aileen

Ok, so why hasn't the Royal, a world-class company, been able to do it successfully then? There's some deficiency somewhere. Companies abroad successfully perform ballets originally choreographed for the Royal. Are ballets like Don Quixote just not "suited" to the Royal for whatever reason?

Nevertheless, it's supposed to have some Spanish character, isn't it? And other companies in other countries have managed to do it successfully.

It's ironic that the Russian companies who, as far as I am aware, are made up almost exclusively of Russian dancers, are apparently so good at Don Quixote whereas the Royal and ENB, who have employed a number of Spanish, Cuban and South American dancers for several years, don't seem to be able to put it on or pull it off.

To be fair to Kevin O'Hare, with Polunin's departure and Acosta (and perhaps Kobborg?) winding down the Royal probably do need some new virtuoso male dancers who can perform roles such as Don Quixote, unless there are some at soloist level who I'm not familiar with.

Ann, I've only been watching ballet for a few years. I don't remember when Don Quixote was last performed in London apart from last summer when I think it was performed by the Marinsky. I recollect that I was on holiday at the time and so I didn't go and see it. Have any of the British ballet companies performed it in the last 5 years?

I don't know Don Quixote (obviously I've heard of it). What kind of dancer is needed for the titular role? I can't believe that a large company like the Royal would struggle to find enough suitable men to take the lead role. What is the problem? Why are people talking about bringing in guest dancers? As others have said before, there are not enough performances for the company principals as it is.

With the greatest respect to Carlos Acosta, has he ever choreographed anything before? A 3-act ballet is a big undertaking.

Alison, I can understand why London Festival Ballet changed their name. The word "festival" implies something temporary. I assume that ENB have to take all the financial risk when they "rent" the Coliseum and that it is ENB who decide how much to charge for tickets. I'd be interested to know (but I'm sure that I'll never find out!) how much the Coliseum, Sadler's Wells etc charge for renting out their spaces. I still wonder if it wouldn't be more profitable for ENB to hire Sadler's Wells, perhaps for more days, than the Coliseum who, unfortunately, have a bit of a monopoly as a a large theatre.

I'm probably really shallow, but what first attracted me to Scottish Ballet's new Streetcar was the arresting black and white photograph of Mutso and Barry in the roles of Blanche and Stanley used in all the promotional literature. It was just so different from normal ballet photographs and was very well "staged", if that's the correct term, and lit. Both dancers looked as if they were in a new film of the play and just looked so right in the roles. Barry even had something of Brando about him.

Bluebird, an organisation's website is an important part of its marketing. It's the first port of call for most people. ENB really must get its website sorted out as soon as possible. Apart from anything else, it looks a bit dull compared to other websites (although the videos are good). Their programmes (ie the "booklets") also need to be improved. There are some lovely photographs but there is little information about the productions, their history etc and a lot of padding. At £6 there are rather expensive for what they are. The Royal's programmes always have several in-depth articles written by respected dance writers.

On the subject of friends' schemes for young people, I recently tried to purchase a Ballet Buddies membership (under 16s) for my 11 year old daughter. You could not buy it on-line. It was not possible to buy it over the telephone. In the end we sent an email and a form was sent to us in the post. The form was very out of date. It had pictures of the Angelina Ballerina production which toured about 4 years ago and was not really appropriate anyway for older Ballet Buddies. All of this created a rather negative impression and my daughter was disappointed. We have not yet purchased the Ballet Buddies membership. This is an example of what I regard as poor marketing. ENB needs to be much slicker than this in today's tough world. As I said above, pricing policy, and this includes friends' schemes, need to be looked at.

It's interesting how many dancers in the RB (a world-class company) have less than perfect physiques as far as the vocational schools in the UK are concerned! Many of the dancers I'm thinking about trained abroad and it makes you wonder how they managed to make it through their schools. I was told by a teacher that the RBS look at the student's parents AND grandparents. I recollect that she said that they asked for statistics rather than photographs but maybe I misunderstood what she said.

Thanks for the tips, Janet.

Scottish Ballet have got a winner on their hands. If you can, go and see their new Streetcar. You will have an absorbing evening's entertainment. The involvement of a theatre director is apparent. The story is very clear. It is told chronologically, without flashbacks as in the film (play?). There is some clever staging. I don't want to say any more about this because it will spoil the element of surprise. The specially commissioned score fitted the story and the dancing perfectly (it was altered in the course of the rehearsals). The dancing was varied, and inventive in places. The brutal encounter between the two leads was gripping. The characterisation was good. Tama Berry really brought out the character of Stanley: a controlling brute. It was all very well done. Tonight's performance was very well-received by a large audience (the theatre was full or nearly full). Ashley Page must be delighted that his final production with Scottish Ballet has turned out so well.

Rowan, I don't get much through the post, (and nothing by e-mail) promoting ENB's forthcoming productions. Part of ENB's problem is that it does not have a home theatre like the Royal. It is treated as a visiting company by the Coliseum which is not going to promote it any more than any other visiting company. In contrast, I am bombarded by promotional e-mails from ENO which I've never even been to see! ENO only have my details because I have booked for ENB. Sadler's Wells are very efficient. I get many e-mails from them about forthcoming productions and their multiple-buy discount is prominently displayed on their web-site. Recently, I discovered that ENB does offer some sort of multi-buy discount; it was referred to in small writing in their little brochure. I've never seen it on the Coliseum's website. If it is there I've not noticed it. IMO, marketing in the widest sense includes pricing policy which I think needs to be looked at as well.

