Two Pigeons

Darcey is a very attractive screen presence but I would hardly view her programmes as highly incisive. Nothing I have seen her present has matched the programmes of Deborah Bull or Tamara Rojo for their sheer intelligence. However, I must agree that for people new to ballet Darcey's more straight forward approach is probably easier to take on board.

Unlike the current season I got really excited about 2015/16. I thought the way the subscription packages have been restructured was 'interesting'. However, I filled out my application and have whopped it in the post and will hope for the best. My main regret is that Ambra Vallo left the company before she had a chance to dance Natalia Petrovna. My main hope is for Celine and Tyrone in Taming of the Shrew with Delia Matthew and Brandon Lawrence as second cast.

I see that the review in the FT mentions the dark 'lighting' for Serenade. Good to realise that we oldies with imperfect vision and a desire to see the dancers ars not alone.

Celine rocks! Especially when she is dancing with Tyrone. Long may they continue.

Another point Mr Bintley may wish to consider if he wishes to retain his older core audience is that as you get on in life you are less able to see a dark stage. I am getting more and more irritated but the current trend to relight old favourites which seems to lead increasingly to 'atmosphere' over being able to see the dancers clearly. When this is coupled with darker designs, Les Rendezvous being a good example, so much of the spectator's joy is lost.

I think the Coliseum is cutting down on its dance events in favour of musicals. It is fairly widely know that BRB are looking at their London options but I get the impression the choice is not that large.

Having followed the company since 1982 I feel there is a huge disparity between his views and the attitude of the new Friends/publicity bods. I feel increasingly that they have no interest in the core audience and are only interested in trying to find new customers, preferably with plenty of money. We are very fortunate in that Birmingham City Council have made a conscious decision to keep up their level of funding despite make in swingeing cuts elsewhere. I am not sure that this can continue indefinitely however. The company puts on some wonderful shows and genuinely interesting triple bills. Regrettably these do not get the support they deserve and I really do not know what is the answer.

I wish I'd seen Fonteyn and Nureyev at the festival they did at (I think) the Festival Hall in 1979. I wish I'd see Pliestskya when she appeared at a London gala in around 1989. I wish I'd seen the original casts of Nicholas Nickleby and Les Miserables at the RSC. I wish that I had not stopped watching ballet between 2003 and 2007 so I missed seeing a lot of Robert Parker.

Very much Kazakhstan's good fortune. I still remember what a glorious ballerina she was. I treasure my memories of her performances.

This is a very interesting topic on a highly subjective subject. I agree with you that it is common in the UK to refer to any female ballet dancer but I personally think they have to be far more special to award that title. To me a ballerina need not be a principal but their quality of performance, rather than just technique, puts them above the rest. Also, you can have sub classes; dramatic, romantic or classical being three examples. Again, speaking personally, there is a difference between being a ballerina and a star. I have seen three great ballerinas who were all of these things; Fonteyn, Makarova and Guillem. Each of them brought some extra special to their performances. Seymour was a dramatic ballerina without peer and Rojo was definitely in the same vein, ditto Marcia Haydee. However, I am not sure I would have been that convinced by any of them as Aurora. Sibley and Park were great Auroras but I doubt they would ever have attempted Anastasia. In recent years I would have classed Durante and Yoshida as ballerinas but not necessarily stars. Conversely I viewed Bussell as an utter star but not a ballerina. Again, for me, two ballerinas were Marion Tait and Galina Samsova for the sheer intelligence of their performances. Not every one would agree with me but that was just my reaction to them. Another one would be Ambra Vallo with Nina Ananiashvilli whom I just adored.

Terpsichore, if you get the chance to see Tyrone and Celine as the pas de deux couple in Carmina Burana do anything you can to get a ticket. They make the ballet worth seeing by themselves. I am not a fan of the piece but I love them in it.

If he's taking hints please may we have Luke Schaufuss as Benno as well.

