Fonty

Seven Brides was a cracking dance sequence.

Absolutely! I 've only seen Red Shoes (about 50 times) and Billy Elliot, although I do have Black Swan recorded and intend to watch it at some point. Not having seen them, i can't say how much ballet is actually in included. However, can I extend the list with films that contain ballet sequences? 1. What's Opera Doc? Bugs Bunny does a lovely pas de deux with Elmer. 2. Flashdance - well, the heroine does want to get into ballet school, doesn't she? 3. Fame - some fabulous dancing, and there is some ballet in there.

Sipping a glass of decent red wine in a pub in front of a real log fire, while gossiping with a friend you haven't seen for ages.

Perhaps that is because they are allowed to go in for these competitions? I would be interested to know why certain schools ban it altogether. Maybe it is because they feel that the competition takes place to enter the school in the first place, and if you are already a student there is no need. Also, how were students from schools such as RB picked in the past? Are they the ones deemed by the teachers to be the best of the best? The future company members? It could be extremely demoralising for other students in that scenario. You might feel it is not worth bothering to continue.

Yes, I have been on the receiving end of some bullying from estate agents in the past. One member of the branch agreed to sell our old flat for a certain percentage. When the documents came, the charges were double what had been verbally agreed. I rang up, and was subjected to a barrage of "assertive" talk by the senior partner of the firm, trying to force me to accept. I refused, and got the original price, but I was upset by it. I'm afraid estate agents have just been replaced by a new breed - Solicitors. Conveyancing solicitors, to be precise. I have had several quotes, and there is a huge difference between them. Considering it is the sale of a freehold property with no mortgage and no chain, the work involved should be minimal. Having got several quotes, I have now discovered I am obliged to use the solicitors handling my mother's estate. And guess what? They charge twice as much as everyone else. They did NOT point that out to me when I was deciding whether to appoint them as executors or not. And unlike the others, they do not do a No Sale No Fee job. Oh no, if the buyer pulls out they charge a fee "commensurate with the work done on the client's behalf". Hah! And why is the cost based as a percentage of the cost of the property? Is there any more work involved in selling a freehold property for £650k than one for £450? I think not.

I am currently trying to sell my mother's house. After 3 weeks on the market, and masses of viewings, the feedback was that it needed too much work and was overpriced. In spite of the fact that I questioned very closely the value put on it, and asked whether I should do some work first. A week ago my brother accepted an offer 40k below the asking price....and we haven't had a peep out of the buyers since. No solicitor details exchanged, no queries, nothing. And I have to keep ringing up our agents for information - they should be calling me, not the other way round.

I hate Baileys :yuck: but love the advert. And it just confirms what I have always suspected, that Soares and Orlando Bloom are very closely related.

Oh Fiz, I do sympathise. I am having to deal with that particular breed at the moment. I have never found an estate agent I like (yet).

Is that really the main aim? I thought it was a competition where dancers from various countries pitted themselves against each other, and that they won money to be spent on the next term's school fees. Obviously, if someone from a relatively minor school won, I would have thought they would be offered a place at one of the top schools, but I thought that was one of the side effects, not the main point of the competition. Darcey Bussell came third in one of the Prix competitions, didn't she? And she was already at the RBS, so it wasn't for the offer of a place.

Home made cake. Any home made cake, but I am particularly fond of home made Christmas cake. Which is quite a good thing really, given the time of year.

I HATE self service checkouts. Our local Tesco has replaced masses of checkouts with these, and I object strongly. They are ok, I suppose, if you only have a small basket, but they are much slower if people have huge trolleys. It is just a cost cutting exercise for the supermarkets. They will be expecting us to stack the shelves next.

From a personal point of view, I don't really like watching live ballet on television or at the cinema. I just don't think any live theatre comes across well when shown in that way. I feel the same way about opera, where the close ups make you feel as though you are disappearing down the singer's throat, or the occasional live theatre snippet, where the actors seem to be pulling faces and shouting. If a ballet is to be filmed, it needs to be a performance designed specifically for the cinema, with the acting style and possibly the staging altered so that it looks at its best. I know why they don't do it, of course - too expensive! I remember when the RB touring company used to come to my home town, which is about 15 miles from central London, and put on full length productions of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Giselle and so on. This was in the days when we still had the huge cinemas converted from the original music halls. When these were changed into multi screen cinemas, I assume the ability to stage live productions of this size was lost.

I did hesitate, because I suppose it would be 6 funerals, but then I thought as Juliet has already had her funeral, she probably wouldn't get another one. I suppose I have got to think of a question now, have I? (dashes off to look up obscure fact about ballet no one has ever heard of.....)

Got to be Romeo and Juliet, hasn't it?

