Ballet wish list 2024

[Silke H]

My big wish is for performances to start promptly and stick to the stated interval times.  All these delays in performance timings can significantly impact us public transport users.

[Emeralds]

5 hours ago, LinMM said:

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. 

Google says 20 Jan 2018 was a Saturday so we were at different shows-I don't know which Sylphide cast you will have had unfortunately.

 

La Sylphide was also combined with Song of the Earth at the Coliseum. (I know this because I was really tired that week and had to struggle not to fall asleep during such a long programme in a completely packed auditorium that night- Dronina & Hernandez in Sylphide, Rojo, Caley and Robison on SOTE. But I was actually most impressed with Senri Kou as the female soloist in what I call the "happy girl" role: the one where she gets tipped over in a somersault by her colleagues)

 

They didn't combine LJHELM with SOTE- maybe they thought that wouldn't be "famous" enough to sell. However, ENB did dance SOTE a few months earlier at ROH as part of their participation in MacMillan celebration with RB, BRB, NB & Scottish Ballet. 

[Ian Macmillan]

A difficult combination, to be sure - but a chap I once knew, Josh Mellet, managed it.  

[LinMM]

Most of the Reviews back then were for the performances of Vasiliev and Rojo and that cast for Jeune and Sylphide rather than for Cesars nights casting. 

[MAB]

9 hours ago, LinMM said:

Most of the Reviews back then were for the performances of Vasiliev and Rojo and that cast for Jeune and Sylphide rather than for Cesars nights casting. 

 

But his and a little earlier, Jonah Acosta's, remain the best performances in the Jeune Homme role I've ever seen.  Far outshining that particular guest.

[LinMM]

Yes Cesar confirmed for me in that particular performance that he was truly a dancer to be reckoned with!! 
I was so relieved when he joined the RB and didn’t go off abroad somewhere. 
I did really search for reviews of him and Zhang and couldn’t find any although one reviewer who had written up about Vasiliev and Rojo did say get tickets for the Corrales performance if you can too!! 

Such a shame Cesar has been so injury bound in following years. 

I still feel we also lost a wonderful dancer in letting Shale Wagman go too who is of course now doing so well in Munich

[Jane S]

13 hours ago, Ian Macmillan said:

A difficult combination, to be sure - but a chap I once knew, Josh Mellet, managed it.  

 

Neat!

 

[Emeralds]

On 18/01/2024 at 13:19, zxDaveM said:

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! 🙂

 

Our Guiding Fairy in Nutcracker (RB) on 22 Dec matinee this year was the serene Marianna Tsembenhoi. Unfortunately I can't credit all the ones at  performances I didn't attend! I agree she should be credited. Also the village boy dancing on the cart in Act 1 of the RB & BRB  Don Q, and all the street urchins/lads (whatever they are called).

 

They used to leave out the name of the gypsy boy in Act 2 of The Two Pigeons (Marcelino Sambe in the first show I saw) but I think they subsequently credited the role in the DVD. Yes, the young woman/actress in the boy's outfit and big straw hat in Act 2 of Manon has a lot of steps on her own and I agree should be credited too. I think Anna Rose O'Sullivan danced it one year. 

[art_enthusiast]

3 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Yes, the young woman/actress in the boy's outfit and big straw hat in Act 2 of Manon has a lot of steps on her own and I agree should be credited too. 

 

Yep, Sophie Allnatt was great in this role on Wednesday evening. She referred to the role in one of the Instagram hashtags as "boy w****" (not sure if this word should be censored or not). Is that who the character is? I've only seen Manon once before this week (Swedish ballet in September 2023) so I'm not sure about exactly who they are and why they're wearing trousers when the other women are not.

 

When does the Nutcracker guiding fairy turn up? I'm trying to think back to when I saw it a few weeks ago but not sure when they appear.

Edited January 19 by art_enthusiast

[Emeralds]

1 minute ago, art_enthusiast said:

 

Yep, Sophie Allnatt was great in this role on Wednesday evening. She referred to the role in one of the Instagram hashtags as "boy w****" (not sure if this word should be censored or not). Is that who the character is? I've only seen Manon once before this week (Swedish ballet in September 2023) so I'm not sure about exactly who they are and why they're wearing trousers when the other women are not.

 

When does the Nutcracker guiding fairy turn up? I'm trying to think back to when I saw it a few weeks ago but not sure when they appear.

I saw it written about somewhere that actually the character is supposed to be a child age actress (I'm guessing about 12-14?) - a young girl  who plays the role of  boys in plays. As the girl/young woman is not quite mature or tall enough to look womanly she can pass off as a boy on stage but clients would obviously know she was female. Her presence at the party as one of the (ahem) "products" for sale is obviously meant to show how immoral the whole place is because it's basically what we would call child sexual abuse today. (Am wondering if that is why the character isn't credited as maybe they weren't sure what she should be called). I would probably have just included her among the list of courtesans. 

