SPD444

Mr O'Hare is speaking at the Ballet Association tonight, if he takes questions maybe someone can ask him. Bet he doesn't answer.

Very hard to find the words to express my feelings after seeing the show last night. I thought the performances by the dancers were memorable, particularly Alina who I have only seen dancing the classics at the RB. I do have some difficulty with modern ballet however. I found Dust to be the most abstract - the programme notes said the "story" was of the men going to the trenches to die leaving behind the women to make the weapons that would kill men of the enemy who also had women who were making the weapons etc.etc. What I saw was a man twitching and smacking his back and the stage with his hands whilst the girls stamped from foot to foot making aggressive hand and arm movements. Is that dancing??? I thought Second Breath the most heart wrenching of the four with Alina somehow stuck to Junor Souza as she seemed to spend a great deal of time in mid air. These are not complaints as such just my ignorance of the meaning of contemporary dance. Well done to Tamara for commissioning these works and all praise to the dancers.

What about Alice in Wonderland. Is it too soon?

I am going to the matinee show this afternoon at Sadlers Wells, anyone out their seen it??

I thought I saw that it was going to DVD but I cannot find the comment, so frustrating. Be a great Christmas present though.

Don't forget they filmed one of the London shows with Alina and Vadim so you will be able to buy the DVD and watch to your hearts content.

All I can say is that tonight was astonishing. I thought I had arrived at the cinema nice and early, only to find nearly all the seats had gone.People had to sit in the front row, and how often do you see that in a cinema. Lovely start to the show with Darcy doing the introductions, but they could have done with some subtitles when they were interviewing the dancers as Natalia only speaks Russian and there was no translation. Then the performance, What a fantastic display of dancing from ALL the cast and what a treasure we have in Natalia, the lady can really dance. I have noticed that "encore" showings are being made of some shows, if there is one for this, do not miss it, it was truly wonderful.

Absolutely none at all. In other walks of life it is not uncommon for someone who resigns from a job to be escorted out of the building and put on garden leave ( I used to work in computers so I know that this does happen ) so I just wondered if Ms Rojo was the sort of person to want an immediate break. No offense meant.

Maybe Vadim would like to have seen out the summer and done R&J at the RAH but is Tamara the sort of person to have a bit of a tantrum and more or less say well if you are going you might as well go now??

Just been looking through the tickets available for the run in Manchester and the take up looks very poor. Come on you Northerners, its a great show and would lose something playing to an empty house. The production deserves much better.

Never waited at the stage door and, to be honest, am regretting not doing so when Alina and Johann performed their final ballet in June. Like others I would be rather embarrassed and would be completely tongue tied. Do all the cast leave at roughly the same time, including the orchestra, because I am hopeless at recognising people in ordinary clothes.

What a small world, I too have booked to see Northern Ballet on the Friday. Being from Oldham we northerners have to stick together.

If you check thread #195 it says their that the last two performances by the Cojocaru/Munagirov cast will be recorded.

Its seems obvious that the problem is volume related and too many people trying access the system at the same time. So I ask myself why don't they have different days for the opening of general ticket sales for opera and ballet. That potentially reduces the traffic by half and put less strain on the system and on customers stress levels. Not rocket science.

Just received by Twitter from the ROH Casting has been confirmed for Christopher Wheeldon’s new ballet The Winter’s Tale, based on the play by William Shakespeare. The first cast includes Lauren Cuthbertson, Edward Watson, Sarah Lamb, Steven McRae, Zenaida Yanowsky and Federico Bonelli. Marianela Nuñez and Thiago Soares lead the second cast, but remaining Principal roles are yet to be announced. The Winter’s Tale opens on 10 April 2014. It will be screened live in cinemas around the world on 28 April.

Yes, its Alina in R & J on the 12th and 14th June

Sorry, I was half thinking about going to see Corsair with Alina on the 15th. Carlos and Nela was, of course, Don Q. Stupid of me.

Loved watching Carlos and Nela in Corsair - can't wait for the DVD but the most memorable has to be Alina's and Johann's final RB performance of Mayerling. You could feel the emotion in the house before the show started and the final curtain call and flower throw will be something I will never forget - shame this was not filmed for posterity. Also loved the final of the RB School matinee performance - when all the children pile on stage.

It still seems a bit strange that her name would not be printed in the Spring 2014 Brochure if it is an injury, surely she would still be in the list of Soloist's

I notice Iohna Loots is cast to dance Nutcracker but her name has disappeared from amongst the soloists in the new brochure. Is she still appearing in Nutcracker?

Again, thank you.

Thank you Wulff - where did you find that please.

Does anyone know when/if the RBS will be giving their annual performance this year. I have emailed both RB and RBS but had no answer. I notice July is now getting busy in the Opera House and wonder if they have missed their slot

I believe it is where you commit to spending £20 and they guarantee you a seat valued at £25 or more, but you will not find out where you are sitting until a few days before.

Johan has just tweeted that Alina has just joined Twitter using @DancingAlina