Terpsichore

IT WORKED :-) I can't say that I have got it right yet but my dear long suffering teacher noticed a substantial improvement and I can build on what I learned this evening. She learned her ballet in Brisbane and some of the antipodean can-do attitude may be rubbing off. The others in the class who are all 40 years younger are coming on by leaps and bounds.

Oh that was certainly true of me. I have a class in just over an hour when pirouettes will be on the agenda and I was dreading it. In fact as I was not feeling my usual jolly self owing to burning candles at both ends I was thinking of bunking off. But armed with your wisdom I am turning up for my £5 worth. I will let you know how I get on. At least I should make 0.

You are right. I did not get a correction slip. I can't correct this article but I can correct the one from which it has been adapted. I am very cross with myself for not recognizing Elena Glurdjidze but I have not seen her very often and on the occasions that I have it has been from a distance and quite a long time ago. No wonder it was such a good performance. I hope to see Glurdjidze again next Monday at London Ballet Circle and also at Stockport in Cinderella with the Bristol Russian Youth Ballet on the 16 Feb 2014. Even better news is that I have now opened an account with the Royal College of Music and Mr Ennis is pressing me to accept two complimentary tickets even though I managed to attend the ballet. As I live on my own I will offer the spare to whoever would like it when I have selected a show.

There may be more than one mistake in the programme because Alison tells us that we saw Elena Glurdjidze and not Melissa Hamilton in Dying Swan. I relied on the programme when listing the works that had been performed and if I have misled anyone that is why. The rest of the review is based on what I did see. Changing the subject, you may recall that I tried unsuccessfully to buy a ticket from the box office. One Ennis from the Royal College has written me a very nice email which I reproduce below together with my reply: "Dear Terpsichore, Firstly may I take this opportunity to apologise, both for the difficulty which you experienced in booking for the Gala for Ghana, and for the delay in getting back to you. The RCM box office is generally only open from Monday to Friday, as most of our own events are held during the week, but as this external event was being held on a Sunday, we only opened for an hour before the start time. As a result, there was no one on site to see your email, or indeed to notice that we were experiencing technical difficulties. We had such a large volume of phone calls relating to this issue yesterday, that it was not possible to respond to your email until now. The difficulties were due to an anomaly which has never before occurred, and which completely prevented any users to log in to our website. The issue has now been resolved, but because of the unfortunate timing ahead of Sunday’s concert, you and several other customers were seriously inconvenienced. For this we would like to apologise most sincerely. We are currently in the process of modernising our box office system, which should prevent such an incident occurring again, but this process will not be complete until early summer. I recognise that this response comes too late for the concert which you missed, but if you are ever hoping to book for another event in the RCM, please email me directly, in reply to this email, and I will gladly issue two complimentary tickets for one of our paid concerts, or to waive the booking fee for a free event. With best wishes, Mark Ennis Box Office Supervisor" I replied as follows: "Dear Mr Ennis Thank you for your email. As it happens I did make it to the performance because I heard through twitter that someone had a ticket to sell. I attended the performance and enjoyed it very much and have reviewed it in [balletcoForum]. I am told by someone who was also there that I made one mistake. Relying on the programme I wrote that Melissa Hamilton of the Royal Ballet danced the Dying Swan but I am advised by someone who probably sees more of the Royal Ballet and English National Ballet than me that it was Elena Glurdjidze. I find it hard to distinguish dancers on stage under lights and make-up, especially if I don't see them frequently. In any case it was danced beautifully. There are plenty of performances on your website that I hope to see and should be grateful if you would retrieve my file and send me a password at your earliest convenience so that I can open an account with the box office and order on line in future. Yours sincerely [Terpsichore]" I think Mr Ennis has been very fair but as I got a very good seat thanks to Bangor Ballet Boy and Josephine he has no need to compensate me. However, I hope he will set up an account so that I can buy ticket on-line as and when I have the time and money.

