The Royal Ballet - Sleeping Beauty, Spring 2014

[Mary]

I have not yet seen Muntagirov dance and all the comments are making me look forward to it with great anticipation-I must say that his charm and presence came across in the Rojo TV programme about SL,  when he was just standing in the background smiling-and I thought- Hello, who is that?- so I can imagine he has charisma!

[Fonty]

Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere,  but are all the missing dancers injured in some way, or is there an epidemic of some sort sweeping through the company?

[Tony Newcombe]

A mixture. There is  a lot of sickness around at the moment. A few dancers have only been absent for the last 3 or 4 performances. On a more positive note it was nice to see Helen Crawford back on stage after a long absence. Hopefully some of the other long term absentees will be back on stage in the next season

[alison]

 My guess is that the change arose from Takada being needed to make up the numbers as one of Aurora's Friends. One feels for the Company and individual dancers that the 'sick list' is making things so difficult at the moment.

 

I considered that, but couldn't see the logic behind it, since there's a gap of an act between the two performances.  In a way, it's unfortunate that it's Sleeping Beauty on at the moment, because that must be about the most horrendous ballet to change casting in, with the knock-on changes it tends to lead to.

[alison]

Agree with Alison both Nela and Vadim were excellent and they made a very good partnership. He is just so good; superb dancing and he felt every nuance of the music and the role he played....and those landings from such big jumps: feet perfectly placed every time, and noiseless.

 

I have to say, I didn't actually think they were as good as on Tuesday night.  Maybe it was just the difference of viewpoints between stalls circle on Tuesday and front amphi last night, but on Tuesday I could have sworn that almost every landing was a perfect fifth, whereas that wasn't the case last night.

 

I also forgot to see that it was good to see Helen Crawford back on stage at last.  Tony, do you really expect it to be next season before the other long-term absentees are back?

[Tony Newcombe]

Alison, I meant the next series of ballets. I know of one dancer who is covering a role in Winter's Tale and is due to dance in the triple bills.

[alison]

That's a relief

[Euan]

Apologies but can I ask is the Royal Ballet self funded or does it receive state funding for tours? They did the Music from Sleeping beauty at the Reopening of the Royal Opera house that was great.

[Don Q Fan]

Maybe casts shouldnt be announced til the day then it's pot luck. I shall be extremely cross if Osipova is not dancing on 5/4 but even more cross if not replaced with another principal. Preferably not Marianela as I have seen her already and she always seems to be asked to do stand ins. Injury is no ones fault but very frustrating for all concerned not least the dancer - a hazard of the job.

[Nina G.]

Apologies but can I ask is the Royal Ballet self funded or does it receive state funding for tours? They did the Music from Sleeping beauty at the Reopening of the Royal Opera house that was great.

As far as I aware, the RB Tours are not paid for by government/tax payers funds but via corporate and private sponsorships.

[Tony Newcombe]

Maybe casts shouldnt be announced til the day then it's pot luck. I shall be extremely cross if Osipova is not dancing on 5/4 but even more cross if not replaced with another principal. Preferably not Marianela as I have seen her already and she always seems to be asked to do stand ins. Injury is no ones fault but very frustrating for all concerned not least the dancer - a hazard of the job.

So you would object to the brilliant Yuhui Choe replacing Osipova in either of the two remaining performances

[bangorballetboy]

I shall be extremely cross if Osipova is not dancing on 5/4 but even more cross if not replaced with another principal.

Probably the most disheartening thing I've read recently.

[capybara]

 

I agree with bangorballetboy. 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. This suggests that there was/is a strong expectation that she will be able to dance then.

[Jamesrhblack]

I agree with bangorballetboy. 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. This suggests that there was/is a strong expectation that she will be able to dance then.

