capybara Posted January 22, 2022 Author Share Posted January 22, 2022 25 minutes ago, alison said: A silver rose for 25 years' service. Very Rosenkavalier 🙂 How nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 50 minutes ago, alison said: A silver rose for 25 years' service. Very Rosenkavalier 🙂 Ah, I thought it looked like that from the photos on Instagram. Maybe ENB have been raiding ENO's props store! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctas Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 The rose was in honour of her first performance as a principal being Aurora in Sleeping Beauty. Tamara Rojo gave a very touching speech. I quite enjoyed this today! While some of the story was still minimal and didn’t seem so important to me, the dream section was a real highlight for me. The costumes are gorgeous. I’m going to see Rojo’s Cinderella in Stockholm later this year so very excited to see that production now that Raymonda has given me a good idea of how her other work might look. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drdee Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 12 hours ago, bridiem said: I didn't buy a programme, but I would have expected it to have details about what has been retained/changed etc. The programme should be an educative tool, not just a promotional one. Personally I found the programme extremely educative, with a good range of contributors. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irmgard Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 3 hours ago, alison said: A silver rose for 25 years' service. Very Rosenkavalier 🙂 One would hope it is solid silver, given Takahashi's amazing catalogue of performances and her loyalty to ENB! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Perregrino Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 Shiori Kase was promoted to Lead Principal after tonight’s stunning performance, not only from her, but also everyone on stage and in the orchestra pit. A magical evening. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 (edited) Just my two pennies’ worth to add to the reviews - saw Erina Takahashi, Joseph Caley and Daniel McCormick with a great cast that included Precious Adams and Katja Khaniukova as Clemence and Henriette, and Erik Woolhouse as Bernard this afternoon. So, so, fabulous and well worth the wait of over 2 decades to see the full length Raymonda. If I were to describe it in movie terms, the whole company would be on Oscar winning, Screen Actors Guild sweeping, Golden Globe and BAFTA winning form- they were truly on fire. Is it possible that we can be lucky - pandemic, inflation and socioeconomic crises raging outside - enough to have such wonderful dancers bringing their A game to the Coliseum? But we did. The costumes and sets were elegant and gorgeous (reminded me of the setting of Enigma Variations in a rather comforting way). I got over the fact that this would not be “a short tutu ballet” like the Mariinsky’s ages ago (looks like the freelance critic for NYT still hasn’t). When the curtain went up, I thought the projections reminded me a lot of the Royal Ballet’s Don Quixote and The Winter’s Tale-in a good way. I prefer a beautifully done non-tutu setting rather than another production line copy of the same old same old tutus and chandeliers indistinguishable from all the Petipa grand pas already in existence. More about the music later but there is not as much changing around or cutting/splicing as the naysayers claim there is. I had much less of a shock than listening to Manon (Massenet’s passages for Cinderella used for Monsieur GM), La Fille mal Gardee (Rossini and Donizetti operas) and Mayerling (Mephisto Waltz and other notable pieces spliced into odd places), etc for the first time. Rojo would be the first to point out that she’s not a career choreographer like Wheeldon or Ratmansky, but unlike a lot of dancer-turned-choreographers doing their first ballet, the passages work, they make the dancers look good, and if there are occasional bits that remind one of Onegin, Manon or Wheeldon’s Cinderella, it does at least suit the dancers and the story. You can tell this was made with a lot of love for both the music and the dancers. If I had to carp at all, it would be that the dream/vision scene choreography for the corps occasionally drags a little and isn’t as musically intuitive as her solos and pas de deux. But then, I find the dream scenes in the Bolshoi and reconstructed Scala version drag even more. The pas de deux is gripping and picks up the pace better, and quite nice to have a change from the Russian pas de deux with the cloak, which although lovely, sometimes feels like a pas de trois with Raymonda, Jean and Cloak! What I do love about this version is that choreographically, so much more