GTL

One of the problems ballet has in broadening its audience is overcoming the notion that it appeals mainly to little girls. Miss Bussell's youthfulness of manner and speech reinforces that image - which works fine on Saturday night BBC1 as long as she doesn't fall victim to over-exposure. I admit she's not to my taste: I have enjoyed a good few of her ROH performances in the past but in most roles where I could make a direct comparison, I thought Guillem, Rojo, Cojocaru, Nunez, Hatley, Yanowsky, Yoshida (to name a few) superior so I booked accordingly. My concern is that a potential new audience for ballet could be alienated by any dumbing-down of presentation on BBC2/4.

I got the impression Fonteyn devoted her life post-retirement to her paralysed Panamanian husband and that the political background of his family complicated her financial affairs. Of the ex-RB TV presenters I've seen recently, I have to say that those who came across as intelligent dancers made the best presenters - so that's Tamara Rojo, David Bintley, Deborah Bull. Darcey Bussell is improving as a populist TV person, ideal for the likes of "Strictly Come Dancing", but BBC1 and BBC2/BBC4 should not be interchangeable and there's room on TV for them all.

There is hope: I saw Lauren Cuthbertson struggle pitifully through the Lilac Fairy in an early attempt, but within a few years she was triumphing in the hardest roles, e.g. Ballo della Regina.

Re current principals as Tatiana in Onegin, I've seen Marquez and Nunez, both with Soares and both very good indeed, overwhelming applause at the end.

No Chaucer, no Trollope (Anthony, of course), no Ovid, Dante, Proust, Gogol, Homer, Goethe, Chekhov, Sartre - even in translation? Not remotely definitive, more like an intern's list of "Books I have heard of", except that there's nothing whatsoever from the published oeuvre of "One Direction". Actually, I find it quite interesting that Goodreads members have only averaged 23. Read whatever you can get hold of and you'll soon work out for yourself what's worthwhile and what's best ignored, and everyone's list will be different. Mine is almost entirely non-fiction nowadays. And yes, I only scored 44. Back to my Wittgenstein now.

8th April is the general non-friends opening date but Subscription booking, ie for a restricted range of several different selected performances, normally opens a few days earlier: perhaps that's why they say "single seats"?

Perhaps a Buy One Get One Free offer?

"Yous" is common colloquial usage in Ireland so possibly migrated to Liverpool, New York and Australia.

The ROH does two tours, it's the " Velvet, gilt and glamour" one. http://www.roh.org.uk/visit/tours

Re: positioning of Royals, in my experience Princess Margaret chose to sit in the centre Grand Tier block, I've also seen Diana, the Queen and Queen Mother centre Grand Tier at galas, never curtained-off though. At the Royal Ballet's 75th anniversary show, not a gala as such, the Queen and Prince Philip sat in the Royal Box. Anyone can buy the seats there with use of its little drawing room, though I don't know whether the royal loo is unlocked for plebs. The view is poor from the front, non- existant at the rear. Queen Victoria installed a mirror to reflect the stage when she discovered her attendants couldn't see anything from the back. You get shown all this on the ROH's auditorium tour (not the backstage one).

If only it were that uncomplicated!

The like button probably stops us getting too gushy and leaves more cyberspace for a Heated Debate, but a genteel one of course.

Bruce re your post 5: that's my point, you DO have to say in words, which is good because it makes for an ongoing discussion rather than instant dismissal by button.

Don't like this, Bruce, but with no button I have to say so in words and even have a go at a reasoned argument - which makes it possible to explore the subject further. For anyone who thinks we're all too uncontroversial and wants to see the occasional feather being spat, I can recommend some of the threads in "Doing Dance", but happily a general spirit of niceness prevails, which is something that shouldn't be destroyed . Some of you might feel nauseous by now, but you have to say so to make your feelings known rather than just click and pass on. Discuss.

ChrisChris, your link to the NY Times report brought back memories. I was at that 1990 Fonteyn retirement gala and Nureyev did Mercutio, though rumour was that the ROH had intended him to escort Fonteyn in the Royal Box rather than dance himself. Placido Domingo, preceding Romeo and Juliet itself, sang the Traviata Brindisi, inviting the audience to accompany him in the chorus, then joined Fonteyn in her Box. The final curtain-call, a "red runner" out front, was Fonteyn with Nureyev, by then in his street clothes. The BBC were there to cover that bit live on the News, except that it had overrun (the unprogrammed Brindisi, I suspect) so I think it went out on Newsnight. The whole House was plunged into total darkness (something I've never seen before or since) then F&N were spotlighted in front of the curtain, standing side by side holding hands. She looked elegant but very, very ill (I was in the Stalls), he not yet obviously unwell but both were dead within a few years, so we were seeing their last appearance on the ROH stage. And we sang at the ROH with Domingo.

