Jewels rehearsal stream from the Royal Ballet

[volcanohunter]

Today at 7:30 pm GMT, which is equivalent to 2:30 pm Eastern and 11:30 am Pacific, the Royal Ballet will livestream a rehearsal of Jewels led by Patricia Neary and Elyse Borne. It will feature Sarah Lamb and Steven McRae in "Rubies" and Marianela Nuñez and Thiago Soares in "Diamonds." The Royal Ballet makes videos of these streams available on demand almost as soon as they're finished, so there's no need to fret if you're unable to watch it live.

 

 

 

Edited March 8, 2017 by volcanohunter

[sandik]

Oooh -- thanks for the heads-up!

[Dale]

Thanks for this. I just love watching coaching sessions, especially Balanchine ones.

[volcanohunter]

Yes, this was a particularly fine one. The live Jewels stream just ended, but it's already available on demand. Gosh, those technical crews at the ROH are good.

[pherank]

Marianela Nunez was so fun to watch - her enthusiasm and happy demeanor made it a delight. The stops for corrections were particularly fun.

 

Sarah Lamb was very thoughtful and well spoken. An informative rehearsal - I only wish all the major companies offered this type of streamed rehearsal/interview format at least once a year.

[volcanohunter]

Happily, the Royal Opera House is invested in its Insights series of lecture-demonstrations, as well as its presence on YouTube. It's no accident the Royal Ballet initiated World Ballet Day. It would be very nice if the POB were to stream its public rehearsals. Russian companies are far too insular for this sort of thing. The Bolshoi's contribution of World Ballet Day Live is a bit of a joke, since at least half of it is pre-recorded. American companies are too poor? I suppose we ought to be grateful for SFB's contribution to World Ballet Day, but what ABT contributed to the effort a couple of years ago was downright embarrassing. Once in a while a company will do a little something live on Facebook, but they're low-resolution affairs. What I really want is for NYCB to get in on the streaming act.

[pherank]

16 minutes ago, volcanohunter said:

Happily, the Royal Opera House is invested in its Insights series of lecture-demonstrations, as well as its presence on YouTube. It's no accident the Royal Ballet initiated World Ballet Day. It would be very nice if the POB were to stream its public rehearsals. Russian companies are far too insular for this sort of thing. The Bolshoi's contribution of World Ballet Day Live is a bit of a joke, since at least half of it is pre-recorded. American companies are too poor? I suppose we ought to be grateful for SFB's contribution to World Ballet Day, but what ABT contributed to the effort a couple of years ago was downright embarrassing. Once in a while a company will do a little something live on Facebook, but they're low-resolution affairs. What I really want is for NYCB to get in on the streaming act.

 

It's definitely a money issue for US companies, but I'm so glad that Tomasson recognized the need to take part in WBD - in lieu of ongoing streaming presentations. SFB and the other companies ARE creating more short videos to advertise performance seasons, artists, new initiatives. NYCB's are the most impressive to me. But it continues to be baby steps because of the great expense needed to produce quality digital presentations. It's hard enough getting the companies to produce DVDs of their work.

[Drew]

The Bolshoi may well be insular, but they may also reasonably feel it's easier to pre-record part of their World Ballet Day offerings when so much of what is being said has to be translated or else it will be completely opaque to the non-Russian-speaking part of the "world" audience. Though in this case that ends up meaning an Anglophone audience.  At least pre-recordings allow for interviews to be subtitled -- and gives Novikova a chance to breathe.

 

The other major companies that participate in World Ballet Day (though not all the subsidiary participants) have been English-speaking in rehearsal and I suppose the lion's share of the audience for World Ballet Day must be English speaking as well. One may think--well, why not just show more rehearsals etc. as they are conducted in Russian, and not worry about translation and guiding the audience--isn't that what World Ballet Day is about, a frank inside look etc.? But I don't think it would be wrong-headed of the company to think that they might lose a lot of the audience. I'm a pretty hard core ballet fan and even I get a little antsy watching Bolshoi rehearsals when I can't understand a word and don't really know what issues are being addressed by the repetiteurs etc. Maybe they could find a better solution...At least some of the pre-recorded material has been interesting to me as well as the class and the rehearsals they do include.

Edited March 12, 2017 by Drew

[pherank]

18 hours ago, Drew said:

 I'm a pretty hard core ballet fan and even I get a little antsy watching Bolshoi rehearsals when I can't understand a word and don't really know what issues are being addressed by the repetiteurs etc. Maybe they could find a better solution...At least some of the pre-recorded material has been interesting to me as well as the class and the rehearsals they do include.

Good points, Drew. I wouldn't mind if they just used a top-notch translator, standing off camera, to deliver at least a synopsis of what is being said. It would have to be done in a way that is unobtrusive though.

The Bolshoi is not the type of organization to do anything and everything to please, but hopefully they have found their participation to be worthwhile in terms of P.R.