Bruce

Clement Crisp is not so happy: "It is an evening to scare rather than attract audiences: ill-conceived, glum, a caricature of the Royal Ballet’s qualities." http://on.ft.com/1uTNALP I'll point you at Jann Parry's review also - she has more space, dissects in detail but also rather struggled: "The programme was so underwhelming that I went twice in succession, to see whether alternative casts could make a difference." http://dancetabs.com/2014/11/royal-ballet-ceremony-of-innocence-the-age-of-anxiety-aeternum-london/ For myself I warmed more to the Brandstrup than many have. I can't claim to have understood it all, but I liked the design, lighting and movement and the way it all holds together as one - his cinematic eye. It made me want to understand more and see again. I was bitterly disappointed by the Scarlett. It seemed to be about the big stuff of life and the answer he got to was "42". If it had been a piece by Kenneth MacMillan, at the height of his powers, Scarlett might, just might, have got away with the end. But as it is it just made me laugh at how misjudged it seemed. Never mind - we all know that Scarlett has talent and he will bounce back. Didn't see the Wheeldon - will on Thursday...

I'm sorry - I don't buy this. Extra money would always be nice but is seldom available. The issue is is that there is an existing cake and people are pointing out that London has a hugely disproportionate share of that cake. The cake - or Arts Council money - comes from tax payers across England and Wales and they all need to see benefit. We all appreciate that London is a capital city and as such represents the nation in some respects and that means London will always get more as a city but the balance seems wrong. The 2013 report that kicked off this round of London vs the rest was pithily summarised in this BBC News page: "Central government spending on arts and culture in the capital amounted to £69 per resident in 2012-13, compared with £4.60 per person elsewhere in England." Also: "The report found that Arts Council England distributed £163m of taxpayers' money to cultural organisations in London in 2012-13 - or £20 per person in the capital. Some 85% of the English population live outside London, where the £159m Arts Council grants equated to £3.60 per head." Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24742529 The Commons culture, media and sport select committee decided to investigate and yesterday released their report. I've not seen it but here is Guardian news page: http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/nov/05/arts-spending-london-bias An extract from the Guardian: "The report says ACE must do more to redress the balance and supports the conclusions of recent reports on the subject written by Peter Stark, Christopher Gordon and David Powell. They have published figures which show that combined Department for Culture, Media and Sport and ACE spending amounts to £68.99 per head of population in London and £4.58 in the rest of England. In terms of lottery spending on the arts between 1995 and 2013 the figure was £165 per head in London and £46.77 in London." Against this developing backdrop I'm not sure it was a good move for ENB to say they wanted to tour less in the UK and do more in London. The pressure is all the other way. Ultimately that pressure translates into money and who gets what from Arts Council England. With money tight and getting tighter I don't see anybody taking money away from BRB or NB, they are part of the 'get arts benefits away from London' solution, but I would see a questioning before long of how much public money should be going into a second company that seems so wedded to life in London - when its not jetting around the world that is. That's a cruel way to put it and pushing points to the maximum - but it does show the concerns clearly.

ENB currently get an Arts Council grant of £6.2M to provide big ballet to the nation. All the UK touring companies loose money when they tour and also when they are back at base - if less back at base. Re international touring its usually cash neutral - ie does not consume public subsidy but you are unlikely to make big bucks out of it. You might make more if you are not taking the whole company and large elaborate sets etc. Obviously if ENB feel they can do better as an institution operating in an international free market they can go there and the £6.2m used by others to take big ballet, modern ballet, chamber ballet, challenging ballet and whatever out across England and Wales. To a degree that is happening already - BRB and NB want to tour more and better and are each getting approx £500k extra per year to support that. ENB said they want to tour the UK less (by that I mean tour outside of London less) and are on standstill funding - effectively a cut.

