Royal Ballet: The Dante Project - October 2021

[Beryl H]

I'm so pleased that I will be able to see it at last, 3 hours long suggests some extras, hopefully an introduction and synopsis, and Edward Watson's farewell performance 🙂

[Guest oncnp]

2 hours ago, alison said:

....... whoever reinstated the Calendar entry - I was just wondering how to do it).

 

Didn't reinstate it....just put it in again

[art_enthusiast]

21 minutes ago, alison said:

I dare say the ROH could do with the additional support of us all buying the "deadstreams", too.  I'm several behind at the moment, but guess I shall be catching up sometime in the next couple of weeks, faute de, well, anything else.

What do you mean by "deadstreams"?

Adoring the Dante Project stream. Of course, it was uniquely amazing live, but still has the same profound impact digitally.

Not sure where to ask this, but has Thomas Adès released the orchestral score on Spotify or anywhere else? Would definitely purchase it if I could find it.

[Jeannette]

7 hours ago, art_enthusiast said:

 …
Adoring the Dante Project stream. Of course, it was uniquely amazing live, but still has the same profound impact …..

 Me too! A total work of art. I look forward to multiple repeated viewings while it’s still up. 
 

I love the score, which seems to borrow from the classics in some spots. I recognized Ashton’s Apparitions (Liszt) towards the end of part one.

[DanJL]

I really enjoyed watching the stream too - wonderfully well filmed I thought and it really did continue to have that impact. Also looking forward to repeat viewings 😊

[Beryl H]

I've only watched the first act so far, and thought it improved towards the end, what I presume is the dance of thieves was exciting, and Fumi Kaneko and Edward Watson had a fascinating pdd, other outstanding dancers were Calvin Richardson and Joseph Sissens. The sound quality of my laptop is bad but even so I wasn't impressed by the music, recognised the Liszt music but thought it sounded odd compared to the original.

 

Very well filmed, I suppose the lighting was supposed to change between clear and murky? Good camera angles too, I was able to get a real feeling of how it looked on stage.

 

Hope it gets released on DVD when I can watch and hear it properly!

 

 

 

 

Edited December 23, 2021 by Beryl H

[art_enthusiast]

7 hours ago, Beryl H said:

I've only watched the first act so far, and thought it improved towards the end, what I presume is the dance of thieves was exciting, and Fumi Kaneko and Edward Watson had a fascinating pdd, other outstanding dancers were Calvin Richardson and Joseph Sissens. The sound quality of my laptop is bad but even so I wasn't impressed by the music, recognised the Liszt music but thought it sounded odd compared to the original.

 

 

Just wait for Act 2 - the music is really amazing.

 

Agree that Joseph Sissens and Calvin Richardson really stood out. Astounding performances.

Edited December 24, 2021 by art_enthusiast

[myrtle]

Such interesting insights and comments on this production.   Would someone who has seen the ROH stream be able to comment, please, on whether the stream features the same dancers in the "The Royal Ballet rehearse The Dante Project" in the rehearsal pas de deux?   Watson/Lamb and Ball/Hayward, IIRC?   Thank you all in advance.  

[Jeannette]

24 minutes ago, myrtle said:

Such interesting insights and comments on this production.   Would someone who has seen the ROH stream be able to comment, please, on whether the stream features the same dancers in the "The Royal Ballet rehearse The Dante Project" in the rehearsal pas de deux?   Watson/Lamb and Ball/Hayward, IIRC?   Thank you all in advance.  

“Yes” is the answer to both questions, Myrtle. They performed magnificently. Merry Christmas!

[myrtle]

44 minutes ago, Jeannette said:

“Yes” is the answer to both questions, Myrtle. They performed magnificently. Merry Christmas!

Thank you very much.   Merry Christmas to you too!  

[Rob S]

I'll post it here for the benefit of anyone going to the remaining Nutcrackers but if like me you forgot to get a Dante Project programme at the time the shop has a supply signed by Edward Watson at £12

[alison]

  The one time I did buy a programme ...

 

So, autographs justify a 50% markup.  That's interesting to know.

[art_enthusiast]

4 hours ago, Rob S said:

I'll post it here for the benefit of anyone going to the remaining Nutcrackers but if like me you forgot to get a Dante Project programme at the time the shop has a supply signed by Edward Watson at £12

Oh wow, I would really like to get one. Did they seem to have a reasonable number available?

[Rob S]

2 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

Oh wow, I would really like to get one. Did they seem to have a reasonable number available?

 

I'd say so as of 1925hrs last night, must've been around a couple of dozen perhaps...over in the book section

[art_enthusiast]

8 minutes ago, Rob S said:

 

I'd say so as of 1925hrs last night, must've been around a couple of dozen perhaps...over in the book section

 

I suppose you can't purchase them online unfortunately

[Guest oncnp]

7 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

 

I suppose you can't purchase them online unfortunately

 

You could call them and see if they'd ship it to you

 

The only number I can find on the website is the box office but they might be able to transfer you 

+44 (0)20 7304 4000. Google maps has the main number as +44 2072401200

Edited January 6, 2022 by oncnp

[alison]

I streamed Inferno last night, and was very impressed at the visual quality, given that, based on previous experiences, I'd feared that it might come out very dark.  It did, but there was enough contrast to see more or less everything clearly regardless.  I do think that each section could have done with a title, though, to help viewers who hadn't done any background reading (and me - I keep forgetting the names of the sections) - presumably this will be made clear by programme notes on any DVD.

