DON QUIXOTE - ROYAL BALLET AUTUMN 2023

[Sim]

As a standee of many years' standing (sorry!), I find that ushers vary wildly in how much they enforce the rules.  Some of them don't mind if you slip into an empty seat as the lights go down, especially if they know you are a regular.  Some of them pounce as soon as you move.  I went to the Untitled 2023 general rehearsal a few months ago.  I was in SCS, and there were loads of empty seats in front of us.  When I tried to sit in one, I was barred by the usher.  I couldn't believe how intractable she was, but hey ho.  I usually don't bother with slipping into seats now as the view standing is unencumbered by someone's head right in front of me, which often happens!

[Fonty]

13 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said:

 

It was a typo (as someone pointed out to me last night in the Linbury foyer) - it should have said "shows" (as @capybara rightly surmised).

 

Ah, that makes more sense!  Don't know why I didn't think of that in the first place.  

 

 

[Silke H]

28 minutes ago, Sim said:

As a standee of many years' standing (sorry!), I find that ushers vary wildly in how much they enforce the rules.  Some of them don't mind if you slip into an empty seat as the lights go down, especially if they know you are a regular.  Some of them pounce as soon as you move.  I went to the Untitled 2023 general rehearsal a few months ago.  I was in SCS, and there were loads of empty seats in front of us.  When I tried to sit in one, I was barred by the usher.  I couldn't believe how intractable she was, but hey ho.  I usually don't bother with slipping into seats now as the view standing is unencumbered by someone's head right in front of me, which often happens!

Hahaha, I remember him.  It was the clipboard usher who then didn't even recognise RB dancers as they moved about the house and was almost chasing them and alerting another usher about the dancers' "trespassing".  The alerted usher enlightened clipboard usher about the "trespassers".  😆

[Sim]

6 minutes ago, Silke H said:

Hahaha, I remember him.  It was the clipboard usher who then didn't even recognise RB dancers as they moved about the house and was almost chasing them and alerting another usher about the dancers' "trespassing".  The alerted usher enlightened clipboard usher about the "trespassers".  😆

Ah yes I remember that!!  😂

[San Perregrino]

As I understand it, in principle, if a seat has been returned for resale (as opposed to a credit note) it has to be kept empty throughout the performance. 
It has arisen that a seat returned for resale by someone no longer able to attend has been occupied by an ´opportunist’ and the seller informed afterwards by a friend who did attend that the seat was ‘resold’ as it had been occupied. The House then stood accused of reselling the seat but not passing the proceeds on to the original ticket holder.

 

Behaviour among SCS ticket holders is interesting. There are those patrons who book these places to stand in them (the majority) and there are a few who book them & who hover before a performance, unable to settle, with the intent to ‘slip into something more comfortable’. 

Edited October 25, 2023 by PeterS
Detail

[San Perregrino]

Isabella Gasparini has posted on IG that she will debut as Mercedes in Don Quixote. Fantastic “Break a leg” 

[Silke H]

3 minutes ago, PeterS said:

Isabella Gasparini has posted on IG that she will debut as Mercedes in Don Quixote. Fantastic “Break a leg” 

Her Espada being Benjamin Ella in the Hinkis, Acri cast on Saturday evening. Julia Roscoe as Queen of the dryads.  Lots of role debuts there

[alison]

Do we know who Gamache is?

[Ondine]

25 minutes ago, Silke H said:

Julia Roscoe as Queen of the dryads.

 

That's lovely news as she's still a First Artist though hopefully moving onwards and upwards!

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/royaloperahouse/videos/julia-roscoe-rehearses-giselle-the-royal-ballet/429981695139748/

 

 

https://www.roh.org.uk/people/julia-roscoe

Edited October 26, 2023 by Ondine

[Sim]

26 minutes ago, Silke H said:

Her Espada being Benjamin Ella in the Hinkis, Acri cast on Saturday evening. Julia Roscoe as Queen of the dryads.  Lots of role debuts there

How lovely.  Unfortunately I am not seeing this cast.  

