Blossom

1. My thoughts exactly - no tangible metrics to define whether this was a success - even in terms of people's feedback. If they measured heart rates, surely they asked people for their opinions 2. @alison or any other moderators - i have obviously posted something above which shouldn't be there and contains someone's personal information. PLease can you help me delete or at least delete the thread?

Such sad news and hope they make a speedy recovery.

https://www.thedrummarketingawards.com/EMEA/en/page/results I thought this may be of interest - especially for the many marketeers on the forum! Choose the culture drop down and scroll to get to the entry which includes a video. The blurb is as below. Interested to know if anyone engaged with these events! For years the Royal Opera House has delivered world class opera and ballet to core audiences in London. In late 2022 and early 2023 we created an opportunity with our strategy to develop new audiences and deployed an incredibly exciting campaign to achieve this. Our goal was to break long-standing perceptions of opera and ballet. To do this we needed to change perceptions as well as reach outside of London, bringing the artforms to new audiences across the nation. Establishing an emotional connection was key and we needed to drive a strong dwell time to achieve this, whilst also building the Royal Opera House’s story through frequency. Our research informed us that cut through would be more prominent if more than three senses are activated meaning we needed a campaign that triggered sight, sound, feel, taste and even smell! Therefore, we implemented a multi-sensory, diverse channel campaign. Overall, the Royal Opera House ended 2022 and began 2023 in a position more commercially favourable than the overall arts and culture market. Audiences attending our experiential out of home execution would have filled the Royal Opera House 6.11 times over and we raised the heart rates of our viewing audiences by 41%. Our radio partnerships drove incredible added value and brought audiences even closer to the Royal Opera House with interaction and competitions. AV activity has given an even more national reach and allowed us to immerse audiences into the world of the Royal Opera House.

I think pretty much everything has been said about the performance as I am a bit late to the game, but I do think this is a brilliant concept. It’s no doubt low cost and easily transportable - plus cheap for the audience, so a much more attractive proposition for new audience. This got me thinking a lot about how this sort of tour could do so much to reinvigorate public opinion in terms of enjoying ballet. As the performance showed, it can be thoroughly engaging and surprising. A brilliant move for BRB but also ballet at large and hope to see this sort of collection repeated annually (at least!).

She definitely has something ‘old world’ about her-thought she really captured this with Swan Lake and also Giselle Act 2. Stylistically she is such a stunning classical dancer but also a wonderful actress who really embodies the character she plays. I now feel fulfilled having seen Gasparini/Sissens as Bluebird. Another gorgeous evening.

Was just thinking this evening at SB about how gorgeous a dancer Isabella Gasparini is and if I had one wish for promotion it would be for her! Also would love to see Leticia Dias promoted, Liam Boswell, Daichi and Maria Tsembenhoi (was lovely to see her featured at the Nureyev gala at the beginning of the season). Also echo desire for Leo Dixon to be promoted - along with Dias he has been one I have enjoyed watching grow over the years. Annette Buvoli has had some brilliant opportunities this year but I wonder if promotion might be more likely next year.

Top price panto has exceeded these prices for years, always wonder who pays… West End is getting much more expensive, especially where staging is using lots of new technology etc. However, with more shows and longer runs than ROH and tourism still somewhat impacted, I wait for the offers which tend to come and can always find reasonable stalls seats. Seeing Oaklahoma for £45 next week with an offer, reduced from £75, a 40% discount. Also snagged excellent stalls seats for at least 50% off for To Kill a Mockingbird. Savings fund my ROH habit…

Very much enjoyed Gatsby last night. Also found it hard to get into the story in the first half because I couldn’t quite remember the characters’ names which disconnected me a bit. Loved the simple designs and the gorgeous costumes which reflected the roaring 20s well. The combination of classical and jazz music also worked well for me. There was some spectacular dancing and was pleased to see some real classical steps being danced unlike many 21st century ‘ballet’ productions. However, there was something I couldn’t quite put my finger on in Act 1 but had by act 2 which was that the dance style are so eclectic/diverse, mirroring the music arranged, so that this felt more like a Matthew Bourne production with some ballet in the mix. That’s not to say it was a bad thing at all. Unlike most new ballets (or even some old ones) the storytelling was pretty strong, except I got a bit confused by the shady characters who were there to convey how Gatsby had made his fortunes (in the book through bootlegging through prohibition- the ROH certainly wouldn’t want his ill gotten gains), but also found the character to be too sympathetic and not as self interested and extravagant as he is to read or see in the film version. Some exquisite dancing from the lead characters. Federico Bonelli sat in the most central stalls seat last night in about row G by my estimation (I was a few rows behind) - proudly supporting his company, which was lovely to see. Keen to see how his directorship will impact the company over the next few years.

