Royal Ballet promotions 2016

[ravensara]

I thought Nehemiah was actually pretty good as Albrecht opposite Akane, but unfortunately I couldn't get invested in what happened to her Giselle. I found her disappointing.

 

I think the Collier-Hayward comparison is pretty apt! I don't mean to compare Yasmine and Francesca, I think they're both principal material and it's exciting that we have two very talented young ballerinas rising through the rank. They are quite different stylistically and I think that's a good thing. Francesca is such a delight to watch on stage, and maybe with time she'll find more depth and complexity in her interpretation. And I'm definitely looking forward to Yasmine's career. I do think Francesca has been promoted too soon however, and I wish she'd been allowed to debut a tutu role before being promoted as her debut will now be watched and commented on more closely.

 

You're right Nina, perhaps Yuhui made a better artistic choice staying on in RB. She gets to perform lead roles in Ashton ballets, the occasional principal role and the opportunity to create new works with Mcgregor etc. I agree she's not quite principal material, but she is popular and not quite just a first soloist either, unlike Kobayashi. Maybe she's a Principal-Soloist?

[bangorballetboy]

Perhaps, just as Iona [sic] Loots did years ago, Yuhui Choe should have moved to BRB where no doubt she would have become a Principal.

??? Do you mean Natasha Oughtred?

[Nina G.]

Yes! Thank you very much for correcting me Bangorballetboy. 

[zxDaveM]

funny how we all see things differently - Akane Takada's Giselle was my favourite performance this time round; she has definitely rediscovered her mojo, after seemingly going through a patch where she did seem to focus exclusively on technique (after injury?) at the expense of character. Her Giselle was magnificent to my eyes - as was her 'Girl' in Two Pigeons (she seemed one of the few who invested anything into such a daft ballet)

[Beryl H]

I admire Akane Takada too, for me she has a wonderful mixture of delicacy and expansive Russian style technique, when I watch her as one of the 2 Wilis on the Osipova Blu-Ray I wish I had seen her as Giselle, and the Girl in Two Pigeons, she was the only one I missed.

 

I'll make sure I see her Aurora!

[FLOSS]

I don't think that I would compare Hayward with Cojocaru. Did Alina really bring all those layers to her performances in her early performances of Manon and Juliet? Dancer's performances are always affected by who they are dancing with and I seem to recall that Alina had the benefit of dancing with Kobborg from a very early stage in her career at Covent Garden.Hayward's first Manon was extraordinary for such an inexperienced dancer. I have no doubt that dancing with Watson helped, but then any dancer's performance will  be assisted if they are teamed with an experienced, supportive partner who can act. I found her Juliet  fascinating as it showed just how much a dancer can achieve in that role dancing in a vacuum with a less than involved Romeo.

 

 I don't think that I would compare Hayward with Collier either. She does not remind me much of Collier.She dances two roles that Collier did, the Neapolitan dance  and the ballerina role in Rhapsody. Her approach is very different. She does not dance the Neapolitan dance with half the brio that Collier did, and the way she dances in Rhapsody is far more lyrical than Collier although just as Ashtonian in style. 

 

Every dancer is a unique individual who brings their body,their personality, their industry,intelligence,ingenuity and their musicality to their performances. It seems to me that it is far too early to say in what direction Hayward's career or that of Nagdhi will develop. I suspect that Nagdhi will be one of the next dancers to be promoted to principal, particularly if she continues to dance with Ball.

 

I think that we are very fortunate that the company has so many talented dancers in its ranks at all levels . At least Kevin is not searching round for potential talent.As he had his formative experiences in a company whose management knew how to "grow their own" perhaps he too has the skill to manage and develop the pool of talent that is in the company at present. The real problem for Kevin, it seems to me, is going to be how to manage the careers of those who he cannot promote to the highest rank.

 

Now I know that there are many on this forum who cannot understand why Choe has not been promoted to principal but for everyone who finds her sweet, charming and technically adept and a lovely Lise and Young Girl there are people who see her as a small scale dancer with limited pliancy in her upper body and little stage personality. Both groups are seeing the same dancer in the same performances and yet they come away with very different impressions. I know that few can afford to go to see multiple casts and we all tend to go to see performances by the dancers we admire but anyone who saw both Choe and Stix- Brunell as the Young Girl might have got some insight into what some find lacking in Choe's performances.

 

She has shown that she can reproduce the choreography of several ballets as far as the lower body is concerned but her upper body movement always seems very stiff and small scale to me. In addition all the characters that she portrays seem to be virtually interchangeable. Whether she is  dancing Lescaut's Mistress, Lise, the Young Girl, Aurora or the ballerina role in Rhapsody,it all comes out looking the same. The only role which she brings to life and gives any individuality to,is one of the brawling "girls" in the brothel scene in Manon. She has got to a certain point in her career and a certain position in the company but she seems to have stopped developing as an artist. As far as her position in the company is concerned I think that there is too much potential in its lower ranks for management to want to promote her. If she were promoted it would almost certainly block the promotion opportunities of some of the more junior dancers who show real talent and potential and are likely to be really deserving of promotion in the near future.If it came to it I think that the company would be more concerned about retaining their services than those of Choe.

