Royal Ballet mixed bill: Within the Golden Hour / Medusa / Flight Pattern, May 2019

[Richard LH]

1 hour ago, Lizbie1 said:

So it’s insensitive for Sambe to post about a confirmed cast change involving dancers he knows well; but when people speculate on a public forum about whether a dancer recovering from injury will make it back in time and wonder who his replacement might be, that’s just part of being in the public eye?

 

Please forgive me my confusion!

Perhaps rather insensitive, yes, or perhaps a bit thoughtless. I don't think you need to be confused.. the distinction surely is that the cast change, if correct, has yet to be officially announced, so not "confirmed", and the change information may be sensitive in terms of timing, or even  inaccurate, and he is a member of the Company and presumably subject to the sort of protocols Capybara indicates. I would have thought that anyone who is  on this Forum talking about a dancer whose has a confirmed injury is reasonably free to speculate about its ramifications, subject to the normal sense of decency and provided they are not themselves Company members (you would not expect a Company member to speculate publicly about other dancers in the Company).

[Richard LH]

19 minutes ago, penelopesimpson said:

Is this really such a big deal?  

No not really! Just a passing thought on my part. I admit to being disappointed for Akane and concerned about her, so probably feeling rather disgruntled all round...

[Rob S]

Are you going to 'unfollow' him in disgust? 🙄

[Sim]

47 minutes ago, Richard LH said:

Although he does seem to have time to use social media to announce it himself.... 

Posting something on Instagram takes about 15 seconds.   Trying to navigate the ROH website takes much longer than that.  

[Shade]

6 hours ago, Nogoat said:

Triple Bill – Thursday
What completely by-passed me last time was the sheer amount of time Osipova spends on stage. Apart from the two costume changes, she is constantly there - and at the centre of the action as well. Was an amazing feat of sustained, intense and captivating acting and dancing – she might well be playing the role of a Gorgon, but as a dance/actor she is an absolute Titan.

 

I agree Nogoat Osipova is a Titan and Hirano a god.

[Lizbie1]

1 hour ago, Richard LH said:

Perhaps rather insensitive, yes, or perhaps a bit thoughtless. I don't think you need to be confused.. the distinction surely is that the cast change, if correct, has yet to be officially announced, so not "confirmed", and the change information may be sensitive in terms of timing, or even  inaccurate, and he is a member of the Company and presumably subject to the sort of protocols Capybara indicates. I would have thought that anyone who is  on this Forum talking about a dancer whose has a confirmed injury is reasonably free to speculate about its ramifications, subject to the normal sense of decency and provided they are not themselves Company members (you would not expect a Company member to speculate publicly about other dancers in the Company).

 

So in short we should hold others to a stricter standard than we do ourselves. Got it!

[Douglas Allen]

1 hour ago, Richard LH said:

.. the distinction surely is that the cast change, if correct, has yet to be officially announced, so not "confirmed", and the change information may be sensitive in terms of timing, or even  inaccurate,

Richard, if you are suggesting that nothing is official until it appears on the ROH website, then we are living in cloud cuckoo land. The website is a mess and has been so for months. The website does not contain all cast changes, not even ex post facto - we all know that. We weren't even told what were the cast changes in the cinema broadcast - just that there were some. Big help, especially with those costumes! I suggest the media posts of the dancers are not just desirable, but positively necessary All power to them. The idea that Sambe might face criticism is absurd - the criticism should be directed to the website managers for their culpable slowness.

[Xandra Newman]

So sorry to read Richard LH you are feeling so disgruntled and so disappointed you will not get to see Akane Takada in the roles you had hoped to see her and therefore have found it so hard to read Sambe's IG post announcing he is dancing with Fumi Kaneko tomorrow.

Please rest assured the dancers replacing Takada tomorrow are equally outstanding.

 

[Richard LH]

OK everyone, I get it !! Surely enough said...

 

[MJW]

Plenty of seats still available for tomorrow's matinee. I might be able to sit in a different seat for each part!

[FrankH]

The local Curzon was only half-full for the live filming of this. How different from when one of the Classics is performed!

 

I am a rather naïve and unsophisticated lover of ballet. As such, I myself am most fond of the Classics, and haven’t generally found “abstract” i.e. non-narrative ballet that interesting. So, looking at the descriptions of the three ballets being performed, I thought I would probably appreciate Medusa and Flight Pattern, but find Within The Golden Hour something of a challenge. I couldn’t have been more wrong in my prediction!

