Coated

I assumed that the 'A' cast is stuffed to the rafters with principals and filmed so that they can then release that as a DVD. Perhaps it's too early, but it would make sense to me to whet people's appetite for future runs...

William Bracewell looked so secure and natural in the first act, I had to check whether he had danced it before (not according to his bio). *swans back off to for more lac*

And thus another run of Manon's is over and I couldn't have asked for a better ending. Clarke and Cuthbertson simply nailed the last pdd, there was even a smidgen of moisture in my normally bone dry eyeballs. Initially elated at their escape, De Grieux slowly realised Manon had nothing left in her, but held on to hope until the very last moment, trying to share his remaining strength. Clarke's characterisation was spot on for me and Cuthbertson excelled at portraying utter exhaustion, becoming increasingly wane until you could practically see life escaping her body. The last pdd works best for me if it starts with a slightly elated De Grieux, whose initial happiness or hope amplifies the tragedy of Manon's death and these two got it just right for my taste.

According to the article, they are likely the first ballet company offering this service. I sincerely hope they are also the last.

I wouldn't be keen on debuts by relatively inexperienced dancer, young dancers deserve the support of their (hopefully kind) home crowd for a first outing anyhow. Apart from that anything goes and I will undoubtedly end up booking Swanlakes as well - if they don't bring any, I'd be seriously surprised.

It's worth bearing in mind that some Twitter users love taking down well established performers for a laugh or in the firm believe that no one meets their stringent criteria other than a few selected up-and-coming performers and any old regie theatre production. Last night's Manon was a joy for me, and I've decided that 2 Russians of this caliber wanting to perform this with the RB is actually a very lovely compliment to Macmillan. Naghdi was wonderful as mistress, I loved her knowing looks and the humour she brought. I didn't get much of Sambe's character in this, he seemed too much of a nice boy for the role. Agree that the production is a little fusty and wouldn't mind if there could be just a bit less fabric all over the stage.

If you're not a fast typist, it helps brushing up a bit - makes MS Office skills shine so much more than demonstrating Excel as an one fingered typist trying to find a hyphen. There are are free online games etc that can help to increase typing speed. A bit boring, but it only takes half an hour a day over a couple of weeks to get fast enough. We've had interns who barely knew which way up to use a keyboard, and it really makes a difference when you get one who can touch type.

Wow, trying 5 different browsers on a mobile and a tablet, and either all dates I checked have exactly the same cast, or they need to fix their website.

Hmm. Glad they didn't inflict it on public booking, guess friends will now get it in the neck. Not looking forward to being a Guinea pig again, particularly for a busy booking period.

Ballet catnip, I'm currently purring with pleasure.

My iPad is fairly ancient, so I do come across interesting behaviour on booking sites from time to time, but whatever they were thinking with this one, it's way too fiddly. The back button slings you right back to the season listing whereas previously it would have taken you to the production page. Though a downwards arrow that looks like it would hide/expand a section on the 'pre-actual-booking' page chucks you over to the production page... If they are going live with it for public booking, they might be in for a bumpy ride.

Phew! I couldn't click on anything on that page that worked on my iPad (booking is going to be so much fun....), noticed the dash after "£21 - " and started planning life as a former ballet watcher...

Holy mother of god, someone please tell me that I've interpreted their prices incorrectly. The lowest band showing when checking the 18/19 autumn season seems to say 11 for the triple, 16 for Bayadere, 18 for Mayerling and 21 for Nutcracker. Maybe they just forgot to show the cheap tickets? Screenshot of Nutcracker pricing map ETA: just noticed an earlier post along similar lines - hope the assumption that they haven't got the banding prices quite right yet is correct.

Too far...someone went too far... 😜

I assumed the main cost saving for the companies are the shared development costs, and performance rights particularly if the production is successful. I came across a co-production contract for an opera that list what costs are shared.

