World Ballet Day 2021 - discussion

[capybara]

Of course, Alina Cojocaru left ENB around this time last year.

I agree that she is the best Manon ever (with ENB as well as with the RB). 

[RosiesDream]

12 minutes ago, capybara said:

Of course, Alina Cojocaru left ENB around this time last year.

I agree that she is the best Manon ever (with ENB as well as with the RB). 

 

Didn't know that...I must have lockdown lag...I did see ENB have now got Jurgita Dronina, in fact I watched the live stream of her La Sylphide, now I come to think of it...and still the penny didn't drop.

[Fonty]

Has Cojocaru retired now?  I am trying to think how old she is.  In my head she is still a teenager!

Edited to add I just did a quick search, and now I am up to date with the facts.  Apologies for being a bit behind the times!

Edited October 21, 2021 by Fonty
Did a bit of fact checking

[Guest oncnp]

3 minutes ago, Fonty said:

Has Cojocaru retired now?  I am trying to think how old she is.  In my head she is still a teenager!

 

According to Wiki, 40 (1981)

[capybara]

43 minutes ago, RosiesDream said:

 

I did see ENB have now got Jurgita Dronina, in fact I watched the live stream of her La Sylphide, now I come to think of it...and still the penny didn't drop.

 

Jurgita Dronina is no longer with ENB either (she has returned to Canada).

The 'newest' ballerina at ENB is Maria Kochetcova who was with the Company for a few years up to 2007 but has now returned to them from San Francisco via Finland and international guesting.

[FionaM]

Alina Cojocaru has not retired.  She was rehearsing for Giselle in July with Tim Andrijshenko in Sicily (huge outdoor venue) but had to pull out due to injury.  Nicolette Manni replaced her at late notice.  
 

I’m told Alina was due to perform Neumeier’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Hamburg Ballet in Baden Baden earlier in October, but was not fully recovered.  They hope she will be able to dance Neumeier’s Glass Menagerie  in early November.  This ballet was created on Alina two years ago.  
 

And she is due to perform in Johan Kobborg’s Romeo & Juliet with Sergei Polunin at the Albert Hall on 1st December.  Rescheduled from April 2020. 
 

Seating for R&J is fully sold out, so standing tickets in the gallery have now been made available £33.75.  It’s a really good view from there! 
 

But, there will be late returns from international ticket buyers who will not be able to travel due to UK quarantine rules.  Some are waiting on possible rule changes before deciding.  Let me know if you are interested in attending and I may be able to match you up.  £100-£250 (front row) 😉

[Lizbie1]

17 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

Also - I can only wonder at being able to offer technical corrections to Marianela Nunez!

 

I meant to ask! This section jogged a memory of Monica Mason herself being rehearsed in the role in a documentary from back along. Can anyone else remember this, and who she was being rehearsed by? I couldn't tell you with confidence what stage of her career it was from, but I do know that it was in colour and that I'd have seen the clip or documentary on YouTube.

 

Any offers?

 

EDIT: I've just found it - it was Norman Morrice and Gerd Larsen in 1981. And may I add how very beautiful were her bourrees!

Edited October 21, 2021 by Lizbie1

[alison]

52 minutes ago, FionaE said:

Seating for R&J is fully sold out, so standing tickets in the gallery have now been made available £33.75.

 

Gulp!

[Christine]

On 20/10/2021 at 12:36, AnneL said:

 it was a reminder of the magnificent Cranko choreography which is less familiar to me than some other works which I have seen performed more often. I now dream of traveling to Stuttgart to see it! 

You should translate your dream into reality! If you do, you'll have to hurry a bit, however, as unfortunately, the current run is a short one with the last performances of Onegin on 14 November. The first cast - that is the plan - will dance only on 23rd and 31st of October. Anyway, Onegin is bound to come back again sometime in the future, so I am sure there will be opportunities! 

[alison]

Didn't Detrich (sp?) say on World Ballet Day that the run was fully booked?

[LinMM]

I was at the performance when Monica Mason as Myrthe ( I would have been terrified of her on stage!) broke her ankle mid performance. I think she even briefly carried on but you could tell she was in trouble. I still can’t remember who came on to take her place. 

[Angela]

2 hours ago, alison said:

Didn't Detrich (sp?) say on World Ballet Day that the run was fully booked?

