Petunia

Thank you Mary. As the current Triple sold out very quickly, I don't have much hope this time. Better not to wish too strongly, let's pretend I'm not at all interested in tickets and just want to have a look .

The General Booking starts tomorrow at 0800 (0900 where I am). So please, are there any tips from seasoned online-bookers? Should I be logged in well before the time? Last time I even couldn't log in at all . I'll be in London from 29th May to 1st June and would very much like to see "Song of the Earth" and "In the Night" as they are never performed over here...!

Of course it does. And the chocolate is made of cocoa beans and beans are vegetables. So the Bounty bar is even two of your 5-a-day!

*Insert an hysterically happy bouncing smilie here* I've just booked a flight and hotel room for London... in more than three months' time - end of May!.. just for a few days. Now the next step will be to catch tickets for the Robbins mixed bill... please dear Phantom of the ROH don't let the servers crash this time.

I’m so very sorry to say that I don’t like the RB’s Swan Lake decor and costumes for most of the dancers AT ALL. To be honest, I only have seen the DVD – there the stage looks cramped and the costumes seem fussy, it might be different on the big stage? Odette/Odile’s tutus and the Prince’s uniform in Act 1 and 2 are nice, though. Nevertheless I am very much looking forward to the cinema broadcast in March!

Also the "pancakes" look better from above.

What a pity. It's strange because I'm watching it right now... . It is a work of Ratmansky and Jerome Kaplan and the music is played exceptionally well by Holland Symfonia. I didn't know Minkus could sound so beautiful - not in this awfully crashing circus music style. Anna Tsygankova is stunning in it, a very warm and funny Kitri, technically brilliant and with such a relaxed musicality!

I know I'm a little late with this. But for everybody who liked Anna Tsygankova's Kitri so much - here she is with Matthew Golding and her home company, the Dutch National Ballet in the complete Don Q. (If you can stomach more Spanish stuff ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4VtUk43vBk

My dance-watching year was very much influenced by my newly discovered love for British ballet, mostly via the cinema and videos and of course by my first visit to RB and ENB this spring! So, here goes: - Marianela Nunez lighting up the stage as Aurora and Vadim Muntagirov giving the (usually quite uninteresting) Prince a personality. Visible even from row G in the Amphitheatre. - Seeing Tamara Rojo, Akram Khan and Alina Cojocaru in the utterly absorbing works by Maliphant and Khan for ENB just one day later! - I’ve seen Mayerling for the first time (both videos, with Watson and Mukhamedov)! - Everything and everybody in the “Winter’s Tale”. - World Ballet Day! And: I’m glad I registered with Balletco !

The concert master is the head violinist or leader of the strings section and also acts as a substitute for the conductor. He supervises the tuning of the instruments and sometimes he is also the spokesperson of the orchestra.

The photos are great! I love the one with Muntagirov in passé ! I'll go and see the transmission on the 16th! Am already looking forward to it, I've seen the DVD with Lauren Cuthbertson and Segei Polunin. Mr P and I probably will be the only ones in the cinema... but it's such a perfect pre-Christmas treat!

Dear All, thank you for you kind support! I’m sure it has helped, as I’m already hobbling on 1 ½ legs again. Balleteacher, the arnica tablet suggestion was spot-on! One of my students gave me some globuli, she always has some on her - as a nursery teacher she often has to care for bruises. If I can make it down the stairs somehow, I’ll try and get myself to a doctor’s surgery tomorrow. My fabulous physiotherapist is on a training course in Switzerland… tough luck! Yes, that may be the case, but shouldn’t we be wiser too?

Thank you, Fiz. :-)

This little guy. http://youtu.be/KQ_KuvGDfGM

Yesterday near the end of class I started to demonstrate chassé, chassé, temps levée when something in my left calf did pop - I even heard it! – just below the back of my knee. It was at once painful but not so bad that I had to sit down immediately. I bravely marked grand allegro and cool down but then I had to be taken home by a student in her car. I don’t know if I have pulled a muscle or if there are some torn fibres. I did ice the spot when I was home half an hour later and put comfrey ointment on it, took a painkiller and with “RICE” it became a little better. At night I nearly went through the ceiling because of an awful cramp in the calf. Today I feel grumpy and immobilised. How could I have been so careless – I’m 50+, didn’t warm up properly, have a knee weakness as well as an achilles tendon issue and a tendency for tight calves. Stupid, stupid. Oh well. I just wanted to get that off my chest. Could I now have a little bagful of compassion, please?

