CarmelaSMira

I'd agree with that. She could be great as Myrtha for example, or in Balanchine, or Dances at a Gathering. She has talent, no doubt, but she isn't what they are trying to make her be! (I think she's been a victim from the fact that Osipova was such a big hit, and the Mariinsky wanted to have a "teenage ballerina" like the Bolshoi)

Marianela's website came online a few weeks ago - not a lot "new" there yet (I think she basically took her ROH bio and changed all the "she"s to "I"s ) but some nice new performance photos. www.marianelanunez.com In Spain she got a very good reception for her performance of Odette-Odile in the Festival of Music and Dance in Granada; also her and Soares' performance of the R&J pdd got a great reception in Havana, although unfortunately her participation in that tour was cut short to that point (she had been scheduled to dance Le Corsaire pdd with Acosta and Polunin in the following galas. it would have been Sergei Polunin's debut of the pdd, I don't know if he performed it with another dancer or not)

Yes, I'm looking forward to seeing him - I hope he is as good in the classics!

Quite a lot of names, having not seen all of them I cannot guess which one is a mispelled "Rojo"... I knew I'd forgotten someone - thanks! Although I don't think Juliet is Rojo's best role to be honest, I prefer her in Petipa and so on (the same with Nunez and Cojocaru - Nunez a bit over dramatic in "dramatic roles" and Cojocaru I prefer in Classics and avant garde..) The point I tried to make is that in the RB, even some of the dancers who are not Company "stars" (for example, Galeazzi and Cuthbertson) are really, really excellent in this role. For example, I think Juliet is Lauren Cuthbertson's best role to date by far. So when you consider that depth of Juliet talent, London audiences do expect great Juliets! Incidentally, did anyone see Evgenia Obraztsova last night? I wasn't able to be there, but I've heard she's really special in this role.

Indeed - first of all, it's risky to open to the London public with R&J anyway, because ROH audiences generally see the McMillan choreography as the "definitive" version and Lavrovsky's R&J probably never will be a hit for that reason. Somova, I think, has potential but she is not being paced or given boundaries. I get the feeling that Fate'ev thinks she will be an attractive star to the "masses" - that she has modern appeal, gymnastic technique, and it's going to attract the people who are not necessarily long-time ballet fans. I can't see another reason why she would be promoted ahead of Obraztsova or Osmolkina. But if he thought making the "new star"'s debut on the opening night would make a success, he was very mistaken and he didn't research either London audiences or critics properly! As you said, London is used to great Juliets - the best from foreign companies on tour, in Lavrovsky, Cranko and McMillan's versions; and the best from the RB both in the past and now. I think Juliet is one of the best danced roles by RB at present. Cojocaru, Benjamin, Galeazzi, Nunez, Cuthbertson, Sarah Lamb are all great Juliets. As a result, the audiences and critics get very exacting about what they expect in this role. London has seen recently some great debuts of Juliet - by Nunez for example, or Sarah Lamb - by really established artists, and the critics still found faults - what chance did poor Alina Somova stand?!

Incidentally, the reason of some missing dancers from the scheduled performances was that 6 of the Royal Ballet dancers got the Influenza A, including Marianela Nunez and Steve McRae. Let's hope they will all recover well and quickly!

For myself I usually try to see ballets where both principals are of a certain standard, but surely only Yanovsky in the RB is unusually tall and until he retired last year Mason imported Kenneth Greve to dance with her. The idea of male dancers gaining the status of principal on the basis of height rather than achievement quite appals me. Yanowsky is the only "unusually tall" Principal, but several of the other girls are quite tall: Nunez herself is on the tall side (probably 5'6 1/2 or 5'7, and when en pointe, that's quite tall) and Galeazzi and Cuthbertson are also quite tall. Ansanelli also, is probably about the same height. And then if we consider the fact that technically, the smaller male dancers are often stronger (we can see this historically: Nijinsky, Nure'ev, both were not tall. Also in ABTs roster f.i, a lot of super talented, not too tall guys. And RBs own technically strongest dancers are not the tallest either) it can lead straight away to this inequality. I agree that Nunez's Lilac Fairy is wonderful, she is actually a better Lilac Fairy than Aurora in my opinion (I seem to have a hang up about height today, but I really think Aurora is a better role for smaller ballerinas - the Rose Adagio, for example, is much easier for shorter dancers).

