Sim

@JNC Laura was a wonderful Titania and I will be thinking of her in June.  

So much to be happy about with the casting:  Hayward/Sambe should sizzle in The Dream.  Naghdi/Richardson will be beautifully romantic in The Dream.  Osipova/Bracewell...somewhere between the two!

I am thrilled to see that Romany Pajdak is returning, albeit for one performance only.  I do hope that this is a warm-up for gracing the stage once again next season, not a farewell.  

4 hours ago, Richard LH said:

Anyone else going to see Fumi and Will tonight??

Yep.  Hope to see you there. 

7 minutes ago, Linnzi5 said:

I am! I cannot wait!  

Ditto!  See you there. 

On 23/03/2024 at 21:33, art_enthusiast said:

 

 

I like the atmosphere of having a lot of young people under one roof, especially as the ROH audience tends to skew older particularly in recent years, cost of living crisis etc, it's easier for older people to afford tickets as they're not as impacted by unaffordable housing, bizarre job market, post Covid recession and what have you. 

 

 

As an 'older' person I totally disagree with this statement.  Unaffordable housing?  Have you ever asked an older person how easy it is for them to get a mortgage or rent a house/flat if they are over 60?  Bizarre job market?  Have you ever asked a person over 50 how easy it is for them to get a job when the 30 year-olds interviewing them think that anyone over 45 is a dribbling idiot?  Post Covid recession?  Have you ever asked an older person on a pension how easy it is to live during a recession?  When they have no chance of finding work? There are many older people who would love to come to the ballet but have to choose between eating for a week or a night out.  As far as I'm aware, there is no equivalent 'ROH young peoples' performances' for older people.  Nor do they get any ticket concessions.  So please don't think that it's only young people who suffer;  everyone does if they are unlucky enough to be in such situations.  Age has nothing to do with it.  

On 23/03/2024 at 12:18, jmhopton said:

but today they seem mainly dependent on social media which is presumably where they think their 'new audience' will come from. A bit more attention to affordable ticket prices might make them retain more regulars who are being priced out of the art form they love.

I think that the PR people and others at the ROH have shown time and time again that retaining regulars is at the bottom of their 'to do' list, if it's there at all.  We don't seem to count for much.  

Can someone please explain to me what an 'influencer' actually is?  I keep hearing about them but where do they come from and what do they do?  Are they paid by companies to wear their clothes/perfume/shoes etc. and then tell their followers how fabulous such products are?  Is it just advertising dressed up as another word?  

Hi Miles, and welcome to the forum.  We are happy for this thread to go ahead, but for anybody posting please be reminded that we can only permit official videos to be uploaded onto the forum as it is a public area.  Regretfully, we will have to remove anything that is not official or properly accredited.  Thanks.

Any comments on last night’s opening, please?  I am skipping this so am interested to hear what attendees think of it and whether I am making a mistake…🤔

On 10/03/2024 at 21:56, Tippytoes17 said:

Does anyone know if there are plans for the Royal Ballet's Cinderella to be put onto ROH stream in the near future? I watched it in cinema last year and really want to watch it again but I don't have a DVD player so can't buy the DVD from the ROH shop  

I have been reliably informed that Cinderella has now been added to the ROH stream.  

21 hours ago, LinMM said:

A friend has pointed out that the downstairs cabinets in the cafe have the designs for Alice and Onegin. 
I don’t know how long they’ve been there as haven’t been to RoH for a while but could this be a clue as to next season? 

I would guess in the affirmative…

O-dial?!  

1 minute ago, Missfrankiecat said:

  @Geoff W wrote that Fiona's writing was primitive, crude etc.  @FionaM wrote that Osipova's dancing is 'destroying her reputation and that of the RB'.  I think both are fairly forceful attacks and it's pretty hard to argue either isn't personal, the only difference being Fiona is here and it's unlikely  Ms Osipova frequents this forum.  Even if she did, I suspect it is unlikely she would be troubled by the opinions of any of us who couldn't turn a fouetté to save our lives.  To be clear, I think both Geoff and Fiona are entitled to their opinions and I enjoy reading them.  I happened to be seated next to Fiona at Sunday's gala - she was charming and erudite company, a fund of interesting knowledge and opinion; I happen to disagree with her view of Osipova, who I regard as an ornament to RB and whose Manon this run I thought was first among equals of those I saw.  But as the late Queen would say 'recollections vary' and so do opinions.

