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Sophoife

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  1. Sophoife
    LOL Alison, he's got to do the Ratmansky Cinderella here as well! I must say, the other three Spartacuses (Spartaci?) were nowhere near as bulked up! Also I think because RB doesn't have that Cinderella, Campbell has the whole ballet to learn so will be away for longer. As his partner Leanne Stojmenov is retiring at the end of the Cinderella season (she was the creator of this version of the role), at least, knowing his dates, I know when to book for!
  2. Sophoife
    Kevin has also guested with ABT, dancing des Grieux with Xiomara Reyes, back in 2014. He's a princely prince, or he will be once he's fined down a bit of his Spartacus bulk! Nijinsky 18 months ago versus Spartacus a couple of weeks ago
  3. Sophoife
    I should add, of course, that Soares' injury was not, in fact, a burn! 🔥
  4. Sophoife
    I was in Brisbane, having booked to see Watson Friday, Soares Saturday afternoon and Gartside Saturday night. Soares and Calvert were scheduled to début in their roles on the Thursday. I went to the Insight Friday afternoon at which Campbell and Takada were taken through the first part of the act II pdd, and Calvert the trial scene. At this Insight it was explained that Soares had been injured on Wednesday so Calvert had not danced Thursday, but that the "cover" Hirano was working (being worked?) extremely hard in order to be ready for the Saturday matinée. I understand there was, in fact, a possibility that he wouldn't be and that Gartside and Nuñez would have to double up on the Saturday as well. Speaks volumes for the work ethics of all three, doesn't it, that Gartside and Nuñez were willing if necessary, and that Hirano was in fact able to do it (he'd had one rehearsal as Leontes prior to Soares' injury). Bonelli danced Polixenes in both the Saturday shows; in the afternoon it should have been Hirano with Soares, so an interesting side-effect in that he'd had to re-learn all the Leontes/Polixenes moves from the other side! Wednesday was as scheduled, Watson. Thursday both shows were Gartside/Nuñez. Friday was as scheduled Watson. Saturday matinée was Hirano replacing Soares. Saturday night was as scheduled Gartside. Sunday matinée was as scheduled Watson. Given that Soares' most recent Instagram post at the time was a short video of himself, topless, ironing a shirt and boogying to some Latin music, I did wonder if his injury was a burn rather than anything else 😉
  5. Sophoife
    David says (because he does it every year and I complain every year) that the audience is not just people like me, he's explaining things for the less knowledgeable. Also, all those people wearing T-shirts promoting various upcoming events? Not normal.
  6. Sophoife
    Actually, no. Gartside was promoted PCA in July 2017. Just after pulling the company's nuts out of the fire in Brisbane after Soares was injured, by dancing (with Nuñez) two shows of Leontes (and Hermione) in one day. PCAs are fine for Empress Elisabeth and Bay Middleton, but not for Rudolf it would seem.
  7. Sophoife
    This was mentioned during The Australian Ballet's class (which took place at 11am, later than usual). The co-host and AD David McAllister were annoyingly sitting in chairs between the camera and the dancers, and she asked him if this was the whole company and he said no, they had three classes and for this one day everyone had been given a choice as to whether they wanted to be filmed in class or not. As I understand it, usually principals and senior artists have their own class, while the other two are for everyone else. The class we were shown included dancers of all ranks including principals Robyn Hendricks, Brett Chynoweth and Amy Harris, plus senior artist Jarryd Madden. And Chengwu Guo and Ako Kondo were in Canberra for a gala.
  8. Sophoife
    Given the long-term nature of Watson's absence, I would speculate that in fact Hirano has already had some "just in case" runs with the "Watson" cast, and that Ball may have had some basic learning too. As regards Gartside, I remember wondering why he wasn't dancing Leontes in last season's Winter's Tale and being reminded that he is a Principal Character Artist, by which I think he meant that the PTB don't like to cast PCAs in actual principal dancer roles. By extrapolation I'm suggesting that's why not him as Rudolf.