With no disrespect to Yuhui Choe, although Natalia Osipova's long term reputation as amongst the greats remains to written in future years, she commands an international respect and has generated a huge amount of excitement meaning that the damage limitation involved when she cancels of necessity a major, high profile debut is greater than with many other of the current Royal Ballet dancers. I wasn't there, but it could also be interpreted that Kevin O'Hare was trying to make things easier for Choe in front of a possibly hostile audience by explaining the situation in person,

[Jamesrhblack]

Maybe casts shouldnt be announced til the day then it's pot luck. I shall be extremely cross if Osipova is not dancing on 5/4 but even more cross if not replaced with another principal. Preferably not Marianela as I have seen her already and she always seems to be asked to do stand ins. Injury is no ones fault but very frustrating for all concerned not least the dancer - a hazard of the job.

But which principal? Cuthbertson is up to her ears with the Wheeleon and has already been pulled from one Beauty and you don't want to see Nunez. Marquez is surely too small for Golding and her replacing of Cojocaru in Bayadère wasn't well received by all. Indeed, Marquez seems increasingly marginalised after a brief flurry as Steven McRae's principal partner dancing a smaller number of performances than many other dancers and in a more narrow repertoire.

[FLOSS]

If you go to the ballet or opera regularly you come to accept that you are not always going to see the artists that you booked for. Sometimes you get a cast that much more interesting than the originally advertised.I for one shall be interested to see Marienella and Vadim .

While I should like to see Osipova this week I shall be quite satisfied if she is again replaced by Choe or Takada both of whom made very good debuts. I am not so keen on seeing Golding again. While Vadim made every part of the prince's choreography including the act 2 variation,the boat journey and the section searching for Aurora seem absolutely essential to the ballet I am afraid that I found Golding dull and uninvolving.Indeed it has been very interesting comparing the two men and their approach to this particular princely role which is famously cardboard unless the dancer has the artistry to turn it into something. Vadim danced  his act 2 solo as if every movement meant something and that it was there to enable him  to show us that the prince was yearning for something or someone rather than being a series of technical challenges to be surmounted. With Golding it was as if he did not see it as anything other than a series of choreographic traps waiting to ensnare the unwary male dancer and as such an obstacle to be overcome rather than an opportunity to tell the audience more about the prince. After all  Ashton added it to the Royal's version of Beauty to flesh out the prince not as a trap.

[capybara]

I am not so keen on seeing Golding again.

Nor am I.

[aileen]

I'm probably going to be drummed out of the forum for saying this. Although Marienela pulled off all the technical challenges with ease I wasn't that keen on her characterisation. She comes across as a bit too mature for the role and I found her a bit too knowing in Act 1. In particular, her smile and arm movement at the end of the balances said "I've done it; it was a doddle". She needs to curb what comes across as insouciance and stay in character. I preferred her in Acts 2 and 3. Lauren's first entrance was wonderful: so girlish and full of joie de vivre. She was like a young gazelle as she leaped across the stage in Act 1. She does, however, find the Rose Adagio more of a challenge than some of the other ballerinas. I would probably prefer to see Yuhui than Marienela as Aurora again.

[Fonty]

She comes across as a bit too mature for the role and I found her a bit too knowing in Act 1. In particular, her smile and arm movement at the end of the balances said "I've done it; it was a doddle".

 

 

Maybe she should dig out the video of the 40 year old Fonteyn performing it, to see how a mature dancer gives the appearance of a radiant teenager while managing the balances with ease. 

[FLOSS]

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, nor do I see Swan Lake as merely about thirty two fouettes although an increasing proportion of the audience seem to see these ballets in those terms. 

In Beauty if the dancer throws too much technique at the rose adagio then there is no sense of maturing and development and the act 3 grand pas de deux is no longer the high point of the ballet but an anti climax. It is strange how many otherwise admirable dancers fail to understand this.I do not think that it is the coach's fault. It depends on how prepared the individual being coached is to listen to and take on board what he or she is being told. So it must be the dancers themselves and their adoring and sometimes uncritical fans who encourage technical excesses at the expense of artistry. After all if one dancer feels able to challenge a choreographer on the basis that his choice of lift is of no account when the dancer has chosen to do something different then how much more difficult it must be to rein dancers in when they want to add to the text of a long dead choreographer in order to achieve a showy and crowd pleasing effect.    

[LinMM]

Ive never seen Nunez in Beauty but 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.