 

I was bowled over by Within the Golden Hour. I marvelled at the amazing “logic” (I can’t think of a better word to describe my impression) of the choreography. Every movement of the bodies, arms, and legs, seemed to be part of a perfect moving pattern. Nothing out of place, nothing unnecessary, like a composition of Mozart as described by Salieri (in the film Amadeus). And all fitting in so well with the very beautiful musical score. I must admit I had never heard of Ezio Bosso before, but I will be looking out for anything by him from now on.

 

I had of course heard of Christopher Wheeldon. I have seen Alice also through live transmission, which I enjoyed, but to nowhere the same extent that I appreciated WtGH. I will bow to the superior taste of the more knowledgeable people on this forum if I am wrong, but it seems to me that WtGH is a minor masterpiece, perhaps even a major one.

 

It was of course, to my undiscerning eyes, danced impeccably. What an unexpected joy to see Francesca Hayward as one of the unlisted changes! She is one I find difficult to take my eyes away from when she is on stage. But I also found Beatriz Stix-Brunell compelling. Actually the whole ensemble, both the central six, and the back-up eight, were entrancing. It is actually rather unfair to single anyone out, but those two did especially catch my eye.

 

I have not seen a ballet which better demonstrated to me the possibilities in abstract non-narrative dance. I know that there is supposed to be a story in the differing relationships of the three central couples, but I must admit that I didn’t get that aspect of it. It didn’t matter. I was just content to take in 35 minutes of brilliant “eye candy”.

 

After this wonderful opening, I am afraid I found Medusa and Flight Pattern rather disappointing. Hearing and reading about the choreographers, and their motivations for these ballets, I wanted very much to like them. But I found both, in different ways, rather tedious. A lot of movement in Medusa, but unlike that in WtGH it seemed to me rather unstructured. A lot of arm waving to little purpose. Flight Pattern I just found grey and depressing. I must confess I actually fell asleep briefly during it.

 

However, it was as usual good to see the marvellous Osipova, although even she couldn’t redeem Medusa for me. And it was nice to see Kristen McNally getting a prominent role in Flight Pattern.

 

I haven’t yet had time to read many of the reviews in this forum, but I note that some whose views on ballet I greatly respect, liked Medusa and/or Flight Pattern. And of course both these works and their choreographers have been much praised. I am glad of that, as I applaud what they are aiming for in these works. I therefore attribute my lack of appreciation of these works to a lack of aesthetic sensibility on my part. The fact that they both earned rapturous prolonged applause from the ROH audience would confirm this.

 

One problem, for me, was the order of the works. After the overwhelming impression of Within the Golden Hour, perhaps most ballets would have seemed  a little stale to me in comparison.

[Sim]

2 hours ago, FrankH said:

The local Curzon was only half-full for the live filming of this. How different from when one of the Classics is performed!

 

I am a rather naïve and unsophisticated lover of ballet. As such, I myself am most fond of the Classics, and haven’t generally found “abstract” i.e. non-narrative ballet that interesting. So, looking at the descriptions of the three ballets being performed, I thought I would probably appreciate Medusa and Flight Pattern, but find Within The Golden Hour something of a challenge. I couldn’t have been more wrong in my prediction!

 

I was bowled over by Within the Golden Hour. I marvelled at the amazing “logic” (I can’t think of a better word to describe my impression) of the choreography. Every movement of the bodies, arms, and legs, seemed to be part of a perfect moving pattern. Nothing out of place, nothing unnecessary, like a composition of Mozart as described by Salieri (in the film Amadeus). And all fitting in so well with the very beautiful musical score. I must admit I had never heard of Ezio Bosso before, but I will be looking out for anything by him from now on.

 

I had of course heard of Christopher Wheeldon. I have seen Alice also through live transmission, which I enjoyed, but to nowhere the same extent that I appreciated WtGH. I will bow to the superior taste of the more knowledgeable people on this forum if I am wrong, but it seems to me that WtGH is a minor masterpiece, perhaps even a major one.

 

It was of course, to my undiscerning eyes, danced impeccably. What an unexpected joy to see Francesca Hayward as one of the unlisted changes! She is one I find difficult to take my eyes away from when she is on stage. But I also found Beatriz Stix-Brunell compelling. Actually the whole ensemble, both the central six, and the back-up eight, were entrancing. It is actually rather unfair to single anyone out, but those two did especially catch my eye.

 

I have not seen a ballet which better demonstrated to me the possibilities in abstract non-narrative dance. I know that there is supposed to be a story in the differing relationships of the three central couples, but I must admit that I didn’t get that aspect of it. It didn’t matter. I was just content to take in 35 minutes of brilliant “eye candy”.

