Quintus

I'm going with rigor mortis starting at the feet

I've got the Cuthbertson bluray, which is outstanding. Considering getting the Ferri - has it been reformatted for modern TVs or is it the old square shape?

...back to the original subject of this thread, which is Symphonie Dramatique; I woke up at 4am increasingly irritated by this production. It's not the style of dancing; for example I love LLLHS's Amelia. Rather it is the the complete disconnection of the choreography from the doomed love story it purpose to represent, and the absence of any emotion or lyricism. I also object to 'business'. There was deal of dragging benches across the stage for no apparent reason, and some thrice repeated routine of barking/screeching into a lowered microphone. Another choreographic trope was slapping the face with a forearm flipped up through 90 degrees. Why? It reminded me f nothing more than performing seals. Indeed had this production been called Sammy The Seal Escapes From the Circus, I would have been able to make some sense of it and would doubtless now be happily asleep.

Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear. Twas not for me at all. All credit to the dancers for a highly aerobic 55 minutes and executing a lengthy series of apparently random movements, which must be hell to learn, but for me the choreography had no connection either to the music or to the text. Imagine Adrian Mole spending an evening watching La La La Human Steps and Wayne McGregor videos then deciding to have a stab at it. The 20-somethings in the audience were mostly appreciative, others looked bemused.

I booked this after leaving the main RB R&J booking too late and then being horrified at the pricing, and so I am going tonight... Canadian company Cas Public with an 'alternative take'. Not too sure what to expect - anybody else going better prepared?

I wanted to see Cuthbertson but have been put off by the pricing. I may have been spoiled as most of my recent ballets have been ENB productions at Sadlers, complete fwith friend discount. I was aghast to see Amphi tickets at £57 and £69 - ludicrous.

Love it, thanks for posting!

For £5k you can have your name tattooed on a First Soloist

I'm not sure I'd want to go to an event where the host is financially motivated to hope I won't be able to turn up !

those Virgin Active photos are rather ugly in my opinion, I'm surprised they got past the picture editors and brand managers

My hunch is that to get large numbers of people watching a broader range of ballet, you need both a mass media channel (to 'play the stats' and actually find those who will react) and a somewhat tangential approach - otherwise you only pick up people who are already engaged. The internet for once doesn't seem to be that effective - there's a wealth of material available but I'd say it only gets accessed by people actively looking for it. I do my bit on Facebook by liking and sharing ballet clips and pictures, but the friends who pick up on those are the ones who are already interested (plus a chorus of phwoars that doesn't go any further, for Semionova et al). TV is more effective, perhaps becuase people idly browse channels and give things a go. Looking at ballroom dancing, the Strictly phenomenon had both the mass reach and the tangential approach - ie the celebrity angle; had they simply broadcast professional ballroom dancing, it would likely have tanked. The three part ENB fly on the wall series a few years ago called The Agony and the Ecstasy seemed very effective to me - it was one of the catalysts that made me go out and explore ballet (initially the big classics then rapidly further afield). It's 'tangential' approach was to focus on personalities, situations and the complexities of daily life rather than simply present the works. Having said that, it didn't feature anything beyond mainstream work. I'd love to see an update series now that Tamara is at the helm..

don't tempt me, I might fill up the server!

A quick bad behaviour diversion outside ballet if I may, just to get it off my chest. Have just returned from a trip to Thailand, which is suffering an influx of tourists from a nearby fast developing country which I shan't name lest I get accused of racism. Said tourists' behavour has been so bad in Thai temples that their own government has instigated a blacklist banning travel for the worst offenders. Typical and repeated behaviours we observed were rather in restaurants: enter restaurant and wthout speaking to the staff, pick up several tables and join them into one long one to seat a dozen or more. Proceed to order a few dishes while laying out the food brought in from outside shops in carrier bags. Go into the restaurant kitchen to put a few items in their fridge for later. During the meal pop out to buy beer cheaper and bring it back in. Knock the bottle tops off against the table edge (yes, really!). Maintain a series of shouted conversations throughout and let screaming kids run round and under other diners' tables. Treat staff like dirt and leave no tip. One restaurant manager told us of a group that let a child defecate on the restaurant floor then called staff to clear it up. We started looking for restaurants that had heavy 'rustic' wooden tables that couldn't be joined up - this seemed to be the only deterrent! There, I feel better for getting that out. Relating this to one of the points about about bad behaviour associated with newcomers to theatre, these are 'new travellers' from a society only recently becoming affluent, but whether travelling or going ot ballet or theatre for the first time, surely basic decent human behaviour is to observe how a new environment works before joining in, and then to follow the norms?

repeating a post I put in Tickets - I have a student-discount ticket for tonight's live performance that anyone is welcome to for nothing, I'd rather see it put to use.

whoops yes, I'll get my coat.