I will try Alison but BRB are notoriously tardy with notification of their casting.

I am a bit late with my offering to this topic but I just wanted to say that I booked my tickets for Coppelia last April. With BRB you do not get the luxury of advance casting so it was a case of hope for the best. When it came to it I did get what, for me, is absolutely the best. I know I bang on and on about Celine Gittens and Tyrone Singleton but what a joy to see her debut in the role. This girl is an utter jewel of the company and I view her partnership with Tyrone as the hottest and most watchable couple BRB have at the moment. My 18 year old niece came and she giggled her way through the first act and then informed me 'she needs a better boyfriend'. However, when true love reigned she agreed that Franz and Swanilda were a match made in Heaven. Tyrone is a deserved Principal and Celine has to be a future one. This girl is a bit special and she is so beautiful it is a joy to watch her. I was very lucky to see my first choice cast. I would have been interested to have seen Samara Downs and Jamie Bond so I will have to look for another time.

Thank you so much for this lovely review. I really envy you the trip and the whole experience. Your review touched on two great causes and effects of the Bournonville style and its legacy. The first is that August Bournonville believed that the male dancer was at least the equal if the ballerina and gave him solos and variations to match. This tradition has led to the Danish school producing some if the greatest male dancers in the world. One if them, Peter Schaufuss described a Bournonville pas de deux as a conversation between two people rather than an exercise in porteuring. The second is that the jumps are high but not long. This was dictated by the small size of the stage, which is the other point you noticed. As a keen fan of BRB I expect that like me you are watching the progress of Luke Schaufuss with keen attention. I first saw him in Nutcracker and I picked him out instantly as his Danish training shows. Hus epaulement is quite different, nobler some how than this fellow dancers. Lastly, many years ago I attended a talk given by Kevin O'Hare and he talked very warmly about an exchange period he had in Denmark. He said he and Jeremy Sheffield had a few months training there as the ballet school was so good for its male training. The RDB sent two girls to the RBS as that was renowned for its female training. Thank you again for your review. I really enjoyed reading it.

Gosh, aren't Iain and Magguy doing a terrific job there. First the Ashton festival and now this. Sarasota is a very lucky town.

This gala was shown on Sky Arts a few months ago and parts of it are lovely. I have invested in the DVD and am particularly looking forward to seeing the Raymona extract again as this party piece is not given often enough. I am confident anyone would find they had not wasted their £12.99.

The real pi**er about this is that Carmina is one work which actually sells in Birmingham. Whether it's the tie with Ex-cathedra I cannot say but it seems obstinately popular. I am just hoping I get Tyrone and Celine who make the piece just about tolerable.

Agreed with knobs on Barnes2. Mind you, BRB used to have Sir Peter's early version until about a decade ago. I for one miss it.

I have to agree with Barnes2 and I was thinking exactly the same thing about the fate of triple bills outside of London. I first saw BRB (SWRB) in May 1979 and it was a triple ending in Pineapple Poll. Over the years when have seen the company and the Schaufuss years at LFB/ENB I have seen some wonderful triple bills in and out of London. I do not refer to the RB in this as they have always had a stable in-house audience and touring was never that big an issue. Either way, the lack of an audience for these super occasions has always been an issue. I remember going to a talk given by Peter Schaufuss in the mid 80s and he was asked this very question. He made a point which has stayed with me all these years and one which I have passed on when I used to host talks for BRB. If you go to see a full length ballet and you do not like the central couple you are stuffed. If you go to see a triple you see a full range of dancers which may include nearly all the company's principal dancers. At the moment BRB have 5 principal ladies, two of which are on maternity leave. I got to see the remaining three on both nights. They have 6 principal boys, I got to see 5 of them on Wednesday and 4 on Friday, including Joseph Cayley whom I have not seen for a while and Jamie Bond whom I do not see often enough. Added to that there were a number of up and comings so in that respect I feel I really had my money's worth. However, as was stated above, the audience numbers were very disappointing, as they were for Shadows of War in the Autumn and the Ashton triple in the Summer. It will be a huge loss if we no longer have the real interest that triple bills bring. I do think a large part of this is that there seems to be no end of an audience for full lengths, especially now with cinema relays. However, that word again, we have been told that the promoters of these showings will not touch triple bills. How many of us would have loved to have seen the Ashton Mixed Bill from the Opera House but this was not given to us. Another Nutcracker or Swan Lake, no problem, 5 masterpieces from our founder choreographer, not a chance. How will we ever get to square this circle with that sort of attitude?

