Jam Dancer

11 hours ago, capybara said:

So, once again, we have more posts with people scrapping about nomenclature than substantive comments about the performance in question. It is such a shame when this happens.

We have all been 'guilty' at some point, including various moderators.

And I would love to hear more from people who are in Japan, please.

I am living in Tokyo at the  moment and plan to attend 3 performances of the Royal Ballet tour

but I must say it is

sometimes very challenging to post on the forum. I usually force myself into the conversations none the less 😊.  Sometimes I need a stiff drink first and by then the details of what I wanted to add are a bit less clear...

Naomi is quite obviously a non-native English speaker and she has said as much before. For her to be as generous as she has been with taking the time to post a review and then be needled about full names is a bit too much. In an earlier post about the Japan tour, she was also taken to task after having taken time to translate dancers’ names from katakana to English when she made a mistake in the spelling of the surname of someone’s favourite dancer🙄. 

For the record I agree with citing full names but can’t we all recognise the context sometimes and just encourage others to participate. If you recognise who the dancers are then perhaps given the context, supplement the post and add them even if with question marks? Or is better to chase away someone who is obviously trying to contribute positively to the forum? 

Ok - off soapbox now and on to looking forward to Sunday’s matinée performance of Don Q with Lauren Cuthbertson and Matthew Ball.

On 13/06/2019 at 04:04, Naomi M said:

Casting of Japan Tour, Gala Program

https://www.nbs.or.jp/publish/news/2019/06/post-803.html

 

Winter Dreams (in Full)

6/29 Lamb, Muntagirov, Naghdi, Mendizabal 

6/30 Morera, Hirano, Naghdi, Calvert

 

A tribute to Margot Fonteyn (both dates)

Sleeping Beauty Rose Adagio

Nunez

Avis, Kish, Whitehead, Edmonds

 

Manon Bedroom Pas de duex

6/29 Morera, Hirano

6/30 Cuthbertson, Muntagirov

 

Ondine (both dates)

Hayward, Watson

 

Romeo and Juliet act 1 pas de deux (both dates)

Osipova, Corrales

 

Symphony in C

6/29 Kaneko, Nunez, Choe, Naghdi,  Ball, Hirano, Campbell, Zuchetti

6/30 Kaneko, Lamb, Magri, Heyward, Ball, Clarke, Sambe, Acri

 

Sorry if there are any spelling mistakes. 

Thanks Naomi! The tickets I managed to get are for Sunday 6/30 performance.

9 hours ago, DrewCo said:

This is a generalization about the study of literature in American Universities that somewhat takes me up short.  I'm tempted to ask a lot of questions about your education. But I won't...that is,  I would not expect you to answer such questions or feel I even have the right to ask them on a message board! And in the end, I doubt that the answers would be particularly informative either--since it certainly sounds as if one way or another you took some disappointing literature classes--or classes not useful to you--at American University after having taken some you found valuable in your British prepatory education. And that could happen in a lot of different educational contexts.

 

Since I also don't want to go into detail about myself on a message board, I will have to ask you to take it on faith I probably know more about this topic than I do about ballet. Certainly, I have sometimes been very impressed by literary materials I've seen from students in the UK (especially their level of historical knowledge and the polish of their writing)--though of course I see a very limited selection and could not begin to generalize on that basis. But I am still hard put to understand what you are talking about in your post except that you personally had disappointing literature classes in college in the U.S. Does that mean there is a "curated, Museum" like approach to the advanced study of literature in the U.S. in general? I'm sure such things exist--the American academy is vast and very diverse--but as a general description of how literature is taught at American Universities and colleges, it leaves me very puzzled. Based on my experience studying, teaching, and observing in several universities, I don't think it's accurate and I don't think it's fair. There are surely differences between the two educational systems, but it would take a very different kind of analysis to get at the way that plays out. And in the end, I doubt it would cast much light on why a slew of reviews and fan responses to Marston's Jane Eyre skews one way in the UK and another in the U.S./New York. I suspect that expectations about performing arts--opera and ballet adaptations--are playing the bigger role as well as attitudes to choreography as already discussed above in this thread.

 

By the by, Scarlett's Frankenstein seem to me to have gotten a friendlier response from American fans online and even from critics (who gave it "mixed" reviews) than it received on this website or in the British press when it premiered in London.  Audiences overall may react to things differently in different parts of the world, but the differences don't always play out in cleanly predictable ways.

 

 

Of course my post was a generalisation and I said as much.

