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I have just realised that there is a performance of Anastasia on the saturday evening that I'm going to be in London in November - it's with Cuthbertson, Lamb and Macrae. They have some really good tickets still available and if I were on my own I'd have gone like a shot, but I'm going to be with my husband who is not a ballet buff. The last time I saw it was with Lynn Seymour (yes that long ago) and I can't decide what to do. I'd be grateful for some opinions on it - has anyone seen it lately or remembers it better than I do??????

Hi all. My DD is auditioning this year for entry to a BA in contemporary dance. I always keep an eye on this forum and it has been very informative for me and for her. I was wondering though does anyone know of any forums where they discuss contemporary dance as I know this one is mainly for ballet? She will be auditioning for Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds, and Fontys and Codarts in the Netherlands. All advice or knowledge gratefully accepted! And good luck to all setting off on this rollercoaster year! I am terrified myself!

Was at the rehearsal on Tuesday evening, with the opening night cast, of Liam Scarlett's world premiere of 'Frankenstein', based on the Mary Shelley gothic classic. Here are a few photos: Federico Bonelli © Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr Federico Bonelli, Laura Morera © Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr Steven McRae, Federico Bonelli © Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr See more... Set from DanceTabs: RB - Frankenstein Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr By kind permission of the Royal Opera House

Darcey Bussell's programme on Margot Fonteyn having just finished, here's a thread to discuss that and other dance-related offerings.

Birmingham Royal Ballet's production of The Nutcracker begins at Birmingham Hippodrome today, celebrating the 90th birthday of its creator, Sir Peter Wright. If you see it, do let us know your thoughts.

According to a ROH brochure, it will be held this year on 4th October, 2016 (Tuesday). The brochure gives a URL of www.worldballet.com, but I believe the correct URL is http://www.worldballetday.com, where you can sign up for email updates. I'll drop ROH a line to ask if they could please check which events will remain online and for how long after the live streaming, for those of us who unfortunately won't be able to spend the whole day watching ballet...

Casting has just been posted on BRB website. 13 Sugar Plum Fairies.

Since I'm sure quite a few people on this forum will have been to tonight's performance already, could someone give me an idea of running time, please? (Plus of course discuss the production if you like )

I was just wondering why this doesn't seem to be booking terribly well when compared with Anastasia and the Triple Bill. I know there are a lot of performances but even the ones with Osipova still have a lot of seats left. It will be my first time for this particular ballet so I was interested in people's thoughts.

Well, the Bolshoi's 2016 season started tonight at the Royal Opera House with their new production of Don Quixote. For those who were there, please report back!

Just saw this in Canterbury and was very pleased. Sadly not sold out but some very good dancing and a lovely little orchestra. I think the Macmillan choreography is a masterpiece, but this was interesting and quite exciting. Short. The friar has a hugely extended role and it all happens on a smallish stage which I guess is also the case in Leeds. Anyone else seen it? I'd be curious to hear views.

Surprised no-one has started a thread on this, being last night was the opening night. However, I went to it and thought the whole evening was lovely. Program. Winter Dreams - Farewell Pas de Deux - MacMillan - Marianela Nunez and Carlos Dying Swan - Fokine - Sarah Lamb Rhapsody - Pas de Deux - Ashton - Yuhui Choe and Valentino Zucchetti Scheherazade - Pas de Deux - Fokine - Gabriela Lugo and Luis Valle Manon - Bedroom Pas de Deux from Act 1 - Macmillan - Laura Morera and Ryoichi Harano Don Quixote Pas de Deux - Petipa/Acosta - Marianela Nunez and Carlos Part Two Mayerling - Final Pas de Deux from Act 3 - MacMillan - Laura Morera,Carlos and Valentino Zucchetti Gloria Domine Deus - MacMillan - Sarah Lamb and Ryoichi Harano Requiem Offertoire and Pie Jesu - MacMillan - Yuhui Choe and Carlos Rubies Pas de Deux - Balanchine - Sarah Lamb and Valentino Zucchetti Apollo Pas de Deux - Balanchine - Marianela and Carlos Anadromous - Reinoso - Gabriela Lugo and Luis Valle Memoria - Altunaga - Carlos Good mix of styles and types of ballet including some contemporary, the final two particularly. The highlight for me was the Don Quixote - both Nela and Carlos having so much fun with it. It included some gravitas as well, particularly Winter Dreams, Manon and Mayerling beautifully danced as were all the pieces. Carlos was in complete pieces at the final "curtain" ( except there wasn't one), plainly overwhelmed and the whole of the Albert Hall on its feet cheering to the rafters. Great send off. Great night.

