Irmgard

I had the privilege of watching Dronina in the "Giselle" stage call yesterday and I heartily concur! Can't wait to see her performances as she is truly exquisite and is a wonderful match for Virelles. Of course, I am looking forward to all the other debuts in this production as well!

I am also sad that James Forbat has not been given any performances. For the record, and because it is obvious now, Begona Cao is on maternity leave. Fernanda Oliveira will be dealing with a problem from her knee operation last year but is soldiering on with Nutcracker because of everyone else's injuries/leave. Sadly, it appears Katya Khaniukova has had a minor injury but will not be recovered enough for next week. I will miss them all!

I wasn't originally involved in the Skeaping production as I was still a schoolgirl in 1971! However, I was privileged to be Mary Skeaping's assistant from 1978 until her death in 1984. Shortly before she died, I was honoured when she entrusted to me not only her extensive collection of dance research material but also the guardianship of her choreographic works, maintaining the copyright and artistic integrity on behalf of her heirs. This was ratified after her death by the Executor of her Estate and I have been fulfilling this role ever since. My involvement in ENB revivals was minimal while there were trusted colleagues to rehearse it who had worked with Mary although I was always invited to rehearsals and performances and my opinion sought. I became more involved once Wayne Eagling became Artistic Director and was heavily involved in the 2009/2010 rehearsals as there was no-one on the rehearsal staff who had worked with Mary, apart from Maina Gielgud, and I must say everyone, Wayne in particular, was very welcoming and interested in my comments. Of course, Dame Beryl Grey was also invited in to coach the dancers which was inspirational. So that is my involvement to date but I am happy to say that the Estonian National Ballet, directed by the wonderful Tomas Edur, will be adding the production to its repertoire in April of next year and I will be very involved in the last two weeks of production. I also hope to publish a booklet about Mary Skeaping and "Giselle" to coincide with this or earlier. I initially wrote it as guide for the ENB dancers in 2009 but I feel it would be good to publish it as a tribute to Mary until I finally finish her biography! In the meantime, if anyone on the forum has any questions about Mary or her productions, I would be happy to answer them either here or on a separate thread.

I, too, am very sad that Crystal Costa has not been cast. She was a natural in the role and gave some beautiful performances in 2009/2010.

Erina Takahashi is on a leave of absence. Sadly, Shiori Kase is injured.

The last show of the company’s London season belonged to the Odette/Odile of the enchanting Erina Takahashi. From her first tentative encounter with the Prince, her Odette was a captivating combination of fragile vulnerability and dignity and the ACT II pas de deux received an especially sweet violin accompaniment from the orchestra’s Leader, Matthew Scrivener. Her Act II solo was an awe-inspiring combination of delicate, precise footwork and beautiful, sustained balances that were perfectly matched to the musical line without ever distorting it. Her Odile literally blazed across the Albert Hall’s arena with more astonishing balances and quicksilver footwork, and her fouettés were so secure and effortless that it seemed she could have done far more than the obligatory 32! Her Prince, Yonah Acosta, partnered her securely and really came to life in Act III but I would have liked to see more emotional involvement in the previous Acts. It goes without saying that his dancing is first class but he completely missed the yearning quality that makes the Act I solo the embodiment of the Prince’s state of mind rather than a series of fiendishly difficult adage steps. ENB Dancers who spring to my mind as having succeeded in portraying this quality include Yosvani Ramos, Thomas Edur, Esteban Berlanga, Vadim Muntagirov and Ken Saruhashi (who danced the proscenium version on tour in 2014.) As to the rest of the company, the corps de ballet of swans remained disciplined to the end of this marathon run of performances, moving harmoniously through the Act IV patterns which an almost heightened sense of melancholy. And since most of the regular ENB ladies had performed in all four Acts for most of the performances, it is to their credit that this performance looked as fresh and engaging as an opening night. They thoroughly deserved the tumultuous applause and cheering from the packed audience. Praise is also due to Fabian Reimair’s Von Rothbart who dominated the stage whenever he appeared, skilfully manipulating his huge wings so that he appeared to be a malevolent bird of prey hovering over the proceedings. This performance also marked the last appearance with the company of soloist Désirée Ballantyne who joined the company straight from the school in 1999. Her lovely, quiet elegance and exquisite, precise footwork have graced many a solo during her time with the company. I had the pleasure of working with her on the role of Myrthe in the Skeaping “Giselle” in 2009 which gave her the chance to demonstrate her considerable dramatic abilities while serenely performing the exhausting choreography. As her colleagues said after the performance, she will be very much missed.

