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

[Emeralds]

1 hour ago, PeterS said:

Does anyone know who is dancing this evening (Saturday) ?

Hopefully you can see the photo, PererS. If not, it’s 

Giselle- Shevchenko 

Albrecht- Olshanskyi

Myrtha- Kovalenko 

[Sebastian]

Маестро Ратманський, я прилетів до Лондона на Ваш перший вечір - і залишився на цілий тиждень. Я пишу це, все ще перебуваючи під враженням від Вашого останнього майстер-класу сьогодні ввечері. Ми в Лондоні не знаємо, як віддячити Вам і чудовим танцівницям.

Ви, можливо, чули про мої відкриття про Петіпа. Через війну вони навряд чи будуть опубліковані. Але я дам їх вам, якщо ви залишитеся в місті довше.

З повагою, в скорботі за Вашу країну і з моєю глибокою вдячністю.

[Geoff]

3 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Thank you Geoff. Am very pleased you have a different Albrecht to Tuesday to make it more interesting. Please  let us know what you think afterwards. 

Words fail me. The best yet. A tremendous last performance. I am still recovering.

[Sophie_B]

A utterly gorgeous performance tonight. I really really liked Cojocaru and Trusch last night but tonight I was blown away by Shevchenko / Olshanskyi and the whole company. Well deserved standing ovation where I was sitting, even before the flags came out. One of those nights where everything just seemed to “gel”. 

I also enjoyed the production / choreography more on second viewing, now that I knew what to expect (I liked it yesterday too but I did have a few moments like “wait that sounds like Bach? / woah that music is fast”).

[Emeralds]

10 hours ago, Sophie_B said:

A utterly gorgeous performance tonight. I really really liked Cojocaru and Trusch last night but tonight I was blown away by Shevchenko / Olshanskyi and the whole company. Well deserved standing ovation where I was sitting, even before the flags came out. One of those nights where everything just seemed to “gel”. 

I also enjoyed the production / choreography more on second viewing, now that I knew what to expect (I liked it yesterday too but I did have a few moments like “wait that sounds like Bach? / woah that music is fast”).

That’s brilliant that you got to see two great casts with four very special principals, Sophie_B!  I think that could be the first standing ovation in London- ie a spontaneous reaction to the performance and not because they were already standing for the national anthem. I noticed a few people jumping up on the first night to give the company a standing ovation but most people were conscious, I think, of not blocking the views of those sitting behind them.

 

Regarding the music that sounds like Bach- do you mean the passage of fast music in Act 2 that Myrtha and a few wilis dance to before Albrecht arrives? I too thought it sounded Baroque when I first heard it- it seems to hint to me (since the wilis appear to have been around for a long time) that Myrtha and those wilis lived in Bach’s time/the Baroque era....making them over 100 years “old” (ie dead for about 80 years)- plausible, I suppose 😁.

 

Wonderful for the dancers, orchestra and everyone who helped get them here that the season has ended on a high, triumphant note. 

[Sophie_B]

1 hour ago, Emeralds said:

Regarding the music that sounds like Bach- do you mean the passage of fast music in Act 2 that Myrtha and a few wilis dance to before Albrecht arrives?

Oh yes I meant the fugue bit which I read up on afterwards, apparently it’s in the Mary Skeaping version too which I also haven’t seen. Of course it’s been mentioned on the forum too, but I only read that after. Interesting thought about it relating to the time it’s supposedly set in, though don’t the costumes usually make it medieval even? I liked it and the choreography, even if it was jarring - it sort of made sense for the spirit world to have their own dance with music that may have been considered more “sophisticated” than the peasant dances. I shall now have to go on a forum deep dive because no doubt it was covered here last time ENB did Skeaping!

[Emeralds]

1 hour ago, Sophie_B said:

Oh yes I meant the fugue bit which I read up on afterwards, apparently it’s in the Mary Skeaping version too which I also haven’t seen. Of course it’s been mentioned on the forum too, but I only read that after. Interesting thought about it relating to the time it’s supposedly set in, though don’t the costumes usually make it medieval even? I liked it and the choreography, even if it was jarring - it sort of made sense for the spirit world to have their own dance with music that may have been considered more “sophisticated” than the peasant dances. I shall now have to go on a forum deep dive because no doubt it was covered here last time ENB did Skeaping!

