Ballet Icons Gala - 19 February 2023

[San Perregrino]

I thought that was a truly splendid evening. Never a dull moment. A smorgasbord of delights, a treasure trove of sparkling performers and performances from both home and away. Congratulations to everyone involved on a memorable evening.

 

[Don Q Fan]

Thoroughly enjoyed the show. For me the stand out pieces were Khaniukhova and Arrieta in Liam Scarlett's Chopin Romance which just beautiful and Borealis danced by Laccara and Golding. Hayward and Bracewell were gorgeous in MSN Dream too...hopefully this might mean some Ashton in 23/24? 

My least favourite piece was Picone's Elevarsi followed by Carmen and Cinderella (am sure the POB dancers did that 1 or 2 shows ago) and Creature was spoiled for me by the music being far too loud (typical of Akram Khan note to self take earplugs). It was a joy to see Salenko again after a long gap and pleased to see she's still got it. The finale of Le Corsaire was lovely and I didn't realise at the time just how  young Fernandez and Cassalinho are!  All in all a great night out. 

[Scheherezade]

2 hours ago, Don Q Fan said:

Thoroughly enjoyed the show. For me the stand out pieces were Khaniukhova and Arrieta in Liam Scarlett's Chopin Romance which just beautiful and Borealis danced by Laccara and Golding. Hayward and Bracewell were gorgeous in MSN Dream too...hopefully this might mean some Ashton in 23/24? 

My least favourite piece was Picone's Elevarsi followed by Carmen and Cinderella (am sure the POB dancers did that 1 or 2 shows ago) and Creature was spoiled for me by the music being far too loud (typical of Akram Khan note to self take earplugs). It was a joy to see Salenko again after a long gap and pleased to see she's still got it. The finale of Le Corsaire was lovely and I didn't realise at the time just how  young Fernandez and Cassalinho are!  All in all a great night out. 

Don Q Fan, your reactions to last night were almost entirely mine - and my daughter’s. 
Hayward and Bracewell were truly gorgeous in The Dream; for me, their readings of narrative works have always perfectly complemented each other and that was particularly true of last night. Lovely performances too from the rest of the home team in the Manon (Naghdi and Clarke) and Coppelia (Bracewell again, this time with Nunez) pas de deux.

I loved Khananiukova and Arrieta in Scarlett’s Chopin Romance - such an exquisitely nuanced performance of a piece I haven’t seen before - and really liked Laccara and Golding in Borealis. Golding’s uber-unforced with-a-touch-of-testosterone delivery was perfect for this piece and how nice to hear the enthusiastic audience response after the sometimes lukewarm reactions to some of his performances during his time at the RB.

Creature is never going to be a favourite of mine but Cirio was, of course, riveting. And I totally agree about the ear-splitting music; way too loud!

I was also underwhelmed by the Picone piece notwithstanding a positive audience response and despite Maia Makhateli’s lovely performance in the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, which I love, the piece didn’t entirely resonate with me last night. Whether this was a lack of chemistry between Makhateli and Simkin or the speed at which the piece was played, I couldn’t say, and I still enjoyed the performance, just not as much as as some of the other pieces. 
I don’t dislike Petit per se but didn’t feel that the promise of Andrijashenko’s opening solo was fulfilled by the rest of the piece (added to which, my daughter and I had recently viewed the incomparable Baryshnikov with Zizi Jeanmaire in the same piece, which didn’t help by way of comparison).

Sergio Bernal is a known quantity but always enjoyable and tonight was no exception. I did enjoy Cinderella - it will be interesting to compare the new RB production, Flames of Paris ticked the ‘spectacle’ boxes and the standard gala fare of Don Q and Corsaire closed each part of the programme on a definite high. 
Glad to be there? Absolutely. 

Edited February 20, 2023 by Scheherezade

[Don Q Fan]

Oh yes Scheherezade totally agree with all you say!  Usually I find Makhateli and Simkin pretty sparkling but it lacked that sparkle last night and was rather underwhelming, it  definitely did not hit the note for me either.  

some photos from the curtain call:-

The full line up with apologies to Reece Clarke who is just out of shot on the far right hand side!

 

Sergio Bernal (in red) Lucia Lacarra and Matthew Golding

 

Katja Khaniukova and Aitor Arrieta

Nicoletta Manni and Timofej Andrijashenko

 

Francesca Hayward and Will Bracewell

 

The delightful youngsters Margarita Fernandes and Antonio Casalinho.

 

 

Iana Salenko and Dmitry Zagrebin danced Don Q PDD and were wonderful - so good to see Salenko. Also in sot is Calvin Royal III and his pianist.

L-R Simkin, Makhateli, Bernal, Golding, Lacarra, MacKay, Nuzez, Gudanova, Picone, Hayward, Bracewell, Casalinho, Fernandes, Cirio, Manni, Andrijashenko

L-R Bracewell, Casalinho, Fernandes, Cirio, Manni, Andrijashenko, pianist, Royal III, Salenko, Zagrebib, Gilbert, Bezard, Khaniukova, Arrieta, Naghdi and Clarke

[Scheherezade]

Lovely photos Don Q Fan.

[Pas de Quatre]

Does anyone know if there are plans to stream this or put it on Youtube?

[Emeralds]

15 hours ago, Don Q Fan said:

Oh yes Scheherezade totally agree with all you say!  Usually I find Makhateli and Simkin pretty sparkling but it lacked that sparkle last night and was rather underwhelming, it  definitely did not hit the note for me either.  

some photos from the curtain call:-

The full line up with apologies to Reece Clarke who is just out of shot on the far right hand side!

