bangorballetboy

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice/Knave/White Rabbit/Queen of Hearts/Mad Hatter

Cuthbertson/Bonelli/Watson/Yanowsky/McRae

15/03, 28/03, 13/04

Cuthbertson/Bonelli/Cervera/Yanowsky/McRae

21/03

Lamb/McRae/Cervera/Morera/Campbell

19/03, 23/03(m), 02/04

Lamb/McRae/Watson/Morera/Campbell

27/03

Stix-Brunell/Pennefather/Maloney/Mendizabal/TBC

25/03, 06/04(m), 11/04

La Bayadère

Solor/Nikiya/Gamzatti

Bonelli/Cojocaru/Nuñez

05/04, 20/04(m)

Kish/Cuthbertson/Choe

09/04, 27/04(m)

McRae/Marquez/Morera

12/04, 06/04(e)

Soares/Lamb/Calvert

02/04, 06/04(m)

Golding/Yanowsky/Mendizabal

01/05, 13/05

Acosta/Nuñez/Kobayashi

14/05, 22/05

Mayerling

Crown Prince Rudolf/Baroness Mary Vetsera/Mitzi Caspar/Princess Stephanie/Empress Elizabeth

Watson/Galeazzi/Lamb/Loots/Yanowsky

19/04

Watson/Galeazzi/Lamb/Loots/Arestis

01/06(e), 13/06

Kobborg/Cojocaru/Kobayashi/Maguire/McNally

25/04, 30/04, 05/06

Acosta/Benjamin/Morera/Hinkis/Yanowsky

30/05, 06/06, 15/06

Pennefather/Hamilton/Mendizabal/Harrod/Bhavnani

03/05(m), 10/06

Soares/Cuthbertson/Nuñez/Choe/Chapman

01/06(m), 12/06

Sounds like one for the Christmas list...

During a quick check of casting for a specific Nutcracker, I noticed that Loots is no longer listed as dancing Clara. She is replaced by:

Hinkis: 13 Dec

Maguire 31 Dec, 8 Jan

I fear to write any sort of review on here as I know very little about ballet, so I am writing this as a complete novice and parent of a young, aspiring ballet dancer... we went to see the Welcome family performance on Saturday and absolutely loved it. We saw Steven McRae and Roberta Sanchez (hope I have that right) and they were wonderful, especially Steven with his fantastic but graceful leaps!!! There were, as expected, lots of little ones in the audience and whenever the swans (corps) came on all those little girls and boys sighed around me so yes our next generation does love to see these classical ballets.

 

As part of the welcome performance we had a talk at the beginning and then during the long interval they left the safety curtain up and allowed us to view the set change. They also opened up the back of the stage so we could see some of the other sets being put together and 1 of the RB principal dancers explained everything very well about the set changes!!! Very exciting and front stall tickets were only £20.. my DD stroked and thanked the seat as we left as she knew she would never be sitting in those seats again

Sounds like the Welcome Performance was a joy! Hopefully it will encourage those who attended to come to more ballet performances, inlcuding some of the more moderm pieces (which are often cheaper!).

The Odette/Odile was Roberta Marquez.

The RB's Swan Lake is heavily based on Nicholas Sergeyev's notation, the notable exceptions being Ashton's Neapolitan Dance, the absence of the pas de quatre and Odile's diagonal in the "black swan" pd2 coda (in place of echappés sautés, although some dancers (like Zen) do that "correct" choregography). Whilst that notation can't really be called the original Petipa/Ivanov, it is as close as we are likely to get.

Noooooooo! Nobody else can bellow "SeVEN" like Len. :-)

Yes, but he gives everyone 7 - even the person whose dance he described as "the best waltz of the night". GET RID OF HIM!

Anticipating to see the tomorrow's performance I looked at the review in today's Evening Standard. While praising the performance in general the reviewer Lyndsey Winship made a remark:

"Swan Lake has come to represent a few things that are frustrating about ballet: the outdated image that it's all fairytales and music-box ballerinas; the reliance on old masters preserved in aspic to keep the box office happy."

God save our dear classical ballet from 'critics' with such views.

Perhaps the critics would themselves care to fund the ballet companies. Thought not...

bangorballetboy, what didn't you like about the conducting?

Too much stretching the tempi (a la Lang Lang); tempi too slow in places (particularly when it's not adage choreography); uninspiring overture. But that's just my opinion.

Posted on twitter earlier (so short-ish).

My thoughts on last night's Swan Lake. Nela Nuñez steals the show – soft & vulnerable in act 2, lithe & Machiavellian in act 3, defiant & broken in act 4, all with great technique & aplomb. Soares is a strong partner & foil for her. Very pleasing pd3 from Choe, Crawford and Campbell – beautifully balanced. Kobayashi & Mendizabal made gorgeously silky big swans though not always together in act 2.

Special mentions for Gartside's great legwork in the Czardas and Morera & Cervera's sprightly Neapolitan Dance.

Corps-work excellent (barring one new joiner who over-danced in act 4 and stood out for all the wrong reasons), which suggests the correct decision was made in Sam Raine's appointment as ballet mistress.

