Shirley

Serenade and Symphony in C for me.

34 minutes ago, SwissBalletFan said:

Ms. Bussell invites some level of criticism for the way in which she goes about things,

I'm not quite sure what you mean by this. Can you elaborate?

11 minutes ago, alison said:

 

Which does rather back up others' surprise that Bussell should have got the female equivalent relatively early, doesn't it?   

Fonteyn was 37 when she was awarded a DBE so even younger 

22 minutes ago, LinMM said:

I hope you will will post more than on the ticket thread in future ....and totally agree about that thread ...I'm going tomorrow courtesy of the Forum ...have standing ticket for Nutcracker!!

You never know I may well do. Have a fantastic time at the show tomorrow LinMM 

1 hour ago, Fonty said:

 

If the announcement is accompanied by clips of her as a judge on Strictly, rather than ones taken during her years with the RB,  I don't hold out many hopes that it will.  

I was very disappointed about that when I saw the clip of Strictly on news last night Fonty.

6 hours ago, FLOSS said:

Bussell is different she has been good at publicity from the outset of her career. 

It's interesting that you mention this Floss. I could be wrong but I think the first time she was seen on TV was on Blue Peter with others from the RB school. I'm not sure how much of a say she had in that  but being British and her seemingly quick rise to being made a principal definitely got the press interested.

Quote

Really?  This is a discussion forum, not a gush-fest.

Well aware it is but thank you for pointing that out and  I have enjoyed reading many of the discussions over the years.

I only made an observation from years of reading posts. I come from the world of 'If you have nothing nice to say then say nothing' but as you may see from my post count I usually say nothing  - not even the nice. (I think, apart from this thread, nearly of my previous posts have been in the ticket threads as it's a fantastic place to purchase the wonderful Stalls Circle Standing Tickets.)

Thank you so much Floss.

The only other dancer who came to my mind was Beryl Grey who was awarded a DBE in 1988 and then the CH in 2017. I see she  is a Vice president of the RAD as is Gillian Lynne and  David Bintley.

2 minutes ago, Shirley said:

Showing my ignorance here but when was the last time a dancer was made a Dame or a Knight who hadn't been a director of a company?

@ Floss - thank you for your post.

I think it has, at least partly,  answered my question above.  

48 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

I think Fonty was implying (though of course she can speak for herself!) that without Strictly, Bussell wouldn't have been a dame (or at least not yet). I think that's almost certainly the case. But I'm very fond of her (not that I know her!) and pleased both for her personally and because I think she does help to popularise at least the idea of ballet (though whether new people actually go to performances as a result of her, I don't know).

 

She may well have been made a Dame (at some point) without Strictly as other dancers have.  I personally do feel that any publicity for ballet is good and although the tabloid headlines have mentioned the Strictly on the front pages I hope that ballet also gets a mention.

Showing my ignorance here but when was the last time a dancer was made a Dame or a Knight who hadn't been a director of a company?

21 minutes ago, Fonty said:

Well, I will publicly congratulate Darcey, and say it is wonderful that someone from the world of ballet has received such recognition.

 - very generous of you to say so.

21 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

My remark about being a judge on a tv show was  in response to the query as to why David Bintley was not knighted, and was intended as a comment about the honours system in general, rather than how it related to any individual.  It seems to me people are much more likely to have their names put forward if they are known to a wider audience, and currently in the public eye, even if it has nothing to do with their original career.  

I understand what you are saying that being a judge on Strictly has kept Ms Bussell in the public eye but her original career must have had some influence on her being given the job in the first place. From what I believe Ms Bussell is involved with quite a few dance organisations  so perhaps it is her work with them has been recognised as cavycapers alluded to in a post further up the page.

21 minutes ago, Fonty said:

After all, ballet dancers such as Seymour and Collier were to their generations what Bussell is to the current one. I have no doubt that if they appeared on a prime time tv show in some capacity,  then someone might say, "They were an absolutely wonderful ballet dancer.  Isn't it time they got the highest honour?"