For many years Sadler's Wells have had associate artists - many are individuals, Guillem say, and some effectively companies - BalletBoyz, Bourne/New Adventures. The following page gives a list of Associates to date (but not yet ENB - UPDATE - they are on a separate page) and also say a little about what being an associate of the Wells means: http://www.sadlerswells.com/about-us/people/associate-artists/ It's a long list and not all the people on the list are active with them all they time. Its clearly a flexible setup. The key to all this was Sadler's well turning itself into a producing house and having the wherewithal to bring shows together, tour them, and take risk in doing so. This is significant because increasingly they tour shows internationally and there is expertise in that again + brand trust will be building up also. But being an associate does not mean they do it all - you might want to just use their stage and sales and marketing expertise to help put on your show. Being an Associate gives you inside track to having them help you. For ENB its significant because the Khan Giselle is being co-produced with the Wells, who I assume will share in the risk of it being a success or otherwise. It's not stated yet if the Giselle will tour across the UK, but I'd strongly suspect that Sadler's would push for international touring of it to the dance loving (capital) cities they know. Certainly ENB seem to be keen to tour more internationally. Which is a little sad given they told the Arts Council they wanted to tour less in the UK.

In the Q&A the Coliseum position came up. ENB and the Coliseum have just signed a 3 year agreement to do Christmas seasons there. Nothing else was said directly but I'd be surprised if they performed there at any other time of the year.

I just wanted to briefly add some other thoughts. The USP of the site is that it's targeted at a young audience. What age range would that be? The very young won't want many words and lots of pictures or cartoons. The older ones still like things very short and punchy I think. The very long and dense paragraphs I currently see wouldn't work for a young audience I think. The writing itself probably needs to use language that speaks to the young. I've just had reason to look at the readability of dance writing and I used this readability checker: http://www.thewriter.com/what-we-think/readability-checker/ Turns out that most dance writers - talking about newspaper ones we all love(!) etc score between 35 and 60 where the higher the number the more readable the text. But a score of 60 is BBC News level (50 is FT, 40 Shakespeare and 30 Harvard Law School!) and that's probably rather above where a young audience is. The readability site quotes comic books and Harry Potter as being in the 80-90 range. It would probably be worth running text from an existing and successful site targeted at the 'young audience' through the readability checker and see what score they get - that would logically be where the writing of your site should be pitched. Good to have a unique approach for a site (nice one) and I think a lot of companies would be interested in communicating and reaching out to younger audiences.

Whenever I look at an unknown site I look at the About Me section to see who is responsible for the site and the writing. If you want to be seen as standing behind your words (which you do!) then you really need to use your real name, say what you are about and also give a reliable way that people can contact you. At the moment I cant find any of this on To The Pointe. Pictures add much but don't be tempted to just rip them off or cross post images hosted on another site - get proper ones that you can use without looking over your shoulder and also caption them properly. If you do all this then you are presenting a professional image to the world and your pages will all be taken more seriously. Still doesn't mean that your words will be universally liked of course! But you will be differentiated from the detritus and sloppiness of so many other blogs. Final thing: the name is cute but clearly linked to ballet. Most who start writing about ballet, and see it grow, eventually realise they need to take dance seriously as well. Having myself got trapped for many years under a 'ballet' tag my one big bit of advice to all starting out is to choose a title that does not limit you be colouring readers perceptions of what is covered on the site. Also worth noting that www.tothepointe.com exists so there is room for confusion. Best to pick a name nobody else is using as a .com and register it (easy) - even if you decide to still operate on Tumblr in the first instance.

I released Marina Harss' review of the ABT Opening Night Gala earlier this morning - it included new pieces by Liam Scarlett, With a Chance of Rain, and Alexei Ratmansky's Rondo Capriccioso, for the school, studio company and ABT apprentices. How wonderful that they helped open the season. Interesting reading and sadly the Scarlett was not a hit on this occasion, but Ratmansky and Wheeldon delivered for them... http://dancetabs.com/2014/10/american-ballet-theatre-rondo-capriccioso-with-a-chance-of-rain-thirteen-diversions-ny/ I've got a couple more pictures that will be added in to the review later this morning.

I'm so very glad Osipova joined RB - she is world class and very exciting. When you think of her you think of vivid movement... but Natalia Petrovna is a role about stillness and quiet subtlety.

This is when for speed we need one of those disagree buttons.

I'm not sure where you would get that idea from - not said or implied anything like that. We don't fully know why ENB got standstill funding - the ACE report on funding covers a number of dimensions on what each of the companies plan and want. That said I think ENB saying they want to tour less will be one of the major reasons for the standstill. But that's me thinking - better to ask them that know in ENB when you have the opportunity. Certainly there is a growing thrust now for ACE money to be seen to be more equitably spread away from London.