 

We are beginning to see Monica's company evolve into Kevin's company. If you look at the age of the current principal dancers it is clear that there are several departures that won't be delayed for much longer. I have already mentioned some of the dancers who I think would be adversely affected if the company were to approach promotion purely on the basis of seniority. I imagine that there are budgetary considerations to be taken into account in all this as well.The number of principals the company can afford to have must be finite.It will be interesting to see if Rosato is replaced as character principal. I seem to recall that Kevin said that he wanted fewer principal dancers.It is quite possible that fewer principal dancers would mean more opportunities for a wider range of dancers to dance major roles. It all lies in the future and the future shows every sign of being very interesting whether speaking in terms of dancers or repertory.

Edited August 21, 2016 by FLOSS

[capybara]

The up-to-date list of RB dancers is here:

 

http://www.roh.org.uk/about/the-royal-ballet/dancers

 

I can't spot any leavers who haven't already been mentioned on here.

[Mimi]

The only additional change I spotted is that Howells is no longer listed as a soloist. 

[Jamesrhblack]

The only additional change I spotted is that Howells is no longer listed as a soloist. 

 

It states on his Assistant Ballet Master page that he retired as a dancer in 2016. Sander Blommaert has also left.

[Jam Dancer]

I'm probably in the minority here, but I don't think Francesca merits the Alina comparisons yet. They have a similar stature and elegance, but where Francessca is delightful and naturalistic, Alina is subtle and layered. Francessca is a delight to watch but her performances don't stay with me after they way Alina's does. I prefer Yasmine, who usually gives a powerful emotional performance that is technically flawless but doesn't feel technical, much like Alina. Really happy to see her promotion, hope they make her principal one day! As for Akane, her performances leave me cold. Beautiful technique, and utterly boring! Giselle is my favorite ballet and I was unmoved by her performance, I was bored. Her technique was faultless but I felt like I was watching ballet exercises. Reminds me of the time I saw Polina Semionova do Swan Lake at the ABT, beautiful arabesques and flawless fouettes, but I checked out by the second half and didn't care what happened to her Odette.

 

 

 

Am I the only one who thinks it's a bit too early to compare Hayward and Naghdi to other more established and mature dancers?   Are we comparing the dancers at the similar periods in their careers?  We've seen limited work from both so how is it possible to tell how it will all pan out?  Both might have life experiences that dramatically change the way(s) in which they approach their performances  and end up  being nothing like Collier or Alina.

Edited August 24, 2016 by Jam Dancer

[capybara]

Disappointing that the RB/ROH could not have made more 'news' out of the internal promotion of 4 principals than is apparent in today's weak Telegraph article which almost comes across as negative publicity.

 

 Telegraph

 

Edited to add that the print version has no photos and makes no impact at all. An opportunity missed, also,  to publicise Fille and get some of those available tickets sold.

Edited September 10, 2016 by capybara

[Balletfanp]

Hmm, I see what you mean - it's almost like "Don't expect to see anything particularly exciting if you come to the ballet". I did like Hirano's point that they are storytellers and not "circus trick people", though.

[Ian Macmillan]

The group pictures were taken in one of the ROH studios, by the looks of things, but beyond that I wonder at the degree of editorial control, if any, that the RB/ROH would have had on the article and space allocated to it in the paper.  

[alison]

Well, the Telegraph does usually like ballet and dance photos, doesn't it?  Or is it only ones involving Darcey?

[FLOSS]

I can't comment on who controlled the content of this article. I looks like a rather ham fisted attempt to say something about the way in which the expectation of parts of the ballet audience are fueled by the displays of dance involving empty bravura, extreme extensions and technical excess which can be seen on the internet and tie it in with a picture of the company's newly appointed Principal dancers.

 

But the idea that there are members of the audience who are looking for circus like displays at ballet performances is hardly new or newsworthy. In nineteenth century Russia the artists at the Mariinsky used to think that ballet audiences in Moscow had uninformed and unsophisticated tastes and by implication that dancers from Moscow were more circus artists than dancers Here's what Bournonville said about feats of virtuosity " The beautiful always retains the freshness of novelty while the astonishing soon grows tiresome". 

 

I certainly don't think that we are in for an unexciting season. It depends on what you find exciting I suppose, but a season full of beauty, charm,elegance, musicality and artistry with excellent characterisation in narrative works will suit me fine. I shall find that exciting enough. I shall certainly find it far more exciting artistically than someone churning out bravura steps with no concern for the way in which the music is being distorted and bludgeoned into submission in order to accommodate the  dancer's "artistic" feats.

Edited September 10, 2016 by FLOSS