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nottsballetlover

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  1. nottsballetlover
    Well tonight was fabulous in Nottingham, utterly fab performance by BRB. I just typed up a mega detailed review of the show tonight (taking about an hour) but my computer just lost it. Gone, non retrievable. Very annoying. I don't want to spoil my special buzz having come home from such a fantastic performance by BRB. I will now summarize what I said in thousands of words that my computer just lost: BRB North show utterly fabulous. Superb dancing. Kin is an amazing piece. EliteSync is just amazing. Mind blowing show - makes you feel happy.
  2. nottsballetlover
    Wishing Delia Mathews a very speedy and full recovery. She's still listed on the cast sheet for tomorrow night but we will see. To all the North Tour members, I'm ready to give them a warm welcome to my home town of Nottingham tomorrow night and again on Saturday matinee. I know Feargus Campbell & Samara Downs were on Radio Nottingham this afternoon to talk about the show, so I need to try to locate that on 'listen again' or whatever they call it! I'm particularly looking forward to seeing the company class on Saturday morning. Such a great opportunity to be able to experience this in my local theatre with such a fantastic company. I will report back in due course!
  3. nottsballetlover
    I'm depressed. I work shifts and aaagh! My projected days off do not coincide with RB shows next autumn. Hugely disappointed. Oh well, will now look to the equally fab BRB and others to get my fix.....
  4. nottsballetlover
    I'm very much looking forward to BRB in Nottingham on their upcoming shows in Nottingham on their split tour. For the North they are doing Les Rendezvous, Kin, and Elite Syncopations. BRB have announced that for some of their split touring venues, there is a chance to book to see them do company class. Here in Nottingham, for just £7.50 you can watch their morning class ahead of the Saturday matinee. Yay! I've booked of course. Fabulous opportunity and a bargain to boot! I'm thrilled to be able to see BRB in class and absolutely can't wait! So anyway, just wanted to flag up that extras are possibly available to book with the upcoming BRB split tour venues. Enjoy!!
  5. nottsballetlover
    Hi PDQ. I just stumbled across the info on the extras on the Nottingham theatre website. As you say, I do hope they do the same in other venues!
  6. nottsballetlover
    I've just booked for my home town of Nottingham. I had no email from my local theatre to say booking for this was open so I'm glad I checked this morning! The Trocks are doing some great extras here in Nottingham so i assume they will do similar elsewhere on the tour: Chance to watch company class/open rehearsal which is FREE (hurrah!!) Q and A after performance on day 1 Over 55s Masterclass (£6.50) consisting of short barre and to be taught the Dying Swan with comic touch! I am so tempted to lie about my age to get into this....!!! Happy autumn to look forward to ​
  7. nottsballetlover
    For the matinee today of In the Middle, Cojacaru/Virelles replaced Takahashi/Streeter; Begonia Cao replaced Hedman; Amber Hunt replaced Akahoshi. If I wrote that down correctly from the notice in the foyer...Rojo was one of the couples in Petit Mort having not been on original website casting for that.
  8. nottsballetlover
    Just on train home from seeing the ENB Modern Masters Triple. It was excellent all round but my 2 favourites were Kylian's Petit Mort and Neumeier's Spring and Fall. The Forsythe certainly had 'force' but the music was too techno for me and the movement (brilliantly danced I hasten to add) just too 'spikey' for my taste! The Kylian I loved. I have seen a few Kylian pieces in my life and enough to know I have never seen anywhere near enough of his work. I so wish I had the opportunity to see more. I first became aware of him as a choreographer many years ago when there was a TV documentary filming him teaching Symphony in D to RBS students. The same film then had a full filmed performance of that wonderful work danced by NDT. Then I lived in Prague for 2 years from 1999 to 2001 and while I was there, Kylian came to Prague to mount a delectable double bill of his works with Czech National Ballet. This was the fantastical Child and Magic (complete with pieces of furniture that come alive and dance) and the utter genius piece that is Sinfonietta. Now today I saw Kylian's Petit Mort for the first time and it really was incredible. Set to 2 of my favourite Mozart piano concerto segments, this piece for me was superb. Real ensemble piece so I won't pick out individuals. Clever use of props. Spring and Fall is set to music by Dvorzak (Czech again!!) and I love his work. So the Neumeier piece for me was delectably and lyrically danced to perfection by the lead trio of Cojacaru, Virelles and Cesar Coralles. Alina just dazzled in this, as did all around her. Stunning. Final piece was the Forsythe. Cast change this pm with Alina and Viralles replacing Takahashi and Streeter. Fab powerful dancing but not quite my thing!! All in all a wonderfully balanced triple. Treated myself today to first class train including full fry up breakfast on board and had time to spare in London to spend 2 hours at V&A. On a point of ballet interest their theatre section has a few ballet-related exhibits but nowhere near enough!!!