 

The guiding fairy is the fairy that Clara spots at the beginning of the party when the rest of her family and guests "freeze" and she just sees the fairy (who looks like a life size version of the fairy for the tree that Drosselmeyer brought along). She also appears before the transformation scene. She just glides along and beckons to Clara but doesn't dance steps; it's mostly an acting part, but lovely and magical in Peter Wright's production. 

[Dawnstar]

20 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

I saw it written about somewhere that actually the character is supposed to be a child age actress (I'm guessing about 12-14?) - a young girl  who plays the role of  boys in plays. As the girl/young woman is not quite mature or tall enough to look womanly she can pass off as a boy on stage but clients would obviously know she was female. Her presence at the party as one of the (ahem) "products" for sale is obviously meant to show how immoral the whole place is because it's basically what we would call child sexual abuse today. (Am wondering if that is why the character isn't credited as maybe they weren't sure what she should be called). I would probably have just included her among the list of courtesans.

 

5 years after first seeing Manon I now discover that I've misunderstood the impart of that role. I thought that she was dressed as a boy to appeal to male patrons who had bisexual or gay leanings!

[jmhopton]

2 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

5 years after first seeing Manon I now discover that I've misunderstood the impart of that role. I thought that she was dressed as a boy to appeal to male patrons who had bisexual or gay leanings!

 

I thought that too, Dawnstar.

[Balletfanp]

I imagine there is an element of both aspects….

[Sim]

2 hours ago, jmhopton said:

 

I thought that too, Dawnstar.

So did I!  

[balletyas]

My wishes for the RB would be: 

 

Lower prices! 

 

More 7pm starts because getting home so late on winter nights is so wearing.,, 

 

Song of The Earth - I can imagine several great casts for this - the current crop of principals would eat this up….and I haven’t seen it since Ed Watson was the Messenger of Death which was quite some time ago… I wish they were doing this for the Macmillan Triple instead of Different Drummer…. 

 

Bayadere - the white act if nothing else… 

 

Chroma / still the best thing McGregor ever did for the company and not staged for a very long time… 
 

Job / had been scheduled but was cancelled during the pandemic. I’d just like to see it…  

 

 

[Dawnstar]

19 minutes ago, balletyas said:

My wishes for the RB would be: 

 

Lower prices! 

 

More 7pm starts because getting home so late on winter nights is so wearing.

 

I definitely agree with this. Since my train timetable changed last year the final fast train is now at 23.09 so if it's a 7.30pm start of a 3 hour work then I have to really leg it if anything runs late, or get a much slower train that doesn't get in until nearly 1am. It's also difficult to concentrate on a peformance if you're worrying about whether or not you'll make the train. I'd particularly like some 7pm weekday starts since it seems the occasional 7pms are only ever on Saturdays & so many Saturday performances I can't get to at the moment due to incessant engineering stopping the trains.

[balletyas]

3 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

I definitely agree with this. Since my train timetable changed last year the final fast train is now at 23.09 so if it's a 7.30pm start of a 3 hour work then I have to really leg it if anything runs late, or get a much slower train that doesn't get in until nearly 1am. It's also difficult to concentrate on a peformance if you're worrying about whether or not you'll make the train. I'd particularly like some 7pm weekday starts since it seems the occasional 7pms are only ever on Saturdays & so many Saturday performances I can't get to at the moment due to incessant engineering stopping the trains.

Cambridge line of course! 

[MAB]

I'd prefer shorter intervals to an earlier start, I'm on a branch line, nice late last train, but the trains are prone to cancellation.  We don't all have the luxury of a tube line.

[LinMM]

Yes another option. 
It’s only in very recent years I’ve been lucky enough not to have to try to get back to Brighton after performances otherwise given the way the trains have been in the last 5 years or so with so many later night cancellations 

….standing on a Victoria platform at 10.30 pm and seeing the train just cancelled in the middle of the winter is not for the 70 plus!!! …or worse being turfed off the train at East Croydon or Three Bridges ( where drivers change over) because there’s nobody to take the train further!! …..I’d rarely go to the ROH if couldn’t stay for free in London. 

Saturday matinees are often no good because of engineering works especially between October and April

Id really love a regular weekday matinee, a few more 7pm starts or shorter intervals …all three would be great. 
Though I do feel I’m probably showing my age here as when younger never even occurred to me to worry about end times though did live in London then. I retired in 2012 and think have slowly got more bothered by being out much after 11.30 whether in London or Brighton for whatever reason. 
 