Although few are privy to the small print in directors contracts I get the feeling that most are 5 years contracts these days. It gives and opportunity for everybody to take stock. I was rather disappointed by the Telegraph interview - none of the hard questions seemed to be asked about why ENB are on standstill funding and BRB and NB, with their strong commitment to touring (at a loss of course), get at least £500K extra per year from 2015 onwards. Why ENB were treated differently is not explored. I'm told to expect another 'major' announcement from ENB in a few weeks and for now hope it might have significance for the whole country rather than London only.

We may be at slight cross purposes here. Or possibly not! When I called out my agreement with the statement "Praise is too easily given to artists nowadays and it soon becomes meaningless" it was based on a general view of forums like this and twitter etc - which is that by and large most dancers are talked up and more negative statement are much less often seen. Praise is everywhere - everybody did well - or nearly everybody, nothing is 100%. I have no problem at all with people having a good rave about something and giving mighty praise - as I do myself from time to time. So really happy to see Hayward talked up. But the reality is that there are less good performances and performances that are 'ordinary' in the scheme of things and I think that tends to be lost in social media. It never really struck me before but I think part of this depends on who you think you are really writing for on the forum. It's very clear that some feel they are writing for the dancer or choreographer, in part at least - and beyond that, for some again, a feeling of wanting to offer positive support by saying nice things mostly. That doesn't work so well for me (though I am human!) and where I come from is a feeling that when car magazines review cars they are not writing for the manufacture (and thinking about their feelings!) but for customers. Ditto hi fi magazines, holiday magazines, arts reviewers etc - its all info for consumers as to what is perceived to be good, what not, and how things rank - hence the prevalence of star rankings. Nobody can see everything and honest feedback on positives and negatives is useful when deciding how to spend money. For myself I naturally find I talk about things I consider really poor as well as the converse and it's writers, on the forum or in newspapers, that have good times *and* bad times, in broadly equal numbers, I find useful. Those who mostly write with strings of superlatives are not so useful to me as a consumer - and it was Nina G's single sentence that encapsulated that for me. So I don't look to write or comment for dancers particularly. Its always been said on the forum that it's wise to assume those who you write about will hear what was said and so be it if that is the case. The only thing I'd say is that when I do offer praise it's certainly not in a sea of praise for all!!

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and yes!

I know exactly what you mean Ann re praise. All I can say for myself is that I'm not one to easily go over the top with praise and much more often I see only OK or mediocre performances from those being tested in principal roles. Where Hayward goes to from here is to carry on doing what she does. Impressive start, but we don't know where she will end up yet.

Me too... Haywood really marked her card last night as a perceptive and moving dance actress. For sultriness she really reminded me of Viviana Durante, one of the all time great Manon's. Watson's strength has evolved over the years and there is nothing to detract from his strong and involving acting. Together they were pretty sensational I have to say. Strong support from Whitehead, Rosato and Gartside. Only Campbell doesn't work for me - reminds me of the rather annoying jester character you get in so many Russian ballets. Not surprised to hear observations of Golding's lack of dramatic oomph. Seeing him guest with ENB (in Swan Lake) it was clear he was a wonderful mover and beautiful tall thing... but emotionally blank. RB is dramatic to it's fingertips and I was truly surprised when he was invited to join. But a real asset in the plotless works.