[LinMM]

Well I can think of a certain person on this forum who will be very pleased about that!! (Replying to Ondines post about Julia Roscoe)

Edited October 26, 2023 by LinMM

[capybara]

27 minutes ago, Silke H said:

Her Espada being Benjamin Ella in the Hinkis, Acri cast on Saturday evening. Julia Roscoe as Queen of the dryads.  Lots of role debuts there

Which is why a return to announcing secondary roles as far in advance as possible would (surely) have helped to shift tickets - at least among those of us who have been following dancers’ careers for some time.

 

[alison]

A propos of that: interesting to note that most of the few dozen tickets still available for Saturday night have disappeared since I looked earlier this afternoon.  Could there be a link?

[Ondine]

Don Q, his😁 horsey.

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/100044228629543/videos/2041557762866633?__so__=permalink

 

[Dawnstar]

1 hour ago, capybara said:

Which is why a return to announcing secondary roles as far in advance as possible would (surely) have helped to shift tickets - at least among those of us who have been following dancers’ careers for some time.

 

Although I want to get Friday rush tickets for both Saturday performances tomorrow so I'm hoping it doesn't shift those tickets so quickly that I can't get any!

[Fonty]

18 hours ago, Ondine said:

 

That's lovely news as she's still a First Artist though hopefully moving onwards and upwards!

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/royaloperahouse/videos/julia-roscoe-rehearses-giselle-the-royal-ballet/429981695139748/

 

 

https://www.roh.org.uk/people/julia-roscoe

 

Has Julia Roscoe suffered a lot of injuries?  I remember seeing her as the little girl in La Sylphide in 2005, and thinking she was marvellous and one to watch.  Not seen much of her since.

[bangorballetboy]

3 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

Has Julia Roscoe suffered a lot of injuries?  I remember seeing her as the little girl in La Sylphide in 2005, and thinking she was marvellous and one to watch.  Not seen much of her since.

Sounds like a good excuse to share this picture from Roscoe’s excellent Lilac Fairy debut!

 

 

[LinMM]

I believe she did suffer a bit of a long injury very early on in her Company career ( She was also one of the ones whose name Id circled in an Upper school performance at RBS) But has been getting some significant roles now. 
It was a bit like Fumi …I’d just started really noticing her when she disappeared for ages due to injury…I  thought she had left the Company! 

[Ondine]

She (Julia) trained at The Royal Ballet School and in 2015 graduated into The Royal Ballet’s Aud Jebsen Young Dancers Programme, going on to join the Company as an Artist in 2016, promoted to First Artist, 2022. 

 

The pandemic slowed down everyone's progress of course, but Myrtha,  see my post above where Monica Mason was coaching, Lilac Fairy and now Queen of the Dryads, those are not insignificant classical roles, along with others, for someone still only in their mid twenties!

 

A 'British born and trained' RBS success story, for those who have been bewailing that we don't have many of those.

 

https://www.roh.org.uk/people/julia-roscoe

 

Gorgeous photo above, I think @RobR would agree! 😊

 

 

[capybara]

The beautiful Julia was in the same Aud Jebsen group as Leo Dixon and Lukas BB, both of who are in their second year as soloists. But, injury or not, progress up the ranks often seems slower for female dancers than for the men.

I have to wait until ‘her’ cast’s second performance to see how they all do. Really looking forward to it now…..

[RobR]

2 hours ago, Fonty said:

 

Has Julia Roscoe suffered a lot of injuries?  I remember seeing her as the little girl in La Sylphide in 2005, and thinking she was marvellous and one to watch.  Not seen much of her since.

Not a lot of injuries, but one big one - snapping her ACL in rehearsal in February 2020 and out for 18+ months after surgery and rehab. Her first major role on returning was Myrthe.