Exactly my point.  Everyone should be able to express their opinion without fear of ridicule or nastiness. Everyone has different opinions, and that's how it should be.  Whether you agree with someone or not, they are entitled to their own opinions and perceptions.  Debating them in a respectful way is the best way to go.  

54 minutes ago, Geoff W said:

 

As Galas go it was not a bad evening. Unfortunately it was slightly too long and several of the numbers could have easily been excised, which may have brought it to a reasonable time frame. The classical pieces were as one would expect, and some of the modern choreography was very interesting and well danced, but there were a few that really do not fit into such programmes. We will all think differently about which ones. Personally I did enjoy the ‘Two Pieces for HET’ wonderfully danced by Constantine Allen, but too long in my opinion and there were several cadential moments where the piece could have been brought to a close, but it rambled a little. The ‘Caravaggio’ with Bolle and Melissa Hamilton was quite a treat and very well performed. I was disappointed to read that his stage door manners leave something to be desired. He will miss the applause when it is no longer there. I don’t really think ‘Like Water for Chocolate’ worked as a gala piece, and flexed feet walking in lifts is all a bit passé. Francesca Hayward could have been very well used in something more reflective of her soft talents. I quite enjoyed the ‘Qualia’ which was well danced by Nagdhi and Clarke. The well-danced extract from ‘In the Middle, Somewhat elevated’ all looks rather retro nowadays, although we were thrilled by it when it first appeared years ago with the royal Ballet.

 

To the classical pieces the Esmeralda pas de deux with the tambourine solo was very well executed by Antonio Casalinho and Margarita Fernandes, which along with the ‘Renaissance’ with Julian Mackay showed that the Munich ballet is a force to be reckoned with and has developed very well in recent years.

 

I thought the ‘Corsaire’ was a rather routine performance as was the ‘Black Swan’. To refresh Fiona's memory, Evelina Godunova's fouettes were a set of tidily executed singles. Skylar Brandt’s fall from her fouettes, compelling her to take emergency alternative steps, was unfortunate but overall it was not a performance to grace the memory.

 

I really must take issue with Fiona M and her persistent cabal against Natalia Osipova.

She quotes

‘Osipova’s (fouettes) in DQ were the ugliest things I’ve seen.  She started to full off balance early on requiring a double plie (which doesn’t sound bad when you write it) and then decided to crash on through them in any old fashion.  I admire her will power.  It was a gymnastic act.  No finesse, no ballet technique.’

 

This is quite offensive writing. ‘ugliest things I have ever seen’, ‘Crash on’, ‘no ballet technique’. This is primitive writing of the worst sort - a real disservice to a major international star who guests all over the world in an exceptionally large and varied repertoire.  She did offer some variance to previous fouettes, which made them interesting in what was a fouetté filled evening. I had not seen her do this combination before in any of her well documented performances of the pas de deux in divertissement or complete performance. In old style Russian Divertissement programmes ballerinas were compelled to perform different variants in classical codas to offer variety. In London this dates back to the Bolshoi in 1965 at the Royal Festival Hall, and many of the Moscow classical Ballet performances from the 1980s.

Osipova dispatched her task well in the fouettes and these comments relating to her lack of ballet technique are franly disgraceful. The internet enables us all to be forthright, hiding behind our profiles, but there should be some common decency in the analysis we read and not such crude writing. 

