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Prix de Lausanne 2023 - Closing Gala (streamed)

Jake
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Jake

Jake

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Such an enjoyable way to spend a winter Sunday afternoon, a super gala marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Prix de Lausanne.

Fun to see some of our familiar faces paired with stars I’ve seen only on YouTube such as Vogel and Badenes, her long limbs beautifully complementing Vadim’s.

Magri’s joy and personality as always a pleasure to see.

What astonishing charisma and confidence from the real youngsters, Casalinho, already a virtuoso, and Fernandes - how lucky are the German companies to have such obvious potential superstars, as well as the proven greats.

That this piece from Diana and Actaeon (is the whole ballet just as exciting?) was followed by the subtlety and sincerity of Ueno who had competed here 30 years ago made a testament to the continuity of the art form. Madison Young impressed as much as she did in the recent Cinderella broadcast, and good to see the two male fauns.

Wonderful to see that McRae’s tap dancing skills are as remarkable as ever with an extra dimension supplied by his coming timing!

Other joys too numerous to mention but the sheer extravagance of Smirnova’s dancing in the finale from the Nut Cracker brought home to us what we are missing in the absence of the Bolshoi  streaming. Has she ever danced with Vadim? Now that would be something to see!

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Sabine0308

Sabine0308

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My favorite piece was Sambe/Hayward in "The dream". Also great was Steven McRea with his stunning Csardaz stepdance.

Artistically most impressive for me were Alina Cojocaru and Friedemann Vogel in Ladies of Camellias. A dream to watch!!

 

Also great was Antonio Casalinho, who is, among others at Bayerisches Staatsballett, way better than principal Julian McKay (where is all the fuss about him coming from?) Mckay was -again- mediocre,  partnering a beautiful, very convincing Madison Young in Giselle. She needs a better partner and already had/has him in Jinhao Zhang in Munich. 

 

Victor Caixeta and Mayara Magri in DonQ...well I have seen better Pdds, with more energy. Maybe Caixeta was saving energy for his Pdd with Olga (in Nutcracker), that was way better.

 

Very touching: Maria Kotchetkova in "Zero" (on music Ave Maria by Schubert). 

I missed some seconds/minutes because the livestream stuttered for me at times, which was very annoying! I hope to see the gala later again in full beauty.

 

It was so great to see the different pieces, we need to keep this artform alive!

 

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FionaM

FionaM

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So many thoughtful and emotional pieces in this gala, rather than the never ending oft repeated virtuoso ones.  And set to beautiful music.  Much more to my liking!   Bravo organisers and dancers. 
 

I also want to applaud most of the lighting and backdrops … for once we could see The Dream!  And how joyful it was with Marci and Francesca’s delightful partnership.  ROH please take note.  
 

I agree with all the individual highlights (and lows reported above, some by omission).  Magri needs a strong partner … Corrales (PDL participant) would be the obvious choice.  And Madison needed a better partner too. Julian has suffered technique wise with lack of performance opportunities during the two year long pandemic in the US and by also being inbetween companies for many months in 2022 on top.  His technique was better before the pandemic, as I remember from the DQ he performed with Nicolette Manni at the Icons Gala.  He’s yet to regain that form and catch up with better principals and soloists in Munich.  As @Sabine0308says, JinHao Zhang would have been the best pick of the PDL participants in Munich for this role at the moment. 
 

If PDL do a repeat gala on another anniversary say in 5 years time … I’d be wanting there to be no non-PDL participants.  Sorry Matthew, Olga, Francesca lovely as you all were.  I’d also be asking for no doubling up … they are plenty of prize winners who did not get to participate.  And the doubling up did no favours to either Caixeta or Azorin.  
 


 

 

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FionaM

FionaM

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Gala running order:

 

Alina Cojocaru & Friedemann Vogel
Lady of the Camellias
Choreographer: John Neumeier
Music: Frédéric Chopin

 

Laura Fernandez & Xander Parish
Closure
Choreographer: Juliano Nunez
Music: Franz Schubert

 

Matthew Ball
Dance of the Blessed Spirits
Choreographer: Frederick Ashton
Music: Christophe Willibald von Gluck

 

Madison Young & Julian Mackay
Giselle
Choreographer: Marius Petipa
Music: Adolphe Adam

 

Marcelo Gomes & Alejandro Azorin
Faun(e)
Choreographer: David Dawson
Music: Claude Debussy

 

Elisa Badenes & Vadim Muntagirov
Black Swan pas de deux
Choreographer: Marius Petipa
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

