Quintus

Sadler's Friend or ENB Friend? I was at a Pina Bausch Masterclass this evening at ENB for the various Friend tiers and was quite irritated that the front row of seats was all reserved for what presumably are Patrons, so we mere Friends and Great Friends stuck in the second row had to crane and strain to see anything past the bloated bejewelled necks of the aristocracy in front. They'll regret it when the Revolution comes! Sorry, I'm coming over all Bolshevik...

Saw this tonight and enjoyed it overall, though as often with Wayne McGregor I'd take the pruning knife to a few passages. I was impressed by one dancer in particular, but didn't get a programme - she was small, with olive skin and a long dark ponytail (the only dancer with one). Her style reminded me somewhat of Crystal Costa. I assume she was one of the Paris contingent but their website usefully gives a separate hyperlink for every company member instead of a gallery of photos, and I'm not that dedicated! I was amused, turning up a bit early and passing the stage door, to see one of the dancers outside in puffy warm-up kit having a pre-performance fag, or should I say 'clope'... Now that is very French! Edit: found her; Fukiko Takase, one of Wayne's company rather than a Parisian

She's very famous in the US and is very actively promoted by her management team, in the way that sports stars are. It's a blunt indicator as so many variables are involved, and is skewed to the US, but she has 1.3 million Instagram followers; Bolle has 375k, Vishneva 103k, Kochetkova 162k, Salenko 159K, Nunez 85k, Osipova 74k. I wouldn't be surprised if she's one of the highest overall earners around, from product endorsements, books, adverts, modelling etc.

Me too. I suspect Zakharova would be on the Russian list too as she has a political role as well as her dancing career so presumably gets lots of media coverage

So as a highly scientific poll, I asked my two sons, both of whom I've taken to a couple of ballets. Neither could think of any names at all - though one did say 'who was that bloke we saw with the massive legs', by which I know he means Ivan Vasiliev. My gut sense is that outside the ballet-going world, rather few people in the UK could name any current UK dancers (but I think both Darcey and Carlos Acosta would come up if we allowed retirees, and a generation back, Wayne Sleep) and furthermore very few either would have heard of Misty Copeland. It's largely TV or scandal that gets people known, and our current crop of principals don't get featured outside specific ballet programmes. Darcey and Wayne used to guest on mass-appeal programmes like the Generation Game, French and Saunders etc and I'm not sure there's a current equivalent vehicle (or indeed dancers queuing up to get on them). If that gut sense is right about the general public, then fame is actually determined by the ballet going world, which should be fairly reflected by this forum!

Great topic. I suggest you firm up that definition of 'famous' for us, then we can debate what evidence would support the defining criteria and where that evidence might be found. Are you for example defining 'famous' as 'the dancer most named if the general public were asked to name one ballet dancer' ?. Is it a currently active dancer or any dancer? That is a loaded question as doubtless if you asked someone in the street in the UK, they would say 'Darcey Bussell', who is retired but front-of-mind because of TV appearances. Averaging globally, the results are also skewed by population size and local media-worthy social issues, hence the prominence of Misty Copeland, as regardless of relative talent (a neutral comment, bear with me) she is a huge black success story in a country with a large population where being black is a recognised obstacle to success and hence a media pull. In Russia the population is arguably more ballet-savvy and more likely to choose on fame-from-ability, but has less than half the size of the USA... Counting social media followers is interesting but arguably selects for a population interested in ballet rather than the general public, and also the prevalence of a particular platform in a particular country...

yes, the follow up to l'Auberge Espagnole

I wonder if they had technical problems starting - the livestream started 15 minutes later than was advertised, with a countdown clock to entertain us.. The 'specialist v generalist' audience distinction is very much a matter of perspective. I imagine only people with a pretty well established interest in ballet would actually hear about the broadcast and then bother to tune in. Then amongst that set you'll have one set of people with deep knowledge about styles, technique, history etc and another set, like me, who have minimal technical or historical knowledge but are enthusiastic about the art form and keen to learn more. I'd have thought the introduction as described would have suited both sets, but given the delay in starting maybe they did originally intend to show it.

I watched online; Marianela's sunny smile was a treat. I also thought Sarah Lamb was very interesting in the interview with Patricia near and Elyse Borne; at some hopefully distant future date she could have a good career in presenting as she really knows what she is talking about and can express it clearly. Which leads me to the actual presenter, who I assumed was a staff member from the ROH but turns out to be a professional. You'd think a pro would familiarise herself with how to pronounce the stars' names. Noo-n-ez, pah. Presumably she gets a decent fee for this. Instead of a series of paid outside presenters who are always somewhat underwhelming, why doesn't the ROH instead just use some of their dancers and thus give that money to more deserving recipients ? Anyway, that niggle off my chest, this was very enjoyable and has helped me get further into Jewels than I've hitherto been able to.