emotion and characterisation is given to each of the lead characters now and they’re not just the one-dimensional characters that they are in the traditional versions. One of Glazunov’s most beautiful pieces of music in the traditional versions comes just before Raymonda’s shawl/scarf solo. The most gorgeous piece of music always wasted on giving Raymonda’s friends a few shuffling steps forward and back! Now Rojo has given it to Raymonda as a solo full of longing, doubt and all her pent up feelings and it is wonderful. The ballet moves along at a great pace and holds your interest- not bad for a long score and story to fill. No, it’s not the cookie cutter “happily ever after ending with the court dance at the wedding” kind of tutu ballet. It’s far more interesting, and if it continues to be satisfying enough for the dancers and they have the rehearsal time to put those scintillating performances in, we will always get a five out of five star show out of this production. I do remember watching ENB dance Nureyev’s Raymonda Act 3, that little highlights of all three acts in one suite- I had a fab Raymonda and Jean couple then (Klimentova and Muntagirov) but today the whole ensemble was fab and not just the leads. Impressive to see everyone (even the junior artists) pulling off the difficult synchronised lifts and turns in unison with such great aplomb. Delightful to see the incredible Erina Takahashi receiving her surprise silver rose and bouquet from Tamara Rojo this afternoon (to celebrate her 25th anniversary with the company) after the show too! Thank you ENB for a great show. Edited January 22, 2022 by Emeralds 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 22 hours ago, Geoff said: Just read the programme, which is somewhat (and repeatedly) evasive on exactly how much Petipa is in this show. It would be great to have a guide from Forum experts who have seen Rojo’s Raymonda. As a guess, would it be right to say that most of the solo variations are authentic, whereas most of everything else (PDD, character dance, Corps etc) is not? And how much of Raymonda’s choreography - the character, I mean, not the ballet generally - has been cut / shortened / simplified? I have only seen the full-length ballet on stage once (a few years ago in Vienna) and the technical demands made of the eponymous heroine seemed even greater (relentless in fact) compared to what I saw at the Coliseum this week. Any choreological tips very welcome! The variations for Raymonda seen in the Mariinsky and Bolshoi versions (she dances about 6!) are retained although one of them (dubbed the pizzicato one) is given to the six nurses in this version, for the simple reason that Raymonda has to dance another one immediately after them and it would look strange for her to be doing two solos back to back. The solos for Henriette and Clemence have been retained. There is a waltz at the beginning where she would traditionally make her entrance by picking up roses from the ground (again, a rather Petipa “thing” rather like the passing of roses in Le Corsaire but it does make you wonder why a young noblewoman would be picking up roses from the floor like a 5 year old??) but since it’s in the war zone, the roses are gone and the steps at the beginning slightly altered. The men’s difficult quartet dance and the dance for three women seen in the Royal Ballet’s Nureyev one-act suite are retained, as is the wedding pas de deux for Raymonda and Jean/John. Most of the rest is new and choreographed by Rojo with assistance from Renato Paroni and Vadim Sirotin. Abdur’s solos are new and a great improvement on what the Abderakhman character had! It’s actually much nicer that the choreography now allows Raymonda to feel and to act and react whereas the old versions could feel a bit like Raymonda doing a marathon of lots of technical solos and duets over the course of three hours with very little opportunity for character development other than happy-lonely-scared-happy. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaM Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 @Emeralds thank you for sharing your detailed knowledge of the traditional ballet and score. Very helpful to understand what’s been altered or not. I’m so impressed with the quality of the dancing by the whole company, the soloists, the leads and the male pas de quatre. I’ve only seen one cast (at the dress rehearsal)… going again tomorrow for the last show. Really looking forward to it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FionaM Posted January 22, 2022 Share Posted January 22, 2022 Thrilled for Shiori’s on stage promotion. She is a lovely dancer and this role seems to suit her perfectly. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irmgard Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 I returned to the Coliseum for Friday evening’s performance led by Emma Hawes, Aitor Arrieta and Fernando Carratalá Coloma, which, due to the cancellation of all shows the previous week, is the only one they have this season. Needless to say, they gave it their all! Hawes is a sweetly lyrical dancer and her Raymonda was gentle and hesitant, both in her commitment to the Jean de Brienne of Arrieta and in her attraction to the Abdurakhman of Coloma (I really cannot bring myself to use the versions of their names which appear on the cast sheet!). And if anyone can use an arabesque to express her emotions, it is Hawes with those beautifully long limbs of hers. Yet again, I had trouble with the ending Rojo has imposed on the ballet, as Hawes had appeared so reluctant to hurt either man that I could not believe she would sneak out of her own wedding celebrations, despite the sadness with which she imbued her solo and the coda. Coloma who, along with Arrieta, had been so charismatic as de Brienne’s friends in the opening night performance, built on this charisma and was a most ardent suitor. His dancing skills were very impressive, with his solo in Act II being particularly spectacular, especially the series of jumps which are like inverted barrel turns, with the body facing the floor rather than away from it, rather like the flying camel manoeuvre in ice skating, and which I recognise from Grigorovich’s production and which I believe are Cossack in origin. Arrieta brought the most wonderful warmth to the role of Jean de Brienne. He is innately noble, both in bearing and in character, with what I can only describe as a beautiful soul shining through everything, which made his Jean de Brienne immensely touching. For the first time, I noticed that when all the men partner up with the girls for the big waltz in Act I, he is left standing alone and looking lost, and his feeling of hurt that Raymonda has not come to him was almost palpable. Rojo has given the two characters a leitmotif which, I have to say, started to grate on me by Act II of the opening night. Each time they start to dance together, their first steps are in the opposite direction to each other, and this happens in all three Acts. Having watched Loipa Araujo’s streamed rehearsal of this, her explanation was that this is to show that they should not be together because they want to go in different directions, which might be fine once but it is annoying to keep drumming it into us. However, Arrieta’s reaction each time was so chivalrous and charming that it made me warm to his character even more, and his smile was heart-melting! It made me want to tell Raymonda not to run away from him at the end – this one is a keeper! As for his dancing, it was both elegant and virtuosic, with the Act III solo being especially breath-taking for the height of his jumps and the beautiful clean positions achieved both in the air and on landing. This was a magnificent performance from Arrieta in every way. Of the rest of the cast, Junor Souza was wasted in the small role of the Field Marshall but brought his usual elegance to it, and one can only wonder how magnificent his Abdurakhman would have been, had his recovery from Covid (documented by him on social media) not prevented him from being ready to dance it this week. Julia Conway’s Henriette is still underdeveloped in both character and style, and the pas de trois with Bernard and Beranger (the wonderful pairing of Henry Dowden and Miguel Angela Maidana, although the cast list does not distinguish who is whom), which is reminiscent of the opening pas de trois in Act II of Wayne Eagling’s “Nutcracker”, did not have the delightful, carefree feeling that the Wednesday night cast gave it, when Katja Khaniukova was swung around with such ease by Erik Woolhouse and Victor Prigent. Khaniukova was simply outstanding in the show-stopping Ratchuli dance with Daniel McCormick replacing Matthew Astley who, in turn, replaced Noam Durand in the Spanish dance. Khaniukova gave the dance an innate elegance, so that I was reminded of the beautiful Georgian female dancers who move serenely but very fast at the same time. McCormick danced with great panache and, with these two exceptionally brilliant dancers, I was very sorry that the dance was over in a flash! I was surprised that they were not given a solo bow at the end of the performance and did not even appear in the company line-up: a major oversight on Rojo’s part which I hope is rectified next season. I can only presume it was because Emily Suzuki danced this and led the Hungarian dance on opening night and her partner McCormick also had another role in Act III that evening, and so they got solo bows but not for the Ratchuli dance. On Friday evening, it was also a delight to see Stina Quagebeur in the Hungarian dance, showing all the flair and style with which she led this number in 2013, albeit it in the version attributed to Petipa and not Vadim Sirotin who choreographed it for this production. As has been reported all over social media, during the curtain calls Hawes and Arrieta were both promoted to the rank of principal dancers, much to the delight of both their colleagues and the audience. One can only hope there will be a few more well-deserved promotions before the end of the season! In fact, as I am writing this, the news has just been announced that Shiori Kase was promoted to Lead Principal at the end of this evening’s performance! Many congratulations to her! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 9 hours ago, Irmgard said: They only did one performance of "Giselle" and that was at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking at the end of the company's season-long tour of Skeaping's "Giselle" in 2009/2010, not part of splitting the company into different touring groups which I believe last happened during Derek Deane's directorship. (Ovsyanick and Souza were fabulous so it was a real shame they only had the one performance!) Thanks Irmgard! That all makes sense now- I know they talked about performing it on tour but couldn’t remember when or how. Glad you got to see them and they were fabulous- hope Junor will be able to return to dancing roles soon; his brilliant virtuosity and excellent partnering are greatly missed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 9 hours ago, FionaE said: @Emeralds thank you for sharing your detailed knowledge of the traditional ballet and score. Very helpful to understand what’s been altered or not. I’m so impressed with the quality of the dancing by the whole company, the soloists, the leads and the male pas de quatre. I’ve only seen one cast (at the dress rehearsal)… going again tomorrow for the last show. Really looking forward to it. Thank you FionaE, and hope you have a great time! Wish I could go too - I really wanted to see Fernanda Oliveira as Raymonda too (clashing schedules). I must say that the theatre looked pretty packed at our performance compared to what the early box office ticket sales indicated, and we saw a few parents/relatives bringing children too, which bodes well for the future of ballet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 On 19/01/2022 at 12:54, LinMM said: While talking about the score can anybody tell me if the Spanish Dance in Act 3 is a) by Glazunov b) in the original Act 3 Raymonda. The music was so familiar that thought it must have been dropped in from another ballet. It is so many years now since I’ve heard the full score ( I originally had it on vinyl records!) that I was surprised I did notice a few order discrepancies but in the end was just happy that some of this glorious music was at least getting some exposure! I got a bit muddled with the settings as when it got to Act 3 I thought it was set in Hungary and thought well how did that happen but knowing the truly Hungarian flavour of the original Act 3 score thought Raymonda and John had decided to emigrate there! However on reading the synopsis ( I hadn’t read the full account by the time it started) discover that in fact they are in England and it’s Hungarian workers come over to work the harvest that allow the Hungarian flavour. ( wondered if Tamara having a much welcome little dig here) Anyway although I did miss the sumptuousness of the original Act 3 ...no gasp as curtain went up on this occasion) that wouldn’t have worked in this Raymonda. However I loved the vivacity and more authentic rendering of the Hungarian dancing last night ...almost a get up and join in moment!!! I wonder though that regarding this Raymonda’s sneak off at the end that this should have been an engagement party celebration so she makes her break for freedom without doing the dirty on John as doesn’t actually marry him! Also that would allow a little more tension between John and Abdur as I felt Abdur was a little out of place in this last Act just sort of lurking!! I do think this new version by Tamara can be a valuable part of the Rep as so much dancing for the Company. I’d like to see it again with a slightly more dramatic actress than Shiori Kase who danced absolutely beautifully ( especially in the dream scene) but am not sure caught the real feisty and passionate nature of this new Raymonda. I will be interested to see reviews of different casts particularly by those who saw last nights one. Took me a while to find your question again, LinMM, but now that I’ve finally seen the show, the Spanish dance is indeed by Glazunov and is in the original production of Raymonda (not the one act version that the Royal Ballet dances) danced as a national dance or character dance with boots and heeled shoes rather