nickwellings

A very good point, I forgot she had been promoted last year!!

As has most likely already been said, I would go with a Student membership, should you be eligible. You would benefit from on-the-day and night-before cheap seats, for poorly sold shows, eg, £10 stalls seats. And priority booking a day before General Booking. Plus events attuned to Student experiences/age groups. It had become apparent to me that Friends is in many ways useless nowadays, except if one is lucky to attend a Friends Rehearsal. I don't think students are eligible to attend those. However there are certain nights, eg a recent Billy Budd, where it is almost entirely for students, and one can find seats for £1-£5-£15 or so. On reflection, I ended my membership about 3 years ago . For various reasons (be it finding lucky tickets on here, twitter, or other felicitous finds) I have yet to miss it.

I am hoping Magri, Sambe and O'Sullivan are recognised and promoted this year.

Have to say that R+J isn't my favourite ballet by a long way, but I was absolutely bowled over my Sambé and O'Sullivan. Her performancw, as said, full of details, utterly inhabited. A performance worthy of a Principal. I was so moved, as I rarely have been by the work. I was too far away to see AROS's face in the "bed scene" where she in Act III sits and decides on her plan as Prokofiev's string sing upwards in arpeggios and his horns sound out in strength - for me a crux of MacMillan's staging (stillness yet resolve). I hope she matched others I have seen there. I think it's the hardest moment (from the audience pov) to convey that by doing so little. And of course they both made the choreography sing too. So glad I went. She truly melted into her Romeo, swooned...he lambent with love. And once more I had to appreciate Avis. How can such a nice man be so mean onstage? Terrifyingly patrician, a bully of a father. I felt so sorry for Juliet as he manhandled her around. Greatly enjoyed Dubreuil's dancing, lovely finesse, beautiful hands. Everyone did well...what a show!

Selling a Don Q ballet ticket, at ROH For tonight! (Illness has interceded 😑) SCS D39 Face value: £10 Selling for same. Payment via bank transfer or PayPal please. Can email ticket

Last chance before ticket goes back to Box Office! I'll accept £8! 😊

This is still available, everyone 😁

SCS D35 £10 E-ticket! Can't go as the trains are all wonky... :(

Must agree with Bruce. Playlist was my evening highlight. Like "Dance at the Gym" for the "Take Me To Church" generation. (Well, with far less adversarial aggression!) All were unified in batterie and beats and fleet footwork. All upbeat, sexy, grooving swaggering fun, a bit camp in places but didn't suffer for it! The crow were cheering and whooping after certain "moves" like at a BB/Dance battle. I loved Robison in the middle of a semicircle of strutting guys doing tour after beautiful tour. THAT raised a cheer. I preferred the second number of the two, the first felt at one place a bit like "get fit with ballet DVD". "Beings" and "Cage" were not what I had gone for, but were still fun to watch. Especially of note was how the "shaggy costumes"moved in Beings. I must single out Dronina in her "Sonata" truly beautiful. Her eyes speak volumes. How different to her turn that same night in "Cage" as the Novice! In summary, New Forsythe was worth the admission price alone.

Recently I have seen Ferri in Woolf Works, which has moments seared in my memory. Aside from that her turn in M&A was splendid. True tears for Woolf. Olga Smirnova in Swan Lake. Semyon Chudin in the same. Osipova as Lise in Fille, final act and in "ribbon carousel" Osmolkina as Odette - stunning characterisation, small details...beautiful beyond words. Sara Mearns as Odette. I think were I to see Muntagirov as Lensky again, I'd be moved. Nunez in Onegin. Harrowing. I recall enjoying Polunin on the Bolshoi Giselle. I really felt Albrecht's love for Giselle. Brandon Lawrence and Delia Mathews in any classical ballet. Their Odette/Siegfried destroyed me 😭 All these dancers have produced tears. And as above a moment which works well: Two pigeons. I recall loving Choe in the role. What an ending. Pigeons might not be dancers but they produce emotion inside me! 😄

Thanks Ruth, but as discussed I can no longer attend. Someone take up Ruth on this kind offer!

I am searching for one too, against hope!

Thanks, but I didn't see that. I didn't see programmes for sale in my part of the theatre!

