Coated

They are decent little things for £1 as well. And I definitely wouldn't have wanted to sit any further away from the stage than I did, so yes, definitely one for opera glasses or seats close to the stage

Arthur Pita's piece Facada was glorious fun. I thought he was the only choreographer who put a piece together that can stand on its own and uses the earthy talents of Osipova and Vasiliev to everyone's best advantage. Didn't hurt that he threw in a lovely solo for Vasiliev, enabled both of them to be fully fledged characters on stage and create the most marvellously uncaring character in the 'Lady in Black' danced by Elizabeth McGorian. I shall pretend I never saw the first piece of the programme, and was amused enough by the second, though without having perused a programme, I thought it is either about Grasshoppers, Dinosaurs, Evolution or Mocking the Irish.

You're right, that was not a common stance in reviews - I'd come across a few comments on those lines and then got annoyed with the one review that seemed to be along those lines I probably should have said "The Internets" instead of reviews

As one of the corps swans, or in one of the solo roles?

Lopatkina was wonderful. This was the first time I've seen her on stage and I was just blown away by her presence and exquisite movements. I decided that my version of heaven would be the Mariinsky Swanlake on a loop, with the incredible corps (I now know the sound of 24 pointe shoes hitting the stage within milliseconds) and the fiendishly awesome Rothbarts (Yermakov tonight, and I'm ignoring the fact that at least one Siegfried seemed to beat him to death with his own wing). Though I'd probably want a sofa to go with that, rather than standing for eternity....

The partisanship in some of the Parish reviews is a little too strong for my taste. It also does him a disservice by making it seem as if his performance needs to be defended by blaming his partners. The Swanlake wasn't faultless, but it was easily good enough that a few little slips didn't distract from the very enjoyable performance of both leads.

O wow, my heart now belongs to the Mariinsky corps. I rather adored tonight's Swanlake and time just seemed to fly by. Vladislav Shumakov's Jester produced some jaw dropping moments, Zverev's Rothbart was avian, threatening and a complete show stealer. It took me a little while to warm to Oxana Skorik, but her Odile clinched it. Wicked, with a streak of melancholy and those hands... I always have a soft spot for traditional productions, and this one ticks all my boxes.

I think it did. Saw a lot of raised phones in the stalls on Tuesday, none today.

The ROH made announcement at the start of each act today, reminding the audience that photography is forbidden during the performance since it is dangerous for the dancers and a nuisance to other audience members. Victory for Penelope!

Monday's Paris (Zverev) is doing a rather nice Romeo today. Definitely will remember him after tonight....

I didn't think the production was that different, but it didn't have the fire added by Vishneva/Shklyarov. I thought Mr Parish acquitted himself well, partnering didn't always work perfectly ( I'm also not sure about walking down stairs whilst in possession of a ballerina is the best of all ideas....) but there were some really nice small intimate interactions and by act III they were off. I really liked Parish's 'grief solo' prior to the funeral scene - it was more subdued than the night before which made it more real to me and I might even have teared up a little this time.

That's a shame. I noticed someone posting a picture on twitter that appeared to be taken mid-performance, so it seems the theatre was rife with offenders. I for once was in a perfectly behaved corner of the stalls circle. Nary a whisper or rustling, no fiddling, texting, nothing. After some of my bolshoi experiences, I was prepared for every type of potential disruption... Regarding the FOH manager, I find that response sadly lacking but not entirely unexpected after overhearing some quite snappy responses from stressed management staff at the mad scramble for unallocated seats at the Arthur Pita on Sunday.

As a comment from one amateur spectator to another, I love how much perceptions of the same performance can differ - I barely remember Paris, though that could be because I was watching Vishneva. I thought both her and Shklyarov were superb (and would love to see what Shklyarov would make of a MacMillan Romeo) I couldn't quite see the chemistry between them either, but was wondering whether that also has to do with the production. There were a few scenes were Juliet was looking up at the ceiling instead of looking at her beloved, eg during the wedding, and it felt like a different idea of how an enraptured female would behave than my 'modern' view of lovers behaviour would lead me to expect Does anyone know whether the production has remained mostly unchanged since it's first outing in 1940 or have there been changes and tweaks over the years?

