United Ukrainian Ballet Giselle by Alexei Ratmansky- Netherlands tour various venues, August 2022 and London Coliseum season 13-17 September 2022

[Emeralds]

19 hours ago, Tango Dancer said:

Well that was very lovely indeed.  I had a thoroughly nice time and am so glad I went. 

 

I thought they were collectively amazing.  Given they're not a company so have people from different places with different training they were incredibly cohesive and integrated.  I loved the costumes and sets, they're so classic and stylish.  

 

Alina Cojacaru was amazing.  She made Giselle really come to life and gave her such a lovely character, really engaging and dynamic.  I like Alexander Trusch and he seemed to partner her really well and they made a really compelling couple.  I thought the peasant pas was also lovely.  I don't know if the dancers (Vladyslav Bondar and Maria Shupilova) have danced together before but I thought they really worked well as a pairing, she was really graceful and he had some very nice jumps indeed.  

 

I also really liked Vladyslava Kovalenko as Myrtha.  I don't know anything about the dancer but she had lovely technique and beautiful arms and brought a lot of character to the part.  

 

Overall it worked very well.  The anthem at the end was moving but if they provide the words so we can sing, they also need to turn the lights up so we can see them.  Still apart from that minor amusement it was excellent.  By the way, anyone else get the words to the UK one wrong - I still sang "send her victorious" - it's going to take a while to adjust.  

 

I'd definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to go as it's an amazing cause and some really talented dancers.  

Thank you for the cast details, Tango Dancer. I was about to ask if Vladislava Kovalenko danced Myrtha. On the first night, I think she was substituted out of Act 2 (Veronika Hordina dancing Moyna in her place), although it wasn’t stated on the cast list, perhaps to keep her rested for the following night, although she did dance in Act 1 (as a friend of Giselle). I hope to see her in an alternate cast- she has a lovely quality about her. I must say UUB is impressive in the calibre of Myrthas they are fielding- the sign of a world class ensemble being led and dancing at the highest level.  BRB were similarly impressive when they last staged Giselle in Sadler’s Wells. Myrtha is not a secondary role but a principal one. 

[Emeralds]

8 hours ago, alison said:

 

There wasn't one in the Evening Standard last night - I hope that's been rectified online.  I'll have a look later.

Still no Evening Standard review online yet, but to their credit, they have published two lovely previews before the run began, of the dancers’ experiences, the progress of the company, and details about the production to encourage readers to attend.

[Emeralds]

7 hours ago, alison said:

Did anyone else who has seen Cojocaru dance Giselle in other productions find it slightly disconcerting to see her in this one?  I hadn't registered the difference in style and execution so much on the first night, but it was rather more obvious on the second night with a "familiar" Giselle.  Mind you, she's danced in so many different productions of it over the years that she must be used to adapting.

 

(And on a side note, did ENB have 2 runs of the Skeaping production while she was with them?  I thought she was pregnant for one run)

I think they’ve only had one run when Alina was with them  but they might have done a run in London and a run in another city, Alison....(could that be what you’re thinking of?). I’ve  only seen one run with her there, and I would never miss an opportunity to see the Skeaping production again, which is one of my faves. I haven’t seen Alina in this one yet, but I doubt I would find it disconcerting. I think seeing her dance Forsythe for the  first time (In the Middle Somewhat Elevated) was more disconcerting, haha, being such a departure in style .....after watching her in Ashton, R&J, Manon and the classics! But she was outstanding in ITMSE of course- and other Forsythe works since. 

[Emeralds]

2 hours ago, Pas de Quatre said:

In the photo where Alina offers Alexandre Trusch a flower, I was interested to see the position of the crossed wrists of the dancer immediately behind.  This is what I understand to be the correct position, but in recent years in many productions the hands seem to be lower so they are at waist level and the back of the hands almost parallel to the floor.  Has anyone else noticed this? 