Only downer on the evening is the abysmal conducting which disturbs both audience & dancers. Otherwise, this Swan Lake was a very strong & enjoyable treat to start the season; long may it continue.

Actually, the auditorium at the Coliseum can also be unbearably hot even early in the year. When my daughter and I attended the first of the Beyond Ballets Russes programmes in March (when, to be fair, it was unseasonably warm) she was really flagging in the heat. We always sit high up, either in the Upper Circle or in the Amphitheatre, which I suppose will be hotter on the basis that hot air rises. I don't know if the stalls are cooler. I generally find theatres too hot rather than too cold but perhaps that's just me.

ROH was very warm last night - I was dripping at times (but that might be because I was so close to the stage). Felt for the jacketed-gents in the pit.

But which chap would you get rid of, Porthesia? Surely not lovely Len?

Definitely Len - he is the weakest judge by far.

Dry ice makes me cough.

It shouldn't - it's only carbon dioxide and there's plenty of that in the atmosphere already. Smoke from a smoke machine, on the other hand, may make you cough.

The limit on Friends priority tickets for the RB Ashton mixed bill appears to have gone now we're into the period for buying additional tickets.

KO'H also made the point that there's a place at the Royal Ballet School for "anyone" with talent and that if the child couldn't afford it, they should be able to find a bursary for them. [paraphrased]

In case you missed Kevin on the telly box this morning, here's the iPlayer link (doesn't work on Apple products...): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00zbd3r

There's an article on the Royal Ballet's Beatriz Stix-Brunell here: http://www.pointemagazine.com/issues/octobernovember-2012/touch-magic

And a behind-the-scenes video from the photoshoot here: http://www.dancemedia.com/v/7338

The default is now the billing address. If you want to change it to box office collection, you have to click on 'edit' when it first comes up. I keep forgetting to do that and have repeatedly had to phone the Box Office to get them to change it for me. I much prefer to pick up my tickets in person, especially when there are a lot of them. When they're posting them they sometimes put too many in the envelope and it comes unstuck!

Thanks Bluebird. I wasn't sure, so I thought it would be useful for people to check to be on the safe side. I complained about the envelope issue and now our tickets are set out in a bigger envelope!

Have any ordinary Friends received Period 2 tickets yet? I don't remember waiting this long before!

Have you checked the confirmation? I recall a while back that box office collection was the default setting for online bookings.

It seems to be a law of human behaviour that the people who sit in the middle of the row are the ones who come into the auditorium last, not only at the beginning of the performance but also at the end of the intervals!

Well, in my case, it's because I've spent the time having a drink, talking to friends and going to the lavatory! Or, sometimes, because I've only just made it to the performance from the office!

I do always say "excuse me" and "thank you" though (and by the end of the second interval, I'm usually having a giggle with the person on the end of the row...).

...far less ... grumbling from early arrivals when people politely ask to be let through to the middle of the row.

Definitely with you on that one!

I'm sorry spanner but the fact that your idea of what constitutes consideration is not exactly the same as everyone else's indicates that it is precisely a cultural issue. I think the ballet companies recognise this, hence BRBs deliberately non-prescriptive advice on audience dress and behaviour. It is the tutting audience members who do not. Like Blondie I was depressed by much of the narrow-mindedness and disdain displayed in this thread.

All I really want is to be able to enjoy the performance for which I have paid. To do that, I'd appreciate that those around me don't talk or play with their 'phone(s) during the performance (which is also courteous to the performers). Is that really so narrow-minded?

The programme looks very exciting if you live in the South East!!! The two mixed programmes sound fantastic to me.

 

I'm glad to see the extent of the outreach work. The comments re MDI and Liverpool confused me - is the partnership with MDI for outreach or can we expect a greater ENB presence in Liverpool (I live in hopes).

I understand that La Rojo mentioned that discussions regarding touring are ongoing.

Our very own Sim was at the press conference this morning, so I'm sure more news will be forthcoming.

How is the average person supposed to know whether to hum or sing during Land of Hope and Glory?

It's quite easy, as is the case with most of the "expected norms" of good behaviour. Look around and see what everyone else is doing. If the vast majority of people are not chatting to their neighbour or texting on their phone, then don't do it. To go back to LoH&G, as the choir/chorus is not singing during the first time through the trio, neither should the audience.

I was quite angered by your postings, but that's because I'm not middle-aged (according to the new definition in the press recently) nor female but I'll admit to being overweight. I'll also admit that the first time I went to the ballet at the ROH I was wearing shorts & a t-shirt, something I have repeated now and again. I find it odd that you consider it elitist to expect good behaviour at the ballet. Is it elitist to go the cinema and expect to be able to hear the film? Is it elitist to sit in the family stand at a football match and expect those around you not to curse?

IMHO, it's a shame that some people play the "elitism" card where it's not appropriate. This is (again, IMHO) one of those situations.

L

That's interesting, can't remember the sequence now but my favourite pdd was the Stix-Brunell/Kish one.

That was Wheeldon choreography.