It doesn’t make me you more right and me wrong and what is largely a subjective matter. My opinions can only be formed from my experience.  You’re reacting as if I claimed I’d done an exhaustive study across the country from the  beginning of time. 

I don’t see what asking me about my educational background would prove even if were to answer any of your questions. However much of an expert you might be, your knowledge would only be based on a period of time and you’ve no idea when I went to school. I’ll just say that I went to what are still considered “good” schools but this means nothing as the standing of a school doesn’t always indicate the quality of its teaching. 

I don’t recall saying my college courses were disappointing - I mentioned the level of analysis that was required and I cited the difference in approach.  My opinion was formed from my interaction with other students in class as well as from friends I made over the years and their experiences compared to mine. I didn’t mention that because I wasn’t trying to claim I had the definitive answer. I didn’t mention my studies in France either that informed my opinion but I didn’t see this as an exhaustive dissertation and as an argument that I had to win. 

I also mentioned that I did not concentrate on literature which  should’ve indicated that I was not making any statements about the study of literature in America.

Now that I’ve been duly shown up for  the non literature expert that I am with my irrelevant experience at some community college in America that I  deigned to relate to this discussion, I’ll leave the comments to the better educated and the better informed.

On 09/06/2019 at 21:11, Angela said:

Okay, I’ll try to explain once more what I meant. I was not talking about story ballets like Swan Lake or Coppelia: that’s what I would call fairy tale ballets of the old French/Russian/Petipa style. Yes, I know, some of them don’t use fairy tales, but they follow the established form of féerie or grand ballet, they tell the story mainly by mime, not in choreographed movement.  

And I don’t count one act ballets or the Ballets Russes short ballets among narrative ballet. I mean two or three act, full-length works. I was talking about literature ballets like MacMillan‘s Manon and Mayerling, Cranko’s Onegin, Neumeier’s Camellias (and the main part of his oeuvre), many works by Roland Petit, some by Alexei Ratmansky, Boris Eifman, even Matthew Bourne, if you like: ballets which adapt a novel or a play, ballets which develop characters in deeper, richer shades than prince gets princess. They are a European development, and a European speciality, that is my theory, and American audiences largely skipped that part of ballet history in the second half of the 20th century.

So if you refer to Balanchine and drop the one act ballets and fairy tale ballets, there’s not much left of narrative ballet. Story-telling, you have to admit, was not his strength. He was a choreographer, THE choreographer for steps, structures, lines, forms – not drama. I think American audiences are just not "trained" in appreciating sophisticated story-telling, psychological shades of characterisation, mirrored or split figures, doppelgangers, all that tricks that try to show what happens in a mind. They are so much better trained in judging forms, steps, and the pure, abstract essence of dance.

I don’t intent to say what is better and I know there are huge differences in style and quality from MacMillan to Petit to Ratmansky or Marston. I just try to find an answer why so many story ballets we like in England or continental Europe can’t make it in New York.

Interesting discussion - now hoping to be able see Marston’s work as soon as I can.

For what it’s worth Angela, I understand what you’re saying and I am inclined to agree with you. I say this as someone with a  British-based pre-university education who attended university in America and lived and worked there for 13 years after graduating university. I also popped back some time after for a couple years to do a graduate degree. Saying “Americans” doesn’t literally mean every single American so of course there will be many people who like narrative ballets but in general perhaps they don’t.

For me the difference in the manner of how literature was taught in university compared to what I did at a high school level was striking. The level of critical analysis and examination I was asked to bring to my work in literature classes in high school was rarely equalled except in a course entitled “Continental Short Fiction”.

Could this be one possible reason for the difference?  I find there is a curated/museum-like approach to European and British literature (and history) that can hinder real appreciation/engagement .

To be clear, I majored in Computer Science major but insisted  on getting as much of a liberal arts education as I could.

23 hours ago, Don Q Fan said:

Wonderful photos! Much better than my attempts with my phone 😂

I really enjoyed the matinée on Friday and it was a day of firsts for me which made it special.

It was my first time sitting in the Donald Gordon tier after having sat in every other section of the ROH over the years. It was my first time seeing the company live this year - I was afraid that jet lag and the 13 hours of travel the day before would mean I’d fall asleep during the performance. It was also My first time ever saying hello to a dancer I admire - Leanne Benjamin was sitting in the same row and I couldn’t help myself when passing by after an interval. Lastly, it was my first time seeing David Hallberg dance although I’ve always wanted to.

