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The Royal Ballet - Swan Lake, October 2012


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Is anyone able to report on the Alina/Federico performance last night, please?

 

Isn't it interesting that, after two years years, most of us are still speaking and writing about Nehemiah Kish as Kish whereas all the other RB/ENB and BRB dancers tend to be referred to more by their Christian names or Christian names plus surnames?

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If you look at my post #96, I referred to him by his Christian name. If I'm in a rush, I always use the shortest way possible, thus 'Zen' instead of 'Zenaida', 'Kish' instead of 'Nehemiah', etc. I almost always refer to male dancers by their surnames, and female ones by their Christian names. A bit old fashioned, but there we go. If I'm writing a more proper review or a long piece, I always use both names on first mention, then afterwards just the surnames...sometimes I do that for the women too. To be honest, I don't really think about it as I'm writing, it just comes out!

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Isn't it interesting that, after two years years, most of us are still speaking and writing about Nehemiah Kish as Kish whereas all the other RB/ENB and BRB dancers tend to be referred to more by their Christian names or Christian names plus surnames?

 

I'm not sure I'd read too much into that: personally, I try to stick to surnames when I'm reporting on performances, although the odd first name does appear on its own at other times. Apart from anything else, I can find it quite irritating when I'm on other sites and find them referring in first-name terms to dancers with whom I'm not overly familiar: seeing references to, say, "Sarah" or "Maria" on US ballet sites always has me stopping and thinking who they might mean, so I try to remember that not everyone reading this site will be clear on who's being talked about if first names alone are used. As for BRB dancers, I don't think it would occur to me just to use their first names: I think it must be something to do with relative unfamiliarity with the company, but at the same time I think distinctiveness of first names must be a factor - certainly when I'm talking of critics I might say "Clement" or "Ismene", but am less likely to say "Debra" or "Louise", for example.

 

Getting back to Kish, I'm trying to remember whether anyone does actually abbreviate his first name - if not, then "Kish" is a lot easier/quicker to spell!

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Is anyone able to report on the Alina/Federico performance last night, please?

 

Isn't it interesting that, after two years years, most of us are still speaking and writing about Nehemiah Kish as Kish whereas all the other RB/ENB and BRB dancers tend to be referred to more by their Christian names or Christian names plus surnames?

 

A number of people have been known to refer to him as "KMK" - Kiss Me Kish!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Saturday matinee 10 November - a beautiful performance from Marianela Nunez and Federico Bonelli, well deserved its cheering and stamping applause. And there was also the added bonus of two of the most graceful pairs of arms in the Royal Ballet - Claire Calvert in the Pas de Trois and Leanne Cope (partnered by husband Paul Kay) in the waltz.

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I would like to second how stunning the Saturday Matinee this weekend was with Nuñez and Bonelli.

 

As always, Nuñez gave a masterful and beautiful performance. Her Act II variation was delightful (although I fear Gruzin could have picked up the pace a little bit...) and her Act III variation was simply perfect. The change in character between Act II and III was strong enough to easily reach the Amphi but was not overstrong when viewed through binoculars. Bonelli was on fine form too, making the most of what little choreography Siegfried has in this production. His Act III variation had a lovely flow to it.

 

I've never seen these two together but they worked fantastically as a pair. Their white swan PdD was beautiful (Those devloppé devant lean backs to land in Siegfreid arms were divine!) and their black swan PdD was phenomenal - the best I've seen. In the Black Swan PdD Nuñez held an arabesque balance en pointe for what seemed like an absolute eternity - no wonder she seems to find the Rose Adage a doddle!

 

I took 5 of my friends to see the matinee (with 4 of them not familiar with ballet at all) and they all thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

I also went to the evening performance with Lamb and Pennefather. I thought Lamb was stunning - she really surprised me with how intelligent a performance she gave. Pennefather was good in Act II but seemed to have lost a little 'spark' in Act III which was a shame. I thought the Pd3 in the evening was superb: Choe, Kaneko and Campbell showing what top class dancers they all are! I also enjoyed the lead swans of Bhavani and Harrison.

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Saturday matinee 10 November - a beautiful performance from Marianela Nunez and Federico Bonelli, well deserved its cheering and stamping applause. And there was also the added bonus of two of the most graceful pairs of arms in the Royal Ballet - Claire Calvert in the Pas de Trois and Leanne Cope (partnered by husband Paul Kay) in the waltz.

 

Oh, they've actually tied the knot? I think someone forgot to tell us that. I was pleased to see them getting a chance to dance together, even if it was down to injury/illness.

 

I'd meant to post over the weekend how much I'd enjoyed Saturday's matinee - the Neapolitan aside - I thought it was the most enjoyable performance of this production that I'd seen in some years, and it *almost* made me forget how much I dislike the actual production. It was disappointing that Lauren Cuthbertson wasn't recovered enough to dance, but as a result we did get what turned out to be the extremely fortuitous pairing of Nunez and Bonelli: I don't think they've danced together much in the past, but on this showing I would be very happy to see them together again - they look very well suited.

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Well, I'm trying to keep an open mind about this production as I'm due to see a performance later in the run but there seems to be a general consensus, among the critics at least, that the production is due an update.

 

During the matinee on Saturday, I noticed what seemed to be a number of rather noticeable upgrades to the costuming, especially in Act III. I don't take this as any indication that a new production will be forthcoming any time soon.

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