alison

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Ah yes, but it would appear that your new local ballet company is not too dusty, either Edit: Oops, Jan and I were posting at the same time!

I suppose in the RB's case it's also a question of how frequently they're prepared to do a cinema broadcast - and how many potentially DVD-suitable casts they can produce. After all, Nutcrackers, Swan Lakes and R&Js come around much more frequently than things like Manon and Fille (which I note isn't being broadcast this year, either).

Talking about changes, have the wigs for Alain always been quite such a yellowy blonde as they are these days?

Ugh, please don't remind me. Manon as Classical ballet IIRC, that was one of the three ballets released under Decca's "Acosta" contract? Not that I'm altogether complaining, since it recorded Rojo's Manon for posterity, but one might then think there was more reason to release another recording on Opus Arte. Existing recordings: Penney/Dowell - RB; Australian Ballet; Rojo/Acosta - Royal Ballet; Paris Opera Ballet. Am I missing any others? Quite. Give me the great interpreter any day - or maybe the first cast of a new ballet - rather than a big name who may be ill-cast.

Just noticed that "Darcey Bussell Dances Hollywood" is repeated on BBC4 in less than 15 minutes.

I tend to try and hold it between my knees, although it doesn't always work.

I'm not sure how many opportunities to use the elevation she has in that ballet, though

Welcome to the forum, Blommaertballetandtoning. I've moved your post to Doing Dance, which is more suitable. As you're posting as a commercial entity, can we please ask you to provide a signature with your contact details, in accordance with our AUP? (Link "Community Guidelines" at the bottom right of this page). Thank you.

Moving from "happily coasting" to something rather tougher can of course be another source of disenchantment/disillusionment.

I suspect that most young women need some of your "little girl time" these days. I'm sure the pressure they're under to grow up, and to grow up fast, can't be good for them in the long run. And don't discount the cumulative effect of something like joint pain, either. Perhaps the actual injury may have been cured, but it may take rather longer for her actually to believe she can trust the knee again. Absolutely. Anything which requires you to put in all that work, all that tedious repetition and so on, needs to be loved to be worth doing. I know of so many dancers, sportspeople and so on who have said that - and many of them have had enforced breaks due to illness/injury which have only clarified whether or not they want to take their chosen option seriously. For some, it's only reinforced their passion for it, but for others it's a chance to get off the treadmill and go "Wait a minute ...". Either's fine Hmm, that rings bells, too. Putting in the hours, but being less and less effective. Cara, from what you've said it does sound to me as though a break would do her good. A chance to re-engage with real life, smell the proverbial roses and so on, just sit back and daydream, or whatever. Children (and adults) these days seem to fill every waking hour with busyness, and it's not necessarily good for us.

My memory must be suffering a major gap, because I totally can't remember any such broadcast

I very much doubt it. After all, they've had major problems shifting tickets this year, only 15 months after the last run. Edit: great minds think alike, Sim!

Website designers who apparently can't be bothered to make sure their websites display on current major browsers. I accept that when I'm using my old laptop which can't take anything newer than Internet Explorer 8 I may experience problems, but having switched to a new one which runs IE 11 I'm stunned at how many websites still display poorly, if at all. I read a dance review a few days ago where the pictures overlaid the text just as badly as they do on IE8 and made it unreadable. Plus I keep attempting to download Waitrose's current meal-for-£10 offer, but all I get is a row of 4 meal items, then the next row just consists of a row of table fields with the dreaded rotating circles in them, seemingly for ever and ever.

Once again, I stand amazed at the level of support people in the Doing Dance forum provide for each other. Hats off to all of you! That said, I can't help thinking this whole sorry story needs a thread of its own now, unfortunately

Lucky you

Casting for the Shakespeare mixed bill at Sadler's Wells is up: https://www.brb.org.uk/whats-on/event/shakespeare-triple-bill There's also a link from there to the casting for The Tempest. Please note there have been some updates to the Friday performance in the last few days (annoyingly, since I can't make that one!)

Drat, I had a feeling I'd omitted to pencil that one in in my diary. I may be double-booked now - and there are never any repeat showings

Ah, I *thought* there had been some sort of problem with the French site which discouraged me from using it. Thanks.

Unfortunately, when I gave in to the temptations of special offers and booked for Osipova/McRae, I booked for next week instead of this week, and think in retrospect I should probably have done the opposite - doubly so since I realise I've now locked myself out of the first night for BRB at Sadler's Wells. I agree absolutely, FLOSS, about the emotional commitment of Hayward's and Sambé's characters to each other. They were a delight *together*. One thing which *has* bugged me in recent times about some of the Alains is the disconnect between the first-act solo and the second-act solo. If he is a clumsy dancer in the first, how does he then manage to execute such fine batterie in the second? Just because he's in his finery doesn't automatically improve his dancing twenty-fold. Thanks for your comments about his characterisation in the cornfield, too - that raised arm can sometimes come over uncomfortably close to a Nazi salute. I thought Tom Whitehead had tremendous promise as Simone when I saw him being coached in the role in the Linbury a few seasons back, and was very disappointed when he didn't get to perform then. And yes, I agree that his performance is coming on in leaps and bounds - but also agree that no Simone in recent times has quite managed to carry off the flowerpot part. Whether you think it's because she's worried that she might actually do some serious damage to Colas if she throws it, or whether it's just that it's a relatively expensive vase and she doesn't want to break it, it's not quite come off recently, although I think last night was clearer than any other performance I've seen in this run. And finally, rewinding to a performance from a few days ago, I feel I must also say a few words in praise of Sambé's ultra-officious Notary's Clerk, which I thought was beautifully characterised. On that basis, I could see him making a very good White Rabbit ...

Thanks for that, David. I hadn't heard of MDT before - I don't suppose they're anything to do with the late lamented Music Discount Centre? Is there some easy way of narrowing down the DVDs on offer? I can't see any categories for ballet, contemporary dance and so on.

Thank you, John and Dave. I'm afraid that, having posted details of it in the News forum, I completely forgot to go, which is a shame, because I'd have liked to have had another look at Sea of Troubles.

Really, Floss? Thank you for that - I've tried looking for work-related things on Amazon.de before (and probably ought to do so again), but hadn't thought to try it for "play"-related items. How does the international postage work out? I bought something from a German company once and the postage was horrendous. I've not tried Amazon.fr at all, I don't think.

Maria67, welcome to the forum, and thank you for "breaking your duck" and posting. We hope to hear more from you. This is the thought that's been starting to niggle at me, too. After all, it seems to me that the "pawing" thing (*can* a horse "paw" the ground?!) was an acquired behaviour when he first started doing it. I hope not, for the sake of the poor dancers who have to clear up the mess (who have done sterling work this season so far, and probably deserve some sort of medal. Last night's was particularly efficient.) I think Peregrine only blotted his copybook once in the previous run? And it's not always a given that dramatically intelligent dancers will turn out to be good comedians as well. My only concern, pre-performance, had been Sambé's relative lack of experience in partnering, because Colas is a tough role for that, but he brought it off with aplomb. When I'd read Mark Monahan's review of their previous performance in the Daily Telegraph, I'd wondered if he was overstating the case a bit, but clearly he wasn't.