I attended the evening performance on 9 June. From the immediate energy and joi de vivre exhibited first by the villagers and then the walzers, it was hard to believe this was the second show of the day and the tenth performance in nine days, and this ‘buzz’ continued throughout the show. Coming back to the repertoire after an absence of three years, I was struck by the fact that, to fill the vast arena, the delicate beauty of Ivanov’s patterns in Act II is lost, particularly in the doubling up of the cygnets and lead swans, and the same applies to Petipa’s Act I pas de trois. By quadrupling this, it dilutes the flow of the choreography, rather than enhancing it, although the actual steps themselves are beautifully danced. On the plus side, if you are only able to see one show, at least you see four casts in one go! On Thursday, there was some very refined dancing from Laurretta Summerscales (replacing an injured Anjuli Hudson), Begona Cao, Crystal Costa, Jung Ah Choi and Katja Khaniukova who outclassed their newer colleagues. Likewise, Junor Souza and Ken Saruhashi provided bravura with class amongst the men. Act II provided the luxury casting of Begona Cao and Ksenia Ovsyanick, two of the company’s loveliest Swan Queens IMHO, as lead swans, joined by the regal Jia Zhang, and eight cygnets in perfect unision. In Act III, Crystal Costa brought her trademark vivacity to the Neapolitan dance, although Deane’s choreography comes a poor second to the Ashton version used in the proscenium production. Where Deane triumphs is in his staging of Act IV which takes advantage of the huge arena to create stunning patterns for his forces of sixty swans. The whole production was staged by Yuri Uchiumi, formerly Choreologist and Repetiteur for the company before going freelance in 2010. Out of the sixty swans, possibly half are not regular company members and it is to Uchiumi’s credit that in just five weeks of rehearsal, she has them all dancing like seasoned members of the company, not just in forming the incredibly disciplined patterns (the clearest I have ever seen them) but also with a uniform sense of style, emotion and musicality. Odette/Odile was danced by Fernanda Oliveira, making her return to the stage after a year’s absence following a serious knee injury and subsequent surgery. She might have been forgiven for being slightly tentative in this her second show of the run but there was none of this. Instead, she was fearless, dancing with supreme confidence and her trademark musicality which reaches to the ends of her fingers and beyond. In fact, her arms as Odette were even more achingly expressive than I remember them from her previous performances and there was a touching dignity to her heartbreak in Act IV. Her Odile sizzled with just the right amount of sensuality to fool the Prince into believing she was Odette. She was very fortunate to have Emilio Pavan as a fairly late replacement for Alejandro Virelles who had suffered almost the same injury at the same time as Oliveira but sadly has not yet fully recovered. I was impressed by Pavan, who only joined the company in the autumn, in a pas de deux with Begona Cao in “Fantastic Beings” (or what I could see of it through the murky lighting). His dancing at present may lack the right amount of refinement required for the fiendish solo in Act I but his partnering is first class, being attentive and absolutely secure, so that when he effortlessly lifted Oliveira she really did look as light as swansdown. This was amazingly effective at the end of Act IV when he lifted her in a series of jetes so that it really did look like she was attacking Rothbart. The ending, where Rothbart is vanquished without the lovers having to die to achieve this and the spell is lifted on all the other swan maidens, really works in the atmosphere of the Albert Hall with so many members of the audience experiencing ballet for the first time. As we left the auditorium, I was really pleased to hear various comments to the effect that they were going to book to see more ballets in the future. All praise to guest conductor Helen Bayo, from Barcelona, for not only keeping the spread orchestral forces together but also for her sympathetic accompaniment of the dancers and for making Tchaikovsky’s beautiful score sing.

