Royal Ballet promotions (and joiners and leavers) 2023!

[Dawnstar]

14 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Marco Masciari, as Capybara said, would be an encouraging example to other competition winners - he was picked by McGregor to create a role in Dante Project at the end of his Prix de Lausanne apprentice year and another in Untitled 2023, has had featured roles as the Jester in Cinderella, Solo Echo, Nutcracker (Clara's partner, Drosselmeyer's assistant and Russian dance), Manon (Beggar Chief), and he's one of the two partners in orange in Danses Concertantes (the ballet has only 5 males so the role does stand out). He's already been promoted to First Artist amid a group of outstanding corps de ballet dancers

 

Marco probably is a phenomenon and an exception- I reckon he'd have risen equally quickly in any company.

 

Is it that encouraging compared to Antonio Casalhino from the following year who's already a First Soloist in Munich & Darrion Sellman from 2 years later already dancing Siegfried? The only Siegfried debutant in the RB's current SL, Sissens, is in his eight year with the company so if Masciari were to make similar progress, & the RB continue to do SL every other year, then he just might get to do Siegfried in 2 or 3 revivals time! I don't know much about the Prix de Lausanne but I gather it's one of if not the most prestigious ballet competition so I'm guessing that those winning are hoping to become Principals or similar. Is being a bigger fish in a smaller ballet company better than being a small fish in the RB? I don't know, I'm just musing out loud.

[Roberta]

2 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

Prix de Lausanne but I gather it's one of if not the most prestigious ballet competition

 

it's a student competition though, prizes include further training / apprenticeships. Also, so young dancers can be seen. That's why the RBS doesn't enter students. It's not a professional dancer competition. 

 

Would you pay ROH prices to see the latest claimed wunderkind in their late teens with hardly any stage experience dance Siegfried?  Which female principal would be happy to partner / nursemaid? I'm not saying they won't give a credible performance or that there haven't been prodigies in the past with long careers, but it's a gamble. 

 

Too much too young isn't always the best way in the longer term.  I think Kevin O'Hare is carefully nurturing some he thinks have great potential. 

 

 

[art_enthusiast]

47 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

then he just might get to do Siegfried in 2 or 3 revivals time! 

 

I can see him as a very good Benno, I hope he gets an opportunity to do that when Swan Lake next comes round (or maybe he's even been cast now, won't get my hopes up though but I assume he's learning the role in case of injuries in June or something).

[art_enthusiast]

3 hours ago, Roberta said:

No I'm not confusing anything

 

In one of your previous comments you used the word spouse, which led me to think they are married or something. But that isn't true I believe, she's his dance partner only? 

[Emeralds]

Actually,  Deborah Bull, Darcey Bussell, Christopher Wheeldon. Tetsuya Kumakawa  and Viviana Durante- among others- all entered the Prix de Lausanne while  students of RBS. Maybe the trend now is for RBS to enter other competitions instead. I think with the right attitude, competitions are useful learning experiences and may even boost your career. You are basically casting yourself and you get a performing opportunity. Win win! 

 

Prix de Lausanne is the most prestigious student ballet competition in that it's open to students from all over the world (the Adeline Genee competition,  now called the Margot Fonteyn competition, is only restricted to RAD students who have passed the highest level so that immediately eliminates a lot of competition from excellent dancers who haven't paid to take the "correct" exams.)

 

YAGP is bigger and has cash as well as scholarship prizes, but is not so discerning about standards - one way to increase their revenue (by allowing anyone to pay to compete and just eliminaing them after the first round) and pot of prize money. The winners are of a high standard of course. William Bracewell and Melissa Hamilton did YAGP instead of Prix de Lausanne and won (Casalinho did both). 

 

Well, Munich/Bavarian State Ballet and Royal Swedish Ballet are both very different companies to Royal Ballet-as indeed Casalinho and Sellman are to Masciari. One is happy for the opportunities and successes that all 3 have had but I think it's futile to compare milestones and fret about which is better and who is missing out. There are many instances of dancers in the corps de ballet who danced Juliet....or Giselle....or Romeo one season (maybe one or two performances) but was still languishing as a first artist 10 years later.

