GTL

The problem being that the rich simply buy two cars with an odd and an even numberplate. Similar schemes have been proposed in other countries but rejected as too economically discriminatory.

I always think this sort of thing is aimed at people who think that is what top people have at posh theatre and who do not know how to buy champagne or a programme for themselves. Miaow.

You're not designing the Royal Ballet's new production by any chance are you? Some of us thought that the last had to be the nadir, but maybe not. Edit: or, heaven help us, yet another revised revival of "Raven Girl".

I'm expanding this to "Male dancers and their fish". https://fishlove.co.uk/collections/gary-avis.html

That is so true, Trog (post 5), seeing a "challenging" production of a favourite ballet can be disappointing. My "mustn't miss" list includes "La Sylphide", "La Fille mal gardée", "Les Biches", "Symphony in C", English National Ballet's "Le Corsaire", the Bolshoi's "Bright Stream" and "Don Quixote".

They are for sale on the normal Royal Opera House booking website, but it makes you buy the whole box, not just a single seat.E.G. https://www.roh.org.uk/events/29126/tickets then select an area and click on a box.

I wondered if it was a French "bis" i.e. encore. At least there was plenty of noisy appreciation to cover it, including some foot-stamping.I so hope they will release this on DVD, it was the best evening I've had at the ROH in the last year. I have the recent Osipova/Acosta one but would not hesitate to buy this as well.

I don't know any organised bus tours, but how about a boat trip from Embankment or Waterloo piers, which are near Covent Garden. The fast River Bus to Greenwich is fun: https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/river/?intcmp=64 Two of the more interesting bus routes on the TfL journey planner are:- the 11 (Liverpool Street / City / Strand /Trafalgar Square / Westminster / Victoria / Sloane Square / Kings Road) or the RV1 (Covent Garden / Waterloo Bridge / London Eye / South Bank / Southwark / Borough / past London Bridge / City Hall / over Tower Bridge to near the Tower and St Katherine's Dock).

We are lucky to have a core of regular posters whose long experience in the dance world enables them to write authoritively, and long may they continue, but Anjuli wrote with such style and ease, and had been around here for so long, that I still think of her as the "fairy godmother" of the forum.

Thanks for posting this, it is good to know that she is happy and her talents are not lost to the ballet world.

I didn't realise that Daria was still performing at that level, wish I could have been there. Edit: which is not to denigrate the rest of that fabulous cast, I just wish they could all do it on a weekday to suit my personal schedule!

And, I hope, for costume designers: I found the swan-like but Romantic long skirts in the Royal Ballet's Dowell/Sonnabend "Swan Lake" just so wrong.

I was somewhat gobsmacked when I read this yesterday on page three of the Standard, though it was at the foot of the page and photo-less. On one level I dismissed it as PR for the upcoming gala, on another I was dismayed by the possible misrepresentation of those named in the piece by comparing such dissimilar dancers in this way and by the indirect devaluation of the other dancers of the Royal Ballet. Then again, with print newspapers disappearing and much of the slog done by unpaid "interns", there is very little opportunity for trained journalists to exercise their profession as they would probably wish to do.

And yet most short-haul airlines can achieve a turnaround - arrive, disembark passengers and luggage, refuel, load new passengers and their luggage, do the necessary technical stuff - in half an hour. In fact, in less time than some ROH intervals.

If the revenue is important to the ROH, they could keep the bars and restaurant open post-show, as the National Theatre does.

Re: programming Another vote here for more 7pm starts and less interval, people can then drink and chat with their friends after the show without constraint. If the ROH technical staff cannot yet cope with shorter intervals, as per the commercial theatre, they should learn how. (We haven't had a timings/catering revenue/loo queue rant for a while, time perhaps to revive one?) Isn't it more important for the audience to be able to use the time watching the dancers perform?

Or "Le Spectre de la Rose" (or "spectre design last rose" according to my autocorrect) which is in their joint repertoire

Aurelie Dupont announced as new Directrice, some links if I can manage it. http://www.bfmtv.com/culture/aurelie-dupont-nommee-directrice-de-l-opera-de-paris-948926.html http://www.telerama.fr/musique/aurelie-dupont-remplace-benjamin-millepied-comme-directrice-de-la-danse-a-l-opera-de-paris,137875.php And officially: https://mobile.twitter.com/operadeparis/status/695253491997110272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw "Stéphane Lissner confirme le départ de @B_Millepied et annonce Aurélie Dupont comme Directrice de la danse au 01/08."

