2024

 

Reviews – English National Ballet, Carmen (Inger) Sadler’s Wells

Louise Levene,  FT

Jenny Gilbert, Arts Desk

 

Review – Millepied and Muhly, Partners in Space and Sound, Philarmonie, Paris, NY Times (paywalled)

 

Review – J-Hope, Hope On The Street, Rhian Daly,  NME

 

Review – The White Feather: A Persian Ballet (Kennedy Center), Michela Dwyer, Broadway World

 

Review – Ballet Co. Laboratory, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sheila Regan, Star Tribune

 

Preview – San Francisco Ballet, Dos Mujeres, James Ambroff-Tahan, San Francisco Examiner

 

Preview – Ballet Rambert’s Death Trap at The Lowry, Salford, Wolf McFarlane, Manchester Wire

 

Preview – ABT Studio Company to Perform at Joyce Theater, NYC, Chloe Rabinowitz, Broadway World

 

Preview – KVN Ballet, Coppelia, Basildon, Staff,  Yellow Advertiser

 

Preview -  Pett/Clausen-Knight,  IMAGO  at Ballet Nights, A.A. Cristi, Broadway World

 

Preview – The Swans of Harlem: Reclaiming the History of Black Ballet, Staff, Choose Chicago

 

Interview – Amy McEntee, Scottish Ballet, Barry Didcock, The Herald (paywalled)

 

Interview – Boy Blue (Hip Hop), Lyndsey Winship, Guardian

 

Interview – J-Hope Honours His Street Dancing Inspirations in New Documentary Hope On The Street, Joan MacDonald, Forbes

 

Feature – 120^th Anniversary of Serge Lifar, Staff,  Ukrainian World Congress.

 

Feature – Cleveland Ballet Ends Season With A Fresh Start, Staff, News5 Cleveland

 

Feature – First Modern Ballet Troupe Opens in Kyrgystan, Staff,  Aki Press

 

News – Bolshoi Ballet Show to Proceed Under New Title in Seoul, Staff, Korea Times

 

 

23 hours ago, Sim said:

Well that’s good news at least!

I feel so bad for Anna-Rose.  

 

19 hours ago, art_enthusiast said:

I hope she’ll still do Rhapsody in June, I’m looking forward to seeing her in that. 

Anna-Rose has confirmed to me that she is definitely aiming to perform in Rhapsody, so fingers crossed.

I will just say that at yesterday's matinee there were quite a few children around, and they all behaved impeccably.  A little girl sitting in front of me kept turning to her parents and cracking a huge smile and a little gasp each time the swans appeared.  That little gesture made me so happy.  That's what it's all about.  

6 minutes ago, LinMM said:

🤔not sure what you mean it’s had several performances now. 

Believe me Lin, had there been any reviews our amazing Links ladies would have found them!  My turn tomorrow so I will keep a special eye out for anything about this programme. 

 

So, Vadim does what James does in the clip above, then immediately does another.  A sight to behold!

16 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

(Similarly, on IG, Joseph Sissens appears to be confirming that Akane will dance O/O with him.)

 

 

 

 

Well that’s good news at least!

 I feel so bad for Anna-Rose.  

1 minute ago, alison said:

 

Rather more of a viewing restriction than expected owing to the people in front ☹️

 

Sim, the cast sheet I saw maybe 30 mins before the show had Gasparini in the Neapolitan dance.

Mine said Madison so they obviously changed it nearer to show time, hence no announcement.

I have just arrived home on a beautiful high.  Thanks to someone's generosity I was able to be at this very special performance.  Thursday night was wonderful, and this soared even higher.  Fumi's Odette is a beautiful, vulnerable creature, and we can see her physically and emotionally change from being frightened and wary of Siegfried to trusting him totally, and daring to love him.  This makes the later deception even harder for her to bear, and we can completely understand in Act IV why she doesn't accept his abject apology from the beginning:  we watch her learning to trust him once more, with every look, every gesture.  Her arms are things of beauty, her eyes astonishing.  As Odile, was there ever such a temptress?  She is beautiful and she knows it.  She doesn't have to work hard to beguile this Siegfried;  he has no chance against such allure and is like a lamb to the slaughter.  She mocks him with a smile, with her eyes she bats him around like a cat playing with a mouse in the garden.  She lusciously, languidly, lasciviously luxuriates in her seductiveness.  It wasn't only Siegfried who was under her spell;  I think the whole audience was.  Her fouettes were marvellous as always, and I agree with @Linnzi5 that Will's dancing has improved leaps and bounds (pardon pun!).  But with these two, the technical side doesn't really matter to me.  Theirs is a partnership that is so intimate, so empathetic, so pure that sometimes I think  they don't even need an audience; they delight in each other so much.  Every little look, every little extra touch....all of it adds up to a whole that is very special and very rare.  