 

Yasmine Naghdi might be one example of someone who got overlooked for early opportunities after the initial heady excitement of being given a job in the corps de ballet  by Monica Mason before her RBS training had even finished. But apart from Olga in Onegin she was passed over for many other big roles. She said her reaction was simply to tell herself to work harder so that she would be cast the next time. She was then given Juliet and she's now a Principal who has danced all the major classics, Balanchine, Robbins and McGregor as well and a popular guest artist- she got invited to dance as a guest with San Francisco Ballet before many of her peers did. I wouldn't worry about who is seemingly getting further ahead or doing it  faster.

Edited April 9 by Emeralds

[art_enthusiast]

39 minutes ago, Roberta said:

Would you pay ROH prices to see the latest claimed wunderkind in their late teens with hardly any stage experience dance Siegfried? 

 

Depends on the wunderkind. I probably would pay top price to see Marco in a principal role fairly soon, I think he's quite unique - maybe not as Siegfried but Romeo, that's more of a first principal role type of thing for very young dancers, or Colas/Franz from Coppelia.

 

Not sure if Viola Pantuso is another wunderkind or not - she most likely is close to being one - and she'll be dancing a principal role in The Winter's Tale soon. I booked because of her and Joseph Sissens being cast - with the extreme added bonus of Fumi and Vadim of course.

[Roberta]

Yes I think Viola is one who is being nurtured.  As indeed is Joe Sissens. 

Edited April 9 by Roberta

[Roberta]

9 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

Actually,  Deborah Bull, Darcey Bussell, Christopher Wheeldon. Tetsuya Kumakawa  and Viviana Durante- among others- all entered the Prix de Lausanne while  students of RBS.

 

It was a rather different competition then. It has changed over the years, focus has changed,  and the RBS doesn't enter students as it feels they are already at a top school. Not much point in giving out prizes for places at senior vocational schools if you're already at one. 

[Emeralds]

18 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said:

 

Depends on the wunderkind. I probably would pay top price to see Marco in a principal role fairly soon

I too would see Marco as Romeo, Franz or Colas (if the hints passed by KOH means Fille might return in 2025 or 2026), yes. Also, if Alice's Adventures in Wonderland return, as Jack. He'd also be a good Brother Clown in the upcoming Winter's Tale although admittedly the company is full of excellent potential Brother Clowns (Valentino Zucchetti, Luca Acri and Marcelino Sambe's old role) at the moment! 

[FionaM]

Another RB school graduate who is doing well elsewhere is Louis Scrivener.  Graduated in only 2020.  
 

He is already a soloist with Hungarian National Ballet where he has performed the leads role in Cranko’s Onegin, MacMillan’s Mayerling, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Nutcracker, Taming of the Shrew, and Spartacus.  
 

that’s hugely impressive.  On my list to see soon! 

https://www.opera.hu/en/tarsulati-tagok/adatlap/scrivener-louis/43946/

 

[Angela]

8 hours ago, Roberta said:

Not much point in giving out prizes for places at senior vocational schools if you're already at one. 

 

And then there are the top academies that think they can profit from having one PdL winner after the other, like the Académie Princesse Grace at Monte-Carlo. I think the schools directly attached to companies send their students rather rarely to Lausanne, as they want to keep them for the company when they are fine dancers. Instead of having lots of talent scouts running after them at Lausanne and luring them away. Students who already have contracts are not allowed to the competition. It's always the question: do you want to tout your academy by sending your best pupil from whom you know he will get a contract at home, or do you go to Lausanne as a academy director to pick up students who are already good to put them in your school for another year and then say: look, we made him. The PdL winners are not necessarily the best dancers of their generation.

[capybara]

9 hours ago, Roberta said:

 

Would you pay ROH prices to see the latest claimed wunderkind in their late teens with hardly any stage experience dance Siegfried? 

 

Well, many paid RAH prices for Vadim Muntagirov as Siegfried in ENB’s Swan Lake in the Round in 2010 when he was only just 20 and still not a full year out of ballet school.

 

I caught Sergei Polunin as Solor in La Bayadere, The Prince in The Nutcracker, and more when he was in his teens.

 

As to ‘value for money’ with the ROH prices as they are now ……there is usually added interest (for me) to be derived from experiencing new casts.

[Roberta]

So are we now into the catching 'em younger and younger for the major roles?

 

If so, what happens to all the more mature and experienced principals? There are only so many performances available. 

 

There are always prodigies, I wonder how many of the latest batch will end up burnt out by thirty! 

 

 

[capybara]

6 minutes ago, Roberta said:

So are we now into the catching 'em younger and younger for the major roles?

 

If so, what happens to all the more mature and experienced principals? There are only so many performances available. 

