Coated

So the point of the question was to 'proof' that a performance you did not see could not have been decent enough since one of the dancers does not have the technical ability of his youth shortly before retirement? Not sure that throwing in that Soares can at times be underpowered makes this in any way more evenhanded. Yes, he can sometimes be a bit underwhelming. In case you're actually interested, he was fine last night with a nicely thuggish Lescaut and a slightly too drunk for my personal taste solo. But then I just get swept up in drama whilst everyone clumps across the stage in wooden shoes, so it might be best to just ignore my comments on story ballets

I didn't think they were earth shattering, but there were glimpses of a natural elegance that not many dancers have. I was watching it thinking that this is likely his last Des Grieux before retirement.

Yup, Acosta and Osipova pretty much nailed the 3rd act so hard, it'll be difficult to prise it out of memory. Acosta might be a bit earthbound these days, but his partnering was unbelievably good, allowing Osipova to express every nuance of grief / hopelessness / regret and love in the final pdd. I guess you need a high level of trust to really fall bonelessly into someone's arms, and that trust was clearly there last night. The last few movements on stage, when he props her up with his shoulder and then realises she is dead, were the best I have seen. Osipova's dancing was so very beautiful and expressive, she threw her whole soul into the character. I would love to know what McMillan would have made of her, and what stunning ballets we might have ended up with if those two had been contemporaries.

Agree on Scenes, for the rest it must have all looked a lot better from where I was watching. Bit surprised about the comment about Hamilton and Muntagirov having no connection since I commented to my ballet buddy earlier today that I didn't expect to see that much eye contact / focussing on each other from them in SV, and thought some of the lifts looked great. Luca Acri also looked pretty good to me, he has a lightness in his dancing that makes his movement look effortless. Guess 5 waltzes is a matter of taste, luckily for me I like anything with a piano and a bit of floaty dancing. Thought the breaks between the waltzes seemed a bit too drawn out though. Month was great - Hayward and Hay are a complete treat as ward and son, utterly believable as young characters. Osipova's take on the role definitely differs from Yanowsky's, one is a frustrated, slightly narcissistic wife who is passionately in love with the tutor, the other is a frustrated, slightly jaded, glorious Mrs Robbinson.

Being in possession of a few opera going friends, I have hit the opera limits a few times, including for a run of the mill Boheme. Restrictions stayed in place until well after public booking opened but were eventually lifted But instead of getting lost in assumptions, I rang the Friend's office to ask how the limits will work The limit is decided for each booking period prior to the magazine being send out. It might be different for the next period anyhow (maybe wait a bit before we all sink into despair) but I guess we'll need to wait to find out for sure. More information might be available for friends enquiring via email beforehand. The restrictions work in the same way as they do for Opera ticket limits. The 'if and when' of lifting the restrictions is at discretion of the box office. So if the production sells well, they stay in place for longer, if it's extremely popular, they might not be lifted until it's aaaaaall sold out.

Just for the fun of it I popped into public booking just now to see whether I can book another Chenier which has a restriction of 2 tickets per person. Nope, as soon as I log in it comes up with a message that I exceeded my limit. I guess that answers whether friends will be able to book more than the allocated limit once public booking has started unless the 6 per friend limit is managed entirely differently from the previously existing limits. I assume this limit will also apply to non-friends?

That's insane. The cheapest ticket gets a 66% markup for booking fees.

Well, guess that's the end of taking friends along to ballets with exciting casts... The ticket limits stay in place when public booking opens (at least they did for a Boheme were I was going to take a few friends), so probably no need to worry about extra traffic on that day. Limits tend to be dropped a short time before the performance, which is amusing when something hasn't sold but you still won't be able to buy a ticket until well after public booking has been open for a while. There have been booking limits for each period, and they seem to vary. Are there reasons to assume that this is the permanent new limit? At least for opera, 6 per production doesn't sound too bad. The seat blocks near the stage also don't go on sale unless they find that noise levels for the orchestra are ok during rehearsals. Guess I'm unlikely to sit there again either.

