Aruna S

There's also a video of Obraztsova and Hallberg rehearsing. This is on my wish list for the Bolshoi in London too, along with Bright Stream.

I suppose this is a textbook example of the utility of the old "count to ten before you speak" maxim in today's world where things can flash around the world in a few seconds. A self-imposed cooling off period before saying or doing anything when one is upset can save a lot of embarrassment later. I know I'm very grateful that there was no Facebook or Twitter when I was growing up!

For me the thought of having to stand or (worse) sit on the floor for the whole performance is a deal-breaker.

I've just received an email from ROH offering me a discount for the Autumn Season, the first time I've ever received anything other than the free champagne offer. I wonder whether it would be any use asking them to make the offer again for the Summer season when I might actually have something to book...

Many, many thanks, DavidW. I finally got around to listening to this and it was an excellent version.

That's good to hear, porthesia. Hopefully she'll stay well for a long time. About visiting, I remember only one vet asking us to do that, afer Estella and her brothers were sterilised. The two boys seemed uninterested but she was so pleased to see us that I realised she thought she'd been abandoned. They only stayed there for two days but we went back and visited again a couple of times to reassure her.

Hmm. Looks like I may have to invest in yet another R&J, I thought nothing could be better than the Rojo-Acosta one but the difference in approach is intriguing. As an aside, with due apologies for going off-topic, I was very disappointed with the Bolshoi R&J which I saw at the cinema a few days ago. I thought the long-drawn out deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt bordered on the ridiculous, and Juliet being surrounded by imaginary Wilis and Romeo while she took the soporific really detracted from the tragic intensity of this moment, as did Juliet's waking up before Romeo died. I'd never seen the Gregorovich version before and will never go and see it again.

Quintus, would the island equipment include a stereo system? So that we could take CDs for the music of ballets we've been forced to leave out?

I remember reading an article about Nadia Nerina in an old issue of Good Housekeeping when I was a child in India. It was while Fille was being created. At that point I had no clue that I would ever get to see Fille live at Covent Garden or see Nerina's performance on DVD, but I vividly remember the sense of excitement about the production. I still remember the photographs and the name of the author, Godfrey Winn.

No, he just looked like a Filippo (that's the explanation given by my son, the official cat-namer). The only one of our cats with a ballet-related name is Estella Esmeralda Rojo, so called because she's always en pointe. She's a beautiful little tabby with very elegant black velvet pointe shoes.

I always thought marmalade and ginger were different names for the same type of cat! I noticed the cat in your blog post has white paws, while Filippo is orange all over. My son says he's the colour of honey.

Yes it's Eliot. Jellicle cats are black and white, jellicle cats have moonlit eyes, are the lines that I remember offhand. I don't know whether it's widely used, but I have always considered all my b/w friends as Jellicles since I first read the poem many decades ago! For the full text: http://www.moggies.co.uk/html/oldpssm.html#jelli

It looks like Jellicle cats are savvy politicians. Who knew!

There is a DVD with Nerina and Wall in Fille, I bought it from Amazon UK a few months ago.

None of mine have collars, for fear of getting caught in something. I'd like to microchip them but it's not widely used here and I haven't found a vet willing to do it. The most precious one, Filippo the marmalade cat who my son considers his little brother, is not allowed out at night. This is after his twin brother, a beautiful black cat, was run over at night, many years ago. Naturally we don't have a cat door. The others live in the back garden and seem to prefer to stay there at night instead of gallivanting like Filippo. Filippo is also the one who regularly brings me gifts, he has a special "look what I've brought for you" voice and when I hear it I go to the front door and thank him without letting him in. This is a wise strategy since the gifts could be anything from birds or mice to lizards and small snakes. I have tried to save birds more than once, but they usually seem too badly injured to survive so now I don't interfere. There's only been one successful rescue, a tiny fieldmouse who sat up on his haunches and put his little forepaws together as if he was praying. I couldn't resist and rushed out and grabbed Filippo and carried him, biting and scratching, into the house while the mouse escaped. He didn't forgive me for days.

It was really dificult to keep the numbers down to 5, but here goes, in no particular order: RB's Fille with Nunez-Acosta, POB's Bayadere, RB's Romeo and Juliet with Rojo-Acosta, Swan Lake with Nureyev-Fonteyn and (I think) the Vienna Opera ballet, RB's Giselle with Cojocaru-Kobborg. One of these would be dropped if a DVD of Onegin were to become available.

I'm very pleased to see that it's possible to see other things on the site if you're just browsing and not looking for tickets. A definite improvement.

Sorry to hear that, porthesia, I've been through the same thing with ageing pets a few times and know how it feels. As long as she seems happy, the diet/supplement plan is the way to go, along with all the love and attention which is really all we can give our precious friends at such times.

A moving balcony? The mind boggles.

I wonder what the Deane production of R&J is like.

I'd also recommend The Silent Miaow by Paul Gallico.

I've just discovered this topic and loved reading it. Papagena could be the twin of my Guendalina! Looking forward to your blog post about marmalade cats since my oldest cat Filippo is one. He's definitely a serial killer type when he's outdoors while being the sweetest, friendliest, butter-wouldn't-melt-in-his-mouth cat when he's home.

There was no 3D in my cinema, thank goodness, I saw the ROH Carmen in 3D and didn't think it added anything positive to the experience. Tickets were also much cheaper than for the Bolshoi, 10 Euros instead of 15. I completely agree with DavidW's comments on the performance, and would add that the orchestra was excellent too, including the bit of Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony which they played as part of the general presentation on St Petersburg. The fascinating and knowledgeable Miss Novikova who presents the Bolshoi ballets was sorely missed. You may be a supermodel, but if you're going to present an event at least make the effort to remember the name of the ballerina dancing Odette! Especially when the person you're talking to is that ballerina's husband.

And the programme for the gala from the Ballet News website, hope it's OK to post it here: http://balletnews.co.uk/23-luglio-2013-teatro-romano-di-verona-evento-in-esclusiva-per-laddio-alle-scene-di-mara-galeazzi/

Is there really no possibility that they might have a proper farewell as Tamara did? After all, she left in the summer and then guested in February IIRC for her farewell. Especially if Alina is not well enough to dance tomorrow - and of course I hope she will be. This whole thing reminds me of the shock over Tamara's departure, yes, it was well known that she had plans, but not that her move was so imminent. I remember when the last R&Js were announced there was a general feeling that this would be Acosta's last Romeo, but I at any rate had no inkling it would be Tamara's last Juliet at ROH. In the same way, Johan was expected, Alina is a total bolt from the blue. I have never seen them together live, and have never seen Alina live at Covent Garden, that is a dream that will remain unfulfilled.