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POB 2014-2015 season


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From the POB database of the repertoire, the ballet was danced in 85, 86, 94 and November 96. Karin Averty danced the role in 96 (Agnès Letestu in 94!!!). I have the programme of Dark Elegies which was danced in June 97 (so later in the same season) and Sallie Wilson did the coaching, I don't know if it can mean she did the other one...

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I'm not unsympathetic to people who adopt stage names. My own surname is difficult for Anglophones, and since I dreaded seeing it misspelled in programs, I performed under a quasi-patronymic once I left school. From time to time dancers still come under pressure to come up with more euphonious stage names. I remember reading that the Royal Ballet encouraged Lauren Cuthbertson to change her name, suggesting that she take her mother's surname instead. But she didn't like the sound of Lauren Lewis, so she stuck with Cuthbertson. I can't help but admire Dawid Trzensimiech for sticking with his name, even though the intricacies of Polish orthography are very confusing to most non-Poles. It does strike me as a little eccentric that Raveau/Allard should change his name at this stage in his career, having already climbed so high up the POB hierarchy with his first surname.

Not to mention Benedict Cumberbatch.

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I kind of liked the Le Monde spread--as a group of artsy photos of dancers--I even liked some of the photos a lot.

To my eye, they didn't convey much about the individual dancers as individual dancers, but I think were going for a more generalized atmosphere of theatricality/fantasy.

Well, whatever they were going for, I kind of liked them.

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I kind of liked the Le Monde spread--as a group of artsy photos of dancers--I even liked some of the photos a lot.

To my eye, they didn't convey much about the individual dancers as individual dancers, but I think were going for a more generalized atmosphere of theatricality/fantasy.

Well, whatever they were going for, I kind of liked them.

I agree -- it's a highly stylized fashion spread, and as such does an excellent job.

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This is Valentine Colasante in Nicolas Paul's Répliques costume

Merci (which, to my everlasting sorrow, is about the extent of my French!) wink1.gif

I see that Millepied has choreographed a pas de deux for Aurelie Dupont and Herve Moreau and added it to the Nicolas Paul/Pierre Rigal/Edouard Lock triple bill.

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you may also try the second hand official market called "ticket exchange" on the official POB website. it works quite well.

I also have used this "Bourse" successfully, but you really have to be quick draw McGraw on nabbing a ticket when it comes available.

This is so true.... it's frustrating. I've clicked over within 2-3 minutes of getting the email alert, and it's still too late. (I'm trying to get a Swan Lake ticket.) It also looks like the resellers are sold out. Does anyone believe that the hotels may have access to some of the tickets? I'm just trying to figure out out if there is any hope left. It's not a dire emergency (I already have tickets to see the production on two nights), but I was really hoping to get a ticket for one more evening.

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you may also try the second hand official market called "ticket exchange" on the official POB website. it works quite well.

I also have used this "Bourse" successfully, but you really have to be quick draw McGraw on nabbing a ticket when it comes available.

This is so true.... it's frustrating. I've clicked over within 2-3 minutes of getting the email alert, and it's still too late. (I'm trying to get a Swan Lake ticket.) It also looks like the resellers are sold out. Does anyone believe that the hotels may have access to some of the tickets? I'm just trying to figure out out if there is any hope left. It's not a dire emergency (I already have tickets to see the production on two nights), but I was really hoping to get a ticket for one more evening.

Well keep trying the ticket exchange nearer the time, I noticed that when you come closer to shows, tickets become available (changes of plans and also changes of casting)... Also keep checking the opera website as tickets appear... The last solution if you're in Paris is to queue for return tickets the day of the show.

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Well keep trying the ticket exchange nearer the time, I noticed that when you come closer to shows, tickets become available (changes of plans and also changes of casting)... Also keep checking the opera website as tickets appear... The last solution if you're in Paris is to queue for return tickets the day of the show.

Thank you, silvermash! I was wondering if there was any point in going physically to the box office. I'll keep that in mind as an option.

best,

Sasha

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Well keep trying the ticket exchange nearer the time, I noticed that when you come closer to shows, tickets become available (changes of plans and also changes of casting)... Also keep checking the opera website as tickets appear... The last solution if you're in Paris is to queue for return tickets the day of the show.

Thank you, silvermash! I was wondering if there was any point in going physically to the box office. I'll keep that in mind as an option.

best,

Sasha

Yes, the box office always releases day tickets but for Swan Lake, probably not much so you need to queue early.

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Thanks, silvermash.

I wouldn't have put Yann Saiz in his early 40s as he is still very boyish-looking. I guess it makes sense, though, as he played a big part in Nicolas Le Riche's farewell performance of Bolero. If Le Riche handpicked a lot of the dancers, then it makes sense he would pick a direct contemporary like Saiz.

