bridiem

I couldn't help contrasting the fantastic determination and sense of purpose of this team with the appalling collapse of the England football team against Iceland. In fact, just about every British competitor I've seen in Rio has had the most tremendous spirit and will to win. And I think the women in this hockey match probably ran more and were fitter than most footballers (and I say that as a football fan). Something needs to be done to identify and solve the England (football) problem and maybe looking at these Olympic sportspeople/sports/methods would be helpful. I think the reasons for the football problem are many and complex; but I just hope that Sam Allardyce can cut through them and restore the pride in our national game. Seeing Nick Skelton get his medal was so emotional! And he's older than me!! Just brilliant. Beautiful horse, and the reward for a lifetime of horsemanship. I think I heard he's the oldest person in Team GB; and of course Amy Tinkler is the youngest, and also got a medal. Now there's inspiration for you - old, young, male, female - medals everywhere!

I'm not sure how ticket pricing decisions are made. I'm beginning to find it quite annoying when a work I really want to see (preferably several times) is a lot more expensive than and so presumably cross-subsidising another work that I think is less good. (I'm not specifically talking about Fille and Anastasia here - it's a more general comment.) So I can go less often to the works I like, and although the other works are cheaper I'm not likely to want to go more than once to them. Is pricing based purely on what the market will bear (in the judgement of the ROH), or is the cost of mounting the work also a consideration?

I suspect that for those not in the know, a title in a foreign language probably doesn't help with marketing. It's clearly nothing to do with the quality of this sublime ballet.

But lovely photos. Thank you johnross.

I think maybe she's been asked to do to much and so is in constant overdrive in order to do it all. She speaks much too quickly most of the time, and for me by spreading herself too thin she's lost a lot of the air of authority she used to have. Which is a great pity. (Some of the presentation brings back memories of the awful Wimbledon highlights programme from last year.) But I also think she's doing her best to hold an enormous operation together, which can't be easy.

I'm absolutely delighted at all the Team GB successes, and I do love watching them, but I've been getting increasingly dismayed by the focus of the coverage on GB performances/sportspeople. We seem to see very few events if there is no GB person/team involved and/or with a chance of winning. (Presumably that isn't happening with the athletics, but unfortunately that's all on too late to watch anyway. ) I realise that the BBC is having to play a very complicated game in deciding what to cover (on the main TV channels) since there's so much going on in such a short space of time. But I grew up watching all sorts of brilliant sportspeople of many different nationalities at the Olympics - that's how I learnt what other countries' national anthems sounded like! (And that's when there were only 2 BBC channels.) I've only heard about 2 or 3 other anthems this time, and those only because there's a Briton elsewhere on the podium. I do want to see great performances by whoever produces them, not just when members of Team GB are involved, and the occasional interview with non-British sportspeople. I know there's more coverage available online; but I think the main channels should be a bit more balanced in their coverage. (And I don't like watching TV on my laptop, for various reasons too tedious to go into here.) And (whilst I'm getting things off my chest!), I'm finding the tone of the coverage very mixed: some really well informed commentary, but some very banal and really quite childish. BUT, I do LOVE the Olympics!! And I'm sorry there have been various Rio-related problems, but as a spectator I'm finding it a very beautiful and exciting venue.

Fantastic! Looks/sounds really exciting.

I agree with you, FLOSS. Occasionally a cough simply cannot be stopped, but it can almost always be muffled so that at least it doesn't echo round the auditorium. (I nearly suffocated once at the ROH in my effort to suppress a coughing fit. I ended up with tears pouring down my face. But it was worth it because very few people will have been disturbed.) I was at the Royal Albert Hall once when Sir Thomas Allen was singing unaccompanied, and the absolute cacophony of coughing that went on completely ruined the performance; it was totally ridiculous, like a competition to see how many people could cough as loudly as possible.

Gosh. I hadn't actually registered that there was a(nother) composer involved, but that's a very late withdrawal.

Someone once shouted 'STOP COUGHING!!' when there had been a series of loud coughs from a row in the Amphi. And guess what? The coughing stopped.

