alison Posted March 30, 2014 Author Share Posted March 30, 2014 I also remember all accounts of that evening being very laudatory towards her. I don't think I do. I thought I remembered the reviews generally being a bit lukewarm. In addition, I feel that is it unfortunate when one Company Principal (i.e. Osipova) merits a special, front-of-curtain, detailed announcement from the Director whereas others simply get a correction footnote on the cast sheet. However, I understand from someone who is a Patron and has a personalised ticketing service from the ROH that Patrons who had tickets for the 27th were alerted to Osipova's withdrawal during last Thursday afternoon and were given the opportunity to exchange them for the 5th April performance. Front-of-curtain announcements don't tend to be made very often at the ROH, and from what I remember of them I think they are almost invariably last-minute changes, or ones which require a bit more explanation. For instance, "X has sprained an ankle during warm-up". I remember Monica Mason having to come on before one of Johan Kobborg's scheduled performances of Mayerling to explain that, given the lateness of the injury and the intricacies of the partnering with half-a-dozen different ballerinas it hadn't been safe to simply replace him, and so the whole main cast was being replaced. We got Cope and Rojo, as I recall. So I don't see it as particularly unusual that an announcement would be made in this instance, in rather unusual circumstances, if medical advice not to dance had only been given hours earlier, and particularly since it was a highly-anticipated debut. As for Patrons being able to exchange tickets, well, they do pay one heck of a lot for the privilege, and I doubt there are many of them. I would also assume they would be buying top-price tickets, and I believe the Company usually keeps a few seats back for its own use, so I'm sure these could be sacrificed in this case. I can't see it being feasible to extend this to lower ranks of supporters, though, and you could hardly just inform some ("we have 3 seats spare if you want to swap") and not others! And the notification did go out on the website on that same Thursday afternoon ... I'm probably going to be drummed out of the forum for saying this. Why? You commented respectfully on a dancer's performance, and said what you didn't like about the interpretation. That's scarcely a hanging offence At the moment the emphasis in the classics seems to be on technique for its own sake rather than as a means to an artistic end.Call me old fashioned but I don't see Beauty as simply an excuse to balance on pointe for as long as you can regardless of what the music and the choreographic text really allow, Interesting that this point should be brought up at this time. Last night, I was reading another thread and was going to pick out something on a similar theme and comment on it, but rather ran out of steam. I'll do something about it when I've finished with this thread. I can see it is difficult for a more mature dancer to act out the young girl etc which .....and I agree with Fonty here.....Fonteyn was able to par excellence. Well, not necessarily. In her later career, Leanne Benjamin made a more convincing 13-year-old Juliet than a lot of younger ballerinas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrischris Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 I think the moral of this story is book for the ballet, not the ballet dancer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 I have to say that I have not often had a change of cast (the leads) for the performances which I have seen (I've probably jinxed myself now!) but I often book quite late. I can remember several cast changes when I have been more than happy with the replacements. Mentioning no names, some dancers seem to be more 'reliable' than others (this is not said in a judgmental way).There are some dancers who never seem to get ill or injured. Btw, are principal dancers more or less likely to get injured than soloists or corps dancers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Ref. Alison's post #298, I'd just like to say that I was not being critical about ROH Patrons being notified and given the opportunity to exchange their Osipova tickets. I simply mentioned that because they were offered the 5th April in exchange and that appeared to augur well for her recovery by then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted March 30, 2014 Author Share Posted March 30, 2014 No, capybara, sorry. I think I picked your post as one of several on the subject to reply to because I thought it encapsulated the situation well, so I was sort of bringing in other people's comments as well when I replied. I did realise that you weren't complaining 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
standingticket Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 One factor that hasn't been mentioned in all the discussion of why Kevin O'Hare made the front-of-curtain announcement was that they seemed to have run out of cast change slips, and the cast sheets still read Osipova. I was fortunate enough to have seen the notice on the screens in the box office, but had I not needed to collect my ticket, without the announcement the first thing I would have known about the cast change would have been Aurora's first entrance...Indeed some sitting near me only found out about the change from O'Hare's announcement. However, to my mind at least, that doesn't excuse the heckling, or those demanding refunds. While I was of course disappointed not to see Osipova, I very much enjoyed Choe's performance. I felt a bit overcome when she got such a big cheer at the end of her Rose Adagio, given all the disquiet and heckling before the show started! She is such a musical dancer. I also liked Stix-Brunell as the Lilac Fairy - a bit more attack needed in places maybe, but it was really nice to see someone gliding through the choreography without it feeling heavy, which it can so easily. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted March 31, 2014 Author Share Posted March 31, 2014 That may actually be another contributing factor to the front-of-curtain announcement: to make sure that everyone was aware of the cast change before it actually happened, so to speak. After all, they are *always* running out of cast-change slips, and usually I find I only notice that something's wrong when the "wrong" dancer appears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertL Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 My only disappointment was that the Bluebirds of Akane Takada and Marcelino Sambé were replaced: both dancers appeared elsewhere in the ballet, though, so I'm not going to speculate on what the implications of that are. Sambé was back as the Bluebird tonight and gave a wonderful performance, I'm sorry you missed out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sim Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Hello Robert and welcome to the forum! I saw Sambe as Bluebird last week and he was indeed fabulous! So was Fernando Montano the other night when he replaced Sambe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coated Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Despite suffering from SB fatigue and having firmly decided against seeing any more than I'd already booked, I cracked this morning and got a day ticket to the Nunez/Muntagirov performance - money well spent. The more I see of Muntagirov, the more I like him. He and Nunez delivered a performance that was both suave and sweet. More please. Takada and Sambe are a really nice pairing, and like RobertL said, pretty wonderful tonight. One of the things I kept meaning to mention is Elsa Goddard as White Cat - she is just pure feline and quite funny with it. Eric Underwood was replaced in tonight's cast but I lucked out and got to see him dancing up a storm in the Faust rehearsal earlier today (Though didn't recognise him at first with all that hair....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 I hope not too many of the dancers are in that: they appear to have quite enough to do as it is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EM12 Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Disappointing Osipova is still injured and being replaced by Choe again this Saturday! At this rate, she might not be doing any SB performances! Having already seen Choe in this role a few times and not being blown away by Golding I am a little tempted to return my ticket.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aileen Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 I saw Marienela and Vadim last night. It was a very polished performance from both of them but, for me, didn't have quite the same magic as the Akane/Vadim one, which may have been something to do with the fact that they were (public) debuts for both of them. Marienela and Vadim are very well matched height-wise but it remains to be seen whether this will becoming a regular partnership as she already dances with Thiago and Federico. What I always like about Vadim is how solicitous his partnering is. He is always looking at his partner and showing an interest in her dancing when he himself is not dancing. Akane and Marcelo were very good as the Bluebirds individually, very sparky and compelling to watch, but his inexperience showed a little in the partnering which was not always smooth. Valentino and Yasmine sparkled as Florine and one sister and out danced Melissa who I felt was too tall and slow for her role. Last night Beatrix was an Aurora friend and had to slip off to get changed and reappear as the Lilac Fairy, leaving five friends. Am I right in thinking that two friends (was Beatrix one?) came on later presumably having changed out of their garland dance costumes. Speaking of the garland dance, I have found it increasingly naff (even by the standards of this this type of dance) and the costumes and blue flowered hoops are, IMO, ghastly. Last night I closed my eyes and just listened to the music. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capybara Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 I saw Marienela and Vadim last night. It was a very polished performance from both of them but, for me, didn't have quite the same magic as the Akane/Vadim one, which may have been something to do with the fact that they were (public) debuts for both of them. The other pertinent factor at the performance on 25th March, at least for those of us who are familiar with Muntagirov's dancing, was our own eager anticipation at seeing him on the ROH stage for the first time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 What I always like about Vadim is how solicitous his partnering is. He is always looking at his partner and showing an interest in her dancing when he himself is not dancing. Yes, indeed. I noticed that somewhere recently: can't remember if it was at Le Corsaire, or a gala or something ... Valentino and Yasmine sparkled as Florine and one sister I think you mean Florestan there Last night Beatrix was an Aurora friend and had to slip off to get changed and reappear as the Lilac Fairy, leaving five friends. Am I right in thinking that two friends (was Beatrix one?) came on later presumably having changed out of their garland dance costumes. I'm not sure whether it's always been like that, with 4 friends coming on later than the first 4? I did wonder when it happened the other evening. I tend not to bother looking at individual garland dance dancers, so don't know whether Beatriz dances it or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 8 friends used to come on at the same time in previous less injury hit seasons. For a few shows they had 6, then 2 more from the Garland waltz would slip on - or not. And I've seen the 4 then 4 combo. No wonder they've stopped naming on the cast sheet - especially when one of them slips off and turns into the Lilac Fairy! (As Beatriz has been doing - last time they did give her a bit more time to swop tutus!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nina G. Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 I saw Marienela and Vadim last night. It was a very polished performance from both of them but, for me, didn't have quite the same magic as the Akane/Vadim one, which may have been something to do with the fact that they were (public) debuts for both of them. Marienela and Vadim are very well matched height-wise but it remains to be seen whether this will becoming a regular partnership as she already dances with Thiago and Federico. What I always like about Vadim is how solicitous his partnering is. He is always looking at his partner and showing an interest in her dancing when he himself is not dancing. Akane and Marcelo were very good as the Bluebirds individually, very sparky and compelling to watch, but his inexperience showed a little in the partnering which was not always smooth. Valentino and Yasmine sparkled as Florine and one sister and out danced Melissa who I felt was too tall and slow for her role. Last night Beatrix was an Aurora friend and had to slip off to get changed and reappear as the Lilac Fairy, leaving five friends. Am I right in thinking that two friends (was Beatrix one?) came on later presumably having changed out of their garland dance costumes. Speaking of the garland dance, I have found it increasingly naff (even by the standards of this this type of dance) and the costumes and blue flowered hoops are, IMO, ghastly. Last night I closed my eyes and just listened to the music. I agree with you Aileen, Akane Takada and Vadim Muntagirov have much more sparkle (however much I love Marianela Nunez she does not have the youth of Akane - who was a splendid Aurora ). Valentino Zucchetti and Yasmine Naghdi were really outstanding in Florestan last night, very fine performances by both dancers. Melissa Hamilton did not impress as much as "the other sister" and she danced her solo without much energy, it was all rather flat. Melissa Hamilton never does it for me in Classical roles, her Lilac Fairy and Bluebird Solo did not impress me but she is amazing in McGregor's work and I liked her in Mayerling. "Two friends" was danced by Beatrix Stix Brunell and Yasmine Naghdi. The quick costume changes in the wings must be quite a scene! If you are a first timer Sleeping Beauty may be exciting but I have seen it so many times over the years and it now looks very dated to me. I know it is considered THE company piece but IMO it is time Sleeping Beauty gets a facelift! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alison Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 But it's just *had* a facelift, Nina! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coated Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Yup, agree with the partnership sparkle between Takada/Muntagirov and was quite happy to see that they've been cast together in Don Q Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nina G. Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 But it's just *had* a facelift, Nina! It needs a "corrective" facelift IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 My comment about replacing a principal with a principal is my opinion. Marquez would be a nice change I think she is indeed sidelined. If Osipova isn't dancing then I have wasted best part of £300 on travel a hotel and ticket. That's just how I feel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shade Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Dear Don Q Fan I feel for you - it is very disappointing indeed when a trip to ROH entails such advance planning and expenditure. Although I am closer to London I do have to juggle work and childcare so also have to plan in advance. Of course I hope that Osipova recovers soon and that Choe has another great performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Q Fan Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Thank you Shade for the sentiment. Likewise I hope Osipova recovers quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLOSS Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 As far as Saturday is concerned while it is disappointing that Osipova will not be dancing it is the prospect of sitting through another Golding performance that is making me feel less than enthusiastic about my next visit to Covent Garden. "Strong technique" and "lack of nuance" are two ways of describing what his performances have been like so far. As to Osipova's replacement, surely the decision about who should replace a particular dancer has to be based on ability rather than status and title. As the company is in the run up to the premiere of a new work rehearsal time must be at a premium so a dancer's availability will no doubt also be a .factor At present Choe is not a principal although many people clearly believe that she has been displaying all the qualities of a principal dancer and turning in performances at that level for some time..If the company were always to replace a principal dancer with another principal it would not necessarily result in performances of comparable quality since not everyone shines in every role. But it would mean that we were deprived of fine performances by dancers performing at principal level for whom, for whatever reason, there is no place in the rosta of principals. If Choe were to be promoted to principal between now and Saturday would that suddenly make her a suitable replacement for Osipova? After all she would be the same dancer. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odyssey Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Yes, Don Q, I thought your original point was understandable. Those of us who are unable to visit Covent Garden on a fairly regular basis choose our casting with a certain amount of trepidation. Having booked for a dancer you are keen to see perform in a particular role, a cast change brought about by injury (although it can reap unexpected rewards), is bound to cause upset as you reflect that there goes that one opportunity to see the dancer. This is particularly pertinent if the dancer is a guest artist (which is relevant to your post about Osipova). At least there is the consolation that as SB is regularly performed, further opportunities will follow:) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mallinson Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Osipova is not a guest artist. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinMM Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Well I won't be so disappointed if Choe is to replace Osipova on Saturday but my ticket was quite expensive......there wasn't a hype up in prices for the Osipova performance was there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BalletcoForum Moderators Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 A post on this thread is hidden while it is under review for being thought to contravene the Acceptable Use Policy and/or forum moderation policy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 (edited) I give up. You would have to stretch the Acceptable Use Policy to ridiculous lengths to find that comment contravened it. I have outed nobody. Are only the moderators allowed to be critical of other people? Edited April 3, 2014 by Lindsay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxDaveM Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Well I won't be so disappointed if Choe is to replace Osipova on Saturday but my ticket was quite expensive......there wasn't a hype up in prices for the Osipova performance was there? No, there wasn't 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangorballetboy Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 I give up. You would have to stretch the Acceptable Use Policy to ridiculous lengths to find that comment contravened it. I have outed nobody. Are only the moderators allowed to be critical of other people? Just to be clear, the post was hidden as it was reported by a user who is not a moderator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odyssey Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Osipova is not a guest artist. Sorry, I forgot that she is no longer a guest. But I think my overall point is still valid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lindsay Posted April 3, 2014 Share Posted April 3, 2014 Then I would be grateful if the moderators could either "un-hide" it or explain to me the reason why they cannot as soon as may be convenient. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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