Blossom

https://www.instagram.com/p/CmU4QPNIbG-/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= As a starter for 10, Graham Watts’ latest post about a performance is worth a read.

Looking back I've had quite a busy year! In January I saw Raymonda by ENB. Despite not following the classic story and a weak narrative, I really enjoyed the costumes, dancing and exquisite music by Glazunov. February was a thoroughly modern month - Acosta Danza was a diverse mix of dance with some exceptionally talented dancers, followed by equally talented NDT2 who blew me away. March was Swan Lake - I saw O'Sullivan/Sambe, a delight to watch, and managed to head to a weekday matinee with Margri/Corrales where Magri's black swan was breathtaking. March was also the Forsythe Evening - I managed to convince my husband to join me having piqued his curiosity by playing the Playlist erm playlist. Thoroughly joyous evening and Precious Adams really stood out in Playlist. April was the Ashton triple - absolute bliss as adore Ashton! Wish I could have seen this a second time. In June I saw Like Water for Chocolate, first seeing Naghdi/Corrales and a couple of days later managing to get hold of tickets for Hayward/Sambe. Interestingly, I much preferred Naghdi's interpretation. More joy in July with BRB's Don Quixote - always thrilled when BRB brings their productions to London as they are a much more affordable way to take kids with (can sit in top price stalls for less than ROH amphi!!) September brought the Ukrainian Giselle gala and another (likely last?) chance to see Alina who is my second favourite Giselle (after Osipova of course) and the Nureyev gala where I finally got to see Xander Parish live, but found Iana Salenko underwhelming. Enjoyed seeing Marianna Tsembenhoi representing the newer blood rising at the ROH (and was it Daichi she was dancing with?) November - Crystal Pite's new and old - breathtaking, plus BRB's brilliant triple bill with the rather memorable and comedic piece Hotel. Last was ENB's mixed bill - I wasn't too keen to see Blake Works again and would have preferred Playlist and found Take Five Blues a little dull, but Ek's new Rite of Spring and Emily Suzuki was outstanding. November finished with Mayerling and was wowed by Matthew Ball's dramatic Rudolf. So far December has brought Nutcracker rehearsals, but off to Naghdi/Ball on Thursday and can't wait! Cast is perfection. Looking forward to what next year brings but summer is still looking rather light as there's so little on at ROH and it doesn't look like BRB are returning to London in the summer as usual.

Thrilled to have booked for Hawes/Arrieta already!

It was absolutely hideous but at least managed to get a ticket for a student I was trying to help out. Added to basket accidentally before selecting a second seat and 10 mins later when I managed to get the page to load painfully slowly without getting an error message, nothing was left. But then about 30 mins later, the balcony and stalls circle options all seemed to be available again. But then, it is Nutcracker- and my preferred Nutcracker of every version I have seen. It has the most polish, best narrative and of course the most (classy) glitter!

Good to hear!!

This is a terrible shame for dancers and the audience. Emerging Dancer provided the opportunity to get to know the young dancers in the company who might otherwise be anonymous faces. I do understand the rationale but this is one of the highlights of the ENB calendar for me as supporter. As @FionaE said, it would have been nice to have hear this first! The comment re: new works suggests to me that Aaron S. Watkin may have some initial thoughts on what might be needed. I wonder if he has been attending any performances as yet or digging into the existing repertoire to see if there's anything which he particularly wants to upgrade (personally, there is one production i feel was a little rushed when initially produced which has never been tweaked).

Bumping this just incase anyone might be considering returning tickets for this performance.

I spoke to the Box Office while I was moving some tickets around. They are apparently fully aware that the search function doesn't work and suggest going the 'long way' around through the navigation. Apparently it's all going through some updates. Not sure that really validates the problems so hope it's sorted soon!

Has anyone watched Yeh Ballet which is about 2 Indian boys learning to dance against all odds? Not watched it yet but I think it’s based on a true story as remember an article about 2 boys making it in the ballet world being covered a few years ago by The Telegraph.

Have done so but it's completely frustrating when i need to find the next thing. It doesn't matter which browser I'm using either. Also finding my login won't work in a microsoft browser (so generally using chrome).

Thanks @whatkindofbird. This isn’t the issue I have- I get a server error (503). It’s driving me insane as every time I check to see if seats are available for the (sold out) Nutcracker performance I want, I have to go through whats on searches…

Is anyone else having issues with the search functionality on the site not working? I have emailed them but no reply and it’s been almost a week…

Yes it was but different context to the Covid version

Phew! I must have been focussing on something else (and the lack of the giant wheelchair as used in Covid version)!

