Royal Ballet Cinderella March/April 2023

[alison]

I was also going to say that I attended last night's performance partly in tribute to my own (non-fairy) godmother, who had passed away the day before at the grand old age of 102.  She played a major part in introducing me to ballet by taking me to performances at the Royal Festival Hall when I was young, so I have much to thank her for.

[Ondine]

"I'd been going to say some time ago that I was sure I remembered a Royal Ballet Insight/Study day where some dancer was being coached as Autumn and was told to bend, and bend some more, yet most of the Autumns seemed to have remained fairly upright, even if they were fast and spikey.  When I looked at the Cojocaru/Kobborg recording, I noticed that even Laura Morera remained relatively vertical in that role, so I thought I must have been imagining it.  Hinkis has been the only one I've seen who has really "bent"."

 

Yes it was Laura Morera coaching AmeliaTownsend in a RB Insight session.

 

This is a 'short' version, the full session is online too.

 

 

 

 

 

[alison]

No, I'm talking maybe a decade or two ago.

[Ondine]

Ah. Laura M was certainly telling Amelia T to bend in that recent Insight session too.

[Sim]

This just popped up as a 'memory' on my FB page.  13 years ago tonight, the lovely Miyako Yoshida bowed out with a glorious performance of Cinderella.  I will be thinking of that this evening as I watch Miss Osipova.  Not to compare, but just a happy memory.  Very nicely partnered by Steven McRae.

 

[emmarose]

I have a quick question.

 

For this production, who is rehearsing the corps?

 

I watched the cinema relay last Sunday and have been able to see some bits of it since and whilst I enjoyed it and it was all magical again, I'm sorry to say I found much of the corps work to be very sloppy (the stars in particular). It was notable when they were in any line formation they had trouble keeping that line straight, and arabesques in Act 2 were all at varying heights.

 

I still love the production and don't wish to be critical, but they looked quite messy.

[Guest oncnp]

15 minutes ago, emmarose said:

I have a quick question.

 

For this production, who is rehearsing the corps?

 

I watched the cinema relay last Sunday and have been able to see some bits of it since and whilst I enjoyed it and it was all magical again, I'm sorry to say I found much of the corps work to be very sloppy (the stars in particular). It was notable when they were in any line formation they had trouble keeping that line straight, and arabesques in Act 2 were all at varying heights.

 

I still love the production and don't wish to be critical, but they looked quite messy.

Senior Répétiteurs (formerly Ballet Mistress/Master) Samantha Raine and Gary Avis (also credited as one of the stagers) are responsible for the Corps I believe. Christopher Saunders is the Rehearsal Director.  

 

Guessing Wendy Ellis Somes was in there somewhere.

Edited April 24, 2023 by oncnp

[emmarose]

6 minutes ago, oncnp said:

Senior Répétiteurs (formerly Ballet Mistress/Master) Samantha Raine and Gary Avis (also credited as one of the stagers) are responsible for the Corps I believe. Christopher Saunders is the Rehearsal Director.  

 

Guessing Wendy Ellis Somes was in there somewhere.

 

So the usual ones who are responsible for them?

 

It's a strange one, I had read some reviews that had mentioned them once or twice in not hitting the right angle for Ashton, but watching it live I didn't notice it at all. But certain parts of it were very ragged. Just looked a little under rehearsed here and there.

[Guest oncnp]

5 minutes ago, emmarose said:

 

So the usual ones who are responsible for them?

 

It's a strange one, I had read some reviews that had mentioned them once or twice in not hitting the right angle for Ashton, but watching it live I didn't notice it at all. But certain parts of it were very ragged. Just looked a little under rehearsed here and there.

 

The cast sheet list is below (separate from the Principal coaching)

 

Senior Répétiteur     Samantha Raine

 

Répétiteurs

Deirdre Chapman, Helen Crawford, Sian Murphy and Samira Saidi

[art_enthusiast]

55 minutes ago, oncnp said:

Senior Répétiteurs (formerly Ballet Mistress/Master) Samantha Raine and Gary Avis (also credited as one of the stagers) are responsible for the Corps I believe. Christopher Saunders is the Rehearsal Director.  

 

Guessing Wendy Ellis Somes was in there somewhere.

 

Also Christopher Carr?

[Lizbie1]

3 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

 

Also Christopher Carr?