Edited January 21 by LinMM

[balletyas]

Just now, LinMM said:

Yes another option. 
It’s only in very recent years I’ve been lucky enough not to have to try to get back to Brighton after performances otherwise given the way the trains have been in the last 5 years or so with so many later night cancellations 

….standing on a Victoria platform at 10.30 pm and seeing the train just cancelled in the middle of the winter is not for the 70 plus!!! …I’d rarely go to the ROH

Saturday matinees are often no good because of engineering works especially between October and April

Id really love a regular weekday matinee, a few more 7pm starts or shorter intervals …all three would be great. 
Though I do feel I’m probably showing my age here as when younger never even occurred to me to worry about end times though did live in London then. I retired in 2012 and think have slowly got more bothered by being out much after 11.30 whether in London or Brighton for whatever reason. 
 

I think it creeps up on one - up until 5 years ago I thought nothing of getting back to Cambridge station and trawling through a multi story bike park for my bike and then cycling home, humming the tunes from that night’s ballet - now I live in the country so it’s much harder to get home but I’m also that much older and definitely see it as more of an ordeal after a great performance. I do hope someone’s listening…. 

[LinMM]

Hee hee Balletyas substitute walking home in the summer by choice humming the tunes with a few odd ballet steps thrown in for cycling home!! Those were the carefree days! 

[zxDaveM]

I wish Yasmine and Will were doing at least a third Manon performance (as I'm missing their second)

[Blossom]

51 minutes ago, zxDaveM said:

I wish Yasmine and Will were doing at least a third Manon performance (as I'm missing their second)

Both dates werent an option for me and I am devastated. 

[balletyas]

Just now, Blossom said:

Both dates werent an option for me and I am devastated. 

I think they should have had 3… 

[OnePigeon]

Absolutely - all that hard work and training for two nights of performances.  It seems mad to me that there are so many principal couples who only dance the role a few times each.  Surely fewer casts and three or four performances each would make more sense, giving people more opportunities to catch the pairing they want to see and giving the dancers more time to really get into their roles.

[Dawnstar]

23 hours ago, balletyas said:

Cambridge line of course! 

Yep!

 

22 hours ago, MAB said:

I'd prefer shorter intervals to an earlier start, I'm on a branch line, nice late last train, but the trains are prone to cancellation.  We don't all have the luxury of a tube line.

 

I'd take shorter intervals as well. Although I will say that since joining the Ballet Forum intervals longer than the standard 20 minutes have become a lot more enjoyable than the used to be because I'm often able to find people to meet up & talk to. In over 15 years of ROH operagoing I never found myself repeatedly bumping into the same people & getting to recognise them but I have found that with ballet. I suppose it's because with opera the vast majority of fans will see only 1 performance per run whereas with all the different ballet casts far more people go to multiple performances in a run.

 

11 hours ago, LinMM said:

Id really love a regular weekday matinee, a few more 7pm starts or shorter intervals …all three would be great.

 

I'd definitely be on board with weekday matinees. I can't think offhand of the ROH ever having weekeday matinees except occasional Bank Holidays & Nutcrackers at Christmas, and since those are both times when the trains are even more likely than usual to be screwed up it's often not very helpful.

[alison]

22 hours ago, LinMM said:

….standing on a Victoria platform at 10.30 pm and seeing the train just cancelled in the middle of the winter is not for the 70 plus!!! …or worse being turfed off the train at East Croydon or Three Bridges ( where drivers change over) because there’s nobody to take the train further!! …..

 

Oh dear.  That's bringing back unpleasant memories of the time, quite a few years ago now, when I went to see ENB's Romeo & Juliet in Southampton, stayed until near the end and then found that the last fast train had been cancelled!  I ended up stuck at Clapham Junction after my last train home had gone, and struggled to find anyone to authorise a taxi for me

 

17 hours ago, OnePigeon said:

Absolutely - all that hard work and training for two nights of performances.  It seems mad to me that there are so many principal couples who only dance the role a few times each.  Surely fewer casts and three or four performances each would make more sense, giving people more opportunities to catch the pairing they want to see and giving the dancers more time to really get into their roles.

 

I'm coming to the conclusion, based on the fact that if casts get more scheduled performances it's almost invariably those featuring Osipova, Nunez and/or Muntagirov, that those decisions are made based on what it's thought the market will stand.

 

10 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

I'd definitely be on board with weekday matinees. I can't think offhand of the ROH ever having weekeday matinees except occasional Bank Holidays & Nutcrackers at Christmas, and since those are both times when the trains are even more likely than usual to be screwed up it's often not very helpful.

 

Oh, they do - although I suspect that they are often scheduled schools' performances or whatever for which no funding has been found - but they're very erratic.

