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Royal Ballet's Swan Lake (Spring 2022)


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6 minutes ago, Finnbarr said:

Can someone with practical knowledge try to explain why Anna Rose fell please? It happened in the last quarter of her fouettés  and she had started to travel massively to the right across the stage. The audience had started to clap along with the music ( which I hate) and I wondered if this somehow might have affected her concentration or timing?

No matter how much special knowedge one has, only the dancer will know why she fell.  There are all kinds of reasons.  She did travel a lot, the audience did clap way too soon, maybe the music was a bit too fast, maybe she just lost her footing a little bit.  It was just at the end of her fouettes and the whole episode took about 10 seconds.  I would personally prefer to concentrate on the other two hours when she was lovely.

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Welcome to the forum, Finnbarr.  I hope someone with more technical knowledge (and ideally a better viewing position) may be able to answer, but it looked to me as though she rather lost control of the fouettés somehow - at least, I could see it coming.

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7 minutes ago, Rob S said:

The clapping 'in time' was making me concerned that it would affect her too...and then she fell...which of course doesn't mean that was the cause.

 

I don't think it was clapping in time as such, more applause at the number she was pulling off - it seems to occur in most performances these days, so the dancers would be well-advised to be prepared for it.

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5 minutes ago, alison said:

 

I don't think it was clapping in time as such, more applause at the number she was pulling off - it seems to occur in most performances these days, so the dancers would be well-advised to be prepared for it.

 

From where I was it didn't sound like just general applause breaking out but partially to a rhythm, she was still centre stage when it started

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Nobody will know why she feel really.

 

But, I really dislike the clapping through everything, either along with the music or way too early, it's just not needed and spoils it.

What do you even do with a situation like this? Did they clap through her falling or stop all together?

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If you haven't had a listen yet, there is an interview with Anna-Rose on Open Barre recorded in October where she talks about her partnership with Marcelino and their preparations for Swan Lake. Fun fact - Anna-Rose is a wonderful singer and has performed in West End productions (pre White Lodge) which I think explains her natural musicality when she dances...

 

https://www.spreaker.com/user/openbarre/open-barre-s4-02

 

There is also an insightful interview with Yasmine Naghdi where she talks about technique and classical ballet which might help to answer or give some guidance on the above questions...

 

https://www.spreaker.com/user/openbarre/season-3-episode-6

 

All episodes can be found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Spreaker or wherever you get your podcasts...

 

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1 hour ago, emmarose said:

Such a shame Anna Rose had a fall, but everyone falls, it's how you get up and it sounds as if she carried on to finish beautifully.


I would be very interested to know how it impacts a dancer’s attitude to their next performance of the same ballet. I hope it doesn’t cause her a mental block/too many increased nerves… am I right in thinking that was her first-ever attempt at 32 fouettés in any ballet, on the ROH stage in front of an audience?

 

In ten years’ time I’d love to hear what she’d say about getting past such a mishap in an “iconic” moment in a major debut and coming back to deliver the goods in future. By which time, I’ll probably have forgotten it ever happened.

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Yes The audience were trying to clap in time to the music but they weren’t quite on the beat so she had two beats coming at her from the orchestra and the audience and also if she had been planning any more doubles or triples it would have been hard to ignore the audience clapping as if it were a single. 


The  audiences rhythmic clapping fell apart when she fell and was replaced by general appreciative applause. 
 

I noticed a small Elastoplast on her finger in the photos I wonder if she scraped  it when she fell?

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12 hours ago, DanJL said:

Unexpectedly I found the final act hit hardest - the emotion of what had happened due to the deception in Act 3 and O'Sullivan's incredibly fragile performance to the beautiful music which made it so clear that death was the only way out. For me at least the ending made perfect and clear sense after this. 


Yes! I found myself wondering if I’ve ever found an Odette/Odile most compelling in that act before.

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I would think the first thing Anna-Rose would do is some fouettés en pointe in class or rehearsal, just to “get back on the horse”, as it were.  It must be horrible having a fall onstage, but it’s not the first and it certainly won’t be the last.  Remember when there was an issue with the main stage floor some years back, and the poor dancers were slipping as a regular occurrence?  

 

There could have been any number of reasons why Anna-Rose fell; a pointe shoe problem, an ankle suddenly giving way, nerves, a problem with the floor, we’ll probably never know.  I remember Matthew Ball running onstage at his debut as the Prince in Sleeping Beauty and going absolutely flying - but I choose to remember the rest of his wonderful performance (and the many more since).  

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18 minutes ago, RuthE said:


I would be very interested to know how it impacts a dancer’s attitude to their next performance of the same ballet. I hope it doesn’t cause her a mental block/too many increased nerves… am I right in thinking that was her first-ever attempt at 32 fouettés in any ballet, on the ROH stage in front of an audience?

 

In ten years’ time I’d love to hear what she’d say about getting past such a mishap in an “iconic” moment in a major debut and coming back to deliver the goods in future. By which time, I’ll probably have forgotten it ever happened.

 

I saw the pre-Covid Swan Lake Insight event when Zenaida Yanowsky was coaching Mayara and Fumi right before lockdown.  Mayara fell over at one point,  picked herself up and shrugged and said "that happens sometimes" and went on with it.  As someone who beats herself up every time she makes the smallest error in my beginner ballet class I thought the attitude was inspiring and I've tried to take this attitude myself going forward.   

