Balletfanp

That's such a shame. From what I saw of her she was underrated and underused. And I agree, she was a wonderful Lise.

One wonders what happens to those pigeons after the performance...

If portraying gypsies makes people uncomfortable, where do we stand with Le Corsaire?? Possibly the most un-PC ballet imaginable with slave girls, harems, abduction etc. But it's great entertainment and should be seen as just that. Ballet is not real life

Well, the Agony and Ecstacy programmes were responsible for getting me interested in ballet again after years of never seeing a ballet, life taking over, and just losing track and losing interest - I was just hooked on the Daria/Vadim episode! And my first ballet in years was seeing Daria's retirement performance at the RAH. Not looked back since

I haven't tried him with blue cheese yet, but one of my cats loves strong cheddar and will pester me for it.

He has a very transparent face which shows every single emotion, plus a real gentleness and vulnerability that comes across to perfection in all the roles he dances. And yes, combined with his stunningly beautiful dancing, makes him my "must see" male dancer. I could happily watch him all day.

Yes, it's the one downside of owning cats. We have woods behind us, and during the warmer months at least, my life consists of removing small furry/feathery/scaly/unidentifiable corpses from our dining room (which for some reason seems to be their favoured slaughter spot) - often presented to me with huge pride and loud miaows! Oh, and sometimes they are still alive (and then need to be caught and removed - cue next half hour trying to track down and catch a small rodent that can get into inaccessible nooks and crannies!). Or half alive (infinitely worse....). We are talking multiple incidents a day, often, during the summer. I've lost count of the rodents, but we have had lots of birds, a slow worm, three large (and apparently quite rare - oops!) dragonflies, and recently, a very large squirrel! The worst is when they bring in something live and then lose it - we have no idea until a horrible smell begins to permeate the house and we then have to track down a very unpleasant corpse, or corpses.... And they are both such a soppy pair when indoors, it's hard to associate them with such widespread slaughter.

Well, he is one voice among many. There's always one! I'm always a little surprised by criticism of Muntagirov's acting. Sure, he doesn't act "overtly" like most others - but he is very expressive, and the fact that his acting is more subtle makes it more natural, and to my mind, far more convincing and effective. He never goes over the top and his characterisations always seem nicely judged.

We have a Sureflap cat flap which you can programme to the chip in their neck - no collars to worry about. They aren't cheap but are worth it for peace of mind. We are out at work all day so are not on the spot to chase out any unwanted intruders. If you shop around online you can get them a bit cheaper than if you purchase from the Sureflap website. But I would look at the website anyway as it has lots of useful information.

Given that it will be an unknown ballet to a lot of people, perhaps ticket sales might pick up after the first night if it gets good reviews?

Perhaps ticket sales will pick up after the first night if the reviews are good.

Were there? I've only seen the online version.

Lovely article with Lauren Cuthbertson in the Evening Standard listed in Friday's dance links - it seems she and Vadim are already discovering some pigeon hazards!

Horrific news. My friend and family live in Paris but luckily I have just heard that they are all safe. So hard to comprehend that human beings can do such things to each other.

The back of the cinema in Plymouth was full, but the front almost empty apart from us! So no heads in the way and no annoying noises. I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy Viscera or not, but I did. Wonderful dancing and energy from all the cast but I'm a huge admirer of Laura Morera so it was fantastic to see her on such great form. Afternoon of a Faun - I had seen Muntagirov in this earlier in the year with Melissa Hamilton, and thought they were good together, but with Lamb it was even better. They are so well matched build-wise, and were just beautiful to watch. There wasn't a sound in the cinema; you could almost hear everyone let out a collective breath when it ended. Lamb must have the most expressive eyes ever. And every time I watch Muntagirov I am struck afresh with his amazing fluid quality of movement and sheer grace - I can't think of another male dancer who comes close. Plus he has a way of letting the most subtle of emotions flit across his face. Breathtaking and way too short, but keeping up that whole mirror pretence must be pretty difficult to sustain for long! Tchaikovsky pas de deux - I love this and of course Salenko and McRae were technically brilliant, but to my mind it lacked a bit of sparkle. And yes, lips and teeth! My sister and mother-in-law hadn't seen it before, or the dancers, and both commented on the rather fixed grins. That said, it was an excellent performance. Now - Carmen! Having seen the reviews I really didn't know what to expect, and as I write I still don't really know what to make of it, which I guess must say something in itself. I didn't think it was as terrible as many reviewers seemed to think, but having said that, it seemed a bit of a mishmash. Acosta seemed to be determined to shoehorn as many different genres into an hour as possible, presumably in the name of innovation, with the result that it didn't seem to know what it wanted to be - a ballet, a Chippendale's show, and opera or a flamenco display etc etc. There were parts I really liked - the flamenco, most of the pas de deux, and I thought the ending was effective. But not the Chippendales at the beginning! Or the slidy chairs. And the horned figure of death I found quite disturbingly effective at the end, and as long as he stood still, but as soon as the pas de deux with Nunez started with all the goring I found myself starting to giggle involuntarily. I think that, taking an overview and ignoring the silly bits (if you can!) It was a bit of fun with some great moments. The cast danced their socks off and appeared to be having a whale of a time, and for me Bonelli stole the show. And finally, of course it was wonderful for so many of us to be able to witness Acosta's last curtain call on the main stage - a fantastic send off for a great dancer who has contributed so much. A lovely speech too. I confess I felt a tear....

When I come up these days I use my contactless debit card on the Underground - no need to queue for tickets and not expensive; the same as Oystercard rates but more convenient.

I've only seen Marquez a couple of times - once with Vadim in Fille, and once in "In the Night" (not one of my favourites, I must say), and I thought she was outstanding in both. I can imagine she would make a wonderful Juliet.

Having had family members whose symptoms sound very similar, it sounds like you may have an inner ear infection which affects your balance and gives you vertigo/dizziness/nausea/fainting. It would also explain the high white cell count. Maybe ask your doctor to check for that.

Oh, poor you Lisa! I went through a phase of fainting when I was younger so I know exactly how you feel! I hope that you manage to enjoy the whole of Swan Lake on Saturday.

The plot thickens...!

That's great news.

I do hope they put out a DVD. Well, I was going to wait for the cinema relay, but following a rather bad day dealing with some sad news, these photos convinced me to succumb and buy a ticket to a live performance. My poor groaning credit card.... but today convinced me that life is too short.

The ROH has posted some beautiful photos of rehearsals for the Two Pigeons today - I have a very good feeling about this ballet! Hope the link works... https://www.flickr.com/photos/royaloperahouse/sets/72157660291706330

I will be seeing the cinema relay on the 12th so I will be interested to see it. It seems to have polarised opinions quite drastically, and of course people are perfectly entitled to dislike a piece, but I do think that one or two of the very forthright comments made on the ROH website verge on disrespectful to someone who has given so much to the Royal Ballet. It must be very hurtful to read. Acosta may well have made an error of judgement on this project, but many appear to have enjoyed it, and to my mind some of the comments went a bit far - but just my opinion, of course! How was Tierney Heap's performance? Everyone has been strangely silent on the third cast! It was an important debut for her, so a shame in some ways that it took place in such a controversial production, but most people seem to have been prepared to look past their reservations and give fair credit to the performers. I'm also curious about Muntagirov's and Ball's performances.

I haven't been able to get to any of these (settling for the cinema relay), and there have been reviews of the first and second casts - I'd be interested in hearing about the third cast as well if anyone feels like writing anything?