I should emphasise that’s just my own interpretation - that Myrtha comes from another era.....lol. I have no idea what the intention for the music there was! 😆  I’m a fan of the Skeaping version too.

 

I think the original costumes set it almost the same time or a little before the time of the 1841 premiere. Bathilde and the Duke’s clothing are indeed not very typical of the 1800s, but we must remember they wouldn’t have gone out hunting and walking in full formal dress, so the simpler/medieval looking clothing is probably ok. Also, as they borrowed  costumes  and UUB haven’t much money for historical accuracy - or should I say haven’t much money at all - I’m happy to accept that it may not look historically accurate.

 

I’ve only seen the BRB Bintley/Samsova production with these Griffin designs once and could have sworn Bathilde and her father had entirely different costumes (and my friend reminds me that BRB had Bathilde enter sitting on a horse- that I do remember well!) If anyone is very familiar with both the BRB Bintley/Samsova production as well as this UUB one, do let us know if this is the case? 

 

Speaking of costumes, I see both Shevchenko and Cojocaru wore the ENB Giselle costume for Act 1, but the BRB Griffin design  for Act 2. Trusch seemed to have jettisoned the BRB Act 1 tunic/waistcoat on Friday (although he did wear it in the dress rehearsal that Reuters filmed a few snippets of).  I couldn’t see the matinee, but Elizaveta Gogidze wore the Griffin design for Act 1 in the photos for the souvenir programme, so am guessing she wore it in both matinees.

 

Just to confuse things further, the newspapers and blogs/websites that posted pictures from the photocall for their reviews show Shevchenko wearing a different Act 1 dress which looks like it could be her own for galas, guesting or competitions - a simple costume (light enough for hand luggage) that could be used interchangeably for Giselle Act 1, Flower Festival at Genzano or Swanilda in Coppelia Act 1. But at first glance, it looks very similar to the Bolshoi costume (in Grigorovich’s version) for Act 1, which made me do a double take when I first saw the reviews- it would have been a terrible faux pas (pun unintended) if they’d used a Bolshoi photo by mistake! 😂

Edited September 18, 2022 by Emeralds

[Emeralds]

Re: Bathilde and the Duke’s costumes- found a photo on the BRB company website showing the Mad Scene of Act 1 as danced by BRB.....the Duke’s lower half is blocked by his cloak and Giselle, but the costumes look like the ones worn in the UUB production. 😊 

Edited September 18, 2022 by Emeralds

[SimonJC]

Thank you Geoff for posting the photograph of the 17 September evening cast sheet.

 

Please could you (or anyone else that has any of the below) PM me to send me the files of photographed cast sheets for the following performances:

 

Wednesday 14 September evening

Thursday 15 September matinee

Saturday 17 September evening

 

I would be grateful to save them myself to check against what I wrote down - I do not have a camera!

 

Thank you.

Edited September 26, 2022 by SimonJC

[alison]

I can't speak for the other dates, but there were no cast sheets for the Wednesday.

[JNC]

There were no cast sheets, only the screens displaying casting which some may have photographed. Or at least none when I asked on Friday night. 

 

I could be wrong but don't think what was displayed was any more detailed on what could be found here: https://londoncoliseum.org/artists/giselle-cast/

[alison]

That's not up-to-date, though - and misses out Bathilde and Giselle's friends, at the very least.

[Bluebird]

18 hours ago, SimonJC said:

Thank you Geoff for posting the photograph of the 17 September evening cast sheet.

 

Please could you (or anyone else that has any of the below) PM me to send me the files of photographed cast sheets for the following performances:

 

Wednesday 14 September evening

Thursday 15 September matinee

Saturday 17 September evening

 

I would be grateful to save them myself to check against what I wrote down - I do not have a camera!

 

Thank you.

I've tried to send you the September 15 matinée cast but I couldn't see how to attach a photo so I've uploaded it to this post. I'm sorry it's not very clear! 

 

You ask for the September 17 evening, but Geoff has already posted that above. 

 

I remember another Forum member taking a photo of the September 14 evening performance.  Let me know if he hasn't already sent it to you and I'll contact him to get it.

[Emeralds]

I think Bathilde, Berthe, Duke of Courland and Wilfried were probably the same cast every night- Ksenia Novikova, Olena Mykhailova, Rinus Sprong, Viktor Lytvynenko.