I decided to go on Youtube and have a look at some of the Chroma clips, because I just could not remember if i had seen it (I haven't). Having watched both fast and slow pieces, I can now see both sides of the argument. I can see why this was greeted with such enthusiasm, and why it has continued to be so popular. It is as striking as MacMillan's Rite of Spring must have seemed when first performed. However, it does demand extreme flexibility from its dancers, and such high and extended leg positions, particularly to the side, together with the bathing suit costumes, inevitably exposes the crotch area. The girls always seem to be facing the audience as well, while the men appear to have their backs to the audience a bit more. It would not be so obvious if the girls were wearing the nightdress style costumes of R & J or Manon. But then, that style of dress would not go at all with the type of music. It seems to me that the choreography is great for this one ballet. However, I hate the idea that every new ballet in the future is based on this hyper-extended, pulled apart, arched backed, stick-your-bum-out-and-undulate type of movement. Just think if every ballet MacMillan choreographed after R of S had been similar in style.

I have been driving my other half mad since yesterday. I just cannot stop singing this now! Ter rum ter rum ter rum ter rum etc etc etc

I would like to put in Room 101 people who dig up their front gardens and cover them entirely in concrete. This is what the new owners of the house over the road have done. It had a beautiful garden, and they haven't even left a tiny strip at the side for a couple of small plants. I HATE IT!!

Well, from a personal point of view, I would be very happy never to see any male ballet dancer perform in white or pale tights ever again. So unflattering, IMO, and it does give the impression that the gentleman's rear end is being thrust in your face!

Well, the subject of nudity in this thread seems to be consistent with the idea of "pushing the bounderies", and that concept seems to be at the forefront of all new works, it appears to me. We've had quite a few discussions recently about modern choreography. I can't pass comment on the specific ballets mentioned in Luke Jenning's article, as I haven't seen the latest triple bill. Not sure if I have seen Chroma or not, there is nothing in the photos to distinguish it from several other new works. But audience reaction seems to be enthusiastic, and the dancers appear to love it. So the unfavourable opinion of someone such as myself is destined to be thrown into the ROH administrative waste paper bin, marked, "Rantings of a Middle Aged, Middle Class, Middle Englander". Can't have those sorts of people hogging the seats in the Stalls, can we?

Well now, here is an interesting thread! I tend to get a bit puzzled when people say that objection to nudity is a British thing, or a generation thing. Sorry, I do not agree. It is true we don't tend to strip off as regularly and easily as, say, the Germans appear to but frankly I consider that to be a good thing. (The memory of a naked German Oompah band is one that still manages to reduce me to tears of laughter). On the other hand I am perfectly comfortable on a nudist beach and always have been, and I am no teenager. Also, I have no problems at all with people stripping off in drama if it adds something to the overall theatrical experience. I remember seeing The Elephant Man many years ago, where the lead character appears on stage naked right at the start of the play. As a description is given of his pysical deformities he gradually twists and distorts his body accordingly. It was a remarkable piece of theatre, and a stunning performance by the lead male. However, I have no idea why on earth a choreographer would think it necessary to make a dancer perform in the nude. Surely the whole point of dancing, any dancing, is controlled movement. Have anatomical bits moving in an uncontrolled fashion is as distracting as seeing a piece of torn constume fluttering. However beautiful the dancers are, your eye is drawn to the things that are not moving in time to the music.

I agree with you about Darcey and the dramatic MacMillan parts, and I found it strange that she was always cast in the roles. Not sure who else was around at the time, was there a shortage of Principal females at the time?

My company has just spent some time having new signs printed for the various offices, telling you who or what is behind the closed door. The door to the room where all the official paper, pens, desk diaries and so on are kept now has a large, smart new sign saying: Stationary Cupboard. Whew, well there's a relief. Nothing worse than roaming cupboards!

What form does the stage fright take? Personally, the only way I have ever been able to deal with the shakes and fear is to practise in front of a watching audience as much as possible, and gradually get used to doing it. But it doesn't sound as though that is working in her case? Could she possibly get something from the doctor to calm her down before she has to sing?

That was a bargain, Alison. Who did you see? And I assume you were right up in the Gods for that price? I usually book my tickets in advance, and have always accepted I will have to pay a booking fee. But to have to pay one for turning up at the box office in person? I have never come across that anywhere else, never. And when I go again, I will tell them I have brought my own chair, portable heater, and Shewee and therefore will not be using any of the "facilities", so please remove the £7.

I get sparrowhawks in my garden, and have seen a female attack and kill a wood pigeon twice in the last year. The first time the carnage took place about 3 feet from where I was sitting in my office, taking part in an on-line conference call, and people kept asking me what all the noise was. I've also had the smaller male perched on my washing line. They are very handsome birds, and I try to console myself by saying what pests wood pigeons are.