RB Nutcracker Dec/Jan 23/24

[Sophoife]

Cinema relay made it to Hobart: so far no issues with either sound or picture (interval).

 

Sophie Allnatt and Leo Dixon are lovely and it's so nice to see a different interpretation of Drosselmeyer (much as I love Benn Gartside and Gary Avis). Ol' silver fox himself Christopher Saunders and Kristen McNally as a real parent couple, Christina Arestis as a glamorous dancing mistress...

 

Looking forward to act II!

 

PS Dame Darcey sparkling and seems to be coping with the cue cards better than usual.

[Sophoife]

Act II very good too. Marcelino Sambé and Anna Rose O'Sullivan absolutely beautiful, such a secure partnership (no wonder with their history). Rose Fairy Isabella Gasparini delightful.

 

As usual, a tear in the corner of my eye as Clara and Hans-Peter looked back at each other, and another one as Drosselmeyer clasped his nephew to his manly breast.

 

I'm going again tomorrow. Merry Christmas to all!

[MJW]

This afternoon’s cast sheet 

https://www.roh.org.uk/tickets-and-events/43/the-nutcracker-by-peter-wright/cast-list/54528

 

The House seems extra busy today!

[capybara]

Is this the first ‘public’ outing for the beautiful Julia Roscoe as The Rose Fairy? I know that she danced the role earlier in the run but IIRC her shows were to ‘closed’ audiences.

[Missfrankiecat]

Greatly enjoyed last night's Nutcracker, especially Viola Pantuso's spirited Clara and, as always, Gary Avis' majestically controlling Drosselmeyer (although the final scene in darkness was curious and, I assume, a mistake).  Yasmine Naghdi was a serene Sugar Plum Fairy, capably partnered by Matthew Ball - perhaps slightly underpowered in his solos, but very Princely.  We thought the corps was on fine form in the snowflake dance and it is always a pleasure to see the children of the RB school.  When Drosselmeyer conjures up his magic and the tree grows to the swelling music of the orchestra, Christmas really has arrived.  Have a great one everyone.

[JohnS]

Delighted to have stayed for the matinee and blown away by Fumi Kaneko and Will Bracewell - it’s so good to appreciate all the posts on earlier performances having had the thrill of seeing their live performance.

 

Sorry - posted prematurely as the train started. Good news that at least one train is running but terminating at Preston and the train is trying to accommodate 3 train loads. Anyhow I have a seat and expect to get home this evening.

Edited December 23, 2023 by JohnS
Posted too early

[JohnS]

19 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

I can imagine that perhaps friends or relatives of a specific dancer might prefer to have the flowers back so they can give them to their own dancer privately.

Many thanks @Dawnstar. I do appreciate that some people may prefer to do as you suggest. If a dancer has to withdraw at short notice, I don’t see any problem in asking for the flowers to go to the dancer originally intended. If it’s at the performance, front of house staff can pass messages on. I don’t get round to organising flowers until a day or two before the performance and I think there’ve only been a handful of occasions when intended recipients have had to cancel but as you say there have been a number of late Nutcracker changes.
Rather than having to deal with a late cancellation by contacting the stage door/front of house, I guess it’s quite reasonable for the sender to include a ‘flowers for named person only’ tag.

[DelphiumBlue]

On 22/12/2023 at 09:45, JohnS said:

The cast sheet hasn’t as yet been updated and bizarrely Clara’s partner was omitted - Liam Boswell in another stunning performance from someone who always makes the most of his role.

Thank you. I thought it was him. Quite pleasing to know that it is possible  to recognise  someone on stage  from halfway up the amphitheatre!
I  enjoyed Thursday evening’s performance immensely. Having seen the Nutcracker screening both this year and last , it was lovely to see it in real

life at the ROH and to be able to concentrate on different aspects of the ballet (such as  exactly what the White Lodge students dance/ act ) and all the little bits of action on the sidelines. And the general atmosphere and displays around the ROH too.

 

[DelphiumBlue]

10 hours ago, Sophoife said:.

 

As usual, a tear in the corner of my eye as Clara and Hans-Peter looked back at each other, and another one as Drosselmeyer clasped his nephew to his manly breast.

 

 

Yes!!!! Can identify with that so much . 

[Fonty]

Nobody has responded to my comment about the speed of the music for the act 2 pdd or the spf solo, so I assume it must be played at that speed at all performances.  I do know the music very well, though, and it definitely sounded a tad on the slow side to me.  

