A frog

Clement Crisp seems to particularly relish hatchet jobs, I still remember http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/380d5122-bdb1-11e0-babc-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3Vys040yT. I believe the choreographer mentioned is Jiri Kylian, on whose website there used to be a text against critics who are more interested in being mean than informative (if it's still there I didn't see it in a cursory search today).

Maybe he is simply in tune with the general ballet audience in the UK, I don't know if there is causality, but I definitely think there is a correlation between his views and how relatively conservative ballet in the UK (and specifically the RB) is compared to for instance POB or NYCB (I don't know enough about what they programme to assess qualitatively, but I was surprised that the recent movie Ballet 422 was thus named because it was about the creation of the 422nd ballet for the company).

Thank you Sim for pointing it out.

Looks like it was as good as usual (if a bit shorter). Was anyone there and on the "wrong" side of the stage? I remember last year that few pieces took into account the traverse setting, the only mention seems to imply it was the case again, was it an exception?

I sadly couldn't attend this year. I'd understand if people don't want to give anything akin to a review, but could anyone who was there please give a  list of the dancers/choreographers involved?

The tattoos certainly serve him well, pretty much all the publicity around him calls him the "bad boy of ballet", and I'll wager this is this rather than his technique that got him hired for this video.

The video was shared by my step-sister on Facebook, she doesn't know the name of a single dancer, and I'm not convinced she now knows his.

Isn't this programme effectively not part of the Royal Ballet programme? There aren't any day tickets either which is usually a sign.

Anyone who manages to get tickets in their basket should try emailing Online.Booking@roh.org.uk

My order had been processed by the time they replied to my email, but they did reply very quickly, past experiences taught me to take screen grabs of my basket in these circumstances, but I'm guessing they could help you even without.

Well, I just receive the order confirmation after all.

I had let my membership lapse and am in two minds about renewing it, on the one hand it was never like that as a friend, on the other, I'm not sure why I should reward their incompetence. Their repeated assurances every booking period that they are looking into the issue aren't reassuring.

I managed after I don't know how many attempts to make it to the payment page, and even have it processed, only to have an error message and be kicked out of the site. Although checking my credit card activity online, the order did go somewhere pretty much every time I tried to pay.

I wonder whether Anna T asked for the music to be taken a bit faster. Who was the conductor last night? Some dancers really seem to energise everyone else on stage. Whatever the reasons for success, it seems that the RB made a clever decision to ask her to step in. I think that it's only fair to ask her to guest in a couple of performances when Don Q comes back.

I actually checked how long the first act took when it finished as it did seem a bit quicker and livelier than the other performances I'd seen, it was exactly 20.22, same 52 minutes as advertised on the other evenings.

Maybe it was just something in the air.

Group Booking 8 January........?

For ten or more tickets per performance, offers a discount on some seats and dates too.

In the case of Marianela Nunez, she was dancing professionally in Argentina at 14. When she was effectively recruited by the RB, she was too young to join the company so had to join the RBS. She could only join the company at 16 as it's illegal in the UK for anyone younger to work.

I was at last night's Takada/Campbell performance. I thought it got better as it went along, but the first act had me a bit worried, quite a few tiny slips, nothing major (one noticeable enough to have the audience audibly gasp) but enough to remind me of a Lauren Cuthberson interview where she said she usually advises friends and family to attend performances later in the run.

Regarding the principals, I believe this was Akane Takada's debut (please correct me if I'm wrong), so a late replacement over a month before her debut was initially scheduled might not have been ideal, there was nothing to fault really, but I was far from as entranced as I was by her Aurora, maybe it was the nerves but she seemed to be trying, and Kitri probably more than any other part should be effortless and cheeky, the latter was definitely missing. Campbell was very good and it's always nice to see him on stage, but he was missing the little something that can make this ballet truly special.

It was still a very fun and enjoyable evening, and I expect that the next performance I attend, also with Akane Takada as Kitri, will be a lot better.

While I don't necessarily dispute the jist of his argument, how many narrative ballets recently created by the Royal Ballet were expensive failures?

He doesn't really mention which ballets he is thinking of (apart from a mention of Age of Anxiety in the comments), but I recall several of his articles using Alice as his prime example, given that the fourth run in five seasons is already sold out before performances have started (and the first three runs were the fastest to sell out I remember seeing), I doubt the Royal Ballet will want to do anything differently. Raven Girl seems to fit the bill a bit more (I don't actually remember how well it had sold, but I can't imagine it will be revived any day soon), but while he wasn't necessarily ecstatic about it, he was still a lot more positive than about Alice. And regarding Age of Anxiety, the bill was pretty much commercially doomed before it had even opened for being too contemporary (and too highly priced for it and lacking the pop appeal of the Carbon Life bill).

He may have a point, but as long as the "failures" fill in the coffers, I doubt the RB will listen.

 

I am wondering - with Christopher Wheeldon's fantastic success with The Winter's Tale - and his RB Associate position - if they might not adopt a working of his SL developments (now fostered for both Pennsylvania Ballet and the Joffrey) to claim as their next RB own. 

It is a good production, but I have trouble imagining the RB would go for one that deviates that much from the accepted/usual story. If there is a new prosuction, I assume it would be a lot more classical (and as has been mentioned, it's made for a smaller company, not that this couldn't be adapted).

