alison Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 In such cases, I've been known to move myself to a seat allowing easier exiting for the final act. Good luck! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted January 20, 2022 Author Share Posted January 20, 2022 3 hours ago, capybara said: A beautifully drawn and danced Raymonda from Erina Takahashi and an impressive (but ever so slightly villainous) Abdur from Daniel McCormick. Shame on me, I should have mentioned the ‘light up the stage’ presence and very stylish dancing from Katja Khaniukova as Henriette and the contrasting calm of Natascha Mair as Sister Clemence. Erik Woolhouse cut a real dash as one of John’s friends which augurs well for his Abdur tonight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuthE Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 2 hours ago, zxDaveM said: Yes, I was another there last night. Really enjoyed the dancing in the multitude of combos - really struggled with the scenario and 'plot' though. I wondered that if Act 2 was the party - what was it in Act 1? A 'not a party' Maybe it was a “work event”… 🤭 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 8 minutes ago, RuthE said: Maybe it was a “work event”… 🤭 LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 I think the problem with the Glazunov music for a war setting more culturally accepted today is that it was written to represent the crusades originally which is all Christian triumphalism of course so doesn’t have the real poignancy and regret of the horrors of the Crimea ....which is why I said I wasn’t sure if this setting worked for Raymonda or not. I wasn’t sure why on Tuesday but it is of course the music. The dream scene did partially try to address the war setting idea but then concentrated on Raymonda’s conflict between John and Abdur so not a lot about her service as a nurse ...so this seems to be the dramatic element missing. Im torn because I love the music so much (and now can’t wait to do the next grand Battement exercise in class to the Spanish dance music now fully aware it is Glazunov) and am so glad it has this exposure in this ballet that perhaps am prepared to forgive it not being as dramatically involving as it perhaps could have been and just enjoy it’s more feel good factor side as an entertaining and colourful feast of dancing .....though do agree the first Act is a tad long so some of the “jolly” could be cut from here. Ive still got the Glazunov going round in my head which makes me want to see it again now ....so looks like a trip to the Mayflower is in order next December! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 By the way Dawnstar I know you are not keen on the tube but you should easily make your train if you go by tube to Kings Cross on this occasion. Better than dragging it out by bus till 2.15! End carriages are usually not full. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 Is any synopsis included on the cast sheet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob S Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 Just got this reply from customer relations after emailing to ask if I can take curtain call pics with a camera (like I can at ROH) Thank you for taking the time to get in touch with your enquiry. We do not permit the use of any recording equipment inside the auditorium, however, you are welcome to take photographs (no filming) of the curtain call only using a mobile phone. I hope that you enjoy your visit to the London Coliseum later today. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted January 20, 2022 Author Share Posted January 20, 2022 5 minutes ago, Don Q Fan said: Is any synopsis included on the cast sheet? No - only in the £6 programme. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 ... which is probably better value than the ice creams I have a policy of not buying theatre ice creams if they can be had more cheaply in a restaurant beforehand - there are limits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 1 hour ago, LinMM said: By the way Dawnstar I know you are not keen on the tube but you should easily make your train if you go by tube to Kings Cross on this occasion. Better than dragging it out by bus till 2.15! End carriages are usually not full. That possibility had occurred to me. Goodness knows if I've still got a money on my Oyster card though, not having used it for nearly 2 years! 45 minutes ago, Rob S said: Just got this reply from customer relations after emailing to ask if I can take curtain call pics with a camera (like I can at ROH) Thank you for taking the time to get in touch with your enquiry. We do not permit the use of any recording equipment inside the auditorium, however, you are welcome to take photographs (no filming) of the curtain call only using a mobile phone. I hope that you enjoy your visit to the London Coliseum later today. I'm baffled that they're saying you can take photos using a phone but not using a camera. I definitely used a camera last time I was there & was intending to do so tonight. As my compact camera is a similar size to my phone, I fail to see why use of one would be permitted & not use of the other. (Though if you're going tonight, @Rob S, then any photos I were to take using either device be so inferior to yours that there's probably no point in me doing so!) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 2 hours ago, alison said: In such cases, I've been known to move myself to a seat allowing easier exiting for the final act. Good luck! I've just checked the seating plan for tonight & its only showing 3 available seats in the stalls so I don't think any seat movement will be possible! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 Dress Circle, perhaps? You can use contactless instead of Oyster now, Dawnstar - or don't you have contactless cards either? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob S Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 12 minutes ago, Dawnstar said: That possibility had occurred to me. Goodness knows if I've still got a money on my Oyster card though, not having used it for nearly 2 years! I'm baffled that they're saying you can take photos using a phone but not using a camera. I definitely used a camera last time I was there & was intending to do so tonight. As my compact camera is a similar size to my phone, I fail to see why use of one would be permitted & not use of the other. (Though if you're going tonight, @Rob S, then any photos I were to take using either device be so inferior to yours that there's probably no point in me doing so!) it does explain why all the curtain call pics from opening night that Tamara has been reposting look like they were taken by someone sat in Leicester Square 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyleCheng Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 (edited) I was also at the Coliseum last evening and really enjoyed the dancing, particularly that of Erina Takahashi, whose sophisticated and nuanced dancing depicted the inner conflict of Raymonda very convincingly. Joseph Caley and Daniel McCormick also showed admirable robustness in the face of some challenging choreographies. As for the production, I must echo the praise to it being a wonderful showcase of stunning choreographies. In terms of the story, I quite like the use of a double antitheses: John vs Abdur, and sister Clemence vs Henrietta, (the latter having a clear reference to the shoulder angel concept), with Raymonda in the middle tugged, explicitly, between these four characters and, implicitly, between four different ideals or values. However, I too share the reservation about having the Crimean war as the backdrop, which seems to be thrown out of the window after Act I. I find myself a bit uneasy indulging in all the revelry when a war is supposedly ongoing. The titular role also did a pretty limited amount of nursing. At the very end, when all hints to the war have all but felt distant, it is equally plausible that Raymonda did what she did (trying not to spoil) so as to pursue her dream in stand-up comedy or hedge fund management instead of nursing. Granted, a ballet can only spend so much of its runtime on narrative progression; but I don't think this cognitive dissonance would have loomed so large had the production not stressed so much on it being "inspired by Florence Nightingale" and "a celebration of the courage of nurses" etc. The result feels like it tries to be socially conscious but only half-heartedly so. I've much respect for Ms Nightingale, who I know did rather a lot more on the frontline than having a dream about falling in love with two men. Edited January 20, 2022 by KyleCheng 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Perregrino Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 53 minutes ago, Rob S said: it does explain why all the curtain call pics from opening night that Tamara has been reposting look like they were taken by someone sat in Leicester Square OUCH 🙂 my instagram postings of both opening night and last night have been re-posted by Tamara, Gavin & the leads. i was centre stalls row D and front row centre DC respectively. the size of the Coliseum & width of the orchestra pit mean that it is a long way to the stage even from those seats, i only have a 6 year old iPhone but take the best i can with it. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tebasile Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 It just occurred to me that one could easily adapt the medieval setting to make Raymonda seem more relevant to modern audiences. Much of the original plot actually echoes the remarkable (true) 14th-century story that informed Ridley Scott's recent film The Last Duel - a chivalric 'me too' with plenty of female agency. All one has to do is remove the Eastern stereotypes and have Raymonda file a public lawsuit against her perpetrator instead of simply being rescued. There could also be a focus on her competent management of the family estate in the absence of men. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 Still have to bring in Hungary somehow given the feel of Glazunovs music especially in the last Act!! Perhaps her lawyer could be Hungarian lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, alison said: Dress Circle, perhaps? You can use contactless instead of Oyster now, Dawnstar - or don't you have contactless cards either? I have a contactless debit card but I don't want to be using it when I'm in a hurry as, with my OCD, if I were to drop it on the floor I wouldn't be prepared to pick it up. Losing £10-20 with a train ticket or Oyster is somewhat inconvenient but with a bank card its a major security issue. ETA I checked & found I had the not very useful sum of 60p on my Oyster card! So I've put some money on in case I need it tonight. Edited January 20, 2022 by Dawnstar 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob S Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 43 minutes ago, prs59 said: OUCH 🙂 my instagram postings of both opening night and last night have been re-posted by Tamara, Gavin & the leads. i was centre stalls row D and front row centre DC respectively. the size of the Coliseum & width of the orchestra pit mean that it is a long way to the stage even from those seats, i only have a 6 year old iPhone but take the best i can with it. I wasn’t having a go, all of the pics and highly illegal film clips served a purpose but they weren’t very detailed and now I know why. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob S Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 💡💡💡Loved act 1, particularly the second half. I have no idea if the music was backwards or inside out 💡💡💡 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shade Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 4 hours ago, KyleCheng said: I was also at the Coliseum last evening and really enjoyed the dancing, particularly that of Erina Takahashi, whose sophisticated and nuanced dancing depicted the inner conflict of Raymonda very convincingly. Joseph Caley and Daniel McCormick also showed admirable robustness in the face of some challenging choreographies. As for the production, I must echo the praise to it being a wonderful showcase of stunning choreographies. In terms of the story, I quite like the use of a double antitheses: John vs Abdur, and sister Clemence vs Henrietta, (the latter having a clear reference to the shoulder angel concept), with Raymonda in the middle tugged, explicitly, between these four characters and, implicitly, between four different ideals or values. However, I too share the reservation about having the Crimean war as the backdrop, which seems to be thrown out of the window after Act I. I find myself a bit uneasy indulging in all the revelry when a war is supposedly ongoing. The titular role also did a pretty limited amount of nursing. At the very end, when all hints to the war have all but felt distant, it is equally plausible that Raymonda did what she did (trying not to spoil) so as to pursue her dream in stand-up comedy or hedge fund management instead of nursing. Granted, a ballet can only spend so much of its runtime on narrative progression; but I don't think this cognitive dissonance would have loomed so large had the production not stressed so much on it being "inspired by Florence Nightingale" and "a celebration of the courage of nurses" etc. The result feels like it tries to be socially conscious but only half-heartedly so. I've much respect for Ms Nightingale, who I know did rather a lot more on the frontline than having a dream about falling in love with two men. Not sure about the Crimean War but wasn’t Wellington at a ball before the battle of Waterloo? So the idea is not so unrealistic. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 (edited) I’m totally guessing but assuming the “ban” on a better camera than an iPhone etc is because they don’t want people taking really good pictures and then possibly selling them! Im not joking but for once got some okay piccies of the curtain calls on Tuesday and somebody actually in the cast asked a friend who I’d forwarded the piccies to if they would forward my piccies to them!!! I can’t post them here because it always says the file is too big so won’t post from my photo album. They are not brilliant but just better than usual so you can at least identify who the dancers are! I’m sure nobody would have stopped anyone taking piccies with any kind of camera from the front of the Upper Circle on Tuesday. Edited January 20, 2022 by LinMM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted January 20, 2022 Share Posted January 20, 2022 (edited) I took photos using my compact camera tonight without being stopped (if I had been I'd've said that when I was last there, for Le Corsaire 2 years ago, I asked & was told it was allowed). Whether they're any good is another matter. I can never tell till I get home & transfer them to the computer if my photos are in focus or not. Good news on the run time front: tonight finished at 10.25pm so I had plenty of time to walk to Kings Cross for the last non-bus train of the night! Edited January 20, 2022 by Dawnstar Forgot closing bracket. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 You must be a fast walker Dawnstar! But glad it all worked out and hope you enjoyed the performance. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 3 hours ago, LinMM said: You must be a fast walker Dawnstar! But glad it all worked out and hope you enjoyed the performance. Yes, I am naturally, & even more so when its a case of trying to get post-theatre trains! It was infuriating enough having just under an hour in a train carriage filled with mostly maskless people having loud phone conversations. The thought of being stuck on a bus with them as well...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 (edited) Curtain call photos from tonight's performance. Cast pictured includes Fernanda Olivera in the title role, Francesco Gabriele Frola as John de Bryan, Erik Woolhouse as Abdur Rahmen, Francesca Velicu as Henriette, Precious Adams as Sister Clemence & Daniel McCormick as Bernard. Edited January 21, 2022 by Dawnstar 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 Fab pics Dawnstar! I got some too but haven't looked at them yet but I was in Upper circle. What did you think of the show? I loved it!!! It certainly was full on dance all the way and, as others have noted, the men get lots to do! I thought Frola's jumps were fabulous, they were so high! Could more have been made of the Abdur role though? Hmm. Fernanda was a lovely Raymonda. Anyway I am looking forward to tonight's show to see how it all compares. If nothing else the wonderful music alone was worth the less than half price ticket price!! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irmgard Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 I have loved Glazunov’s score for “Raymonda” ever since my ballet teacher used the Grand Pas Espagnol from it for a choreographic workshop when I was a teenager, and I still have the LP I bought at the time! Unfortunately, music for the ballet has always suffered from choreographers and producers who ignore the harmonic progression the composer has carefully thought out and who remove, displace or interpolate pieces to suit their own ends, so the fact that Tamara Rojo has done that in her new production for English National Ballet comes as no surprise. There are a couple of rather grating changes of direction in the music but I do not consider that a problem in comparison to what she has done with the story. Marius Petipa was a master craftsman and consummate storyteller, choosing scenarios (in this case by Lydia Pashkova) set far enough in the past to be almost regarded as fantasies and with storylines which allowed for plenty of dancing appearing to evolve naturally out of the situations. In the case of “Raymonda”, it is set in medieval times, in Hungary according to some sources and in France according to others. Nevertheless, King Andrew of Hungary appears in the original synopsis and both he and the real Jean de Brienne were once kings of Jerusalem so Pashkova obviously used this connection to allow Petipa to indulge his love of national dances, this time Hungarian. The simple plot involves Jean’s fiancée, Raymonda, and her carefree friends excitedly preparing for her birthday celebrations the following day (cue dancing) and anticipating Jean’s return from the Crusades. A visitor arrives at the castle, of which Countess Sybille (Raymonda’s aunt) is the châtelaine, to pay homage to Raymonda’s beauty, a very chivalric notion. He happens to be Abdurakhman, a Saracen knight, “Saracen” being a term in the middle ages to denote anyone from Arab, Persian or Turkish lands (cue exoticism, another love of Petipa’s). The Countess invites him to attend the party the following day. That evening, the mythical protectress of the castle, the White Lady, appears to Raymonda in a dream and conjures up a vision of Jean (cue more dancing) and then of Abdurakhman, whose ulterior motive to marry Raymonda at any cost is revealed. The following day is the birthday ball to which Abdurakhman brings his entourage of entertainers (cue for a lot of dancing). Raymonda, disturbed by her dream, asks the Countess to ask him to leave but she reminds Raymonda of the strict rules of hospitality to which they must adhere. Abdurakhman, realising Raymonda will not go with him willingly, attempts to abduct her just at the point when Jean returns with King Andrew. The king commands the two men to fight a duel for Raymonda’s hand (giving the dancers the chance to show off their sword-fighting skills) and Abdurakhman is killed. The final Act is, of course, the wedding celebration which is one long series of divertissements in the Hungarian style. Petipa created the ballet for the Italian superstar Pierina Legnani (the fouetté queen), with the rising young star Sergei Legat as Jean and the older Pavel Gerdt as Abdurakhman, principally a mime role. ENB’s production was originally scheduled to premiere last year, marking the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth but, to try to transplant the story to the Crimean War, in an attempt to ‘reclaim’ the ballet and make it relevant for today’s audiences, Rojo and her dramaturg have created some anomalies and, in my opinion, have trivialised both war and nurses in the process. My problem starts in the camp where we see only four walking-wounded occasionally being tended to by nurses who have so little to do that they can indulge in dancing with the fit soldiers, when history relates that the extremely high numbers of casualties in this bloodiest of wars meant that nurses were run off their feet and, most of them having been recruited from religious orders, would neither have danced nor intermingled with what the cast sheet refers to as “women in the camp” but who are clearly prostitutes from their state of undress, a point driven home by the appearance of the Field Marshall from his tent with two of them on his arm. The situation becomes more absurd in Act II when it appears that Abdurakhman (an Ottoman officer), has organised a lavish party and has brought a complete retinue of entertainers to the battlefield. So, according to this scenario, the war was a time for endless jolly parties for both the nurses and the soldiers, although Jean (does come back from one battle with his uniform slightly tattered so we assume he has actually done some fighting. We then return to England for Act III and, to get round the fact that most of the music has a Hungarian theme, the explanation is that Hungarian farm labourers are helping out on Raymonda’s estate, so Petipa’s wonderful Grand Pas Hongrois becomes a peasant dance, albeit it a very entertaining one, instead of the dance of the courtiers he envisaged and I doubt he would ever have conceived of the men slapping various parts of their bodies as part of the dance! I have only see Grigorovich’s full-length production of “Raymonda” , which watered down some of the narrative but did make Abdurakhman into a formidable dancing role, but otherwise my benchmark for style is Nureyev’s sumptuous, both choreographically and in design, staging of Act III which also includes favourite numbers from Act I and which the Royal Ballet and ENB have in their repertoire. ENB’s performances of this in 2013, especially with the magnificent, much-missed Elena Glurjidze as Raymonda, for me outclassed the Royal’s recent performances in terms of imperial Russian style, the