John Mallinson

It's rumour. It may turn out to be true for all I know but as of now it's only rumour.

Bruce, of course you're right and the strapline under What's Happening does make it clear that it's intended to be the catch-all. I suppose I tend not to read straplines - reprehensible but there we are! I guess it doesn't really matter where the general discussion topics (e.g. "Are dancers better at arithmetic") go so long as we're clear about it; there's no good reason to change the present practice. What about Performances seen & general discussion Ballet / Dance news & information No straplines. (​I'm sure there could be snappier descriptive titles.)

That's usually the way of it when relatively junior members of the company (Hamilton is a Soloist) first take principal roles. It must be very frustrating for them, but even more so for more senior members at the sub-Principal level who are overtaken in this way and haven't had such an opportunity. If Hamilton had another performance, given that none of the seven other Juliets this season (all Principals) has more than two, who would you leave out? Her time will come.

The Help is good though maybe could do with clarification and expansion over some things. It's available on all pages, right at the bottom in absurdly small type, thus easy to miss - not sure we can do anything to make it more prominent.

You're right of course, consensus was the wrong word, but there don't seem to be a lot of people clamouring for geographical divisions.

How easy do you find this site to use? What puzzles you and what might you like to have explained? I've been given the job of putting together some guidance for members on the practical side of using this site. It will not be a fully-fledged manual because most of the basics are well covered by the Help pages (I assume everyone has found and read the Help pages!) and I don't think that's needed. Your suggestions about topics to be covered would be most helpful.

So far the consensus seems to be to leave things be, not to amalgamate News and What's Happening into one forum and not to add more forums covering different geographical areas. If we are to leave those two forums separate (and maybe there will yet be an influx of opinions to the contrary) then I think they should be renamed. For myself, I always have to think twice before deciding which of the two is correct for what I want to say. But maybe that's just me. Thoughts? What about: What's Happening becomes Performances seen & related matters News becomes Ballet & Dance news, information, general discussion Going through the present What's Happening it seems to me that 10 of 53 postings could be said to be in the 'wrong' place i.e. would fit better into the other more general topic, presently News. In the News forum there are 67 topics and only a couple have gone forward from an announcement of something to come to a discussion of it when it had come i.e. something more suitable for What's Happening.

Links – Saturday March 10, 2012 Review - Stephen Petronio, The Architecture of Loss, NY: Deborah Jowitt, Arts Journal Apollinaire Scherr, Financial Times Leigh Witchel, New York Post Review - Russian Ballet Icons, Anna Pavlova Gala, London: Jann Parry, DanceTabs Review - Houston Ballet, mixed bill: Brittanie Shey, Houston Press Review - Northern Ballet, Madame Butterfly, Leeds: Charles Hutchinson, York Press Review - Pam Tanowitz Dance, The Blue Ballet, NY: Alastair Macaulay, New York Times Mary Cargill, Danceview Times Review - Pennsylvania Ballet, Messiah, Pittsburgh: Ellen Dunkel, Philadelphia Inquirer Review - Ballet Hispanico, Boston: Jeffery Gantz, Boston Globe Reivew - North Carolina Dance Theatre, Sleeping Beauty: Steven Brown, Charlotte Observer Review - Jodi Melnick, solos, NY: Gia Kourlas, New York Times Review - Same Planet, mixed bill, Chicago: Zachary Whittenburg, Time Out Chicago Review - Russian State Ballet of Siberia, Swan Lake, Edinburgh: Josie Balfour, The Scotsman Review - Ballet British Columbia, mixed bill, Vancouver: Kaija Pepper, The Globe and Mail Review - Showqueen Productions, Fat Swan: Simonne Michelle-Wells, Australian Stage Talking - Iain Webb and Jean Weidner, Sarasota Ballet: Carrie Seidman, Arts Sarasota Kathryn Morgan (NYCB) gets Mobile: Thomas B. Harrison, Press-Register This week’s new dance (London), BRB, Shobana Jeyasingh: Judith Mackrell, The Guardian