I enjoyed Hallberg and Natalia Osipova in A Month in the Country. I did think however,  that he sure made the role look like hard work. It’s been a while since I last saw the piece performed but I do remember dancers like Rupert Pennefather seeming less harried - minor quibble though.

I could feel that Mayara Magri’s Firebird wanted to be free and was doing all she could to free herself from the pesky Ivan. The elevation on her jumps was impressive.

Bravo to Fumi Kaneko for not getting rattled after the slip of her shoe at the beginning of Symphony in C. Bravo to Joseph Sissens for just being a joy to watch. I did think that the 2nd movement was a bit slower than it needed to be but it could’ve been jet lag attacking my senses. It was a lovely performance and even more so as some dancers seemed to have got the better of their reported struggles.

I am quite excited about seeing the company in Tokyo later this month!

7 hours ago, Legseleven said:

Slightly rambling detour comment coming up - it looks from this photo as though Naghdi is shorter than Nuñez and Osipova - and possibly only very slightly taller than Hayward? I have often thought that she isn’t perhaps as tall as she can sometimes appear and that her leg length gives the illusion of rather more height than she possesses. 

 

Although I think this is indeed true - Hayward is standing on pointe in the photo.

2 hours ago, Naomi M said:

 

Are you able to read Japanese?

There is a Japanese ticket exchange/re-sale website where people post their extra tickets and some are selling tickets for the Royal Ballet's gala.

The rule is, you have to sell it no more than the retail price on the ticket. I often sell my extra tickets here. If you can use Japanese this is definitely worth trying.

https://okepi.net/dance/dance.aspx

 

Thank you Naomi!  I am semi literate so I should be able to pick my way through the site. I will definitely give it a try.

On 10/02/2019 at 23:12, Jam Dancer said:

got one ticket for Don Q and as there were no tickets for the gala at all on the NBS website, I was forced to go to Viagogo where tickets in the section before the last were £109. Viagogo whacked on another ¥4250 (£29) for delivery and 2 tickets later I’d paid £297. I think we may rethink the weekend in Yokohama and just schlep in and back home for the performance.

Beyond disgusted and a bit heartbroken to wake up this morning to an email from Viagogo saying that the seller can’t provide the tickets to the RB gala for which they took my nearly £300 back in February😡. Had I understood that there was any chance of this happening I would have kept on looking to get actual tickets instead of the imaginary ones that Viagogo is allowed to put up for sale. 

They are refunding the money I paid but it’s little consolation as it’ll take a miracle for me to get tickets at this late stage. 

I am thinking of trekking to Yokohama on the day but I know this would be nothing more than an exercise in futility - grrr.

On 18/04/2019 at 17:05, Bruce Wall said:

SFB has announced their 2020 season including a new work by the wonderful Cathy Marston, quite rightly identified as a 'MASTER STORYTELLER'   Too right!!  

Also includes the Company premiere of Ratmansky's The Seasons - a co-production with ABT (where it premieres in May) and marking his seventh work in SFB's rep.  

 

https://www.sfballet.org/season/2020-season

I saw this and was hopi it would clarify the latter half of 2019 but  unfortunately it didn’t. No clearer on what’s happening in December 2019/early  January 2020.

23 hours ago, Richard LH said:

 

Jam Dancer,  I wonder if you know if that is mainly an interest in more modern ballet forms, or does it also extend to the classical/neoclassical etc ?  

Given the mixed sources it’s not terribly sophisticated data I’m afraid but yes much of the interest to which I am referring is in classical/neoclassical ballet.

I’ve no idea though if there’s increased interest compared to some other period...

On 14/04/2019 at 19:44, Fonty said:

But isn't this myth largely perpetuated within those groups?  "I know I won't like classical music/classical ballet/opera because that sort of thing is only for wealthy upper class tw**s."  I find it so depressing when I hear this. 

No i don’t think that’s the case. There is usually a vocal minority that tends to hog airtime which leads to people believing that they’ve heard from an entire group when only a few who’ve appointed themselves spokespeople have made their feelings known.

Whilst the naysayers do exist, there are far more people who don’t make those kinds of statements and who simply have not had the exposure, others who are curious or others who think it’s perhaps beyond them and quite a large number of people who are just indifferent. This brings up the dreaded “r”’word, relevance.

These people aren’t necessarily committed fans of the current popular/hip art forms but they don’t think classical music /ballet/opera is relevant to them or to today.  

I don’t know what  the answer in today’s environment of shortened attention spans and what seems to be a lack of  appreciation for history.  What I do know however, from those I know who do dance outreach work is that there is  interest in ballet across groups.

