trog

Last night we were doing a barre exercise with tendu and coupe. Miss said when going from 3rd (or 5th) to the coupe, image your foot moving like a caterpillar. I've never thought about this before, but it makes perfect sense!

I think it is more of that scourge on society that is mobile phone. The gym that I go to is full of people who would rather play on their mobile phones than use the piece of equipment that they are sitting on. I honestly don't know why the pay their membership - they could play with their phones at home for free. Mind you, this is down to the gym. It's quite posh, but when I used to train in the body builders dungeon, none of the boby builders checked their phone every two minutes. We are actually in the a smartphone zombie plague and as far as I can see, it's only going to get worse. People are addicted to their phones - I believe with some people, they would rather give up their right arm than give up their phone. I fell very blessed that i've been mobile free for the last 15 years

Anna Pavlova had terrible turnout and it didn't stop her; quote from wikipedia "At the height of Petipa's strict academicism, the public was taken aback by Pavlova's style, a combination of a gift that paid little heed to academic rules: she frequently performed with bent knees, bad turnout, misplaced port de bras and incorrectly placed tours." Merle Park was another with "poor" turnout - Nureyev commented on this. I've often wondered if Pavlova, et al would make it today.

I was there Friday too. It's a shame Delia slipped over - it wasn't very elegant, but she didn't seem to hurt herself. It was a bad night for falls, as Maureya slipped too but I don't think many people noticed. Great performance, even though Tyrone isn't my favourite dancer.

For me, both of these belong on the other list! My magic moments are when the corps run on in Act II of Swan Lake (traditional version) the lake in Murphy's Swan Lake Bathsheba and Troy pdd in Bintley's Far From The Madding Crowd (hate the book, love the ballet) the faries with the brolly's in James's A Midsummer Night's Dream (the entire ballet is wonderful in it's simplicity) the skaters in Hindle's The Four Seasons Penguin Café – the strange, beautiful hand movements made by the women during and especially towards the end of the Zebra section (yep!) the drum dance in Bintley's Cyrano the ravens in Bintley's Beauty & the Beast

I saw this at the Birmingham Hippodrome last Friday night. I thought the staging was brilliant, but I found some of the choreography uninspiring, and some bizarre. Why have the bit from Coppelia when the doll comes alive? Also, why Wilson, Keppel but no Betty? As others have said, I think some of the characters should have been developed further. There was certainly a different crowd to that which goes to the BRB - far more raucous. AFAIK, all performances were sold out, but it's coming back mid July if you missed out.

Perhaps the ROH expect you to use the left luggage facilty at Charing Cross or the Citystasher in Drury Lane? I don't go to the ROH, but I go to plenty of other theatres. I fold my leather jacket and put it under my seat and dump it on top when I go out in the interval. On day trips to London or Manchester theatres, my rucksack sits between my legs and gets dumped on top of my seat too. I don't care how inelegant it looks, or "spoiling the ambience and aesthetics". I go to the theatre to be entertained, not look pretty and provided my stuff doesn't get in anyones way, it shouldn't be a problem.

Several people have mentioned the Sleeping Beauty. I think the ballet improves vastly once the story is out of the way and we're into the divertissements. If I never had to sit through yet another Rose Adagio, I would be very happy. MacMillans Romeo & Juliet is another boring one, athough with some trimming it could be passable. I do wish Mercutio would just cark it, rather than rolling around on the floor for 10 minutes. The interminable balcony pdd needs a serious snip. There is a point about 5 mintues in, where Juliet starts to leave. I think she should keep right on going, rather than turning around and come back. I find the entire Ashton catalog quite dire but a pet hate is La Fille Mal Gardee. Do we really need Widow Twankey? I've never understood why the cats cradle always gets thunderous applause; I've use to play cat's cradle when I was a lad, and there is no mystery to the game. Sadly I've forgotten a lot but I can still cast 10 figures. The only bit of the ballet that I like is the chickens. A couple of modern works the BRB do, that should be consigned to the bin. Tharp's In The Upper Room (silly running about in pjs) and Bintley's Higher, Faster, Stronger (more silly running about). PS. Sorry Janet

