SheilaC

I'm really shocked. He was a fantastic actor dancer, one of the all time greats. I have thought of him recently as I watched all those Mayerlings since he created the role and inhabited it with scary depth. His final performance in Mayerling, when he retired, was amazing, both as a performance and with the devotion of his audience. There was a huge banner and enormous applause. He was a wonderful partner and therefore forged some fabulous partnerships, not least with Lynn Seymour, who created Mary Vetsera with him. He was a lovely warm man, who always recognised and acknowledged you if he had met you, however briefly. He was a devoted family man, doting on his grandchildren. My heart goes out to his widow, Alfreda Thorogood, who was herself one of the finest dancers the two Royal companies ever had.

I agree with Janet that the Sunderland audience is very warm. It always has been ( I first started going there nearly 40 years ago). People forget that the Empire has a very big auditorium, so big that it was one of the very few theatres that the Bolshoi visited in 1956, so it is hard to fill. The performances last week were pretty full, the dress circle totally sold out at the 3 performances I went to. Compare that to the bookings for this week's Coli season, with multiple ticket offers necessary. There are also problems with the theatre. In the past, we could book for the next season when at a BRB performance, thus saving the premium phone numbers and large transaction fees required by ATG since they took over the theatre from the council. But the last two times, booking didn't open until a week after the BRB season, and this time booking was advertised as opening in April, although it turned out it had opened, but most people wouldn't have known. It's disappointing that the company once again is threatening to pull out or reduce performances in Sunderland as the North East gets very little classical ballet, unlike the North West or Yorkshire. One problem is that people from Newcastle are reluctant to go to nearby Sunderland for anything. What is necessary is more targetted marketing; but marketing and PR are not so pro-active as with some other companies eg there was very little national media coverage of Aladdin, even though it's a major new production. Other companies would have made more of a splash.

Sharon Watson, artistic director of Phoenix, launched her new programme at West Yorkshire Playhouse on Wednesday with four brand new dance pieces. The overall title of the programme, Particle Velocity, continues the curious fashion for claiming dance's ability to explain science. This is represented by Sharon's own dance, the final piece in the programme, Repetition of Change, which is apparently supposed to demonstrate how DNA works. However, it is necessary to have read the programme carefully to realise this as the cast sheet, which most members of the audience relied on, only listed details of dancers, choreography and music. For me, the music was a put off, a pity as it is a specially commissioned score (Kenneth Hesketh), played live. There are unusual special effects and varied choreography, which Sharon said at the post performance talk on Thursday had involved significant input from the dancers themselves for their solos. Another piece that required viewers to consult the programme was KI, by Jose Agudo to Vinz. This solo apparently represents the rise of Genghis Khan! It starts off very slowly but then builds up to an amazing crescendo of visceral movement. A real tour de force for Josh Wille, one wonders how he was able to learn such a complex piece and where he gets such energy from. Douglas Thorpe produces a duet, Tender Crazy Love, to a range of popular music, including Nancy Sinatra, danced with great emotion by Sandrine Monin and Phil Sanger, a compelling performer. Intended to represent the different phases of a romantic relationship, it seemed bitty, perhaps due to the different types of music and the pauses between them. The opening piece is a rare work by Richard Alston for a company other than his own. A lovely piece, to Ravel's Sonata for Violin and Cello, less florid than much of Ravel's work, it is a mixture of solos duets and an especially fine trio. This quadruple bill is varied and well balanced and the dancers are very good, musical, controlled, expressive, with strong technique. The company will be undertaking a national tour, including Liverpool, Nottingham, Worthing, Malvern, amongst other venues. They are well worth seeing.

Just checked Coli website and Osipova and Vasiliev are at last listed for the first night.

We always used to go to Paris for our wedding anniversary, also in December, it's such a romantic city and the white fairy lights everywhere are magical. It's also one of the best times of the year to catch the Paris Opera Ballet as they always have two productions, one at the over the top baroque Garnier, the other at the soul-less Bastille. Hotel prices are reduced at many hotels in December. A wonderful restaurant for a special occasion is the Train Bleu, at the Gare de Lyon, just a few minutes away from the Bastille theatre. And it has ballet connections! Nijinska choreographed a ballet of that name in 1924, called after the famous train that took the wealthy to the Cote d'Azur, many of whom would have gone to performances there by the Ballets Russes. Like the Garnier, the decor is outrageously gilt and baroque, making it a memorable experience and the food is good. There is also a much cheaper bistro/bar attached to the restaurant.

