Fonty

I was just thinking about the current crop of male Principals. Although I adore Acosta, I feel that nobody has really filled Cope's place with his ability to look noble. He was perfect in those roles that required him to spend a large portion of his time holding his tutu clad lady in position, whilst gazing with adoration at the back of her head. Watson and McRae are wonderful dancers, but in my opinion they look too modern for the pure classical roles, and not always entirely comfortable. Soares looks ok, but never really seems to hit the high notes for me. And I would be hard put to remember any performances by Bonelli and Pennyfeather in anything, I just cannot picture them in my mind.

People mentioned Morera dancing the Rose Fairy. Have they got a shortage of dancers at the moment because of injuries? The reason I am asking is that this is a very nice role for a soloist or potential solist, so why is a Principal being cast? And I am a little out of touch with current productions, but does any company have children in the child roles any more?

Chrischris, I am with you on this. Whenever I have seen anything by Balanchine, I have found much to admire, and even many bits to enjoy, but on the whole, I find him overrated. Now, I am perfectly prepared to admit that it may be that I need to see the Americans perform his works. The "English" style tends to soften all the steps, and perhaps you need to be trained in the Balanchine style right from the start. However, for me, there seems to be a coldness, an aloof detachment at the heart of all his works that I fail to connect with.

I saw Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty last year, and enjoyed it very much, but it is more pantomime than ballet, and I think it needs to be viewed in that way. I didn't watch the whole of Don Quixote, just the beginning and the very end (although I recorded all of it). I thought it came across much better on tv than ballet usually does. I didn't have a problem with the lilac dresses, other than thinking that it looked as though the two girls went to a different dress maker to all the others!

Drink, eat and be merry, and have a wonderful time, everyone.

Only just seen this thread. I think part of the problem with finances was that, according to one of the stories I read, she financed his high spending lifestyle. I can't remember whether the title of Panamanian Ambassador was not official, and so Fonteyn funded it, or the funds were not adequate, and therefore she paid for all the things that were deemed necessary. The reason she carried on dancing for so long was because she was the breadwinner. He does seem to be a nasty piece of work, who used Fonteyn's fame and money, and responded by carrying on with other women behind her back. And his family seemed to be just as bad. There is a particularly gruesome story in one of the programmes that, while Fonteyn was on her death bed, they were worried about who she had bequeathed her property to, as they had not seen her will. So they drew up a new will, and it was signed by dabbing her thumb in ink and pressing it on the paper.

I've never noticed Watson looking particularly pale on stage, given that he would be wearing make-up anyway. And is there a significant difference between being "ginger" and "flame haired"? Watson and McRae are both redheads, so what? A strange article. 3 of the names mentioned from the 2004 season have only just departed, so has the performance of the current ladies nose dived during the past 3 months? Or is the point supposed to be that only one of the current crop of female Principals are British born and that most of them are not Royal Ballet trained? In which case, he doesn't make it very well, does he!

I shall try and keep my old and new low key, and (hopefully) realistic. Out will go all the clutter I have been keeping for the last few years: - Do I really need to hang on to my university coursework books that have remained on the shelves unopened for the last 20 years? - Do I really have the space for all those elegant books given to me by family and friends which contain wonderful photos and very little else? - Will I ever get around to trying out the complicated recipes in those cookery books written by named chefs, when I seem to stick to a basic repertoire of easy cook, simple dishes? - And do I need to keep vast manuals of various computer programmes that I will probably never use again. The answer is an emphatic No. In will come a new ruthlessness - No more hoarding, no more crammed spaces, no more "this might come in useful one day". Instead, I will have calm, clear, clutter free spaces with one or two striking pictures on the new, bookshelf free walls. Well, that's the plan, anyway!

It certainly could have been much worse. A speedy recovery to all those who have been injured. I should jolly well hope the fire services got there swiftly - the fire station is just around the corner!

Oh, the perils of that scene. I remember many years ago taking part in a production where we had marvellous rat costumes. Unfortunately, the masks really restricted your vision, so we had to be spot on with our positioning. One night, someone had their tail trodden on so hard it came off, and she toppled over. The result was mayhem as we started to bump into each other. In the aftermath of the battle the stage was littered with dismembered tails, feet, whiskers, which the Snowflakes had to dance carefully round. Ah, happy days......

Talking of Christmas cards, one of my pet hates is receiving a card from friends you only see once or twice a year, on about 23rd December, with a note, saying, "Hi there, just to let you know we moved into our new home 3 months ago, and the new address is....."

How annoying for you, Fiz, and how distressing for the dog. People who leave their dogs alone aften swear blind their dog doesn't bark or howl. A friend of mine had to take a recording of her neighbour's pet whining and barking all day, because they refused to believe her. Very unusual to keep a dog outside if it is a family pet.

