Shmendrick

Thanks for the tips, the one about the ball sounds really good

This isn't any sort of dance-related injury but it seemed like people on here would probably be able to help. Basically I've had some problems with my shoulders and while doing the physio exercises on them I've noticed my entire back is really stiff. Does anyone know any exercises that might just stretch it out a bit that aren't overly strenuous?

Abebooks is a really good place to get books and quite a few work out cheaper than Amazon. Just finished reading Daria Klimentova's book and I'd recommend that, she comes across as very sweet and there's some really nice pictures both of her and ones that she's taken herself.

I think this is a bit of a storm in a teacup. Her point was that some women don't like traditional sports due to body-consciousness, not wanting to get sweaty. The same point was made by Jessica Ennis-Hill in an interview. The point about looks was made to say these are sports/activities where those women who are aware of how they look in that way may feel more at home. If it helps more women get active then I'm not really sure why there's so much sneering when we know that there's a drop in women participating in sports past the age of around 14. For example, at my secondary school you could do a different sport every lunch time if you wanted and in year 7/8 a lot of girls did but by year 9/10/11 the teachers were reminding us in class that we could do these sports at lunch if we wanted and hardly anyone did. Also I would rather have had activities like this offered when I was at school than stuff like hockey/netball. I spent most PE lessons sat on the floor claiming I had cramp in my leg. In terms of teaching you how to get fit/stay fit PE classes are really quite useless. We did Scottish dancing in primary school (English) and that was quite fun. It'd be nice to see a wider range of physical activities , aerobics and outdoor activities (camping,orienteering and there may also have been cycling involved) were offered as options when you were in year 10/11 at my secondary school and a good number girls did that so there is interest in other activities.

I thought it was going to be an announcement he was leaving the RB!

First triple bill at ROH, slightly mixed feelings. Rhapsody was lovely and practically worth the ticket price on its own, thought Morera's delicacy was a good contrast to Macrae's dazzle and the corps seemed on top form, thought Romany Pajdak stood out there. Not a fan of AoF. Costumes were ugly and unflattering to the dancers and even when they were all on stage together there was no sense of unity among them, from what I could see each group of dancers could've done the same thing in isolation and it wouldn't have affected the dance. Paul Kay stood out though. Gloria seemed well-danced but under-powered until the final moments with just Edward Watson, think this is a work that could do with repeated viewings. As others have mentioned, how long do the intervals need to be? Half an hour is slightly ridiculous when the works are that or less.

Went last night. SO MUCH PRETTY *ahem*. Junor Souza made a cracking Ali, I'm still proud of myself that I didn't drool when he first came on. His switch split leaps were stunning. Birbanto, Fernando Bufala, was equally good, especially in the first act with the villagers where Nancy Obaldeston also shone. Shiori Kase stood out as one of the Odalisques. The Pasha and his assistant were also very well played. Daria Klimentova and Vadim Muntagirov were excellent as always, especially in the "bedroom" pas de deux, although the bit where she was doing splits above his head was slightly odd. She was also lovely in the Jardin Anime scene, as was Lauretta Summerscales. In some places it felt like Vadim could've been more commanding with the other pirates but you can't fault either his partnering or his dancing. The pas de trois with Junor Souza was excellent and he may have actually got more applause than the main two. Costumes and sets are both very rich and especially lovely in the Jardin Anime scene. I was almost blinded by the costumes in act 1! One problem I have with the costumes is that they can very easily make the dancers look like they have disproportionately long bodies, especially the villagers but they still worked really well. The circle was much fuller than I expected, which is very good but I'm sitting in the grand tier tonight and that's still looking pretty empty unfortunately.

Everyone loves Tigana but I hated it with a passion. Lions of Al Rassan is excellent, I also like Last Light of the Sun and Under Heaven. Have you read his latest one yet?

Janet, if you like Simon Scarrow, you might like Bernard Cowell. They have a similiar writing style, IMO. 1356 and the Sharpe books are both good. I'm currently rereading Lord of Emperors by Guy Gavriel Kay, it's a fantasy with a setting similiar to the last days of the Roman Empire. I'd really recommend it and Sailing to Sarantium, the first book. Did anyone read Pig's Foot by Carlos Acosta?

After so many good reviews it's sad to see so many unsold tickets for the Manchester dates, although the news about a possible recording is quite exciting.

I may be confusing Swan Lake and Swan Princess again but are they something to do with Odile?

http://dancetabs.com/2012/06/royal-ballet-the-prince-of-the-pagodas-london/ This is a link to Jann Parry's discussion of the music in Prince of Pagodas and Ondine, it might not directly answer your question but it does raise some interesting points.

Rather upset I seem to have managed to miss that, oh well I can live in hope they'll tour it again.

Learn to drive, eek! Actually do some work instead of bitching about how much work I have. Try and save some money.

Ballet Black, I was slightly worried about this because our tickets had "restricted view" on them but we were front row and saw everything. The War Letters(?) piece stands out especially. BRB with Sleeping Beauty at the Lowry with the lovely Jenna Roberts and Iain Mckay, lovely production with dancing to match. Carlos Acosta's Classical Selections at the Coliseum, Diana and Actaeon pas de deux with the wonderful Marianela Nunez, Rhapsody with Yuhui Choe and Ricardo Cervera, Manon with Leanne Benjamin and Nehemiah Kish and Mayerling with Leanne Benjamin, Carlos Acosta and Ricardo Cervera.

