FionaM Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 On 04/01/2024 at 10:58, Silke H said: I personally do not like any of the Ratmansky work (new or re-constructed) and would be as disappointed with his appointment as I am currently over McGregor. Agree. His reconstructions are tedious. There was a reason that ballet developed away from the originals. He also has a tendency to cram myriads of steps into the music. It’s not easy on the eye. (Rather similar to his habit of taking on myriads of commissions each year.) Anyway, it’s unlikely that he’d come to RB permanently as he’s had his eye on the NYCB choreographer position for some time, which he now has. The next Balanchine? Hmm. Having said that I am interested in his Tchaikovsky Overtures created for Munich (commissioned by Igor Zelensky) which is bring livestreamed tomorrow (Sunday). The dancers seem to have enjoyed being in it and it features the whole company. They have many good dancers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 There is a dearth of choreographers prepared to use the purely classical vocabulary. Ratmansky stays true to the faith. All views are subjective. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Essex Posted January 7 Share Posted January 7 On 04/01/2024 at 10:52, Sim said: I wish it were the Naghdi/Corrales cast.... That was the cast I saw at ROH with Megan Grace Hinkis as Gertrudis - what a night 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
art_enthusiast Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 On 02/01/2024 at 13:01, JNC said: Another “classical” like Giselle, Onegin or even La Fille (but less likely if we have Cinderella as two full length Ashtons…) I have to say, if we have to choose between Cinderella/Fille for Ashton I would choose Fille. Cinderella is a bit too fresh in my mind to want to see it again for Christmas 2024. Regarding the Alain issue, isn't he a sort of knockoff version of Gamache in Don Q (I haven't seen Fille in full so not sure). And they were fine with presenting him as a figure of fun. So it shouldn't be a huge blocker. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tango Dancer Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 36 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said: I have to say, if we have to choose between Cinderella/Fille for Ashton I would choose Fille. Cinderella is a bit too fresh in my mind to want to see it again for Christmas 2024. Regarding the Alain issue, isn't he a sort of knockoff version of Gamache in Don Q (I haven't seen Fille in full so not sure). And they were fine with presenting him as a figure of fun. So it shouldn't be a huge blocker. Definitely. I wasn't massively keen on Cinderella (I mean it was ok but the stepsisters were on way too much and the prince didn't get enough time dancing for my personal taste). If I had a choice I'd pick Fille every time because it has more of the individual dances I like, Colas gets a lot more to do and I also really want to see Benn Gartside do Widow Simone. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 58 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said: Regarding the Alain issue, isn't he a sort of knockoff version of Gamache in Don Q (I haven't seen Fille in full so not sure). And they were fine with presenting him as a figure of fun. So it shouldn't be a huge blocker. In my opinion absolutely not. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blossom Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 I am excited at the prospect of some lovely debuts for Fille. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
art_enthusiast Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 2 hours ago, Tango Dancer said: Definitely. I wasn't massively keen on Cinderella (I mean it was ok but the stepsisters were on way too much and the prince didn't get enough time dancing for my personal taste). I actually loved Cinderella - the whole score came at the top of my Spotify Wrapped for last year, incidentally! I just think it's a bit soon to be seeing it again. I wish they would bring back Coppelia/Les Patineurs for Christmas 2024. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 2 minutes ago, art_enthusiast said: I wish they would bring back Coppelia/Les Patineurs for Christmas 2024. I don't mind if it's at Christmas or not but I would definitely like to see the RB doing both again soon. Surely after all the work to revive Coppelia after the 14 year gap in performances it would make sense to have another run while the majority of the company who learned it are still there rather than having to teach it from scratch all over again. Having just watched episode 4 of The Magic Of Dance, my wish for ENB to do La Sylphide again has been increased. I've never seen the piece & it seems more likely that ENB might revive it than that the RB might. (The extract shown from Les Sylphides, on the other hand, I found much less interesting.) 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annamk Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 16 minutes ago, Dawnstar said: Having just watched episode 4 of The Magic Of Dance, my wish for ENB to do La Sylphide again has been increased. I've never seen the piece & it seems more likely that ENB might revive it than that the RB might. (The extract shown from Les Sylphides, on the other hand, I found much less interesting.) I absolutely LOVE La Sylphide and ENB have a great version. It was the first time I really sat up and noticed Aitor Arrieta. ENB could field some fabulous casts - just imagine Frola as James ! 