 

 

 

[Linnzi5]

22 minutes ago, Fonty said:

Nobody has responded to my comment about the speed of the music for the act 2 pdd or the spf solo, so I assume it must be played at that speed at all performances.  I do know the music very well, though, and it definitely sounded a tad on the slow side to me.  

 

 

 

I wasn't at that performance, but the live one I attended (opening night) I felt the tempi for the Grand PDD, variations and coda were brisker than usual.  

 

Edited December 23, 2023 by Linnzi5

[Linnzi5]

2 hours ago, JohnS said:

Delighted to have stayed for the matinee and blown away by Fumi Kaneko and Will Bracewell - it’s so good to appreciate all the posts on earlier performances having had the thrill of seeing their live performance.

 

Sorry - posted prematurely as the train started. Good news that at least one train is running but terminating at Preston and the train is trying to accommodate 3 train loads. Anyhow I have a seat and expect to get home this evening.

I envy you. I went to opening night and I absolutely loved it all - thought particularly Fumi and Will - they are my perfect SP couple (I do love others too though!). They were just lovely together, I thought. What a perfect start to Christmas. Glad your train has a seat for you! Safe journey  

[MJW]

This afternoon was my third and final Nutcracker of the current run (and third trip to London in five days). I've been very lucky to have seen three lovely Sugar Plum/Prince pairings (Hayward/Cambell. Naghdi/Ball and Kaneko/Bracewell) and some excellent Nutcrackers (Rovero, Ikarashi and Nakao)  and lovely Claras (Tsembenhoi, Pantuso and Allnatt).

 

Not to mention Gary Avis (twice) who is the perfect Drosselmeyer, and wonderful supporting dancers. Clearly there have been a considerable number of cast changes (not least James Hay) but hopefully they will all be back fighting fit for Manon in January (or later in the run).

 

 

[Missfrankiecat]

1 hour ago, Fonty said:

Nobody has responded to my comment about the speed of the music for the act 2 pdd or the spf solo, so I assume it must be played at that speed at all performances.  I do know the music very well, though, and it definitely sounded a tad on the slow side to me.  

 

 

 

I went on Friday night with a friend who is more musical than I.  She thought the tempo in the PDD was quite brisk but it definitely slowed for the SPF solo - we both commented.

[Clara_f]

17 hours ago, Missfrankiecat said:

I went on Friday night with a friend who is more musical than I.  She thought the tempo in the PDD was quite brisk but it definitely slowed for the SPF solo - we both commented.

 

There seemed to be some issues with the supported en dedans pirouettes during the first pas de deux, amongst other things. Noticed that the tempo slowed down during the latter part of the PDD and then definitely during the SPF solo. Wonder if the conductor was reacting to what he was seeing on stage? 

[Fonty]

7 hours ago, Clara_f said:

 

There seemed to be some issues with the supported en dedans pirouettes during the first pas de deux, amongst other things. Noticed that the tempo slowed down during the latter part of the PDD and then definitely during the SPF solo. Wonder if the conductor was reacting to what he was seeing on stage? 

 

I actually thought it was slow from the start.  You must be much more familiar with the pdd than I am.  I didn't notice any issues.  

[JohnS]

One of the joys of the last couple of days has been my good fortune in finding myself in conversation with Royal Ballet School mothers. On Friday evening (Naghdi/Ball) I was chatting to my neighbour in the theatre and she told me she was over from the US to see her daughter who was a Snow Flake and Angel. She’d joined the Royal Ballet School from the US as a 15 year old and would be graduating in the summer. Apparently the corps were split between Claras and her daughter was dancing whenever Viola Pantusu (that performance) and Sophie Allnatt were dancing which, with the cast changes, meant more performances for her daughter and of course the cinema relay. Her daughter moves on from Nutcracker to Manon, most probably part of the crowd and great experience to be on stage. Her mother was over for Christmas and able to see three shows and will be back for the School’s annual performance.

 

At the stage door the same night, I’d been seeing friends after the performance so wanted to check if dancers had already left. Yasmine Naghdi had been out early (I think so that younger audience members aren’t having to wait) and then gone back inside. I found I’d asked the mother of one of the party children: her daughter was the young girl who jumps on Grandfather in his wheelchair who was collecting autographs of the Viola cast. She’d also done the cinema relay as part of Sophie Allnatt’s cast. I said I was pretty sure Francesca Hayward had taken that part some 20 years ago - I think this was mentioned in a documentary, perhaps in Dancing the Nutcracker? 
 

