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I got sidetracked by Mr Font into watching something else.  I did manage to grab a fascinating 30 minute documentary on R & J on Youtube, featuring Rojo and Acosta among others, and narrated by Jonathan Cope.  And what an excellent narrator he was too.

 

Am happy to  join in another one, but Saturday is not a good night for me.  Any chance of a matinee performance?

Edited by Fonty
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23 minutes ago, alison said:

Yes, I did wonder whether Saturday was actually a good night, or whether people were more likely to arrange other things then.

 

Perhaps we should run a poll ...

 

No sooner (well, hardly) said than done:

 

 

 

Do please respond :) 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Our Event yesterday  evening celebrated Akane Takada's 30th birthday by watching a couple of her  rehearsal Insights  (as Perdita from The Winter's Tale,   and as Mathilde Kschessinska from Anastasia, with James Hay)  and then a couple of Ashton masterpieces - Les Patineurs from 2010 where Akane was a delightful Blue Girl, and finally  from 2017  as  a wonderful Titania in The Dream. (Steven McRae  on dazzling form in both as well). Akane and Steven's final virtuoso PDD is just  so beautiful, and gets deserved prolonged applause from the audience.   I regard this version of The Dream as an exemplar of the perfect ballet - brilliant choreography, lovely music, fantastic staging, plenty of magic, humour, and  sensuality,  and  amazing dancing, all packed into less than  an hour, so that it leaves you wanting more ! 

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1 minute ago, Richard LH said:

I regard this version of The Dream as an exemplar of the perfect ballet - brilliant choreography, lovely music, fantastic staging, plenty of magic, humour, and  sensuality,  and  amazing dancing, all packed into less than  an hour, so that it leaves you wanting more ! 

 

Me too.  Although I would ideally have liked a more experienced cast, but circumstances didn't allow.

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I've just attended a matinee performance of Northern Ballet's 1984 in my living room.

 

I'm never quite sure how live performances will translate onto the small screen and actually this production transforms very well.  I'd forgotten just what an imaginatively brutal production it is.  IMHO it's a terrific interpretation of such a very bleak novel.  The corps scenes are mostly people at the repetitive drudgery of work interspersed with the quite intimidating hate sessions.

 

Toby Batley as Winston Smith shows what an incredibly expressive dance actor he is going from the drudgery of work and life, through the hate sessions, the hope, love and ultimately despair and betrayal.  Of course, Martha Leebolt as Julia walks on stage, breathes and all is well with the world.  Javier Torres is utterly sinister and brutal as O'Brien, showing yet again what a powerful presence he has.  

 

The end, where Winston Smith's name is erased from the screen is incredibly moving.

 

All in all this was a terrific afternoon at the ballet.

 

This production is currently availably via YouTube as part of Northern Ballet's Pay As You Feel digital season (although I have, of course, got the DVD).

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I've just spent the noon matinee blissfully watching Ballet Black's House of Dreams, choreographed by Michael Corder to music by Debussy.

 

It really is a sublime piece of choreography for 2 couples with individual duets and ending up with all four dancers.  I have often thought with the Michael Corder story ballets I have seen that there are too many steps and not enough dancing but with this piece he has melded the steps to the music so beautifully I was transported to McNulty heaven.  The four dancers were just sublime.  Highly recommended.  (I'm not sure how long it is available for).

 

 

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