Terpsichore

I welcome all that and I shall be in the audience at the Palace when English National Ballet's dances Akram Khan's production in Manchester. Although Giselle is one of my favourite ballets I have never been very comfortable with Act II for reasons I set out in a post in this forum some about 2 years ago which evoked a lot of criticism at the time. Although Adam's score is beautiful and the choreography sublime I can only take it if I pretend it is an abstract work like Les Sylphides or Serenade banishing the synopsis from my mind. Last Sunday I saw David Dawson's 5 which uses Adam's music but in a completely different way.

I stay here http://www.bastionhotels.nl/nl/hotels/hotel-amsterdam-amstel?gclid=Cj0KEQiAl5u2BRC6yszC1_75v5wBEiQAD-hdzwqj9qsx37mnkWKuxzueV7fGCbi-wHK75dlistCacD8aAmhd8P8HAQ It is the Dutch equivalent of a Travelodge with similar prices. I booked a night's accommodation without breakfast through booking.com for £70 (I paid in sterling). It is situated in a rather run down part of town but it is perfectly safe. It is about a quarter of a mile from the Metro (more like Manchester's Metrolink than London's tube) which is a few stations down from Waterlooplein where the Stopera is situated and one stop from Amsterdam RAI where one can pick up a direct train to the airport. They do quite a good breakfast for £11 but I was too busy to take it. I have not been to their restaurant but the bar is OK. The staff speak English and are generally efficient and friendly. There is a review from me somewhere on booking.com

I paid 53 euros when I last renewed my sub on 12 Jan 2016. Someone has proposed setting up a British branch of the Friends of the HNB: "I had envisaged an organisation more like the London Ballet Circle, focussing on website information, news, discussion and an annual group visit to Amsterdam. I am particularly keen to encourage regular visits to Amsterdam - it is a short journey and affordable by Easyjet. I was not thinking of anything more than a token membership fee - more about linking British supporters together. You are filing interviews with dancers online - and maybe we could formalise these in a British friends website, which will of course be in English. We could also supply news about the company, casting information and advice about how to book and upcoming booking deadlines. Finally we could agree on a weekend, when we all travelled to Amsterdam. If the company is agreeable, we could attend class, arrange for a pre-performance talk in English - and go to dinner with some of the management and dancers during the weekend. I am thinking along the lines of the annual dinner of The Ballet Association, which began quite small 40 years ago. The dinner depends on the supporters between them paying for their own dinners and those of the guests." Ernst Meisner has indicated that the company would welcome something along those lines. The company class took place in a rehearsal studio and not on stage. We did get to walk on the stage after the class.

I saw it on 13 Feb with Anna Tsygankova in the tile role and have also reviewed it. In the first paragraph I wrote: "As Anna Tsygankova stood alone on stage for her curtain call after last night's performance of Ted Brandsen's Mata Hari every single person in the Amsterdam Music Theatre or Stopera rose as one. She would have got a similar standing ovation anywhere - even snooty old London - for her portrayal of the life of the tragic adventurer and dancer (Margaretha Geertruida "Margreet" MacLeod) was compelling It is not often that one sees theatre like that in any medium and I think the sounds and images of that performance will remain with me for the rest of my life." I have never written a review like that before but then I have rarely seen anything so good. I might add that I attended an equally outstanding but very different performance of Ballet Bubbles by the Junior Company the next day at the Meervaart theatre in the western suburbs. I also attended a preview of the new season for Friends of HNB with some lovely dancing and singing interludes from the new season's ballet and opera as soon as I arrived in Amsterdam. The next morning I toured the opera house, attended company class and even walked on the stage of the Stopera too on another Friends event. Wall to wall ballet from the moment I arrived to the catching the bus for the airport. I have written about all that if anyone is interested,

Krzysztof Pastor's Romeo and Juliet came pretty close to that though it struck me as more of a struggle between Communists and Fascists.

Michelle Richer Both the Thursday morning improvers class at NB Academy and the over 55 workshop at the Grand are meeting for cocktails at The Alchemist at the top of the Trinity shopping centre in Leeds. We've been told to wear Christmas tights or leggings for the last class but I think you can come as you are for cocktails. We are all looking forward to seeing you.

Sorry to have misled you as to the date of the workshop. I will be at Annemaries's 11:00 class and not at the Grand on 17. Both groups are meeting for cocktails instead of tea after the class and Annemarie may be able to join us. I can't remember the venue but if you follow the crowd you should find it. I hope you can join us. I attended and reviewed last year's show at KNT and am looking forward to the one on 31 Jan 2016. I take at least one class at KNT every week as well as improvers' classes with Annemarie and Jane Tucker at Northern Ballet, I think the world of both teachers. Last week Jane got us to have a bash at fouettes. I did not have much success but at least I tried. Best wishes to you and all the rest of this thread.

