thewinelake

I'm confused, then - when was all this set? You say "last December" but wasn't it just a couple of weeks ago?! Or are you meaning that she didn't have to learn it because she knew it already?

Agree with most of the comments, but really enjoyed this - it didn't seem too cut-down or dumbed-down as usually seems to be the way. One thing that was a little surprising was that they didn't mention that Frankie also had to perform (and learn??) the part of Clara. Would have loved to see more (some!) of Naghdi.

Song of the Earth was tremendous. I wonder if we recorded it? Doubt I'd be able to find it now that technology has moved on. When was it? About 10 years ago? Some of it here and here:

I understand that Ore may be poached. I liked him during the olympics, but suspect the fame could spoil him. Strictly has a lot to answer for!

I think that's fair. The fun bits were fun, but they clashed with the best bits (the more dramatic scenes), particularly the bedroom scene. Liked it very much, didn't love it. Not as good overall as Sleeping Beauty or similar things from the Royal Ballet (eg Alice), but did love being able to afford decent seats.....

A good idea.

Is there a page somewhere talking about the technical side of these broadcasts?

Thanks for the gingerbread info - we were curious because the girl being interviewed said she was a gingerbread so we were looking out for her! Fast panning was a problem at our cinema and the screen could usefully have been wider and higher definition. Gauzes don't work so well on camera either...

Ok, one question that my daughter asked that stumped me - when did the gingerbreads appear?

Hope they didn't bring their cattle in with them ;-)

No talk here about the cinema relay last night? Must say that I was extremely taken by Francesca Hayward. Something about the way she exuded childlike joy melted my Scrooge-like heart. Especially the bit at the end when she realises that it was more than a dream.

Going to see it on Saturday 17th - can't wait! Actually have a couple of tickets spare, just realised I can list them here....

A belated well done here. I recall meeting you at RAD a few years ago when you were in my DD's inter foundation class, and I am also on Cix. But right now you are the most famous person I have ever met. As they say, keeeeeeep dancing!

That's dreadful, stardancer. I'd be wanting a refund just to make the point to management. Our DDs happily settled in at RAD's Summer Stages, London. A nice bunch of girls and excellent pastoral care.

Do you keep all your programmes?

Janet - were there any programmes available on the Saturday? They'd sold out by Sunday - the one time I'd decided to throw caution and prudence to the wind and buy one of the things! Anyway, they've made the programme available here: http://issuu.com/sadlerswells/docs/natalia_osipova_merged_pdfs?workerAddress=ec2-54-87-249-211.compute-1.amazonaws.com BTW, Hope it's OK to post that - please delete if you think it might be in any way bad ettiquette.

I was hoping to edit my earlier post with final musings on the evening, but that doesn't seem to be possible now - so it's just hanging there as a bit of a memorial to pointlessness (although that chocolate really is damn good). Anyway: Qutb (how DO you pronounce it?! "Cuttub?") was superb - very reminiscent of the Cherkaoui piece performed by LA Dance Project, but better, with more variation. Apparently Qutb means 'axis', 'pivot' or 'pole' - and I can see there was a sense of that. Osipova seemed to perform the piece pretty well, even if the "meditative gymnastics" (Love it!) style isn't what she's known for. Her partners were stronger, maybe more used to doing that kind of thing? Silent Echo - yes, another great success in my book - super lighting effects and incredible spins from both dancers. I thought they worked very well together - perhaps not an obviously emotional connection, but certainly a physical, performance synergy there. This one could have usefully been longer - as it was quite enthralling. Run Mary Run. Mmmmm. Really not sure what to make of it (and that in itself is a good thing). Plenty of the departing audience were not at all amused (and this amused me). Interesting seeing Osipova do her 60's dancing - not bad - and the funny bit with the drink and cigarettes worked for me. However, one thought that plenty of other dancers could have done it equally well, so possibly a waste of her talent? What was wonderful was to be able to get so close to her (we were on row B of the stalls) and see her face without the need for optical aids. I've got to say that I would have enjoyed it more if she'd done more classical stuff, but I respect her right to try something different - and am glad we didn't pay full price! Edit: Just looked at Clement Crisp's review - I know what he means (and I think I make a weaker but similar point), but is it fair to blame Sadlers Wells? Surely this was Osipova's own selection? At worst it's just a bit of self-indulgence, surely? Or maybe like commuting in a Ferrari?

Qutb just stunning! As is this seed & bean chocolate... Looking forward to Silent Echo

Going to see this today. Very much enjoyed Cherkaoui's piece for LA Dance project. Got the tickets cheap, and wouldn't have paid full price, as the concept didn't really appeal. I think some dancers should stick to what they're good at. I even think that Bussell's recent attempts on TV to do other forms have diminished her talents in my eyes. Sylvie Guilhem might be a bit of a one-off?? Hopefully it'll be a bit more "rehearsed" by now!

Looks like the press weren't as impressed as I was. I wonder what would be a better example of the genre that I should look out for?

Thanks - is Clement Crisp particularly noteworthy as a critic? I don't have an FT account. Maybe should pick up a paper copy!

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jun/27/la-dance-project-review-benjamin-millepied-sadlers-wells-london

Thanks - I rather prefer the second one. Maybe because it really is dancing to music rather than some slo-mo jumping with an overlaid audio track. Neither of them really grab me, though, I must confess! Reminds me a little of FKA Twigs dance video ( ).

Great pics! I confess to not having purchased a programme, so I didn't really know who was who or what was what. Harbor me was the highlight as far as I was concerned - taking dance to a level I'd not seen before. The 3 guys blended into a kind of 3-headed Zaphod Beeblebrox and their smooth sinous movements and transitions seemed to defy what I thought was possible! If you like Stephen McRae, you'd love this. Some bits of "On the Other Side" were fantastic, others got a bit dull (but this was at the end of a long week!). There was one sequence with a girl in a grey dress doing fairly classical ballet in a lovely joyful style, but then three others girls appeared in the corner and seemed to be saying "how dare you?!". Very funny.... Hearts and arrows was very good with very clever choreography, although I felt the later pieces eclipsed it. Then when the cast did their bit, they came out front to watch their friends performing. Not sure if this is usual, but it was nice to be able to have a very brief chat with them afterwards. We were only there because my daughter had a French language exchange student over (from Paris) who enjoys dancing (they don't seem to take it quite as seriously over there with grades and things) and she immediately recognised Benjamin Millipied and we* even spotted Natalie Portman and Matthew Bourne in the theatre (* - not me, I'm terrible at recognising people) and that added to the evening. The only downer was that my elder daughter managed to drop her phone and smash the screen, it only having been replaced 3 weeks earlier!!! I hope that someone more expert than me will be along with a better review. I've not seen anything in the press yet (although I only looked this morning).

Certainly is! Had a spare ticket last night that we were unable to sell or even give away