Arky

Sim, Lucky you going again on 12th to see the same cast. Another night to remember!

What a surprise! Alina's website shows the following engagements July 2013 3rd - Sleeping Beauty - ABT (Met) - (Cornejo) 12th - Swanlake - Royal Ballet/Tokyo Tour - (Kobborg) 15-19 - Denmark Tour - (Kobborg) June 2013 5th - Mayerling - Royal Ballet - (Kobborg) 8th - (Mat) Symphony in C - Royal Ballet - (Pennefather) 21st - Swan Lake - ABT (Met) - (Cornejo) 25th - Liliom - Hamburg Ballet - (Jung) 30th - Nijinsky Gala - Hamburg Ballet

Sim - your thoughts on the matinee performance with Soares/Hamilton/Nunez/Choe echo my feelings exactly. It was a wonderful performance, weren't we lucky to experience it?!

Here are a few suggestions http://www.roh.org.uk/news/your-reaction-raven-girl-and-symphony-in-c you can leave a tweet http://www.roh.org.uk/contact - you can leave a message on their contact form A letter direct to Kevin O’Hare? Switchboard (not for ticket / box office enquiries) on +44 (0)20 7240 1200 and ask for Kevin or Wayne or any other appropriate person?

Best of luck to your DD for the future. When one door closes another often opens.

Ian Macmillan rightly points out that the Royal Ballet could not possibly absorb 20 graduates a year, but all least RBS could be turning out a higher proportion of British dancers who could join RB, other British companies, as well as foreign companies. RBS should, in my opinion, continue to accept some dancers from other parts of the world but could accept a much higher proportion of British dancers into WL and the Upper School. I agree with Sadielou when she says, “If a child has survived five years training at WL then they should, barring injury or lack of desire be guaranteed a place in the Upper section of the school, if not the only people to blame are those who have taught and moulded them for the past five years”. Sadielou also comments "It just can't be that we as a country are so much less talented than our foreign counterparts can it ?" Given that France and the UK have very similar populations, and knowing that the Paris Opera Ballet School takes a very high proportion of French students and that the POB has so many French dancers in its ranks, I checked their list of etoiles/principals to compare with the Royal Ballet. RB has 3 British dancers out of 21 principals. By contrast POB has 17 French etoiles out of 19, and many more French people in the company. Graduates who do not find work with POB go to other French companies, as well to as other countries. Eleonora Abbagnato, born Sicily, POB School 1992, Company 1996 at 18 Isabelle Ciaravola born Corsica, France, 1988, 1990 at 18 Emilie Cozette born Rouen area? France, 1993, 1998 at 17 Aurélie Dupont born Paris, France, 1983, 1987 at 16 Dorothée Gilbert born Toulouse, France, 1995, 2000 Marie-Agnès Gillot, born Caen, France, 1985, 1990 at 15 Agnès Letestu born Saint-Maur, France, 1983, 1987 at 16 Myriam Ould Braham born Paris, France, 1996, 1999 at 17 Ludmila Pagliero born Argentina, danced Chile, POB Company 2003] Laëtitia Pujol, born Morlaix, France ,1992, company 1993 at 18 Jérémie Bélingard born Paris, France, 1987. 1993 at 18 Stéphane Bullion, born Lyon, France, 1994, 1997 at 17 Mathieu Ganio, born Marseille, France, 1999, 2001 at 17 Mathias Heymann born Marseille, France, 2001, 2004 at 17 Josua Hoffalt, born Pertuis, France, 1998, 2002 Nicolas Le Riche, born Sartrouville, France, 1982, 1988 at 16 Hervé Moreau, born Paris, France, 1989, 1995 at 18 Karl Paquette born Paris area, France, 1987, 1994 at 17 Benjamin Pech, born Beziers, France, 1986, 1992 at 18

En effet merde, et aussi bon courage, Maman afab !

There's not much left to add really. As usual we all have our different favourites - mine were Flower Festival, Ballet 101 and Les Lutins, especially Steven McRae. Whilst the pdds were not all tip top I still enjoyed them in their different ways. I was disappointed with Isabelle Ciaravola's Dying Swan - memories of Marianela's version are still fresh in my mind. The children from Bucharest were delightful and 11 year old Cosmin Marinescu is a someone to watch out for in the future I feel. I hope that Alina's wish of raising lots of money for the Hospices of Hope is fulfilled. She organised a lovely evening.