 

After this wonderful opening, I am afraid I found Medusa and Flight Pattern rather disappointing. Hearing and reading about the choreographers, and their motivations for these ballets, I wanted very much to like them. But I found both, in different ways, rather tedious. A lot of movement in Medusa, but unlike that in WtGH it seemed to me rather unstructured. A lot of arm waving to little purpose. Flight Pattern I just found grey and depressing. I must confess I actually fell asleep briefly during it.

 

However, it was as usual good to see the marvellous Osipova, although even she couldn’t redeem Medusa for me. And it was nice to see Kristen McNally getting a prominent role in Flight Pattern.

 

I haven’t yet had time to read many of the reviews in this forum, but I note that some whose views on ballet I greatly respect, liked Medusa and/or Flight Pattern. And of course both these works and their choreographers have been much praised. I am glad of that, as I applaud what they are aiming for in these works. I therefore attribute my lack of appreciation of these works to a lack of aesthetic sensibility on my part. The fact that they both earned rapturous prolonged applause from the ROH audience would confirm this.

 

One problem, for me, was the order of the works. After the overwhelming impression of Within the Golden Hour, perhaps most ballets would have seemed  a little stale to me in comparison.

Frank, I don't see how you can say you lack aesthetic sensibility when you write so beautifully about Golden Hour!  You simply didn't like the other two, that's all.   For just about every performance discussed on this forum, there are widely varying opinions of every aspect of the production.  That's what makes it so interesting! Nothing is set in stone with art; it affects us in some way, and how boring it would be if that way were the same across the spectrum of those who engage with it.

[Mary]

FrankH I agree with you- as do a good few others I think.  I have always liked Wheeldon's abstract work, (and apart from Winter's Tale, disliked his narrative ballets-especially Alice which I can't stand, so there you are, as Sim says there is a wide range of opinion out here...)

Golden Hour I think IS a small masterpiece and you describe why extremely well, thank you. It was even better with the original costumes that allowed you to see the women's movements more effectively though.

 

 

[Rob S]

 

 

 

 

Really enjoyed Fumi's performance this afternoon

[capybara]

She got a deservedly loud reception.

 

[Sim]

She was lovely but I still haven’t changed my opinion of the piece on a second viewing. 

 

Speaking of lovely, Yasmine Naghdi and Tristan Dyer sure were as the third couple in Golden Hour. 

[JennyTaylor]

On 17/05/2019 at 19:30, Sim said:

Posting something on Instagram takes about 15 seconds.   Trying to navigate the ROH website takes much longer than that.  

This might qualify for post of the month!  

[Dawnstar]

Well, this'll teach me not to be seduced by £40 stalls seats into booking for a programme of modern dance!

 

I found Within The Golden Hour rather similar to Asphodel Meadows: attractive music & mostly attractive choreography but it didn't really do much for me emotionally. As I've already mentioned on the R&J thread, 2 nights ago I dreamed that I'd arrived to see it & 5 of the 6 principals had been replaced. This evening that basically came true! Stix-Brunnell & Muntagirov were replaced by Choe & Hay, Cuthbertson & Hirano were replaced by Hayward & Zuchetti, & given Campbell already replaced McRae some time ago the only dancer I actually saw out of the original 6 was Lamb.  Also Edmonds & Mock were replaced by Donnelly & Dubreuil. I realise dancers get injured but to have half of a cast of 14 replaced does seem to be getting a bit ridiculous. So much for that article the ROH tweeted recently about strength training reducing injuries!

 

Medusa exceeded my expectations but after the Insight livestream they were pretty low! Neither the writhing around parts of the choreography nor the electronic music are to my taste but at least there's a plot, Purcell, & some good lifts. Plus all 4 leads were on, though Edmonds, Kay & Serrano were replaced by Acri & Ella. I don't know if that means they were a soldier short?

 

Apart from the music, I really didn't like Flight Pattern at all. Kay & Serrano were replaced by Donnelly & Lee, though since the lighting & uniform costumes meant I only managed to recognise a couple of dancers I can't say I'd've noticed.

 

Edited May 18, 2019 by Dawnstar

[alison]

It has to be said that Flight Pattern is rather more effective viewed from on high than from stalls/stalls circle level - if ever there was an argument for putting cameras for filming for the cinema in the Grand Tier I think this would be it!  And I very much enjoyed Choe and Hay's take on Golden Hour this afternoon - liked them (even) more than Stix-Brunell and Muntagirov - because I thought they really brought out the wit in the music and the choreography.  I thought Hayward and Zucchetti very fine, too.  But the number of replacements (injuries?) is getting very worrying  

[Quintus]

I was looking forward to seeing Beatriz S-B and Vadim tonight, but among the four substitutions Francesca Hayward easily made up for it - she was gorgeous.  Within The Golden Hour was much our favourite of the three pieces and I'd certainly go to see it again. Natalia Osipova is always a pleasure to watch but I thought Medusa didn't really develop enough - however electro-Purcell was a revelation. Olivia Cowley was barely recognisable in her Athena guise - kudos to the makeup team.  Flight Pattern was the most enthusiastically received by the audience, but while I found it interesting, I can't say I found it particularly engaging or moving, and I have a vague feeling I've seen something quite like it before  - the whole swaying crowd part at least.  