I’m on my way for this evening’s performance, very much looking forward!

Grade 3 changed around the time I did it, but we got a tarantella in grade 5. Grade 4 no clue what the dance was supposed to be but felt Scottish... I don't think that was the character dance though. I can only remember bits of the dances but found a few on youtube a few years ago. I find it quite remarkable that the syllabus for grade 4 and 5 didnt change until around 5-7 years ago and people only a few years older than my children were learning the same syllabus as I did. The vocational grades are a lot more dancey these days than the old syllabi, which, to get back on topic, were probably a lot more in the Cecchetti mould in their simplicity.

One thing which doesn't seem clear or is possibly incorrect for Don Q is the bottom price in stalls circle which I had assumed was for SCS, but is £26 (vs £14 for Nutcracker).

Friends mag just arrived with pricing…

I hope that many more of us do this too!

Personally don’t think I could take DAAG again. Balanchine may have described it as ‘popcorn’ to Robbins, but it’s about a third too long and I would prefer to have something punchier or more Balanchine. I get Alistair Spalding’s point, around economics but also finding the right niche in the market, but still disappointing when classical ballet programmes at Sadlers Wells are so much more accessible (affordable for audiences and a smaller auditorium for companies to fill vs Coli). Grateful at least that we’re seeing more classical in the Linbury with American visitors in 2024.

This is why I feel that WE (anyone on this forum) need to help secure the future of classical ballet by actively bringing new audiences. To some degree I think this deserves its own thread and grassroots movement!! We are the people who will not only get our friends/colleagues to the theatre, but will also have the knowledge and interest to seek out the more interesting programmes which are harder to sell, Balanchine or otherwise, or evangelise about the delights of e.g. Ashton (apparently Fille is really hard to sell which seems ridiculous). For those of us with kids, it's about taking just one more child/teenager with. Currently shocked at how few of my daughter's friends (age 15/16) have ever stepped into a theatre at all. They are just old enough for all of the 'young' theatre programmes, so busy trying to evangelise about those to their parents.... Is anyone else interested in trying some sorts of grassroots effort in the 2023/24 season?

From Alistair Spalding... Dear Julie, Thanks for getting in touch. Yes the programme that New York City Ballet are bringing this time is predominantly contemporary choreography. It sis an aspect of ballet that we focus on here at the theatre as we feel that there is a good deal of classical ballet elsewhere in London. It is also, frankly, a matter of economics, the dancer and orchestral forces for such a programme are less, whereas the last time we brought the company to London (which was actually at the Coliseum) we were able to present a more expansive programme because of the larger capacity there. The good news on Balanchine is that English National Ballet are presenting Theme and Variations in their September season. With Best Wishes Alistair

Well, as others have said, I don't think I'll be going to see this given the programming. I do wonder though whether there could be a case for switching the programme (or program) with a bit of lobbying/slow ticket sales. No harm in writing to Sadlers Wells on this front...

A return just came up! PSA there is another return available (1) for 1130.

Always interesting to know though!

I have been pondering this for a while. Cinders- Yasmine Naghdi for the ball, Natalia Osipova for acting in general, especially Act 1 and also for electric turns Prince- Matthew Ball (particularly for chemistry with Naghdi) Fairy Godmother- Mayara Magri Sisters- Bennet Gartside and Luca Acri ( know they didn’t perform together) Spring- Anna Rose O’Sullivan, Summer - a hard call but I think Melissa Hamilton just won it for me Autumn- Isabella Gasparini Winter - Annette Buvoli Jester - Liam Boswell

I realised too late that I was due to be off work on 9 May and have been hoping for a return to come up ever since.... I know this is a long shot, but looking for a single return for the ROH Thurrock tour on 9 May, either timeslot is fine.

ROH tech team suggested using an incognito window. This seems to work for me. I can't book tickets through my normal browser anymore.

Thank you. Do you know anything about the company?

Thank you so much. This is really helpful - including the political context.

I was hoping someone might know of the Kirov then Bolshoi dancer Nina Timofeeva. I understand that she came to dance in London with the Bolshoi in the 60s maybe and was often the opening lead role. Would love if anybody could tell me anything they know - especially if you saw her dance!