Royal Ballet's Swan Lake (Spring 2022)

[Nogoat]

How I wish yesterday's performance had just been a routinely remarkable performance by Osipova.

However, it was not routine, though it was definitely remarkable.
 
Ballet, perhaps more so than opera or even superficially showy musical theatre, is escapist in nature. We may relish and immerse ourselves in the escapism, but what happens on stage and in the audience is informed and influenced by the increasingly larger stages on which our own lives and those of others play out. How can it be any other way, unless we leave our humanity at the door?

 

Those typically numerous, though subtle and indeterminable, effects were swept aside last night by one colossal, shared reality - one gigantic, tragic backdrop. I had wondered how Osipova, that consummate sensor and transmitter of emotions, would react to it; I had also wondered how the audience would react to her. It never occurred to me that the night would unfold the way it did.

 

I didn't realise Kevin O'Hare had decided to precede each performance with the orchestra playing the Ukrainian national anthem. The audience, almost without exception, stood. It was remarkable to behold, very emotional, and it set the tone for the rest of the evening.

 

Act 1 was excellent, if unremarkable - though I found it impossible to resist current events affecting my view of Avis' cold, power-crazed, arrogant, evil, inhuman, cruel and uncontrollable (at times, out of control) Rothbart (and others I spoke to in the interval found the same). In some ways it was a relief to get on to the reassuring otherworldliness of the second act.

Part of that, of course, is the extended mime sequence between the Siegfried and Odette. That seemed to progress at quite a pace - I remember thinking that anyone taking shorthand notes of that conversation might have found it difficult to keep up! But then along came their pas de deux - what a contrast! Time seemed to slow, expand and drift, in a way that allowed them (and me) to linger on and soak up every exquisite note and movement; and when it all became almost too much to bear, along came a razor-sharp dance of the cygnets to free me from my reverie. 

 

We rushed back from the interval with the bell herding us towards to auditorium, only to be confronted with an almost empty orchestra pit. Ten minutes later it was obvious there was a problem. When KOH came out we feared the worst. Yes, it was bad - Osipova was feeling ill, but she wanted to try to carry on and KOH was prepared to let her, though in reminding us of his obligation to minimise risk I wondered what compromises would be made. 

 

Act 3 was extraordinary - at one and the same time completely familiar and yet totally unknown. What would she do? What would we do?

Well, I don't remember ever seeing an Odile enter to prolonged applause, and similarly applause so close to the very beginning of the 32 (or however many single, doubles and triples she eventually threw in) fouettes. She finished them on the button and the audience erupted.

And let's not forget Reece Clarke with his beautiful lines and soft landings. He rose into the air, glided through that same buoyant air, landed on that same button, on the sweep of the baton and musical note. Superb!

When we talk of dancers filling the stage, the implication is two dimensions - covering the area. Last night Clarke seemed to extend that to three - he seemed to fill the volume of the stage. And that was from the balcony - what on earth was it like from the stalls?

It is almost two years to the day that he made his Swan Lake debut with Osipova. There has been a paucity of performance opportunities since then, but in that time he has matured into the partner she deserves - and we are all the better for it.

Within Act 3 there was the sense of an incredibly dynamic, symbiotic relationship between Osipova and the audience - we were feeding off what she was doing, and she was feeding off our response to it. We wanted the best for each other and, boy, did we get it.

I didn't think it possible, but my already stratospheric respect for her has gone up a notch or two.

 

There is less at stake for the principals in Act 4, though their duet had a touching poignancy to it. For this particular performance, the act seemed almost anticlimactic given the drama of Acts 2 and 3 (including that of the interval between) - though it did serve to gradually ease us back from escapism to the real world where tragedy is not some idealised tale of the supernatural but more the burden of the cold, dead body of a love lost.

 

I am so glad I went last night, and am so desperately sad for the circumstances that made it so remarkable.

 

 

[CCL]

@NogoatThank you for that utterly heartfelt review- your words were beautiful and true

[AnticaFiamma]

The cast sheet says nothing about tonight being Bonelli's farewell performance... odd

[alison]

Well, I suppose technically it isn't.

[AnticaFiamma]

True, but if it's really his last public appearance they could have remarked it in some way. For instance the digital sheet of the 3/12 performance of Giselle said "Tonight we celebrate Laura Morera’s 25 years with The Royal Ballet since joining the Company in 1995". I'm surprised not to see even something like that

[Timmie]

Vadim Muntagirov on BBC Radio Three right now.

 

(All over, short and sweet, probably available on catch-up somewhere).