[Mary]

I am reassured to find others not really liking Flight Pattern: not just me then.

 

I found a second viewing of Medusa brought me closer to Darlex's succinct 2 word view of it- really it is not a finished piece of work.

 

Why were so many replaced last night? Is this all injuries? even Muntagirov? now that is worrying.

[bangorballetboy]

9 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 I realise dancers get injured but to have half of a cast of 14 replaced does seem to be getting a bit ridiculous. So much for that article the ROH tweeted recently about strength training reducing injuries!

 

 

Sometimes dancers are unable to dance because they are ill.

[capybara]

...............but let's look at the current workload:

 

On Stage now:

Romeo and Juliet - a full company work

Current Triple - including a new work (Medusa) and a piece (Flight Pattern) which involves most of the corps

In Preparation:

Firebird - many dancers involved

Month - with newcomers to some roles

Symphony in C - principal couples, subsidiary couples and corps

Fonteyn Gala (including, surely, items not in the current rep.)

Getting Ready for the Tours:

Don Q - a full company work

Gala pieces (including additions to the above)

Mayerling - a full company work

Dante Project - a new creation

 

Plus all the Insights/Rehearsal evenings etc.

 

Phew!

 

[BeauxArts]

I was able to go to the matinee yesterday and found the programme to be thought-provoking and stimulating, with some very strong dancing across all 3 works. I found  In the Golden Hour truly mesmerising - inventive, ingenious, intriguing... I would happily watch that again and again. I thought there were no weak links in the casting at all, with the lead women especially strong. James Hay was - as ever - a real pleasure to watch. I also found Flight Pattern to be very affecting. The refugee crisis which was Pite's "inspiration" has probably been eclipsed  now by many other news stories, but the essential truths of displacement, disorientation, loss, grief and so on are powerfully evoked I think and it continues to resonate very strongly, being both unsettling and provocative (for me at least).  Medusa: I am not sure what I felt about this. I liked the music, set and costumes, although half-way through I realised that the men reminded me of my sons' power ranger toys from some years ago... which also made me realise that I was not really being held by the dance or the drama.. I can see how Darlex formed such a robust view of this work (!); I think I give it the benefit of the doubt for now, and will see it again with Osipova.

[SusanR]

I was at the matinee yesterday & thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. I didn't expect to like Medusa or Flight Pattern but I did, although I think Medusa could do with a bit of tweaking! Loved Fumi' performance & liked the ladies costumes. Not so keen on the see- through onesies. I was so moved by Flight Pattern. I was sitting in the stalls circle so could see all the angst on the dancers faces & the music is absolutely heart-rending. I found myself sitting there with tears running down my face. And what can I say about Marcelino Sambe? Just fabulous. WiTGH was gorgeous too. Excellent triple bill.

There are some aspects of the 'new' opera house that I don't like. Casting is very important for most patrons & I read on this forum that you had to ask for cast change slips! I did so & was told, no we don't do them anymore. I had to photograph the cast changes that were on a clipboard as there were a lot of changes, although I am not convinced that all were listed! Secondly, why does a shop in a dance house decide not to sell dance magazines anymore? Crazy.

[Odyssey]

Although it might be a subject for a new thread, I am wondering if there is an even spread of workload at the levels of principals and first soloists. It strikes me that with new work, choreographers presumably have the pick of the company which means that the repertoire of some dancers becomes very heavy loaded whilst others are under used. Plus, Kevin O’Hare seems quite generous in allowing his dancers to guest - a policy that is good in theory, but must put tremendous strains on the company, particularly if you need to call on second and third cast members to call on at short notice.

[Bluebird]

1 minute ago, SusanR said:

There are some aspects of the 'new' opera house that I don't like. Casting is very important for most patrons & I read on this forum that you had to ask for cast change slips! I did so & was told, no we don't do them anymore. I had to photograph the cast changes that were on a clipboard as there were a lot of changes, although I am not convinced that all were listed! 

 

Some staff members are not very well informed.  The cast change slips were printed.  I got them for both performances yesterday (from the desk in the main Bow Street foyer)  Maybe not all programme desks have them?

