trog

I saw this last night as part of IDFB and as I had sussed from the trailers it is a pretentious load of nonsense. It has some good bits but like Aileen, I found it to be very repetitive and over long. There was a reasonable number in the audience, more than for NDT2.

When I purchased my cd of "The Glory of the Human Voice" about 7 years ago, it was £3. I see the big river online store has them at £12.63 now - looks like I'm quids in

Two classes for me also. I would do more but real life gets in the way

Darius James cut huge swathes from his ballet of "How Green Was My Valley". In it's original version it went for (from memory) 2 1/2 hours and it's now a more managable 1 hour 40 mins. Some of the bits he cut I liked and some of the stuff he kept, I don't like so much.

The Imax at Millenium Point has closed. Walking the canal towpaths is quite nice - it's very quiet. You can also take a boat trip from the back entrance of the ICC. http://sherbornewharf.co.uk/boat-trips/daily-public-boat-trips/ If you're feeling energetic, you could hire a Brompton folding bike from one of the lockers at Bridley Place, or Snow Hill, New Street or Moor Street stations, hop on the canal towpath and ride. It's flat and you're away from the traffic. I ride my Brommie on the towpath most weekends. Don't go if it has been raining heavily the day before - once you get out of the city off the brick paving, it's gravel and it can get muddy after heavy rain. https://www.bromptonbikehire.com/

I saw the southern midscale tour in Chelentham last Saturday night. The program consisted of MacMillan’s Solitaire, Ashton’s Monotones II, Bintley’s Four Scottish Dances and van Manen’s 5 Tangos. Loved Solitare - so many great tunes and Yaoqian Shang was splendid as the girl, and I can watch Angela Paul all day. I nodded off duing Monotones as usual - I find it dull with some very inelegant movements at the start. Four Scottish Dances is a favourite - more great tunes and Yasuo Atsuji turned it up to 11 as usual. He is such a joy to watch. Having seen the Mariinsky dance 5 Tangos, I think the BRB were equally adept. It looked a bit lost on the Cardiff when the Mariinsky did it. It looks much better on the smaller Everyman stage, although the Mariinsky costumes seemed to sit better. I'm very much looking forward to the northern leg next week.

The Australian Antarctic Division, which leads Australia's Antarctic program, are launching a public campaign to name their new icebeaker. I wonder how high in the poll Breaky McBreakface will be? https://twitter.com/megcevans/status/725178226230759424

This needs to happen

I saw them in Birmingham last night, as part of the IDFB 2016. They are touring two different programs, so we saw a slightly different show to that seen in Salford Quays and London. Opening with I New Then by Johan Inger, I found it quite dull, with a lot of running around in circles, shuffling up and down the stage and hiding beind some sticks. It's not all bad though; it is danced to Van Morrison tracks and I'm a bit of a fan. Not obvious Van The Man tracks either! Next came mutual confort by Edward Clug. I liked this a lot with it's obvious classical ballet roots. It's nice to look at, This was followed by Solo by Hans Van Manen. Unlike other columnists, I found this piece very repetitive, being just endless pirouttes. I'm not denying the skill of the dancers, but I think it needed more. It's a pity, as I normally like Van Manen's work. Finally Cacti by Alexander Ekman. Top tip if you're seeing this - don't sit in the front row. The stage lighting is quite dazzling. It's a fun piece, and they use the blocks well. Not sure of the cactus's though! The last time I saw NDT2 here in Brum was September 1999. Most of the then BRB dancers where in watching. Last night, I only spotted one. Perhaps the youtube generation find it easier to keep up with other dance companies and styles. Sadly, audience numbers was quite thin last night. There are loads of excellent looking shows coming up in IDFB and I'm seeing several. As far as I can tell, only Carlos Acosta is sold out (not that wanted to go - far too many other things to see).

I'll be attending the evening performances in Cheltenham and Shrewsbury, and I looking forward to both. I think they are both splending venues too.

If you google Sophia Lucia, there are videos of her doing 54 and 55 but she is wearing tap shoes, which makes it a whole lot easier, and they aren't very pretty. Baryshnikov does 11 in the film "White Nights" and supposedly has done 16 in a rehearsal. Also, Angel Corella has supposedly done 19. Finally, Annetta Lucero has done a 10 turn pirouette while tossing and catching a baton.

Here are the UK specific links, they don't show anything different except the first hint at which cinemas will be showing the program http://www.bolshoiballetcinema.co.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/TheBolshoiBalletUK

I liked most of it, apart from Rufus Wainwright (poor diction), The Shires (why does Crissie Rhodes think she needs to sing with an American accent?) and the hip-hop Shakespeare (I hate bastardisation). Loved the Hamlets, and ending and of course, the ballet (even though I don't especially like R&J).

