By Megan
Link: https://stream.roh.org.uk/products/the-dream-2017
Available until: 18th April 2021
The Dream is based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and it’s a beautiful ballet. It doesn’t tell the full story, there’s no Theseus and Hippolyta, and the Mechanicals (apart from Bottom) only have a very short appearance but you do get to see the Lovers and the Fairies.
By Megan
Link: https://stream.roh.org.uk/packages/marguerite-and-armand-2017/videos/marguerite-and-armand-2017 £3
Available until: Sunday 14th
February 2021
Marguerite and
Armand tells the same story as the opera La
traviata by Giuseppe Verdi. The ballet and the operas are both based on
Alexander Dumas’ play La Dame aux camélias which means The Lady with
the Camelias. Marguerite and Armand are the names given to the characters
in the play and the names have been kept for the ballet.
By Louise
Available until: Sunday 8th November. The
performance starts half an hour into the video.
We’ve watched a lot of videos of the Royal Ballet recently,
but this was different. This wasn’t a recording. It was live onstage with real
dancers touching each other. There was even an audience of students, nurses and
their families. It wasn’t a full house because of social distancing (and
because the orchestra were spaced out around the whole of the Stalls), but they
sounded like a big audience.
By Louise
Link: https://stream.roh.org.uk/packages/dancers-at-a-gathering-2020/videos/dances-at-a-gathering-2020
Available until: 25th October 2020
I don’t know if I’ll be any good at reviewing ballet. I
enjoy ballet a lot, but if I’m seeing a ballet for the first time, it is
sometimes difficult for me to pick out the story unless it’s already familiar
to me. In order to understand Dances at a Gathering properly, I would have to
watch it several times. I did think about doing that, but then (and maybe this
is lazy of me) I was thinking this isn’t a well-known ballet and most people
who watch it will be in the same position as me and won’t have seen it before.
And I think everyone’s thoughts are valid really so mine should be too.