  9. nottsballetlover
    Thanks for posting the TP obits Janet. I love Terry's work. Such a funny writer. He was a huge cat lover and I was touched to hear he passed away with his cat asleep on his bed. That is how I would choose to go. He actually wrote a hilarious book called The Unadulterated Cat. (not part of the Discworld series although cats feature in many Discworld novels!). A recommended read for any cat lover!
  10. nottsballetlover
    Interested in this topic. I've just finished posting all over my Twitter and Facebook how sad I am that Terry Pratchet has died and responding to others who feel the same. He has been one of my favourite authors for many years. His Discworld series of books was one of the most genius fantasy series ever. With his his books he took me to a completely different world, much as ballets I go to do also. You know: I learnt from reading Terry Pratchett: you need to read beyond, underneath and over. Read beyond the lines, imagine the movement....Dance is like that too.
  11. nottsballetlover
    Superb sparkling performance this afternoon at The Lowry! It was Miki Mizutani dancing Swanhilda (having made her debut just 2 days ago) and Tzu- Chao Chou as her Franz. Miki was utterly superb in every way - true star quality. Tzu was also brilliant in both dancing and the characterization of the hapless Franz (let's face it, you have to be an idiot to fall for the doll!!). But at the end, when true love conquers all idiocy, that final Peace ppd is just fabulous! I saw one performance of Coppelia last Saturday in Birmingham then loved it so much I though I would venture up north to the Lowry because one was not enough of this perfect production! My first visit to The Lowry and certainly after today, will be the first of many. I have gradually been broadening my ballet travels from where I live in Nottingham. I used to be very London-centric - not any more! I now know I can get to the wonderful Lowry in the same time it takes me to get to London but for half the price....! Roll on more ballets at The Lowry! Great theatre. Not to mention getting to spend 2 hours before the show with the Lowry art work which is amazing. Ballet and great art under the same roof - no brainer. What a great day today. 400 Lowry works plus the gorgeous & stunningly danced BRB Coppelia - that is one fabulous day!
  12. nottsballetlover
    Absolutely agree Janet that BRB is on top form and this production is gorgeous! Not many seats left for the Saturday matinee but this morning, one lone front row Circle seat was, I fear, too irresistible not to go for! I haven't been to The Lowry Theatre before but it looks lovely from the photos and I can get an earlier train and pop in to see the Lowry paintings.......I don't need any more excuses do I?!
  13. nottsballetlover
    Just had a very happy afternoon watching BRB's Coppelia at The Hippodrome. Leads of Elisha Willis, Joseph Caley and Valentin Olovyannikov were just superb! I almost didn't book this show as I find the story somewhat creepy. However, glad I went as Peter Wright's production is glorious, humorous and truly wonderful. I can't praise BRB enough right now. I saw the triple bill Moving Stateside last Saturday and today was totally different of course. Both equally brilliant. What I feel every time I see BRB is an incredible sense of unity and all the dancers just enjoying themselves. Special mention for Tzu-Chao Chou leading the Call to Arms. Dazzling leaps! Packed house today. Marvellous performance by BRB and their orchestra. Still skipping around the house to Delibes in my head!
  14. nottsballetlover
    Fantastic review DQF! I'm very happy I have booked to see DNB's Cinderella!
  15. nottsballetlover
    I saw this triple Saturday matinee (nice to chat to you Janet!). Serenade and Lyric Pieces were beautifully danced and very enjoyable. In the Upper Room for me was simply sensational. Never seen it before but have not been able to get it out of my head since the curtain came down at 5 pm yesterday. Mesmerizing, powerful and sheer intense joy to watch. I had tears streaming down my face by the end!! Loved the Philip Glass score, loved the way the dancers came and went in the mist, loved Brandon Lawrence! Certainly if the Friday performances was lacking in any way, yesterday afternoon's was not. I came out feeling elated and rarely has a ballet had me feeling quite like I felt yesterday. I certainly would not like to see triples disappear from BRB's repertoire due to poor ticket sales. All of the one I have seen from BRB in the last couple of years have been excellent and they are bringing a triple to Nottingham on the split tour. Having said that, tickets not exactly flying for those shows, which is a shame. Anyway, I'm off to watch youtube clips of In the Upper Room!!