Some years ago, on a tour of Symphony Hall here in Brum, we were told they had developed sweets in special no russle wrappers but then they sold them in glass jars - great if they fell off your lap. I don't know if they still sell them. Like most others, I don't feel the need to eat or drink in the theatre, except for the occasional sip of water to quell a cough.

I wish I could get mine that high! When I used to take a class with Julie Felix, she would say "You can lift your leg off the bar" after I'd hoiked it up there, except I couldn't, and still can't.

Jacqueline one free solution to identify members of the jolly band on here, is to stand at the theatre bar during the interval and start doing plies. You would, no doubt, get some strange looks, but you would be easy to spot. Failing that, I think the aforementioned badge idea is an excellent one. A minute or so of looking online shows that the more badges you buy, the cheaper they get but a rough price is around £2.50 each for a soft enamel 15mm diameter badge on an order of 250. If it is decided to be a goer, then launching the BalletcoForum badge design competition would seem a ideal method of coming up with a badge.

On the train this morning, there was a teenager with his phone playing "music" (you know that annoying tinny tsch tsch sound) and his mate across the aisle said something like "That's badass". I was about to hop up and tell him to turn it off, when a large chap stood next to him and started singing "Nessun Dorma" very loudly. I shouted "How, that IS badass". The teenager took the hint

I'm going to play here too. Leticia Müller ex BRB. I have a pair of prints on my wall of her by Glynis Barnes-Mellish. Here is one. Also, Lei Zhao another ex-BRBer. She had the unfortunate experience of sitting next to me on the train from London to Brum. Lovely for me though!

The other reviewers are far more eloquent than yours truly, and I can't add much to what they have already said. Five Tangos is beautiful to watch. The dancers are elegant and the steps graceful. It is in the repertoire of the BRB and I've always like it. Infra is a piece that left me cold. I found it ungainly and watching the dancers contort their bodies boring. The music is OKish and IMO, is the only thing going to it. Sitting in the front row, I did what I do when the ballet is boring - watch the orchestra. They seemed a bit bored. The evening finished on a high with In The Night. There are several little stories in this. It is lovely to look at and the costumes enhance it. I could watch Viktoria Tereshkina all day. Concerto DSCH is very fast and great fun. It is well suited to Kimin Kim. I liked Sacre, although I felt the costumes let it down. These are rather drab split dresses for the women and non descipt shirt and trousers for the men. The original art deco costumes would be out of place but something more exciting is called for. Aprt from that, I found the ballet quite exciting. The orchestra was huge and loud - five double basses, nine cellos and two sets of timpani. The opening solo bassoon was miked though; I guess it would have been lost on the cavernous Donald Gordon Theatre. The pit is very deep and almost nobody could see Gergiev. When he took his opening bow, it is too a blank wall. I could see him though the gap in the curtains. I think it wonderful that the Mariinshy chose not to tour Swan Lake/Sleeping Beauty/Don Quixote/Raymonda/other war horse and go on the road with an interesting mixed program. It was very nice to compare notes with Don Q Fan and Mummykool during the intervals.

Yes the dropbox link work just fine. I got the same comment as rowan, when I gave it a picture of Lenda Murray - she is a famous body builder in case you don't know.

Today the internet is having fun with the new Microsoft bot that sticks automatic captions on photos. Here's a picture of The Trocks If you would like to have a go yourself visit https://www.captionbot.ai/

Ok, I'll play. Ever since I saw Wolfgang Stollwitzer, he has been my fav. He's also a very nice man and always stops for a quick chat when I see him.

Above all make sure that the site is completed before you launch it. Too many sites, which are built with a content management system, contain dummy pages, usually with the text "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit,.......". This in my opinion, looks totally unprofessional. We had a new website where I work (which was nothing to do with me) and on go live day there were many "lorem" pages and SMT were laughed at (good!). If you are going to include a blog, which is the latest trend (or a twitter or facebook feed), make sure that you update these regularly. Again, on our website the principals blog hasn't been updated since November and our twitter for about a month. Have a look at other dance school sites - some are excellent and some quite poor. Remember a website is your welcome mat and you need to make it welcoming. Do not make it too busy and don't have too much useless bumph on it - you may think it relevent or nice, but is it useful to others?

I received my brochure last night and I've managed to book. Have gone through the torture of their phone system, which includes having to listen to several minutes of Mary Poppins (gosh how annoying are those songs?) I booked. I then received an email, to say booking are open and the email says I could have done it all online.

Excellent. In case you don't know what I look like, I sport a grey beard and greying curly hair.