Royal Ballet Promotions Predictions 2019

[capybara]

54 minutes ago, Fonty said:

  Sadly, she is probably considered to be too old to be given a debut in that role now.  Apart from that, I think they all do everything, don't they?

 

I am astonished that Morera has not been cast as Natalia Petrovna in Month in the Country this June. The role seems made for her (with Muntagirov or Ball).

[Sophoife]

2 hours ago, Xandra Newman said:

There are eight female principals. Let's say one is injured, one is guesting abroad, one is not suited to dance a particular role that leaves five principals who will be cast to dance at least twice if not three times the leading role.

That makes a run of at least 10 to 15 performances and Mr. O'Hare likes to give a first soloist and/or a soloist a chance too.

There we are: a run of 12 to 15 performances (and some people complain certain runs are too long).

Therefore I think there is currently no room for another one.

 

For example elsewhere, Australian Ballet had six female principals last December, before Lana Jones and Leanne Stojmenov retired. Now they have four: Robyn Hendricks, Ako Kondo, Amy Harris and Amber Scott. Both Harris and Scott are on maternity leave: Scott's daughter with fellow principal and husband Ty King-Wall was born last October and we are told she will be back on stage "mid-year", Harris' child with husband and senior artist Jarryd Madden is due in June so she's unlikely to be back before 2020. 

 

This means we currently have only two female principals so the senior artists and soloists are getting lots of chances; this year so far the company has performed eight Wheeldon Alices in Brisbane, 11 Ratmansky Cinderellas in Melbourne, 20 of the mixed bill Verve in Sydney, 20 Maina Gielgud Giselles in Sydney, four shows of a slightly different mixed bill at the Joyce Theater in New York City, and is about to perform 17 Alices in Melbourne. That's 80 shows with two female principals and the only guest was Céline Gittens of BRB as Queen of Hearts in Brisbane for two shows..

 

Perhaps you'd like to lend us, say, Miss Stix-Brunell, Miss O'Sullivan and Miss Kaneko? 😉

[bridiem]

44 minutes ago, Sophoife said:

 

For example elsewhere, Australian Ballet had six female principals last December, before Lana Jones and Leanne Stojmenov retired. Now they have four: Robyn Hendricks, Ako Kondo, Amy Harris and Amber Scott. Both Harris and Scott are on maternity leave: Scott's daughter with fellow principal and husband Ty King-Wall was born last October and we are told she will be back on stage "mid-year", Harris' child with husband and senior artist Jarryd Madden is due in June so she's unlikely to be back before 2020. 

 

This means we currently have only two female principals so the senior artists and soloists are getting lots of chances; this year so far the company has performed eight Wheeldon Alices in Brisbane, 11 Ratmansky Cinderellas in Melbourne, 20 of the mixed bill Verve in Sydney, 20 Maina Gielgud Giselles in Sydney, four shows of a slightly different mixed bill at the Joyce Theater in New York City, and is about to perform 17 Alices in Melbourne. That's 80 shows with two female principals and the only guest was Céline Gittens of BRB as Queen of Hearts in Brisbane for two shows..

 

Perhaps you'd like to lend us, say, Miss Stix-Brunell, Miss O'Sullivan and Miss Kaneko? 😉

 

Wow!

 

But no, we would not...

[Sophoife]

18 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

Wow!

 

But no, we would not...

 

Just for the Alice season...you may have them back after that 😂

[penelopesimpson]

3 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

But this brings us back to Douglas Allen’s point: why do we start from the assumption that all available principals will dance the lead at least twice in a run? Is it written in tablets of stone somewhere? My memory isn’t as good or as long as some others here but I don’t think it’s always been thus at the RB.

 

(FWIW, though, I’m comfortable with the current number of principals.)

I’m guessing that the rehearsal time involved necessitates at least two performances

[Richard LH]

On 20/05/2019 at 14:11, Douglas Allen said:

Additionally, I would also like to see a rejection of the idea that every principal dancer gets to dance the lead in every full-length ballet. It's one of the more-stupid ideas that seems to have developed recently.