[jmhopton]

I saw this triple bill at the cinema and it would be tempting (though rather frivolous) to say that the bit I enjoyed most was seeing Vadim warm up behind the curtain before the performance. He seemed to be doing a very energetic series of turns and possibly leaps though it was difficult to see as Ore and Darcey kept getting in the way! Personally I would be quite happy to see an entire night of Vadim doing anything like this (he even makes standing still interesting, and possibly even 'relevant'). Perhaps Liam Scarlett could devise a suitable programme.

 

After that the official programme was slightly anti-climactic and panned out much as I thought it would. I quite enjoyed Within the Golden Hour, which, as expected, was my favourite of the three. I agree with Dawnstar that I found it similar to Asphodel Meadows and while it was very pleasant it didn't personally engage me. Perhaps I need to see it again. However, the dancing was wonderful and an unexpected treat to have my first glimpse of Hayward before the Romeo and Juliet performance I've booked next Saturday.

 

Medusa, well.... Found it rather tedious and pretentious and kept wondering when it was going to end. No doubting the commitment of the dancers, especially Osipova who was terrific; just a pity they hadn't something more worthy to commit to.

 

Flight Pattern didn't do much for me either. The best bits were seeing Joseph Sissens; even in a small role he shone through as did Kristen McNally. Good to see her in a recognisable rather than character role.

 

Great to meet up with Jamesrhblack in the little Rye Kino cinema which was about half full.

 

Like many others I find the high rate of injuries very concerning both from an audience but more importantly the dancers point of view. I increasingly wonder about the decision to front load the next season with so many full length ballets, especially with so many performances. However, the problem might be more to do with the constant switching from classical to modern this season so perhaps next seasons decision to separate them more and have a classical first half of the season and a more modern spring and autumn might be better. Autumn is all classical, Winter; the only 'modern' ballets are the Marston/Scarlett double bill and they tend to be classically oriented choreographers anyway. The main modern programmes are in spring and summer with only the Tombeaux triple classical in the summer and the Heritage Linbury programme in May. Time will tell whether this works better from an injury point of view.

Incidentally, I've saved the 2019-20 seasons calendar http://www.roh.org.uk/seasons/2019-20 on my toolbar as an invaluable booking and information aid and cannot understand why Onegin (and La Traviata) are part of both the autumn and winter season. How can they be both and how do you manage for booking? As Onegin doesn't start until January how can it be part of the autumn season? The autumn season is going to be expensive enough without adding Onegin to it!

[zxDaveM]

3 minutes ago, jmhopton said:

 

Incidentally, I've saved the 2019-20 seasons calendar http://www.roh.org.uk/seasons/2019-20 on my toolbar as an invaluable booking and information aid and cannot understand why Onegin (and La Traviata) are part of both the autumn and winter season. How can they be both and how do you manage for booking? As Onegin doesn't start until January how can it be part of the autumn season? The autumn season is going to be expensive enough without adding Onegin to it!

 

Onegin is in booking period 2

[jmhopton]

1 minute ago, zxDaveM said:

 

Onegin is in booking period 2

 

Thanks Dave. I thought it must be but in that case why have it in autumn on the seasons calendar? Another website glitch I expect.

[zxDaveM]

Maybe a glitch. Or just poor interdepartmental communication. Probably the latter, as they still haven't updated the casting for Tuesday's mixed bill for example.

[Lizbie1]

15 minutes ago, jmhopton said:

Incidentally, I've saved the 2019-20 seasons calendar http://www.roh.org.uk/seasons/2019-20 on my toolbar as an invaluable booking and information aid and cannot understand why Onegin (and La Traviata) are part of both the autumn and winter season. How can they be both and how do you manage for booking? As Onegin doesn't start until January how can it be part of the autumn season? The autumn season is going to be expensive enough without adding Onegin to it!

 

11 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

 

Onegin is in booking period 2

 

It's the Swan Lake booking I find most anomalous - the run is from March to May but it's part of the Winter booking period, which means casting for May should be published in August and Friends need to be geared up to decide what they're doing a full eight months ahead and probably before Sadler's Wells have announced for Spring/Summer.

 

As others have said elsewhere - you have to suspect front-loading, bringing money into the coffers early. (Sorry for going well off topic.)

[SusanR]

24 minutes ago, Bluebird said:

 

Some staff members are not very well informed.  The cast change slips were printed.  I got them for both performances yesterday (from the desk in the main Bow Street foyer)  Maybe not all programme desks have them?

I did actually ask for a cast change slip at the Bow Street foyer, but the member of staff gave me the impression that I was a nuisance!