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7 hours ago, alison said:

With regard to Ms Stix-Brunell, she is one of those few First Soloists who will actually leave a Principal-sized hole in the company.

 

and she had a justifiably lovely Principal-sized farewell which will be difficult to replicate in other circumstances.

Other takes from yesterday afternoon:

  • lovely to see Hannah Park and David Donnelly finally get on stage in Anemoi (how is it that David has not yet moved higher up the ranks?)
  • divertissements highlights from Vadim Muntagirov and Beatriz Stix Brunell
  • a fine Bluebird from Joonyhuk Jun and Isabella Gasparini (although he needs to learn how to use facial expression to add gloss to his fine technique); and
  • a simply beautiful Aurora from Yasmine Naghdi.

The Company ended on a high as it deserved to do and the audience cheered at full house volume. Happy and privileged to have been there.

 

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1 minute ago, capybara said:

 

Other takes from yesterday afternoon:

  • lovely to see Hannah Park and David Donnelly finally get on stage in Anemoi (how is it that David has not yet moved higher up the ranks


Despite Hanna being listed in the digital cast sheet she didn’t appear, she was replaced by Yu Hang 

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8 hours ago, alison said:

 

Not everyone takes the fishdives at breakneck, jaw-bashing pace, of course.

 

But isn't more speed preferable, all other things being equal? Is there an argument for taking things slower?

 

(I've been watching the Fonteyn pdd and it's *very* fast in the fish dives.)

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Speaking of the fishdives, I think a lot of people are doing it slower now. The fastest nowadays that I've seen from RB recording is Bonelli with Cojocaru and Cuthbertson with Polunin. After that it's slower

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I thought the last time I saw SB that the fish dives were a bit on the slow side, and consequently felt dull and almost clumsy.  Why take them slower, can't the current crop of dancers manage the speed of the previous generations?  Now that I find hard to believe!

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33 minutes ago, Fonty said:

I thought the last time I saw SB that the fish dives were a bit on the slow side, and consequently felt dull and almost clumsy.  Why take them slower, can't the current crop of dancers manage the speed of the previous generations?  Now that I find hard to believe!

 

Question for the experts - How much does coaching come in to it? After seeing the micro-managing that goes on in the (now unavailable) Swan Lake Insight, my initial thought was that if Alexander Agadzhanov wanted the Nunez/Muntagirov fish dives to be faster, they would have been faster. 

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1 minute ago, oncnp said:

 

Question for the experts - How much does coaching come in to it? After seeing the micro-managing that goes on in the now (unavailable) Swan Lake Insight, my initial thought was that if Alexander Agadzhanov wanted the Nunez/Muntagirov fish dives to be faster, they would have been faster. 

 

This is the thing! I find it hard to believe that such fine technicians as Nunez and Muntagirov aren't capable of doing it faster.

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49 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

Musicality and lyricism

 

Sorry to disagree but the fishdives segment is one of THE wow moments in the entire balletic cannon...like the 32 fouettes in SL. I expect sheer explosion. Pow! I’ll never forget when Cojocaru/Kobborg   performed them here at the Kennedy Center. 

 

Go Big or Go Home.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Jeannette
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A bit harsh indeed….

 

I have seen clips of Muntagirov doing the fish dives with other dancers and they were executed very fast, so it certainly isn’t that he can’t cope (plus I noted he held that last one rock steady for what seemed like ages). And I’m quite sure that Marianela is technically capable of doing anything she puts her mind to. So it is very possibly down to personal preference either of the dancers or whoever is coaching them.

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I will write some kind of review on the two performances I saw this weekend soon, but currently feeling the need to unwind after a fraught journey home involving riotous football crowds between Covent Garden, Leicester Square and, eventually, Embankment, a cancelled train, and a very late arrival in Plymouth in the pouring rain with not a taxi to be had anywhere….

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I agree with balletfanp’s first post but I think I will have to stop reading this thread because it’s dampening the rosy glow with which I left the ROH after yesterday’s fine matinee.

 

I suppose that I’m the kind of ballet watcher who, barring obvious technical errors, let’s the movement, the drama and the artistry ‘wash’ over me ‘in the moment’. I wonder whether streaming makes viewers more pernickety?

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2 hours ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

Musicality and lyricism

Yes I was going to suggest this was the reason for the slower fish dives. I'm very far from an expert so the following may not be the best description! But in my viewing of Nuñez and Muntagirov in Sleeping Beauty (perhaps also in some of the other big classical roles), there seems to be emphasis on drawing out a remarkable lyricism from the music. Remarkable in that for many dancers, just dancing the choreography convincingly can (I believe) be a big challenge. But Nuñez has comfort and time to play with the music at every moment. Having seen them dance this pas de deux both on Friday and 18 months ago, my personal interpretation of the slower fish dives is that to go faster would break the musicality and be out of keeping with the way they approach the pas de deux. 

