GISELLE United Ukrainian Ballet 13-17 September, Coliseum

[Lizbie1]

Isn't ticket discounting a regular enough occurrence that we shouldn't be dismayed when it happens?

[Candleque]

4 hours ago, Emeralds said:

I think this is actually more like the TKTS booth in Leicester Square

Agree. I love the TKTS booth, but even more love last minute deals I do not have to queue for 😄

Would be so great to see a full house for Giselle and any contribution is better than none. I consider my full priced ticket a donation and my cheap one an extra treat 🩰

[JNC]

Agree with some comments - if you were “happy” to pay a certain price at the time, when they’re discounted it can be frustrating. But then someone who may not have been able to afford to see the production can go, and or at least the production gets back something.

 

It’s also a nicer atmosphere to be in a fuller house as an audience member! (As long as everyone is respectful…)

 

for this particular production especially, given it’s raising funds for Ukraine I think it’s best for them to sell what they can at whatever price point. I’d be more annoyed if it was a commercial venture, but still resign myself to the fact that I did decide to pay that price. It’s the same with many things in life - I like to think it evens all out. And think of yourself as a patron of the arts! Without people paying full price for more expensive tickets these shows wouldn’t exist…

[LBC]

 

The trustees are delighted to share publicly the recording of Alexei Ratmansky 'in conversation' with the LBC on 7 September 2022

 

Alexei Ratmansky is choreographer and Artist-in-Residence at American Ballet Theatre.  He spoke to us about his life and career as a dancer, as director of the Bolshoi (2004-2008) and subsequently as a choreographer staging new ballets and reconstructions of existing ballets, using archive material, all over the world. 
 

He also specifically talked about his upcoming Giselle at the London Coliseum, 13-17 September 2022, that he is staging for United Ukrainian Ballet to raise funds for displaced dancers and the wider humanitarian cause.

The cast includes international stars such as: 
- Alina Cojocaru (RB, ENB, Hamburg principal, trained in Kyiv, principal at Kyiv National Opera Ballet)
- Katja Khaniukova (ENB first soloist, Ukrainian, trained and principal in Kyiv)
- Christine Shevchenko (ABT principal, born in Odessa) 

Full casting https://londoncoliseum.org/artists/giselle-cast/

 

Book last minute tickets https://londoncoliseum.org/whats-on/giselle/

 

 

 

[Emeralds]

On 12/09/2022 at 11:38, LBC said:

 

 

The trustees are delighted to share publicly the recording of Alexei Ratmansky 'in conversation' with the LBC on 7 September 2022

 

Alexei Ratmansky is choreographer and Artist-in-Residence at American Ballet Theatre.  He spoke to us about his life and career as a dancer, as director of the Bolshoi (2004-2008) and subsequently as a choreographer staging new ballets and reconstructions of existing ballets, using archive material, all over the world. 
 

He also specifically talked about his upcoming Giselle at the London Coliseum, 13-17 September 2022, that he is staging for United Ukrainian Ballet to raise funds for displaced dancers and the wider humanitarian cause.

The cast includes international stars such as: 
- Alina Cojocaru (RB, ENB, Hamburg principal, trained in Kyiv, principal at Kyiv National Opera Ballet)
- Katja Khaniukova (ENB first soloist, Ukrainian, trained and principal in Kyiv)
- Christine Shevchenko (ABT principal, born in Odessa) 

Full casting https://londoncoliseum.org/artists/giselle-cast/

 

Book last minute tickets https://londoncoliseum.org/whats-on/giselle/

 

 

 

Thank you so much to LBC for recording this interview and sharing it here. (I was disappointed that I couldn’t attend on the 7th as I was travelling at the time.) What a fascinating, informative and enjoyable talk- best thing I’ve watched on tv or digitally for the last 2 months!

 

I hope the UUB can travel to more countries to perform Alexei’s production of Giselle. I have friends in Canada, USA and France who would love to see it. Great to see that tours to Australia and Singapore have been organised, though with a different ballet.

 

Lovely to see on the company and Rinus Sprong’s social media posts that the Royal Ballet have loaned their studios for daily class and rehearsals. (Sprong  is a Dutch choreographer, former dancer, and dance company director who is helping Igone de Jongh with the production and tour). They’re very excited that they have an orchestra playing live for them! 😊

 

 

Edited September 13, 2022 by Emeralds

[Sophoife]

On 07/09/2022 at 07:49, Dawnstar said:

 

I'm afraid I'd never even heard of Trusch before so I was relieved that I liked him last night, as it would be jolly awkward to decide you don't like a dancer a week before seeing them in a full length ballet! I thought he looked quite young, only in his early-mid 20s, but working out dates from his programme bio he must actually be in his early 30s.

