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And they've now announced that there will be four performances by the Royal Ballet School from 29th June 2016, building on the school's history of performing at Holland Park in the 1960s and 80s. Further details when available.

Opera Holland Park have announced the dates of their 2016 opera season today, saying on Twitter that there is "news on ballet coming soon, too".

There is a big gap in the opera dates between the end of June and mid-July (which isn't usual for OHP) so it would seem reasonable to infer that this might be where they might put some ballet.  The opera company is going independent of public funds from next year onwards so I am not at all surprised to see some changes to the way they are arranging the season.

I was aware that they have been considering using the theatre for some ballet, possibly letting the space to an unconnected organisation, since last year when the opera company collaborated with five ENB dancers on their production of Adriana Lecouvreur, so I will be intrigued to see what they are going to announce.

He has had quite a lot of time out with injury in the last few years (wasn't it his shoulder that's been particularly troublesome?) though whether that's why he chose to leave is just speculation at the moment.

Actually, what with his injury issues and the fact that he often partners dancers I'm less keen on, I've realised that in the few years I've been attending the RB regularly I've barely seen him in anything!

Sorry if this has already been mentioned. I just noticed on the ROH website that the role of The Actress in the forthcoming 'Cheri' will be played by Francesca Annis.

Wow!! Alessandra Ferri and Miss Annis in the same production. 

How did I not notice this before (while I could have still got a MG standing ticket) and why does it have to be in the middle of the one week of the autumn when I am already stupidly busy??

Off-topic musing... there seem to be so many ballet dancers called Grace!! Nominative determinism, or a high proportion of pushy parents who are hoping their daughters might have what it takes for a ballet career from the point of birth?

(I'm thinking Grace Horne and Grace Horler named above, Grace Blundell in the corps at the RB, and at least two other RB dancers with Grace as a middle name - Meaghan Grace Hinkis and Olivia Cowley...)

Goodness - imagine recruiting two young dancers with almost identical names at exactly the same time! They're destined to get mixed up with each other for as long as they're both with the company...

Actually I would disagree that there is no equivalent to Vocational exams in music - music Grades 6, 7 & 8 are very advanced and more of a parallel to Vocational ballet exams, than to ballet Grades 6, 7 & 8.  These higher ballet Grades are really are only aimed at recreational dancers even if some people do take them alongside the Vocational exams.  The RAD introduced them for once a week pupils who couldn't achieve the standard for Vocationals but still wanted to take exams, whereas to reach the standard for Vocational exams more classes per week are necessary (but not all syllabus ones).

I'll start by saying I know nothing about ballet exams so hope this isn't too off-topic!

I think I'd agree that the upper three grades of music exams (ABRSM ones at least) are seen as falling into a different category from Grades 1-5 - this is perhaps acknowledged by having Grade 5 Theory as a prerequisite to taking them.  On the other hand, I'd tend to think of DipABRSM, LRSM and FRSM (the three levels of diploma above ABRSM Grade 8) as being the vocational levels.

On the other hand, I know a lot of musicians at pretty much all amateur and professional levels, and while for instrumental study it's common even for serious amateurs to go through the whole graded process at least up to DipABRSM, most of the professional singers I know didn't get as far as Grade 8 with it but went on to pursue full-time vocational study.  I think the main difference with singers is that serious study tends to start at a much later age than with either classical ballet dancers or instrumentalists, and once somebody has left full-time education it's rarer to continue with strict syllabus study.

I went last night and enjoyed it very much, though was grateful for its short length as I was exhausted!  The last RB run was as two-thirds of a double bill, and even with the additional numbers in the Queensland Ballet version which have been mentioned in previous posts, I was out of the theatre within 1hr 50m.

I'm no technical expert but I very much enjoyed Mia Heathcote's performance as Effie in particular, and thought the little girl (is that Effie's sister, as mentioned on the cast list? in which case it was Constance Bowles) was excellent as well.

Thought it was played considerably more for laughs than the RB version, which is the only other Sylphide I've seen - Madge really hamming it up, and that mime Gurn does twice ("BUT I'M TELLING YOU I SAW IT WITH MY OWN EYES!" followed by his impression of the Sylphide) came across with a lot more humour than I recall.  The story-telling was very clear.

I'll echo Jane S's disappointment about not being able to obtain a cast sheet without buying a (not cheap) programme.  They literally only had one cast sheet per programme, which would of course mean if you went to multiple casts you wouldn't be able to obtain extra cast sheets even if you'd forked out for a programme on your first visit.  Very poor show - the usher did at least allow me to take a photo of the list so I knew who I was watching.

