Royal Ballet - Swan Lake 2024

[Tony Newcombe]

I’d like to add to the double double story. Brandon Lawrence did 3 of these in BRBs Swan Lake a couple of years ago. I was told by a very senior person in BRB that Carlos had suggested that he could should do them. 

[art_enthusiast]

4 minutes ago, Richard LH said:

That's potentially very good news, but "appears to be confirming" is a little vague...I wonder if you recall more details of his post @capybara, since this is no longer on his IG story feed? Many thanks...

 

I saw it - I think it was a quick snap of his performance dates with her, the 14th and 25th. So, it appears she is definitely down for those at this stage - I sincerely hope so anyway as I've booked to see them on the 14th.

[capybara]

14 minutes ago, Richard LH said:

That's potentially very good news, but "appears to be confirming" is a little vague...I wonder if you recall more details of his post @capybara, since this is no longer on his IG story feed? Many thanks...

Joe had simply screenshot the pages from the ROH websites where he and Akane are listed for Swan Lake, had juxtaposed them, and had drawn a red ring around their names.

[alison]

1 hour ago, Dawnstar said:

Oh dear, in the 2022 Swan Lake discussion thread I inadvertantly kicked off a prolonged discussion of the 32 fouettes & now it looks like I've done the same for double double tours!

 

Never mind, Dawnstar - at least they're on-topic

[DVDfan]

Hopefully not to derail the thread, but does anyone know if the solo danced by Siegfried between acts 1 and 2 (between the palace and the lakeside) is choreographed  by Ashton or by Scarlett?

[Linnzi5]

1 hour ago, DVDfan said:

Hopefully not to derail the thread, but does anyone know if the solo danced by Siegfried between acts 1 and 2 (between the palace and the lakeside) is choreographed  by Ashton or by Scarlett?

I thought it was Scarlett? But I could be entirely wrong! I absolutely love that bit and think it's so clever that the scenery changes at that point.

Edited April 2 by Linnzi5

[capybara]

1 hour ago, DVDfan said:

Hopefully not to derail the thread, but does anyone know if the solo danced by Siegfried between acts 1 and 2 (between the palace and the lakeside) is choreographed  by Ashton or by Scarlett?

 

Mainly Scarlett. It's beautiful.

[Emeralds]

1 hour ago, DVDfan said:

Hopefully not to derail the thread, but does anyone know if the solo danced by Siegfried between acts 1 and 2 (between the palace and the lakeside) is choreographed  by Ashton or by Scarlett?

If it's the solo in the scene where he is first confronted by Rothbart (in his Royal senior  employee guise), then he puts down the crossbow and begins his solo, that's Scarlett's choreography. Ashton did make a solo for Siegfried in Act 1 but to different music. 

Edited April 2 by Emeralds

[Sim]

23 hours ago, Sim said:

Well that’s good news at least!

I feel so bad for Anna-Rose.  

 

19 hours ago, art_enthusiast said:

I hope she’ll still do Rhapsody in June, I’m looking forward to seeing her in that. 

Anna-Rose has confirmed to me that she is definitely aiming to perform in Rhapsody, so fingers crossed.

[Linnzi5]

3 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

I would be equally annoyed by people behaving like that at the cinema.  And I think that everyone is fully aware of the correct behaviour in theatres and cinemas, no matter what their nationality happens to be.  Unless it is obviously one where audience participation is encouraged, such as pantomime.  

One would like to think people know how to behave, but so often these days (no matter if it's the ballet, theatre or indeed, cinema) they do not, unfortunately. 

 

Anyway, back to SL. I am sad to have read upthread that Anne Rose O'Sullivan is unable to perform in SL - I really hope her injury isn't too bad. Has Magri ever danced with Sambè before - not in SL, I don't think?

[capybara]

12 minutes ago, Linnzi5 said:

 Has Magri ever danced with Sambè before - not in SL, I don't think?

