Birmingham Royal Ballet Don QuixoteThe Lowry 4 March 2022 19:30
I have seen a lot of shows in Greater Manchester in my time from pantomimes to grand opera. I cannot recall one with greater flair than last night's Don Quixote at the Lowry. Never have I been part of a more appreciative audience. Standing ovations are rare in this country, particularly outside London. Yesterday, a large part of the audience (including yours truly) rose to our feet at the end of the show.
I have followed the Birmingham Royal Ballet for many years. Indeed long before it moved to Birmingham. Never have I seen it dance as well as it did last night. Yesterday was the first time that I had seen the company since Carlos Acosta became its director. He seems to have galvanized it.
When I saw the Royal Ballet's Don Quixote at Covent GardenI wrote:
For those who do not know the ballet, there is a brief synopsis in Wikipedia. The work is known for its spectacular jumps and fouettés requiring considerable virtuosity not only of those who dance Basilio and Kitri but also Espada, the matador, Mercedes, the street dancer, the Queen of the Dryads and the gipsy and fandango dancers. There are also great character roles for Sancho Panza, Gamache and, of course, Don Quixote himself.
I had been looking forward to seeing Lachlan Monaghan as Don Basilio as advertised on the company's website. He had been my guest at The Stage Door. As I said in my interview, I admire his choreography and photography as well as his dancing. Yesterday he was cast as Espada which he danced with panache. Basilio was danced by Mathias Dingman another of my favourite artists. He impressed us with his virtuosity and amused us with his touches of humour. Miki Mizutani was a perfect Kitri. Coquettish when interacting with Gamache and her father. Spectacular in her solos and pas de deux. I was impressed by Eilis Small as Mercedes and Lucy Waine as Queen of the Dryads. It is always a delight to see Tzu-Chao Chou who danced Amour. Casting Laura Day as Don Quixote's hapless squire was inspirational. I have never seen or even imagined the role being performed by a woman. She carried it off brilliantly. I must also commend Rory Mackay for his performance of Gamache and Jonathan Payn for the title role. Everyone in the cast delighted and impressed us and I congratulate them all.
One of the strengths of yesterday's performance was the designs and special effects. I was particularly impressed with the sails of the windmills which morphed into limbs and claws before our eyes. I am not sure whether credit for that scene belongs to Tim Hatley who designed the sets and costumes or Nina Dunn the video designer. It was spectacular.
The Symphonia conducted by Peter Murphy excelled themselves as much as the dancers. Before the performance, they played the Ukrainian national anthem. There has always been a large Ukrainian community in the North as is evidenced by the many Ukrainian clubs and churches to be seen. Playing that anthem was an apposite reminder of those links.
The first two performances of this short season had to be cancelled because of injuries and illness. There will be more performances at the Lowry this afternoon and evening. The tour continues to Sunderland, Plymouth and at Sadler's Wells. If you can reach any of those theatres you should see this show.
Standard YouTube Licence Royal Ballet Don Quixote30 March 2019, 13:30, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Except when I was a graduate student in Los Angeles, I have visited Covent Garden several times a year, every year, since 1969. Seldom have I enjoyed a performance at the Royal Opera House more than last Saturday's matinee of Don Quixote. I had already seen that production several times in the cinema and once on television and had been somewhat underwhelmed by those transmissions (see ¡Por favor! Don Quixote streamed to Huddersfield17 Oct 2013). I think that must be because no screening comes close to communicating the colour, movement and energy of the live show.
Although Gerard Davis referred to this production by Carlos Acosta as a remake in the programme notes, it seems to be pretty much the same as other companies' versions of the ballet. The prologue begins with the dotty Don Quixote sheltering the shoplifting Sancho Panza. The rogue kits the old man out with a bedpost for a lance and a shaving bowl for a helmet. He is dubbed a knight by an imagined dulcinea and is confronted immediately by equally imaginary hooded demons. As in other versions, he meets Kitri and Don Basilio in the town square and helps them elope. On their travels, they meet gipsies. He falls ill fighting ambulatory windmills. In his delirium dreams of dryads or tree spirits. They return to the town where Kitri's suitor is partnered up, KitrI marries Don Basilio and Don Quixote and his squire slip away for more adventures. I understand that the score had been rearranged and reorchestrated by Martin Yates but I did not detect any variations even though I know the music well. Aspects of the show that impressed me particularly were the lavishness of Tim Hatley's sets and costumes and the slickness and energy of the dancing.