In the curtain calls/bows at the end? I don’t think it matters as long as they look neat and decorous, and everyone is choosing more or less the same. Within a production it’s up to the choreographer - depends on what kind of look or style he/she is going for.

 

I’m always struck by how classical ballet company dancers are so disciplined that even when they’re aching and exhausted after a performance, they stand during the bows, in perfect position (not too close and not too far from each other), looking poised, smiling, with not a finger or eye lash out of place, and it’s glorious when they all curtsey and bow in unison. It’s the art form that was Instagram-ready and camera-ready at all times way before Instagram was invented (that’s the reason why I like to take pictures). Photographing sports teams doesn’t give such good results! The strength, discipline, and  elegance of professional dancers to be able to do this - impressive. 

[Lizbie1]

Coliseum website has amended the running time to 2 hours 20 minutes.

[Emeralds]

2 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Does that mean that you think she's not a good technically as she used to be? As soon as Act I ended the 2 men sat one side of me started saying to each other that they thought that. I'd thought her first act performance was excellent but as my knowledge of ballet is near-zero, and I've never seen her do the role before, I realise I must be the one who's wrong. It was just rather depressing to be moved to have tears in my eyes then immediately have it punctured.

 

Having just gone through all the first night reviews, it's interesting to see in the accompanying photos that Tiutiunnyk was wearing different first act costume compared to Trusch last night. Would guest dancers be likely to bring their own costumes?

I never pay heed to what others say - the ones that carp about a dancer’s drop in technical prowess are just as inaccurate as those that rave that someone is perfect and “the best” (especially on a night when he/she clearly had a few off moments).  

 

Just ignore them and listen to your own feelings and experience!  Your insights are perceptive. 

 

I haven’t seen Alina in this yet but I should just point out one thing.....Giselle should not be a “technical fireworks” sort of ballet. If a viewer is looking for that or a dancer is deliberately putting in as many triple or even quadruple pirouettes, or fancy jumps, they've got it wrong (and it actually ruins the performance if a dancer does that). This isn’t Corsaire, Don Q or Swan Lake Act 3. The best ballerinas actually tone down their fireworks to portray the mood and the story, and for the male leads, even when performing lots of fireworks in the Act 2 solo, they must never make it look like “here’s how incredible my double tours and series of jumps are”- it must look like “I’m jumping and turning, but that Queen of the Wilis is killing me by making me do it - how do I stop? I want to stop! Help!” 

 

Its one one of the reasons why Giselle is a unique ballet which actually has a special place in many dancers’ hearts - both men as well as women. The story, and the fact that the dancing should be a seamless telling of the plot, with no divertissement moments. Although the peasant pas de deux can feel like a divertissement, Petipa actually put the couple in to contrast the difference between their happy and honest relationship versus that of Giselle & Albrecht’s complicated and ultimately tragic one. 

 

There’s one bug bear I have about technique in Giselle and I’m glad this production has discouraged it. In the distant past, ballerinas wobbling or stumbling in the Act 1 solo never was an issue and seldom happened- because they never tried to do double turns in attitude and triple pirouettes in the first half.  Even if they could. Somehow it’s now become de rigeur for all dancers to give it a go, and a lot of the time they don’t make it. Yes, even at Covent Garden. Giselle is supposed to be a modest, shy and uncomplicated village girl - she’s not Kitri or Odile. So there should be no “woo hoo, look at what I can do” in her dancing.  I’d rather they just do a single attitude turn, and double pirouettes or even single pirouettes, land neatly, then move on.

 

The hardest technical test in Giselle, ironically, still remains a step that a ballet student could do at an elementary level- not wobbling when she stands on one leg and unfolds the other to the side, in developpe a la seconde, and when lifting the leg after the little entrechat jump. What makes it difficult is that pointe shoes are much harder to balance in on the flat than soft shoes worn by an elementary student. 🙂 But the dancers of the past (79s, 80s, 90s) were actually more successful than many today because they also focus on doing the simple things well rather than just on technical fireworks. 