[art_enthusiast]

19 hours ago, alison said:

I streamed Inferno last night, and was very impressed at the visual quality, given that, based on previous experiences, I'd feared that it might come out very dark.  It did, but there was enough contrast to see more or less everything clearly regardless.  I do think that each section could have done with a title, though, to help viewers who hadn't done any background reading (and me - I keep forgetting the names of the sections) - presumably this will be made clear by programme notes on any DVD.

Do you think a DVD will be produced?

[alison]

I suspect so, on the basis of recent history - but I did say "any DVD", so wasn't implying it was a given.  The score certainly needs to be recorded.

[Naomi M]

The stream is already unavailable…

[alison]

What?  Have you refreshed the page?  It's supposed to be on until midnight tonight, surely?

 

At least we in the UK will be able to catch it on BBC4 on Sunday, but that doesn't help you.

[Naomi M]

11 minutes ago, alison said:

What?  Have you refreshed the page?  It's supposed to be on until midnight tonight, surely?

 

At least we in the UK will be able to catch it on BBC4 on Sunday, but that doesn't help you.

 

Thank you. It has now been resumed. 

[Vanartus]

Does anyone know why Osipova didn’t feature as one of the celestial bodies in the streaming? She was dancing on the opening night which I thought was the base for the recording.

[alison]

Nor did Cuthbertson.  My guess was that, as early casts, they were off rehearsing Giselle, but I don't know.

[Dawnstar]

I've watched this on BBC4, not having seen it live or on the ROH's website. It was interesting to watch once but I'm not sure I'll want to watch it again in a hurry - which is fortunate as my attempt to record it will have failed because my mother turned the TV off about half an hour before it finished!

[Rob S]

1 minute ago, Dawnstar said:

I've watched this on BBC4, not having seen it live or on the ROH's website. It was interesting to watch once but I'm not sure I'll want to watch it again in a hurry - which is fortunate as my attempt to record it will have failed because my mother turned the TV off about half an hour before it finished!

Depending on the recorder it doesn’t matter if you turn the tv or the recorder off during the recording

[Ian Macmillan]

Similarly, just seen it on TV.  Intriguing, possibly a tad long for what had to be conveyed, but certainly intriguing.  I wonder if, at the start of his relationship with the Royal Ballet, Wayne McGregor would have seen himself making something like this (and Woolf Works), with loads of ladies on pointe?  I may have to catch up - very belatedly - on a bit of Dante.  (Odd as regards a passage to Paradise that I found myself thinking about Part 2 of Dream of Gerontius.)  

[Dawnstar]

6 minutes ago, Rob S said:

Depending on the recorder it doesn’t matter if you turn the tv or the recorder off during the recording

 

I didn't realise that. I'll have to investigate it in the morning.

 

I was surprised to see at the curtain calls that Kessels was the conductor. I would have expected one of the performamces that Ades conducted to have been filmed, given the future importance of having a recording of the composer conductiong his own score.

[art_enthusiast]

2 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

I was surprised to see at the curtain calls that Kessels was the conductor. I would have expected one of the performamces that Ades conducted to have been filmed, given the future importance of having a recording of the composer conductiong his own score.

Agreed - I went several times to see Dante and I definitely recall Adès conducting on the Saturday the 16th matinée performance, it was very special to see him there. I'm not sure how many other times he conducted, I assume it must have been on the 14th October opening night as well.
I noticed how the curtain calls were shortened a lot - every individual dancer got their own separate bow at the live performance, which I thought was very nice. Of course they must have edited it out due to timings.

[Bruce Wall]

23 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

Agreed - I went several times to see Dante and I definitely recall Adès conducting on the Saturday the 16th matinée performance, it was very special to see him there. I'm not sure how many other times he conducted, I assume it must have been on the 14th October opening night as well.

 

Ades conducted the first four performances of The Dante Project.  

[FionaM]

56 minutes ago, Ian Macmillan said:

 I may have to catch up - very belatedly - on a bit of Dante. 

Yes that was my response too, as I’ve never read a translation of the full poem, nor in the original Italian, which I understand is very beautiful and has rhyme and rhythm that cannot be upheld in a translation.  
 

I was pleased to discover some knowledge has been gathered over my lifetime.  I knew more than I thought I did.  I’m sure you will too. 

[alison]

Yes, I registered the heavily-edited curtain calls because I only stopped watching the streamed version a few days ago!  I only caught the last part because I was watching other things.

 

Sometime when I have nothing more pressing to do, I may go through the recording and list all the dancers Watson doesn't partner/dance with.  I was originally going to list all the ones he did, but I've come to the conclusion that the list of the ones he didn't will be shorter.

[Dawnstar]

14 hours ago, Rob S said:

Depending on the recorder it doesn’t matter if you turn the tv or the recorder off during the recording

 

It turns out that with my recorder it does matter!

 

12 hours ago, alison said:

Sometime when I have nothing more pressing to do, I may go through the recording and list all the dancers Watson doesn't partner/dance with.  I was originally going to list all the ones he did, but I've come to the conclusion that the list of the ones he didn't will be shorter.

 

I was surprised that in the final act he danced so much with Hamilton and Lamb mostly danced with Hirano. I had expected Watson & Lamb to dance together for most of Act III. Given Beatrice is the love of Dante's life, I'd expect that when he finally got to paradise his idea of paradise would be to be with her as much as possible.