Jan McNulty

And what an absolute treat tonight's performance was! If you haven't already booked, do come along tomorrow...

Aileen, not being funny but would this post have been better in an RB thread? I thought for a few seconds that some RB dancers were guesting with ENB!

Hello DancingKelpie and welcome to the Forum. I'm only a dance watcher so can't offer any practical advice but as others have said - go for it!! Please let us know how you get on!

Links - Thursday, January 08, 2015 Feature – Helgi Tomasson celebrates 30 years with San Francisco Ballet: Allan Ulrich, SF Chronicle Preview - San Francisco Ballet's Spring 2015 programme, San Francisco: Allan Ulrich, SF Chronicle Review – Bodytraffic, The New 45, And at midnight, the green bride floated through the village square…, Dust, Once again, before you go, New York: Gia Kourlas, NY Times Preview – Dance to look forward to in 2015: Katie Columbus, Stage En Pointe Preview – Ailey II returns to the Joyce, New York: Dance News Desk, Broadway World Reviews – Cirque du Soleil, Kooza, London: Arifa Akbar, Independent Fiona Mountford, Standard Feature – Julia Moon of Universal Ballet Company: Kwon Mee-yoo, Korea Times Preview – Bellydance Evolution, Alice in Wonderland, Arlington: BWW News Desk, Broadway World And finally… Feature with recipes – Nutcracker Cupcakes: Jennifer Eremeeva, Russia Beyond The Headlines

Article featuring videos of Ballerinas preparing their pointe shoes

If you can go further afield Capetown City Ballet are performing La Sylphide next month: http://www.broadwayworld.com/south-africa/article/Cape-Town-City-Ballets-LA-SYLPHIDE-Opens-1-February-20150107#

Welcome to the Forum gowiththeflo. Good luck to everyone's DCs. Please let us know how you get on.

Possibly B3. I can't understand why this terrific programme from this wonderful company hasn't sold. Actually when a similar group was here in 2005, I only realised a week before that I could go and I had no problem getting a good seat. On the night there was a queue waiting for returns. Sadly I suspect this will not be the case this coming weekend. We've had a couple of threads in News to tempt you even more: http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/8593-rdb-group-in-london-some-of-the-dancers/ http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/8564-rdb-dancers-in-london-radio-feature-3-jan/ http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/8066-royal-danish-ballet-soloists-and-principals-peacock-jan-2015/?hl=danish And finally there was a preview article in NYT about the group's upcoming visit there: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/arts/dance/royal-danish-ballet-brings-bournonville-back-to-new-york.html?_r=0 And even more finally my personal opinion is that the excerpt from Napoli is the most joyous thing you will ever see on a stage!

Done! (I've just read this topic and didn't notice the date!)

If it's not too late - the Royal Danish Ballet group at the Peacock Theatre in London this weekend. (Sadly) there are plenty of tickets left for the Saturday matinee. It's a terrific programme of Bournonville excerpts featuring some of the top RDB dancers. Guaranteed to lift the spirits! (I'm there on Friday night and Saturday afternoon).

Links - Wednesday, January 07, 2015 Preview – English National Ballet, Swan Lake, London: Luisa Metcalfe, Daily Mail Feature – Review of 2014: Graham Watts, London Dance Review – Dance Festival, Chennai: Alastair Macaulay, NY Times Feature – Ludmila Pagliero (Paris Opera Ballet): Afshan Ahmed, The National Preview - Miami City Ballet, Hear the Music: Programme 2, Miami: Artburst Miami, Miami New Times Preview – Frantic Assembly, Othello, London: Lyn Gardner, Guardian Preview - Best of the London International Mime Festival, London: Lyndsey Winship, Standard

London Dance news feature: http://londondance.com/articles/news/new-year-honours-for-dance/

Brilliant Simon!

I've adored Diana Cuni since I saw her at the Bournonville Festival in 2005 and this is probably my last opportunity to see her. Gudrun Bojesen is just sublime!

While I was culling the links this morning I picked up this feature about a novel that may have some dance interest: http://www.usatoday.com/story/happyeverafter/2015/01/06/back-to-before-excerpt-tracy-solheim/21295519/ It's available from Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Before-Second-Chances-Tracy-Solheim-ebook/dp/B00KWG9N64/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1420531798&sr=1-1&keywords=tracy+solheim

Links - Tuesday, January 06, 2015 Review – Bavarian State Ballet, Paquita, Munich: Laura Cappelle, FT Feature – Scottish Ballet, The sewing secrets behind Peter Darrell’s The Nutcracker: Pamela Tulloch, STV Preview – Parsons Dance, triple bill, New York: Dance News Desk, Broadway World Interview – Val Caniparoli, choreographer: Janice Berman, SF Classical Voice Review – Company XIV, Nutcracker Rouge, New York: Phil Chan, Huffington Post Preview – Barely Methodical Troupe, Bromance, London: Lyndsey Winship, Standard Review – Moscow City Ballet, Romeo and Juliet, Cambridge: Hannah Weibye, Arts Desk Interview – Jenny Winton (ex Joffrey now in Dirty Dancing): EH Reiter, Broadway World Danish Book Review – Erik Aschengreen, Dance over the Atlantic: Wesley Doucette, Broadway World What’s On – Les Ballets de Monte Carlo & Paris Opera Ballet, Dubai: Whats On Dubai