4 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

Penelopesimpson - I agree with much of what you say. The position I’m coming from is simply that I want to see the widest possible pool of talent presenting and performing ballet and opera to the widest possible audience, and I  think we’re a distance away from either.

I agree with this.

I think most people get that the country is 82% white - the percentage is not the issue. 

The issue is that there is definitely talent in the other 18% that never seems to get tapped, encouraged and make it despite the interest and skills. 

There never seems to be much wringing of hands or gnashing of teeth over this. Instead when a few people of different persuasions make it through, they are treated like unicorns. 

The myth that people from certain groups are only interested in certain art forms seems to have become common place.😞 It’s not what I see on the ground when people are exposed to and get the opportunity to participate in different activities beyond what they’re “supposed to do.”

This mistaken perception exacerbated because it is difficult for certain people to get in ( there are matters beyond the usual training being expensive and only a small percentage ever make it and certain groups not having the disposable income). And it’s not only the most obvious ism although that is surely present as it is across society as a whole.

On a related note,  I don’t usually go to the Notting Hill Carnival because it’s become such a bastardised version of what a real West Indian Carnival is meant to be. It (carnival) is usually about dancing (revelry and pageantry) which I love in all of its forms but there is little dancing at Notting Hill (and not much revelry and too little pageantry)... wasn’t aware it was only certain types as most people there don’t look like me.

12 hours ago, alison said:

Traditions notwithstanding, this is so why I hate not having the dancers announced in advance.  I would have loved to have seen that

 

And the rest of the run is now sold out, of course  

I would’ve begged, borrowed and sneaked aboard a London bound flight for that one... I had a sneaking suspicion that was in the works...

What’s the point again?

Well I just bought tickets for the Royal Ballet when they visit Japan in June. I know it must be a huge cost to bring such a large company, costume, sets, etc such a long distance but my goodness, the tickets were eye wateringly expensive! £56 for the cheapest section and I dared to get the next section up which cost me £77.

 I got one ticket for Don Q and as there were no tickets for the gala at all on the NBS website, I was forced to go to Viagogo where tickets in the section before the last were £109. Viagogo whacked on another ¥4250 (£29) for delivery and 2 tickets later I’d paid £297. I think we may rethink the weekend in Yokohama and just schlep in and back home for the performance.

I never complained about ticket prices at home and after I move back (thinking positively) to the UK  I swear I never will complain.  Now it looks like ramen lunches for next month or two after this spending spree. Eek 😬 

On 27/12/2018 at 13:59, Ivy Lin said:

 

My favorite Nutcrackers are George Balanchine's version which really gives very young ballet students a chance to shine, and has a much more intimate Christmas party. I also enjoyed Alexei Ratmansky's version, and Mark Morris's The Hard Nut. Also enjoyed on video the Kent Stowell production.

 

I just find that every year Peter Wright's version gets stuffier. I adored the Collier/Dowell video as well as the version he made for BRB so many years ago. But that video now seems quaint in its simplicity and charm and I think the RB production is overstuffed. Sometimes you get subtraction from addition.

Horses for courses I guess because I have never really taken to George Balanchine’s version despite trying several times when I lived in New York. 

I don’t think there’s a perfect version (disliked ENB’s version) but I’ve come to appreciate the RB’s version.

On 20/12/2018 at 15:19, Sharon said:

An inspiration. R.I.P 🙏🙏🙏

An inspiration and thankfully a role model as well.

On 06/12/2018 at 17:29, Lizbie1 said:

 

Typically, any new development work will go through several stages of testing to try to eliminate any unforeseen problems with it, including being put on what's called a staging environment, which mimics as far as possible the "live" (real) website to make sure it doesn't do something drastic like make the whole thing go down; only when these hurdles have been cleared is it "released" so that it's on the public website. Very often there are specific windows (sometimes only once a month) when this last can happen, as it can be a little like performing surgery: there are protocols involved and you need to have the right people on hand if things go wrong to make fixes or if necessary "roll back" to the last version.

 

I know it sounds long winded, but many serious problems are averted by following this procedure; though it does make me wonder if they're following it how on earth some of the rubbish we've seen already on the new website slipped the net.  Increasingly there's a move to being a lot more flexible about all this, but you need the right systems and people to do that successfully; all the evidence points to the ROH not being in that position.

 

I agree that talk of "releasing the code" isn't very helpful!

 

p.s. I'm not an expert on the subject, but I think what I've said is broadly correct and reflects standard practice.