My enjoyment of the show was facilitated greatly by the casting of Alexander Campbell as Don Basilio. A year or so ago I read about his taking part in a scheme by the RAD and MCC to encourage kids to take up ballet and cricket. Perfectly natural in my view as I have always had a passion for the two. I think it was Arnold Haskell who observed that cricket had predisposed the British to ballet pointing out many parallels between the two. Like another of my favourites, Xander Parish, Campbell had been a promising cricketer as a boy. I had long surmised that that might be the case before I had read that article for Campbell commands the stage like a batsman at the crease. There is something about his manner - perhaps his grin - that makes it impossible not to like him. He wielded his guitar while wooing the coquettish Kitri as an extension of himself just as a batsman holds his bat. As he seized her fan in the same scene I imagined his diving for a catch. In his jumps and lifts, he is much an athlete as an artist. It may be a figment of my imagination as it may be have been years since he last played the game, but I think that his youthful cricketing prowess has contributed more than a little to his appeal as a dancer.
Campbell's Kitri was the Brazilian first soloist, Mayara Magri, She excelled in that role. I was told by a well-informed acquaintance whom I met in the interval that last Saturday's matinee had been her debut. If that was the case, her performance was all the more impressive. I mentioned her coquetry in the previous paragraph but the role also requires virtuosity and prodigious stamina. She displayed those qualities in abundance, particularly in the last act where she dances in the pub and in the final pas de deux where she performs lots of fouettés. She dazzled me with those displays.
Other artists who particularly delighted me included Itziar Mendizabal as Mercedes, Claire Calvert as the queen of the dryads. Lara Turk as the Dulcinea and, of course, Gary Avis as Don Quixote. It was also good to see Jonathan Howells as Sancho Panza. I had been looking forward to seeing Thomas Whitehead as Gamache. I am one of his fans and that is not just because he comes from Bradford. That role was danced by Benet Gartside whom I also follow. I hope that Whitehead's absence was not the result of injury or illness but, if it was, I wish him a full and speedy recovery. Valentino Zucchetti had been advertised to dance the matador and he was also indisposed through illness or injury. I wish him a full and speedy recovery too. He was replaced if my memory is correct, by Reece Clark but sadly he was also hurt and had to be replaced (I think) by Thomas Mock. Like the rest of the cast, Mock and Clark danced well. I wish Clark too a full and complete recovery. I congratulate everyone who took part in that performance.
I have been lucky enough to see two other fine performances of Don Quixote. On Christmas day of 2017, I saw Mathieu Ganio and Isabella Boylston in the ballet company of the Paris Opera (see Paris Opera Ballet's Don Quixote28 Dec 2017). I wrote:
"Spectacular choreography needs virtuoso dancers and Isabella Boylston is a virtuoso par excellence. She launches into grands jetes almost as soon as she appears on stage and hers seemed as graceful and effortless as any I have seen before. She danced Kitri who ends the show with spectacular fouettés. I have seen plenty of those from lots of Odiles but the excitement that Boylston generated with hers at the Bastille last night could not have been exceeded by Legnani herself."
A few weeks later, on 28 Feb 2019, I was delighted again by Sho Yamada and Riho Sakamoto in the lead roles in the Dutch National Ballet's performance of that work (see A Day of Superlatives - Dutch National Ballet's Don Quixote1 March 2018). I enjoyed that show a lot:
"I don't think I have ever seen a better Don Quixote even though I have seen artists like Isabella Boylston and Marianela Nuñez dance Kitri and Carlos Acosta dance Don Basilio. Above all, I don't think I have ever seen the Dutch National Ballet dance better."
Comparisons between three great performances by three great national companies would be odious. They all had strengths. For me, the Royal Ballet's were Hatley's designs and the casting of Campbell, Magri and Avis. It is enough for me to say that the Royal Ballet's Don Quixote is right up there in my esteem with the Paris Opera's and HNB's. Without wishing to be too political I had booked my ticket to Don Quixote to cheer me up for what had been scheduled to be the day after brexit. As it happened it wasn't but that has prompted me to think of parallels. Don Quixote lived in the past and looked back to a mythical golden age. In that regard, he reminds me very much of our brexiteer MPs living in the past with their notions of English exceptionalism being the modern equivalent of courtly love and chivalry. The battle with the windmills raises obvious analogies with our noble ministers battling against an intransigent commission. Cervantes intended his novel to be a satire. He would have had a field day had he been alive now.