 

I really enjoy the way they dance it. But I also like having the opportunity to watch other dancers who take a more attacking approach and include the excitement of faster fish dives. I was lucky enough to see Osipova do this in an earlier performance. It's this kind of thing that adds to the joy of seeing alternate casts 😊

 

 

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It’s all subjective but for me lightness and speed are an integral part of musicality – there has to be something to balance the creamy stretch, otherwise it’s too much cream for my taste, and not always a specific response to the music. In the case of the fish dives I do think the music wants something quick and explosive (surely the reason the fish dives were introduced?) but it is the dancers’ choice and also no mean feat after so many months off! Plus the added pressure of international streaming…. As Dan says, so many talented dancers each with different qualities and styles – always plenty to enjoy.

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By the way, now the RB season is at an end, could I suggest a(n international?) moratorium on the use of Spiegel im Spiegel?  It seems to me that it's been used an awful lot during the last year and a half, and I must admit that I'm getting heartily sick of it.

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On 09/07/2021 at 23:32, JennyTaylor said:

I will be picking my R&J's, Giselle's, Nutcrackers and Swan Lake's with care and passing on the rest,  but am extremely concerned by those seating plans with so many seats greyed out. 

From ROH re. greyed-out seats   "To answer your query, The seat price map is still in the process of updating the price map. What is up on our website are just a brief outlook for anyone that wants to get a rough idea at the moment.
 
Before the booking period opens in August, it should all be updated. Please keep an eye out on our websites then".
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Not sure I’ve seen it Alison but whenever I see the word Spiegel it makes me think of the Spiegeltent here in the Pavilion Gardens in Brighton which is put up for performances for the Brighton Festival ... just finished yesterday as has been later this year. 
They never seem to have any ballet in the Spiegeltent unfortunately though!! 
 

I agree with those who say there is room for different interpretation in the music for the fish dives in Beauty...or the music taken at slightly different paces maybe.  Osipova is Osipova and Nunez is Nunez and love them both. 

 

 

 

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48 minutes ago, alison said:

By the way, now the RB season is at an end, could I suggest a(n international?) moratorium on the use of Spiegel im Spiegel?  It seems to me that it's been used an awful lot during the last year and a half, and I must admit that I'm getting heartily sick of it.


it’s never been one of my favourite pieces. I have always found it’s tedious  repetitiveness hard to endure. 

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2 hours ago, Sim said:

That's a bit harsh...

 

It’s what audiences expect in Big Moments, sorry to say. Note the backlash to certain  ballerinas unable to progress past 12 fouettes, for ex. The general public (not expert members of this forum) expect The Big Moments.

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1 minute ago, Fiona said:

 

Personally speaking, I find the ROH wigs far superior to those used at the Bolshoi and Mariinsky companies.  (Especially those for the Corps dancers.)

 

Especially those pink beauties in the Mariinsky’s Rose Waltz!

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16 minutes ago, Scheherezade said:


it’s never been one of my favourite pieces. I have always found it’s tedious  repetitiveness hard to endure. 

 

You remind me of the (apocryphal?) story about someone forgetting to photocopy the middle four pages of Gorecki's Totus Tuus and nobody noticing, least of all the performers.

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2 hours ago, capybara said:

I wonder whether streaming makes viewers more pernickety?

Probably since you can see things with more detail. I'm pretty sure that I'm like that though. Never watch the live shows cause I'm not from UK

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Whoops Alison only just got what you meant earlier! You mean the music by Arvo Part or rather it’s overuse! 
Yes probably that piece has been a bit overused generally in the last couple of years though loved it when I first heard it.

For some weird reason I thought you were talking about an expression people had been using too much in their posts hence my comment that I hadn’t seen it 🙄 

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21 hours ago, Rob S said:


Were you in the front left curve of the Stalls Circle? Some people there couldn’t contain their laughs, a bit distracting. I really enjoy it, both Magri and Osipova were fantastic.

 

I was really impressed with Joonhyuk Jun’s Bluebird, so pleased I got to see that.

 

 

No I was sc right. I admired Osipova - she was as fluid as water, Sambe very strong. Voices of Spring was much preferred near where I sat.

 

agree re Bluebird- swift footwork and soft landings - impressive.

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On 10/07/2021 at 17:56, Jeannette said:

I just watched the Voices of Spring that I missed yesterday due to a technical glitch. Sigh. Absolute miscasting here, IMHO. O’Sullivan and Sambe - who I’ve greatly admired as individual dancers in the past - labored through Ashton’s steps with plastered grins...as if they had been forced to perform. This was about as far from the carefree and smooth (yet tongue-in-cheek) style of the originators, Park & Eagling, as one could get. 

 

Coming at the end of a string of finely-performed pas de deux, this only hurt the case for programming more Ashton works in the future. 

 

I share Jeannette’s concerns. It may help to consider the context from which the pdd was taken – a new production of Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. Films of the premiere in 1977, and performances in 1982, and 1990 are available on youtube. Park and Eagling dance the pdd in the first two, Durante and Cassidy in the third.

