thewinelake Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 I nearly went to see it yesterday afternoon - I was wondering if they drop the prices a bit like "standby" flights of old? Not that they were expensive in the first place... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard LH Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 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. Not meant as a further reposte, Sim, but hopefully a helpful suggestion....you can considerably speed up ROH website functionality by creating a bookmark for each production you are interested in. (I think this has been mentioned elsewhere). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 55 minutes ago, Richard LH said: Not meant as a further reposte, Sim, but hopefully a helpful suggestion....you can considerably speed up ROH website functionality by creating a bookmark for each production you are interested in. (I think this has been mentioned elsewhere). I have known this for quite some time, Richard, but thanks anyway for the technical advice. We weren't discussing productions, we were discussing a dancer finding the time and inclination to look around the website for news of cast changes prior to announcing such changes on social media. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 29 minutes ago, Richard LH said: Not meant as a further reposte, Sim, but hopefully a helpful suggestion....you can considerably speed up ROH website functionality by creating a bookmark for each production you are interested in. (I think this has been mentioned elsewhere). This is true - but I can't ever see the dancers perusing the website checking their casting! They will have been told, I assume, either personally if being asked to step up as a replacement - especially at short notice - or on their noticeboard when casting decided. I can't see them thinking - oh, better check the website before posting this nice new opportunity on my social media thread, so my friends will know too. If there is a reason NOT to announce this news, I'm sure they would be told not to announce it when they themselves are given the news. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard LH Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 34 minutes ago, Sim said: We weren't discussing productions, we were discussing a dancer finding the time and inclination to look around the website for news of cast changes. Yes indeed but you do find listed casts and other relevant details by going to the production pages. As I said, I just posted this as helpful tip for anyone's benefit, not as an attempt to resuscitate the earlier discussion which I agree has had its day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 3 minutes ago, Richard LH said: Yes indeed but you do find listed casts and other relevant details by going to the production pages. As I said, I just posted this as helpful tip for anyone's benefit, not as an attempt to resuscitate the earlier discussion which I agree has had its day. Maybe, but it still takes a lot longer than making a quick post on Instagram, and that's my final word on the matter. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted May 19, 2019 Author Share Posted May 19, 2019 I did wonder, from the number and seeming suddenness of the replacements, whether there might have been some bug or something going round the company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJW Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 7 hours ago, SusanR said: 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. Susan - that's very interesting about the cast slips - I asked and got one ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 11 hours ago, bangorballetboy said: Sometimes dancers are unable to dance because they are ill. I suppose arguably being off ill is better for them than being off injured, as it's likely to be a faster recovery. 10 hours ago, Odyssey said: 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. While they both seemed to be holding up alright, I was surprised to see on the R&J thread that both Sambe & Hirano were in Friday's performance of R&J. Since they were both dancing on Thursday & Saturday I would have thought it'd make more sense to cast other dancers on Friday so they both had a day off, especially as none of the other Tybalts were appearing in the Triple Bill, though admittedly the other Mercutios were. I agree on the guesting. Since I joined Instagram a couple of months ago I've been really surprised at how much some of the dancers do. For instance today both Hamilton & Hay have been posting images of travelling elsewhere. I can understand Hamilton, who is certainly not one of the over-employed dancers this season, but how Hay has the energy, when he danced both Golden Hours yesterday & is on again tomorrow, I can't imagine! 9 hours ago, SusanR said: 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! When I was waiting to look at the cast change notice the person in front of me asked for a cast change slip & was given one, but as I heard the attendant say something about there only being a limited number I didn't have the nerve to ask for one as well so just took a photo. I thought it rather a shame that only the principal cast changes were announced over the loudspeakers (i.e. Stix-Brunell/Muntagirov & Cuthbertson/Hirano) & not the various ensemble changes in all 3 ballets. It wouldn't take that much longer to announce the lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaM Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 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. 