It was Ekaterina Krysanova I believe - wodnerfully dramatic. If you visit the YouTube page and look under it gives a index to who is doing what during the whole day. I'll try a copy and paste... LIVESTREAM SCHEDULE (Times in UK BST) THE AUSTRALIAN BALLET, MELBOURNE www.youtube.com/TheAustralianBallet 03:00 Welcome 03:15 Class 04:45 Swan Lake in rehearsal 05:45 Swan Lake in rehearsal (pas de deux) 06:05 Ostinato in rehearsal 06:35 La Bayadère in rehearsal THE BOLSHOI BALLET, MOSCOW www.youtube.com/bolshoi 07:00 Welcome 07:07 Class 07:55 Interview with Alexander Vetrov and Ludmila Semenyaka, Senior Ballet Teachers 08:00 Svetlana Zakharova and Denis Rodkin in rehearsal, Principal Dancer and Leading Soloist 08:30 Interview with Svetlana Zakharova and Denis Rodkin 08:35 “Hero of our time” in Bauprobe 08:44 Interview with Yuri Grigorovich, Resident choreographer 08:49 “A Legend of Love” in rehearsal (corps de ballet) 09:24 “La Sylphide” in rehearsal 09.54 Interview with Artem Ovcharenko and Anna Tikhomirova, Principal Dancer and First Soloist 10:00 Interview with Anton Getman, Deputy General Director 10:07 “Taming of the Shrew” in rehearsal 10:40 Interview with Jean-Christophe Maillot, Choreographer; Director - Choreographer of the Ballet de Monte-Carlo; Interview with Ekaterina Krysanova and Vladislav Lantratov, Principal Dancers Interview with Sergey Filin, Artistic Director of the Bolshoi Ballet 10:45 Interview with Vladimir Urin, General Director, The Bolshoi Theatre of Russia THE ROYAL BALLET, LONDON www.youtube.com/royaloperahouse 11:00 Class 12:20 Age of Anxiety in rehearsal 12:45 Manon in rehearsal 13:05 Interview with Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor 13:20 Cassandra in rehearsal 13:35 Interview with Kevin O’Hare. Director, The Royal Ballet 13:45 Don Quixote in rehearsal 14:15 Aeternum in rehearsal 14:35 Scène de ballet in rehearsal THE NATIONAL BALLET OF CANADA, TORONTO www.youtube.com/nationalballetcanada 15:05 Class 16:35 Manon Act 1 in rehearsal 17:35 Manon Act 2 in rehearsal 18:35 Nijinsky in rehearsal SAN FRANCISCO BALLET www.youtube.com/SFBallet 19:00 Class 20:20 Interview with Helgi Tomasson 20:25 Don Quixote in rehearsal 21:25 RAkU in rehearsal 22:00 Concerto Grosso in rehearsal 22:30 The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude in rehearsal

Really surprised people aren't talking about this live event - it's a wonderful thing that the companies are giving folks such an inside view. At the moment it's live from the Bolshoi and wonderful to see the dancers getting their bodies around Jean-Christophe Maillot's Taming of the Shrew with the man himself giving directions in English and French. At the moment they are with Urin the Bolshoi General Director. I'm watching on this YouTube Address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojWqPQE1Qn8 More Details about the event in this news thread: http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/7755-world-ballet-day-october-1-2014/

Yep - would be better as a pdf. Has anybody found a print option?

For some reason it does not play well with Firefox (my version anyway!) and I can't get beyond the opening page. It's ok with Chrome, though the font could be bigger - the pages don't seem to zoom up enough. Slick document, particulary for us in London...

The extra London week is associated with 2015 season onwards. It really is hard to see the company as straining to do much in the UK outside of London. Poor show.

The ACE review - the one where BRB and NB get £500K and £550k extra to tour better amongst other things (and ENB got standstill funding) - relates to the 2015/16 season onwards I think. 2014/15 must be in accordance with whatever has already been agreed.

Great for Tamara but what do ENB get from such guesting I wonder? Although it didn't have to be this week I think it would have been good if ENB had handled the release of this information as per earlier years with a proper press conference and allowed a Q&A etc. I don't think 2014/15 rivals either of the two earlier years in terms of new rep and the audience outside London get nothing special I can see. London gets sexy guests, the Sadler's 3bill, Choreographics, Emerging Dancer Award. A lot of time and energy must be going into the big overseas tour as well. Unless I'm missing something ENB fans outside of London get just Coppelia and Swan Lake. Only 6 cities are visited in very old rep. The last tour date is 22 November (Liverpool) and that's it - the company tour no more in the UK until the 2015/16 season. But they have the time and energy to tour to Beijing, Singapore, Madrid, Barcelona, Mexico City and Bogota.

With the full details of 2014/15 released and starting to be being talked about it might be useful to have a new thread - or retitle this one.

I've missed that bit - can you point me at where it says they are doing a UK Summer tour? I don't see they are and would love to be proved wrong.