Fonty

Absolutely, Floss. I remember being at a filmed performance many years ago, when I was a child. There was an advanced warning that the stage lighting would be much brighter than normal, and it could get quite hot in the theatre. The whole performace was geared towards the fact that it was being filmed. As a consequence, tickets for the audience were cheaper. It was quite strange in a way, because it was like sitting in broad daylight, and the dancers must have been able to see the people in the stalls quite clearly.

I was out, and rushed home thinking it started at 9pm, so I missed the first 10 minutes. I thought we would get a lot of actors doing fake Russian accents, and that the dance scenes would show the same actors standing still on stage with artfully arranged arms. Instead, the actual format was excllent; a very interesting programme.

I've got a DVD of the Nureyev Nutcracker, and the rats really do look menacing. I have to say I like the pas de deux for the SPF and the Prince as well. It might be "fiendishly difficult", I don't know, but Merle Park looks as though she is coping with it without making too much heavy weather of it. I like the way it seems to fill the music. It is, however, a bit of a marathon, I suppose, because there are no pauses for breath somewhere in the middle - they dance from beginning to end and it is quite long.

Why would somebody complain if they were not getting a Principal? I could understand the disappointment if they had booked to see a particular dancer and they were injured, but generally I like to see the lower ranks being given the chance to show what they can do. If someone is chosen from the corps and gives a stunning performance, then everyone can congratulate themselves on having the immense good fortune to be there the night when a potential star of the future is dancing. I am pretty certain that when Darcey Bussell danced the lead role in Prince of the Pagodas all those years ago, the audience didn't sit around complaining that it wasn't a Principal dancing.

I am assuming it was Ore Oduba? He used to be a presenter on CBBC, so perhaps he was being used in order to appeal to a younger audience?

I didn't see it live last night, but I think that is the same guy who presented with Darcey with they did the live R & J broadcast? If so, I thought he was very good then, and had a nice rapport with her. Strange he should be less good this time. Maybe he was a last minute substitute as well?

Didn't see it, Janet, but the costumes looked good. I just realised that McGregor has been resident choreographer for almost 10 years now. Here's a question for everyone. Which of his existing creations do you think the RB will be dancing 10 years from now? Of the one act ballets, which ones do you think will be regular items on triple bills for years to come? I am genuinely interested in people's opinions here, as I am not familiar with a lot of his work.

I can't remember the last time I saw Bonelli, but reading this made me think back to the Jonathon Cope years. I saw Mr Cope partnering both Guillem and Bussell, where he provided skillful support, and a handsome but not particularly dramatic male presence. For several years, I thought that "solid" was about the best adjective I could apply to him . Then he danced with Rojo, and it was a revelation. Suddenly, he wasn't just the figure who stood behind or beside the lady anymore. I realised he had real personality, and could act. So I suppose this goes back to the issue of nurturing partnerships that really seem to work together, both from the point of view of the individuals concerned, and that of the audience.

Not exactly phrased in those terms, but I have heard various directors state that they have to have new works in order to keep their dancers interested. And Darcey Bussell said publicly that it was the fact that she was having new works created specifically for her that kept her going. I cannot remember her exact words, but the implication was that otherwise she might not have stayed at the RB. Must it? I am not sure about that. There are some dancers that are clearly suited both physically and technically to the modern rep, and others that are better at the historic ballets. I hesitate to mention specific dancers, but by and large the taller, leggy girls seem to excel in the former, but do not always appear totally at ease in the latter. Of course, someone like Nunez seems to move from the one to the other with aplomb, but she is exceptionally rare. IMO, obviously.

As someone who gets taken out somewhere posh for afternoon tea once a year as a gift, I would say the price is about average, especially if the champagne is included in the price. However, I would expect to have wonderful cakes, and a choice of several different kinds of loose leaf tea, served in a proper tea pot with a strainer. Plus an unlimited supply of sandwiches and scones. And a box to take home any cakes I can't eat.

If you have a resident choreographer who is classified as modern rather than classical, then it means you either have to have a large cast of dancers who specialise in one or the other, or give them more time to rehearse and adjust between styles. If dancers perform too much contemporary work, many of them seem to lose the finer edge of their classical technique. Which means we then get workmanlike, but uninspired renditions of what I think of as "proper" ballet. When I watch Mr MacGregor's fast and frenzied steps, I have no idea whether they are being well danced or not. When I watch something like Monotones, with its moments of stillness and emphasis on graceful lines, it is crystal clear when it is being danced to perfection, and when it is not. I think the critics are being a bit harsh on MacGregor. I am not his greatest fan myself, but I am not against new works, and in spite of earlier comments I have made, I do like a lot of contemporary dance. It is just when I look at some of the new offerings by the RB, I think that a good deal of it could be performed just as well, if not better, by dance companies who specialise in that style. In short, it seems a waste of a classical ballet company. And I don't think it is sufficient argument that the dancers themselves need new works created on them, or they get bored. If a senior dancer is tired of churning out Swan Lake or Giselle, then let them retire, or join another company. There are plenty of new and eager recruits just desperate for the chance to move up the ranks, and show what they can do in these "tired" old classics. And plenty of audience members keen to watch them.

Neither am I, nor is anyone else I know who frequents the ballet. Can't pass judgement on the opera audience, I've never been. However, I am guessing the word "elite" is used by those who don't go to the ROH, who presume that those who do are nobs and toffs. Edited to add that I remember John Sim being interrogated on the Jonathon Ross show about his attendance at the ballet. Mr Ross seemed to think this was a most unusual interest for someone to have, who wasn't born into the aristocracy.

Oh, crikey, MAB, does one need a certain level of intellect to be able to understand contemporary dance? That must be why I don't like most of it; I am obviously too dim to appreciate it!

