SheilaC

Pavel Kolesnikov will be a guest on the R3 In Tune programme tonight (the programme will be on 5-7pm). Whilst he is bound to be asked about his career as a concert pianist he is equally certain to discuss the project with the Rosas company. The tickets are very reasonable for current prices; I paid £25 for a front row seat in the first balcony, not bad for hearing a world class pianist and watching a remarkable contemporary dance company.

Such a pity the BA no longer zooms interviews. A hotel stay in London is now so expensive, even for basic accommodation, that a trip just for an interview is difficult to justify in these difficult times, so it's discriminatory against members who live a long way away to stop zooms.

The Ashton Foundation has just announced the 2 masterclasses for next season. As usual they will be held on a Sunday afternoon, 2.30 to 5.30. They cost £65. On 16 October the selected ballet will be Daphnis and Chloe and the coaches will be Anthony Dowell and Ronald Hynd. On 19 February the focus will be Cinderella. So far the coaches for this have not been announced. Booking is not yet open.

The best Alains have been sympathetic. I have always felt both that it was significant that Ashton created the role on one of his closest friends whom he trusted, Alexander Grant, and that the final end of the ballet, against the audience expectations, is of Alain breaking in to search for his beloved umbrella. As LinMM says, Alexander Grant's interpretation was very sympathetic, even lovable. When he mounted the ballet on the Paris Opera Ballet, he selected a relatively unknown dancer, Simon Valestro (who sadly retired recently and has returned to Italy) who gave a wholly sensitive characterisation. Great performers of the role include Ian Webb when he danced for Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet. Yet from the start some performers, even Garry Grant, Alexander's brother, have milked the role for comedy. It is crucial that those setting and rehearsing the ballet handle this role with great sensitivity and insist that dancers follow Ashton's intentions.

When I went I sat in the stalls but, like many opera houses in Europe, there's little rake. So I would recommend not sitting there, unless you are fairly tall, as I couldn't see well, even though I was in the second row each time (but I'm just over 5 foot so my lack of height will have partly been the problem).

I saw the ballet company at Odessa about 40 years ago. My father and I shared a small box with a couple from Siberia. My father, who was learning Russian, chatted with them and afterwards they corresponded. We saw Esmeralda, unfortunately I couldn't get a programme or cast list. The opera house is very beautiful. Two weeks ago the Guardian showed photos of the main company in Kyiv rehearsing for a performance that week as the theme for its photo spread in the centre pages. (I don't think it was in Links, presumably because it wasn't an article or review; and when I later tried to search for it on the paper's website I could find no reference to it).

I booked a performance weeks ago, for the music even more than the dance!- Kolesnikov is an absolutely superb pianist. He and Anna Teresa de Keersmaeker have already performed this piece in Paris, to rave reviews. It has recently announced that she will be performing it again in Paris, I think, next season, but next time it will be with a different pianist.

In addition to the TV showings of full works, the BBC showed ballet excerpts as part of wider programmes, when I was a girl. Children's TV often had some ballet; I first encountered Bournonville, danced by Henning Kronstam and Kirsten Simone, no less, on children's TV. And if my father was out in the evening, teaching drama at night school, my mother would let me stay up to watch Eric Robinson's concert programme if there was ballet included, as there often was. What's important about both these examples is that ballet was then treated as mainstream, not some weird elite art form.

She would be a good choice, although I think there's been some unrest among her dancers in the past. Is there any chance Irek might get it? It's true he's not had a lot of directorial experience but years ago he ran a very good little company, but he's been at POB several years now and could be Nureyev's heir! (Although that would be truer still of Legris, Le Riche, and various others)

Yes, but so are Nicolas Le Riche (Sweden) and Manuel Legris (La Scala, although he's only been there a year and a half.) Indeed, there are other former Paris Opera etoiles directing companies successfully. Hopefully they will choose someone who values classical ballet more than Dupont, Millepied or Lefevre...... very unlikely in the present climate!