Wasn't sure at all that I would like the new direction story wise, aside from the clunky prologue, very much enjoyed and worth a visit. Music reworked in places to fit the new story of a princess bride losing her husband to his other love, black swan solo music brought forward to the first act to show her demise into madness, music from the lake making its first entrance at the end of act 1 as she is taken away to the sanitorium. Pas de trois incredibly emotive - bringing to life the realisation that there were 3 people in the marriage. Beautiful costumes, flowed in sync with the dancing and wedding dress of billowing fabric negotiated incredibly well by the dancers. Swan costumes looked feathery soft and light. Incredible costumes, wedding dress of billowing fabric - negotiated incredibly well by the dancers. Magical swan scene, beautiful staging, raised 'lake' at one point gave the impression that the swans had taken to the air. Faultless corps de ballet as both white swans and black swans in act 4. Amber Scott gave Odette elegance as well as emotional highs and lows with every movement. Didn't really understand the audience going wild for Adam Bull's performance - more so because male choreography overall was a little underwhelming.

http://www.roh.org.uk/news/promotions-and-joiners-at-the-royal-ballet-for-201617 "Promotions and joiners have been announced for the 2016/17 Season. Director Kevin O’Hare has made the following promotions for the forthcoming Season: Alexander Campbell, Francesca Hayward, Ryoichi Hirano and Akane Takada have been promoted to Principal, the Company’s highest rank. Claire Calvert, Yasmine Naghdi and Beatriz Stix-Brunell are promoted to First Soloists.Matthew Ball and Mayara Magri are promoted to Soloists. Tierney Heap was promoted to First Artist mid-season and is also now promoted to Soloist. Reece Clarke, David Donnelly, Benjamin Ella, Isabella Gasparini, Anna Rose O’Sullivanand Demelza Parish are promoted to First Artist. Joining the Company at the start of the Season will be Joseph Sissens from The Royal Ballet School. All the 2015/16 Aud Jebsen Young Dancers - Lukas Bjørneboe Brændsrød, Harry Churches, Leo Dixon, Isabel Lubach and Julia Roscoe - will join the Company from The Royal Ballet School on permanent contracts as Artists. The Royal Ballet welcomes seven dancers to the Company for the 2016/17 Aud Jebsen Young Dancers Programme. The programme provides an opportunity for recently graduated dancers to receive a year’s contract to work alongside the corps de ballet of The Royal Ballet. In addition the dancers are offered mentoring and coaching and have the opportunity to perform with the Company. Next Season’s Aud Jebsen Young Dancers are Joseph Aumeer, Estelle Bovay, Maria Luisa Castillo Yoshida, Arianna Maldini, Giacomo Rovero, Francisco Serrano and Charlotte Tonkinson, all from The Royal Ballet School. Vincenzo Di Primo joins the Company as Prix de Lausanne dancer. Charlotte Edmonds will continue with The Royal Ballet for the 2016/17 Season for a second year on The Royal Ballet Young Choreographer Programme mentored by Kevin O’Hare and Wayne McGregor. The Young Choreographer Programme is a position for an emerging choreographer to shadow Royal Ballet and visiting choreographers and utilize the Company resources to create work." Very well deserved promotions. Congratulations to them all!

Hello to all - I'm delighted to have found this community of ballet fans. I wondered if anyone here was at the ENB's season launch last night, and if so, what did you think? I loved Tamara Rojo's speech: "There's a misunderstanding in the ballet world that in order to cherish our heritage, we have to freeze it." I really admire the choices she's making with the company. And of course I am incandescently excited to see The Rite of Spring next year. How does everyone else feel about the upcoming season?

Hi Just returned from the opening night of Swan Lake with Olga Smirnova and Denis Rudkin. It was a different experience to the last Swan Lake I saw with the Bolshoi a few years ago but still enjoyable. Smirnova was so elegant and the Corps were amazing. I was in Row M of the Orchestra Stalls and the experience was different to being in the first rows as I normally am. Lots of curtain calls for Denis and Olga. Did anyone else from here go? What did you think? p.s. The smoked salmon sandwiches were nice but not worth 11 quid! p.p.s. The Black Swan Champagne cocktail was definitely worth it!

Am I the only one (among UK readers, I suppose) feeling an odd sense of ... well, loss, I suppose ... that the Olympics won't be taking place in the UK this time around? I'm wondering if this is a sort of natural post-hosting-Olympics slump, and whether things will be fine by the time the 2020 Games come around.

