Jan McNulty Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 The National Ballet of Canada Romeo and Juliet UK PREMIERE Wednesday 17 - Sunday 21 April Tickets: £12 - £45 Ticket Office: 0844 412 4300 or www.sadlerswells.com “Classically based with a refreshing energy and a witty, unexpected slant” The Times Canada’s premier dance company The National Ballet of Canada makes its first London appearance in 26 years presenting the European premiere of its new production of Romeo and Juliet, which was created in 2011 to mark the company’s 60th anniversary. Choreographed by former Bolshoi Ballet director and current Artist in Residence at American Ballet Theatre Alexei Ratmanskyand set to Sergei Prokofiev’s famous score inspired by Shakespeare’s timeless love story, the production features Renaissance-inspired sets and costumes by Tony Award-winning designer Richard Hudson and lighting design by Jennifer Tipton. Ratmansky is one of today’s most in-demand choreographers, celebrated for his inventive and complex choreography and his distinguished contribution to the classical ballet repertoire. The National Ballet of Canada ranks among the world’s top ballet companies. Under the artistic direction of Karen Kain the company, which boasts 71 dancers as well as its own orchestra, has developed a unique repertoire which it has toured to stages all over theworld. “Romeo and Juliet, which was created specifically for the company, is the ideal work to showcase The National Ballet of Canada’s diversity and its talented dancers to an audience who hasn’t seen the company perform in almost three decades,” says Kain. Long recognized as one of the most gifted classical dancers of her era, noted for her compelling characterizations and versatility as aperformer, Artistic Director Karen Kain is one of Canada’s most celebrated and committed advocates for the arts. Kain, who has received many Canadian and international awards throughout her career, testifying to her accomplishments both as an artist and achampion for the arts, retired from dancing following a farewell tour in 1997 and took up the position of Artist-in-Residence with The National Ballet of Canada, a role that was later expanded to that of ArtisticAssociate. In 2004, she restaged Rudolf Nureyev’s landmark version of The Sleeping Beauty for the company and the following year was named Artistic Director. During her time with the company as Artistic Director Kain has overseen the staging of over 70 works, including seven new productions. Under her direction, the National Ballet has worked with renowned dance makers including Christopher Wheeldon, Wayne McGregor, John Neumeier and Jorma Elo as well as home-grown talent such as James Kudelka and Crystal Pite. Kain is regarded as one of the most respected ballet directors in the world, which was highlighted in 2012 when Tamara Rojo shadowed Kain for three weeks in preparation for her recent appointment as the Artistic Director of the English National Ballet. Born in St. Petersburg, Alexei Ratmansky trained at the Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow with Pyotr Pestov and Anna Markeyeva. In his career as performer, Mr. Ratmansky held positions as principal dancer with the Ukrainian National Ballet, Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet. As a choreographer, he has created ballets for the Dutch National Ballet, Kirov Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Royal Swedish Ballet, New York City Ballet, San FranciscoBallet, and the State Ballet of Georgia, under the artistic direction ofABT Principal Dancer Nina Ananiashvili - remove. His 1998 work, Dreams of Japan, choreographed for Ananiashvili, earned him the Theatre Union of Russia’s Golden Mask Award. Co-presenting sponsors: Thomson Reuters and RBC Wealth Management Official Airline: Air Canada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 I've only just realised that this overlaps very significantly with ENB at the Coliseum, and also some other commitments somewhere else, I think, ROH included Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toursenlair Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 I've only just realised that this overlaps very significantly with ENB at the Coliseum, and also some other commitments somewhere else, I think, ROH included yes that week is a perfect example of the ballet feast or famine phenomenon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 It's good for me and my friend! On a 2-night trip we are seeing NBoC on Thursday evening and Saturday matinee, ENB Friday matinee, RB Mayerling Friday evening and I (my friend is travelling from Yorkshire so it's not feasible) am stopping off in Milton Keynes on the way down for the matinee of NB's Great Gatsby! 4 companies in 3 days (sounds like a Cosmos coach trip to Europe!!). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 What a great ballet trip, Janet! And there's such variety in the ballets which you are seeing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 It's good for me and my friend! On a 2-night trip we are seeing NBoC on Thursday evening and Saturday matinee, ENB Friday matinee, RB Mayerling Friday evening and I (my friend is travelling from Yorkshire so it's not feasible) am stopping off in Milton Keynes on the way down for the matinee of NB's Great Gatsby! 4 companies in 3 days (sounds like a Cosmos coach trip to Europe!!). It's good for me and my friend! On a 2-night trip we are seeing NBoC on Thursday evening and Saturday matinee, ENB Friday matinee, RB Mayerling Friday evening and I (my friend is travelling from Yorkshire so it's not feasible) am stopping off in Milton Keynes on the way down for the matinee of NB's Great Gatsby! 4 companies in 3 days (sounds like a Cosmos coach trip to Europe!!). Oh well, that's good, then! I didn't realise there was a Friday matinee for ENB - could make life a lot easier. Like you, I'm doing the first night of Mayerling. Feast or famine, indeed. Well, okay, not "famine" - and apologies to those in low-ballet areas for using the term - but you know what I mean! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Sadler's Wells have emailed me and say that the running time is 2 hours 40 minutes, which I'd guess means that about 10 minutes has been shaved off the score. To those who know the production (Katherine, if available?), would you say this is about right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toursenlair Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Sadler's Wells have emailed me and say that the running time is 2 hours 40 minutes, which I'd guess means that about 10 minutes has been shaved off the score. To those who know the production (Katherine, if available?), would you say this is about right? 2 hours 40 minutes is right. I think perhaps they shaved the 10 minutes off the intermissions rather than the score! (our intermissions are shorter than yours typically are). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nottsballetlover Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Ballet feast for me too this weekend - RB Mayerling Friday for opening night, La Bayadere Sat matinee, NBC Romeo Sunday 4pm. So looking forward to it all. Caffeine at the ready! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted April 16, 2013 Author Share Posted April 16, 2013 Where are you in the auditorium on Friday evening NBL? My friend and I are on the front row of the stalls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nottsballetlover Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Ooh, lucky you Janet! I couldn't get front row and probably made a mistake going for second row (should have gone further back to get the raked seats). Hope nobody tall in front of me! I'm in B22 - feel free to come say hello as I'm on my own all this weekend - I have limited friends that share my ballet passion or are prepared to spend so much!!! Nicola Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 nottsballetlover, if you're stuck for something to do on Saturday evening you could pop along to the Coliseum to see ENB's Ecstasy and Death programme. You won't see Nicolas le Riche but you should see Ivan Putrov, Tamara and Vadim as well as some other great ENB dancers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nottsballetlover Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Thanks Aileen - sounds good but already over budget!! Actually I'm heading back home to Notts overnight Saturday then coming all the way back to London on Sunday - the National Ballet of Canada was a late addition to my itinerary as by the time I decided to go to Romeo and Juliet, it got past being able to book a decently priced hotel room for Saturday night. But as I said on the other NBoC thread, it's too good to miss Romeo and the first visit to London by NBoC for 26 years. As I mentioned on the other thread, I have a particular interest in seeing the Czech dancer Jiri Jelinek who will dance Tybalt that Sunday and as he's leaving NBoC that will probably be his farewell performance with the company. I lived in Prague in 2000/1 when he was a young emerging star with Czech National Ballet, which I was able to go to see at least twice a week (very cheap tickets in those days). He was such an exciting young dancer and they were doing such a varied rep at that time. And it's lovely to read interviews with him that he's gone on to have a very rewarding ballet career with Stuttgart and now National Ballet of Canada. So Sunday at Sadlers - so looking forward to it and so glad National Ballet of Canada are coming with what by all accounts are superb dancers. I'm very attached to MacMillan's R and J but perfectly open minded about seeing a different version. Nicola Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted April 16, 2013 Author Share Posted April 16, 2013 I'm in A27 so not too far away! Look forward to meeting you..... And anyone else who is at ROH on Friday evening. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nottsballetlover Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 (Thanks Janet - will say hello at ROH Friday!) Back to National Ballet of Canada's momentous visit to London this week - for those on Twitter, the NBoC Twitter feed is full of great photos of the dancers out and about in London/in rehearsal (sorry I'm not techno enough to post link to Twitter!). Seems they are as excited to be here as we are to see them! There are links to various newspaper articles on Twitter - the over riding feeling they as a a company seem to be expressing is 'let's not leave it another quarter century to return to London'. I second that. I for one would like to welcome them warmly to London. Nicola 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Yes, I've also enjoyed looking at their Twitter feed, and they seem to have brought some sun with them! I'm looking forward to seeing them tomorrow. Having seen MacMillan's R&J I'm intrigued to see Ratmansky's version. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toursenlair Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 (edited) I'm not sure if this is posted elsewhere, but there was a preview article in the Toronto Star talking about the costs of touring the company to London (plus nice pic of Guillaume and Heather): http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/stage/2013/04/16/national_ballet_of_canada_brings_romeo_and_juliet_to_london_england.html (suggests that warm welcomes are very nice and appreciated, but cold hard cash is required too!) Edited April 16, 2013 by toursenlair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nottsballetlover Posted April 16, 2013 Share Posted April 16, 2013 Katherine - thanks for link. Yes of course, it's a huge cost to bring the company over to London! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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