Here is a short article that I found several years go about Labanotation http://user.uni-frankfurt.de/~griesbec/LABANE.HTML Just to say, this is probably of no use to you, but for ages I've wanted an excuse to post it as it might be of interest to the group. I would like to add thank you for providing a very tentative excuse

They are in Birmingham 25th & 26th May - I bought my ticket last night. I've only seen them once before and I very much liked what I saw. It's a way off yet but they are in the Patrick Centre which is quite small so it might pay to book early.

Symphony Hall in Birmingham has boxes like Pixiewoo describes. On of the ushers told me that they put latecomers in there until the interval.

It's not unusual in the UK for Rothbart to get booed when he takes his final bow, but of course, that's all pantomime. Like Geoff, I've never heard booing to the ballet. Perhaps there is a clue is in something security at the Birmingham Hippodrome told me once. He described the opera crowd as being rough and no where near as polite as we ballet goes. OK, so he was pulling my leg. I go into the Hippodrome a couple of times a week and I know all of the security people.

Yesterday arvo while watching Bolshoi's Swan Lake, four women ("blue rinsers" who should know better) constantly rabbitted on during the overture, but mercifully where silent during the first act. More constant rabbitting on during the interval and they were still at it 10 minutes into the second act. Enough is enough I thought. Do I be polite "Quiet please", sarcastic "The orchestra don't need your help" or down right rude. I opted for the latter "Shuushhhhh!" The one talking just about leapt out of her skin but it had the desired effect.

IMO the Gorsky version is vastly superior to the Ashton version. OK, so having now successfully wound everybody up I'm sadded to see that in Wolverhampon they are doing The Nutcracker and Swan lake, I'm never sure if a Nutcracker in February is trying to be first cab off the rank or if Christmas is still hanging around like a bad smell. I'd take a run down to Malvern to see La Fille on the 14th if I wasn't doing something else.

Hi Alison, if you click on "use full editor" you can attach a file provided it is less than 350mb. I've sent you some balloons...

There was a well known Australian motorbike racer who carried his lucky pants in a secret pocket in his leathers. He couldn't wear them any more but they were still lucky - he did quite well too!

One of the best stretching resources is Brad Appleton's Stretching & Flexibility FAQ It's quoted in many books on stretching. A couple of excellent (IMO) DVDs are Sleek Technique and the Nicky McGinty ones.

Indeed! How could they omit West Side Story but include Black Swan? There is almost no dancing in the latter. I'd also suggest White Nights in place of Save The Last Dance.

I think it's time Beauty and The Beast made a comeback. It would be nice to see Arthur 1 & 2 again too, and even though I seemed to be the only person who liked it Krishna.

The BCC have made a couple of enormous stuff-ups involving equal pay and it's service contracts, esp IT. The new library is another one - projected build cost £160m, actual build cost £189m, final cost (when it has all been paid for) £590m (estimated - it will be higher). I quite agree!

Birmingham Rep funding info here (from December) http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/theatre-news/birmingham-reps-council-funding-cut-12327611

There is a longish article in Cyril Beaumont's Complete Book Of Ballets which covers to the 1930s. Balanchine's Festival Of Ballet is another good source of info on many ballets.

Last night our teacher said "You know when you get on the bus, the suspension goes psssshhhhh and the bus slowly lowers so older people can get on?" Of course, this resulted in puzzled looks. "That's how you should land from a jump."

Hi Kat I've sent you a PM with what is hopefully some useful info.

I was trying to find this thread the other day - thank you for popping it up. I have one teacher who when doing any forward movment, will slap her bottom and say "Take your luggage with you". She had also remarked about keeping £50 notes between the bum cheeks. I can relate to this. A long time ago, I took tightwire lessons at Circomedia in Bristol. One of the exercises we had to do was walk across the wire, holding a 50p piece there; we couldn't afford £50 notes.