  9. Sophoife
    No, sorry. The only reason I know the TAB programme is that my subscription brochure arrived today (only ten days late, yay!) and there's a fold-out-and-pull-out calendar for 2019 which shows the dates etc for the whole year, and it included the Paris trip. Although I do hear from a (far more well-heeled) friend that there will be Special Patron and Subscriber Escorted Tours, in other words TAB lending its name to Renaissance Tours or someone (probably Renaissance though as a former long-serving company philanthropy staff member now works escorting Renaissance ballet tours), so at least there will be some people in the audience! Luckily I am deep into planning #ballettourofEurope2019 and included two periods in Paris, one for the end of POB season and tennis and one for this. Can't wait for A Month in the Country. TBH I understand the commercial perspective, however as we haven't had any Robbins for 10 years, I would have loved to see the Robbins festival. TAB are doing nothing for the centenary, however are apparently planning a tribute to Dame Margot Fonteyn, as she and Nureyev were so helpful to the company in its first 15 years, particularly by guesting on overseas tours in order to encourage venues/audiences.
  10. Sophoife
    If anyone would like to see this ballet live, it's been included in The Australian Ballet's July 2019 programme in Paris. At La Seine Musicale for Les Étés de la Danse, July 10-13, 2019. Dates are definite. Book your travel and accommodation now 😉
  11. Sophoife
    If anyone is interested in seeing live the Australian Ballet's production of Ronald Hynd's The Merry Widow, it is part of their July 2019 appearance in Les Étés de la Danse at La Seine Musicale. Performance dates 10-13 July. From 3-6 July they will be performing David McAllister's production of The Sleeping Beauty.
  12. Sophoife
    Thanks BBB. Due to my Chrome issues I guess I'll just have to wait until it's all uploaded to YouTube.
  13. Sophoife
    May I please ask, BBB, what your setup is? Browser, OS etc. Because I can't get fullscreen in either Firefox or MS Edge on Windows 10, and I can't use Chrome because for some reason (probably that my computer is 5+ years old) it slows the system down so far as to be unusable.
  14. Sophoife
    My guess is, given the WBD site mysteriously stopped working this morning Aussie time (I could use it at 0930 AEST but not at 1055 AEST), that the companies involved chose to force us to use Facebook with its tracking and ads. And if no FB account, can't fullscreen stream as the Join Now Or Log In banner prevents it. Oh, and can't view video on mobile phone at all as Facebook doesn't allow live streams on mobile. Cynical, moi?
  15. Sophoife
    He is huge! And with one of the other Spartacuses (Spartaci?), Marcus Morelli, on stage with him, and having seen Jarryd Madden two weeks ago in Giselle, I can say it's only Kevin who's that big. Cristiano Martino debuts this afternoon and from what I've seen of him I think he'll be a very sexy Spartacus 😊 Further opinion: the sheer beauty of the dancing of both Ty King-Wall (Crassus) and Brett Chynoweth (Caius). What a treat.
  16. Sophoife
    That's actually normal for trains from The Country to The City here, Sim. They're not allowed to go faster and if it's hot (like, 30+ C) they are slowed to 80km/h on some parts because the tracks suffer from the heat. I am going to need to see this Spartacus at least another couple of times to properly assess it, and my idea of Crassus comes from Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series, where he was basically likeable! He was co-consul with Pompey the Great and then with Pompey and Caesar. Brief impressions for right now: the haka, the knife-like Tertulla, and the suddenly-touching effect Robyn Hendricks' Flavia had on me in the final scene. Most unexpected, but of course welcome.
  17. Sophoife
    Thank you @Ian Macmillan and @BMC for the casting info. I absolutely ❤️ Leanne Stojmenov and Andrew Killian as Valencienne and Camille. Yes, Njegus is former Camille, AD David McAllister, and Zeta the fabulous former Danilo, Steven Heathcote. Luke Marchant has been a great maître d' for some years now, and Brett Simon retired at the end of June, his last (only) principal role was Danilo (he learned it at 21 with Hong Kong Ballet from John Meehan). Amber Scott didn't dance in Melbourne as she is Otherwise Engaged. We of course have to wait until November to see it.
  18. Sophoife
    That could be exciting. I had the felicity of seeing Bonelli/Morera last year as my first live Mayerling, was so blown away I went to the box office in the interval and bought a ticket for that night (Soares/Cuthbertson). Then, thanks to @Bluebird I got one for Watson/Osipova as well. I would happily have watched any of those casts again, and ... well, the whole trip was timed around those shows, as Mayerling wasn't one of the cinema relays!