 

Ive had to give up my Winters Tale ticket for April 23rd ......I had really wanted to see Cuthbertson finally!

However if Osipova is still injured by next sat (5thApril) I will be disappointed of course but who knows perhaps it will be Cuthbertson dancing instead.......so will get to see her sooner than I thought!! Choe or Cuthbertson would be great replacements as far as I'm concerned but fingers crossed for Osipova still......though only if she has completely recovered.

 

It's interesting though I would have thought that the "adoring fans" of any dancer would be out for their complete development both as an artist and a technician (I do tend too to give priority to artistry). I'm sure the real ballet fans are not for one moment just interested in balances and Fouettes (the latter which can even look ugly sometimes)

I would suggest that it is the more infrequent attenders who are more out for the "tricks" so to speak.

[capybara]

Maybe she should dig out the video of the 40 year old Fonteyn performing it, to see how a mature dancer gives the appearance of a radiant teenager while managing the balances with ease.

Last year, ENB's Elena Glurdjidze (aged in her very late thirties, I believe) gave everyone an object lesson in how to be a 'young' Aurora.

 

It's interesting though I would have thought that the "adoring fans" of any dancer would be out for their complete development both as an artist and a technician (I do tend too to give priority to artistry).

Exactly so

Edited March 30, 2014 by capybara

[Tony Newcombe]

So nice to see  posters talking about the importance of artistry rather than just technique

[chrischris]

But which principal? Cuthbertson is up to her ears with the Wheeleon and has already been pulled from one Beauty and you don't want to see Nunez. Marquez is surely too small for Golding and her replacing of Cojocaru in Bayadère wasn't well received by all. Indeed, Marquez seems increasingly marginalised after a brief flurry as Steven McRae's principal partner dancing a smaller number of performances than many other dancers and in a more narrow repertoire.

 

Marquez has danced with Kish and Pennefather before, who are both around Golding's height (or maybe taller?).

[Fonty]

So nice to see  posters talking about the importance of artistry rather than just technique

 

 

Given the choice, I would go for artistry every time.  There is a time and a place for dazzling displays of technical virtuosity - galas are ideal for that sort of thing.

 

I do feel sometimes that individuals are more concerned with showing us their brilliance than their characterization.  

[Naomi M]

I don't think it will clash with the Sleeping Beauty schedule, but Roberta Marquez will be guesting in Tetsuya Kumakawa's K-Ballet Company's Romeo and Juliet, she is scheduled to dance in Japan from June 11th to July 5th. 

 

http://www.k-ballet.co.jp/performances/2014romeoandjuliet

[A frog]

Roberta Marquez is still scheduled to dance Aurora on the 8th (and she'll still be here to dance The Dream on the 5 June) so I assume she could be in the running to replace Osipova if necessary.

 

I don't understand why some think she's being marginalised (she is dancing with McRae in The Dream btw), she's always cast in the classical roles, and there are overall not that many programmes she isn't featured in. And while I haven't loved her in everything I've seen her dance (just like anyone else in the company), I've never thought she wasn't deserving of being a principal. If we're mentioning her Nikiya in particular, her portrayal was probably my favourite last season. I wasn't there for the performance that was initially scheduled with Cojocaru, but I don't remember people expressing disappointment in her performance as opposed to in having missed Cojocaru.

[Coated]

Lets not be too harsh on people who would like to see a Principle replaced with another Principle. That's not exactly an unreasonable wish, and doesn't need to be construed as a criticism of Ms Choe.

 

If no other principles are available, then that's potluck, but I would like to be given the opportunity to exchange my ticket if the next replacement were Choe again since I'd end up seeing her 4 times altogether. I might not be an ardent Choe fan, but wouldn't want to see anyone 4 times in SB. Perhaps they could cycle through all of the recent debutants if Osipova needs to stay off....and use their original debut partners to avoid overwhelming Mr Golding with too many ballerinas (his dancing is fine, but his facial expressions stir me to gleeful giggles which lead to sudden coughing fits when I attempt to not laugh aloud in the middle of a romantic pdd)

 

I'm a little peeved that Patrons were informed and allowed to exchange, but that's the service money buys you. Must buy lottery ticket...