 

Yes, guest stars often bring their own costumes because they’re often not with the company long enough for costume fittings on the company costume and alterations, due to tight schedules, cost constraints (eg longer hotel stay), etc. (Some companies will pay the guest extra to stay longer to include costume fittings, but some don’t or can’t). 

[Shade]

What a wonderful matinee- emotional and educational. I liked this production very much, prefer the peasant pdd. 
 

is the dancing “softer” - if that is the appropriate term? It seemed so to me.

 

the music was sprightly too!
 

wish I could see it again - couldn’t take it all in.

[Tango Dancer]

8 minutes ago, Shade said:

What a wonderful matinee- emotional and educational. I liked this production very much, prefer the peasant pdd. 
 

is the dancing “softer” - if that is the appropriate term? It seemed so to me.

 

the music was sprightly too!
 

wish I could see it again - couldn’t take it all in.

 

Yes I think it's softer.  I've only seen the BRB and the Akram Khan Giselles but I think this was softer, more emotive and slightly more elegaic because they're dancing for their country which is under threat and perhaps thinking of country harvests not reaped and, like the Wili, thinking of lives ruined,  loves lost and children unborn.  It's not a performance with a lot of amazing fireworks but a consistent and slightly melancholy performance.  

 

I usually find Giselle a bit wet and Albrecht a bit of an annoying mansplaining cad (to be honest) but because this was a softer reading, her genuine warmth of nature came through and he seemed genuinely caring about her.  I don't know what Cojacaru was like in her 20s as I've not seen her but she really lived the role last night.  

[Dawnstar]

1 hour ago, Emeralds said:

The best ballerinas actually tone down their fireworks to portray the mood and the story, and for the male leads, even when performing lots of fireworks in the Act 2 solo, they must never make it look like “here’s how incredible my double tours and series of jumps are”- it must look like “I’m jumping and turning, but that Queen of the Wilis is killing me by making me do it - how do I stop? I want to stop! Help!” 

 

Although the peasant pas de deux can feel like a divertissement, Petipa actually put the couple in to contrast the difference between their happy and honest relationship versus that of Giselle & Albrecht’s complicated and ultimately tragic one.

 

I did find myself wishing Albrecht's dance to the death went on for longer last night though. I don't know if it was different tempi but Albrecht's final section before dawn felt much shorter than in the RB performances I saw last year, especially compared to Bonelli's large number of entrechats six. I enjoyed Trusch's overall performance so much last night that when dawn came it definitely felt too soon!

 

I didn't realise that, maybe partly because last night was the first time I saw a live Giselle with a peasent pas de deux rather than a peasant pas de six.

[JNC]

4 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Does that mean that you think she's not a good technically as she used to be? As soon as Act I ended the 2 men sat one side of me started saying to each other that they thought that. I'd thought her first act performance was excellent but as my knowledge of ballet is near-zero, and I've never seen her do the role before, I realise I must be the one who's wrong. It was just rather depressing to be moved to have tears in my eyes then immediately have it punctured.

I really wish people wouldn’t be critical in the actual performance/theatre. Even if I’m not overly impressed with something I’ll try not to say anything at the time to avoid other people’s pleasure being dampened. 
 

I think critical opinions are fine - but opinions are subjective and also this forum is very helpful for expressing more critical thoughts sometimes - even if perhaps people may feel put out later reading someone felt disappointed by an performance they saw and thought was fantastic, I think given it’s not in the moment you have independently digested your thoughts and feelings and can either see things in a slightly different light when removed with hindsight, or alternatively accept the critical opinion as a difference of preferences, without it ruining the evening a bit.

 

So please, my pet peeve is people being overly negative in the theatre. At interval have a chat to friends perhaps but be conscious that others may hear what you say - I try to remain neutral or focus on positives in the theatre, and reserve more critical opinions for post show discussions or this forum!

[Tango Dancer]

29 minutes ago, JNC said:

I really wish people wouldn’t be critical in the actual performance/theatre. Even if I’m not overly impressed with something I’ll try not to say anything at the time to avoid other people’s pleasure being dampened. 
 

