bertrande

I was there on Monday night too and my sentiments echo OneSwan's. I had a thoroughly enjoyable evening, and thought Osipova, Simkin and Seo acquitted themselves beautifully. Someone has said that Messner looked stiff and uncomfortable for Dawn and I agree, she was not at her best. The corps also looked untidy and disorganised at parts, but the principals held up the show that night.

I am one of her fans. She has a very distinct presence and it was a pleasure seeing her in La Bayadere (both as a solo shade and as the corps dancer leading the shades down the ramp) and various other roles. I think management is allowing her to develop slowly but surely - compared with Zhongjing Fang, I think she's been given more opportunities albeit at a more measured pace and not in spurts. I can't recall off-hand but wasn't she the RB's representative at the Eric Bruhn competition? I've followed her career with much interest and I too hope she'll get promoted sooner rather than later!

Yes, I think Kristin Sloan left and came back as a corps member didn't she? I think Ringer was a soloist when she left and came back but my memory is hazy.

THANK YOU for the news. This has made my day - I absolutely adore Lea Salonga. I know I don't post much but I lurk a fair deal and couldn't resist reading this thread as Les Mis is one of my favourite musicals - must have seen it close to 20 times, and I'm not even in London or New York! As it turns out, I will be stationed in London for 6 months next year - looks like my excursion to NYC (originally planned only to catch NYCB and ABT) has become a few shows more expensive!

No Korbes yet again in any solo role! Has anyone seen her in the corps? I really hope she's not being overlooked this season in favour of the younger dancers.

Hmm..haven't seen Korbes cast in any role for the last 2 weeks. Has anyone see her in the corps? And Martins is using Rachel Piskin and Tiler Peck quite a lot! Good to see Hyltin getting more roles as well..

Does this look strange? Abergel performing both Hot Chocolate and Coffee..has this ever happened before I wonder.. or perhaps it was a bona fide mistake on the part of the press office.

Ari, it seems that Joshua Tuifua looks young to everybody! I was in London last year and saw him in something and I thought to myself "that's a young dancer the RB could develop". On the contrary, he's actually been with the RB for more than a decade and would qualify as one of the RB's more senior corps members. Akin to say Amanda Edge and Elizabeth Walker for NYCB.

Wasn't Korbes cast all over the place before she got injured? She's still inching her way back into the repertory and although I'd love to see her get promoted, I think I can swallow it if she waits another season or so...as long as she doesn't turn into another case like Belinda Hatley! :S

Oops..I wasn't clear about which 'Ball' I was talking about- I meant April Ball, who's not with any major company after the Suzanne Farrell Ballet ended its tour. She was described in reviews as the strongest dancer in the whole company and I don't think that's too far off... If anyone has information as to where she's dancing now, please share! Thanks.

Does anyone have a clue where these three dancers are now? I think Kovatch is with Festival Ballet but I can't be too sure..and Ball just disappeared from the radar after the Suzanne Farrell Ballet ended its tour. Any input would be appreciated. On another note, I'm surprised that Shannon Parsley has left her soloist position in MCB to take up a corps de ballet position in BB- her strong performances during the Suzanne Farrell Ballet tour made me think she was a soloist somewhere..it was a big surprise when I checked the Boston Ballet website this evening!

It seems that April Ball has been garnering very positive reviews for her performances with the Suzanne Farrell Ballet. To all those who know the hierarchy of this 'ad-hoc' ballet company, does being a soloist with the company mean she only dances soloist roles and no principal ones? From the repertoire and reviews, it seems as if the hierarchy is very strictly adhered to and soloists do not perform in the corps de ballet; neither do they perform the leads in the 'bigger' ballets. Is there any truth in that? I must admit I was more than a little surprised when I saw that Ball had accepted a position as a soloist with the company after having been a popular and well-received principal with Boston Ballet.

Hmm..I went to the website but in 2000, Fang is not listed as a winner- was she ever one? Yuriko Kajiya's name appears on the winners' list but not Fang.

Farrell Fan, thank you for your kind words. The ballet does closely follow the outline of the ballet. Lanchberry (the man who adapted the score for ballet) changed the positions of 2 segments of the score but as far as I could tell, nothing much was amiss.

Thought this might interest some posters here because the production involved dancers from the National Ballet of Canada, Houston Ballet and the Australian Ballet- a pretty international cast by any standards. I attended the performances on 16 October and 17 October. The cast list was as follows: 16/10 Butterfly: Xia Haiying Pinkerton: Nicholas Paul Leschke Suzuki: Sakura Shimizu Goro: Mohd Noor Sarman Sharpless: Jacek Bres 17/10 Butterfly: Goh Chan Hon Pinkerton: Geon van der Wyst Suzuki: Sakura Shimizu Goro: Steven Woodgate Sharpless: Jacek Bres I really liked Welch's choreography, especially Act 2. Act 1 didn't flow quite as well and the problem was evident both nights I saw it. The pace tended to drag a little in the first Act, especially the section prior to the Wedding Ceremony. The ballet is a straightforward story-ballet with few opportunities to showcase the talents of individual dancers save the principals. There were no extended solo bits but a lot of corps work, which worked fine with me. Despite the star billing of the 17/10 performance, I felt the show on 16/10 moved me more. Was moved to tears when Butterfly killed herself and that came from sitting in the 2nd circle! I was in the stalls the following night and the projection somehow didn't come through. The performance was less affecting, and my sentiments were echoed by the muted applause given by the audience. On the 16th, whistles and cat calls were heard at the close of each act, and not just when the principals came forward to take their bows. For what it's worth, standing ovations were also more spontaneously given on the night of the 16th. Xia Haiying (one of the nominees for this year's Benois de la danse) may not have been as technically complete as Goh Chan Hon but her performance was rich in dramatic prowess one could note the fine characterisation which she brought to the role. She was sweet and tender without being too childish and her anguish was heart-wrenching. Her arms are also the most fluid I've ever seen, absolutely liquid and boneless- her port de bras was exquisite. Her balances were not quite as steady and her legs are quite muscular when compared to her upper body but she more than made up for it with her wonderful artistry and musicality. Goh totally didn't reach me in Act 1. She was technically amazing but I felt her performance did not project; I felt nothing for the sweet innocent young thing on stage. Perhaps she was too comfortable in the role and that transformed into complacency. In any case, it was not memorable. She redeemed herself, however, in Act 2, when she was all energy and emotion. There, technique and drama met and fused, resulting in a powerful powerful closure. I loved her risk-taking and her balances and only wished she'd invested more in the first Act. There was not much to choose between Leschke and van der Wyst although I preferred Leshcke's portrayal. He was more earnest than flippant in the Wedding Scene, which made his remorse at the end of the ballet more believable. van der Wyst was the better partner amongst the two and I felt his characterisation was well thought-out, although there were lapses in technique in the first Act. Among the secondary characters, Woodgate's Goro was hilarious and rightfully deserved the applause he received at the end of the show. On the whole, the ballet is well-worth a watch, even two, although I believe some tweaking as to the pace can be done to further tighten the piece. Hope this hasn't put anyone to sleep- I'm more at ease giving theatre reviews than ballet critiques. :sweating: As a side-note, has anyone noticed that Puccini's score during Ora a Noi very closely mirrors 'Bring Him Home' from Les Mis? Some of the phrases are identical and the structure of the piece is very similar as well. For those who've seen Butterfly, it's the bit where Suzuki and the Butterfly double perform the shadowplay behind the screens while waiting for Pinkerton to arrive.