Balletfanp

Logged on just before 10:00, selected my tickets, then spend the next half hour feverishly trying to buy them before they were lost to me! After seeing that damned error message I don't know how many times (and trying - fruitlessly- to phone the box office), I suddenly looked at the screen and saw that it had FINALLY let me into PayPal. PayPal then said I'd paid - but the ROH website apparently disagreed. Another 15 minutes and I eventually got the confirmation email. Went for a lie down in a darkened room to recover from the stress.....

Perhaps they'll promote Akane in time for the US visit

Oh. It worked! Good.

Not sure how to embed this properly, so apologies for my technical ineptitude, but ROH put up this video of Carlos rehearsing Vadim and Akane in the Act 2 pas de deux. Wonderful to watch - Vadim and Akane are just lovely, and what a character Carlos is! Very interesting and entertaining.

Yes, I saw Alice just before Xmas and I'll be going to others as well, no doubt - thanks.

Thank you! I hope to contribute when I have something to say - although as I said, I don't have the opportunity to see many live ballets. Better start saving up now for my next trip to the ROH...

Hi, I've been "lurking" on this forum for a few weeks, but haven't posted anything before! I was at last night's performance and really enjoyed it. I didn't find it dull or overlong (but then again I don't have the opportunity to see many ballet performances, and I haven't seen any other versions to compare this one with, so perhaps I'm easily pleased!). I loved the costumes, although I agree that Basilio's was a little drab in comparison to Kitri's; and yes, her friends could have dressed up a bit more for the wedding! I really enjoyed Akane Takada as Kitri - her dancing was beautiful and she has a lovely expressive face which enhanced her performance. I also thought David Whitehead's Gamache was spot on and very amusingly performed. However, it was Vadim who really made the performance for me. I adore his dancing; he is always so graceful and elegant right to his fingertips, and the beautiful use of his arms, hands and head make him stand out from other dancers in my opinion. To say nothing of those amazing (apparently effortless) lifts and leaps! There may not have been any audience acknowledgement at the time of those incredibly held one-handed lifts, but there were certainly some sharp intakes of breath from people around me, and I overheard comments during the intervals and afterwards that showed that a large number of audience members did fully appreciate the feat. Vadim's stage presence, for such a young man, is amazing - he "owned" the stage - and, importantly, he has charm in spades, which will always make an audience warm to him. I met him briefly afterwards and asked how on earth he managed to hold those lifts for so long - he just laughed!