Yes,and in an unsympathetic rôle too. And what wonderfully soft landings! The heaviness of Cesar Corrales's were the one jarring note in his amazing performance - but at his age he needs to have something to work on. I felt that Tamara Rojo, great as she was to substitute for Alina C, was slightly too tall for Osiel Gouneo: in the circumstances they can't have had much practice time together and I feared for them in that shoulder-stand type lift at the and of their big Act 2 pas-de-deux. However, these are minor quibbles, what an exhilerating evening, a terrific show from everyone.

Celebrity sightings are not rare at the upmarket London venues. You even see well-known faces in the shops or underground or street occasionally. The important thing is not to appear impressed by them. ????

I have seen HM in the Grand Tier with her mother and Princess Margaret, and more recently in the Royal Box with Prince Philip. It has its own loo, which helps when you're old. It often shows as available when booking opens, but I imagine you take it at risk of it later being requisitioned by VIPS. I only ever saw the dedicated ballet fans, Princesses Margaret and Diana, in the Grand Tier. Re the Beckhams: for those inclined to rôle models (and I am not), there are many worse-behaved and less talented out there, at least as far as he is concerned. Against the odds, they seem to have achieved a happy family life and I think usually try to behave with a measure of dignity, which in her case come can across as arrogance. Much the same, minus talent, could be said for a good few actual "Royals" round the world.

What makes it worse is that she's no fool: against expectations, she has become a well-respected businesswoman in the fashion industry. I think it's just ignorance and it disappointed me because on the whole I think the Beckhams are a Good Thing. Comparatively speaking, that is. They appear to be seated in the Royal Box (which anyone can buy) where the view of the stage is so poor it might have given her the idea that they couldn't be seen from the stage and were therefore being discreet. It was irresponsible to publish the photo. I blame the Daily Mail, but I guess most of us do that most of the time anyway, in oh-so-many ways.

FLOSS hits the nail on the head in post 47, we may be comparatively new to ballet but our communal experience in the UK as an audience is influenced by our long theatrical tradition, to which most British schoolchildren are exposed from infancy through to exam set texts. My impression is that scene changes in plays nowadays are structured to maintain pace and atmosphere by suppressing applause. Entrance and exit applause, which I believe was the norm here sixty years ago, is simply not done at the likes of the National Theatre and is confined to the sort of West End mega-celebrity shows that attract a rather different audience profile - some would say less sophisticated, others would say less jaded. In complete contrast we have pantomime with exuberant audience participation at a level which would startle even a Bolshoi star. And then there is the rafter-shaking foot-stamping reserved in my experience for the end of those exceptional Osipova/Vassiliev "Don Quixote" and "Flames of Paris" performances - is that universal or just a Covent Garden custom? (NOT a rhetorical question, I'm asking because I don't get around much these days.) My rules: (1) no applause while the music is playing. It's playing for a reason and should not be drowned out. (2) I don't mind the conductor pausing for applause after a particularly demanding section in the classics to give the dancers a breathing space but I expect the modern rep to be played straight through without breaks. (3) visiting companies to confine their curtain calls to the end of the show.

Oh dear. Victoria-Beckham-shares-photos-girls-night-Royal-Opera-House-daughter-Harper-enjoy-Christmas-ballet. And from our own "Today's links as well. Scroll down for the mid-snowflakes-scene shot. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3372428/Victoria-Beckham-shares-photos-girls-night-Royal-Opera-House-daughter-Harper-enjoy-Christmas-ballet.html

One of my favourites was some years ago at the Royal Opera House ("Lucia di Lammermoor" to be specific). A very socially assured voice reduced the rest of her box to a stunned silence in the interval conversation by joining in the praise of the lead soprano with, "And to think she has to do it eight shows a week!". One of her companions eventually overcame his embarrassment and enlightened her.