cavycapers

thank you so much 😄

I got my results on 1st August, was only little old Grade 3, but I am 60 and only started ballet three or so years ago. I passed with a merit! Did a little dance and had a little cry (relief I think), so lucky to have a teacher who was willing to risk her 100% pass rate by putting in this old person! Can't say what it means to me..... Good luck to all of you still waiting!

How tall is Corrales? I can't find a reference and have not been able to work it out seeing him on stage.

Hi. Does anyone know how many senior students are taking the RAD exams, (grade 3 and above) now that the categories are open to all students of all ages? I am about to take my Grade 3 exam at the age of sixty, and would be fascinated to know how many seniors are doing the same?

My heart was sinking a bit as this evening approached, having read tales of projection and puppets, especially after seeing the sublime Naghdi and Ball in R and J last night. so go, like me, with limited expectations and have a lovely, glorious evening! Pure ballet fans will not be blown away by Wheeldon's choreography (I love Bintley's Cinderella much more, ditto John Macfarlane's divine costumes) but it was much more than the sum of its parts, a gorgeous, swirling spectacle. The sheer hard work of everyone involved was so evident at every point, and there was such attention to detail (even to the backstagers wheeling on the props - the one bringing on Cinderella's mother's tombstone was dressed as an undertaker just for the sake of a moment's appearance) From my seat, I watched eight people feeding long strips of material back into a machine which took them all of the interval to do, only for it to be raised up to the ceiling and dropped down again for a five minute effect. Amazing. I had also forgotten what a fine dancer Jeffrey Cirio is! Fine courtly and comic acting by turns, clearly delighted by his prize, secure in his partnering, he filled up the whole of the massive stage. And he has a lovely b - ballon! 🤣 Do go if you can.

I do wonder if the jury are divided on Ball's performance along the lines of those who were at the ROH and those who watched the cinema relay, to some extent? I definitely must go and see the encore to see Matthew Ball in close up, as I'm sure all sorts of emotions were crossing his face, but certainly, for me, Yasmine's acting translated right up into the amphi whilst I'm afraid Matthew's didn't (especially set against the as usual superb acting from Christopher Saunders, Christina Arestis, Gary Avis et Al). But he is sooo young, so I am sure it will come. It took a while for Vadim Muntagirov's acting to catch up with his artistry, after all. Also, yasmine kept bringing to mind a young Alessandra Ferri dancing Juliet tonight. Must be the divine arms.

Yasmine Nagdhi's arms! They deserved a bouquet all of their own. Definitely my favourite Juliet this run. Matthew Ball, not so much. I must watch the cinema relay, as maybe his acting works better in close up than from up in the amphi. Matthew's Romeo was so.... polite......i couldn't help but contrast this with Cesar Coralles's passionate to the point of a bit scarily obsessed performance. It was almost as if the world was moving in slow motion around Corrales, as if he and Juliet were in colour whilst everything else was in black and white. I would have liked to have seen the two of them together, Yasmine and Cesar. Sambe's mandolin dance got a huge roar. I wonder if his recent news helped propel him so high!

I have been convinced that many different ballerinas were Juliet in the past. I have seen many Romeos danced beautifully, however, last night, watching Cesar Corrales, it may be the first time I have ever felt the same about a Romeo. His youth and raw talent; the fact that his eyes never left Juliet's face for a second, even as she looked up reverently at the Friar as they knelt before him in the marriage scene; the moments when his impulses were so strong that he was forced to use an 'unballetic' movement, such as when he grabbed Juliet's hand after she'd leapt from the stairs in the balcony scene; the inability to let her go at the end of each meeting, constantly sweeping her up for another kiss: maybe it is the fact that Cesar's teenage years are still so recent, that enabled him to portray these emotions, but it certainly reminded this middle-aged lady of those feelings of first love, of staying up talking all night at the start of a relationship because you can't get enough of each other, that I hadnt thought about in a along time.....

As another out of towner, I too am taking advantage of the clash of programmes, seeing R and J on the 11th, Cinderella on the 12th and Firebird, etc in the 13th!

Thank you, LinMM, yes send me your bar bill! 😄 Thank you, yes that looks remarkably like the signature on my pointe shoe 😊 it is is very faded so I will wait for a very bright day when I can photograph it outside. The fact that it is very faded makes me think it might be genuine, and also because it is written in green ink. I don't think a forger would use green ink or be able to get that faded look. It has obviously been danced in, with wear on the pointe, and the shank/insole? has been well trimmed. It also smells very musty, which is a good sign. The autograph is very faded which is why I think it wasn't very much at the auction, but I would be more excited to know that I was holding a pointe shoe that Fonteyn actually wore in my hand (and it is a tiny little shoe, size 4 and so narrow!) I'll have to wait and see if Freed can tell me about the maker....

No problem, LinMM. I had the same problem, so I used the free resizing at picresize. com. I uploaded my photos and chose 'reduce to 75% and that worked perfectly and I was able to post it on this site.