I think critical opinions are fine - but opinions are subjective and also this forum is very helpful for expressing more critical thoughts sometimes - even if perhaps people may feel put out later reading someone felt disappointed by an performance they saw and thought was fantastic, I think given it’s not in the moment you have independently digested your thoughts and feelings and can either see things in a slightly different light when removed with hindsight, or alternatively accept the critical opinion as a difference of preferences, without it ruining the evening a bit.

 

So please, my pet peeve is people being overly negative in the theatre. At interval have a chat to friends perhaps but be conscious that others may hear what you say - I try to remain neutral or focus on positives in the theatre, and reserve more critical opinions for post show discussions or this forum!

 

I entirely agree.  I also think dance is a hugely personal thing.  We all see different things in performances and performers and it's important to recognise that people have their own views and preconceptions.  There are dancers I don't rate that other people do for various reasons.  It's probably heresy to say this but I prefer Baryshnikov to Nureyev because I connect more with his dancing and he seems more considerate and warm to his partners on the whole. That doesn't make Nureyev a bad dancer, it just means he doesn't do as much for me as Baryshnikov does.  

 

On an unrelated note I went to a tango event with famous performers and all my friends loved them and they left me cold.  I thought the guy was inconsiderate of his partner's wishes and he came across as being very arrogant. 

 

For me in any dance form how someone partners is very important so I judge negatively men who don't partner well, regardless of how technically good their performances are and how high they jump.  That's a personal lens through which I view dance.  We all bring our own views and experiences to bear.  

 

Quite frankly if you enjoyed Cojacaru (and I certainly did) I'd take no notice of what the two chaps in the audience said. 

[Dawnstar]

12 minutes ago, Tango Dancer said:

Quite frankly if you enjoyed Cojacaru (and I certainly did) I'd take no notice of what the two chaps in the audience said. 

 

I think I have chronic insecurity about having opinions about the technical side of ballet because I've been watching it for such a short time. I assume that everyone who has been watching ballet for longer than I have will have considerably more qualified opinons and it was clear from their conversation beforehand & in the interval that those two chaps had been watching ballet for many years. Maybe if I manage to notch up 20 or 30 years of ballet watching I'll become more confident in my own opinions!

[Angela Essex]

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

 

I did find myself wishing Albrecht's dance to the death went on for longer last night though. I don't know if it was different tempi but Albrecht's final section before dawn felt much shorter than in the RB performances I saw last year, especially compared to Bonelli's large number of entrechats six. I enjoyed Trusch's overall performance so much last night that when dawn came it definitely felt too soon!

 

I didn't realise that, maybe partly because last night was the first time I saw a live Giselle with a peasent pas de deux rather than a peasant pas de six.

Same Dawnstar! When the morning bell tolled I couldn’t believe it was time for it yet. Definitely seemed shorter than I’ve seen RB do. Trusch was fantastic and really acted feeling exhausted perfectly (tbh maybe he just was exhausted after that so didn’t have to act).

[Guest oncnp]

19 minutes ago, Angela Essex said:

Same Dawnstar! When the morning bell tolled I couldn’t believe it was time for it yet. Definitely seemed shorter than I’ve seen RB do. Trusch was fantastic and really acted feeling exhausted perfectly (tbh maybe he just was exhausted after that so didn’t have to act).

At least one RB Principal would agree (about 4:20) Marianela Nuñez and Vadim Muntagirov on why they love Giselle (The Royal Ballet) - YouTube

 

Edited September 15, 2022 by oncnp

[Emeralds]

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

 

I did find myself wishing Albrecht's dance to the death went on for longer last night though. I don't know if it was different tempi but Albrecht's final section before dawn felt much shorter than in the RB performances I saw last year, especially compared to Bonelli's large number of entrechats six. I enjoyed Trusch's overall performance so much last night that when dawn came it definitely felt too soon!