Here is a slight adaptation to a review that I posted elsewhere. I should like to thank Josephine, Bangor Ballet Boy and everyone else who made it possible for me to attend. It was a wonderful evening - my second treat in one day: "Last Sunday some of our finest performers gave up their evening (and no doubt a lot more rehearsal time) to dance, sing and make music at a gala at the Britten Theatre for Ashanti Development. This is a charity set up by Ghanaians living in London to raise money for development in the Ashanti region of Ghana. It has done some remarkable work in health care, sanitation, education and income generation. It was a wonderful evening and I for one am doubly grateful to the artists not only for their magnificent performances but also for supporting a very worthwhile cause. The evening consisted of 14 items introduced by Harriet Thorpe. Though now an actor Thorpe said that she had studied at the Royal Ballet School. "That training never leaves you" said Thorpe and she offered to stand in for any dancer who might be indisposed. Happily, nobody was indisposed but I have no reason to doubt that she would have risen to the occasion had she been put to the test. The works were as follows: Chroma by Dawid Trzensimiech, Paul Kay and Luca Acri choreographed by Wayne McGregor to Joby Talbot's music; The Dying Swan by Melissa Hamilton; In Treibhaus sung by Maria Jones; Improvisation Andante Cantabile from Richard Straus's Violin Concerto in E Flat Op 18 by Robert Gibbs on the violin and Oliver Davies on the piano; Avant La Haine by Camille Bracher and Thomas Whitehead choreographed by Ludovic Ondiviela to Ólafur Arnalds's music; Unfinished Business by Elly Braund and James Muller choreographed by Richard Alston to Mozart; Requiem Pie Jesu by Lauren Cuthbertson to MacMillan's choreography and Fauré's music; Yuhui Choe dancing Aurora's Act 1 variation from The Sleeping Beauty; Polyphonia by Beatriz Stix Brunell and Nicol Edwards choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon to György Ligeti's music; the Duett and Finale from Schumann's Phantasierstuecke Op 88 by Gibbs and Davies joined by Adrian Bradbury on the cello; Volver, Volver by Edward Watson choreographed by Arthur Pita from MEN IN MOTION; Clair de Lune by Gina Sturm Jensen and Reece Clarke choreographed by Valentino Zuchetti to Debussy's music; Ceremony of Innocence by Marcelino Sambé choreographed by Valentino Zucchetti to Benjamin Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge Op 10; and Ashton's Rhapsody Pas de Deux by Yuhui Choe and Zucchetti to Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini. Two ballets were premièred on Sunday - Avant la Haine and Clair de Lune - and we saw Volver, Volver only a few days after MEN IN MOTION's première and these were three of the works that impressed me most. It was the first time I had seen choreography by Ondiviela and Zucchetti and I am certainly looking froward to seeing more. Avant la Haine means Before the Hatred and if I understood the ballet correctly it tracks the breakup of a relationship. I had last seen Whitehead in Giselle and I may be biased because he comes from Bradford but Whitehead has become one of my favourite dancers. In this ballet he appears to fight with Bracher actually delivering what seemed to be a rabbit punch. Zucchetti's Clair de Lune was one of the most delightful new ballets I have seen for some time. Part of the credit must go to Debussy whose music like Aaron Copland's is particularly apt for ballet but much must got to the lyrical choreography and the elegance by which it was interpreted by the dancers. I hope to see this work again. Watson was, of course, magnificent. It devolved in a fascinating way which I won't reveal from those who are to see MEN IN MOTION. I was urged to go by Susan Dalgetty who pressed a flyer into my hands at the London Ballet Circle AGM. I did not buy a ticket largely because one can't see everything, especially if it means trekking to London but I think I made the wrong choice. When I see a dancer like Watson I am reminded of the remark attributed to Einstein about dancers being "the athletes of God." And what of the rest? I had decided not to go to this gala until I saw Dave Wilson's post on BalletcoForum that Glurdjidze was to dance the Dying Swan. This was a ballet that I had always wanted to see but have never managed to catch. When she was a little girl my mother saw Pavlova dance it in Leeds and the impression never left her. I have seen some flickering footage of Pavlova many times but I have always wanted to see it on stage. Owing to a problem with the Royal College's e-commerce system I feared I would not get a ticket for the show but thanks to Josephine and Bangor Ballet Boy they put me in touch with a lady who had a ticket to sell. It was a good seat too right in the centre of the dress circle. I am so grateful to all concerned. Well Dying Swan lived up to my expectations. It was danced beautifully by Hamilton. I became pretty emotional earlier in the day when I saw Antoinette Sibley again for the first time in decades. Tears do not come to me easily but I felt the tears welling up when I saw Hamilton. It was good that we had Wagner and Strauss before more dancing. But my favourite work of the evening was Cuthbertson's Requiem. I admire her greatly. More perhaps than any ballerina in the Royal Ballet since Sibley. Indeed she reminds me a little of Sibley. She shows the same grace. In this work she danced to a voice that complemented her movement remarkably. I long to see this work again and preferably with the same artists. The evening was over too quickly. But the show did not exactly end there. On the way out there was more music and dance from two Ghanaian ladies with collection buckets rattling their containers to a rhythm and chant "Thank you! God bless you!" My only surprise and slight regret was that there were no Ghanaians on stage and few even in the audience. Well it was a sell out and ballet is only beginning to establish itself in Sub-Saharan Africa. But it is taking root there as I have mentioned elsewhere. I hope to see a Ghanaian ballerina or premier danseur noble step out on stage in my lifetime. There is already a Sierra Leonean on her way to the Linbury on the 28 and 29 May 2014." The reference to the Sierra Leonean dancer is to Muchaela de Prince who will be dancing with the Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet on 28 and 29 May 2014. She is one of the most exciting dancers I have seen for a while. Oh dear. I thought I had left a link in the article but I see that it has just moved.