LinMM, I would love to see a photo of the autograph from your book sometime, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, for further comparison. I would send you a photo of mine to you with the same aim, but I cannot get it to read well on any photograph.

The maker's mark may well be different, but the signature on the Bonham shoe looks remarkably like the faint signature on mine! I'm still struggling to get the right light and angle to photograph my shoe. Much easier to see on the actual thing. . 😞

I have written to them to ask if Margot used both the Z maker and the N maker. Thank you for the suggestion, I wouldn't have thought of that.

Hah! Finally managed to upload a photo of the bottom of the shoe. Definitely an N not a Z then. Thanks for all your ideas guys. I shall take another picture of the signature, which is very faded, in better light, LinMM. Thank you.

I recently bought, at East Bristol Auction House, a pointe shoe, purported to be signed by Margot Fonteyn. I paid £160. Here is the description the Auction House provided: "Margot Fonteyn ( 1919-1991 ) British Ballet Dancer / Ballerina - autographed ballet / pointe shoe. Signed by Fontaine to the toe area in green ink (slightly faded). The shoe itself believed to be one of her own, made by Frederick Freed of England and being a size 4 (as per her preferred brand and size). Provenance unknown, but has come from an estate of some note. A rare and iconic signed ballet shoe." Obviously, I would love to know if it is the real thing (although my friend said it might be better not to find out, and to be as pleased with it as if it were!). However, curiosity has got the better of me, and I was wondering if any of you know anything of this shoe? Do you recognise it? The signature is in green, now very faded pen. The shoe had been quite heavily used although no darning on the pointe. Also, the maker's mark seems to be an N with a 4 above it. Is this a maker that you know Fonteyn to have used at Freed? Any information would be gratefully received. Thank you. I cannot get the photos of the shoe to load as it says the file is too big or something.

Oo, don't know what that means! Tell me.... 😁

Never seen Lauren Cuthbertson dance Juliet until tonight. Light as thistledown, the best I've ever seen her, completely convincing as a young girl.

Seen Hirano dance Paris before as he did tonight, and thought once again that if I'd been Juliet, Romeo wouldn't have got a look in..... 😳 Thrilled to see Gary Avis cast as Tybalt, an unexpected treat. Being a slightly older Tybalt worked so well, he genuinely looked exhausted by the time his sword was knocked out of his hand by the much younger Romeo.

Thank you for all your help ladies. Looks like I will be slipping out quietly during Symphony in C, even with prompt starts 😕

Does anyone have any idea of the total running time for these three ballets please? I can't see anything on the website, and I need to organise trains/hotels/etc.

I loved this. So interesting, especially on the ownership of women's bodies. Raised my opinion of Ms.Rojo by many notches.....

Very upset to see that Bristol Hippodrome has been dropped this year. I looked forward to it every year. 🙁 I too am not excited by the triples either, for the same reason that I favour a novel over short stories.....

I arrived at Wednesday night's performance expecting to love Les Patineurs and The Concert, but came away thinking about 'Winter Dreams'. Only the hardest of hearts wouldn't have smiled as the curtain opened on the glorious setting for Les Patineurs or chuckled at the antics in The Concert, but it was only in Winter Dreams that I felt the fairy dust that the Royal Ballet are sprinkling over everything they do at the moment to be evident, although they gave it a good try in Les Patineurs. However, I did keep thinking during The Concert, I've seen this done better (mostly by American companies). Winter Dreams, however, I though would have been a masterpiece if I could have seen it properly. Whilst the melancholy and sense of entrapment of Chekov's play was conveyed beautifully by the lighting, it was however infuriating not to be able to see the men's dancing (especially Vadim's) dressed as they were in uniforms that to me were almost indistinguishable from the backdrop and floor. It became extremely tiring trying to pick out the details of the dancing, and I have excellent eyesight, and I felt all the while that something lovely was going on that I couldn't see. It was such a relief when Irina came on in her bright pink dress, and I could see her! When she was being lifted, at points, she seemed to be floating without support, and I thought maybe that was making a point, that the men are ciphers, but I don't think that could have been the intention, especially with Vershinin. I don't think the production would have suffered at all if the men had worn lighter tights, for instance. I pity those with less than perfect vision. I do wonder how much this contributed to the sense that has been expressed by some (and by the elderly lady sat next to me who thought it "Boring") that it was overlong. I think that was possibly a result of the unvarying scenery and lighting. I thought afterwards how much more interesting it would have been properly lit and set in a house, a forest, etc. Maybe there should have been an audio description.....

So the running times are finally up. A day before the first performance. Surprise, surprise, it is 2 hours 45mins approx, which is exactly what Floss predicted from previous running times. How come Floss can do this and not the ROH? It is totally unacceptable, so close to the first night. I have friends who can only just today calculate how to get home on Thursday, back to Poole. I can only assume that the Londoncentric ROH thinks it will only make a difference in what time you get to the restaurant or drinks or the tube afterwards.....