 

I must also give a shout-out to the absolutely glorious corps de ballet.  They are in great form and for me are currently up there with the best of the Russians.  When they descend on Von Rothbart at the end of the ballet it's all I can do to stop myself from shouting 'go get him....girl power!' because that's what they convey.  They are together, they are a protective veil for Odette, and when she makes the ultimate sacrifice for them they are going to make damn sure that VR pays for it.  Like real swans, they are graceful but fierce when they need to be, whilst remaining beautiful.  

 

Excellent dancing from the entire cast....Valentino Zucchetti's tambourine seemed to have a life of its own in the Neapolitan Dance (he dropped it, and then so did the usher he threw it to!).  Also, Isabella Gasparini danced it with him, when it was listed as Madison Bailey.  No announcement, so it must have been a last-minute change.  Ditto Ashley Dean replaced her as a cygnet; no announcement.  I do hope Madison is okay.

 

A wonderful way to end the long weekend, and I extend a huge thanks to everybody on that stage (and in the orchestra pit) for making me so very happy.  

1 hour ago, Suffolkgal said:

Oh dear lord. Fumi and William. All that chemistry and sparkle. Sort of makes you wonder if odile and Siegfried could have made a go of it!!

Except that she would chew him up and spit him out whenever she got bored of him!  

Another sublime performance today that almost reduced me to tears from the sheer beauty of it.  Deep sigh.  

Hi Janet.  I have sent you a DM.  x

13 minutes ago, San Perregrino said:

 

As mentioned, this issue has been extensively discussed elsewhere on the forum. In case you missed/can’t find the discussion, in brief:
Taking for example, 14th June Swan Lake:
31 tickets ARE available to purchase so the website is showing correct information.
If you click on the seating plan and there are no seats showing, then it means that these available tickets are NOT currently available to YOU to purchase.  
However, they may be released at a later date if they remain unsold to the groups for whom they have currently been ‘set aside’ e.g. YROH, Access, RBS.

It’s like a reef or shipwreck that is only visible at low tide. These ‘set aside’ seats are always there but only come to one’s notice once the rest of the house is sold out and they have not.

Yes, I do understand that.  But as I said, why show the tickets as available to the public when they are clearly NOT available to the public?  Why not simply say '31 tickets available for access holders only' or whoever they have set them aside for?  Then, once they are ready to be sold to the public and released, just remove the words 'for access holders only' so that it then reads as 31 tickets are available for anyone to buy?

7 minutes ago, cavycapers said:

Has anyone else had probs, yesterday and today, buying SL tickets on the ROH website please?  It says there are 31 tickets on June 14th for example, but when you go to the seat map there are noe available.\

I have just had a look and you're right:  there is no availability anywhere in the House.  @LinMM you may be right, but quite frankly they shouldn't show tickets as being available until they actually ARE available...

Hi Swan.  Please may I have this ticket?  Please DM me with your details. Thanks!  

4 hours ago, bridiem said:

 

This is very rude and also a false equivalence. A special offer intended for Friends obviously cannot legitimately be shared; all that has now been shared is casting information that brings no benefit except knowledge. Who knows why the ROH hasn't got round to publicising the casting more widely, but it's clearly not privileged information.

Thank you Bridie for explaining our 'fatuous rationale' so clearly to those who don't understand.

On 29/03/2024 at 10:05, capybara said:

There’s a lot of laudatory coverage of Fumi Kaneko in the April/May edition of Dance Europe including, in a specific portrait, the following phrase:

 

”It’s proved: she’s now one of the world’s leading ballerinas.”

 

🤩😁🌟

 

Yes...that's not news to me!  

Hello.  If anyone finds themselves with a spare SCS/Balcony standing or cheapish seat for Monday's matinee (Will/Fumi) I will be delighted to divest you of it!

 

Many thanks,

Sim

Hi please can I have this i still available?  

I notice that Lensky is listed as "Onegin's Friend."   Is this always the case with this company?

 

2 hours ago, JanetW said:

If anyone has a spare ticket for the Friends rehearsal for Carmen Tuesday 2 April, I'd be really grateful. (Anywhere in the House.)

Thank you. 

Janet W

Janet, @Sebastian is selling one if you look in the Opera & Music thread!

Bonjour Amelie et bienvenue au forum!  
 

Many thanks for your post.  😀

Sounds a bit suspicious to me!  

Oh joy. Oh pure, unadulterated, beautiful joy.  I refer to tonight’s Swan Lake.