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Sophoife

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  1. Sophoife
    I think the link you're looking for is this one. 😉
  2. Sophoife
    Well, Grade 8 is the highest Graded level. And would we really expect the Mail to know about and/or understand the Vocational Grades? 😉
  3. Sophoife
    Let's not forget either that he is scheduled to dance Jean de Brienne in Munich with the Bayerisches Staatsballett next weekend, and Spartacus with the same company in March. Zelensky was, if I remember correctly, one of Polunin's mentors/supporters after he first left the Royal Ballet. Does he share Polunin's publicly-expressed views or will he cancel these contracts?
  4. Sophoife
    Actually that's The Australian Ballet. 1994 recording, David McAllister and Fiona Tonkin (current AD and ballet mistress) as Colas and Lise. Lanchbery arrangement, Ashton choreography, Lancaster sets and costumes. Not done by company since 2004.
  5. Sophoife
    ...at 51, I made my first appearance on the stage of the Palais Garnier... ... incidentally Matthew Morrison is best known outside New York for having starred in Glee, but he has worked extensively on Broadway, and has a Tony nomination under his belt. So he has "industry credibility".
  6. Sophoife
    Graeme Murphy's reimagining Nutcracker: the Story of Clara is the one you need to see, then, Fonty...
  7. Sophoife
    Graeme Murphy's reimagining of it as the dying dreams and memories of an elderly Ballets Russes dancer, living in exile in Australia, does have grey-overcoated Bolshevik mice/rats etc... The second act is her memories of touring life with the Ballets Russes...the Chinese dance becomes a stage full of t'ai chi practitioners entrancing the glamorous visitor in her rickshaw.
  8. Sophoife
    Second and third all the above comments. Thoroughly enjoy keeping up with the UK and European ballet worlds through this forum and Dansomanie - and on BcF I don't have to rearrange my brain in order to read! Huge thanks to the mods as I know from my own experience how hard it can be at times. Also thanks to all lovely members with whom I have and hope to continue to interact and share enjoyment and memories.
  9. Sophoife
    I was so blown away by Aurum (which Sydney sees in 2019) that I couldn't squeeze these two in, but I will heartily second your nomination of both. For me, Miss Stojmenov was the most true of this generation of TAB principals - her acting was never forced, her emotions always genuine and communicated beyond the footlights. Mr Hallberg was a wonderfully generous partner in that one-off Giselle. And Mr Campbell as Cinderella's Prince reminded us of what we have been missing since Daniel Gaudiello retired so precipitately and prematurely. Miss Stojmenov and her husband, former soloist Marc Cassidy, are moving to her home town of Perth where they will teach future generations. Side note: at one stage in his teens, Mr Campbell was taught by Mr Cassidy.
  10. Sophoife
    Merry Christmas to all... In no particular order: Alice Topp's Aurum, commissioned and performed by The Australian Ballet, with stunning performances by the entire cast (to be seen at the Joyce Theatre in New York in March 2019). I saw two casts and each was brilliant in its own way so I'm giving each cast a gong. The joint débuts of Callum Linnane and Dimity Azoury as Albrecht and Giselle, chosen and coached by Maina Gielgud. Incredibly emotional. The Royal Ballet in the cinemacast of La Bayadère - the entire company. Kirsty Martin's artistry in her return to the stage after seven years as Hanna in The Merry Widow for The Australian Ballet.
  11. Sophoife
    I keep seeing this. In Melbourne this year, as usual, at the State Theatre in the Victorian Arts Centre there were ticket checks at the points of entry into the auditorium but not otherwise and no bag checks. By contrast I was in Sydney last week and access to the Joan Sutherland Theatre at the Sydney Opera House has changed radically in 12 months: now there are lines of people being shuffled through physical bag checks and being "wanded". The zip on the bag I was using is dodgy so I said to the man "I'll open that please, if I break it that's fine, if you do I'll be annoyed," and he heaved an enormous sigh and told me he was required to open the bag, not me, but he let me do it. I had to ask permission to go through the barrier to drop some flowers at stage door. Yet there were squads of non-theatregoers wandering around the same area from the stairs on the waterside and no security on that side! Stupid. We then had to show our tickets before even going up the stairs to the actual foyer, and again at the next barrier, and again at the actual theatre door. Surely there has to be some happy medium?! Oh, and those patrons trekking down to the one rather useless lift which only takes one to box office level not even to foyer level - no security checks.