What a glorious night at the ROH, I didn't want it to end. Lantratov's performance was once again a revelation. He seems to pack a veritable armoire of personas he can just pick and choose at will. He transformed himself from the 'tenderness and gentleness' displayed in Monday night's Swan Lake to the 'Polunin-esque' cad required of him in this role. He exuded passion with every move, and proceeded to tame the fiery dragon that was Krysanova tonight - no mean feat. Ekaterina stormed on stage like a tornado, creating mayhem along her path. The sweat visible on her striated back, demonstrating the physical and emotional efforts involved in her superb portrayal of Katharina. The highlight for me was the scene at Petruchio's home, where he continued to subdue Katherina's feistiness. Once accomplished, the four-play and love scene ensued. Tumultuous and passionate, I was lost in the moment, awe struck. I could go on. The only disappointment for me was Chudin as Lucentio. Although technically proficient, his characterisation was more of a library assistant than anything else. He seemed out of his league courting the wonderfully coquettish Smirnova. Tonight was one of those performances I'll lock into my memory bank as a future reference point of excellence.

Saw no one has yet lifted this topic off, so I thought I would jump in. I wrote a review of the production itself the last time round so I will leave that to historical record. In many ways I thought last night's outing was more fair to the the variety of Ratmansky's choreographic outlines - and certainly Burlaka's 'Dramatic Conception' - such as it exists in this particular 're-imagining'. Indeed - and perhaps more to the point - it was the Bolshoi Ballet Company - itself - as a whole - that here now shone minus its originating - and focus stealing - 'Vasipova' effect, as thrilling as that historic moment in balletic time was. That is perhaps ironic given much of the Bolshoi's own history ... but there is no question but that it is more fitting just now. (The Shrew of the last two nights has made that vividly clear. This is a Company set sail with a differing - if not an entirely different charge.) In many ways I felt that Ekaterina Krysanova bettered her predecessor as Jeanne in that she seemed a tad more comfortable in the many character dance aspects and was certainly determined in her character observations throughout. Her stare as she progressed forward at the end pierced through with steel. What a gloriously versatile artist this young dancer is. Certainly you could feel that in the clearly distinct differences in her own O/O framework. She is, in fact, the ONLY female principal who will have appeared in principal roles in ALL FIVE of the ballets being presented in London's 2016 Bolshoi season. This surely is HER season and hers - at least as far as I'm concerned - is very much a well deserved showcase ... as was it on this occasion for the dramatically thrilling Igor Tsvirko (looking - as arrayed here - every inch the Bolshoi's answer to John Travolta of yore) - who threw his own eye popping - both literally and figuratively - blaze into last night's mix as Philippe. Denis Rodkin was replaced 'due to injury' (as announced) last night by the arduously svelte Artem Ovcharenko and his real-life fiancee (it has been publicly announced they will be getting married later this month) the always enticingly exquisite Anna Tikhomirova - surely a principal in waiting. They dazzled as Mireille de Poitiers and Antoine Mistral and the oh, so difficult partnering of that central adagio - even inclusive here of a very small slip by Tihomirova which Ovcharenko make almost entirely unnoticable. Theirs was a heart-rendering love knot and oh, so very musically enhanced. Outstanding too - once again - in the role he originated - was that phenomenal character artist in a company of world leading character dancers, Vitaly Biktimiov. Once more he proffered a distinctly 'David-Niven-like' air as Gilbert, Captain of the Marseillais. How lucky we are to be able to watch his ever present and always uniquely stunning detail of his life enriching creations much as we are with our very own and equally vivid Gary Avis. Denis Savin once again brought keen heart to Jerome as did the effervescent Nina Kaptsova as Adeline (much as she had in the performance now incarcerated on DVD). I felt that Chudin - in an act of wholly unnecessary luxury casting - was a tad wasted in the role of The Marquis Costa de Beauregard - for short of his revelatory bristling brises - there is not a great deal of dance for this character and otherwise Chudin did appear somewhat out of place at times - (and the wig too certainly does him no favours much as it historically didn't a younger Wayne Eagling - who every year he seems to facially resemble more and more - in the RB's Nutcracker). This may well, of course, have been an appropriate character choice given that this role is largely written out as the proceedings progress; a bit like David Cameron after Brexit. That said I was entranced once more by the gloriously witty account Denis Medvedev gave as King Louis XVI in his one scene. During this you could well see why Stalin - zealously puffing smoke from his Bolshoi box - would reportedly guffaw with such bucolic mirth. Indeed at one point therein I thought I could hear the trace of his echo. In all though it was the stunning character dances - here in such an abundantly rich array - that tied this fanciful delight up with a distinctly charged ribbon. Georgy Gusev's precision in placement alone in the thrilling Marseillaise Dance almost cried out 'Liberte, egalite ... and certainly fraternite' and the adoring audience once again detonated in the explosive thunder of their admiration.

