Fonty

I love so many of the choices above. I don't think Monotones 1 & 2 has been mentioned yet? So maybe: Monotones 1 & 2 Rite of Spring The Concert The last two could be substituted with anything dramatic in the middle and something cheerful and lively at the end, out of the many suggestions already made. Incidentally, has the RB ever done Etudes? I believe the last time I saw it was with ENB (?) Wouldn't mind seeing that as part of a triple bill. Oh, and the Lesson as part of a triple as well?

I can understand it if someone has a particular liking for one dancer, but not the partner they are being paired with. It happens. I often longed to see Guillem with someone other than Cope, as I felt they were not well matched dramatically. However, Cope was a fantastic partner, and tall as well, so presumably that is why he was always paired with her. Looking at ballets mentioned above, when it comes to the Nutcracker, the principals have so little to do, comparatively speaking, I don't think it really matters. Everyone speaks highly of Hirano's partnering skills in Manon, which are vital for that particular ballet. So really, I suppose it boils down to Swan Lake, where they will spend a great deal of time on stage together. However, much of that will see the man standing behind the lady supporting her, so those watching could feast their eyes on Ms Lamb and tune out the pair of hands holding her if they want to.

I haven't seen the ballet enough times to know who the greats are, but I was really impressed with his performance in this. He was dancing with Rojo, and together they seemed to gel dramatically. I found myself wishing he could have been paired with her more often, rather than his usual partners of Guillem and Bussell. I agree about the last run of Cinderella. Prior to that, for some reason it never really seemed to do it for me; I didn't find the music that appealing. This time, I really enjoyed it, and wondered why I hadn't liked it before. I would be very happy indeed to see it again. I was really impressed by McRae when I saw him as Oberon in The Dream. I'd always thought him an excellent technician, but I never really warmed to him, preferring others. I thought he was wonderful in this, both in terms of his dancing and his acting. So wonderfully haughty.

I adore Sarah Lamb, I think she is a delightful dancer. I haven't seen her with Hirano, but I thought he was wonderful as Espada, the best one I saw from the last run of Don Quixote.

Talking of coughing fits, I find that even if I don't have a cough before I go in, there is something about the atmosphere in theatres that sets me off. I had a terrible couple of minutes when I went to see Witness for the Prosecution recently, and I was really embarrassed. No idea what caused it. My water bottle was buried deep in the depths of my bag, so it took some frantic rummaging to retrieve it, which seemed to solve the problem. Does anybody else have this problem?

I went to Cecil Sharp House this morning with my husband. We were going to see if one of the rooms there would be suitable to hire for an event. We met up with the person who co-organises the event with my husband, whom I have known for years. While we were there, I mentioned that although I had never been to the place before, I remembered someone from a ballet class I did years ago talking about. it. They used to go there for folk dancing classes. This led on to a general discussion about dancing. My husband's friend said he was a terrible dancer, and knew nothing about any of it. However, one of his friends from school was married to an ex ballet dancer. He asked me if I had heard of her. Her name was Darcey Bussell......

With regard to littering, where I live I overlook a small local park. In the summer I am appalled when people just dump their rubbish by the litter bin and saunter off. On hot days, the mounds of stuff are dreadful. People carry the full bottles and containers to the park in a bag of some sort; why the heck can't they use that same bag to carry their empties home with them? I challenged a group once as I was walking home. They said they didn't want to carry around dirty, smelly containers with them, and said it was the fault of the council for not providing big enough litter bins. The fact that other people might have to endure the resulting smell and pest problem didn't bother them at all. Also, I recently took a train to Portsmouth. I had to change somewhere on route to get the right train, and when the train arrived, the first two carriages were completely taken over by a huge group of primary school children. At the end of the journey I walked back through the train. Those two compartments looked as though a bomb had hit them. Rubbish piled high on every single table, drink and food crushed onto the table tops and underfoot, together with what looked like the result of a paper napkin fight - bits of paper everywhere. These children must have been travelling with teachers. What on earth were they thinking to allow children to make that much mess and then leave it behind. So, if parents and teachers aren't bothered by littering, and the idea of clearing up is not enforced on the younger generations, then a filthy dirty environment is seen by many as someone else's problem now.