I have said elsewhere how much I admire Dame Antoinette Sibley. Yesterday the great day came and here is what happened. The event took place in the theatre of the Royal Ballet School in Floral Street. This was the first time I had entered that building and indeed it is only the second ballet school I have ever seen, the other being the Northern Ballet Academy in Leeds. There were photographs, drawings and other exhibits on the walls which I stopped to regard on the way in and out. They included the designs for The Birds, a ballet performed in 1942, the School's coat of arms and lots of photos of all the great names that had been associated with the school. It felt strangely like my old school save that instead of dancers and choreographers our exhibits were of generals, judges, bishops leavened with the a few poets, musicians and actors. These exhibits reminded me that English ballet is part of a living tradition linked through Dame Ninette de Valois and Sir Fred Ashton to Dighialev's Ballet Russes and through then to Petipa, This was a theme that a gentleman who spoke on behalf of the London Jewish Cultural Centre picked up when he proposed a vote of thanks and Dame Antoinette and Clement Crisp referred to it several times in their discussion. After tea and biscuits we were ushered into a theatre near with barres which presumably also serves as a rehearsal studio. The theatre was packed but I managed to find a seat in the second row. Before Dame Antoinette and Clement Crisp entered we were treated to the pas de deux from Act III of The Sleeping Beauty by Hikaru Kobayashi whom I had last seen dance Myrtha in Giselle on 18 January 2013 and Federico Bonelli. I don't think I had ever been so close to such beautiful creatures even in the stalls as there has always been the orchestra between us. Experiencing that proximity and intimacy alone justified the 200 mile trek form Yorkshire but there was far greater delights than that to come. After the dancers left the stage a screen unfolded, two chairs were produced and Dame Antoinette and Clement Crisp were introduced. Dame Antoinette wore trousers with a tailored jacket and black shoes and bag. She was as beautiful as I had remembered her on the stage, The years simply rolled away to 1970 when I first saw her. Clement Crisp was elegant too in his manner as much as his dress. Urbane and generous, Dame Antoinette called him our greatest ballet critic as indeed he is. The conversation began with a joke. Sibley's first great role had been as Swanhilde in Coppélia but a misprint in the billing had cast her as Swan Hitler instead. I wondered about the tactfulness of that reference before a predominately Jewish audience as some of them were old enough to have lived through the Holocaust but nobody seemed to mind. The conversation passed on to Dame Antoinette's first appearances on stage which began when she was still at school. The first time she came to the attention of the press when they followed her to her home in Kent where she sometimes worked in her parents' restaurant. Her first tour to South Africa. Learning ballerina's roles in a matter of days before appearing on stage. Cranko's choosing her to dance in Harlequin. The first clip we were shown was of Sibley dancing Dorabella in The Enigma Variations a lovely ballet which may well have been the first time I saw Sibley. Dorabella is Dora Penny and Elgar himself described the movement as follows in his notes: "'The movement suggests a dance-like lightness.' An intimate portrait of a gay but pensive girl with an endearing hesitation in her speech." Well that was Sibley and Ashton brilliantly translated it into movement with short steps on pointe representing a slight stammer. Seeing that footage again after all those years literally brought tears to my eyes, and still more flowed after Crisp revealed that Ashton had nicknamed Sibley Dorabella."' The conversation moved on to Sibley's other great roles in Manon, Cinderella, Thaïs and of course The Dream which was the first ballet Ashton had created for her and Anthony Dowell. Dame Antoinette said that she had been concerned that she had been chosen by all the other choreographers of the day but not by Ashton and she wondered whether there was a reason for that. However, one day a notice appeared calling her and Dowell to learn the part for a new ballet based on Midsummer Night's Dream. She thought she would be one of the lovers but in fact she was to be Titania. She spoke about how Ashton always prodded her with his finger because he remembered Pavlova and he wanted his dancers to move like her. But he never prodded Sir Anthony. She discussed how other dancers have to get used to each other in a pas de duex. Often a ballerina has to ask her partner to make adjustments to accommodate her centre but with Sir Anthony it was natural like hand in glove. She had been Sir Anthony's first partner and he had thought it was always like that until he found the contrary when partnering other ballerinas. She talked about her relationship with Sir Kenneth MacMillan and how he had announced his intention of creating a ballet for her by leaving a book for her in her dressing room and Dame Antoinette produced that book and read from Sir Kenneth's note in the cover. She spoke of the difficulties of preparing for that role as the time she had set aside was interrupted by illness and a trip to Australia. At the beginning of this post I mentioned the tradition of ballet. Crisp described Sibley as a "repository" - which set her giggling - of knowledge. She had known so many of the greats and indeed she had been taught by two of them. The great English ballerina Pamela May who taught at the School while appearing regularly at Covent Garden and Tamara Karsavina whom Sibley adored. Karsavina once invited the young Sibley to her home and she cooked a steak for her. Sibley chose a steak because she thought it might be easy - something you just place under a grill - but Karsavina took the same trouble over that steak as she did with everything else. As Sibley spoke about her teachers I realized that every teacher represents to his or students every dancer, choreographer and teacher who has gone before. Sibley loved her teachers and I can relate to that because I love every one of mine. Those who have gently corrected my wobbling arabesques and feeble turns. I texted one of them yesterday after the talk from a restaurant where I ordered - guess what - a steak. "Oh super jealousy" she replied. "Don't be jealous" I responded "You are also part of the tradition. You live it, I just see it. And you pass on your gift to others." "Awwwww Thanku xxxx" "When I go to class you or Annemarie represent every dancer, choreographer and teacher who ever lived". "Aw Jane! I won't be able to leave the room soon" "I am only paraphrasing Sibley. She should know. Through you I am linked to your teacher who is probably linked to someone at Ballet Russes who is linked to Petipa." "xxxxx wise woman!" As indeed Dame Antoinette is. I learned so much from her yesterday for which I shall always be grateful. As if this was not treat enough I got the chance through the wonderful BalletcoForum and twitter to buy a ticket for the Gala for Ghana but that will be the subject of my next post. I have to teach some law to graduate students before I can turn to that.

