Coated

Cesar Corrales acquired his acting chops slightly before his rise through the ballet ranks - he was a Billy Elliot in Chicago in 2010/11

They better have this sorted by the time the Bolshoi arrives. I have no intentions of sharing my standing space with anyone bolshy enough to simply wander in off the street. That dark haired woman sneaking in every time the Russians are over is bad enough.

I'm looking forward to SpongeBob the Ballet. Though on on a more serious note, putting on regular child friendly and affordable shows in the Linbury would be a great way of lowering the average age and bringing in a new generation

The cold season has struck, so I have stalls circle standing D47 available for tonight (or D46 and D47 if someone is looking for 2 tickets at rather short notice). It's an eticket.

There goes any remaining sense of fiscal responsibility. What a fantastic choice of programmes. Not that I'm planning to choose between them, it'll have to the lot.

I don't particularly like the corporate look of the open up areas and don't feel it was worth years of pop-up cloakrooms and random boarding. The cafe downstairs has no atmosphere at all and the ceiling manages to be both pretentious and ugly. I'd rather pop into the slightly more comfortable Costa nearby if I'm early - at least they have that lovely concept of non-communal tables. Level 5 is even worse. Most of the benches gone, replaced by a tiny gaggle of raised tables for 6 and then there is that horrendous carpet. But after some thorough searching, I found something I really liked: they made the 'IN' and 'OUT' signage of the loo doors really obvious in the former amphi, and even changed the doors so they look like one that opens inwards and one that opens outwards. If that doesn't clarify it to punters, nothing will. Haven't seen the Linbury yet in person, and living in hope that that was money well spend.

That's it - cancel matinees and replace them with midnight shows to tap the under 30 post-pub crowd. That'll show the horlicks aficionados.

Well, I guess it's time to quit my stupidly expensive membership and find a new hobby. What they might not have considered is that most non-regulars are not prepared to put up with standing or neck injuries through watching at extreme angles.

This is an example of replacement I'm not ok with. If they varied it with different casts, fine. But to substitute a very different dancer for all 3 performances? Not a brilliant move. I have booked for Hirano casts anyway, but wasn't planning to see him in most Mayerlings I see.

Was there a competition to see how many pillars you can add to an auditorium? The new linbury looks very...pillary ETA: The brown and purple combo makes the theatre look the closest to puce the 21st century might get outside of some NHS waiting rooms.

There are also a handful of standing places at the back of the circle. Probably also dependent on patrons in front, and view is obstructed by overhanging ceiling - I'm hoping that will only affect shows with trapeze artists.

I thought her Manon a few years back was really gripping and I'd definitely see her as Juliet if she were cast. She needs a passionate partner though, a one-sided smoulder doesn't work so well on stage.

I would have liked a triple bill thrown in there, but I guess they never sell as quick as full length ballets. I suspect hell will freeze over before the Russians leave their Swans at home. There''s a break of over a year between the Bolshoi and the RB Swan Lake, which leaves enough time in between to cram in a few ENB Swans, in my case anyway. Haven't seen Spartus in ages (didn't love it then, but willing to give it another chance), the Maillot Shrew is a bit of fluffy fun and I'm really looking forward to Bright Stream. I might end up with a Bayadere overdose in 2018/19, but if I could see only one version, I'd pick the Bolshoi. Quite frankly, after my ballet less summer, I barely care what programme they turn up with next summer, as long as they show up with a nice selection of dancers.

Haven't figured that one out either. Personally, I loathe the interactive maps irregardless of whether they are working or not.

Thankfully we don't live in a world where experienced and reliably good dancers who were cast in the relay are artistically defective, nor is the upcoming crop of RB trained principals not 'good enough'. We all have our favourites, but it remains a truism that not every child can win the egg race on sports day.

If you're using an elderly device like my 6 year old iPad that can't be updated to the most newfangled versions of operating systems and browsers anymore, you might find that the interactive seating map stopped working a short while ago - it's too advanced for antiquities now. Thankfully that doesn't interfere with actual booking, and the seating map is working just fine on any reasonably up to date device.

I honestly think that no one deserves to see me dance ballet. Though maybe it could be deployed as as cruel and unusual punishment for persistently misbehaving audience members, in which case I would appear as one of the strange creatures from Firebird, sit on stage for 4 hours to a severely amplified soundtrack of me eating crisps and scraping my nails on a blackboard every so often.