 

There are always prodigies, I wonder how many of the latest batch will end up burnt out by thirty! 

 

 

I have advocated earlier for Principals to have more performances. 

My most recent post was on a different issue .

 

 

Edited April 10 by capybara

[LinMM]

Wasn’t Beryl Grey dancing lead roles at 15? 

[Roberta]

1 minute ago, LinMM said:

Wasn’t Beryl Grey dancing lead roles at 15? 

 

She was. Markova joined Ballet Russes at 14. Fonteyn. Bussell was 19 when she was chosen for Prince of the Pagodas. 

 

On the other hand, some dancers take time to mature. 

[Roberta]

11 minutes ago, capybara said:

I have advocated earlier for Principals to have more performances

 

There are only so many performances available though, and a large number of principals. That's before first soloists have their chance. 

[Sadielou]

9 hours ago, Roberta said:

 

It was a rather different competition then. It has changed over the years, focus has changed,  and the RBS doesn't enter students as it feels they are already at a top school. Not much point in giving out prizes for places at senior vocational schools if you're already at one. 

I get that there is no point in sending younger students to PDL as they already at the school of their choice. However those of graduating age are missing out on the job front. Students attending PDL get a platform to meet and network with Directors before Company audition season, students that may not even get to audition through the usual channels due to being too tall / too small (several of the boys mentioned above would be too small for most EU companies) / those that are not EU / USA citizens extra. YAGP is also being used by Directors looking for dancers. I have noticed that BRB and ENB have been bypassing their feeder schools and recruiting dancers through these channels. Although I  dislike the competition culture it seems that it is now one of the only ways to bag a good job. RBS Graduating dancers that are not a shoo in to the RB company, should definitely be allowed the chance to network along with all the other talented students world wide looking for placements.

[Roberta]

1 minute ago, Sadielou said:

RBS Graduating dancers that are not a shoo in to the RB company, should definitely be allowed the chance to network along with all the other talented students world wide looking for placements.

 

Oh I do appreciate that there are advantages to be gained from performing in these big competitions for many, especially with online streaming.  I'm merely repeating what is currently the RBS stated policy. It may change with a new person in charge.

 

On the other hand, if students from the 'prestige' schools do compete and don't do well, possibly as they aren't hothoused for competitions like some are, it's going to be embarrassing for the school isn't it? The standout students who are already pencilled in as likely to be offered a place on say, the Aud Jebson scheme won't be the ones competing. 

 

In case this helps anyone's DC, there is the YAGP Jobs Fair https://yagp.org/yagp-2024-job-fair/

 

[FionaM]

1 hour ago, Roberta said:

 

There are only so many performances available though, and a large number of principals. That's before first soloists have their chance. 

From a director’s point of view a mix of principals and first soloists and other younger dancers is a good idea in casting lead roles. Younger dancers need exposure to full length roles to be able to build on that experience for future performances. 
 

The large number of available RB principals were all cast in Swan Lake, but now we have many sidelined due to injury or returning carefully from injury and maternity leave (McRae, Hirano, O’Sullivan, Cuthbertson) and others picking up multiple extra performances!  
 

The current casting of Swan Lake at ROH includes younger dancers of Joe Sissens (27?) first soloist, and Mariko Sasaki (29?) soloist, as well as first soloists over 30, Claire Calvert and Nicol Edmonds.

 

It’’s interesting to compare to ages of the Bolshoi’s recent casting for their new R&J, where there were 5 casts in the first block with one performance each (and no doubt some passed over principals and first soloists this time).  I assume there will be follow-on blocks announced shortly.  

 

Opening night: Kokoreva 23, Potaptsev 20

Obratsova 40, Ovcharenko 37

Sevenard 25, Rodkin 33

Zakharova 44 (soon 45), Belyakov 32

Krysanova 39, Lantratov 35

 

Interesting range of ages!  And Zakharova was one of the better Juliets from clips I saw.  Though they were all very good.  
 

All are principals except Potaptsev, who is only 18 months out of school.

 

Returning to RB I’d say that KoH doesn’t take risks early enough.  For instance it’s incomprehensible to me that William Bracewell (32) has not performed Albrecht yet.  A role perfectly suited to him IMO.  I’d choose him over many other principals for this.

Edited April 10 by FionaM
Typos

[Roberta]

11 hours ago, art_enthusiast said:

In one of your previous comments you used the word spouse, which led me to think they are married or something. But that isn't true I believe, she's his dance partner only? 

