barton22

I do wish it were more effective! The heat and humidity is bad enough, but then when someone nearby starts fanning him or herself vigourously in the middle of the ballet it is incredibly distracting. Always seems to happen in the bits where you want to be as focused as possible and you have a fan fluttering in your field of vision which is very hard to ignore.

The two times I have been to the ROH this week it has been very hot and uncomfortable. Hard to believe they have any air conditioning on.

Not great, MAB. I thought the ROH was pretty hot on Monday night. Not unbearable (although when combined with that production of Swan Lake and Volchkov making an utter hash of things, the overall experience came close), but even with no tie on and in shirt sleeves I was uncomfortably warm. They were definitely skimping on the air conditioning.

Looks like the DVD and blu ray release of the Bolshoi Bayadere with Zakharova, Alexandrova and Lantratov is already available in the ROH shop. They have been given a few months' exclusive ahead of the autumn general release date.

I was confused by his scholarships point. As the RBS is in the government Music & Dance scheme, UK students get their fees and maintenance paid by the British tax payer, subject to means testing. The availability of scholarships shouldn't really be an issue for them. It would only be relevant to foreign students.

I thought it was a bizarre thing to say and if anything there seems to be a shortage of talented male dancers. This year's Royal Ballet intake from the RBS is heavily weighted towards boys, but that is simply because the graduating year had an unsually large number of exceptionally talented boys and I believe that KOH wanted to take advantage of that. I'm also sceptical about the claim that the RBS Upper School intake is more weighted to boys than girls. That certainly wasn't the case at the beginning of this last year.

Bluebird, I think they must be from the March 14th performance in Abu Dhabi. Xander posts the dates of all his performances, and the role danced, on his website here http://www.xanderparish.com/calendar.php. That looks like the only time he has performed the role with the Mariinsky. I assume that Andris Liepa must have worked on the role with him for his Mariinsky performance, given that he wasn't due to be performing in London until Cleopatre was cancelled. Looks like he has also danced "Scheherezade pdd" at a gala in Kazakhstan on April 19th. I thought he was great in both Chopiniana and as the Golden Slave and was by a long way the highlight of this week's performances. He was definitely a little tired in Scheherezade last night, as others have said; but then he was dancing four principal roles in one day and the matinee was on the late side, allowing for very little rest in between his afternoon Golden Slave and his evening Chopiniana. It was still a pretty thrilling performance and made my hair stand on end a couple of times. I hope we get to see more of him in the UK. Given the roles he gets, it is a bit perplexing that he remains a Coryphee.

Sems a bit odd to publicly annouce pay rises as opposed to promotions in rank. Does ENB usually do this? I wonder whether someone in publicity disclosed more data than they were supposed to.

I think the Kaptsova snippets are all on lenaruses' channel on you tube. If you just search that name it will bring up the channel and these are some of the most recent additions. The videos on the channel that say they were posted one day ago are of the Obraztsova performances. The ones that as of today show as from three days ago are the Kaptsova performances. Much of the good Moscow material that gets posted is on a handful of channels and it is worth just subscribing to them and then the new videos just appear in your feed. Fiordililia2, lenaruses, tuteetuteetu seem to post a lot of decent quality material within hours of Bolshoi and Stanislavsky shows ending.

Xander is dancing the Golden Slave at both performances on Saturday.

newballetfan, Takahiro Tamagawa was the dancer out first in Sunday's performance of Canon. Joan was second and Esteban was third.

That's right, Margaret. I believe the British 10k Run is on Sunday. I got a notice saying that it will be starting in Piccadilly at 9.30am on Sunday and will pass down St James Street, Northumberland Avenue, Victoria Embankment, Upper Thames Street, White Lion Hill, Victoria Embankment, Westminster Bridge, Parliament Square and Whitehall and that there will be the following road closures: Whitehall from Trafalgar Square to Parliament Square (both directions) : Close 6.00am. Re-open: 2pm approx. Piccadilly from Hyde Park Corner to jct. with St. James's Street (both directions) Close 7:am. Re-open approx. 11:30am. St. James' Street (both directions) close 7am - re-open 11.30am approx. Pall Mall: (both directions) Close: 7am - reopen 11.30am. Cockspur Street (both directions) close: 7am - re-open 11.30am. Northumberland Avenue (both directions) close: 7am - re-open 11.30am Victoria Embankment from Big Ben (Westminster Bridge) including Blackfriars underpass, Upper Thames Street to (but not including) Southwark Bridge. Close: 7am re-open 2pm. Westminster Bridge, Bridge Street & Parliament Square. Close at 7am - re-open 1.30pm. Victoria Street: From Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Gate. Close: 7am - re-open 1.30pm. Horse Guards Avenue, Whitehall Court & Whitehall Place (very restricted access). Close: 7am - re-open 2pm. Whitehall from Parliament Square to Trafalgar Square: Close 6am - re-open 2pm.

Hansel and Gretel (Linbury) Hay, Cope, McRae, tbc, Morera, Gartside - January 24, 25 (eve), 27. Ondiviela, Harrod, Thom, Hirano, McNally, Stepanek - January 25 (mat), 28. Also, it looks like The Wind in the Willows will this year be performed at the Duchess Theatre, rather than in the Linbury. YBDY Final will be on March 8th in the Linbury. I hope that's all helpful.