Anybody else got a Telegraph offer I can take??

I am trying to think what attitudes, language and conventions were so controversial at the time that they need a warning sign outside. Are theatres doing this for everything now? I would imagine some of Shakespeare's works might be pretty alarming to the modern generation.

@Geoff If I knew that, I have forgotten. I have done a quick search, but there are so many posts about the ballet, it might take me a long time to find the answer. Could you tell me what the incidents were, please?

You don't mean to say you actually played it, Alison? They were horrible pieces, and I don't know why they were always included.

Well, I have to say that the Miraculous Mandarin looks a heck of a lot more exciting than some other modern works I have seen. Bela Bartok. Ah yes. When I did music exams on the piano, there were two compulsory pieces, and a choice of 2 (?) for the third piece. One of the choices was always by Bartok. I, along with everyone else I know, chose the other one every time.

As has been mentioned earlier, once a ballet gets a reputation for being "twee", then I think the dancers themselves start to lose faith in it and begin to dance without real conviction. A lot of Ashton was created for specific dancers. I know that Two Pigeons was created for Lynn Seymour, and from what I have read about her, twee was the last word to describe her. Yet when I saw it, a lot of the dancers seemed to be too ladylike, too balletic? They didn't give the Girl a genuine personality. They were trying hard, but they just didn't get it quite right. I would have loved to see what Morera could have done with the role. I suspect she would have made her into a proper feisty character. I was also disappointed with Birthday Offering. Originally the choreography was created to enhance each dancer's specific talents. The production I saw had a cast of principals, but the only difference between them all was the colour of their costumes. It just looked a bit dull as a result.

Maybe @zxDaveM could answer that? I believe he referred to some twee one act Ashton ballets earlier on in the thread? I do find it a bit ironic that Dowell decided to get rid of much (if not all?) of Ashton's choreography for the Sleeping Beauty when he commissioned a new one, given that he was such a wonderful performer of Ashton's work.

That reminds me of a story I read, possibly written by a dance critic, I can't remember. A very small child was in attendance, and at that crucial moment a small voice piped up loudly "What are they doing now, Mummy?"

I have only seen The Invitation once, but I thought it was a very powerful piece of drama. And brilliantly danced by Naghdi on the occasion I saw it. On the other hand, I have seen the Judas Tree several times, and personally I just find it a bit over the top. Having said that, if it was on a triple bill I wouldn't walk out.

I have had exactly the same problem. I didn't dare book a ticket until they published the dates for strikes in December.

I notice that the thread has concentrated on much older works that used to be performed by the RB. I try to avoid MacGregor works as a rule. Have his ballets aged badly, do you think?

I adore Bourne's Swan Lake. Wonderfully moving. Interesting though, that when he did the Sleeping Beauty, he didn't feel the need to alter the male and female roles. I suppose there is room for an inventive choreographer to do a complete role reversal, and have Aurora seeking out her sleeping prince. However, I do not want to see male pointe work become a feature. I think the ladies do that rather nicely, leave it them, and keep the men doing all those wonderful leaps and turns.

There speaks someone who has obtained one of the cheaper seats or standing tickets? You might feel differently if you've paid over £100 to see the performance.......