 

I think what I said was the general observation  "Bringing a partner  / spouse into the UK if you have a job in the UK nowadays is fraught with problems and becoming more difficult." 

 

It wasn't specific to to any  'partnership',  though I think many people are unaware of this, the minimum income requirements and how difficult to achieve.  

[Emeralds]

2 hours ago, LinMM said:

Wasn’t Beryl Grey dancing lead roles at 15? 

Odette-Odile, yes. But not other leads straightaway. In a TV interview she speaks of having difficulty (like many dancers today!) of persuading  Ninette de Valois to give her roles she was interested in afterwards- 

 

BG: "May I do Myrtha?"

NdV: "You can't have Myrtha. You're not mature enough" 

(Very soon afterwards...) 

NdV: "I think you would be suitable as Hamlet's mother".  

 

So much for being not mature enough....🙄 😂 

 

Edited April 10 by Emeralds

[Roberta]

2 minutes ago, FionaM said:

Younger dancers need exposure to full length roles to be able to build on that experience for future performances. 

 

And I seem to recall grumbling on this forum because Viola Pantuso is cast in Winter's Tale!

 

You can't please all of the people all of the time. Whatever happens will be the cause of grumbling by some. 

 

I'm sure Bracewell will be Albrecht in the next run of Giselle.  However, that could mean a current principal sidelined!  And further grumbling. 

 

Re Joe Sissens, I think he's been carefully selected for a variety of suitable roles,  he's clearly being prepared for principal, and his partnering skills made stronger before giving him the big ones.  We only see dancers on stage in the main. The Director sees far more than we do. 

 

 

[Roberta]

Beryl Grey was certainly a prodigy. Times were very different!  Dancers didn't require an all round education it seems. 

 

 Grey joined Sadler’s Wells Ballet (now The Royal Ballet) aged just 14 in 1941, performing the role of a Blue Skater in Frederick Ashton’s Les Patineurs. Grey became a Soloist in the Company the following year and marked her 15^th birthday by performing Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, at de Valois’ invitation. 

[capybara]

 

 

16 minutes ago, FionaM said:

Returning to RB I’d say that KoH doesn’t take risks early enough.  For instance it’s incomprehensible to me that William Bracewell (32) has not performed Albrecht yet.  A role perfectly suited to him IMO.  I’d choose him over many other principals for this.

Agree of course but, at the time of the last run of Giselle, I don’t think that William was a Principal and I have a feeling (IIRC) that he was nursing a back injury.

 

[Roberta]

12 minutes ago, capybara said:

at the time of the last run of Giselle, I don’t think that William was a Principal

 

"He joined The Royal Ballet as a Soloist in 2017 and was promoted to First Soloist in 2018, Principal, 2022"

 

With a pandemic in the mix of course. 

[Dawnstar]

14 hours ago, Roberta said:

it's a student competition though, prizes include further training / apprenticeships. Also, so young dancers can be seen. That's why the RBS doesn't enter students. It's not a professional dancer competition. 

 

Would you pay ROH prices to see the latest claimed wunderkind in their late teens with hardly any stage experience dance Siegfried?  Which female principal would be happy to partner / nursemaid? I'm not saying they won't give a credible performance or that there haven't been prodigies in the past with long careers, but it's a gamble. 

 

Too much too young isn't always the best way in the longer term.  I think Kevin O'Hare is carefully nurturing some he thinks have great potential.

 

Are there any high-level professional dancer competitions though? I'm not aware that there's a ballet equivalent of Cardiff Singer of the World for instance. Hence my saying I don't know of any more prestigious ballet competition than the Prix de Lausanne.

 

That would depend on the individual dancer. If it was someone who I'd seen in smaller roles and based on those I liked him and thought he was ready to dance leading roles then yes, I would. I can't give any RB examples because since I started following the company closely in 2018 there haven't been any dancers who have had metioric rises through the ranks to dance leading roles at a young age. However if I may give an example from another company then I was extremely impressed by Giorgi Potskishvili, graduated 2020, as Hilarion in Dutch National Ballet's recent Giselle cinecast and were the company to visit London, or were he to guest with the RB or ENB, then I would absolutely be booking to see him in any leading role he were to appear in.

[Roberta]

57 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

Are there any high-level professional dancer competitions though?