Spot on Lizzie1! Software development is a bit more complicated than the media makes it seems and I think  ROH probably for itself in a pickle with what seems like some not fully thought through changes so let’s hope they get it right this time.

6 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

I went to both performances yesterday. I'll start off by saying that I was expecting to enjoy Les Patineurs and The Concert a lot more than Winter Dreams: my "MacMillan algorithm" can be expressed simply as "it's all downhill after Manon".

 

However, that prediction was exactly overturned in the matinee. Isabella Gaspirini's fabulous fouettes (better from my point of view than Hinkis' in the evening and absolutely bang on the beat) aside, I found it pleasant enough, but it didn't "come off" for me. The Concert, similarly, was...fine. But Winter Dreams, which I remembered so dimly that I might as well have been seeing it for the first time, was wonderful.

 

Onto the evening, and normal service was resumed. Les Patineurs and The Concert sparkled; Winter Dreams was a drag.

 

So either it was me, or the casts made the difference, or Les Patineurs and The Concert bear repeated viewings and Winter Dreams doesn't, or (probably) some combination thereof. If it's the casting I think the two main differences for me were in having wonderful Laura Morera as Masha and, the real revelation, Akane Takada as Irina. Naghdi was of course very good in the evening, but Takada was dazzling: together with her technical excellence, she really does convey emotion with her whole body - I couldn't take my eyes off of her beautiful expressive arms. I'd never quite got it with Takada before, but I'm now a fully paid up member of the fan club.

I also saw both performances yesterday and I am of a similar opinion regarding Winter Dreams. Laura Morera’s interprétation conveyed much more emotion and made the farewell pas de deux difficult to watch for me. I’ve always liked Akane Takada and thought her to be a lovely lovely dancer so there was less of a surprise there. I think that she has become more comfortable coming outside herself and inhabiting the different characters and that’s

become more apparent.

On 03/10/2018 at 19:21, Lindsay said:

Agree with Bruce that watching Manuel Legris coach Sylvia at the Wiener Staatsballett was a highlight - Nikisha Fogo looked as though she will be an excellent Sylvia.  And in case anyone is so inclined, the Bayerisches Staatsballett video includes Sergei Polunin being coached through a Raymonda variation.

Well you were correct. Apparently she was such an excellent Sylvia that she was promoted to Principal Dancer immediately after her debut performance on Saturday evening (10th)!

Well mixed feelings on this... I’ll be in attendance at a couple of the performances for sure but sure wish they would’ve chosen something else. If I am really lucky perhaps Symphony in C will be one of the gala pieces. That’s two trips to Yokohama then!

18 hours ago, Naomi M said:

 

La Bayadere will be screened in Japan from January 18th. (Mayerling from December 7th, currently I am working on the subtitles for the intermission talk) 

http://tohotowa.co.jp/roh/

Thank you Naomi M!

19 hours ago, toursenlair said:

So glad you liked SFB's Canadian ballerina Frances Chung, Bruce. I'm a huge fan of hers. She can do anything: classical, contemporary and she deserves to be more widely known and appreciated. She will be in the David Dawson piece at Sadler's Wells and will rock it. Here's a youtube clip of her which I hope you will all enjoy:

 

I adore Lambarena and love Frances Chung. I’d like to see the piece live but SFB has always had a bit of strange timing in its season that I’ve only ever managed to see the company abroad and never in it’s home city. 

Passing through London on June 8th 2019 and hoping to fit in a SFB performance  and RB performance on the same day!

😫😢☹️😱😡😔😖 - sorry-just despair and resignation here as won’t get to any of the performances  but loving the reviews! Slinking off to figure out when cinema performance likely to land in Tokyo.

On 14/10/2018 at 01:07, alison said:

 

The latter, as we discovered in Mitchell's obituaries, was a deliberate "political" and artistic decision by Balanchine.  For the Caterpillar, it seems to me that skin colour is a, if not the, major casting consideration.

 

And when was the last time that a white actor was cast as Othello in the UK in any significant production?

Well I am not sure that colour needs to be the major casting consideration for the Caterpillar ...I can’t remember which company but I think Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland will be done by a local company here in Tokyo and I think they may take a different approaches casting.

I am not sure when the last time a white actor was cast as Othello but my surprise was more at the “so normal to have black actors play ‘white’ parts” as that is contrary to the experiences of many of the prominent black actors in the UK who have openly discussed the scarcity of good work in Britain and the fact that they have to go to America...

I imagine that there are also people asking about the last time a Black opera singer in the UK  was cast as Aida in a significant production.