cavycapers

No need to apologise, VP, I love your youthful opinions and enthusiasm! I'm glad the future of RB support and the forum will be inherited by young people like you.

So basically, if I understand this correctly, it seems to me increasingly that for the most popular performances, once the Premium 2 Friends, Premium 1 Friends, Supporting Friends, Friends+, and Friends have had their pick of the tickets, the general public will only have access to the back rows of the Amphi? Surely there is something wrong in a system that requires you to have a special status to buy a decent ticket?

I'm not sure that booking a day earlier would have given you an advantage even. I was in the queue and got into booking at 9am exactly, and there was very little left then.

Am I missing something here? Why, when general booking opened at 9am this morning, was there only a handful of seats for Concerto / Le Baiser de la fée / Elite Syncopations? I know, as a mere mortal, I usually only get the crumbs, when general booking opens, but normally the ROH holds back quite a good assortment of tickets for general booking. Why has this not happened for this production? Does anyone know who got all the tickets?!

Talking of wigs, I was just remembering something that had amused me. I was thinking of the moment in Margurite and Armand, when Alessandra Ferri's hairpiece fell off as she lunged for the chaise. What made me giggle was not that the hairpiece fell off, as her character was very distraught at this point, and Marguerite may well have been wearing a hairpiece, so it might have appeared to be part of the action, but rather the attempts of a corps member to try to disguise it by placing his foot on it and shuffling backwards, bless him, making the whole thing far more noticeable!

Oh how wonderful, although i wish it might have happened sooner and then he might have been dancing Romeo in August. When he dances, you can't take your eyes off him. If this persuades this talented young man to stay in the Uk rather than going to the US to dance, as he has indicated he would like to, then well done, Ms Rojo!

Article on Radio 4 Front Row monday night.

The swans rising up through the dry ice on an apparently empty stage in the BRB's Swan Lake always draws a gasp from the audience. Although not a D Deane fan, the sight of 60 swans in perfect formation in the round at the Royal Albert Hall last summer in ENB's Swan Lake, they seemed so powerful against one poor little man! The Shades, usually in the Russian productions, coming down three steep ramps like a curl of smoke. The 'column' of heads in Les Noces, don't know how else to describe it. The curtain rising on the RB's last act of Romeo and Juliet, with a tiny Juliet lying on the tomb in the huge sepulchre set with those massive stone cherubs overlooking her, and those chilling strings....

Usually, NBL, I walk to the Coop on the corner a few shops down (Bristol Hippo is good for that) and buy a tub of their Sicilian Lemon icecream for £1.00 and eat it outside, but I had an ex with me and didn't want to look mean! Aprpopos of which, he wanted a glass of wine, and one for the interval, so the barman said it was another glass free when you bought two, so i said, we'll have that then (as me ex had bought the tickets) and it was £21! You need a drink after that... actually, got me own back, as bought tickets at back of grand circle and moved forward when lights went down, as it was so empty! (So did most people, I'm surprised the balcony didn't collapse...)

How wonderful for WB! What rank is he going in at?

Oh, hee, glad I can spot the talent then! God job I didn't know, as I would have blubbed too!

DQ Fan, where did you find special offer? I looked all over but couldn't find any. Was also well miffed at paying £4.50 for a small tub f ice cream ?

Just on way home from the evening performance. Who was the lead call to arms dancer? He was stunning!

I can't swap tickets, Don QF, as I am taking friends both nights. i shall have to content myself with gazing at amazing cesar corrales

Gulp! I really hope Cesar Coralles isn't going anywhere. I am disappointed that he isn't getting a shot at Romeo at the Southbank Centre in August. He was fabulous as Mercutio in Bristol nearly two years ago.

Oh, i got all excited, as i have tickets for two nights, but then see that she is only dancing at the saturday matinee.

Lopatkina was the loveliest swan I ever saw.

I did spend some time during SV thinking that if I had done the costume design, I would have had the principal girl as was, with her skirt cut up at both sides and down into a point at the front, but would have had the girls either side in costumes that dipped down in front on the right side for the girl on the right and down to the left for the girl on the left to produce a lovely symettrical image, instead of them being identical. I know, i need to get out more! What is the fabulous material they use, by the way, that gives that lovely heavy swing to the skirts, does anybody know?

Of the many, many superlative performances on Friday night and at the Saturday matinee, the one that made me think surely that's not humanly possible was McCrae. Outstanding.

I think that I was coming at this from the perspective of having been very embarrassed last year when my friends paid a lot of money to come with me to see the Bolshoi, and we had to take it in turns to see more than half of the stage. It is hard to explain to non balletomanes why it is good value.

I guess we're maybe all coming at this from a different perspective, according to our income....

I suppose I am comparing it to the speed with which the seats sold for the Ashton triple bill. I was embarassed last year when my friends were obviously shocked by only being able to see part of the stage, despite having payed a lot of money. They asked if we could have better seats this time, and I was again embarrassed to have to ask them for approx. £140 a ticket for stalls, stalls circle, middle balcony, etc. I am sure all the tickets will sell, as going to the ballet on a summer's evening when you're on holiday is divine and there is no competition from other companies, but compared to the usual prices, it doesn't represent good value for me, and I shall be enjoying two or three other productions for the same money.

After intending to take my friends to the Mariinsky's Swan Lake, we finally decided it was just way too much money, even for the cheapest seats and happily booked for the ENB's Romeo and Juliet at the Royal Festival Hall instead, where we were able to get the best seats at a fraction of the price it would have cost us at the ROH. It may be wrong to be gleeful in this situation, but I think that the small number of seats that have sold at this point might be an indication that it is just priced too high and that others may have balked at the idea too.

My lovely Ballet Teacher, Louise Bracey, who has been teaching Adult Ballet Classes for 10 years in Bristol, is running an Adult Ballet Holiday in Greece this Summer from Sept 27th-Oct 4th, 2017, and there are a couple of places left, if anyone is interested. You don't need to have done any of Louise's classes, or indeed any ballet. It won't be cliquey, as not everyone going will necessarily know each other, as we all do Louise's classes on different days, and anyway, the classes are very friendly. It is set in a beautiful part of Kefalonia by the sea with 4 star accommodation with pool...and is affordable too! They will be General Classes for all levels and men are equally welcome, or you can bring your partner if they just want to chill. Although Louise is based in Bristol the Retreat is open to all..You just need to get a flight to Kefalonia. Louise was trained at The Royal Ballet School then danced with The Royal Ballet before joining English National Ballet where she danced many soloist roles. She is a great teacher and also good fun! Here is the link to the Retreat on her website. http://www.adultballetclasses.co.uk/retreats/ Email her if interested. louise@adultballetclasses.co.uk

If there are many people, like me, waiting for the cast announcements before booking, our seats are not showing up as sold, although they will be, and therefore that might discourage members of the general public from booking, because the theatre looks so empty.