Thank you Michelle. I don't think we have been given a title for our piece yet but our instructor, Karen Sant, has chosen some great music for us. We are on for about three or four minutes and there is a video of our second rehearsal somewhere on Facebook. As BalletRocks1 says, the show will take place at the Dancehouse on 30 Jan. I attended and reviewed last year's show which took place on the day of the Eurovision song contest. The title of the review is "Better than Eurovision" and it really was. Enjoy your visit to The Nutcracker workshop next week. I can't attend as it takes place during office hours but I hope to see the show on the 18 with the students from one of my other classes.

I will come to one of your classes and review it for Terpsichore in February unless you are running classes during the weeks that Northern Ballet Academy takes its Christmas holiday. The reason I can't come before then is that I shall attend the over 55 improvers' class at Northern Ballet Academy on Thursday mornings until the end of January. I usually attend that class on Tuesday but I have switched to Thursday for the next few weeks so that I can get to Manchester every Tuesday evening to rehearse for a show that will take place on the 30 Jan 2016. I am compiling an index of adult ballet classes in each borough of West Yorkshire and as Bradford comes first in alphabetical order I will begin with you.

I agree with you about ENB having seen two great shows from that company this week. I think they also have plenty of good candidates for the female roles. I once speculated about Northern after seeing Cleopatra last year which is also a ballet set in Roman times and I think I wrote a half serious article. half playful article about it. As I can't find it in my blog it must be somewhere on this website. I can't remember the casting now but I think it would have included Tindall, Torres and Bateman. As I say it was half serious - rather like picking a fantasy cricket team. One other company that might just pull it off is Scottish as they have some strong male dancers and I think Mutso would have been a good Phrygia but she is going soon if she's not already gone.

Well you did ask. Apart from the Lichine, La Sylphide and La Bayadere I think all the other ballets were British. In answer to your question I find the adagio between Spartacus and Phrygia delightful. As you say it is a matter of taste.

I endorse everything Balletchick says about KNT and Northern Ballet Academy. I attend classes at both and enjoy them thoroughly I would also add the Dance Studio Leeds: Beginners' class at 19:45 on Mondays; and Advanced class on Fridays. Team Hud at University of Huddersfield on Wednesday evenings at 18:30 with Fiona Noonan. Bradford Dance Centre with Heidi Westman. There are usually classes at Hype Dance Studio in Sheffield but I do not know who teaches them nowadays.

I would like to see a British company attempt Spartacus although I acknowledge that we shall get a chance to see it streamed from Moscow to the cinemas in March. Two rather more fun short ballets that I would see again are Lichine's Graduation Ball and maybe Ashton's Jazz Calendar though I think I recognized some of the tunes from Jazz Calendar in Nixon's Gatsby. Yesterday I mentioned Darrell and McDonald in the context of university ballet societies. It would be lovely to see Mods and Rockers again which Darrell created for Western Theatre Ballet before it moved to Glasgow. Talking of companies that have upped sticks, I wouldn't mind seeing more of the ballets from Northern Ballet's Manchester days when I first knew them, particularly Christopher Gable's Cinderella and Gillian Lynne's A Simple Man. I know the Queensland Ballet brought us La Sylphide and St Petersburg Ballet Theatre La Bayadere in August but it would be nice to see a UK production of both shows.

We had a dance society at the University of St Andrews as long ago as 1969 and I was one of the founder members. We had ballet classes in the sports centre which were given by a biochemistry undergraduate called Sally who had once been a dancer. We even had a pianist. I don't think we put on any shows - though someone thought of choreographing Sibelius's Swan of Tuonela - but we did organize a coach party to Edinburgh to see Scottish Theatre Ballet's Beauty and the Beast which had been choreographed by Peter Darrell to a score by Thea Musgrave. That was incidentally the first ballet I ever reviewed and my write-up appeared in Aien which was then the student newspaper. We had particularly close links with STB through John Steer, our professor of fine arts, who was later to chair the company. He had known the company when he taught at Bristol and I think he was instrumental in bringing it to Glasgow a year after he made a similar move to Scotland. I think our high point was to bring the company to the Buchanan Hall on the day that the UK adopted decimal currency. Professor Steer introduced me to Darrell and some of the dancers including Elaine McDonald and Kenn Wells. I believe there has been a ballet club at the University of Leeds for many years because one of my patent agents used to dance with it in her spare time. I am also aware of a ballet class every Wednesday evening between 18:30 and 19:30 at the University of Huddersfield because I used to attend it. The class is given by Fiona Noonan who danced with the Queensland Ballet and is open to the public. I have written a few articles about these matters in my blog if anyone is interested.