I have only just seen this post but I thought I would point out that the Skeaping version of "Giselle" includes the scene of the huntsmen (or Gamekeepers) gambling near Giselle's grave. In fact, Skeaping staged "Giselle" in 1954 for Ballet Alicia Alonso before it became the National Ballet of Cuba and Alonso kept many of Skeaping's touches in her later productions, something I noticed when the company brought their potted version of Act II to the Coliseum a few years ago. Incidentally, Skeaping staged a complete "Swan Lake" for Alonso in 1953 and is still esteemed in Cuba for this. As this is actually a discussion about Fokine, I should point out that Skeaping worked with Fokine in the 1930s and staged his "Carnaval", "Les Sylphides" and "Le Spectre de la Rose" for the Royal Swedish Ballet in the 1950s when she was Artistic Director of the company. She also worked with Massine (who was one of her teachers) and persuaded him to stage a triple bill for the Swedes of "Gaite Parisienne", "La Boutique Fantasque" and "Sacre du Printemps" in 1956 which I believe was possibly the last time his 'Sacre' was performed. Irmgard Berry, Adviser to the Skeaping Estate

I would recommend the back of the stalls as the best seats, which will give you a good view of everything going on. If you sit too close to the arena, there will be occasions when your view is blocked by dancers 'dressing' the stage during Acts I and III although they do their best to avoid obscuring the audience view! If you go for the top of the Albert Hall (CIrcle), you will see the floor patterns but you will see more tops of the dancers' heads than their faces. Boxes are a decent option, if you can get a seat at the front of the box (unlike ROH, seats in boxes can be sold individually). Although the production tries to have no 'front', inevitably there are times when the action is directed towards the area opposite the orchestra but, on the whole, you will have a good view whichever 'side' you sit. As to audience behaviour, I remember a few people ignoring the request not to take photographs but on the whole it is not too bad if you can forgive the insult of people talking during the overture!

Very disappointed to see no performances for Begona Cao or Ksenia Ovsyanick!

I am only just catching up on all the posts under this topic so a bit of delay in saying that I expect Sarasota dances Ashton extremely well, given that it is run by Iain Webb and the divine Margaret Barbieri who were leading lights of the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet. Barbieri, in particular, was a beautiful Ashton dancer with the added advantage of being related to Enrico Cecchetti so it is pretty much in her genetic make-up! By the way, with regard to reported comments on other posts about various Ashton ballets being 'lost', readers may be interested to know that twenty-nine of his ballets and his choreographic contributions to five operas have been notated, either while he was creating them or when he was around to supervise the revivals, so there is quite a selection to choose from when planning an Ashton programme.

Thank you very much LinMM and I agree with you that there is room for all. I very rarely feel moved to tears at ballet performances but if there is one ballet that will do it for me, it is 'Two Pigeons'!

I went to the matinee on 23 January to see one of my favourite ballets, “The Two Pigeons” and reacquaint myself with Ashton’s glorious “Rhapsody”. I was at its premiere in 1980 and still have the souvenir silk programme. I remember it was very much a party atmosphere and there was such an air of expectation and excitement as the curtain rose. Given the chance to choreograph for arguably the greatest dancer in the world, Ashton threw off all vestiges of British reserve and revelled in being able to use every virtuosic and quirky step imaginable in his own impeccably musical way. Watching Stephen McRae, I was impressed by how he handled the fiendish difficulties of the choreography but remembered that Baryshnikov danced the whole ballet in a relaxed and breezy manner with a smile on his face, as did his successor in the part, Stephen Beagley. Lesley Collier, Baryshnikov’s ballerina, was a stocky little dancer who would probably have killed for Natalia Osipova’s long limbs but she personified the Ashtonian values of neat, fleet footwork and quicksilver changes of direction of the upper body and arms, all danced seamlessly. Some of these qualities, including the Cecchetti ports de bras so beloved by Ashton, eluded Osipova and there was some fluffed footwork but there was no doubt she responded to the Russian soul of Rachmaninov’s music. For the corps de ballet of girls, Ashton chose six of the brightest young talents, including Karen Paisey, who proved a worthy successor to Collier in the ballerina role, and the late, lamented Bryony Brind, and gave them all little signature movements. The young ladies in this performance didn’t quite have the fluidity of their predecessors or the joyous delicacy of running en pointe, but it was good to see this ballet again and to marvel at the seemingly endless inventiveness of Ashton’s choreography. I never saw Christopher Gable, the original Young Man in “The Two Pigeons”, in the role but by all accounts he was a tall, elegant dancer and must have brought the same effortless style and charm to the role as did Vadim Muntagirov at this performance. Muntagirov also brought a dramatic depth to the character, whether demonstrating his frustration with his fidgety young model, his infatuation with the Gypsy Girl (sensuously danced by Fumi Kaneko if not really dispelling my memories of the incomparable Alessandra Ferri in the role) or returning to his garret as a very chastened and humbled young man. As the Young Girl, Lauren Cuthbertson was simply enchanting, wonderfully mischievous in the first scene and heartbreaking in her quiet despair when the Young Man forsakes her. Her dancing was exquisite and my only very small criticism would be that the fluttering wing movements of her arms could have been more meltingly soft. For me, there has never been another choreographer who can tell a love story so gently or tenderly as Ashton, the epitome being the final pas de deux of reconciliation. When danced as sublimely as it was at this matinee, it cannot fail to melt even the hardest of hearts, especially when the pigeons are so impeccably behaved (although I used to love it when some of the second pigeons did a circuit round the auditorium before alighting on the back of the chair!). This was a superb revival of an Ashton masterpiece and I hope a whole new generation has fallen in love with it. My congratulations to all involved in rehearsing it.

