alison

No, the Lord Mayor's Show. Did you need to miss the whole thing?

My downstairs neighbour must be very domesticated, too: I often hear him doing the washing, hoovering and so on when his girlfriend's out/away. Such a change from the one where I used to live: that was always a battle. Either she'd come in and start on at him because he hadn't done all the things she'd asked him to, just slobbed on the sofa all day (I'm assuming, given that I could hear the TV on), or you'd hear a sudden manic hoovering shortly before she arrived, and would realise that she must have rung or texted to say she was on the train or something and he'd just realised he'd been sitting around all day doing nothing!

I read somewhere the other day that Timpsons offer that service now - but have no idea how much it costs.

1st November, 50+, and quite probably 60+, despite the evening being a lot chillier than forecast.

They used to have them at Sadler's Wells, too, but soon got rid of them. I really think hand cream is for smartish restaurants and other venues rather than theatres.

Well, you can now - I have friends who've done it. It also makes it sound as though you will have to use the restaurant if you want to enjoy the view over the Piazza .

My goodness: no wonder it wouldn't post! Many thanks for all that, Janet.

It's for performances in the UK between last September and this August, I think.

Ugh, I HATE ISSUU - it's dreadful. And now there's some sort of reader error so I can't even read it. And as far as I can see you can't actually download the file, so you have to read it online. All the time. Including, in my case a few months ago, when I was travelling to a trade fair and trying to do a last minute check-up on exhibitors via the exhibition programme, when on the Tube, between stations, with no WiFi Why can't SW just produce a huge long press release like everyone else?

Waitrose sent me a link for it a couple of days ago. I decided life was too short, and deleted it: after all, I expect I shall see it somewhere between now and December 20th or so ...

Just reminding anyone going to the first night of the new triple bill that tonight is supposed to be the last night of the all-too-brief period during which these plans are on display.

That's good to know. I'd be happy to have another look at it.

Of course, we saw what happened when an attempt was made to distribute "bricks and mortar" Lottery funding more "fairly" around the UK: some great upgrades and new builds which have been a success, certainly, but also more than their fair share of "white elephants" which are un(der)used because there aren't the funds/political will/artists to keep them being used. I hope that any redistribution of ACE funding wouldn't have a similar effect.

Probably something here https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=Bernstein+%22age+of+anxiety%22&meta=&gws_rd=ssl, I'd guess.

And presumably the rule about no VAT on children's shoes still applies, so they'd be cheaper? I was so delighted when the powers that be put the VAT threshold up to size 6: I used not to qualify when I was an older child, but now I do . Just had to buy a new pair of trainers, and got them considerably cheaper because they were "junior" size.

Yes. That I *did* appreciate. I think she's more or less contemporary with Steven McRae, in which case ten years would be about right. Although Margot Fonteyn, I think it was in the late 80s when she was coaching Bussell in something, said that all the dancers today were technically better than she had been. So I guess that means that technique is overrated. I'm somewhere between the two. I very much enjoyed her performance, but at the same time I did appreciate someone's comments from earlier in the run about it being a bit small-scale. It's funny how concentrating hard can suppress a cough. I've probably mentioned the concert I was at at the Festival Hall a few years ago, sitting in the choir stalls, where the conductor was hacking quite badly between movements (and I mean the sort of thing which ought to be pretty uncontrollable), yet while he was actually conducting I had no idea that he was unwell. I try to apply the same principle when I get a mid-performance cough (after a highly embarrassing 10-minute, mid-row cough while watching SWRB at the Wells years ago, where I had to push past everyone else to leave the auditorium), although while your throat is in paroxysms it can be quite difficult to concentrate sufficiently hard. If we do that, then every time we express a fact, won't we have to state that it's a fact so as to make the distinction between opinion and fact? I'm not sure that wouldn't be even worse.

Well, as for demand, I remember going to the Mayflower in Southampton (a bigger theatre than any in London I believe) and it seeming to be virtually packed out for an ENB triple bill featuring The Rite of Spring. (The other works may have included Mark Morris' Drink to me only with thine eyes, although I may be confusing two bills). It's just that, as I've commented before, ultra-safe programming from ENB over a number of years appears to have led to its audiences becoming more conservative in their tastes.

