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Sergei Polunin - news and discussions - cont'd


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9 hours ago, Lindsay said:

 

Polunin is free to hire space for his projects but no one is obliged to go and see him perform and I reserve the right to think less of those who do.  Doesn't matter how brilliant they consider his dancing to be.  To support him is to support his repugnant views.  Very disappointed by Kobborg's continued collaboration.  

 

 

I wonder if any of that has to do with the fact that it was widely reported in the press that Polunin left the Royal Ballet due to friction with Kobborg's life partner Alina Cojocaru. Kobborg might feel guilty that Polunin quitting the Royal Ballet started this years-long train wreck. 

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https://www.1843magazine.com/content/arts/dancers-demons

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ON JANUARY 24TH this year Sergei Polunin “woke up fine” and went to work. He was to spend most of the day at the Royal Opera House, rehearsing the climactic duet in “The Dream” in which he was to make his debut as Oberon. Anthony Dowell, who created the role, was coaching Polunin, and his Titania was the Romanian ballerina Alina Cojocaru—an exquisite artist whose harebell delicacy on stage belies a ferociously exacting temperament in the studio. Polunin was in an unreceptive mood. He had just left his first serious girlfriend, the Royal Ballet soloist Helen Crawford. “This was the second day and it suddenly hit me. Two years we were together and I’d really got used to her.” Cojocaru was not happy either. Frederick Ashton’s Nocturne pas de deux is a masterly rendition of the battle of the sexes, the new accord between the Fairy King and Queen enacted in mirror-image movements in which the two dancers must find total reciprocity of technique and emotion. There is also a notorious stumbling block when the ballerina is rotated by her partner like an open compass as her torso jack-knifes under her extended leg. Cojocaru made it clear to Polunin that he was not helping.

“I thought one more word and that’s it. I held tight, trying not to cry. And then my head flew off.” He announced that he was leaving, which Dowell took to mean leaving the room for a few minutes. But Polunin meant for good.

 

Edited by Ivy Lin
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I think you’ll find that Johan, Alina (they are married) and Sergei are friends.  Who remembers the amazing Les Lutins created by Johan for Alina, Sergei and Stephen McRae whilst at the RB?

 

Alina, Johan and Sergei all left the RB under a black cloud within a year. I do question how the RB management managed to treat 3 outstanding principals so poorly they left?  And also Tamara Rojo around the same time? 

 

Alina and Sergei subsequently performed at galas together.  

 

The programme at the Palladium next week is a joint project with Johan dancing alongside Sergei in Fraudulent Smile (programme 1) and Rasputin (programme 2).

 

Romeo and Juliet in Verona in August this year is a new joint project with Alina and Sergei in main roles and Johan as Tybalt and choreographer.  

 

Johan and Sergei also worked together on White Crow with Ralph Fiennes.

 

Perhaps we should be seeing Sergei through Johan’s eyes?  Johan is a very capable man and I believe he sees something others may not have opened their eyes to see.  

 

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The circumstances of Polunin’s departure from the RB  is surely the gift that stopped giving years ago?  

Kobborg was a great artist but has perhaps made some errors of judgment  along the way; maybe he feels more aligned with Polunin’s  loose  canon/slash and burn approach than with the more conventional path taken by others..

Anyway, all will be revealed shortly at the Palladium and then Verona, assuming Polunin manages not to offend any other sections of society   before these performances ...

 

 

Edited by BeauxArts
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All Ivy Lin's link indicates is that Polunin and Cojocaru were having problems in one rehearsal.  It may have been the last straw that broke the camel's back, but I see no indications of any ongoing problem.

 

Johan and Alina have actually got married?  I must have missed that.

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11 hours ago, FionaE said:

I think you’ll find that Johan, Alina (they are married) and Sergei are friends.  Who remembers the amazing Les Lutins created by Johan for Alina, Sergei and Stephen McRae whilst at the RB?

 

Alina, Johan and Sergei all left the RB under a black cloud within a year. I do question how the RB management managed to treat 3 outstanding principals so poorly they left?  And also Tamara Rojo around the same time? 

 

 

I don't want to participate in a debate about Sergei but I think that you are offering some misleading statements here, FionaE and I don't think that they should go unchallenged.

 

1. Johan Kobborg and Alina Cojocaru are an engaged couple with young daughter.

2. They left the Royal Ballet in July 2013 and there are varying versions of the circumstances leading up to their departure. Johan did post something critical on Twitter about their moment of leaving after they had fulfilled their engagements in Japan with the RB,  but nothing has been said in public about the  'whole story'. They had given their final performance in Mayerling the preceding May. The Director at that time was Kevin O'Hare. The Director when Sergei left was Dame Monica Mason.