It is rather late, but I thought I might as well post my impressions of the performances on 21 January. Putting aside this production’s facile treatment of a rather dark plot about the slave trade, it offers a feast of dancing for the entire company. Some of the choreography for the pirates also borders on the facile but they perform it with such commitment and vitality that it looks much better than it really is. This was the first time I had seen Brooklyn Mack on stage and he made a most genial Conrad and was a superb partner in the Act II pas de deux. My one reservation was that I would have liked tidier footwork and landings. Max Westwell, as Birbanto, is a very powerful dancer but always displays beautiful footwork and clean landings and he partnered the wonderfully exuberant Anjuli Hudson with great gusto in the Act I ensemble dance before becoming the thoroughly believable villain of the piece. Jinhao Zhang was Lankendem (replacing Cesar Corrales who was dancing in the evening) and danced the choreography well but made no attempt to give any character to the role. Junor Souza brought his impeccable elegance and grace to the role of Ali. He is a dancer of such intelligence that he can turn the merest cypher of a role into a real person. When I watched his Ali, not only did I see the brilliance of his technique, which allowed him to cross the vast Coliseum stage in only two grands jetés, but also an exotic prince, captured and enslaved who obviously owed his life to Conrad to whom he was fiercely loyal. There was real luxury casting in the afternoon’s Odalisques, not only Adela Ramirez with her beautiful petite batterie demonstrated in entrechats, brisés and the daintiest of gargouillades, but also principal Begoña Cao in the second solo, with her unique blend of languorous upper body movements and ports de bras and fleet footwork, including a most delicate diagonal of brisés in which her feet seemed to barely touch the floor. Rina Kanehara, in the third solo, seemed unfortunately out of her depth compare to these two ballerina performances. Shiori Kase was a charming Gulnare, enjoying every minute on stage, whether brilliantly tossing off her difficult solos or flirting with her admirers. The matinee was the London debut of Ksenia Ovsyanick as Medora, and her one and only performance in the role this season, and she was simply radiant. She brought her usual ballerina sheen to the role and there was an ease and grace to her dancing that belied the fiendish difficulty of much of the choreography. Whether in the tenderest moments of the pas de deux or throwing off a flawless set of fouettés, her joyousness was almost palpable – truly a performance and an artist to treasure. I stayed on for the evening performance to see the exquisite Erina Takahashi as Medora. As expected, she also made even the most challenging choreography look effortless and she obviously enjoyed having such a secure and responsive partner in Osiel Gouneo, who was a benevolent and ardent Conrad with a beautifully stylish elegance to his dancing. Cesar Corrales, as Birbanto, cannot yet match Westwell for depth of character, but the sheer virtuosity of his dancing made his an exciting performance. Isaac Hernandez was a surprisingly nondescript Ali until his firecracker of a solo in the Act II pas de trois when he pulled out all the stops and was rewarded with much whooping and hollering from the well-oiled audience (there seemed to be a lot of corporate entertaining going on at this performance). Ken Saruhashi made much of the sleazy, deceitful character of Lankendem as well as demonstrating the power and beauty of his technique. I have admired the quiet elegance of Katja Khaniukova’s dancing since she joined the company but in this performance she was also remarkable for bringing depth to the rather two-dimensional character of Gulnare, showing her despair with her body as well as her face in her predicament at being sold as a slave in the Act I pas de deux with Lankendem. In the same Act, Adela Ramirez repeated her glorious solo and outclassed the other two Odalisques. In Act III, there was gorgeous bouquet of Roses danced by Crystal Costa, Senri Kou, Alison McWhinney and Laurretta Summerscales. Throughout both performances, the orchestra sounded as if they were thoroughly enjoying their romp through the Who’s Who of 19th century ballet composers (bar Tchaikovsky) whether under the baton of the excellent Tom Seligman or Maestro Gavin Sutherland.

