Irmgard

I hope we can also do the same for Vadim's entrance! People may not realise but it does mean a lot to a dancer to have his/her entrance applauded, although I realise it is not appropriate in every ballet. But wasn't it lovely how the matinee audience, although not applauding Elena's entrance, did not sit on their hands for the rest of the performance and applauded every scene, particularly after her beautiful run round the stage! I hope it was the same last night.

I have just returned home from Elena Glurdjidze’s one and only performance of Juliet at today’s matinee but, before I wax lyrical about that remarkable artist, I would like to mention a few other highlights of this afternoon’s performance. The first was the debut of Ksenia Ovsyanick as Rosaline. Accompanied by her equally elegant quartet of friends, from the moment she appeared her naturally aristocratic bearing and grace made her perfect for Romeo’s current infatuation and I was pleased that the role of Rosaline is extended in this production so that she appears in the ballroom scene where there was a charming rapport between her and Juliet. Also making his debut was Vitor Menezes as Benvolio. Although he and Fernando Bufala as Mercutio did not quite measure up to Junor Souza and Yonah Acosta in the same roles, they nevertheless danced with great gusto and plenty of charm. It was nice to see Grant Rae, a stalwart of the corps de ballet, given his chance to shine as one of Tybalt’s friends, the other being the always impressive Nathan Young. And a word of praise for the quartet of harlots for being delightfully ‘unslutty’ goodtime girls: Laurretta Summerscales, Marize Fumero, Araminta Wraith and Nancy Osbaldeston who will be much missed when she leaves at the end of the season. Stina Quagebeur’s brief appearance as Lady Montague also caught my eye for her perfect Renaissance posture and her ability to glide around the stage whilst conveying her hatred for the Capulets in the tilt of her chin and her blazing eyes. Fabian Reimair’s Lord Capulet was a breath of fresh air as he convinced from his first scene with Juliet that she was the apple of his eye and his incomprehension of his beloved daughter’s rejection of the suitor he had obviously lovingly chosen for her grew into almost uncontrollable rage. His devastation when he believes she is dead was tangible. Daniele Silingardi impressed once again as the noble and kindly Paris. Max Westwell as Tybalt gave a searing portrait of a hot-headed teenager spoiling for a fight and taking every opportunity to provoke one. His final sword fight with Romeo was spine-tingling even if Romeo’s fatal blow was not entirely convincing. Romeo was danced by Arionel Vargas who is not my idea of Shakespeare’s dreamer in love with love, being more suited to the impishness of Mercutio, but he has oodles of charm and brings a joyousness to the part which makes the love-at-first-sight moment with Juliet entirely plausible. And so to Glurdjidze’s Juliet which incredibly was her debut in the role in this production. Hers was a highly intelligent, beautifully thought out interpretation yet utterly spontaneous in delivery and with a youthful radiance. She did not make the mistake of some Juliets by pretending to be a little girl in the first scene with her friends (the same lovely group of eight that I saw at the dress rehearsal) but was most definitely a carefree 13 or 14-year-old so that she was visibly flattered by the attentions of Paris. I was lucky enough to have a view of her back when Paris first took her hand and the frisson that ran down it as she pulled her hand away in shocked delight was a master-stroke. Considering that Glurdjidze has not danced a classical role since Christmas, her dancing was remarkable for its superbly clean technique and melting beauty and there was something about the way she moves in this particular role that reminds me of Ulanova in the classic film of Lavrovsky’s production, especially her beautiful run around the arena on her way to see Friar Lawrence. Two other moments that particularly impressed me were in Act III. When she dismisses the Nurse after agreeing to marry Paris, there is no anger as she almost absent-mindedly waves her away because we can see on her face she is already focussed on retrieving the phial she has hidden. Finally, when she discovers Romeo is dead, not just her face but her whole body screams with grief, making it the most heartbreaking moment of the ballet. Glurdjidze made her debut last night as Lady Capulet and repeats the role on Friday and Saturday evening. I cannot wait to see what revelations she will bring to this role!