Main stage only. I'll try to load the Hansel and Gretel Linbury casts tomorrow. Jewels: Marquez, Watson, Morera, Kish, Yanowsky, Lamb, McRae, Nunez, Soares - December 17, 21 (mat), 28 (eve). Marquez, Watson, Morera, Kish, Hamilton, Osipova, McRae, Nunez, Soares - December 30 (mat). Marquez, Watson, Morera, Kish, Hamilton, Osipova, McRae, Cuthbertson, Pennefather - January 7. Stix-Brunell, Hristov, Kaneko, Hirano, Hamilton, Choe, Cervera, Cuthbertson, Pennefather -December 28 (mat). Stix-Brunell, Hristov, Kaneko, Hirano, Yanowsky, Choe, Cervera, Cuthbertson, Pennefather - December 30 (eve). Giselle: Marquez, McRae - January 18 (mat), 30 (eve). Osipova, Acosta - January 18 (eve), 22, 27. Lamb, Pennefather - January 20, 25 (eve). Nunez, Soares - January 23, February 1 (mat), 5. Cuthbertson, Bonelli - January 25 (mat), February 6. Morera, Kish - January 30 (mat), February 10. Rhapsody/New McGregor/Gloria: Morera, McRae, tbc, Lamb, Soares, Acosta - February 7, 13. Hayward, Hay, tbc, Hamilton, Kish, Watson - February 8 (mat). Choe, Zucchetti, tbc, Lamb, Soares, Acosta - February 8 (eve). Choe, Zucchetti, tbc, Hamilton, Kish, Watson - February 11. Morera, McRae, tbc, Hamilton, Kish, Watson - February 15 (mat).

Booking for the Barbican performances of the Great War triple is already open on the Barbican website even though the shows are next April. Just for Barbican members for one week then general booking from next week.

I think the Hansel and Gretel issue is due to (what I understand is) the plan to set up the Linbury in traverse as they did for The Metamorphosis. My recollection is that online booking for Metamorphosis wouldn't let you choose your own seat in the arena area. Perhaps their online booking system can't easily be modified to reflect the different seating arrangement

Thanks for the welcome, alison. I think that's right re Cory. Just a one off guest appearance in exchange for Steven. Hopefully this may be the start of a regular exchange. I heard from New Yorkers that Cory was very excited about this. I do wish the company were using him (and Osipova) for something more interesting (and with a bit more dancing for the principals) than Nutcracker. Perhaps there were time constraints that meant he couldn't be here long enough to work on a more substantial role.

The announced casting for Don Q is Soares with Kaneko. Osipova is announced for Nutcracker (with Bonelli) and is presumably the tbc in the announced Romeo and Juliet casting (with Acosta).

Don Quixote Nunez/Acosta: September 30, October 11, 16, 26 Marquez/Campbell: October 5 (matinee), 15 Cojocaru/McRae: October 5 (evening), 8, 18, 22 Lamb/Bonelli: October 6 (matinee), November 2 (evening), 6 Kaneko/Soares: October 25, November 2 (matinee) Romeo and Juliet Cuthbertson/Bonelli: October 19, 23 Cojocaru/McRae: October 22, November 14 Hamilton/Watson: October 30, November 16 (matinee) Lamb/Pennefather: November 16 (evening), 26 (evening) tbc/Acosta: November 21, December 7 Nunez/Soares: November 22, 28 Marquez/Kish: November 26 (matinee), December 3 Chroma/David Dawson/Rite of Spring Hamilton, Choe, Lamb, Cuthbertson, Watson, McRae, Bonelli, Ondiviela, Underwood, Trzensimiech / tbc / Yanowsky: November 9, 19, 23 (evening) Cowley, Takada, Stix-Brunell, Morera, Maloney, Kay, Cervera, Dyer, Stepanek, Montano / tbc / Dean: November 13, 20, 23 (matinee) Nutcracker Morera/Bonelli/Avis/Maguire/Campbell: December 4, 12 Cuthbertson/Stearns/Saunders/Loots/Cervera: December 6 Lamb/Pennefather/Gartside/Hayward/Hay: December 9, 14 (matinee) Cuthbertson/Stearns/Marriott/Loots/Cervera: December 10 Marquez/McRae/Saunders/Loots/Cervera: December 14 (evening) Kobayashi/Hristov/Marriott/Harrod/Zucchetti: December 20 (matinee) Marquez/McRae/Gartside/Loots/Cervera: December 20 (evening) Nunez/Soares/Avis/Hinkis/Dyer: December 23 (matinee), January 2 (evening) Cojocaru/Kobborg/Saunders/Hinkis/Dyer: December 24 (matinee) Hamilton/Trzensimiech/Gartside/Harrod/Zucchetti: December 27 (matinee) Osipova/Bonelli/Avis/Maguire/Campbell: December 27 (evening), January 4 (matinee) Kobayashi/Hristov/Gartside/Harrod/Zucchetti: December 31 (matinee) Cojocaru/Kobborg/Saunders/Cope/Kay: December 31 (evening) Takada/Campbell/Marriott/Westcombe/Ondiviela: January 2 (matinee), 10 Kaneko/Kish/Saunders/Hayward/Hay: January 8, 11 Choe/Hirano/Marriott/Cope/Kay: January 13, 16 Hamilton/Trzensimiech/Gartside/Westcombe/Ondiviela: January 15