Edited March 4, 2022 by Timmie

[Jamesrhblack]

1 hour ago, AnticaFiamma said:

The cast sheet says nothing about tonight being Bonelli's farewell performance... odd

I too was surprised that there was no reference on the cast sheet. Admittedly, it’s not, technically, his last performance but the Twitter announcement did state that this evening would be a celebration of Bonelli’s time with the company.

[Lizbie1]

Fumi - wow! 😍

[whatkindofbird]

Lots of RB company here tonight, spotted Lauren C, Matt Ball, and Ryoichi. Wayne McGregor too! 

[Sim]

Fumi Kaneko’s Act 2.  A thing of beauty and a joy forever.  Sigh.  

[Rob S]

Kevin O’Hare started his announcement with the news that tonight is Federico’s final performance which partially explained the applause for the entrance of Benno….thankfully it lasted long enough for Siegfried’s entrance 😆

Edited March 4, 2022 by Rob S

[capybara]

1 minute ago, Sim said:

Fumi Kaneko’s Act 2.  A thing of beauty and a joy forever.  Sigh.  

Fabulous. Those arms …… !!!!!

[Dawnstar]

Given how good at dancer ID some of you are, does anyone know who the Odette & Von Rothbart doubles are tonight? I thought possibly Sae Maeda for Odette but wasn't certain. It didn't help identification attempts that I still had tears in my eyes from the Ukranian anthem.

[art_enthusiast]

7 minutes ago, whatkindofbird said:

Lots of RB company here tonight, spotted Lauren C, Matt Ball, and Ryoichi. Wayne McGregor too! 

Wow! Where are they sitting? Don't wish to stalk them of course, just curious

[whatkindofbird]

55 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

Wow! Where are they sitting? Don't wish to stalk them of course, just curious

 

Ryoichi is in SCS near 1B. Not sure about the others as I saw them going back stage by the private door by 1A. Wayne was just mingling in PHH. 

 

A very cheerful crowd tonight! 

[Dawnstar]

I was expecting Kaneko to be excellent as Odette but wasn't sure what she'd be like as Odile. The answer is fantastic!

[Bluebird]

2 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

Given how good at dancer ID some of you are, does anyone know who the Odette & Von Rothbart doubles are tonight? I thought possibly Sae Maeda for Odette but wasn't certain. It didn't help identification attempts that I still had tears in my eyes from the Ukranian anthem.

If you mean the very beginning when she becomes a swan, I’m pretty sure it was Ginevra Zambon

[Richard LH]

2 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

Fumi - wow! 😍

Such an assured debut. She didn't just  perform the roles of Odette and Odile she absolutely inhabited them! What a fitting partner for Federico in his last public appearance here.

[JNC]

Wow what a fantastic evening. 
 

Kaneko nailed both Odette and Odile - able to mirror the movements but with such a different flair and personality. Her Act 3 in particular was spectacular but equalled by her flawless technique and heartbreak in Act 4. Kaneko’s performance alone would have made it an unforgettable evening but…
 

And then to Bonelli’s retirement - was incredibly moving and I feel very privileged to be have been there. I think Laura Morera was first on and visibly emotional, as was Marianela and it was just lovely to see simple white roses (?) being given, graduating to some bouquets and then a single pink rose from his wife and then a large bouquet from his daughter. Alessandra Ferri was also present, as was Monica Mason. 

 

I feel very lucky to have been there on an incredibly special evening on a number of counts. Wishing Bonelli every success at Northern ballet but so sad to see an excellent dancer go. 

[San Perregrino]

46 minutes ago, Bluebird said:

If you mean the very beginning when she becomes a swan, I’m pretty sure it was Ginevra Zambon

And possibly Teo Dubreuil

 

[Dawnstar]

5 minutes ago, PeterS said:

And possibly Teo Dubreuil

 

Would that have been possible given Dubreuil was in the Mazurka in Act III & what I assume is the Von Rothbart double appears at the end of Act III?

[capybara]

54 minutes ago, Bluebird said:

If you mean the very beginning when she becomes a swan, I’m pretty sure it was Ginevra Zambon

Yes, the girl was definitely Ginevra.

[Dawnstar]

I evidently really need to start wearing my new glasses before my next SL on Monday if I can be that badly out on the Odette double!

[Silke H]

3 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

Given how good at dancer ID some of you are, does anyone know who the Odette & Von Rothbart doubles are tonight? I thought possibly Sae Maeda for Odette but wasn't certain. It didn't help identification attempts that I still had tears in my eyes from the Ukranian anthem.

