Highlights of RB 2021/2022 Season?

[Angela Essex]

12 hours ago, serenade said:

Great thread  

The Ashton triple esp Corrales and Hayward in Rhapsody

Like Water for chocolate- Nagdhi/Corrales loved their chemistry and the passionate ending- wow.  And Meaghan Grace Hinkis' Gertrudis, she danced the part with so much joy I loved it.

Yass agree 💯 Hinkis’ Gertrudis and Nagdhi / Corrales in LWFC 🔥🔥 and Corrales in Rhapsody 😮😮😮💪🙌

[KyleCheng]

Bit late to the game, but hopefully not too late to express some love for Ms Sarah Lamb.

With the premiere of the Dante Project, her long awaited and glorious reunion on stage with Steven McRae in R&J, and her convincing performance in Giselle (the most heartbreaking and nuanced Giselle this season in my humble opinion), I thought this has been a magnificent year for her.

I really hope we will still be able to see her dance for another couple of years!

[Emeralds]

11 hours ago, KyleCheng said:

Bit late to the game, but hopefully not too late to express some love for Ms Sarah Lamb.

With the premiere of the Dante Project, her long awaited and glorious reunion on stage with Steven McRae in R&J, and her convincing performance in Giselle (the most heartbreaking and nuanced Giselle this season in my humble opinion), I thought this has been a magnificent year for her.

I really hope we will still be able to see her dance for another couple of years!

I agree- she was wonderful in those 3 ballets! Just to add she was glorious and perfect as the Sugar Plum Fairy in Nutcracker and the lead ballerina in Scenes de Ballet with Vadim Muntagirov (her regular partner in Manon, and previously successful partners in Romeo and Juliet as well as Sleeping Beauty before this season) as well, which were two of the many RB 2021-22 highlights for me. If you can, I highly recommend catching her in Diamonds and Nutcracker next season too, KyleCheng. 

[The Sitter In]

Ashton, Ashton, Ashton.

The company looked like The Royal Ballet again…finally.

[capybara]

1 hour ago, The Sitter In said:

Ashton, Ashton, Ashton.

The company looked like The Royal Ballet again…finally.

 

And every performance was a treasure.

[AnnabelCharles]

I'd like to echo the plaudits for Sarah Lamb. I thought her Giselle was gorgeous - ethereal, subtle and very moving. For me, she never disappoints.

 

Other highlights - Fumi Kaneko and William Bracewell in Romeo and Juliet. It was my first time back at ROH and I wasn't at all sure it was a good idea to be there. This performance convinced me it was - it was like seeing this wonderful ballet for the first time - a beautiful and very moving experience.

 

I enjoyed three performances of Swan Lake in particular - Fumi Kaneko and Federico Bonelli - stunning debut and glorious farewell; Swan Lake for Ukraine - an unforgettable, inspiring and unique evening and Lauren Cuthbertson and William Bracewell in the live screening - the most convincing, nuanced and coherent interpretation, that really benefited from being seen up close.

 

The modern triple bill - an exhilarating breath of fresh air, showcasing the athleticism and versatility of the company. Liam Boswell and Nicol Edmonds caught my eye in The Weathering - as did Matthew Ball and Gina Storm-Jensen in DGV.

 

A Month in the Country - a perfect gem of a ballet in every way.

 

Like Water for Chocolate - Yasmin Nagdhi and Cesar Corrales absolutely sizzled in this intriguing work - and thought this whole cast developed the roles most fully and convincingly of the three. (I really enjoyed preparing for this work too - reading the book and watching the Insights - though still not sure I fully grasp what 'magical realism' is...)

 

A mention for Meaghan Grace Hinkis who always emanates such joie de vivre in her dancing - very much enjoyed her portrayal of Clara, Siegfried's sister and Gertrudis.

 

But it feels unfair to name particular dancers when it is the talent, artistry and commitment of the whole company that contributes to the impact of each performance; I thought it was a really varied and interesting season which certainly gave me a huge amount of joy in troubled times. Thank you to the Royal Ballet!

 

 

[maryrosesatonapin]

When I watched Osipova/Clarke in Giselle I thought 'it can't get any better than this'.  Then I saw Morera/Bonelli and although they weren't 'better' they touched me in a way that will stay with me for ever.