[RobR]

For those who remember La Sylphide 

 

[bangorballetboy]

24 minutes ago, RobR said:

Not a lot of injuries, but one big one - snapping her ACL in rehearsal in February 2020 and out for 18+ months after surgery and rehab. Her first major role on returning was Myrthe.

 

And here’s a picture from that evening (having now sorted out my brain fog around the difference between a Big Swan debut and a Myrthe one!)

 

 

[Sim]

Oh yes, I remember.  She was as lovely then as she is now.  I remember saying on this forum a few years ago that she stood out in the Corps because she always looks so naturally happy to be on that stage.  She also has a beautiful, long and lean line.  I very much liked her Lilac Fairy and loved her Myrthe.  Hardness with some memories of being a living, feeling girl coming to the fore in spite of herself.  Great stuff and I look forward to seeing more from her.  After such a long injury break and fighting so hard to come back, she is more than proving how dedicated she is to her art, and how darn good she is at it.  

[capybara]

17 minutes ago, RobR said:

Not a lot of injuries, but one big one - snapping her ACL in rehearsal in February 2020 and out for 18+ months after surgery and rehab. Her first major role on returning was Myrthe.

From an ACL injury to Myrthe is a HUGE step.

I was sitting in the Stalls Circle near the stage for that performance, right in her eyeline - she was terrifying.

[RobR]

Thanks Lee,

As you can imagine, I’ve got the odd photo …… 😉

3 minutes ago, bangorballetboy said:

Unfortunately my picture of Myrthe and her bouquet that evening is blurred but here’s another from the same evening.

 

 

 

 

[Rob S]

 

My pic of Julia as one of the two swans created a bit of an algorithm explosion on my Instagram profile last April, but I like this one too😊

 

Edited October 27, 2023 by Rob S

[Fonty]

Sorry, something doesn't make sense in that biography of Julia.  She must have been a pupil at White Lodge when she appeared in La Sylphide in 2005.  When she would have been about 10 years old if she was in the first year at WL.  So how come she joined the company in 2015, when she would have been about 20?  Did she go somewhere else first?  She must be about 28 now then?

[RobR]

3 minutes ago, Fonty said:

Sorry, something doesn't make sense in that biography of Julia.  She must have been a pupil at White Lodge when she appeared in La Sylphide in 2005.  When she would have been about 10 years old if she was in the first year at WL.  So how come she joined the company in 2015, when she would have been about 20?  Did she go somewhere else first?  She must be about 28 now then?

Quite right - almost. Julia hadn’t even started as a 9 year old JA when she was cast and was still 9 when she made her debut in October 2005. Johan Kobborg had seen her in The London Children’s Ballet’s ‘The Canterville Ghost’, and tracked her down 

Edited October 27, 2023 by RobR

[Tony Newcombe]

27 minutes ago, RobR said:

For those who remember La Sylphide 

 

Wonderful memory. Even back then there were quite a number of us who thought we might be seeing someone special. The last time the company danced La Bayedere she was in the pas de action alongside Claire, Fumi and Mayara and looked very much as if she belonged on stage with them

[Tony Newcombe]

5 minutes ago, Fonty said:

Sorry, something doesn't make sense in that biography of Julia.  She must have been a pupil at White Lodge when she appeared in La Sylphide in 2005.  When she would have been about 10 years old if she was in the first year at WL.  So how come she joined the company in 2015, when she would have been about 20?  Did she go somewhere else first?  She must be about 28 now then?

She was a junior associate when she first appeared in La Sylphide

[RobR]

2 minutes ago, Tony Newcombe said:

She was a junior associate when she first appeared in La Sylphide

She’d just started 

[Ondine]

Not only does Julia Roscoe dance Queen of the Dryads at the Royal Opera House Saturday evening (sigh) she gets to wear this simply beautiful tutu also. I'm hoping for closeup pics. (Yes I'm shallow but I love a nice costume!)