[TSR101]

11 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

I'd take shorter intervals as well.

I think this would be quite unpopular with both the non-regular attendees who maybe go to one ballet as a night out a year and therefore want to have the break to drink champagne/eat a snack/chat etc, and with the ROH finance department! 

[capybara]

My wishes (which apply mainly to the RB) are:

- that (most casts) get three performances in a narrative or classical run in order to be able to develop their roles, reward their efforts and provide more flexibility for their audiences; (if an up-and-coming First Soloist has to wait a little longer for a debut, so be it);

- that the RB in particular demonstrates to the outside world (and I mean world) that it has BIG STARS whose artistry is at least on a level with international artists whom people seem to be more ready to laud; (this might mean diminishing the publicity currently afforded (eg) Nunez and Osipova but it’s high time that the reservoir of top talent the RB has in the 30 - 35 age range is celebrated and promoted)

- that ‘new agendas’ are not so dominant as to deprive future audiences of historic jewels or skew the overall shape of a season etc.; in this connection that ‘residencies’ (choreographers etc) are re-thought to open up creative opportunities

 

In setting down the above, I recognise the challenge each represents, but they must be met if the Company is to continue to thrive.

[balletyas]

25 minutes ago, capybara said:

My wishes (which apply mainly to the RB) are:

- that (most casts) get three performances in a narrative or classical run in order to be able to develop their roles, reward their efforts and provide more flexibility for their audiences; (if an up-and-coming First Soloist has to wait a little longer for a debut, so be it);

- that the RB in particular demonstrates to the outside world (and I mean world) that it has BIG STARS whose artistry is at least on a level with international artists whom people seem to be more ready to laud; (this might mean diminishing the publicity currently afforded (eg) Nunez and Osipova but it’s high time that the reservoir of top talent the RB has in the 30 - 35 age range is celebrated and promoted)

- that ‘new agendas’ are not so dominant as to deprive future audiences of historic jewels or skew the overall shape of a season etc.; in this connection that ‘residencies’ (choreographers etc) are re-thought to open up creative opportunities

 

In setting down the above, I recognise the challenge each represents, but they must be met if the Company is to continue to thrive.

I second all three!  

[Scheherezade]

33 minutes ago, capybara said:

My wishes (which apply mainly to the RB) are:

- that (most casts) get three performances in a narrative or classical run in order to be able to develop their roles, reward their efforts and provide more flexibility for their audiences; (if an up-and-coming First Soloist has to wait a little longer for a debut, so be it);

- that the RB in particular demonstrates to the outside world (and I mean world) that it has BIG STARS whose artistry is at least on a level with international artists whom people seem to be more ready to laud; (this might mean diminishing the publicity currently afforded (eg) Nunez and Osipova but it’s high time that the reservoir of top talent the RB has in the 30 - 35 age range is celebrated and promoted)

- that ‘new agendas’ are not so dominant as to deprive future audiences of historic jewels or skew the overall shape of a season etc.; in this connection that ‘residencies’ (choreographers etc) are re-thought to open up creative opportunities

 

In setting down the above, I recognise the challenge each represents, but they must be met if the Company is to continue to thrive.

 

7 minutes ago, balletyas said:

I second all three!  

Me too, Balletyas. I so agree with all your wishes, Capybara. 

[Dawnstar]

11 hours ago, capybara said:

My wishes (which apply mainly to the RB) are:

- that (most casts) get three performances in a narrative or classical run in order to be able to develop their roles, reward their efforts and provide more flexibility for their audiences; (if an up-and-coming First Soloist has to wait a little longer for a debut, so be it);

 

While I definitely agree that giving dancers more than two performances as standard per run would be a good idea, it does also feel at the moment like debuts are happening, or rather not happening, pretty late for some dancers in some roles even with the 2 performances model so if it was a 3 performances model then there would be even more of a backlog of dancers debuting roles. I'm not talking about up and coming First Soloists either but Principals. For instance neither Magri nor O'Sullivan are getting to do Manon this run, Kaneko is the only debut in the title role, so as they are both about to turn 30 they won't be debuting as Manon until they are about 33. Hirano will be debuting as Des Griuex at 40 next month! I don't know what the solution is for this though.

 

It's probably a good thing that I finished watching The Magic Of Dance tonight as with every episode my wish list is getting longer. After the final episode I now want the RB to do Marguerite & Armand again, though admittedly I have seen that live once when Cojocaru included it in her Sadler's Wells show in 2020 so I am a bit less desparate for it than for some of the pieces that I've never seen live.

[capybara]

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

Kaneko is the only debut in the title role........

 

And, of course Yasmine Naghdi 😊