Wow! Anyway, I didn’t say that Nunez is unmusical: I said that for me she doesn’t “use” the music as great artists do. As I said, I consider her a top dancer, but nothing more and that’s not enough for me. In my opinion, she seems to do everything (steps, acting) she could be taught to do and that’s just not enough. You like her “facial expressions” and those are the things I like the less of her, so probably our tastes are just antithetic: I’m sure we will survive perfectly to that. If you think that her acting in Gamzatti was excellent (I’m not saying it was “wrong” or really “bad”), just look at what a clever dancer like Masha Alexandrova (for sure not a “weak” dancer) can do with that role and have an idea of how many aspects and facets that can be explored and shown. I’ve not said that Soares is always “an embarrassment”. He was (and Nunez too, and also unmusical in that specific occasion) awful in the Tchaikovsky pdd I mentioned. To say that he is a principal because of Nunez could be unfair, but it was the only reason I found. Now I’ve discovered that he is a principal because he is tall, ok. I think that you can pay the salary (or bonuses) you want to people if they have to do a certain job, but for me one should be a principal (with all the prestige connected to that status) not for what he is asked to dance but for what he “really” is. (of course I understand that to have always a “principal” performing on stage has greater commercial appeal, but unfortunately that doesn’t change the quality of the performance). I’m afraid that that Swan Lake pdd was more or less of the level of the other two I’ve seen by them and more or less of the level of the majority of the rest I’ve seen of the two together. Oh well, we just will agree to disagree I guess, and not everyone has the same tastes - which is good, because otherwise this world would be very boring! (the debate which already spanned 2 seperate message boards - wow!) I also like very much Masha Alexandrova by the way, and her Gamzatti. I think it's very interesting to see these 2 great dancers who interpret the role in such different ways. I do think it's a shame though, that Marianela always has to dance Gamzatti opposite Acosta and Rojo, who (despite their many strengths) do not do much with the characters of Solor and Nikiya. I would love to see her opposite Kobborg and Cojocaru (always very effective when she and Cojocaru share the stage) but unfortunately I think it will never happen unless every other Gamzatti in the Company would be injured, as she and Johan don't partner. By the way, I'm sorry if I was too aggressive, I didn't mean to be, only to share my opinion. So sorry if I offended anyone... Spanish habits!

Annamicro, I understand some of your points about Nunez but I don't completely agree. For example, I do agree that for a conductor, she could musically make a problem - she does have a tendency to stretch the music to hold the perfect arabesque or fit in a few more rotations in her pirouette! But I wouldn't agree that she'd an unmusical dancer - she seems to feel and express the music beautifully. Not just in classical works, but also in the contemporary/abstract as well (for example, Serenade, Voluntaries, the Infra pdd) It's true that dramatically she is far from subtle, but I don't find her Gamzatti stereotyped - she was one of the few Gamzattis who I felt could induce pity at the end, partly because at the beginning she was so proud - and then we saw this facade crumble, with every elegant gesture, her beautiful fluid epaulement playing there a big part, and her facial expression (which is always so clear and varied). And we must remember that usually her Gamzatti is opposite Rojo's Nikiya, which is a strong Nikiya, so Nunez must play her Gamzatti strong to be any "match" for Nikiya (this was where Ansanelli failed opposite Rojo). Nunez might be sometimes over exuberant - her leap to death in the apotheosis in Swan Lake always seems a bit over-energetic to me! - but she does have dramatic intergrity. I do think that she "feels" the role she plays rather than just pasting a bland characterization onto her own stage personality. Soares on the other hand - I don't think it's fair to imply that he is only Principal because of the relationship of him and Nunez. I agree he's not the RB's best, but he is tall, and with so many tall ballerinas, tall male principals are needed. I think Monica Mason has a very big sense of justice, and if Soares (and Makhateli, and Pennefather) dance the roles and the schedule of principal, because good partners of their height are needed, she will give them also the salary and the status of principal - which is fair no, if they do the job? I don't think Soares is an embarassment, especially not now. He really improved a lot this year. Unfortunately that Swan Lake pdd was a blip, probably because his schedule before had been very overfull.