than pointe shoes; in many of the productions Abderakhman joins in. It may well be a piece of music for dance syllabus/class exercises too, but if you’ve attended lots of Royal Ballet performances of Carlos Acosta’s Don Quixote since he made it in 2013, you may have (subliminally?) remembered it (the main melody) as the main part of the music for the solo he gives Basilio in Act 1. Most productions use different music for Basilio - he gets a piece of music which he dances to with the two friends of Kitri (Acosta has different choreography for the solo also). If you want to have a listen/watch again, the clip is on the Royal Ballet YouTube channel as “Don Quixote Act 1 finale” and begins with Carlos dancing with that very melody (orchestrated slightly differently by Martin Yates but still recognisable). Forgot to mention in answer to Geoff’s question above also about the choreography (as it was so obvious that I missed it!) - the signature Hungarian dance from Act 3 is the same as that in the Royal Ballet’s one act version and all the traditional productions, but just danced with a more rustic, country style, rather than a courtly style, to fit it in with the plot. But they’re essentially the same steps. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 (edited) 14 hours ago, Drdee said: Personally I found the programme extremely educative, with a good range of contributors. The programme has, along with the usual sections, an interview with Tamara Rojo on her vision for the ballet; an article by Jane Pritchard on the history of Raymonda; an article by Doug Fullington on the original notation; and articles on Florence Nightingale, the score and the Crimean War. What the programme does not have is any detail of the (in my view not unproblematic) differences between Petipa’s choreography and structure, and what has been put on stage in the West End this week. An interesting Raymonda discussion between three experts - including Doug Fullington - has recently appeared online: https://www.alastairmacaulay.com/all-essays/byq3y6560y798jcrlmiwp4s4su9ii6?rq=Raymonda Along with much else the fascinating exchange includes more about the process behind this production. It also corrects a mistake in the programme and offers examples of recent Bolshoi programmes helpful to those interested in the history of choreography. Imho the ENB could have helpfully learned from the Bolshoi: >>Konaev 8. I appreciate the practice of explanations given in programs by choreographers: what sources were used, what pieces were reconstructed and what was composed anew. In this respect, the trend-setter was the Bolshoi Publishing Department, which included a special table in the program of Alexei Ratmansky’s and Yuri Burlaka’s Le Corsaire (2007). In the program of Ratmansky’s Giselle (2019) I edited, this table was extremely detailed. Edited January 23, 2022 by Sebastian 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 On 19/01/2022 at 15:03, Tebasile said: I don't have such a problem with sections being cut and - on occasion - moved. I understand that such things have happened with most classical ballet scores. But in my view the flow of the music was interrupted too frequently in Act I, and there seemed to be some odd interpolations and changes to what I believe to be the original score. Examples: - The 'lantern' sequence - what was that music? It sounded like a repetitive 'variation on a theme' from the score, in the style of Akram Khan's Giselle. - John's agitated solo before his dream pas de deux with Raymonda: As far as I'm aware, this music was not from Raymonda and seemed rather out of place. Please do correct me if I'm wrong as I am by no means an authority on Glazunov. Re: lantern sequence and John’s solo, Tebasile, this might have to be one of those instances where I need to ask to see a video (even just of a rehearsal) to be sure we’re talking about the same thing. (Not merely an excuse to see it again but that wouldn’t go amiss!). There are quite a few sequences with lanterns- if you mean the dream scene after Raymonda falls asleep in her tent, where she dreams of the ghosts of dead soldiers dancing in a group with dream images of her fellow nurses now dressed also in white, part of it is from the original - there is a very long dream sequence in Petipa’s original which sort of ends up becoming an entire act (like La Bayadere’s Kingdom of the Shades, Le Corsaire’s Jardin Anime, etc) but in Rojo’s version the group pas was meant to be a tribute to the real life war dead of the Crimean War so Gavin Sutherland did say they picked some less often heard music by Glazunov and added it to this scene- rather like the way Drigo substituted Tchaikovsky’s piano pieces in Act 4 for Petipa’s (ultimately extraordinarily successful) 1895 reboot of the Julius Reisinger