Fonty

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!

It certainly should be free if you are visiting somebody in the hospital. My father was in hospital for 3 months, recovering from a serious operation and then a broken arm bone where he slipped in the hospital bathroom. My poor mother was paying huge amounts every week to park there, and there was no other parking available. And she had to pay per visit, and she often went twice a day. I think they should issue a free visitor's pass for people who are in hospital for more than a couple of days. Or at least, some sort of discount. You should not have to pay nearly £300 a month to visit your loved ones.

Janet, do you live near public transport that gets you to an airport, or anything like that? My old flat was within 5 minutes of tube and bus links to two of the major London airports. And we found that people used our road as a free parking spot for their car when they went away on holiday. Perfectly legal, of course, but it did mean that parking was very difficult to find if you actually lived there. In the end, the council brought in the dreaded "residents' parking."

Are you talking about edible treats? Or any sort of treats? (Because I am a huge fan of a lolling in a hot bath with a good book if I have those "cold weather, short grey day, freezing cold" sort of blues. ) But edible treats? Well, I love baking, and I have to say that a nice cup of tea and a slice of home made cake usually perks me up. And I have to say, there is something about a bacon sarnie, on white bread, with lots of tomato ketchup, that seems to have a wonderfully reviving effect when I am feeling a bit down. I haven't read Anjuli's ordeal, which thread is that? However, if I am abroad and feeling low, there is something about a thick, hot chocolate that does the trick. I remember having a wonderful one in Madrid, the best ever. You could stand your spoon up in it!

I've sort of gone off Freecycle since I heard that dealers were collecting things for free and then selling them. I am not sure if this is an urban myth, though?

I am amazed you got a charity to take anything. I have some good quality furniture, but because it is not rated for fire resistance they refused to look at it. A friend of mine had the same problem. She was getting rid of a very expensive dining table and chairs, purchased from Heals, and no charity would touch it. She ended up paying the council to take it all away, which she was very upset about.

Spearing wild pigs? Goodness, did ladies indulge in such bloodthirsty activities? No wonder the Prince refused, he certainly wasn't dressed for the occasion! I didn't really notice all the costumes at the start of Act 3, there was so much going on, but I did notice at the curtain call that there was somebody wearing an animal mask of some kind, and another male dressed in some sort of Ali Baba outfit. I suppose we should be thankful the 40 Thieves didn't turn up and do individual variations.

Yes, I was the same last night, for the same reason, I was just very tired. Why are the Puss in Boots and Red Riding Hood variations there in the first place? The music certainly sounds cat like for the former, did Tchaikovsky actually create and insert this particular piece of music here for a special reason? Or did he create a piece and somebody thought it would be a good idea to put it into the Act III celebrations? I've tried a quick google, but I can't find anything on the creation of either the music or the ballet, so I would be interested to know.

Aileen, I agree with you. When it was danced as well as last night, I don't mind, but they do come at the end of a fairly long evening. They are fun pieces, but I don't think the ballet would suffer any if they were cut out. Talking of the other variations, the costumes for the Pas de Quatre included tutus for the ladies with black underskirts. When the ladies lifed their legs, they looked as though they were wearing sheer black knickers. I have never really associated these dances with saucy lingerie before!

I went to the performance last night, but I didn't take a camera. Sorry Bruce. Just a few rambling thoughts, in no particular order, not really on the dancing itself but the production. This is a gorgeous Sleeping Beauty visually, with lovely costumes and great sets. My one teeny tiny complaint is that sometimes I would like to see the Lilac Fairy in a proper lilac costume. The dress for this production is in such a pale colour, it looked more like the Silver Fairy. It is, however, a very gracious and elegant outfit. I have no problem with the Lilac Fairy being a non dancing role. It balances out the Carabosse character. These are clearly two senior fairies with equal powers, so it makes more sense that the Lilac Fairy can remove the fatal spell cast by Carabosse with her own fairy gift. Marion Tate was a wonderfully evil Carabosse, and I loved the curtain call at the end, where she and Lilac Fairy came on together and remained in character as they .took their curtseys (each keeping a very careful and wary eye on the other!) All the dancers seemed to be performing with verve and style. I even enjoyed the Puss-in-Boots and Red Riding Hood dances. In the past, I have sometimes got a trifle bored with these, feeling that this is supposed to be a wedding celebration for Royalty, so why have we got people prancing around in animal costumes? Mathias Dingman and Momoko Hirata were wonderful in the Bluebird solos, although I did think the wig for Mathias made him look a bit like Julian Clary. Iain Mackay was a marvellously regal Prince, managing the difficult task of looking handsome and debonaire in white tights, and Jenna Roberts was a beautiful Sleeping Beauty. Personally, I thought she was very nervous throughout the Rose Adagio. However, once that was over, she seemed to relax and settle down. I won't go into detail about that, as I might put my thoughts on that particular solo into a separate post. A question for people who have seen this production (or any other production, it might be a standard mime for all of them). When the prince first appears with the party of ladies in riding outfits, what particular activity does he decline when they all go off together and he stays behind alone? As far as I could make out, it looked as though they were going to do a bit of digging with a spade! No wonder he declined, pale tights don't go along with that activity at all.

That reminds me of my other half's sister in law. His brother's house is one of the tidiest I have ever been in, partly because they don't seem to read. No books, no magazines, nothing. They don't seem to have any hobbies either, as far as I can see. I visited once with a newly purchased, unread newspaper. And I had to fish it out of the dustbin when I left, she must have put it there when I went out of the living room for a moment! Agree with asking people to write on the back of photos. I begged my mother to do it, many years ago, but she never got round to it.

It could have been, Alison. I think it did have a mirror at the back, but it was some time ago they did it, so my memory is a little vague. Regarding musicality, I think this is what separates a good dancer from a great one, for me. I hate to see a dancer playing around with the music. For example, I have seen many dancers hold an arabesque for longer than the choregrapher intended, and then rush through the following steps slightly out of time in order to catch up with the music. And all so that the audience can gasp with astonishment at how high they can lift their legs. It really, really annoys me! So does shoving in a double or triple pirouette, just to show they can, when there is really only time in the phrasing for a single. It isn't clever, it does not dazzle me, it just seems to make a mockery of the conductor and orchestra. I am sure you can all think of other examples, but it is one of the things I used to hate about the visiting Russian companies, and one of the qualities I loved about the English style of dancing. Ashton's muse was Fonteyn, who must have been one of the most musically gifted dancers ever, and may perhaps explain why current dancers appear to struggle with his "simple" choreography. .