JMcN

Birmingham Royal Ballet has issued the following announcement today about promotions, joiners and leavers. Congratulations to all the promotees!

MEDIA RELEASE: Tuesday 10 July 2012

BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET ANNOUNCEMENTS JULY 2012

At the end of the 2011/2012 Season, Birmingham Royal Ballet is able to announce the following:

Jenna Roberts is promoted from First Soloist to Principal

Angela Paul is promoted from Soloist to First Soloist

Laetitia Lo Sardo is promoted from Soloist to First Soloist

Tzu-Chao Chou is promoted from Soloist to First Soloist

Mathias Dingman is promoted from Soloist to First Soloist

Arancha Baselga is promoted from First Artist to Soloist

Laura Purkiss is promoted from First Artist to Soloist

James Barton is promoted from First Artist to Soloist

Jonathan Caguioa is promoted from First Artist to Soloist

Tom Rogers is promoted from First Artist to Soloist

Laura-Jane Gibson is promoted from Artist to First Artist

Yvette Knight is promoted from Artist to First Artist

Delia Mathews is promoted from Artist to First Artist

Callie Roberts is promoted from Artist to First Artist

William Bracewell is promoted from Artist to First Artist

Oliver Till is promoted from Artist to First Artist

The following dancers will join the company:

Momoko Hirata will return to Birmingham Royal Ballet and resume her First Soloist contract following 18 months dancing with Angel Corella’s company in Spain

Miki Mizutani from Japan, graduate of English National Ballet School, will join as an Artist

Alys Shee from Canada, graduate of the Academy of Ballet and Jazz School for the Canadian Ballet Theatre, (taught by Evelyn Hart) a former dancer with ABT II will join as an Artist

Lachlan Monaghan from Australia, graduate of The Royal Ballet School, will join as an Artist

Ana Albutashvili, soloist from the State Ballet of Georgia will join as an Artist

The following dancers leave the company:

Robert Parker leaves Birmingham Royal Ballet after eighteen years with the Company, thirteen of those as a Principal. Robert will take up the role of Artistic Director of Elmhurst School for Dance in September

Gaylene Cummerfield - Following a fifteen year career with Australian Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet, Gaylene leaves the company to become a full-time mother

Just dipped in and already enjoying it. Thanks for the link

Thanks for sharing your wonderful evening. Your report is so evocative, I felt as though I was there with you.

This isn't quite something that happened on stage.

In February this year, Birmingham Royal Ballet performed Hobson's Choice in their home theatre. I was in the front row of the stalls, sitting directly behind the conductor. In the scene where Will and Maggie are celebrating their wedding, Maggie throws her bouquet into the audience. At the performance in question the bouquet wasn't flying very far and the conductor (while still conducting!) put up his hand and caught it. He then threw it over his shoulder and it hit me full in the face! After the shock...... well I have laughed over it many times since. The bouquet stayed fresh for ages and looked lovely at home. The previous evening the bouquet landed between my friend and another chum, who insisted that my friend kept it.

Let me praise San Francisco Ballet's Tiit Helimets in this role -- and at the moment in question. He's entrancing in this passage --his feet are almost as beautiful as Hallberg's, and his lyrical way of performing the sixes makes something astoundingly prayerful out of the series of them, like a mantra, or the Rosary, where the repetitions bring the intention to hypnotic focus -- it's paradoxical,since it staysthe same but fluctuates (like hte Willis trembling bourrees) --you're seeing eternal sous-sus, as if through tears.

Thank's for reminding me about Tiit Helimet's wonderful Albrecht. I was very lucky to see him perform this role with Birmingham Royal Ballet. In the same series of performances Chi Cao also performed the role so beautifully that I was reduced to tears in every performance I saw. Chi also did entechats. His feet were breath-takingly beautiful but at the same time he was able to portray anguish and despair.

Friedmann Vogel is a principal with Stuttgart Ballet. He has guested with ENB and I was very privileged to see him perform Des Grieux with Daria Klimentova as Manon. He was WONDERFUL (as, of course, was Daria).

Absolutely - and not just after a performance. Often while driving something pops into my head and sometimes it's already there when I wake up.

Frequent ones are:

Reconciliation duet from Two Pigeons

Mazurka from Coppelia

Rose Adagio

Not necessarily to ENB but definitely yes into artistic direction. That has, I believe, been her stated intent since Angel Corella set his company up. From recollection, she mentioned then that she was thinking of starting up a company in Spain at some stage.

