stephenK

Have sent you a PM

No longer required thanks.

In case anyone has a spare Stalls Circle Standing, I'd be grateful. Please PM me.

Won't be able to do the Friday Rush.

Thanks

Stephen

thanks all, much appreciated

Can anyone advise the actual running/finish time yesterday please? The website says 2 hours, but not always reliable I know.

Many thanks.

I think the matinee on the 30th begins at 12.30 unless it's changed since last week?!

 

I'm hoping to go up to see if can get a ticket as it's Muntagirov dancing(with Akada) as last week when checked was sold out already.

LinMM

I have a ticket for sale for this cast on Saturday evening if that's of interest.

I've sent you a PM.

Stephen

and anyway, gives many folk a good chance of a natter in between :-)

Exactly, the social aspect is half the fun, sometimes more than half! Wouldn't want it all to be wham, bam, . . .

I've googled a definition of sport which is "an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment". I'd go along with that - the competition element is important and not part of ballet in the same way. Ballet is hard, physical, skilful, entertaining, but my vote is definitely not a sport.

He certainly doesn't do a huge amount to challenge ballets elitist image

Oh no, not the "irredeemably pedestrian" elitist image debate again!

"Every time I read his stuff my eyes roll so hard I worry my contacts will fall off. . . I've honestly learned more about the art form we all love from reading this forum, than I have from a 100 FT reviews by that guy."

Possibly it would be an option for you not to read it rather than demand he goes? I can only admire your commitment in reading so much of his output at such personal discomfort.

Couldn't get Quote to work, but my previous post was a response to Nina G and SMballet.

Absolutely. We don't want anyone informed, erudite and interesting if they disagree with our view. (If in doubt, please treat this as sarcasm.)

Is it Romeo and Juliet because she is dead!!

Not dead at that stage - it just takes a lot to wake her up!

Another wow from me! Jaw dropping!

aileen, Saturday evening was Natalia Somova, described as their prima ballerina in the programme. She was good, although gave me the impression she was more classical than this choreography - would like to see her Odette or Giselle.

Yes, the casting information was frustrating to say the least, but they posted a revision to the original casting on the walls in the Coliseum. Quite by chance I managed to see all three Swanildas. Kirillov is listed as corp de ballet in the outrageously expensive and fairly uninformative programme!

aileen, I wouldn't say Polunin was emotional at the curtain call on Saturday. It was possibly the smallest audience I've seen for ballet at the Coliseum, certainly smaller than the evening performance when Velichko was impressive and possibly (almost) as well received as Sergei.

Just to confirm that Swanilda was performed by Erika Mikirtecheva at the Saturday matinee, in my view the most assured and suited of the three castings to the role and choreography. Coppelius was Nikita Kirillov - enjoyed his performance, although not sure he hit all the comic notes.

Bearing in mind upcoming booking days, I am advised by the ROH Box Office and the Friends Office that the performance of the Nutcracker on Saturday 14th December MATINEE will not be available for general booking. I am told it is an Education-only event now. A far as I can see, this has not been announced elsewhere by the ROH.

Could anyone explain please what is meant when a dancer is described as "mannered"? It seems to me that amongst seasoned Royal Ballet watchers, this is considered to be a somewhat critical comment. Shouldn't classical ballet be a mannered artform? Thanks in anticipation.

Feeling that there is room in the world for a fresh and inventive R&J, I was hugely disappointed by Wednesday's opening night. For me the main problem was the very flat and unengaging performance of the leading roles.

This afternoon, however, I had the great pleasure of seeing Elena Lobsanova's superb Juliet. She was riveting in both her dancing and acting. It was a different ballet today! With a very convincing characterisation of Romeo from McGee Maddox, today the choreography made sense and truly reached its high points. Today I cared what happened to them, it was both joyful and moving, on Wednesday I just cared when it would be over!

I can't help feeling there would have been at least one or two more positive critical reviews with different casting on opening night.

I just wanted to say about Osipova-Acosta last night, I haven't been so excited by/involved in/emotional about Swan Lake since the first few performances I saw, and that's a considerable number of performances ago now! It's for nights like this that I go to ballet. Two more opportunities coming up!

I got a mailing about this ages ago and phoned to see if there were standing tickets, was told they'd ring back, they didn't and that was the end of my enquiry!

I had an email exchange with them on receipt of a mailing some time ago, when they said there wouldn't be any standing places. On further enquiry they said this was for "security reasons". I didn't have the energy to enquire further.

I was fortunate enough to see the Rhythmic Gymnastics at Wembley Arena last week, where the four people in front of me were eating fish and chips. It didn't really bother me at all, but made for a surreal contrast between what I was seeing and smelling!

Stephen