 

I didn't realise that, maybe partly because last night was the first time I saw a live Giselle with a peasent pas de deux rather than a peasant pas de six.

See, Dawnstar, you do already know a lot without realising it. Yes, Albrecht gets the same amount of dancing here in terms of steps and measures of music as the other productions you will have seen in London, but the tempi are faster in this production because they’re meant to be faster. Perhaps it’s also a sign that you enjoyed Trusch’s dancing  so much that you wished he’d keep going (Myrtha would concur with you there....but for different reasons!) 

 

In fact, Giselle always used to be danced with faster tempi years ago....so much so that sometimes a short ballet would be presented as a first act “opener” and Giselle would only begin after the first interval. More satisfying for dancers who could get a lead or featured role in the first ballet that they might not otherwise have had a chance to experience or put on their cv. (For audiences it was more value for money and a treat to have more dancing. Bet some of us who paid  top dollar for only Giselle last November can’t imagine a show that’s not only cheaper but contained more dancing as well- ah, those were fun times.) 

 

The other naughty technical thing that many contemporary productions- or dancers/repetiteurs - do nowadays is to slow down the entrechats six series (some productions have him do a series of leaps around the stage instead) that Albrecht is forced by Myrtha to do, to make it look more spectacular, which also isn’t in the original. I think I started seeing Russian visiting companies doing it- as well as in the broadcasts from Mariinsky, which over time has become a bit of an exaggerated stunt, which I find rather tacky, but which unfortunately lots of directors or repetiteurs and dancers copy.

 

It’s bearable occasionally  in the context of live performance, but it’s annoying when it then becomes incorporated into the production to be repeated for future runs. Imagine ruining the smooth flow and poetry, for example, of the arias in La Boheme or Tosca with eg exaggerated vibrato, and then insisting that all subsequent performers do the same because one singer got extra applause after doing it. 

 

The peasant pas de six in the Royal Ballet production is  originally a pas de deux (in fact, Peter Wright’s previous productions of Giselle mostly had it as a pas de deux). It is meant to be a pas de deux. I’m not sure why he changed it to a pas de six in 1985 other than that they had a lot of excellent soloists at the time, so maybe it was just an opportunity for more people to dance, or maybe it was just to try something new. 

Edited September 15, 2022 by Emeralds

[Dawnstar]

11 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

Imagine ruining the smooth flow and poetry, for example, of the arias in La Boheme or Tosca with eg exaggerated vibrato, and then insisting that all subsequent performers do the same because one singer got extra applause after doing it. 

This reminds me of, amid the masses of streams shown during the 2020 lockdowns, watching a 2019 Tosca from the Wiener Staatsoper with Beczala as Cavaradossi encoring E lucevan la stelle, something which I thought completely ruined the mood & emotion of Act III. When I moaned about it on Twitter afterwards someone who's a Wiener Staatsoper regular said that it was a tradition there decades ago, Kaufmann revived it in 2016 & every other Vienna Cavaradossi had been doing it in the few years since, as long as they could milk enough applause.

[Emeralds]

2 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

This reminds me of, amid the masses of streams shown during the 2020 lockdowns, watching a 2019 Tosca from the Wiener Staatsoper with Beczala as Cavaradossi encoring E lucevan la stelle, something which I thought completely ruined the mood & emotion of Act III. When I moaned about it on Twitter afterwards someone who's a Wiener Staatsoper regular said that it was a tradition there decades ago, Kaufmann revived it in 2016 & every other Vienna Cavaradossi had been doing it in the few years since, as long as they could milk enough applause.

I was going to mention that but wasn’t sure if enough people were familiar with it. (I also heard about the row that ensued because Angela Gheorghiu, Kaufmann’s Tosca, wasn’t informed or consulted about it, and got very annoyed that she had gotten ready for her cue and couldn’t go on!)  Personally, I agree with you. It doesn’t make sense repeating it in the opera - he’s just sung “the moment has passed and [he’s] died of desperation”.....but yet he’s repeating it so maybe the moment hasn’t passed and he’s either lying or demented? But if it were a recital it’s fine to repeat it, of course. It’s a weird “tradition” and one can see why someone sensible stopped  it decades ago! 

