Mashinka

I doubt it will do well in the US.  It simply isn't a very good ballet in my opinion.  I'm sure some will like it though.

Quite simply she was a goddess, utterly unique, her acting was superb and appeared instinctive.She was so much a part of the Royal Ballet's glory days, she entranced the audience and inspired choreographers.  The roles she created are still danced today, but seldom equaled.  May she rest in peace.

Most likely a web site error.

18 hours ago, dirac said:

I don't know if this is the first Cranko biography

John Percival wrote a biography of John Cranko entitled Theatre in my Blood about ten years after Cranko's death.

The Australian Ballet brings a work part created by Goecke to the ROH in August.  As the ubiquitous Crystal Pite is also involved (no one empties the house quicker than she does)  I wasn't planning to go anyway but was disappointed the company chose not to bring a classical programme.  Hopefully they may now reconsider what they bring.  There are people in the arts world that have been cancelled for far, far less.

10 hours ago, Drew said:

And I beg leave to doubt Goecke would have smeared feces in the face of a male critic. Or someone physically bigger than himself.

I absolutely second that.  I've felt there was an element of misogyny in his actions all along.

The apology reads like victim blaming to me.

I'm comparing the reaction to his works with the reaction to the works of the late Liam Scarlett

In Britain he would be arrested for assault.

49 minutes ago, volcanohunter said:

But I refer back to old programs surprisingly frequently, and I'll be damned if I can find the digital programs of shows I saw a year ago.

My pet hate at the moment is the lack of cast sheets at ROH.  They are handed out free in Paris and you pay 50 cents at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin with a similar fee in Zurich,  Even ENB has free cast sheets.  There is so much wrong at the ROH, the fact the practice goes on elsewhere doesn't make it right.

He regularly danced in galas with Fonteyn, notably Sylvia pas de deux.  Handsome, elegant  and engaging, may he rest in peace.

On 1/23/2023 at 10:46 AM, Drew said:

I did watch and very much enjoyed  video of Sevenard's dancing throughout Act I and a bit of Act II.  Her classical simplicity gives her Act I a very natural quality.  I thought she was lovely and would be more than delighted to see her Giselle in the theater.

I' very pleased to hear she's progressing, classical simplicity is in short supply at the Bolshoi.  I feared it was now longer in fashion there.

13 hours ago, California said:

The guide said they're not going to change them to CIII R and just leave the ER in tribute to a much-loved Queen. Well, that should help the budget!

Seeing that the Queen's 2022 jubilee was ignored by ROH and that there are so far no plans to celebrate the King's coronation, I think you're right.

I've been told that in 1953 there was a week of celebratory performances at ROH (including Callas?).  Ashton created Homage to the Queen.  If they want to call themselves Royal perhaps they should wake up to the fact that historically the house has always acknowledged royal events in the past.  I loath their penny pinching.  They don't even have cast sheets anymore whereas ENB does.  Seeing as their former cast sheets carried expensive advertising it is difficult to understand why.  Every other major house in Europe supplies them.

Ugly beyond words.  What the hell is happening to that company?

I detest the entrechats.  Nureyev introduced them.  Some over do the brisés (Panov's were highest widest and fastest)  but they were always in the original.

She also directed London Festival Ballet (now ENB) in the 70's and from the audience point of view was highly successful in that role.  I saw her at ROH fairly frequently before the pandemic, always looking timeless and elegant.  Her book on dancing in Moscow is well worth reading..

One of the greats of British ballet.  R.I.P.

The Russians currently seem to have serious issues with "Anglo Saxons" and Satanists.  Do they mean us?  The English language in part derives from Anglo Saxon, but indigenous Brits are descended from Celts and Vikings too.  According to the latest census, in certain British towns and cities, white British people are in the minority.  The prime minister is of Indian descent and the current Foreign Secretary has a mother from Sierra Leone. Boris Johnson, two PM's back, was of Turkish descent.   Really Mr Putin, do keep up.