 

[Celine]

2021/2022 season was the first season that I've been able to watch performances live after seriously getting into ballet (I came to the UK only four years ago, and then got very ill, and then covid happened). It was also the first season that I've enjoyed ballet at ROH. It's a very meaningful and memorable season for me. 

 

I went to four live performances:

R&J (Lamb/McRae)

Ashton triple bill: Scènes de ballet (Sarah Lamb and Vadim Munragirov) / A Month in the Country (Nuñez) / Rhapsody (Marcelino Sambe)

Two Swan Lakes (both Lamb/Hirano)

 

My absolute favourite might be the Ashton mixed bill. I wasn't very familiar with the three works so didn't hold quite huge an expectation as I did for R&J, but I left on such a high!! I loved all three of them. 

 

You can probably tell from the above list of performances that I am going to express my appreciation for the lovely, lovely Ms Sarah Lamb. I hope she enjoyed the season as much as many of us did. In fact I almost managed to greet her at the stage door, only I was so excited that I was dead frozen and could not make a sound >.<

 

My only regret is not seeing any of the Giselle performances as I'm sure whichever cast would be amazing to watch. 

 

[Jan McNulty]

Hello Celine and welcome to the Forum!

[Celine]

On 15/07/2022 at 18:10, Jan McNulty said:

Hello Celine and welcome to the Forum!

Thank you! As I have no real life ballet friends I am so happy to have found this forum (I've been stalking for a while haha). 

[emmarose]

I think for me, it will be very hard to find something that ever lives up to the performance of Nunez and Muntagirov in their one performance of Swan Lake. I've seen them before, I've seen others before, but this performance, I don't know, it seemed to touch something completely on another plane. It didn't seem of this world. Just everything coming from both of them exceeded anything else from before. I was utterly speechless and what we was witnessing. That will take some beating, it's hands down the best single performances I've seen in any show, I just knew I was seeing something truly magical.

 

Shout outs go to Marci in Rhapsody, Matthew Ball in Giselle and Joonhyuk Jun as a mandolin dancer in Romeo and Juliet, all stand out performances, especially Marci who made it seemed that Rhapsody was actually created on him.

And as always, the corps, who put in the hard work to make these shows so absolutely amazing with little glory, this year they were sublime, particularly in Giselle, that second act, the made chills go up my spine multiple times!

[ChrisG]

Living 180 miles away from London I only get to see one performance of every programme, and therefore I have to choose carefully. Sometimes I choose well and sometimes I don't, but my five favourite performances at the Royal Opera Hoouse for the season just ended would be:

 

1. Dante Project, simply because it was Ed Watson's farewell performance
2. Giselle, with the wonderful Akane Takada, partnered by Cesar Corrales
3. Nutcracker, for finally seeing Isabella Gasparini as Clara
4. Swan Lake, with the inestimable Natalia Osipova and Reece Clarke
5. Yondering from the Royal Ballet School, which made me smile almost more than anything else this year

[Emeralds]

1. Steven McRae’s first night back from injury and surgery, dancing Romeo magnificently with beautiful Sarah Lamb as his wonderful Juliet. Couldn’t tell he had suffered a serious injury from his dancing, and you could feel the support from the company and the audience. 

2. Edward Watson and the company in Dante Project- a show charged with emotion, knowing he would retire from performing after this production ended.

3. Marcelino Sambe’s impressive debut as Albrecht alongside Sarah Lamb as  his fragile (Act 1) and ethereal (Act 2) Giselle- a partnership that had chemistry and really clicked as the doomed couple who would not live happily ever after. 

4. Sarah Lamb, Vadim Muntagirov, Ashley Dean, Benjamin Ella, Thomas Whitehead and the company and RBS students in a magical performance of The Nutcracker, made more magical by a friend and her teenage daughter coming with us to see Nutcracker for the first time (they loved it). 

5. Marianela Nunez and Federico Bonelli bringing all their experience and subtlety to Romeo and Juliet in January, and completely believable as a pair of teenagers discovering true love and passion for the first time- plus, of course, incredible dancing from both and from the company

6. Fumi Kaneko and Federico Bonelli - another farewell (his)! And a most impressive and spectacular debut from Fumi. The company on top form- nay, wondrous form. Another emotionally charged evening, being the continuation of the run of Swan Lakes that had been shut by the government due to the pandemic, and the playing of the Ukraine national anthem  and Kevin O’Hare’s speech before the show sadly being a reminder (not a highlight, unfortunately) that another crisis had begun before the last (Covid) had even ended. 