 

I wonder if that is rather a misconception (or perhaps just an exaggeration to make the point).  

If  I have counted correctly, in the current  season just  3 of the male RB principals were cast as Romeo, 3 in Don Quixote (including Campbell for  the original McRae), 2 in Frankenstein (presumably 3  if McRae had not been doing Cats), 2 as The Prince in Nutcracker (originally 4 but  McRae and Bonelli were replaced), 4 in La  Bayadere, and   4 in Mayerling. 

Some of this may be due to the particular  stage in their careers reached by  Soares (now going), Kish, Bonelli and Watson (along with the latter’s injury).  But  Campbell's absence from various lead roles has been well ventilated, and neither Hirano, Ball, nor even Muntagirov have been cast in every full-length. It looks to me as if only McRae might have danced the lead in all full-lengths this season if not for other commitments and injury.

I think you may be a bit closer to the mark with the ladies, but even then as far as I can see every one of them  has been left out of the lead role in at least one full-length ballet this season. They certainly don’t  all  seem to be shoe-ins for the lead in any given full-length ballet.

Without trying to list them all, there appear to have been multiple opportunities for soloists and first soloist to dance leading roles this season. I would hope a few, through their progress in that way,   may be  in line for further promotion quite soon but I rather feel a dancer  does need to be someone  very special to be a principal of the Royal Ballet, and that the  artistry, and indeed honour, this status implies  should not be diluted. Once they get there,  and all other things being equal, I think  it is only a fair for them (and indeed for the public)  to expect  that they get more than the odd leading  performance  in most, if not all, of the main ballets. 

[nickwellings]

I am hoping Magri, Sambe and O'Sullivan are recognised and promoted this year.

[Aklf]

I have no idea how long Leo Dixon and Joseph Sissens have been with the company but I watched both in class recently and they were astoundingly impressive, such technique and the jump height! It may take a while but I’m sure they are destined for principal and I can’t wait to enjoy their journey! Sambe and Stix Brunel also blew me away in rehearsal with Wayne Macgegor. 

Edited May 21, 2019 by Aklf

[Fiz]

5 hours ago, Sophoife said:

 

Just for the Alice season...you may have them back after that 😂

Nope! 😂

[capybara]

1 hour ago, Aklf said:

I have no idea how long Leo Dixon and Joseph Sissens have been with the company but I watched both in class recently and they were astoundingly impressive, such technique and the jump height! It may take a while but I’m sure they are destined for principal and I can’t wait to enjoy their journey! Sambe and Stix Brunel also blew me away in rehearsal with Wayne Macgegor. 

 

Leo Dixon joined as  an Aud Jebsen Young Dancer in 2015 and was taken into the company in 2016.

Joseph Sissens joined the company direct from the RBS in 2016.

[Dawnstar]

6 hours ago, nickwellings said:

I am hoping Magri, Sambe and O'Sullivan are recognised and promoted this year.

 

While I'd be happy to see Magri promoted in that I've enjoyed everything I've seen her dance this season, am I right in thinking that Kirti was her first full-length principal role? If so then I'd guess she'd be expected to do a few more before being considered for promotion to principal? Even having danced several principal roles over a number of seasons doesn't seem to have qualified some dancers.

[alison]

I think I'd count Gamzatti as a principal role too.

 

Anyway, she was only promoted to First Soloist last year, so perhaps a bit soon for any more movement?

[Sim]

34 minutes ago, alison said:

I think I'd count Gamzatti as a principal role too.

 

Anyway, she was only promoted to First Soloist last year, so perhaps a bit soon for any more movement?

Yasmine Naghdi was promoted to Principal a year after becoming First Soloist.  

[simonbfisher]

Yuhui Choe. PLEASE. 