Really? Why is that? Ashton described Fonteyn as having "the proportions of Venus", so what has changed? She was petite, but she wasn't minute, I am sure she would have achieved the minimum height required. (Is it 5' 3"?) I think Nureyev was on the shortish side, but he seemed to manage to partner Fonteyn quite well, I believe? Isn''t Stephen McRae a similar height to Nureyev? On a slightly different, possibly controversial tack, there seems to be this idea that people from poor backgrounds have more drive and passion to succeed than those who come from wealthier families. Hence the notion that people born in less affluent countries have a better work ethic than those from, say, the UK. Certainly, there are many people in the public eye who have come from very disadvantaged backgrounds and made it to the top in their chosen profession. However, these people usually publicize their origins, in order to inspire the next generation, saying, "Look at me, I did it and you can too". The successful people born with a silver spoon in their mouths tend not to mention this, for obvious reasons. I would say that nobody would be successful in the world of ballet if they did not have that burning desire to do well, and to commit themselves to it from a very early age. And that passion is something they are born with, and has nothing to do with what sort of background you come from, surely?

Was it really? They must have kept that production for a long time, because it was years ago when I saw it. I can't remember the first act at all, although that doesn't surprise me. After about 30 years of Nutcracker watching, I would probably only remember it if the production did something spectacularly different - Clara vanishing in a puff of smoke after receiving the Nutcracker, never to be seen again, or the party guests turning into vampires.

Does anyone remember the ENB Nutcracker where the corps were dressed as Liquorice Allsorts in the second act? I must have enjoyed that version, it was a long time ago and the costumes still stick in my mind.

Shocking, really. But we are frequent ballet goers, with the knowledge that these are world class dancers. I am guessing that the average audience for the Nutcracker are people who go once a year. I think there is still this perception amongst that group that ENB is somehow a lesser company, simply because it is not the Royal. Plus there does seem to be an overdose of Nutcrackers at Christmas. I appreciate it is appropriate for the season, but I can't be the only frequent ballet goer who would prefer to see something else.

Because it is not the Opera House, darling, and only second rate companies perform ballet elsewhere!

Do you think it might have been deliberate? I know there are quite a few practical jokes played during the Nutcracker (or there used to be, anyway!)

Wow! I don't think I saw it. I think I might have to track down a copy.

Isn't that a criticism that is often given to the British? That we are all "stiff upper lip" and don't show our emotions? It really annoys me when certain nations come out with that phrase (naming no names, of course). I think many people make the mistake that if you are not shouting out your feelings to the entire population of the world, you have none. For many, many people the things they feel the most strongly about are the things they want to remain private. And personally, I prefer it that way.

Alison, I have a flat that is the middle one of three in a conversion. We have just had the leases rewritten (for some complicated reason that I won't go into). However, although it has not been a problem, I thought now would be a good time to include a phrase along the lines of "floor coverings such as carpet or something that provides equal prevention of noise to those below" and asked the solicitor to put it into legal jargon. You would not believe the irritation it seemed to cause the owners of the other flats. The flat above got quite offended, and thought I was accusing them of being noisy (I wasn't, and they aren't). The owner of the flat below is actually paying for the legal work, and thought I was being nit picky and costing her extra money. That was until I had to have some work done on my central heating pipes, which meant I had to have the carpet taken up. She realised just how intimate she and I would be if I took up the carpet permanently. Then she sided with me, and insisted on the inclusion. I have yet to see the final phrase - I do hope it is legally binding and perfectly obvious to any future buyers. .

I definitely read it recently, but I can't remember where. I never buy a newspaper, so it was either a small snippet in one of the freebies, or it was in one of the magazines in my local library. Although having said that, I am now starting to wonder if it was actually Rojo who was being interviewed, and talked about Acosta partnering her next year.

Well, Acosta is promoting the ENB production of R & J in the round at the Royal Albert Hall next year quite a lot at the moment. He highlighted this on his appearance on Saturday Kitchen. I've not read the Times article, but maybe that is how they latched on to that! And isn't every Principal dancer referred to as the Fonteyn or Nureyev of the day in the general media? And

And On the Town also includes the wonderful Ann Miller tap dancing too!

That is extremely antisocial. I remember when we lived in a flat, the guy upstairs had no carpet down, and we could hear everything. And I mean everything. He had a small dog, and it sounded like the Hound of the Baskervilles pounding about. We wrote him a polite note, and he did put carpet down which solved the problem. However, the poor guy actually received a complaint about noise from the people above him. They complained to the council that he played his music too loud, but when the council checked with us, we said quite truthfully that we couldn't hear it. Turned out the people above had removed all floor coverings and had polished up the original floor boards. He said he felt he was actually living with them. And the extraordinary thing was, the council upheld their complaint and told him not to play his music.