Mashinka, did you see the actual performance of Nunez and Soares which was filmed? Unfortunately I was not able to see it, but I did see a performance of Nunez and Soares earlier in the season (in fact, where they replaced an unwell Roberta Marquez and Johan Kobborg at very late notice) and I thought he did well with the role. Ok, he is not the best male principal RB have ever had, but this role is a better one for him than some others, and I heard that in the filmed performances, he was pretty clean. If you're judging by his performance in the "Black Swan" pdd at the recent Diaghilev Tribute Gala, it was not the best by him at all, quite an "off-night" in fact... So the DVD performance should be better! In any case, if you want to buy the DVD for Marianela's performance, I think the Swan Lake one is best - the Bayadere, whilst she is otherwise technically on her best level, she was actually injured at the time of recording, and as a result her elevation is not so excellent as it generally is. On the Swan Lake recording, on the other hand, she is on fire!

I just noticed there has been very little discussion here about Marianela Nuñez , Royal Ballet principal since 2002, always popular for her 'sunny character', strong technique, and excellence in the 'strong roles' since her early years as principal. She was always appreciated slightly less than some other of the RB's dancers (mainly Cojocaru and Rojo!) despite the fact she is such a pleasure to watch and has such a strong technique in every area - they call her here in London 'the ballerina with no weakness'. Maybe Nuñez's only weakness was her lack of weakness - that while she danced amazingly the strong roles (Lilac Fairy, Sylvia, Coppelia) , the sunny roles (Lise, Sugar Plum Fairy), and the 'mean' roles (Gamzatti, Myrtha); she never got the chance of doing Juliet, Giselle, etc and it was sometimes felt that she was less convincing in the tragical roles. But in the last two seasons, Marianela Nuñez really shows us her strength, depth and excellence in every role she takes: in the last 2 seasons, she danced a huge variety and number of roles, and all to the highest standards, all with her unique magical touch which makes you unable to take the eyes off her while she is on stage. As well as finding a higher level every time in her traditionally best roles (SPF, Gamzatti, Sylvia, Aurora, Odette-Odile); she made astonishing debuts as Juliet and Giselle, and also found a new level of excellence in abstract contemporary works (the beautiful pdd with Watson in McGregor's Infra, Voluntaries, DGV...). And she became quite a favorite with London audiences this season! This summer there will be released 2 DVDs featuring Marianela: by Opus, Swan Lake with her as Odette-Odile and Thiago Soares as Sigfried; and by Decca, La Bayadere with Acosta as Solor, Tamara Rojo as Nikiya, and Marianela as Gamzatti. In my opinion, the best thing about this performance was Nunez's Gamzatti (Rojo, while brilliant, is not a natural Nikiya, and Acosta's Solor was technically superb but without much dramatic depth) - maybe one of the most equally superb in technical precision and dramatic depth. I'm very glad that Marianela, after being the 'number 2' for so long, is finally being so much appreciated and that her dancing will have the opportunity to be seen by a wider audience!

I think that's a little untrue actually. Pennefather actually has very good technique generally and he is often an excellent partner - he and Nunez match very well. It's only his acting which sometimes lets him down, but he has improved this a lot over the last year or so.

Sorry for replying my own question - I read on the review that Nunez did dance in DGV the "Darcey role", rather than the role in green/aquamarine (3rd pdd) which she herself created.

