Anna C Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 If you can see this, it may help, alison: http://www.arenapal.com/imageflows/preview/t=arenapal&f=ARP1107380 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 1, 2014 Author Share Posted January 1, 2014 Thanks, Spanner. I'd forgotten the little frills, but glad to know I wasn't imagining the difference. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mijosh Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 All I can remember is the hideous set,like plums in custard,and yet another example of Dowell's disastrous taste in design. Think Rhapsody,Les Rendezvous,Swan Lake as well as Rubies (or Capriccio as it was called. I think it was Louise Levine who said that she'd hate to go wallpaper shopping with Sir Anthony. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 As of a few minutes ago there were some tickets available at various prices for tonight's performance, which is the last one in the run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daisydance Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 As of a few minutes ago there were some tickets available at various prices for tonight's performance, which is the last one in the run. And what a last night it was. Fabulous! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrischris Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I gave Jewels another shot tonight, and I enjoyed it more than I did last time. Emeralds still doesn't do anything for me, but I thought Marquez was lovely, though not as light and floaty as BSB. Watson was ok, but i'm not really sure why he is cast in this as it really isn't his strength. I was disappointed that Campbell was injured, but Dawid T is always fund to watch. I just find the choreography in Emeralds so dull. Rubies was more fun this time around. Osipova and McRae were great, and I like Hamilton. They all seemed to get the tacky, camp element of it tonight. Diamonds is my favourite of the piece. Beautifully danced by Lauren and Rupert, and the whole corps were on form. It really is very beautiful. I would love to see Nunez dancing the Yanowsky/ Hamilton part in Rubies, and i'd love to see Lamb do Diamonds. Think she'd be perfect for it, especially with Rupert. I wish that when a ballet has such comparatively short acts they wouldn't make the intervals so long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beryl H Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Last night was the only chance I got to see Jewels although I had booked more, probably enjoyed it all the more, thought Laura Morera and Ryoichi Hirano got the right feel (for me) of their pdd, mysterious and rapt, especially as they walked off (these ballets have "walking" as a theme), surprised to see David Trzensiemich as I didn't know the cast change, he danced well in all 3 ballets. Steven McRae was so stunning in Rubies that he actually over-shadowed Natalia Osipova! I have fond memories of Rupert Pennefather and Alina Cojocaru dancing in Diamonds, he seems really suited to this role and partnered Lauren Cuthbertson so well this time, I like the way she didn't look like she was dancing Swan Lake, I enjoyed seeing the 2 completely different interpretations this year of Olga Smirnova and Lauren! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 I like the way she [Cuthbertson] didn't look like she was dancing Swan Lake Exactly. That's one of the reasons I really disliked Smirnova's Diamonds in the summer. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penelopesimpson Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 I've given Jewels three trys now and I just don't think it's the ballet for me. It seems so lacking in emotion which for me is what ballet is about. Emeralds is a pretty spectacle and whilst I'd always thought I could enjoy Ed Watson in anything, I am not sure what he was doing in this role because it so isn't him. Loved Rubies and this is my favourite because it provides emotion in the form of vitality, the joy of dancing, the sheer verve of the piece. My first view of Osipova and what can I say other than WOW. Now I see what everyone has been raving about. A great partnership with McCrae for this piece but I don't see him working with her as a romantic lead. There is a height difference which is noticeable. I cannot rave about Diamonds although I can see the beauty of the piece. I found it competent, a feast for they eyes but it didn't touch me. Cutherbertson and Pennefather gave what for me was a workmanlike performance and then that was it. Excellent reception for the evening and I suspect it is me, but won't do this one again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 I don't think Balanchine created his abstract ballets to express emotion, rather an interpretation of the music. I've seen around five different companies dance Jewels over a period of about 35 years and by pick and mixing it would be possible to have the ideal cast, but I've never seen a couple dance Rubies better than Osipova and McCrae last night. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penelopesimpson Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 I agree MAB. Osipova and Macrae were wonderful. I think I need to read up on my Balanchine so that perhaps I can understand the work better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrischris Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Just another note, I was sitting really close to the stage last night and it was obvious Rupert wasn't well. He looked like crap and you could hear him coughing a couple of times when he went off stage. Surprised he danced so well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdallas Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Went last night, my first Balanchine and it was very novel for me. Emeralds I found hard to like, my wife knows much more about this than I do - she explained it, the references to older styles (which I like in themselves), but I found it hard. Also, the Faure music didnt reach me. Like so many I thought that Rubies was wonderful, McRae was fabulous and Osipova is the Queen of Covent Garden - but I am a fan myself so I enjoyed it immensely. I thought that Melissa Hamilton was excellent too and not overshadowed by the brilliant leading pair. Is Osipova a bit OTT? I am too much of a tyro to know but she certainly gets the audience excited, and seems to me a fantastic dancer, but my technical knowledge is about zero. Diamonds I found strange, it kind of should have been romantic but in the absence of story or character it couldnt be. Lovely music though, and the last part of this dance, when the stage gets brightly lit, really came to life. I felt that this choreography really comes to life when there are a lot of dancers on stage, doing complex things, weaving pictures and patterns. Still as I say I am new and learning. Really enjoyed some of it. Rubies alone worth the price 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 8, 2014 Author Share Posted January 8, 2014 Emeralds is a pretty spectacle and whilst I'd always thought I could enjoy Ed Watson in anything, I am not sure what he was doing in this role because it so isn't him. Well, I have to admit, given the musical wit he's displayed in a few other Balanchine ballets, when this was first cast I'd expected to see him in Rubies, and was surprised to see that he was in Emeralds (too tall? I notice that Rubies has always been cast at the RB with shorter dancers). It's not that I don't like him in Emeralds, I just don't think that in this case he and Marquez are suited (based, admittedly, on only 2 performances, one where I couldn't see about half the stage) Just another note, I was sitting really close to the stage last night and it was obvious Rupert wasn't well. I thought he didn't look his usual self on the Saturday when Cuthbertson made her debut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmie Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Unlike most I preferred Emeralds, a very different 'feel' to anything else I've seen. Are there any other ballets of the style of Emeralds I can look out for? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Well, I've only seen it the once but I felt it had a similar feel to Serenade (which I adore) and was possibly why I was so swept away by it. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Newcombe Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 Nice to read some positive comments about Emeralds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josephine Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 I agree with Timmie and Janet McNulty. Emeralds and Serenade are amongst my very favourite dance-works, and both evoke aspects of Giselle (greatest ballet of all for me). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penelopesimpson Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Good to read your experience GDallas which seems to be a bit like mine. I was most underwhelmed by Diamonds which just doesn't work for me. I was blown away by Osipova. If that is OTT - well, bring it on. And McCrae was a revelation to me. Melissa Hamilton also excellent and not overpowered. I am a huge fan of Ed Watson (the opening night of Mayerling this year was one of the great experiences of my life) but he was dead in this role - if you can call it a role. He is an expressive rather than an elegant dancer and I think it was a waste of his time. I'm afraid Marquez didn't particularly do it for me, either - which is a shame as I'm seeing her in Giselle later this season. Rubies on its own was worth the money but overall I won't be rushing back to Jewels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Nice to read some positive comments about Emeralds I haven't seen any of the current performances, but I love Emeralds. Done properly it has a wonderful dreamy quality to it. Unfortunately, because the idea is not to show emotion (presumably) the result is often a blankness of expression from the dancers that can leave the viewer completely cold. If the idea is to express the music, then sure a little bit of emotion suitable to the music would not be inappropriate? And I must be one of the very few who dislike Rubies. Yes, it is full of crowd pleasing technical steps, but it seems to be a case of milking the audience as much as possible. It reminds me of the time when I was young, and watching visiting Russian companies. I used to hate it when they would string together about 20 seconds of fantastic leaps or turns, and then spend 5 minutes expecting to be loudly applauded. Just plain, straightforward showing off. It has its place in galas, but otherwise not really my sort of thing. And I don't like the music. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 9, 2014 Author Share Posted January 9, 2014 And I must be one of the very few who dislike Rubies. But definitely not the only one I think I've actively enjoyed maybe 2 of the dozen or more performances of Rubies I've seen over the last decade or however long it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrischris Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 (edited) I do think it's amazing how Balanchine was able to capture the essence of each jewel in the choreography. In my opinion, emeralds are quite ethereal and give off a really tranquil colour, rubies are gaudy and tacky and diamonds are beautiful and classic, and I think he caught that very well. Edited January 9, 2014 by chrischris 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 It is more a case of national style: Emeralds = French, Rubies = American and Diamonds = Russian. I think the subleties of Emeralds is difficult to bring off, Rubies can look crass in the hands of certain performers and Diamonds really needs the kind of stellar cast you rarely see. It is a ballet I would like to see danced much more rarely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I think the subleties of Emeralds is difficult to bring off, Rubies can look crass in the hands of certain performers and Diamonds really needs the kind of stellar cast you rarely see. It is a ballet I would like to see danced much more rarely. If you don't want to see it, don't buy any tickets. I wish they'd dance it more often, to both perfect it, and to give more dancers the chance to dance the lead roles 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I think you miss my point, I prefer quality to quantity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrischris Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 If you don't want to see it, don't buy any tickets. There's no need to be rude to people just because they have a difference of opinion 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 There's no need to be rude to people just because they have a difference of opinion I don't see what's rude about that. The RB has just finished a short, sold-out run. If those who don't want to see Jewels didn't buy tickets, that would leave more for those who do. We all like and dislike different things, but suggesting something should be danced less frequently seems ludicrous to me. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fonty Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I didn't buy tickets for Jewels this time around. But I think I can still discuss it in general terms, can't I? After all, this is what the forum is all about? Discussion and expression of opinion? Or am I missing something? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAB Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Within a few months both the Bolshoi and RB have danced Jewels in London and although my trips to the ballet tend to be more for the ballets than the casts, I went this week to see Osipova, a great ballerina that London is privileged to be playing host to, but I still maintain Jewels is a ballet that is performed far too often - especially when available casts cannot do it justice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Sorry MAB, my comment came off a bit more brusquely than intended. The 2nd part still stands though - if they don't dance it, how are they ever going to improve the quality? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McNulty Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Never having had anything to compare the performance with (apart from a couple of Rubies in the past with different compannies), the performance I saw at the matinee on 30th December was terrific to my eyes. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 With regard to Clement Crisp's FT review, would anyone like to identify "the male dancer who led the men in the right-hand (from the audience’s view) line of danseurs: an exact, dashing and musical exemplar."? I wasn't there. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/4a4a4ab2-7857-11e3-831c-00144feabdc0.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 'irredeemably pedestrian' : ouch! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now