Jan McNulty

Hello Emma, Thanks for the information. In accordance with our Acceptable User Policy could I please ask you to add a signature to your profile? http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/417-the-balletcoforum-acceptable-use-policy/ Members who have commercial interests must indicate that by adding a Signature line to their postings, stating the name and type of their business and giving their website and/or business email address for enquiries. (You set up a Signature via My Settings in the dropdown menu under your name.) If members wish to contact businesses, associate schemes or other commercial enterprises this should be done via the vendor’s website or email, not by starting threads on the forum.y

I don't know whereabouts down south you are cavycapers but NB are performing 1984 in Southampton and at Sadler's Wells and Swan Lake in Norwich and Milton Keynes. The new production of Jane Eyre is coming to Aylesbury and Richmond: http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/11067-press-release-sadlers-wells-sampled-returns-29-30-january-2016/?hl=sampled

Amelia, is that choreography for the gpdd standard in Russian companies. I am sure I have seen something similar donkeys years ago.

Exactly Bill. I have heard people starting to clap at this point but fortunately most seem to realise and stop. Mind you, I have to confess that I have been equally noisy at that point on occasions, not clapping but sobbing out loud.

My fault Alison because clapping etiquette had been mentioned on another thread. That's partly why I asked Bill later in the thread if the clapping he was referring to was the claque-type clapping I have read about as being common in parts of Russia.

She most certainly is Tulip - she stands out from the crowd for all the right reasons!

I haven't seen any performances in Italy but I have in the other countries you mention (albeit only one in Geneva) and also Denmark and Hong Kong and I do not remember any huge amounts of what I would consider inappropriate clapping (i.e. huge amounts of clapping while dancing going on, enforced pauses for dancers to acknowledge applause etc) in any of them. Could you please give us some specific examples.

Perhaps Shakespeare could write a play on that subject Nina! I don't want to get into a discussion of the discussion but both longer and concise posts have been OK with me on this thread.

I was agreeing with Bill's examples of where I believe it is inappropriate to clap as it ruins the dramatic intention. As someone said somewhere on another thread a concise post can say more than a post the length of War and Peace!

I can appreciate that different cultures have different etiquettes but it does ruin the flow of a true narrative ballet if the audience claps during the drama and ruins the flow. There are some ballets that lend themselves to clapping as they move along - e.g. Don Q and some ballets have applause gaps built into them, whether I agree with those gaps or not. But, if people are continually clapping (however stellar the performance) how are they "feeling" the dramatic narrative or are they just interested in the technique of the dancers on stage? Does the clapping continuously become meaningless because the audience and the dancers expect it, rather than it being a spontaneous burst of the approval at the end of something wonderful? Do standing ovations become meaningless if every performance gets one? I would love to know how the different clapping patterns occur. We clap "free hand" here but when I went to Russia the audience did a fast co-ordinated clap and in Budapest they started clapping slowly in unison and got faster and faster! Bill, on the dvd you were watching, which caused you to start this thread, was it the claques I have read about that were doing the clapping?

I agree with Bill on this one!

I have no experience whatsoever of dance training but Jenny Hackwell graduated from KS dance this year and is now a dancer with Northern Ballet. She has already had a couple of leading roles in her first year: http://northernballet.com/biography/jenny-hackwell

I saw the final 2 performances of Northern Ballet's Nutcracker in Leeds yesterday. Possibly the incentive of a week off gave the dancers an additional sparkle because both performances fizzed like a bottle of champagne opened by Lewis Hamilton! Assorted highlights - Abigail Prudames as a most elegant Sugarplum - a total delight. Antoinette Brooks Daw and Kevin Poeung outstanding as Clara and Nutcracker Prince. Sebastian Loe in his created role in the Chinese Dance - in the doll solo in Act 1 he looked completely boneless (I could see him as an amazing Petrouchka in waiting!). Rachael Gillespie and Ashley Dixon absolutely exceptional as Clara and Nutcracker last night. Mlindi Kulashe and Lucia Solari ravishing as Cavalier and Sugarplum. Last night was Sebastian Loe's final performance with the company after 12 years. I've really enjoyed his performances during his time with the company - his performance as Renfield in Dracula was a particular and very spooky highlight. The Chinese Dance in Nutcracker, which he created, fitted him to a tee making use of his talents and interest in b-boying. Very best wishes to him for the future. 2015 has been a wonderful year for Northern-Ballet watchers. I can't wait for Swan Lake in March now!

Links - Sunday 03 January, 2016 Q&A - Dorothee Gilbert, POB: Afshan Ahmed, The National Feature - This week’s new dance in London: Judith Mackrell, Guardian Feature - What will be the hits of 2016 (scroll down for dance): Rupert Christiansen, Daily Mail

Oh yes! You can easily gain access to the canals via the Mailbox and walk as far as the Symphony Hall area and beyond. It's lovely.

