Wulff

The opera Marta by Flotow started life as a ballet (Henriette, ou la servante de Greenwich) by the same composer and two others and was performed in Paris in 1844. The opera followed, this time composed in its entirety by Flotow, and received its first performance in Vienna in 1847. I recall seeing Helpmann's ballet Elektra at the ROH, but can't remember much about it. I don't think that it tried to tell the story in any detail, but I do recall Nadia Nerina doing nasty things with an axe and being hurled by a group of men from the top of a flight of stairs to be caught by another group at the bottom. I understand that Helpmann made an expanded version of this ballet for the Australian Ballet in1966, but neither version met with any critical acclaim.

This was the first day of online booking for the ROH Winter season for Supporting Friends, and once again the website was full of glitches. The operation in response to each seat request was sluggish and often ended in an error report and request to try again. Since booking opened at 9 am there was no one in the box office (opens at 10am) or the Friends office (opens at 9.30) to provide any assistance, although the telephone operator did offer the information that "they" were trying to do something about the problem. Eventually I was able to book all the tickets I wanted, although all insight evenings were fully booked, but I have pretty well given up ever getting in to one of those. However, the process was much slower and more laborious than usual. These problems have been going on ever since the ROH started online booking. Are they ever going to get it right?

If the problem was from the broadcaster's end, then how was it that Graham Watts managed to receive pictures from act 1 onwards? Check his twitter posts.

I managed finally to get a picture and saw most of act3. Not quite sure how I did it, but was checking I had the right flash player - which I had - when the buffering started up and the picture appeared. I noticed at the end that my Mac was in the System Preferences mode rather than the Safari browser. Wish I had done this earlier.

Getting sound but no picture. Disappointing.

It hasn't taken long for the unfortunate Matthew Golding to have replaced Rupert as the dancer that many balletomanes love to hate. Although his first performances with the company in Sleeping Beauty were somewhat tentative I have liked his subsequent performances a lot. In particular I thought he did very well as des Grieux and, of course, Basilio. Regarding a replacement for Rupert I would like to see Xander Parish invited to guest for his performances. He is, after all, no stranger to the company, is English, and has true danseur noble qualities as well as an impressive record of performances in most of the principal male roles in the ballet repertoire.

I have always been an admirer of Rupert's dancing, but I feel that I have often been in the minority when I recall the quite savage reception he has often had from critics and ballet enthusiasts. "Can't act, can't dance", "Bland and blank", are some of the many unfair comments that I have seen in the press and on the web. Now that he is leaving, nothing less than a chorus of praise from a fickle public. But he has been unfortunate with injury and has had to cancel many performances as a result. For example he had to withdraw from a performance of Month in the Country with Zenaida in Cuba, which led to Jonny Cope being brought out of retirement. Whether he will wish to continue dancing in the light of his physical problems remains to be seen, but whatever he chooses to do I wish him well.

I agree with Floss that ballet companies' marketing departments do not do nearly enough to promote sales of tickets to programmes that might be new or unfamiliar. What I have noticed at the ROH is that word of mouth and/or favourable reviews do seem to have an effect on programmes that start out as being relatively poorly attended and at the end of their run are sold out. Special offers do have an effect, of course, but they are not the whole story.

Floss. As far as I know, neither Anthony Russell Roberts and certainly not Kevin O"Hare were involved in the assessment of Persephone's viability for a present day revival. My information came from another source. In particular it was felt that some of the corps' moves were somewhat reminiscent of those street performers who used to perform "Egyptian Dances" in Leicester Square. Although I saw the ballet several times myself I can't remember enough of it either to agree or disagree with this impression.

I believe that a revival of Persephone was considered, but when the video was viewed it was thought that today's audiences might not be able to take it seriously.

I would like to see the RB acquire Robbins's Goldberg Variations which I think would present a real challenge to the dancers. I have only seen it once when NYCB performed it on one of their visits to the ROH, and I was deeply impressed.

Regarding Floss's comments on McGregor's works being primarily designed for viewing in the more expensive parts of the house, I have to say that after seeing this work three times, once from the Grand Tier and twice from the middle/side Amphitheatre, the view was better from the cheaper seats than the more expensive ones. Of course, if you are intent on recognising individual dancers the closer the better, but is dancer recognition what ballet is really about? Surely the quality of the choreography and movement and dramatic expression is what should carry the day, and the fact that you can recognise Ms X or Mr Y should be a secondary consideration. As for McGregor's choreography being focussed on particular dancers, I saw the second cast in the Orlando section and they were as good if not better in some respects than the first. Olivia Cowley in particular was outstanding in the Osipova role. And while the Orlando section does seem to have pretty tenuous connections with the book and is more in the familiar McGregor style, it is nevertheless a very effective spectacle and gets huge applause from the ( possibly misguided) audience.

