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English National Ballet - Le Corsaire, 2013/14


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As Le Corsaire closes in the UK for at least a couple of years, I just feel that I want to take the opportunity to celebrate what has been a triumph for ENB and huge enjoyment for its audiences.

 

I loved the vibrancy of the production and the wonderful performances of established stars. But what has been a particular joy for has been the display of so much talent on the part of artists such as Alison McWhinney; Ken Saruhashi, Joan Sebastian Zamora, Ksenia Ovsyanick, and Nancy Osbaldeston as well as the more well-known soloists including Shiori Kase, Yonah Acosta, Junor Souza, Fernando Bufala, and Laurretta Summerscales.

 

The show will be a hard act to follow and it is really just as well that Lest We Forget will be totally different in structure and mood.

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I saw both perfs on Saturday and enjoyed them all.  Obviously extremely disappointed and somewhat annoyed by the cast changes. Thankfully Vadim did dance at the evening perf partnered by Fernanda Oliveira with her husband Fabian Reimar as Birbanto.  Such a pity Daria was not there with Vadim.  At the matinee I was thrilled to see Yonah Acosta as Conrad in the matinee he was really good and even sported a sparkly earring - very pirate!  Dmitry G was fab as Lankendem  and Shiori  Kase was a gorgeous Gulnare so elegant then she turned up again in the evening perf!!  I must praise Fernando Bufala as Birbanto I think he was excellent and I really enjoyed his dancing.  Irina Takahashi played Medora in the matinee and she is a lovely dancer with nice technique.  In the evening Arional Vargas was Lankendem and he somewhat misjudged the size of the stage when he landed late with his foot firmly on the thigh of the poor girl sitting on the floor next to Pasha  - I hope she was ok!!  The curtain call was nice as Vadim took a solo bow and applauded his colleagues.  After the curtain went down you could hear the dancers applauding him.  He was ever so gracious at the stage door such a lovely young man. High praise for the sets costumes and music beautifully played by the orchestra too! 

I do think ENB would do Don Quixote justice but as RB has a new version my dream of ENB dancing DonQ seems just that ,however I imagine RB will do Don Q next season and maybe Vadim will get the role of Basilio which is one of his favourites according to the LC programme!  am all ballet-ed out now.

Edited by Don Q Fan
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I really enjoyed the 5 performances I've seen of ENB's Corsaire though I still prefer the Kirov version. The orchestration is is so much better; that wonderful overture with the shipwreck. Also the characterisation. It seems more plausible to me to have Gulnara as a slightly flirty character but Medora more serious and appalled at the idea of being sold to the Pasha. Everytime I see it I always think of Altyna's huge, horrified eyes when the veil is removed. I adore the Kirov's huge fountains in the garden scene. Corsaire without fountains just doesn't seem right. I also prefer them all sailing into the sunset together at the end without 2 of them dying!

 

Having said that I think ENBs version is great and the sets and costumes are far superior to the ABT version which I watched on dvd to compare the 2. ABT's pirates were just dressed as Turks which is probably geographically accurate but still didn't make them look very piratical as opposed to ENB's very swashbuckling pirates. Also the captured girls were very drab unlike the ENB's almost blinding colours. Finally the Pasha didn't have any bling at all and was very anonymous! The only thing I preferred from the ABT version over ENB was that they had the pirates dance started with Birbanto firing a couple of pistols which the Kirov have also. I love this dance and I suppose the decision was taken to omit it because of keeping to the 2 and a half hour finishing slot. I can understand this but I wished they'd omitted something else as the pirate's dance is one of my favourites.

 

I like the way Anna Marie Holmes has increased the male roles, especially Conrad and Birbanto. Conrad was the weak spot in the Kirov's version. He could have done with a bit more to do. I was very impressed with all the male dancing I've seen at ENB. Fernando Bufala especially took my eye as Birbanto. Saw him twice in the role and wished I could have seen him in others as I found him very charismatic on stage as well as an excellent dancer. Like Don Q fan I thought Yonah was excellent as Conrad.  Vadim too was wonderful and I'm really looking forward to seeing him at the ROH. 

 

I did see several dancers at the stage door after the Saturday matinee and they were very pleasant and friendly. I asked Dmitri Gruzdev when we could expect to see the dvd and he said he had forgotten about it! But this does sound as if it exists. I attended the matinee at the Coliseum when it was filmed and several people were talking about it then though I didn't see any filming myself.

 

It is a shame in a way ENB are going on to do Swan Lake and Coppelia, neither really known for their male roles. I see they are doing Ronald Hynes' Coppelia. I wonder if they have considered doing his Merry Widow ballet sometime in the future? A friend said she remembers them doing it in the 1980s, presumably when theey were still Festival Ballet. it is a wonderful, colourful ballet with some great dancing and character roles and I've never seen it performed live; only the Canadian video and Australian dvd. Both are excellent but I'd love to see it perfomed live.

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