I received a reply from Alex Beard today which largely responded to my concerns and demonstrates that they are strategising beyond raising box office prices which is good to know. It doesn’t solve the short term problem. I do wonder how many of the 40% of tickets under £50 are to under 30s on a fixed price Young ROH ticket and how well they are managing to retain these visitors, especially once they exit the scheme. Dear [Blossom],    Thank you so much for writing and for sharing your views and insights. There are indeed significant challenges facing us, alongside many other theatres and arts organisations, caused by the present cost-of-living crisis. General inflation is exacerbated by soaring energy costs (a threefold increase from £1.5m per annum to more than £6m in this year alone), the need to support lowest paid members of staff by continuing to pay at least the London Living Wage (a just under 10% increase this year), and now a 19% real-terms reduction to the public subsidy we receive from Arts Council England. Audience attendance and box office income is vital to balancing our budgets and sustaining the remarkable community of artists and craftspeople here, particularly in the context of reduced tourism numbers and a gradual audience return to the West End post-pandemic. Although some prices have had to increase, we have been able to sell more than 80,000 tickets to members of the Young ROH scheme since August last year, and more broadly maintained almost 40% of our tickets at £50 or less. We will keep prices under close review to ensure that we achieve as near full houses as possible while increasing our box office income to offset growing costs. But box office income alone will not be enough, given the scale of the financial challenge. As you suggest we must also look to other sources of revenue to help manage cost inflation, coupled with the prospect of a recession that might extend far into next year. We are exploring opportunities to extend commercial/corporate sponsorships, alongside a concerted fundraising effort and philanthropic activity to extend non-box office revenue. This will be joined by a drive to engage and develop the audience of the future through the work of our dedicated Learning & Participation team to bring ballet and opera to communities and classrooms around the country. Our aim is to balance our budgets while keeping the arts forms open and accessible to as many people as possible. On your separate point about the the number of Royal Ballet productions, we did reduce the number of productions in the wake of the pandemic, partly to reduce our costs but also to ensure we could continue to deliver the highest quality performances as the organisation adapted to a restructured operational environment. We hope from next season onwards to achieve a small increase in the our number of productions, subject of course to affordability.The road ahead is one of the most challenging we have ever faced, but with the ongoing support of our Friends, Patrons, as well as the continuing engagement of new audiences, we can ensure that ballet and opera here will not just survive, but thrive long into the future. Best wishes,Alex Beard

I am lucky that I can balance taking holiday with taking colleagues as a treat/first time at the ballet (which I think is the best use of my rehearsal tickets to try to get more people into ballet) so sometimes don’t need to take holiday! I know we don’t comment on rehearsal performances but there are a couple of things to mention:- Thrilled with cast today. Lovely to have all of the children back. Was lovely to get SPW’s battle scene back - although I don’t recall seeing the gingerbread men back on stage! I think but am not certain that Covid safe performances didn’t have a live choir for the snowflake scene - they definitely did today! Colleagues fell in love with the magic of the ROH today and one thinking of going back already so mission successful!

Probably a long shot but if anyone has tickets they can't use, please let me know. Nutcracker 22 Dec 7.30pm - Naghdi/Ball 2 tickets wanted

Interesting article by Richard Morrison in The Times on Friday which makes a very valuable point:- We need more philanthropic contributions to maintain our great arts organisations We shouldn’t sneer at the backgrounds of these philanthropists or view them with suspicion actually lucky to have people who value the arts/ want to give back/make contributions for the greater good Existing philanthropists are aging or have passed away and we need to find new blood to fill the gap to maintain cultural institutions for the future. I wonder how much the particular issue we are discussing could be impacted by increased philanthropic engagement. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/we-can-only-save-the-arts-if-we-stop-sneering-at-big-business-5lvf7gxx9

But Mockingbird offers a number of affordable seats including stalls for £30 which makes it more accessible to all

Thank you!

Can anyone more knowledgeable comment on the origins of the choreography of the grand pas de deux specifically? I particularly enjoy Sir Peter Wright’s choreography which works so well with the swells of the music. I know that Wayne Eagling’s choreography (after SPW) is quite similar but Russian versions are from memory rather different.

Really enjoyed this evening and wonderful to see Leo Dixon, Leticia Dias and Calvin Richardson prep their roles having watched them come up the ranks. Adore the grand pas de deux, I find the score incredibly emotive and love the choreography. It was special to see the rehearsal detail (in the studio!) which enables the dancers to really make the most of every moment of the music. Gary Avis was brilliant giving the detail behind every single word of the mime - I thought I knew a lot but definitely learnt something tonight and he is such a lovely coach. Plus thrilled we got to see Leo Dixon leaping around the studio at the end of his section! Was also lovely to see Kate Shipway presenting - hope we see her infront of the camera again.

I think this is my biggest gripe with rising ticket prices. I'll still find a way to book the seats I'd prefer to sit in lower down in the house, but the eyewatering prices for restricted and/or uncomfortable seats will price people out of the ROH completely. This isn't just a threat to the ROH, it's also a threat in terms of how ballet and opera are perceived and as a result, I think that the pricing strategies (and long runs of the 'hits' instead of going back to the more varied seasons we had pre covid) are potentially a short term fix for them, but don't think long term about the future of ballet (or opera). It suggests to me that they are starting to be rather out of touch with their customers and the current economic climate.

You may do better with the offer via Official London Theatre - available now to Mastercard audiences and publicly available on Tuesday. https://officiallondontheatre.com/show/nutcracker-111432319/?from=NYS&month=01%2F23 For the seats I am looking at including 20% friends discount and being accompanied by an under 15, savings overall are better here (but have to wait for Jan). I have missed the boat though in terms of Swan Lake as booked that earlier with no cast info, but I don’t think 2 discount codes can be used at once anyway…

Further to @jmhopton’s letter I decided to write what I thought was a thoughtful letter - hoping to receive a response!