 

The Don Quixote pas de deux was well danced, although I think the partnering needed more work but then Potskhishvili is very young and it should develop with time. He is an exciting talent to watch, although I think we were rather led to believe that something really exceptional verging on the legendary was about to happen and I didn’t feel it did. Some of tricks were exciting, but it lacked the inner fire which most recently we had seen with Ivan Vasiliev, never mind the earlier Vladimir Vasiliev, still fresh in the memories of us ‘oldies’!

 

What exactly do these awards, presented at the end of Gala, represent? They seem to be the personal gift of Olga Balakleets, but do they really mean anything? but it did give her the chance to show off a truly fabulous dress!

How can you say that @FionaM's words are 'quite offensive' when the words you use are equally, if not more, offensive?  You accuse her of being 'primitive, crude, disgraceful and offensive', all in one paragraph.  She did not insult Miss Osipova personally, she was merely commenting on her opinion and perception of her performance.  Fiona has written in praise of Miss O many times in the past, so this is not a personal attack.  She is allowed her opinion without expecting to be torn apart for it.  You wrote a good analysis of why you enjoyed Miss O's performance, and it should have been left at that, without insulting Fiona.  You disagreed, you stated why in a very erudite manner;  that would have been enough.

Just now, Blossom said:

I really don't know how I am going to manage the wait til next Wednesday for next viewing.

I have to wait until April 4th for my first viewing.  Then the 9th.  

5 hours ago, Naughty Peregrine said:

Panic not Mr Mainwaring  it was announced at the start of the General rehearsal and again before the start of Requiem itself. 

They have always made this announcement before the start of Requiem.  Quite right, too. Applauding before the end would ruin its atmosphere and detract from its emotional purpose. It is a memorial and tribute to one who died too young.  

2 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

Several cast changes for Danses Concertantes & Requeim have appeared on the ROH website:

Isabella Gasparini is replacing both Anna-Rose O'Sullivan & Mayara Magri in Danses Concertantes and is therefore dancing all 6 performances.

Melissa Hamilton is replacing Marianela Nunez on 20th, 4th & 9th. Isabel Lubach is replacing Nunez on 22nd & replacing Hamilton on 13th.

 

Magri, Nunez & O'Sullivan are all still currently listed for their upcoming Swan Lake performances so it'll be interesting to see if they all still do those or not.

Isn't Magri supposed to be dancing in SL on Thursday for the invited audience?  If she is already being replaced in the triple, I can't see that she can dance a three-act ballet in 48 hours' time.  But who knows?  And with the season Melissa is having, maybe this will finally convince Mr O'Hare to promote her to Principal...but again, what do I know?!

7 minutes ago, Naughty Peregrine said:

my friend still has to have her phone turned on 24/7  "in case my daughter needs me".

 

her daughter is now 35 and has lived independently and now with her partner in another country for the past 10 years!!

🤦🏻‍♀️🙄

I know that some companies used to send them to countries that need them.  I remember shoes being sent to Romania a few years ago, but not sure if that still happens.  Sorry to be so vague, but I don't want to give wrong information about what happens today.

This is why I don't go to these galas anymore.  For some reason they seem to attract people who don't really care about the artform;  they go to be seen and get in the papers or on TikTok, or just to be in the audience with other 'slebs' (I must admit that I haven't heard of one person mentioned in the link above, but I guess I'm no yardstick for modern culture!). If I want to listen to music/watch ballet whilst I am surrounded by the glow of mobile phones I can simply go upstairs on a London bus, put on YouTube and join everybody else who is doing the same thing.  And it's free!

2 minutes ago, JNC said:

Yes I’m still kicking myself for not seeing them together in Romeo and Juliet, I think the dates didn’t align for me.

 

Slightly off topic but not sure where else it would go, when I went to see the production a couple of weeks ago I noticed it’s no longer possible to simply pick up and flick through a programme. I usually do buy but I’ve already got 2 swan lake programmes so I was only interested in buying this time if there were new articles or photos that I was particularly interested in. I asked the staff member selling them if I could take a look to decide if I wanted to purchase and she looked at me like I was mad and said I wasn’t allowed to touch before buying as people don’t like their programmes being touched. (I wonder if they’ve had complaints or people returning “soiled” programmes?!) 
 