[Springbourne3]

My thoughts are that most promotions will be within the lower ranks of the company this year;

 

Gasparini to Soloist (definitely)

Sissens to Soloist (definitely)

Padjek (please please please!) to Soloist 

Yudes to Soloist

Dixon to First Artist

Aumeer to First Artist

 

The higher ranks could possibly be;

 

O’Sullivan to First Soloist

Clarke to First Soloist

Acri to First Soloist

Hinkis to First Soloist

[Xandra Newman]

7 hours ago, Sim said:

Yasmine Naghdi was promoted to Principal a year after becoming First Soloist.  

 

Yes but she had already danced Juliet as a soloist, had danced several Aurora's and Sugar Plum's as well as the notoriously difficult Mathilde Kchessinskaya and Zenaida Yanowsky was leaving thus vacating a principal place. 

[capybara]

Of course, once he was promoted to First Artist, Matthew Ball was promoted a further step every year.

 

[Jamesrhblack]

7 hours ago, simonbfisher said:

Yuhui Choe. PLEASE. 

 

I really fear this ship has sailed, the clearest indication being that this season she was not cast in Bayadère as Nikiya or Gamzatti, despite having danced both before. Nor is she cast as Stephanie for the American tour. I had thought it might have happened after she replaced Osipova in Beauty but that, incredible how time flies, was over five years ago.

Edited May 22, 2019 by Jamesrhblack
Correction

[Sophoife]

8 hours ago, alison said:

I think I'd count Gamzatti as a principal role too.

 

Paris Opera Ballet certainly does! Definitely the most emotional promotion to étoile I've ever seen (on video or live) was that of Ludmila Pagliero, at the end of a cinema broadcast in which she had danced Gamzatti for the first time in a couple of years, at short notice due to injury, and Madame Lefèvre said "A cause de son talent, son courage, son courage artistique..."

[Rob S]

47 minutes ago, Jamesrhblack said:

 

I really fear this ship has sailed, the clearest indication being that this season she was not cast in Bayadère as Nikiya or Gamzatti, despite having danced both before. Nor is she cast as Stephanie for the American tour. I had thought it might have happened after she replaced Osipova in Beauty but that, incredible how time flies, was over five years ago.

 

Agreed, it’s just not going to happen 

[Sim]

1 hour ago, Xandra Newman said:

 

Yes but she had already danced Juliet as a soloist, had danced several Aurora's and Sugar Plum's as well as the notoriously difficult Mathilde Kchessinskaya and Zenaida Yanowsky was leaving thus vacating a principal place. 

I know;  I was just pointing out that moving up again after a year is very possible.  

[standingticket]

I think Sambe will be promoted to principal and agree with others re: Clarke, O'Sullivan, Debreuil (sp?!), Dixon, Gasparini and Sissens. 

 

What do people make of Clare Calvert's chances for promotion? At one point she seemed very much in the ascendancy... 

 

 

[nickwellings]

15 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

While I'd be happy to see Magri promoted in that I've enjoyed everything I've seen her dance this season, am I right in thinking that Kirti was her first full-length principal role? If so then I'd guess she'd be expected to do a few more before being considered for promotion to principal? Even having danced several principal roles over a number of seasons doesn't seem to have qualified some dancers.

A very good point, I forgot she had been promoted last year!!

[bridiem]

44 minutes ago, standingticket said:

I think Sambe will be promoted to principal and agree with others re: Clarke, O'Sullivan, Debreuil (sp?!), Dixon, Gasparini and Sissens. 

 

What do people make of Clare Calvert's chances for promotion? At one point she seemed very much in the ascendancy... 

 

I'm hoping she will be given the opportunity to do Odette/Odile next season; she's an excellent dancer and I find her interesting dramatically, which she has rarely been given the chance to show. I hope that she will indeed be a principal, but it won't be this year.

[RuthE]

26 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

I'm hoping she will be given the opportunity to do Odette/Odile next season; she's an excellent dancer and I find her interesting dramatically, which she has rarely been given the chance to show. I hope that she will indeed be a principal, but it won't be this year.

 

I don't know if I see her going beyond First Soloist, though she is a dancer I like very much (like you, I find her interesting dramatically).  However in 10 or more years' time, when she starts to tire of pointework, I think she has the potential to be a top-notch Principal Character Artist.

