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English National Ballet: Le Corsaire, Winter 2015/16


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I am going tomorrow, and can't wait.  I enjoyed it so much the last time it was in London, I actually ended up booking for multiple performances, something I don't normally do.  Sadly, this time I can only manage the one.

 

What time does the evening performance finish? 

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Cheered me right up too - until I made the mistake of trying to get home :(  My train operating company is obviously completely incapable of organising the proverbial celebration in a brewery, because it managed to turn what ought to have been little more than an inconvenience into a major screw-up: what should have been a less-than-20-minute journey turning into 1 hour 35 minutes - I've only just got home.  Consequently, most of the enjoyment I felt at what was supposed to be a belated birthday treat has been totally dissipated by the stress of missing last connections and so on :(

 

Wouldn't be Southern would it? I've only just realised that I doubt I'll want to travel on Saturday 23rd January, just checking their website again, they have a horrible long list of future disruptions.

 

Am going to see Le Corsaire tomorrow and looking forward!

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Fantastic as Corrales is in the role of Ali, I hope that some of you will be seeing Junor Souza in the same role during this run as he was absolutely stupendous in the first run, very pantherine and so rather different from the explosiveness of Corrales. He (Junor) of course trained at ENBS as well and joined the company in 2008, I believe.

 

Regarding that high upside down lift, I think that it must be very difficult and rely on perfect positioning and balancing of the ballerina. Even Vadim looked a bit uncomfortable with it and we know what a tremendously good partner he is.

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I'll be going on Friday, too.

If I arrive at 19.00, is there enough time to get rid of my coat, get a programme, find my seat - Upper Circle row B?

 

You should be fine...there is a hang it yourself £1 slot rack up on that level too. Programmes are sold on all levels too.

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Cheered me right up too - until I made the mistake of trying to get home :(  My train operating company is obviously completely incapable of organising the proverbial celebration in a brewery, because it managed to turn what ought to have been little more than an inconvenience into a major screw-up: what should have been a less-than-20-minute journey turning into 1 hour 35 minutes - I've only just got home.  Consequently, most of the enjoyment I felt at what was supposed to be a belated birthday treat has been totally dissipated by the stress of missing last connections and so on :(

 

What a shame, Alison - but I hope that in fact the enjoyment was only temporarily dissipated! Sounds as if you and many other forum members were at a memorable performance, so a great way to mark your birthday.

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Better than that, I'd guess :)

 

Seriously, I guess it depends on what you think of as a 5-star performance.  Perfection?  Or just very good.  From my point of view, I'd say that I've seen very few that I would personally class as 5-star, so I'd be fine with giving last night's 4 stars.  Others may of course disagree.  I believe the critics don't necessarily see eye to eye as to what constitutes a 5-star performance either - and I know some hate the whole idea of assigning stars to any performance :)

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Foteini Christofilopoulou was at the dress rehearsal - here are some photos!

 

23747942303_c7c09f118a_z.jpg
Brooklyn Mack, Laurretta Summerscales
© Foteini Christofilopoulou. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

 

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Brooklyn Mack, Cesar Corrales
© Foteini Christofilopoulou. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

 

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Ksenia Ovsyanick
© Foteini Christofilopoulou. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

 

See more...

Set from DanceTabs: ENB - Le Corsaire
Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

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I feel that the corps' contribution to the liveliness of the performance should be acknowledged. Crystal Costa sparkled as a saucy lead villager on Wednesday night.

 

I feel that four stars was a fair 'grading' of the performance. Three stars, as given by some reviewers, is a bit stingy imo. Some reviewers don't approve of the subject matter of the story / think that it doesn't advance the cause of bringing ballet into the 21st century and I feel that this colours their views of the performances.

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"Le Corsaire is not the show to convince you that ballet is a 21st-century art form."

 

Hmmm, why do reviewers find it necessary to put something like this, and suggest that therefore this downgrades any stars they might give?  Would somebody giving a review of one of many operas with enormously silly stories preface their comments with something like that? 

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"Le Corsaire is not the show to convince you that ballet is a 21st-century art form."

 

Hmmm, why do reviewers find it necessary to put something like this, and suggest that therefore this downgrades any stars they might give?  Would somebody giving a review of one of many operas with enormously silly stories preface their comments with something like that? 

 

 

I heartily agree Fonty. I do think every art form needs to have at least one seriously silly romp that can be a bit of fun...I'll take Le Corsaire any day over the latest trend of current events and I am pleased that I have one set of tickets for Sunday's  matinee performance AND I'm on my way to secure another ticket (hopefully) as I could with do with staying in a suspended state of amusement at the moment.

Edited by Jamdancer
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That Evening Standard review really irritated me, and felt that it was somewhat preconceived based on the ballet itself, and the reviewer's personal agenda for reeducating ballet goers, irrespective of its performance ????

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The review from Mark Monohan in the Telegraph has the most wonderful typo that made me chuckle:

 

"Whether or not ballet is traditionally your thing, you’ll leave with a small on your face".

 

Are the audience getting so excited they are throwing their underwear about?

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Ah, Lindsay Winship.  That would explain it. 

 

Not sure why a 19th-century ballet should be expected to be a 21st-century art form.  Would you expect Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto to convince people that classical music is a 21st-century art form?

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An amazing performance last night from Isaac Hernandez as Conrad (alongside others who have already been much praised on here). His interpretation was believable, his dancing was beautiful and he was able, also, to pull out a number of extra flourishes to make the audience go "wow".

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An amazing performance last night from Isaac Hernandez as Conrad (alongside others who have already been much praised on here). His interpretation was believable, his dancing was beautiful and he was able, also, to pull out a number of extra flourishes to make the audience go "wow".

 

I agree entirely with capybara.  In addition Hernandez's partnering last night was a masterclass in elegance.  The bedroom PDD flashed by as if it was incarcerated in in an exotic dream, buoyed by its own absolute surety.  

Edited by Bruce Wall
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I'm particularly excited to see the mightily explosive Cesar Corrales again. A massive star for the future.

 

Though, might there be a danger of the RB snatching him at this exciting time in his career? :( or do they tend to wait until the ENB promote him to principal first, if they want him, such as happened with Vadim Muntagirov?

Does anyone know how it usually works?

If they were to get him now, would he remain soloist at the RB, in a bigger pond of potential principals? Is it better to be a big fish in the smaller pond at the ENB?

Edited by cavycapers
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I'm particularly excited to see the mightily explosive Cesar Corrales again. A massive star for the future.

 

Though, might there be a danger of the RB snatching him at this exciting time in his career? :( or do they tend to wait until the ENB promote him to principal first, if they want him, such as happened with Vadim Muntagirov?

Does anyone know how it usually works?

If they were to get him now, would he remain soloist at the RB, in a bigger pond of potential principals? Is it better to be a big fish in the smaller pond at the ENB?

What a very strange thing to say/ask. Vadim has confirmed in several interviews that he was ready for a move. He wasn't "snatched".

 

In any event, I thought Corrales was excellent last night. I hope that his freshness, vitality and youthful abandon do not diminish.

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I remember Cesar Corrales from the 2013 prix de Lausanne he was one of the students who did a video blog. He just looked so young then but you could see his potential. He did win a prize but don't know what he did with the Prize money.

I won't be seeing him on Sunday but I'm sure anyone of the cast is going to be interesting and exciting am very much looking forward to it especially after attending the workshop in the morning!!

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