The Associates Crystal Pite/ Kate Prince/ Hofesh Shechter Thursday 5 - Sunday 8 February 2015 Tickets: £12 - £29 Ticket Office: 0844 412 4300 or www.sadlerswells.com Sadler’s Wells’ Associate Artists represent some of the most dynamic and exciting talent working in contemporary dance today. For this programme, three Associates present new and critically acclaimed work at Sadler’s Wells from Thursday 5 - Sunday 8 February 2015. The Associates, produced by Sadler’s Wells, celebrates the tenth anniversary of the first appointments of Associate Artists by Artistic Director and Chief Executive Alistair Spalding in 2004. He said: “The appointment of the first Associate Artists 10 years ago was a defining moment for us: from a receiving dance house only, Sadler’s Wells became a home for artists, who would create exciting new work within our walls. Since then, we have brought to the stage over 90 productions, many of which have toured around the world. The Associates are a vital part of what we do and this new production celebrates this special relationship, while showcasing the unique style and approach to creating dance of each of the three artists featured.” Newest Associate Artist Crystal Pite presents A Picture of You Falling, a duet for a man and a woman. It centres on Pite’s fascination with the shared narratives that live in our bodies, the familiar repetitive storylines that move across cultures and generations, and the body’s role as illustrator. Inspired by the complex beauty of baroque music, Hofesh Shechter presents his new work, the barbarians in love, set in a sparse world in which six dancers move with mathematical precision and passion. Completing the bill is another new work, SMILE, choreographed and performed by Tommy Franzén and directed by Associate Artist Kate Prince. Inspired by the song Smile, originally composed by Charlie Chaplin, the piece looks behind the smiling face of one of the world’s greatest entertainers. Sadler's Wells Associates are key to the artistic vision for the theatre. The appointment of the first associates marked the transition of the venue from receiving house to producing house, and firmly established it as the foremost dance theatre in the UK. Sadler's Wells Associates work alongside other collaborators and dancers to develop concepts for large-scale pieces. In addition to Crystal Pite, Kate Prince and Hofesh Shechter, Sadler’s Wells’ other 13 Associate Artists are Matthew Bourne, BalletBoyz, Wayne McGregor, Jasmin Vardimon, Christopher Wheeldon, Jonzi D, Sylvie Guillem, Michael Keegan-Dolan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Akram Khan, Russell Maliphant composer Nitin Sawhney and lighting designer Michael Hulls. A Sadler’s Wells Production The Monument Trust supports co-productions and new commissions at Sadler's Wells About Sadler’s Wells Sadler's Wells is a world leader in contemporary dance, committed to producing, commissioning and presenting new works and to bringing the very best international and UK dance to London and worldwide audiences. Under the Artistic Directorship of Alistair Spalding the theatre’s acclaimed year-round programme spans dance of every kind, from contemporary to flamenco, Bollywood to ballet, salsa to street dance and tango to tap. Since 2005 it has helped to bring over 90 new dance works to the stage and its international award-winning commissions and collaborative productions regularly tour the world. Sadler’s Wells supports 16 appointed world class Associate Artists and 3 Resident Companies and nurtures the next generation of talent through its National Youth Dance Company, Summer University programme, Wild Card initiative and its New Wave Associates. Located in Islington in north London, the current theatre is the sixth to have stood on the site since it was first built by Richard Sadler in 1683. The venue has played an illustrious role in the history of theatre ever since, with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Opera all having started at Sadler’s Wells. Sadler’s Wells is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation and currently receives approximately 9% of its revenue from Arts Council England.

Hello Ohdette and welcome to the Forum. Unfortunately I can't answer your query but I am sure some of our other members will be able to offer some thoughts. Please let us know how you get on.

The Times has just published a review by Debra Craine (behind the paywall). I assume it will be in tomorrow's print edition. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/stage/dance/article4314449.ece?CMP=OTH-gnws-standard-2015_01_05

I think it is a similar situation at the Bolshoi in terms of sometimes running 2 sets of performances. In 1986 we saw 2 Bolshoi performances (Giselle and a bits and bobs programme) but the majority of the company was abroad on tour.

I've just come across this video "Shanks The Backbone of the Pointe Shoe" via Leigh Witchel on Twitter. It looks as though it may be the first of a series...

Links - Monday, January 05, 2015 Obituary – Chitresh Das, Kathak dancer and educator: Allan Ulrich, San Francisco Chronicle Review – New York City Ballet, The Nutcracker, New York: Siobhan Burke, NY Times Review – Royal Ballet, Don Quixote (Takada/Muntagirov), London: Judith Mackrell, Guardian Tenuous link – Patrick Stewart talks about his new film role as a ballet teacher and his love of New York: Ethan Sacks, NY Daily News

Hello Balletfanp and welcome out of the lurking shadows! Thanks so much for giving us your thoughts on the Don Q performance you saw. I do hope you will continue to contribute.

I've just picked this link up off Facebook - advertising summer schools in Italy and Spain: http://dancemasterclass.com/

I'd always been led to believe that the lower level lifts are much harder and overhead lifts can be much easier. Obviously elements can be added to lifts that make them more complex. In BRB's Nutcracker, at the end of the Arabian Dance the Arabian lady is carried off sitting on the upraised hands of one dancer with a second holding her feet (as though she is reclining on a chaise longue) - it looks spectacular but when we asked a dancer who did the "bum lift" element he said it was one of the easier lifts.