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Well Sim I might well be doing just that next time as Spectrum eye care in Lewes is getting eye wateringly ( sorry couldn’t resist) expensive. Seats at the ROH cheap by comparison to a pair of glasses let alone two pairs plus all the eye tests!!! 

I had a good view of this carry on too as was in the Balcony on the same side as this box. There was this moment when both the lady and a gentleman posed right on the edge of the box sort of leaning backwards and it almost gave me an attack of vertigo watching them!!! I didn’t realise an usher had spoken to them. But they were no problem during the performance at least. It was actually all the flashing cameras that drew my attention to the box. I didn’t recognise the lady in the glam dress as being anyone famous but then my distance glasses might need renewing lol ( performance thread) 

Talking of vertigo I just don’t know how anybody stands up in the slips area of the Amphi as you are exposed to the whole auditorium space up there 😳.
Definitely should be free to stand …or even paid danger money!! 
 

Because I wasn’t really that drawn into Danses Concertantes …didn’t dislike but just didn’t really grab me …I started focussing on a  “guess the dancer” game. For a couple of minutes thought Caspar Lench was the one in green but then realised it wasn’t him but couldn’t get who it actually was( Zucchetti I believe)  Anyway in the interval when I got the cast list up I hadn’t got one dancer correct ….not even Gasparini who danced with such charm!!! 
It’s only 9 months since my last big optician visit but think I may need new distance glasses already🙄
 

I am puzzled by the diet they have put you on Michelle as too much of those foods are more likely to make you constipated! It’s usually a high fibre diet recommended for that… but may be more that high fibre could cause more inflammation? I know a friend who had IBS had to avoid quite a lot of fruits etc. Really hope a solution for you is found soon. Don’t forget to let me know the date of any op. or major treatment etc. 

Yes I was quite taken with Different Drummer last night with Hayward and Sambe both giving outstanding performances. I was much more drawn into this than Danses Concertantes the first piece which was okay but I felt a bit bored with it to be honest. 
All the main characters in Drummer were very good and will definitely look out for Serrano in the future. 
I think somebody else here much earlier on mentioned some of main characters moves ( Sambe ‘s ) were Petrouchka like and I agree with this. A sort of puppet of his circumstances as they had destroyed him. All very chilling stuff and didn’t get all of it …the strange bit with the captain on the chair being lowered to the ground….It did go on just a bit too long as the scene with the “harlots” was superfluous to me …just wanted it to get to the dramatic conclusion by then 

Not a piece like Requiem you could see every week but with the right dancers definitely not a Piece to be forgotten either! Sambe must have been absolutely exhausted by the end of it. 
Requiem was so beautiful as said like everything about this ballet especially the lighting ….and Lamb could have been a real Angel come down onto the stage for this performance….Luke B coming into his own here and Sissens of course terrific in his bits not to mention Hamilton. 
Of course there’s the music …wonderfully performed .. a nice bit of a heavenly Dance Piece Thankyou Macmillan!! 
 

I tried the row B and had a vertigo attack!!! It’s very strange exactly what brings it on… a feeling of being exposed to a large amount of space(obviously my days are numbered lol) with sort of nothing in front of you. Because row B is raised above row A and on loose chairs it just didn’t work for me but I was thinking the higher chairs but in row C because they are set further back somehow just might be okay!! Row A has the solid barrier in front and the seat is actually quite low down so not too bad!! But expensive!! My favourite is seat no 54 in Row A ( usually gone by time I book) as it’s end of row seat so easy to get to and not too far round on the side so not too exposed to the amphitheatre space. I think I managed to get A 54 for one of the Winter Tales I’ve booked! 
 

Actually is the Ashton Triple with Rendezvous I ve got that seat for rest of bookings are all in row D!! 

Does that mean you started your ballet journey while you had cancer Angela Essex? Sorry to hear about your mum always a blow whatever your age. 

Wasn’t Beryl Grey dancing lead roles at 15? 

Don’t know which side of the Balcony you were on Blossom but I was sitting in row A just below the loose tall seats on the right hand side. I was looking at them in the interval to see whether I could sit in them and probably could in the back row as don’t feel you’re being  launched out into auditorium. 
Im pretty sure I saw Ed Watson go to a seat at the back of the Dress Circle just before Different Drummer started. 

Requiem was so beautiful tonight the ending incredibly moving at the moment I feel I could watch it once a week and not get tired of it! 

Yes well worth seeing with very dramatic ending! 

