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20 years ago…The Royal Ballet season 2004/5

The Sitter In
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The Sitter In

The Sitter In

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October - Requiem (MacMillan)/A Wedding Bouquet (Ashton)/Les Noces(Nijinska)

November - Sylvia (Ashton)

November - Scènes de ballet/Devil’s Holiday Variation and pas de deux/Beauty Awakening pas de deux/Thaïs pas de deux/Five Brahms Waltzes/Voices of Spring pas de deux/Daphnis and Chloë (Ashton)

December - Cinderella (Ashton)

December - Swan Lake (Petipa/Ivanov)

January - La Fille mal gardée (Ashton)

February - Manon (MacMillan)

March - Rhapsody (Ashton)/Pavane pour une infante défunte(Wheeldon)/Duo Concertant/Symphony in C (Balanchine)

March - Tombeaux(Bintley)/Enigma Variations(Ashton)/The Rite of Spring (MacMillan)

April - Ondine(Ashton)

May - The Dream (Ashton)/Three Songs - Two Voices(Bruce)/The Rite of Spring

June - Les Biches(Nijinska)/Symphonic Variations(Ashton)/A Month in the Country(Ashton)

 

2024/25 makes me weep…

 

 

 

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Bluebird

Bluebird

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Posted (edited)
13 minutes ago, The Sitter In said:

October - Requiem (MacMillan)/A Wedding Bouquet (Ashton)/Les Noces(Nijinska)

November - Sylvia (Ashton)

November - Scènes de ballet/Devil’s Holiday Variation and pas de deux/Beauty Awakening pas de deux/Thaïs pas de deux/Five Brahms Waltzes/Voices of Spring pas de deux/Daphnis and Chloë (Ashton)

December - Cinderella (Ashton)

December - Swan Lake (Petipa/Ivanov)

January - La Fille mal gardée (Ashton)

February - Manon (MacMillan)

March - Rhapsody (Ashton)/Pavane pour une infante défunte(Wheeldon)/Duo Concertant/Symphony in C (Balanchine)

March - Tombeaux(Bintley)/Enigma Variations(Ashton)/The Rite of Spring (MacMillan)

April - Ondine(Ashton)

May - The Dream (Ashton)/Three Songs - Two Voices(Bruce)/The Rite of Spring

June - Les Biches(Nijinska)/Symphonic Variations(Ashton)/A Month in the Country(Ashton)

 

2024/25 makes me weep…

 

 

 

 

Wasn't that the season when they celebrated the Ashton Centenary? That's why they programmed so many Ashton works.  in fact the Scènes de Ballet mixed bill was televised as 'Ashton 100: Fred's Steps'.  Happy days!

Edited by Bluebird
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Sim

Sim

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31 minutes ago, The Sitter In said:

October - Requiem (MacMillan)/A Wedding Bouquet (Ashton)/Les Noces(Nijinska)

November - Sylvia (Ashton)

November - Scènes de ballet/Devil’s Holiday Variation and pas de deux/Beauty Awakening pas de deux/Thaïs pas de deux/Five Brahms Waltzes/Voices of Spring pas de deux/Daphnis and Chloë (Ashton)

December - Cinderella (Ashton)

December - Swan Lake (Petipa/Ivanov)

January - La Fille mal gardée (Ashton)

February - Manon (MacMillan)

March - Rhapsody (Ashton)/Pavane pour une infante défunte(Wheeldon)/Duo Concertant/Symphony in C (Balanchine)

March - Tombeaux(Bintley)/Enigma Variations(Ashton)/The Rite of Spring (MacMillan)

April - Ondine(Ashton)

May - The Dream (Ashton)/Three Songs - Two Voices(Bruce)/The Rite of Spring

June - Les Biches(Nijinska)/Symphonic Variations(Ashton)/A Month in the Country(Ashton)

 

2024/25 makes me weep…

 

 

 

I remember this season.  What a difference 20 years makes. :(

  

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Dawnstar

Dawnstar

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, The Sitter In said:

November - Scènes de ballet/Devil’s Holiday Variation and pas de deux/Beauty Awakening pas de deux/Thaïs pas de deux/Five Brahms Waltzes/Voices of Spring pas de deux/Daphnis and Chloë (Ashton)

 

Given the lack of any full length 19th century ballets next season it's a pity there isn't an equivalent to this mixed bill but with all classics rather than all Ashton. There could be the Kingdom of the Shades scene, as that still seems to be considered acceptable even though the rest of Bayadere isn't, Raymonda Act III, and several classical pas de deuxs & solos.

