Douglas Allen

Rob S - Thanks for mentioning this as many would have missed this altogether (the blurb in the Radio Times was totally unhelpful mentioning only a Victorian shop and netball). The RBS sequence was short, but interesting. At least they got the dates right (1911 not the 1909 as mentioned by Portillo ). It was good to see Anita Young looking as if she is still perfectly capable of leading the shades down the ramp and setting a perfect example to the 31 followers.

Sadly, Bruce, I think you're right. Sometimes (i.e. quite a lot of the time) I can't understand some of Kevin O'Hare's preferences and strategy. My comment above was more of a personal preference/fantasy wish than a reasonable expectation. Still, there's always Frankenstein and perhaps Raven Girl still to look forward to... As far as Europe is concerned, Paris has the dancers at the moment...?

Funny, Bruce, I was wondering exactly the same thing! Vienna Waltzes is one of my favourite later Balanchine works and I would dearly like to see it in the Royal's rep. Copyright in the UK is that it expires 70 years after the end of the calendar year in which the last of the creators of the work dies. Approval from the Balanchine Trust can never be taken for granted but the current strength of the Royal Ballet would, I think, remove any obstacles. Here's hoping!

Ian, Thanks for replying. The situation has resolved itself (i.e. I haven't done anything!) on the computer where I use Chrome but is still only partially improved (meaning it still happens but not every time I'm on the site) on the other computer using IE. I guess I'll live in hope that it gets totally resolved here as well. I first noticed the improvement on the 10th.

It's your decision whether or not to buy a programme, Dawnstar, but not if your reason is to discern the plot of Don Q! The only full length ballet lighter than Don Q on plot is Jewels. Lots of people have come out of a Don Q performance wondering "what on earth was that all about?" but no-one ever came out of a performance wanting to find out more about the intricacies of the plot. The plot can be summarised as follows: A couple want to get married. Her dad isn't happy and wants a richer husband for her. A visiting knight comes by, mistakes her for an inamorata, gets a blow to the head and has a dream, the lovers trick her dad and get married. The end. There's a lot of dancing (hopefully, good quality) around the story.

Leslie worked in London but also did quite extensive work elsewhere, particularly with Stuttgart and most of the photographs shown above are of Stuttgart dancers. Photos 2 and 3 are both of Sibley and Dowell - number 2 in Swan Lake and number 3 (I think, in Dances At A Gathering - I'm not 100% positive as Dowell's shirt has some detailing which I can't be sure is from Dances). All the other photos, I believe, show dancers from Stuttgart and I would guess other members of the forum would be able to provide more accurate identification than I. Is this any help Mr 5bellies (any relation to the Jimmy whose friendship with Mr Gascoigne is well known?) and thanks to Ian for his finding them.

As she did 28 and travelled a bit, I feel this is overstating the case a trifle. I don't think it important as it is still a couple of weeks away from performances. On the whole I don;t think people not professionally involved could or should draw many inferences from rehearsals or other studio work. As a member of the audience it's the performance only that matters. Looking at work in a studio informs and enhances our appreciation of the performance. The Insight tonight on Don Q was interesting as far as it went without convincing me that the ballet is or should be a core element in the Royal Ballet's repertory and it also slightly reinforced the impression that Kevin O'Hare is a fine Director, but I've never had the feeling that his forte is to be a coach/ballet master/rehearsal director of classical pas de deux.

Following up my earlier comment, an example I've just encountered came when I looked at the Home Page, under Performances Seen I looked at the Index and under the Asphodel Meadows/Two Pigeons topic there was nothing new listed (the most recent contribution was from four days ago). About ten minutes later a new contribution appeared so I checked it out and found 18 entries made to the topic over the last six hours. Is it the Forum software or my equipment?