  19. Sophoife
    My point about The Merry Widow, exactly, Bruce! Love the Trocks. Once saw them at a matinée, then AusBallet in the evening. Not a great idea 🤣
  20. Sophoife
    I always thought she was considered a suicide because, knowing her weak heart, she yet continued to dance... Pretty uncompromising local priest, but. Hallberg was such a generous partner. It was Stojmenov's debut, too. Originally we were supposed to have Super Surprise Guest Osipova with Hallberg, but she withdrew claiming injury...yet was still able to rehearse and then perform Pure Dance. Just tell us the truth, woman, that you bit off more than you could chew, and that the whole Pure Dance was you so Giselle had to go. We're understanding people. But the young cast of Callum Linnane and Dimity Azoury was something way special. Wow.
  21. Sophoife
    Parallels meant, apparently. Currently on a train (taking 4½ hours to go 300km because not allowed to go over 100km/h) en route to my first viewing of this Spartacus. Thank you for your detailed critique, yet without spoilers! Very neatly done.
  22. Sophoife
    Aww, so pleased you enjoyed it, Ian and jmhopton! Yes, the Sydney Opera House stage is a problem. As originally designed, what is now the Concert Hall was supposed to be the ballet and opera theatre, and unfortunately what is now the Joan Sutherland Theatre has vestigial wings and a quite small stage. One reason we'll never get Mayerling apparently. Other regular venues performed in by TAB (Melbourne's State Theatre, every few years Adelaide's Festival Theatre, every few years Brisbane's QPAC) are bigger, but the company is locked in to a long-term contract to perform at SOH regularly, for longer seasons even than at its home theatre in Melbourne, so ... By the way, from the publicity info, it's impossible to tell who was dancing the four main roles in the recording. Could someone please tell me? Thanks in advance.
  23. Sophoife
    I have to say, that's one of the more curmudgeonly comments I've read lately. "Inconsequential and superficial" - that's a description that might, on a grumpy day, be applied by me to many things, but it doesn't stop them being enjoyed! Yes, the title role was specifically made for a 57 year old Fonteyn so no, there isn't much breadth of steps required for Hanna. However, that's why Camille and Valencienne are so prominent. Their act 2 pdd is really rather lovely. And what exactly is wrong with a ballet looking glamorous, and people enjoying it? Get them in the doors and their bums on the seats with this, or (as jmhopton said) Fille or Coppélia. They'll enjoy it, and be happy enough to come back and see something else. Grow the audience and over time they will develop into more broadly-interested ballet-goers! Quite right. The acting is one of my primary reasons for enjoying it! There are times, dear friends, when we want to be whisked out of ourselves and into a frilly, frothy, glamorous world where Madame Bumblebee is funny, not annoying; where an old man married to a very young woman can accept that she loves him and honours him even though she also loves a younger, handsome man; where a peasant girl can marry a rich man and, widowed, reconnect with her first love; where that first love, embittered by his parents' refusal of her, can rise from the bottom of a bottle to reconnect with her; where a man's touch on a woman's shoulders gives the audience ALL THE FEELS (see photo below); and where everybody returns to themselves as they leave the theatre, smiling, and perhaps humming one of the melodies. Adam Bull and Olivia Bell in The Merry Widow, The Australian Ballet, 2011. Still from promo video on TAB's YouTube channel.
  24. Sophoife
    Village Cinemas is the brand name in Victoria and Tasmania for the chain known as Event Cinemas to you. La Scala is as I said at Palace Cinemas which has a different pricing structure and offers different screening times from the Event/Village chain. Quoting $16 as your price paid at Palace as a gold movie club member isn't the same as saying to the casual viewer (those we need to attract in order to keep screenings viable) "oh it's $24, yes more than a Hollywood blockbuster but it's going to be wonderful". Having spoken to a marketing person at Event HQ today, neither they nor Village will be showing the Bernstein centenary bill and/or The Winter's Tale at all, and apparently they are even reviewing hosting screenings at more than one cinema in each capital city with no regionals next season.
  25. Sophoife
    Hi Sheila, the announcement to which I referred is on La Seine Musicale's Facebook page, it's an hour and 25 minutes or thereabouts of video originally broadcast live. I must thank the French ballet tweeter who drew it to my attention! Unlike this year with the Robbins theme then the PNB stand-alone visit, no mention was made of any theme for 2019 Etés de la Danse.
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