Onegin should be portrayed as haughty. His first name means well born and his motto, the words round the EO on the front cloth (French words which inadequate lighting failed to reveal, let alone highlight) stress the importance of honour. He is disdainful of the country society he has to mix in. A cynic might say that he can only appreciate Tatiana once he sees her as a member of the St Petersburg nobility (personally I wouldn't go that far). Tatiana was always portrayed as gauche, as a girl, by Haydee, the originator of the role, and which Alina showed, and so another reason for being beneath the interest of such a snobbish nobleman, who has had so many conquests of sophisticated beauties as shown in the first scene of the final act. But Onegin is also a dark, not to say tortured, man, which is why I liked Kobborg's performances in the past, unlike Naomi M. Let's hope he recovers in time to perform it.

Some of the most fantastic performances I have ever seen were Le Riche in Jeune Homme, when he performed feats that looked physically impossible and was intensely convincing in the melodrama, such were his acting powers. I first saw him do it was when he was very young but he's such a fantastic actor and has such presence that I'm sure he'll be equally stunning with Tamara. Do see him, he's always compelling, whatever he does.

I think the Russians traditionally have a different approach to Odette than British casts. Years ago Natasha (Makarova) said on a documentary that Fonteyn's Odette was a revelation, which transformed her own approach, as Fonteyn danced Odette as a woman whilst the Russian approach was more oriented to her swan nature. However, in recent years some British dancers, like others across the world, have focused on technique to the detriment (we old timers think) of characterisation and personality. Few performers are as moving as Fonteyn in Swan Lake, her body language, her use of eyes, her musicality, all convey Odette's tragedy.

John, the photo I was referring to was the one at the top of this page, but the photo you've added gives a clearer view of the costumes- and makes my rather obscure reference to tassels clearer, too! The lighting for the photo brings out the mixture of colours well, but from where I was sat, at the back of the small auditorium, the costumes looked drab and sombre. They also made the dancers look overweight- very different from how they looked in the other pieces. (I'm sure you realise that I wasn't being critical of your photo, which captures an interesting moment in the piece so well).

The Leeds show of Headspace, in the intimate performance space at the Northern Ballet/Phoenix building, was varied and entertaining, covering six pieces in 60 minutes of dance. Five works were new, created on the group (Christopher Akrill, Charlotte Broom, both dancers in the past with Northern Ballet, and Clemmie Sveaas) by choreographers they had worked with before. The opener was a new piece by Javier de Frutos, thankfully not in his gratuitously offensive mode. Danced to Bach all three dancers were dressed in unflattering costumes (John's photo does not convey this, because it doesn't show them upright) and it was a little mystifying as each following section seemed to repeat as a variation of the first one; the tassles on the clothing made me wonder if it was meant to be a ritual. What was clear though was the quality of the dancing and of the interaction between the dancers. Three solos, one for each dancer, were choreographed by Didy Veldman with dancers' active participation. Each was distinctive, not least the Charlotte Broom piece in which a large duvet started as a stage prop but ended as a partner in a pas de deux! They included emotional turmoil and humour, the Akrill piece ending delightfully with him blowing a small blown up plastic bag across the stage. The final piece was an early Mats Ek duet for Broom and Akrill, fast and joyful, bringing out the lyricism and energy of these wonderful dancers. "After the interval', a piece of performance art, did indeed appear at that stage of the show. It was a spoof in-joke on the ballet world, with the dancers making fun of the different ways dancers take bows and react to questions by the audience. Not having seen the Linbury show I don't know if the content of the Q and A section was in Leeds specifically geared to a Northern Ballet audience (who unfortunately were not well represented) but any NBT fan of old would have been amused by the repeated answers about a performance of Giselle in Blackpool. The piece ended ferociously, with Akrill dancing at great speed and with huge energy being cruelly rubbished by Broom as repetiteur. The dancers in the audience laughed especially loud at this humour. It's impressive that in these difficult times for the arts world this small group has the courage to create new works like these. Northern Ballet's new choreographer find, dancer Kenneth Tindall, was present; and this show was the first of a series of performances by dance companies, including Ballet Black, to be presented this autumn in Leeds so the future of dance in Yorkshire looks promising.