Thank you jm365 for your detailed advice and BerylH for the heads-up! Planning a visit to London is becoming more and more difficult... ! I have to find out how to cram as much dance and theatre as possible into a short stay...

Waltz in E minor, op. posth. 1830. If you can, try to see the whole thing ("The Concert", by Jerome Robbins) - it's hilarious!

I agree with you. I saw the screening in one of those big movie theatres where they show a couple of American blockbusters at the same time, in a very touristy place, so there was a huge crowd of popcorn lovers in the lobby. There was neither a poster nor any other advertisement to be seen for the RB, just a tiny flyer. The ticket was pricey (25€) and there were approximately 15 people in the audience. I wonder if they are going to continue with further screenings. They are also showing transmissions from the Met Opera and the ROH but I don’t know if those attract more visitors. With high entrance prices and no advertisement whatsoever I doubt that new audiences are attracted – it seems that a screening of the RB here in Berlin is something for hardcore fans only.

I’ve been to the cinema, too! I think Nunez and Bonelli are stunning, authentic and touching. Even in the most intricate duets they radiate thruthfulness – not only in their faces but in their whole bodies…when Nunez lifts her leg in the last pdd it is utter desperation, not just a developpé in second… When Des Grieux began his solo in the first act (that was when the music stopped a few times – ouch) I thought I saw his fingers shaking but when Manon looked at him and smiled and when they started moving together, I sensed a wave of trust and confidence spreading out and enclosing them like a soft blanket. That was an incredibly moving moment. In the party scene there were moments of such a tension, I could feel it even via the screen. As I have seen Manon on Video (I have the Rojo / Acosta DVD), I know there is so much going on in the background and at the sides that shouldn’t be missed but unfortunately the filming didn’t catch all of the action. Also in the first act the camera position was somewhat weird, sometimes the feet were cut off at overall the image lacked depth. That became better afterwards. During the intervals I stayed put although I was not so sure about Darcey Bussell as a host but I enjoyed the conversation with Lady MacMillan a lot. Truly enlightening when she mentioned Sir Kenneth’s obsession with ice skating during the making of the ballet – it’s easy to see in the pdd’s sliding and gliding and spiraling movements! After it was over, my whole body ached from sitting motionless and tensed for nearly three hours. I was quite agitated when I got home, I just couldn’t sleep. BTW – did I see Francesca Hayward in the first and last act as one of the deported girls? If so, this is the best example of how life as a ballet dancer teaches you humility…!

Yes, when I was in London in March, I tried to see L'Ormindo, but it was sold out. I'd love to see a performance there, if I can remember to buy tickets well in advance. It's quite pricey, too.

I can't believe it. When the casting information came out I was especially interested in the Hayward/Watson and Cuthbertson/Muntagirov pairing... I refrained from booking ticket / flight / hotel etc because I thought those tickets would be sold out too quickly and didn't bother. Stupid me.

Nine in the actual run?!

Great! Thanks, Jane. I'll send them an email and ask. I always thought the groundling tickets weren't bookable in advance, so that is good news.

I can’t add anything to the discussion. I just want to say that I enjoy reading all those various views on Manon. How lucky the RB is to have six different couples for the leading roles and how happy you as an audience must be to see and compare them. It must be terrific to see all those gorgeous Manons and DGs! As much as I wish to see a Manon here, I sadly can’t imagine the Berliner Staatsballett in it…! (Do I sound “just a tiny little bit” envious…? and I’m looking forward to see Manon at the cinema on the 16th.)

Many years ago I was in London when the Globe Theatre on the South Bank was just completed. I did a tour then but didn’t see a performance. Since that time I have often dreamt about watching a play as a “groundling”, but when I visited London in the following years it was never in the summer so there were no performances. Next year I’d like to come in May/June as I hope to catch a performance of the RB’s Robbins/MacMillan mixed bill so there might be a chance to see a play at the Globe. The Globe’s website doesn’t reveal their plans for the next year, so my question is – does anyone know when they are going to announce their schedule? And does one have to book standing tickets in advance?