Jump to content

annamicro

Members
  • Posts

    457
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by annamicro

  1. I've just commented over the years how many of the Royal Ballet's Oberons have graduated from performing one of the Rude Mechanicals, that's all.  Okay, he's not a member of the company any more, but he was when he was dancing RMs.

    Do you mean Trzensimiech? I didn't remember he was one of them...I would expect them to be more demi-carachter type dancers, so clearly not his case: maybe it was just a gap to fill.

    I remember somebody (Kobborg?) saying that in RDB, in Napoli, a dancer starts as a child on the bridge and ends decades later as a on old citizen, dancing every role in the between: maybe The Dream is the RB version of that

  2. Well, given that Bolle seems to have developed into a pretty decent actor in between my last two viewings of him (admittedly some considerable distance apart), I doubt that's a bad thing?

    Since many years, every time he dances people says he has improved. It must be something like the Continental Drift :-D

     

    The real similarity between Bolle and Coviello stops to acting skills (or lack of). Coviello is a "fine" ( ;-) ) solo dancer (I generally prefer him to Bolle) but is not a good partner, is small and with some unfortunate physical proportions. Bolle is tall, handsome and (usually) a technically secure partner.

  3. I thought the diva-like behaviour was considered to be a result of Osipova asking for her boyfriend to partner her in a La Scala production rather than the La Scala dancer who had been cast to do so? Surely there was no 'choice' offered between Coviello and Polunin as you suggest, Lilian88?

     

    If I am mistaken then I apologise, but I thought she had stated that she would like to dance Manon with La Scala, but not with her scheduled partner there who is part of the La Scala company. That is not the same as being offered a choice of partner.

    Osipova scheduled partner was Hallberg, NOT Coviello. She has already danced with Coviello and maybe she doesn't want to repeat the "experience", we don't know, even if as already said I'd agree with this decision.

    • Like 3
  4. There've been a couple of reviews (positive) in the Italian press and this from Graham Spicer's blog (in English).

    If only I could agree. Sarah Lamb was actually more than "fine" and did her best to give life to Manon, with success IMO. She even managed to make the pdd almost looking good.

    Unfortunately the company (with the exception of Massimo Garon) was really below the standard they used to be in Manon: I've never seen the main carachters so poorly developed and such a lack of intention and meaning in the dancing. Better to avoid comparison with the Royal Ballet.

    This for the first and the second act: I had to leave before the third and maybe the positive reviews are dramatically influenced by that one...

    • Like 1
  5. When was it known that Hallberg could not dance and that Coviello would replace him?

     

    It was announced to the audience a few weeks ago.

     

    I saw Osipova with Coviello a couple of years ago in Swan Lake and he looked very young and promising. Then I saw them in Manon and it was an acceptable but not great show, but they had like 10 days of rehearsal and that's is really too little for a double debut.

    When I saw them in Romeo and Juliet, the partnership really didn't work, at least for the standard I expect from a great dancer as Osipova is: she seemed to dance on her own. He was quite insignificant.

    Later I saw him as Albrecht (his second season in the role) with Maria Eichwald: she was a wonderful Giselle, he didn't exist on stage (even if he has a quite strong individual technique).

    He did quite well with Rojo in Don Quixote, but you don't need to act that much when dancing Basil. His Manon pdd with Hamilton in the Etoile Gala is something to forget.

    IMO he is an excellent and elegant dancer, but is shortish (too short for Hamilton or Osipova), not physically strong and not a great partner; he is quite bland on stage, without a great personality and modest acting skills: think to a young Bolle without his mass.

    Why should Osipova accept to dance with him, after a few not exciting performances, when she was actually hired to dance with her favorite partner, Hallberg?

    It could be that the discussion went on for a while, we just know that the result was announced yesterday (and just with a quite hidden note on La Scala website), not when the decision was taken.

     

    I wish that every great artist will consider who she/he is dancing with when accepting a guest appearance: nothing is so depressing as watching a relevant artist perform under the expected level due to an unfortunate partnership. Dancing machines are always the same, but those who have something to say, need somebody to talk to.

    • Like 3
  6. The other link I posted earlier put it in a less "diplomatic" way, in its last paragraph

     

    "Ma le gatte da pelare per il numero uno scaligero non finiscono qui. Natalia Osipova, star del Royal Ballet di Londra, impegnata nelle recite di Manon del 18 e 20, non vuole ballare con lo scaligero Claudio Coviello. Ha proposto di sostituirlo con Sergei Polunin (che tra l'altro è il suo fidanzato), ma per il teatro si tratterebbe di pagare un'altra étoile ospite. Nulla ancora è deciso, se salterà lei o Coviello. Insomma, la sfortuna ha colpito duramente Manon, e la deportazione negli Stati Uniti, come accade nella storia dell'Abate Prévost ripresa da Massenet e Puccini, sarebbe quasi una liberazione."

     

    http://milano.repubblica.it/cronaca/2015/11/14/news/polemiche_e_proteste_dopo_la_cancellazione_di_manon_ma_la_cgil_esulta_sciopero_riuscito-127303732/

    • Like 1
  7. Not just strike in La Scala: now it's possible Osipova will cancel because she doesn't want to dance with Coviello and asks to dance with Polunin.

    I would not be happy to dance with Civiello too (I found him very promising a couple of years ago, but I don't fnd him interesting anymore: he was quite bad in the gala as Des Grieux and his "emptiness" was really depressing when he danced  Albrecht with Eichwald, my last two views of him), but I hope it's not a "Polunin or nothing" thing (even if I agree with Osipova and Sergei would be my foirst choice :D ).

     

    http://milano.repubblica.it/cronaca/2015/11/14/news/polemiche_e_proteste_dopo_la_cancellazione_di_manon_ma_la_cgil_esulta_sciopero_riuscito-127303732/

    • Like 1
  8. Thinking of major ballet companies and not one man bands, is it common for a choreographer (in Carmen particular case also not very experienced) to cast himself in the first night shows? And to cast himself in two different leading roles?

    Reading your comments and the professional review, it's hard to not think of an excess of superficiality and (self)indulgence both from Acosta and Royal Ballet management.

     

    Buying a ticket for new ballets, we take a risk and we cannot regret too much the wasted money; but, considering Jennings observations about funds, I hope that you have not paid it twice with also your taxes.

    • Like 3
  9. But you never know how they will develop, your stars in the making, do you? A ballet director who refrains deliberately from taking on a possible star dancer must be mad, in my opinion. That's his (or her) job, to distribute the roles fairly, to encourage competition among her young stars-in-the-making in a friendly way. Why should the number of star dancers in a company be limited??

     

    Your opinion is close to the ones of several "star dancers" (I'd rather call them "artists" :-) ) who felt the need to leave from that company...

×
×
  • Create New...