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RB Promotion Predictions for 2018/19?


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Is it too soon to be discussing who has a good prospect of promotion in the Royal Ballet for next season?   It seems these are usually announced about June or July but perhaps there is no harm in  putting forward  ideas a few months in advance.

 

One thing I am not clear about - is there a cetain limit in the number of principals? I.e. 8 ladies, 8 gentlemen at present. 

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Yes, think you’re a bit previous there, Richard 🙂

The promotions and joiners/leavers announced after the summer tour, if memory serves, and after the dancers themselves are informed with their annual official chat with the AD

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8 hours ago, Richard LH said:

One thing I am not clear about - is there a cetain limit in the number of principals? I.e. 8 ladies, 8 gentlemen at present. 

 

Yes, that's something I've been thinking about too. Given the number of hugely talented First Soloists the RB has at the moment will they have to wait for someone to leave or retire before they can be promoted?

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8 hours ago, zxDaveM said:

Yes, think you’re a bit previous there, Richard 🙂

The promotions and joiners/leavers announced after the summer tour, if memory serves, and after the dancers themselves are informed with their annual official chat with the AD

I'm definitely previous in terms of any announcement, but what I hoped was some discussion about people's hopes or expectations......

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  • 3 months later...

We all abandoned this thread in March because it seemed too soon to offer predictions and, recently, there has been discussion of promotions around the theme of a principal pipeline.

But I'm  bumping this up now because the RB is coming to the end of its home season and an announcement of joiners, leavers and promotions cannot be far away. Moreover, having had Manon, the last triple bill and Swan Lake in quick succession, the RB's amazing talent has really been set out before us.

 

[I wonder what people's thoughts are about promotions in other companies as well although we've already had Northern's.]

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2 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

[I wonder what people's thoughts are about promotions in other companies as well although we've already had Northern's.]

 

I don't think any promotion is as overdue as Brandon Lawrence's at BRB. He's still only at Soloist rank (I had to double check as it seems so absurd).

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I so agree Lizbie.  I was vocal (if one can be vocal on a written forum!) in my dismay last year when he was not promoted.  Absurd is the right word.  He has danced many principal roles, with more to come, and he should be at least a First Soloist if not a Principal.  I do hope that this very bad blip is corrected in the next couple of months.  

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OK I'm going to stick my neck out:

 

Artists to First Artists: Teo Dubreuil, Ashley  Dean, Joseph Sissens

First Artists to Soloists: Isabella Gasparini, Calvin Richardson

Soloists to First Soloists: William Bracewell, Reece Clarke, Fumi Kaneko, Mayara  Magri

First Soloist to Principal: Matthew Ball

 

Some of this may not come to pass as the First Soloist level would be getting very crowded. There are, of course, other very worthy candidates for promotion (e.g. Anna Rose O'Sullivan) who might need to wait another year or so.

 

 

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On 15/06/2018 at 10:23, Lizbie1 said:

 

I don't think any promotion is as overdue as Brandon Lawrence's at BRB. He's still only at Soloist rank (I had to double check as it seems so absurd).

 

I agree and personally I feel the same about ENB's James Streeter.  He's such a terrific actor as well as a beautiful dancer. In all the years I've been watching him perform, I can't believe he's never been promoted to Principal.

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31 minutes ago, capybara said:

OK I'm going to stick my neck out:

 

Artists to First Artists: Teo Dubreuil, Ashley  Dean, Joseph Sissens

First Artists to Soloists: Isabella Gasparini, Calvin Richardson

Soloists to First Soloists: William Bracewell, Reece Clarke, Fumi Kaneko, Mayara  Magri

First Soloist to Principal: Matthew Ball

 

Some of this may not come to pass as the First Soloist level would be getting very crowded. There are, of course, other very worthy candidates for promotion (e.g. Anna Rose O'Sullivan) who might need to wait another year or so.

 

 

 

Thumbs up to all of these.

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Given Kevin O'Hare's record of the last couple of years where he seems to create more promotions than expected, I am very much hoping he'll conjure up a few more white rabbits.  In addition to Capybara's nominations, I'd add Anna Rose O'Sullivan, Meaghan Grace Hinkis, Elizabeth Harrod, Marcelino Sambe, James Hay, Benjamin Ella, and David Yudes.

