simonbfisher

Excellent set - some interesting music (!) - some very impressive dancing. I liked Stefan Wise (RB trained) very much both in his long solo and in the pdd with Megumi Oki : for me he was the stand-out dancer last night. Daniel Cardoso was also very good as the intellectual - and wore glasses to differentiate him as such. (The only other on-stage glasses I can remember were in the Trocs. Somewhat different). Johan Christensen seemed at ease in the part - no sign of nerves or unrehearsedness. Very much in control. The corps were uniformly good, though some of the choreography that they were performing was less than pleasing - the guards at the beginning and again in Act Two looked as if they were in a Madonna video, though I guess the robotic moves were meant to be threatening and dehumanised. The Dance of the Office Chairs, too, was odd : froglike and almost farcical. Still, I'm really glad we went and that the (smallish) audience was so loudly supportive of the whole cast, who must have been through a difficult time and came out of it with flying colours.

Very much looking forward to seeing them in Newbury again this year - they are again part of the N Spring Festival, and as the Corn Exchange is quite small, there is always a satisfyingly full house. They are always really good value. Than you, Janet, for that first post - I shall print it out and take it along!

What a fascinating read this thread has been! A few disconnected thoughts (well, it is past ovaltine time) : - I assume that critics of a particular art form do it not for money (alone) but because they love the subject and want to see it perfected; their encouragements and tut-tuts must be to that end, surely? A bit like teachers pushing and cajoling in their written feedback to pupils' work or as they now say "assessment for learning" - heavens I'm glad I'm out of the classroom! - I don't know if they count the number of Swans they have seen expiring, but in my book experience of ballet - watching it if not performing - is what gives a critic(ism) validity. Yes, there is interest in seeing what a first reaction to a ballet piece is from someone who has never seen any before, but that is different from informed criticism. It has its own validity but on a different page, as it were. - In my own case, it is certain that the longer I live and the more I manage to see, the more fun my internal critiques are, so a venerable critic is likely to bring us more than a newbie. - Finally, I really cannot see a big difference between all the wise words on here (I do NOT mean my own) and those in eg the newspapers - a lot of the people on here have really made me think and see things more clearly during all my lurking time, and I'm very appreciative of these "citizen critics". Long may you/we post!

Well, Janet has encouraged me to join in - so here's my first! I've just got home from seeing the Dress Rehearsal and then the "real thing" yesterday evening. Quite a day. Pennefather the Dress Apollo, and Acosta in the evening : so different. Even the initial whirling arm is different - the dependence on the muses, the weight of presence. Amazing contrast within a tightly drawn ballet. The new Ratmansky I felt was underwhelming - in fact I was a bit disappointed. The music was rice-puddingy rather than scintillating (whose orchestration is it??), the scenes followed on all to fast and furious, I couldn't build a narrative for myself at all. There is more in the latter part of the ballet than the earlier scenes, I thought, but with an amazing cast I just wash't amazed. And what did the Zanowsky/Pennefather spat remind us of? I can't place it - could it be Haydee/Cragun in the Shrew? It certainly stirred up something in the depths of my memory. The Wheeldon, though, was astonishing! Twice in one day was NOT enough. That prickling behind the eyes (mine!) in the final moments; Hay really in his element; Nunes quite fantastic - where does she get the stamina to project all that emotion and control it like that? AND she was the best of muses barely an hour earlier; Kish and Bonelli like Yin and Yang; the strength of the eight dancers in Scene 1. The set was brilliant, the music too, (even though I was dreading more Britten). The whole thing will be with us for many seasons, I hope. I'm gushing, so I'll stop, but I'll be really interested to see what others thought of the evening!

Thank you, Janet. I read with interest what's on here and am building up confidence to join in! You are all so knowledgeable!

Really useful - every area should have one! Thanks for passing this on.