Jump to content

Sophoife

Links_team
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,437

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Sophoife

  1. Sophoife
    I for one am happy to put my name to a criticism, and have done so both here and on an external site. Possibly I'm happy so to do because I don't have a child who dances, but I agree, if a thing is wrong in one's opinion, one should speak up, identifying oneself. Anna Campbell (with no relations who dance, unless you count my nieces with a different surname who allegedly perform hip-hop but all I can see is two kids (not them đŸ€Ł) out the front doing moves and the bulk of them standing at the side or the back stomping their feet)
  2. Sophoife
    My post under my real name (carefully not mentioning names or nationalities) underneath the article in question: Anna Campbell 8th November 2018 at 12:02 pm “Ballet requires so much more than the physical and technical ability to execute a step or series of steps. I am not alone in feeling that some competitions foster a culture that fails to encourage the development of artists – where technique is emphasised over artistry and students seek to reach extremes before they have mastered the basics. We see audiences agog at the elaborate physical tricks on display. That audience should be looking for an expressive dancer trying to communicate emotion, dynamics, musicality, storytelling ability, alongside an accomplished, clean technique relative to their age. Isn’t this what the art-form is truly about?” But you gave a scholarship to your Upper School (for 16-19 year olds) to a 14 year old girl, now 15, whose public Instagram is an example of everything you are saying here is inappropriate or extreme. I still do not understand how you are doing one thing and saying something almost completely different.
  3. Sophoife
    I could smell the hypocrisy from here so I posted a comment, moderation of which I await with bated breath: "This sounds very positive for child development and support. Except it comes from a man at the head of a school which brags on Instagram that it will be recruiting students from "selected international competitions", and who himself spends considerable time on competition judging panels. I don't understand."
  4. Sophoife
    DD Driver, unless either Stojmenov or Campbell has to pull out, there won't be any changes to a guest artist's scheduled performances in my experience watching this company. jmb, if you look at my Instagram way back to when Kobborg and Cojocaru guested in Manon with what I think was his final des Grieux, you'll find a photo of geek me totally grinning like a loon next to Kobborg. Strictly for identification purposes please 😉
  5. Sophoife
    Thank you very much jmb that makes you a hero in my book (although I'd already had the dates privately but was asked specifically not to share). He will be partnering Leanne Stojmenov, Ratmansky's original Cinderella in this production, in her final performances before retiring. I shall be there on the Friday night. BcF meetup at stage door after?
  6. Sophoife
    Thank you! PĂŹobaireachd in the Gaelic literally means "piping", but in general is used to denote classical piping - salutes, gatherings and laments - called CĂšol MĂČr, or great music, while the pipe tunes with which more people are familiar (marches, reels, jigs etc) are called CĂšol Beag, or little music. Flowers of the Forest is CĂšol MĂČr and Scotland the Brave is CĂšol Beag. Okay back to topic now...
  7. Sophoife
    I'm sure there's an appropriate PĂŹobaireachd somewhere...
  8. Sophoife
    Lyndsey Winship's review, unlike Mark Monahan's five-star award in the Telegraph, at least didn't say you were enjoying "Gamzatti’s intoxication at her power over Solor and Gamzatti"!
  9. Sophoife
    Le Tricorne or El sombrero de tres picos to give it the music's title certainly survived elsewhere...I have a DVD of POB dancing a Ballets Russes tribute programme from 2009: Le spectre de la rose (Mathias Heymann and Isabelle Ciaravola), Le Tricorne (Marie-AgnÚs Gillot and José Martinez), L'AprÚs midi d'un Faune (Nicolas Le Riche and Eve Grinsztajn), and Petrouchka (Benjamin Pech (Petrouchka), Clairemarie Osta (Ballerina) and Yann Bridard (the Moor). And wowzas MAG and Martinez!!!
  10. Sophoife
    Oh *brass* players...! Loo break. With a beer on the way back. (former double bass player here who was frequently forced to dodge trombonists' spit buckets...er..."water receptacles") 😂
  11. Sophoife
    Chacun-e Ă  son goĂ»t as they say... I agree with you about some Leibovitz but this one particularly I find delightful 😉
  12. Sophoife
    Oh Penelope and Jan, is this a cold image by Annie Leibovitz? 😍 Ella Fitzgerald by Annie Leibovitz, Los Angeles, 1988
  13. Sophoife
    Rob I don't think I've ever seen pre-season casting for Don Quixote that includes all the characters you mention. At most Kitri, Basilio and the Don. Dream sequence Dulcinea is usually danced by Kitri, as it is supposedly because of her resemblance to his ideal (Dulcinea) that the Don helps Kitri.
  14. Sophoife
    From reading the school's website, the aptitude test is the dance audition. First submit the application form, with video, and with copies of her last two school reports (Schulzeugnisse translates to certificate here but it's actually a report), then if they're interested they'll give an audition date. As far as the CEFR test or proof thereof is concerned, why not email them and ask? I'm pretty sure they'll provide an English-language email reply.
  15. Sophoife
    I have been told by the AD of Australian Ballet that the opinion is that the stage of the Sydney Opera House theatre is too small to accommodate the sets. And a big production like Mayerling would have to run in both Melbourne and Sydney, and that AB is locked in to using the Opera House on a long-term contract. I understand that to break that contract and use, say, the Capitol Theatre, would be prohibitively expensive, and that to add an extra Sydney season and book the Capitol would be logistically difficult given the existing performance commitments of the company.