Not credited.

 

https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/40/cinderella-by-frederick-ashton/cast-list/51618

[emmarose]

27 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

Not credited.

 

https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/40/cinderella-by-frederick-ashton/cast-list/51618

 

I think that might be the missing ingredient. 

[Dawnstar]

14 hours ago, Ondine said:

Yes it was Laura Morera coaching AmeliaTownsend in a RB Insight session.

 

Has Townsend actually performed the role during the run? I definitely haven't seen her do it & haven't spotted her on any of the other cast sheets either (I usually have a look at the cast sheets for performances I'm not seeing out of sheer curiosity).

[Sim]

34 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Has Townsend actually performed the role during the run? I definitely haven't seen her do it & haven't spotted her on any of the other cast sheets either (I usually have a look at the cast sheets for performances I'm not seeing out of sheer curiosity).

Unfortunately not.  I think she was being coached as a 'reserve'.  More's the pity; she looked great in the Insight.  

[capybara]

Christopher Saunders doesn't seem to have been closely involved in the mounting of Cinderella.

 

It's interesting that people are saying they felt that the stars (lower case) were a touch ragged because, compared with - say - the snowflakes, I felt that the standard of the corps was high. However, the choreography for the stars was definitely better seen from the front than from an angle.

[emmarose]

10 minutes ago, Sim said:

Unfortunately not.  I think she was being coached as a 'reserve'.  More's the pity; she looked great in the Insight.  

 

I went to the insights and thought she looked fabulous in the role. It's a shame if she's not being given a chance, it fit her so well.

 

[EVWS]

17 minutes ago, capybara said:

Christopher Saunders doesn't seem to have been closely involved in the mounting of Cinderella.

 

I think he's been in the US working with ABT on Like Water for Chocolate which opened at a similar time to Cinderella 

[Ondine]

I thought Amelia Townsend was terrific also. Though no doubt Sir Fred would still be yelling BEND MORE at her!

 

As for the corps being a bit ragged, of course we know not what dramas were being enacted and how many subs were rounded up and bundled into tutus at the last moment as the show must go on and all that!  Unlike Beauty, Nutcracker, Swan Lake or Giselle, it was new to everyone and I suspect a few were trying hard to recall their own positioning let alone hiss instructions and counts to last minute twinklers.

[art_enthusiast]

I have to say I love the Stars. I also thought the arabesques of slightly varying heights was intentional, having never seen the ballet before until now.

[Fonty]

17 hours ago, alison said:

 

 

I'd been going to say some time ago that I was sure I remembered a Royal Ballet Insight/Study day where some dancer was being coached as Autumn and was told to bend, and bend some more, yet most of the Autumns seemed to have remained fairly upright, even if they were fast and spikey.  When I looked at the Cojocaru/Kobborg recording, I noticed that even Laura Morera remained relatively vertical in that role, so I thought I must have been imagining it.  Hinkis has been the only one I've seen who has really "bent".

 

 

 

I have just had a flashback to Antoinette Sibley coaching someone - Mara Galeazzi if my memory serves me correctly - and saying exactly the same thing.  "Bend, bend, BEND...."  I don't think it was any of the Cinderella roles, but it was definitely Ashton.  

[Josette]

I did not see Chris Saunders in Orange County where Like Water for Chocolate premiered a few weeks ago.  I did see Chris Wheeldon, Ed Watson, and composer Joby Talbot.  I also know from a dancer with the San Francisco Ballet that Wheeldon went up to San Francisco to take some rehearsals for his Cinderella   In March.  

[Guest oncnp]

3 minutes ago, Josette said:

I did not see Chris Saunders in Orange County where Like Water for Chocolate premiered a few weeks ago.  I did see Chris Wheeldon, Ed Watson, and composer Joby Talbot.  I also know from a dancer with the San Francisco Ballet that Wheeldon went up to San Francisco to take some rehearsals for his Cinderella   In March.  

He posted several IG from LA

[alison]

And there I was thinking Watson might have been in Paris working on The Dante Project.  Oh well, can't be everywhere at once, I suppose  

[Richard LH]

3 hours ago, capybara said:

It's interesting that people are saying they felt that the stars (lower case) were a touch ragged because, compared with - say - the snowflakes, I felt that the standard of the corps was high. However, the choreography for the stars was definitely better seen from the front than from an angle.

