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Thanks for the report Fiona, you have really whet my appetite for future events.

One thing quite unusual about Fumi Kaneko is that she did not go to a full time ballet school, she was educated in Japan and joined RB straight from Japan. (I think at the age of 19). Her teacher Kaoru Jinushi also taught Misa Kuranaga who is currently principal at San Francisco Ballet. My first experience seeing her live was at The Moscow State Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre Japan tour where she guested in the gala performance with Kosuke Okumura (currently principal at National Ballet of Japan and Jinushi’s son). At that time Sergei Filin was director of the company and he was impressed by the pairs performance at the Moscow International Ballet Competition where the pair won silver medal. And their performance in Grand Pas Classique was fabulous, so clear and brilliant, Kaneko was still a teenager then. There used to be a video of the competition on YouTube of their Tchaikovsky Pas de Duex at the Moscow competition but no longer there, and she was sparkling. So happy that she has now grown into a beautiful and captivating artist and I am looking forward how she matures in the years to come.

Thanks oncnp. I think this was a later event than the one I was thinking of though. There were a number of live streams curated by Antonio Pappano in June 2020. Highlights of these were also shown on BBC and I believe included all of the ballet segments. It looks like the Kaneko / Clarke Concerto pas de deux was on 27th June. Although the all star gala still on iplayer is another chance to enjoy Fumi Kaneko dancing of course 🙂 (Hopefully this link works for more details on the June performance https://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/22673-live-from-covent-garden-13th-june-and-following-weeks/?do=findComment&comment=320793)

Ooh I’m so pleased with my one outing … Akane, Cesar and Annette 👏👏👏

My small local theatre, which seats under 200 under normal conditions, has not changed any of the conditions brought in just after lockdown. So it's e-tickets, check in with your phone, masks, socially distanced seating, no cash taken for programmes. Don't know if they can enforce it but performances I've attended have had a compliant audience. But I've got an uncomfortable feeling that they've decided not to relax the rules until the new year just in case!!

I hadn’t realised they’d reopened the public access at ROH. It seems like 2 minutes since we were there in June and it was still completely closed to the public with social distancing, masks, closed cafe etc! potentially I think they could make everything above ground floor level covid pass only as the restaurants/ bar area are mainly pre-booked. Given the high profile of the building any reduction in security seems to be a very bad idea. If you visit the sky garden cafe and restaurants you’re required to show ID and pass airport type security and it’s always packed up there so doesn’t seem to be a deterrent!

@Lizbie1here’s a clip of Osipova as the Spanish Bride at Bolshoi in 2006. It’s a somewhat distorted video .. but her dynamism shines through 👏

I loved this show! What a super concept to mix different dance styles and performers together, all under the umbrella of being unique, new or unseen in London, and to do it in an unfamiliar venue. Each piece was introduced personally by Jamiel Laurence to explain its uniqueness, and therefore why it had been included in the programme. It was a privilege to be in the audience of these young entrepreneurial dancers (the evening was a joint effort of Jamiel Laurence and Henry Dowden both looking businesslike in suits) bringing a new concept of dance programme to Canary Wharf and to dance audiences. I feel more inclined to look up some of the dancers/companies that I did not know so well now … to widen my experience. I believe that was the point 👏 The programme was in two halves, each half beginning with a Chopin piano solo performed ably by Viktor Erik Emanuel. The dancing was topped and tailed with classical ballet, beginning with the Medora solo from Le Corsaire performed by Ivana Bueno. We were told she had not performed this anywhere before, had offered to learn the solo to perform it here and had been helped by Shiori Kase. She was superb in this demanding variation. She has a lightness of performance that usually comes only after multiple shows. The ending piece was the full Don Quixote pdd. I believe this was the only piece not to have something new or unique about it … and of course it’s a great crowd pleaser to end on. Katja Khaniukova had flown in that morning having performed in Kyiv the night before and was hugely engaging, partnered by Francesco Gabriele Frola on fire 🔥 The other ‘ballet’ on the programme was the Act II pdd from David Dawson’s version of Swan Lake for Scottish Ballet. A first, because it has not been seen in London, and a first occasion for Barnaby Bishop to perform this pdd. And last, as we were also told, as he is leaving Scottish Ballet. He partnered the beautiful Constance Devernay who has wonderful dynamics and movement quality. Probably my highlight of the evening. The contemporary pieces were all new, except a Robert Cohan solo. And all were different in style and intensity, and included a piece by Hannah Rudd originally choreographed for one of the Royal Ballet Draft Works programmes that got COVID cancelled. Jeffrey Cirio’s movement and focus in his own choreography was extraordinary. He performed to a combination of Chopin played live and a new music composition by Fabian Reimar. It was a nice touch to be personally welcomed by Jamiel as we entered the theatre, and, the bar service was great! There were a fair amount of ENB dancers in the audience supporting their dancers which is always good to see. Heartwarming applause from the appreciative audience. Here’s a brief overview of the event from Graham Watts (he says longer review to follow) https://www.instagram.com/p/CVZ4XHJAKt2/?utm_medium=copy_link Curtain call videos from Ballet Nights own Instagram https://www.instagram.com/tv/CVZ6ISnAIeZ/?utm_medium=copy_link The programme https://www.instagram.com/p/CVDpV4KoI6X/?utm_medium=copy_link Regarding Practicalities … - Having psyched myself up for the journey to Canary Wharf with which I was unfamiliar, it turned out to be a non-event. The Jubilee Line takes you into the heart of the business area, at speed from Waterloo. Then it’s a short walk of 5 minutes or so to the Lanterns Theatre across the waterways with the reflections from the lights in the tall buildings around twinkling in the water. Rather beautiful. - the stage itself was huge. The audience of 300 or so (I think) was spread in seven rows up steps along the wide front of the stage. I felt that the seating is not sufficiently raked, but as there are so few rows, it was no hardship to dodge heads. The lucky VIPs in the front row had their feet right up against the dance floor. - including a half hour interval, the show was over around 9.30pm and I was home near Earls Court by 10.15pm