Links – Friday March 9, 2012 Review - San Francisco Ballet, Romeo and Juliet: Rita Felciano, Danceview Times Sean Martinfield, Huffington Post Review - Batsheva Dance Company, Hora: Alastair Macaulay, New York Times Review - Nederlands Dans Theater 2, mixed bill, London: Sarah Crompton, Telegraph Neil Norman, The Stage Review - Hofesh Schechter, Political Mother, New Zealand: Jennifer Shennan, Dominion Post Review - Russian Ballet Icons Gala, London: Graham Watts, Londondance.com Review - Northern Ballet, Madame Butterfly: Jayne Dawson, Yorkshire Evening Post Review - Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Giselle: Alison Mayes, Winnipeg Free Press Review - Pia Meuthen (Panama Pictures), Skin, London: Zoe Anderson, The Independent New Work From Michael Clark Company in Barbican 2012/13 Season: DanceTabs New York City Ballet Spring Gala to feature Natalie Portman: Broadway World

Alison I have no hotline to the RB unfortunately so keeping casting info up to date is inevitably a bit hit and miss. Anyone who's logged in to this site can add to the calendar but it does need feeding by hand - I somehow can't see anyone wanting to come forward and devote their life to being the calendar czar. It would be a lot of work.

At risk of getting barred from this place there is Another Site which I run which has all the Royal Ballet casting information (usually accurate). Easy enough to link, or maybe better I could copy and paste into whichever forum here. It's organised per booking period which is how the information is released by the ROH.

I've looked at Photobucket's Terms of Use and can't see anything like that. They give full instructions on linking with no caveats.

The world's divided into lumpers and splitters. Me, I'm a splitter and would favour renaming rather than merging the two forums but my opinion carries no more weight than anyone else's. I entirely agree however that having too many different forums is confusing and annoying. As Jane says using tags would be a useful means of collating related topics but I can't see them being widely employed. They can be made mandatory but that seems rather bullying. The Search function here is pretty good and helpful (especially if you get the Advanced Search by clicking the little cogwheel, or is it a sunflower?) to the right of the search box.

Links – Thursday March 8, 2012 Review - Nederlands Dans Theater 2, mixed bill, London: 2 stars, Clement Crisp, Financial Times 4 stars, Clifford Bishop, Evening Standard 3 stars, Judith Mackrell, The Guardian Review - San Francisco Ballet, Romeo and Juliet: Mary Ellen Hunt, San Francisco Chronicle Paul Parish, Bay Area Reporter Review - Mark Morris Dance Group, Choral Fantasy, Four Saints in Three Acts: Deborah Jowitt, The Arts Journal Review - Birmingham Royal Ballet, Daphnis and Chloe, The Two Pigeons: David Bellan, Oxford Times Review - Stephen Petronio, mixed bill, NY: Gia Kourlas, New York Times Review - Gabriel Missé and Analia Centurión, Milongas, NY: Alastair Macaulay, New York Times Review - Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, mixed bill, LA: Jean Lenihan, Los Angeles Times Review - Rafaela Carrasco, New York City Center’s Flamenco Festival 2012: Jocelyn Noveck, Boston Globe Review - City Ballet of San Diego, Balanchine bill: Krist Eitland, SanDiego.com Review - Vancouver International Dance Festival: Kaija Pepper, Globe and Mail Liam Scarlett, A Cherubic Choreographer: Julie Kavanagh, The Economist Lin Hwai-min of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre: Jane Albert, The Australian Review - Russian State Ballet of Siberia, La Fille mal gardée, Edinburgh: Kelly Apter, The Scotsman Preview - Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Neumeier’s A Streetcar Named Desire: Mark Kanny, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Sergei Polunin, the James Dean of the ballet world: Sarah Crompton, The Telegraph Salt Lake City's Ballet West will star in reality TV show: Scott D. Pierce, Salt Lake Tribune Diamonds are the Royal Ballet of Flanders’ best friend: Claire Adler, Financial Times NYCB Spring Gala with a French twist: Melena Ryzik, New York Times

