Geoff

Speaking personally I did not think the last ROH Ring was “very good”, more like a show maybe worth seeing once only. So I am relieved that production is being replaced. Seeing this new show on Sunday.

By way of comparison, anyone remember this Deborah Bull story from over 20 years ago: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/jun/30/sarahhall

What an interesting discussion. Three possible analogies, perhaps more food for thought:— 1) From the 16th century on there was a European boom in castrati, young boys castrated to inhibit growth of their vocal cords and thyroid glands during puberty to give them a “special” (essentially female) voice. This practice endured into the modern era (one can find a commercial recording on YouTube). This kind of voice was very popular and some of these mutilated performers became superstars. The practice has died out but it seems connoisseurs enjoyed the sound for centuries. Do times move on? 2) Some people eat foie gras. Some don’t. Production is banned in, for example, the UK but not, for example, in France. Free choice? 3) Modern research into British boarding schools appears conclusive. The work of for example Joy Schaverien and Nick Duffell shows that even if one has a perfect institution (no bullies, no violence, no perverts, letches or other abusers), the simple act of taking a prepubescent or pubescent child out of an intact family to live in a “boarding school” for long periods of time can damage that child for life. Yet British boarding schools - starting from around the age of 7 - have not been banned, and, as charities, even receive state support in the form of tax breaks. Why?

MODERATOR NOTE: To avoid confusion as to the actual content of this programme, discussion prior to its broadcast is now in a separate thread, here: ----------------------------------------------------------- As this thread is now active again, might I make a request on behalf of those outside Britain who will be unable to see this programme (the BBC is very strict at policing its international reach)? Some people say they know ways around the BBC restrictions but many will not. As it seems this documentary may be of international relevance (or at least interest) perhaps someone who is planning to watch it could take a few notes and post a summary of the comment?

I was prompted to post by the (to me astonishingly vicious) reactions on the US forum Ballet Alert: https://balletalert.invisionzone.com/topic/47366-dont-think-dear-—-former-sab-students-memoir/ The comments followed an article in the New York Times in advance of publication. However I see that once the book came out, no one on Ballet Alert has thought to write about it. So it seemed like a good idea to do so here.

As maybe not everyone reads the posts in Doing Dance, might I draw attention to what I have just written about this new book:

Alice Robb’s excellent recent book Don’t Think Dear has had a few mentions in Links but has not otherwise been highlighted on the Forum. That’s a pity, hence bumping this up now to give her book a bit more visibility. Don’t Think Dear is not (as one might fear) a long moan by an ex-dancer but rather an extremely intelligent and thoughtful personal meditation on what it means to want to dance, to learn to dance, to become a dancer and then to fall away from the profession. It does not require any specialist knowledge yet takes one deep inside the real life of real dancers today. It is as well done as one can hope for, a literary gem, far better written than books by dancers (or, dare I say, many books about dance by dance writers) tend to be. Robb draws with mature honesty from her own experiences and those of other dancers, as well as memoirs and other writings (in fact her book is far better than many of the works she draws from so one might recommend this over them). Some of the content (for example on sex, EDs and other “adult themes”) makes the book unsuitable for children although I can imagine an intelligent teen getting a lot from it (and, if a ballet student, perhaps shedding a few dangerous illusions a useful year or so sooner than they otherwise would). As an American book it is unsurprisingly focussed on the US experience and on the influence of Balanchine in particular. But that should not put off the non-US reader: her nuanced account of the business of ballet chimes with what I have learned from dancer friends in Britain and elsewhere. So I would recommend this to just about any reader of the Forum. Look around for reviews (as so often the detail and range of opinions from readers posting on Amazon are most illuminating) and see what you think. Not everyone will like this book but it deserves attention. I read it before the summer but still find myself thinking about it.

Thanks everyone. I should have been clearer: my question was actually whether this is likely to happen again at this venue in Italy. Perhaps this is currently in discussion at Milan airport (I feel for everyone trapped by this mysterious air traffic fault).

For those who didn‘t see what happened at Grease in the West End this weekend: https://news.sky.com/story/police-called-to-disturbance-at-grease-show-in-londons-west-end-as-four-theatregoers-escorted-out-12949343

How marvellous! Might this kind of event be tried there again next year? And if so, can someone publicise the details here?

Just received an email from The Friends which includes instructions on how best to book tickets online. I am copying this part here so that everyone can see what they say. Two thoughts. First, perhaps these instructions are helpful and useful and will mean that there won’t be problems in the future, let’s hope so. Second, after all that has happened in recent years, is the ROH really persisting with the cover story that there is nothing wrong with their awful website except that people use it the wrong way?

Paying professionals for help with promotion has certainly advanced some dancers careers. I can think of one case of a ballerina (no names, no names) whose investment in her own PR pushed her ahead at the expense of other, arguably more worthy, members of the same company. I don't think this warped my judgement either way but I admit to bearing a grudge against said dancer on behalf of others. Moving on, can someone say what the "rules" at the Royal Ballet are these days? It used to be that members of the company were supposed to rely only on help provided by the company (rather as one was not supposed to go to outside coaches). Presumably a different understanding governs today's social media.

