21 replies to this topic

[Mashinka]

Although I personally have some sympathy for your assessment of Ms Guillem the fact remains that she was a megastar and filled the house whenever she appeared and I can assure you the bunch of nonentities Ms Mason has assembled for our delectation in a succession of scintillating works by her favourite choreographer, Wayne McGregor don't have the same pulling power by a long chalk.

[leonid]

‘'...... I can assure you the bunch of nonentities Ms Mason has assembled for our delectation in a succession of scintillating works by her favourite choreographer, Wayne McGregor don't have the same pulling power by a long chalk. ''

The argument of getting young people into the Opera House through Mr McGregor's works was a fallacy and it goes to show how incompetent the Board of the Royal Opera House has become since the days when Sir John Tooley's or Sir David Webster were a beneficial influence.

The rot set in at the Royal Ballet despite some major creations,  with Sir Kenneth MacMillan's directorship. When that most distinguished dancer Sir Anthony Dowell followed, sadly he proved to be a less than able Director and it was in his era, the Royal has lost its way.

What were the pressures put upon Dame Monica and where from. The Arts Council England? Trendy aging left wing dance critics influencing the board through their reviews?  Where did this idea of getting younger student types given seats in the orchestra stalls to boost a response to MacGregors works come from?

Of course living in an era of dumbing down, where what is new is to be seen as ''good'' and what is old is seen as ''bad,'' or, Academic Classical Ballet is not what young people want to see and brain washing style multi-media dance events are. Really? I think not.

Anyone can do a random age check at the Royal Opera House and see who attends and in what numbers whether for the older or the newer repertoire. There has been no impact on the attendance of the older audience by a younger audience
.
‘’And what of the future?’’  I hear is the cry. ‘’We need to get a younger audience in to replace the ageing patrons.’’

The employment of ‘’off the wall’’ dance works will not get audiences coming again and again to the same productions, as they have always done with the major classical corpus of the Royal Ballet repertoire.

For me the revival of ''Sylvia'' was the best step that Dame Monica took as Director and led the way in the revival of better performances. On looking back on her tenure, it would seem that there are various pressures put on the Royal's repertoire that have little to do with straightforward ''High Art'' presentations such as befits the status of the premier UK opera house and its premier ballet company.

[Lidewij]

A video of Sergei Polunin and Kristina Shapran in Coppelia has appeared on Youtube:

[Helene]

Here's a video that was just posted from a show on Rossiya K (Kultur?):



There's a date (18 Nov) under the video post date (28 Nov), which might be when the 14-minute segment aired.  Interspersed throughout are clips of Polunin in the Roland Petit "Coppelia" -- interesting distribution of music on Petit's part -- and in "Don Q," as well as in the studio and at a trendy photo shoot.   There's also a bit towards the end of him with Zelensky backstage.  (IZ's hair might be thinning, but it brings out the planes of his face, and he looks to be in perfect shape.)

I'm afraid the only words I understood were "teatr," "ABT," and "New York," but Polunin has beautiful eyes, and no language skills are necessary for that.

[Nanarina]

The feelings experienced by these two "outsider" dancers had
already happened to other exclusive wonderfulltalented dancers who joinwd the Royal Ballet.  In fact no other than Ruddi Nureyev, although he was worshiped by the audience he was basically a very lonely young man.  His partnership with Margo was more than just dance involved, she supported him, looked after him, loved him and was refreshed by his youth, both on stage and off.

[innopac]

Interview with Polunin:

"Sergei Polunin on the Royal Ballet, Mayerling and the Filin business"
Ismene Brown Blog, 23 March 2013
http://www.ismeneb.c...n_business.html

[innopac]

Polunin’s Crown Prince Rudolf in Mayerling reviewed.  Ismene Brown Blog. 25 March 2013.

"The former Royal Ballet star, who quit London just a year ago, is said to have sent half the audience into ecstasies

at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko theatre (known as the “Stasik”), and the run is apparently sold out."

http://www.ismeneb.c...g_reviewed.html

theartsdesk in Moscow: Sergei Polunin triumphs in Mayerling.  Natalie Wheen.  25 March 2013.

"So I’ll begin with Polunin: though it will be impossible to do justice to what he showed us on stage."

http://www.theartsde...umphs-mayerling