Fonty

Well, I've just seen this, went to the link, and got 2 tickets straight away. Woo Hoo!! And do you know, I have never been in the Clore before. Is this going to be a Ballet Forum gathering for those who are lucky enough to get Tuesday off at short notice i.e. "working from home"?

I did say I hadn't been for some time, Nina, and I was simply putting my own rather liberal interpretation of Beryl's post about the increased number of tables in the Floral Hall! I have been going to the ROH since I was a child, (we used to be taken on school trips to matinees when we were in primary school), and I have always found the atmosphere as you describe. So what the original article is going on about is a mystery to me.

Oh dear, Porthesia. How annoying for you. Ah, now the subject of job applications and interviews is an interesting one. I went for an interview for a senior post at A Very Grand Firm of Accountants. I was in my 30s at the time, and applying for a senior post. And among the questions they asked were what school I attended and what my father did for a living. The old class system alive and well at that firm, I think!

I haven't been to ROH for ages, a pity if the Floral Hall is geing gradually turned into a canteen. i used to love looking at the costumes, and not everyone wants to pay £18 for a tray of food. The food is pretty average going on boring, and I speak as someone who was treated to a "special" birthday meal in the Floral Hall balcony restaurant. The view was wonderful,it was Christmas, and the tree was up, and lovely to have your table during the intervals as well as beforehand. However, the food could best be described as up market school dinner.

Er? I wonder if someone could translate that in to plain English please? What on earth is undemocratic about the current foyer spaces? What is the opposite of a democratic foyer space? What about: A Dictatorship Foyer Space: Someone stands at the entrance, and bans anyone they feel doesn't match whatever criteria they have decided on for that particular evening. An exciting one, because possible you could get in without buying a ticket. A Communist Foyer Space: In theory it is open to everyone, but in reality only those in favour with the current Management are allowed in.

For the McCartney video, perhaps we should see how many people we can identify (without cheating and looking it up) From one viewing, apart from the ones you mentioned, I saw Jude Law, Jeremy Irons and I assume the red haired lady is Lily Cole. I have absolutely no idea who the blonde lady crawling across the piano is - no doubt she is someone extremely famous!

I haven't read back through all the pages on this thread, so this may already have come up. Why oh why do people take babies or very small children to art galleries or museums? What on earth can a child of pre school age get out of gazing at a picture of, say, a Turner seascape? Or the display cabinets at the British Museum? All you get are bored, wailing children who would rather be somewhere else, either screaming at the tops of their voices, or running about and causing havoc.

Yes, I think that sums it up perfectly, and was what my teacher was talking about. She disliked a very high leg in a penchee for the classics, and used to say, "just because you can, does not mean you should".

I had a moment of panic after I posted that, because she didn't actually give the number of degrees, merely demonstrated a midway point somewhere above 90 degrees, and I translated it into a number! I thought it was quite a big difference myself. So I did a bit of experimentation in front of the mirror. I think it depends on whether your body is upright or whether you are leaning forward into a penchee arabesque. Probably need someone like Anjuli to translate my babbling!

I have to say that I never saw Makarova live on stage, but I have seen plenty of clips of her, and I hate, hate, hate how slooooooooooowly she does everything! A trend that seems to have affected every dancer in this country ever since. If you see a clip of Pavlova doing the original Dying Swan, and then compare it with Makarova, the latter does it at half speed. Very beautiful, no doubt, but nothing at all like the original.

I've just had a look on Youtube, and found a clip of Ashton talking to Makarova about Pavlova. He said she was technically quite limited(although that may have been because her repertoire was also a bit limited). However, he said she had the most incredible speed, together with a natural grace which he said was lacking in current generations of dancers.

Anjuli, that is a wonderful story about Alonso. How lucky you were to see her. I had completely forgotten she was blind. How on earth did she manage to turn without being able to spot? I have edited to add that I agree with your assessment about later dancers and the Assoluta title. I have seen many wonderful performances, but I don't think I have ever seen one where I came out and said, "Yes, that is the best performance I have ever seen of that classic, and that is the standard by which every other dancer of her generation should be measured."

Well, that is good news, if the majority of girls and boys joining the company are coming up through White Lodge. That is exactly as it should be. I only saw the bit about Gina Storm-Jensen, who joined RB in the Upper School, and wasn't Annette Buvoli an Upper School entrant as well, or have I got her muddled up with someone else? Also, what is the percentage split between males and females, as far as rising up via White Lodge is concerned?

While I am delighted that these youngsters have been given the chance, I always find it a little bit sad that so many of these "pupils of the Royal Ballet School" actually came into the Upper school via the Prix or other competitions, rather than White Lodge.

We were always taught that for these classics the leg in arabesque should be somewhere between 90 and 135 degrees, depending on the choreography and your physique. Anything more than that, my teacher used to say, was too "modern". I can still hear her voice saying, "Classic and elegant, please, girls, no showing off." And it does look precisely that, beautiful with the arms enhancing the line of the leg, rather than the hands battling with the feet. Wonder what they say now.

I find myself smiling about all the good comments going towards ENB. I have always really enjoyed their performances, and frequently found in the past their triple bills more lively and exciting that those down the road in the Posh Place. And I have often been startled at the numbers of empty seats in the theatre. I am just counting the pennies in my piggy bank, and see which performances I can afford in London, the coming January being rather an expensive month for me as far as theatre going is concerned.

