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Nehemiah Kish joins the Royal Ballet


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The Royal Ballet has announced that Nehemiah Kish, currently with the Royal Danish Ballet, will be joining the company as a Principal at the start of next season. Kish has been with the RDB for the last two seasons, and before that of course he was a principal with the National Ballet of Canada.

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The Royal Ballet has announced that Nehemiah Kish, currently with the Royal Danish Ballet, will be joining the company as a Principal at the start of next season. Kish has been with the RDB for the last two seasons, and before that of course he was a principal with the National Ballet of Canada.

Is a current principal(s) leaving?

I would have thought they had enough male principal dancers.

No offence intended to Nehemiah Kish.

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Is a current principal(s) leaving?

I would have thought they had enough male principal dancers.

No offence intended to Nehemiah Kish.

I would assume Samodurov will be off the roster at the end of the year from what I've read in a few places, at the least.

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The Royal Ballet has announced that Nehemiah Kish, currently with the Royal Danish Ballet, will be joining the company as a Principal at the start of next season. Kish has been with the RDB for the last two seasons, and before that of course he was a principal with the National Ballet of Canada.

Is a current principal(s) leaving?

I would have thought they had enough male principal dancers.

No offence intended to Nehemiah Kish.

Maybe Monica Mason thinks they need some back-up in the partnering department. Samodurov has danced very little (at all?) since his injury of several years back and he was a stalwart of the partnering repertory. Ed Watson has made a name for himself in the MacMillan and McGregor repertory but he hardly dances the 19th century repertory (which requires a lot of partnering.)

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I sincerely hope that Viacheslav Samodurov's links to the Royal Ballet are not going to be completely severed as he has the potential to become an outstanding choreographer, something the RB is in sore need of. He has been plagued by injuries since he joined the RB though which is a great shame as he used to be a notable virtuoso at the Kirov.

Edward Watson is a very remarkable dancer but my great admiration for him doesn't extend to his forays into the classical rep.

Monica Mason has been responsible for some very curious choices regarding the importing of male dancers, although I've never seen Mr Kish in a major role myself, I am led to believe he didn't exactly set the stage alight in Copenhagen.

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There does seem to be a pattern emerging in Mason's external hirings policy. She appears to like them tall, dark and anodyne. (though I haven't seen Kish dance, so can't include him in that.)

The problem is that though the RB does seem to be top-heavy with male principals, none of them are the whole package in any way shape or form (and apart from Pennefather & Watson) none are RB trained/schooled products. Acosta is past his sell by date, yet takes an inordinate amount of performances with variable results. Kobborg is coming to the end of his career, Bolle the king of the simper is called in for the tall girls on occasion, Putrov & Samodurov are patchy and injury prone, Soares, McRae are both virtuoso first soloists, Watson & Pennefather are political promotions, Watson is an interesting dancer but not a classical ballet dancer and Makhateli for me, is the Orlando Bloom of ballet, even when he's performing you forget he's there. And Bonnelli is the closet thing the company has to a danseur noble.

Sadly, this for me, is just another step in the disintegration of the RB as a cohesive company, once you get up to First Soloist level and by the time you enter principal, it's a roll of disparate schools, styles, techniques and career-ending injury. It's like a magpie has assembled the two top tiers from the shiniest baubles with little thought as to how they'll all string together.

And then you get that top knotch talent languishing at the lower levels, in certain cases for whole careers. Xander Parish being a prime example, the Mariinsky saw his potential immediately from one audition, Mason had him for a whole five years, where was she looking? Oh yes, at Wayne MacGregor.

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There does seem to be a pattern emerging in Mason's external hirings policy. She appears to like them tall, dark and anodyne. (though I haven't seen Kish dance, so can't include him in that.)

The problem is that though the RB does seem to be top-heavy with male principals, none of them are the whole package in any way shape or form (and apart from Pennefather & Watson) none are RB trained/schooled products. Acosta is past his sell by date, yet takes an inordinate amount of performances with variable results. Kobborg is coming to the end of his career, Bolle the king of the simper is called in for the tall girls on occasion, Putrov & Samodurov are patchy and injury prone, Soares, McRae are both virtuoso first soloists, Watson & Pennefather are political promotions, Watson is an interesting dancer but not a classical ballet dancer and Makhateli for me, is the Orlando Bloom of ballet, even when he's performing you forget he's there. And Bonnelli is the closest thing the company has to a danseur noble.

Sadly, this for me, is just another step in the disintegration of the RB as a cohesive company, once you get up to First Soloist level and by the time you enter principal, it's a roll of disparate schools, styles, techniques and career-ending injury. It's like a magpie has assembled the two top tiers from the shiniest baubles with little thought as to how they'll all string together.

And then you get that top knotch talent languishing at the lower levels, in certain cases for whole careers. Xander Parish being a prime example, the Mariinsky saw his potential immediately from one audition, Mason had him for a whole five years, where was she looking? Oh yes, at Wayne MacGregor.

I am inclined to agree with everything you have stated.

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