kbarber Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 I just do not understand "anger" as a reaction to cast changes. I can understand disappointment, but not anger. People get injured. They don't do it on purpose to annoy people. I am talking from the perspective of someone who has travelled as far away as Japan and Korea to see a particular dancer, only to get there and not see them. I also think it's insulting to Anna Tsygankova the people who think it's not worth going to the performance anymore because she will be dancing Kitri. Anna Tsygankova is a very fine Kitri indeed, and her partnership with Matthew Golding in Don Q is dynamite. Link to comment
California Posted January 3, 2015 Author Share Posted January 3, 2015 I think some people in those comments (and it's only a few, by no means the majority) are annoyed at the ROH for not announcing the replacement earlier, so they could exchange tickets or cancel travel plans. But it must have been a real challenge to find somebody on short notice, who knows the ballet, and could dance with Golding. Going back to a partner he danced with in 2010 makes sense for the ROH, even if it's a disappointment from some of the Osipova fans. Link to comment
kbarber Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 it's a no-win situation for the ballet company. If there's any chance Osipova can recover from her injury, they don't want to disappoint the fans who want to see her, so it's a waiting game. Then, as you said, you have to find someone at short notice at a very busy time of year for ballet companies. All ballet tickets come with the proviso "casting subject to change" and most of the companies I know sell tickets with a "no exchange" policy (unless you have a subscription). The ticket buyer, it seems to me, has to understand that they are taking a risk (especially if they decide to travel any distance) and decide whether the trade-off is worth it (ie if I DO get to see him/her, it's worth having travelled all this way, and if I hadn't taken that risk I wouldn't have seen him/her, so I just have to accept the risks involved). Link to comment
Kaysta Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 I saw Anna Tsykangova's Kitri online and it was fantastic! Really, one of the better Kitri's I've seen. Hopefully folks will be less disappointed once they realize how fantastic she is. Link to comment
Kaysta Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Did anyone see Tsykangova's performance and have feedback? I'm curious what folks here think of her. A performance of her Giselle has also made it to You Tube and I really enjoy her dancing. Link to comment
Alymer Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 I saw her and thought she was pretty good. A very nice dancer. But to be honest, I find it such an awful, wrong headed production, that it's hard to judge. I suspect that none of the women dancing Kitri would look as good as they might in a better version. Link to comment
Ashton Fan Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Perhaps you would care to expand on what you find wrong with the production. I know that I think that it is worse than either of the other productions that the company has acquired and abandoned but then I am not keen on Don Q as a ballet. The Royal did not need them and it does not need this one. It has plenty of Ashton ballets that it has not danced for years, such as the Two Pigeons, which is great fun and has some beautiful choreography. Pigeons was made on young dancers and would give the exceptionally talented young dancers in the company an opportunity to develop their stage craft and artistry. Spending time, effort and money on reviving them would have made more sense than allocating resources to the mess that is Acosta's Don Q. The production makes me question O'Hare's artistic judgment . Did he think that because Nureyev and Baryshnikov had successfully mounted productions of Don Q that Acosta would be able to do so? The Cubans produce fine dancers but good training is not comparable to the rich artistic background that both Nureyev and Baryshnikov acquired during their time training and performing in Russia. Did he agree to it out of a sense of gratitude to Acosta who is soon to retire? Whatever the reason it does not, in my opinion, do much to enhance the reputation of either of them or the company. . Don Q is, for me, a ballet that needs to be danced with whole hearted vulgarity something that comes naturally to a company like the Bolshoi but not to the Royal or to the Mariinsky, for that matter,or it needs to be staged by someone like Ratmansky who has, in his staging for the Dutch National ballet, almost convinced me that the ballet is not that bad after all. But then he seems to have gone to the trouble of.researching descriptions of the original production and the notation which relates to a later production in an attempt to show us a Don Q which is closer to the Petipa original than the hotchpot that most companies perform today.Playing the music in the correct sequence does wonders for a performance as does good costume design.Well the Royal Ballet's production has an awful re-orchestrated score,fussy costumes and scenery, ill judged entrances and a poor choreographic text which means that the dancers have to work desperately hard to make any impact at all which is a pity because there is a lot of promise in the lower ranks of the company with dancers like Francesca Hayward, Yasmine Naghdi and Anne Marie O'Sullivan. Link to comment
Mashinka Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 It's not that bad and actually the Kirov dance Don Q. rather well, or at least they used to. Remember Ruzimatov? Link to comment
sandik Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 It's not that bad and actually the Kirov dance Don Q. rather well, or at least they used to. Remember Ruzimatov? As far as that's concerned, Baryshnikov was a product of the Kirov. Like Nutcracker, Don Q has been remade and re-remade until it's hard to recognize the original ballet behind all the changes. We've had a look at Ratmansky's version a couple of times with Pacific Northwest Ballet's production, and it does indeed reach back to foundational materials -- some of it is quite loopy, but it makes sense. And it offers a wealth of roles on many levels, which serves a large company with many dancers who need nurturing. I'm not arguing that this is a better fit for the RB than their Ashton and Macmillan heritage -- indeed, I'd like to see those works return to their backbone status. But it is possible to mount a Don Q that makes kinetic and dramatic sense. Link to comment
Mashinka Posted March 2, 2015 Share Posted March 2, 2015 When it comes to new RB productions the total car crash was Winters Tale not Don Q. Link to comment
Ashton Fan Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 Mashinka,I should be interested to hear more about your views on Wheeldon's W inter's Tale. As I am sure you are aware it was generally well received here being seen as a considerable advance on his Alice. Of course it could be that the response was, in part, a collective sigh of relief that it was not as bad as McGrepor's Raven Girl. Link to comment
kbarber Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 I have seen the DVD of Winter's Tale and would not describe it as a car crash. Link to comment
sandik Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Damn, I've got to move work around so I can watch this sooner... Link to comment
Kaysta Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 I'm off to London from the U.S. to see three performances of La fille mal gardee. Super excited! Link to comment
Drew Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 I'm off to London from the U.S. to see three performances of La fille mal gardee. Super excited! Looking forward to reading about it.... Link to comment
volcanohunter Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Thank you for the report! Link to comment
sandik Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 Very glad to hear something about this evening -- I'm working my way through the reviews as well. If you're interested in the story, take a look at Sally Potter's film of Orlando, with Tilda Swinton. They do a stunning job of it. Link to comment
mussel Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 Thanks for the review. I am not a McGregor fan but would like to see the piece, seeing Ferri dance again worth the price of admission. Link to comment
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