Speaking personally, given all @balletbeautiful2013 wants to do, I would stay well clear of the carnival and the surrounding area. This is not an event one can pop in to for a quick hour and pop out again, it is quite a commitment, given the crowds and the crush. Either one does it - which probably rules out anything else for the rest of the day - or one stays as far away as possible. I used to live in the middle of it, and after a couple of years, always spent the long weekend elsewhere to avoid the event.

I could hazard another guess as to why Hayward is not dancing Kitri but don’t dare to. (Ducks back behind rock).

Many thanks Bluebird. Very useful. It also shows how subjective seating can be. The grading of seats is done by customers, leading to adjacent seats with essentially the same view being marked very differently. For example, there are people who love the front of the balcony in the Coliseum and others who hate it. The scores in that section go from the very worst to the very best eg C34 gets 5 stars whereas C31 (three seats nearer the centre) gets only 1 star. As with Amazon reviews etc, probably worth taking an average and then looking carefully at the worst reviews to see if they tell you something specific which is relevant. Also photos may have been done by people to reinforce their subjective opinion. I found a photo taken from a seat I have sat in many times in the Coliseum Balcony which gives a great view of the stage - but the Seatplan picture is taken low down from behind a tall person and so suggests one can’t see the much of the stage (as it is at the end of a row it is easy to adjust how one sits if there is a looming figure in front but the reviewer clearly didn’t feel able to do that). My photo from the same seat would have been very different.

+1

I think I’m the lucky winner of yet another fun issue with the website. I am trying out a new laptop (so please ROH, no blame-the-customer lectures about cookies, history or whatever). And I have opened the ROH website in two different browsers, the often maligned (by Customer Service types) Opera browser, and the super duper really up to the moment and as loved by IT support types, Microsoft Edge browser. Looking at my “Upcoming Events” inside the Opera browser, the tickets loaded immediately, as they should. Whereas inside Edge, ROH said I had no upcoming events. No tickets. Nothing. A dead season. Eventually, after reloading for ten minutes or so, ROH+Edge caught up with reality and a bunch of tickets appeared on screen. But had I only had the “wrong” browser open, I would have been mighty worried. Is this a common fault? I have seen reports that there can be delays n booking days but this was just a quiet afternoon, me checking on my new laptop.

Yet another jape from theatreland's most amusing website. Sadly, I just looked and there are plenty of seats at all (high) prices. So seems to be another e-muddle. You'd think that by now someone might have had a word.

Yes, but we should be wary of judging things by how full the auditorium looks. The impression I get is that ROH has got much smarter at how it fills seats in the run up to a performance. They probably use some kind of mixture of: - increasing the marketing - offering special deals to targeted groups (like Friends in categories) - then pushing things out at decreasing prices - finishing with dumping anything left to ten pound students or even free papering for friends/family/company. The figure which matters is how much a performance has sold for - and that is of course information we will never get.

In answer to your question Alison, yes of course they have. Since we returned after lockdown I have been booking further and further away from where I would like to sit, in direct proportion to the rising prices. And I am sure I am booking fewer tickets as well. However it may well be that ROH doesn’t care if this is how we behave, or even considers this a job well done. Remember the former ROH marketing boss (who must not be criticised here but departed after her cunning plan was leaked)? She announced that she wanted to drive regulars out of the ROH to make way for Arts Council-pleasing “new audiences”, who might also be less picky about ticket prices as they would be going for the “experience”. A policy aim which around the same time was echoed by the then Chairman of the ROH, so one can assume it had broad approval from the bosses. So our changed behaviour - if indeed most of us are changing our behaviour - could be just what ROH wants, freeing up seats for people who will enjoy a special night out but probably never come back. How sad if that is so.

Yesterday’s press release (which is broadly as reported by the papers above) specifically includes the line: >>In February 2022, the UK Government instructed the Arts Council to redistribute some of its funding from London to other parts of the country.

There is plenty to say but I better tread carefully. First, the ROH took a decision a while ago to go no-more-printed-red-programmes (so expensive, so old-fashioned, so bad for the planet, etc etc). But then there was pressure (from, so I heard, some very influential people) and, in a not untypical flip-flop, ROH reversed its position. So it was ordained that red programmes were to be reintroduced. However by then the department responsible had been, um, restructured (ie people who knew what they were doing were let go) and cheaper staff and contract workers had to be brought in to fill the gaps. Hence the obvious drop in quality. Side thought: if one looks at programmes from the era before the inept “modernisation” they are rammed with high-quality advertisements, which brought in a substantial amount of money. Not so now. Whatever has been going on, it’s a sad story of unnecessary “improvements” and a lack of care and attention towards specialist knowledge of the art forms celebrated at the ROH.

Apologies, I was unintentionally confusing. My question is about some rather unclear warnings regarding this Saturday’s Overground lines (not overland). It appears that Overground trains will be running as usual but that certain Overground stations may not open as they are impacted by the strikes. My question is how best to as ascertain in advance which stations are not going to open (I presume Overground trains will just run through those stations without stopping).

What did you use to check?