Fonty

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!

I agree that BRB was more enjoyable, and it could be stage size. In my case, I also preferred watching it from the stalls, rather than up above in the amphi, but that could be simply that I could see the expressions more clearly. I think this was really the heart of the problem. I didn't like Cutherbertson either. It could have been that she was too sophisticated. I think my own thought was that she was too balletic, and not enough like the boisterous young girl she was supposed to be. Consequently, all the bits of choreography that should have been amusing or charming just seemed almost embarrassing

Wasn't Belinda Hatley's retirement announced in advance?

I can't say I noticed a particular problem with his timing as such, which surprises me, because it is one of my pet hates in group dancing. However, I was tending to focus more on Watson than the trio together. I just felt that Hristov's movements seemed a bit laboured. Yes, it could be that Watson is more fluid. It was nice to see him performing pure, calm, classical ballet, rather than the things I usually see him in. I couldn't see the back of the stalls circle from where I was sitting, but the auditorium felt a good deal livelier than on the previous occasion.

I assume everyone else who danced it, did so at the same speed as well? Are dancers given the option now as to what speed they want for a particular variation? I can understand this for something such as the 32 fouettes in Swan Lake, because this is intended to be a show-off sort of moment, where individuals can tackle it slightly differently if they want to. But generally, I would have thought that dancers should be expected to perform to the tempo that was used when it was choreographed. And there must be plent of records to show what that speed was.

When I saw Monotones 1 the first time about 10 days ago, I thought it came across as a bit dull, which irritated me because I could see the wonderful ballet it should have been. On Saturday night I saw a different cast, and thought it was terrific, and couldn't believe the difference. I would have liked to have seen a different cast for Monotones 11, but didn't. However, I liked it just as much the second time around. Again, I thought Watson looked extremely elegant in this. I could not put my finger on why Hristov didn't look as good. He was matching the others with every step, so the only thing I could think of was that his physique was a little bit more thick set, relatively speaking. And he had some slightly clumsy finishes to his pirouettes, which stood out for me because he performed them right in front of me. I enjoyed 2P much more the second time. It may have been the fact that I was sitting in the stalls rather than the roof, but I didn't find the pigeon movements were too overdone, whereas the first time I thought it seemed to go on for ever. Choe was lovely in the role - not exactly tom boyish, but I didn't feel she was too sickly sweet, and Campbell was great. As far as the gypsy girl was concerned, although Mendizabal did a good job, she wasn't as fiery as Morera. Shame about the naughty dove at the end, it was doing its best to draw attention away from the couple, and at one point I thought Choe looked as though she was checking carefully to make sure she didn't tread on it! Still, at least the second bird behaved impeccably. All in all, I thought Saturday night was a great night, and the dancers seemed to be getting in to the swing of it to the extent that they all looked as though they were having a wonderful time. I couldn't see any empty seats down below, the applause was long and loud, and everyone looked as though they had thoroughly enjoyed it.

I watched the performance last night, but I haven't had a moment to put some thoughts together yet. However, I enjoyed it much more than the first one I saw. I found a link on Youtube, which shows Lynn Seymour speaking to Deborah Bull about 2P. She is talking about it at about the 12 minute mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2oSmI0D4IA

Very sad news. I never saw her dance, but I have heard many good things about her.

Well, I don't know anything about Ratmansky's works, but this member of the audience would be ecstatic to see the Sleeping Beauty performed exactly as it was in the Youtube film with Park. I have sat through many a performance of SB that has seemed tedious or boring in places, partly because the slower pace of some of the dances left me feeling that they had been plodded through, rather than danced, and partly because some of the parts were simply not danced very well. I have often felt that the dancers were struggling to fit the steps to the music, even at a slower pace, and often they look as if they might trip over their own feet. Also, if the idea is to slow the Rose Adagio down to a funereal pace so that Aurora can show off her spectacular balances, then it isn't working. I have lost count of the number of times I have watched some very famous dancers indeed taking an age to find their centre of balance, and then throwing up the supporting arm in a "hailing a cab" gesture, before clutching the arm of the next suitor. And all with a slight frown on their faces. I sometimes think the loud applause at the end is relief from the audience that they haven't fallen off point. Ok, perhaps I am being a bit cruel, but I can't remember the last time I saw anyone dance it with a relaxed expression, let alone a smile. It just proves that this idea that dancers today are so much better technically is wrong. I've heard time and again that they get bored doing the classics; that they want to be stretched technically. Well, they certainly display an extraordinary degree of flexibility, but often inappropriately. If I want to watch contortions, I will go and see Cirque du Soleil or something of that sort.

Oh, Floss,I am so glad you suggested this. I looked this up on Youtube, and thought I would just have a quick peep. After 45 minutes I had to force myself to stop watching because I had some urgent work to finish! Goodness, they took some of the fairy solos at a rapid pace, didn't they? I can never remember what the different fairies are called, but I don't think I have ever seen a live performance where the music for what I call the Pointy Finger dance (the 4th one, I think) has been played so fast. Now I know what I shall be watching for the rest of the evening. Edited to add I think I have got my fairies muddled up! I don't think the pointy finger one is the fast one, but I don't dare go back and check or I shall never get my work finished. Also, does anyone know who the fairies were? I looked at the end credits, but it cuts out before they list them.

I've only seen one, Sim, and I enjoyed large amounts of it, but I did find some bits didn't quite gel for me, although I am not sure why.