3. Tamara Rojo left to take up the position of Artistic Director of ENB in 2012. Both that appointment and the change of Director at the RB were in no way connected with Sergei's departure. 

 

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55 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

I don't want to participate in a debate about Sergei but I think that you are offering some misleading statements here, FionaE and I don't think that they should go unchallenged.

 

1. Johan Kobborg and Alina Cojocaru are an engaged couple with young daughter.

2. They left the Royal Ballet in July 2013 and there are varying versions of the circumstances leading up to their departure. Johan did post something critical on Twitter about their moment of leaving after they had fulfilled their engagements in Japan with the RB,  but nothing has been said in public about the  'whole story'. They had given their final performance in Mayerling the preceding May. The Director at that time was Kevin O'Hare. The Director when Sergei left was Dame Monica Mason.

3. Tamara Rojo left to take up the position of Artistic Director of ENB in 2012. Both that appointment and the change of Director at the RB were in no way connected with Sergei's departure. 

 

Apologies I wasn’t suggesting the departures from RB were linked to Sergei leaving. Only that it didn’t reflect well on RB management.  But as everyone says - that is all ancient history.

 

And yes I was under the impression Johan and Alina were married.  But as I am not a personal friend, I realise I have only hearsay to go on.  They’ve been a couple for 14 years or so I read.  

 

Thanks for the clarification!  And sorry again, I didn’t mean to mislead.  

Edited by FionaE
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6 minutes ago, Fiz said:

 

I think you mean the ‘Sergei bashing’ never stops.  

 

What happened to forgiveness, understanding and giving a person the benefit of the doubt.  I didn’t think this was a site for venting dislike in personal attacks.  If you don’t like him or what he does, you could just not comment.  Are we not here to discuss dance?

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14 minutes ago, FionaE said:

 

I think you mean the ‘Sergei bashing’ never stops.  

 

What happened to forgiveness, understanding and giving a person the benefit of the doubt.  I didn’t think this was a site for venting dislike in personal attacks.  If you don’t like him or what he does, you could just not comment.  Are we not here to discuss dance?

 

Well, what Sergei says in the article about love doesn’t really reconcile with his posts on social media! This looks like a publicity stunt for his upcoming show.

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It's not Sergei bashing FionaE.

Polunin is a dancer in the public eye and therefore he must take responsibility for his actions and words or face the consequences. How much longer does he expect people to go on forgiving him? When WILL he learn and grow up? This all just shows how naive and childish he really is!

 

He is not the only dancer in the world who has had to face numerous difficulties such as being separated from parents, having divorced parents,  having to live far away from the parents whilst training, going through the hardship of training and making a career. I won't name dancers but I know of several dancers who have had to face very similar issues when growing up (some even worse!) and they all coped, adapted, learned, listened to and applied the advice, they were highly self-disciplined, worked very very hard to get where they are now. They are respected by their audience and admired for their courage and strength, something which cannot be said about Polunin at all. 

Polunin is an adult man for goodness sake, when will he realise there are consequences when he publicly posts his hurtful words about the gay community, about the obese,...and face the consequences of having the face of Putin tattoed on his chest? 

 

In this day and age of PC, one cannot confuse the liberty of thinking with the liberty of speaking...

 

:) "Let's enlist the help of the Daily Mail.co.uk to "justify" my previous statements in order to encourage ticket sales for the upcoming shows in the hope people will forgive and forget..." :) 

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31 minutes ago, FionaE said:

What happened to forgiveness, understanding and giving a person the benefit of the doubt.

 

Forgiveness and understanding are admirable.  However, how many chances do you give someone?  Polunin’s unacceptable behaviour is never a one-off; it happens time and time again.  At some point, everyone has the right to say “enough is enough” and refuse to watch his performances any more.

 

I had a great deal of sympathy for Polunin and can fully understand how his upbringing has affected him.  However, he is an adult now and at some point we must all take responsibility for ourselves and decide whether to keep repeating past mistakes or to learn from them and modify our behaviour, with therapy if appropriate.  

 

I don’t think Polunin has reached this stage yet - blaming “Social Media” is just another way of saying “it’s not my fault”.  Assuming he typed those awful (and numerous) homophobic and body-shaming posts himself and pressed “post” himself then he is showing people who he really is, deep down.  I am a firm believer in second, third and fourth chances but there comes a point when if someone is repeatedly showing you who they are, listen.  And block, if necessary - or in this case, block and refuse to give your money and your time.

 

Yes, this is a ballet forum but Polunin is still a ballet dancer who is performing.  I see no reason that we shouldn’t discuss him (within forum rules, of course).

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Is anybody on here actually going to see his shows?  

 

Or is it only me?  And the 8,000+ other people (I am estimating low, as I don’t have access to accurate figures) who have bought tickets to this week?

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I won't.