I haven’t been able to spend much time on writing this month but, as Daria Klimentova starts her last week of performances with ENB, I thought it would be better late than never to report on her gala in Prague, exactly a month after the event on 15 May. Klimentova did not call it a Farewell Gala but rather a Thank You to the city and company where she trained and where she started her career. It was held in Prague’s beautiful State Opera House and it is a mark of the esteem in which Klimentova is held by her fellow Czechs that the evening sold out within twenty minutes of the tickets going on sale! I therefore felt very privileged that I was able to be there for the evening which opened with a ten-minute film of Klimentova on and off stage throughout her career which, despite having a Czech commentary with no subtitles, was a thoroughly enjoyable record of highlights from her extraordinary career and her unassuming offstage persona. Klimentova involved members of the Czech National Ballet in the performance with principals and soloists giving us Javier Torres’s take on the pas de deux from “Sleeping Beauty” Act III (minus the series of three fish dives), excerpts from Balanchine’s “Theme and Variations” , a contemporary solo created and danced by Viktor Konvalinka and an avant-garde interpretation of the balcony pas de deux from “Romeo and Juliet” complete with the participation of Queen Mab and Friar Laurence (choreography by Petr Zuska). While the dancers may not have quite the technical finesse and brilliance of Klimentova and Vadim Muntagirov, everything was danced with great commitment and brio. But of course this was Klimentova’s night, shared with her favourite partner at his most sympathetic and ardent, starting with the Act II pas de deux from “Swan Lake”. As I watched Muntagirov’s superb partnering and the delicacy of Klimentova’s petits battements between each of the three supported pirouettes at the end, I felt very sad that we will never see this partnership dance the complete ballet again. They ended the first half of the evening with a passionate and breathtaking performance of the Grotto pas de deux from “Le Corsaire”. To end the evening, a suite of dances from “Don Quixote” had been arranged, including the famous pas de deux, which also allowed dancers from the company to shine in various solos and ensembles. Muntagirov’s bravura solos elicited gasp after gasp from the audience and Klimentova proved that she is retiring at the height of her powers even if she had decided enough is enough when it came to the fouettés which she happily left to a student from the Conservatory! As Klimentova appeared for her final bow, carried aloft by Muntagirov in a one-handed lift as in “Spring Waters”, the audience spontaneously rose en masse to give her a standing ovation which lasted at least fifteen minutes during which the bouquets kept arriving and confetti showered down on her – a truly memorable evening. I had hoped to download a snapshot from the evening but not sure how to do it!

Yes, Elena will be dancing Odette/Odile with ENB next season.

Oops! I have had so little access to the internet in the last couple of months that I did not realise the casting information had already been posted so thanks to whoever merged my 'new' topic. However, I suppose there is no harm in reminding people about the casting. I, too, am sorry that Elena Glurdjidze has not been given any performances of what would seem an ideal role for her. However, I am sure everyone will be very happy to hear that she herself told me she will be dancing Odette/Odile next season.

The following casting has just appeared on the ENB website: 23 Jul 2014 Shiori KaseSoloistSwanilda Yonah AcostaJunior SoloistFranz 24 Jul 2014 [Matinee] Erina TakahashiLead PrincipalSwanilda Fernando BufaláSoloistFranz 24 Jul 2014 Tamara RojoLead PrincipalSwanilda Alban LendorfGuest ArtistFranz 25 Jul 2014 Fernanda OliveiraLead PrincipalSwanilda Dmitri GruzdyevLead PrincipalFranz 26 Jul 2014 [Matinee] Erina TakahashiLead PrincipalSwanilda Fernando BufaláSoloistFranz 26 Jul 2014 Tamara RojoLead PrincipalSwanilda Alban LendorfGuest ArtistFranz 27 Jul 2014 [Matinee] Shiori KaseSoloistSwanilda Yonah AcostaJunior SoloistFranz