The dancing quality was just different as I see it which is why it’s almost impossible to compare todays dancers with those of different eras as different qualities were at the fore. 
People are often looking for “the next Fonteyn” but this will never happen because Fonteyn had her own qualities and style of dancing and communicating with an audience plus eventually all the off stage things …her partnership with Nureyev etc which started to make her a very romantic figure and caused her to become more famous than usual for a dancer though she was already an established figure by then. 
 

There was an ex dancer who worked with my mum for a while and often talked about his stage experiences and seeing dancers like Fonteyn etc 

But in his view although he still loved Fonteyn he thought Moira Shearer was his favourite dancer ( so going back quite a bit!) He found her a stronger and more striking dancer than Fonteyn on the stage. 
So not everybody held Fonteyn as supreme…..though I will always have a soft spot for her!! 

I guess this is one of the conundrums for young dancers ……do they join a larger prestigious Company like the Royal Ballet ( imagine joining a Company like the Bolshoi!) or a smaller Company where they might get noticed more and a better chance of dancing more senior roles more quickly. 

Yes that’s very good news he was obviously going to go far a dancer with lovely artistry so am sure will make a very fine Siegfried. 

I’m very sorry for your unfortunate experience emmarose but on the whole I do think this behaviour is rare at the ROH and you have been very unlucky. I hope this won’t put you off going to much..I’ve had some lovely conversations with neighbours at the ballet. 
I’ve never had an adult kick the back of my seat ( seriously out of order) but it did once happen with a child. It can be so difficult to know exactly how to deal with it when you don’t know the people. 

I try to start out by assuming the person doesn’t realise they are causing a problem and mostly this approach does work!! But once had to ask the parent to have a word (wondering why they hadn’t already!) and had to sort of bite my tongue saying I know how difficult it is for young children to sit still etc. Anyway it did stop! 

But have to say in all the 50 years on and off of ROH attending I’ve been incredibly lucky and had mostly pleasant experiences and hope this turns out for you too emmarose. 
 

Talking of smells …many years ago now back in early 80’s I took a German friend visiting who also loved ballet to ROH. We had just been to the German shop which used to be in Knightsbridge and she had bought a couple of cheeses there. 
About half way through the performance there was this dreadful smell which we realised was coming from her bag( we were in the Amphi) 

It was very embarrassing but then worse ( and probably unforgivable) we then started to get the giggles about it so not very mature behaviour but it’s the worse thing when you know you shouldn’t be laughing to suppress it! 

 

In my view some people who jump to their feet almost before the music has stopped and start cheering and clapping in a very loud way are more interested in drawing attention to themselves than genuinely supporting the dancers!! I sometimes think they are indeed clapping themselves!! 

Well ticket sales could be slow because aren’t the performances at the end of October!! I will almost certainly go but won’t be booking it just yet! 

Have to disagree about Yasmine being like Margot Fonteyn either in looks or performance! 
I love Yasmine but her style is very different to Fonteyns. Yasmine has a much stronger technique than Fonteyn ever had but she doesn’t really have the emotional vulnerability on stage of Fonteyn. 
This is not to say Yasmine can’t give emotional performances but doesn’t (yet anyway) have that real abandon that Fonteyn could bring out of nowhere. 
I don’t think anybody has this particular quality in the Royal at the moment …not even Hayward….though she has some of her naturalness and maybe it will remain unique to Fonteyn. 

Love the piccie of Yasmine above! 
 

Sorry to hear about all this Michelle will message you privately 

He is a really charming mix of boy next door combined with both elegant and athletic dancing. 
 

Yes and keep checking the website especially nearer the performance dates as returns come in all the time. 

Exactly what I am doing!! 

Yes if you start saying how wonderful your experiences are at the Ballet I’m sure somebody you know/work with will be intrigued eventually! 
One of my still best friends I met many years ago now queuing for tickets at the ROH so you never know when this might happen but hopefully soon for you. 

I think we all know what the conditions would have to be BeauxArts! 

Was just expressing regret at not having seen the Russians in UK for a long time now ….even before the war. 
Mariinsky for example was not here since 2014!! 
And it’s five years since Bolshoi (though thought 2018 was last visit ..but it was 2019. 

Sorry to keep editing this but just realised why I missed the 2019 visit as was in hospital having operation for a broken ankle …which is why seems so long since seen them 
 

Yes that’s the clip I was watching Borzoi so if sarafanov is the one in the orange t shirt that’s him! I counted 11 this time so even more than I thought! 
I didn’t post the clip here in case it was one that isn’t allowed! 
That requires so

much energy just from the spot like that.