patsomerset

Oh really Bluebird. I stand corrected, thank you. I must have missed that. I would still like to see it in the repertoire again

Thank you to all who continue to post the Links. They are part of my daily routine too. Like a lot of people I do tend to choose reviews about companies that I have seen both in this country and abroad. I was interested in Clement Crisps comments about programmes of two or three short ballets. The problem with these is that there is more often than not one ballet you really do not want to see. If you have managed a cheap ticket and/or live locally it's probably not a problem but if you travel a distance specially you do tend to be a bit picky. The other point is that there are always people coming to the ballet for the first time. It may be the only time they attend or it may be the start of a lifelong love. Either way they probably choose something they recognise for their first trip, such as, dare I say it 'Swan Lake'

I should love to see the Royal Ballet doing 'Onegin' again. I think it is 10 years since it was last done.

I was surprised to see Ismene Brown describe Nunez and Soares as 'engaged'. I believe they have been married for a year or so now!

I am back on air again after two weeks without a computer and pleased to see some replies to my topic. Others seemed to have enjoyed the evening on the whole, as I did with reservations about some of the dancing, but it is after all a live performance and one has to take it as it comes. I agree that convenience and cost do overcome the restrictions of views. After all one can get different views of a performance depending on where one is sitting in the actual theatre and the close ups of costumes and faces are a bonus I am looking forward to R&J on 23 March. I see it is billed as being the Cuthbertson-Polunin partnership again so they are certainly promoting them. I agree with Ian; too soon to claim them as a partnership in the same league as Fonteyn-Helpman et al and maybe putting too much pressure on them?

Sadly I am not able to get to ROH to see any of the current run of R&J. It is something of which I never tire and I am looking forward to the cinema screening on 22 March. These reviews however prompted me to dig out a DVD of the Christmas Day showing in 2007 with Rojo and Acosta. I have watched it in detail over the last few evenings and I think it is a performance against which to measure all others. They were possibly at the height of their powers then and, as Lynette has already remarked, the possibility of technical difficulties does not seem to exist, so there is time and energy to concentrate on the characterisation. What a partnership and what chemistry between them. It is both joyous and heartbreaking. There were some other lovely performances too and Johnny Cope made such a wonderful introduction. How sad to think that we are now probably seeing Acostas last performances in this role at least. He has great charisma and personality which I think will be sadly missed when he eventually takes his last bow at ROH. Are we now witnessing the end of an era at the Royal Ballet? . Monica Mason apart

I have been off air for over two weeks due to my computer dying on New Year's Day. Do these things always happen on a Bank Holiday? Anyway I now have a new computer and am back in touch again and enjoying catching up on the News and What's Happening. These are the two areas which I use nearly every day. I particularly value the views of those who live near enough to be able to see several different casts of a particular ballet and on performances which I have not been able to attend I was delighted to hear that a Committee has now been formed to try to take Balletco into the future. I cannot offer any technical expertise but I will continue to post from time to time when I feel I have anything to say, and would be happy to pay a sub should this be the way forward I should also like to record my thanks to Bruce for keeping the forum going until March best wishes to all for a happy future for Balletc

I agree with Janet. I have so enjoyed my daily fix of ballet.co in the last few years and reading the opinions of those who really know their ballet. I have missed it so much in the last week or so. I can't offer any technical expertise sadly but I really would hate to see this die altogether. I have viewed several other ballet websites in the last week or so and nothing compares with ballet. co for depth of knowledge and unbiased reviews.

This happened while ballet.co was taken down. I should love to hear from others who saw it and what they thought My local Odeon was almost full to capacity which cheered me not a little as it means they will go on showing ballet and of course added to the atmosphere. Beauty is not my favourite but I do appreciate its place in the classics and the RB repertoire. The advantages of watching from your local cinema are that you see a lot more of the mime in close up, you see the costumes in close up and you see the dancers facial expressions in close up. The disadvantages are that you do not always get a view of the whole stage when you would like it and even the smallest mistakes are highlighted In this particular performance of SB there were quite a few things to love. The mime was excellent, the new costumes exquisite and the views of the orchestra a bonus. I was however underwhelmed by some of the dancing. The corps were rather ragged at the beginning, as were some of the soloists. Poor Lauren missed some of her balances and made at least one uncontrolled landing as did the Bluebird I thought some of the camera angles did not help. Legs looked sturdy which I am sure they are not and we had more 'crotch' shots than were really necessary This performance was screened round the world and will be shown again in recording. Was it as polished as it should be?

Thank you for the reminder Alison. 'Nutcracker' is not my favourite but I was prompted to watch and glad I did. What a joy to see the young Alina, of whom we have not seen enough this season as well as others now not dancing any more particularly Jonathan Cope. What a dancer and what a partner