As I won’t be seeing an actual performance until the middle of next week, I thought I would jot down a few thoughts about last night’s dress rehearsal. Rojo and Acosta marked a lot of their performance, sensibly saving themselves for tonight, so it would not be appropriate to comment on them. Junor Souza and Yonah Acosta, as Benvolio and Mercutio respectively, were well matched artistically and technically and to my mind had the most interesting and enjoyable choreography of the production which they performed with great gusto. I cannot wait to see Souza as Romeo to Begona Cao’s Juliet (this cast’s elegantly flirtatious Rosaline) and he will also be partnering Fernanda Oliveira’s Juliet as Zdenek Konvalina has had to withdraw due to injury. The Cao/Souza performance will benefit from the Lady Capulet of Elena Glurdjidze, bringing her wealth of stage experience to this role. Juliet’s friends were a delight and included Crystal Costa and Desiree Ballantyne, both making a welcome return to the stage after prolonged absences due to foot operations. Making his debut as Paris was Daniele Silingardi in his first season with the company. Although to my mind no-one will ever match the much missed Julian Hosking as this character, Silingardi brings a natural nobility, excellent partnering skills and a surprisingly moving tenderness in his treatment of the Nurse as they grieve over Juliet’s body in the tomb. As always the corps de ballet put their hearts and souls into everything they do but in my opinion they are not always well served by Deane’s choreography in the street scenes. I longed for the rambunctious ‘spontaneity’ of Nureyev’s street scenes with their full-blooded Italian vitality. Deane seems to prefer his streets to be full of couples dancing in disciplined lines which does not lead naturally to the fight scenes. Presumably to allow the audience to see the action, most of them had to disappear up the various stairways before the final swordfight between Romeo and Tybalt (another immaculate portrayal of a ‘baddie’ by Fabian Reimair) which proved much more exciting than the choreography for the swordfight between Mercutio and Tybalt with a rather contrived fatal blow. Max Westwell and Joshua McSherry-Gray made a strong impact during their relatively short appearance as Tybalt’s friends. Michael Coleman disappointed as the Prince of Verona, not having enough gravitas or authority for such a powerful figure and not helped by having a very weedy set of guards who also suffered from the worst costumes of the production. Although they had helmets which covered their whole heads, they wore no other armour but only blouson and tights which only emphasised their lack of brawn. In my opinion, the best character portrayal of the evening was Tamarin Stott as the Nurse in a performance imbued with such subtlety and emotional range that she was mesmerising whenever she appeared. As Juliet is lifted aloft in the ballroom scene, the Nurse gazes at her with a mixture of pride and admiration that is priceless and conveys a love for her that is beyond her mother’s capability. After the harrowing scene when Juliet rejects Paris, the Nurse picks up her wrap from the bed and the stoop of her back says everything about her grief, to be compounded when Juliet rejects her as well. If there were an award for Best Supporting Actress in a Ballet, Stott would get my vote. Stott is also Nurse to Cojocaru, Oliveira and Cao so I look forward to seeing her interpretation grow even further as the season progresses.

For those who would like to see more of Elena Glurdjidze than her one performance as Juliet, she is appearing as Lady Capulet in the Begona Cao/Junor Souza performance on Friday 20 June. There may be more but that is the only one I know about at present.

Having had a preview of three of the pieces in rehearsal yesterday, I can confirm that all three of the dancers you mention were dancing. Liam Scarlett's piece has a very big cast and, in my opinion, will itself be worth the ticket price! And for anyone missing Elena Glurdjidze's name on the announced casting, she is part of the ensemble (as are Erina Takahashi and Arionel Vargas) in Akram Khan's piece. In fact, if you go to any of the performances, I think you will see the whole company at some point in the performance except for Daria Klimentova who told me it was her decision not to be cast in this programme. With regard to Alison's query about the men in Akram Khan's piece, although I didn't see the complete work yesterday, I think the final casting as to which other male lead will dance when Khan is dancing has not been decided yet. Khan's piece also has a large cast of both male and female dancers.

Yes, this is the 'return' I hinted at in my post number 7! Looking forward to seeing Berlanga very much and delighted to see Begona Cao has joined the cast of "Firebird".

