SheilaC

It was Joe himself who told me and others last Saturday that he would partner Alina. But given that Alejandro used to partner Alina when they were both at ENB it is not a surprising change.

I saw the 2nd cast tonight. I loved Four Last Songs years ago so it was great to see it again. All the dancers were good but I especially liked Mayuko Iwanaga for her expressive fluidity. Victory Dance is a blast, truly joyous, Kristen McNally is so talented and all 3 dancers so committed. November's Fools is like an African version of West Side Story, without the singing, some really dynamic dancing, including some movements similar to Akram Khan's vocabulary but also some balletic lyrical choreography. Second cast they may be but the leads in November's Fools, Kevin Poeung, Rachael Gillespie and George Liang, all superb actors as well as dancers, could hardly be bettered. Very moving and exciting.

At York Christopher Marney said that dancers would perform different roles across the performances, and certainly that was what happened at the 3 performances in York. However, in London Alina is scheduled to dance Ballade with Joe Taylor at each performance.

I don't think that the SWT's information is as clear as it could be. The BRB2 programme opens in Birmingham on 6 May- I booked 2 weeks ago. But the information for Birmingham indicates that they will not be showing the entire ballets but 'highlights' ie excerpts. The Birmingham information also mentions Nijinska's wonderful Les Biches which SWT doesn't refer to- obviously it may be that there has been a change in the programme in the last 2 weeks. But it is surprising and wonderful news that we will have a chance to see some of the Diaghilev rep- even if it is only excerpts.

I saw the first performance, of three, in York, the first in the UK since the company's tour in China, where, according to the post-performance discussion, they danced in huge auditoria, feeling very distant from the audience. A pleasant surprise was that, in addition to the repertoire announced in the printed programme, the company performed the pas de deux from the second movement of Concerto. The performance had started with Page's Larina Waltz, a pleasant enough opener, followed by MacMillan's Ballade, not one of his better pieces; perhaps it will look better when Alina dances it at the Wells. More powerful was Arielle Smith's Five Dances, with some interesting choreography that exploited the dancers' skills well. The final piece was Christopher Marney's Eve which also explored the dancers' abilities and was given a smouldering performance by Cira Robinson, who has now joined the troupe. The dancers are all good, especially the men. I knew Alejandro Virelles and Joe Taylor would be good but was also very impressed by Arthur Wille, a lovely lithe dancer with a wonderful jump. At the post-performance discussion Marney said that the dancers change roles in the ballets so different dancers will take the lead in ballets at different performances. I asked if there was any chance of the company dancing any of Christopher Bruce's ballets; the answer "watch this space".

Yes, I have seen it in Paris. Although the Romantic Giselle is my favourite ballet, I did find the Ek version compelling- not least starring Nicolas le Riche, although that won't happen again. In part, it's a harrowing exploration of mental illness, very moving.

Yes, I agree- but also Kristen MacNally was outstanding, too, in Bath. Her compelling performance made me think she is underused as a dancer by the Royal Ballet. Am looking forward to seeing her latest choreography in Leeds next month, as well, for Northern Ballet.

It has just been announced that Errollyn Wallen has been appointed the first black woman to become Master of King's Music. I happened by chance to hear her on Desert Island Discs in July and her life story was absolutely fascinating. The first career she dreamt of was as a ballet dancer, until she was told that there were no black dancers in ballet. Instead, inspired by Chopin, she concentrated on piano and music more generally but eventually missed dance so much that she took training at Urdang, and then Dance Theater of Harlem. One of the pieces of music she chose was Stravinsky's Firebird and she comments on a performance she saw at ROH of that ballet and Les Noces. She didn't mention any ballets she has composed for, although she has composed 22 operas.

I'm sorry to hear of Igor Stupnikov's death. I had the pleasure of meeting him on one of my trips to St Petersburg. A charming man, whose English was amazingly good. The Dancing Times published a photo of us together. He asked me to take a letter to England to post to his great friend Clement Crispinov (his joke name for the ballet critic) which I duly did.