Over the last week or so I have noticed that the Forum home page which displays the most recent post isn't aligned with the posts as they appear under each topic heading. In some cases a post is listed on the index page but doesn't appear in the relevant section for some time (usually minutes but occasionally hours), but sometimes the reverse happens and there are posts in a topic which don't appear on either the home page or the forum's page. I use more than one device and both Chrome and Explorer and this problem occurs in both devices and with the two systems. Has anyone else encountered this? Occasionally it happens that the index pages and the contributions are in sync but it's unpredictable and most times there are discrepancies. I find it makes the index pages unreliable and the site difficult to consult.

This seems absolutely good news - one of the few occasions it's possible to say that without any reservations. There are so few ballet companies in England based outside London, and, because of their size and finances, it isn't possible for them to tour everywhere so there are huge swathes of the country unfamiliar with their work and this seems an excellent way for their work to be seen (and appreciated) widely. Whoever in Northern Ballet and/or first direct came up with this idea and carried it through - many, many congratulations! I'd also like to support Ian Macmillan's comment above.

I first saw her at her graduation performance as a fairy in the prologue to Beauty at the RBS matinee where she was sensational with a stunning technique to match anyone in the company at the time. Since then I always tried to book for her performances wherever possible. She had an immaculate classical technique which she used with great intelligence and sensitivity to serve the role she was playing. I missed her a great deal when she left the Royal Ballet, but am happy to learn that she will be able to continue in her work within classical ballet in future.

If by novelty is meant speciality dance acts which are shoehorned into films and are basically unconnected with the main story line then I think you have to look mainly at American films rather than British. The obvious examples are African American tap dancers such as Bill Robinson and the Nicholas Brothers. I think they developed in this way because their footage could literally be cut from the movie when it was shown theatrically in segragationist states. The only example I can think of which didn't conform to this type was an American dancer whose name I can't remember who tap danced in pointe shoes (and en pointe obviously) with metal taps fixed to the shoes. She appeared in a few thirties musical films, one of which was one of the Ziegfeld Follies movies and I think she might have had a brief appearance in Broadway Melody of 1940 (the Fred Astaire/Eleanor Powell film). I don't know enough about other countries output pre-war, but I suppose Germany and France are likely to have had some people similar to this. In Britain, the tradition relied much more on the music hall tradition. The two examples I have actually seen are Wilson Keppel and Betty (as several have already remarked) and Max Wall. I think they both exemplify the tradition of "eccentric" dancing rather than a speciality dance act. Interestingly, Wilson and Keppel were permanent fixtures in the act but there were a multitude of Bettys. The Betty used to change every two or three years and was simply an employee of the two men. The best eccentric dancer was, in my view, Max Wall who, performing in mid-act, his Professor Wollensky dance, contorted and twisted his body across the stage accompanied only by a drummer in the orchestra pit, reduced packed audiences in the largest variety theatres to total hysteria for six or seven minutes at a time after which he would resume his (also very funny) remaining act. I believe the BBC have a tape made towards the end of his career of a reduced version of his dance (it was on "The Good Old Days" programme) but it was just a pale indication of the full-scale dance.

Go on, Sim, go on!

I'm not sure about this, so don't jump on me if I'm wrong, but it looks as i f "they" have slightly changed the boundaries between the price categories. The example I noticed was the front amphi centre (at £95 enough to induce swooning)which now seems to go further round to the sides than it does in the current Royal Ballet season so that it costs £95 for a seat in row E about half-way round the side block. I know that prices increase, but the rate of increase recently seems awful. I now feel like turning into the kind of person I always swore never to become - "the one referring to the good old days" - the first time I sat in the amphi my seat in the centre block of row D cost 12/6 !!

The official website still seems a mess, so thank you Bluebird for your valiant transcription work above. The website still doesn't have a Firebird for the first night and on the 7th we are apparently going to have a Neumeier type performance with two casts on stage at the same time!