Maina Gielgud has just posted on Facebook the sad news from Budapest that Ivan Nagy, the great Hungarian danseur noble has died. Apparently it was announced after the performance of "The Merry Widow" by the Hungarian State Ballet last night. My strongest memories of him are a glorious performance of "Swan Lake" with Natalia Makarova just after her defection (I remember her once saying in an interview that he was her favourite partner) and as the very genial Artistic Director of English National Ballet for a short while.

Yes, I expect it might have been Dudley von Loggenburg as this would have been in the early 1960s. I totally agree about the Isabelle Fokine versions - witness the boring production of "Petrouchka" for ENB last season which was heartbreaking as this used to be one of my favourite ballets when they danced the Beriosoff version - so colourful and full of vitality!

I remember seeing several performances by the Royal Ballet years ago - great fun watching Stephen Jefferies and Wayne Eagling strutting their stuff! I know I saw another company dance it and it may have been Ballet Rambert while Robert North was Director there.

The new Akram Khan piece has been in rehearsal since halfway through the autumn and, like "Firebird", has a large cast so you are bound to see most of the company, whichever performance you book for. Watch out for the return of a much loved company member as guest in the new piece by Liam Scarlett! I have had the information from the dancer personally but as the company has not published any casting, I will not steal their thunder for now!

The first ballet performance I remember seeing was a triple bill by London Festival Ballet at the Gaumont Theatre in Southampton (now the Mayflower) when I was about five years old. I may have seen "Swan Lake" before that but I have no memory of it. I have no memory of which ballet completed the triple bill but I vividly remember "Le spectre de la rose" because I thought the man looked very silly in his rose petal costume! The ballet which completely blew me away was "Scheherazade", partly because of its colour and vitality but mainly because of the Golden Slave who mesmerised me with the virility of his dancing (although at the age of five I wouldn't have even known the meaning of that word!) and I have never forgotten the moment when he seems to balance solely on the side of his face and his hands with the rest of his body held straight up above him nor that final leap from the top of the staircase! Sadly my parents did not keep the programme so I do not know the name of this wonderful dancer who sparked my lifelong passion for ballet. I have seen the ballet many times since and was delighted by Dima Gruzdyev's performances a few years ago which brought those memories flooding back!

Thanks for the info ladies. I stand corrected!

I don’t think people realise how important contact at the Stage Door can be for dancers, especially those at the start of their careers. I remember how excited my friend Karen Paisey was (one of the youngest dancers to be promoted to Principal by the Royal Ballet in the 1980s) the first time she was allowed to sit in the Stage Doorman’s Lodge at Covent Garden’s old stage door to sign autographs. (I believe it may have been after one of her first Auroras.) I think the audience would be amazed at how difficult it is to gauge the volume or intensity of applause from the audience when you are onstage and dancers have often been surprised when I have told them they received lots of applause for a solo etc. A dancer’s life is one of constant correction, from themselves and from the artistic staff, and compliments are a rare commodity so it can be very confidence-boosting and greatly appreciated when members of the audience make the effort to wait at the stage door to congratulate them or ask for autographs or photographs and I have never known a dancer decline these requests. Of course, you don’t want to engage them in too long a conversation as they usually have to take public transport home like the rest of us or if it is a matinee they may want to get to the shops while they can! As Capybara has already mentioned, some dancers such as Klimentova and Glurdjize will come in costume to the Stage Door at the Coliseum when they have guests or have been told that fans are there to see them (and I do remember one occasion when Karen Paisey and Mark Silver came to the Stage Door at Covent Garden in costume after a ‘Nutcracker’ performance to sign autographs) but usually one can expect to wait at least half an hour for Principals to appear (the first out are the orchestra members, usually followed by the male dancers who have less to change out of and less make-up to remove!) as, after notes from the Artistic Staff they usually like to shower and often wash their hair, depending on the amount of hairspray that has had to be used! If, while waiting for the Principals, you recognise some of the other dancers whose performances you have enjoyed, please don’t hesitate to tell them as you can really make their day, especially if they have had no feedback from anyone else. It also helps if you tell the orchestra members how much you have enjoyed their playing! And it may surprise you who you might meet at the Stage Door! When I first arrived in London as a student in 1977, I had to collect some photos from the Stage Door area at Covent Garden mid afternoon. This was the old one which hardly had room for two people to pass each other in front of the Stage Doorman’s Lodge. To my amazement, I could see Margot Fonteyn on the other side of the door, chatting happily to the Stage Doorman! As the door opened inwards, I didn’t want to touch it for fear of hitting her so I just stood there on the outside. She then noticed me and, with her dazzling smile, held the door open for me and said “Would you like to come in?”. So there I was, having the door held open for me by Dame Margot!!! I was so starstruck that all I could say was “thank you very much” and I didn’t have the presence of mind to ask for her autograph at that time (luckily I did get it some time later). So, if you have the time following a performance, don’t be shy about waiting at the Stage Door and you too may meet a living legend!

