jm365

I'm on Firefox and it worked OK.

I saw this danced by Bejart's own company - years ago, indeed. Does anyone know if that cast was ever filmed?

I completely agree with Janet. I think The King Dances is one of Bintley's really good pieces and I'm delighted it is coming to London. I saw it in Birmingham and thought it a knockout. I do hope there was a good audience for the tv programme as I thought the documentary section was extremely interesting and engaging.

I think that another reason for ballet's popularity in its 'golden age' of the 60s was that there was a huge amount of coverage given to Nureyev and Fonteyn in all sorts of papers and magazines. They were both so glamorous that I think a lot of people were inspired to go and see them - I certainly was! That then for me developed into a more broad enthusiasm for ballet in general. The lure of the 'star performer' shold not be discounted. Nureyev in his early days was a mesmeric personality on stage, as well as the sort of male dancer one had hardly ever seen in this country at the time. I knew almost nothing about dance when I first went to see him, but it is thanks to his performances that I became a fan of the art, not just of Nureyev.

First to declare an interest - I used to work for BBC Television. I completely agree that it is a shame that ballet/dance is no longer a major part of the output. But it is very expensive to produce and the audiences on the whole are smaller than for opera - and there isn't all that much opera on television either. Not a real excuse, but ........ On the question of repeating material from the archive - as I have said before on the old forum - this is a question of copyright. In the past, rights were only bought for two showings at the most. Video cassettes, and now DVDs, did not exist and therefore the question of acquiring rights did not come up. Programmes were often co-productions with either commercial video companies (the two most often used no longer exist now) or other, foreign broadcasters. To try to clear many of these programmes now, when dancers, choreographers, designers, musicians etc are no longer alive, would be a very, very difficult job and probably uneconomic. I wish there was a solution to this. There are many programmes I would love to have as DVDs. But the market is small when you compare it with drama.

And unfortunately some of this behaviour doesn't show up until after the performance has started, and then one has to weigh up whether it would cause more disruption to remonstrate than let it go ahead. Sometimes even a 'shush'! can provoke a verbal come back!!

I was always under the impression that the Jester was a sort of Benno/Buttons figure as a friend of the Prince. Certainly when Alexander Grant danced the role, it was not remotely an annoying or 'Soviet' figure, in fact he was rather sad, a character who realised that his own love for Cinderella was hopeless. Nobody has so far mentioned the Nureyev Cinderella for the Paris Opera. I can't remember it all that well - it was set as a sort of Hollywood fantasy, with Guilem as Cinderella, though I did see it once. I know it was filmed, and I think shown on BBC TV.

Any idea when we might get to see it in the cinema?

I'm sorry, I have to disagree with A frog. I thought this was a really boring evening. I found the so-called comedy vulgar. Ashton's version, which I was lucky enough to see when he and Helpmann danced, with Fonteyn as Cinderella, was never vulgar, even when over the top, and was genuinely funny, IMHO. (OK, more recent performancews,with the new sets and costumes, were closer to vulgar than Ashton's original.) The central performances, although well danced, totally failed to connect with me - I was in the Dress Circle, which is closer to the stage than I normally sit in the Opera House. I found many of the steps, throughout, cliched, sometimes with very little relationship to the music. I was interested to see that The Stage gave it two stars only - I agree!

In English English it is often 'Don Kwiksot'. Among ballet fans it is often 'Don Q'. In France it would be 'Don Quichotte'. Sometimes it is the Spanish style 'Don Key-ho-tay'. Take your pick!!!

Sylvie Guillem received the Lifetime's Achievement Award, presented by Akram Khan. Irek Mukhamedov presented the Dance Award to Tamara Rojo.

I was sitting half way back in the amphi (admittedly with a powerful pair of binoculars) for both the Friday and the Monday performances. I thought both were very interesting and totally absorbing. As I almost always sit in that area, I didn't find the distance affected my enjoyment at all, and I don't think the small number of dancers on stage was a problem in any way, such is the choreographer's skill in using the space. I am of the party that consider Song one of MacMillan's true masterpieces and therefore most certainly didn't find the evening a 'downer' or an unfitting end to the season.