'First in line' may well be how the arcane honours system works in reality... For me though Tamara is more visibly in tune with the modern world. She has taken on cuts and confronted them with some sound strategies (as in the article - shave a week off national tours to call the bluff on a real terms cut, and managed to squeeze profit from the international tours to cross-fund new production). Wayne Eagling resigned in the face of those cuts. Tamara has also started to achieve and I suspect will continue to progress, raising the profile of the company and reaching a wider public. That to be fair is because she is very media savvy and media friendly and comes across as driven and articulate on her radio and TV appearances. My immediate memory of WE on screen is of him bullying Daria Klimentova and throwing strops on that ENB three part fly on the wall documentary. I'm just saying what I see as a member of the public with an interest in ballet as opposed to as a ballet aficionado who can judge their artistic contributions.

if you look over Gene Schiavone's Facebook page, every now and then he goes into the technical set up behind a shot (though mostly his in-theatre shots rather than the studio ones). He uses a Nikon D800E which has exceptional low light handling, and he pushed the ISO to crazy numbers without seeming to get much grain, which must involve some post processing. He does workshops, but in the US.

I find Tamara hugely impressive as a leader - I hope the British honours system picks her up at some point in the way the Spanish one has. I guess she's already something of a grande dame so may as well make it official!

Well those of us who turned up at 640 picked up our tickets with no queue whatsoever and were thus able to fork out the price of a whole bottle of wine for a small glass to while away the wait.. I really enjoyed Woolf Works. Ferri was quite a revelation, with great stage presence and command. I always like Sarah Lamb in McGregor and she seems a far healthier shape than last time I saw her. Also impressed by Beatriz Stix Brunell and of course Natalia O. Enjoyed the music, even, nay particularly, the Kraftwerkesque electronica.. It got a very positive audience reception. Three women a few rows in front of me stood up for an ovation which caused a ripple effect behind them with people grumbling about not being able to see the curtain call and so standing up in turn! I'd happily see it again. Oh, and the diminutive Wayne Sleepe walked past while I was knocking back my ice cream. There was someone famous in about T3 of the stalls too, may be an old politician - it'll come back to me..

I watched the grand final on iplayer last night with my sons, having discovered this rather late in the day - at the point of the Indian finals. I'd say the format is flawed in that it needs a male and female winner (and one overall if necessary). I agree that the PDD did not do any favours as the ballerina is in front of her partner for much of it - and indeed the male is typically acting in a different capacity compared to the other styles of dance. I got most out of the kathak dancing (though I preferred another dancer in the Indian final) and the kathak solos were the only dances that pulled my sons' eyes away from their phones for the duration.. I must actively seek out some live kathak!

there are still tickets for tomorrow and I'll likely grab one tonight. I noticed some comments around viewing perspectives. Is this a ballet that benefits from viewing from above, or from being reasonably close. Not having the eyes or taste for perching on a cliff face of a golden eagle, I'll rule out the Amphi. There are some front edge seats in the Stalls and a few in DG Grand Tier and above - which would give the better experience of this particular work?

For those who enjoy a giggle at the expense of contemporary dance's indulgent extreme, I suggest a google of 'Mr G' 'pink sheet' 'youtube', with a dance class from the egotistical self-styled Director of Performing Arts from the satirical comedy Summer Heights High

I noticed it was being filmed last night from the back of the stalls, I wonder if and where that will surface - an unlikely candidate for dvd I'd have thought

Well I didn't get my lemon as the little girl next to me got there first, but I enjoyed the evening very much. I feel that the choreography was, as others ha be said, self indulgent and bloated in places, but there were also passages in both pieces that were really powerful and exciting, and gave DV a chance to shine. She can certainly hold a stage, and is both powerful and fluid. And gorgeous; despite my best squinting I couldn't quite make out what the tattoo on her hip was but I like to think it says "in the next life, Quintus, in the next life". I'd only previously seen her in video clips and on DVD as Juliet, where she left me cold, but am now very keen to see her in something that really stretches her.

I follow Gene Schiavone on Facebook and he has often voiced frustration that on a given shoot he will take many hundreds of images, but only get a release from the company on maybe 4 or 5; and he is not allowed to do anythig withthe remainder. The companies also put tight control around what kind of image they want to present through released images, which stifles creativity. It's frustrating for the photographer and also for us as consumers - I think there is a big appetite for posters, books etc which is simply not being met..