I would nominate the pas de deux between the drunken Lescaut and his Mistress in "Manon" as heartwarming - it certainly always makes me smile!

So pleased to see Kain and Augustyn mentioned here. Having spent most of my school years in Canada, they were the first 'star' partnership of which I was aware, apart from Fonteyn and Nureyev who I saw dance but sadly never together except on film. Kain and Augustyn therefore inspired my love of ballet and I saw them together in all the 'big' works: "Swan Lake", "Sleeping Beauty", "Coppelia", "Giselle" a delightful "La Fille mal gardee" and, above all else, as the breathtaking and unforgettable lovers in "Romeo and Juliet". Hence my huge disappointment when Kain, as Director of the National Ballet of Canada, jettisoned this Cranko masterpiece in favour of the Ratmansky version. Kain and Augustyn always had great charisma on stage, and the rumours of their offstage romance added to the excitement of watching one of their performances. Offstage, they were just as charming. During 1977, my last year in Canada, I was allowed to be a dresser at the National Ballet of Canada's open-air summer venue, Ontario Place in Toronto where they were performing "Sleeping Beauty". One day I was assigned to dress the principals and duly sat outside Augustyn's dressing room. He had just come out to ask me to fasten his tunic, when Kain came out of her dressing room and said she would do it! I never did get to help him but it was just a wonderful experience to be in the presence of these genuinely nice, down-to-earth people!