Links - Saturday 02 January, 2016 Feature - The Dance must-sees of 2016: Zoe Anderson, Independent Feature - Daniil Simkin: Pia Catton, Wall Street Journal Sketchbook - New York City Ballet, Backstage at the Nutcracker: Elisha Cooper, NY Times Feature - Is The Nutcracker part of the fabric of Christmas: Alva Noe, WVAS Feature - Fusion music and dance as cross-cultural bridges: Lekha Keister, Examiner Preview - Reza Mirabi and Jozefien Beckers, Irrational_Studies, Portland: Staff, Oregon Arts Watch

Hello Jodie and welcome out of the lurking shadows! Thanks so much for the information about the live Q&A. It would be great if you could report back for us!

Roberto Bolle regularly organises "Roberto Bolle and Friends Galas". From this website, it looks as though the performances were in Turin: http://robertobollefansandfriends.com/en/index.php/schedule A couple more dates for 2016 are also on the schedule plus his regular appearances. And his official website: http://www.robertobolle.com

Links - Friday 01 January, 2016 Wishing all our members and readers a happy new year for 2016 filled with lots of wonderful ballet and dance, New Year’s Honours List 2016: Guardian Congratulations to all the honourees and especially: Sir Matthew Bourne Tamara Rojo CBE Jill Tookey CBE Christopher Wheeldon OBE Feature - Best ballet and dance of 2015: Hannah Weibye, Arts Desk Feature - Dance in review 2015: Neil Norman, Stage Feature - Dance coming to Edinburgh in 2016: Mary Brennan, Herald Scotland Feature - Dance this week in New York and Boston: Alastair Macaulay, NY Times Review - Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, 4 mixed programmes, New York: Robert Greskovic, Wall Street Journal Video - Interview with Kathy Brown, executive director of NYCB, about Nutcracker: NY Busniess Journal Review - Noche Flamenca, Antigona, New York: Robert Greskovic, Wall Street Journal Feature - Houston Ballet to have a new Nutcracker for Christmas 2016: Molly Glentzer, Houston Chronicle Review - Teatro Colon Ballet Company, The Nutcracker, Buenos Aires: Pablo Bardin, BA Herald Review - Mike Fitelson, The Hip Hop Nutcracker, Charlotte: Perry Tannenbaum, Creative Loafing

Hi Odyssey, I don't know if you looked at the interview in the link. When I did, it was not what we saw live on Breakfast this morning. It looks as though it was filmed at Sadler's Wells (maybe last night after the news became public) and it is just Sir Matthew talking, although by the sounds of it answering a list of questions.

We broached the subject of applause etiquette briefly on another thread so why not include all applause on this one? When I saw, obviously on different occasions, the Bolshoi and the Mariinsky perform Giselle I found it most disconcerting that Giselle and Albrecht had a curtain call after Act 1 when we had just seen Giselle die! The late Christopher Gable, when he was AD of Northern Ballet, preferred that there was no clapping during narrative works. To this day I still feel the same and do not applaud unless there are obvious applause points built in e.g. after each national dance in Nutcracker. I remember watching Chi's debut as Albrecht in 2003 when he was doing the most perfect set of entrechats in Act 2. On one level my brain was acknowledging these but I was absolutely swept away by the emotion of the story-telling on stage. This was almost ruined for me by people starting to clap while he was still dancing. On another occasion we were being treated to a terrific performance of David Bentley's Gallantries and the applause at the end of the pas de trois ruined the flow of the piece. In the evening it was very noticeable that the conductor continued the performance without a break, through the applause which quickly stopped. I can appreciate that people can get carried away with their enthusiasm but it can be very distracting to the audience in general (and possibly the dancers and orchestra) if it affects the flow of the piece.

BBC roundup of the entertainment honours, including an interview with Matthew Bourne. Scroll down to find it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35197898

COMMUNAL CHANGING ROOMS in clothes shops and anywhere else you can have a changing room. I well remember the horrors of trying to try something on, assess what it looked like on me, keep an eye on my bag, coat, shoes and hoping no-one else was looking at me and laughing at my poor taste in clothes or my non-matching underwear! Peanut68, in a thread in Doing Dance has reminded me of these horrors! Apparently her local Primark has them! I no longer try clothes on in the shops, I just buy and hope for the best!

I LOATHE COMMUNAL CHANGING ROOMS SO MUCH I SHALL GO AND PUT THEM IN ROOM 101 IMMEDIATELY! Thanks Peanut for reminding me about them.

When I think back over, say, the last 30 years the advent of technology has made a huge difference to the way we lead our lives. I don't think they are any better or worse than in the good old days but they are different. After all 30 years ago people did not live as they did in the Stone Age or even the Victorian age.