A real pleasure to hear about the RBS dancers and then see them on stage the next day at the Saturday matinee. And very good to see Yasmine and Matt at the stage door after their fabulous performance.

[Dawnstar]

Apropos @JohnS's post, does anyone know approximately how many of the corps dancers for The Nutcracker are from the RBS? As far as I could tell most of the Angels seemed to be dancers I didn't recognise and there were definitely some Snowflakes but I couldn't work out how many. (Obviously I realise it varies somewhat between performances & depending on injuries/illnesses.)

[Emeralds]

On 20/12/2023 at 00:05, zxDaveM said:

 

My understanding of the gargouillade (which I realise is a bit scant) is a 'rond' motion of the right foot in a clockwise direction (2-3 circulations), then do a rond with the left in an anticlockwise direction (won't concern the arms for this discussion) in the same jump. In the SPF variation, repeat twice more, then change diagonal and do 3 more, change, do 3 more. Most seem to do the right foot, then just flick the left out at an angle. What Sarah did was two gargouillades, then step out of the diagonal with a little bit of a hop (I think), then crossed the front shin with the one that had been behind. I thought it looked much prettier than the unnecessarily tricky and ugly gargouillade step, in this dance watchers personal opinion (and of course I know I'm wrong, cos 'that's not the choreography'...)

Of course, it might all have been an unintentional wobbly on the first instance, which she covered by repeating it on all the others, and I'm embarassing her by being a numpty!

@zxDaveM, Sarah did the modification you described here on 22 Dec: 2 gargouillades and then hops into fourth position on pointe (one leg after the other) and she did the same combination again for the second set of gargouillades. This is different to what she did in 2021 and in the cinema relay which is on YouTube, where she did the standard 2 sets of three consecutive gargouillades and releve.

 

It is pretty and a nice variation on the original. Principals sometimes make modifications if they want to try something fresh to make a solo or pas de deux with well known conventional choreography more interesting or to accommodate an existing injury or other physical issue. I believe she's the only ballerina doing this modification at the moment (it's usually  mentioned to the choreographer or rights holder if that's the company practice). I have one more performance booked so I could see if another principal is doing the conventional 2 sets of three gargouillades or something different like Sarah's. 

[Rob S]

3 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

Apropos @JohnS's post, does anyone know approximately how many of the corps dancers for The Nutcracker are from the RBS? As far as I could tell most of the Angels seemed to be dancers I didn't recognise and there were definitely some Snowflakes but I couldn't work out how many. (Obviously I realise it varies somewhat between performances & depending on injuries/illnesses.)

I did see an Instagram photo showing six RBS Snowflakes...I don't know if it showed all of them or if they were all in the same show

[Sophoife]

3 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Principals sometimes make modifications if they want to try something fresh to make a solo or pas de deux with well known conventional choreography more interesting or to accommodate an existing injury or other physical issue.

 

Exactly. I bolded the bit most relevant to my butterfly brain btw.

 

Giselle, AusBallet, Adam Bull as Albrecht didn't even think about entrechats, he just said to Miss Gielgud (whose production it is and who was here coaching), "My knees won't do them, I've always wanted to be Baryshnikov, can I do the brisés volés instead?"

 

He did the brisés and it was so fun from the audience seeing a different take.

[maryrosesatonapin]

19 hours ago, Sophoife said:

 

Exactly. I bolded the bit most relevant to my butterfly brain btw.

 

Giselle, AusBallet, Adam Bull as Albrecht didn't even think about entrechats, he just said to Miss Gielgud (whose production it is and who was here coaching), "My knees won't do them, I've always wanted to be Baryshnikov, can I do the brisés volés instead?"

 

He did the brisés and it was so fun from the audience seeing a different take.

I would find this very disappointing.  Was there no other dancer who could fulfil the role correctly?

[Sophoife]

3 hours ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

I would find this very disappointing.  Was there no other dancer who could fulfil the role correctly?

 

I find your comment disappointing.

 

The dancer concerned, a principal artist of ten years' standing, asked the person in whose production he was dancing if he could make a change to accommodate his physical abilities at the time, asked it with humour ("always wanted to be Baryshnikov"), and was granted permission.

 

For Baryshnikov context, he is 5'6". Adam Bull is 6'4" with curly blond hair. 