Something simple, like pasta and a sauce, might be a good start. I have a friend with a microwave cookbook from the seventies and the recipes in that seem decent and easy to follow, also you can't forget about stuff in a microwave and burn the house down. Stuff that's done on the cooker rather than in the oven is often easier as you can see it much more easily, making it easier to monitor. I don't know what you're doing in terms of money for living but money management is a useful skill as a lot of my friends, and myself I must admit, felt rather rich when we saw our first lump sum of money from student finance, but it runs out much quicker than we thought it would. That said, I think budgeting is one of those things you're either good at or you learn the hard way.

If I could, I would love to see the Klimentova/Muntagirov R+J. Do you think they'll ever tour it? I imagine it could pull quite an audience, even up here in the provinces.

I quite like the Cuthbertson/Polunin SB. The vision scene is particularly lovely. Also the fairy variations in the prologue were all well danced, though I thought Choe, Kaneko and Maguire stood out there. The new fairy costumes look much nicer than on the Cojocaru/Bonelli dvd as do the Lilac's attendants and the cavaliers. Kristen McNally made an excellent Carabosse. The maids of honour dance in Act 1 was well done and I thought Lauren's entrance was good. The balances in the RA weren't the best but other than that I thought it went well, does anyone know why Kish was one of the suitors? It seems like odd casting for a Principal. Really the pirouettes in the solo should be doubles not triples, I'd rather see clean doubles than flubbed triples. I thought she got better as the ballet went on though. The dances at the wedding were all well done, I hate the cat pas de deux with a passion but even I have to admit it was well danced. The Bluebird pas de deux was truly lovely, Choe and Campbell dance well together, I'd like to see them cast in a longer ballet. I must say I didn't really warm to Polunin in this, I felt Bonelli did a much better job on the dvd. I don't think Polunin quite interacted with the rest of the cast as well as he could, his performance felt a bit disconnected almost, though he partnered very well in the vision scene and grand pas de deux. I'm not sure Cuthbertson/Polunin were really the best partnership, they have very different styles. I didn't like the changes to Aurora's Act 1 tutu and lord only knows why they thought that shade of pink was a good colour for the Lilac Fairy's tutu. I also dislike the choreography used for the first part of the grand pas coda. Overall I liked the production and the supporting dancers but I think it could've benefitted from a different partnership at the centre. (Rojo/Polunin or Cuthbertson/Bonelli would've been fabulous). I also watched the Kish/Yanowsky Swan Lake. I'd sincerely love to see those two live in this ballet, it seems to suit them really well. Kish makes a wonderful prince and Yanowsky really came into her own in Act 3 when she could plot to her heart's content, although her heartbreak in Act 4 was beautifully done. Gary Avis makes a wonderfully malevolent Von Rothbart and Itziar Mendizabal and Hikaru Kobayashi were lovely as the lead swans. The Act 1 pas de trois was well done, Campbell and Choe again, although Helen Crawford did well Yuhui Choe really stood out, her arms are just so beautiful and she never over-does them as some do. Love the Nunez/Soares dvd but this one is equally good, in my eyes anyway.

I watched the Mariinsky Nutcracker this morning and have mixed feelings about it. The party scene seemed a lot shorter than the Royal's, which I think drags on a bit. The national dances were done well, especially the Spanish and Chinese ones and the three little dancers were impressive. The scenery and the costumes were lovely, although there was an awful lot of pink onstage at certain points. The lead male dancer (whose name I won't even try and spell) was impressive as well. The Christmas tree growing and the battle with the mice weren't particularly well done, not helped by the filming here which zoomed in on Clara while the tree was growing. I felt the filming was an issue throughout with the camera often zooming in on the upper body while the lower body was doing most of the work, during turns for example. I also didn't like the one dancer playing both Clara and doing the Sugar Plum Fairy pas de deux and I must admit to not finding Alina Somova a particularly inspiring dancer, she tends to have very broken wrists and in some of her early attitudes she sacrificed the line of her upper body to get her leg higher, although later on she did have a lovely line in her arabesques. Overall I prefer the Royal's version but I think the Mariinsky one is well worth a watch.

Some of the poetical description in that was quite lovely, although the subtly bitchy comment about Nehemiah Kish was a bit too far. The entire article seemed a bit rambling, to be honest. Also I'm not really sure what conclusion he was trying to draw, if making a point about the Royal not being as good anymore it seems a bit strange to then say it should go to New York more. I found the comment about Thiago Soares a bit odd, he's had really good reviews recently, especially when partnered with Marianela Nunez. I've read negative comments about his technique before, but generally not in reviews and not recently. Helen Crawford seemed an odd addition to the list of up-and-comers and there were others who were glaring omissions.

From what I've heard the RSPCA aren't interested unless they can prosecute. For me it depends, in this weather cars get cold very quickly and the window open will just make it worse. Unless you're going to be gone for a while it doesn't seem like it should be a problem. In summer it's different of course.

That's genuinely disturbing. I would like to include irritatingly vague guidelines for coursework and not being given a markscheme so I have no idea if what I'm writing is right or not.

http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2013_11_14/Bolshoi-calls-into-question-Joy-Womacks-statements-on-extortion-7265/ This article gives some quotes from people connected with the Bolshoi, they aren't particularly flattering to her.

I already have tickets for them, I got tickets for the first night before casting was released and now I'm very excited that I got the right ones as that was the one couple I had to see.

Well there goes the rest of my money. Slightly disappointed there's no Cojocaru/Muntagirov but Golding/Rojo make up for it.