Dear All We want to canvas views on the best structure for BalletcoForum, that is, how many different forums? what named? The main criteria are clarity and usability - simple is best. The following is just a suggestion. Forums might be: Ticket Trade - Tickets For Sale/Wanted What's Happening/News Dance Links - reviews & features Doing Dance About Us and Help (this would include the present forum) Not Dance Test You'll notice that this amalgamates the present What's Happening with News - they're quite difficult to separate sometimes anyway. Is that sensible or would renaming them to something like 'Performances Seen' (instead of What's Happening) and something like 'News, Information, Performances to Come' (for News) be a better solution? And what order should they be in? Your opinions are most important in deciding about this so please respond. Of course nothing here is set in stone so if the usage and needs change in future things can be reorganised.

Links – Wednesday March 7, 2012 Review - Nederlands Dans Theater 2, London: Judith Flanders, The Arts Desk NDT2 and Paul Lightfoot: Rosyln Sulcas, New York Times Review - Mark Morris Dance Group, Choral Fantasy, Four Saints in Three Acts: Robert Gottlieb, New York Observer Review - Boston Ballet, Play with Fire (Elo, Kylian, Bruce): Alan Helms, DanceTabs Review - Sarah Michelson, Devotion Study #1 – The American Dancer, New York: Apollinaire Scherr, Financial Times Brian Seibert, NY Times Review - ENB Emerging Dancer Award 2010: Graham Watts, London Dance Review - ENB at the Tate Gallery and ENB Emerging Dancer Competition: Clifford Bishop, Evening Standard Review - Nina Haft and Company and Facing East Dance and Music: Rita Felciano, San Francisco Bay Guardian Eating disorders in ballet: Matthew Lawrence, Dancing Times Sergei Polunin: I'll give up ballet by 26: Alex Needham, The Guardian Baryshnikov as an (inadvertent) business mentor: Nelson Davis, Huffington Post

I've emailed them and they would love to come especially as they've never danced in London - just a little matter of funding. Any millionaires about?

Links – Tuesday March 6, 2012 Review - Anna Pavlova Gala, London: Sarah Crompton, Telegraph Clifford Bishop, Evening Standard Review - Dutch National Ballet, Present/s, Amsterdam: Rosyln Sulcas, New York Times Review - Boston Ballet, Play with Fire: Keith Powers, Patriot Ledger Review - Ballet Black, mixed bill: Jann Parry, DanceTabs Clifford Bishop, Evening Standard Review - Los Angeles Ballet, Swan Lake: Laura Bleiberg, LA Weekly Review - Northern Ballet, Madame Butterfly: Kevin Berry, The Stage ENB’s residency at Tate Britain: Louise Levene, Telegraph Review - Elektro Kif, hip hop, London: 3 stars, Judith Mackrell, The Guardian 3 stars, Zoe Anderson, Independent Review - Compañía Rafaela Carrasco, NY Flamenco Festival 2012: Brian Seibert, New York Times Liam Scarlett returns (to Miami): Ben Crandell, Sun Sentinel. MCB's 2012/13 schedule. Interview - Pam Tanowitz, choreographer: Gia Kourlas, Time Out NY Interview - Carlos Fittante, dancer: Zachary Whittenburg, Time Out Chicago Serge Lifar and the Ballets Russes sale in Geneva: Colin Gleadell, The Telegraph, photo gallery Six reasons why more men should attend the ballet: Carrie Seidman, Arts Sarasota

'An Intimate Evening with Anna Pavlova' suggests that they have brought her back from the dead, and maybe that explains those exorbitant prices (£25-100). No mention that it's for charity which might be the other explanation.