 

There used to be, Varna etc, though I have no interest in them I really don't know what is still going and what isn't! I do watch some of PdL and YAGP (student comps) but I'm not obsessive. I like watching class more than anything.  

 

A recent one I did watch online was the Erik Bruhn Prize as Viola Pantuso and Daichi Ikarashi were featured.  

 

https://www.facebook.com/royaloperahouse/videos/royal-ballet-artists-viola-pantuso-and-daichi-ikarashi-in-rehearsal-for-the-erik/202277519110431/?locale=en_GB

 

 

 

 

[Emeralds]

17 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

Are there any high-level professional dancer competitions though? I'm not aware that there's a ballet equivalent of Cardiff Singer of the World for instance. Hence my saying I don't know of any more prestigious ballet competition than the Prix de Lausanne.

Operalia has probably overtaken Cardiff SOTW in terms of influence as a competition in the last two decades. The equivalent of these two would be the International Ballet Competition which rotates around Varna (Bulgaria), Jackson (in Mississippi, USA), Helsinki, New York and Shanghai each year. Previously Tokyo and Moscow were part of the same group while Helsinki, New York and Paris were initially organised independently. Moscow now goes it alone (more so after February 2022). The Tokyo one has stopped although there are now competitions in Nagoya and neighbouring Seoul that replace it. Not quite sure if the Paris one has stopped as well.

 

There are actually more dancers who have taken part in them than people realise: Lauren Cuthbertson and Laurretta Summerscales each got noticed more and cast in lead roles then promoted, after returning with a medal from a competition; Shiori Kase, Jeffrey Cirio, Isaac Hernandez, Tamara Rojo, Carlos Acosta and Sarah Lamb, for example, have all won medals at one or more of these competitions. Not all winners go on to succeed in professional dance careers and you don't have to enter one to have a successful career, but it's often useful for getting a good first job or getting lead roles and promotion. 

 

[DVDfan]

I believe it is the case that, when Beryl Grey started dancing professionally during the war, 14 was a usual age to leave education and start work. I think she also said that she had been rather thrown on, and only in act 2 as that was what the company was performing at the time. Madam taught her the role in the afternoon and she performed it in the evening. 

 

It's clear if you also read the Doing Dance section of the forum that those dancers who do get a permanent contract with a classical company represent a very small and very fortunate sub-group of the population of highly talented, highly trained students out there. Not getting cast in named roles for a few years is nothing to complain about, not when you are building up your skills and stage craft, and especially not when there are so many who would give their eye teeth for the opportunity to be paid to dance at all.

[capybara]

On 10/04/2024 at 00:11, art_enthusiast said:

Not sure if Viola Pantuso is another wunderkind or not - she most likely is close to being one - and she'll be dancing a principal role in The Winter's Tale soon.

No doubt along with others, I first noticed Viola largely because, being small, she was often at the front in the corps from the moment she joined the RB.

 

I have obviously enjoyed watching her when she has danced a role, sometimes  well-matched against a shortish man. But  I don’t yet ‘get’ why she is coming to be regarded as ‘extra special’. Maybe BCF members could help me?

[LinMM]

I mentioned Beryl Grey DVDfan because there was a suggestion that it was a new ( current trend) for younger dancers to be offered main roles so soon after graduation but just pointing out this was more common in the past and am sure school leaving age played a part. 
When I started school in the 50’s  the leaving age was 14 but 16 by the time I eventually left( at 18) 
It’s now 18 officially I think. 

[LinMM]

I seem to remember I only took interest in Viola Pantuso when she was named as an Aud Jebsen student. 
I googled them all and thought she looked interesting. 
I also more easily noticed her than the others once she was in the corps because she was so small so easy to pick out in big corps numbers etc. 

Then she entered the competition with Daichi Ikarashi and looked very good in that and then I saw her as part of RB young generation festival and really liked her in that. 
I had this notion that Caspar Lench being that bit smaller might make the ideal pairing with her but this is just my wishful thinking!! 
I’d booked to see her Clara in Nutcracker last December which I missed because of broken arm so when I saw she had this part in Winters Tale I booked that probably to make up for not seeing her as Clara more than anything else!! 
I don’t know whether she’s a future star but she is a striking dancer so will see how it all pans out. 
I like Ella Newton Severgnini also joined as an Aud Jebsen who have been following as long as Caspar Lench both of whom  I saw at YBSS a few years back now but she doesn’t particularly stand out as yet but am sure she will eventually if doesn’t get injured!