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Just curious, has anyone else seen "Swan Lake"? I attended on March 14, 16, and 17. The first and last nights I saw Heloise Bourdon and Josua Hoffalt. The second night featured Ludmila Pagliero and Mathias Heymann, though Pagliero was replaced in Act 3 by Bourdon. (When I asked, I was told that the reason was injury.) Of the principals I saw, I was most impressed by Heymann, who made every solo look easy and also brought depth to the role. Of the O/Os, it's hard to compare since I didn't see a whole evening of Pagliero, and, given the injury, I assume I wasn't seeing her at her best. She did seem to struggle during a few sequences, including the fouettes. On the upside, I thought her Odile had more personality than Bourdon's. I found Bourdon technically strong, with impressive balances and fast, tight turns, but her performance didn't move me terribly (though that might also have been partly due to the Nuryev staging, which I have decided is not my favorite). Has anyone else seen it and had any thoughts?
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Well I attended three different casts so far (2 more expected next week)… Up to me, the most interesting was Bezard/Bullion/Hecquet (yesterday). They have the maturity, the technical possibilities and the intelligence to really build up the story and to draw you into it. The other casts, I found, were more an addition of personalities, more or less interesting unfortunately, and I had to focus to really think about what was going on stage! Yesterday, all was really smooth and clear...

Nureyev Swan Lake is really special in a sense that the presence of Wolfgang/Rothbart is paramount. The relationship between him and Siegfried is the center of the ballet and perhaps more important than the one between Siegfried and the Swan. Nureyev added this long slow variation introduced by Wolfgang and with his shadow moving in the back of the stage during the variation, and also he added a variation in the second act. Then, in the third act, there is this beautiful pas de trois with each dancer (Odette/Siefgried/Rothbart) having a variation. In the last act, although there is this beautiful pas de deux, there is still a lot of attention drowned by the Corps lament… and the end is again a small pas de trois… If you have a strong Wolfgang/Rothbart (Bullion or Paquette in this run), it can change all the narrative because the first act is quite long and you have all these interractions between Siegfried and Wolgang which are prevailing over everything else, and the pas de trois in the third act, well, Rothabrt is leading it!

Well perhaps it’s the beginning of the explanation why you are a bit puzzled on the Swan queen

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Was there no Des Grieux among the POB's healthy dancers who could have danced opposite Dupont for the occasion? When the Royal Ballet brought in Bolle to dance with Darcey Bussell in a telecast of Sylvia I could almost understand it, because there was a height issue. Was it really necessary in this case? Are we to infer that among the POB's active dancers Dupont enjoyed dancing only with Hervé Moreau?

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Well I attended three different casts so far (2 more expected next week)… Up to me, the most interesting was Bezard/Bullion/Hecquet (yesterday). They have the maturity, the technical possibilities and the intelligence to really build up the story and to draw you into it. The other casts, I found, were more an addition of personalities, more or less interesting unfortunately, and I had to focus to really think about what was going on stage! Yesterday, all was really smooth and clear...

Nureyev Swan Lake is really special in a sense that the presence of Wolfgang/Rothbart is paramount. The relationship between him and Siegfried is the center of the ballet and perhaps more important than the one between Siegfried and the Swan. Nureyev added this long slow variation introduced by Wolfgang and with his shadow moving in the back of the stage during the variation, and also he added a variation in the second act. Then, in the third act, there is this beautiful pas de trois with each dancer (Odette/Siefgried/Rothbart) having a variation. In the last act, although there is this beautiful pas de deux, there is still a lot of attention drowned by the Corps lament… and the end is again a small pas de trois… If you have a strong Wolfgang/Rothbart (Bullion or Paquette in this run), it can change all the narrative because the first act is quite long and you have all these interractions between Siegfried and Wolgang which are prevailing over everything else, and the pas de trois in the third act, well, Rothabrt is leading it!

Well perhaps it’s the beginning of the explanation why you are a bit puzzled on the Swan queen

Thanks for your thoughts, Silvermash. My main reaction to the staging was that it made the narrative (to me) feel a bit cluttered. I think there's something clever about the tutor being Rothbart, but the story already has one secret identity -- for me, two might be too much. Also, one thing that I like about other stagings (stagings without that element), is that Siegried's world serves as a foil against the magic and surreal quality of Odette's world. Here, you don't really have that contrast, or at least not as much.

I also think that, by having so much focus on the Siegfried-Wolfgang/Rothbart relationship, it detracts from the importance of Odette as a character. Is she even real? Before I went, I'd read that quotation from Nuryev, saying that the swans were all in Siegfried's imagination. Even if you don't see it that way -- it's certainly open to interpretation -- I felt that Siegfried was more of the main character, and more the person being antagonized, so everything that happened to Odette seemed less important. And because it's not really her story, I found it harder to suspend my disbelief that she'd been turned into a swan, that she was monitored by an evil wizard, and that she had an evil double. For someone who's not the clear main character, that all just seems like too much (to me).

However, I did like certain things about the staging. I liked the generally darker feeling. I also found some of the small touches quite effective. For example, I liked the women with the fans in Act II (the potential brides). There's a point near the end of that sequence where they cluster together. In the Paris performance, they wore long pink dresses, and it had the effect of making them look almost like a single grotesque mass, which I thought helped convey Siegried's aversion to them and his inability to see anything special in any one of them.

So overall, I don't know... maybe this staging is just not for me! Or maybe, as you mentioned, having just the right cast makes it come together more. I'd certainly try it again! Thanks again for pointing out what you like about it.

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