Thanks for those photos. I was at the Linbury on 12 Nov and thoroughly enjoyed the performance. I reviewed the Watson piece on 13 Nov 2015. I am looking forward to seeing it again in Huddersfield on 26 when I will review it again concentrating on the other two works.

Ballet Black was back in Leeds last night with what is likely to be the last performances in the UK of Kit Holder's "To Fetch a Pail of Water?", Will Tuckett's Depouillement and Mark Bruce's "Second Coming" in the UK for some time. When we next see them again at the Barbican in March they will have a new programme of works by Christopher Hampson, Christopher Marney and Arthur Pita. It was good to welcome back Sayaka Ichikawa after a year's absence and to meet the company's impressive young dancers Mthuthuzeli November and Joshua Harriette. Judging by their performance last night we can expect great things from both of them. Even though I have now seen "Second Coming" three times and have read and re-read Yeats's poem many times I am still no nearer to understanding it than I was when I saw it for the first time at the Limbury. However it remains a gorgeous work with some exquisite dancing, particularly Damien Johnson and Cira Robinson's pas de deux to Elgar's Cello Concerto. The company danced all three works well and I have reviewed them in my blog if anyone is interested.

As I said above, I only met Mandev Sokhi once but I have a recollection that is entirely consistent with that observation. When I visited Ballet Cymru on 3 Oct my car was parked alongside Mandev's in the company's car park and we walked to our vehicles together. He asked me what I planned to do for the rest of the afternoon and I replied that I would explore Newport, perhaps visit Caerleon and then drive back to Yorkshire. His expression changed as did his voice. "But that's such a long way" he said "are you sure?" I assured him that I was quite used to the journey as I visit Newport frequently in the course of my work and that I had driven down in just under 4 hours with a clear road that very morning. "Well do drive carefully" he replied as we shook hands. As we went our separate ways I reflected on the courtesy and consideration of that charming young man.

That is so sad. I met Mandev for the first time only last week when I visited Ballet Cymru with London Ballet Circle. I admired his work very much. He was a great beast in Beauty and the Beast and I enjoyed his other performances too. I believe he leaves a widow who is also a dancer. I shall hold Mandev and his family in the Light.

I saw Chantry Dance's Duology at the Square Chapel in Halifax on Saturday night. This is a double bill consisting of two works: Vincent - a stranger to himself and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. I enjoyed both works but perhaps Nachtmusik a little more. It was ostensibly a tussle between Paul Chantry, David Beer and Rae Piper over space on a settee but developed into something more. Vincent was about the life of van Gogh. I had a bigger cast and gave the company's new dancers Renecca Scanlon and Sorel de Paula Hanika and their associates as well as Beer, Chantry and Piper a chance to shine. The cast stayed to answer questions from the audience after the show. The company moves on to Woolwich on Friday where they look forward to a full house.

On Saturday I saw a film about a remarkable group of dancers from Australia aged 55 and over called "The Golds" and met some of their members. If anyone is interested in them I have written a short article about them and the event which they attended in my blog.

Team Terpsichore are going to this evening's performance. Hirata and Caley will be dancing the lead roles which should be good. Like Janet McNulty I am also a big fan of Gittens and am glad to read that you will be the Polish princess tonight. I should have liked to have been at The Lowry last night because Singleton and Gittens were great in Coppelia earlier in the year but that would have meant missing Jane Tucker's class at Northern Ballet. Jane is a teacher with whom I just click. Gittens and Singleton are also dancing on Saturday afternoon which is just after I will have finished dancing with my over 55 class in Morley Town Hall. Having witnessed a grim faced Monica Tait warn us in York that Matthews had hurt herself badly and would be off work for some time earlier this year it is so good to read that she is to dance Odette-Odile this afternoon. I would loved to have seen her today but I have to work. Her partner will be Lawrence who is another favourite. Matthews is also dancing the Hungarian princess on Saturday evening which is exactly the time Chantry Dance arrive in Halifax.

News to me and I was only a few hundred yards away but according to the Royal Opera House twitter feed you are right. I never considered Centenary Square. The seats are hard. The screen and audio leave a lot to be desired and it was chilly last night. I went directly to the Museum.

Thanks for the info about the other Ballet Cymru Romeo and Juliet. I quite liked the Mariinsky's when I saw it at Covent Garden last year with Xander Parish in the lead. Another good one was ENB's in the round in the Albert Hall, I saw it with Vogel and Cojocaru.