All I can say is: Awesome!

The doll 'in person' does indeed look wonderful to me. And she looks as if she would wither you with a glance (or attack you with her pointe shoe) if you dared to suggest otherwise.

Yes, I think to justify the word 'review' in the sense in which it's normally understood you really have to cover aspects of the performance you may not otherwise be motivated to write about. A 'review' is more than just a reaction to a performance (or a performer), or an opinion about a single aspect (or a few aspects) of a performance. I am very appreciative of both 'reviews' and shorter posts on this forum.

She looks brilliant! A real glint in her eye, and a remarkable jump. I wonder which role is her best?

I have to mention that my first ever ballet performance (Oct 1977) was graced by an Ashton curtain call (he'd just been awarded the OM). I was (very rare for me) very near the stage so I saw it all close up. Now that was a performance. No wonder I was hooked. Sorry, totally off thread again.

I'm so sorry, Mousem40 - that sounds awful. I wonder if he always behaves like that. I used to go to football matches regularly and if people behaved badly they were BANNED. Maybe that could be introduced at the ROH?! (And elsewhere for that matter.)

Just to say that some of the wildest and most romantic people I've known have been library assistants...

Interesting topic. I suppose if an AD is also a choreographer, which they often are, it's inevitable that they will include their own works in the rep and that will have been known and understood when they were appointed (and may have been partly why they were appointed). So I think longer term it really just depends how successful the board/governors/funders etc deem the company to be and what their vision for the company is. If reviews are largely good and audiences are holding up, and the company is fulfilling what is judged to be its remit/role, then presumably it's reasonable to leave well alone. If any of these aspects are problematic, a change would no doubt be considered. I suppose there could be a view that no AD should stay longer than (say) 10 years, in order to keep freshness and introduce new ideas etc. I don't think I'd favour that outlook - I think every situation/AD should be judged on their merits on an ongoing basis (and I would assume that they are).

The problem was that he took photos the whole time and didn't clap at all - that was what was rude and ungrateful. No feedback/thanks for the performers at all, he was just interested in getting his souvenirs. An unobtrusive shot or two whilst sitting down wouldn't fall into the same category.

As far as I know it's not currently allowed, in which case that should be respected in any case. But my own objection to it stems from what happened a few months ago when the man in front of me stood up to take his photos (often difficult to take decent photos from a seated position) and completely blocked my view of the calls, until eventually I asked him to stop/sit down. Also, he should have been clapping!! If he enjoyed the performance enough to want photos of the curtain calls, he should have been expressing his thanks and appreciation not spending the whole time taking photos. Those are human beings down there who have given their all in the performance, not objects to be photographed. Very rude and ungrateful I thought, and inconsiderate in respect of those sitting behind him.

And if they've told RuthE this, why couldn't they have given some sort of indication on the booking form? It's only thanks to RuthE that we won't now be wasting our time (and that of the ROH) ringing up about it.

I agree with you about Salenko, Bruce. But I think it's good for the RB to use guests on a reasonably regular basis, though not all the time, whether or not they're strictly 'necessary'. I think it's good and interesting for both dancers and audiences. But currently, there is certainly no need for a guest and the casting is getting pretty 'crowded' so I think it would be better not to use one (regardless of who it is).

Yes - I've sometimes (before joining this Forum!) missed interesting dance things on at the Coliseum because their website is so ENO-orientated.

Thanks, Bluebird - that's interesting. I did think the designs at that stage were stunning.

I wouldn't say it's 'completely' surrealist, Lindsay - a few stock (maybe even clichéd) surrealist images in the midst of a largely traditional production doesn't a surrealist ballet make. But I didn't know about Man Ray and metronomes as mentioned in one of the newspaper reviews, which does explain them (though it doesn't completely remove my objection to them). But yes, I completely missed the point about the trouser suits (I didn't realise the second lot of women were the same ones as the first lot, so I was clearly confused!). I wouldn't have expected or wanted this to be like the Ashton version (or any other version). What I expected and hoped was that it would be coherent and that the choreography would be more subtle and interesting than it was.