I accept that someone may not like a ballet or may not like a performance, but what I find difficult to accept about the review in the Guardian is the complete failure to appreciate the purpose of or place for the ballet (in this case the Two Pigeons) in the context of ballet's repertory. To describe the Two Pigeons as "a 1961 romcom" and "whimsy" is, to me a shocking failure of knowledge and appreciation of what ballet is about and how different topics can be approached. Serious and important topics can frequently be approached and addressed in ways which are both tangential and indirect. The concepts of subtlety and symbolism as well as the existence of a subtext all appear non-existent to the writer. I thought the review both inadequate and disgraceful. Members of the forum are free to make their views known on the website if they wish as several already have done.

Am I alone in being distinctly underwhelmed by Cuthertson in Two Pigeons? She seems too knowing and mature for the role. I'm not referring to her actual age, but to the image she projects on stage. Overall, I wasn't convinced. Stix Brunel was much more satisfying in her interpretation. Muntagirov, though he danced magnificently, was almost the opposite. He projected so youthful an impression that it was hardly surprising he was tempted away by the evanescent promise of the gypsy girl. The Two Pigeons is always performed by two young(ish) leads but, while this is very important for the girl, Ashton actually set the role on Donald Britton who was, I believe, one of the more senior men in the touring company at that time (in his mid-thirties) and Christopher Gable took over the role only in the last week or so before the first night when Britton fell ill. The first night went so well, cementing the Seymour-Gable partnership, that the ballet has always been cast, usually, with younger looking dancers.

Xandra Newman's suggestions seem likely guesses for the casting for Firebird, but they aren't supported explicitly by the website, otherwise we will have to imagine the prospect of considering how Bracewell is likely to look in a tutu...

He is performing single cabrioles - high and big in this case.

Thanks for posting this info Janet. Of all the smaller companies, Ballet Black is the one I most want to continue doing well. I hope the tour goes really successfully (even if it is pushing the seasons a bit to describe the Spring tour continuing into November!).

I fear the worst but hope for the best. The gala is obviously an afterthought, shoehorned into the season's schedule. I hope the Royal Ballet don't compound the apparent neglect by simply doing bits and pieces already in prep for performances later but try to choose meaningful works (or at least bits of them) associated with the memory of its greatest ballerina. I think the idea mentioned above by Darlex and expanded by FLOSS is the best; to perform several works early in the 19-20 season which Fonteyn created or is associated with as a continuing tribute to her.

Has anyone heard anything about this appointment? Five months have gone by since the search was announced. In the same time frame Wupperthal have filled both their leading posts (announced in November). I'm more than a bit concerned by the apparent delay and I'm already beginning to assume that next season will partly, or largely, be the product of whoever is remaining in Birmingham alongside Caroline Miller. If anyone has any news (even if it is only the sighting of a ballet person at New Street) it would be appreciated!

I think that with the discussion about practices in west end theatres we are getting slightly away from the situation at the ROH. The board listing the cast for the current performance at a theatre is the result of an agreement, some years ago, between the Society of West End Theatre (SWET) and Equity whereby the theatre agreed to display in the foyer or by the box office, a board listing the cast performing that day. It is not a change of cast notification, but an attempt to ensure that (particularly in the case of the prevalence of swings, double castings and understudies in musicals and larger-scale productions) all performers are publically acknowledged. Cast changes are separately announced for major roles (usually those featured in the advertising of the show).

If you are going to quote someone, you should do so accurately. The poster said that they would write in about the cast change leaflets and make a nuisance of themselves, not to make a nuisance of themselves, as you suggest. There is a difference in meaning.

In many respects I find your constant attempts always to support the ROH in its decisions quite endearing rather like a football supporter who will support his team almost irrespective of its playing style or its results. Blind faith exhibited like this doesn't always lead to good outcomes. To adapt a technique you have employed, yourself, in the past, how do you know the motives of the people who write in? It seems a trifle presumptuous. .Hmm, there seems no reason to doubt Tony Newcombe's word, so it seems that you were told "porkies". Perhaps a word with the ROH might be in order (so long as bangorballetboy doesn't object)......