The system allows 'open' tagging, as a present, or 'closed' in which case only a predefined set of tags can be used. The prefix system which puts the first tag reversed out of a little box is neat and could certainly be helpful in Ticket Trade with BUYING, SELLING etc. I've started another topic here which shows that. I don't think there's a way of adding tags after a topic has been started but it is possible to force people to use tags when creating a topic by setting a minimum number (at present 0). There is a maximum number (at present 10).

Links – Monday March 5, 2012 Review - Russian Ballet Icons Gala: Celebrating Anna Pavlova, London: Ismene Brown, The Arts Desk Review - Mark Morris Dance Group, A Choral Fantasy, NY: Apollinaire Scherr, Financial Times Review - Los Angeles Ballet, Swan Lake: Victoria Looseleaf, LA Times Review - Joffrey Ballet, mixed bill (Forsythe, Wheeldon, Liang): Natasha Gauthier, Ottawa Citizen Review - Keigwin + Company, mixed bill: Sarah Kaufman, Washington Post Review - NY City Center Flamenco Festival: Brian Seibert, NY Times Review - Ballet San Jose, mixed bill: Steven Winn, San Francisco Chronicle Cinemas open their screens to opera and ballet: Vanessa Thorpe, The Observer Preview - Universal Ballet of Korea, Swan Lake, Johannesburg: Lynley Main, joburg.org

This is the place to jawbone about things unrelated to dance and dancing. Best to avoid subjects like politics and religion which easily generate flame wars on other sites!

Links – Sunday March 4, 2012 Review - Mark Morris Dance Group, A Choral Fantasy, Four Saints in Three Acts, NY: Tobi Tobias, Arts Journal Gia Kourlas, New York Times Review - Ballet Black, mixed bill, London: Luke Jennings, The Observer Jenny Gilbert, The Independent Review - Richard Alston, mixed bill: Jenny Gilbert, The Independent Reviews - La La La Human Steps and Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, NY: Leigh Witchel, Danceview Times Review - Northern Ballet, Madame Butterfly: Jeffrey Taylor, Sunday Express Review - Sarah Michelson, Devotion Study #1—The American Dancer, Whitney Museum, NY: Deborah Jowitt, Arts Journal Preview - Ratmansky’s Firebird for ABT (and Misty Copeland): Diane Haithman, Los Angeles Times Preview - Batsheva Dance Company, Hora, NY: Brian Schaefer, New York Times Photo gallery - Richard Alston Dance Company, A Ceremony of Carols: Dave Morgan, DanceTabs Photo gallery - Ballet Black, Storyville: Dave Morgan, DanceTabs Review - hipsync (Diane Reid), Dance Interrogations, Adelaide: Simon Eales, Australian Stage Review - Grupo Corpo, Onqoto and Parabelo, Perth: Julia Hern, Australian Stage Review - Ballet San Jose, mixed bill: Rita Felciano, Contra Costa Times Q&A - San Francisco Ballet Principal Dancer Joanna Berman: Geri Jeter, California Literary Review Preview - Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, Birmingham: Diane Parkes, Birmingham Post Sergei Polunin and ‘key-man risk’: Salamander Davoudi, Financial Times

As far as I can see you can't place photos in postings directly from your computer. When you click the little Image icon it asks for a URL i.e. the image has to be on the web. To add this photo I got myself a Photobucket account (free) which seems to give unlimited photo storage. Having uploaded the pic to Photobucket I could then get its URL and use that to insert it here. It's just one extra step compared to uploading it direct but does mean that such photos aren't taking up space in our account. The formatting facilities here are pretty limited. For instance you can't run text round an image. I've tried putting the pic into a Word document (which does allow runaround) but when that is placed here the image is replaced by an empty box, though the text flow round that is kept. Not what I wanted!

Like you I failed to upload a pic but then used Gravatar which worked fine. You need an account with them and then all you have to do is to associate the email address you use here with a photo that you have on your computer or find on the web. When you set up the Gravatar account did you get a confirmatory email with a link to verify it?