Oh... and the orchestral playing was... not brilliant.  Ensemble all over the place and with some fairly spectacular fluffs in the horns.

Are "family performances" similar to "welcome performances", as in designed for people who probably haven't been before?  I have no idea how one comes by a family invitation to those.  I got taken to one once by a member of my extended family (my dad's then-partner) and got several surprised comments from ROH ushers who know me as a regular, asking what I was doing there...

To add to my previous post, it's also obviously good to see Anna Rose O'Sullivan making her Clara debut (I've booked to see her, twice) - but the reason I picked out Leticia Stock particularly was that she's been in the company a while, and until quite recently with a series of featured roles and promotion to First Artist, would have seemed to be one of those dancers that might for whatever reason remain at Artist level indefinitely.  Whereas O'Sullivan was being cast as Cupid in Don Q when she was only a few months out of school, and I can't see that she's destined to remain an Artist for long (in fact I imagine if she hadn't been out for so much of her fledgling career with an injury, she might have been promoted this year).

Yes, from time to time I have booked for a particular Hans Peter and/or a Clara. After all they are the main players in Nutcracker and, as you say, it is an opportunity to see younger dancers.

 

This year, I have struck lucky as the Clara I want to see is on at the same time as the Prince I want to see!

All of the Claras this upcoming season are dancers who have all at least been regularly featured in minor roles, which suggests that they are all people who the company is regularly keeping an eye on for development.

Good to see Leticia Stock making her debut(?) as Clara in the upcoming run - I'd noticed her being increasingly cast last season in small roles and was therefore unsurprised to see her promoted to First Artist in the recent end-of-season announcement.  I don't currently have a ticket for one of her performances but wouldn't be surprised if I end up adding one to my collection at some point.

Last time round I remember Sabina Westcombe (who I know has since left the company) being a lovely Clara - I think Akane Takada might have been the Sugar Plum Fairy that night - and she, conversely, never seemed to get much else in the way of soloist roles.

Which upcoming casts would be regarded as 'obscure' I wonder? Daren't ask which dancers people 'dislike'.

In general, by "obscure" I mean things like mid-run performances of Nutcracker which don't have any principals in at all (not so much this upcoming season, but I've noticed in the past that sometimes you'll get a Clara who doesn't get many featured roles in other things, for example).  I would go out of my way to see a cast like that *because* of seeing somebody unusual in a soloist role.

As for dislikes, it's all a question of personal taste...

I'm sure the pizzicato has been used in at least one irritating TV advert. Speaking of which, is it possible for any British ballet-goer of a certain age to see "The Nutcracker" without being reminded of the words "everyone's a fruit and nut case"?!

The pizzicato (which is the only music I know from Sylvia, never having seen it) has definitely been in at least one annoying advert, though I can't recall the product, which probably doesn't say much for it as a piece of advertising!

"Everyone's a fruit and nut case" also leads neatly in my imagination (and in the score...) into the Flash Liquid lady waltzing around her black-and-white tiled kitchen floor with a mop!

I'm not exactly sure what I'm asking except maybe how do I learn about what's good in ballet?

I'm very fortunate to live in London where I have the luxury of having access to live ballet almost whenever I want, although it's a constant labour of love to hunt down cheap tickets that become available (especially when there's a really interesting cast change at the last minute...)

I've only been going to ballet regularly for less than four years, and that was as the result of a very deliberate effort to educate myself.  I am a long-time opera fan but a love of ballet didn't happen spontaneously - I loved *some* of the specific few things I saw prior to that, but I really didn't have an appreciation for it as an art form at all.  I decided that I was going to start seeing everything that was on, preferably several times, so I got to understand not only what kinds of repertoire appeal to me but also what dancers - or rather, what KINDS of dancer - I prefer to see in different choreographic styles/types of dramatic role.  Most of the things I saw in my first year or so of regular Royal Ballet attendance have now come round again, or are about to, so I've recently started to feel I have the knowledge to be a lot more selective about which casts, and indeed which ballets, I do or don't want to book for.

If I was in your position, without super-regular access to live ballet, I would be doing exactly what you're doing - watching as wide a range of repertoire on film as possible.  In fact those of us who are based near a major company can have a tendency to become a bit blinkered by seeing mostly the work of that company... which you don't have to do.

