Quintus

having just splashed out on tickets for Alina C and Ivan V in Swan Lake, I'm hesitating over another large wodge of cash for what would be a solo visit to see la Vishneva in April, though now would be the time to book as there are seats aplenty. I've seen only brief snippets on Youtube - not quite sure whether it would be a great experience or a stretch of diva self indulgence. Has anyone seen it elsewhere?

Seems a useful place to post this: if anyone's been contemplating the Mariinsky's bluray/dvd of Stravinsky & the Ballet Russes, then the ROH shop is currently selling the Bluray reduced to 19.99, which is a fiver or so cheaper than Amazon. This disc is worth it for the Firebird, with Kondaurova on great form. Personally I wasn't so taken by the Sacre du Printemps, which is a historical reconstruction - the costumes made me think 'Pocahontas in Albania' and for a ballet there isn't much ballet in it. I'd love to see a bold contemporary interpretation - any suggestions of other recordings?

I suspect it stems 1. from an association of dancing (and by extrapolation the music accompanying it) with licentious behaviour and 2. the view that any leisure activity that is not direct worship or study is an unworthy distraction. The more po-faced religions have always been concerned to cover women up as far as possible to minimise the temptations to men - though the assumption that that temptation arises itself rests on a more general assumption that we are all constantly struggling to contain our promiscuity. The Middle East of course does have its parallel secular tradition of patently erotic dance, and there is indeed a strong sexual element persisting in the hip-wiggling, bum-shimmering folk dances that still break out at private celebrations and parties. So there's a base there for the clergy to extrapolate from, but to our eyes it's then a ridiculous (indeed offensively stupid) leap of logic to go from that to condemning all forms of dance by association. I don't personally believe in gods, but I'd have thought that if you believed a god had created the human form, then showing that god the amazing things of which humans are capable through dedicated application and effort would be a form of worship in itself.. The West has had restrictive attitudes to dance inits past too, rooted in some of the same concerns, but has largely moved on - because its main religion allowed interpretation of its holy texts to keep up with the times. When you get a text-based religion that explicitly forbids interpretation, then you find yourself mired in the values of the past.

It's on 4OD, and I think Channel4 limit access to content according to country so hopefully not immediately, but I think if you put material out on TV you can assume that sooner or later it's going to find its way everywhere - which makes them all the braver for taking part. A similar thing was happening in Egypt just before the Muslim Brotherhood regime was overthrown - they were bringing in a total ban on ballet and opera (including the cash-cow son et lumiere performances at Luxor and Giza). Hopefully under the current government that has been suspended. I once lived for a year in Algeria and the hypocrisy was unbelievable - the same men who were ranting against women with uncovered hair were at the same time keeping mistresses and there was a general male attitude that any woman was up for it and was there to be 'won', regardless of age or marital status. It's that kind of mentality that underlies these behaviours towards the arts.

Did anyone catch this 'Unreported World' short documentary? (the video is available via a swift Google). I found it moving but so depressing. There are a handful of students attending the only ballet and music school left in Iraq. As general/official sentiment outside is that this is un-Islamic, they have armed guards outside and live in fear of a suicide attack - apparently the Minister of Education said he turns his face away when he passes the school. One of the students died in a sectarian bus bomb attack, and there is one 17 year old girl who has reached a reasonable level, loves ballet with a passion but has absolutely no future - she cannot perform in public, and the school is unlikely to survive long enough for her to become a teacher. It's unlikely that she's had good enough tuition to warrant being 'rescued' by some foreign company happening to watch the programme. How sad when religious nonsense tramples on people's passions...

I just noticed that the Mariinsky is coming to London this summer. So the converse question arises - will anyone be boycotting those performances over this issue? Can't say I have that moral fibre but am more likely to be limited by ticket prices, if they are anything like the Bolshoi's last year.