I haven't yet received the magazine or letter, but I'm pretty sure this is simply a return to what the allowance was when I joined the friends a few years ago.

You can initially only buy 6 tickets per production, and as Josephine points out, the limit is lifted two weeks before public booking.

Given that I remember a correlation between the limit being lifted in the first place and my inability to find SCS tickets outside of public booking, I won't be complaining.

However if this restriction also now applies to premium friends, I can see some of them being upset, one of their advantages then was to be able to buy 2 tickets for each performance (and I actually seem to remember some grumbling when every level of friends was allowed the same).

I have no privileged information, but isn't it likely to be from the upcoming triple bill, possibly Aeternum if they don't want to overlap with the insight evening?

It seems a bit early for Don Q or Alice.

I seem to remember that casting would appear at some point before the start of the run, rarely that early though, anyway thank you very much as I had forgotten tickets were going on sale.

Also potentially of interest, the ticket prices now vary depending on the day of the week.

Mishkin's on Catherine Street is probably my favourite restaurant in London, and I imagine children would find somethng to their taste, service is also very quick. I second the Cote recommendation, there is actually one there around that corner so even closer to Covent Garden.

There were a few burgers recommendations, but no one mentioned Meat Market which to me is a lot better, depending on how young the children are, the decor includes a few risqué messages.

If you get marginally further, Brasserie Zedel next to Piccadilly does decent French brasserie food at ok prices.

 

 

So do I, by and large, but I think it's a case of unrealistic expectations.  Now that I come to think of it, though, does the ROH website still mark its seats as restricted view?  It used to tell you precisely what the viewing restrictions were, and you had to tick that you'd read and accepted them, but I don't think it does any longer.

It still does, and more importantly, you now have pictures of the view from your seat for every single one of them, displayed automatically as you click on the seat.

I understand that not everyone will do research or know the auditorium, but given the reputation ballet and opera ticket prices have, I would assume people going for "cheap" ones could look at the fine print. A friend once told me he was standing in the balcony next to a woman who was there because her grandson had bought her the ticket as a gift, she definitely didn't expect to stand for the whole performance, and apparently couldn't.

 

And Paris Opera Ballet's performance that weekend has already sold out. Sigh...

 

 

The Paris Opera doesn't accept returns, but there is a platform on their website allowing resale of tickets at no more than face value (I believe there may be a small booking fee added), you can also set alerts so you will receive an email whenever a ticket is put on sale for a performance you are interested in (you'll have to be very quick though, the tickets will often be sold within five minutes). 

http://boursechange.operadeparis.fr/ballets-onp, it would be anyway worth checking now and then; I often forget to book the "normal" way, but usually manage to get tickets there (and it's pretty much the only way to get a decently priced one).

I'm too lazy to look up my cast sheets, but nothing springs to mind for Hamilton/Ashton.

Given that she's still in some ways being tested across the company repertoire, it might be a first.

I really don't like the Barbican, not helped by recent issues with their customer service department.

A couple of comments about the programme.

First of all, I must say I really liked The Firebird. Yes, it didn't really belong within the conceptual frame of the programme, but I didn't care, I thought it was really good, and I'm a bit sad to see it summarily dismissed in so many comments and reviews, and had it been removed from the programme as more than a few people seem to have wished, I wonder if we wouldn't then have had complaints that the programme was too short (as often happens with the RB triple bills).

I also loved the Akram Khan piece, the Khan/Rojo cast was the one I saw last (three performances overall), and it confirmed something I was thinking watching the previous performances: as much as I loved it every time, the male part was very clearly created for Khan, and the other dancers attempting it had little chance of matching him (as great as they were). On the one hand, he was amazing and I loved watching him, on the other, I wonder if contemporary choreographers working with ballet company shouldn't make sure the pieces they create can be danced as well as they should be by any dancer (especially some who are unfamiliar with their style).

I hope I get to see all those works again, but I'm a bit worried that any subsequent performance of Dust, if they cannot get Khan to perform again (which I assume would be likely), would leave me somewhat disappointed.

Sorry if it seems like nitpicking or unfair criticism (or criticism at all of Khan or the dancers) as I did love the piece.

I can't answer for the ROH but from my own observations I can say that some of the seats around the left aisle of the Grand Tier are usually occupied by RB staff and their guests (e.g. family of cast, other dancers from the RB and visiting companies). The wheelchair spaces in the Grand Tier are often released for sale as "bar-stool style" seats close to the performance date, though I can't claim to have seen any recognisable celebs perching thereupon.

Thank you, they were also aisle seats but in the stalls, thus allowing for late-ish entrance and speedy exit, I've never really paid attention to who was sitting there on other occasions (assuming I would have recognised them), but it does sound like they could be house tickets then.

I assume he could always have been able to request tickets. I wouldn't expect him to have been able to attend on short notice though.

Loosely related: does anyone know what the ROH policy is for tickets for "celebrities"? I saw Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem at one of the Osipova/Acosta Giselle performances, I'd be surprised if they were on the website at 10.00 on booking day or kept looking for returns. Would the tickets come from a house allocation or would there be first dibs on the more or less inevitable returns?

Would the minister be concerned with finding alternate sources of financing for the arts?

I can see one of his missions being to create a new framework, in which case his previous position with the budget could also be a plus.