Grand Pas Hongrois being particularly majestic. It was therefore disappointing to see that Rojo has stripped away all the Russian style from the ballet, especially from the exquisite Pas Classique Hongrois, which appears to be one of the few pieces of Petipa left in the ballet. Most disappointing for me was changing the dynamic of Raymonda’s Act III solo and her series of relevés en passant in the Coda from grandeur to soul-searching anguish after she has married Jean (the synopsis in the programme refers to them as newlyweds so we must assume the ceremony has gone ahead). As she has just married him, I find Raymonda’s final act in the ballet of sneaking away to a new life particularly callous and not the behaviour of a courageous woman in charge of her own destiny, as all the publicity for this reimagining has been declaring. Musically, the substitution of a cimbalom for the piano in Raymonda’s Act III solo to give an ‘authentic’ Hungarian flavour, does not work for me. Although on opening night everything was co-ordinated between the pit and the stage (where the cimbalom player sits at the back), they were out of synch at the rehearsal I attended on the Saturday, and then on Wednesday there were problems with some of the notes sounding. Both instruments may be percussive but the piano not only has a sustaining pedal but its keys respond to the touch of the pianist so that the sequence of one repeated note while Raymonda performs a series of bourrées travelling backward sounds smooth and magical which is not the case with the cimbalom which just sounded staccato and rather tinny – surely not what Glazunov or Petipa had in mind! My main problems with the production aside, the music is fabulously played under Maestro Gavin Sutherland’s galvanising command, and the dancers respond with superb performances, sometimes making the new bits of choreography appear better than they really are. I found a lot of Rojo’s choreography derivative, which I suppose is to be expected for her first work, and there was nothing original about it, her modernist tendencies sometimes jarring with the pure classicism of the retained Petipa choreography, and there was certainly no pas de deux work which took my breath away. The dream sequence with the nurses had some nice touches to it, although the repeated runs at the beginning were marred by some very noisy pointe shoes, but I did not like the reference to the Shades entrance from ‘Bayadere’ with the men coming down the ramp (which was the main feature of the very bare and, in my opinion, cheap-looking set for each Act) in a rather clumsy-looking arabesque en l’air. The dream sequence also went on for a bit too long, not having enough choreographic invention to maintain my interest. The opening night cast was led by the radiant Shiori Kase who has been a favourite of mine since her first season with the company. The delicacy of her footwork is always a joy to behold and belies her incredibly steely technique which allows her to throw off fouetté and chaîné turns at breakneck speed but, as Raymonda, the beautiful lyricism of her dancing is what I will remember, with occasional glimpses of her phenomenal ability to balance en pointe to the final millisecond of the music, which always takes my breath away. Her Raymonda was a shy, very gentle soul who seemed almost surprised at the attention paid to her by Jean (or John as this production has renamed him, despite leaving all the other names in French) and Abdurakhman (for some reason broken into two names in this production). Jeffrey Cirio’s Abdurakhman was an utterly appealing mixture of chivalry and tenderness, wooing Kase with a very touching gentleness while, at the same time, dancing up a storm but never losing his innate elegance, especially in his Act I solo to the music for the Danse Orientale from Act II. Together, the two of them charmed with the gentleness of their feelings. Her fiancé was danced by Isaac Hernandez who wowed with his bravura dancing but who was lumbered with the rather earnest but dull personality which has been bestowed on Jean in this version. This production seems to have been designed to show off the prodigious talent amongst the men in the company, most notably Jean’s friends (Raymonda’s troubadors in the original) Bernard and Beranger, danced on Tuesday by the beautifully matched Aitor Arrieta and Fernando Carratalá Coloma who oozed charisma and delighted with the stylishness and brilliance of their dancing. Raymonda’s friend Clemence has taken the veil in this production and now appears to be a combination of the Countess and the White Lady, providing a moral compass for Raymonda when she appears to be straying from her commitment to Jean. Precious Adams made her a very pious nun so that her solos at times were rather reminiscent of the Prayer solo in “Coppelia” . Raymonda’s friend Henriette is a rather puzzling character as she is neither a nurse nor a prostitute so it begs the question as to her role in the soldiers’ camp. Julia Conway took on the role at the premiere and danced the steps but did not imbue them with any personality, appearing rather bland, so it was a mystery as to why various soldiers were chasing her. Standout in the character dances was Emily Suzuki, firstly sparkling away in the Ratchuli, a Georgian dance which used the music for the Entrée des Sarrazins, partnered by the equally effervescent Daniel McCormick, and then all elegance as the lead couple with Henry Dowden in the Grand Pas Hongrois. I was pleased that it appeared most of the choreography attributed to Petipa had been retained for the glorious Pas Classique Hongrois. In this, my eye was constantly