As Vadim Muntagirov and the St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre seem to have been mentioned on several links, I thought I should start a new link to amalgamate his performance that I saw and the Paris Opera Ballet's "Onegin" under one heading: I was delighted to see Vadim Muntagirov as guest artist with the St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre during my brief trip to Paris last week. With his aristocratic elegance, he is perhaps the perfect choice for Prince Siegfried, especially as his artistry is improving all the time to almost match his prodigious technique. His own natural charm is now projected very well to the audience and his smile lights up the stage. Sadly, this production of “Swan Lake” was the old-fashioned kind where the ballerina is everything and her cavalier is reduced to not much more than a porteur. The large, glossy 12 Euros souvenir brochure did not include a cast list so the Jester who leapt and spun across the stage at every opportunity in Acts I and III must remain anonymous. He danced well but I did find his continual antics irritating, especially as they detracted from the ending of Act III, trying to turn it into a comedy (not his fault but that of the anonymous director). So it was only in the Act III pas de deux that Muntagirov got to display his astonishingly high jumps, landing in the softest of pliés, and his beautifully controlled multiple pirouettes. When Daria Klimentova told me a few weeks ago about these performances, there was a possibility that she would be replacing the indisposed Irina Kolesnikova but sadly it was not to be. Instead, we had the Ukrainian ballerina, Natalia Matsak. With her long limbs, she was very well matched physically with Muntagirov but she had none of the vulnerability that makes an Odette so appealing and she did not seem to be that interested in her prince, preferring to concentrate on her own performance while he partnered her very sympathetically. Her thirty-two single fouettés were remarkable for staying almost on the same spot but the shine was taken off this for me by having the music stopped so that she could walk downstage to take several bows before the coda was allowed to continued, rather diminishing Muntagirov’s set of faultless pirouettes à-la-seconde which followed. As I mentioned, the director of this production remained anonymous with the choreography being solely credited to Petipa and Ivanov although little of what we know can be attributed to them remained. However, I did enjoy the familiar choreography of the Spanish dance for two couples, in particular one of the ladies who demonstrated considerable flair and possibly the deepest backbends I have ever seen, with her head almost grazing the floor behind her! Being used to the immaculate precision of the English National Ballet swans, I was rather alarmed by the lack of synchronisation in Acts II and IV, with even the four cygnets being at odds with each other. The Palais des Congrès is a barn of a place which unfortunately meant that the orchestra had to be amplified which made it sound rather tinny. This was a shame as they skilfully negotiated the savage cuts and awkward harmonic changes demanded by the production although it did amuse me that the harpist seemed to be improvising on anything but Tchaikovsky while waiting forever for Odette to appear in Act II! Whatever faults I may have found with the production, I have to say that it was danced with great enthusiasm by all concerned, which is more than I can say for the performance of “Onegin” that I saw the night before by the Paris Opera Ballet. This was a revival of the production first danced here in 2009 and unfortunately the corps de ballet put little effort or precision into their dances, in particular the dance for the young couples in Act I which I remember being danced with such vitality by London Festival Ballet in the 1980s. The wonderful finale, in which the boys run across the stage with the girls in supported split jetés, first on one diagonal and then on the other, always brought the house down but here, although there was applause, the frisson of watching something spectacular was missing. Due to injury, the second cast gave this first performance and I was disappointed that the Olga and Lensky were so sketchily performed. I have been very fortunate to see the original cast of Haydee and Cragun as Tatiana and Onegin and to have seen Makarova guesting with London Festival Ballet and a heartbreaking performance by the company’s own Janette Mulligan as Tatiana so the benchmark has been set very high for me. Karl Paquette was eminently likeable as Onegin although he has not yet got to grips with Onegin’s character and seemed most comfortable in the ‘dream’ pas de deux when he was charm personified. He also gave the most magical moment of the performance when he held Tatiana aloft at the beginning of this pas de deux – a breathtaking moment for both her and the audience. It was left to Ludmila Pagliero as Tatiana to give the most rounded performance, excelling as the shy, bookish girl who becomes obsessed with Onegin and then is crushed when he destroys her letter, visibly maturing as she and Olga try to persuade Lensky against the duel and shattering in her rejection of Onegin only to crumple in the last seconds of the ballet. The great thing for me about this performance was rediscovering the genius of the choreography and I look forward to seeing what the Royal Ballet of Flanders makes of it when it enters their repertoire in October. I had hoped to be able to report back on Nicolas Le Riche rehearsing Cullberg’s “Miss Julie” which my friend is currently staging for the Paris Opera Ballet but the current Artistic Director does not operate the same ‘open door’ policy as during Nureyev’s tenure when I was privileged to watch rehearsals in the rotundas at the top of the Palais Garnier during my ‘ballet’ trips in the 1980s. So I shall be interested to hear what the dancers and the audiences make of this rather dark programme which also includes Agnes de Mille’s “Fall River Legend”. On my return to the UK, I was delighted to read Daria Klimentova’s message on the thread about her retirement and hope it puts paid once and for all to the unfair speculation about Vadim Muntagirov. When this lovely young man was one of the participants in ENB’s Emerging Dancer Award a few years ago, I well remember that in his video clip he said it was of paramount importance to him to be a nice person and he has remained faithful to this aim and no doubt will for the rest of his career.

Aileen, you may be interested to know that he will be starring in "Miss Julie" with the Paris Opera Ballet at the end of February - more on that when I get back from Paris.

Actually, there are already several messages of goodwill from his ENB colleagues on Facebook. He is well loved in ENB and Daria herself has today given him her "best partner, nicest person" award on Facebook!

