Lauren Cuthbertson Archives

The Royal Ballet’s Mara Galeazzi says arrivederci to the ballet stage

Apr 032013

wpid EdwardWatson MaraGaleazzi The Royal Ballets Mara Galeazzi says arrivederci to the ballet stage Just over a month ago the Royal Ballet announced that principal dancer Mara Galeazzi will be leaving the company:

Mara Galeazzi will retire from The Royal Ballet in July 2013, at the end of the current season. Mara, who had her first child last April, will move to Oman to be with her husband. She will focus on new projects, teaching dance and her work for her charity foundation Dancing for The Children which raises funds for sick children in Africa.

said the press release.

Her last performance at the Royal Opera House with the Royal Ballet will be on 13 June in Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling with her pals from the 2009 DVD: Edward Watson as Crown Prince Rudolf and Sarah Lamb as Countess Larisch; her final performance with the company will be in Monaco where she will perform the title role in Manon on 29 June.

Teatro Romana Verona The Royal Ballets Mara Galeazzi says arrivederci to the ballet stage But the tears won’t finish that evening, for on 23 July in the evocative setting of Verona’s Teatro Romano, Galeazzi will say her last arrivederci to the ballet stage after a star gala with Royal Ballet colleagues. Lauren Cuthbertson, Sarah Lamb, Marianela Nuñez, Gary Avis, Steven McRae, Thiago Soares and Edward Watson, along with Mara Galeazzi herself, will dance selections from the classical and contemporary repertoire that makes the Royal Ballet one of the powerhouse companies in the dance world.

Tickets for the gala are already available, and with a top price of €33 I’d say that it must be the dance bargain of the year!

Photo: Mara Galeazzi and Edward Watson in Mayerling © Johan Persson; below, Verona’s Teatro Romano.

Critics Round-Up: An ‘imaginatively crafted delight’ or a ‘thin ballet’? Royal Ballet’s Alice

ballet, roundup 4 Responses »

Mar 252012

We know that the Royal Ballet’s dancers are exceptional, we’ve seen that the designs and lighting are magical, but the jury is still out on whether Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland satisfies as a theatrical piece.

Clement Crisp’s final paragraph from his Financial Times review of the current run was,

But for all the unflagging energies, physical and emotional, that its cast brings to the choreography, this is a game of “keep it moving and they won’t see the holes”. And the holes – the coarse score, the blustering, false drama – are too large to disguise.

Which he’d already spotted on its first outing,

I was less than enraptured by this blatant affair at its creation last year. In its current revival certain changes have been made – significantly in splitting an interminable first act into two – but the sum effect is still of blazing misconceptions in supposing that such a narrative can admit of translation into movement.… [continue reading]

Ex-Royal Ballet dancer Ivan Putrov states that the company’s dancers are not artists, but defecting colleague Sergei Polunin is…

ballet 4 Responses »

Jan 262012

Commenting on Sergei Polunin’s surprise exit from the Royal Ballet, fellow Ukrainian and ex-Royal principal Ivan Putrov, has probably upset a number of his dancer colleagues. In an interview with the BBC he said,

Being in a company has this element that you are sometimes told what to do. If you want to be part of the company you have to, maybe, shut-up and do what you’re supposed to do. If you want to be an artist… an artist creates. A craftsman just does what he’s told, an artist creates. Sergei is an artist and he likes to create.

While being a craftsmen is an excellent and noble quality, Royal Ballet company members such as Alina Cojocaru, Lauren Cuthbertson, Marianela Nuñez, Tamara Rojo, Edward Watson and Zenaida Yanowsky, will be surprised to learn that Putrov doesn’t consider them to be artists.… [continue reading]

Young ballet star Sergei Polunin’s shock resignation from the Royal Ballet

ballet 1 Response »

Jan 252012

It was with considerable surprise that the ballet world received the news of the departure of 21-year-old Ukrainian Sergei Polunin from the Royal Ballet. He was promoted to principal just two years ago, and was making leaps forward in his career with the company, including the recent live relay of The Sleeping Beauty with his ‘partner’ Lauren Cuthbertson.

Polunin was due to appear in The Dream next week and had given no indication in rehearsals that anything was amiss, said The Telegraph, but told Royal Ballet director Dame Monica Mason today of his decision to quit.

2 hours ago on his Twitter account, @sergei_polunin, he wrote,

Just have to go through one night!!! then will make my next moves.

… [continue reading]

Royal Ballet’s Lauren Cuthbertson on being a ventriloquist

ballet No Responses »

Dec 092011

Royal Ballet star Lauren Cuthbertson tells The Daily Mail that one of the greatest problems in the live relay of The Sleeping Beauty are the extreme close-ups. Dancers are used to giving “whispered instructions to the other dancers through gritted teeth” knowing that they won’t be seen the other side of the orchestra pit. With high-definition cameras from all angles, the story is quite different.

It’s like being a ventriloquist. Behind my smile I’m saying things like “more to the left . . . now a little to the right”, just loud enough for the others on stage to hear, but the naked eye won’t see my lips move.

‘Now I’ve been warned that close-up shots will give this secret away, so I’ve got to keep my mouth shut.… [continue reading]

The FT’s Clement Crisp: Manon’s involuntary sexual charm, like Marilyn Monroe

ballet No Responses »

Nov 142011

The Financial Times has some, understandable, reserves in an otherwise excellent review:

My cheers for the ensemble are as loud as anyone’s, as also my admiration for the principals: for José Martin’s vivid Lescaut, for Gary Avis’s tumescent Monsieur GM, for Itziar Mendizabel as Lescaut’s mistress, sailing through terrible difficulties with sublime insouciance, for Bennet Gartside’s superlative gaoler (the best ever?), for Christine Arestis’s madam. And my usual bouquet for the tiny tart in the apricot Vigée Lebrun trouser suit, saucily delicious, played with the merriest glances.

For Sergey Polunin’s debut as des Grieux unalloyed praise: the role beautifully danced (physical presence perfectly controlled, line and phrasing eloquent, character understood) and given with a sure sense of its tragic momentum.… [continue reading]

What makes the Royal Ballet’s Lauren Cuthbertson special

ballet No Responses »

Oct 312011

Some dancers have a defining attribute: Sylvie Guillem’s ear-high extensions, Alina Cojocaru’s airy delicacy, Natalia Osipova’s enormous jump. But what makes Cuthbertson special is more to do with the quality of her presence. Her performances are very personal: you never see a cliched gesture or a “ballet dancer expression”. Even in abstract work, her dancing is peculiarly spontaneous, transparent in its lack of rhetoric or airs.

via The Guardian… [continue reading]

Older Entries

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The Royal Ballet’s Mara Galeazzi says arrivederci to the ballet stage

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Critics Round-Up: An ‘imaginatively crafted delight’ or a ‘thin ballet’? Royal Ballet’s Alice

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Ex-Royal Ballet dancer Ivan Putrov states that the company’s dancers are not artists, but defecting colleague Sergei Polunin is…

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Young ballet star Sergei Polunin’s shock resignation from the Royal Ballet

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Royal Ballet’s Lauren Cuthbertson on being a ventriloquist

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The FT’s Clement Crisp: Manon’s involuntary sexual charm, like Marilyn Monroe

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What makes the Royal Ballet’s Lauren Cuthbertson special

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