California Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 The English National Ballet has just announced its season for 2022-2023. Among other things, they have added a few more dates in November for their new production of Raymonda. OUR 2022-2023 SEASON Swan Lake 28 Sep - 1 Oct 2022, Liverpool Empire 5 - 8 Oct 2022, Palace Theatre, Manchester 12 - 22 Jan 2023, London Coliseum Derek Deane's beautiful production of the timeless ballet returns to cast its spell. Raymonda 23 - 26 Nov 2022, Bristol Hippodrome 30 Nov - 3 Dec 2022 Mayflower Theatre, Southampton "A modern classic" (The Daily Telegraph) by Tamara Rojo, inspired by the pioneering spirit of Florence Nightingale. UK Production Sponsor: Cunard Ek / Forsythe / Quagebeur 9 -12 Nov 2022, Sadler's Wells, London A world premiere from Mats Ek, plus Blake Works I by William Forsythe, and Stina Quagebeur's Take Five Blues. Booking opens in Spring 2022. Nutcracker 15 Dec 2022 - 7 Jan 2023, London Coliseum The festive tradition is back to enchant the whole family once again. Akram Khan's Giselle 12 - 15 Oct 2022, Paris, France 24 & 25 Feb 2023, St Pölten, Austria The powerful and heartbreaking production continues to astound audiences worldwide. Booking opens soon. Creature by Akram Khan Spring 2023, Sadler's Wells, London "A tight-wound drama that never lets up" (The Independent) More details to be announced. Production Sponsor: Cunard Link to comment
California Posted August 22, 2022 Author Share Posted August 22, 2022 Brooklyn Mack is re-joining English National Ballet for the Fall-Winter season in Swan Lake, Nutcracker, and Raymonda. https://www.instagram.com/p/ChkA59PqXXO/ Link to comment
Mashinka Posted August 22, 2022 Share Posted August 22, 2022 Good. With just one male lead principal and one principal, he is desperately needed. Link to comment
California Posted December 16, 2022 Author Share Posted December 16, 2022 English National Ballet just announced casting for their Swan Lake in January at the London Coliseum: https://www.ballet.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Swan-Lake-principal-casting-letterhead.pdf? Of special interest: Iana Salenko January 15, 18, 22 and Brooklyn Mack January 19 and 21. https://www.ballet.org.uk/production/swan-lake/ Link to comment
California Posted January 19, 2023 Author Share Posted January 19, 2023 I saw a few performances of ENB's Swan Lake at the London Coliseum this week. Iana Salenko: I had never seen her in the theater, but the many YouTube clips (often with Daniil Simkin) were impressive. I saw both of her performances this week. The main problem was the lack of convincing expression and the apparent lack of any chemistry at all with her partner, Francesco Gabriele Frola, a Lead Principal with ENB. She knocked out the fouettes better than anybody, though, with doubles and triples all through. I suppose I was expecting something superhuman in the overall performance and it wasn't there. Frola is a handsome Siegfried, but he is utterly expressionless and flat. Brooklyn Mack: Formerly with Washington Ballet and a guest a few years ago with ABT at the Met, he's a guest principal at ENB this year. In the one performance I saw, he knocked it out of the park -- very solid and impressive technique, a reliable and attentive partner. Natascha Mair: Mack's Odette/Odile, she was far more impressive than Salenko -- expressiveness, technique, just gorgeous. She travelled a lot on the fouettes, but her technique otherwise was compelling. A Principal at ENB. Precious Adams: This American, now a soloist at ENB, did the pas de trois in Act I and Spanish in III. Very nice. Ashton's Act IV: This production overall was by Derek Deane ("after Petipa') but they credit Ashton with Act IV. I couldn't figure out from program notes if the entire act was Ashton's or just parts of it. Very nice ensemble choreography for the swans that didn't seem familiar to me, so I'll credit Ashton. But the ending was a disappointment. Odette and then Siegfried disappeared up a low ramp and were gone. If you didn't already know, you couldn't be sure they jumped into a lake or just needed to get away somewhere. Nothing beats the high-flying swan dives at the end of ABT's version! Trivia from the Royal Opera House: I took the backstage tour and the guide revealed an interesting tidbit. The huge velvet curtain in the Opera House has "EII R" in big gold letters. 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! Link to comment
Drew Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 (edited) Thanks for the report on ENB -- I was especially pleased to read about Brooklyn Mack -- Edited January 20, 2023 by Drew Link to comment
Mashinka Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 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. Link to comment
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