Geoff, this is true: the secondary school pupils in front of me had a mini lecture with him saying to each something like "we're here to see this, for free, so let's be Respectful. Respectful!... for it. OK?" And mostly, they were. I still can't quite believe someone managed to get four stars over for the evening! Someone of the Russian audience probably has deep pockets! Regardless, I thought it was a great initiative. I imagine the ROH schools matinees are similar.

Ah, apologies, I did consider it strange there wasn't a thread here but hadn't thought to check/got to news.

Was anyone else there last night? 4 principals from Bolshoi joined students from London Russian Ballet School for a show at the Palladium. Bill Boyd posted a link to the program (below) I only found out about it from a friend! I had a wonderful time. It was hard to believe I was seeing these wonderful dancers up close. As a note, I thought that the piece "Angel" was truly splendid, and would love to see it again. I was mesmerised, and often don't like things in that modern style. As it ended someone exclaimed "BRILLIANT!" and truly, I felt it was. Lantratov and Alexandrova certainly turned the heat up in Carmen, let's just put it that way! At times it felt rather indecent! Chudin was as always beautiful, and Krysanova polished off fouettés and all with ease. For the final pas the place was a boisterous hall of clapping in time, loud bravos, cheering. I was sat behind schoolchildren, who I imagine hadn't ever seen any ballet before. I think many of them loved it. And I just want to mention of course the students onstage. I had the pleasure of sitting next to a young man who had attended their school and he and I briefly praised Chudin, and talked Bolshoi and Mariinsky. There was a considerable depth of talent onstage, and as the young man said, how inspiring to dance with these stars!

In fact it was the image of DM as Aurora which prompted me to ask this question, TwoPigeons! 😊 I thought the same: if she's in the publicity shots, she must be dancing it. I really don't know what to do. Southampton is my favoured venue, due to good ticket prices and an Ibis hotel in town! I think waiting for Birmingham casting or two weeks before won't work...what a bother!

Thanks,both. I imagine it's "just the way it is" with BRB! I imagine they truly can't commit principals to it until very close to the time!

Hi everyone, When might we know casting for the delightful BRB Sleeping Beauty? I would love to see divine Delia Mathews and Brandon Lawrence dance it, but I imagine we won't know casting until a month or so before? It's just that I'd like to buy train tickets, actual tickets, book hotel etc whilst all are affordable! Otherwise I will have to gamble by booking a Friday, and two Saturday shows, hoping D&B will be dancing in one of those 😓

Slightly off topic, but above we mention there was an offer for this as sales were slow. Was it a Friends offer? I'm curious!

I can only echo the praise of all above. I found Matvienko got a less involved as the night went on. Very odd to see. Shklyarov was wonderful of course. A few slightly wobbly Shades at the rear on arabesques, but no big deal. I just wanted to say "well done" to one of the dancing children whose costume got momentarily tangled on some scenery in Act II...she was only stuck to it for a few seconds, but I bet it felt like an eternity. She freed herself and carried on!

It would appear that Osmolkina is out of her programmed Beyadere. If injury related, I hope she recovers speedily. I was looking forward to seeing her.

Lyrical is the perfect description, Anna. And Buddy, I feel the same, she has a lot of dramatic ability. I'm very glad I got to see her, on advice from a friend (and here I believe!) Her Odette was especially fine, a real kind of "cantabile", with narrative clear and moving. Just a few moments took my breath away. I already said on Twitter how I loved some details she placed in there - shaking dewdrops from her head on landing (a touch which some dancers don't delineate) and how she reached out to Siegfried for protection and close embrace. The final Act felt like a true ballet of love over power/Rothbart. Despite any reservations I have about the happy ending, I think it came off very well. (The two ladies in front of me evidently felt the same, judging by their running commentary on events ) I hope Osmolkina has more time with Mariinsky to perform these leading roles. Buddy, the same friend who recommended Osmolkina, has seen Chebykina in this run, and thinks she will also go far too.

Wonderfully strange moment tonight,fully corroborating what many here have deduced over the years: The music started at the very start of Act II at Mariinsky Swan Lake tonight. Two ladies were talking loudly over the music. My friend says "Shhhhh" to them. One talker shoots back "It hasn't even started yet!". My friend emphatically says "IT HAS!". Truly, it does indeed appear that some people believe that unless there's dancing going on and if the curtain is down, you're ok to chat away!

Thank you Voyager, I am happy to be corrected!