I have made it to this performance. Thanks to all who made it possible. First part is wonderful. I have seen Dying Swan at last. So happy. Full review soon.

I have just attended this event and it was wonderful First we had the pas de deux from Act III of Sleeping Beauty by Bonelli and Kobayashi. Then an hour of conversation between Crisp and Sibley They showed some footage and she even danced a few steps. The years rolled away. I was so moved. A full report will follow.

I have been trying all weekend but nobody is manning the phone or maintaining the software Not to worry! I'm seeing Sibley soon. My favourite ballerina of all time. I sang "I'm seeing Sibley" to the tune of "Thine be the glory" at the top of my voice all the way to Luton. I so excited! :-)

As I understand it from Meisner's video it the Junior Company is a rolling two year programme. At the end of the year the second year dancers will move on and a fresh lot of new dancers will enter the company. I think everyone in the Junior Company is supposed to have an opportunity to dance with the National Ballet during the programme. Meisner sounds such a nice chap don't you think.

Ernst Meisner and the Junior Company are developing a dance app for smart phones called Bounded. I discussed it in two articles one of which I published just before Christmas and the other 5 minutes ago. Here are the two articles with slight amendments: "I am often consulted by start-ups with bright ideas for games and other applications in my practice as an intellectual property and technology lawyer. Over the years I have seen some amazing projects. But I have never seen one that I like as much as Bounden. This is an app that appeals to my love of dance as well as my love of technology. It is being developed by a small company in Utrecht in the Netherlands called Game Oven. Its creative team includes not just programmers and graphic designers but Ernst Meisner, one of my favourite dancers and choreographers. All I know about this project is in this film so I shall leave it to the team to introduce themselves and their product. All I will add to it is that Meisner says that he will involve the Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet of which he is artistic director. Now I have seen that company dance in Amsterdam and it is impressive. On 12 Oct 2013 Dave Wilson wrote "Engaging Generation Y in ballet – thoughts and ideas" in his Dave Tries Ballet blog. The article suggested ways of attracting the young to ballet. It is a very thoughtful article and I endorse it though I regret to say that I am no longer young. However, I now have an extra suggestion. If Bounden lives up to its promise this game could be the biggest attraction. I have already tweeted Dave about this game. Let's see what happens." Here is my second article: "Just before Christmas I mentioned Bounden, a project by Game Oven, a Dutch games developer to create a dance game for smart phones. This project appealed not only to my love of ballet but also to my interest in technology. As I noted in my previous article, Hans Meisner and the magnificent Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet, of which he is the artistic director, are participating in this project. Game Oven and the Dutch National Ballet have just released another video showing how the game works. The idea is to get a ball into the cross hairs of the screen and in order to achieve that object the person holding the phone has to follow a prescribed path. That is to say he or she has to dance. Although I believe that the idea is to create a work of art I believe that the app could be a tool in dance education. For example, I tend to wobble like a jelly in arabesque and my pirouettes are terrible. That is because it is not easy for me to find the point of balance in my fat, old body. Properly programmed I think it could help me find that point of balance and through