It was Hamilton's debut according to the independent, Golding has danced it in Moscow with Cuthbertson according to the FT.

Jenning's review from 2010 that mentions Acosta doing the Don Q pdd with Valdes. http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2010/apr/11/national-ballet-cuba-carlos-acosta

Colour me surprised. I expected to like Melissa Hamilton as Manon, and she delivered the goods beautifully. What I didn't expect was enjoying Golding's De Grieux as much as I did. He really got into the character, and once he's caught up with the drama his expressions liven up no end and it becomes easy as pie to enjoy his beautiful dancing. He and Hamilton had quite a bit of stage chemistry and the act 2&3 pdds were beautiful. I loved the small touches that made the relationship look so natural in act 3. When the Gaoler started to inspect Manon, she hold holds on to De Grieux shirt in a plea for protection, when the rat catcher appear in the 'vision' scene, she nestles into De Grieux's shoulder for comfort. The head-dive in act 2 turned out quite spectacular - Hamilton really threw herself into it and seemed to stop with her nose a couple of inches off the ground. I wasn't entirely sure whether that was planned or a bit of a miscalculation, but the result was pretty impressive.

I can only endorse what everyone has already said about Muntagirov's debut - he was so very good, and worked rather well with Lamb at short(ish) notice. His addition to the roster is one of the best things to have happened to the RB recently. Feeling slightly giddy since I casually browsed the Roh site after today's performance, and lo and behold, there was a returned SCS tic for his second performance so I get to see him twice. I also loved Luca Acri's beggar king, he is developing a really nice stage presence and his dancing seems both sharp and lively to me. Watching today's performance and the Hayward debut earlier this week left me feeling really buoyed about the RB's near future.

Bennet Gartside tweeted about the lack of tights "@Bennet76: Oh and no more tights for #ROHManon Gaoler anymore. Don't feel as dirty "in me troosers"

I don't always read the links first thing, but I scour the section for any production I have seen (or wished I had seen) - it's an amazing resource to have. I don't think it's a problem that some of the sources have limited numbers of view. I ended up signing up to the artsdesk due to the links page since I liked their way of reviewing across a number of subjects and blew through their limit pretty quickly. Wish some papers had a reduced price option to only get access to the sections on interest - I don't want the football or business news, but happily pay a smallish price for the arts reviews

That's good to know, since I bought my ticket in the time honoured *fingers crossed* method before casting will be announced

After seeing Lamb and Pennefather I went straight online to check for the next date they are dancing only to discover that I have a ticket for a sold out show elsewhere that day. After dithering for a few hours I decided to ditch my friend on the 10th and book another L&P Manon instead. As annamk said upstream, they were terrific in the rehearsal; today's performance seemed even more gripping, and I couldn't bear the thought that I might never get to see this combination again. This is definitely the best role I have seen Lamb in yet, she creates the perfect ingenue torn between the Good Life and love (and maybe in need of a moral compass). She manages to express longing, loathing, despair with just a look, I never realised her eyes can be that expressive. Pennefather smouldered so intensely, I expected a fire alarm to go off any minute. His moment of hope just before the end nearly broke my heart.

I was impressed that Benvolio didn't just pass out with heat stroke. Don't want to know how hot a human being gets under stage light in a puffa jacket whilst dancing somewhat energetically.

I seem to have growled at Mats Ek for running up and down my aisle like a jojo in the first half. Though obviously it's his own fault for making his Juliet and Romeo so good that I resented interruptions during the gorgeous ball scene (apparently there was an issue with the sound and he was communicating back and forth with the sound engineer). For once I loved the costumes in a modern production, not a beige vest in sight. I might not have gotten quite the emotional involvement I can get in a classic R&J, but I doubt that any production will be able to top skinhead Mercutio for me. With a few tiny exceptions (why does Juliet's father roll onto stage when his legs are clearly working, random geometric hand movement that seem to be a staple of most modern production) I really loved the choreography. It seemed to be both showy fun at times yet very understated with remarkably beautiful small moments - a fast jump finishing with a slow, elegant move, Paris 'hovering' above Juliet, the lovers twining around each other. Wish I had time to see it again.