Oh to be a Sun headline writer - i'm sure there's something like 'Ballet stars facing Urin tract problems' to be made out of this. Sorry, couldn't resist. You can take the tone back up now.

if we have 'real emoticons' for real emotions, can we have a range of disingenuous emoticons too... look, the smile doesn't reach my eyes, I'm crying inside.. I'm not in favour of a dislike button. I imagine most people visit here because ballet has positive associations in their life, and while balanced discussion is very much sought, the last thing they want is to get embroiled in is publicly recorded 'negativity marking'. Internet forums can turn into bullying environments, or at least be perceived as such when very assertive contributors are given tools to put others down. I write occasionally for a satire website which has star-based voting buttons for contributions, but also the ability to add tags to posts, in theory to help with searches. A few people use those tags to express abuse or snideness, which sours the place for everyone and is a constant source of complaint.

Some thoughts on a variety of themes raised in this interesting thread. 1. There's seemingly an implicit view that calling an activity a 'sport' is in some way paying it a compliment; and I disagree with that. What's wrong with being an art form, albeit one that requires great physical conditioning and technics prowess? 2. Moreover, getting a given sport into the ultimate competitive environment of the Olympics can change that sport to its detriment, as competitors abandon the 'spirit' of the activity by stripping out anything that does not maximise points-scoring reward. My example there is taekwando, which in club form is a valid, balanced martial art but in Olympic form is a bizarre Riverdance affair - because kicks score more than punches, punches and defence to punches are pretty much abandoned. I suspect an Olympic ballet form would also drift in the direction of scoring - a comparator is perhaps ice skating, which i find technically impressive but rather mechanical and soulless. 3. A few people have pointed to low participation from women in recreational sport. I guess this depends on your social circle - I have to say in ours we are familiar with a very active hockey scene, and club tennis which ladies continue into their seventies. The trick seems to be keeping girls involved in the mid teen years where their social life suddenly explodes - get them through that (and a good young social scene in the sports clubs helps) then the chance is they'll stick with it.

I'd dearly love to meet my favourite dancers but I'd be embarrassed to hang around the stage door as all you can really do presumably is gush a bit, and I fear they must see it as an ordeal to be got through. My spot for inadvertently bumping into celebrities seems to be the train - I've sat opposite Richard Curtis, John Peel, Rick Wakeman and Malcolm McLaren - but I've always left them in peace. When I was working in Soho however (stop giggling at the back , I was a consultant), I was once asked for directions by a very elegant lady who it dawned on me was Jenny Agutter, and she did have a natter. A gentler surrogate for the stage door is Facebook - quite a few of the big names will accept friend requests (particularly the Russians, for some reason), and while some of these are PR-type pages, some are 'genuine' and give interesting insights into their lives. Leaving a compliment on a photo and getting a thanks back is also for me a nicely unintrusive way of connecting.

Diana Vishneva is appearing in the opening ceremony today. Coverage on TV kicks off around 3pm but if anyone knows where in the programme she is likely to appear, do share, as I don't relish the prospect of sitting through a parade of giant cuddly bears with perhaps a few ICBM transporters thrown in for nostalgia.. updated: the timing of her latest instagram pic suggests she's on early in the proceedings

Agree about the Chroma costumes, the men look bizarre in those. On the other hand, in my bluray of Caravaggio, Polina Semionova is wearing what appears to be a mere scrap of grubby bandage, like a largely unwrapped mummy, yet manages to look jaw-droppingly gorgeous..

um, not defending the 'spatchcocking' but let's be honest - isn't this just the other side of the men's bums (and yes, I could have phrased that better) ? the one thing that puts your average bloke off watching ballet more than anything else is the endless parade of male buttocks in wedgied tights. I haven't however heard howls of protest from the ladies about that!

sounds fine to me, it's just the rasp of a brass instrument as above, not a glitch. try listening on headphones - if it sounds better, then you may have a problem with your speakers as the bass cones do loosen over time and low frequencies can excite a vibration against the mounting surface which isn't part of the music.. there are usually visible mounting screws around the cones/baskets - see if they will take a gentle tightening, which should fix any vibration.

