LinMM

Same here congrats to your son I shall now be glued to it like I was in 2013 (missed last year) As regards Miko she was a candidate in 2013 but I didn't see her name for 2015 will have another look. I can't remember the age limit is it 18? She must be close to that now.

Works perfectly and found your blog about Manon really good ......Thankyou You've persuaded me to definitely book Muntagirov in Manon next time if opportunity arises......and Muntagirov with Cuthbertson as Manon would be perfect in fact!!

What a day for you Jacqueline(having read your bit on the other thread) It is disappointing when things don't live up to expectations....or worse even seem to have been a waste of time....Have you booked your next outing to ROH or other ballet yet? Just hope next time is a more positive experience. It's weird as I don't know any of the ballets in this triple bill but I had a strange intuition it wasn't a programme I wanted to trek up to London for. I thought if people had raved about these ballets I could catch them another time. With triple bills I have to like at least two of the works usually before buying tickets.

I'm not sure above link works as didn't get to your blog!

I think option 4 .....a long way back now is best at the moment. I'm sure if she is keen she could get her Grade 3 by this time next year. She could even miss out grade two altogether if time is very short.....I think it is still permissible to miss a grade occasionally .....so,much depends on the student and if they are a quick learner etc. I would have thought getting onto an associate programme for a year would be better at this stage than rushing to apply right now for boarding schools if you have not had more time to find out about them. These schools admit pupils in every school year though obviously it may be easier to get in earlier rather than later. You need to give your daughter at least a fair chance at this and even though schools are looking for "potential" maybe she needs a little more advancement and preparation for this big step.

I have to say Ive occasionally used the "men's" loo in those situations where there are just two loos with one labeled "ladies" and the other "men's" as long as they look pretty similar inside I'd rather do this than wait in a queue. Once on holiday in Spain on a coach excursion there was a queue of about twenty ladies and nobody in the men's queue so I used the men's there. After that others did too! I have noticed in cafes etc with little space there is a trend to have just one loo for all and this is a disabled one. But if someone said to me do you mind if I go first as I have a problem it would be fine.

Not everyone has to be in a wheelchair to use the disabled loos. There are people with stoma bags and others have to use a catheter much easier in the bigger space of a disabled loo .......though it does depend .....some ordinary loos are not too bad. I hope the mother took it up with the NT about her problem with the baby changing table. Things should be designed to work properly in practical use and not there just to tick some box or other. People seem much more impatient generally these days though.

Have just realised in my post about the performances on Tuesday Ive spelt a name wrong. In SV I should have said Tristan Dyer not Dwyer apologies.

Whoops ......Thankyou Balleteacher!

Another exercise to do with my foam roller Thankyou Drdance !!

Unless somebody uses the term "one" I assume if they are using "I" then it's their own opinion. I do try to use "I" but may occasionally forget and say "one" which I know is awful .....as if speaking for everybody but my reviews are just speaking for myself and don't expect everyone to agree with me!

I agree Janet and I don't really know how you solve this problem. I love all forms of the arts but ballet is my passion and will defend it to the end!! But I do realise others don't necessarily think like this at all and wouldn't care that much if a ballet company went under if it meant more money for the rest of UK outside London.

Well ten years is a bit of a long time but agree with where you are coming from Fonty. But I do think you have hit on a bit of a "problem" for ballet at least when touring well away from the capital or other major cities. People are "starved" of classical ballet and do want to see the "real" thing when it does come which is why lesser known works do less well than in the Capital ........where we are so lucky with the ballet on offer ......then you are more likely to be open to see more experimental works. Then there is the related problem of funding when companies may be running at a loss unless performing the perennial favourites such as Swan Lake. Unfortunately Governments don't want to give additional funding to a minority Art like ballet to be toured round the UK so can you blame ENB for looking at other solutions in these days of constant cuts. I had a very hard time defending the ROH (and Royal Ballet) when I was up in Yorkshire for a reunion last year. I was quite shocked at the resentment some felt against London generally and the fact that the ROH supported by taxpayers money was really only relevant to London and should have its subsidy completely removed so money could be re distributed for Arts projects people wanted which wasn't necessarily ballet or opera......though there was more support for the latter!!