Dance lovers in the North have an opportunity to see this group, which has won highly favourable reviews, tomorrow, Wednesday 19, in Leeds, 7.30, at the new Northern Ballet/Phoenix building's theatre. There are lots of seats left. (telephone 0113 220 8000)

The promotions are very well deserved, with many of the dancers having recently being given more significant roles and performing them well. In particular, as he has matured, James Barton has become a demi-caractere dancer that any company would be proud of and Will Bracewell's first performance as Oberon was very promising. Wonderful news about Momoko returning, such a lovely dancer with a pure technique. But why has she not been given a higher status? I have regularly read about her in European ballet magazines and she has had major roles, both in the company and in galas and always had very positive reviews. Finally, a mystery. According to the RBS Linbury performance programme, two graduates not listed in the press release, will also be joining: Laura Day and Reina Fuchigami. Perhaps the company has already announced that they are joining but it is odd their names aren't included.

Glasgow Theatre Royal last week was the opening venue for Dance GB, which moves on to Cardiff and Greenwich. The Cultural Olympiad brought together Scottish Ballet, ENB and the National Dance Company of Wales and each performs a new ballet inspired by the Olympics. At the Saturday matinee I attended the most popular piece was the middle one, Dream, created by Christopher Bruce on NDC Wales. It was humorous in places, with whimsical depiction of children playing and retro1950s clothes in the early parts, egg and spoon races and sack races followed by frequent references to various sports covered in the Olympics. The music was varied with that ballet cliche, Ravel's Bolero, featuring largely, because of its association with the (Winter) Olympics triumph of Torvill and Dean. Thankfully Bruce treats the music lightly and it's not the usual hackneyed strutting; the music is complemented by that of Grace Williams. The dancers are excellent, two women in particular exceptional, but I couldn't tell from the programme photos who they were. The two other ballets made less explicit references to specific sports but each conveyed the extreme athleticism essential to the Olympics. Scottish Ballet's dancers lived up to the title of their ballet, Run for it, choreographed by Martin Lawrance to music by John Adams, dancing flat out. The ENB piece, And the Earth shall Bear again, to John Cage music, was created by that seemingly ubiquitous choreographer, Itzik Galili, who developed a lot of leg and body movements with similarities to McGregor's distortions. It was very much a group work, even though several Principals were included, but Esteban Berlanga was particularly noticeable. I choose that word advisedly: the lighting makes much of the stage obscure (not unlike sections of Tharp's In the Upper Room), yet the power of the dancing cannot be obscured, nor the dancers' exultant pleasure in performing such contemporary choreography. The performance was opened by a film, Dancing Parallel, which shows young dancers from Aberdeen, Cardiff and London, dancing with chairs and each other in odd sites. Whilst there was some interesting dancing I wondered what members of the audience who weren't heavily in dance would make of it as there was little explanation of its aim. All in all, it was an excellent afternoon, with three specially commissioned ballets performed by dancers at the top of their game. Catch it if you can.

Whilst I am very sad that Ed Villella has been so badly treated after all he has done for Miami City Ballet, and which was on tremendous form in Paris last summer thanks to his direction, I can think of no one better to take the company over than Lopez. Miami has a tremendous Balanchine rep, which it dances very well, generally better than City Ballet nowadays, and Lopez was a fantastic Balanchine dancer. When I first used to see her Balanchine was still around and he gave her lots of ballets which she danced with great energy and personality. Whatever the doubts about her role in Morphoses, her time there has given her relevant managerial and directorial experience.

I think it's a very disappointing rep for next season, no doubt due to box office problems; but it seems all the thinner after the good rep this season. The single triple bill doesn't look well balanced and the full lengths are mostly fairy stories and classical warhorses. Not much variety for dancers or regular members of the audience. I partly agree with Cabriole about the BRB Giselle, so much weaker than Peter Wright's, and with that absurd ending. And both Royal companies ought to feature at least one Ashton ballet a year, for the heritage, the choreographic quality, and to keep the dancers familiar with the special Ashton style. And why no Balanchine? When Desmond Kelly was in BRB the company regularly danced a variety of Balanchine ballets, and pretty well. It's important for dancers' development as well as the audience's, that a variety of choreographic styles is on offer each season. With Wayne Eagling now going, despite the fight back last year, the future for interesting programmes looks bleak. Let's hope Kevin O'Hare redresses the balance.