 

I hope Anna-Rose has the same approach to what happened to her.  That happens sometimes, it's unfortunate but doesn't detract from the amazing job she did the rest of the time.  I hope she goes forward undeterred and kills it next time she performs.  

Edited by Tango Dancer
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I think the great thing about a debut is that, once it's over, you never have to do the ballet for the first time again. It's done, and you can only move forward and build on it. Last night Anna and Marcy showed great potential and that with time, more coaching and experience, they will deliver stunning performances in this ballet.

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I am currently reading Leanne Benjamin's autobiography and she talks about all the times she has fallen over.  She would rather take a risk than always be totally controlled.  A NY dance critic friend of mine told me that it's quite a regular occurrence for NYCB dancers to fall over because they really go for it.  Balanchine himself said that he liked it when dancers fall because it shows they are human.  Indeed, he put an example of this into Serenade.

 

I am always in awe of how rare it is that we see our dancers fall...the amount of discussion about it here shows how rare it is.    

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9 minutes ago, Anna C said:

Remember when there was an issue with the main stage floor some years back, and the poor dancers were slipping as a regular occurrence? 


The floor of the current Don Q did that when new, if memory serves - that’s probably what you’re thinking of (?)

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33 minutes ago, Anna C said:

….. I remember when there was an issue with the main stage floor some years back, and the poor dancers were slipping as a regular occurrence?  


I didn’t think there were any poor dancers in the RB and Anna Rose certainly isn’t 

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20 minutes ago, RobR said:


I didn’t think there were any poor dancers in the RB and Anna Rose certainly isn’t 

I am sure AnnaC does not mean it in that context.  She means it like 'the poor things', not that they are poor quality dancers!

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11 minutes ago, RobR said:


I didn’t think there were any poor dancers in the RB and Anna Rose certainly isn’t 

 

“Poor dancers” as in I felt sorry for the number of dancers slipping and falling on that particular flooring - and the regularity with which it was happening.  

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14 minutes ago, Anna C said:

 

“Poor dancers” as in I felt sorry for the number of dancers slipping and falling on that particular flooring - and the regularity with which it was happening.  

 

I'll cancel the charity concert I'd just started organising for them, then😄 Chesney Hawkes sounded so up for it!!

Edited by Rob S
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6 hours ago, Sim said:

I am always in awe of how rare it is that we see our dancers fall...the amount of discussion about it here shows how rare it is.    

 

Yes, it is; whereas, to be honest, in my earlier years of ballet-going (say from the late 1970s to maybe the early 1990s? Not sure) people were falling over all the time!! At one stage hardly a performance went by without someone hitting the canvas, so to speak. It's sometimes easy to forget quite how extraordinarily difficult what they're doing actually is. (I say this as someone who can barely walk down the street without tripping up.) 

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I am just musing here, but I have seen problems with the fouettes on many occasions.  Each time it has been because they lose the rhythm, usually because they are trying to do a little too much.  Often they throw in a double or even a triple,  start to get out of time with the music, and it all starts to get away from them. No idea if that was the case this time, but I am relieved to hear that she bounced back and continued to give a delightful performance.  

I remember a talk on the radio once by a very experienced dancer (Sibley?  Beryl Grey?) saying that it was a good idea to have a back up plan just in case something went wrong mid spin.  Their favourite was to end by doing chaine turns, which can be spectacular, but also had the advantage of moving off the spot with both feet on the ground!  The trick was to make it look as though they meant to do that all along. 

 

 

Edited by Fonty
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For the record, Anna-Rose executed perfectly in the rehearsal I attended. 

 

This all reminded me of my one and only performance of Swan Lake viewing Alina Cojaracu. She fell off her points towards the end of the fouettes. I'm not sure who was more shocked - the audience, or Alina.  Anyway, of course, that's not how I remember her. 

 

There's also a passage in Yasmine Nagdhi's mother's book where she talks about this and how furious she was in Madrid when a member of the audience behind her commented that Yasmine "travelled" during the fouettes.  Well, that might have been me, because Yasmine travelled so far to her left that we were all worried that she would end up on the dais with the watching queen's entourage.  Everyone commented more out of concern than anything else. Mrs Nagdhi reveals in the book that Yasmine was far from well when she did this performance, but the audience, of course, have no idea of any dancer's  personal circumstances except perhaps afterwards if they choose to share. 

 

Anyway, I am here tonight to see Marianela and I shall enjoy her whatever happens.  

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Hope no one on the forum will shoot me down, but SL.is by no means my favourite ballet. Last night I took a friend who wanted to see it so I was kind and took her. My real plus points were O'Sullivan and Sambe - she in particular was so beautiful - particularly loved her Odile - a genuinely nasty piece of work. She and Sambe complement each other so well. The corps is, as other people have said, superb. A stand out performance for me was David Yudes- I first enjoyed him as Puck and was pleased to see him in a main role. But what do I have to do to see James Hay? Think there is some sort of gremlin  that let's whoever does casting know when I am coming and make sure he's not dancing when I'm there!

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