Alison's advice: "it may not be the ballet which grabs (or doesn't grab) you, but actually the performance.  So you may see a very ho-hum performance from one dancer and wonder what all the fuss is about, but see someone else in a role and think it's the greatest ballet you've ever seen" is spot-on.  I'm totally in love with Onegin with the right cast, but the first time I saw it I was so underwhelmed I thought I never wanted to see it again.  Admittedly that first time I saw it was when I was only going to one ballet a year, if that.

I'm glad the booking deadline is a few days off, so I can get the booking in a different credit-card month from my ROH bookings (such as they were).

Time Out offers do have a habit of selling out, though.  Just be warned.

If you know nothing about dance/ballet, would you know the difference?

Most likely not, once you actually get in through the door and see them on stage - but certainly in the days before I went to ballet regularly and only went to the occasional Christmas Nutcracker, I would only book for things if I'd heard of the dancers.  Which basically meant I maxed out on Darcey Bussell and Jonathan Cope for a few Christmases as I would have had no clue who else was good.  Like most novices (I think?) I took fame as a guarantee that I was getting the best.

Nowadays I go out of my way to see the more obscure casts, as long as I know I don't actively DISlike the dancers!

Time Out has a generous discount deal today for Queensland Ballet's La Sylphide at the London Coliseum (thanks bangorballetboy for posting it on Twitter this morning!)

https://uk-offers.timeout.com/deals/entertainment-la-sylphide

This is why I don't quite understand, if performers can see it, why ushers can't - or claim not to be able to!

(The other night at Opera Holland Park I happened to find myself sitting next to the redoubtable Ann from front-of-house at the Coliseum, who I swear can spot a rogue texter from the other side of a solid wall...)

One thing I like when I'm in central Balcony Standing at the ROH is that there's an usher seated directly behind, and as *I* have a panoramic view of the Balcony from there, I can immediately alert the usher to any bright lights that shouldn't be there.

Am I right in thinking that when the castings for R & J were first on the ROH site, that Carlos Acosta had some performances as Romeo, or did I imagine that?

I don't *think* so... hasn't he been saying since long before the casting was announced that his days of full-length roles are now over?

Do tell us who?

 

I would have booked for Hayward's R&J but Matthew Golding doesn't do it for me.  She was wonderful with Edward Watson in Manon but I don't think he dances Romeo

Well, given that it's a matter of personal taste, and my opinion therefore carries no weight as a judgement on dancers' quality or ability, I don't think it unfair to say that the example you mention is just one such that almost (but didn't) put me off booking - I'm not a Golding fan at all and am rather disappointed that Osipova is cast opposite him for Giselle - I'd have loved to see her cast with McRae.  Not keen on Nehemiah Kish either, but he often gets cast opposite ballerinas I don't feel I can miss seeing.

I am trying to recall whether Ed Watson danced Romeo in the last run.  Was he with Melissa Hamilton, maybe?

Note to Kevin O'Hare: please put the dancers I want to book for together and save me a fortune in double bookings (and save me, as well, having to see dancers I would not normally book for [no names mentioned!!!!]).

I couldn't agree more!  The number of times recently - especially for Swan Lake this season and R&J next - that I've looked at the cast listing and gone "Ooooh, so-and-so!!! ... with... oh."

Oooh! Nela and Vadim together in Giselle...

I was in the balcony at the Coli on Friday, Ruth, and an usher pounced on a mobile phone user within seconds of the phone coming out at the start of the first act. The same usher was visibly prowling the aisles at the end of the intervals. Perhaps they are less vigilant in other parts of the house - if, indeed, you were sitting in another part of the house.

Yes, I was in the dress circle.  I agree, I've usually found Coli staff to be very good in that respect - it varies with regard to which ones *notice* people getting their phones out, but once noticed, it's usually dealt with swiftly.  And quite frankly, if they were having a particularly unobservant night, the repeated complaints combined with precise information about which seats the offenders were in might have given them a clue.

I had a bad audience behaviour experience the other day at Cinderella.  Two women two rows in front of me kept whipping out their phones and starting to film parts of the performance (this after they'd taken a good three or four minutes after each act started to stop texting in the first place).  I spoke to an usher in the first interval, who seemed sympathetic and said something would be done about it.  Sadly, they were still there and still filming in Act 2, and in Act 3 after I'd complained again!  Not impressed at all, particularly given that there are other ushers at the Coli who would have immediately noticed the filming themselves and put a stop to it (none of whom were on duty in the dress circle that night).

I haven't seen the Ashton (rather envious of several friends in New York who've recently had the opportunity to see Marianela Nunez guesting in it for ABT) so didn't miss anything!