repeated use train me in time to reach that point instinctively. I am sure that ballet teachers could find plenty of other uses for the tool. In one of recent classes in Huddersfield two young women were recording the movements of each student. I think they must have been learning Benesh notation and I am sure that my clumsiness gave them a lot to laugh about. However, it got me thinking aboutBounden. If the movement of the ball on the screen follows a path that has been choreographed by Meisner it should surely be possible to reverse the process: that is say digitize the movements of a dancer's body and convert them into points of the stave. If I am right it could also be a tool for dancers, choreologists and choreographers. In Scottish Ballet's programme for Cinderella Christopher Hampson wrote how he dreads the first day of the creation of a ballet. Well, maybe the technology behind Bounded could make his life easier. I am something of a fan of the Junior Company and made a special trip to Amsterdam for their opening night. Meisner has brought twelve of the world's most talented young da. If there are still tickets left do yourself a favour and buy one. I will be there on the 29 May 2014 clapping and cheering as I did in Amsterdam. Only the third time in my life that I have seen a standing ovation for a ballet." You can see the two videos on the home page of Game Oven's website.

Although I have publicized this event and encouraged all my friends to support it for the reasons I set out in an earlier post (which they have done) I had not actually bought a ticket for myself because I already had a ticket to see Antoinette Sibley and Clement Crisp at the Royal Ballet School tomorrow afternoon. Also, I was thinking of taking a class with Chelmsford Ballet until I read the website again and found that the required standard is way above my strength and capabilities. One can have too much of a good thing and three lots of the ballet in the same day seemed far too much of a good thing. However after reading DavidW's post I wavered. The prospect of seeing The Dying Swan especially if danced by Glurdjudze is irresistible so I have spent the last 40 minutes or so trying to buy one of the few remaining tickets on-line. The trouble is that one needs to open an account with the Royal College of Music and in order to open an account one needs a temporary password to be supplied by email by the Box Office of the Royal College. I completed the application form from my home address using my home email but no email from the College arrived. I tried again using my professional address and my gmail account with precisely the same result. I tried calling but the box office is closed at weekends. I have finally emailed the College hoping that someone will pick up my mail but I am not very hopeful. If I do make it to the event I will let you know how it went but as I say I think it is unlikely that I shall attend. However, I am very glad tickets are selling well and I hope that everyone who does attend enjoys the evening. My mother told me about Pavlova's Dying Swan which she saw as a small girl and I have seen footage of Pavlova's dancing that piece many times but I have never seen it danced on stage by a modern ballerina and I would dearly love to do so. If anyone hears of such a performance in the UK, the continent or even the USA I would appreciate it if he or she would let me know. PS I have just got the following automatic response from the RCM box office: "Thank you for emailing the RCM Box Office. Please note that we do not take any bookings by email. If you would like to book tickets you can visit www.rcm.ac.uk/boxoffice, you can call us on 020 7591 4314, or you can book in person at the RCM Box Office. Our normal opening hours are weekdays, 10am – 4pm. All other queries will be answered via e-mail. Best Wishes, RCM Box Office" *&!)_"£$%****** IT IS SO FRUSTRATING!