I saw him dance Neumeier's Nijinsky twice: in Melbourne with AusBallet in 2016, and in Hamburg in 2017. Wonderful.

 

[art_enthusiast]

so what did people think of the first performance of this?

[Jan McNulty]

4 hours ago, art_enthusiast said:

so what did people think of the first performance of this?

Pop over to this thread for people’s thoughts on the performances:

 

 

[Sim]

Wow, I have just upgraded my tickets for this evening.  Row D of the Dress Circle for £33 each via the London Theatre Direct link posted above by Dawnstar.  

[FionaM]

2 hours ago, Sim said:

Wow, I have just upgraded my tickets for this evening.  Row D of the Dress Circle for £33 each via the London Theatre Direct link posted above by Dawnstar.  

@Sim did you do an exchange, or an additional purchase?

 

I see it’s really good seats in the stalls at these much reduced prices.  

[Dawnstar]

I was going to offer my now going to be unused row B side stalls ticket to anyone who wanted it but our internet was down at home for 24h 4pm yesterday to 4pm today so I wasn't been able to access the email account I have to use for Coliseum bookings to find the eticket. Depressing that not only have I now paid over £100 to see this performance but I can't even give away an £85 ticket as it's too near the time of the performance now.

Edited September 14, 2022 by Dawnstar

[LinMM]

 Why can’t you go Dawnstar? 

 

[Dawnstar]

I am going but I now have 2 tickets & I can't sit in 2 seats at once!

[LinMM]

Yes rather difficult!! I let a friend use my seat for tonight in the end as obvious it wasn’t going to sell especially when they were offering Dress Circle seats for £33!!  so didn’t get any money back for it. Still as it’s for a good cause I don’t mind too much about that just annoyed I’ve missed Alina as Giselle and the chance to see another production. 

[Pas de Quatre]

There's a very nice column by Janice Turner in today's Times -  Ballet in Exile shows Ukraine's True Colours.

[Sim]

22 hours ago, FionaE said:

@Sim did you do an exchange, or an additional purchase?

 

I see it’s really good seats in the stalls at these much reduced prices.  

It was an additional purchase as I originally had two £10 tickets.  I didn't ask for the money back as I wanted to donate it to the DEC for Ukraine.  It was worth every penny!

[Bruce Wall]

A lovely interview by Ratmansky with Peter Boal, AD for PNB (Pacific Northwest Ballet) just before the premiere of his first original creation after the Ukrainian invasion.  He also talks about the Giselle here.  

[li tai po]

Bruce,

 

Thank you for the link to Ratmansky's interview, which I found both moving and uplifting.

 

He explains that his new ballet for PNB is Wartime Elegy, drawing on Ukrainian art and music.  He uses the art of Ukrainian folk artist, Maria Prymachenko (1909-1997), whose special gift and talent captivated Picasso.  Many of her surviving works are in the Ivankiv Museum, which was bombed on 26 February, in what appeared to be a deliberate attack on Ukrainian culture.  Some of her works were lost, but others were rescued from the burning building.

 

Ratmansky also talks of his ballet to Prokofiev's one-act ballet score, On the Dnieper, which he made for American Ballet Theatre in 2009.  [The original was choreographed in 1932 by fellow Ukrainian, Serge Lifar].  I was lucky enough to catch this delightful ballet in Amsterdam (Dutch National Ballet).  It had an exquisite setting of cherry blossom busting forth in Spring, as a background to the love triangle, arising when a soldier returns home to his village from the war.

[FionaM]

United Ukrainian Ballet are currently performing Swan Lake in Australia.  
 

Kate Chebykina (war exile from Mariinsky) is participating as Odette/Odile

 

 https://amp.theage.com.au/culture/theatre/look-out-there-s-another-show-asking-you-to-keep-secrets-20221018-p5bqov.html?fbclid=IwAR3zSGe0pXugG2VsM4Nk-h3a9fMJupxfNBDsbMQ9QPyoe0SVOBRMN3A8i-w

[Jan McNulty]

54 minutes ago, FionaE said:

United Ukrainian Ballet are currently performing Swan Lake in Australia.  
 

Kate Chebykina (war exile from Mariinsky) is participating as Odette/Odile

 

 https://amp.theage.com.au/culture/theatre/look-out-there-s-another-show-asking-you-to-keep-secrets-20221018-p5bqov.html?fbclid=IwAR3zSGe0pXugG2VsM4Nk-h3a9fMJupxfNBDsbMQ9QPyoe0SVOBRMN3A8i-w

 

They've also appeared in Singapore and are due to tour the US as reported in various links.

