alison

I did wonder if the current Covid restrictions with regard to coaching made it impractical for Sarasota to be doing much Ashton this year. After all, most dancers who worked with him are generally not in the first flush of youth, and probably based on the "wrong" side of the Atlantic.

Ridiculously late to be mentioning it, I know, but I do have a spare rear stalls ticket for tonight if anyone's interested.

I hear the Barbican's season has been announced, too, although I don't yet have details of it.

Jeannette, you could try signing up for the talk they're giving to the London Ballet Circle, which I think is next month - there's a thread about it in the News section. Guests are permitted That was exactly what I was trying to get at! That's a very good point, Lizbie. Perhaps it has something to do that there are a lot more established "big" operatic roles to choose from, whereas in ballet people are still trying to create more of those "big" roles? That doesn't explain the penchant for short ballets, though.

And then, of course, the problem tends to be that, by putting several Ashton works on together, you get a situation where the most appropriate dancers may only be cast in one piece out of three, which may lead to the really good "Ashton" dancers not necessarily being able to appear in works which they might be really suited for (and possibly other, less-suited, dancers being cast in them instead). As a student, Vadim Muntagirov was scheduled to dance Oberon in The Dream for his graduation performance - although in fact he was injured and had to be replaced. When we had the 2016 Ashton bill announced, I'd been thinking that we might possibly get a chance to see his Oberon, but he was cast in Symphonic Variations instead. Now, that is quite likely to have been the best decision, given how well he danced it, and performing a role as a student can be very different from dancing it as a mature professional, but I was aware that he was only able to be cast in the one ballet and that we wouldn't get to see him as Oberon. I suspect the same problem might occur with someone like Francesca Hayward, say, being cast in only one ballet by a choreographer who appears to suit her. That's why, when I see all-Ashton bills, my heart tends to sink a little despite my joy at the prospect (- and the likelihood that I'll book most, if not all, of the performances). His work needs to be mixed in with that of other choreographers, so that newer balletgoers, like MaddieRose, get a chance to realise what they may be missing, in case the prospect of a whole bill by one choreographer is a step too far for them. Did the Makarova/London Festival Ballet Swan Lake ever actually make in onto DVD? I have a feeling it did, eventually. The pas de quatre can be seen in that recording.

I was pleased and surprised to get a very helpful phone call - in response to my email - from the South Bank Centre box office today to sort me out a seat for this So it is possible. Unfortunately, the box office is currently operating by email only (normally 10-6 weekdays), but if anyone else is having trouble getting hold of a single ticket it may well be worth emailing them and asking.

Thanks, Anna. Is that the same conditions as the SOLT offer, i.e. Weds, Thurs and Sun only? It's so frustrating to see all those unsold seats still and not be able to buy one of them I did try, and thought I was going to be lucky, but then I got the blasted "please don't leave one single seat" message. At least the Royal Opera House (eventually) tweaked the system so that (I presume) former pairs of seats were converted into singles.

Yippee! The only thing I've had from Picturehouses didn't include any dance, and I've had nothing from Odeon, either.

I wish I'd realised just how hard it would be to get hold of single tickets for this production at a price I could afford. I was just fancying an evening - or even an afternoon - out. Guess I may have to wait for the discount offers for midweek and splash out on two tickets

Many congratulations to you, Primrose, for all your sterling work. It's so great that it's been recognised, and let's hope it's taken to heart by everybody concerned.

My guess is that they're whatever the ROH hasn't been able to sell as pairs. Does anyone have any evidence to support or contradict this?

If you've been to see this programme, do please post about it for the benefit of those of us who haven't

There were similar complaints last run, for the same seats, I think. Would it make sense for the greyed-out seats to be those held back for public booking? I haven't looked yet.

Bump ... starts tonight. I'd been hoping to go, but unfortunately can't, so I hope others will, and will report back. Do we have a running time for it, BTW? Oh yes, just spotted - 90 minutes. It sounded such a packed programme that I'd assumed it would be much longer!

Isn't Kaneko Green in the streamed version, if you want to catch up with it?