 

They don't need to sent out O'Hare to announce last minute changes (apart from anything, he might not be available himself) but I agree that it seems discourteous to make a big fanfare about Osipova's indisposition, but barely mention Soares's last minute replacement. Kaspar Holten recently send in someone who looked like a junior member of staff to announce a replacement for a significant supporting role in Don Giovanni, so perhaps the RB could take a leaf out of his book and send the next available RB staff to make an announcement if one of the 'billed' roles needs to be replaced.

Edited March 30, 2014 by Coated

[chrischris]

Roberta Marquez is still scheduled to dance Aurora on the 8th (and she'll still be here to dance The Dream on the 5 June) so I assume she could be in the running to replace Osipova if necessary.

 

I don't understand why some think she's being marginalised (she is dancing with McRae in The Dream btw), she's always cast in the classical roles, and there are overall not that many programmes she isn't featured in. And while I haven't loved her in everything I've seen her dance (just like anyone else in the company), I've never thought she wasn't deserving of being a principal. If we're mentioning her Nikiya in particular, her portrayal was probably my favourite last season. I wasn't there for the performance that was initially scheduled with Cojocaru, but I don't remember people expressing disappointment in her performance as opposed to in having missed Cojocaru.

 

She was booed at the curtain call. I believe that is what people are referring to.

Edited March 30, 2014 by chrischris

[FLOSS]

Where have the tickets offered to the Patrons when Osipova was unable to dance her first scheduled Beauty come from? The performance in question is supposedly sold out with only the  day tickets left. I cannot see them  offering rear amphi tickets to such exalted people.

 

 I have to say that when I think of some of the  substitute casts that I have had the misfortune of seeing in the past seeing Choe in Beauty four times seems like getting off lightly.

 

On a lighter note I recall a run of performances of Giselle by Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet.at Sadlers Wells where, as a result of the indisposition of the other dancers scheduled to dance Albrecht, Desmond Kelly danced the Friday night performance and both performances on the Saturday, each of them with a different Giselle , and all equally good.  He must have been exhausted by the end of the Saturday night performance but he certainly did not show it. 

[aileen]

Ideally, Lamb and McRae should be brought in to replace Osipova and Golding if Osipova is still unfit. I think that most audience members would be satisfied with these substitutions. However, as both are involved in Winter's Tale that might be too big an ask.

[A frog]

She was booed at the curtain call. I believe that is what people are referring to.

I also remember all accounts of that evening being very laudatory towards her. Maybe the person (people?) who booed genuinely tried to enjoy the performance with an open mind, it's also possible they had decided that as a replacement, she wasn't worth their time as a matter of principle (just like those who heckled the announcement that Yuhui Choe would be repacing Natalia Osipova). Had she been booed in one her normally scheduled performance, or even had I seen any other actual criticism of her performance that evening, it would be another matter.

 

Anyway, it's not like there is a dancer in the company that is universally lauded in everything they dance, if she had a genuinely bad performance, it's unfortunate, but it happens. I still don't see any sign of her being marginalised, or deserving to be.

[alison]

I shall be extremely cross if Osipova is not dancing on 5/4 but even more cross if not replaced with another principal. Preferably not Marianela ...

 

I shall be extremely sorry if Osipova is not dancing on the 5th, but that will be on behalf of the fans (I haven't got a ticket for it, anyway) and because it will mean she's not sufficiently recovered from the accident.  I won't, however, be cross about it, because it's her body and there's no point in her possibly making things worse and needing to have a longer period off by trying to come back too early.

 

And what's in a ranking?  The first performance of La Fille Mal Gardée I saw was with Nicola Roberts, a First Soloist at the time (Lesley Collier was on the night before, I seem to remember).  I was a bit disappointed not to be getting a principal, but since I was there on a standby I couldn't really complain.  But I loved the performance, and her, and it's only with a couple of decades' hindsight that I realised that she was a better Lise than quite a few of the principal ballerinas I've seen since then.