Satanism?  isn't that Hammer Horror, The Devil Rides out, that sort of stuff?  Again, Putin is behind the times as now more than a third of Brits declare themselves atheists, so if they don't believe in God they don't believe in his hellish counterpart either.  But then what can you expect from a man who is truly 'away with the fairies'.

On 11/13/2022 at 7:29 PM, volcanohunter said:

Studies in the U.S. by the National Endowment for the Arts consistently show that opera has the smallest audience, about 2.2% of the adult population, compared to 3.1% for ballet and 8.6% for classical music concerts (and 16.5% for musicals), as of 2017. (However, the average opera-goer attends two operas per year, while the average ballet-goer goes once, and we can probably assume it's to see a Nutcracker.) So in those terms opera involves a lot of money spent on a small audience. Though to my mind 5.3 million is still a lot of people.

I would be interested in what the figures are in the UK regarding the ratio of ballet to opera goers, I imagine the figures would be reversed here unless you include modern dance with ballet, though I know there is very little crossover between classical and modern audiences.  London has a number of fringe opera groups and they are very good indeed.  In the past year I've watched Fulham Opera, Holland Park Opera and Regents Opera, the latter only two nights ago in a stunning performance of Das Rheingold performed in the art deco splendour of the Freemasons hall just a stone's throw from ROH.  To the best of my knowledge there are no fringe ballet groups operating on the same semi permanent basis.  We also have the hugely popular country house opera companies that perform in the summer but there is no such thing as country house ballet.  All this leads me to believe opera is more popular here.  I worry about the demographics of the ballet in Britain.  Apart from the child friendly ballets, e.g.  Nutcracker, Cinderella, the regular audience is downright elderly and wholly white whereas a fair percentage of young people attend the opera and even a minority of non white patrons,  I have no answer as to why this is.  The make up of the audience in Paris is far younger for both art forms and that is reflected elsewhere in Europe.  I fear the fault rests in the British education system as with very few exceptions it is only independent schools that treat music seriously.  I doesn't bode well for the future.

That could be interpreted as he wants more self funded 'country house' style opera.

"Opera ecology": now there's a term I've never encountered before.

This is a wholly political move motivated by the present government's 'levelling up' strategy.  The timing is worrying as all government departments with the exception of Health and Defence are likely to be obliged to make savings of at least 15% in response to the current financial crisis, meaning the arts are likely to take an even greater hit in the very near future.

I am truly mortified to be saying goodbye to ENO.  It has been such an integral part of the London arts scene for decades and has given performances that have passed into legend such as the Goodall Ring Cycle and, my personal favourite, Janet Baker's Julius Caesar.  The Coliseum is the best theatre in London but I fear it's years of serving the arts must come to an end.  I predict of future of endless tawdry musicals, a worse fate than when it was a cinema.

It is worth remembering that almost a third of England's population lives in the south east, all having access to London's theatre scene.  London alone has a population of 9.5 million whereas the population of greater Manchester is 2.7 million.

Regarding Glyndebourne.  It does NOT receive any subsidy from the government - it is wholly self supporting.  Glyndebourne Touring Opera, a different entity, does receive a grant for its educational work so I assume that is what is being cut.  Standards at the BBC have been slipping for years, I wouldn't expect one of their arts correspondents to have any knowledge of the UK opera scene, but claiming Glyndebourne is subsidized is a real howler.

She trained in Kiev.

12 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

Except for Zakharova 🙄

Putin's cheerleader.

The acoustic in the Abbey has to be experienced to be believed.  I thought the anthem 'Who shall separate us' by James Macmillan, written for the occasion, both moving and beautiful.

I'm sure there are those in north America that could equal that generosity.

Too late I'm afraid.  It asked for my first and second names which I supplied

When they played the national anthem before the performance last night we all stood and I heard a few people at the back of the amphi begin to sing, the singers grew in number and for 'long to reign over us, God save the King'. everyone in the auditorium was singing.