Standard YouTube Licence
There is a beautiful photograph on Ted Brandsen's Facebook page of two of my favourite dancers: Jessica Xuan and Cristiano Principato. They are wearing the most gorgeous costumes from a white act. No gossamer sleeves so it can't be La Bayadḕre and I can't see any feathers so I don't think it is Odette. Be that as it may the important words are at the base of the photo:
I wrote about Varna on 23 Feb 2017 as it has its own opera house and ballet company in which Owen Morris danced for a while. Its International Ballet Competition is one of the most prestigious in the world. It has launched a lot of distinguished careers. Jessica has done brilliantly. I send her my heartiest congratulations and lots of love.
Standard YouTube Licence Dutch National Ballet Don Quixote28 Feb 2018 20:00 Music Theatre, Amsterdam
Wednesday was a day of superlatives. I don't think Amsterdam has ever looked lovelier than it did that night in the clear, crisp air with a full moon and the lights of the buildings, street lights and traffic twinkling in partly frozen canals and the river. I don't think I have ever seen a better Don Quixote even though I have seen artists like Isabella Boylston and Marianela Nuñez dance Kitri and Carlos Acosta dance Don Basilio. Above all, I don't think I have ever seen the Dutch National Ballet dance better.
Wednesday's show was their opportunity to impress and each of them grabbed it readily. They danced with exuberance and verve. Combined with imaginative sets that included a winking moon, costumes for ambulatory cacti and monsters more outlandish than Hieronymus Bosch's, the stage exploded with energy, movement and colour. Don Quixote had never been my favourite ballet because the story is so confusing. Basically La Fille mal gardée except that it is dad rather than mum pushing daughter into an arranged marriage. What has that to do with Cervantes? Or cactus men and beaked monsters for that matter? The answer is "not much but who cares so long as the ballet flows". Wednesday did flow to Minkus's jaunty score with spectacular choreography such as one armed lifts and daring fish dives. Ratmansky's production helped me understand the ballet and to appreciate it properly.
Yamada danced Don Basilio with style and swagger. Tall, slender and athletic he commanded the stage. Sakamoto charmed me with her coquetry and impressed me with her technique, especially with her fouettés in the final act. Though it is probably unfair to single out any artist for special praise, there were captivating performances by Xuan as queen of the Dryads, Suzanna Kaic as Cupid and Zhang as Juanita. There was fine character dancing from Nicolas Rampaic as the slightly dotty Don Quixote and hilarious clowning by Frans Schraven as his squire.
I have already mentioned the imaginative sets and costumes. I was not surprised to learn that they had been designed by Jérôme Kaplan who had impressed me several years ago with his designs for David Nixon's Gatsby. I have also mentioned Minkus's jaunty score. Its interpreter on Wednesday night was Marzio Conti. As I was seated directly behind the conductor only 5 rows back I experienced the music as he must have done. Perhaps that was yet another reason why I enjoyed the show so much.
Usually I come to Amsterdam for the day arriving on the first flight out of Manchester and returning on the last. This time I had come to give a talk on patent litigation at the Radisson Blu hotel in Russia. Not really Russia, I should explain, but the street where the hotel stands is called "Rusland" which is Dutch for "Russia". On the way back from the theatre I felt transported to Petipa's Russia as I followed the frozen canals with the music resounding in my ears. That is just how I imagine St Petersburg to be. One day, perhaps, I will find out whether I was right.
Talking of translations, a partner of the Dutch office of a leading international law firm invited me to dinner on Tuesday night at Hemelse Modder which translates as "Heavenly Mud". The meal was scrumptious. I had croquettes of mussels, fennel and tarragon, lamb stew and a delicious lemon pudding with an excellent German red. I mentioned it on Facebook to which Ted Brandsen commented that it was his favourite restaurant. I can quite see why. It is now one of mine. It is not far from the Music Theatre and I strongly recommend it.
Standard YouTube Licence Opera National de Paris Don QuixoteOpera Bastille 25 Dec 2017, 19:30
Although Don Quixote is not one of my favourite Petipa ballets it does have some spectacular choreography. Similarly, while I greatly prefer his score to La Bayadère, Minkus's score has some lovely tunes including the Queen of the Dryads's solo and the rumbustious final pas de deux. Also, Don Quixote makes a change from The Nutcracker which the Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, English National Ballet and Scottish Ballet are all serving up for Christmas at home.