 

Interesting that the casting board has Alexei/Oleksii Kniazkov as  Albrecht on Thursday afternoon while an acquaintance (who usually knows the casts quite well as she’s a veteran dance writer) thought it was Oleksii Tiutiunnykh (Alexis Tutunique) when she went to that matinee. Tiutiunnykh  had been originally scheduled to do just the one performance of Albrecht with Gogidze on Saturday, but maybe they decided to stick to just one partner for her? Wish I’d been able to go on Thursday as well. 😊

[SimonJC]

Thank you everyone for your replies / help.

 

The 15 September matinee was definitely danced by Kniazkov and the board picture is correct - I know Tiutiunnyk and went especially to see him as per the original casting but he did not dance that performance.

[Emeralds]

16 hours ago, SimonJC said:

Thank you everyone for your replies / help.

 

The 15 September matinee was definitely danced by Kniazkov and the board picture is correct - I know Tiutiunnyk and went especially to see him as per the original casting but he did not dance that performance.

Meant to say Tiutiunnykh was scheduled to dance just one matinee with Gogidze on Thursday (not Saturday, as I typed - not sure how that came about) and the evening performance on Saturday with Shevchenko, but as Khaniukova couldn’t dance on opening night, I guess they moved Shevchenko and Tiutiunnykh to opening night, and scheduled Olshanskyi for Thursday night (one of his 2 original dates) and Saturday night. I can attest that he was brilliant on Tuesday night!  Sorry that you missed it! The company has been booked for Singapore and for Australia, if you can travel that far..... (the theatres are great, the transport and the cuisine in both locations are great, I can vouch for that 😊).

[Emeralds]

https://www.channel4.com/news/ukrainian-ballet-dancers-protest-against-putins-war

 

I know the UUB dancers have probably left now, but this link from the Dance Links section caught my eye- the sandbag installation set up in Covent Garden (it’s Christine Shevchenko portraying the Defiant Dancer in the video as Oleksii Tiutiunnykh is being interviewed). It’s a pity I didn’t have time to walk to Covent Garden to see it when I travelled up for Giselle, but members who are going to Mayerling this week (it’s in front of the Covent Garden Piazza side of the Royal Opera House) might like to see if it’s still there (and if anyone is still bourreeing or standing on top)! 

[Ivy Lin]

They toured this in Washington DC and I caught two performances:

 

https://bachtrack.com/review-giselle-ratmansky-united-ukrainian-ballet-washington-february-2023

[Emeralds]

On 07/02/2023 at 23:58, Ivy Lin said:

They toured this in Washington DC and I caught two performances:

 

https://bachtrack.com/review-giselle-ratmansky-united-ukrainian-ballet-washington-february-2023

Glad you liked their performances Ivy- great review! By the way, the third photo from the top with Myrtha and the wilis jumping and landing in arabesque has the wrong name. That’s Vladyslava Kovalenko dancing Myrtha, not Elizaveta Gogidze. It might be an error from the marketing materials as another newspaper had the same photo and same error. I saw them both quite close up in different casts in London (Gogidze also danced Giselle at the matinee, and Kovalenko one of Giselle’s friends on the first night, so I’m certain who’s who). It is definitely Gogidze as Myrtha in the second photo from the top though.

[Ivy Lin]

11 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Glad you liked their performances Ivy- great review! By the way, the third photo from the top with Myrtha and the wilis jumping and landing in arabesque has the wrong name. That’s Vladyslava Kovalenko dancing Myrtha, not Elizaveta Gogidze. It might be an error from the marketing materials as another newspaper had the same photo and same error. I saw them both quite close up in different casts in London (Gogidze also danced Giselle at the matinee, and Kovalenko one of Giselle’s friends on the first night, so I’m certain who’s who). It is definitely Gogidze as Myrtha in the second photo from the top though.

 

I was thinking that Gogidze might be a good pickup for a number of ballet companies. She seems to be a strong technician. 

I hope all of these dancers find a place somewhere if they can't return home.

[Emeralds]

 

On 10/02/2023 at 03:24, Ivy Lin said:

 

I was thinking that Gogidze might be a good pickup for a number of ballet companies. She seems to be a strong technician. 

I hope all of these dancers find a place somewhere if they can't return home.

I agree. Would love it if Gogidze and several others could join companies in the U.K.! There have been some retirements, relocations/emigrations, and other departures from English National Ballet, Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet, so there are several vacancies at various ranks.