 

It was a tradition to interpolate some divertissements into Act 2, which is set in an elegant, light-filled (please note!) ballroom at Prince Orlofsky’s palace. As the Act proceeds there are songs about kissing, laughing and champagne, people losing their inhibitions, and much swaying to music in waltz time. In the first two films, the divertissements begin with Ashton’s explosion polka, two minutes of mayhem which are reminiscent of Facade with a hint of a 1930’s show number. I particularly love the "slippy" steps. It begins at 1.39.31 of the 1982 film at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dka-_N6KaG0

 

In between the polka and the pdd in 1977, Daniel Barenboim played a Chopin ballade, and Isaac Stern the final movement of Mendelssohn’s violin concerto. Chopin, Mendelssohn, Ashton. Yes! In 1990, the performance was the vehicle for Dame Joan Sutherland’s farewell, and the entertainment came from her, Pavarotti, and Marilyn Horne. Yes! In 1982, they had two songs from Hinge and Bracket and a rendering of “She” by Charles Aznavour. Yes – actually I think the best of all because they fitted the feeling of the operetta. In all three cases, by the time it came for Voices of Spring, the whole place had been warmed up, with waves of happiness buoying up the dancers as they entered to applause from the guests on stage.

 

Watching the streaming from the ROH, I felt that the dancers looked very lonely out there. Out on a limb, with no context of fellow feeling from the four preceding works. All of them were performed in semi-darkness, and even Voices of Spring was given a dark background. (Couldn't they back project an image from Vienna like the Schonbrun Palace or a peach or rose colour?) The other works gave no sense of build up to the Ashton, which in the opera is the climax of the divertissements, leading directly into the whole company dancing a waltz. It didn’t have a chance. I feel a bit sick about it because to me it shows a want of feeling, a lack of sensitivity to the RB’s founder choreographer. Or a deliberate slighting? 

 

At the end of the 1977 film, we can glimpse Ashton in the line up standing next to Kiri Te Kanawa. “It was nothing, just a piece of froth,” we might imagine him saying to her, secretly pleased to have stolen the show with it.

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45 minutes ago, Rina said:

 

I share Jeannette’s concerns. It may help to consider the context from which the pdd was taken – a new production of Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. Films of the premiere in 1977, and performances in 1982, and 1990 are available on youtube. Park and Eagling dance the pdd in the first two, Durante and Cassidy in the third.

 

It was a tradition to interpolate some divertissements into Act 2, which is set in an elegant, light-filled (please note!) ballroom at Prince Orlofsky’s palace. As the Act proceeds there are songs about kissing, laughing and champagne, people losing their inhibitions, and much swaying to music in waltz time. In the first two films, the divertissements begin with Ashton’s explosion polka, two minutes of mayhem which are reminiscent of Facade with a hint of a 1930’s show number. I particularly love the "slippy" steps. It begins at 1.39.31 of the 1982 film at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dka-_N6KaG0

 

In between the polka and the pdd in 1977, Daniel Barenboim played a Chopin ballade, and Isaac Stern the final movement of Mendelssohn’s violin concerto. Chopin, Mendelssohn, Ashton. Yes! In 1990, the performance was the vehicle for Dame Joan Sutherland’s farewell, and the entertainment came from her, Pavarotti, and Marilyn Horne. Yes! In 1982, they had two songs from Hinge and Bracket and a rendering of “She” by Charles Aznavour. Yes – actually I think the best of all because they fitted the feeling of the operetta. In all three cases, by the time it came for Voices of Spring, the whole place had been warmed up, with waves of happiness buoying up the dancers as they entered to applause from the guests on stage.

 

Watching the streaming from the ROH, I felt that the dancers looked very lonely out there. Out on a limb, with no context of fellow feeling from the four preceding works. All of them were performed in semi-darkness, and even Voices of Spring was given a dark background. (Couldn't they back project an image from Vienna like the Schonbrun Palace or a peach or rose colour?) The other works gave no sense of build up to the Ashton, which in the opera is the climax of the divertissements, leading directly into the whole company dancing a waltz. It didn’t have a chance. I feel a bit sick about it because to me it shows a want of feeling, a lack of sensitivity to the RB’s founder choreographer. Or a deliberate slighting? 

 

At the end of the 1977 film, we can glimpse Ashton in the line up standing next to Kiri Te Kanawa. “It was nothing, just a piece of froth,” we might imagine him saying to her, secretly pleased to have stolen the show with it.

 

Thanks, Rina. Beside the context, my main concern is that the pdd wasn’t danced in a light & carefree manner...seemed labored...one can sense a “heave ho!” yell from the man, despite plastered smiles. HOWEVER, even this wasn’t nearly as bad as one live rendition that I witnessed at an Ashton gala event, when the man failed to lift the woman at the start of the work, so he improvised the first run across the stage by carrying her in his arms like a sweet bundle against his waist.  

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Looking at that 1982 performance, it's not just the lightness and apparent ease, it's the sheer flow!

 

I would really like to see Hayward in this - lightness and flow are her hallmarks, IMO. I don't know who I'd have partnering her though.

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If you watch one of the earlier performances after looking at this one, the very first thing you notice is how much faster it used to be! Dancing it so (relatively) slowly is bound to change the character of it.

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