 

Maria Kochetkova
27 Zero
Choreographer: Ella Rothschild
Music: Franz Schubert

 

Partner School Choreographic Project
BOLD
Choreographer: Goyo Montero
Music: Owen Belton and Claudio Frasseto

 

Marcelino Sambe & Francesca Hayward
The Dream pas de deux
Choreographer: Frederick Ashton
Music: Felix Mendelssohn

 

Steven McRae
Czardas
Choreographer : Steven McRae
Music : Vittorio Monti

 

Mayara Magri & Victor Caixeta
Don Quixote
Choreographer: Marius Petipa
Music: Ludwig Minkus

 

Alejandro Azorin
Solo 01: 3 Parts Ligeti
Choreographer: Houston Thomas
Music: György Ligeti

 

Precious Adams & Eric Snyder
This Bitter Earth
Choreographer: Christopher Wheeldon
Music: Clyde Otis, performed by Dinah Washington from the motion picture soundtrack for Shutter Island

 

Mackenzie Brown
Limelight
Choreographer: Katarzyna Kozielska
Music: New Tango Orquestra

 

Margarita Fernandes & Antonio Casalinho
Diana and Actaeon
Choreographer: Agrippina Vaganova
Music: Cesare Pugni and Riccardo Drigo

 

Mizuka Ueno
Dying Swan
Choreographer: Michel Fokine
Music: Camille Saint-Saëns

 

Olga Smirnova & Victor Caixeta
Nutcracker pas de deux
Choreographer: Jean-Christophe Maillot
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

 

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Sabine0308

Sabine0308

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27 minutes ago, FionaE said:

Julian has suffered technique wise with lack principals and soloists in Munich.  ..... 

If PDL do a repeat gala on another anniversary say in 5 years time … I’d be wanting there to be no non-PDL participants.  Sorry Matthew, Olga, Francesca lovely as you all were.  I’d also be asking for no doubling up … they are plenty of prize winners who did not get to participate.  And the doubling up did no favours to either Caixeta or Azorin.  

Amen to what you said about a possible repeat gala @FionaE. 

As for Julian Mckay: I think he had plenty of time to get back resp. stay in shape. The pandemic is no excuse. He had jobs, and he wasn't injured, as far as I know. When I think of Shale, who suffered from summer 2019 for 1,5 years from his severe injury and for some month was not allowed to move his foot, then the pandemic hit, with no new job for him, but he still worked and tried to stay in shape. He joined BSB in January 2021 and was back full power onstage for the "Schneesturm" premiere in April 2021. Just saying.

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capybara

capybara

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Agree that:

  • the gala programme was a refreshing mix (although I found some elements too long - Faun(e) is really a one-acter)
  • the quality was variable but it's important to remember that some pairings are long-established whereas others probably only met up 24 hours beforehand at the most; [for example, Vadim was, I believe, still inside the ROH when the Stage Door closed at 11.30pm on Friday and the journey from London to Lausanne takes a while]
  • the performers should all be PdeL alumni; [the programme was quite long  and those with no connections to the Prix weren't really needed, however nice it was to see some familiar faces]; and
  • the 'doubling up' should not have been necessary. [Maybe Shale Wagman (for example) didn't get the call because there were 4 others from Munich; but there were 5 current RB dancers on stage plus two former ones.]

I was a tad puzzled by Francesca's dress as Titania which looked more bird- than fairy-like and obscured much of her movement.

 

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FionaM

FionaM

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29 minutes ago, PeterS said:


Wow!! This young man’s precision and exuberance were simply mesmerising. What a talent. 


yes he is a great asset to ballet.   I saw his Puck in Munich in mid-2022.   It was glorious, mischievous and amusing without going OTT like the mechanicals.  
 

I know he has performed Mercutio in R&J, Benjamin in Cinderella and also the lead in Coppélia, as well as other soloist roles in their rep.  All in his first 1-2 years in Munich.  Good decision to join there rather than RB which I believe had been talking to him for years.  

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FionaM

FionaM

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3 minutes ago, Sabine0308 said:

I was also baffled that there were almost no Asian dancers. There were soo many prize winners from China, South Korea in recent years...did they all say no thank you? Hardly.


quite … there are plenty in the RB and BRB and ENB.   
 

They ticked the black diversity box (3 times) but only had 1 from Asia.  
 

We are nitpicking.   
 

A US balletomane remarked … “why no

Balanchine”.   You can’t please everyone!!!