  16. Sophoife
    I didn't read John's comment like that. I read it as being an alternative view. Surely what the forum is all about? Discussion not imposition? All this waxing lyrical is reminding me so strongly of April 28 last year, fresh off the plane from Oz, never seen Mayerling live, and Bonelli and Morera were the first cast I saw and I wrote then how sympathetic a Rudolf I thought he was, and was really impressed how different his and Soares' Rudolfs (seen on the same day) were. I wish I wish I wish Lady M would let us have it here.
  17. Sophoife
    Hehehe. The Stuttgart shop sells tissues branded Die Kamelien Dame.
  18. Sophoife
    Not knowing which RB dancers are married, nor to whom, I offer you https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_barons_in_the_peerages_of_Britain_and_Ireland from which to make your better guesses 😉
  19. Sophoife
    Almost. You guys are getting Jackson as SPF Cavalier (Australian Ballet has Sir Peter Wright's older Nutcracker, the one without Drosselmeyer's nephew, basically all Jackson has to learn is the grand pas). We on the other hand are getting Campbell for at least two weeks if not longer, he will dance the Prince in Ratmansky's Cinderella, a whole ballet to learn and one moreover in which he will be partnering the original eponymous heroine in her final season before retirement, meaning Leanne Stojmenov is hanging up her pointe shoes in December. He won't dance more than four, maybe five performances though: there are 23 performances in all. This by the way is when I get actually angry at TAB for not putting up casting a month or so in advance, in terms of Sydney, December, expensive! And last-minute Sydney, December, extremely expensive - as in travel and accommodation alone about the same as a return economy flight to London.
  20. Sophoife
    For example, look no further than the Zeffirelli film. John McEnery was a far more memorable Mercutio than Leonard Whiting was a Romeo, however pretty LW was. Oh and Bruce Robinson was extreeeeemly pretty as Benvolio, and Michael York rather prettier than at other times as Tybalt. But for me the memorable person was Mercutio. The most un-pretty of the lot! đŸ€Ł
  21. Sophoife
    Closer to home @DD Driver, Isobelle Dashwood of Australian Ballet is I think 5'10" maybe even a bit taller, and Yuumi Yamada is not quite 5'0". Clearly the current AD, whatever his other failings may or may not be, doesn't have an ideal height for female dancers! Also, that audition call for Bayerische Staatsballett is weird. Their principal Yonah Acosta is 5'8", yet wouldn't qualify if he were required to audition!
  22. Sophoife
    Thank you so much Jan. Achingly romantic is something we never had the opportunity to see Tzu-Chao do in Oz, and now I just want to get on a plane and see the entire Sadler's Wells season, as you've whetted my appetite for all casts, and AusBallet hasn't done Fille since 2004 (I couldn't get to Brisbane for QldBallet's, and anyway it's not Ashton it's Greg Horsman).
  23. Sophoife
    On reflection the person who assaulted me knew full well why they had been tapped on the shoulder: when they launched their tirade, I hadn't yet said even "Excuse me"! So obviously it was their habit, and they'd been told before they were inconveniencing others but didn't care, and were now tired of being interrupted. Probably all my fault for being a foot shorter, choosing a seat behind them, and having the temerity to want to actually see what I'd paid to see. With reference to the above quote, I read it as saying that people will come into the house who are not the sit-quiet-and-behave regulars, but people who are less...is passive the right word, or maybe polite... about bad behaviour, meaning they will not hesitate to call it out! Now you've obviously taken the completely opposite meaning...isn't it interesting how we all interpret written language differently! I got in a bit of a discussion on Twitter last year for taking what the OP then said loud and clear was the wrong meaning, and yet both of us had supporters in the sense that some saw the post the way I saw it, some the way the OP said it was. I agreed I may have misinterpreted, the OP agreed their response had been inflammatory and we all calmed down, but it certainly made me think.
  24. Sophoife
    Oh good luck with that with some people. I had possibly my most distressing experience ever in a theatre last year. I quietly tapped the person on the shoulder only to have my wrist forcefully grabbed and my arm pulled so I was forced almost head to head with this person. I said, "I only wanted to ask you to please sit back in your seat so I can actually see the stage, please" and this person said "I will sit how I effing want to sit, you have no effing right to effing touch me I will effing have you for assault, now effing leave me alone and eff off." They then released my wrist in such a way that I was almost thrown back into my seat. Now I am hefty though short and that took some force. I did of course report to the usher at the interval, who was suitably shocked and found me another seat. I wish I had reported the person to the police as I did have a lovely bruise bracelet the next day. What stunned me was the complete non-reaction of any of the neighbouring patrons - in my row and the one in front - to a definite act of violence. I was crying with pain and shock and the person two seats to my right leaned over and asked me to please be quiet. It would have caused more disturbance if I had tried to leave as I was in the middle of the row, in a theatre with side aisles only.
  25. Sophoife
    I know Australian Ballet sells used pointe shoes in their online shop: you used to be able to choose your dancer from a drop-down list and the prices were flexible depending on your choice. It's now $99/pair and no choice is available. Given their heavily-promoted partnership with Bloch, it's funny how many use Freed, and half a dozen are now using Gaynor Minden.
×
×
  • Create New...