And I must mention 'A Bullet In The Ballet' by Carol Brahms and ? Simon. And, though not as good, the other books about the Ballet Stroganoff. They are a wonderful send up of the old, endlessly touring Ballets Russes companies.

Yes, that's the one! The English title is Ballet For Life, as you say. It was the French title that was incredibly obscure and very long! I was inspired by this thread to hunt online to see if there was a dvd of the whole ballet. Apparently there is, and I'm trying to make sure it's playable in this country.

There are a couple of extracts from Bejart's Queen ballet - it has a long title which I can't remember - on Youtube if you search under Bejart Presbytere. It is rather badly filmed, but you do actually get genuine Queen tracks. It seems to have been filmed in its entirety, judging by the end credits on one of the extracts, but I've never seen the full version, except on stage many years ago in Paris.

Bejart did a ballet to Queen music - at the first night some of the Queen musicians actually played on stage.

Go for the Garnier if you can - it's much more spectacular!

And there are sometimes tours of the building itself - which is absolutely amazing!

My goodness! A review that makes you long to see the production. I assume there's no chance anyone will bring it to London?

I saw the full performance of this when it was done in London some years ago. I don't honestly think it fair to include it in a section on nightmare Swan Lakes! Of courwe it shouldn't be remotely compared with a 'real' Swan Lake, but it was a wonderful spectacle in its own right.

I agree in principle - but do remember that some people have to rush for a last train!

Well, I'm sorry to say that Golding's performance tonight was as bad as I had feared. I have never been at a performance of Onegin that left me so unmoved at the end. I could hardly bear to watch the pas de deux. I would love to see Osipova with virtually anyone else. I don't know whether it was because I found the main characters so uninvolving that I also found there was no passion in the music either. Thank God for Bennet Gartside - the one bright light of the evening.

Sim - I do so agree about the importance of having an Onegin who can match his Tatiana. That is why, to be honest, I am dreading Golding with Osipova! I wanted to see her enough to risk him. And while we are mentioning great former Tatianas, I must put in a word for Natalia Makarova - who made me cry every time I saw her.

I have been to several performances at the Sam Wanamaker - and it's true, the atmosphere is absolutely wonderful. I have mostly been to recitals and it is a perfect place for very small scale groups. I am afraid I walked out of The Knight of the Burning Pestle because I hated the patomime style production. As you know, the lighting is by genuine candles. I have managed to get a ticket for L'Ormindo this time, and also for Farinelli. I think they should be fascinating. However, if you do try to go - and you will definitely have to book in advance, as the audience capacity is tiny - may I suggest that you try for the back row in the pit or the first gallery. The seating is 'authentic' - backless benches unless you are in the rows I suggest - and is truly the most uncomfortable seating I have ever encountered. Row D in the pit, if you take a cushion, is fine because you can lean back against the wall. The same applies in the lower gallery, but the cushion is less essential as there is much less of a gap between the back of the seat and the wall. Sorry to spend so much more time on the auditorium than the performances, but bitter experience has now taught me what to go for and if someone had explained to me before my first booking session, it would have saved a lot of discomfort. Good luck with getting tickets.

I agree with the comment by capybara about those who march through an occupied row to reach a seat on the other side of the ROH amphi - I sometimes think no one bothers to read their tickets, which clearly state whether one enters stage right or left for certain numbers, or to check which way the numbers run. And those who do make a mistake never seem to think of going out and across via the foyer to the correct entry. However, I also think that the ushers sometimes don't help - do they actually check the numbers on the ticket and advise newbies where their seats are, not just where the rows are. But I can't see any point in being cross about people who want to leave their seats in the interval - there are many reasons why people might need to get out for a few minutes.