alison

And now, while strolling around iPlayer, I find this 30-minute television interview with her, broadcast for the first time yesterday: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b065hp1k/hardtalk-sylvie-guillem-ballet-dancer It's there for a year, which should give you time to watch it

Yes, I'd just checked my diary and noticed it, too Can you get into Kings Cross, Euston or even City Thameslink by other means? It might be walkable from there.

More ammunition for those of us who believe it's shortsighted to impose retirement on dancers at a specified age

And she appears to be on there again tonight - in 15 minutes. Seems rather odd to have two in quick succession.

FLOSS, thank you very much for your long and considered analysis. I was going to look last night, but find that La Sylphide is one of the DVDs I currently have in storage Well, if the BBC doesn't do it (and what is the point of "public service" broadcasting anyway?), who will? How many people with only a casual interest in the arts will bother to take out a subscription to Sky Arts 2 (assuming it still exists? I know it seemed to be under threat), or if they have a package which does include it will actually get around to watching it rather than something else? Instead, we get the lower reaches of the tabloids telling their readership it's not for the likes of them (is the ROH still doing readers' events for The Sun and Daily Mirror? I haven't seen any indication in the last few years), and higher up there seems to be more interest in dancers' beauty routines/fashion choices etc. rather than what they actually do for a living. A very good question, and yes, good idea. Want to start one?

What a shame you didn't We don't have nearly enough coverage of contemporary on here.

I've moved further comments relating to the accident onto the thread about Jonathan: http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/10342-jonathan-ollivier/

No, you're not. I registered it a couple of months ago, I think, and have been wondering why.

Ah, that's what it was. Thanks, Jane.

How tragic. He should have had so many years left. I'll never forget his Swan/Stranger in Swan Lake: one of the best, if not the very best. My deepest sympathies to his friends and family: and to all his New Adventures "family", as well.

Yes, but common sense would set alarm bells ringing against virtually anything these days where ENB's concerned, if it's not Nutcracker, Swan Lake or R&J, and maybe Sleeping Beauty, wouldn't it? Certainly outside London. It's unfortunately a bed which they helped to make, by at one stage pretty much pandering to that attitude and not programming anything broader, but it's come back to bite them since. If you'll pardon the mixed metaphors.

I know, but I meant I don't think they literally touched in this one, whereas if I remember rightly they do at least do that in the Kobborg production. Unless I'm confusing it with something else.

Yes, I don't believe there was even a touch between them in this production? If there was, perhaps he would have been less desperate to possess her (and I use the term advisedly - I think the lack of dramatic depth which various commentators noted could perhaps be summed up by Lyndsey Winship's comment "In a ballet that hinges on romantic intoxication and despair, that’s what you need to elevate this to more than a very pretty period piece" in her review in the Evening Standard http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/theatre/la-sylphidequeensland-ballet-review-a-leap-into-the-darkness-10442938.html). Intoxication, obsession, or some other intense emotion pertaining to the Romantic Movement needs to be there, and I didn't feel that it was in the performances I saw. Incidentally, I think I remember that James and the Sylphide do touch occasionally in the Kobborg production - can anyone else confirm?

I hate to admit it, but I've never been a fan of sports where one side just clocks up a score and then the other side does the same afterwards. I prefer the ones where it can chop and change all the time (and does - I'm no great fan of football, either, because it usually doesn't)

Agree about the witches, but apart from that - would you like to elucidate, MAB?

Not quite such a good deal tonight, but £50 tickets down to £30 at tkts in Leicester Square.

Definitely looped, then. I should have stayed and watched it. Thanks!

I'm told the best thing to do is ask if they'd like to come inside and pray about it with you . Never dared try it, myself. The Jehovah's Witnesses are clearly having some sort of campaign at the moment: you see their stands everywhere these days, trying to hand out copies of a book which claims to tell you what the Bible really says. I'm not sure what Bible version it's based on, but I suspect it's not one of the more mainstream ones.

As this problem looks likely to continue, it's occurred to me that, if this is a viable proposition from where you are, it might be easier to try and come into a railway station closer to your final destination, even if that means making a journey to a different starting station, rather than running the gauntlet of trying to get across central London by bus. It was really depressing on Thursday, even coming away from the Coliseum at 9.30, to see the No. 11 bus (which links Victoria and Charing Cross) still full to bursting. I managed to get home from Charing Cross rather more easily than I would have from Victoria, and made adjustments in the suburbs. Admittedly, this probably works better on Southern Region, where lines intersect more, rather than in northern London, where they all extend outwards like tree branches, but with the Overground increasingly forming quite a good rail "North Circular" it may be feasible there, too.

Out of interest, *was* Jon Ollivier back dancing?

You never were, were you?

Well, I really enjoyed tonight's performance. I'm not sure what it was in particular: watching it from higher up (that was certainly an advantage for seeing patterning better, as usual)? the change of cast? the company having settled in better? It was certainly a particular pleasure watching a Bournonville-trained dancer as James, and I certainly felt the story flowed better tonight. I'm wondering if I can squeeze in another trip before it ends. (BTW, if you *are* buying tickets, note that if you sit on the left-hand side of the auditorium you're likely to miss a few of the effects)

So, what time did it actually finish? I can't decide whether the Red Button coverage was on a loop or not.

Or at least, you could have had better seats for the money you'd paid I was quite bemused at Cinderella, too. StPB has been selling well, at least as far as Swan Lake is concerned: Bayadere is still struggling, even with only 2 performances.

I've just noticed there are what I think are top-price tickets for £30 at tkts in Leicester Square for tonight's performance.