 

Yes he said that - they change the seating capacity during the Onegin performances from 50 per cent (due to the pandemic) to 100 per cent, and the full capacity performances are not sold out yet, a rare thing for the ever-sold-out Stuttgart Ballet. Maybe he was talking about the first performances. Audiences are returning to the different venues here in Germany, but not everything is fully booked. Not even football matches. I don't know if people are still afraid or if they just forgot that theatre exists, watching everything online for one and a half year... But that does not belong here in this thread.

 

[Fonty]

Regarding Stuttgart, it is also a very nice place to visit.  I liked it there very much, even though I didn't get a chance to visit the ballet.

[LinMM]

Spent six months there as a student! It was a very nice place back in early 70’s probably wouldn’t recognise today! Had lots of nice cafes and cake shops anyway!! 

[Jane S]

5 hours ago, LinMM said:

I was at the performance when Monica Mason as Myrthe ( I would have been terrified of her on stage!) broke her ankle mid performance. I think she even briefly carried on but you could tell she was in trouble. I still can’t remember who came on to take her place. 

 

Sandra Conley? (Was it at the Coliseum or have I misremembered?)

[LinMM]

I remember it as being at ROH 

It was a long time ago in the 70’s! Or if was 80’s very early 80’s
I know the ROH was closed for quite a while a few years back but think it was before that closure. 

[AnneL]

9 hours ago, Christine said:

You should translate your dream into reality! If you do, you'll have to hurry a bit, however, as unfortunately, the current run is a short one with the last performances of Onegin on 14 November. The first cast - that is the plan - will dance only on 23rd and 31st of October. Anyway, Onegin is bound to come back again sometime in the future, so I am sure there will be opportunities! 

Yes, it will have to be another time, but it’s definitely on my wish list now. 

[jmhopton]

I've been trying to access the Stuttgart Onegin rehearsal today and failed. Was it only online for the live event or am I missing something? I enjoyed the last Onegin rehearsal they did last year or the year before. Hope it's not too long before the RB stage it again. All the dancers seem to love it.

[northstar]

Just wanted to second the praise and expression of pleasure in seeing RB's Giselle rehearsal, both Mason's coaching of Nunez and the coaching of the Willis. The famous crossing hops! 

Also very intrigued and somewhat excited by ENB's Raymonda film for World Ballet Day. It was originally due to open in 2020 in my neck of the woods, (Manchester) but alas the you-know-what put paid to that.   

(Off topic but JNC I totally agree about Cojocaru as Manon at ENB, can't remember many more affecting ballet experiences than seeing her perform this at Manch Opera House) 

[Christine]

19 minutes ago, jmhopton said:

I've been trying to access the Stuttgart Onegin rehearsal today and failed. Was it only online for the live event or am I missing something? I enjoyed the last Onegin rehearsal they did last year or the year before. Hope it's not too long before the RB stage it again. All the dancers seem to love it.

For some reason it was only available until yesterday 4 pm and I don't know why - perhaps it has got to do with the rights attaching to Cranko's Onegin.  In previous years the Stuttgart Ballet contributions to the World Ballet Day were available for much longer (and one still is), on the other hand they had a duration of 30 minutes only, this year it was 60 minutes. That's  no consolation if the video is no longer accessible, I know.

Edited October 21, 2021 by Christine

[Christine]

8 hours ago, Angela said:

 

Yes he said that - they change the seating capacity during the Onegin performances from 50 per cent (due to the pandemic) to 100 per cent, and the full capacity performances are not sold out yet, a rare thing for the ever-sold-out Stuttgart Ballet. 

 

 Well, they are as good as sold out now with only one seat left for some of the performances to the full capacity audience in November which should make the Director very happy! But its true of, course, people have been rather hesitant about returning to events in general.

[Dawnstar]

17 minutes ago, Christine said:

For some reason it was only available until yesterday 4 pm and I don't know why - perhaps it has got to do with the rights attaching to Cranko's Onegin.  In previous years the Stuttgart Ballet contributions to the World Ballet Day were available for much longer (and one still is), on the other hand they had a duration of 30 minutes only, this year it was 60 minutes. That's  no consolation if the video is no longer accessible, I know.

 

Oh bother. That was one of the ones I was planning to catch up on, as I thought all companies were going to have their WBD videos available for 30 days.

[alison]

And oh double bother.  I was watching it at the office on WBD, stopped partway through to go off to London, and came back in yesterday to find that the office WiFi wasn't working.  I didn't worry, as I assumed I'd have plenty of time to watch it

[maryrosesatonapin]

41 minutes ago, northstar said:

RB's Giselle rehearsal ..... the coaching of the Willis. 