[Emeralds]

On 24/10/2022 at 12:20, Jan McNulty said:

 

They've also appeared in Singapore and are due to tour the US as reported in various links.

I enjoyed the review (posted by a viewer who humbly described herself as not knowing much about ballet!) in the Dance Links and the photos included were lovely. I was only sorry that we couldn’t see their Swan Lake production here as well, but perhaps Ms de Jongh and their producer might like to try to get dates next Easter or late summer here  to perform it in London and maybe  (fingers crossed) other cities. It would be fab if they could perform in Birmingham (after the load of sets and costumes for Giselle)!

[FionaM]

On 28/10/2022 at 11:07, Emeralds said:

I enjoyed the review (posted by a viewer who humbly described herself as not knowing much about ballet!) in the Dance Links and the photos included were lovely. I was only sorry that we couldn’t see their Swan Lake production here as well, but perhaps Ms de Jongh and their producer might like to try to get dates next Easter or late summer here  to perform it in London and maybe  (fingers crossed) other cities. It would be fab if they could perform in Birmingham (after the load of sets and costumes for Giselle)!

After the poor sales in the UK for Giselle including star names as the lead … I’d be surprised if they bother trying again in the UK 

[Guest oncnp]

2 hours ago, FionaE said:

After the poor sales in the UK for Giselle including star names as the lead … I’d be surprised if they bother trying again in the UK 

Are sales better elsewhere?

[LinMM]

Just what I was thinking. I can’t imagine any large tours around Australia or the United States would necessarily have huge audiences everywhere.  Supposedly those Countries  have had less General involvement with the situation in Ukraine than we have here.  
It is always a shame if ballet especially of such good standard is not well supported of course ….Ukrainian or otherwise…. but don’t imagine it is just a UK problem. 

[Jan McNulty]

6 hours ago, FionaE said:

After the poor sales in the UK for Giselle including star names as the lead … I’d be surprised if they bother trying again in the UK 

 

3 hours ago, oncnp said:

Are sales better elsewhere?

 

I think it may be a question of the ballet being performed and size of the theatre combined with ticket price that will affect how well the performances sell.  I've just had a look at Sydney - random date and managed to put a ticket in my basket in the stalls that would be the equivalent of around £90.  The prices seem to be the same in Adelaide and the random performance I selected looked pretty well sold out.

 

I think that in the UK, Swan Lake is probably more popular than Giselle.

[Emeralds]

On 04/11/2022 at 02:22, FionaE said:

After the poor sales in the UK for Giselle including star names as the lead … I’d be surprised if they bother trying again in the UK 

Swan Lake sells much better than Giselle. I’m less bothered by the auditorium not being 100% full if the costs were not actually that high to put on Giselle at the Coliseum. I’ve been told that depending on the time of the year, nature of the contract and the production, it can sometimes be cheaper to stage performances at the Coliseum than at a smaller theatre like Sadler’s Wells, to the point that if they only sold 60% of seats it would equate to revenue of a full house at SWT (which is 67% the capacity of LC). Also, as LC was available due to a cancellation, UUB might have obtained the theatre at a lower cost to hire.

 

I think if one could have done things differently, my only suggestions would have been 1) to put Cojocaru’s performances on first night and Thursday, Khaniukova’s on Wednesday and last night, and publicised Shevchenko’s credentials at ABT more prominently, 2) offered 50% discounts for children like ENB do at the Coliseum, and 50% off for under 21s to take advantage of the fact that college and university terms haven’t started yet. (Children have to be taken there by an adult and teens/young adults often attend in groups, so all that increases numbers of tickets sold, and 3) only made the best rows £200 and included programme and a free drink, so that they are a more attractive prospect to buy,  and don’t have to heavily discounted at the last moment.  

 

They were also initially disadvantaged by the rail strikes but thankfully these were later called off. I heard the Singapore shows and some of the Australian shows sold very well. 

Edited November 6, 2022 by Emeralds

[Guest oncnp]

On 04/11/2022 at 04:12, LinMM said:

Just what I was thinking. I can’t imagine any large tours around Australia or the United States would necessarily have huge audiences everywhere.  Supposedly those Countries  have had less General involvement with the situation in Ukraine than we have here.  
It is always a shame if ballet especially of such good standard is not well supported of course ….Ukrainian or otherwise…. but don’t imagine it is just a UK problem. 

 

They are not going to "tour" in the US at all it seems.

 

They are coming to the Kennedy Center (Washington DC - capacity 2,364) for 6 performances in Feb 2023 with top prices pf $159 (~ 140 GBP at today's rate).

 

According to the Kennedy Center press announcement these are the only performances in the US