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Royal Ballet Soloists


 
Christina Arestis
Upcoming performances?
Reviews
"Arestis" in postings
Interviews and views
There are two good roles for Christina Arestis this season, as the Bride in Les Noces and as the Tsarina in MacMillan's Anastasia. She's newly promoted to Soloist and has begun to stand out in ensembles for more than just her height - this could be another important year for her. {soloists}
 
 
Lauren Cuthbertson
Upcoming performances?
Reviews
"Cuthbertson" in postings
Interviews and views
Lauren Cuthbertson is rising so fast it's been hard to keep track of the new roles she's done this season - well over a dozen, with Juliet still to come. Her onstage manner is beautifully calm and serene, but some cracks did show in Symphony in C, which looked too much for her at this stage. There's no doubt she's a major talent, and she deserves to be given the time to develop properly rather than rushing through everything in a couple of years - she's still a teenager, after all. {soloists}
 
 
Chloe Davies
Upcoming performances?
Reviews
"Davies" in postings
Interviews and views
Chloe Davies returned to the stage in early 2004 after a year's maternity leave, and has so far been seen as Bathilde in Giselle and a few less prominent roles - we llok forward to seeing her re-establish herself in the company over the next months. {soloists}
 
 
Bennet Gartside
Upcoming performances?
Reviews
"Gartside" in postings
Interviews and views
Bennet Gartside is a popular choice in the creation of new choreography and features heavily in many of he small productions in the Clore or Linbury, for various different choreographers. In the main house he makes more impact in the MacMillan repertoire (in Gloria, Song of the Earth) and he looks more at home in the more modern items in the repertory - the running, jumping sections of Kylian’s Sinfonietta for example. {soloists}
 
 
Martin Harvey
Upcoming performances?
Reviews
"Harvey" in postings
Interviews and views
Harvey is steadily progressing to bigger roles within the company. In the past he has always caught the eye in the small productions in the Clore or Linbury, used by Cathy Marston, Vanessa Fenton and others, particularly for testing and intricate partnering. Other choreographers have also been interested in using him for new works created for the main stage - Bintley for Automne in Les Saisons, and Wheeldon for a role in Tryst. He is a strong and reliable partner. In the last few seasons he has moved on to take on roles such as Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Lescaut in Manon. The more modern rather than the more purely classical work suits him more, but he is very much at home in MacMillan's works and is developing a powerful presence as an actor. {soloists}
 
 
Jonathan Howells
Upcoming performances?
Reviews
"Howells" in postings
Interviews and views
Howells is affectionately remembered for his performances a couple of seasons ago as Alain in Fille mal Gardee, which were both funny and touching - perfectly judged and very well danced. His clean lines are also shown to advantage as the Nutcracker. It's perhaps a pity that this success didn't bring him bigger roles. He is usually to be found among the supporting soloists. Last season he appeared as Lescaut for the first time. {soloists}
 
 
Valeri Hristov
Upcoming performances?
Reviews
"Hristov" in postings
Interviews and views
Valeri Hristov joined the Royal Ballet at the beginning of last season from Pacific Northwest Ballet, and has just been promoted to Soloist. You'd need to be a fairly assiduous RB-goer to be able to add much to that - he's been seen in some ensemble roles, such as one of the four men in Scènes de Ballet, but beyond that he's an unknown quantity. This season he's scheduled to dance the Bridegroom in Les Noces. {soloists}
 
 
Brian Maloney
Upcoming performances?
Reviews
"Maloney" in postings
Interviews and views
Brian Maloney danced Lescaut in Manon last season to some very positive reviews, and has now been promoted to Soloist. There's a lot of competition in the company at the moment for the sort of roles he's likely to get, but he's got the technical strength to succeed, and a strong stage character as well. No clues so far as to what he'll be doing this season, though. {soloists}
 
 
José Martin
Upcoming performances?
Reviews
"Martin" in postings
Interviews and views
Martin had some good roles last season, his first with the Royal Ballet, and made the most of them. He's a dancer who always gets noticed for his outgoing energy as well as for his technique, and he can do the classical stuff - Swan Lake pas de trois for instance - as well as succeeding in acting roles like Lescaut in Manon. We'll be seeing a lot more of him. {soloists}
 
 
Vanessa Palmer
Upcoming performances?
Reviews
"Palmer" in postings
Interviews and views
Vanessa Palmer is one of those dancers who gets fantastic reviews for whatever she does but is never cast in a leading role. She can bring the stage to life in a tiny role such as one of the 'knitting' women at the beginning of Act 1 of Sleeping Beauty, and as the leading harlot in Romeo and Juliet she's likely to steal the scene from all but the strongest principals. In the days when the company had a much wider demi-caractere repertory she'd have had a lot more scope, and maybe her career will move forward next year when there will be lots of Ashton narratives for her to try. {soloists}
 
 
David Pickering
Upcoming performances?
Reviews
"Pickering" in postings
Interviews and views
David Pickering is one of those dancers a company like the Royal Ballet can't do without - rarely in the limelight (the Bridegroom in Les Noces is one of his few featured roles) - but always in there somewhere in the big dramatic ballets, bringing real dramatic life to some minor character. {soloists}
 
 
Christina Elida Salerno
Upcoming performances?
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"Salerno" in postings
Interviews and views
Christina Elida Salerno was mostly seen in classical solos in her first year in the Royal Ballet, including some performances of Princess Florine in the new Sleeping Beauty. So far it's been difficult to discover much about her, but she's been promoted to soloist for the new season and we may get a chance to see some more of her individuality. {soloists}
 
 
Thiago Soares
Upcoming performances?
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"Soares" in postings
Interviews and views
Thiago Soares looks like being a real find. Already last year, as a first artist, he danced the Prince in Sleeping Beauty, and this year - promoted to soloist - he's scheduled to do Solor in Bayadère, and Ugly Sister in Cinderella, and Rasputin in Anastasia. He can act - we've already seen him as an excellent Brahmin in Bayadère - and if he has the technique for Solor as well, he could go right to the top. {soloists}
 
 
Thomas Whitehead
Upcoming performances?
Reviews
"Whitehead" in postings
Interviews and views
Whitehead had some good new roles last season, including Paris in Romeo and Juliet and the Gaoler in Manon, as well as repeating his fine Don Jose in Carmen. It's an interesting collection of adult characters rather than boys - maybe a signpost to the turn his career is going to take? {soloists}
 


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