No, I don't really understand all the switching, either. Plus I'm getting very confused about the "first" and "second" casts. Presumably Choe wasn't in it because she was dancing the lead in Scènes de ballet instead. And it did look very odd to have the very tall Reece Clarke (who acquitted himself well, as others have commented) combined with much shorter male dancers. I wonder how tall he is? Must certainly be over 6 foot, I would assume, and, if he's only 19, may not have reached his ultimate height yet. (Nor, for that matter, do I understand the casting of particularly tall dancers in the central male role: yes, you need to be capable of partnering a tall-ish ballerina, but Michael Somes wasn't that tall, I don't think.) And, James, I like your "glow that comes from total control" - that's perhaps what's been missing for me so far. I thought I detected some rather tired extensions of arms and legs from the men towards the end, too (I was looking at them perhaps more than the women). Scènes de ballet could still do with some tightening-up and greater cohesion among the supporting cast. I'm not sure whether Zucchetti's partnering has improved since the last time I saw him, or whether it's just that, watching from the other side of the auditorium, his difficulties are less obvious: I still saw one lift which looked effortful. Choe, with her musicality and wit, continues to impress, as does Romany Pajdak in her rendering of the Brahms Waltzes. A Month in the Country with the second cast was greatly improved on their first performance, I thought: much less histrionic, and some lovely dancing from Osipova. I rather found myself wishing, though, that she had been a bit more emphatic on her departure through the double doors: it's always struck me that that should emphasise the "drama queen" aspects of Petrovna's personality.

I've only booked one performance of this bill so far - and, given the cast changes, may not be booking any more - so would expect to stay until the end, but last time around I found that Aeternum, like Trespass in the Titian programme, was for me a case of the law of diminishing returns, so if I do book more performances it's conceivable that I too might leave early. OTOH, I might change my mind totally and decide that it's a masterpiece. I shall have to wait and see.

I don't think so. I'm not sure he did any Des Grieux once Guillem had left. He was down to dance it with Benjamin in the autumn 2005 revival, IIRC, but then pulled out. Not sure that he was injured, and it was before his motorbike accident, I think.

Well, Khan's performance at the Olympics certainly seemed to have a very positive effect on ticket sales for DESH. I think the question, though, may be how long people will retain that memory for. It could be that two years on quite a few of them have forgotten his name and would have to be reminded about "that bloke who performed at the Olympics".

Strange. Mind you, the casting seems to be something of a mishmash anyway. And when did Arestis replace Yanowsky?

What a shame

Just received this in an email from Dance Books, and thought it might be of interest: "Dance Books is delighted to announce a new edition of Frank W. D. Ries's 'The dance theatre of Jean Cocteau'. First published in 1986 at the then exorbitant price of £60 (today's equivalent of nearly £150) the book's high price put it out of the reach of many potential readers, and we very much hope that our more reasonable priced edition will give this fascinating and very readable book the wider circulation it deserves. In an artistic career spanning five decades, and for which he was best known as poet, artist, dramatist, designer and film-maker, Jean Cocteau was also involved, directly and indirectly, with nearly twenty ballets. While he was not in the strictest sense a choreographer, his influence on such works as Parade, Le Jeune homme et la mort, Orphée, and La Dame à la licorne was all pervasive – from the “poésie” of the dramatic action, to lighting, to costume and set design. His creations, in collaboration with composers and choreographers, were fully integrated theatre pieces. Frank Ries has researched all of Cocteau’s ballets and, using interviews, Cocteau’s own writings, reviews and critiques – some of which have never before been translated – presents this survey and analysis of Cocteau’s involvement in the world of dance. He re-creates, from a new perspective, a portrait of a poet charged by Serge Diaghilev in pre-World War I Paris to “Astonish me!” and who made that command the inspiration of his career in dance. As usual, you'll find full details and ordering facilities of these and other recent titles on our web site: www.dancebooks.co.uk"

The fact that she hates/is scared of rats, I think In that case, just imagine how bad the sea voyage must have been for her. I don't imagine the deportees had the luxury of cabins. And yes, I think there are echoes everywhere once you start looking for them. It certainly was a marvellous performance to finish off the run: I only wish that the antics of certain people in the slips hadn't distracted me from some of the more dramatic parts of it. And sorry that those who had tickets for the Wednesday didn't get a chance to see this partnership. And yes, I'm sure Yanowsky and Bolle have danced together before. Didn't they do Sylvia together? Actually, that may have been him and Bussell. Or both.