Talking of which, it was interesting to observe the very different coaching techniques for the massed corps of the Bolshoi and RB.  Did anyone else notice how harsh one of the Bolshoi repetiteurs was?  He accused one of the dancers of being unable to do an arabesque (it really wasn't that bad) and said he could do it better himself.  Quite insulting I thought.  On the other hand, they were extremely well synchronised.  RB was much gentler but the dancing had more visible faults.  I don't see how nastiness helps anyone though!

[northstar]

 

5 minutes ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

Talking of which, it was interesting to observe the very different coaching techniques for the massed corps of the Bolshoi and RB.  Did anyone else notice how harsh one of the Bolshoi repetiteurs was?  He accused one of the dancers of being unable to do an arabesque (it really wasn't that bad) and said he could do it better himself.  Quite insulting I thought.  On the other hand, they were extremely well synchronised.  RB was much gentler but the dancing had more visible faults.  I don't see how nastiness helps anyone though!

I haven't watched the Bolshoi broadcast but I am rather ashamed to say your description does rather act like 'bait' for me to click on it. As you say very interesting to observe the differences in culture of coaching between different companies/countries.  

[stucha]

1 hour ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

Talking of which, it was interesting to observe the very different coaching techniques for the massed corps of the Bolshoi and RB.  Did anyone else notice how harsh one of the Bolshoi repetiteurs was?  He accused one of the dancers of being unable to do an arabesque (it really wasn't that bad) and said he could do it better himself.  Quite insulting I thought.  On the other hand, they were extremely well synchronised.  RB was much gentler but the dancing had more visible faults.  I don't see how nastiness helps anyone though!

 

That wasn't just 'one of the Bolshoi repetiteurs'.  That was Makhar Vaziev, the director of the Bolshoi ballet.

He was indeed harsh but he is a rather dour man at the best of times

Edited October 22, 2021 by stucha

[Pas de Quatre]

I think you could call that the Sergeant Major method - if you are going to drill the squad, you drill the squad!

[Pas de Quatre]

On 21/10/2021 at 23:27, maryrosesatonapin said:

Talking of which, it was interesting to observe the very different coaching techniques for the massed corps of the Bolshoi and RB.  Did anyone else notice how harsh one of the Bolshoi repetiteurs was?  He accused one of the dancers of being unable to do an arabesque (it really wasn't that bad) and said he could do it better himself.  Quite insulting I thought.  On the other hand, they were extremely well synchronised.  RB was much gentler but the dancing had more visible faults.  I don't see how nastiness helps anyone though!

With RB it isn't just that the Corps lines are often ragged, the arms and hands are sometimes held differently by the dancers, likewise the head angle and eyeline.  I think this is the downside of recruiting from all over the world, in particular competition winners who then just spend a few months at Upper School so the Company can say the RBS trained them.  

 

Classical ballet technique is a series of reflex actions learned over many years.  Once learned it can be very difficult to adapt and change.  Many of the competition winners spend a lot of time rehearsing solos, but less learning how to dance as a member of the Corps which is a fine skill in its own right.

[Lizbie1]

All the above is probably true, but I think it's worth considering that the RB corps have barely had a chance to dance anything similar for 18 months and there are two years' worth of apprentices to be assimilated rapidly. I don't think the same can be said of the Bolshoi.

 

It's also three and a half years since the RB staged Giselle, whereas I believe the Bolshoi operate a repertory system (unless things have changed since I was there, which is very possible!), so it will be fresher in their memories and presumably a higher proportion will already have danced it.

[Pas de Quatre]

This may be so Lizbie, but these problems with the Corps pre-date the pandemic, it has been noted for many years.

[JNC]

Finally catching up with some of the RB content.

 

What a treat to see the great Monica Mason coaching Nunez - a real insight into how it’s all those tiny details (which I won’t be able to pinpoint as non-expert) such as the slight difference in the angle of the head which makes such a difference! Similar raptures for Bracewell and Kaneko rehearsing Romeo and Juliet - beautiful and expert advice by Watson and Collier.

 

Really hope to see Bracewell and Kaneko paired more often, it’s a shame they’re not doing swan lake together. Surely Bracewell is due/next in like for promotion?! (A common utterance on this forum and I am now fully converted, not that I needed much convincing.)

 

Also just enjoyed watching the general class much more than I thought I would, very insightful and relaxing and good to see so many dancers all in one room from principals to new recruits! 
 

How lucky we are to have these fantastic dancers and coaches! 

[Rob S]

The ROH has just put the Giselle rehearsal on their Youtube channel as a separate video