production of Swan Lake. If that’s the unfamiliar music I think you are referring to, that’s your answer. The original dream sequence music is mostly quite cheery and jolly (she is dreaming of being happily reunited with her fiancé in the original libretto), so wouldn’t have been suitable. I am afraid I was too busy enjoying the virtuoso dancing from Caley and McCormick in Act 1 so couldn’t recall which solo you mean. If you find an Instagram, YouTube or other clip of it, let me know- I don’t recall hearing anything out of place for the men’s dances but admittedly had more of my attention on watching the dancing. If you have/can get the brilliant La Scala DVD (worth buying just for the dancing by the wonderful Novikova and Vogel alone, or even just for the sets and costumes!) they pretty much have the most original music out of any production so you can compare that. I suppose one could write to Gavin Sutherland at ENB? I am usually fussy about spliced and re-arranged music but I found the Raymonda ones very, very minor in comparison to many other ballets in the main repertoire with spliced and rearranged scores- Winter Dreams, Mayerling, A Month in the Country, La Dame aux Camellias, Carmen (Acosta’s and Petit’s) etc etc. I can still enjoy good ballets with these rearrangements, though, after a second viewing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blossom Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 16 hours ago, Drdee said: Personally I found the programme extremely educative, with a good range of contributors. I agree, the programme had lots of interesting content and explained a lot more about why certain things were done which helps the production stand up. Still think this will hold up well over time and looking forward to seeing ENB properly your it. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drdee Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 (edited) 2 hours ago, Sebastian said: The programme has, along with the usual sections, an interview with Tamara Rojo on her vision for the ballet; an article by Jane Pritchard on the history of Raymonda; an article by Doug Fullington on the original notation; and articles on Florence Nightingale, the score and the Crimean War. What the programme does not have is any detail of the (in my view not unproblematic) differences between Petipa’s choreography and structure, and what has been put on stage in the West End this week. An interesting Raymonda discussion between three experts - including Doug Fullington - has recently appeared online: https://www.alastairmacaulay.com/all-essays/byq3y6560y798jcrlmiwp4s4su9ii6?rq=Raymonda Along with much else the fascinating exchange includes more about the process behind this production. It also corrects a mistake in the programme and offers examples of recent Bolshoi programmes helpful to those interested in the history of choreography. Imho the ENB could have helpfully learned from the Bolshoi: >>Konaev 8. I appreciate the practice of explanations given in programs by choreographers: what sources were used, what pieces were reconstructed and what was composed anew. In this respect, the trend-setter was the Bolshoi Publishing Department, which included a special table in the program of Alexei Ratmansky’s and Yuri Burlaka’s Le Corsaire (2007). In the program of Ratmansky’s Giselle (2019) I edited, this table was extremely detailed. Thanks @Sebastianfor the link. I am sure it will good further reading. I am not sure what is the typical ‘must haves’ for a ballet performance programme nowadays. I am sure they tried to provide sufficient information for their broad audience and keep it at an affordable price. As a glossy coloured programme further pages may have meant the printing cost would have increased the sale price. I was pleasantly surprised as I have paid more for much less in the past. edit : factual errors could be directed to the company I am sure. Edited January 23, 2022 by Drdee Adding text: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 16 hours ago, Irmgard said: Of the rest of the cast, Junor Souza was wasted in the small role of the Field Marshall but brought his usual elegance to it, and one can only wonder how magnificent his Abdurakhman would have been, had his recovery from Covid (documented by him on social media) not prevented him from being ready to dance it this week. If this isn't breaching privacy, do you know if othere are other dancers who have likewise been unable to do roles in Raymonda due to covid? I'm wondering about Alison McWhinney, who was shown as Sister Clemence in some of the rehearsal photos but does not seem to have danced the role, or any other roles, this week. 6 hours ago, Emeralds said: Took me a while to find your question again, LinMM, but now that I’ve finally seen the show, the Spanish dance is indeed by Glazunov and is in the original production of Raymonda (not the one act version that the Royal Ballet dances) danced as a national dance or character dance with boots and heeled shoes rather than pointe shoes; in many of the productions Abderakhman joins in. I was rather surprised to see the 2 women in pointe shoes for ENB's Raymonda. I can't recall seeing a Spanish dance done in pointe shoes rather than character shoes in any of the various Nutcracker & Swan Lake productions I've seen live or on video. