Fonty

Rather than a Dislike button, I'd rather have more emoticons. Ideally I'd like: :facepalm: - useful in so many places, particularly when a politician makes a remark about the arts, sport or- well, just about anything really. :pray: - Handy when the new season booking opens at the ROH :nailbiting: - perfect for describing the experience of watching the Rose Adagio :phew: - equally perfect when those balances have been got out of the way :doh: I would find this particularly apt to express my feelings for Wayne McGregor's latest piece :rofl: - my reaction to Mr Crisp's review of the above And finally: :run: Before I upset anyone or get told off for waffling or deviation.

I have been with groups of primary school children to special school matinee performances of ballets, and by and large I have to say that all the children in the audience have been well behaved. Yes, perhaps the noise beforehand is a bit more raucous than normal, and yes, perhaps the noise does continue for a bit longer after the curtain has gone up. But I never saw any bad behaviour once it was underway. And the dancers at the end were greeted with thunderous applause. Please don't get me started on the topic of children and museums! I think I did a rather long Rant in the appropriate thread on this very topic i.e. that museums are starting to create displays that seem to indicate that the average age of the visitor is under 6.

It doesn't give the children's ages. However, I find it astonished that one of the possible reasons given was that they were on their own territory. Er - no, they were in school. Presumably they are expected to be quiet during "boring" lessons, so why didn't the teachers step in and impose some discipline? I would love to ring up the school and ask a few questions. If the entire audience was behaving badly, then it might have been something in the play that set them off, but presumably some preparation work was done in class beforehand. Also, The Shrew is one of Shakespeare's lighter plays. Not as if they are being asked to sit through nearly 4 hours of Hamlet, where even I have been known to get the fidgets some times! On the other hand, it could have been a case of a hard core of well known trouble makers, preventing the others from watching. Either way, if I was a parent, I would be having second thoughts about sending my child there.

I did read about that test, and thought it was weird. My husband assures me that real men don't mind having doors held open for them.

Well, it is an academic discussion, as there is no such facility, and thank goodness for that. Like Janet, I often use the Like button to show I think someone has expressed an opinion that I agree with, but about which I have nothing further to add. On the other hand, if I disagree with a point someone is making, I say so. Publicly and politely. And as far as I am concerned, that is surely the whole point of having a forum for discussion in the first place.

I am puzzled as to why Bruce feels the need to put this as a new topic in the General Discussion thread. Is there some specific point you are trying to make, Bruce, or is it an early offering for April Fool's Day? Because if it is the latter, I think you will have trouble making cyber bullying a topic of amusement.

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Oh, I know, Janet, the whole argument about whether or not a specific physical activity is a sport or not is riddled with inconsistencies. But I think for the true definition of the word, then competition has to be part of that, and the pinnacle of competition has to be a World Championship or the Olympics. Now, I know that many, many people think that things like ice dancing, rhythmic gymnastics or synchronized swimming are not sports, and should not be included in the Olympics. Their reasoning is that many of the marks are given for style and interpretation, and that true sports are based only on winning by crossing a finishing line first or by scoring more goals or points. To a certain extent I can relate to this argument. For example, the idea of the football World Cup being decided not only on how many goals are scored, but how stylishly the teams played, is laughable. I can just see Match of the Day solemnly discussing whether the back passing of Wayne Rooney is more graceful than that of Frank Lampard. Yet we all know that ice skaters, gymnasts and synchronized swimmers all require supreme athletic ability. So, for ballet to be considered as a sport, we really need public competitions where the dancers are judged in the same way as ice skaters. In fact, I quite like the idea of ballet as a sport in the Olympics. Personally, I would find it very interesting. (Edited to correct my spelling. It is a bit early in the morning for all those combinations of r and h and n...)

Just musing over the question of whether ballet is a sport, and in order to do that, it requires a definition of the word Sport. Surely sport, any sport, whatever it is, involves competition, with either a team or an individual beating the opposition? That is my idea of sport, anyway. So ballet, by that definition, is definitely not a sport. Yes,I know you can have dance competitions, such as the Prix, where individuals can measure their progress against their peers, but that is not the ultimate purpose of learning to dance.

Alison, I was listening to a discussion, and they were saying that in some sports, such as velodrome cycling, they took the right of appeal away because it was taking too long. However, it seems to me that something like speed skating, decisions are being made on supposition. In this instance, Christie was penalised because she overtook the Chinese girl who was in a qualifying position, causing the latter to lose her balance slightly. Therefore, the supposition was that the Chinese girl was going to qualify. Well, yes, she certainly would have done if Christie hadn't overtaken, so the supposition seems to me to be a bit like saying that a football team leading 1-0 was definitely going to win until the other side scored!

I am surprised they do bleep tests in schools. They used to do them at my gym, but it was entirely voluntary, and most people taking part would already have a certain level of fitness. They are very hard work, but you can drop out at any time. I did one when I would have considered myself to be quite fit, as I was training for a half marathon at the time. I can't remember how I did, but there came a point when I simply could not sprint fast enough to complete the distance in the allotted time, so that was the end for me. I am not quite sure why children are allowed to strain to such an extent that they are pulling muscles or being physically ill. Sounds downright dangerous to me.

That poor Christie. She has now been disqualified for the 3rd time. This time nobody seems to think this is the right decision. I feel very sorry for her, almost as if she is the subject of some kind of vendetta.

