MAB

No, but they would appear to condone the war crimes the UN has rightly accused their regime of.

I don't see any kind of 'witch hunt' I only see posters genuinely saddened that a practitioner of the art they love has seen fit to dance for a regime of war criminals.

I know a dancer who has been speaking out against Putin on social media for years. On the day the war began he was demonstrating in the streets of St Petersburg and posted footage of the demonstration. He continued posting but has now left Russia for good. Had he remained his future would have been prison or conscription. I should add his ambition was to go into opposition politics in his home city, but of course that route now leads inevitably to prison and/or death as Alexei Navalny has learnt to his cost.

Surely it's even lower for a European dancer to even consider dancing in Sevastopol. I'm deeply shocked.

There seems to be almost a glut of Rheingolds in London at the moment as I've seen three in less than a year. This newest one I found vastly inferior in concept compared with the ENO production I saw in March. I've just read the reviews and they were positive. My Wagnerian friends however were divided on its merits. For my own part I found the sight of an emaciated naked octogenarian disquieting and in its own way exploitative. The production looked expensive and you have to wonder why, during a time of austerity, the ROH saw fit to ditch the very good Ring it already has.

The matinee cancellation was down to indisposition. A word of caution, the cast lists in the programme were all wrong. Actual casts were on a sheet of A4 pinned to the wall. Surely in these circumstances cast sheets should be available. I's unfair to both the audience and the dancers not to provide accurate information.

Does the theatre have air con? I'm doing the double today.

I saw the Don Q pas de deux danced by Baryshnikov and Markarova at Sadlers Wells in the mid 70's. Maximova as Tatiana was sublime, but a Dane and a Frenchman were for me the best Onegins, Kenneth Greve and Manuel Legris. Definitive will be subjective. Reading others choices I've both shuddered and laughed at some of the names put forward. Certain dancers though can leave an indelible stamp, Has anyone danced Diamonds better than Peter Martins for example? If they have, I've not seen them, though I've seen more cubic zirconas than I can shake a stick at. Age does affect appreciation as I prefer the faster tempi of the past. Style too, there was a time audiences weren't subjected to dropped crotch jetes or six o'clock extentions, but someone must like such things I suppose.

This is evoking fond memories of the last Bournonville festival and seeing so many things for the first time. I adored Folk Tale. Has it ever been performed in Britain?

Fisrt it was Glyndebourne, now Sadlers Wells. https://news.sky.com/story/romeo-and-juliet-ballet-performance-interrupted-by-climate-change-protesters-12951963

Well Lin, you'll no doubt remember the size and enthusiasm of audiences back in the 60's. No social media to lure them in back then. I suspect no one cares what the current crop of dancers are doing apart from those that are already fans,

I only use facebook to keep track of the relatives abroad, but I have a few dancer friends too, mostly retired. Clearly that is what makes the wretched algorithm thingys send me the male dancers in homo erotic poses (just two dancers so far thank goodness) I've seen no product placements though. I expect the poor lambs are short of cash, but being of an age where sex only means gender to me, perhaps I'm not the most receptive audience for that kind of thing.

I stopped watching him sfter the infamous interview with Helen Mirren.

It is all too easy to defame the dead - they can't sue.

If your bookshelves aren't already groaning under the weight of the sizeable number of books about him already out there, here are two more. Published over a year ago Memories of Rudolf Nureyev by Nancy Sifton somehow slipped under my radar. https://nureyev.org/2417849/ This one is due for publication next month. https://www.bookguild.co.uk/bookshop/book/576/rudolf-nureyev-as-i-remember-him-GAIN/

Similar but different. In the days when the RB had lengthy NY seasons most years, the touring company moved into ROH. Wonderful opportunities to see their dancers in familiar roles and dancing their own rep. All classical back then.

I saw Dante in Paris last May and the audience went crazy for it. Mind you it is a cut above the non classical rep the Parisians have to endure.

Butterfly is the tip of the iceberg, drama and literature are also being scrutinised and classics rewritten As for Bournonville, his ballets are being stripped of religious connotations in Denmark because the director is an atheist.

A good way of putting it. The arts discover they're standing in a minefield.

The surival rate is far higher than you might think, I believe 90% of all operas written were created prior to 1800. Operas survive in libraries across the world and are now being excavated and performed, possibly because of dissatisfaction with much contemporary opera. All forms of early music are becoming popular now and operas once scorned, e.g. Salieri's, are being staged. Perhaps at some point in the future something similar will happen in the ballet world. I remember seeing Le Reveil de Flore in Baden Baden a few years back, a museum piece if ever there was one, but with a gorgeous central ballerina role. The audience clealy loved it as did I. perhaps much of the problem with the RB is down to the ever diminishing number of ballets performed each season. Choices are made that clearly exclude ballets that aren't cash cow classics or the brand spanking new.

Indeed, we happily flock to 17th century operas, why must ballet have to always be of today.

I note from the list that the ballets that we occasionally see from Ashton are all his later work, not much before 1960. Interesting that we are now mainly getting later MacMillan, regardless of quality.

AM had a big thing about Hallberg as a dancer, I assume his enthusiasm extends to his new career and company.

Nikolai Tsiskaridze has been a frequent visitor to London and the ROH for many years. I see nothing odd in his turning up to see Mr Hallberg, his former Bolshoi colleague.

I assume it was the pianist.