Can anyone recommend reasonably priced, as opposed to budget, hotels within walking distance of the Grand Theatre in Leeds?

I've been wondering when ENB is going to appoint a new MD to replace Craig Hassall. I hope that whoever it is s/he will work well with Tamara. It's probably not part of Tamara's remit but I hope that once she is in post a root and branch review of ENB's programming and marketing strategies is carried out. Dave, you make an interesting suggestion. The Flawless collaboration (but I think that this only involves four dancers plus Jenna Lee) and the ENB2 Sleeping Beauty tour (but this only involves ENBS students, surprisingly) are along the lines you suggest. I notice that Scottish Ballet are doing a huge tour with their new Streetcar (including smaller centres such as Norwich and Canterbury which I doubt are visited by ballet companies much - I wonder how well it will sell) and that Northern Ballet are also touring their new Sleeping Beauty widely. Perhaps ENB need to seek out some new, smaller venues. I just don't know what the economics of performing at the Coliseum are for ENB. Perhaps a half-full Coliseum is still profitable and more profitable than Sadler's Wells where I personally would like to see ENB perform more. This is the kind of thing that I hope the new MD will be looking at.

Yes, perhaps someone could re-do Artifact without the speaking parts but with just the dancing and call it 'Artfact Unpacked' or something like that (I'm not being sarcastic). I'm still unclear about what Artifact Suite is like despite reading the Dance Tabs article. Can anyone illuminate?

Does anyone have any advice about hotels (reasonably priced rather than budget) near the Grand Theatre in Leeds?

Amelia, how many dancers do you need in the corps for The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker?

Stardancer, if your DD is so advanced she should be applying for an associate scheme. If she didn't enjoy EYB this year then why apply again?

Amelia, Swan Lake is only one ballet, which one would not normally expect a company to perform annually, as ENB is doing at the moment basically because it is short of money. I'm actually rather worried about how well the August performances will sell in the light of the Olympics, the Peter Schaufuss Ballet's visit the week before (they're putting on SL among other things) and the Royal's decision to open their season with SL in October). Surely the swan corps for the proscenium version of SL is only 24 or 32 anyway. Are you suggesting that the freelance swans didn't perform well at the Albert Hall performances? It would not necessary to bring in other types of dancer for large productions. There are plenty of good ballet dancers (both freelance and student) around. ENB is twice the size of Scottish ballet, a lot larger than NB and larger than BRB and they all manage very well. In these difficult economic times a reduced ENB might be the only realistic way forward. Alison, I appreciate that there are limits to what one can say on this forum but I don't think that expressing the opinions that I have done stray beyond those limits.

I thought that this was a forum on which one was entitled to express opinions without other posters objecting to such opinions being given in case they might upset other people. MAB, I would not LIKE to see any dancers sacked but the facts, as I understand them, are that ENB is financially stretched, with grant funding unlikely to increase in the future, and staff costs (which include dancers) make up the largest part of the budget, as in most organisations. I am a big fan of ENB (I saw 5 of the recent BBR performances) and so I hope that you understand that I am not just having a go at ENB. I merely venture to suggest that there are not enough performance opportunities for all the dancers and that it would be possible for ENB to perform at the same level (ie very high) with a smaller company and thereby reduce costs.

I heard on the grapevine that Tamara was at Artifact on Thursday evening. She seems to be keen on that type of choreography, and I wonder whether we might see some Forsythe and Ek at ENB in the next few years. Wayne is probably more conservative in his tastes than Tamara, who will have to reconcile her desire to put on more unusual and challenging work with the economic realities that ENB faces. Irmgard, I'm pleased to see that you seem to have reconciled yourself to Tamara's appointment (and actually welcome her as the new AD) despite your unhappiness about the fact and manner of Wayne's departure. Only time will tell whether she is a successful AD of ENB. Certainly, she has a lot going in her favour but there are many challenges in running a company like ENB which I hope she will be able to meet. Rather than looking at what the Royal are doing, perhaps she should be looking at companies like Royal Ballet of Flanders and, in the UK, Scottish and Northern Ballets for ideas as to the way forward. I'm probably going to upset some people by saying this but I wonder whether ENB needs to contract in size (say, down to 50 from 64 dancers) and bring in freelance dancers for productions requiring a large corps eg Swan Lake, Rite of Spring. I question whether there is sufficient work to keep 64 dancers occupied for enough of the year but others may disagree with me on this.

Artifact was very well received on Friday night too, although it was not sold out. I've been wondering about the the audiences at Sadler's Wells. When I've chatted to people there they don't seem to have been regular ballet-goers (who go to CG and the Coliseum) but people who go to Sadler's Wells regularly to see a variety of dance. I appreciate that this is only an impression, but my feeling is that the overlap between the CG and Coliseum audiences and the Sadler's Wells audiences is actually quite small. When I went to see Men in Motion in January the couple I spoke to didn't seem to have heard of Sergei Polunin (the big draw for me) who was upstaged on the night by Daniel Proietto. What do other people think? Rowan, it's good to hear your thoughts. It's sacrilege I know (and it would be a completely different ballet) but I wish that the ballet could be redone without the annoying speaking and the cheap-looking boards in Act 3! I'd like to see just the dancing!