It was a great plaeasure to be able to attend the performance , especially for JOSE MARTINEZ french dancer ETOILE

Who has never seen him , does not know what does dancing mean for now , for sure
he is a great dancer, with a tremendous amount of qualities such as strengt , superbe body line, theatrical ability, lyrical manner

Try to seen him

Thank you José

Unfortunaley Martinez did not appear at the Gala. He was compelled to remain in Paris to dance 'Carmen' as other principals of POB gave forfait.
There was instead his wife, the aristocratic Agnes Letestu who danced with great assurance the Balanchine's 'Sylvia p/d' solo and the lyrical Epilogue, from John Neumeier 's Fifth Symphony of Mahler with Hamburg Ballet soloist Ivan Urban

One of my friends in Hamburg told me that Manuel Legris was injured, so Jose Martinez had to dance in Paris.
How pity, Manuel. I hope he will get well soon.

Fortunately , it was an invitation for me !!! , Could you imagine people so disapointed , it is true that he danced Carmen more than he should have , his former wife was very good
He danced Carmen with Lucia LACCARA , no words to describe it

Greetings

Such are the risks you take when buying tickets to a live performance, especially ballet. It's very common for casting to change quite frequently, even at big galas. I recently attended a premiere of a new production, where three of the dancers in major roles had to replaced in the last week before the performance.

I had the pleasure of seeing Jose Martinez and his (as far as I know, current) wife Agnes Letestu in both rehearsal and performance when they guested with the Royal Danish Ballet. He has such elegance, and control - I hope someday to see him dance with the Paris Opera Ballet.

Cheers
Kate

This thread gives us a good chance to talk about Ballett-Tage in Hamburg, I think. If sophie-elise allows me and there are someone who agree with my proposal, shall we continue to talk for a while?

Feel free to dicuss the various performances surrounding the Ballett-Tage, including this Nijinsky gala.

Kate

Thank you ksneds.
Then we will talk about something about Ballett-Tage
The schedule was as follows:
June 19, 21, July 2 : Steps into the Future
June 22 : Tod in Venedig
June 23 : A Midsummer Night's Dream
June 24 : Romeo and Juliet
June 25 : Die Kameliendame
June 26 : Odyssey
June 28, 29 : Guest Company(Bermingham Royal Ballet)
Scene de ballet, Dante Sonata, Enigma Variations
June 30 : Matthaeus Passion
July 1 : La Fille mal gardee
July 3 : Nijinsky-Gala
I watched five performances from June 29 to July 3.
I was a bit little sad not to see Neumeier's new work. Instead of that, works of four new choreographers(Bubenicek, Goecke, Wheeldon and Hattori) were performed. Some were interesting, the other was not to me. But I think this new attempt is necessary to Hamburg ballet and the dancers. I love Neumeier's works so much(but not all), but I would like to see the dancers performing vividly on other choreographers' works. I have sometimes found some dancers something new attractive.

Could you tell me something about the piece choreographed by Bubenicek ? Did you like it ? I'm interested in Bubenicek's work, he's from my country

Did you know that both Jose Carlos Martinez and Lucia Lacarra are Spanish who, like a lot of more great Spanish dancers (Corella, Rojo, De Luz, etc. etc.) have to dance out of Spain as there is no place for them to dance here...

You can imagine how we, Spanish ballet lovers, feel

Of cource I am willing to write about his work and other choreographer's works.
First, Jiri Bubenicek's work " Unerrichbare Orte(unreached place)"was performed. Music was composed by his brother Otto Bubenicek(he is really multi-talented).
The first scence really impressed me. Each of three pairs was wearing the very very very long same skirt, and the each pair was performing on a little elevated place. Then the skirt looked like a volcano, and they were seemed like magma to me. It was really impressive. I thought they were seeking for someone almost without being conscious of each other clearly, making their bodies wind around.
After that, putting off the skirt, each pair performed the different kind of love.
Frankly speaking I could not connect the first scene with the second. I will understand more clearly after watching it some times. I like his work, but not very much.
I am a little bit tired. I will write about other works later.

Hi Carolina - I agree entirely about the superb quality of the Spanish-trained dancers. Lucia Lacarra, Angel Corella and others trained at Victor Ullate's school in Madrid, which is clearly one of the best in the world.

Keep up the great work, Sachikom, as you can see you are generating a lot of interest.

Thanks, sachikom ! I'm happy that Czech dancers like Bubeniceks are the stars of a foreign ballet company, although I'd love to see them perform here in Prague. They've danced at Ballet-Gala in the National Theatre of Prague this May, but I unfortunately missed it.

They're together dancing next week the Roland Petit's Carmen. If Lucia Lacarra is not for me Carmen, she was absolutely amazing as technical dancer, I never saw a ballerina dance so quickly, especially in the end of the Tavern scene ! She is really a great technician. She could come to dance Neumeier Lady of Camelias, next season. And José Martinez what a Don José ! As we said on the French part, it's one of the "Greatest dancer in the world" !

Strange what are you saying Cathy... Why a Parisian Lady of Camellias from outside? Do you think there are no too many dance actresses in Paris to be Marguerite next year ? (I would live to see Aurelie in the role)...
Anyway, back to the Hamburg Ballet Tage, the Czeck twins are outstanding dancers and performers, but are the paramount of a very great company. In Mathaus Passion the male dancers are amazing: Alexandre Riabko, so lyrical and pure. Lloyd Riggins so dramatic and strong as Jesus (has anybody seen his Aschenbach in 'Death in Venice'?). And I loved also other dancers, as very young Thiago Bordin and a strange beauty, a russian boy with oriental face, Emil Faskhoutdinov, plus a Sicilian talent, Stefano Palmigiano.
In the young choreographers evening Sachikom speaks about the boys are absolutely in evidence in the strange piece by Wuppertal Marco Goecke: acrobatic and funny, they danced mostly showingonly their backs!