😳🤣 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted May 19, 2019 Author Share Posted May 19, 2019 For the Saturday night, did they actually say due to injury/illness or whatever? It did strike me that there might have been an alternative reason ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 There was no reason on the cast change sheets & I don't recall any reason was given in the announcement either. I didn't look at the screens so can't say what they had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaM Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 It’s so frustrating that in this age of technology where everything is available at the click of a button, that ROH website can’t get its casting correct, and, up-to-date. Never mind easy-to-read. I can understand not wanting to say if a dancer is injured vs ill - that’s private. On the website my major bugbear is that you cannot click on a calendar date and find out the shows & events on that particular date. Any visitor (particularly from abroad) to London will want to know this. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted May 19, 2019 Author Share Posted May 19, 2019 It took me 6 clicks to get to the Medusa performance I wanted, starting from the "Tickets and events" page. Not good at all. And they do frequently announce "due to injury/illness" - although it doesn't necessarily mean that the dancer being replaced is the one who's injured/ill. Anyway, getting back to yesterday's matinee performance, I did feel that Medusa made more sense in the Kaneko cast's performance (such as it was, with a number of dancers from the first cast performing roles which had originally been assigned to others). To what extent that was down to my - or the dancers' - greater familiarity with the piece (my 2-and-a-halfth viewing!), though, I wouldn't like to guess. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankH Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 On 18/05/2019 at 01:22, Sim said: 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. Thank you Sim for your kind words, and thanks to Mary for her supportive comments. It is always nice to find that someone else has a similar reaction about a particular performance, as I am certainly not experienced enough in my knowledge and appreciation of ballet, to distinguish between the truly great and the merely good. However I wasn't being as humble in my review as might have appeared. Each person will have a slightly different aesthetic sensibility, and may thus be "blind" to what others find beautiful. An instance which occurs to me is the fact that Tchaikovsky intensely disliked Brahms' music, and was very rude about it, calling Brahms "talentless". As I greatly love the music of both composers, I find this very hard to understand, and can only assume that Tchaikovsky had a blind (or, rather, deaf) spot as far as Brahms was concerned. Thinking back to my reactions to the RB triple bill, I realise I didn't experience it in the best of circumstances. I had had a rather tiring afternoon at the university where I am a part-time lecturer, listening to students giving presentations, and assessing them. So perhaps my momentary lapse into sleep during Flight Pattern wouldn't have happened otherwise. The very subdued lighting of the piece certainly didn't help. As for Medusa, from the posts of others I learn that this may be regarded as a work still in the process of development, and that Cherkaoui's ballets evolve and develop considerably. My disappointment with these two works is also partly bound up with the fact that they deal with very important themes - masculine ill-treatment of women, and the plight of refugees and the dispossessed. If artists in any medium tackle these sorts of themes, they had better make a very good job of it. Otherwise these days it would only be too easy to dismiss their efforts as merely "politically correct". I am glad to read that many of you were very moved by Flight Pattern, even if I couldn't appreciate it on the night. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJW Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 I've read through everybody's comments on the performances they have seen and as ever it is always interesting to see such differing viewpoints. I had not seen any of the two returning pieces before so didn't really know what to expect. I would normally say that I am not normally keen on contemporary works but having seen Asphodel Meadows earlier in the year and been so impressed, I thought I ought to go see and these modern works, and I am glad I did. Within the Golden Hour was wonderful and would be very happy to see it time and again. I managed to find an extract from 2017 on YouTube with David Donnelly and Teo Dubreuil and watched it over again several times today! Medusa was much better than I thought it would be. Bizarrely the electro-music worked better for me than the Purcell - the latter just didn't seem to fit the pace of the piece. As to Flight Pattern I wasn't really sure what I would make of it and at the start I thought 'oh no half an hour of this'. However after a few minutes I was completely mesmerised and about half way through to my embarrassment had tears streaming down my face (thank goodness for the dark). Rarely have I been so moved. An afternoon well spent. Next Saturday R&J! 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 From the ROH website ☺️ Olivia Moxey responded on 20 May 2019 at 10:54am We're delighted to inform you that this performance will be released on DVD at the start of 2020. Best Regards, ROH Cinema 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob S Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 So which performance was that, Saturday evening? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted May 20, 2019 Author Share Posted May 20, 2019 Hmm, didn't take them long to come up with that one, did it? When you think how long we've waited for confirmation on some others. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard LH Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 31 minutes ago, Rob S said: So which performance was that, Saturday evening? I would imagine it is the one that was live in cinemas, which was last Thursday evening (16th). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob S Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 55 minutes ago, Richard LH said: I would imagine it is the one that was live in cinemas, which was last Thursday evening (16th). Ahh, lost track of when the cinema showing was 🤪 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 A taste… https://twitter.com/TheRoyalBallet/status/1130484949054894080 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJW Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 This is the link I referred to my earlier post - its from the IBStage 2017 gala (hope this works - and its allowed!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e_aZ-Ugpoo 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 1 hour ago, MJW said: This is the link I referred to my earlier post - its from the IBStage 2017 gala (hope this works - and its allowed!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e_aZ-Ugpoo I saw this live in Barcelona. I think that Dubreuil is even better this time round. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Posted May 20, 2019 Share Posted May 20, 2019 How wonderful that it has been saved for posterity- what a fabulous clip, Lamb and Campbell at their best, dancing as one (hope we see them together again soon) and a very beautiful moment. One to watch many times over. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 On 20/05/2019 at 15:42, Mary said: How wonderful that it has been saved for posterity- what a fabulous clip, Lamb and Campbell at their best, dancing as one (hope we see them together again soon) and a very beautiful moment. One to watch many times over. Oh yes I agree. Their pdd was definitely the highlight for me. They danced so beautifully together. I hope we get to see more of them together. And I've said it before - like many others - Campbell is obviously dancing really well and his technical ability is a given - why wasn't he cast as Romeo? All very puzzling 🙄 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 (edited) Given both Stix-Brunell & Muntagirov have made Instagram posts today about rehearsing, whatever caused them to miss Saturday evening was evidently short term, which is a relief given this season's injury rates. Edited May 21, 2019 by Dawnstar 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninamargaret Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 For me, a really super triple bill. Golden Hour I had seen before and enjoyed, and the excellent casting this evening add to the enjoyment. I loved Medusa, to me it was very much a complete ballet, with sets, music, costumes (apart from the men's Boiler suits) all making a very impressive whole. I don't think Kaneko could have been bettered - she had a marvellous other worldliness and Hirano and Sambe were both outstanding. Flight Pattern is very powerful, beautifully danced. Not the sort of work to send you out of the theatre humming but so impressive. I hadn't seen Sambe for a while and found him to be even better than I thought he was. Wish I could have seen his Romeo! 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard LH Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 Golden Hour was an utter joy tonight! 7 beautiful couples dancing to exquisite choreography, music and lighting. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynette H Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 The orchestra in the pit was a fairy modest size for this triple bill. If the ROH was ever going to reinstate the seating in those areas of the stalls circle closest to the stage, this would have seemed to be an opportunity. But they didn't. So maybe we should conclude that those seats are gone for good ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 18 minutes ago, Lynette H said: The orchestra in the pit was a fairy modest size for this triple bill. If the ROH was ever going to reinstate the seating in those areas of the stalls circle closest to the stage, this would have seemed to be an opportunity. But they didn't. So maybe we should conclude that those seats are gone for good ? But the orchestra for R&J is huge and the noise-level tests are undertaken on a weekly-average basis so I don't think you can really draw that conclusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 20 minutes ago, Lynette H said: The orchestra in the pit was a fairy modest size for this triple bill. If the ROH was ever going to reinstate the seating in those areas of the stalls circle closest to the stage, this would have seemed to be an opportunity. But they didn't. So maybe we should conclude that those seats are gone for good ? Does anyone know whether they were made available for the Bolshoi season? I think it’s been remarked previously that they (are able to) take a rather more relaxed attitude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuthE Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 (edited) 4 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said: Does anyone know whether they were made available for the Bolshoi season? I think it’s been remarked previously that they (are able to) take a rather more relaxed attitude. I believe so. They certainly seem to have complete freedom to make their own decisions in this matter. Edited May 22, 2019 by RuthE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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