[taxi4ballet]

4 hours ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

I would find this very disappointing.  Was there no other dancer who could fulfil the role correctly?

Dancers are not machines, they are people.

 

And if someone is at a stage in their career when one particular step is problematic due to minor physical limitations, but which can be replaced with another step (with official agreement), why not?

Edited December 26, 2023 by taxi4ballet
Edited for typo

[bangorballetboy]

6 hours ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

I would find this very disappointing.  Was there no other dancer who could fulfil the role correctly?

Thank goodness you don’t have any artistic role in any ballet company.

[Lizbie1]

11 hours ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

I would find this very disappointing.  Was there no other dancer who could fulfil the role correctly?

 

I would really like to see brisés instead for a change!

Edited December 26, 2023 by Lizbie1
Clarity

[Sophoife]

It was fun, @Lizbie1!

 

Afterwards I said, "ooh Adam nice change! Never seen the brisés live before!"

 

To which he replied "Old knees! I asked Maina if I could do the brisés instead as I've always wanted to be Baryshnikov!"

 

Cue laughter from all around given he's nearly a foot taller. He then said she'd been happy for him to do them and had slightly rearranged the corps of Wilis to give him enough room.

[LinMM]

Am really happy for dancers to change small parts of the choreography to emphasise their strengths …I think this often happens in certain solos in the big Ballets anyway. Towards the end of her career Fonteyn did fast pose turns instead of the fouettés in Swan Lake and it took nothing away from the overall  Performance. 
However I was thinking brise’s and brise’ vole’es fiendishly difficult to keep up must take a fair toll on the old knees too 😱though I suppose repeated entrechats from the spot could be worse 😬

I wonder which those dancing or ex dancing members of the Forum would choose 🤔

[Jan McNulty]

5 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

I would really like to see brisés instead for a change!

 

16 hours ago, maryrosesatonapin said:

I would find this very disappointing.  Was there no other dancer who could fulfil the role correctly?

 

 

I've done a quick google.  The solo for Albrecht only seem to be introduced in the 1930s - some dancers did entrechats and some did brisés.

 

I personally don't mind which the dancer chooses to do as long as they are done well...

[Pas de Quatre]

In the 19th century it was quite common for Principals to insert their favourite variation even if it was from an entirely different ballet. Both brisés and entrechats six are impressive and can convey the dancing to exhaustion narrative. The purpose of ballet is not to compare gymnastic tricks even though we can all be thrilled by virtuosity!

[Sim]

Just now, taxi4ballet said:

Dancers are not machines, they are people.

 

And if someone is at a stage in their career when one particular step is problematic due to minor physical limitations, but which can be replaced with another step (with official agreement), why not?

Yes.  This reminds me of when Natalia Osipova had a knee injury during Swan Lake so, instead of the fouettes, she did maneges all around the diameter of the stage, at lightning speed.  It didn't disappoint me; it thrilled me, especially as I had never seen it done before in this ballet.  

[Amelia]

1 hour ago, Sim said:

Yes.  This reminds me of when Natalia Osipova had a knee injury during Swan Lake so, instead of the fouettes, she did maneges all around the diameter of the stage, at lightning speed.  It didn't disappoint me; it thrilled me, especially as I had never seen it done before in this ballet.  

 

Two great ballerinas, Natalia Dudinskaya in Kirov and Maya Plisetskaya in Bolshoi, used always to replace the fouette in the code of Act 3 “LO” with a series of piqué manege, sometimes turning into chaînés, and did it with stunning speed.

Dudinskaya was a technically unsurpassed ballerina of her time but the individual structure of her legs (X-shaped) made fouetté difficult to perform.

          Dudinskaya, filmed when she was 42, at 2 min. 33 sec.: 

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=292991845133826

          Plisetskaya at 9 min.:  https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=%D0%BF%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%B5%D1%86%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F+%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%8F%D0%BB%D0%B0+%D1%84%D1%83%D1%8D%D1%82%D0%B5+%D0%B2+%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%BC.+%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:7dd8fb00,vid:_iQpvZv10q0,st:0

Edited December 26, 2023 by Amelia
layout

[Sophoife]

Lisa Bolte, former principal at AusBallet, did the piqué manège regularly after un-retiring because something something something so she couldn't do the fouettés. I've seen her do it in both Swan Lake and Don Quixote full length, and in the Corsaire pdd in a gala. And nobody watching had a problem with it because she did it well.