 

Sergio Bernal (in red) Lucia Lacarra and Matthew Golding

 

Katja Khaniukova and Aitor Arrieta

Nicoletta Manni and Timofej Andrijashenko

 

Francesca Hayward and Will Bracewell

 

The delightful youngsters Margarita Fernandes and Antonio Casalinho.

 

 

Iana Salenko and Dmitry Zagrebin danced Don Q PDD and were wonderful - so good to see Salenko. Also in sot is Calvin Royal III and his pianist.

L-R Simkin, Makhateli, Bernal, Golding, Lacarra, MacKay, Nuzez, Gudanova, Picone, Hayward, Bracewell, Casalinho, Fernandes, Cirio, Manni, Andrijashenko

L-R Bracewell, Casalinho, Fernandes, Cirio, Manni, Andrijashenko, pianist, Royal III, Salenko, Zagrebib, Gilbert, Bezard, Khaniukova, Arrieta, Naghdi and Clarke

 

21 hours ago, Scheherezade said:

Don Q Fan, your reactions to last night were almost entirely mine - and my daughter’s. 
Hayward and Bracewell were truly gorgeous in The Dream; for me, their readings of narrative works have always perfectly complemented each other and that was particularly true of last night. Lovely performances too from the rest of the home team in the Manon (Naghdi and Clarke) and Coppelia (Bracewell again, this time with Nunez) pas de deux.

I loved Khananiukova and Arrieta in Scarlett’s Chopin Romance - such an exquisitely nuanced performance of a piece I haven’t seen before - and really liked Laccara and Golding in Borealis. Golding’s uber-unforced with-a-touch-of-testosterone delivery was perfect for this piece and how nice to hear the enthusiastic audience response after the sometimes lukewarm reactions to some of his performances during his time at the RB.

Creature is never going to be a favourite of mine but Cirio was, of course, riveting. And I totally agree about the ear-splitting music; way too loud!

I was also underwhelmed by the Picone piece notwithstanding a positive audience response and despite Maia Makhateli’s lovely performance in the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, which I love, the piece didn’t entirely resonate with me last night. Whether this was a lack of chemistry between Makhateli and Simkin or the speed at which the piece was played, I couldn’t say, and I still enjoyed the performance, just not as much as as some of the other pieces. 
I don’t dislike Petit per se but didn’t feel that the promise of Andrijashenko’s opening solo was fulfilled by the rest of the piece (added to which, my daughter and I had recently viewed the incomparable Baryshnikov with Zizi Jeanmaire in the same piece, which didn’t help by way of comparison).

Sergio Bernal is a known quantity but always enjoyable and tonight was no exception. I did enjoy Cinderella - it will be interesting to compare the new RB production, Flames of Paris ticked the ‘spectacle’ boxes and the standard gala fare of Don Q and Corsaire closed each part of the programme on a definite high. 
Glad to be there? Absolutely. 

Thank you Don Q Fan and Scheherezade, for the great reviews and photos- they helped me feel like I was there (I couldn’t make it this weekend; pity it wasn’t the previous weekend).

 

This might be a tricky question but does anyone know which Corsaire variation Margarita Fernandes did at the end- was it the standard one with lots of pirouettes at the beginning and ending with pique turns around the stage at the end, or the one (actually Medora’s variation in the Jardin Anime scene) that begins with jumps and ends with a series of relevés -she goes up and down on one foot onto pointe without putting the other leg down? Or a different one altogether? Am only asking as I’ve seen her dance the latter in a (very well filmed) video at a festival in Sintra, and thought it looked

lovely to have a different variation but still one from Le Corsaire and one that is for Medora.

 

 

1 hour ago, Pas de Quatre said:

Does anyone know if there are plans to stream this or put it on Youtube?

Unfortunately, they’ve never streamed nor filmed the gala in full in all the years that this gala has been going, as far as I know, Pas de Quatre, and they have not announced anything about a recording.  They occasionally do a short video trailer of highlights filmed at the dress rehearsal lasting about a minute, but that’s it. They are doing a second one next month in Dubai (not sure if every dancer from last night will be reprising it in Dubai, although Salenko has said she will be dancing there) if anyone is very keen to see it again/see what they missed. 😊

[FionaM]

@Emeralds Margarita did the variation beginning with the diagonal pirouettes.  Steady and neat.  

[Candleque]

On 20/02/2023 at 06:18, Don Q Fan said:

The finale of Le Corsaire was lovely and I didn't realise at the time just how  young Fernandez and Cassalinho are

Sadly, I didn't get to see this Gala. Was surprised (and happy for them) that António Casalinho and Margarita Fernandes got to close the show. Would this be unusual for such young dancers? 

Don't know much about how Galas are organised tbh. Do dancers choose the piece they want to do? How much input in general would they get? 

[capybara]

I think that there is some discussion of the rep. although dancers often choose a piece which they are rehearsing for other purposes.

My guess would be that the organisers wanted the gala to end with a ‘pot boiler’  and the current hype surrounding Antonio and Margarita would have doubtless been a consideration as well.

[Emeralds]

Enjoyed reading David Mead’s informative review (see Dance Links for the link to click on) which also pretty much agrees with much of what our members have reported. Also a lovely shoutout for the late Hanae Mori’s gorgeous and dance-friendly costumes for Nureyev’s production of Cinderella set in 1920s Hollywood. Great to see that so many people enjoyed Edwaard Liang’s Borealis- SFB brought his work twice to Sadler’s Wells and I really enjoyed his ballets. I think this programme sounds like it would have been great if filmed for DVD. 

Edited February 23, 2023 by Emeralds