Such is ballet life, though my fingers are crossed very very hard, hoping for a full recovery in time for Cassandra

She's on Radio 3 Private Passions right now. Definitely gets around this month...

I suspect his stage presence will translate well into acting. Though I have to admit that I'm hoping he might be interested in dancing again after a couple of years....

I went to the Cassandra Insight tonight and had the pleasure of seeing Lauren Cuthbertson and Thomas Whitehead rehearsing with Ludovico Ondiviela only a short stone's throw away (obviously no stones were actually thrown). The rehearsal was preceded by a quite interesting, albeit a little long, introduction to the Cassandra Myth by Emily Pillinger, a classics lecturer from King's College who linked the story of Cassandra to both the question of what constitutes madness and how to express yourself when language fails. It was a really nice set up to understand some of the inspirations for the ballet. The evening concluded with an interview with Ondiviela and the composer of Cassandra's music, Ana Silvera. They both came across incredibly well, giving a fascinating and quite humorous insight to their creative process. Ondiviela described how they started the project after he saw one of Ana Silvera's gigs, loved her music and then met her through a friend (third collaborator on Cassandra whose name I didn't catch). He described his fascination with the question of what constitutes madness, where does one draw the line and his suspicion that most people will do things, possibly behind closed doors, that others would describe as mad. Ana Silvera also talked about the way composing for a ballet changed her normal creative process, being more of a craft at times where you go back to make changes to meet your collaborators vision instead of finishing a composition when you think it's fine. After seeing and hearing the short snippets of Cassandra today, I'm really looking forward to seeing the real thing.

I was a little unhappy that the Mariinsky was finishing with the Cinderella, until they pulled the Batoeva / Shklyarov cast out of their balletic bag of wonders. Their performance is a wonderful memory to take away from the last night of a riveting London 2014 season.

Every time I think I couldn't love the Mariinsky any more than I already do, they pull something else out of their hat. Each of the Dreams was wonderful (I like 1920-style design, I like fairies, I like Balanchine - it was always going to end well), not just the leads, but the whole cast down to the tiniest child. There was something about Tereshkina as Titiana that struck me as perfect and I suspect I'll remember her as my perfect Balanchine Titiana in years to come. Askerov, who seemed a little bland in Swanlake, made a nice Oberon. Skorik might need a little more stage command to make a perfect Titiana, but her dancing was beautiful. I loved her cast in the act II pdd, I possibly gasped at a 30sec sequence where she and Zverev were so elegant and connected, finishing with her draped over his arm in a perfect bow. I'm a bit star-struck by Lopatkina, so I spare you any further of my ramblings about her stage presence. Saturday nights Apollo was possibly the first Apollo where I got a connection to the story instead of just watching the dancing. Sergeyev's colt-like, delicate baby step when first unwrapped didn't make me wonder whether they were intentional or whether the dancer is accidentally stumbling - it was a God taking his first steps, no question in my head. Shapran was a beautifully serene muse, at times I found myself watching her expression instead of her dancing. It'll clearly take me few more years to really get Apollo (and decide whether I like it) , but I think I had my first glimpse thanks to Saturday night's cast. Bruce Wall and I seem to have watched different performances at times (the Skorik/Zverev pdd looked very good to me on both nights, and most bizarrely I barely remember Stepin ) but his statement below pretty much summed up Saturday night for me: "The audience was rightly buoyed and no one could I think have asked for more on this occasion"

I think I was too distracted by Vasilliev's garters to remember the glory of Ed Watson in a spidey-suit. I'm also convinced Spider-Man would never wear socks and garters without pants, especially not with a bow tie.