Weren’t Magri and Sambe cast together in 2020? They didn’t get on stage because of the pandemic but I recall Marci talking about that upcoming partnership implying a need to “up his game”.

[Dawnstar]

25 minutes ago, Fonty said:

Unless it is obviously one where audience participation is encouraged, such as pantomime.  

 

I think some of last night's audience may have mistakenly thought they were at a pantomime, given Avis got some pantomime boos at his solo curtain call.

 

19 minutes ago, Linnzi5 said:

Anyway, back to SL. I am sad to have read upthread that Anne Rose O'Sullivan is unable to perform in SL - I really hope her injury isn't too bad. Has Magri ever danced with Sambè before - not in SL, I don't think?

 

They were supposed to do SL together in 2020 but their performances were after the start of the first lockdown. They must have rehearsed it together though. At the start of this season they did Don Q together when Magri subbed for Osipova.

 

ETA: Sorry, just cross-posted with @capybara.

Edited April 2 by Dawnstar

[Linnzi5]

Just now, capybara said:

Weren’t Magri and Sambe cast together in 2020? They didn’t get on stage because of the pandemic but I recall Marci talking about that upcoming partnership implying a need to “up his game”.

Ah. They may have been. Have they been cast in anything else? I can't recall seeing them together. 

[Linnzi5]

2 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

I think some of last night's audience may have mistakenly thought they were at a pantomime, given Avis got some pantomime boos at his solo curtain call.

 

 

They were supposed to do SL together in 2020 but their performances were after the start of the first lockdown. They must have rehearsed it together though. At the start of this season they did Don Q together when Magri subbed for Osipova.

 

ETA: Sorry, just cross-posted with @capybara.

Thanks. I do vaguely remember something about Don Q. 

[Dawnstar]

8 minutes ago, Linnzi5 said:

Ah. They may have been. Have they been cast in anything else? I can't recall seeing them together. 

 

Digging through my memory & my curtain call photos, Symphony in C in June 2019, though I have a feeling that too may have been due to a cast change.

 

[San Perregrino]

4 hours ago, Fonty said:

  I appreciate the points you are making, but these were not children and would certainly not have required baby sitters.  One of them was a year away from being able to vote in UK elections.

Apologies crossed wires. I was referring to the child of 8-12 sitting in front of me. 

[DVDfan]

Wrt booing at curtain calls, I was under the impression that it was traditional in this country to boo a good performance of Carabosse and Von Rothbart, and that visiting Russian companies had to be warned about this. The booing indicates just how effective the dancer has been in creating the villainous character.

[Jan McNulty]

1 minute ago, DVDfan said:

Wrt booing at curtain calls, I was under the impression that it was traditional in this country to boo a good performance of Carabosse and Von Rothbart, and that visiting Russian companies had to be warned about this. The booing indicates just how effective the dancer has been in creating the villainous character.

 

Exactly!  Some people were booing Carabosse at the BRB curtain calls I saw recently.  The dancers playing the role looked chuffed.

[Mary]

That's interesting- I don't remember von Rothbart being booed until recent years - is it really long-standing, standard practice in this country (apart from pantomimes) ?

 

People were certainly booing Pinkerton in the curtain calls for Madam Butterfly which was new to me.

 

[Linnzi5]

47 minutes ago, DVDfan said:

Wrt booing at curtain calls, I was under the impression that it was traditional in this country to boo a good performance of Carabosse and Von Rothbart, and that visiting Russian companies had to be warned about this. The booing indicates just how effective the dancer has been in creating the villainous character.

Every performance I've ever been to of SL in recent years, has had VR receiving good-hearted boos. Same for Carabosse. I was under the impression the dancers quite like it. I don't remember it happening more than about 10 years ago though. So I do think it's reasonably new? 

[alison]

I suspect it probably is, too.  Is it linked to dancers taking curtain calls "in character"?  Anyway, as long as it's "good-hearted" I don't suppose it matters much - it's still a compliment.