Aileen, I agree with you about the joy of having children at the Nutcracker and did not mean to imply otherwise. As I mentioned, it was only slightly irritating when one of them started crying right at the start of the Sugar Plum Fairy solo but otherwise it is lovely to be surrounded by children experiencing the magic for the first time. It rather gives the lie to the expert on BBC Breakfast this morning who said that a child's attention span is five minutes for every year of its life when a lot of the under-5s sat rapt for the whole performance!

The leaftet for the Australian Ballet's visit is now on display at the Coliseum. I saw Graeme Murphy's "Swan Lake" when the company danced it at the Lowry a few years ago. Sets and costumes are stunning but don't expect the exquisite Ivanov Act II, plus the original 1877 score is used so the order will be very different for those used to the 1895 version. Worth a visit for the visual splendour but the choreography (in my opinion) does take second place to this.

The matinee on 4 January was one of ENB’s Child Friendly performances in which children up to the age of 16 can attend for free, including those under 5, so the audience was packed with entire families, including babes-in-arms, enjoying a day out together. This meant that there was enthusiastic applause after almost every little scene which must have been very heartening for the dancers as they started their last week of double shows almost every day. Inevitably there was more vocal participation from the audience than usual but it did seem to spur the party scene along and I only found it slightly irritating when it obscured the delicate start of the Sugar Plum Fairy solo. Conductor Tom Seligman did not compensate at any time with increasing the volume of the orchestra, instead drawing from them a very sensitive and stylish rendering of the score and in particular I noticed some very crisp and exciting drumming in the battle scene. The party scene was mercifully free of some of the ham acting I had noticed the previous week, with everyone enjoying themselves, particularly the Mother and Father of Tamarin Stott and Grant Rae who were not only gracious hosts but also appeared happily married and doting on all three of their children. They led the ensemble dances with particular elegance. The young Clara was danced by Sereina Mowlem, who also performed the role last year and brought to it an added maturity of stage presence. Shevelle Dynott as the Mouse King was perfect casting for this audience, being naughty rather than scary and throwing off the acrobatic choreography with an almost carefree glee. Due to injury, there were some cast changes not noted on the cast sheet so we had the effervescent Anjuli Hudson replacing Jung ah Choi in both Snowflakes and the Chinese Dance and James Streeter replacing Jinhao Zhang as cavalier for a radiant Alison McWhinney as a Lead Flower who delighted me by doing the supported ‘sliding’ step towards the end of the waltz as choreographed by Eagling but which the other lead couples I have seen this season have not attempted. Madison Keesler as Louise danced very prettily in the Mirlitons pas de deux partnered by the endearingly dotty Drosselmeyer of Anton Lukovkin making his debut in this role. I also liked the exuberant Russian Dance performed with an engaging smile by Erik Woolhouse. All three of the principals have danced other roles in the production this season but they have had to wait until the final week to perform together in these roles, as they did at Ksenia Ovsyanick’s debut as Clara last year. Last year, due to injuries and sudden departures, Max Westwell and Fabian Reimair ended up with the lion’s share of the performances as the Nutcracker or the Nephew but this year will only have their two scheduled performances and they certainly made the most of Monday’s. Westwell partnered with charm and sensitivity first Mowlem as the young Clara and then Ovsyanick. Reimair, despite the mask, conveyed a loving tenderness towards Clara and as always was a wonderfully secure partner in the Act I pas de deux and Act II pas de trois, presenting his ballerina to perfection. Of Ovsyanick, in her first major role since her injury last spring, I can only reiterate what I wrote last year on her debut – with the genuine sweetness that permeates her dancing, she is perfectly cast as Clara. The lyricism and delicacy of her dancing belies a steely technique so that everything appears effortless, even the most challenging of choreography. The grand pas de deux was quite simply flawless from both Ovsyanick and Westwell at their most regal, eliciting a huge ovation from the audience, as did the whole performance. This trio is giving the last performance on 10 January, which is also a Child Friendly Performance, and I think it is safe to assume that they will make many more converts amongst the novice ballet-goers whilst delighting the more seasoned audience members.