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawnstar Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 5 minutes ago, annamk said: ENB could field some fabulous casts - just imagine Frola as James ! While watching James's solo I was doing exactly that! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 If we are fortunate to see ENB revive La Sylphide which production would they use? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmhopton Posted January 15 Author Share Posted January 15 1 hour ago, Jan McNulty said: If we are fortunate to see ENB revive La Sylphide which production would they use? I didn't realise ENB had more than one Sylphide in their rep. But I really enjoyed seeing one they did fairly recently in Manchester. I think they filmed that production and streamed it during lockdown. Hernandez was James. Re RB doing Sylphide. I loved their Kobborg production as it was based on the Danish production, including their wonderful sets and costumes. However, did I imagine it or did they sell those sets/costumes to Sarasota Ballet recently which seems to indicate the RB sadly won't be performing it soon and may have to aquire a new production. (Hint to Kevin: why not do this rather than commission another modern ballet). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 9 hours ago, jmhopton said: I didn't realise ENB had more than one Sylphide in their rep. But I really enjoyed seeing one they did fairly recently in Manchester. I think they filmed that production and streamed it during lockdown. Hernandez was James. The first Sylphide I saw (in 1985) was Peter Schaufuss production with Eva Evdokimova & Peter Schaufuss at RFH. The elderly gentleman sat next to my sister and I described Evdokimova as the greatest living Sylph and we were definitely in floods by the end! The more recent production was by Eva Klobborg and Frank Anderson of RDB. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 (edited) Evdokimova definitely had ephemeral qualities! She was dancing a lot at the time I was helping to dress the corps at LFB at the Coli so saw her with Nureyev a few times from the wings!! One of my favourite Giselles too largely for her second Act. She was always totally charming as a person. It’s a strange little ballet La Sylphide but I do like the choreography so like to see it every so often and wouldn’t mind ENB reviving this soon. I think the last time I saw it might have been the Queensland Ballet at the Coli so ages ago now and have no idea which version they use. However did a lovely little Summer workshop on La Sylphide in 2019 where we learned some of the corps sylph work, a rather lively village folk dance, and did some lovely mime work in pairs acting out James and the Witch which was really great fun. The teacher based it on the Royal Danish Ballet version so watched a few videos and that has to be the best I think. This was recently shown in the Magic of Dance in episode one or two. Edited January 16 by LinMM 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tattin Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 I am fascinated by all these comments about La Sylphide as I have just come back from Sevilla where I saw two performances, with completely different casts, down to the minor roles, of the ballet by the Compañía Nacional de Danza at the Teatro de la Maestranza!! It's a very good production, as I expected it would be, having been mounted by the Danish coach & stager Petrusjka Broholm. The sets were superb; the Italian dancer Giada Rossi (her last two years of training were at the RB School) was a lovely Sylph and the two casts of James & Gurn swept magnificently through all that wonderful Bournonville petit batterie. I very much regretted not staying for the third performance, with yet another completely different cast. I sadly never saw Evdokimova, though I read a lot about her. However the very best Sylph I have ever seen was Lorna Feijóo with Boston Ballet in Madrid some years ago. She was flirty, frail and completely ephemeral. Her performance is etched on my memory. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 3 hours ago, LinMM said: Evdokimova definitely had ephemeral qualities! She was dancing a lot at the time I was helping to dress the corps at LFB at the Coli so saw her with Nureyev a few times from the wings!! One of my favourite Giselles too largely for her second Act. She was always totally charming as a person. It’s a strange little ballet La Sylphide but I do like the choreography so like to see it every so often and wouldn’t mind ENB reviving this soon. I think the last time I saw it might have been the Queensland Ballet at the Coli so ages ago now and have no idea which version they use. However did a lovely little Summer workshop on La Sylphide in 2019 where we learned some of the corps sylph work, a rather lively village folk dance, and did some lovely mime work in pairs acting out James and the Witch which was really great fun. The teacher based it on the Royal Danish Ballet version so watched a few videos and that has to be the best I think. This was recently shown in the Magic of Dance in episode one or two. I believe it was a production by Peter Schaufuss and his son Luke was one of the James. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Yes remembering now definitely saw Schaufuss son as James …he was very good!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 19 hours ago, Jan McNulty said: If we are fortunate to see ENB revive La Sylphide which production would they use? I've seen both the Schaufuss and Kloborg/Andersen productions and would be happy with either one. It's a short ballet and I'd love to see them pair it with either the Flower Festival at Genzano or Grand Pas Classique pas de deux. Or Theme and Variations! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 6 hours ago, LinMM said: Evdokimova definitely had ephemeral qualities! She was dancing a lot at the time I was helping to dress the corps at LFB at the Coli so saw her with Nureyev a few times from the wings!! One of my favourite Giselles too largely for her second Act. She was always totally charming as a person. It’s a strange little ballet La Sylphide but I do like the choreography so like to see it every so often and wouldn’t mind ENB reviving this soon. I think the last time I saw it might have been the Queensland Ballet at the Coli so ages ago now and have no idea which version they use. However did a lovely little Summer workshop on La Sylphide in 2019 where we learned some of the corps sylph work, a rather lively village folk dance, and did some lovely mime work in pairs acting out James and the Witch which was really great fun. The teacher based it on the Royal Danish Ballet version so watched a few videos and that has to be the best I think. This was recently shown in the Magic of Dance in episode one or two. Jan is right-Queensland Ballet used the production by Peter Schaufuss. His daughter Tara and son Luke were both dancing in the performance I attended, although we had a different dancer- Qi Huan- as James. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blossom Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 On 15/01/2024 at 21:09, annamk said: I absolutely LOVE La Sylphide and ENB have a great version. Me too. However, whoever would stage this really needs to ensure the right training for the corps de ballet to deliver a uniform and accurate interpretation of the Romantic style. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Perregrino Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 1 hour ago, Blossom said: Me too. However, whoever would stage this really needs to ensure the right training for the corps de ballet to deliver a uniform and accurate interpretation of the Romantic style. They’ve been on top form this week in Giselle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blossom Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 7 hours ago, PeterS said: They’ve been on top form this week in Giselle Absolutely, was thinking of the last run of La Sylphide (which was a long time ago). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCL Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 7 hours ago, Blossom said: Absolutely, was thinking of the last run of La Sylphide (which was a long time ago). I think it was about eight years ago, maybe? IIRC it was post-Nutcracker and in a double bill with Le Jeune Homme et la Mort? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 38 minutes ago, CCL said: I think it was about eight years ago, maybe? IIRC it was post-Nutcracker and in a double bill with Le Jeune Homme et la Mort? Touring, also at the Coli in Jan. 2018 alongside Le Jeune Homme. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blossom Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 2 hours ago, CCL said: I think it was about eight years ago, maybe? IIRC it was post-Nutcracker and in a double bill with Le Jeune Homme et la Mort? I remember seeing it with Songs of the Earth - might have had them in rotation. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 If that was Le Jeune Homme et La Mort with Cesar Corrales and Jia Zhang ( what happened to her?) then I must have seen La Sylphide then as well so not so far back as Queensland Ballet!! I think I was so bowled over by Le Jeune Homme that I can’t remember who danced in La sylphide!!! It may have been Arrieta as James? Anyway I can picture the Queensland performance more but this could have been because this was the first time I’d seen it live. Talking of wish lists I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Roland Petit’s work. He featured in the recent Tv Magic of Dance so definitely fascinating in a nicely off centre sort of way! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabine0308 Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 (edited) I've seen Onegin twice in Berlin, where Tatjana and Onegin were danced by couples in real life: Iana Salenko/Marian Walter and Elisa Cabrera/Mikhail Kaniskin, and the latter couple broke my heart. So I'm looking forward to see Onegin in Munich, I would love to see Lauretta Summerscales as Tatjana and Shale Wagman as Lensky, but I'm not sure about a good Onegin in Munich. Aside from this, I'm excited for the upcoming Forsythe evening (Approximate Sonata 2016, One Flat Thing, reproduced and Blake Works 1) and the evening with "Angel's Atlas" and "Overture" by Marcos Moreau resp. Crystal Pite. On July 7, we will have a Birthday Gala for 20 years Staatsballett Berlin. Before and after the Gala, we will see Giselle and Messa da Requiem. A sad note: Giselle and Sleeping Beauty are the only classical ballets still danced here. I fear for the next season...