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Dancers in the Royal Opera


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At first I thought I should put this in the Not Dance forum as it's not about ballet BUT it is about dancing.  I was watching Turandot from the ROH on Sky Arts tonight and wondered who the dancers were.  There's nothing on the ROH site so can anyone tell me where the dancers come from?  Presumably not the RB but is there a regular troup of opera dancers (as ballet dancers were once known) or are they hired on an ad hoc basis for each production?

 

Linda

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I don't think it's a regular troupe these days, but I do sometimes recognise names of individual (usually more contemporary) dancers on some of the cast sheets.  It's a good decade since I saw the RO production of Turandot, so I doubt my cast sheet would help, even if I could access it.

 

Come to think of it, I think my ballet teacher has performed in The Cunning Little Vixen at the ROH, and I know she's appeared in one particular, and often-repeated, production at ENO.  I'd guess they try to get people back for the same production once it's on again to save all the hassle and cost of re-auditioning dancers and then teaching them the roles.

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Thanks for the information.  I suppose it isn't cost effective to keep a core of dancers on the regular payroll but don't other opera companies do this?  I'm sure the Vienna Opera does since their dancers appear every New Year's Day in the annual concert.

 

Linda

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I saw Turandot on 4th March 2014. The cast sheet lists the following dancers: Marie Chabert, Frances Collier, Elisabetta D'Aloia, Amy Drew, Connor Dowling, Russell Fine, Davin King, Anthony Kurt-Gabel, Jo Meredith, Esther Modu, Ruth Moss.

 

My observation is that certain directors seem to like working with specific dancers, e.g. I've seen the same dancers in David McVicar productions at ROH and Glyndebourne. Might also depend on the choreographer!

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Thanks for the information. I suppose it isn't cost effective to keep a core of dancers on the regular payroll but don't other opera companies do this? I'm sure the Vienna Opera does since their dancers appear every New Year's Day in the annual concert.

 

Linda

The Vienna State Opera Ballet began a separate company, The Vienna State Ballet in 2010.

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