 

Also in hindsight I regret that I didn't start seeing ballet at the ROH at the same time that I started seeing opera, as last week was the 20th anniversary of the first time I visited the ROH.

Edited by Dawnstar
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art_enthusiast

art_enthusiast

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21 minutes ago, The Sitter In said:

Given they ARE The Royal Ballet, shouldn’t every season be an Ashton season? 

 

I'd say one or two Ashton works per season as a minimum definitely would make sense. NYCB seems to honour Balanchine a lot more in comparison. 

 

I assume that triple bills can have multiple different choreographers on them, so there's flexibility there - though I believe it's more common to have every piece from the same choreographer? 

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MAX

MAX

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I have a lot of respect for Kevin O'Hare but I really think he should quit his position in the next two years, he did a wonderful job but it's time for the company to have a new director. New blood, new ideas and more consideration for The Royal Ballet's history.

 

 

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OnePigeon

OnePigeon

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I remember lots from this season and could weep for the amount I didn’t see!  I saw Acosta and Nunez in Fille and it is one of my defining moments in ballet viewing.  If I’d only known that we would be so starved of the kind of works I grew to love in those years of the early 2000s 20 years later, I would have blown my budget back then and seen them all.

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Shade

Shade

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5 minutes ago, OnePigeon said:

I remember lots from this season and could weep for the amount I didn’t see!  I saw Acosta and Nunez in Fille and it is one of my defining moments in ballet viewing.  If I’d only known that we would be so starved of the kind of works I grew to love in those years of the early 2000s 20 years later, I would have blown my budget back then and seen them all.

That is why I go to as much as possible that I am interested in now as you never know what is in the future!

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Rob S

Rob S

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5 hours ago, The Sitter In said:

October - Requiem (MacMillan)/A Wedding Bouquet (Ashton)/Les Noces(Nijinska)

November - Sylvia (Ashton)

November - Scènes de ballet/Devil’s Holiday Variation and pas de deux/Beauty Awakening pas de deux/Thaïs pas de deux/Five Brahms Waltzes/Voices of Spring pas de deux/Daphnis and Chloë (Ashton)

December - Cinderella (Ashton)

December - Swan Lake (Petipa/Ivanov)

January - La Fille mal gardée (Ashton)

February - Manon (MacMillan)

March - Rhapsody (Ashton)/Pavane pour une infante défunte(Wheeldon)/Duo Concertant/Symphony in C (Balanchine)

March - Tombeaux(Bintley)/Enigma Variations(Ashton)/The Rite of Spring (MacMillan)

April - Ondine(Ashton)

May - The Dream (Ashton)/Three Songs - Two Voices(Bruce)/The Rite of Spring

June - Les Biches(Nijinska)/Symphonic Variations(Ashton)/A Month in the Country(Ashton)

 

2024/25 makes me weep…

 

 

 

 

That looks fantastic but I wonder how many casts/performances of Cinderella and Swan Lake there were that December

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MJW

MJW

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2 hours ago, MAX said:

I have a lot of respect for Kevin O'Hare but I really think he should quit his position in the next two years, he did a wonderful job but it's time for the company to have a new director. New blood, new ideas and more consideration for The Royal Ballet's history.

 

 

 

Possibly... but "...always keep a-hold of Nurse for fear of finding something worse" (!)

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Fonty

Fonty

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I think Mr O'Hare is between a rock and a hard place.  It cannot be easy trying to maintain a classical ballet company and satisfy the requirements of the Arts Council, which from what I can make out seems to be a tick box exercise in political correctness.  Ashton seems to be the embodiment of all that the ACE would disapprove of.  Classical ballet, characters such as fairies and nymphs, stories that to not contain nitty gritty realism of every day life in modern day Britain with the emphasis on sexism and racism....I am astounded we manage to get anything by him.

 

One thing though.  I do wish the Ashton triple bills would be part of the live screening schedule to the cinemas.  For two years a mouth watering selection has been performed while I am abroad, with no hope of seeing it.  

 

 

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OnePigeon

OnePigeon

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I know they performed Cinderella in December 2003/Jan 2004 too as I saw it on New Years Eve 2003, so it appears they performed it two Christmases running, but it looks like they were performing Swan Lake too, so at least it gave more variety.  Swan Lake appears to have been performed at the end of December and then throughout January 2005 and again throughout May and June of 2005, so there was a lot of SL.