Interest in ballroom dancing is apparently very much on the increase as a result of SCD. The trouble is, you need boys to take part as well, and I suspect most boys prefer more "manly" types of exercise. I was going through some of my mother's old paperwork a few months ago, and came across a brochure showing a mass workout labelled Health and Beauty, which I think was held at the Royal Albert Hall. Anybody remember those? I have a very vague recollection of my mother standing in the kitchen swinging her arms about while holding a couple of baked bean tins.

I am 100% certain that this is deliberate mischief making by the press. The point is that woman need to be encouraged to exercise more, and that maybe the emphasis in schools for girls should be less on traditional sports, and more on what are preceived as being "girly" pursuits, such as dancing. Lots of little girls are attracted to ballet because they like the look of the traditional tutu. Many older women watch SCD because of the spangles and big hair. If that encourages them to have a go, they will then find out it is also very good exercise. I remember doing some volunteering at a secondary school. Instead of doing the traditional gymnastic style classes, which require a certain amount of aptitude to get anything at all out of the class, they asked me and a couple of other volunteers to come up with some ideas. We experimented with a sort of aerobic circuit with a mixture of dance type moves, set to pop music, and it was well received. At least the girls worked up a sweat, and had a bit of fun, which is more than they did trying (and failing in most cases) to vault over a wooden horse. And we can all gyrate to music. Even if some do it more stylishly than others!

Didn't Fonteyn have terrible problems with her feet? I remember reading once that someone arrived to photograph her and found her hobbling about, complaining that she was thinking of putting her feet in a gas oven. And didn't Ashton refer to her as Butterfeet, or something like that?

Is that one of the compulsory moves, the "slinging around the shoulder"? I noticed they were all doing it, I wondered why. I also don't like the twizzle turns, or whatever they are called. I think that is too much like the pairs skating. If I remember correctly, the rules for ice dancing used to be that their bodies had to stay in contact with each other for the whole routine? Or at least, were not allowed to stay apart for more than a few seconds? I think that made for much more imaginative, graceful routines.

Bangor Balletboy, I was only repeating what I was told by the person involved in the site purchase, that Tesco were driving a very hard bargain regarding the ice rink. As I mentioned at the time, I haven't been to Streatham for many years, since I used to skate when I was at school, so have no idea what state it was in. I have already said that I was very pleased that someone somewhere managed to see the project through. Consider yourself very, very fortunate to live in a borough where that has happened. Because I can assure you that my experience has been that existing facilities are often allowed to disintegrate to a stage where they are too expensive to repair. And the shiny new buildings that go up regularly fail to deliver their promise.

I must be mad. I actually set my alarm to get up and watch the male snowboard cross event!

When I was living in Portugal, I met someone who worked for the individual who purchased the site on behalf of Tesco. I know that they said some hard bargaining was being done, as Tesco were not keen at all at having to fund a new ice rink. I am relieved that somebody somewhere managed to use some influence. Strange though, I haven't lived in the area for about 20 years, but I did drive down the main road the other day, and it looked to me as though the old site was derelict - no ice rink, and no Tesco either. I assumed the whole deal had fallen through for some reason.

I can't understand why these things are being run by councils anyway. Anything the council gets its hands on is doomed to failure IMO. There are several charities who run various sports things, including a couple of Lidos in London, and I believe they get funding from the lottery. It is disgraceful that existing sports facilities, which were well used and very popular, are just shut like that.

Yes, it is shocking that ice skating rinks have been shut all over the place. I used to go with my school to Streatham ice rink, as did all the other schools in the area. Then, the site was bought by.Tesco. Yep, just what we all need, another massive supermarket. There was a huge amount of uproar over this, and the original planning permission insisted that the skating rink to be included in the design. Tesco successfully negotiated to have this removed once they had acquired the site. And don't get me started on councils closing swimming pools right, left and centre. They always say they are doing it because the old facilities are "need too much work doing to the building", and that "new, improved facilities" will be built elsewhere. And then finally they open a new pool that is usually round and the size of a washing up bowl. And when you point out that it is almost impossible to swim in a round pool, as you just get in each other's way, they say it is not a swimming pool, it is a "leisure pool".

That was wonderful watching those clips again. So much artistry and elegance. To me, that was much, much better than anything I saw at these Olympics. No comparison, as far as I am concerned. No doubt, if John Curry turned up today and did that routine, he probably wouldn't even qualify. Not difficult enough, I expect. These days, people have to go for quadruple turns, and get more marks even if they end up flat on their backs.

No, please, no, no other companies doing it! It is bad enough with RB, BRB and ENB all doing the Nutcracker. I agree it is a wonderful Christmas ballet, but when you have two major companies in London doing the same ballet at the same time, it does get a bit much. I couldn't bear it if suddenly Covent Garden, the Coliseum and Sadlers Wells were all Le Corsaire-ing as well. I think ENB has a real hit on its hands, I wouldn't like to see it diluted by RB suddenly deciding to get in on the act. Although I would love to see what Matthew Bourne could do with Le Corsaire.

I agree, Janet! I would be very, very happy to see this every time it comes to London. In fact, if Rojo is reading this, I would suggest ditching the Nutcracker (in London, anyway) and putting this on at Christmas instead. I am sure they could work a Christmas tree into the pirates' cave to give it a festive air!

Does anyone remember the programme which was about both Durante and Bussell when they were starting out on their careers at the RB? I think that showed footage of both of them with Mukhamedov. I thought it might have been Omnibus, but it could have been the South Bank Show on ITV. I can just see Melvyn Bragg's face introducing it. Although that could be a left over nightmare from last night, of course....