alison Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Starting a different thread for this one, as I'm hoping for a more international overview. When looking back at my cast sheets for Onegin at the Royal Ballet at the weekend, I was surprised to note just how many recent Tatianas started off as Olgas and then have "graduated" to Tatiana (apart from Cojocaru, who actually danced both in the same run, which turned out to be rather unfortunate and hasn't been repeated since). It's happened too, to a slight extent, with the RB's Onegins: Bonelli started off as Lensky, and now Hristov is to make his debut as Onegin after several seasons as Lensky. I don't remember the same thing happening with London Festival Ballet's admittedly rather more restricted runs, so I'm wondering, is this actually common too with the other companies which perform Onegin, or is it more Royal Ballet-specific? I suppose it must help what you might call "remote casting" if you're already familiar with the dancers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toursenlair Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 This happens a fair bit in Stuttgart. Off the top of my head I can name Robert Tewsley, Friedemann Vogel, Evan McKie, Filip Barankiewicz (I think, Angela will be able to correct me and add many more, no doubt) who have danced both Lensky and Onegin. When they were on tour in Costa Mesa California I saw Robert Tewsley dance Lensky on the Friday night and Onegin on the Saturday night . In Toronto, Guillaume Cote has danced both roles, and so has Aleksandar Antonijevic. Sonia Rodriguez has been both Olga and Tatiana. Those are just off the top of my head, as I said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Richard Cragun apparently did both roles, but I only remember him as Onegin (still my hero). Egon Madsen, the first Lensky, has danced Onegin only once, for his farewell performance at Stuttgart. Paul Chalmer, Wolfgang Stollwitzer, Ivan Cavallari, Tamas Detrich, Roland Vogel and Douglas Lee did both roles, but most of them quit dancing Lensky when they started dancing Onegin, if I remember right. Alas, Friedemann Vogel has not danced Onegin yet, just the mirror pdd for a gala in New York, but he is the most wonderful Lensky. Some Lenskys never get promoted, like Vladimir Malakhov. Alexander Jones on the other hand skipped the poet and started with Onegin. For the Tatyanas, I have to check... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naomi M Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 (edited) Friedemann Vogel has also danced the mirror pas de deux as Onegin at World Ballet Festival in Tokyo last summer. (I saw it but I won't comment on that) but as Angela said he has not danced the full performance yet. For ladies at Stuttgart, a recent example is Hyo-Jung Kang who debuted as Tatiana last October (she was Olga in July), following a guest appearance as Tatiana in Universal Ballet of Korea in 2011 November. Edited January 21, 2013 by Naomi M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 That's very interesting, thank you everyone. Obviously it's more common than I thought, then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Here's another query. When I first started watching ballet and ENB (LFB) were doing Onegin, Onegin always seemed taller than his Lensky. When I saw Stuttgart in Glasgow in around 1989 or 1990 I can remember being very surprised that, on the first night, Lensky was taller than Onegin. (Not on the second evening when Wolfgang Stollwitzer was Onegin). Is there any form of casting protocol in terms of the relative height of the 2 roles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_New Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Good point - I've always thought it looks better if Onegin is taller, though I'm not sure why! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Stuttgart Ballet has only tall dancers nowadays, so I wouldn't know Yes, normally Onegin is cast with a tall dancer and strong partner, Lensky with a more lyrical dancer, maybe they come smaller? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Some more Tatyanas at Stuttgart who have danced both roles: Annie Mayet, Marion Jäger, Sabrina Lenzi, Elena Tenchikova, Julia Krämer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annamicro Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Just for the statistics, also Bolle danced Lensky and later Onegin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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