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Thanks Xandra - I think a lot depends on how transition is managed, including retirements.  Last year I thought promotions to Principal Character Artist created a number of opportunities which hadn't been expected.  I just get the impression Kevin O'Hare manages to find ways of promoting more dancers more quickly, although I do agree that the number of 'nominations' is likely to be larger than the actual number of promotions.

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17 hours ago, Xandra Newman said:

That would make 17 promotions....:)  

Never happened before.  

Surely the AD also has to stick to an overall  dancers' salary budget. 

 

 there's  tricks  any organisation can use  there  and i wouldn;t be suprised  if  RB don;t use them 
e.g.
sending people out on 'loan' 
using other budgets  within the  organisation to pay  for  people  in blended  roles  between  departments 

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Unfortunately not all the most talented dancers can be promoted at once or there would be no-one left to do the smaller roles! (I know there is some flexibility about what roles dancers do - but only up to a point most of the time.) Nevertheless I think there is sometimes a case for missing out a rank, which sometimes used to happen (though in general I'm sure it's helpful for both the dancer and the company for there to be a more gradual progression). So (for instance) someone who has clearly been an excellent soloist could go straight to principal. I don't know if that will happen this time though because there are so many talented first soloists too. It depends if anyone is leaving too/what vacancies there may be. And height considerations come into it...

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Skipping other ranks may be okay, but I'd be very reluctant to promote anyone straight from soloist to principal: it's usually far too much of a jump, as they won't generally have done enough principal-level work to "qualify", so to speak. And the last time I remember it happening wasn't entirely successful, and I think may have harmed the dancer's long-term development.

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17 minutes ago, bridiem said:

.... Nevertheless I think there is sometimes a case for missing out a rank, which sometimes used to happen (though in general I'm sure it's helpful for both the dancer and the company for there to be a more gradual progression). ....

 

We have seen cases in the past of dancers skipping a rank. They got injured and were off dancing for many months, even an entire Season.  We also know dancers who were fast tracked and it didn't help their career at all.

We may all feel so and so deserves a promotion but in the end it is the AD who knows his dancers best: he knows which dancers can perform at their best under pressure, those who are more injury prone, those who are most reliable, those who are fast learners, those who can deal with increased mental and physical pressure of joining a higher rank,...

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When I first started going to ballet (late '70s), there was no first soloist rank. There were artists, coryphées, solo artists and principals; so of course soloists did go straight to principal. I can't remember when the ranks were changed but no doubt someone else will know!

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4 minutes ago, bridiem said:

When I first started going to ballet (late '70s), there was no first soloist rank. There were artists, coryphées, solo artists and principals; so of course soloists did go straight to principal. I can't remember when the ranks were changed but no doubt someone else will know!

 

And it's off-topic, but why so many different ranks at ENB? (Seven at the last count.)

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16 minutes ago, ravensara said:

When were promotions announced last year, and when is it likely to be announced this year? 

 

After the tour to Australia (mid July). However, the timing varies from year to year and the Madrid tour is later this year. There are also some dancers who are reported not to have had their 'meeting' with the Director yet. He has a lot of people to get through and it's been a very busy time.

 

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I think an exception to the 'skipping a level when promoted' rule is surely Brandon Lawrence of BRB.  He is a Soloist and IMHO should have been promoted to First Soloist last year.  He has danced most of the Principal roles, and is about to debut as Romeo.  He has just had a ballet (Embrace) created on him, and regularly partners two Principal dancers (Delia Mathews and Celine Gittens).  He should definitely be up there with them, so come on Mr Bintley, please do the right thing this time!  :)

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4 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

After the tour to Australia (mid July). However, the timing varies from year to year and the Madrid tour is later this year. There are also some dancers who are reported not to have had their 'meeting' with the Director yet. He has a lot of people to get through and it's been a very busy time.

 

 

Capybara, you're much better informed than me about this kind of thing: wasn't the relatively early announcement before the Japanese tour a couple of years ago driven by the contractual obligation to cast principals?

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10 minutes ago, Sim said:

I think an exception to the 'skipping a level when promoted' rule is surely Brandon Lawrence of BRB.  He is a Soloist and IMHO should have been promoted to First Soloist last year.  He has danced most of the Principal roles, and is about to debut as Romeo.  He has just had a ballet (Embrace) created on him, and regularly partners two Principal dancers (Delia Mathews and Celine Gittens).  He should definitely be up there with them, so come on Mr Bintley, please do the right thing this time!  :)

 

Or risk losing him? William Bracewell was, in my view, left hanging in the soloist slot for a tad too long and look what happened :)

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