The highlights are still available BBC iPlayer - Royal Ballet All-Star Gala All times approximate Takada/Campbell- Rhapsody – 19:40 Kaneko/Clarke – In our Wishes – 24:20 Takada/Watson/Richardson – Woolf Works – 47:45

Nika Burns of Nimax Theatres has just said on the news that as long as the Government doesn't make it mandatory to wear masks all they can do is ask people to do so. Incidentally, I went past several West End theatres this evening which all had people queuing - and I think they all had signs out asking people to wear masks, produce their e-tickets and prepare for a bag search (and one staff member was actually calling out, asking people to do so). Levels of compliance once again appeared variable. As I suggested earlier, the ROH - along with the South Bank Centre and Barbican among others, I assume - has the difficulty of being an all-day venue, with people visiting to look around, buy things, have food and so on as well as attend performances, which makes it a very different - and far more difficult-to-manage - situation than a theatre with a couple of entrances, where virtually everyone turns up within half-an-hour of the start and that's it.

Selling 1 x Amphitheatre ticket & programme voucher for The Dante Project on Saturday 30th October at 11.30am (Watson, Lamb) Seat H-58 £39.00.

It's going to be a real headache trying to work out which pairing you want to see with which Myrtha ... And of course I don't have anything like an even distribution of my Myrthas . And the ticket I was going to give up because I had a clash is now the one of the two which has a Myrtha I want to see ...

There were - although what those highlights actually were, I don't know (must watch it sometime!)

Part of me is really pleased that the dates I have booked cover Magri, Nunez & Calvert, all of whom I'd like to see in the role. The other part of me is trying not to get excited because it'll now be even more annoying if I can't go depending on what covid does in November. Oh and there's also a third part regretting that I won't be seeing Storm-Jensen.

Oh @Jan McNulty I so wish Northern Ballet sold videos of their work! I saw 'Victoria' in Milton Keynes and would love to see 'Merlin' but it's just not within reach. What a great subject for a ballet.

It sounds like ideal festive TV viewing!

I wonder why the ROH have removed the temperature checking cameras at entrances. That was another layer of check that I wished would be permanent. If I remember correctly, Sadler’s Wells also had manual temperature check scanners. Last year. Not when I attended ENB Creature last month.

Well it would be far more preferable to us ending up with closed or socially distanced theatres again.... not good for business in either scenario and not good for experience from audience or dancers point of view In the second scenario.

I’m at the National Theatre tonight for a little East is East comedy. Ushers at the theatre doors checking tickets and asking patrons to mask up if not already wearing one, and providing masks to those who left home without one. A much better system on the face of it at least. Perhaps 80% compliance through the performance. I’d be very happy with that at the ROH.

I'm wearing a mask the entire time I'm in London, whether outside or inside (apart from brief removals to have a drink or blow my nose). While I'm not actually running, I'm certainly walking briskly, as I'm doing ROH back to Kings Cross in 25 minutes (1.6 miles according to Google maps). As I wear glasses steaming up is problematic but I'm walking past people frequently so not wearing a mask doesn't feel safe.

It's a few weeks into the Autumn tour and I saw the 3 performances of Merlin in Norwich over the weekend. Sir David Bintley often used to say you should see a new production when it has bedded in rather than judge it on the first night and he was right! The company has really settled well into this ballet and it is such an ultimately happy story that it is just what the doctor ordered for the dark times we are living in. Kevin Poeung led the cast on Friday and Saturday evenings. He really is an outstanding actor as well as a brilliant dancer and he has deepened his interpretation of the young Merlin. His face is so very expressive and he is a total joy to watch. The rest of the cast sparkled too. On Saturday afternoon Riku Ito led the cast as Merlin. It really was a terrific performance. Alessandra Bramante excelled in her first leading role as the Blacksmith. Heather Lehan was sublime as the Lady of the Lake with Sean Bates every inch the golden god as Helios. Minju Kang was a very wicked Morgan and Antoinette Brooks Daw showed her versatility as a lovely, soft Ygraine. All in all it was an excellent weekend of ballet watching. This ballet is the perfect antidote to gloomy days!

Oh that's a shame. I have a feeling there were highlights on BBC as well, so hopefully it's possible to find the footage again somewhere.

No I’m afraid I didn’t see that streaming 😢 I only tried the streaming from ROH once and it didn’t work!! I could have seen more but could only have watched on my iphone so decided not to bother. Maybe I will find it somewhere on YouTube

Yes Agree! What a triple bill : Dances at a Gathering, Month in the Country and Concerto would be ...my dream combination ❤️ In fact perfect for this narrative thread!! Month has a full on story with real fictional characters etc Dances has no real characters or story but sort of leads you to form your own narrative around the groups of dancers. And Concerto you just enjoy for both the wonderful choreography and music.

Was the June 2020 performance the livestream with a mix of ballet and songs? There was no audience, so you didn't miss an opportunity, but hopefully you saw it on film 🙂