🤔 Edited January 18 by Sabine0308 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 4 hours ago, CCL said: I think it was about eight years ago, maybe? IIRC it was post-Nutcracker and in a double bill with Le Jeune Homme et la Mort? It was January 2018 (because I remember a commitment it almost clashed with) at the Coliseum after Nutcracker. There were 2 double bills: either La Sylphide and MacMillan's Song of the Earth (which Rojo enjoyed dancing and wanted to continue doing so at ENB) or Le Jeune Homme et la Mort (which had already been in the repertoire for some time) plus La Sylphide. It was an interesting choice of ballets to pair up because the SOTE & LS double bill ended up being very long- good value for money but a late finish for those travelling far. I thought LJHELM + LS would finish more quickly as LJHELM is a actually a very short ballet but instead they gave us a very very long interval (longer than the ballet itself) of 45 minutes -must be the longest set change in history! Had to miss the ending of Takahashi's Sylphide with Cirio Tamayo in order to be able to catch my train- very sad about that as they were outstanding. I'll have to see Erina Takahashi again when it comes back- it had better come back! But not paired with LJHELM! Maybe Apollo or Spring and Fall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emeralds Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 (edited) 2 hours ago, LinMM said: If that was Le Jeune Homme et La Mort with Cesar Corrales and Jia Zhang ( what happened to her?) then I must have seen La Sylphide then as well so not so far back as Queensland Ballet!! I think I was so bowled over by Le Jeune Homme that I can’t remember who danced in La sylphide!!! It may have been Arrieta as James? Anyway I can picture the Queensland performance more but this could have been because this was the first time I’d seen it live. Talking of wish lists I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Roland Petit’s work. He featured in the recent Tv Magic of Dance so definitely fascinating in a nicely off centre sort of way! Jia Zhang left the company in late summer/early autumn 2020 along with Jurgita Dronina, Adela Ramirez, Barry Drummond, James Forbat, Daniel Kraus and several other dancers. It was during that period of Covid closures and I understand a lot of the dancers had used that time to consider future plans/moving on. Dronina returned to dance full time with National Ballet of Canada, Drummond changed his career to musical theatre (he came back to perform at the Coliseum in My Fair Lady!) Kraus became a choreologist (at RB!)....etc I heard that Jia returned to China to teach or dance as well as teach but I'm not 100% certain if I remembered this correctly so don't quote me. But I saw her LJHELM and she was incredible (with Cesar, and she'd previously partnered Ivan Vasiliev when he'd requested to dance Petit's work with ENB) and she was also an excellent lead Sylph. Isaac Hernandez and Cirio Tamayo (guest principal)were cast as James, I can't remember who the third James was, but you might be right in guessing Aitor since he was already a soloist then, LinMM. The performance I saw Jia & Cesar in was a weekday afternoon matinee with Takahashi and Tamayo in La Sylphide. If you were at an evening or weekend performance then you might have had a different cast for La Sylphide. Edited January 18 by Emeralds 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 (edited) I’ve got the Programme somewhere up in the loft!! I put them up there not long before the lockdown to clear some space in the “all purpose room” for more current programmes but of course everything has gone more digital since then so am not really printing off cast sheets etc like I intended too!! Now about that time I attended a masterclass rehearsal of Song of the Earth directed by Ed Watson which was terrific! They didn’t combine Le Jeune Homme with Song of the Earth did they? Just trying to justify having seemingly forgotten much about that La Sylphide 🙄 Edited January 18 by LinMM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 More comprehensive cast sheets - naming dancers in minor, but significant roles. For example in Manon right now: the beggar boys in act 1; the 5th uncredited courtesan, and the trousered girl (boy?) in act 2; the mysterious, guiding fairy in Nutcracker. The list is a long one! I shouldn't commit this wish to being written down though, as the powers that be would never grant one of mine! 🙂 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 Well was just looking something up and got directed to the Forum in December 2017 where there’s a section on Cesar leaving ENB and I’ve found my own comment long forgotten that I was going to see him on Jan 20th 2018 in Le Jeune Homme! So I guess the cast for La Sylphide will be for that day. ( it was never combined with Song of the Earth I found at least not in London. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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