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Birmingham Royal Ballet - Sleeping Beauty - Autumn 2013


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Saw the matinee yesterday. As mentioned last time I posted, I'm a very new ballet fan, so apologies in advance if there's any glaring errors here - especially when it comes to technical terms!

 

This was the first full-length ballet I've seen, having previously taken in a few mixed programmes, and to be honest, for the first ten minutes or so I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it. Things picked up for me with the fairies dancing - I was thrilled to see Karla Doorbar again after loving her as the Flea on Wednesday night, and she didn't disappoint, being wonderfully expressive. (I wish her solo had been longer, though!) The other standout of the six fairies for me was Maureya Lebowitz as The Fairy of Temperament, who was brilliant, especially her pirouettes. 

 

Things really picked up, though, with the entrance of the wonderfully malevolent Marion Tait as Carabosse. The lighting was great, and Tait and her 6 attendants were superb - really projecting an aura of evil.

 

I also enjoyed the charming garland dance in act I, and thought that Elisha Willis was a captivating Aurora, grabbing the audience's attention from her first steps. I loved her Rose Adagio, the wonderful conclusion to her first solo, and thought her final solo of the act - going from childish delight at her 'new toy' the spindle, to pricking her finger, starting to recover, and eventually collapsing - was stunning.

 

Act II was perhaps less to my tastes - I found Jamie Bond hard to connect to at this point (although he grew on me, and I really enjoyed his grand pas de deux with Willis near the end of the ballet), but act III had some wonderful dancing. Having said that, I thought it was on the long side - but the pas de quatre was beautiful (especially as it gave me another chance to see the brilliant Karla Doorbar, while Miki Mizutani, Lachlan Monaghan and Lewis Turner were all really good in it as well), and Laura-Jane Gibson and Valentin Olovyannikov as Red Riding Hood and the Wolf were my favourite of the pas de deux. (Apart, of course, from Elisha and Jamie to close.)

 

Overall I definitely enjoyed it and will be going to see more classical ballet in the future - Birmingham Royal Ballet are certainly a company I'd love to see again.

Edited by jim
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My daughter and I saw and enjoyed last night's performance. There were quite a few children there but not as many as on Wednesday night (for the Penguin Cafe bill). I liked the sets and the period costumes but wasn't so keen on the style (shaggy looking) and patterning of some of the tutus. Natasha Oughtred doesn't seem to be the most technically assured dancer, and she rather rushed through the first set of balances; she was much more confident in the second set. She was very convincing as a girl on the brink of womanhood; her variation shortly after the Rose Adagio (to a very expressively played string solo - was it a viola or a cello?) really conveyed this. What I was really struck by was how low Aurora's extensions were. I assume that this was how Peter Wright choreographed them. I must say that Sleeping Beauty does bear repeated viewing as there is so much to appreciate. The choreography is so varied and interesting and last night (credit due to RB Sinfonia's playing) I really appreciated what a wonderful score it has, again very varied and interesting.

 

On the question of who the fairytale characters are, I think that they were Beauty and the Beast and two characters from The Arabian Nights (from Aladdin, perhaps?)

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I always find it a relief to see a Peter Wright production of a 19th-century classic with tasteful 90-degreeish extensions!

 

We were always taught that for these classics the leg in arabesque should be somewhere between 90 and 135 degrees, depending on the choreography and your physique.  Anything more than that, my teacher used to say, was too "modern".

 

I can still hear her voice saying, "Classic and elegant, please, girls, no showing off."  And it does look precisely that, beautiful with the arms enhancing the line of the leg, rather than the hands battling with the feet. 

 

Wonder what they say now. 

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That's a mighty big range ... 45 degrees.

 

I had a moment of panic after I posted that, because she didn't actually give the number of degrees, merely demonstrated a midway point somewhere above 90 degrees, and I translated it into a number!  I thought it was quite a big difference myself.  So I did a bit of experimentation in front of the mirror.