I very much do understand this as someone who likes pristine books and programmes without smudgy fingerprints but I explained I just wanted to take a quick look for the reason outlined above (already owned a programme and wanted to see if there were any new articles). I was given a rude look and told I needed to ask the manager! Feeling rather silly I went over to ask for permission (!) and was again made to feel very odd (I wasn’t going to rub my hand over it every page but merely hold on to the cover to flick through very quickly). Begrudgingly I was told I could take a quick look and was stared at very intensely while I flicked through the program in about 30 seconds.

 

I know in the grand scheme of things this isn’t a big deal but it was more the fact the staff were very unfriendly (no smiles, abrupt answers, nor at all apologetic) and I was made to feel like I looked dirty or was doing something wrong. It’s the first time ever I’ve felt unwelcome in the ROH and like I don’t belong because I’m not a certain clientele. (Not that it matters but I think I looked relatively normal with a backpack and a black coat. I wouldn’t say I looked particularly dirty or anything!). I’ve always found ROH staff to be friendly and pleasant in interactions before and so I was a bit surprised and disappointed by the whole encounter and terribly embarrassed. 
 

I don’t think wanting to flick through is an unreasonable (or odd) request, I don’t want to pay £8.50 for essentially the same programme from 2 years ago (and yes I confirmed there were no new articles so I didn’t purchase one in the end, I also thought if I had purchased one it would only serve to remind me of the whole encounter). 
 

I completely understand they don’t want people just mucking up programmes but why not have a display copy available that people can flick through - that’s only a few (1 per each location they sell them) throughout each run which in the grand scheme of things won’t be a huge loss.
 

I guess I’m posting on here as I’m curious as to whether I am unusual in wanting to look before I buy? And whether if this happens again if the suggestion of a display copy is a sensible one? 
 

As someone who used to be a friend and attend ROH regularly it really put me off them actually. I’m not going to cut of my nose to spite my face so I’ll obviously still attend performances I want to see but I feel this is an encounter I’ll remember if I ever consider being a Friend again (highly unlikely this aside) and I used to buy the odd ice cream/drink as I wanted to but also to support ROH but they’re nothing special really so won’t be inclined to do this type of stuff in the future. Overall it left a very unpleasant atmosphere for me (thankfully this dissipated once seeing the performance), it was less what they actually said but how they said it if that makes sense? I appreciate staff are busy but I wasn’t holding up a massive queue of people trying to buy a program or anything like that either. 

I'm sorry to hear this, JNC.  Sounds like you might have had some newbies, or that more training is required.  I agree that there should definitely be display copies for people to have a look at:  £8.50 is a lot whether you already have one or not!  I think my immediate reaction would have been 'ok fine; you have just lost a sale as I won't buy unless I can have a quick look.'  I can understand that they don't want to risk tearing or dirtying a copy in case you had a look and then decided not to buy, but definitely a display copy is the way to go.  But please don't let it spoil your memory of the evening or mar future excursions.  As you say, the staff are usually very polite and helpful, so don't let a couple of bad apples ruin the whole basket.  

2 minutes ago, Missfrankiecat said:

I wasn't keen on his new hairdo either!!

😂

4 minutes ago, Tango Dancer said:

Sorry for Basin read Vadim - I hate autocorrect sometimes. 

Would you like me to change it?  I thought it was rather funny!!   

5 minutes ago, Tango Dancer said:

Yes I was surprised. I normally love the classic highlights like Don Q and Corsaire and they were my least memorable bits. I actually likes the Sergio Bernal and Roberto Bolle works better which was rare for me.

 

I also definitely thought Nela and Basin do Swan Lake much better. I think they've spoilt me for others. Is it me or is the RB choreography of that sequence more complex than last nights? I'm not an expert but I did wonder. 

Basin??

@PeterS seems to have morphed into Naughty Peregrine!!