To get back on topic is anyone coming to see Le Corsaire at the Palace on the 14 Feb and if so does he or she want to say howdo in the interval?

I think she is remembered if only because she was a prima ballerina assoluta. Our only one apart from Fonteyn. Markova was a bit before my time but I remember seeing her take a bow. I think I also saw Dolin take a bow possibly at the same event. All the great and the good were at Ashton's retirement gala in 1970 so it was probably then.

I take three classes: Northern Ballet Academy's class in Leeds for the over 55s on Thursday morning or if I miss that Tuesday morning; a mixed age, mixed sex and mixed ability class at the Base Studios in Huddersfield on Tuesday night; and a mixed ability class at Huddersfield University on Wednesday night where most of the students are women undergraduates. The only class with a dress code is Northern Ballet's which mandates as follows: "Clothing should be loose and comfortable so that you can move easily. No denim please. Footwear is dependant (sic) on each dance style but on the whole we recommend that students have bare feet or flat ballet shoes." (someone can't spell). I normally turn up in a t-shirt and leggings. One or two people turn up with expensive looking dance wear but they are not the ones who stay when the clocks go back or the exercises become more difficult. I have taken one class at Pineapple where everything including the dress code is much more serious.

Oh thank you Ann Williams x :-) I do feel at home here but I am conscious of having ruffled more than a few feathers by linking to my blog after I first joined the forum and by not keeping my opinions on everybody's best loved ballet to myself. I would never have posted such reflections on Giselle when my better half was alive. I would have been reminded very firmly to watch what I was saying if I wanted t keep my friends because I was not in court now.

I agree with all your comments about the dancers and orchestra. I shall be interested to learn your views of other performances. Sadly I shall miss the rest of the Manchester season as I am off to London to see Sibley on Sunday but I will catch it again at The Coliseum later in the year. I shall write a much longer essay about it later.

I am sure that you will enjoy the performance and that your daughter will enjoy dancing bits of it. There's plenty of good strong meat for her to get her teeth into. This is one of the occasions when I really wish I had learned ballet at the right age though I doubt I would ever have been good enough. This ballet may not be everybody's cup of sake. It's a complex plot. There is nothing in the score that you can hum or whistle. But I think the choreographic pyrotechnics like the fight scene at the end and the gorgeous designs will appeal to a wider section of the public than Cranko or MacMillan versions. I shall be interested to learn what you and others think and also the critics though I tend to disagree with most of them about most things.