Alison, they have done/are doing two performances on each Monday of the Nutcracker run, allowable because they get Christmas Day and New Year's Day off! I see the website has still not corrected the casting for the matinee on Tuesday 5 January when Shiori Kase will replace Erina Takahashi who will be away for the week (information supplied to me by Miss Takahashi herself). The male principals remain the same.

Sunday 27 December marked the company’s 199th performance of Eagling’s production since its premiere in 2010 and my first visit to it this season. It proved to be a mixed bag with some irritating elements which I had noticed creeping in last season now becoming more obvious, such as slapstick, pantomimic acting in the skating scene and in the party scene. On the plus side, Clara’s friends were slightly older than in previous years, with the beautifully stretched feet that the choreography demands. The young Clara was danced prettily by Cheryl Heung until she spoiled it at the end with a rather noisy, flat-footed run across the stage before her transformation. ‘Snowflakes’ has always been my favourite scene of this production but, with a few honourable exceptions, it lacked the style and grace of previous years. The same happened in “Waltz of the Flowers”, with the cavaliers outclassing the ladies and showing a welcome precision in their ensemble dancing. As lead cavaliers, two of the company’s finest partners (James Forbat and Max Westwell) showed a level of finesse far beyond that of their ladies. In the other Act II divertissements, Jung ah Choi shone in the Chinese dance, ably partnered by Makoto Nakamura and Barry Drummond, and Shevelle Dynott brought a panther-like sensuality to the Arabian dance. Otherwise, for me, it was the lead dancers who provided all the magic at this performance. Crystal Costa was an enchanting Louise, with her trademark seamless beauty of her dancing, especially in the Mirlitons where she was sympathetically partnered by the genial Drosselmeyer of Daniel Kraus. Anton Lukovkin was an entertaining and agile Mouse King, bringing just the right blend of comedy and menace to the role. New recruit Emilio Pavan as the Nutcracker proved to be an excellent partner and also managed to convey a real sense of chemistry with the adult Clara, despite being encumbered by a mask until his curtain call. As the adult Clara, Begona Cao was radiant, from the Act I pas de deux with the Nutcracker, through the pas de trois with Drosselmeyer and the Nutcracker to the flawless grand pas de deux with Junor Souza, who brought his usual charm and finesse to the role of the Nephew. The delicacy of Cao’s footwork, especially her bourrees travelling backwards, was breath-taking in its beauty, with her feet being so pliant (and in the silent landings from jumps) that it appeared she was not wearing pointe shoes at all. Her Sugar Plum Fairy solo, beautifully accompanied by Julia Richter on the celeste, was nothing short of perfection with even the little jumps en pointe looking effortless. As I have recently been watching a film clip of Fonteyn in the grand pas de deux, I can offer Cao no higher accolade than to say her performance reminded me of the grace, musicality and sheer star quality of this prima ballerina assoluta. The orchestra, as usual, made Tchaikovsky’s score glow and the packed house, with what looked like a lot of little ballet hopefuls amongst the audience, applauded enthusiastically from the end of Act I onwards. Just to reply to the above comments about covers, dancers are allowed to leave at the half (i.e. 35 minutes before the performance starts) if they are not required for the performance (slightly different in opera where covers are paid exclusively to cover one role but very rarely get to go on and are therefore expected to be close by the theatre for most of the performance). Luckily in a ballet company there is usually someone who can take over at short notice because so many people learn the same role. It does bring to mind an infamous performance of "Two Pigeons" I attended many years ago when Wendy Ellis slipped and fell very heavily in the first Act and broke both her wrists! My friend, Karen Paisey, was one of the Friends and thought her debut as the Girl the next week might have to be brought forward to that performance but Lesley Collier happened to be in the audience, saw what had happened and rushed backstage and was able to take over from Ellis during the pas de deux which Ellis gallantly had continued to dance so that there was no break in the performance. As dancers almost always take class even on days when they are not performing, they are at least partially if not fully warmed up.