drawn to Katja Khaniukova, inexplicably relegated to ensemble work, firstly as one of the nurses in the dream sequence in Act 1 and then one of the bridesmaids here. Her impeccable Russian style shone like a diamond, from the perfection of her classical line to the beauty of her ports de bras, so in tune with Glazunov’s ravishing music. Staying over in London to attend the second performance, I was delighted that Khaniukova was dancing the role of Henriette, giving her a totally enchanting personality, especially when dancing with the equally charming Bernard and Beranger of Erik Woolhouse and Victor Prigent. She was vivacious, mischievous and flirtatious, with a smile to light up the whole theatre, making it obvious why all the soldiers wanted to flirt with her and even attracting the attention of Abdurakhman during the party scene. Each of her exquisitely danced solos was kept in character while retaining that gorgeous Russian lyricism, and her rapport with the Raymonda of Erina Takahashi was a delight, encouraging her in her adventures. The divine Takahashi is quite simply a phenomenon, dancing with all the elegance and beauty of the prima ballerina that she is and making every moment onstage matter, which is pretty much for the entire ballet. It is clear she is fond of her fiancé, danced with his usual pristine technique by Joseph Caley but again suffering from the rather dull personality of the character, but it is the Abdurakhman of Daniel McCormick who awakens passion within her, much to her surprise, in their pas de deux in Act II when Takahashi shows us with her whole body and her wonderfully expressive face that she is has never felt like this before. McCormick is very powerful in the role, with all the bearing of an entitled aristocrat yet with a smouldering sensuality that is immensely attractive. And it goes without saying that the fiendishly difficult solos are thrown off with gusto. Takahashi’s final solo and the series of relevés en passant are done with an anguish that was extremely moving, with the beautiful bourrées backwards almost faltering as she cannot face life with her new husband. This was truly a performance by a ballerina in her absolute prime. Of the other characters, Natascha Mair’s Clemence radiated a calming serenity throughout, although she did not appear completely in command of the choreography for her solos at times. Jung Ah Choi and Noam Durand danced a very spirited Ratchuli and it was good to see Fabian Reimair, rather wasted as the Field Marshall the previous evening, relishing leading the Grand Pas Hongrois with vigour. There was also some lovely dancing by the bridesmaids in the ravishing in the Pas Classique but my attention was always drawn back to Khaniukova for the style which truly belongs to Petipa’s masterful choreography. All in all, I do not think this is a classic production and its success rests solely on the committed, accomplished performances of the dancers and on the fabulous music played with such energy and love by the ENB Philharmonic, and I guarantee to anyone else who attends that you will have at least several of the glorious melodies in your head for days afterwards. 11 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 If I bring both vaccination cards and my drivers license is that enough to get me in the Coli? The last couple of times I have tried the NHS app it couldn’t log me in because of a fault. 🤦🏻♀️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebird Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 9 minutes ago, Sim said: If I bring both vaccination cards and my drivers license is that enough to get me in the Coli? The last couple of times I have tried the NHS app it couldn’t log me in because of a fault. 🤦🏻♀️ From the Coli website (my highlighting): *Proof of Covid status accepted via any of the following: Proof of double / triple vaccination via the NHS App. Proof of a negative Lateral Flow Test taken within the last 24 hours. This will be accepted via the NHS App, or via an official NHS email / text. Proof of a negative PCR test taken within the last 24 hours. This will be accepted via the NHS App, or via an official NHS email / text. Proof of natural immunity via the NHS App. A dated and completed vaccine record card showing evidence of double / triple vaccination alongside ID. Foreign-equivalent Covid certification in line with the UK Government guidance – full list here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob S Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 (edited) 28 minutes ago, Sim said: If I bring both vaccination cards and my drivers license is that enough to get me in the Coli? The last couple of times I have tried the NHS app it couldn’t log me in because of a fault. 🤦🏻♀️ I have a non functioning app and the security people were perfectly satisfied with the vaccination card...and the £50 note I slipped them I didn't even have to mention the app....or back it up with ID. I did go armed with a screencap of the conditions highlighted above though. Edited January 21, 2022 by Rob S 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob S Posted January 21, 2022 Share Posted January 21, 2022 Just got a questionaire about my visit last night....although they are interested in my opinion on the relevance, rigour, distinctiveness, challenge, captivation levels of the performance, my three words to describe my experience, how I describe my gender ('with a grin' not being an option) etc they don't ask for any other things I'd like to tell them. I feel like I need to answer a questionnaire about the questionnaire now 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now