I'm no expert on the economics but intuitively I'd think there's appetite for more touring ballet productions - those of us in the provinces are starved of material.. The only company that tours near where I live in Suffolk is the Russian State Siberian Ballet, which managed to sell out locally on a three day stop with frankly pretty poor productions of some big tutu ballets. Your video looked considerably more interesting, and I'd certainly be interested in seeing a production. I guess the challenge is how to promote it - I suspect the aforesaid company, which is promoted by Raymond Gubby, sells to an audience of 'show goers' rather than ballet enthusiasts on a combination of household name ballets like Swan Lake plus having 'Russian' in the name, and relatively cheap tickets...! A smaller troupe with less established material might have to build a reputation in 'arts' venues first (e.g. in the East, Snape Maltings rather than Ipswich Gaumont) as they market to a more adventurous/discerning audience. Anyone here who can given them more solid advice?

Great stuff - both the video and the photos. I do agree with the comments about the editing though (albeit unlike Anjul I'm happy to forego the male dancers); I understand you are trying to get a lot in and to keep it fast moving, but the edit-clips are too short to allow full engagement, and truncate the movements at times - even another second added here and there would make a difference. So what's your intention for this video - is it a teaser for productions, for a longer video or simply a showcase of capability to get promoters interested?

I imagine she was in a harness, but even so a slip could have been very nasty. It's an innovation that could liven up Olympic Taekwondo though!

Thanks for all the suggestions (and would have said so sooner but have been offline for a few days..). It does seem surprisingly fiddly to get hold of these things maybe there's an opportunity there, hmm..

There are some fantastic ballet photos to be seen on the internet - I particularly admire Enrico Nawrath and Gene Schiavone's work, and at the moment on Facebook the 'New Georgian Ballet' page is putting up some real crackers. At various times I've searched in vain for good quality large posters of the likes of Polina Semionova, Zakharova et al to frame and put in the home gym, and for gallery-quality photo prints for the house. Nawrath has a book out but hasn't responded to enquiries about purchasing prints, and Gene Schiavone is printing a couple of photos for sale, but not necessarily his best in my opinion. The posters I've seen are just of the cheesy generic Athena type. Similarly, I'd love to get my hands on the full size posters used to advertise ROH performances on the Underground - did manage to get a complimentary copy of the Bolshoi one with Vasiliev/Osipova, but it was half size and sent to me folded Any suggestions? As an aside, just got the Natalia Osipova - Becoming A Swan book and am not particularly impressed with the photography, much of which seems rather amateurish.

Love the Obraztsova pics - that's the cast I'd have most liked to have seen, though I thought the Cuthbertson dvd was excellent. Evgenia was born to play Juiet.

thinking of similar things digital; - wasn't that original material initiative by Crystal Ballet with various RB and ex-RB dancers supposed to have come to fruition by now? the website still only seems to have a marketing trailer for 'Genesis', nothing we could actually purchase.

Good idea for those who live in civilisation with decent internet speeds. for those of us in rural Suffolk where the broadband is delivered in tiny packets by rooks, the only option would be to buy and download overnight. you'd then have to hook up the pc to a TV to view on a decent screen size... sounds a lot of hassle. you also have the risk that Digital Theatre folds after a year or two leaving you with a bunch of material that will only play in their proprietary player - which won't be kept compatible with evolving operating systems etc. I really don't like proprietary players, as you may have guessed... I also doubt very much this is true HD; they advise 4gb of free space to download, whereas a bluray movie takes up 15-30gb. Just release DVDs at sensible prices, then people will buy them!

....here are his 'not another ballerina project' photos on Facebook, taken with a phone; just page forward from this first one.. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=569346746461804&set=a.443593665703780.109119.158871550842661&type=1&theater

My favourite 'off stage' ballet photographer is definitely Enrico Nawrath, who was/is associated with the Staatsballett Berlin. His site is here: http://www.enonava.de and there are lots more on his Facebook page. He has some really amazing backstage and practice shots, and also did a series while out and about with his phone camera and some ballerina friends which look as good as anything that would come out of a studio. Gene Schiavone is of course a great performance photographer and another favourite but I think Enrico edges him overall; he certainly seems to have a great empathy with the dancers which comes through.

As predicted, now available to preorder for £20.45 on Amazon, which I've duly done.. The RoH dvd prices really are outrageous. Also snapped up the Nureyev Bayadere bluray for around a tenner ..