capybara

But the list does say that other casting is "to be announced".

There are other roles, Aileen. And, who knows, maybe they have 'reserves'.

Oh, I see. Thank you for this explanation, Angela - much appreciated.

Yes, of course, Angela, I understand the significance of the company and you are right: it is good when ballet makes the headlines and we would be glad about that in the UK too. I suppose what I can't quite grasp is that the change isn't now or next year but in three year's time.

So what it boils down to is that Duato's contract will not be renewed in 2019 and Waltz and Ohman will take over then. Maybe I'm missing something, but why has this news been 'highlighted' in the German media to the extent that it has? By the way, nice to see Ksenia Ovsyanick specifically mentioned in the Morgenpost.

I felt that YBDY gave many trainee ballet dancers the chance to show themselves to both prospective employers and the public in a way which BBC Young Dancer does not. And many dancers (not necessarily 'winners') were 'discovered' in that competition by fans who have delightedly followed their progress ever since. The competition also gave the feeling of opening up the Royal Ballet School which seems to be missing now.

But it does bear an uncanny resemblance to the Mail article about Natalia (see links). No criticism of her, of course, but I wondered whether an interview with more than one journalist had simply been presented in two different ways

I have posted a request on the IBStage comments page asking for them to put up the Tchai Pas on youtube. I think that they've said they will but, if anyone else feels inclined to make the same plea, it could be very helpful. Today, the interval included some interviews with Lauren, Daria, Vadim and Xander among others.

She achieved some notoriety for her rudeness on The Apprentice many moons ago and, since then, has developed it into a career. It may float her boat but, as far as I'm concerned, that kind of 'pitch' is surplus to requirements.

That's what I had intended to convey.

It is an end of summer school performance by the students of IBStage. They also did a defile at the start of the programme.

From Barcelona Sat 27th August at 7.00pm BST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA2sA7kNIOg The line-up includes Klimentova, Muntagirov, Cuthbertson, Salenko, Lezhnina, Parish, Skorik, Kim, McRae, Kochetkova, Simkin.

I enjoy reading Ismene Brown. Although I don't always agree with her, she is one of the few critics who make me think about my own response to a production/performance. But I feel the more appropriate word here is 'disappointing'.

But, if you count Golds as three points, Silvers as two points and Bronzes as 1 point, GB also comes out ahead of China.

The up-to-date list of RB dancers is here: http://www.roh.org.uk/about/the-royal-ballet/dancers I can't spot any leavers who haven't already been mentioned on here.

I know that I'm taking this thread even further away from Swan Lake but i was so pleased to see from his interview in Links that Makhar Vaziev is publicly recognising that Tikhomirova's is a talent to be nurtured and rewarded.

Tickets for the preview performances of Akram Khan's Giselle on the 23rd and 24th September in Manchester have just been released: http://giselle.ballet.org.uk/

The contribution from the ROH - with Edward Watson and Olivia Cowley dancing! http://www.roh.org.uk/news/royal-opera-house-artists-show-that-londonisopen-at-rio-2016

Of course, given his achievements, it's justified and does much to promote athletics. However, my slight issue with the focus being so much on Bolt is that, by comparison, the feats of other competitors (including those whose events are multi-disciplinary) can appear to be downplayed.

But both Gaby Logan and Hazel Irvine are also hosting long segments of the coverage. For me, the problem arises when Clare Balding seems to be speed reading from an autocue and kind of 'jazzing it up'. She did the same during the Wimbledon nightly highlights programmes this year and last. However, I think that things are getting better as her own knowledge increases and she is less reliant on prompts. Do you know - amazing this - that the BBC actually stayed on the same channel for the whole of the Triathlon coverage today and I managed to record it all. Well done Brownlees. Great achievement.

Yes, she has (they're back today, aren't they?); but the ROH website makes it appear as if she is straight out of the RBS.

I want to congratulate MAB on a terrific review even though I don't agree with everything she says !!!!

Valentino Zucchetti has also spoken about reapplying to the RB; Teo Dubreuil chose to join ENB half way through his third year at the RBS and applied to join the RB 2 years later; Hannah Grennell initially joined Dutch National but transferred to the RB after 2/3 years. Of course, many other dancers have joined the RB as Soloists (e.g. Alexander Campbel), First Soloists (e.g. Sarah Lamb) and Principas (e.g. Vadim Muntagirov) after careers elsewhere. With Vladimir Shklyarov moving to Munich, Xander Parish is now even better placed to 'hold the stage' at the Mariinsky. Apologies for taking this thread even further off-topic

FLOSS’s authoritative erudition has rather frightened me away from offering my take on Le Corsaire, especially since our perspectives differ so much. However, in the spirit of this forum, here goes....... I find it sad that the Bolshoi is ending its season with this Le Corsaire and difficult to fathom why Ratmansky (of all people) wanted to tangle with such an unwieldy reconstruction. Of course, I do confess that my viewing was coloured by very close acquaintanceship with ENB’s terrific romp and also a measure of familiarity with the Mariinsky’s very different version. Last night, I found the scenario over-protracted, far from clear and adversely interrupted both by some clunking scenery changes and by a number of ‘set pieces’. For example, the pas d’esclave in Act 1 (danced elsewhere by Lankendem and Gulnare) is presented by the Bolshoi as a free-standing pas de deux by two dancers (Kaptsova lovely) who do nothing else. The ‘entertainment’ in the cave from Medora and some children feels totally surplus to requirements. To my ear, the orchestration was weak in places and the score did not flow. Moreover, music made for dancing was wasted at times on meaningless interaction, mainly among the corsairs. I’m afraid that I found Maria Alexandrova’s portrayal of Medora unsympathetic and her dancing not quite ‘on form’. She seemed to be fudging some of her footwork and over-relying on her panache to try to convince us that all was going well. She also had a tendency to linger too long for applause. Anna Tikhomirova as Gulnare was an absolute starry delight (again!) – beautiful dancing and spirited, believable acting. I felt that she was ‘winning’ the audience whereas Maria (I’m sorry to say) was ‘milking’ the audience. Vladislav Lantratov gave the role of Conrad a lot of ‘pep’ but, even though he performs the famous pas de deux (there is no Ali here), the character doesn’t have much dancing to do. I like Lantratov: he is charismatic but he has come across to me with exactly the same ferocious stare in Shrew, Flames and Corsaire and I felt the need to see some differentiation from him. I like Denis Rodkin too but he seemed a touch over-exposed in both his partnering and his dancing in the Act 3 pas de deux with Medora. Both of these two top male Principals had moments of sloppy technique. The corps was (perhaps understandably) under-rehearsed for the opening night – after all the Jardin Animee and Act 3 sequences are as challenging as they are interminable – and I tend to agree with Graham Watts’ assessment (see his review of Shrew and Flames in London Dance) that the overall dance quality this season has not been up to that of even the recent past. After the second interval, as I passed a pair of august critics on the stairs, one was saying “... but, of course, it’s a very strange, muted atmosphere in the house tonight....” To me, that apparent lack of enthusiasm spoke volumes – not about a first night audience but about a performance which gave many far too little to cheer. By the way, ever the optimist, I am going to give the show a ‘second go’ tomorrow!!!!

Unfortunately, that's a matter of opinion , especially in this case!!!!!!