Yet often a restaging of a ballet can end up with something not very attractive at all. Costumes that were originally in subtle colours are redone in garish ones, scenery that gave a suggestion of the environment is replaced with eye walloping structures that distract from the whole piece. I am thinking specifically here of the BRB production of Les Rendezvous. I have only seen pictures of the original white costumes, but I still can't get those hideous colours and ghastly scenery of this production out of my head. Whoever thought those were a good idea I don't know, but the problem was it was so off putting it really affected my perception of the ballet. I live in fear that someone will come along and decide that Symphonic Variations needs modernising and livening up and give it the same treatment. Then I might suddenly find I don't like it as much any more. There has also been talk of the costumes and makeup for The Dream being old fashioned. I thing the only horrible thing in that is the long blonde wig that poor old Titania is saddled with. They can get rid of that, but I love the rest. I've mentioned Ashton ballets, but I know I have seen some horrible designs for Swan Lake too. I appreciate costumes must wear out, but it must cost a fortune to make these new costumes, and often they are so nasty I wonder why they didn't just copy the old ones. On the topic of M & A, I am not overly keen on it and it wouldn't bother me if I never saw it again.

@Sim Do these people also find the Tchaikovsky ballets old fashioned? Or the romantic ballets such as Giselle? I am curious, because if young people don't like these, then perhaps the problem is they don't actually like classical ballet very much. And that leads us neatly back to the fact that ballet is no longer considered a popular art form, and is hardly ever shown on television any more. We don't have the variety shows I remember from my childhood, and even when we did ballet and opera, even Gilbert and Sullivan, were no longer standard fare. Add in the lack of music in schools, which introduces pupils to classical music, and the prospect for the future seems rather bleak.

With regard to ballets seeming outdated now, I wonder if in part it is because the performers themselves don't quite understand what is required of them? Surely it takes a while for dancers who are unused to a certain choreographer to really get to grips with it. I expect we have all seen certain ballets resurrected after many years, and been disappointed by something that looks rather dull and uninspiring. Yet I go on Youtube, and see exactly the same ballet danced by the original creators, and the ballet comes to life and sparkles. With regard to Checkmate, I saw Bussell as the Black Queen. I loved the set and the costumes, but I did think she was miscast. Nobody can question her technical abilities, but I didn't get any sense of menace from her at all. I didn't get a chance to see Yanowsky in the role, I suspect I would have enjoyed her performance much more as she was wonderful at playing these sorts of characters. I thought Pineapple Poll was great when I saw it with the BRB. Lively, fun, sent me off on a high. I also really enjoyed ENB's Le Corsaire. I don't care if a ballet features pirates, slave girls, men playing women. No different to watching ballets about fairy tale princesses, fairies, ghosts, lively happy peasants in clean clothing. Just give me fantastic dancing and wonderful music and I am happy. On the other hand, I never, ever want to see the Judas Tree again. It might be deep and meaningful, but I find it dreadfully boring. And the same goes for a lot of other newer, more modern stuff as well.

I thought the female parts in Shakespeare were played by boys rather than men? Or at least, by very young men who could pass as female more easily. I believe that once they got past a certain age, their days of playing the female roles were over? I suppose this is slightly off the original topic, but as Shakespeare has been mentioned, he very rarely describes what his characters look like physically. However, the description of Othello is very specific. He is a Moor. Obviously if there is a black actor they would be the obvious choice. Having said that, if they are playing the lead in Othello, then I would expect to be seeing them in other leading roles where the characters are of a similar age - Macbeth, say, or Hamlet. I would have no problems whatsoever with seeing a black actor play either of these two characters. By the same token, I have no problems watching actors (or dancers) who are on the mature side playing Romeo and Juliet. I saw Carlos Acosta as Romeo several times; it never bothered me that everyone else in Verona was white. Didn't even give it a thought. Now here comes the controversial bit, but I'll say it anyway. Supposing there is no non white actor of sufficient calibre to play Othello? Does the company put the play on hold until there is? Or cast someone purely because of their skin colour? Why should one of the leading Shakespearean actors of their time be denied the chance to perform a terrific role if they don't happen to have naturally very dark skin? Apparently the Moors had a variety of different complexions. The Encyclopaedia Britannica says they were variously described by Europeans as black, tawny or swarthy in skin colour. Actors routinely wear make up and wigs to alter their appearance, and that description covers a lot of different possibilities. I'll wait for my post to be moderated after someone objects.......

I am going in January. I bought my ticket in June......