Thank you very much for posting your report on Par Isberg's "Nutcracker". I remember him as a charming dancer when I first visited Stockholm in 1983 as Mary Skeaping's assistant. I had heard that he had been choreographing for the company in recent years and his take on "Nutcracker" sounds very entertaining! It is also good that the Dance Museum has found another home. In 1983, it was housed in a very grand mansion in the embassy district but then had to downsize dramatically to a building near the Opera House but had to move out of there at very short notice a couple of years ago. It is a pity it seems it has had to downsize again as the museum holds a wealth of memorabilia and archive material. The dancer who recently died (aged 95) was Ellen Rasch, principal of the Royal Swedish Ballet in the 1940s and 50s. Although Swiss born, she had her entire training at the ballet school attached to the company. She was related to Albertina Rasch, the Viennese dancer who had her own female ballet troupe in America during the 1920s and 1930s. I last saw Ellen in 2006 when she was 85 years old, still looking youthful and glamorous. Her autobiography was published about twenty years ago but I think it is only available in Swedish. I remember Mary Skeaping telling me that Ellen Rasch was not technically the strongest of dancers, although she danced the classics, but she was very good dramatically and had great success as Giselle, first in Antony Tudor's production for the company and then in Mary's.

Deborah Weiss has just posted that Bryony died of heart failure, not a heart attack, and passed away peacefully surrounded by her loved ones.

Still reeling from the shock of hearing this news yesterday when my friend, David Peden, posted it on Facebook. Since then, tributes have been pouring in from all over the world from dancers of her generation and it appears that no-one knew she was ill as it has come as a huge shock to everyone. It is very fitting that Deborah Weiss will write Bryony's obituary as they were in the same year at the Royal Ballet School. I remember Bryony when she first started in the Royal Ballet and of course she had only been in the corps de ballet for a short while when Nureyev chose her as his partner for his Royal Ballet comeback. I was there for her debut in "Swan Lake" (and I, too, remember her landing on her backside when she ran in to protect her swans but she impressed by immediately springing back to her feet and carrying on as if nothing had happened), her debut in "La Bayadere" and many more. She was a favourite muse for Michael Corder when he choreographed for the company in the 1980s. He created an exquisite pas de deux for her in "L'Invitation au voyage" and then a very different type of dancing for her in "Party Game". Sadly, MacMillan did not use her for his new works, preferring the divine Alessandra Ferri, and so she was rather sidelined after the brilliant start to her career. I did not know her very well but we often ended up in the same tube carriage on the journey from Baron's Court to Covent Garden and would exchange greetings and I remember she was never without a bag of nuts which she would graze on for the entire journey. I do hope a memorial service will be planned for her as I know there are many of us who will want to pay our respects to Bryony who was a lovely dancer and a lovely person.

Are you perhaps thinking of Maria Bjornson who designed the 'off-kilter' "Sleeping Beauty" for the Royal Ballet and died aged 53 in 2002?

Actually I remember now that there was a famous photograph of one of the final poses of the ballet in which there were THREE pigeons perched on the back of the chair, so the understudy did finally get to go on! I also remember from the many performances I saw in the late 70s and 80s that quite a few of the pigeons liked to do a circuit of the auditorium before settling on the chair, so there really was a pigeon in the house!

It breaks my heart to see two of Ashton's masterpieces described as "relatively unknown"! On a lighter note: SPD444, there are always more than two pigeons backstage, just in case the "chosen ones" refuse to go on!