Jan McNulty

I've just picked this up off Twitter: http://www.theguardian.com/stage/live/2015/nov/27/carlos-acosta-webchat-carmen-royal-ballet?CMP=share_btn_tw Post your questions in the comments section of the link.

As do BRB and NB and any other professional dance class I have seen on stage.

Lyndsey Winship of the Standard was there: http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/theatre/ballet-cymru-sadlers-wells-dance-review-pure-warmth-from-a-company-full-of-emotion-a3125976.html

I'm not enamoured of the new DT format either.

Links - Tuesday 01 December, 2015 Interview - Jose Manuel Carreno, AD Silicon Valley Ballet: Claudia Bauer, DanceTabs Review - Twyla Tharp, 50th Anniversary Tour, New York: Robert Gottlieb, NY Observer Interview - Sara Rudner on early Tharp: Wendy Perron, website Review - American Ballet Theatre, The Nutcracker, Costa Mesa: Jean Lenihan, Coast Magazine Review - Birmingham Royal Ballet, The Nutcracker, Birmingham: Emma Cann, Broadway World Review - Joffrey Ballet, The Nutcracker, Washington: Andrew White, Broadway World Review - Houston Ballet, The Nutcracker, Houston: Ashley Clos, Houston Press Review - Maine State Ballet, The Nutcracker, Portland: Jessica Lockhart, Portland Press Herald Review - Chamberlain Performing Arts, The Nutcracker, Richardson: Katie Dravenstott, Theater Jones Review - Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke, Gennevilliers: Laura Cappelle, FT Review Roundup - Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Fase, Verklärte Nacht; LA Ballet, Giselle, Los Angeles: Donna Perlmutter, LA Observed Review - Ballet Cymru with Cerys Matthews, Celtic Concerto, Traces Imprinted, TIR, London: Lyndsey Winship, Standard Review - Tao Dance Theatre, 6,7, Paris: Patricia Boccadoro, Culture Kiosque Review - Bangarra Dance Theatre, Ochres, Sydney: Martin Portus, Daily Review Review - Company Chameleon, Of Man and Beast, London: John O’Dwyer, Bachtrack Review - Nora, BLOODY NORA!, Eleanor and Flora Music, Digging, London: Josephine Leask, London Dance Feature - Ballet in Gaza, A dream inside the chaos: Nidal al-Mughrabi, Haaretz Review - St Petersburg Festival Ballet with Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Swan Lake, Reykjavik: Anna Manning, Reykjavik Grapevine

Hello Ballet4Boyz and welcome to the Forum! Congratulations on your son's achievements so far. Do let us know how he gets on.

There's a great interview with Pippa Moore of Northern Ballet in the Dancing Times for December.

Slovak National Ballet - Nijinsky, God of Dance - World Premiere - 27/11/2015 Bratislava Daniel de Andrade, Ballet Master at Northern Ballet, was commissioned to create a new 3-act ballet for the Slovak National Ballet and Nijinsky, God of Dance is the result. I was in Bratislava for the premiere on Friday evening. The programme was particularly good value at €4 and has three sections in Slovak, English and German with lots of great photographs and plenty of reading. I had a huge lump in my throat before the performance even started when I read that it is presented in honour of Christopher Gable. In the programme Daniel explains that Christopher had been working on the scenario for a ballet about Nijinsky with dramaturg Patricia Doyle and that she had given him her draft scenario and other notes from that time. The music is by Carl Davis and is very tuneful and incredibly clever including references to the music from the works that Nijinsky was associated with. The synopsis was very detailed, so much so that it was almost off-putting but, in reality, my friend and I found it very easy to follow the plot. There is a prologue and epilogue with Nijinsky in the sanatorium dancing for the patients. Act 1 covers Nijinsky’s childhood up to where he meets Diaghilev and the setting up of the Ballets Russes. We see Nijinsky’s father dancing while his family look on and him rejecting his family. This scene is reminiscent of the scene in Coppelia where Franz is flirting with the Gypsy and the music reminded me of both Coppelia and Giselle. Projections are used from time to time and there is a projection of the outside of the Imperial Ballet School in St Petersburg as Nijinsky and his mother and sister arrive there. We see Nijinsky dancing the Bluebird solo to great acclaim and we see Pavlova having a tantrum after Giselle when Nijinsky is presented with a bouquet. As you can see, incidents from his life are entwined with snippets of the ballets for which he is known. It really is so clever. There is an electric scene where Nijinsky meets Diaghilev. They dance a breath-taking tango. Act 2, for me, was not quite so successful. It covers the Ballets Russes in Paris and I found it a little messy until we get to the presentation of Rite of Spring and the riot. There is a choir on stage for something that looks like a Firebird section and there are some sections from Sheherezade and L’Apres-Midi. The riot at the Rite really was exciting to watch. During the first part of this act we see Romola and see her setting her sights at Nijinsky. Act 3 covers the liner to South America, Nijinsky’s wedding to Romola and subsequent estrangement from Diaghilev. On board the liner we see the dancers having fun and there are salsa rhythms aplenty to dance to. As we are approaching the end we see Nijinsky’s distress at the carnage of WW1. Throughout, the choreography is attractive to watch and moves the story along. The Slovak National Ballet is a good looking company and I would definitely want to see them again. I would like to see this work again as it is complex and would bear repeated viewings. It was a huge undertaking with around 50 dancers, a chorus and what looked to be a huge orchestra. Opening night honours went to Igor Leushin as Nijinsky, Andrej Szabo as Diaghilev and Romina Kolodziej as Romola. All three of them were superb in role and the scenes between Leushin and Szabo were particularly electric. The performance was very well received with most of the audience on their feet at the end. I am very glad I was there!