I was up half the night on this review because I had to write it out of my system. That was because the Birmingham Royal Ballet's "Prince of the Pagodas" was so exciting. However it was not an easy ballet to review because it contained so much. A complex story, a wonderful score, magnificent designs and some really spectacular dancing. This ballet was created by Cranko and revised by MacMillan but never really stuck with audiences. I think this will be third time lucky and I certainly hope so. "I have just returned from watching the first performance in the UK of David Bintley's Prince of the Pagodas. When I get back from a show at this time of night I usually make straight for bed and leave the review till at least the morning. But this performance was so good that a review won't wait until morning. I am so excited about it that I will not be able to sleep until I have written it out of my system. The Prince of the Pagodas is not a new ballet. It was created by John Cranko in 1957, a choreographer for whom I have a particularly high regard and has been revised by Kenneth MacMillan and Monica Mason. Bintley created the work that we saw last night for the National Ballet of Japan in 2011. He has now brought his work home to the Birmingham Royal Ballet. As you can see from the synopses of the National Ballet of Japan and the Birmingham Royal Ballet the story is based very loosely on King Lear. Bintley has made a number of modifications to the plot that distance it still further from Lear in that he substitutes a wicked stepmother for a wicked sister and the Cordelia character is called not Rose but Sakura which means Cherry Blossom. But the essentials from Lear of an ill used and ailing father and a devoted but alienated daughter are retained by Bintley. Both the Japanese and Birmingham synopses omit important details. Immediately before the curtain rose Tzu-Chao Chou sat in the centre of the stage. He danced the jester or fool and was the link for each stage of the story from the welcome of the conductor to the rostrum to attending and supporting the imprisoned emperor in his confinement. A remarkable character artist he brought humour to the ballet. The kings of the cardinal points were dressed respectively as Uncle Sam, a Russian, a Zulu and something else which I am still trying to ascertain from the company's website, the "Creating Pagodas" blog and programme. Possibly a Pacific islander or a native American Each bought a gift representing his culture: an elephant tusk from the African, a miniature oil well from the Russian, a cache of guns from the American and a long pipe from the fourth cardinal point. Those characters appeared again as demons in red as Princess Sakura and her brother, the salamander, passed through fire on their escape from their wicked stepmother. There is a lot of material in this ballet to which a review of a few paragraphs will never do justice so I shall focus on the essentials. First, Benjamin Britten's score has been the subject of more than a little criticism (see, for example, Judith Macrkrell's review of the Mason production in The Guardian of 6 June 2012). I found it majestic, complex, delicate and varied. I particularly enjoyed the gamelan sequences. I loved it all and would gladly listen to it again and again. I can see why Britten's music would be difficult to choreograph but I think Bintley has found the way. The audience's attention was retained through a very complex story by some quite spectacular dancing from the entry of the four kings to a fight scene in the last act where the princess and the salamander rescue their father and send the wicked empress packing. Last but by no means least were Rae Smith's sumptuous designs - glorious backdrops of Mount Fuji, swirling elements and a salamander - and costumes with everything from sea horses to kimonos. I can't remember such a visual feast in any theatrical performance. Bintley demanded a lot from his dancers but all were equal to the challenge: Joseph Caley and Momoko Hirata who danced the salamander and Sakura, Elisha Willis the wicked stepmother and Rory Mackay the emperor. Each of the four kings was splendid - Mathias Dingman as king of the north, Chi Cao the king of the east, James Barton king of the west and my favourite, Tyrone Singleton king of the south. In the programme there is an article by Paul Arrowsmith entitled "Transforming and Unloved Prince". It notes that the ballet has never been popular with British audiences even though it was created and revised by a succession of great choreographers and considers why. I think this version will be the one that sticks. It certainly deserves to do so and I hope it will." Yesterday I met Janet McNulty and renewed my acquaintance with DonQ Fan which was a great pleasure. I was also pleased to meet Jennifer from Halifax which is not far from me. I am delighted to meet folk with such entusiasm for, and extensive knowledge of, ballet and I look forward to seeing them again soon.

I thoroughly enjoy Prince of the Pagodas this evening. Great score, great designs, great choreography and above all great dancing. I will try to review it properly when I get home.

I do know the "Not Dance forum and check it out every day as I do all the forums. The reason I have not contributed to any of the non-dance topics is that I have not had anything to say though I have come close to wading into the room 101 and children's activities threads. I am working on a little essay on romanticism to start as a pot boiler which I shall probably toss in after I get back from Prince of the Pagodas and Sibley. If it is OK with you I would like to widen it beyond German romanticism for two reasons. The first is that I am more familiar with English and French literature than I am with German. Secondly, I want to include the other arts into the discussion including ballet. However, I am looking forward to reading your literary references. It is years since I read anything in German that was not a patent specification or commentary on a law report. Judging by the pain I sense in some of the replies to my reflections on Giselle I seem to have hurt some people for which I am very sorry, In particular, I fear that I may have hurt LinMM who wrote the most lovely review last night which touched me as it did others. I can't resile from my opinion that there is something sinister in the plot and I may have views on other ballets that not everybody would share but I shall take greater care in the way that I express them.

And that's the glory of the performing arts. It is a two way process. The audience are as much as a show as the cast. I think that is why some folk refer to live theatre (as opposed to TV or film) as the "legitimate stage". Interesting that you mention The Messiah as I come from Huddersfield which has the famous Choral. I think the oratorio is all about hope. As for why audiences stand for the Hallelujah Chorus I once attended a performance in Yosemite where the chorus master explained that we rise in deference to King George who rose from his seat when he first heard that music. I have always thought that was a delightful story and quite surprising that the tradition survives in the USA if the story is true.

