alison

The Telegraph is clearly being very slow off the mark with regard to its review of the Dream/Song triple bill, but has at least got an obituary for Rudi van Dantzig online now: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/dance-obituaries/9057493/Rudi-van-Dantzig.html

I see McRae is also confirmed as partnering Cojocaru on the 6th, now.

Well, I'd love to see *Herman* ... When I started watching the RB, back at the very end of the 80s, it was not that uncommon to have guest artists appearing at the Royal. I'm not sure of the reasons behind that policy, although I know it was held that the standard of the company was not that high at the time. But those were regular guest artists, and I think it was thought that having them around regularly, doing class and rehearsing, would be encouraging to the dancers in the company. Nowadays, with so many principals not getting enough opportunities to dance as it is, I think it's far less justifiable. The case of basically "parachuting" someone in, as is necessary with Gomez, doesn't, I think, have as much benefit for the company anyway, although obviously there are times when it may be necessary, as when Yvonne Borree had to be brought in to cover for "Dances at a Gathering" a few years back. In this particular case, I think it's been made worse by the fact that, owing to the dancers' forthcoming break, the performances are very close together, and it would therefore be very difficult for anyone else to get up to speed in the role in the short time available - I imagine that Oberon is the last thing anyone would want to take on without sufficient rehearsal. But I think what bothers me more is the indication - once again - that there didn't appear to be any contingency plans in place in case one of the originally scheduled dancers got injured. I can't remember how far before his scheduled performances Steven McRae got injured last time around, but there was certainly time to rehearse Ivan Putrov in the role. He's no longer with the company, of course, and of the other two Oberons then, Edward Watson is in the other half of this double bill and can't do both, and Johan Kobborg was absent during the rehearsal period, I think - and I have no idea whether he'd still be able to do the role, anyway. If there are dancers further down the ranks who might ultimately be able to take on the role, I suspect they haven't as yet been brought on far enough for it to be a viable proposition. I suppose it was felt that a big name was required to replace Polunin, which is why they went for Gomez rather than a replacement closer at hand. I just hope they don't have any visa issues ...

Still? They'd better put it right by next Tuesday, or there will be ructions the like of which we haven't seen before!

Oops, clearly having a mental block last night. I meant Anderson, of course. Sorry.

And Zoe Andersen in The Independent on the same: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/the-dreamsong-of-the-earthroyal-opera-houselondon-6298308.html?origin=internalSearch

Okay, just filling in time while my computer was doing an excessively long backup, so I thought I'd play with the poll feature and see how it worked. This was prompted by my looking at my old programme for the current Royal Ballet double bill and wishing there were more photos showing how the production looked rather than the dancers rehearsing in any old day-to-day getup (which probably indicates how I'll be voting). Do vote, and comment here if you feel like it.

Oh well, here's Clifford Bishop in the Evening Standard on the new Royal Ballet Dream/Song of the Earth double bill: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/review-24032970-the-dreamsong-of-the-earthroyal-ballet-covent-garden---review.do

Hmm. One of the signature works of the Royal Ballet, and they apparently can't field two (or more) Oberons. That's really not good. I don't think even Steven can manage to dance both roles at once Edit: and with hindsight, it appears that I *could* have gone to Nunez' and Soares' only public Romeo & Juliet, too

Oh, right. That would make sense. Thanks.

What *is* this gala that ENB are supposed to be holding at the Coliseum, according to this report re Polunin in the Daily Telegraph? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/9053429/Sergei-Polunin-loses-right-to-work-in-UK.html I can't see obvious signs of it, either on their website or the ENO one.

I rather suspected that was going to happen: I hope she thrives there.

Well, naturally, since he is from a non-EU country and no longer has an employer. I was wondering when that would occur to somebody.

It's no rumour - he did it a while back. I seem to remember it was even on his Twitter profile that he was co-owner of the company.

It would be nice, wouldn't it? I know who I'd pick (assuming the other two potential candidates aren't available). I'd allow that getting someone ready by tomorrow would be pushing it, perhaps, but certainly it ought to be possible by later in the run.

Oops, something's now gone very wonky with the website. If you click on any of the "What's On" links, you just get referred back to the Calendar. Just when I was trying to persuade a friend to try "Fille" ...

So it is, Jane, thanks. And thanks to the other Jane, too :-)

Can anyone explain to me why I'm suddenly getting dumped in the Waiting Room, when I didn't have any problems getting at the Calendar this morning? Surely can't be another "posh friends" booking before public booking has even occurred, can it?

I've since realised that the publication and its degree of "seriousness" is also of interest: I've learned over the years that there are certain publications out of which I won't get a lot of useful information

My contribution has nothing directly to do with dance, but since I was looking in here for once I thought it still might be pertinent. Over the years, I've taken part in a few recruitment "competitions" (as they so delightfully call them) for major international organisations, as much for the experience as anything else, since I didn't think it likely that I'd actually be able to up sticks and move to a different country to work for them. The first few times, I got through the preliminary rounds, and as I did so, acquired experience of what these competitions were like, and what the standards were, which made it easier to know what I needed to do to get through them. The last time, I even made it through to what must have been nearly the final round: a new experience, and quite a shock to suddenly find yourself facing a 15-member interview panel! I didn't get any further, but if I ever need to do one of these again I will now have the knowledge to know what to expect all the way through, and I expect that will help me in the way I approach it. It seems to me that the two situations aren't that different, although perhaps at a different level. If your DD is happy with going through these type of things "for practice/fun" and challenging herself to see where she stands relative to others, or where she needs to improve, I imagine it would be great experience for her, especially as she gets to see how other people do things (having only one teacher can, I imagine, get a little constricting after a while) - as long as she doesn't get downhearted. I think this could be one of those "life lessons" in developing a positive attitude that may well stand her in good stead in the future even if she doesn't end up making a career in dance.

I used occasionally to put longer articles-in-progress in my scratchpad on the old Ballet.co site, so that I could just pick them up again without having to open Word. I'm wondering if there's something similar here that I can use? I could pretend they were a private message, but I think that in order to save PMs I'm forced to put someone's name in the "To:" box, aren't I? (I don't think I can put my own name in).

It's so unpredictable with me that it's difficult to say. I probably vary from "all" down to "zero" on occasions, depending on a) how busy I am with work; whether my broadband is actually working properly (!); c) what companies/choreographers/dancers/critics/works are involved. Taking today's links as an example, I'd say that most of them are of interest to me, although I haven't actually had time to read more than one of them so far because I've been busy with other things. Obviously, ballet companies and dancers that I follow are of interest, but then so are some of the quirky pieces. And it's not only the big companies: I like keeping an eye on e.g. Sarasota Ballet, too.

Aww ... Actually, it's good to know ahead of time that he's going - it gives people so much more of an opportunity to see and appreciate him while he's still around.

Error pages come and go as they will on that site, it seems to me. I do hope we get a second cast, if they've got someone suitable: going from three Oberons last time to one this time would be a grave disappointment. Good as I'm sure he'll be in it, I've no more wish to see McRae dance it 6 times than I had to see Rojo 6 times in Carmen. Edit: yes, I'm getting the error page, too.

What response would you like, John? Do we need to beg? Anyway, to add to the selection, here's the Evening Standard on Men in Motion: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/review-24031935-men-in-motion-sadlers-wells---review.do (sorry - haven't learned to prettify these yet)