MAB

Isn't that a bit melodramatic? The Kirov has been in decline for years now, a lot is down to weird casting decisions holding dancers back but how much is due to a low standard of Vaganova graduates? I'm no fan of Kirov contortionists, if the rot has set in then perhaps a change at the top is overdue.

Personally I'm pretty indifferent to David Beckham, my youngest sister on the other hand.................

Tsiskaridze was the pupil of Marina Semenova, who in turn was the favourite pupil of Vaganova. He has danced extensively with the Kirov over a period of time dancing in roles ranging from the Vikharev reproductions to William Forsythe, so he has greater ties to the company than his detractors would like us to believe.

I wasn't happy with the comparisons between Modern and Classical companies, the former being generally much smaller and therefore allowing far more input from the dancers. Having said that I am very uneasy about the way a number of ballet companies are being run at present and it seems to me that certain conditions re workers welfare in other kinds of work places don't apply in the ballet.

But he also had a certain prose style that the present bunch lack.

They probably refused because you can't get back to London and then make an onward journey if you travel by train, if you don't have a car it means staying over. If you have a car though it's easy - straight up the M1 and a left turn at Junction 14, I was back in time to be dropped at Victoria to catch my train home.

I haven't respected a ballet critic since John Percival died and this Sulcas woman appears from an online biography to be a general hack with a bit of ballet writing on the side. No mention of any professional link to the dance world at all. She just provides an opinion - no more no less. The snide comment about Milton Keynes will hardly win her admirers outside of London: Taxi for ballet has a valid point.

Does Alicia Alonso have the assoluta title in Cuba? If not I rather think she should.

I agree with everything I’ve read about this Corsaire, it is an almighty hit and it looks as if it will provide a host of interesting roles for the company members. I went to the two performances on Saturday and apart from admiring the production as a whole, I was amazed at how quickly the dancers were settling into their roles with everyone displaying a degree of verve and panache that usually comes with dancing in the ballet for years. Both casts I saw were excellent but the matinee with Takahashi and Acosta-the-younger was one of the best things I’ve seen all year, a Medora of charm and mischievousness matched with impeccable technique and a dashing Conrad providing a display of jaw-dropping virtuosity including that spin to the knee at the end of one of his variations that Mukhamedov used to do so well and that few can emulate: young Mr Acosta has star written all over him. The Gulnare of Shiori Kase who danced at both matinee and evening was just gorgeous and I hope the ENB powers-that-be give her a Medora at some point as she is more than ready to dance a lead. In the evening Junor Souza had his best role with the company so far as he is an ideal Ali with a little of the feline quality I used to admire in Nureyev and Ruzimatov in that role. A fabulous day out. Thank you ENB.

Very interesting, I got rid of a whole lot of household stuff a couple of years ago, none of it of any use for recycling and including a clapped out fridge. Now the local council is supposed to dispose of old fridges safely but when I rang them I was told to put the fridge out the front at a certain distance from the kerb on their one collection day. Difficult as my former front garden has been paved over to create a mini car park also carrying a big fridge down five flights from my top floor flat was going to be challenging. Could they help? No chance. What should I do then? The answer was to find a commercial firm that dealt with large item disposal, and to my astonishment the woman then read from some sort of heath and safety script about the dangers of unknown operatives entering my home! I honestly felt I'd found myself in some bizarre 'computer says no' comedy sketch, only it wan't funny. I found someone from Yellow Pages in the end and paid well over £100 for their services, for those on low incomes I imagine that is a hefty sum, no wonder fly tipping is such a problem. I feel the council should deal with this and can remember way back when the dustcart actually had a kind of mobile skip at the back for old furniture etc. Sometimes I feel that where services are concerned we haven't progressed at all.

Oh dear, bare midriff tutus are my pet hate, which they had copied the Bolshoi tutus rather than the Kirov ones.

You misunderstand, I'm not planning on banning anything, my post was a response to Alison's.

Don't you think it would have been common courtesy to warn me beforehand?

Eid: happening right now, I should know as the large number of Asian men who live in the flat below me saw fit to celebrate it until 3.30 am this morning and I'm writing this with bruised knuckles after banging on their door above the racket to get them to shut the **** up.

Anyone not liking Raymonda genuinely puzzles me, however putting that aside, Glurdjidze produces in me a feeling of awe, without wishing to insult the lady, she is to me a 'throwback ballerina', a dancer whose style retains a degree of purity unaffected by modern fashion. She typifies those dancers of the past for whom technique was a means to an end. Vaganova trained but rejected by the Kirov because she didn't match their cold, vacuous prototype, Britain has proved to be her spiritual home with her qualities of line and musicality that were the cornerstone of the 'English Style' making her a perfect fit for any UK company (part of me still wishes that the RB had done a straight swap with her and Cojocaru, particularly as she seems out of favour with the new director). Anyone here that hasn't seen her, and sadly there are no current opportunities to see her, should make the effort as she is very, very special.

When I see the word Georgians nowadays, my brain immediate connects with Ananiashvili, Glurdjidze, Tsiskaridze.... Been watching too much ballet I suppose.

Thought I would take a look on You Tube for an example of a perfect Russian Dryad Queen, but unfortunately only Skorik and Somova came up - a timely reminder that if you think the Royal has problems, spare a thought for the once great Kirov.

Excellent example ChrisChris, Choe did dance beautifully as Dryad Queen, but the at the same time the critics were right as she didn't have the breadth of movement traditionally seen in the role. Did I enjoy her performance? Yes Did I think her miscast? Again, yes. The point I'm trying to make is that it doesn't have to be perfection to please the audience.

I’m finding this argument becoming unnecessarily subjective, personal favourites – okay, but I get uneasy when large numbers of dancers' abilities are simply dismissed because the poster doesn’t personally care for them.

Like Janet McNulty I'm a short-sighted specs wearer but put the glasses over my usual ones. I've only once been to the Imax (not my thing) and the glasses looked different from the ones I was given there as the Sadlers Wells ones had dark lenses - more like sun glasses. I reiterate that the glasses only needed to be worn for the images on the screens that came down halfway through, you could do without them and still enjoy the show.

I went last night and have a question. I was handed the 3D specs as I entered so put them on when the ballet started though they weren't needed until the screen images came on. Did any of the ushers actually point this out? I was sitting close so got the full effect but my fiend at the back said the specs made no difference for him at all. Apart from my moans about the 3D thing, I actually enjoyed the piece.

What do you deduce from that? That word is getting round that the production is a flop?

I seem to remember dancers such as Noella Pontois, doing a season rather than becoming long term company members, others such as Peter Martins turned up for galas. Occasionally a dancer would guest for a certain role e.g. Fonteyn in Night Shadow but in general I do remember more guests in the old days.

I wonder if she is after a more afluent audience? Rather than come out with saying she wants to attract the A & B top earning groups, she alludes to gay men who tend to have high disposable incomes (ever heard of the 'pink pound'?), as do a lot of single women. ENB has always had a devoted following which actually grew during the Eagling years, these fans tend to like quality rather than gimmicks though, so perhaps the aim is to replace one audience with another.

It's not a bad film at all and Arionel Vargas proves himself a real acting talent.