  16. nottsballetlover
    Glad you made it to Swan Lake Fiz and enjoyed it! I was at MCB's matinee of Swan Lake on Sunday and really enjoyed it too. Odette/Odile was danced very well by Liliya Oreykhova. Frankly the Jester, Benno and Rothbart get to dance considerably more than the prince in this production and all 3 were fine dancers, particularly the virtuoso jester. In a low budget small scale version of Swan Lake such as this, designed for smaller theatres, the jester part really does liven up proceedings, especially in Act 1! The swan corps were very synchronized and the orchestra was great. Beautiful costumes offset the minimal scenery. Particularly clever costume when Odile makes her initial entrance at the ball in Act 3 wearing a split black and white tutu and depending which way she was facing the audience, she switched characters between Odette/Odile. She then comes on to do the Black Swan ppd in all black tutu - great fouettes! So, a thoroughly enjoyable performance. Moscow City Ballet, to paraphrase a famous lager advert, reaches parts of the UK that other ballet companies don't reach! Their gruelling touring schedule must be arduous for the dancers but they seemed fresh and enthusiastic throughout both Nottingham shows I saw. Such excellent value ticket price at £31 for a top seat. Most importantly, they pretty much filled the 2000+ capacity Nottingham Concert Hall for every show and judging by conversations around me, lots of the audience were seeing these classical ballets for the first time.
  17. nottsballetlover
    Just want to echo some of the above posters on the performance this Saturday matinee, featuring Osipova/Golding/Ball/Naghdi/Gartside. Sadly it's the only Onegin I have been able to attend this run - one of my favourite ballets and would loved to have seen different casts. But I'm so very happy to have seen this afternoon's performance. There is something about Osipova.......What an amazing performance. I've only seen her live now twice but she always makes me want to burst into tears the minute I see her. I don't think I mean that in a negative sense - just that she has such presence and power on stage. For me , a totally credible Tatiana in her journey, I felt every bit of it. She took me on Tatiana's journey from the moment the curtain opened on Act 1 to the fall of the curtain on Act 3. I was emotionally hooked all the way. She has a dramatic intensity I have rarely seen in any dancer. I felt so lucky to be on front row stalls to see her every movement. She shook from her whole body when she wrote the letter to Onegin!! I did warm to Matthew Golding as Onegin. For me he was good. As a dancer he has amazingly beautiful lines. Jasmine Nagdhi and Matthew Ball as Olga and Lensky for me today were sublimely amazingly fantastic - they danced and acted those roles to perfection. I've seen Onegin in many versions and formats but they by far surpassed any other other interpretation I have seen. Nagdhi went from being childishly besotted and in love with with Lensky to flirting with Onegin. Amazing pdds with those 2. Final mention for Bennet Gartside as Prince Gremin. So happy Tatiana married him - good choice, lovely man!! So yes, I loved Onegin today. Probably one of the best performances I have ever seen in fact.
  18. nottsballetlover
    Not sure if it made it to DVD but certainly there was a Yanovsky/Kish RB Swan Lake on sky.
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  20. nottsballetlover
    Fiz. I really hope you and your family can make it to Swan Lake. I had severe flu for over a month in January and had to relinquish a very expensive London ballet ticket. Broke my heart!
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  22. nottsballetlover
    I'm at MCB Swan Lake too for Sunday matinee tomorrow. Interspersed with RB Onegin with Osipova! Currently at ROH waiting for Act 2. Suspect I will run out superlatives for that!
  23. nottsballetlover
    Went tonight to see MCB in Nutcracker in Nottingham. Utterly packed theatre. It is wonderful that this amazingly hard working company tour so extensively in uk and bring classical ballet to such a wide audience. Stand out dancer tonight was the one dancing Clara. Just lovely. Fine orchestra too. Not sure about some of the choreography though. The lifts? Just feel it got too much on that. Clara was literally being hurled around for no artistic reason. As I said, MCB do a surpurb touring programme.
  24. nottsballetlover
    Edward Scissorhands arrived in my home town of Nottingham this week and what a way to brighten up depressing cold January! Saw 2 performances, and with no advance casting information (apart from Sadlers), casting worked a dream - got to see both Liam Mower and Dominic North in the role of Ed, both bringing their own unique and special touches to the role. Both were dancing with Ashley Shaw as Kim, who is beautifully expressive in that role. The ensemble cast is superb and full of depth in the individual characterisations - so much to enjoy. As a piece of dance theatre, it just grows and grows on me with each viewing. It's so clever and complex the more you watch. And as I'm recovering from a severe bout of flu, it was an absolutely just the tonic to my brain and body this week!!!
  25. nottsballetlover
    Absolutely agreed Alison! I bought my Saturday matinee ticket the day booking opened and can't believe the theatre is still only half booked for that show, for such an absolute rare treat of a performance.
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