 

(Edited to add: In the meantime, I hope the management continues to recognize her talents and cast her in appropriate principal roles.  She's very good at playing grown-up roles, if you know what I mean, while the company perhaps has a larger number of female dancers who are good at playing very young.)

Edited May 22, 2019 by RuthE

[alison]

I'm now wondering whether we shall see a promotion or two to principal a little sooner than might perhaps otherwise have been the case.

[Naomi M]

12 minutes ago, alison said:

I'm now wondering whether we shall see a promotion or two to principal a little sooner than might perhaps otherwise have been the case.

 

Regarding the withdrawal of Takada and McRae (both due to injury) for the Japan tour, who will replace them will definitely be a sign. This pair was supposed to do 2 performances of Don Quixote. It might be possible that first soloists will take over the role, and as a result someone might got promoted. 

[ElleC]

I would still very much like to see William Bracewell promoted to Principal,  It's probably just wishful thinking but, despite being injured for that last half of the season, personally I think he could still have done enough to gain promotion.  He was outstanding in Winter Dreams, partnered Osipova perfectly in Symphony in C in McRae's place, and he and Fumi danced quite a few more Nutcrackers than originally scheduled as a result of various absentees/injuries.  He totally blew me away in the one performance he danced of Asphodel Meadows (with Laura Morera – both amazing together) and I've heard from various people who were lucky enough to see him rehearse Two Pigeons with Yasmine Naghdi that he would very likely have been wonderful in that too (and presumably Management would be aware of that).  In addition, he seems to be a strong, reliable partner no matter who he is paired with and, to my mind, possesses wonderful dramatic and technical ability.  I would have thought, he more than proved  his ability to "carry a show" in his exceptional performances of Swan Lake with Akane at the end of last season (I'm praying they will be cast together in SL next season).   I'm still keeping everything crossed that he may be back for Month in the Country, but fear that that may be a faint hope.  (As you can probably tell, I'm a big fan!!! J)

I would also love to see Fumi promoted, as well as Reece Clarke (again, surely he has done enough to be considered worthy of First Soloist despite injury), Luca Acri and Anna-Rose O'Sullivan, and would echo a plea to promote Romany Pajdak and Isabella Gasperini, as well as Theo Debreuil and Leo Dixon.  (I haven't mentioned Cesar Corrales since I've yet to see his Romeo – to be rectified on Saturday!!).

Edited May 22, 2019 by ElleC

[RuthE]

9 minutes ago, ElleC said:

and would echo a plea to promote Romany Pajdak

 

Her lack of progression from the First Artist rank has puzzled me for some years - possibly as long as Yuhui Choe's lack of progression from First Soloist (though like jamesrhblack, I'm pretty sure that latter ship has now sailed).

Edited May 22, 2019 by RuthE

[Xandra Newman]

33 minutes ago, Naomi M said:

 

Regarding the withdrawal of Takada and McRae (both due to injury) for the Japan tour, who will replace them will definitely be a sign. This pair was supposed to do 2 performances of Don Quixote. It might be possible that first soloists will take over the role, and as a result someone might got promoted. 

 

Well there is Cuthbertson or Naghdi or Nunez or Osipova who could squeeze in an extra performance and replace Takada. 

[Fonty]

I am not sure I entirely approve of this "it-has-to-be-a-Principal-dancing-the-role-and-there-isn't-one-spare-so-we-have-to--promote-someone" idea!

 

How many times has that happened?  
 

[Xandra Newman]

I agree.

As far as I am aware it only happened to Hayward (2016): she was urgently needed to replace Salenko and dance with McRae on tour.

As the RB is contractually obliged by the Japan Tour organisers to showcase only principals in lead roles (so I was informed by dancers) AND there are enough principals available to dance Kitri on tour it shouldn't be difficult to replace Takada/McRae in those 2 shows by another principal couple.

[alison]

I believe it's happened several times over the past few decades - and there are some additional cases which I'm not certain about, but where the timing might be slightly suspicious.