Out of respect towards all my gay and obese friends, out of respect for all the dancers (gay and otherwise) who DO work hard every day, who don't moan, who show respect towards others, who are self-disciplined and in the end are far greater dancers/artists than Polunin, dancers who don't resort to self-pity in order to trust themselves in the limelight and use social media, and also... out of respect for my own political views.

 

Those 8,000+ people are free to go and I'll hope they enjoy what they'll see, oh and... they'll also get to see the one who danced in the YouTube "Get-me-to-the-church"  :)  

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22 minutes ago, FionaE said:

Is anybody on here actually going to see his shows?  

 

Or is it only me?  And the 8,000+ other people (I am estimating low, as I don’t have access to accurate figures) who have bought tickets to this week?

 

I'm not going. I've given up. After he left the RB I saw him dance live in Moscow (Other Dances),  Munich (Bayadere), Sadlers Wells for the show with Osipova and on live relay screening (Giselle). His dancing is a shadow of what it was, he isn't as fit as he needs to be and I find his choice of repertory poor. 

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37 minutes ago, FionaE said:

Is anybody on here actually going to see his shows?  

 

Or is it only me?  And the 8,000+ other people (I am estimating low, as I don’t have access to accurate figures) who have bought tickets to this week?

 

That’s an interesting estimate, and that you say you’re estimating low.

 

Take-up of tickets is so slow that the grand circle is closed, so that reduces the capacity of the theatre to 1,640. Six shows means a possible capacity of 9,840. The first night is quite well sold in the stalls (but not so well in the royal circle). The other shows are, give or take, about half sold. So I’d say he’ll be lucky to have about five to six thousand tickets sold when the shows go on (ripe for tickets at TKTS!).

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7 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

That’s an interesting estimate, and that you say you’re estimating low.

 

Take-up of tickets is so slow that the grand circle is closed, so that reduces the capacity of the theatre to 1,640. Six shows means a possible capacity of 9,840. The first night is quite well sold in the stalls (but not so well in the royal circle). The other shows are, give or take, about half sold. So I’d say he’ll be lucky to have about five to six thousand tickets sold when the shows go on (ripe for tickets at TKTS!).

 

Ah that’s interesting, I didn’t know the grand circle was closed.  So yes I will have overstated from what I could see.  What happens to those people who bought tickets there?

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7 hours ago, FionaE said:

 

I think you mean the ‘Sergei bashing’ never stops.  

 

What happened to forgiveness, understanding and giving a person the benefit of the doubt.  I didn’t think this was a site for venting dislike in personal attacks.  If you don’t like him or what he does, you could just not comment.  Are we not here to discuss dance?

Fiona:  Maybe you could persuade Sergei to talk about dance?  

 

As for going to his latest venture - I'm washing my hair that week.

Edited by penelopesimpson
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7 hours ago, FionaE said:

 

I think you mean the ‘Sergei bashing’ never stops.  

 

What happened to forgiveness, understanding and giving a person the benefit of the doubt.  I didn’t think this was a site for venting dislike in personal attacks.  If you don’t like him or what he does, you could just not comment.  Are we not here to discuss dance?

 

You can only forgive forgivable offenses. Slurs against the LGBT community, "fat people," his continued support of a tyrant, his misogyny and his lack of professionalism to me cross the line into unforgivable.

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14 hours ago, penelopesimpson said:

Fiona:  Maybe you could persuade Sergei to talk about dance?  

 

As for going to his latest venture - I'm washing my hair that week.

 

I think it’s interesting to note at the press announcement for Rasputin in Moscow that all the questions from journalists were about the show, EXCEPT from the British representative.

 

So it’s a 2-way street, maybe the powers that be on here could persuade the British press to talk to Sergei about dance?

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A post on this thread has been hidden because it contravenes the Acceptable Use Policy on quoting from external sources.

 

If you want to post an article in a foreign language it is suggested that you link to the article and suggest google translate.  Including a sentence or 2 of the translation would be the maximum acceptable.

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On 27/05/2019 at 11:06, FionaE said:

 

Ah that’s interesting, I didn’t know the grand circle was closed.  So yes I will have overstated from what I could see.  What happens to those people who bought tickets there?

The grand circle has been reopened, at least for tonight

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Interesting that no one on this group has responded to me that they are going to see any of Sergei Polunin’s shows this week. 

 

I wonder, is that because interested people are too intimidated to respond here, or that they have long since given up on this group. 

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19 minutes ago, FionaE said:

Interesting that no one on this group has responded to me that they are going to see any of Sergei Polunin’s shows this week. 

 

I wonder, is that because interested people are too intimidated to respond here, or that they have long since given up on this group. 

 

I'm not going as I have better things to do and because I have no desire to see Polunin perform.

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