Minxette

I know the odds of this are near to close to ZERO but I hope they can reschedule the insight rather than issue refunds.

South west London.

Today I popped into the cinema closest to me that's screening Swan Lake on Tuesday. I wanted to see if there were any seats left. I was told that 3 tickets had been sold so far. I don't think advance booking is necessary!

At a recent Onegin, the phone of the lady next to me went off. The dancers and orchestra must have heard it as we were in the front row of the orchestra stalls. However, instead of being highly embarrassed and switching it off, she proceeded to check her phone for emails/texts every 5 mins. The back light of her phone kept driving me nuts. Unfortunately, some people simply don't understand what "the use of phones is prohibited" means, or they do but have no respect for the audience, dancers or orchestra. I am fed up with asking people to behave appropriately and risking a potential confrontation. So I grit my teeth, wait for the interval, then tell the usher the seat number of the offending culprit so they can deal with them. That way, the rules are enforced from the horse's mouth and you avoid being labelled fussy or unreasonable (!). If it comes from an usher, the rules are taken more seriously for some unknown reason. I am there to enjoy the performance, not to teach people good manners. At a dress rehearsal on a stalls circle bench seat, the lady behind me kicked my backside quite forcefully, obviously by accident (I presume!). It was totally unexpected and I just laughed it off as I was taken aback. We made eye contact, she knew exactly what she had done but no apology was offered. She then proceeded to shuffle her feet and continually kick my partner's backside throughout the first act. When my partner finally had enough of having his backside kicked, he grabbed her ankle during the next assault and gave it a good squeeze before plonking it firmly on the ground. The kicking then ceased. The message had been received. During the last Bolshoi residency at ROH, there was an elderly gentleman (with fingernails about 1 inch long) emitting what could only be described as a stale, foul, "unwashed" odour, It was extremely powerful and slowly infused the area surrounding him. It was something really hard to ignore; I wrapped my scarf around my nose and my eyes were watering. At the interval, the man next to finally cracked and went on a tirade. To paraphrase him: "You smell terrible. You are a disgrace. I will have the management remove you. This is the second time I've had to sit next to you." It was an awful scene. This man was at the end of his tether as it was unbearably smelly. The elderly man was so upset and visibly shaking from the onslaught. His only offence was to be smell very bad. I felt terrible for him as he was effectively being humiliated and embarrassed in public. The usher attended the scene but there was little they could do other than give the elderly gentleman a quick bath! I closed my eyes and slunk away, dreading the final act. On returning to our seats, a compromise of sorts had been reached. An elegant lady dressed from head to toe in Chanel had swapped seats with the complainant, so she and her daughter had become a sacrificial buffer zone. She was chatting away to the elderly man, being very kind to him - I guess she was trying to reassure him that he wasn't a complete leper. I applaud this lady. She made the ultimate sacrifice and "took it for the team" and was very kind to the upset man. This was the most uncomfortable situation I've ever encountered at ROH. I wonder if this lady is reading this now? If so, thank you for compromising in order to keep the peace and thank you for showing such kindness to a stranger.

I'm trying to organise my diary and need to know the approximate duration of this triple bill. Please get your crystal balls out! Does anyone know the duration of "The Four Temperaments" please? From memory, Song of the Earth is between 60-70 minutes long. Hofesh is a new work so duration is obviously unknown. I would be grateful if you could help me fill in the gaps where possible: 1) The Four Temperaments - duration TBC 2) Interval - assume 25min 3) Hofesh Shechter - unknown 4) Interval - assume 25min 5) Song of the Earth - 70min? Thank you!

I totally agree with Bill. I was brought up to respect public places and cleaners; to appreciate that cleaners are there to "clean" and not "to clean up after me" - a huge difference in mentality.

Vadim will be rather busy doing ENB's Romeo & Juliet in June. :-)

I wish ROH would make all cast sheets downloadable for every performance. BRB do this well: http://www.brb.org.uk/castsheets.html I asked ROH about this on Twitter and got a "non response" saying they don't do it but didn't really say why.

That's unconditional parental love, Sim!

Thanks Amelia.

Does anyone have a weblink for the casting of Marco Spada in the live cinema relay on 30th March please?