I had a second try and finally got through to the Box Office and managed to get 2 tickets in the front row of the upper gallery. The whole exercise has taken me 1 hour 20 minutes.

Same happened to me. After 25 minutes wait I reached No 6 and was cut off. What a way to treat the public! World-class service. Huh.

No problems with booking this time, but RBS in Rehearsal and Ashton Legacy insights were already sold out when booking opened.

I remember that it used to be said in the days when Ballet Rambert was a classical company that if you could do one pirouette you were an artist and if two a technician.

Judging by their tweets there is no lack of enthusiasm among some of the younger dancers for the Ashton repertoire. " Excited", "Honoured" "Our glorious Ashton quadruple bill" are some of the opinions expressed. Several critics singled out James Hay's performance in SV for particular praise, and naturally Vadim got his fair share too, so I think it is wrong to suppose that a good performance in an Ashton ballet will attract less kudos than in a MacMillan. Also, from watching classes at the RBS upper school I have noted that one teacher makes frequent references to Ashton in her classes and incorporates appropriate enchainements. I feel therefore that those who predict the imminent disappearance of the Ashton style and ballets are being somewhat premature in their doomsaying. Also, with the recent productions of "Fille" and "Sylvia" in Russia, Russian dancers are now beginning to tackle and appreciate the challenges of Ashton's choreography.

Aileen asks whether the dancers are supposed to look serious throughout Symphonic Variations and I would say definitely yes. It has been my good fortune to see this ballet on many occasions since its early performances with the original cast, and I never recall seeing any smiles or other ingratiating facial expressions which IMHO would be totally out of place in a work which has a number of serious themes in its creative background including the works of St John of the Cross which Ashton had been reading during the war. As I see it this work creates an almost mystical atmosphere which is why perhaps it never fails to hold an audience. Fonteyn in particular was outstanding in capturing this aspect of the ballet. At the moment when the three men and one woman (Fonteyn) are at the corners of the stage dancing adagio on place while the other two women are dancing allegro in the centre Fonteyn used to gaze straight out into the auditorium as if into another world beyond, an effect which few other dancers of this role have ben able to replicate.

There is in fact a note at the back of the ROH programmes under "enjoying the performance" asking people not to lean forward; however this is so hidden away and in such small print that I suppose that few people ever read it. If I find someone in front of me leaning forward I have no hesitation in asking them to sit back, and they usually comply with good grace; after all I have paid good money to watch the performance, not the back of someone's head, wondrous sight though it may be.

The Showcase of British Dance Training will probably not be available for the general public to see since in all likelihood every seat in the Linbury will be reserved for parents, relatives and teachers of the students involved. It was hard enough to get a ticket for the YBDY, but now with 4 schools actively involved I see this as very much a "closed" event. And just a footnote regarding the Elmhurst Gala, Elmhurst alumni Melissa Hamiltom and Nicol Edmonds performed the final pdd from "The Two Pigeons".

Haagen Dasz sounds as if it were some sort of Scandinavian ice cream manufacturer, but in fact is nothing of the sort. The company was founded in the Bronx NY, in 1961 by Reuben and Rose Mattus.

Other choreographers working with the RB during the period in question were John Cranko, Andrée Howard and Peter Wright.

Judging by the amount of ballet clips on youtube that have obviously been shot by a member of the audience it would seem that in Russia there are not the same restrictions on photography/filming that there are in the UK. I also remember that when I first saw the Kirov ballet in the Palais des Congrès in Paris, much to my surprise there were people taking flash photos all the time during the performance. With advances in technology these days it is no longer necessary to have a video camera to shoot high quality video. Many mid to high range DSLRs have a built-in video facility which is capable of giving excellent results and with the minimum amount of disturbance to the subjects or bystanders - no flash, no whirring motor.

I'd like to add that the lady who dealt with my phone booking was extremely polite and helpful. Full marks to her for keeping her cool in a situation which must have been as frustrating for her as it was for me.