  12. Sophoife
    Having just returned from the first Australian cinemacast of this production, I can find very little to say that hasn't already been said. Miss Fumi Kaneko's Rose Fairy was a delight, Miss Anna Rose O'Sullivan was a pleasure to watch and remarkably similar in feature to Miss Elizabeth McGorian as her mother, Mr Marcelino Sambé seemed full of joy and love and bounce, and the utter perfection of Miss Marianela Nuñez and Mr Vadim Muntagirov in the grand pas de deux was only "wrong" in one respect: I've always seen the Sugar Plum Fairy as being serene, and Miss Nuñez simply radiated joy. The transformation scene is not as impressive as the Birmingham Royal/Australian Ballets' version partly because it's at the back of the stage I think. And also because "our" tree is truly enormous by the end. Those creepy angels are still creepy, and White Lodge pupils' delight notwithstanding, there are far too many children on stage in the battle scene. I think they're largely there to make the tree look bigger in comparison. The blonde and/or frosted wigs in act II are an abomination and should be done away with forthwith. I also find the Flowers' tutus too similar to the Mirlitons' and would welcome some deeper colour perhaps in one or the other. I've saved the best for last: no-one swirls a cloak like Mr Gary Avis, and even though I dislike/find irritating the Hans-Peter storyline, the moment where he clasped his restored nephew to his manly bosom at the very end did in fact bring a tear to my eye. If I go again tomorrow, will I get to see another cast with which to contrast? 😉
  13. Sophoife
    Mr Gartside also said no Winter Dreams either.
  14. Sophoife
    Hmm...but how much interacting does SPF Cavalier actually do? Pretty much just with SPF? Or has he not danced that yet with one of the available ladies?
  15. Sophoife
    Is Mr Campbell not being considered at all? He is only in Sydney until Boxing Day...
  16. Sophoife
    Everything @jmb wrote so eloquently and more. Alexander Campbell's petit allegro entrance then the rest of his beautifully romantic and impeccably danced performance. The original Prince in this production, Daniel Gaudiello (met at interval) commented that he was the only other Prince he'd seen dance all the original choreography exactly as it had been made. Leanne Stojmenov's performance. Ingrid Gow's fabulous facial expressions. Dana Stephenson's wonderfully spiky Stepmother. Steven Heathcote as poor sad drunk Papa (I love him so much I will mention his appearance even though it was just a couple of hugs). Franco Leo's terribly terribly old and terribly terribly doddery ?butler. The delightfully unexpected meeting with the equally delightful aforementioned @jmb at stage door... And Alexander Campbell held the carpark lift open for us (revealed with his explicit permission and with the encouragement of the kind lady wot give me a lift back to my 'otel). And thank you to @Bluebird for a delicious lunch in delicious company.
  17. Sophoife
    Our 1630 flight took off at 2230. Thanks to all kind enquirers, I'm in my Sydney hotel room now.
  18. Sophoife
    Meanwhile there's a thunderstorm in Albury, the plane supposed to have taken us to Sydney half an hour ago hasn't even landed yet.
  19. Sophoife
    ...or as Joyce Grenfell might have said, "Now, children, we're all going to sit very very quietly and make sure our ears and eyes are working very very hard ... no, George, don't do that ... and now that we are all sitting very very quietly ... no, George ... and now I'm clicking on the casting link so we can all see which of the marvellous Royal Ballet dancers is going to be on the stage and dancing when we go to the theatre. Yes, Camilla, there will be ladies on their tippy-toes. Yes, just like that. Now, we're all sitting very very ... Camilla, I said sitting ... and I'm clicking on the link and ... oh. Very well, children, everyone's been very very quiet for quite long enough now, I think we'd better do some dancing of our own. Who can dance like a snowflake today? Camilla? Sophie? No, George, don't do that ..." With apologies to the late Mrs Grenfell, but I do hope Richard Addinsell was at the piano for this performance! 😉
  20. Sophoife
    Oops sorry I meant that Luke Jennings "probably...has too many plates spinning and has had to carefully place one down."
  21. Sophoife
    (re Luke Jennings' retirement from the Observer/Guardian) Probably given that his originally self-published novella Villanelle took off so well and is now the critically-acclaimed (haha - meaning funny that a critic gets critical acclaim) Killing Eve TV series, with one of my favourite actresses, the Canadian Sandra Oh in the Eve role, he has too many plates spinning and has had to drop one?
  22. Sophoife
    @The Traveling Ballerina How great that despite a lifetime's experience, one can still revel in a different take on an old favourite. Funnily enough BW cdb member Dominic Ballard comes from the Albury-Wodonga area, my current home, and he told me in mid-year it was a Nutcracker to delight in!
  23. Sophoife
    @LinMMI remember telling Miwako about seeing Miyako Yoshida guesting in Sydney in Madame Butterfly (Stanton Welch) in the mid-90s and her saying Yoshida was her idol and wishing they'd revive it. They did. She got to dance it (and be the image of the production) and was beautiful.
  24. Sophoife
    Yes to the first and no to the second. She came to the Australian Ballet School at 16, and graduated into the company, dancing for us for 18 years with great beauty and technique. She retired at the end of 2016, dancing Swanhilda with Chris Rodgers-Wilson (ex-BRB) as her Franz.
  25. Sophoife
    Thanks! But you spelled my last name wrong 😉 mind you, it's a new one on me - usually people write "Cambell"! (Er, yes, Sophoife is a virtually unpronounceable made-up word, combination of Sophie and Aoife, neither of which is my actual name) I will enthuse too but will be sniffling as I write because I will have seen Leanne Stojmenov's final show and one of Lana Jones' last few shows. @jmb I hope you're going to talk about all the casts you see...and yes, isn't it a great production. I remember the première with Stojmenov and Daniel Gaudiello...
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