Oh, so Nunez is there - I'm happy for those who can be there, because she is dancing amazingly and has had a great season here in London! She doesn't take Manon but probably will perform the role of Lescaut's mistress in Manon. Yes, Lauren Cuthbertson is signed off for the month due to illness, she also missed Jewels at the ROH. However, it's great news that Sarah Lamb is back; as she missed the whole season at ROH after breaking her foot rehearsing Manon before the season began.. Looking forward to see her back in London! I'm surprised at no Hamilton in DGV - she was one of the RBs "rising stars" this season. She is great in Contemporary, but has a lot of work to do on her classical technique though... Cindy Jourdain, for those who don't know her, is First Artist (like coryphee) in RB and a very good dancer, who hopefully will get more opportunities next season - I like her style a lot. DGV is an interesting work, I think - one of the best things about it is that Wheeldon really knows how to use the corps - unlike McGregor, who I don't think has discovered what the corps de ballet is yet! I don't think there's particularly any point of it other than to look nice (if there is, I completely missed it, anyway!) but I like the way he uses symmetry and also explores the men's jumping technique and uses a lot of lifts - it doesn't get so earth bound, like contemporary ballet/dance can often be. Sorry to keep asking the casting, but did you notice who danced the "Darcey role"? - this is the one where the corps line up, the music slows, her partner (probably Gary Avis) carries her on and walks her round in a kind of "Soviet high lift", they dance a pdd, and exit in the same way. It's the most interesting roles and pdd in my opinion. I would guess that probably it was either Nunez or Jourdain? I'm glad Yanowsky's and Pennefather's performance has been so well received - Pennefather does improve a lot; he can be sometimes a bit lacking personality, but his technique is very solid and he is a good partner. He just has off nights and on nights unfortunately - I saw him do a fantastic Sigfried in Swan Lake this season, amazing elevation, great partnering, very convincing acting and nice bearing on stage. On the other hand I also saw his and Ansanelli's Nutcracker, where he looked as if it was killing him to partner her and they missed the fish dive at the end of the coda and finished the pas de deux without any final pose - oh dear...

May I ask who performed in DGV and Chroma? The DGV casting was quite changed in February, when the company did it in London and Chroma I guess is missing usual cast members Sarah Lamb and Lauren Cuthbertson? (although maybe Sarah is back?)

Sergei Polunin is one of my favourites!

I hope that someone will report as well! RB haven't done Month in the Country in London this season and won't do it next either, so I am very envious of you having the possibility to see it in the US! I saw both Ansanelli and Yanowsky do it last season. Yanowsky is absolutely wonderful in the role; Ansanelli I found a little stiff and contrived, but in many ways I still enjoyed her performance also. I'm also very curious who will be cast in DGV (this is an amazing work, I think, Wheeldon at his best!) as the casting has been moved around quite a lot. The "lead" female role was created on Bussell (you will see where the dancer is carried on in what we call the "Darcey lift" which was Wheeldon's kind of "homage" to Bussell) who of course has since retired. Then Yanowsky was cast when RB did it in February, but didn't do it in the end. Then it seems that Marianela Nunez was to have danced it, but she was injured so did not. In the end, 2 corps members, Melissa Hamilton and Nathalie Harrison took the role, and both of them were really fantastic. However, I'd like to see if Nunez or Yanowsky may do it on tour (although, considering, I am not at all sure if Nunez will be in the US on this tour, as she doesn't have much part to play in these programs). Both would be fantastic in the role, I think! I suspect you'll get a viewing of Melissa Hamilton, 21 years old corps member who's danced all season in principal contemporary works. She created a role in McGregor's Infra in October and made quite a hit! Meanwhile in Manon - Cojocaru didn't do it with RB this season (injured - it was an awful season of injuries) and many of the other combinations are different too, so it would be interesting to hear about. Interested to see that Marquez is doing it with Makhateli - that's going to be a massive height difference! She debuted Manon with Putrov back in October and I found their performance really disappointing - no chemistry, a lot of technical imperfection and little character development. That partnership is now finished, and I'm interested to hear if Marquez does is better with another dancer. Sorry for the long post, I hope it was not too boring, and I hope I don't break any etiquette rule with what I write - it's my first post ever here, so I do not know how things are done!