Mashinka

Here in the UK Covid infections are very high, 1 in 16, but people are now out and about in large numbers and at the Festival Hall last night it was a full house, much appreciated by the conductor, Vladimir Jurowski who commented that continental venues still aren't filling. That concert by the way was Mitsuko Uchida playing the Beethoven 1st piano concerto so very much worth the risk. However many older people are still not venturing out and I'm seeing lot's of empty seats at performances with just a few exceptions.

Yes, very Soviet. I wonder if the letter was written for him to sign. He writes his thoughts a lot on Facebook and has a distinctive style, very different from that letter.

Russian dancers still appear to be posting on Facebook.

Young people have been leaving Russia in significant numbers for over a decade and the war has caused an estimated 200,000 to leave. Favoured destinations are Armenia, Georgia and Turkey. They all appear highly educated. Apparently Russia is happy to see them go as they are considered potential dissenters.

Insulated from the realization that she's lived in a kleptocracy under a dictator for her entire Life? Really?

I'm told there is a vacancy in ENB for a male principal, perhaps he would consider joining them.

I've just heard on the news that Makhar Vaziev has signed a petition against the war.

Ms Rojo is known for her friendships with people in high places, most especially with George Osborne, former chancellor in the Cameron government. Oddly enough he and Clegg are two of the most despised politicians in Britain. An example:

If Mr Ratmansky is in need of a job, perhaps he could consider the vacancy at ENB.

I was in a lift in a continental theatre when the door opened onto a lower floor and some twenty corps girls were in the corridor with MV who was literally screaming at them. A friend of mine told me had an experience with him while watching a rehearsal when he was aggressively shouted out and told to stop taking photos, my pal not only wasn't, I don't think he's owned a camera in his life. Some tempers in the ballet world are legendary.

The hot rumour in London is that the Bolshoi will be coming this summer. The last visit was 2019 and I was very unhappy with the ballerinas for the reasons outlined by volcanohunter. That things have got worse is no incentive for me to look forward to seeing them. A lot of the fans will be excited to get a glimpse of Tikhomirova as she is almost ludicrously popular with the fans here considering the very little she does. The other big favourite is Krysanova. I first saw the company in 1974 and how I loved the Moscow style, so bold, so uninhibited and so exciting. How can it have vanished to become a parade of crotch flashing stick insects? One last thing, yes, Vaziev is a bully towards the corps, I've heard him in action. Not nice.

ENB directors have largely ignored the body of work that former directors have introduced. To her credit Ms Rojo continued with Manon and Le Jeune Homme et la Mort brought in by Wayne Eagling. I think only Etudes has endured through the years but with no set to speak of I imagine it is cheap to revive.

Of those 40 new works, of those I saw only a couple stick in the memory and remember in Britain it's tax payers money she's wasting on a politically correct agenda. The truly memorable works she's commissioned were choreographed by men.

Raymonda opened last night. I;m told notices were mixed here's a view from Macaulay. https://slippedisc.com/2022/01/alastair-macaulay-tamara-rojo-does-violence-to-this-ballet/

In less than a year after Rojo took over, ENB's three best dancers were gone. A steady stream left and a lot of new recruits didn't stay.

I had to provide all that for Salzburg last year with the exception of proof of booster as they weren't available then. I turned up wearing an N95 but was told to remove it and was given an FFP2. We weren't allowed to sit together, everyone in the audience had an empty seat on each side and front and back. However none of the performers wore masks as in Rome.

True the dancers aren't paid generously but they still managed to pay her more than Kevin O'Hare at the RB.

Over the years ENB has struggled to balance the books. When Rojo 'took over' (ahem) from Wayne Eagling, the company was in excellent financial health. It will be interesting to see the financial position post Covid. I understand Ms Rojo commanded a substantial salary in London so I doubt if that influenced her move to the US. Perhaps SFB has better financial reserves?

Indeed, you have every right to be worried. I predict a mass exodus too - sackings disguised as resignations.

Saw a performance of Tosca at Rome Opera Last month, apart from the principals everyone on stage wore a mask.

Raymonda performances now reduced to seven. The poster for the ballet is of a Florence Nightingale figure holding a lamp aloft with a leaping male dancer in the background. Badly chosen. Casual ballet goers would respond to a ballerina in a tutu, something to take the kids to. Not the way to sell an unfamiliar work.

Ethel Smythe's opera The Wreckers will be performed at Glyndebourne this summer. It still gets the odd performance, but this may be the first at a major house for some years. I'm told it's good. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wreckers_(opera)#Performance_history

Four performances of the upcoming Raymonda have been cancelled due to Covid problems. However none of the Nutcrackers have been cancelled. Raymonda isn't selling, could that be the true reason four performances are off sale?

Last week I visited the Villa Borghese Gallery in Rome and was delighted that one of the rooms was dominated by a huge canvas by Lavinia Fontana. Female artists are rarely so prominently displayed. https://galleriaborghese.beniculturali.it/en/opere/minerva-dressing/

Very sad to hear this news.I saw her many, many times and she was a very rare jewel of British ballet. So happy she chose to dedicate her career to Britain. She was superb in all she did but her Giselle was among the finest. May she rest in peace.