Thanks for your comments Meunier and Jacqueline. Actually I have a problem with romanticism generally in literature and painting as well as in the performing arts. Particularly Sturm und Drang. I find it all dark, menacing and irrational though I concede it has produced great art. I would be happy to discuss romanticism with you and anyone else who is interested though perhaps not in this forum. Giselle has always given me the creeps and has done ever since I first saw it. So too does some of the work of Shelley, Blake and the pre-Raphaelites. As I have said twice before I can only take the second act which is artistically the more satisfying bit if I put the story out of my mind though I am conscious that in so doing I may be losing something. I am not asking anyone to agree with me or and I am certainly not selling an argument, merely presenting an analysis and appreciation that others are free to take or leave.

Thanks for publishing this press release Janet McNulty. I am an associate (non-dancing) member of that company and we follow each other on twitter. I am probably their most Northerly member. The classes are indeed open to the public if I were good enough I would love to join in. They seem a great bunch of people. I am looking forward to seeing their Nutcracker in a few weeks time. Not only am I coming but I am dragging along my unfortunate cousin (a retired WPC) who lives in Essex and whom I have not seen for several decades to the show.

Some of you may have detected that I have very mixed feelings about Giselle. Not just Peter Wright's production but any Giselle. I shall probably be shunned for ever by my ballet going friends and cashiered from BalletcoForum for this blog post which I have modified by removing links to articles in my blog but, if so, too bad: "The performances of Giselle with Carlos Acosta and Natalia Osipova that I saw at Covent Garden on the 18 Jan and in the cinema on the 27 Jan were outstanding and will take their place in my memory alongside magnificent performances that I saw over 40 years ago by Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev, Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell and Carla Fracci and Erik Bruhn. However, I always feel uneasy after seeing Giselle - not just this performance but any. I hear my father's reproaches that time once lost can never be recovered, The reason I have a problem with Giselle is the story. It is not that it is a silly story. Compared to Swan Lake and The Nutcracker it makes perfect sense. An impressionable young girl who has a steady relationship with the village gamekeeper is seduced by a playboy aristocrat in disguise who is already engaged to another woman. She shows him off to her mother and her friends and she is crowned queen of the wine pageant. The aristocrat's connections visit the village and he is exposed as a philanderer by the gamekeeper. Betrayed and humiliated the girl loses her reason and goes into a frenzy in which she either dies or kills herself. So far so good. The story could have come out of The Archers and I would not be surprised if something like it has not been run at some stage over the last 60 years. But then the plot loses me because Giselle is buried in unconsecrated ground where her spirit joins those of other women who have been seduced and die before their wedding day. They have it in for men and if any man is unfortunate enough to stray across their path as the gamekeeper did they kill him (though having said that I have seen one performance, though I cannot remember which company, where the gamekeeper survives and the curtain falls on his shaking hands with the playboy). That is a pretty unpleasant as well as fantastic story and offends my sensibilities as a Quaker as well as an aesthete. Interestingly I see from the programme notes that Peter Wright had similar reservations about the story when asked to stage Giselle by Cranko and it is only in the last day or so that I find that he was also brought up as a Quaker. You see the idea of burying in a forest a young woman who has died of a broken heart or even killed herself appalls us and the idea of hateful and vengeful forest spirits is .... well let's not go there. All this is of course a product of romanticism which produced great art but it also had a dark side which degenerated into nationalism, racism and, ultimately, fascism. Of course all this was wonderful material for the Soviet authorities. Look at what used to happen in older superstitious times and count yourselves lucky that you now live in a modern socialist state that has no place for the likes of Albrecht. No wonder Giselle remained in the the repertoires of both the Kirov and Bolshoi and was indeed developed by them. Yet Adam's music is so beautiful and the choreography of the second act is so compelling that I can't keep away from Giselle. I am ashamed to say it but it is my favourite ballet. And I leave the theatre after a good performance like the one on the 18 Jan damming the waves of tears. How do I sit through it despising myself for harbouring those emotions yet unable to walk away? The solution - and it is one that partially works for me any may not for anyone else - is to put the story out of my mind. To absorb the music and dancing as pure abstraction as though they were the work of Balanchine."