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted January 23, 2022 Author Share Posted January 23, 2022 I feel that, unless dancers themselves have posted about catching Omicron (as Junor Souza has) we shouldn’t speculate. Illnesses are private, surely? 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pas de Quatre Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 1 hour ago, Dawnstar said: I was rather surprised to see the 2 women in pointe shoes for ENB's Raymonda. I can't recall seeing a Spanish dance done in pointe shoes rather than character shoes in any of the various Nutcracker & Swan Lake productions I've seen live or on video. Bolshoi - Spanish Princess from Swan Lake The Bolshoi production of Swan Lake has the Spanish Princess dancing en pointe. There are various Youtube clips with different ballerinas - here is just one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 Did anyone manage to capture today's substitutions? I forgot to take a picture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 1 hour ago, capybara said: I feel that, unless dancers themselves have posted about catching Omicron (as Junor Souza has) we shouldn’t speculate. Illnesses are private, surely? I suspect dawnstar *was* asking about publicly available information. Not all of us follow dancers' social media accounts. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 Talking about substitutions, I noticed that the cast sheet yesterday wasn't 100 percent accurate. Did anyone spot any corrections? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 5 hours ago, Drdee said: @SebastianI am not sure what is the typical ‘must haves’ for a ballet performance programme nowadays. I am sure they tried to provide sufficient information for their broad audience and keep it at an affordable price. As a glossy coloured programme further pages may have meant the printing cost would have increased the sale price. I was pleasantly surprised as I have paid more for much less in the past. I suspect that enb's general audience wouldn't be sufficiently interested in that. It's probably more appropriate for a specialist dance magazine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 1 hour ago, Dawnstar said: If this isn't breaching privacy, do you know if othere are other dancers who have likewise been unable to do roles in Raymonda due to covid? I'm wondering about Alison McWhinney, who was shown as Sister Clemence in some of the rehearsal photos but does not seem to have danced the role, or any other roles, this week. I was rather surprised to see the 2 women in pointe shoes for ENB's Raymonda. I can't recall seeing a Spanish dance done in pointe shoes rather than character shoes in any of the various Nutcracker & Swan Lake productions I've seen live or on video. Re: the footwear, it’s often down to style, budget and ambience for a particular dance. There are companies that have done character dances with no boots or heeled character shoes (the boots are often more expensive than even the already pricey pointe shoes, although boots and character shoes last for much longer), some do a mixture. I think that Spanish dance in Act 2 of this version can be considered either a classical or a character dance in this context. I was really impressed with and enjoyed the ratchuli dance as well. One of the nicest new divertissement dances I’ve seen in years. I have to say that overall I am impressed with how very, very good the whole production was considering that Rojo has no experience putting on choreography for a large professional stage or mounting a classic prior to this-not once did I think “oh dear, that’s a complete disaster” at any gaffe that had been overlooked (and even ROH has had a few from both visiting companies and RB). The critics can sit in their chairs and carp, but they forget what a monumental task it is mounting a full length classic. Getting the lighting right so it isn’t too dark and makes the dancers invisible (there are seasoned choreographers still doing this!!) or too bright, getting the costumes to fit in with the style and mood and not hamper the dancing (a few Royal Opera House and international recent creations on main stages... ugh), even just the movement of the corps... the attention to detail is outstanding. She and the company can be proud of a job extremely well done. And it’s a production I could definitely take young or old to see as well, which always helps. 