I am looking forward to this gala tomorrow with many wonderful dancers performing. Tickets are still available on the Sadler's Wells website https://tickets.sadlerswells.com/performances2.asp?ShoID=1502 http://www.sadlerswells.com/show/An-Evening-for-Hospices-of-Hope gives the following details- Alina Cojocaru launched the fundraising for the Bucharest Hospice Appeal through her first gala for Hospices of Hope in May 2008, which was a sell-out performance. We are delighted that Alina has now offered to provide us with another unique evening as we approach the completion of this project. An evening of artists celebrating the past, present and the future, with highlights from the classical repertoire alongside new or rarely seen pieces including choreography by Marius Petipa, Tim Rushton, Eric Gauthier, Johan Kobborg and others. The programme will include 101; Don Quixote; Carmen Fantasie for Violin and Orchestra; Excerpts from Sleeping Beauty; Salute - (UK Premiere); Dying Swan; Les Lutins and other pieces. Among the internationally renowned dancers joining Alina will be Isabelle Ciaravola of the Paris Opera Ballet, English National Ballet Principals Erina Takahashi and Vadim Muntagirov, Steven McRae, Johan Kobborg, Akane Takada, Frankie Hayward, Marcelino Sambe and James Hay from The Royal Ballet, Sergei Polunin from Stanislavsky Ballet, Xander Parish from The Mariinsky Ballet, Matthew Golding from The Dutch National Ballet, Ana Sendas and Stefanos Bizas of the Danish Dance Theatre and violin virtuoso Charlie Siem will also take to the stage. The orchestra for this spectacular evening of entertainment will be another old friend of Hospices of Hope, Manning Camerata. The complete roster of dancers, choreographers and musicians is in formation and will be announced shortly. Alina recently travelled to Bucharest to see the progress of the Hospice of Hope building site as well as the future residents of this hospice. Alina also visited The National Ballet School of Romania, and is pleased that some of the students will perform in a fragment from Johan Kobborg's Salute, which will be a UK premiere. To reflect the unique nature of this evening, a limited number of exclusive individual and corporate VIP packages available. Contact vanessa@hospicesofhope.co.uk All proceeds from this event will go towards the Bucharest Hospice Appeal and everybody involved has donated their time free of charge or at greatly reduced cost.

I too enjoyed Zen's performance. James Hay was great. Matthew was wonderful - I agree with all you say, Sim. I wonder if moves are afoot for Matthew to move from Holland? He is also guesting in ENB's Swan Lake. Who has their eye on him, or is it just coincidence?!

Having read about ENB I went on to the Festival website and discovered that the NYB will be there during the day, and bought a couple of tickets [9.30 day tickets left for Fri 12 & Sun 14] https://www.coronationfestival.com/latest-news/71-national-youth-ballet National Youth Ballet to Entertain at the Coronation Festival The National Youth Ballet (NYB) is set to entertain visitors at the Coronation Festival, with performances from a variety of its ballet productions which will take place throughout the Gardens of Buckingham Palace. Thirty teenagers between the ages of eight to 18 will bring to life some of the nation's best loved characters in a varied and enchanting programme of contemporary ballet and dance to entertain guests as part of the Festival experience. Visitors will be able to immerse themselves in childhood tales and see their favourite characters perform around the Gardens, creating a magical atmosphere. They will see Alice in Wonderland chase the White Rabbit, race the DoDo Bird and beat the Queen of Hearts in scenes performed from 'Alice in Wonderland' with music by Joseph Horovit; They can also follow Ratty, Mole and the jovial Toad on their journey of friendship and the battle of Toad Hall, in the performance of 'Toad' (based on Wind in the Willows),with music by John Lanchbery. Both will be featured and choreographed by Wayne Sleep. The showcase in and around the gardens will also feature excerpts from 'The Alice Polka'(From the NYB Ballet 'The Dolls' House Fantasia) choreographed by Anna Meadmore, a piece originally commissioned by Queen Victoria to celebrate her daughter Alice's 6th birthday which originally premiered at Buckingham Palace; as well as the Pas de Deux from The Old Man of Lochnagar, a piece choreographed by Drew McOnie and inspired by the children's book by HRH The Prince of Wales. Classical dancers will also feature as swans from Swan Lake with Ella - Mun-Gavin an 18 year old NYB dance student who will portray the dramatic Black Swan as part of the fashion catwalk collection of 'Diamond's and Pearls', which is being curated and produced by Lindsey Hunt. The catwalk will see a further four themes, and five daily fashion shows collectively paying tribute to the six varied decades since the Coronation of HM The Queen in 1953. The showcase in and around the gardens will also feature excerpts from 'The Alice Polka'(From the NYB Ballet 'The Dolls' House Fantasia) choreographed by Anna Meadmore, a piece originally