I thought today von Rothbart in bird-form was Téo Dubreuil

[bridiem]

My first Swan Lake since March 2020 when I knew lockdown was looming; my first hearing of the Ukrainian national anthem, in such terrible circumstances; the sad awareness of the death of Liam Scarlett last year; a truly astounding début from Fumi Kaneko; a beautiful performance by Federico Bonelli; and the very emotional farewell to him at the end of the performance. An unforgettable evening.

 

Kaneko's Odette/Odile would have been sensational in any circumstances; for a début, it was unbelievable. Long, beautiful, endlessly expressive limbs, a luxuriant response to the music, and a really chilling contrast between the expansive love and goodness of Odette and the cruel darkness and evil of Odile. Perhaps playing Satan in Dante Project laid some groundwork for this Odile; she was chilling - positively revelling in the deception and entrapment of Siegfried and relishing her sexual power to lure him in. She leapt into the fouettés with alacrity, and turned with such speed and power that she seemed to be creating a physical whirlwind in which Siegfried stood no chance. And at the end, her sorrow as Odette was so intense that it poured through her body to the ends of her fingertips. This was a true Swan Queen: majestic, beautiful, loving and selfless.

 

Bonelli was a prince worth fighting for. Excellent dancing and a moving and convincing portrayal of someone who was lost until he found what he was looking for, and in her found himself. So his absolute terror when he realised what he'd done at the end of Act 3 was incredibly moving. He will be missed so much.

 

I still find the ending completely unsatisfactory. It's clumsy, literal and unpoetic and really doesn't do justice to the rest of the ballet or to the grandeur of the music at the end.

 

But still - a very special evening. It seems very poignant that Bonelli's performing career has come to an end on the night of a scintillating début; but seeing different generations of dancers lined up on the stage for the final presentation was a reminder of the nature of ballet and the huge amount that older dancers give to the generations that follow. So I hope that Bonelli has a happy and rewarding time at Northern Ballet, enriching other dancers and audiences as he has done for so long at the Royal Ballet.

 

 

[zxDaveM]

Super performance tonight - Fumi Kaneko was sublime. Federico danced to make sure we will really miss him

[Rob S]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 5, 2022 by Rob S

[Jorgeb]

Fantastic photos! Thank you!

[Silke H]

Wow! Wow! Wow!

A night to remember!  I'm so glad I was in the House to witness both leads' stunning performances.

 

additional photos in the Facebook album

 

Instagram 04/03/22

[Dawnstar]

I can't imagine a better or more memorable performance for my first ever live Swan Lake than tonight's. (I only hope the other 4 performances I have booked aren't going to be a let-down by comparison!)

 

Obviously my photos can never compete with @Rob S's wonderful full-length ones but I did get a couple of close-ups of Bonelli, listening to Kevin O'Hare's speech & making his own speech.

 

 

 

Also this one, which isn't very good but I find amusing. Demonstrating the perils of an ROH farewell performance: Bonelli protecting himself from the flower shower!

 

 

I felt rather sorry for Kaneko, that her fabulous & 2-year-delayed Odette/Odile debut inevitably was overshadowed at the end by Bonelli's farewell. Hopefully she'll get to do many more performances in future runs, when the focus can be more on her!

 

[JNC]

I don’t think Fumi’s debut was overshadowed by Bonelli’s farewell. I think she would have felt immensely privileged to be part of the evening and lucky to have danced her official debut with such a lovely partner.

 

(I think Bonelli was also scheduled to be her partner when she was going to do the role back in 2020?)

 

yes she may have missed the red runs, but there will be many more of those come! And her performance was recognised enthusiastically throughout the acts with applauses and a great energy which only happens on certain nights. 

I too did wonder before the performance if it was going to be a little ‘unfair’ on Fumi but I can’t think of a better and more touching way to debut. And it felt perhaps a little poetic to have a debut alongside a final performance, a sort of ‘handing of the baton’ and showing the strength of the royal ballet as a company, particularly with former company members and Monica on stage. 
 

Bonelli mentioned they were a “family” and you could see and feel the respect and love they felt for each other last night. 
 

Not a criticism of your opinion @Dawnstar but I think Fumi would have felt the affect of her performance on the audience throughout and it was certainly very very positive! 

[JohnS]

Here’s a link to some of the flowers which may answer questions above:

 

 

[bangorballetboy]

8 hours ago, Bluebird said:

If you mean the very beginning when she becomes a swan, I’m pretty sure it was Ginevra Zambon

 

Yes it was, and the same on Thursday.