Ironically NYCB danced an identical programme to the one to which Jane S refers on their last trip to Copenhagen, in 2018. In the six years since quite a lot of the dancers who headlined that season have retired and other old timers didn't dance in Copenhagen but among the longstanding members of the company who danced were Sara Mearns, as Estriiita says, and Megan Fairchild and Daniel Ulbricht plus more recent stars (if one dare use that word in relation to NYCB!) such as Tiler Peck, Tyler Angle and my own favourite, Taylor Stanley, and new principals such as Mira Nadon and Emily Gerrity. Like Estriiita I saw both programmes. The first programme, of Serenade, Pulcinella Variations and Stravinsky Violin Concerto, had two different sets of casts and I saw both. I never tire of Serenade, such a masterpiece and with greater emotionality than one associates with Balanchine; if only BRB who used to do wonderful performances of it when Balanchine-expert Desmond Kelly was deputy director, still danced it. Despite the dancers dancing full out the audience was less enthusiastic than for the ballet which followed, Justin Peck's Pulcinella Variations. It is to the one Stravinsky score that I have never liked much, but the costumes were bright and quirky as were the solos and group dances, with a spectacular male solo taken at staggering speed. Sara Mearns was in one cast and I did share Estriiita's anxiety that she has passed her peak (although she was a little better in Serenade) but in the other cast Tiler Peck briefly sparkled. Balanchine's Stravinsky Violin Concerto which followed, one of his black and white ballets (in practice costume) could not have been more different; and Ashley Laracey and Mira Nadon , Peter Walker and Aaron Sanz in one cast, and Emilie Gerrity and Peter Walker and Taylor Stanley in the other cast, danced full out. A very well balanced programme. The second programme, equally varied, opened with Robbins's Fancy Free, with Daniel Ulbricht in his element as one of the three sailors. It's difficult to take in how revolutionary that ballet was in 1944, featuring ordinary people and I guess it may be the first ballet ever that starred three men rather than ballerinas. The other key members of the cast were Harrison Coll and Sebastian Villain- Velez and Lauren Collet and Indiana Woodward, who had also been notable in Serenade. The next ballet, Balanchine's Allegro Brillante, to Tchaikovsky, is not often seen in Britain but is an absolute masterpiece, especially when danced by Tiler Peck at an impossibly fast pace. It was followed by Wheeldon's This Bitter Earth, a moving pas de deux with Unity Phelan and Chun Wai Chan which the audience, and my granddaughter, absolutely loved. Finally Rubies, with Megan Fairchild and Anthony Huxley. I had hoped Mira Nadon would dance the tall girl but it was Isabella LaFreniere, but as ever the audience found it all great fun and applauded very enthusiastically. It was good to see this great company in ballets than more characteristic of their rep than that danced at the Wells, earlier this year, and to admire their technique and astonishing speed.

Thanks for posting the videoed interview, FionaM, it's really interesting. I'm currently reading the biography of Michael Somes so was very interested that Kevin said Somes had been the most significant influence on his dancing, by teaching him the importance and skills of partnering. I was at the performance where Kevin partnered Nina, in the first performance of MacMillan's production of Romeo and Juliet for Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet. I'll never forget the journey to Birmingham, I had to drive from Sunderland, where I was working, to Teesside to pick up my husband, and then drive on to Birmingham in a total deluge of rain, we thought we'd never get there. But get there we did, just before the performance start, only to find that Alexei Fadeyechev- son of that remarkable danseur noble, Nikolai Fadeyechev, Ulanova's partner- was injured to be replaced by Kevin. The account in the video of how they rehearsed is interesting and MacMillan's input. In my book, there are very few real ballerinas, just quite a lot of very good female dancers- but Nina A, as we used to call her in her Bolshoi days, was a true ballerina. I saw her first Raymonda, as it was in London, which she also discusses, and her control, technique and charisma were remarkable. When she later guested with the Royal she was a fabulous Firebird. Mary Clarke had reviewed it negatively and the first performance I saw was with Nina. I saw Mary in the interval afterwards and said how good the performance had been, and asked why had she reviewed the production as disappointing; she commented that Nina had raised the whole company's performance. The current situation of Russia threatening Georgia must be very difficult for her. When she took her company to the Edinburgh Festival in the last decade, their performances of Giselle were very good, even though they coincided with Russia invading Georgia and she and her company must all have been terrified about what could be happening to their families and loved ones; total professionalism.

I've had one this afternoon. Mostly photos and publicity of upcoming productions. The most interesting thing, for me, was the photos on Instagram of the new Secretary of State for culture etc, Lisa Nandy, being shown round the Opera House. I felt it was a good sign that she showed interest so soon after her appointment, and the new government being installed (although it's a pity that the previous Shadow minister lost her seat as she would have been good, as a former professional musician and the wife of a professional).

For me, at least, the ideal seat is an end of aisle seat in the side stalls, about the 4th or 5th row. Any closer and it can be difficult to see dancers' feet- although as you are taller than me, you may be able to see. Further along the row, towards the side, it's harder to see all of the stage.

Cira is director of the Yorkshire Ballet Seminars, currently running in Harrogate until early August, so that will be why she has been unable to perform with LCB so far.

I'm very disappointed that Shiori is only dancing in Liverpool, unfortunately on dates when I'll be in Newcastle to see NB's Romeo and Juliet and Sadler's Wells to see BRB's Fille. It's frustrating each year that there are a couple of weeks in the autumn, and a couple in the spring, when touring companies' visits to the regions clash, ironic given how little touring to cities outside London there is nowadays, compared to the past.