zxDaveM

Worth 6 minutes of anyone's time... 🙂

I think we may be overthinking the 'plot' a bit 🙂

Seems to me the plot points are just convenient hooks to hang some wonderful dancing upon. I'd say pretty much all the old classics and romantic ballets have plots not so much a bus could drive through the holes in them, as it would struggle to touch the sides

2 hours ago, Silke H said:

Wowza! 
2 words: Yasmine Naghdi

nuff said!!

Yours Rob

(gosh, that went quickly!)

Ticket for sale for the evening performance of Swan Lake, this coming Saturday (27th April) at 7pm, with Francesca Hayward and William Bracewell in the leads. I thought I could go, but now turns out I can't. Which is annoying as it was a cast I wanted to see!

It is D5 in the SCS area, cost of £14. PM me if interested (to setup the exchange), and post here that you have done so

12 hours ago, Buru said:

Well, not exactly that. I meant real solo dances, in which each bride gets to shine and showcase her talents. Again, I didn’t mind this interpretation and each culture was well presented in Act III dances, which is what counts. 

I think that the potential brides being so 'inconsequential' (especially to the Prince), is rather the point

38 minutes ago, Roberta said:

 

It's an odd way to find a spouse. 

 

That's royalty for you

4 hours ago, RobR said:

In the SL version prior to this present version (was it Dowell or Makarova) the dancing princesses performed a pas de six. There was minimal acting and the subsequent National Dances appeared a little random given the apparent lack of connection/context with the six dancing princesses. 
 

 

Six princesses turning up to the ball all wearing the same dress...FIGHT!!!

7 hours ago, Buru said:

In the third act, the pas de deux was simply sublime. There was not a single chance for Siegfried to resist this Odile (interestingly, in other productions I saw, foreign brides have their own dancing parts which makes the choice harder).

The Princesses do have a part where they dance to and with the Prince for him to 'assess' his options. Short pieces invidually, and other parts together

13 hours ago, jmhopton said:

I used to love it when RB staged a Christmas triple to give a choice to ballet viewers who may not always want to see a family ballet at Christmas or who would be willing to pay for both (it is Christmas after all!) By Christmas triple I don't specifically mean Christmas or winter themed ballets but just an alternative to countless Nutcrackers or other similar ballets such as Coppelia or Cinderella.  Of course these ballets are needed to draw in the crowds and introduce children to the wonder of ballet but another more diverse programme would be welcome. I seem to remember in 2018/19 there was one with Patineurs,  Winter dreams and The Concert (I think) which I really enjoyed. Something on those lines this Christmas I'd really enjoy, especially Patineurs which is one of my favourite Ashton ballets and seems ages since it's been staged. Possibly that and The Concert with Enigma Variations or Symphony in C would be a lovely uplifting Christmas treat for me at least, though I'm sure other people have different ideas.

I think we need to give you a bull horn to have a word in Kevin's shell-like...

Just now, Sim said:

Yes, but she is way too good to be a little secret!  

yes, that's true - but I sorta feel she's 'ours', not 'theirs' 🙂

14 minutes ago, Sim said:

And very disappointing that once again Yasmine Naghdi is overlooked. 

Yas is the besotted ballet fan's little secret 🙂

Really was blown away by the performance of Yasmine Naghdi last night. Even by her own high standards, this was a wowser! The Odette solo/pdds in act 2, THAT balance in the pdd in Act 3, and the heartbreaking, breath stopping pdd in act 4 (I actually was holding my breath in case I broke the spell, only realising so, when they stopped - I mean, as if my breathing at the back of the stalls circle would have any impact on anyone but me!)

And I get to see it all again next Wednesday!

[I do hope they make a blu-ray of the cine-cast, I will buy one for sure, even at those sky-high prices they charge for ballet blu-rays these days]

1 hour ago, bridiem said:

 

Yes - I did find with the second rehearsal that stopping the dancers literally every few seconds with purely technical rather than 'artistic' feedback didn't make for very illuminating viewing. But all the dancers were excellent.

I thought it an interesting contrast - virtually stage ready and being 'tweaked', compared to the early stages of learning the intricate and often non-classroom steps

1 hour ago, Sim said:

And then take a photo and share it with the group! 

 

😳

I generally like Chris Wheeldon's choreography, but I'd rather nail my leg to the chair than go see this

Yes, very well deserved 🙂

Isabel Coracy sure deserved that award! She was superb in the role

1 hour ago, BeauxArts said:

My great hope is to see Tombeaux in the 2024-2025 but I have very little expectation of it being featured. A tribute to David Bintley is long overdue at the ROH. 

yes, it was a great shame that Covid nobbled the triple bill that was to be a part of a couple of years back. 

53 minutes ago, JNC said:

What on earth goes through someone’s head when they behave like this!

alcohol, would be my guess

This opens this evening for 3 shows (tonight, the 10th April, tomorrow evening, and Saturday afternoon).

Casting (and so the list of works and from where they come from, etc) up for what looks an interesting bill of short works (5 pieces per half, each half about 45mins):

https://static.roh.org.uk/digital/cast-sheets/International-Draft-Works-Cast-Sheet-All-Performances.pdf

Hoping for a report or two...

We only allow face-value (or less) exchanges on the site. If someone sells you a ticket over the odds, we would want to know

29 minutes ago, Roberta said:

 

The YouTube channel of The Royal Ballet Fan has a new half hour plus compilation of clips of Yasmine Naghdi dancing various roles. It's lovely, I'm not sure she gets the recognition she deserves really.

 

Sure does with me! 😉

Sometimes, you get the impression some people shouldn't be allowed out unless they are on a lead...

13 hours ago, Lucy M said:

 

The thing I found most annoying was the person sitting on my left continually leant forward throughout the entire show blocking my view which made it worse... But all in all, it was okay, and I got the acting I wanted which was the main thing! Marianela and Vadim were just incredible, feeling very happy and lucky to have witnessed such an amazing performance!

Worth bearing in mind for the future: you are allowed to tap them on the shoulder and politely ask them not to lean forward so much and ruin everyone else's view. I'd say most reasonable, decent people will comply