[capybara]

I’m not sure about dancers taking curtain curtain calls in character; indeed, I find myself increasingly irritated by its vanity.

[alison]

I thought it had been encouraged?  Can't remember what I picked that up from, though.

[Suffolkgal]

Just a tiny and very personal observation on some of the comments on virtuoso moves - it’s not always what moves me or thrills me the most. I know that’s not what earlier posts were saying. 

[Linnzi5]

3 minutes ago, Suffolkgal said:

Just a tiny and very personal observation on some of the comments on virtuoso moves - it’s not always what moves me or thrills me the most. I know that’s not what earlier posts were saying. 

I feel the same way. The virtuosic moves can be thrilling but are short-lived for me. I can take or leave them and it’s more the emotional aspect of dancing and the connection between the dancers and the connection with me personally that leave a lasting impact on me. Virtuosic dancing is generally not what I look for in dancers. 

 

In SL, I love the fireworks in Act III - I absolutely was thrilled with what I saw in the two performances I have seen so far, yet I left both performances feeling moved by the Act II PDD, the beautiful corps (who were just so breathtaking, stunning and moving) and I loved the PDD between Odette and Siegfried in Act IV. 

[LinMM]

Amazing virtuoso feats are fun and great to see …as when dancers compete with each other in class etc….but don’t make a good dancer or performer of course.
In a performance it’s the overall quality of dance and being able to illuminate a character which are important. 
But occasionally at certain appropriate points it’s okay for dancers to do a bit of technical showing off! 

[Silke H]

Cast changes now officially announced by ROH

 

[Mary]

Virtuosic dancing in the service of the role, character and choreography ..that's what I like to see ! 

 

As in Muntagirov's Siegfried.

[annamk]

Late to post on the Kaneko/Bracewell Swan Lake on Easter Monday.

 

It's all been said really.

 

She is dazzling, ravishing even; he dances with a beautiful classical lyricism and radiates an unparalleled warmth and generosity of spirit. Somehow their exceptional individual qualities give rise to a unique, incomparable and extraordinary partnership. 

 

 

[alison]

1 hour ago, Linnzi5 said:

I feel the same way. The virtuosic moves can be thrilling but are short-lived for me.

 

I think the point of the original poster (capybara?) was that the double-doubles, while virtuosic, were used to express Siegfried's joy or whatever at having found the woman he loved, as he thought.

[Linnzi5]

35 minutes ago, alison said:

 

I think the point of the original poster (capybara?) was that the double-doubles, while virtuosic, were used to express Siegfried's joy or whatever at having found the woman he loved, as he thought.

I agree. In SL, I don't think the virtuoso moments in the dancing are without virtue - they make sense in the narrative. There are some other works where I feel it is just about the fireworks and those are not the ones I enjoy most - just personal taste, I think. 

 

Edit: What I mean is, I can see why the virtuosic choreography is warranted and makes sense, but it isn't vital for me if it's not there. I love the fouettés and have been spellbound by some of them, but if they go wrong or there's a slip, it's not the end of the world for me. If someone modified them, I wouldn't mind.

 

Edited April 3 by Linnzi5

[LinMM]

I was just thinking of ballets like Don Q or Le Corsaire for a bit of showing off not just for the sake of it in any ballet or whether it doesn’t serve the context which is  why I used the word ‘appropriate’ 

[emmarose]

On 07/03/2024 at 10:51, Missfrankiecat said:

 

I'm the same.  Fully intended to return tickets for 6.4 (booked because I was unsure I would be able to make last night's mid-week performance) but now thinking that if there is a chance of last night's magic being repeated, I don't want to miss it.  There are so many excellent dancers in the company atm, it seems, on one level, ridiculous to watch one pairing more than once but last night reminded how exceptional these two are.

 

Did you come to a decision? I think I'm leaning towards going at the minute.