alison

That's interesting, Floss. All I can say is that the Evening Standard gave it 4 stars, and I think said something to the effect that if the failings which it mentioned had been addressed this might have been one of the top 10 films of all time.

No, it was definitely something happening up in London.

I don't *think* it was the LBC - I'm not a close follower of school-level events - but had wondered. Oh well, I'm hoping that either it wasn't vital or I shall remember in time to go to whatever it is! Thanks for the suggestions

That sounds virtually identical to the situation here.

I didn't realise that was what it was, but he hasn't looked well in years. As a huge fan of the Original Series, I'm greatly saddened at his loss

It would make sense, although at the same time if she was cast so early in the run there may have been a good reason for that. It may have been because she had a lot of dancing in the mixed bills, in which case they might prefer not to cast her late on in the run.

No, not my sort of thing at all - and way out of my price range, to judge by most ENB fundraisers! Thanks anyway.

I have it in my head - but not in my diary - that I'm supposed to be doing something on Monday evening. There's nothing on at the ROH or at Sadler's Wells, so, assuming that it's dance-related and that I basically don't go for anything out of the mainstream these days, can anyone suggest what it might be, please? It will be in central London or in the suburbs.

I was hoping to today, but sadly that's all got completely screwed up.

Thanks for the report, DQF. So, was she the only one at the ROH last night? I doubt it! I had to miss it due to a work clash, so would be pleased to hear more!

Well, they do put them on the web eventually, don't they? Or is it just the dancing segments?

My head's spinning from all the permutations. I may just have to pick one date and stick with it - not sure I want to go more than once, unless I fall in love with the Neumeier.

Just realised there's a longish interview with both of them on the ROH site, too: http://www.roh.org.uk/news/brave-new-world-wendy-whelan-and-edward-watson-on-teaming-up-for-a-leap-into-the-unknown

I'm sure all the Friends who commute will really *love* the 8 am start As will the people who have to be at their stations to ensure the system is working at that hour of the morning (and presumably much earlier?)

And that 70 years is fairly recent, anyway - I'm sure it used to be 50 around the end of last century. I'm not sure it would have applied in Russia in Petipa's time, though. "Fact 3: Thank God, there was no crackdown on classical ballet in the U.S.S.R. and the classics were preserved there by those who stayed and continued working in Petrograd: Fyodor Lopukhov, Agrippina Vaganova, Vladimir Ponomarev, Elizaveta Gerdt, Alexander Shirayev." Until they started being tampered with during the Soviet era, of course - tampering which is still in evidence today. And then Nureyev was apparently unable to find anyone to reconstruct the last act of La Bayadère a mere 30-35 years after he'd danced in it. What happened about the Mariinsky's reconstructions of the original Sleeping Beauty and Bayadère? Weren't they based on the Stepanov notation?

Not to mention the cadet who sometimes does it rather more prominently. Hmm, I'm definitely feeling a nightmare Swan Lake starting to take shape here ... It probably needs to involve the Swamp Thing as well for good measure.

That might explain why some of them looked so young. I did think there was some promise in the male corps, though. Well, that was a very ... unusual ... production of Coppelia. It's about as different from most "traditional" Coppelias that I've seen as their La Fille Mal Gardée is from the Ashton version. Shorn of its social context, lacking coherent dramatic logic, and for the most part lacking recognisable choreography. Does anyone know whose version it is? Has Bobrov made a version of his own, or does it have some relationship to Gorsky, or something? When the curtain first went up, to reveal some dancers who wouldn't have looked out of place in the original 1789 production of Fille, it was immediately apparent that the production wasn't going to run quite along the normal lines. We had Acts I and II (more or less) run together, then an interval before the final act. Franz clearly wasn't the only one smitten with Coppelia - every male in the village apart from Coppelius seemed to be. Coppelius was a rather odd sort of character: forget any mime about him being mad, this Dr. was more Gamache than what we're used to seeing in this ballet. He appeared to have some sort of magical powers, which came and went as the rather flimsy narrative required. Act II was distinctly shortened: no solos for Swanilda here. Instead of hiding in a cupboard and changing into Coppelia's clothes, she just sits in Coppelia's chair and puts on her wig (fortunately they were wearing similar-looking clothes anyway). Franz is caught by Coppelius, but there's no attempt to drug him - indeed, he takes part in much of the choreography - and I wasn't really quite sure what was supposed to be happening: there was an attempt to transfer Franz's life force or something into the "doll". Franz recognises that the "doll" is actually his girlfriend, and is contrite. Coppelius ends up left with the doll and looking distressed, although it wasn't terribly clear quite why. Act III is some not very clearly specified celebration: I assume it was probably supposed to be Franz and Swanilda's wedding, but it could just have been their engagement. It was a bit of a musical hodge-podge: we had the mazurka for the townspeople, then Coppelia (yes, I do mean her) is escorted in by Coppelius and does a doll dance to what is usually one of Swanilda's Act II solos. We then had "Work", "Dawn" and "Prayer" - I put them in inverted commas because there was no indication of what any of them were supposed to signify. Prayer was actually danced as a duet, which I thought worked quite well, and managed to get rid of all those pesky difficult penché arabesques. The pas de deux was, I think, somewhat abbreviated, and had an incursion by another dancer in a tutu (a bridesmaid?) in the manner of Don Quixote. (There were quite a few tutu-clad dancers who did a brief turn in this final act) Swanilda was very impressive here, reeling off multiple fouettés (had they actually been invented when the ballet first began, in 1870, I think it may have been? If not, that's indicative of a later version, I assume) and changing her spotting for virtually every one. I was unable to find a cast sheet, so can't credit the dancers, but the ballerina who danced Swanilda so delightfully was everything this production needed her to be.

So, Zucchetti's back?

Thanks, Sim. So Choe's injury presumably wasn't too bad? Matinee, anyone?

I know nothing about this company, but have just found this, on at lunchtimes the St. James' Theatre in Victoria this weekend: http://www.thelondonballetcompany.com/performances2/upcoming-performances.html Might make an interesting alternative lunch for someone working in the area.

Does anyone have any casting updates re the last 2 Onegin casts? Or know whether those who were injured earlier in the run are now back?

I *am* keeping an open mind, Simon. I'm hoping it'll be better than their Don Q and Swan Lake.

I'm always surprised at the number of businesses which don't bother displaying something you might think of as as vital as their opening hours. I think they expect us to mind-read.

Nor can I, sadly. But then, I think I've seen enough of Lyric Pieces, too.

I don't know. Perhaps it would be a lot quicker if the station were entirely closed?