Ann Williams

Sorry, that should be 'The World at One' which is just about to start on R4.

Have just heard on Radio 4 that there will be an interview on - I think - the 1 pm news with 'the star of the Bolshoi' linked to the acid-throwing incident. Doesn't actually name who this is and it's probably unklikely to be Dmitrichenko himself.

'The Girl' is named in the New York Times as Anzhelina Vorontsova, a Bolshoi dancer who is 'romantically linked' to Dmitrichenko.

'....>I sometimes think that if Diaghilev were to come along now then a sizable proportion of the traditional ballet fan base would be bitterly upset by his shot in the arm and cross arts, cross creatives, approach to an old art<...' Well said, Bruce - clever point-making there! Let's face it , we're talking Tamara here and I think she's making a bold start; let's wish her the best (and keep our fingers crossed as well...).

Alison, apologies if I've got Filin's condition wrong, but I was unable to translate the article in the link you provided and now understand from what you say that his eyes may be more damaged than I had thought (for his sake, I hope not). However, even after closer inspection I still can't see any major damage to his face (slight puffiness and pinkness apart). My major point is that at a time when it is now almost commonplace to see photographs of women whose faces have been horribly disfigured by acid attacks, this picture of Filin makes dramatic press speculation on his attack look, at the very least, seriously overstated. Can I clarify that it will be for the best of reasons that I'll be relieved and happy if Filin makes a complete. unblemished recovery, not because any suspicions I may have will have been proved right - that would be an unwanted victory.

This story gets odder by the day. Now it would appear that not only is his face unblemished, but all threats of 'blindness' have disappeared from reports of the incident - reference is now being made only to some 'damage' in one eye. In particular I don't understand why, only a day or so after the incident, we were shown Filin being interviewed in his hospital bed with his face and head bandaged like the invisible man, suggesting terrible facial damage (unless of course there were precautionary reasons for bandaging his entire face). When the hub-bub dies down, I think there'll be questions to be answered by all parties concerned.

As one of BalletcoForum's - and its predecessor, Balletco's - oldest members (in both senses, unfortunately), I congratulate the committee, administrators and moderators on the disciplined, elegant and informative young offspring they have formed - well done to all of you! I particularly appreciate the daily links page, so promptly put together by John Mallinson, Ian Macmillan and Bruce Marriott (nothing much gets past them, does it?), and also the thoughtful way that the occasional forum wrongdoer is put right! This is not to mention the many posters too, who keep the ball pinging high over the discussion net with some powerful rallying. So - one way or another - perhaps we can all congratulate ourselves!

Aileen - if you had seen the picture of the young woman in the Evening Standard on 4 February, you would have seen her poor blackened face in its true horror. Yesterday's picture - bad though it still was - lifted my heart a little since at least you could see that the only distorting damage appeared (fingers crossed!) to be to the skin immediately below her eyes. Her earlier picture was in sharp contrast to the picture of Filin's smoothly unscarred features printed a few pages further on in the same paper. I'm afraid there's much more to come out in this ever-twisting story.

There's a similar picture in tonight's Evening Standard. He appears to be almost unblemished, with little or no no evident injury to cheeks, nose or mouth, so I assume all the injury must occur around his eyes. He has been very lucky. especially when you consider the the picture - in the same paper - of the young woman whose face has been so hideously burned and blackened by a similar acid-throwing incident. I wish them both a speedy recovery.

Boomer - apologies for the above message! I've just read your posting again and now see that you were actually quoting Toursenlair's posting. You'll just have to forgive me - its past my bedtime.. My words about Der Spiegel need no changing, however.

Toursenlair has already posted this link, Boomer (see two postings above). What shocked me about it was not the content - although that's bad enough - but the fact that it was Der Spiegel who had published it. I had always thought that Spiegel was a respected and serious journal, but this article makes it seem more like a tabloid. Maybe one of our German readers/contributors could place Der Spiegel more accurately for me?

Ian, I think your suggested 'exit strategy' reason for the cancellation is probably nearer the mark than most, given that Filin’s absence alone is a most unconvincing explanation The Bolshoi may simply want to cancel this ‘Rite’ for reasons of their own - it will probably be some time before we find out what these reasons are. I do wonder how much Filin himself has to do with the cancellation, assuming he has at least been consulted about it?

Thank you, Katherine and Amelia, for filling in the gaps for me - I just hope that Anton Savichev will feature more prominently in the company's visit here later this year.