[Emeralds]

By the way, did members who were going to the Wednesday and Thursday performances get held up by a lot of transport delays due to crowds heading to Westminster? 

[alison]

Emeralds mentioned the peasant pas de deux, and that reminded me: I usually hate it, because in come this couple, you've no idea where they come from, they do nothing to add to the story, not infrequently look as though they might be interlopers from another ballet, detract from Giselle and Albrecht for no apparent reason, dance their dance and then disappear off again.  Yet in this production it felt far more organic, and far less out of place.

 

Oh, and can someone please tell Alastair Macauley that the Act II set is not from BRB's Giselle production?  I must admit, I wouldn't have recognised where it was from if I hadn't already known, but BRB's set would have been really unsuitable for this production.

[alison]

6 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

By the way, did members who were going to the Wednesday and Thursday performances get held up by a lot of transport delays due to crowds heading to Westminster? 

 

I didn't have any problem on Wednesday.  I came through from Green Park on the bus.  However, the Strand has been closed off by Villiers Street/Charing Cross for the last few days - I'm not sure where the buses have been rerouted to - so that could cause transport delays.

[Tango Dancer]

9 hours ago, Emeralds said:

By the way, did members who were going to the Wednesday and Thursday performances get held up by a lot of transport delays due to crowds heading to Westminster? 

 

I didn't have any problems on Wednesday but then I came into Leicester Sq and walked down because that seemed easiest.  The transport was busier than normal but I didn't have any delays and there weren't massive crowds.  

[FionaM]

8 hours ago, alison said:

 

Oh, and can someone please tell Alastair Macauley that the Act II set is not from BRB's Giselle production?  I must admit, I wouldn't have recognised where it was from if I hadn't already known, but BRB's set would have been really unsuitable for this production.

good luck trying.  He blocked me for correcting him onetime.  

[capybara]

10 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

I think I have chronic insecurity about having opinions about the technical side of ballet because I've been watching it for such a short time. I assume that everyone who has been watching ballet for longer than I have will have considerably more qualified opinons and it was clear from their conversation beforehand & in the interval that those two chaps had been watching ballet for many years. Maybe if I manage to notch up 20 or 30 years of ballet watching I'll become more confident in my own opinions!

Don’t worry, Dawnstar.

Even if people impose their opinions on you, you can hold onto your own.

Everyone’s experience of ballet is so individual (as it is with all forms of art) that different perceptions are to be expected and can often expand one’s own thinking. 
 

One of the reasons I enjoy reading BCF is to get alternative perspectives which make me think anew.

 

As for those two men, I have actually asked loud opinion sharers to tone it down in the past………

[alison]

So, did anyone go to last night's?  Did Khaniukova dance?

[zxDaveM]

11 hours ago, Emeralds said:

By the way, did members who were going to the Wednesday and Thursday performances get held up by a lot of transport delays due to crowds heading to Westminster? 

 

I had no travel problems Wednesday, arriving at Charing Cross. It was a bit disconcerting coming out of the station though, with lots of fencing around and gangs of coppers with machine guns!

[Emeralds]

1 hour ago, alison said:

So, did anyone go to last night's?  Did Khaniukova dance?

I couldn’t go last night but an audience member has posted on Facebook Stories a photo of the casting board at the Coliseum, which showed Christine Shevchenko as Giselle, Stanislaw Olshanskyi (original cast) as Albrecht, and Vladislava Kovalenko as Myrtha (covering for Shevchenko, the original cast Myrtha) and  Veronika Hordina & Nikita Hodyna in the Peasant de Deux (opening night cast). There’s also a curtain call photo but my screen isn’t powerful enough to get a clear look to see if it’s really Christine or Katja. 