I was told yesterday that Vadim Muntagirov will be dancing "Swan Lake" with the St. Petersburg Ballet at the Palais de Congres in Paris, 4 and 5 February 2014. By happy coincidence I will be in Paris at the same time and look forward to Vadim's performance. Details can be found by googling Palais de Congres Paris.

Danny is a very talented photographer and film-maker ("Agony and Ecstasy" was his conception) so has lots of options to pursue now. Sadly, at the end of yesterday's performance there was no public acknowledgement of his retirement after 22 years (he has calculated almost 8.000 days!) of service to the company but the sharp-sighted may have spotted his wife, Kei Akahoshi, carrying a huge bundle around as a merchant in Act I. The bundle contained their 10-month-old son making his stage debut, blissfully asleep. Perhaps he may follow in his parents' footsteps!

ENB gave us a stellar cast in a stellar performance of the final, very well attended, ‘Corsaire’ at the Coliseum (and not a guest artist in sight, despite the glaring errors on the cast sheet). Dima Gruzdyev was luxury casting in the smaller role of the slave trader, Lankendem, and gave us a masterclass in Russian style and mime. He was a superbly sympathetic partner for Fernanda Oliveira’s appealing Gulnare in their Act I pas de deux and brought a panther-like grace to his solos, reminiscent of his glorious Golden Slave a few years ago. Oliveira brought her innate musicality and glamour to the rather strangely conceived role of Gulnare who is distraught at being sold into the Pasha’s harem in Act I only to turn into a flirtatious coquette with him in Act III before running away and drowning with her true love, Ali. Junor Souza as Ali excelled himself with his breathtaking pyrotechnics and magnetic stage presence, indeed almost outdancing the phenomenal Vadim Muntagirov in the Act II pas de trois. Muntagirov’s stagecraft has improved by leaps and bounds (no pun intended) over the past four years, mow almost approaching his dazzling technique, and it is clear he revels in the swashbuckling character of Conrad, especially when partnering his soulmate, Daria Klimentova, whose Medora London audience had to wait until this final performance to see. She was well worth the wait! Looking younger than springtime, she is everything that a prima ballerina assoluta (my appellation) should be with her exquisite line, seemingly effortless technique and, above all, the sense of fun she brings to Medora. It was nice to see Wayne Eagling at this performance, supporting the dream team which he can claim full credit for forming. Of the other named roles, Adela Ramirez danced the Lead Villager with a Spanish flair and her devastating smile. Ksenia Ovsyanick brought her ballerina sheen to the second Odalisque solo with the other two danced by Nancy Osbaldesdon and Shiori Kase on sparkling form. Having previously seen a performance on the much smaller stage in Oxford I can say that I prefer the Jardine Anime scene without children. Especially from my seat in the stalls, they block the audience’s view of the beautiful ENB flowergirls and really add nothing to the scene. I also saw the second performance at the Coliseum (10 January) with another of the company’s crown jewels, Erina Takahashi, as a radiant Medora partnered by Yonah Acosta who, like Muntagirov, relished every swashbuckling moment on stage, and Ksenia Ovsyanick’s totally assured Gulnare proving she is more than ready for promotion to principal. Apart from the feast of dancing and the gorgeous sets, I don’t care much for this version of the ballet which appears to be far removed from the original ballet synopsis, treating the dark subject matter in a facile manner (like Ratmansky's version of 'Flames of Paris'), and possibly even further removed from the Byron poem. I find the characters sketchily drawn at best and am irritated by the reduction of the Pasha and his assistant to buffoons with their pantomimic antics (no disrespect to Michael Coleman or Juan Rodriguez who is one of ENB’s most charming dancers). However, all this is forgiven when it is danced with such incredible commitment and exuberance by the whole company, especially at the end of an arduous six-week stint. By the tumultuous applause, which continued after the raising of the houselights, it would seem that the rest of the audience was in total agreement with my sentiments about the fabulous dancing and I would urge anyone in the Manchester area to see this show next month for a simply outstanding dance experience.