I saw it too. Much as I admired the wonderful dancing (from the entire cast, principals, soloists and corps) I was a little underwhelmed by the production as a whole, which seemed to me to be underlit throughout. It was hard to see the sets clearly - a shame because from what I could make out they looked really impressive. The dancing, however, was difficult if not impossible to criticise . Zakharova and Alexandrova are two very different dancers yet, as Nikiya and Gamzatti respectively, they melded perfectly in their good-girl/bad-girl roles, and Vladislav Lantratov - a tall and elegant young performer – danced Solor with ease and power. I don’t know if he’s coming to London with the Bolshoi on their summer visit, but he’s one to watch. Since the cast list we were given named only the three principals I can’t identify any of the excellent soloists, but outstanding was the dancer who performed the head Fakir - really powerful and impressive, so worth watching out for too. The girl who performed the Manou dance (the jug-on-head role) was impressive too - delightfully cheerful and easy in her difficult role. The corps were flawless in the shades scene – I love the way the Russians do this – but here I found the underlighting a real spoiler – no clear view was possible of each dancer as they appeared from the darkness, which is almost the whole point of the shades scene. I really can’t speak highly enough, though, of the Bolshoi orchestra. I’ve never heard the Minkus score played so well it was almost as if I were hearing it for the very first time - it was the first time anyway that I noticed that it has some very pretty tunes – I left almost humming them!

'..I expect Millepied means he will be choreographing his own version...' If true, that's rather disappointing (with all due respect to Millepied's choreoraphic strengths). POB now perform Ashton's 'Fille' and it has proved so popular that I rather hoped Millepied was picking up on it.

'... his first new piece next season will be a Daphnis and Chloe...' Ashton's 'Daphnis' ? If so, this is a very promising pointer to Millepied's tenure at POB.

Assuming 'LH' is Laurent Hilaire, Marine, do you know if he was actually a candidate for the job? If so, he would surely have been at least as strong a candidate as BM - if not stronger - based on his long and very distinguished career with POB. POB management may of course have had other reasons for giving the job to BM.

Thank you for this response, Meunier - I've now actually managed to book a ticket at the Gate in Notting Hill, which is in comfortably reachable distance for me and I'm looking forward to it almost as much as if it were a live performance (doesn't take much to keep me happy...).

Has anyone else tried to book online for this Sunday's streamed Bolshoi 'Bayadere' at any of the advertised Odeons? I realise that all cinemas these days are coy about publishing their direct 'phone numbers lest it deprive them of the benefits derived from the enforced use of their premium numbers, but even so... ..I've been frustrated at every turn in making a telephone booking for this event at any of the few advertised London Odeons - their system refuses to bring up the necessary booking form. is anyone else experiencing this?

I'm looking forward to a preview of the company's 'Bayadere' at next Sunday's live streaming. Can't remember who the cast is, but its one of my favourite ballets with its lush, exotic setting, exquisite choreography and dramatic storyline. I don't think we've seen a full list of which London cinemas it's being shown at yet, so I'm relying on jmhopton's useful posting on 23 December.

Thanks, Alison. Re. Ben Affleck, I too have an aversion to him but whatever it is about him that puts me off is obviously covered by that beard - he should keep it! I really had no idea that MLD had had some UK showings before, and I definitely missed the references to the Barbican showings, hence my belief that I had stumbled on a real scoop - sadly not, but hopefully it will be news to at least some here.

Janet, I'm glad you edited - no idea why the size went so miniscule. I'm certainly not complaining as it bumps my message anyway, and the message needs to stay visible (for today at least).

Janet, I stand corrected - and I thought I'd got such a scoop - sigh! I'm surprised, though, given the several enquiries here over the past few years, that nobody reported any of the earlier showings you mention. This leads me to think they must have been inadequately advertised - shouldda gone to Ballet.co! Bill, sorry you can't make it tomorrow, but keep checking on the link below, either by film title or by cinema (I’ve just discovered this wonderful site - probably everybody else knows about it already). http://www.londonnet...nema/index.html

Have just booked myself a ticket for this. It's apparently a charity performance for www.icandance.co.uk and - according to the theatre - tickets are selling fast .

As far as I know (and someone will surely correct me I'm wrong) we’re still waiting to see ‘Mao’s Last Dancer’, but – hunting around for ‘Argo’ at a watchable time - I’ve discovered that it is actually showing here in London this week at one venue -. the Tricycle Cinema (7328 1000) in Kilburn High Road, at 20.15 on Tuesday 22nd . It was also shown last week (one performance only) in Looe, Cornwall - this may mean that it has now been released in the UK and will be shown erratically at other cinemas.