That looks an amazing faculty!

Links - Monday 30 November, 2015 Review - New York City Ballet, George Balanchine’s Nutcracker, New York: Brian Seibert, NY Times Review - Australian Ballet, Sleeping Beauty, Sydney: Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore, Guardian Reviews - Boston Ballet, The Nutcracker, Boston: Karen Campbell, Boston Globe Iris Fanger, Boston Patriot Ledger Gallery - Birmingham Royal Ballet, The Nutcracker, Birmingham: Dave Morgan, DanceTabs Reviews - Russell Maliphant Company, Conceal | Reveal, London: Louise Levene, FT Lynette Halewood, DanceTabs Review - Pacific Northwest Ballet, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, Seattle: Rosemary Jones, Examiner Review - Rambert, Dark Arteries, The 3 Dancers, Transfigured Night, Edinburgh: Mary Brennan, Herald Scotland Review - Thomas Adès: Concentric Paths — Movements in Music, New York: Deborah Jowitt, Arts Journal Review - BalletNext, Surmisable Units, Strange Blooms, New York: Apollinaire Scherr, Fjord Review Review - Bangarra Dance Theatre, Ochres, Sydney: Maxim Boon, Limelight Review - LA Philharmonic / American Ballet Theatre, Apollo, Los Angeles: Mark Swed, LA Times Review - Birmingham Repertory Theatre / Robert North, The Snowman, London: Jeffrey Taylor, Express Gallery - Scapino Ballet, Henry, Maastricht: Stephen Wright, DanceTabs Reviews - Nora, BLOODY NORA!, Eleanor and Flora Music, Digging, London: Judith Mackrell, Guardian Jann Parry, DanceTabs Gallery - Foteini Christofilopoulou, DanceTabs Review - Hong Kong Dance Company, L’Amour Immortel, Hong Kong: Natasha Rogai, South China Morning Post Feature, Lily Kind, choreographer Sarasota Contemporary Dance: Carrie Seidman, Sarasota Herald Tribune And finally… News - Maria Kochetkova launches her own T-shirt line: Olivia Manno, Dance Spirit

I was certainly at a standstill - an hour stuck in the queue to get out of the car park!

I saw the performance at the Lowry on Wednesday night. Due to the fact that MU were playing at home I was very late arriving and didn't have time to get a programme or see the cast list. I recognised many of the dancers but am not familiar enough with the company to identify them with any confidence, apart from Chris Marney who was absolutely outstanding as Lilac. I think it is an absolutely super production. I love Matthew Bourne's homages to the Petipa choreography and the vampire element makes perfect sense - how else will the boyfriend/gardener live long enough to save the Princess. It was a terrific performance throughout and I am looking forward to seeing it again in Liverpool. I would like to thank Matthew Bourne and the Lowry staff who delayed the start by nearly 10 minutes to allow people caught up in the traffic gridlock to arrive. (The journey home was equally horrendous!).

BRB's Nutcracker season in Birmingham opened at the back end of last week. Please let us know your thoughts on this thread. To get you started here is a review from Redbrick.

Hello b9953 and welcome to the Forum. Please let us know how your dc gets on.

Thanks for highlighting this Michelle. The message certainly highlights the need to book by the due date ... Book it or lose it.

Huge Congratulations to Team GB. What a spectacular final shot from Andy Murray!

Bottom and his fellow players are known as the Rude Mechanicals.

Hello 529015A and welcome to the Forum! I hope you keep joining in.

And the link is still valid for watching the recorded rehearsal.

What is classical choreography? David Nixon's choreographic vocabulary is classical. He uses classically trained dancers, who are terrific dancers and who can also act. They are also beginning to use a wider range of choreographers (although the rep has never been exclusively Nixon's). Toby Batley has received his third nomination for best classical dancer in the National Dance Awards. Martha Leebolt won best dancer in a classical role a couple of years ago. How classical does a company need to be?

A wise friend once said to me that you can't superimpose current values on historic events. She is right - to do so is to attempt to change history. OK, I know that history has sometimes faded away and we have to make an interpretation but in the technical era that we are now in that must surely change.

I didn't like Checkmate when I first saw it, but it grew on my and I came to admire its structure.

BRB are performing Solitaire on midscale South in 2016. I agree with your specifics except perhaps Pierrot Lunaire.

BRB have performed Checkmate on a semi-regular basis over the last 20 years or so and I have grown to admire it more as time has passed. We saw some wonderful performances.