I have terrible withdrawl symptoms and decided to console myself by listening to a 1969 Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra recording conducted by Rozhdestvensky. Now I both miss the RB and feel woe at having no Russians this summer. That wasn't quite the plan, but what a fabulous recording that is.

What would be the minimum number of performance of a full length ballet in a season to make it financially viable and not overtax dancers with rehearsals? Would it possible to schedule short runs, say 6-8 performances of Fille or Cinderella if they were put on regularly? My ideal would be shorter runs of full length ballets so I don't need to chose between regular Ashton and Macmillan performances, but I suspect that's not feasible.

It really does not, but it did remind me that this forum has a block function.

This is roughly the time when I start liking football, the end being nigh

Busted, that was me. I probably should have asked him to stop, but wasn't up for the potential argument.

I'm still a bit gobsmacked at the woman texting throughout the balcony scene of R&J at Sadlers. The guy sitting right next to her didn't come back after the intermission, so I'm thinking I either sat next to a nest of ballet haters or she ruined a perfectly good performance for him. Today's swan lake was enhanced by a non-stop chewing gum chewer, thankfully he was noiseless with it, but the movement of light bouncing off his overactive hamster cheeks was pretty distracting, so I'm now in possession of a slight ballet injury from holding up my binoculars non-stop to block him from my view.

Definitely go if you can. Cojocaru is truly wonderful in this role and I really enjoyed Shiore Kase as lilac fairy, she came across as charmingly benevolent yet also had the authority required to intimidate Carabosse. Kase had a bit of a stumble on Friday but even so she was probably the best lilac fairy I have seen recently.

Sadoan, I pretty much agree. I don't think Campbell was particularly engaging Monday night, but the uneven casting of the sisters probably didn't help the overall impression of the pd3. Neither does the Nutcracker outfit in act 3 which makes some dancers look like lion tamers who wandered in from Zippo's travelling circus. So far I'm having a blast with the swan lakes. No one has yet come quite near the buzz of the opening night, but Monday was one of those ballet days that I'm likely to remember. Naghdi's debut was fantastically promising, giving a thorough glimpse of the delights that are in store for RB watcher over her hopefully long career with the company. I though act 1&2 were still a bit tentative or beset by first night nerves, but for me Naghdi arrived as a fully fledged principal in act 3, and broke my heart a little in act 4. Whilst I would love to see a Naghdi /Ball Swan Lake, I suspect that O'Hare knew what he was doing when he cast her with Kish. He was a gentle foil to her sassy Odile and I actually liked his characterisation (though not his solos), standing close-ish to the stage with decent binoculars might have helped. I think that his secure partnering allowed Naghdi to focus on mastering the choreography. There were a few occasions where it was noticeable that this is not a part she has danced umpteen times, but the wonderful thing was to see how the odd little hesitation or wobble (watching from side stalls I probably caught an angle that made it look like she is about to fall out of her fouettés) didn't really faze her, she just recovered and made it look natural and elegant. Equally, Ball could focus on his dancing and characterisation, and not worry too much about perfect partnering with Osipova smoothing over slight slip-ups in that department with verve. Benjamina Ella's Benno definitely deserves a shoutout, he managed to be both elegant and lively, and I thought he had a really beautiful line throughout. His barrel turns added energy to the role and I think it worked really well - would be curious to see what it looks like if he were to dance the same choreo as other Bennos. I loved the high octane evening performance. As other posters have mentioned, Ball seems to improve with each performance and despite knowing this, I was yet again surprised at just how much he exceeded my expectations. I hope he doesn't spend his entire waking life in the studio pushing himself hard towards reaching his goals, but I can't think of another explanation for his constant rapid improvements unless it involves crossroads and witches. I thought they had ample chemistry and loved the way Osipova's Odette leaned into him for a rare moment of human warmth and contentment whilst he held her like the most precious being he'd ever encountered. Of course Osipova dominated the performance somewhat, she is a larger-than-life performer at the height of her power and would put most experienced principals in the shade, whilst Ball was dancing his first swan lake, but he sure didn't drown in her wake. They created an exhilarating, truly exciting Swan Lake together. I love the energy and passion Osipova brings to pretty much any role, and last Monday's show definitely took me to my happy place. Turns out I like pique turns a lot more than I thought. Amongst all the excitement and drama, the one moment that stayed most vividly with me is Ball's Siegfried throwing himself onto his knees with such passion and vehemence to beg Osipova's Odette to not sacrifice herself that a) I had a lump in my throat when she wrenched herself away heartbroken and b ) I could literally hear his hands connect with her outstretched (now possibly bruised?) arms.