I was a little underwhelmed when I saw the ENB version for the first time with the Acosta/Kase cast, it seemed a bit fussy and repetitive. I rather liked Kase and Crystal Costa on that day, the second act overall and I thought the company looked really good, but I kept getting bored and looked at the sets instead, wondering whether there is such a thing as 1970s Pastiche Baroque and why costumes always have so much brown in them. To my utter surprise, I really enjoyed the next performance I saw, it was charming and funny, like an icecream sundae on a hot day. Rojo and Lendorf were a treat, some of the dances probably remained a little uninspiring, but everyone seemed to have that extra little sparkle. It's not a ballet to make my heart stop and I probably won't need to see it more than once in a run, but I'm glad I booked 2 performances and didn't end up putting it onto my 'permanently avoid' list. Overall, I think I prefer the Petit version ( I assume that's heresy in the UK judging by some reviews I saw last year - I think it was described as 'arch bum-wriggling' on the arts desk)

The Handmaiden film was definitely good (though I haven't read the book, so can't comment on faithfulness) Just picking up on the mention of Bourne's Swanlake earlier - event though that updated a classic story, it still remained in an undefined but definitely bygone era. The costumes, bar scene etc invoked a vague 1950/60's themes. Most updated theatre classics also seem to go no further in time than a slightly undefined decade feeling from 1940 'militaria' up to the 1970's, perhaps expanding to the 80's soonish. I think this ties in with what Anjuli said about the distance magic needs from reality to work on stage (by my reckoning a minimum of 30 - 40 years depending on age of the creators) Mayerling the film was made 80 years after the event, the ballet 90 years. My guess would be that we have a few decades of 20th century ballets to go before someone makes a 21st century ballet based on an actual event. Raven Girl is Modern Fantasy, where the time setting is 'superseded' by the magical elements (postmen do not normally breed with Ravens). As a literature genre, Fantasy could probably provide a few more blueprints for ballet, both contemporary or futuristic (Science Fiction is probably too conceptual for adaptation, might as well just have a dance about maths and leave out storytelling) The other contemporary setting that could work could be psycho-dramas where the setting is not the most important thing about the ballet. Not sure whether that will be a genre appealing to everyone, but I'm quite looking forward to Cassandra which will be set in a modern day psychiatric ward

For me this one was a bit of a mixed bag. I liked the 3&4th pieces in the first half, and enjoyed some of the amazingly energetic dancing in the 2nd half and the juxtaposition of classical dancing vs 'Cuban club dancing', though I felt there was a missed opportunity to do more than just play them against each other. Didn't feel like buying a programme and there were no cast lists, so I can only refer to the pieces by their order The 1st piece was danced by Acosta and Pieter Symonds, and it seemed to be about domestic violence, or a very domineering and fractured relationship. And folding cloths. The dancing was as good as expected from dancers of that caliber, but I could not get truly interested in the movement and story. It also included an overlong electric guitar solo that set my teeth on edge, so that didn't help. The 2nd piece was a male solo by one of the Cuban dancers, it had moments of very interesting movements and I'd love to see the dancer in something else, but the piece itself consistent largely of writhing on the floor and if I never see it again, I'd be quite happy. The 3rd piece started with 4 dancers, coming in one after the other and performing a sequence of movements without any music in a cube constructed of bars. It was amazing to realise that the ROH audience can actually be quiet for several consecutive minutes, but more importantly, the absence of music seemed to make me focus on the movement for the sake of movement. Once the music started, the dancers really came to live. All dancing was done inside the 'cage', with anything from 1-4 dancers weaving in and out of the 'dance floor'. Some of the movement, especially the ones for all 4 dancers were mesmerising. The 4th piece was danced by Acosta and Zen Yanowsky, it started with the two dancers surrounded by members of a choir, who then moved to the back of the stage to sing a very moving piece (sadly I have no idea what it was). The second part of the piece was set against some violin music that was less successful, but the choreography and dancing throughout was definitely the highlight of the evening for me. Zen did shamelessly steal the show occasionally, but I guess she can't help being awesome. The last piece was fun, though a bit too long and maybe a tad self-indulgent, but if I were a very successful ballet dancer and had the opportunity to put on a 'revenge ballet' as a HAH! to my early detractors, I'd totally go for it. Then my worst nightmare came true and the audience fell into a demented bout of 'rhythmic clapping' at the curtain call in response to some charming Cuban hip wriggling. I suffer from a preternatural hatred of any forms of clapping along, so I had to flee the auditorium in undignified haste.