I had only seen the Paris Opera ballet once before in the Palais Garnier some 45 tears ago. I remember a grand défilé by the ballet students. I was told by my companion, Pamela (who had some to Paris to study with Madame Preobrajenska at the Salle Wacker) that the students were referred to disparagingly as les petits rats. The stage seemed massive. Much bigger than Covent Garden's. However, I can't remember anything else about the show which means that it could not have impressed me very much. My second experience of the company came last night when it performed Don Quixote at the Opera Bastille. I can safely say that I won't forget that show in a hurry.
Spectacular choreography needs virtuoso dancers and Isabella Boylston is a virtuoso par excellence. She launches into grands jetes almost as soon as she appears on stage and hers seemed as graceful and effortless as any I have seen before. She danced Kitri who ends the show with spectacular fouettés. I have seen plenty of those from lots of Odiles but the excitement that Boylston generated with hers at the Bastille last night could not have been exceeded by Legnani herself.
Boylston was partnered by Mathieu Ganio who was magnificent. He danced Don Basilio in which I had previously seen Carlos Acosta. Though I greatly admired Acosta in that role, Ganio surpassed him both as a soloist with the spectacular jumping and turns in his final soloand in the way that he helped Boylston to shine. That is the sort of partnership of which legends are made like Sibley's with Dowell. Whether it can develop and flourish with Ganio in Paris and Boylston in New York is anybody's guess but if I ran the Paris Opera Ballet or American Ballet Theatre I would do my best to make sure it did.
We saw lots of other excellent performances last night: Erwan Le Roux as Sancho Panza, Fanny Gorse as the street dancer, Amandine Albisson as the queen of the Dryads and Yann Chailloux as Don Quixote himself. Everyone was impressive not least the corps de ballet which was one of the most polished and disciplined that I have been fortunate enough to see.
With costumes by Elena Rivkina and sets by Alexandre Beliaev the production was gorgeous. The Opera Bastille was designed as an ideal venue for ballet and although it lacks the charm of Covent Garden or the majesty of the Garnier it is probably one of the best places in the world to see a full length ballet by a major company.
I sat towards the back of the stalls and enjoyed a perfect view. The theatre has been designed to ensure easy access and egress. If you want a drink you enter a cordon where you wait your turn. No ostentatious waving of bank notes or sharp elbowing here. Having paid about £10 less for seats in the stalls than I was charged by Covent Garden for the back amphitheatre I was ready to sing the Bastille's praises ................. until I was stung for €5 for a tonic water and €12 for a programme (albeit a very thick and informative programme much of it in English). Like a budget airline the essentials are cheap enough and if that's all you want well all well and good. But if you want any extras - even a postcard from the well stocked theatre shop - caveat emptor.
Next, there is the presentation of the Alexandra Radius prize presented by the great ballerina. Last year it was awarded to Artur Shesterikov and the year before that to Maia Makhateli, Talking of which I am delighted to say that Ms Makhateli (who has been on leave this last year) tweeted today that she plans to be back for the gala:
After the presentation, we see extracts of the company's work for the coming and previous seasons, This year the National Ballet will be joined by guest stars, Diana Vishneva and Vladimir Malakhov. Then there will be a sumptuous reception to which the whole audience is invited.
The gala is a hard act to follow but this year it will be matched by an Ode to the Master, a celebration of Hans van Manen's career with the performance of a selection of his best-loved ballets:
On the Move;
5 Tangos
Sarcasm, and
Symphonieën der Nederlanden.
This will be the year in which van Manen celebrates his 85th birthday. "No choreographer has made such a big mark on dance in the Netherlands as Hans van Manen," says the website. I would say that no living choreographer has made such a big mark on dance anywhere. I will move heaven and earth to see that show,
Dutch Doubles is not a double bill as its name suggests but a dialogue between choreographers living in the Netherlands with a number of renowned musicians. The choreographers in question are Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, the creator of Scottish Ballet's Streetcar named Desire, Danza Contemporanea de Cuba's Reversible and Ballet Black's Little Red Riding Hood, Ernst Meisner and Hans van Manen. Ochoa's dialogue will be with Wende Snijders who is described by the company's website as "one of the best-known and most versatile singer-songwriters in the Netherlands." Meisner's is with Remy van Kesteren and van Manen's will be with a pianist still to be announced. A similar collaboration in 2014 appears to have been one of the reasons why the New York Times ranked the Dutch National Ballet as one of the world's top five ballet companies.