A bit of delay in my posting on Tuesdays performances as have really nasty virus at the mo and was very glad to get through the night without any annoying coughing (thank goodness for Olbus Oil Pastilles) but also due to the great performances by the dancers especially in SV and Month where I was so absorbed by the dancing my brain forgot to connect to my cough!! Anyway I realised that I'd never actually seen Scene de Ballet before and I thought I had so difficult to judge on one performance but I did find it difficult to connect to which is unusual with Ashton for me. There was nothing wrong with the dancing especially from Lamb and McRae who were very stylish .....but I think I need another viewing of this before I can really form a judgement but it was the ballet I least enjoyed in fact. I really love the Isadora piece and wish it was performed more often though judging from some comments around me I was in the minority here. I know it must be a bit annoying for today's dancers to be reminded of some long ago interpreter of a role but I did see Lynn Seymour perform this and I think her style of interpretation is closer to Isadora than Helen Crawford. It does require a certain amount of abandon and I felt that this interpretation was a bit too athletic ........though it is hard I think for highly trained ballet dancers to let go of some of their technique. However I'm glad someone was prepared to have ago and I still enjoyed Crawfords performance especially the rose petal bit so a big Thankyou to her for being a vehicle for this ballet........incidentally I didn't know Romany Pajdek was also performing this and I would have liked to see her too......she really stood out in the recent Royal Ballet in Class and I too don't know why she is not given more to do. Well I really enjoyed SV and so good to see Reece Clarke in this .......for such a young dancer .......and it seems having to stand in at the last minute...... I thought he was pretty good. The last time I saw him was as a student at the Yorkshire Ballet Summer School and he stood out then and was one of the students chosen by Dowell to work on a Romeo and Juliet section. You felt then he was going places and here he was giving a very fine performance! But not the only one. On Tuesday I thought the whole cast was excellent and really enjoyed all their performances.......with Clarke backed excellently by Hay and Dwyer..... Nunez a star anyway but Choe and Naghdi also showing great promise for the future. So altogether very satisfying. However Month was my favourite of the evening and I needn't have worried about Osipova (from what others have said) I thought she was wonderful in the role just a younger Natalya than others may portray her but nothing out of place just great interpretative dancing. Again there was a strong cast with Hay(again) and Hayward really excellent in their roles and Bonelli very believable as the young opportunist but nevertheless made you believe he did have real feelings for Natalya. And you felt her great disappointment at the end. I didn't want it to end and certainly have no complaints about the pianist ........if you just look at a page of Chopin music it's enough to make you run a mile!! I thought she played with great feeling too. So a wonderful evening ......which supported the journey home in that terrible rain in London on Tuesday .....but unfortunately my brain finally connected to the virus again and had to spend yesterday in bed!

I assume if you use it a lot by registering it you have some protection against losing it ......ie you may not get charged the cost of replacing the actual card but any monies on it presumably would be lost. I must admit now Ive got used to it I like the Oyster card as it saves worrying about having change all,the time......some London bus drivers were not the most friendly if you didn't have the right change etc, Now Ive a senior bus pass I use the buses much more and so for me the one day travel card would be more expensive to use but for most people it's great having the card because you can similarly jump on and off buses as well as tube etc.

These things are far better than any Christmas Present!

You don't need to register your Oyster card really unless you live in London and use it every day. You can buy an unregistered one at the station...... mine cost about £3 something about three years ago. This one you just top up as and when. However for odd days in London the one day travel card is very good value and I would get this if I were you. There has been no change on London buses since last July.

I had a reply this morning from LAB......there had been an administrive error on the website last week which I assume has now been corrected.....haven't looked today yet ....but yes the two classes are still at the normal times thank goodness. Take care of those legs and watch out for slippery leaves ......I nearly fell over in Brighton this morning!!

Wow reading all these reviews does seem like one of those evenings wish I had been there!

I didn't see it was a Sunday! Yes travelling on Sunday can be a pain especially if trying to prepare in advance.....buying ballet and cheaper train tickets .....as often the engineering works info isn't given out till the week ....at the most two weeks before so can't always know if travel will be very disrupted. In our area it doesn't seem to be so bad in the summer months but anytime from October to April the lines could be worked on. Anyway hope you do make it. Ive booked for Lauren Cuthbertsons Swan Lake on April 9th......put it back as far as possible in the hope she will be dancing by then but after seeing her in the photo on the other thread it doesn't look too promising. Poor Lauren I hope she makes a full recovery as soon as poss. Back to Fille I really love Fille but will have to opt for no more than two performances .......so some decisions to make!! I definitely want to see Choe. It doesn't seem an obvious role for Osipova but am curious to see what she will make of it. But have also heard Morera is very good in this role. Ive seen Nunez and Acosta a couple of times now in the roles so can give them a miss this time round though I love them both in this ballet. So....Decisions decisions.......

Thanks Fiz

Janet will you be coming down for the April 26th matinee?!! I agree some interesting castings but would love to see Choe in this role but also Muntagirov and Osipova Can you book this now? I ask because this is my last day as a Friend of ROH Ive booked some things up to April 9th but this may be the next booking period! Looks like I'll be doing a lot of queuing then if this is the case!

Well it's really nice to be back in two classes a week now. Also the physio has said she wants the parallel jumps Ive been doing to be higher when I next see her and to start balancing in the centre with pirouettes. The irony is that on Saturday I was doing this in class and the injured foot felt much stronger than my other one!! I also tried a couple of soutenus turns combined with a couple of Chenees as everything felt good. I'm sure the Pilates classes have helped a lot especially in the "equipment " room. Ive been doing an exercise on one machine .... lying on my back and pushing off from the end which had a sort of mini trampoline on. It seems a good way of building up some pushing strength but without the weight of the body involved. Ive also found the exercise where you are basically doing the "bridge" movement from yoga but with feet on a sort of soft wobble ball thingy.......simple ....but actually quite hard work!! Still working on really strengthening hips and glutes but I really love the weekly Pilates session now. The other thing Ive done recently is put my name on a waiting list to join the Mercury Movers. This is an over 60's contemporary class run by the Rambert at their Headquarters in London. I'm not usually that keen on joining groups with a senior label but it sounds really fun and is on the same day as LAB so could serve as the morning warm up for the ballet later. Incidentally talking of LAB Ive sent you an email Michelle as I don't understand the schedule for next half term as it looks like the 6.30 class is no more and has been moved to 8pm which I'm not too happy about I just hope its a mistake on the website as there's no mention of this change in the current email just sent out which is odd!! I don't know whether there are any other LAB 's on the Forum but perhaps there's a communication Ive missed about this?

Well I suppose a Zimmer frame could come in handy for a bit of ballet down the line a bit!!

I'm sure the book is great but what has Lauren done to her foot?