But they do not have to be on a TV show to be nominated do they? 

15 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

I didn't mean that literally - I was being bitter!! I just meant that I wouldn't realistically expect them to give more than one high-level honour to something that is (evidently) perceived to be elitist, minority etc. And Bintley is 'just' mainstream classical with nothing that particularly makes him known to a wider public, so he's on a stickier wicket than Bussell (or Matthew Bourne).

It would be interesting to see how many top honors are given to people not known to the wider public. 

Saying that  I'm sure that if you mentioned Anthony Dowell and Monica Mason to the general public would they have known who they were when they were given their honors. 

12 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

Just because people are questioning those who haven't received it, that doesn't mean they are making negative comments about those that have, does it?. 

 

That is true Fonty and there are very deserving names mentioned that should have been awarded an honour before now but reading through the thread there does seem to be an air of negativity towards Ms Bussell receiving the award. It's not as though most posters have said 'Congratulation to Ms Bussell but such shame not to see David Bintley be knighted' for example.

Your own comment seems to imply that her career in dance and association with various organisations over the last 30 years had nothing to do with the award - all she had to do was be a judge on a dance TV programme. You may or may not have intended the comment that way but that is how it reads to me.

2 minutes ago, bridiem said:

My real problem with this is that, as Odyssey says above (and assuming that dance can only have one high-level honour in each list), David Bintley has still not been knighted. I find it incomprehensible.

I quite agree re David Bintley but not sure if it is the case that dance can only have one high-level honour. 

Such a shame that the usual posters are making their usual negative comments about Ms Bussell  

I would like to congratulate all 5 of those in the dance world who received honours for 'Services to Dance'.

For those attending please be aware that it is Prudential Ride London that day so there will be road closures. (Also some closures on the Saturday for other cycling events.)

The course finishes on The Mall and comes in through Wimbledon, Putney and along the Embankment and then up Whitehall so your journey may be affected.

Link to road closures info

Edited to add link

Such fabulous memories Lisa. She knew she was well loved and you gave her a wonderful life.

Great she is back again 

A lady fainted in the right hand standing section of the Stall Circle last night at the ROH just before the final section of Emeralds. She went down with a real thump.

Thankfully help got there very quickly (a doctor was sitting very near to where it happened)  but the lady landed at a really awkward angle so it took a while to sort out - basically until the end of the piece and into the interval.

Everyone around knew it was pretty serious incident so shame on the person standing further along, well aware of the situation, who kept going 'shush' when she was being helped.

1 hour ago, LinMM said:

 

 

also I've forgotten how to put a personal icon in the square by your name!!

As John said all you need to do is click on the photo box while looking at your profile and then choose how to upload the image you require. The size has to be pretty small though and not sure how easy it is to resize images if uploading from your iPad.

Change - don't we all love it 

Easier to add a profile photo now though isn't it? 

People who say:

 

"Ooh, it's too cold for snow"

 

Er... 

Well snow rarely falls in really cold temps due to lack of moisture so you can see where they are coming from

But an extra one was announced, so that makes twelve. I wonder which area(s) of the ROH were 'honoured' with an amendment sheet? Or maybe they were only available if one purchased a red programme?

There were cast change slips in the main front of house about 5 mins before curtain up. No idea if they had been there earlier or not as I ran in at the last minute.

Goodness, you must have sharp eyes. I missed that, and I also thought it was odd that Bussell had turned up. I did wonder why she was examining the cast lists so intently.

No my eyes are not that great

I actually meant that I had noticed her name on cast sheets that are given out at performances earlier. My poor poor punctuation probably caused the confusion if you thought I'd seen her name on the boards.

I just assumed that as Ms Bussell's name was on the cast sheet as a coach she was there that day to work hence checking the rehearsals board.

I'm sure she could have looked much more glamorous if it was set up for a 'famous dancer'