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Sabine0308

Sabine0308

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17 minutes ago, FionaE said:

  Good decision to join there rather than RB which I believe had been talking to him for years.  

Oh? I believe he and his girlfriend Margarita went to audition at RB (after some travelling to other cities, among them Moscow), but they didn't take them. Zelensky did.

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LinMM

LinMM

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Still catching up with finals of this years Prix haven’t got to this gala yet!! 
Hope will be able to catch it in a couple of days time. 
I remember Antonio Casalinho from the Prix…he was a stand out then. 

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Guest oncnp

Guest oncnp

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1 hour ago, Sabine0308 said:

Oh? I believe he and his girlfriend Margarita went to audition at RB (after some travelling to other cities, among them Moscow), but they didn't take them. Zelensky did.

 

In an interview at the time, he said he wanted to join the RB but they were not hiring from the PDL that year. 

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FionaM

FionaM

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Relating to not hiring António, ROH had a redundancy programme at the time relating to financial losses during the pandemic.  Munich and other European opera houses have enviable state support.  
 

Also I believe UK employment law, wouldn’t have allowed Margarita to join the RB company at 16.  (This is what happened to Marianela Nunez, and other talents … they had to sit the time out in the school with occasional onstage appearances with the company.).  I think she is still only 17? 

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Candleque

Candleque

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12 hours ago, oncnp said:

In an interview at the time, he said he wanted to join the RB but they were not hiring from the PDL that year. 


I didn't know this — have to say now it seems imo like the best thing to happen to António Casalinho since he won the Prix. Just looking at all the amazing roles he has done (including galas like this) at his young age. If he had gone to the Royal Ballet, would he still be in the Corps like other recent PdL winners?

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capybara

capybara

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52 minutes ago, Candleque said:


I didn't know this — have to say now it seems imo like the best thing to happen to António Casalinho since he won the Prix. Just looking at all the amazing roles he has done (including galas like this) at his young age. If he had gone to the Royal Ballet, would he still be in the Corps like other recent PdL winners?


Probably - and therein lies a problem at and for the RB. (Incidentally, Julian Mackay left half way through his Prix Apprenticeship with the RB.)

Next stop for Antonio is the icons gala at the Coli.

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Guest oncnp

Guest oncnp

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2 hours ago, capybara said:


Probably - and therein lies a problem at and for the RB. (Incidentally, Julian Mackay left half way through his Prix Apprenticeship with the RB.)

Next stop for Antonio is the icons gala at the Coli.

Or....Don't take on someone who you don't think will work in your "system"

Or.... Someone who's expectations you can't/won't meet leading to discontent and leaving down the road 

Or....he wanted something (e.g. soloist not corps/pdl apprentice) you can't/won't accommodate

 

Personal opinion of course but I don't see any of the above as problems. 

 

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capybara

capybara

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1 hour ago, oncnp said:

Or....Don't take on someone who you don't think will work in your "system"

Or.... Someone who's expectations you can't/won't meet leading to discontent and leaving down the road 

Or....he wanted something (e.g. soloist not corps/pdl apprentice) you can't/won't accommodate

 

Personal opinion of course but I don't see any of the above as problems. 

 

 

and............Antonio came as part of a couple!

 

Edited to add that Antonio’s diminutive stature, which is such an asset in relation to the wonder of his dancing, may also have been a factor for some Directors.

But none of that really matters now that his career is progressing so well.

 

 

 

Edited by capybara
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Blossom

Blossom

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20 hours ago, FionaE said:

The gala is on the home page of the PDL

https://www.prixdelausanne.org/

 

It was sponsored by Medici TV so might also still be available on their website/app.   
 

By contrast, the competition itself was streamed by Arte TV.   Those videos are on the PDL YouTube channel.  And probably also on Arte TV website, app, and YouTube.  

Thank you - it’s still available on the Medici app/website!

 

 

 

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Blossom

Blossom

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Well Don Q beat Black Swan PDD on this occasion. Both dancers were brilliant but Mayara was just gorgeous and has just the right temperament for Kitri. Would love to see her dance the full production at ROH (with Cesar Corrales).

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FionaM

FionaM

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I have rewatched some sections and have renewed admiration for Victor Caixeta .. in Don Q he did an amazing job on holding the 2 vertical leg split lifts.   And his own solos  were beautifully executed.   

 

in addition to the charming and super connection he had with Olga Smirnova in the Nutcracker.  

Edited by FionaE
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