Are food and drink for all essential mid-performance though, even if all could afford the ROH prices? The Floral Hall could stay open later to offer post-theatre meals and drinks. It just seems amazing after all the refurbishment back-stage in 1999 that the reason should be technical necessity, I can't believe it's because the ROH staff are less competent than those of other venues, or indeed their predecessors pre-1999. I did see this triple bill by the way, with McCrea/Morera/Ospipova etc/Lamb/Soares/Acosta but the interval thing is all I felt sufficiently inspired to comment on. Main pas de deux aside, I can't work out why I dislike Rhapsody as a piece so much - hectic is the word that sums it up for me. With Tetractys, it was just so hard to see what was happening in the gloom but with brighter lighting I'd give it another try. Gloria was worthwhile, moving and apt for 2014 but for me better as an opener than a closer. P.S. Do many forum members actually choose the right-hand side of the House? ????

Apart from his dancing, his "defection" from the USSR at the height of the Cold War made front-page headlines throughout the Western world, his first post-defection performances were sabotaged by Communist sympathisers and he had to live with the threat of the KGB taking some form of revenge, ie death, forced repatriation and punishment or career-ending injury. He was unique amongst the defectors of the 1960s/70s/80s in that he had no precedent to follow. Those who came later knew when they defected that they could have a safe and successful career in the West. I think his sheer courage must have helped to dispel the myth so prevelant here in those days that male dancers were wimps.

re: when was "The Two Pigeons" last performed in full at the ROH? I definitely saw the full version there in 1982 (I think with David Wall and Lesley Collier but I'm not at all certain on that bit).

Be warned that it will never be the same again after you've see the Trocs version.

According to the cast amendement slip I picked up at the end of the 30 January matinée, Tierney Heap, even newer to the Corps (2012), danced Myrthe in place of Hikaru Kobayashi, who danced the lead in the Act 1 Pas de Six in place of Yuhui Choe. There were no amendment slips out when I arrived, so I spent a quite a bit of Act 2 wondering why Miss Kobayashi had sacrificed technique in favour of forcefulness and beefed up her make-up since I last saw her dance it on the 22nd - which is not meant as a criticism of Miss Heap, who IMHO showed great promise and was dramatically very effective. In view of the fact that my last "Giselle" had been an Osipova/Acosta, it says much for Laura Morera and Federico Bonelli that I did not feel short-changed: as others have said, it was indeed a very intelligent and moving interpretation. I have to say that not everyone prefers Act 2 though. At the end, I overheard a lady of, I guess, around 70 say to her companion, leaving their £80-ish seats and pulling on her mini-rucksack, "The second half dragged a bit but it's lovely to see the Opera House for its atmosphere.". I felt a bit like I did at a midweek matinée at the Albert Hall after an ENB Gershwin show where all the beautifully-danced pas de deux got much less applause than the tap-dancers.

The ending of "The Winter's Tale" will present a challenge for the unprepared.

In the Royal Ballet Don Quixote television screening, Carlos Acosta and Marianela Núñez, both of course with Spanish as mother-tongue, say it as the modern Don Quijote I.e. Don Kee-HO-tay, emphasis on the HO.

I thought the Cojocaru Italian fouettés went well tonight, they got a few "brava"s. . All in all, it was a thrilling evening, who cares about a sensible plot with dancing like that? World-class leads and not a weak link throughout. I was really disappointed that Daria Klimentovά's only perforance is a Sunday (no good for trains, plus family commitments) but the Cojocaru/Muntagirov partnership is very promising, I didn't even notice the height difference, which must actually be considerable. I agree with Aileen about the pdd, I think they raised it a notch or two tonight from the first night. I would hate to think that less-than-full houses might force "Le Corsaire" out of the ENB repertoire but I don't think the London pricing policy worked this time, I certainly found it quite confusing: having watched the first night from a relatively cheap Stalls seat, I came out wanting to see it again but had to wait for the offers before rebooking (the ROH non-Friends booking period 3 having taken a large chunk out of my budget). My other piece of advice to ENB is to promote Junor Souza and Yonah Acosta before they lose them to a company offering them more than "Junior Soloist".

Tony, if you're referring to my post 116, your post 129 was correct, as was Alison's post 128, it was "Le Train Bleu".

We agree on the job reapplication farce, I hope we can agree that putting in the hours, plus lots more, is no guarantee against redundancy, often it's sheer bad luck. Back to ballet productivity: for a staggering example of a young dancer's work ethic, look at Junor Souza's schedule on the ENB Nutcracker website, he's partnering four celebrated ballerinas between 11 and 13 December!