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The season of performances opened tonight in Plymouth. All reviews and comments on here please. Over to you!

I really enjoyed this last night. From the one previous time I've seen it (on DVD) I'm not a huge fan of Nureyev's choreography. But thought the performances here were great. I was completely gripped by act 3 in particular - Cojocaru was incredible. But also something about the whole atmosphere made it feel even more intense than usual. This was another filmed version very clearly not meant for public viewing, with bits of the action apparently only available from what seemed to be some kind of security camera. Another angle showed the full orchestra playing while the dancing and the action unfolded in front of them. For me at least, this unexpectedly added an intimacy not usually present when watching filmed ballets. Perhaps more of a sense of being there. Another video I feel lucky to have been able to watch. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DvZS5LJQwqo

Finally got to watch John Neumeier's Illusions – like Swan Lake danced by Hamburg Ballet (thank you Video on Demand) and its really good, normally I am a bit wary of changing stuff in classics but I think Neumeier made it work , it had its own internal logic and did not go against the music score. I've only seen video clips and photos of it so it was nice to see it in full. I liked how it weaved the actual ballet in with the life of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and his retreat into fairy tales, Jirí Bubenícek was great as the lead character, danced very sensitively. I am not familiar with the choreography of Neumeier, he seems much more big in Europe but his choreography is very dramatic and intense. Just had to articulate my thoughts about it.

The Teatro Municipal de Santiago has a stream up on OperaVision of their production of Swan Lake

Perm Opera Ballet have another performance up on their YouTube channel of Swan Lake - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EktVGi57Hw&t=2514s Rome Opera Ballet have The Sleeping Beauty with Marianela Núñez and Vladislav Lantratov - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFd1ZwgubAI&t=880s

Perm Opera Ballet have a performance of Robbins' "The Four Seasons" and "The Concert" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2foDsIg-hvg&t=1012s Teatro Colón in "Swan Lake" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2foDsIg-hvg&t=1012s So much ballet about, making the lockdown bearable

Starting this thread perhaps a little early, but I've just noticed that the first night tomorrow starts at 7 PM, and hope everyone who has tickets has realized this!

Staatsballett Berlin via Staatsoper Unter den Linden YouTube channel has put up their 1999 recording of Patrice Bart's "Swan Lake", costumes by Luisa Spinatelli starring Steffi Scherzer and Oliver Matz, plus its conducted by Daniel Barenboim https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2E2d1nW1T8&t=6004s Its only up for 24hrs

If anyone has a spare SCS ticket for Swan Lake on Sunday 22nd March, now or closer to the performance I’d love to buy it. thanks Peter

If anyone is in Hampshire and has a spare three hours, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Swan Lake opened last night at The Mayflower theatre in Southampton. I won’t attempt a review such as the ones I read on here, but suffice to say it was thoroughly enjoyable. It received a well deserved 4 stars in the Guardian today. The ballet had a much darker feel to the productions I have seen previously. The sets and the costumes all adding to quite a sombre, somewhat oppressive atmosphere. I didn’t love Prince Siegfried, Principal Tyrone Singleton, his Prince was a bit dreary, but his lightness and control in the grande allegro enchainments were lovely. Celina Gittens Odette was gorgeous, her arms were delightful and her swan like quality was utterly believable. I thought I spied some Russian style arms and hands and indeed after reading the Guardian review I found out the production was from a 1981 revival by Peter Wright and Galina Samsova. My 11 year old son and I were most impressed by the swans, and the gorgeous cygnets. All their lines and formations were wonderful. The swans being slowly revealed from underneath the mist at the beginning of Act 4 was an audience ‘oohh’ and ‘ah’ moment. Carlos Acosta was in the same row as us watching the ballet, causing quite a commotion at each interval. Good to see him so visible as the new director of the company.

Selling a side SCS ticket for Swan Lake Tuesday 10 March (Takane/Bonelli) . It’s an email ticket. £11 Send a PM and leave a note here please.

I saw a very pleasant performance of Swan Lake this afternoon at the Liverpool Empire. I got tickets for my favourite seats at half price in the sale so for £17 inc fees I had a lovely afternoon! The company now uses a projected back- screen instead of scenery and I thought this worked well, although the flying swans were a bit amateurish and distracting. Anyone who knows the Liverpool Empire will know it has a pretty large stage, but somehow RSBS managed to make the stage look too small for them?! I felt the dancers were a bit tight for space at times when all they needed to do was pull the red curtain type side drapes (see pic below) they had at the sides back into the wings a bit and they would have had another 2 meters to play with. Or maybe they keep it tight so they dance to the same spec at every theatre seeing as they are touring to a large number of venues? Odette/Odile was very competently danced by Anastasiia Belonogova - she had very expressive arms and a rock solid technique when it came to the full set of fouettes and more in Act 3. Her Prince Siegfried was danced by Francisco Gimenez and he was very nice, even if he did land rather heavily from his jumps. Rothbart wasn't quite menacing enough for me but well enough danced by Egor Oskoin. They have a Benno in this production and this was nicely danced by Marcello Pelizzoni. I must single out the Act4 black swans for praise, my goodness they were SO precise in their moves and timing, dancing as one and when the "block" of dancers moved across the stage they kept their lines perfectly, not one put a foot wrong. Dare I say they were as good as the Mariinsky for precision this afternoon, amazing to watch them. In general all the swans kept very straight lines and moved pretty much together and the 4 cygnets did their dance really well. I particularly enjoyed the Spanish Dance in Act 3 and Odile's fouettes were just fabulous she hardly moved off the spot and knocked them out at speed as the orchestra really played fast! The ending to this Swan Lake is a bit sad as Siegfried jumps into the lake with Rothbart, leaving Odette all alone at the lakeside. Ahhh. It was a pity that the house was not full but it is fuller this evening, however they got plenty of applause and, in true Russian style, really milked every last clap out of the audience throughout the show LOL! The costumes were very pleasant and colourful and Odile's sparkling black tutu and red tiara were beautiful. The orchestra was only small but played really nicely, and at times (Act 3) really fast, under the baton of Anatoliy Chepurnoy who also had a sense of humour - he conducted the audience's applause when he came on at the start 🙂 His long frock coat had some black diamante on it which I thought was a nice touch! I like that this production combines Acts 1 and 2 into one half and Acts 3 and 4 into the second half with only one interval so total run time was 2.20. There are loads more performances in the Tour around the UK throughout this winter/spring so catch them if you can I would say. A few curtain call pics. Ensemble Egor Osokin, Anastasiia Belonogova, Anatoliy Chepurnoy and Francisco Gimenez Anastasiia Belonogova Anastasiia Belonogova and Francisco Gimenez