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 17 minutes ago, alison said: Talking about substitutions, I noticed that the cast sheet yesterday wasn't 100 percent accurate. Did anyone spot any corrections? I assume it wasn’t announced/printed as I arrived fairly early and didn’t see it, but I thought Miguel Angel Maidana had stepped in as a late replacement for Victor Prigent as Beranger in the matinee performance, perhaps too late to print anything. That’s the only one in the afternoon I noticed. And they don’t seem to have a system for announcing it on stage or over the loudspeaker at the Coliseum, whether for ENB, BRB or an international company. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 (edited) 24 minutes ago, alison said: I suspect that enb's general audience wouldn't be sufficiently interested in that. It's probably more appropriate for a specialist dance magazine. I certainly wouldn’t include anything from the link posted, as it’s - how to put it kindly - frankly, not very good. I even gave the author the courtesy (despite his extreme disrespect shown to Tamara Rojo and Gavin Sutherland) of reading far too much of it. When one starts analysing how loud the hand claps should be along with the long shopping list of pedantic questions, it gets beyond silly- it’s ludicrous. Imagine trying to tell Martha Argerich or Bryn Terfel how long their quavers should be according to historical notes on how it was performed in Tchaikovsky’s or Mussorgsky’s time- you’d get a frozen stare of death and probably banned from the concert hall. Edited January 23, 2022 by Emeralds 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lizbie1 Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 12 minutes ago, Emeralds said: When one starts analysing how loud the hand claps should be along with the long shopping list of pedantic questions, it gets beyond silly- it’s ludicrous. Imagine trying to tell Martha Argerich or Bryn Terfel how long their quavers should be according to historical notes on how it was performed in Tchaikovsky’s or Mussorgsky’s time- you’d get a frozen stare of death and probably banned from the concert hall. I enjoyed the short shrift given to this question, though! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 1 hour ago, Lizbie1 said: Did anyone manage to capture today's substitutions? I forgot to take a picture. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 It must be a great relief to ENB, after all their last-minute Nutcracker cancellations & cast changes and the postponement & re-arrangements of Raymonda's performances, that they've finally managed to present it this week & without any major last minute-cast changes either. Apologies for asking about Alison McWhinney. I didn't think it was wrong to wonder about the whereabouts of a dancer one likes who was indicated to be dancing & then didn't do so, but evidently it is. (This forum should be very beneficial to my moral character: it sometimes feels as though every other question I ask is viewed as inappropriate & every other suggestion I make is contradicted for being wrong!) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted January 23, 2022 Author Share Posted January 23, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, Lizbie1 said: Did anyone manage to capture today's substitutions? I forgot to take a picture. Fernando Carratala Coloma replaced Noam Durand as Beranger Georgia Bould replaced Katja Khaniukova as a Nurse Miguel Angel Maidana replaced Matthew Astarte in Ratchuli The Spanish line up was Rebecca Blenkinsop (as stated) with alternates Isabelle Brouwers, Giorgio Garrett and Matthew Astley The four soldiers were missing Rhys Antoni Yeomans and included Daniel McCormick instead. (This was from memory and without the change of one of Abdur Rahman’s guards. But the rest is correct and slightly different from the amendment sheet, which I had not seen, in relation to the four soldiers.) Edited January 23, 2022 by capybara 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted January 23, 2022 Author Share Posted January 23, 2022 3 minutes ago, Dawnstar said: It must be a great relief to ENB, after all their last-minute Nutcracker cancellations & cast changes and the postponement & re-arrangements of Raymonda's performances, that they've finally managed to present it this week & without any major last minute-cast changes either. It must indeed. And huge kudos to the Company for a massive achievement against all the odds. Although opinions about this Raymonda vary, the audience has had a feast of dancing. What a wonderful week! 8 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