The performance last night was very successful and raised nearly £27k for Unicef's Ukraine appeal. It had sold out within 3 hours of booking being opened to the general public. Prior to the performance I had reservations about the format, with the first part concentrating on class. However it worked well as the director, Ivan Kozlov, introduced each part of class humorously and explaining aspects of ballet training, from the five positions to the number of years necessary for training. Given that many in the audience were likely to be sponsors rather than a regular ballet audience it probably gave them more insight into what ballet involves and enabled them to see dancers as individuals with different personalities before watching them as performers, projecting very different personas, in the second part. The second part included excerpts from no less than 12 ballets. It opened with Odette's pas de deux from Swan Lake, backed by 12 corps members on the tiny stage. Kristina Kadashevych danced it with authority; later she gave a moving version of The Dying Swan. Her hands were very expressive, a feature of most of the dancers. I remembered the last time The Dying Swan was danced in York; by Marienella Nunez, no less, but dancing a different version, one danced by Ninette de Valois who taught it to Margeurite Porter who then coached Nela. The other excerpts were very varied, including classical solos, from Paquita, Corsaire (two solos, one male, one female), Don Q, plus the corps and two soloists dancing the waltz from Nutcracker. There was an interesting modern solo and a pas de deux from yet another version of Carmen, and the Bulba solo by Lopukhov, which looked familiar, energetic Russian folk dance. There was an amusing duet, which the audience loved and finally 8 male dancers erupted n a lively show off piece. Altogether a varied programme and the in the finale the dancers took their applause by each dancing a brief dance related to what they had performed earlier. Understandably the music, both for the class and the excerpts, was recorded. In the absence of decor the lighting varied for each piece and the costumes were attractive. The flooring was loaned by Northern Ballet. The production was professional, I've been to less slick galas in London. The standard of dancing varied but there were some good dancers. The audience was highly enthusiastic. I see today that the company will be touring in the States later in the year. It struck me last night that there might be theatres in the UK that might book them to dance some of their full length productions, given that the various small Russian companies that toured here regularly will no longer be able to come. Ironically, much of their rep is Russian!

It started about 6.15, with an interminable excerpt of music from one of his musicals. Eventually he talked about some of his ballets, the Tchaikovsky ones, inevitably he was asked about Swan Lake, but said he hadn't expected it to be such a huge hit until the opening night, when Cameron Mackintosh and the audience absolutely loved it. There was music from Swan Lake, some discussion of his new version of CarMen for the Royal Albert Hall, but with few details and it ended with an excerpt of the opera Carmen. It was about 25 minutes altogether. He is a very interesting interviewee, came over very well (and I'm no fan!).

In Tune, on Radio 3, this evening (about 15-20 minutes in) had interviews with Joby Talbot and the guitarist Tomas Barreiro to discuss Like Water. The programme played a piece from the new ballet, plus an excerpt from Alice and started with an extract from Talbot's Ink Dusk Moon. Sorry if this should go in the new music theme!

Jerome Barnes gave a stunning performance at yesterday's matinee, well danced, coping well with the difficult partnering, and charting persuasively and movingly Rudolf's psychological decline. The greater focus on the relationships, due to cutting some of the more general scenes, intensifies the emotional impact of the tragedy. Constance Devernay as Mary Vetsera and Bethany Kingsley-Garner as Princess Stephanie were also compelling. I was disappointed that the audience wasn't bigger, apparently about 500, and only about 650 on the Friday night. The orchestra had been considerably extended so the production must have been expensive, with the new designs, very effective, so the company must have lost money on it. Londoners who are considering travelling to the regions for ballet will save money on travel costs by booking as far ahead as possible. Theatre tickets tend to be cheaper away from London which can help.

The beautiful (Matcham)York Theatre Royal has just announced that there will be a fundraising gala on Tuesday June 14 by Kyiv City Ballet, the company that was stranded in Paris in February and has since performed in several theatres in France. The first half will be class, the second part excerpts from Swan Lake and Nutcracker, 23 Ukrainian dancers will be performing. All ticket proceeds will go to go to the UNICEF Ukraine appeal. The performance is being supported by many local hotels, Bettys, and other York organisations, plus Eurostar and LNER.