The details given in the Dance Tabs interview linked above also show that she has been considering a move into direction.

Interesting feature from Graham Watts for Londondance.com: http://londondance.com/articles/features/tamara-rojo-director-enb/#.T4fTbm7Ddjk.twitter

What experience did Peter Schauffus have before he took over the reigns in 1984? I do know that during his time there was a wonderful rep and wonderful dancers and I saw as much of the company as I could!

Let's hope the director designate carries on the good work!

I'm not a moderator here but I don't believe you should break the embargo.

I saw a ballet at the Bolshoi in 1986 based on Chekov's The Seagull.

The Swan in Siobhan Davies Carnival of the Animals and of course, the Dying Swan

The Raven and raven corps in Bintley's Beauty and the Beast.

The birds in Chrisopher Gable's Cinderella.

A quick look at the company website shows a roster (including company apprentices) of 43. Over here in the UK, companies around this size can be slated for doing traditional productions of the classics because they can't provide a "full quota" of swans or wilis. Equally they can be slated if they try to do the classic in a non-traditional way (except for Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake that is beloved of everyone.

It can be a lose lose situation!

In response to Christian and bart's points, we have the opposite situation in the UK where companies are expected to put on full length works and mixed programmes don't sell! It is an ongoing dilemma but I think it would be a mistake to expect a company to change away from its established rep and audience too quickly.

There are a couple of ladies on another ballet forum who are very keen on the Berlin company. A friend of mine saw Onegin with this company last year and thought it was one of the best performances of this ballet she had ever seen. Sorry I can't be of more assistance.

Thanks for the clarifications.

I'm not very keen on Prayer from Coppelia.

Could I ask what you mean by Russian Candycane? I would have assumed Candycane was the dance of the Mirlitons and that Russian was what I would know as the Trepak

I very much enjoyed reading your thoughts on this production of Napoli. A friend and I saw it in Paris in January and very much enjoyed it. I saw a review at the time that described it as a triple bill and I can see where the reviewer was coming from (Laura Capelle in the Financial Times) but I thought it worked. I liked the new Act 2 with Terresina floating down to the floor of the cave. The new music and spooky sounds made the new act very subterranean in feel. Jean Lucien Massot was wonderful as Golfo. Act 3 continues to be one of the most joyous events you can ever see on stage and the whole company fizzed and sparkled like a bottle of champagne opening after it has been shaken!

I can't remember my first Swanilda (August 1985 at the RFH in London, LFB (now ENB)) but her Franz was Raymond Smith. Favourite Swanilda is harder but three of my favourites are Lucia Truglia, Ambra Vallo and Nao Sakuma

Bart Birdsall- my problem was with the music and I didn't seem to be able to get beyond that. I saw Ravenna Tucker in the leading role and she was always one of my favourite dancers (she was brilliant in this too). I'm going to have to have another go at the music this year because Northern Ballet will be performing David Nixon's version at WYP Leeds in September

I remember Iain Webb as a (very fine) dancer with Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet (now BRB); that is his heritage and it is lovely to see that he is honouring it. I saw Ondine once when it was first revived in the late 80s/early 90s. I'm afraid I haven't wanted to see it since!

What a fabulous looking season. I would love to see the Symphonic Variations programme, the Ashton double bill, Fille, Nutcracker .....

The trailer includes a video from the premiere season in 1996 and rehearsal footage from this year with Elisha Willis and Iain Mackay:

http://www.brb.org.uk/maddingcrowd.html

The Royal Ballet Sinfonia's annual Evening of Music and Dance took place at the Birmingham Symphony Hall on 17th February. It was a delightful evening. For me, the three special highlights were:

• Robert Parker and Jenna Roberts performing the reconciliation duet from Two Pigeons
  
• Elisha Willis and Iain Mackay performing the swordplay duet between Bathsheba and Troy from Madding Crowd
  
• Nao Sakuma and Chi Cao at their virtuoso best in Le Corsaire. I am always full of admiration for the way they can make these party-piece pdd look so spectacular on such a small dancing space. They finished off the evening in spectacular style and brought the house down.
  

BRB have just posted video footage of the dress rehearsal of Two Pigeons at the Symphony Hall.