6. Melissa Hamilton, Joshua Junker and Liam Boswell delightful in their featured roles in The Weathering and spectacular dancing from the young second casts of Solo Echo and DGV. 

7. Ashton triple bill (various casts). 

8. The company’s robust and versatile weathering of various Covid outbreaks during Nutcracker and Swan Lake that led to a bit of an advent calendar/Forrest Gump (“you never know what [cast]you’re going to get”) effect, which often produced some surprise delights in casting!  (I think everyone who was meant to get their debut got theirs in the end, apart from a few that were injury related rather than Covid related?) 

 

There were also wonderful highlights from other companies but they’ll be for a different thread. Overall, a truly exceptional and wonderful RB season after the closures and restrictions of 2020 and first part of 2021. 

Edited July 25, 2022 by Emeralds

[Jan McNulty]

10 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

 

 

There were also wonderful highlights from other companies but they’ll be for a different thread. Overall, a truly exceptional and wonderful RB season after the closures and restrictions of 2020 and first part of 2021. 

 

I had already started one, it would be great to here your thoughts here:

 

 

[Emeralds]

3 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

 

I had already started one, it would be great to here your thoughts here:

 

 

How did that get pushed down so quickly?  😮 I was wondering why I couldn’t find threads about other companies (I wasn’t writing or reading much that week as I wasn’t free to go to a ballet at that time). Thanks for picking it out again, Janet. 

[alison]

It tends to happen when people don't post much in them   I sometimes have to go hunting several pages "down" to find a thread I thought had been posted on relatively recently.

[JohnS]

Apologies - I’d meant to post this earlier today but I got waylaid.
 

It’s been good to read all the posts and be reminded of so many fabulous performances. I’ve been thinking about my highlights for some weeks and, with the new season opening tonight, I’m afraid I’m out of time and crashed the pips. But I often struggle with highlights. If asked what’s my favourite fell, I’m tempted to say it’s the one I’ve just climbed, the one I’m am currently climbing if asked on a walk, or the fells I’m planning to climb in my next walk. I invariably find something new or a spectacular view, even if it’s just a glimpse of the valley below when there’s a break in the cloud. And with performances at the Royal Ballet, there’s always something to savour. 

Most enjoyable performances: the Ashton triple bill was fabulous as so many people have highlighted. Scenes de Ballet was new to me and the more I saw it, the more I wanted to see further performances, with Yasmine Naghdi particularly impressive. Each Ashton performance I saw was a delight and wonderful to leave the theatre on such a high.

 

Most moving performances: Francesca Hayward’s Giselle - her first Act 1 and second Act 2. I also thought she conveyed more of Odette’s anguish in those few seconds in the prologue to Act 1 than I find in some full Swan Lake performances. And her bouquet presentation to William Bracewell (who had such a wonderful season) was a very special moment - I wonder if in the new season audiences’ bouquets might be presented to male dancers with Mayerling offering an early opportunity?

 

I was very taken with the Royal Ballet School’s Yondering - new to me and very good to be able to see the film several times in the following weeks.

 

But I think I’ll treasure the 2021-22 season for Laura Morera’s Giselle, her last Nutcracker, and Month in the Country. She’s surely giving us the most golden of Autumns which will hopefully continue for a few more seasons. And in combining coaching and dancing, the Royal Ballet will I’m sure reach new heights of artistry. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Suffolkgal]

This may sit here? Just noticed the lovely pairing of Bracewell and Kaneko on the RB calendar for 2023 ... given it was one of my highlights of the season 

[bridiem]

11 minutes ago, Suffolkgal said:

This may sit here? Just noticed the lovely pairing of Bracewell and Kaneko on the RB calendar for 2023 ... given it was one of my highlights of the season 

 

Yes, that's a lovely photo. But given this is only likely to be bought by enthusiasts, I don't understand why the RB calendars include so many old photos - surely given that they come out every year they should/could reflect the current repertoire. (I presume they want to show a range of leading dancers and types of ballet, but that should still be possible within the current repertoire.)