Wouldn't it be relatively straightforward to project very large and simple messages onto the curtain? "Please switch all mobiles off now" 5 minutes before curtain up etc. Or in extremis "The music is still paying for God's sake so just SHUT UP!!"

If you speak French there's the Allociné forum, though the search function never works for me http://www.allocine.fr/communaute/forum/forum_gen_cforumliste=3.html

I like coming across ballet in a film unexpectedly. There's a rare appearance by a young Evgenia Obraztsova in Klapisch's Russian Dolls, where she plays a visiting Russian ballet dancer with whom an English stagehand falls in love and sets out to woo. There is little dancing but it's a charming role. Have to say the stagehand is punching well above his weight with EO and it took some suspension of disbelief!

Maybe ushers should be issued with a roll of industrial duct tape to deal with phone and watch offenders!

I could not bring myself to boo at the ballet. There are so many contributory elements to a given production, not all of which would be at fault, that you would inevitably be causing 'collateral damage' of the innocent. The worst production I ever saw was a touring Canadian company's reworking of the Romeo & Juliet story, which was largely a rip-off of La La La Human Steps' style, with a large dose of Wayne McGregor-on-amphetamines. The choreography was awful to watch but incredibly difficult and exhausting to perform, and though I hated it overall, I still felt I had to clap the dancers' athleticism, skill and indeed survival. The dancers looked very pleased with themselves at the end, and a small number of young spectators were on their feet hollering their support, which was also a reminder that sometimes when you hate something, it may be that you are just the wrong person to be watching it..

While we're on shops, and this has likely been covered before........ everything in the supermarket coming in plastic bags or boxes or clingfilm. They have the nerve to charge for carrier bags, but then every wretched item brings its own plastic detritus with it. Why can't we get cheese, veg, fruit etc in paper bags any more? If the Govt can legislate about carrier bags, which just hits the consumer (I used to use supermarket bags as bin liners, now I buy the liners, so no net plastic saved) then why can't they force the supermarkets to reduce their consumption of plastic packaging?

deleted - double post from twitchy fingers!

Janet, buy two wedges of cheese at the same time - problem solved!

Is that club a fairly recent development? The webpage doesn't say but I can't remember it among the myriad of societies when I was there many years ago - shame, as it would have opened my eyes to ballet far earlier. Will have to keep an eye out for future productions.

I read of two methods - both a spray to the face (which maybe then became a cloth in later versions) and a poison needle... All very James Bond !

I wonder if airlines will be tightening their needle policies following the assassination of Kim Jong Nam allegedly involving a poisoned needle! Maybe passengers will be obliged to prick their thumbs a at check-in...

That's certainly true - a chap behind and along from me at Woolf Works was wearing stripy tracksuit bottoms, which is a new sartorial low point for the ROH, surpassing my previous benchmark of a neighbour wearing manky Crocs...

Mayerling. I've only seen the dvd but it bored me rigid. Didn't engage with any of the characters, didn't find the choreography exciting and Ed Watson wore exactly the same furrowed-browed expression of anguish throughout.

Hope this is the right place to post - mods please relocate if not. This capture of today's event is well worth watching; the BoE seminars are usually for economists, quants and the like, so this is great recognition of what business people can learn from TR's exceptional achievements as an agent of transformational change. As ever, she is extremely articulate and insightful; what a great ambassador for the arts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQN5b0wJB6Y&feature=youtu.be

Given that Giselle's mother is well aware of the Wilis, it's just as well she decided not to take Beaumont's listed precautions of cutting Giselle's head off and staking her then!

I was in a distant seat at the ROH, and wish I'd splashed out again for a better one, as I think this benefits from close viewing (which the cinema streaming doubtless gave). I saw essentially the same cast as last time it was on - wonderfully moving performance from Alessandra, a sinuous and powerful Osipova I could have watched all night and with both Francesca Hayward and Beatriz Stix-Brunell looking particularly radiant as well as dancing beautifully. Ed Watson and the guys also impressed, well, everyone was on great form really.. I guess the cinema will have struggled to capture the three distinct projected layers created by the lasers, which was one thing my eagle's nest was well suited to appreciate! Nice to see Wayne come out at the end too, for what was a very appreciative audience reaction to the evening. Who was the other person he brought on stage - Max Richter?