bridiem

She does rather make it sound as if all the benefit will be on the side of the company and community who will be fortunate to have her... nevertheless, I hope it is indeed a good collaboration for the company.

And I'm deeply impressed that you still pay attention to a closing bracket in time of stress! Good for you. I hope you're home now/soon and feeling much better.

I'm so sorry, Dawnstar, but don't be livid with yourself! It just happened, and you've done the right thing by going homewards. I hope it will pass soon.

Your guess sounds plausible! I was just baffled. (A not infrequent occurrence with me.)

Revelation to me too!

I haven't been to the main auditorium yet this season (too expensive) so I was speaking from past experience.

Well - I did wonder when I read about a standing ovation for The Cellist, since standing ovations hardly ever happen at the RB unless it's a farewell performance for a beloved dancer or some such. So (no offence intended to The Cellist, or to the individuals involved) I suspected that those those standing may have been more used to other types of shows where a standing ovation is the norm, or that they were especially pleased and excited to be in the theatre for the first time and to have got excellent seats at very low prices. That is very touching, but not a genuine standing ovation and is is precisely the sort of distortion that will happen if the audience is not there by informed choice and (frankly) know nothing about what they are seeing. Of course it's excellent when someone comes to ballet, or to the ROH, for the first time, but if that's only achieved by giving them a one-off massive discount they're presumably not going to be able to come again and learn more about ballet so all it achieves is giving them a nice night out. Good for them, but it doesn't do anything for the RB or for ballet as an art form. And if standing ovations become the norm no matter what's happened on the stage, it cheapens everything. (I already get annoyed at Sadler's Wells, where almost everything gets great whoops and cheers as if it's the best thing ever staged, even when it's been complete rubbish.) OK, got that off my chest.

Gosh! But from what I saw, the whole side sections were not selling, not just the outside edges.

I would be very keen on earlier start times, especially because I now live in the suburbs rather than on the tube and given the vagaries of train times a 10.30pm-ish end can mean getting home at 12.15am. (I know some people have much longer journeys! But it's very late to be walking from the station, especially when it's cold.) However a 6.30pm start would take some getting used to! (And I wouldn't want a start time that caused any problems for the dancers, obviously.)

I think/hope that this may well be in response to the very poor sales in particular sections (especially) for recent programmes. e.g. front/side Amphi and side orchestra stalls were very obviously not selling at the higher prices. (Though I haven't checked the SL prices for side orchestra stalls, and I wouldn't know how they compared to previous prices anyway.) I hope that the persuasive info sent to Alex Beard by @JohnS has actually been absorbed too, so many thanks to him for all his work/analysis.

I can't believe that I'm actually relieved that 'my' Amphi tickets for Swan Lake are £55!!! (Manon = £63, so beyond the pale and I'm sitting further back and have booked fewer performances than I would have.) But will still have to restrict how many I book at that price (NOTE TO SELF...).

When he was appointed director in 2011, KOH was quoted as saying: "I plan to bring together the most talented artists of the 21st Century to collaborate on the same stage - world-class dancers, choreographers, designers, and musicians," and "I will aim to use all the traditional and new platforms now available to engage our audiences in our classic repertoire, and The Royal Ballet's unique heritage." So he clearly did intend not just to look to new creators but also to honour the company's classic repertoire AND its 'unique heritage'.

Interesting!

I didn't receive this offer, so it wasn't sent to everyone who had booked before (or even to all Friends - I'm a Friend).

On Friday evening, Hayward and Campbell did take bows and also acknowledged the musicians. There were a few times when the music was loud and/or they were both speaking together or very quickly when I couldn't hear what was being said, but most of the time it was audible. And yes, I didn't fully understand the 'Limit' thing given that they were almost always speaking in truncated ways right from the start, before the limit was introduced. I thought in the end that this was probably meant to convey that even when we can communicate freely, we often don't. But I'm not sure it was really very effective. (Unlike the performances, the choreography and the music, which were all superb.)

1950. But still, not that early.

A great footballer and a great man. It feels like the loss of much more than just him. May he rest in peace.

I think that if a work/programme is short, it needs to be remarkable, or just a smaller-scale enterprise to start with. So The Limit in the Linbury at 1 hour 10 mins was fine on both grounds (and I was indeed very glad to get home earlier than usual!). But this bill, for me, doesn't meet either of those criteria. (I'm aware that for others, it might well do so.)

More contemporary-but-with-classical base. I understand that 'quirky' is a word often used in association with McNally's choreography, and that would fit here too. But also very effective, I thought.

I would have loved to see Anemoi again; I just don't want to see The Cellist again and clearly I'm not going to book a whole evening ticket when there's only 25 mins I want to see. But with some enticing additions, or a good third work, I would have booked in spite of The Cellist (depending on the prices).

Last time, The Cellist was on with Dances at a Gathering (1 hour). This time, Anemoi (25 minutes). I rest my case.

I would thoroughly recommend this as an interesting and beautifully performed production. Hayward and Campbell were both brilliant - speaking, dancing and (yes, really) singing - hugely impressive, and on stage alone for the whole of the 1 hour 10 minutes of the show. The choreography was excellent - expressive, fun and interesting. The music was surprisingly (to me) beautiful, and the set was simple and effective. I wasn't so sure about the words being spoken - I get the idea of the inadequacy of spoken communications between people/a couple, and thoughts about the effect of having a limit to the number of words that can be spoken - both limiting and potentially enhancing communication. But I'm not sure how illuminating it really was. But it was worth seeing for the quality of the performances, the choreography and the music. (And from what I saw of the Insight a few weeks ago, the second cast of Hannah Rudd and Jacob Wye looked very impressive too.)

They could always call it a 'mis-step'...

Quite; and Cabaret and Guys and Dolls are both very different types of shows in which an element of audience participation (effectively) could work. Ballet is not like that! And, I'm getting really fed up with the apparent inability of so many people to even conceive of putting others centre stage even for a few hours. Live ballet is not an interactive computer game in which you are a main character, or something you can dip in and out of whilst still eating/drinking/chatting when the mood takes you. The audience is there to watch, listen, absorb, appreciate, think; to focus entirely on the stage for the period of the performance which is being given by hugely talented professionals. It's a humbling, and at best thrilling, experience. It's a gift, not an opportunity to continue thinking about oneself.

How extremely depressing.