GTL

Oh MAB, that's not fair. In a more general context than ballet, it has not been my experience: I've seen loyal, experienced, respected professionals made redundant as they reach their fifties, to the detriment of their pensions, while others less skilled remain because they are closer to management or more assertive. Isn't it supposed to be that the post is redundant rather than the person?

The London Coliseum cloakroom has racks of coathangers with those coin-in-the-slot-then-wire-through-your-coat-sleeve devices, you need a (refundable) £1 coin and you retain the key. It also has the usual West End small attended cloakroom for bags but I don't know the cost. As noted above, it's downstairs with access via the main staircase unless you're coming out from the Stalls at the lower level. All in all, not the most helpful arrangement for a quick exit, but at least it's never been full in my experience.

Coated, re your post 12: I've certainly seen the Arabian dancers do their "aloft" curtain call several times, but I can't say for certain whether it's standard. Have any of the more frequent attenders seen it done any other way?

That's the one, le Train Bleu. The ballet takes place on the beach and tennis court. This particular baton passes to Alison.

The location in the title isn't a place you would find in an atlas. You might only see or hear it at the very start (at least in the version I've seen, which I think recreated much of the original).

Update on the ballet NOT set in the location named in the title: it's nothing to do with "The Bright Stream",but if you want a clue, think of the Ballets Russes.

It had to be Sylphide sooner or later! Thanks for the hint, Anjuli-Bai. My question: which ballet is NOT set in the location named in the title?

Is it "La Sylphide" where James catches her? I haven't seen it for a while but I seem to recall that other than that fatal moment they dance around each other without touching.

San Diego is GMT - 8, so noon there will be 8 pm here in England. Anjuli-Bai, you are in my prayers too.

Continued application of the title "ballerina" to any female who dances - you'd have thought the "Black Swan" / Nathalie Portman debate would have laid that one to rest, at least for journalists, if not for those unfamiliar with the nuances of the professional etiquette.

Balleteacher, I think the word “subjective” is the key, because objectively, the only realistic measure of excellence for a mature dancer is their personal pleasure in their dancing. As they grow in competence, that might include taking exams for their own satisfaction, but enjoyment should surely be the prime aim. It's good that the ballet companies are reaching out to provide classes for amateurs and I hope it's a much-needed source of income for them, but I think most people realise that professional-level classical ballet is for properly-trained younger bodies: even Sylvie Guillem has had to adjust with age in order to maintain her high artistic standards. There used to be a troupe of aged Russian ladies who performed classical extracts on point with most of the right steps, but they played it, deadpan, as a comedy act, there was no other way to do it. (I wonder if the Trocks ever saw them?) It seems to me that the most successful mature dancers are those who avoid self-delusion and injury while following their own dream in full awareness of its limitations – and I get the feeling that quite a few of our posters are achieving this. Please, all you dancers and amazingly generous teachers, keep posting. I don't dance but what I pick up here helps me appreciate what I see on stage even more.

Elizabeth Harrod not Harrods. Can't control my auto-correct, though I did manage to stop it calling Stix Brunell "Brunelleschi", even though she's neither an architect nor six centuries dead.

afds, the 16 October Dryad Queen was Melissa Hamilton. You've mentioned Nunez, Acosta, Morera and Hirano, all of whom got a great reception at the front-of-curtain calls in the Royal Opera House. Others on the cast list were: Don Quixote - Christopher Saunders; Sancho Plaza - Philip Mosley; Lorenzo the innkeeper - Gary Avis; Gamache the nobleman - Bennet Gartside; Kitri's friends - Yuhui Choe and Beatriz Stix Brunell; Amour - Elizabeth Harrods; Dulcinea - Christina Arestis; Tavern girl - Kristen McNally; Gypsy couple and Fandango couple - Itziar Mendizabal and Thomas Whitehead. Stix Brunell, Arestis and McNally were all last-minute replacements in these roles, listed on the cast-change notices which supplement the cast sheets.

Shops, at least the large ones, need to start their Christmases after the summer sales - they have to find an immediate use for space and staff previously employed in summery departments such as gardening or garden furniture. I'm told that last year Harrods even managed to open theirs in time to catch the Olympic visitors of early August. Glad I managed to avoid that one, though.

Those fairy spouses Oberon and Titania have a fairly climactic pas de deux in the Royal Ballet's "Dream" if the dancers get it right. It reminds me of a few modern marriages I know, despite the input of the dead white males Shakespeare, Mendelssohn and Ashton. And how many times do we see a young man ditch a loving, supportive partner in pursuit of an unobtainable, idealised vision of a woman, as seen in "La Sylphide"? But I love having the opportunity to see the "modern" pieces as well and the Royal Ballet's pricing policy is a big factor in this: they make it cheap enough, in comparison to the classic rep, for a waverer to take a risk. As others have mentioned, ENB have taken a big financial risk with their recent splendid but less well-attended Bejart/Kylian/Williamson/Eagling/etc offerings, which they need to fund with the fairy ballets. While the RB doesn't have to live on the edge like that, I wonder whether an issue of cross-funding of the Royal Opera House's other activities limits the RB management's options? (Sorry, I can't edit on my current device so I'm re-posting - mods please tidy up if possible!)

On a selfish note, I am mourning Kobborg's lovely production of "La Sylphide", which I guess we we're unlikely to see at the Royal Opera House in the foreseeable future.

The paragraph about the pay is very interesting: if that £7000 for 7 performances plus £1400 for a fortnight's rehearsal is without expenses, it's less than I'd have guessed.

R&J is the wrong ballet for a female pairing, "La Sylphide" would be the one to go for, no lifts - which is NOT to say I would actually like to see that because men usually jump much better than women.

To repeat a point I made on another thread, maternity leave is a fact of life for modern dancers and most of the RB principal ladies are of an age where this could be relevant. Moreover, Zenaida Yanowsky is already relinquishing some roles. Add possible injuries to that and I can easily see the RB having to draw on soloists or guests. (Edited for typo)

It's working well for me in Chrome (old version 28.0.1500.95 m and update 29.0.1547.57 m) and Opera (version 12.16), thanks.

From the clips I've seen of Vakhtang Chabukiani in "Flames", Ivan Vasiliev's performance is very much in his spirit - and how similar they seem to be in physique, no wonder the role suits.

A touchy subject: it's fair to assume all of us older ones were school pupils once, but until the 1990s few had the opportunity to become students. The old competitive A Levels were designed for the elite rather than the many and there were far fewer university places (even fewer for women until the late seventies when the male-only Oxbridge colleges were forced to accept them). Actually, I've been in the ROH Stalls at several poorly-selling performances in recent years where I've been surrounded by young people who seemed, from their conversation, to be students who were offered last-minute cheap tickets to fill the house. Yes, it's great to encourage young audiences. I'm sorry I missed out on such offers in my student days - it was the back row of the Coli balcony for me until I started work. I just hope my pension will allow me to sit in comfort throughout my old age.

I'd like to echo Capybara's post 198 from the perspective of someone unable to get to anything until Flames. It's the first Bolshoi/Mariinsky summer season in many years that I've not managed to attend throughout, but my frequent visits to this forum have given me a more vivid idea of what I missed than the formal reviews - though it's great to be able to read these here as well, of course.

LinMM, the score is apparently based on actual music of the French Revolution. Certainly I recognised "La Carmagnole" and "Ca ira" as well as "La Marseillaise". Others (someone who bought the programme?) might be able to name more.

It's a bit like all those TV property programmes featuring homes totally devoid of books. Do they think only philistines buy houses?