Yes I wonder if this is just a perception of raggedness, particularly seen from certain angles as you say,  rather than any  lack of coordination from the Corps - arising from  the nature of the choreography, which has them splitting the timing of their movements, reflecting the somewhat "on edge" dramatic sense of the music.

[emmarose]

2 hours ago, art_enthusiast said:

I have to say I love the Stars. I also thought the arabesques of slightly varying heights was intentional, having never seen the ballet before until now.

 

Not to my eye, they were not in any particular pattern, and the corresponding dancer on the other side didn't have a lower leg.

It was also in some of the lines, they just weren't particularly tight.

[Emeralds]

The Stars corps de ballet were dancing perfectly and neatly at the two shows I saw - 5th and 10th matinee (can’t comment on the shows I didn’t see).  But there is a lot of asymmetry in the choreography rather than everyone doing the same thing at the same time a la Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty Act 2 for example. I haven’t asked Ashton myself, but I assume it’s to evoke the twinkling nature of stars. It’s gorgeous, genius choreography (I can even see its influence on Eagling, Deane and Wheeldon’s choreography) but the new costumes don’t help, and the stage set in Act 2 gets in the way in some parts of the choreography too. One also gets a much, much nicer view of it from Balcony and Amphitheatre than from Orchestra Stalls and Stalls Circle. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by Emeralds

[Blossom]

Natalia Osipova is the most convincing Cinderella in having us believe her broom is a real partner… 

[Rob S]

1 hour ago, Blossom said:

Natalia Osipova is the most convincing Cinderella in having us believe her broom is a real partner… 

And seems dazzled by the spectacle in front of her at the end of her act 3 entrance.

 

Marco Masciari was every bit as good as I hoped he’d be.

 

These sisters seem to have added a few embellishments I’d not seen previously, Gary Avis does a second necklace twirl in act 1 and Luca Acri rolls along the floor after his trip of the bottom step in act 2

[capybara]

1 minute ago, Rob S said:

These sisters seem to have added a few embellishments I’d not seen previously, Gary Avis does a second necklace twirl in act 1 and Luca Acri rolls along the floor after his trip of the bottom step in act 2

 Ooooh noooooo 😨 !!! 

[emmarose]

37 minutes ago, Rob S said:

And seems dazzled by the spectacle in front of her at the end of her act 3 entrance.

 

Marco Masciari was every bit as good as I hoped he’d be.

 

These sisters seem to have added a few embellishments I’d not seen previously, Gary Avis does a second necklace twirl in act 1 and Luca Acri rolls along the floor after his trip of the bottom step in act 2

 

It's nice to see Marco being given a role like this. I can't wait to see his career progress.

Edited April 24, 2023 by emmarose

[emmarose]

2 hours ago, Emeralds said:

The Stars corps de ballet were dancing perfectly and neatly at the two shows I saw - 5th and 10th matinee (can’t comment on the shows I didn’t see).  But there is a lot of asymmetry in the choreography rather than everyone doing the same thing at the same time a la Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty Act 2 for example. I haven’t asked Ashton myself, but I assume it’s to evoke the twinkling nature of stars. It’s gorgeous, genius choreography (I can even see its influence on Eagling, Deane and Wheeldon’s choreography) but the new costumes don’t help, and the stage set in Act 2 gets in the way in some parts of the choreography too. One also gets a much, much nicer view of it from Balcony and Amphitheatre than from Orchestra Stalls and Stalls Circle. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I understand the asymmetry, the moments I noted were not part of that. 

I was there on the 5th and would agree they looked great, it was just on the cinema screening and seeing the same one again I noticed a few parts that could have been much tighter.

[Silke H]

7 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Has Townsend actually performed the role during the run? I definitely haven't seen her do it & haven't spotted her on any of the other cast sheets either (I usually have a look at the cast sheets for performances I'm not seeing out of sheer curiosity).

She told me she was only covering.  Shame she didn't get a chance (yet) as she looked great for being early on in the rehearsals. On the other hand, some ladies get to dance multiple season fairies...

[Ondine]

Such a pity. I thought she danced it splendidly, fast, furious yet controlled (as seen in the Insights clip I posted above).  It's fiendish, really. As you say, some get many 'goes' though I suppose they are more senior so...

 

It's only by actually doing it you learn and progress though?