 

I think it depends on whether your body is upright or whether you are leaning forward into a penchee arabesque.

 

Probably need someone like Anjuli to translate my babbling! 

Edited by Fonteyn22
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I think this says it all:

 

from Fonteyn22 above:

 

"I can still hear her voice saying, "Classic and elegant, please, girls, no showing off."  And it does look precisely that, beautiful with the arms enhancing the line of the leg, rather than the hands battling with the feet. "

 

and I would add without the ballerina's lifted penché foot blocking her partner's face.  

 

For me, in the classics, the arabesque leg shouldn't be higher than 90 degrees, and the penché leg never at 180 degrees.  It should compliment and complement the curve of the back and the curve of the arm.

 

But, that's just a personal view.

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I got home yesterday after seeing 3 performances of Sleeping Beauty in Sunderland.  I feel quite bereft now that I have seen my last one - amazing given that I wasn't looking forward to seeing Sleeping Beauty yet again!

 

There is so much to watch and enjoy in this production - it really is THE production to see IMHO.

 

Suffice to say that 2 of the performances - Elisha Willis/Jamie Bond and Jenna Roberts/Iain Mackay were excellent. 

 

BRB are so lucky to have Marion Tait, the exemplar of malevolence, as Carabosse and Samara Downs and Callie Roberts are following superbly in her footsteps.  In fact on Thursday evening I think Samara managed to turn the entire audience into frogs with one glare at us!  She certainly froze the blood in my veins..  And such a contrast too to her Fairy of Joy the following afternoon.

 

I finally caught up with the sixth cast on Friday afternoon.

 

Momoko Hirata gave us a performance of exceptional brilliance.  She is Aurora personified and radiated joy throughout.  Her Rose Adagio was outstanding - her portrayal of a young girl growing into adulthood married with her glorious technique was sheer bliss to watch.  Let's be truthful here - I was so swept away by its beauty that I had tears streaming down my cheeks, shivers running up my spine and goosebumps everywhere!  I always feel happy when I see Steven Monteith is one of the Princes, he is one of those dancers who spreads a warm glow whenever he is on stage and he was in the excellent company of Brandon Lawrence, Wiliam Bracewell and Valentin Olovyannikov (superbly foppish).  Which Princess could not help but be carried away by such wonderful Princes!  I feel it was the best Rose Adagio I have ever seen.

 

Joe Caley was just magnificent as Florimund in this performance.  He and Momoko were dazzling in the gpdd in Act 3 together.

 

It was as though the whole company stepped up to an even higher plain that afternoon.  I loved Arancha Baselga and James Barton in Puss-in-Boots and the PdQ continues to be one of my favourite pieces in the whole ballet, especially danced with such sparkle by Karla Doorbar, Miki Mitzutani, Lachlan Monaghan and Lewis Turner.

 

All in all, a wonderful couple of days - a wonderful season - and especial thanks to Momoko for being so wonderful!

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I really wanted to see Momoko as Aurora - I thought that she'd be brilliant in the role - but she didn't perform it in London, sadly.

 

She did the last time they presented Sleeping Beauty in London (at the Coliseum) .... and was truly beautiful in it.  

Edited by Meunier
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and I would add without the ballerina's lifted penché foot blocking her partner's face.  

 

For me, in the classics, the arabesque leg shouldn't be higher than 90 degrees, and the penché leg never at 180 degrees.  It should compliment and complement the curve of the back and the curve of the arm.

 

 

 

Yes, I think that sums it up perfectly, and was what my teacher was talking about.  She disliked a very high leg in a penchee for the classics, and used to say, "just because you can, does not mean you should". 

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And she was even more wonderful in it this time around!

 

I'm sure she was ... but, sadly, we didn't get to see that in London .... Though we did see her in a variety of other assignments in that most stunning production .... They'll just have to bring it back again ... SOON!!! :) 

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