This season there will be a lot of work for the Junior Company. They will begin their annual tour of the Netherlands with In the Future which will feature the work of the same name by Hans van Manen. According to the website, this work was created by Hans van Manen in 1986 for Scapino Ballet and it has also been danced by Stuttgarter Ballett and Introdans Ensemble for Youth. It is described as "an energetic, swinging, amusing and surprising work, with wonderfully inventive costumes by Keso Dekker." They will also dance Narnia: the lion, the witch and the wardrobein which Ernst Meisner collaborated with Marco Gerris to produce a work that is described as "Hiphop meets Ballet." I saw a scene from this work in the 2015 gala and loved it. Finally, the Junior Company will celebrate its 5th anniversary in Junior Company 5 Yearswith a special gala at the Stadsschouwburg. Having attended one of the first (if not the first) of those galas in 2013 (see The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet - Stadsshouwburg Amsterdam 24 Nov 201325 Nov 2013) this will be a special performance for me too - if I can only get a flight and ticket for it.
Talking of the Junior Company, I introduced Timothy van Poucke and Salome Leverashvili in Missing Amsterdamon 18 Feb 2017. Tim and Salome have just released a fourth vlog entitled Life of a ballet dancer - VLOG#4 by Tim and Salome - Junior Companyin which they discuss their life in the company, how it differs from ballet school, their hopes for the future including prospective careers after they give up dance. Salome would love to dance on stage for ever and ever but realizes that will not be possible. However, she already sees a career for herself as a fashion designer including, perhaps, fashion for the ballet. Tim would like to be a teacher. He would be good at that, muses Salome, for he is always correcting her.
Tim is a fine young man. Salome a lovely young woman. They have all my betst wishes for the future as do all the other members of the Junior Company,
Bolshoi Ballet, Don Quixote, streamed live from Moscow, 10 April 2016
It is very easy to enjoy a performance of a ballet one loves. It is very much harder to enjoy a performance of a ballet to which one is indifferent. A good test of a company is whether such indifference can be overcome by the quality of its performance, Yesterday, by its performance of Alexei Fadeyechev's Don Quixote, the Bolshoi Ballet passed that test.
The reasons why Don Quixote has never appealed to me despite such choreographic pyrotechnics as Kitri's fouettés, Basilio's one handed lifts and fish dives are that the story is weak and except for the final pas de deux the score is undistinguished. Thelibretto, which owes very little to Cervantes, is not very different from La Fille mal gardée, a much shorter, tighter and generally more entertaining work with its clogs and dancing poultry and Alain swept into the storm by his umbrella. Instead we have some dryads who, despite their prettiness, are something of an irrelevance as they interrupt the flow of the story.
What saved the ballet for me were primarily the performances of Ekaterina Krysanova and Semyon Chudin as Kitri and Basilio which were outstanding. There were also strong performances by Denis Medvedev, Anna Tikhomirova and Kristina Karasyova as Gamache, the street dancer and Mercedes. There was some great character dancing by Alexei Loparevich as the Don, Roman Simachev as his squire and Andrei Sitnikov as Lorenzo. If we must have dryads in this ballet, there could be no more delightful dryad queen than Olga Smirnova. Other aspects of the show that I liked were the sets by Valery Leventhal, particularly the townscape in the first act and the windmills in the second. I also admired Elena Zaitseva's costumes.
The Royal Ballet now has its own version of Don Quixote which was staged by Carlos Acosta. I have not yet seen it on stage but I reviewed the HDTV transmission from Covent Garden in ¡Por favor! Don Quixote streamed to Huddersfield17 Oct 2013. I was somewhat underwhelmed by that production too and tried to work out why in More Thoughts on Don Quixote29 Oct 2013. I can't decide whether I prefer the Fadeyechev version or Acosta's. On the whole I incline towards Fadeyechev who has simplified the work and improved its flow by cutting the tavern scene though he has included elements like the guitar dance and bull fighters without a bull that add nothing to the story.
