David Hallberg becomes Guest Principal at Royal Ballet

[maryrosesatonapin]

1 hour ago, BeauxArts said:

 

Do you mean Hallberg has not returned to the Bolshoi post-injury? He has danced there quite a lot since returning from injury, including Giselle, Onegin and most recently - in the last 2 weeks - he made his debut with the company in A Winter's Tale.

I was going on his Wiki page, which says 'n 2011 Hallberg became the first American to become a principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet.^[2][7] Hallberg was invited by Sergei Filin, Bolshoi Ballet's artistic director to join as either a guest artist or principal.^[8] Part of his decision to join was made, in part, to dance with ballerina Natalia Osipova with whom he had danced previously.^[8] However, owing to a severe ankle injury,^[9] he did not perform with the Bolshoi after July 2014, and the association ended formally in 2017.'  So if he has been back, that's good news as he must be back on form (I hope)

[capybara]

Regarding some of the above queries, David Hallberg spoke to The London Ballet Circle last May and a report of the meeting can be found here: https://www.tlbc.org.uk/resources/14-david-hallberg-in-conversation-13th-may-2019

Of course, there is also his book.............

[alison]

Also

 

https://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/7633-david-hallberg-news/?tab=comments#comment-102238

 

[Lynette H]

LinMM, Hallberg wrote a book about his injury and recuperation.  See 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Body-Work-Dancing-Edge-Back/dp/1476771154/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=hallberg&qid=1570368131&sr=8-2

 

 

[Ivy Lin]

I stand by my statement that if you've only seen Hallberg post-injury, you haven't seen him. The magnitude and amplitude of his dancing has diminished considerably. His soaring jump now is rather careful. He's still got beautiful lines, elegant bearing and all, but he's limited in what he can do.

 

As for the Bolshoi he did return to dance Winter's Tale there:

https://davidhallberg.com/Dates-News

 

Heres just a hint of what he was like pre-injury:

 

[Geoff]

38 minutes ago, Ivy Lin said:

I stand by my statement that if you've only seen Hallberg post-injury, you haven't seen him. The magnitude and amplitude of his dancing has diminished considerably. His soaring jump now is rather careful. He's still got beautiful lines, elegant bearing and all, but he's limited in what he can do.

 

Ivy Lin, thank you very much for that clip. It strikes me, given similar comparisons one could make with the Osipova of ten years (or even less) ago, perhaps also connected to an injury, that the two of them make something of a poignant pairing. 

[Ivy Lin]

Here are clips of Osipova/Hallberg pre-injury (both of them):

 

 

 

[LinMM]

He looks good in the videos thanks for these!

[capybara]

2 hours ago, LinMM said:

He looks good in the videos thanks for these!

 

I’m very glad to have seen these videos too. However, Hallberg’s RB appointment is in the ‘here and now’ and that is what is troubling.

[capybara]

Well, now we have it!

"Natasha..............is the reason he's here; she has long campaigned for this." .........................."And Kevin O'Hare .........has been very accommodating and willing to let our partnership bloom here".

[Piece on David Hallberg by Debra Craine in The Times 15th October 2019.]

 

All I can say is that I hope for his sake as well as ours that he puts on a good show tonight!

[BeauxArts]

Thanks Capybara. I guess some of the scepticism about him dancing with the RB and acquiring formally the status of principal guest artist has found its way back to the RB and Hallberg. All in the eye of beholder, I think.

[HelenLoveAppleJuice]

I have seen Hallberg in R&J twice and seen his troubles in lifting. According to others review from other places of performances of Hallberg with other ballerina, it seems that Hallberg having this problem in himself and need to work on that. Still I admire his classical lines and beautiful feet. Maybe his acting is not dramatic enough up to RB standard. But surely he is a strong dancer and brings a lot to the stage. Maybe cast in more "classic" and "princy" roles.

 

However I also doubt if something in Osipova contributes to the lifting trouble. I went to 4 DQ performance this year, 2 Marienela&Vadim  and 2 Osipova&Vadim. Nela and Osipova are of same height. And clear to me that in both performances Vadim's lift executed better with Nela than Osipova. (Maybe Vadim's very busy schedule during the time when he paired with Osipova contributed to it as well. )

 

Frankly I personally feel that Vadim is the best partner I have seen lively with Osipova so far who have the same power of commanding the stage. Despite what I saw with the lifting etc, I feel Vadim even more pairs with Osipova than Nela. I saw more relax in him and more emotions when he danced with Osipova.