Thanks for highlighting this worrying development Janet. Tickets have been on sale for several months now for 2 performances in York in the autumn. Presumably they are now unlikely to go ahead. The news is desperately disappointing given the wonderful programme of works from their history that they have recently presented and the excellent gala they gave in Leeds to celebrate their 40th anniversary. It is not clear what Dane Hurst's position is. The website has continued to list him as artistic director, and he is scheduled to develop a new work for the company in association with Northern Opera. But his departure was announced some months back, on the grounds that he needed to return to South Africa for family and artistic reasons. A couple of insiders I have mentioned it to have been very tightlipped. Very worrying altogether.

The Guardian 's article today on the extensive lineup for the jubilee concert includes the Royal Ballet. I've been wondering what short piece would be most appropriate for this TV celebration.

I contacted them yesterday to ask what Alina will be performing and they replied ‘We will announce the special ballet Alina is performing very soon... we look forward to announcing the full programme shortly’.

Yes, exactly, they increasingly work together on topics of mutual concern, and some are on each other's boards (eg Kevin O'Hare is on the Northern Ballet board).

No-one here has commented on the panel but I am concerned that, in my view at least, there is no-one currently associated with ballet, as opposed to dance. Obviously Deborah Bull is a former RB principal and then involved with the Linbury for some years but now has a much broader role in the arts and HE. Spalding, although he does put on some ballet at the Wells, prioritises dance more generally and although there are now links between ENB and SWT the emphasis is very much on contemporary ballet. There is a representative of the Arts Council but many of us have doubts about the way ACE appears to be emasculating classical ballet. I would have liked a representative of a UK ballet company to be involved. Christopher Hampson, AD of Scottish Ballet, would have been an excellent choice (assuming that he isn't planning on applying).

As a fan of Cuban ballet I saw Javier dance several times in the six years before he joined Northern Ballet. He was quite a good dancer then but, once he had adjusted to the very different style and approach of Northern Ballet, he gradually developed into the magnificent dancer and artist that he is today. A testimony not only to his own commitment but also to the artistic direction of David Nixon.

The Ailey documentary is very well worth watching on I-Player. It's a bit long in places but the archive material is all fascinating, often moving, and there are excerpts from his masterpiece, Revelations, throughout; surely one of the greatest dance pieces of the last century. And for this Seymour fan there are 2 very brief shots of her dancing parts of Flowers in 1971, the piece he created on her (one hour in, exactly, for anyone who's interested).

I dread to think what the New Lost Dog is about; the recommended age is from 14. That's 2 years older than for Mayerling which features rape, drug taking, murder and suicide (in my view the recommended age should be higher than 12). So how does The New Lost Dog require an older age? I'm appalled at how McGregor dominates the programme: 43 performances altogether (Wolf Works : 12; his own company at the Linbury : 25; his new ballet in the mixed bill that includes the original Anastasia: 6) And how can a bill celebrating 60 years of the Royal Ballet not include an Ashton or even one of MacMillan's very good one act ballets?

The Balanchine ballet is the wonderful 'black and white' ballet, The Four Temperaments. Created in 1946 but still seems more modern than many contemporary works. A good triple as it includes a Van Manen piece. There's also a Forsythe programme in June.

I've now booked to see the new production of Mayerling at Edinburgh. Today the Paris Opera Ballet has announced that they will be mounting Mayerling in the autumn (22 October to to 12 November). They will also be doing Manon as their final ballet (19 June to 15 July) Best of all, they are going to do Balanchine's Ballet Imperial although unfortunately there's only one other Balanchine ballet in that programme, Who Cares (6 February to 10 March). The one classic is Nureyev's Swan Lake. They are doing a very mixed bag of ballets, no Robbins, no Roland Petit, various contemporary choreographers, plus Bejart, Pina Bausch and, as has been posted already, MacGregor's Dante Project.