When was the last time the RB did Les Sylphides? Having watched Markova dancing the role in a piece shown on the BBC4 programme about Ballrooms and Ballerinas, I thought she looked gorgeous in the role, but I don't think I have ever seen it live on stage anywhere.

Alison, I've seen that snippet from Blue Peter before, they showed it when they were streaming Bussell's last performance live from the Opera House. They don't say who the other students are, although they might have done in the original BP programme.

I saw the first programme about Ballrooms and Ballerinas. On reflection, I suppose the programme gave a good overall view of the sort of coverage the BBC has shown over the years, but it was frustrating to see tantalising five second glimpses of recorded performances, and made me long to see longer versions of the recorded programme. First of all, I was surprised they showed so much ballet on television in the past. I've got so used to it being an occasional item, shoved on to BB4. I enjoyed the tiny snippets of ballet that they showed, particularly the footage of Markova. I don't think I have seen her dancing before. Also, I couldn't get over how small she was. When Fonteyn stood next to her, she seemed quite a bit taller. As Fonteyn was about 5'3" (I think?) then Markova can't have been much over 5 foot tall. However, I found it irritating that the banner that came up with the title and date of the original programme hid the dancers' legs and feet. To me, it was a bit like having a clip of a famous opera singer performing, then muting their singing while a voice over tells you all about them. Finally, you get to hear 3 seconds of the aria, if you are lucky. I appreciate it was merely a round up, but I still found it annoying! The section on ballroom seemed to me to be primarily interested in poking fun at the Come Dancing programme and its participants. I felt the voice over resembled Come Dine with Me in places, particularly when it singled out clips of people talking about the dresses, or whether their relationship with their dance partner made their real life partners jealous. It was interesting to see the excerpts from the film about boys at the Royal Ballet. Does anyone know who the boy being interviewed was? I was surprised his name didn't come up on screen.

Well, in that case I shall be asking Mr O'Hare to get some more shorter legged, quick footed dancers! Let's hear it for petite ballerinas!

I liked Woolf Works, but I am not sure I would give it the 5 stars that everyone else seems to feel it deserves. I am not entirely sure I would rush back to see it again, unless someone of Ferri's stature was in the lead role. To be frank, it was only her name that coaxed me into buying a ticket to start with. I am not sure how much input she had overall, but I thought it was interesting that all her steps remained resolutely within the classical ballet style. No "arched- back-bum-out" wiggle for her, no hyperextensions, wild head movements, frenzied arms. And certainly no unseemly crotch revealing lifts, either. I just wondered if she had flatly refused to do them, and gone her own way! Has Rojo had financial success with some of her more experimental programmes? You can sell tickets for that sort of thing in London, but how did it go down in the provinces, where they like their Swan Lakes and Nutcrackers? Also, I've never seen Golding, but he must have something or he wouldn't be a Principal, surely? Maybe it is another case of finding the right partner. I would like to tell Mr O'Hare that I want him to carry on with the Ashtons that he has started to introduce back in to the programmes. Ultimately, I think the dancers are better for having to get to grips with the classical purety that Ashton demands, and as a result their dancing in the other traditional ballets will be better. Hopefully.

I haven't seen Sweet Violets, but I think this is my main complaint about most of the new works I have seen over the past few years by the RB. Too much going on at the same time. If there are 3 couples on stage all doing something different, I don't know which pair to look at. My eyes end up darting about all over the place, and the overall impression I get is one of frantic confusion. That's why I find it a relief to get back to Monotones or Symphonic Variations.

Worth a try, just for the novelty value. It would certainly bring ballet up to date when they attempt to perform a Star Trek episode. I could just see the opera house stage filled with dancing Klingons.

"…but the Chinese were at it half a century ago!" Was it true that at one point the only ballet the Chinese were allowed to perform dealt with the revolution? Or did it just feel like that? Anyway, I remember watching some interminable production on tv where one dancer after another came on in camouflage trousers and pranced about with weapons. And very boring it was, too. IMO obviously. Edited to add if you want to have a ballet that deals with racism, why not have a performance of R & J where Romeo and his friends are black, and Juliet and her relatives are all white (or the other way round, depending on the dancers being cast.) Would add another aspect to the hatred between the families.

Does the bomb have to have any country's flag on it, and if so, why the UK one? It's bad enough when I go to the cinema, and see Hollywood has yet another sneering villain with a clipped English accent. Seriously, though, I can't be the only person who would be uneasy at the thought of dancers twirling machine guns in ensemble pieces. The sword fighting in R & J is one thing; nobody fights that way any more. But guns are all too real, and I certainly don't want to see them incorporated into classical ballet.

She made patchy progress, however, which some observers blamed on an inattentive Royal Ballet management failing to nurture her through the tests of classical repertoire. I saw this paragraph, and wondered what was behind it. How did the RB management fail to nurture her?

I think this is by far the best production of the Nutcracker, and I am really sorry I can't make any of the performances this year.

Does anyone do a production of Nutcracker with Clara being played by an 11 year old girl? ENB in the old days used to do one, and I thought having a proper little girl made it all the more appealing to children. At least it did to me when I was a child. Do we need to see them? Are they interacting with the SPF? I thought they were supposed to be a bit like the King and Queen in Sleeping Beauty. We know they are present, but who looks at them when the Rose Adagio is being danced. I have no idea why the SPF has to have that horrible wig. Sugar plums come in all colours, so why can't the dancers just have either their own hair, or something that matches their colouring, with a bit of sparkle added? I think the best version of the Kingdom of the Sweets is the one by Matthew Bourne, where you literally get dancing sweets. Fabulous!