 

From a quick look at the database it looks like Cojocaru/Kobborg were the only pairing who danced both SL and Cinderella together, though I’m happy to be corrected.  Tamara Rojo was in Swan Lake with Carlos Acosta and Cinderella with Jonathan Cope (who also partnered Darcey Bussell in Cinderella) and then there was Leanne Benjamin dancing both roles but with different partners as well (Bonelli in SL and Samodurov in Cinderella), whilst Miyako Yoshida and Federico Bonelli were partnered in Cinderella.

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Dawnstar

Dawnstar

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1 hour ago, Rob S said:

That looks fantastic but I wonder how many casts/performances of Cinderella and Swan Lake there were that December

 

If the ROH performance database is correct then there were 20 performances of Cinderella December-January and 13 of Swan Lake, with 12 more Swan Lakes in May.

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Nina99

Nina99

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Fonty said:

I think Mr O'Hare is between a rock and a hard place.  It cannot be easy trying to maintain a classical ballet company and satisfy the requirements of the Arts Council, which from what I can make out seems to be a tick box exercise in political correctness.  Ashton seems to be the embodiment of all that the ACE would disapprove of.  Classical ballet, characters such as fairies and nymphs, stories that to not contain nitty gritty realism of every day life in modern day Britain with the emphasis on sexism and racism....I am astounded we manage to get anything by him.

 

 


From what I gather the ACE is doing its best to make itself very unpopular with various sections of the arts world. According to the latest edition of Private Eye even the great Antonio Pappano, late of the ROH, now with the LSO, has joined in the general criticism of their actions. Apparently he used the launch of his first season with the LSO to deliver some home truths. According to him ACE “does not seem to be supporting or being a cheerleader for what we really do”.  The Orchestra’s business he said was performing music rather than engaging in identity politics and social work!
 

Hopefully, criticism from such an august figure will embolden others to speak out more forcefully.
 

 

Edited by Nina99
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alison

alison

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So that's when the "Two Weddings and a Funeral" bill took place!  I couldn't remember.

 

That season would, I think, have been somewhat exceptional, though, given that it was the Ashton centenary, as I recall.

 

Ondine - then, and then in 2009, and not since?  Must also have been the occasion of the Ballet.co "Ondine to be sponsored by Kwells" April Fool ...  How time flies.

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Emeralds

Emeralds

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Posted
On 01/05/2024 at 14:47, The Sitter In said:

October - Requiem (MacMillan)/A Wedding Bouquet (Ashton)/Les Noces(Nijinska)

November - Sylvia (Ashton)

November - Scènes de ballet/Devil’s Holiday Variation and pas de deux/Beauty Awakening pas de deux/Thaïs pas de deux/Five Brahms Waltzes/Voices of Spring pas de deux/Daphnis and Chloë (Ashton)

December - Cinderella (Ashton)

December - Swan Lake (Petipa/Ivanov)

January - La Fille mal gardée (Ashton)

February - Manon (MacMillan)

March - Rhapsody (Ashton)/Pavane pour une infante défunte(Wheeldon)/Duo Concertant/Symphony in C (Balanchine)

March - Tombeaux(Bintley)/Enigma Variations(Ashton)/The Rite of Spring (MacMillan)

April - Ondine(Ashton)

May - The Dream (Ashton)/Three Songs - Two Voices(Bruce)/The Rite of Spring

June - Les Biches(Nijinska)/Symphonic Variations(Ashton)/A Month in the Country(Ashton)

 

2024/25 makes me weep…

 

 

 

Now that was a real celebration of Ashton!

 

We still got to see other choreographers in there too-  Nijinska, Balanchine, MacMillan, Bruce, Bintley, Wheeldon (his first ballet for RB! Awww....) Monica Mason's programming- many thanks to Dame Monica!

 

I remember seeing these ballets - those were such fun times 👍 

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Scheherezade

Scheherezade

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1 hour ago, The Sitter In said:

Well at least we are now going to get a full-length new ballet about survivors of a ‘bio-engineered apocalypse’ to cheer us all up…


I am now reliving the horrors of O Lucky Man …

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CCL

CCL

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That looks like a dream season. I was ‘on a break’ from ballet at that time (babies, very little money). I missed out on so much - I regret not trying harder to at least go occasionally. I’m doing my best to make up for it now.

Edited by CCL
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