 

By the way, I notice that on Shevchenko’s FB page, she has described Giselle as being her dream role (something she hasn’t also ascribed to Odette/Odile, Juliet, etc) and it does show in the depth, artistry and joy she brings to the role. And of course, she has worked closely with Ratmansky in many of his previous ABT creations, eg Nutcracker, Whipped Cream,  Of Love And Rage, etc etc.

 

Hope all is ok with Katja; haven’t managed to find any news and of course it may be a very private reason. She worked very hard in July and August after her work and travels with ENB, rehearsing and travelling with the company around the Netherlands on their tour, dancing many first nights and having the responsibility of being the big name (at least outside Ukraine) on the publicity and marketing. Wishing her well and a good recovery and rest. 

Edited September 16, 2022 by Emeralds

[FionaM]

Regarding the ‘jumpiness’ or not and technique being difficult or easier than others ….  
 

From what I have seen of rehearsals for this Giselle and also of Ratmansky’s Giselle for the Bolshoi, his Giselle Act 1 solo reverts to prior choreography which includes a fiendishly difficult and fast diagonal that appears in recordings of Carla Fracci, Alicia Markova and others.  Current ballerinas would need many rehearsals to master it.  its not easier IMO just a different technical challenge.

 

I am going tonight so will see for myself.  

Edited September 16, 2022 by FionaE

[Emeralds]

Thank you to everyone who posted their travel experiences! By the way the BBC “Queue Tracker” for those waiting to attend the lying in state shows that the queue is so long (over 12 hour wait) that it starts somewhere out east, a long way from the Coliseum! (The queue began at Canary Wharf at one point.) So paradoxically it may have no effect on getting to Giselle, but members whose journey starts out east of Tower Bridge might have to be prepared for some crowds.

[Sim]

When we left the Coli on Wednesday night it felt like being corralled because of the fencing that is up right outside the main doors.  There was no way to go right which was where we needed to go, so just go left until the end of the fence then walk back on yourself.  To make matters worse, there was a huge crowd awaiting the appearance of Gary Barlow after his one-man show across the road, which finished at around the same time as Giselle...

 

I drove into town (from north London) and the traffic was as normal for that time of the evening.

[alison]

I've used the side exits both times, but then I invariably do. The main exit is a bottleneck at the best of times.

 

I don't think the queue has ever gone anywhere near Canary Wharf, though, Emeralds. It certainly isn't at the moment: it's been stopped in Southwark Park.  15 hours and counting ...  It's all along the South Bank, so hopefully not too disruptive transport-wise.

Edited September 16, 2022 by alison
To add capitals, now I'm back on a computer

[Rob S]

10 minutes ago, alison said:

I've used the side exits both times, but then I invariably do. The main exit is a bottleneck at the best of times.

 

I don't think the queue has ever gone anywhere near canary wharf, though, emeralds. It certainly isn't at the moment: it's been stopped in Southwark park.  15 hours and counting ...  It's all along the south Bank, so hopefully not too disruptive.

 

 

The queue to join the paused queue probably reaches Canary Wharf

[Emeralds]

20 minutes ago, annamicro said:

I am confused: Shevchenko and Khaniukova have to be identical twins and looking both pretty much as Shevchenko... 😊

(The "cast panel" reported Shevchenko as Giselle)

Now I wish I’d been able to go last night to solve the mystery! 🙂They do look very different although it can be hard to tell who’s who if one hasn’t seen both of them a lot before.  The programme and printed cast sheets aren’t up to date, and not all the ushers know about cast changes. 

 

I hope I haven’t missed the only chance to see Stanislav Olshanskyi in this production and with this company. It’s partly because of him that we have this company and this lovely production at all. And a full length ballet in September!  Thank you annamicro. How was the show and how was the rest of the cast? 

Edited September 16, 2022 by Emeralds

[capybara]

Graham Watts has given Shevchenko as Giselle for last night and Kaniukova has personally told people that she is not dancing.

Such a shame for her ……