The ability to perform decent fouettés is necessary when dancing roles where they are part of the choreography, whether a dancer travels forward a bit or they are a dozen short ot the 'magic' number doesn't matter as long as the dancer doesn't run out of steam too much and creates something beautiful that fits the role. I've seen a dancer perform 32 perfect fouettés (I assume that was the number anyway, l watch ballet instead of counting steps) that were so monotonous that I nearly lost interest, I've seen another dancer delivering a gripping solo where her fouettés travelled so close to the orchestra pit that I started getting worried she might join the cellists. That said, if I had to choose between 2 casts where both dancers are likely to give a very good account of the overall role but only one of them is likely to perform exhilarating fouettés without running out of steam, I know which cast I'd book.

Tsk, I fought hard for my Ring tickets. Don't you put ideas in their head...

That video is not something you'd link to on your CV. Everyone can have an off-day, but I suspect if that had been a video of an RB principal there'd be an endless discussion about what happened.

I don't have fond memories of the production they brought previously and judging by the article below, neither had this reviewer (bit harsh, but not entirely unwarranted IMHO) https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/aug/18/swan-lake-review-coliseum-london Any chance that they have an updated production?

I really like the McGregor. I occasionally read statements along the lines of 'McGregor might be the choreographer to rejuvenate ballet and drag it into the 21st century'. I feel it's the other way around, with ballet making McGregor a better choreographer on the occasions where he allows ballet to influence his creation, as he did with Woolf Works and now Yugen. I don't really have anything positive to say about the other two pieces, apart from the overall quality of the dancing itself. For me, the design, choreography and music of a creation need to complement each other. If it's a storyballet the plot needs to be clear and of interest. If I can't guess what the ballet is about without cliff notes, I regard it as abstract and the dancing needs to talk for itself. I generally like Scarlett''s design choices, but Anxiety seems like set design over substance and I guess this won't chance if there are further outings. Wheeldon's design aesthetic usually leaves me fairly underwhelmed, but he managed to disappoint my fairly low expectations with his line-destroying flappy-strap abominations. Sure, Erdem designed the costumes, but seeing that flapping fabric is a recurring theme in Wheeldon's pieces (the inexplicable fringe cardigan worn by Perdita being a prime example) I suspect that the blame doesn't belong to Erdem alone. The dancing filled the stage busily, but for me there was little of interest. By the time there was something like a chorus line shaking its legs in the back, I just wanted it to be over. I have no idea how the dancing relates to Plato, but then I have the same issue with ballets expressing maths, haemoglobin or geology. Taste and mileage obviously vary widely, but for me this might have been the ballet where I say goodbye to spending money on Wheeldon for good.

I think the mocking goose stepping / salute were there in the first run already.

I really enjoy reading your posts and think it would be a real shame if you stopped. If it helps, I could be really offended if you stopped posting, so you need to keep going to avoid upsetting a poster on here?

I needed to upgrade to a seat for this performance, so I'm now selling SCS D32 for the Bernstein mixed bill on the 23rd March, 19:30

Fumi Kaneko's delivered a well-rounded and thought-out Hermione, her motivations, fears and emotions were clear but subtle and I really felt she hit the nail on the head with her characterisation. Her Hermione was also beautifully danced and definitely a high-point of the performance, as was Tierney Heaps Paulina for me. Tierney showed both strength and sorrow that suited Paulina's character exceedingly well and gave it gravitas. It will be hard for any dancer to quite match Yanowsky's awesome Paulina, but it looks to me that Tierney is well on her way. I preferred Bonelli's 3rd act to his first act, he seemed to be a bit too intense in some of his anger at the beginning, and I'm not sure what to make of his depiction of jealousy, but he hit the ground running (IMHO) as soon as the grief /redemption arc started. The first few scenes with Polixenes didn't really have that feeling of 'brotherly' love and closeness that add to Leontes' later unraveling, and the lack of chemistry between Leontes and Polixenes didn't help to bring the first act fully to live.

No, it did look more like the last minute replacement it was - decent dancing of the steps, but little to no chemistry, presumably due to lack of rehearsal time. The act 2 costume didn't do Campbell any favours and probably contributed to a less sparkly appearance. The colour blocking used for the men's costumes doesn't work for the majority of dancers/human beings unless you want to make them appear significantly more short and squat than they are. Muntagirov just about gets away with wearing them without loosing too much 'optical height', other dancers, including Campbell and McRae, have not been so lucky.