Mary

!!!

Reminds me of the time the puppy got hold of my nightie and ate it. She shouldn't have left that costume lying around......

Would love to see some photos, these descriptions are all so intriguing!

It sounds very enjoyable, thanks for all that entertaining detail, Bruce.

So... how was it then?

I meant to ask you James whether you especially  recommend the Previn SB CD which you mentioned?

 I have had the music on the brain for 3  weeks now. On Saturday I went to the live screening of the Met Traviata- a really really good production I thought that gave  new life to it - marvellous performances, Sonya Yoncheva's voice ringing in my head.

 But next morning I woke up, and the first thing in my head was...Sleeping Beauty! It seems indestructible ...

The more I read about Polunin the more I am reminded of his friend and compatriot, Ivan Putrov.  He, too, decided to go it alone but apart from one show dedicated to male dancers I have heard very little about him since he left the RB.  What is he doing now?  Just the odd 'project or two'?

 

Just another wasted talent?  Sad.

 

Linda

I asked about Putrov ( whose dancing I very much enjoyed) on another thread and he is doing a wide variety of interesting things it seems..producing shows and also dancing with various companies ....now, can I find that post?

Alsion, my email says the timings are 40 - 25 - 25 and end time 10.05pm but it doesn't confirm running order...

Yes, the  live screening is being very slow to sell too.  It does seem  to have been on quite a few times in rceent years and it doesn't perhaps have the appeal to a wider audience . 

A shame. But, having seen it quite often myself, I must admit I would have preferred some different Balanchine. However, I guess it is a very good showcase for  different styles of dancer and will enjoy it for that.

'Explores the progress of civilisation from earliest times-'..another late finish then by the look if it? 

i hope whoever goes will give those of us who couldn't make it some descriptions, as  the whole evening does sound a lot of fun and I really look forward to hearing about it.

What I meant was, toursenlair and now voyager- sorry I was writing rather hastily- for the time-1960s- when the male dancer was sometimes not much more than a handy broomstick- he dances  with his whole body, musicality and a passion for the dance and the music.

i can imagine Polunin will be good at showing this style.

I'm not keen on very large ones .....or too many but I suppose discreet is okay.

 

Yes Polunin is playing a dancer called Soloviev .....apparently a dancer whom Nureyev admired a lot and thought was better than himself.

There is a fabulous youtube clip of Soloviev dancing Sylphides with Makarova- he is so lyrical and musical -dances like a woman.  A truly special dancer and I can see why Polunin is playing him, Look forward to seeing that....I hope there is a lot of dancing in this film!

You did say that- sorry! I have just been watching a 1960s US broadcast version with Fonteyn and Blair. Incomparable Fonteyn in her 40s better than ever.

Fabulous Bluebirds ( Shaw, Sibley) , and pas de trois. A gem! Some rather odd features of this production can be overlooked....

Me too James. I seem to be quite obsessed with SB at the moment.

Is your 1977 clip the same as the 1978 broadcast with Merle Park as Aurora? I saw this production as a teenager  but my memory is very dim.  There is a  rather poor quality full length version still available. I've just been watching the whole thing again, looking out for things mentioned in this thread. Mason is indeed the very best Carabosse imaginable, and genuinely frightening as she should be.  Porter is really beautiful but her variation isn't quite perfect- is it? I thought she fumbled it very slightly in the all too familiar fashion!

Talking of speed,  Park in the rose adagio is  positively nifty.

Another word springs to mind as  dfferentiating perfomance style of that era though- naturalness. There is a sense that these people are dancing together and we are watching,  rather than that the ballerina is showing off, using some male dancers  for support, and we are being impressed.

Floss's point about feeling- 'there is still a way to go..she is not extending/stretching to her utmost'- is also very helpful- that is definitely  part of it..the body is not  taut with tension like a bowstring,  but a little more relaxed and thus able to move more flexibly and rhythmically.

I agree about the LF costume. I didn't like the over-fussy tutu in this run  very much. I think it should be just lilac- though as sparkly as you like.

Back to youtube now..What else have you found?

Sounds intriguing. But I have vivid memories of the last one I went to starting 45 minutes late! and then each interval was about the same.. and the dancer I really wanted to see didn't come on until nearly 10.30pm, followed by a desperate dash to get the last train home.. That on top of not having a clue who we are going to see -All a bit too much excitement.....

I just watched Dame Beryl-: she is marvellous, yes, it can be done.   So very light on her feet and having that very correct air of being suspended from above by invisible strings.  It  is just a piece of cake for her.

A fine dancer and a fine lady.

Oh I don't know. I would prefer to see things mixed up a bit - a lot - more.

But maybe not Rudolf.

I love the originality of your ideas though Bruce.

It is an interesting discussion emeralds, don't go.

I agree- Acosta is the only one in the past 30 years or so whose name my friends, family and aquaintances  knew.

Looking at it another way, nowadays worldwide fame is often more of a curse than anything, - and usually based on matters that only lightly touch on the arts...or any solid achievement..so maybe it's a good thing for the dancers not to have it?

But not such a good thing that so many people who go to theatre, films, art galleries and are interested in the arts, are rather ignorant of dance. I too have been surprised that  certain people who virtually live in the National Theatre did not know BRB was separate from the Royal Ballet, had never heard of ENB at all,  and also thought Bolshoi and Marinsky were one and the same. It has also annoyed me that some of my  literary friends (my own background) look down on dance. I never give up  trying to show them the error of their ways.

Yes about right. Cope's mature performances were my personal favourites. 2005 stands out ( when he won Critics Circle I think  was it ?).

I once met him and told him that, and he grimaced and just said he thought he did it 'badly- oh all right but not as well as I should have'- it is such an incredibly tough and exhausting, draining role.

Lovely, modest man. He was sensational in it.

Comments above make me think I should really have booked for Bayadere as well as SL and DQ... - is that right?

Ballet forum is an expensive habit!

On sale for Friends. super seats are not different seats I think they include a programme  and champagne- I believe--?

I'm spending the evening watching Lilac Fairies on youtube ( someone has to do it) and the amount of variation is striking indeed. In choreography as well as performance style and technique.

I am beginning to think the RB should change the steps,  because it is more important that the LF keeps her authority as representing the power of goodness triumphant, and ' commands the stage' - is that what Floss said?- that's it exactly-  by not muffing, fluffing, stumbling etc, than that particular steps are danced- isn't it?

Yes- and no. It is always a pleasure and a thrill to see them in this country as I don't pop over to St Petersburg that often... or in fact ever, and they don't do live screenings...and is it likely they will field poor quality Principal dancers? Don't answer that! 

I have to agree, it spoils an important moment- and the serene Lilac Fairy's face wincing with anxiety doesn't really help either, but can you blame them, if they don't feel comfortable with the steps.

All agog to know!

Yes, a shame the presentation was poor, as it was a really good event - and with such top quality dancers. They do deserve the respect of having their names correctly pronounced.