Dance tabs have just put up a summary of casting for Bolshoi tour in London. Tickets are on sale from today. https://twitter.com/DanceTabs

I can't see that we have a thread already going for this, but someone please let me know if there is one and I'll merge them. Mixed feelings about today's experience, really. Despite the ROH website informing me that there would be a queue operating from 8.55 am, and despite my refreshing the page numerous times from that time onwards, I didn't get put into the queue until 9 am, by which time there were some 750 people ahead of me Not hugely successful, but I've known worse. Have had to go for a few rear amphi standings, which is not normal. (If anyone has any inexpensive Nunez/Muntagirov Filles or Osipova Anastasias - but not the cinema one - going spare, please bear me in mind ) I gave up in the end: it's too hot to bother. Internet Explorer was only giving me the "best available" option at times, and of course the ROH website and I don't agree on what's "best", so I gave up and used Firefox, which wasn't, although that tended to hang annoyingly. NB: there is far better availability for Les Enfants Terribles on the Barbican website - although there *is* a booking fee to be contended with there.

MEDIA RELEASE: Monday 4 July 2016 BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET ANNOUNCEMENTS 2016 At the end of the 2015/2016 season, Birmingham Royal Ballet is able to announce the following: Samara Downs is promoted from First Soloist to Principal. Céline Gittens is promoted from First Soloist to Principal. Delia Mathews is promoted from Soloist to First Soloist. Yijing Zhang is promoted from First Artist to Soloist. Feargus Campbell is promoted from First Artist to Soloist. Brandon Lawrence is promoted from First Artist to Soloist. Valentin Olovyannikov is promoted from First Artist to Soloist. Yaoqian Shang is promoted from Artist to Soloist. Reina Fuchigami is promoted from Artist to First Artist. Jade Heusen is promoted from Artist to First Artist. Max Maslen is promoted from Artist to First Artist. Lachlan Monaghan is promoted from Artist to First Artist. The following dancers will join the company: Gabriel Anderson, graduate of the Royal Ballet School, will join as an Artist. Tim Dutson, graduate of English National Ballet School, will join as an Artist. Aitor Galende, graduate of the Royal Ballet School, will join as an Artist. The following dancers leave the company: Elisha Willis leaves Birmingham Royal Ballet after thirteen years with the Company, twelve of those years as a Principal. Elisha is retiring from ballet and is going to pursue a career in costume making. Jonathan Caguioa leaves Birmingham Royal Ballet after fourteen years with the Company, four of those years as a Soloist. Jonathan is returning to London to undertake a Pilates teaching course. Steven Monteith left Birmingham Royal Ballet earlier this season after eighteen years with the Company, six of those years as a Soloist. Steven is currently studying for the Professional Dancers’ Teaching Diploma at the Royal Academy of Dance. Oliver Till leaves Birmingham Royal Ballet after nine years with the Company. Oliver was promoted to Soloist earlier this season. He is now moving to the United States to pursue different opportunities. Leticia Dias Domingues leaves Birmingham Royal Ballet after a year with the Company. Leticia is joining the Royal Ballet as an Artist. Luke Schaufuss leaves Birmingham Royal Ballet after three years with the Company. Luke is joining Scottish Ballet as a Soloist.

Just got back from Swan Lake in the round and I was enchanted. I was a bit sceptical from the clips I had seen, whether I would like it or not, but I am tempted to go again. Alina was strong and beautiful, Osiel's jumps tore up the stage, but the 60 members of the corps were the stars, the patterns they made were unbelievable. There are some tickets still available, do go if you can. Even better, I was waiting for a taxi to go to Victoria to get the red eye coach home, and Irek Mukhamedov came out of the door, and he signed my pointe shoes! He was so humble, he said, 'I can't, I didn't do anything', but he kindly signed them anyway. If you do get a chance to go, go in at Door 1, they have a black and a white swan tutu on stands there, lovely to see them so close up.

It is all starting to feel very real now, the first audition date is through trings audition is 30th November The roller coast is just about to begin!!!!

Casting has just gone up on the ENB website: http://www.ballet.org.uk/whats-on/swan-lake-round/