Are openly gay dancers allowed to participate without being abused...? Serious question.

Do you mean the general dress rehearsal on Friday at 12:00 or the evening rehearsal at 19:30?

Ballet is a sport in the sense that professional ballet dancers need the strength, endurance and fitness of elite level athletes. I have seen this for myself when I bumped into Alina Cojocaru training in my gym. She was undertaking an insanely challenging core workout with kettlebells that made the personal trainers around her stop and stare. She was performing a Turkish get-up with a 20kg kettlebell with perfect technique, ending in an arabesque on demi point, with her arm dead straight to support the kettlebell. This is even more awesome when you consider 20kg as a proportion of her tiny body weight, indicating an enormous power/weight ratio that befits elite athletes. When you look physiologically and bio-mechanically at what dancers have to do and how the body is pushed to extremes, it is hard to deny that ballet is a form of sport in sheer terms of its physicality. However, what makes ballet an art form in its entirety rather than a sport, is the fact dancers have to make it look easy and effortless. Unlike athletes, they cannot show the effort, pain or exhaustion involved. This is art. Finally, at the heart of ballet lies artistry, story-telling, instilling emotions, projection, stage presence, charisma, etc, which are the essence of this art form. This sets apart ballet from sport.

Am I being blind but I can't see a seating plan for the Clore: http://www.roh.org.uk/visit/tickets#seating-plan I have seen a seating plan before so I know it exists but can't find the source. Does anyone know please?

Very naughty, bangorballetboy! Hahahaha!

When will ROH update their website with casting that has already been announed in a printed magazine? Find it really annoying and ironic that their website lags behind their magazine! When organising my diary I like to copy and paste from the website, not use my thumb to sort through lines of text on a piece of paper. I know I sound like a diva, but how hard can it be to update their website? (I work in IT so I know exactly how hard this is, i.e. not very!)

I think it's Yonah Acosta who is cast in Le Corsaire, not Carlos.

Thanks Irmgard.

I am quite new to watching ENB so wondered what people's experience of Nutcracker ticket sales was like. I read somewhere that Nutcracker is a great box-office seller, so does that mean the shows always sell out? Is it advisable to book in advance? Or take the gamble of waiting for special offers? When I watched ENB's Sleeping Beauty, Death & Esctasy, and the Raymonda triple bill, there were plenty of empty seats. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Sitting in row B orchestra stalls, I could see everything mentioned above very well. In particular, Smirnova couldn't hold her turn out in développé a la seconde as Chudin promenaded her, probably a consequence of too high an extension. Rotation of her leg inward looked so ugly it made me wince. It's something I would not expect of a dancer in a Bolshoi principal role. Regarding her acting, she was a few degrees warmer than the icy Zachorova but could have defrosted a little more and showed more joy and warmth towards Solor in Act 1...whilst she still had something to be happy about. Nevertheless, I was pleased to see this talented cast, especially Filin's protégé, the magnificent Seymon Chudin. After one of his astoundingly executed variations, my partner turned to me and exclaimed, "Chudin' hell!", meant in the most complimentary of ways. :-)

Last night, the conductor played the arasbesque shades scene so fast he must have wanted an early night! This spoiled the beauty of this scene for me. I've never heard the tempo so fast, having watched the Royal Ballet's and Mariinsky's productions.

Both are important to me. However, a piece of work may be interpreted very differently by different artists. For example, I'd pay to see John Lennon perform "Imagine", but not One Direction! That's a silly example but illustrates the point that the same choreographic work can be performed to different standards by various artists. As well as having favourite dancers, I also have a blacklist where by I specficically avoid performances because of certain dancers. Don't forget we are paying customers at the end of day, so are entitled to pick and chose what we spend our money on.

Admittedly I was in Orchestra Stalls Row B, but I'm sure that kiss could be heard through out the house, such was it's passion and fercoity.

Slightly related - at Rojo's farewell performance in "Marguerite & Armand" at ROH, I heard Polunin virtually suck Rojo's lips off and the breath from her lungs in her dying kiss. His kiss had the force and passion of a Dyson vacuum. Afterwards, you could hear a pin drop. A masterclass in melodramatic kissing from Polunin.