Oh, hooray!

Maybe it's time for theatres to put on a couple of 'Bring your mobile, talk, eat, do whatever you want' performances a week. I might even attend those and cough, burp, fart, talk and howl my way all through it to ensure that audiences who think whatever they do is fine and anyone who has a problem with that is a snob. Haven't had a good old punch-up in a long time (well, ever, but that's a minor detail) but suspect they'd feel like starting one once I'm done demonstrating antisocial behaviour. The thing I love most about these articles is the argument that audiences used to be noisy during Shakespeare time. Well, they also watched bear-bating, didn't allow women on stage and the most expensive seats were the ones away from the unwashed stench of the adorably 'engaged' crowd.

Could the negotiations involve the dates and programmes that the two companies bring to venues? You wouldn't want both ENB and BRB to arrive in December with a Nutcracker, but having a ballet company visiting with different programmes every 3-4 month sounds like a good plan if you're hoping to build up regular ballet audiences.

Definitely worth a trip to the Peacock, the theatre with possibly the worst sound system in London. I rather loved the Kreutzer Sonata, enormously well danced by the leads and with a story so coherently told you barely need to spend time puzzling out what is going on; instead you can sink straight in the emotional maelstrom unfolding on stage. Duets full of tension and raging jealousy, tender moments and the best upside-down kiss I have seen. The gent behind me was gasping with delight from time to time, and I can only agree. The other standout for me was Kristen McNally's Mad Women. Funny with a touch of surreal, with excellent coquettery from the gorgeous dancers. I'm sure some of the eyelash fluttery created a light breeze in the theatre. Christina Cecchini's character was larger than life and she just oozed stage presence. This was the first piece by Kristen McNally I've seen, and I fervently hope that I get to see a lot more of her choreography. Love her free movements and distinct style without the mannerisms that seem to sneak into a lot of modern pieces. Orbital Motions might have been a tad to long for me, but I loved the idea, the gorgeous swirly motions and fast solos. Definitely a piece to showcase the male talent. Wish I bought a programme....

I went last night and really enjoyed it. Can't say that I could always figure out what it was about, but it definitely kept my interest throughout. Loved the music choices for the second piece, practically all my favourites off Magnetic Fields '69 Love Songs'. There is one dancer on stage throughout the break, so if you leave the auditorium for the intermission, you might want to come back a few minutes before the start to get a little bit of the intermission action

The Glastonbury footage makes me appreciate the skills required for capturing ballet on camera - the constantly changing camera angles, off-kilter perspectives and shots from behind didn't do the piece any favours IMO. Though hopefully the ENB will keep popping up at so many slightly unexpected events that the BBC feels the need to send their festival film crews on a How to film dance course

Hmm, I clearly shouldn't post after midnight since I seem to be playing loose with Russian geography....

Glad to see the St Petersburg crowd has excellent taste https://twitter.com/alexbeardroh/status/479043208090251264

Heh, loved the 'All Gone To Bolshoy', though I'm pretty sure there are still a few opera singers in the house.... Hope they'll have a wonderfully successful (and sold out) tour, and then return hale and healthy to a stage near me in September.