Hope your computer is better now Alison. At the moment, I am suffering from blues brought on by the stress of trying to do too many things at once, and getting very, very weary as a result. I would have to say that coming home and having a lovely dinner cooked by my husband is a wonderful treat for the blues!

And just going on from my previous post, I think choreographers appear to have had a large say in the matter as well. Having said that, Balenchine didn't think to name any of his ladies in that way - maybe because, from what I have read about him, he was hugely jealous and went off them if they dared to spurn his attentions off stage?

"The second ballerina to be given the title was Legnani's contemporary Mathilde Kschessinska. Petipa, however, did not agree that she should hold such a title; although an extraordinary ballerina, she obtained the title primarily via Imperial prestige." Just found this quote regarding Kschessinska. As far as I can see, Danseur Noble seems to indicate more the type of role a male dancer is judged to be a supreme example of, rather than his dancing overall. It seems it doesn't carry the same indication of being "the best of the best". I am struggling to think of any of the recent Principal females that I have seen that could possible fit into that category. I suppose the reason the title isn't handed out any more is because the names on the list were, in their own ways, ground breaking in terms of achievement. I can't really think of anyone who towered or towers above the others in quite the same way today.

I think I read somewhere that Kchessinskaya more or less demanded that she be given the title, because she was very well connected and powerful. I believe there was some controversy about this, and various people very high up in the ballet world felt she did not deserve it for her dancing. That may, of course, be just rumour. The clip I saw on youtube of Phyllis Spira showed her doing a piece from Le Corsaire. I thought she was very Fonteyn-like in the way she danced. She also looked mixed race to me, but I say that just by looking at the clip, and I have not had a chance to read up anything else about her. Now here is a good topic - who among the ballet dancers of the last few years should have received this title officially, do you think? I shall now settle down and wait for the debates to begin!

Thanks Meunier, I am very pleased to hear that. It is depressing sometimes to see excellent dance productions going to "the Provinces" and then getting poor audiences. An interesting point about the timing of the show. Presumably there is a very good reason for starting at 7.30pm? I am wondering if it is something to do with dancers' recovery time after rehearsal, or something like that? Never having been a professional dancer, I am not quite sure what sort of hours they work! Otherwise, the savvy Miss Rojo will hopefully read your comment, and maybe adjust the show's timing accordingly. It does make sense, now I think about it. Fonty

It is great to see these wonderful reviews. As a matter of interest, was the theatre brimming with people? It seems that the London venue is starting to fill up nicely, and it has always been difficult to fill that theatre!

I was also fascinated by that title when I was a child. I've just looked up the history of this, and found the following explanation: "The title or rank of Prima ballerina assoluta was originally inspired by the Italian ballet masters of the early Romantic Ballet and was bestowed on a ballerina who was considered to be exceptionally talented, above the standard of other leading ballerinas. The title is very rarely used today and recent uses have typically been symbolic, in recognition of a notable career and as a result, it is commonly viewed as an honour rather than an active rank. The first recorded use of the title as an official rank, was by the renowned French balletmaster Marius Petipa, when he bestowed it on the Italian ballerina Pierina Legnani in 1894. He considered her to be the supreme danseuse in all of Europe. Legnani performed with the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet from 1893 until 1901. The only two ballerinas to hold the title Prima ballerina assoluta in the Soviet Union were Galina Ulanova and Maya Plisetskaya. Other dancers awarded the title include Alicia Alonso from Cuba and Dame Alicia Markova and Dame Margot Fonteyn from England. To date no American ballerina has ever held the rank of Prima ballerina assoluta; Rudolf Nureyev considered the ballerina Cynthia Gregory to be the only American ballerina deserving of such a title. He also described French dancer Yvette Chauviré as a "legend". In South Africa, the only ballerina granted the title Prima ballerina assoluta (1984) was Phyllis Spira (1943-2008)." It doesn't actually say who makes the decision, but clearly the examples were official titles. I am also a little ashamed to say I had to look up Phyllis Spira, I'd never heard of her. (Edited to add I've just watched a short clip of her on Youtube, and she fully deserves the title!)

Can somebody please, please tell me why Morera is cast so rarely in Principal roles, particularly in the MacMillan ballets? She was brilliant in Manon, so why so just the one performance? (Edited to add I think she just did the one? I have been away quite a bit, so may have missed out on up to date info) I know she was desperate to dance Juliet, so why has she never been given the chance?

That is terrible. How unhelpful of them. Having said that, my council is not much better. They have a free, "3 large items" collection once a month. However, it is bizarre what they will not take away. We removed an ancient shower cubicle, only to find they would not touch anything made of fibreglass. We also had an ancient sink, but they wouldn't take that either - no baths or sinks. 3 large floor tiles? No, too heavy. An old garden table? Only if it was under a certain size (it wasn't). In the end, we cut the shower cubicle into tiny pieces and stuffed it in the dustbin. The tiles also went in our dustbin, 1 at a time so the bin wasn't too heavy. The sink? Yes, smashed with a hammer and into the dustbin. The table we left outside in the front garden, and it had disappeared by the next morning. The stupid thing is, we were told to take all these things to the nearest recycle centre ourselves. Bit difficult, as we only have a motorbike, and that was why we were asking them to come in the first place!