Capybra, I'd forgotten that. Pity. Ah well, the following year hopefully!

I saw Osipova dance in Swan Lake with Acosta last year and was very disappointed at her lack of emotion and general involvement, though technically she was very good. What a contrast last night in Don Q. Both she and Vasiliev gave amazing performances. Like Aileen, I have never witnessed such audience enthusiasm, the applause was truly rapturous. They were still clapping loudly when I left for my train. As for RB, I'll start the suggestions with Marianela Nunez, perhaps Yuhui Choe/Laura Morera. For the men Steven McRae, Federico Bonelli, possibly Ricardo Cervera/Alexander Campbell/Ryoichi Hirano? Also Matthew Golding, who is a guest this season, makes a wonderful Basilio.

MargaretN7, I hope that they'll do Alice again next year, then I'll look out for Yuhui on the programme.

Yes, Steven was brilliant as usual. Although Sarah Lamb danced well, I personally prefer Beatrice Stix-Brunell in the role.She is a wonderful dancer and throws herself into the part more, is very expressive and convincing as Alice. I think her youth helps too. On that note, it was good to see a good number of children at ROH last night. Has anyone seen Yuhui's interpretation of Alice?

Yes, Spacy, it really is amazing. We saw a Chinese group do a similar performance in New Zealand last year when on holiday. Their general acrobatic skills were phenomenal too!

I know the feeling, Ann!

Ann, click on the person's name and then you have the option of sending a personal message.

Just back from seeing Aladdin at the Coliseum in London. Mathias Dingman as Aladdin, Tyrone Singleton as the Mahgrib, James Barton as the Djinn of the Lamp, Maureya Lebowitz as the Princess. Good dancing, superb sets and costumes - a thoroughly enjoyable production, very well received.

That explains a lot, bangorballetboy. Let's hope Beatrix can continue to flourish again now she is fit again. I feel that she has a great future ahead of her.

Lovely pictures, Dave - thank you. Beatriz is a great dancer and I was delighted to see her dance Alice again on Saturday. Unfortunately she doen't appear to have had many roles since she was a made a soloist last year. Let's hope the autumn will bring her more.

Looking at my programme again I've just noticed that Thomas Edwards, who was in the Prix de Lausanne final, was dancing with Central last night. What a superb evening!

Hi, Pas de Quatre. It was good to meet you. What an interesting seminar it was, though I must say that I have enjoyed them all. Just the English School to go now! The Russian girls did indeed look elegant and feminine and it was a joy to watch them dance. Sadly, earlier in the "Focus on Style" series, there was a student participating in a masterclass who was veering towards anorexia, with her ribs protruding and her arms painfully thin. I just hope that she is being given friendly & understanding guidance to help her to overcome her problems before she reaches a critical stage. The daughter of a friend suffered from anorexia and I know how many years of help and even stays in hospital it took for her to return to a more normal pattern of eating. Recognising the potential for anorexia developing is part of the battle, and discussions with and support for dc is essential. The mutual support and advice given in this forum is wonderfuI, and whatever the topic there is always someone with a useful insight that they are willing to share. Long may that continue!

Clearly worth looking out for in April, Janet.

Yes, a wonderful evening, with excellent dancing throughout. I've never seen so many flowers thrown; I hope that they were gathered up and distributed to all the dancers.