MAB

You'd be surprised. Once again, and for the third time of asking, will you please enlighten everyone as to exactly how you have superior knowledge of every aspect of the ballet world.

With regard to Francesca Hayward, I would put money on her getting a crack at Kitri later in the season. She will most likely be one of the three shades in the third act of Bayadere. Those solos are killers and by rights they should always be danced by principals. When I first saw the Nureyev's RB version they were usually danced by variations of Mason/Park/Seymour/Bergsma.

No, Valery Gergiev does not hate ballet, he is a musician and has no specialist knowledge of ballet at all, therefore he delegates. You may not like Yuri Fateyev but he is expected to do his job and Gergiev doesn't have the expertise to tell if he is doing the job well or not. Presumably he feels that as long as the company is attracting audiences and plaudits he is doing his job well.

I've noted a lack of enthusiasm in some quarters about his move to the RB and I imagine that's because not everyone is familiar with his work, but I confidently predict that before very long he will become an audience favourite and the doubters will be completely converted.

My surname is frequently mispronounced and few non-Brits can manage it at all.

Best ever standing shoes for me were 70's platforms, gave a terrific view.

Since its first re-build the opera house has become a far less comfortable place to visit, who would dress up if they are expected to sit on a bench? Back in the 60's when I started going people were far more fashion conscious than today, but that was true everywhere and the Carnaby Street dandies vied with the women in that respect. I used to see some fabulous clothes at Covent Garden once upon a time and occasionally I wore some myself (I still have a Bruce Oldfield dress that I can't part with) and I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the glamour. I'm going to offend a lot of people by saying how much I absolutely loathe torn jeans and those vile thick plimsoll things so many wear, fashion is supposed to reflect the times we live in, dressing in rags suggests to me we are moving into a dystopian society. I follow some favourite singers abroad occasionally and I adore Monte Carlo as a venue, jaw dropping audience, I was last there in November and spotted an emerald so large you'd think it should be in the crown jewels. Elsewhere in Europe the dress code varies, but Vienna is very formal and in Zurich some performances are designated 'black tie', so I can understand newcomers feeling a bit anxious over what to wear. Penelope Simpson, it's off to Glyndebourne and Garsington for you and you'll love it.

I have a recoding of Shirley Verrett singing the role (with Domingo as McDuff) her Verdi style is somewhat different.

I shouldn't worry about the pronunciation of Shklyarov's name, I don't think I ever heard Nureyev's name pronounced properly once.

To describe a dancer's feet as wrecked is very uncharitable and rather melodramatic, if you stick to the definition of the word it would seem to indicate inability to dance at all, which in Osipova's case is complete nonsense. Very few have totally trouble free feet and I don't want to list those that have visible problems, though I seem to remember discussion of an RB dancer's feet on the recent Giselle thread. Dancers suffer for their art and I'm reminded of what Fonteyn once said about no one wanting to watch ballet if they knew how painful it can be, apart from those that enjoy bull fighting.

I very, very much doubt it, just a rather unkind supposition.

Me too. Some feet are more functional than pretty and many dancers with seemingly lovely feet don't actually achieve much with them. Osipova is a ballerina for whom no technical feats (pun intended) present a challenge. "Wrecked feet"? Beyond absurd.

Let's just remind everyone that Kizzy Matiakis (nee Howard) is British and a dancer of great personality along with her technical achievement.

First of all it's worth pointing out that this ballet is massively popular in Russia and I myself once saw a performance of it at the Bolshoi that I rate as being one of the most outstanding performances I've ever seen. I'm afraid the bizarre casting arrangements put me off watching, but as I understand Kondaurova was involved somewhere, I'll certainly take a look at you tube over the weekend. Agree with your comments regarding the female costumes, I find the sequinned nipples embarrassing to look at. Why would they not make announcements in English? The language has now become the equivalent of Esperanto.

Chops?

Although it seems the British ballet world has chosen to ignore these anniversaries, that isn't the case elsewhere. In Russia where they never forget great artists from the past, the Bolshoi plans a celebration and last month Andris Liepa arranged a gala performance in his memory. This is all the more touching when you remember how few people actually saw him in his home country. In Toronto the Canadians hosted a special performance in his honour coinciding with a large reunion of his fans who also attended rehearsals and talks. Quite a few people I know were able to go to this, both from the US and the UK. I'm told they had a wonderful time. I believe there is also something happening in Vienna in the summer (Nureyev was an Austrian citizen), when I have details I'll post them.

I much prefer the operas, the Massenet version delves deepest into the actual story I believe and I particularly like the scene where Manon persuades Lescaut to leave the church, I even have a memory of it given as a gala number years ago. Personally I only see the ballet as a vehicle for the three leads and don't consider it has much artistic merit at all, but it was certainly tighter dramatically and better danced by the ensemble in the past, but then you can say exactly the same about R&J.

I imagine those people laughing at inappropriate moments may well have been newcomers to the ballet that imagined things not happening stage centre were relevant to the action. On the night I went one of the clients struck one of the whores to the floor, right in my field of vision, distracting and unnecessary. I'm sorry you feet it necessary to comment so negatively about the Bolshoi and Maryinsky, personally I've never found their dancers 'inanimate'. Sorry

Her point is that it is an occupational hazard, something you refuse to even begin to comprehend. Never mind, the logical conclusion is the death of live music, enjoy the taped accompaniment.

Picking out key words out of context is what hack journalists do in the gutter press, Miss Monk is a musician who was discussing her own hearing impairment, she deserved a sympathetic response and instead received a hostile one.

Regarding Fonteyn, she is on record as saying that her fouettes improved immeasurably with help from Nureyev. Don't forget she was forty two when he came into her life and she took on the most technically demanding roles when she became his partner, such as Corsaire pas de deux, Bayadere Act III and all three acts of Raymonda. Has there been another ballerina prepared to take on such technical challenges so late in her career?

In these cases I'd strongly advise you to jump before you're pushed, if that's possible.

You are deliberately misinterpreting what Miss Monk said. That's not nice.

Would just like to point out that Manon has been re-orchestrated before but the 'improvements' were ditched and we went back to the original, I suspect that will happen again. I love Massenet and it's fun to source the music as you go along, Lucas pulled melodies from almost all Massenet's works and I find it gels very well. I'm afraid I don't see Manon as manipulative at all, quite the opposite. Someone else has condemned her to a convent until her brother spots her market value, but the character does share some similar traits to Cécile de Volanges in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, I see her very much as a victim, it's not her fault she ends up dead. A lot of changes have taken place since the ballet's premiere and changes in costume and so on haven't been for the better and it may be the only full length ballet that actually lost an entire scene. One of the most pressing of problems is to do something with the corps de ballet in Act II, frankly their antics have to be reigned in as a matter of urgency, last night people were laughing in all the wrong places as the whores and customers distracted many in the audience with their idiocy. The are simply going too far and someone should step in and tone things down. The principals deserve better than being sabotaged by their colleagues.

I find Henze's music extremely atmospheric, for me the music reflects the supernatural elements of the ballet, together with a kind of underlying threat in places. I would give a lot to see Ekaterina Osmolkina perform the shadow dance.