I have been meaning to submit my two penn'th worth for a couple of days and the previous postings have spurred me to get typing. I saw this triple bill on Wednesday (Janet and I were sitting more or less together) and I was utterly blown away by most of it. At the end of Serenade I said to Janet that sometimes I forget what an utter genius Balanchine was. We had Elisha Willis (currently platinum blonde) with the great Cesar Morales in the pas de deuz and Momoko Hirata sailed through the virtuoso single girl part. However, my closest attention was paid to my favourite pairing in the company, Celine Gittens and Tyrone Singleton together with the utter marvel which is the choreography for the main company in the first movement. My only irritation was with the lighting effect which seemed (yet again) to have gone for atmosphere over the audience actually having a clear view of the dancers. I returned on the Friday to see the same cast but the lighting seemed to be even dimmer. I am not a fan of Lyric Pieces, which I find too slight to be viewed as the main meat in the sandwich of a triple bill. I also find the Ikea, flat pack fans a real disatraction. However, the dancing was great and I must echo what has been said about about Iain Mackay and Jenna Roberts as the main leads. Credit must also go to Mathias Dingman and Maureya Lebowitz. It was great to see both James Barton and Lewis Turner have chances to shine in a plotless work and Will Bracewell always impresses. The other person I must mention is the rapidly rising Brandon Lawrence who illuminates everything he does. In the Upper Room was just terrific on Wednesday night and the finale with Tyrone, Iain and Jamie Bond all giving it their all made me just float home. However, I have to say that the Friday night cast, with one glorious exception, was just not good enough. the cast included dancers who were miscast and there were a number of fumblings with the partnering. I did enjoy seeing Jenna Roberts really letting go and having a good time and credit should be given to Ruth Brill and Jade Heussen as the two girls in trainers who hold the whole thing together. As I said, there was one glorious exception to this who held my attention every time he was on stage. Please take a bow yet again, Brandon Lawrence, you stole the show for me. May you continue to have many opportunities to shine.

I agree that there is a lot of history here but may I be really controversial and suggest that with some of the performances I have seen on YouTube this might be a two way street. Could it also be that Western Ballet needs some protection from some Russian reinterpretation? I do wonder what Sir Fred would have thought of the recent renderings of Marguerite and Armand.

I frequently thank the Gods of Dance that I was able to see so much of the Schaufuss years with LFB/ENB. He achieved so much and gave us so many wonderful performances. Even if the productions could be a bit hit and miss at times we saw such wonderful dancers and guest principals. And he made Ashton feel loved and valued towards the end of his life. Thank you, thank you, thank you Mr Schaufuss.

Janet and I were talking about this last night. She was fairly sure that Trinidad Sevilliano (probably spelt that wrongly) was Odette. You are right about Patrick Armand and Susan Hogard as Odile.

I have heard Kevin O'Hare interviewed a number of times over the years and he seems to have a special feeling about Swan Lake. It's almost as though he views it as the Holy Grail of ballet. I would be very surprised if his period oversaw anything way out for a new production. Although I am not that close a follower of the RB personally I would be disappointed if they did not have a solidly traditional version of this cornerstone of the reportoire. Generally speaking gimmicky productions don't last - Matthew Bourne's being very much the honourable exception to this. I do think the point about design is pretty crucial here. Step forward John Macfarlane whose track record speaks for itself.