Fadeyechev was interviewed in the first interval by Katerina Novikova who presents all the Bolshoi's transmissions. Elegant and fluent in English and French she is a great asset to the company and one of the reasons why I have generally preferred the Bolshoi's transmissions to the Royal Opera House's. Fadeyechev spoke about those inclusions and the music of other composers that has been added to the score which are said to be unique to the Bolshoi.
Novikova also interviewed Makhar Vaziev who is described on the Bolshoi's website as "Ballet Director." He has recently taken over that job title from Sergei Filin who remains with the company as the "Director of Young Artists Ballet Program" though it is not clear from the articles by Ismene Brown Bolshoi abolishes Filin’s job30 July 2015 Arts Blog and Makhar Vaziev appointed Bolshoi ballet head26 Oct 2015 Arts Blog what either man's job description will be. Tactfully Novikova avoided that question and asked Vaziev about the differences between the Mariinsky where Vaziev started his career and the Bolshoi which he joined three weeks ago. Vaziev, who seems to be quite a jovial chap, replied that they both had their pluses and both had produced great artists. Galina Ulanova had started in St Petersburg and Maya Plisetskaya in Moscow. For those who are interested in that question, a more detailed answer is given in The Bolshoi Ballet(12 Aug 2010) by The Ballet Bag.
As the Bolshoi are coming to London between 25 July and 13 Aug 2016 (see Bolshoi Ballet Diamond Jubilee) I have found this season's HDTV season particularly useful for selecting what to see (see Live Performances streamed from the Bolshoi and Covent Garden20 Sept 2015). If I lived in London and had all the time in the world I would have chosen to see all five shows. As I live 200 miles away and have a demanding albeit rewarding full time job I have to confine myself to two. I have chosen to see Swan Lakeon 30 July 2016 and The Taming of the Shrewon the 3 Aug 2016. Even though booking has been restricted to Friends of Covent Garden many of the best seats for both shows seem to have been taken. I am not sure how many tickets will be left for the public when the tickets go on general sale later today.
Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev of the Bolshoi Source Wikipedia
The performance of Don Quixote which was streamed to my local Odeon last Wednesday has prompted me to think about the ballet generally and to ponder why it is not staged more often (see ¡Por favor! Don Quixote streamed to Huddersfield17 Oct 2013). Lots of companies dance Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker and Giselle but not so may include Don Quixote in their repertoire. It is one of those ballets like La Sylphide that everyone has heard of but not actually seen. I have only seen one version of Don Quixote on stage and that was London Festival's at the Coliseum in the late 1960s or early 1970s. Dame Ninette de Valois tried to stage the ballet for what is now the Royal Ballet in 1950 but it does not seem to have been very popular.
Although the ballet takes its title from Miguel Cervantes's well known novel it is very much a Russian work (or perhaps, more accurately Eastern European as the score was contributed by an expatriate Austrian). It is one of Petipa's earliest works having been staged for the first time in 1869 and that may be one of the reasons. It provides scope for some brilliant dancing by the principals and soloists but it does take liberties with the novel. The ballet really ought to be renamed Basilio and Kitri for that is what the story is all about - a Hispanic Fille mal gardée with a touch of Carmen.
Save for the coda in the last Act, the music is not very well known. I had (and possibly still have) a vinyl LP somewhere which I bought from the old Ballet Bookshop in Cecil Court. Does anyone else remember that wonderful source of ballet memorabilia? I played that disc often when I was a student - particularly when I had an essay to write. The composer Ludwig Minkus wrote a lot of music for the ballet. After many years service at St Petersburg, Minkus returned to his native Vienna where he subsisted on a pension from Russia. That remittance ended with the First World War as the Austro-Hungarian empire and Russia were on opposite sides. He died in 1917, the year of the Bolshevik revolution, in very straightened circumstances. Having to cope with such circumstances poor old Minkus had more than a little in common with with Cervantes's creation.
From what I could see from the images that were streamed from Covent Garden, Carlos Acosta has reworked substantially the Petipa ballet. By dancing Basilio himself and casting another Marianela Nunez, another Latin American dancer, as Kitri he has reclaimed the work for the Spanish speaking world. As I said in my review, the screening left me dissatisfied. All the remaining performances of the ballet this season are fully booked. I hope Acosta's version stays in the Royal Ballet's repertoire rather longer than de Valois's because I should really ought to see it.
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