Fonty

On the other hand, we don't want the side kicks looking more regal than the Prince, do we?? Otherwise those princesses might start making eyes at the wrong chap! On a more serious note, visually it does help if all the main characters are of similar height.

I thought Hamilton was gorgeous in Requiem. Not sure why she would be thought unsuitable for Odette/Odile or Aurora, but should that be an obstacle? I don't think it is obligatory to dance those roles, is it? Let's not forget that Laura Morera didn't dance them either, I don't think? Nor did other principal ladies of the past. Edited to add I am sure Morera would have made a wonderful job of either of those two roles, just that she was never cast in them.

@Buddy Maybe I am missing something, but I don't understand what the Sesame Street clip has got to do with lyrical dance!

Talking of catering, I was really surprised when I went to an evening performance of the MacMillan Triple to see how few people were eating in the Floral Hall balcony restaurant. I think there were only about 4 tables in use.

Well, I get emails about everything - ballet, opera, restaurants, gift shop. But the only offers I have ever had have been for opera. Which I have never attended. And yes, the most recent one was the 40 % off for Lucia. If anyone is interested, send me a PM and I will let you know what the details are.

Gorgeous!

I can't remember the name of the character, all I can remember is that a girl was dancing something in an outfit suitable for something like Giselle with a long skirt. Someone watching remarked how talented she was, and the teacher replied that yes she was, but her thighs were too big and she didn't look right in a tutu. Consequently she would never make it as a classical ballet dancer. Considering I haven't read the books since I was about 10, I am amazed I remember that much.

Oh don't get me wrong, of course children should be encouraged to dream, and to work hard to achieve that dream. I am all for that. But I am deeply concerned that there is a trend now to make all children believe that they will always achieve that dream if they put in enough effort. And when, for whatever reason they don't achieve it, there will be the belief in their own minds that they "didn't work hard enough". Which is a shattering blow, and can and does lead to depression. I was reading an article somewhere about young boys, very talented footballers, who made it to prestigious football academies, and then got weeded out at the age of 14 or 15 for not being good enough. The number suffering from acute depression as a result was very distressing to read about. The problem with ballet (and presumably football as well) is that you have to start very young, and deal with blows at the worst time i.e. adolescence and young adulthood. To feel a failure at such a young age must be appalling. The paragraph I highlighted in the post above is really one of the most important issues. How to deal with disappointment, and channelling your energies into something else are areas that hopefully could be covered in a sensitive manner. You would hope that parents would feel equipped to deal with this, but not everyone comes from that kind of background. And yes, I realise I am being much too serious about a nice series of books aimed at young children. But if by any remote chance the authors happen to be reading this forum, they might want to give it some thought.

Not too sure about the message that if you dream big and work hard then you will achieve success. I know it is only a work of fiction aimed at younger readers, but I am certain that ballet is littered with multitudes of children who worked extremely hard and still had their dreams shattered. Either because they grew to be the wrong shape or they were simply not quite good enough. I am all for dreams and hard work, but a little realism has to be included in the mix somewhere. Talking of which, did the Lorna Hill books deal with the issues regarding physique? I have a vague memory of one girl whose legs were deemed to be the wrong shape for ballet as she reached maturity.

Ah, ok, that makes a bit more sense! There was a lot of gossiping going on during the interval bits, so I obviously misheard what Bussell said. It wasn't really explained, though.

Having worked from home for several years, I would sometimes take an afternoon off, and make up the hours missed by working in the evenings or over the weekend. Generally speaking, as long as I put in the hours and delivered on time, nobody was bothered if my phone was switched off while I went to a matinee. Just got back from my Encore screening. There were about 20 of us, and about 17 of them were definitely retired. It was interesting to compare the cinema performance with the live one I saw. I loved Danses Concertantes both times, and agree that Gasparini was terrific in this. I was fortunate enough to see Muntagirov in the live show, and although the cinema cast were good, none of the men could match him for style and personality. I have to say that I thought the whole cast were dancing splendidly, particularly the girls, with speed and precision. Would be very happy to see this ballet again on another triple bill in the near future. Unlike others, I definitely preferred Different Drummer when I saw it live. I thought some of the camera angles missed the wider picture, so that for example there were only glimpses of the Captain barking his instructions at the soldiers and dominating them. I have a slight preference for Hayward rather than Osipova as Marie, but I enjoyed both their performances. I have always liked Requiem. When I wrote my review of the live performance, I said that for some reason it didn't move me as much as it usually did. This time I was completely overcome by the fabulous music and dancing. It looked and sounded absolutely wonderful. Which brings me to the commentary. As others have said, the last two ballets required a bit more explanation that was given here. If you didn't know anything about Different Drummer you might have been completely lost. A brief synopsis of the story wouldn't have gone amiss. I heard one member of the audience asking why there was a bath on the stage all the way through. They just didn't get it. Not sure I would have done either if I hadn't read about it beforehand. Likewise, Requiem. Ok, I think everyone would have got the idea that it was a tribute to the death of a friend, but the choice of music was very specific. Would it have been too much trouble to explain the different segments, especially with someone as knowledgeable and eloquent as Petroc Trelawny? Is it going to offend anyone if the Catholic religion is mentioned? I wouldn't have thought so. It is all very well Bussell saying "It is all there in the movement", but if you don't actually know what the movement is supposed to represent so much is lost. Also, Bussell threw me by saying (or at least I think she said) that one of the cast is supposed to be a child. I didn't know that, and if so, which one? I enjoyed the interviews, but felt the one on Benesh notation was a bit wasted. It was in the wrong place, taking up space that could have been spent giving the sort of information I mentioned above, and also I don't think it really explained it all that well. As someone who actually studied this myself, it might have been more interesting to have a dancer take up one or two positions, and then show how that would have been written down in Benesh. Otherwise, I suspect it just looked like a lot of meaningless squiggles. And finally, what on earth was Bussell wearing? She is a lovely looking woman, and is always immaculately well groomed, but sometimes her outfits are somewhat....unusual? At first I thought she was wrapped up in a winter coat, but as she was inside I didn't think this was likely. It appeared to be a sort of culottes jumpsuit in coral tweed. I was so hoping there would be a longer shot of it so that I could see how long it was, but sadly my curiosity wasn't satisfied.

I wonder if they are catering for people who work from home, and can occasionally take a longer lunch hour.

I am going to one at Picturehouse Greenwich tomorrow at midday, if I can get there in time.

I was going to ask why Hayward got champagne.. I thought it might have been because she had been in the company for a certain number of years or something. I didn't notice he was holding two. It was definitely because they substituted at short notice? I don't want to sound like Scrooge, but I hope Mr O'Hare paid for them out of his own pocket. Would hate to think ticket prices now have to include champagne presents for all those that perform as substitutions....

Ah, must have been that one I was thinking of when I mentioned it above. I don't think Von Rothbard should win, a bit surprised Nureyev would do that. However, it did give him a bit of extra stage time as he sank beneath the waves......