Anyone got a spare stalls circle standing or similar for Sunday Swan lake please??? Thanks Jules

I'm looking a for Stall Circle Standing or central Balcony Standing ticket for both Swan Lake 5th and 12th March. Thanks, Silke

My friend cannot make it to this performance so I’d like to resell this ticket. It’s the T61 in the Amphitheatre and costs £21. Date: Thursday, 5 March. Note that it’s an early start at 19:00. Cast: Nunez and Muntagirov. This is an e-ticket so can send you via email. Thanks!

I have a spare tkt for Swan Lake on Thursday 5th March 7pm (early start!): Amphitheatre seat L-67, £30 (fabulous Marianela Nunez and Vadim Muntagirov) I'll be there on the evening for tkt exchange Thanks, Silke

Selling Balcony standing side C-65 for Swan Lake 7:30 pm on Saturday 28th March: £11 Cast is Francesca Hayward, Cesar Corrales I'll be at ROH multiple times beforehand for exchange or I could leave the tkt at box office. Thanks, Silke

I know it's still a few months away but due to travel plans I'm now selling my Swan Lake ticket for Wednesday 15th April 19:30 It's in the Amphitheatre seat M 46, £30, cast for that night are Mayara Magri and Marcelino Sambé. Please send a PM if interested. Thanks, Silke

The casting is on BRB's website for the whole of the Spring Tour of Swan Lake!!! https://www.brb.org.uk/whats-on/event/swan-lake?utm_source=brb-facebook&utm_medium=post-video-casting&utm_campaign=swanlake-brb-tour#dates-and-times

Selling due to diary clash. Francesca Hayward and Cesar Corrales in Swan Lake, 8 April 2020, Ampitheatre E47, 48 £82 or ONO.

Bill Cooper, the photographer of this recently published book, and some Royal Ballet principals will be signing copies after the Manon rehearsal tomorrow (Tuesday, 1st October).

Well, I'm assuming that the run of the Bolshoi's Swan Lake starts at the Royal Opera House tonight, so here's your chance to discuss it in detail.

I apologise for the length of this post but would be interested to hear others’ opinions. Swan Lake is my favourite ballet. Maybe the reason is similar to that of a duckling attach itself to its earliest memory, whether it be a human or a wellington boot. It was the first ballet I ever experienced (at London Festival Ballet), and since then I’ve been hooked. And the sublime music was the first LP I ever bought. But there are so many Swan Lakes! I am about to see another next Saturday – I couldn’t resist the Zakharova/Rodkin combination even though this version isn’t my favourite. It is more abstract, with minimal mime and a rather abrupt ending, but I am sure the dancing will be transcendent and it will probably be my last chance to enjoy beautiful Svetlana in the role, given that she has passed her fortieth birthday. The best version I’ve seen is by (what was then) the Kirov, in their own theatre. Their scenery was just magical with a very realistic looking lake glimmering in the moonlight. The whole production was like an exquisite poem, with dancing to match. I still have the cast list somewhere but at the time didn’t recognise any of the names even though I can read Cyrillic script. The only thing I didn’t like was the overly happy ending. I thoroughly enjoyed the Royal Ballet older versions. Liam Scarlett’s new SL has some strong points (MacFarlane’s scenery is gorgeous) but I find Benno, Siegfried’s friend, irritatingly omnipresent whilst visually resembling some kind of bellboy. (For this role I prefer the Bolshoi jester who is terrific albeit perhaps less true to the original production.) I’m not sure about the late C19th costumes; for what is a fairy story I’d prefer the era to be more ambiguous. And why is Von Rothbart so visible at court, glowering melodramatically at the Prince who must surely be his social superior? And the ending is tragic but inappropriately uses the music which signifies triumph and positivity where Tchiakovsky changes the swan theme to a major key (suited to an Apotheosis). Then there is 26-year-old Nureyev’s version in which he dared to change a great deal of the choreography, and for which he and Fonteyn got a legendary 89 curtain calls in Vienna. This I have only seen on video of course. There have been many, many other productions by different companies all over the world, and I have seen a few of these too but none remains lodged firmly in my memory. None is perfect but all are worth watching for this Tchaikovsky addict. I never tire of this ballet. Do YOU have a favourite ‘Lebedinoye Ozero’? And if so, why?

Does anyone know what the parts are for juniors and seniors in swan Lake ? i have several pupils at casting day today . I’d like to be able to tell them a bit about their parts ! Presume seniors are swans ! Thank you

Just announced for next June: https://www.ballet.org.uk/production/swan-lake-round/