Blossom

Its not just BRB, I feel this in London about ENB too. For Fille, they could have had a nice slot on Blue Peter or in First News (kids weekly paper) like they do for other plays and new books. Digital media might appear to drive ROI but it isn’t so great at awareness and I agree that audiences reached tend to be the most obvious. On the plus side and back on topic, my mum is thrilled that Fille is coming to Manchester- first ballet she saw as a child and she adores it. I am also delighted it’s so affordable at Sadlers Wells vs ROH. Am taking both my daughters (will be my 8 year old’s first full length ballet) and we have excellent seats at a snip. This will be our second year seeing BRB in London so am enjoying getting to know the dancers.

I went to see Mayerling in the last run having been gripped by the final pdd performed by Carlos Acosta and Laura Morera at one of his farewell performances. I found the synopsis incredibly hard to follow, partly because I couldn’t keep on top of who all the women were! It’s taken some serious swotting up - Macmillan website synopsis and dvd purchase - since to feel well prepared for this time! I just think it’s one of those ballets which is incredibly difficult to follow as the story and characters make it so complex...

You will actually find it is more than a 14% increase- you should be calculating the increase of £26 over the original price so 44%.

That sounds like a complete waste of money and won’t deliver the sort of ROI any Arts Council funding might generate. Surely they should at least talk about the free lunchtime events which might bring some new people in. Or Month of Sunday’s. Out of interest, would love to know what sort of things have been presented in the Linbury foyer and Crush Room. In terms of bringing in new and younger people, as I said previously, sampling ballet content could help them out, or even mirroring ENB and BRB’s kids’ programmes (My First Ballet). BBC symphonia and others also run children focussed events which are inexpensive and they seem to ‘recruit’ through social media so huge opportunity to seek out diverse audiences.I also think they could probably create some online content or mail packs for primary schools to explore key pieces of music and use that as a way to signpost key family events and pique curiousity among broader audiences than Chance to Dance. My son’s class did a lovely music topic last year on Peter and the Wolf which looked at instruments and musical themes for each character - this was in year 1. Basically I think their downfall will be that they don’t seem to be playing the long game, only short term wins which will likely result in one off seat purchases. I know plenty of parents who are happy to take their kids to a My First Ballet annually but would never consider going to see a full length ballet with or without their kids. If you look look at other industries like car buying, once you are with a brand, they aim to keep you by encouraging you to trade up a product - so from a Fiesta to a saloon car to potentially a big family sized car as your lifestage changes. In my opinion, that’s how they need to secure audience growth. A lovely job done at the kids concert I went to at the Barbican at the weekend, both the programme leaflet and a separate leaflet on exit shared the next event which is less symphony orchestra and more focussed on singing and storytelling. And while the family Sunday events at ROH are lovely, there’s nothing really which specifically encourages repeat visits (ie beyond welcome performances) to get to sit in a proper theatre and see wonderful dancing and listen to great classical music. Linbury is the perfect place for this. I just get the impression that they are very much in their own ROH bubble and don’t learn from all of the wonderful engagement programmes going on around them. They do some lovely work independently, especially with digital outreach but I imagine their content arm mostly drives fame among national and international ballet goers.

An observation from looking at the presentation made is that around 2/3 of attendees go as a one off. The other third is made up of a whole spectrum of frequency of visits. The issue they have is that they are bringing people in once but they need to entice them to return. I assume that most of the one offs are coming in for Nutcracker at Christmas and classics such as Swan Lake. As someone else mentioned, it's regulars who keep their ticket sales up for less well known or new productions. So to me, it seems that their focus should be getting people to visit just one more time in a year and offering a discount on a second booking or special events like Sadlers Wells Sampled to engage to spark interest. They could test different approaches to see what works best. Another observation is that for all of the data analysis that Baker Richards seem to have done, there seems to be very little focus on segmenting data for analysis by life stage or socio demographic data. It seems to be mostly based on how much people spend on tickets and how they can make changes to make more money from tickets by nudging up prices. One nudge is to get people like me who usually buy a certain seat to decide to upgrade because there's now little difference between the slightly restricted view seat I usually favoured and a non restricted view. While it might nudge me for certain productions, for others, it means I certainly downgrade. I also wonder if one off visitors (2/3 of their total audience) are choosing to buy some of these price hiked restricted view seats which are frankly rather expensive now (my favoured seat went up from £60 to £95 for Swan Lake) and demonstrate no value in exchange for a limited view.

And the Insights tickets... And am guessing rehearsal tickets too... Still working my way through this thread but as I have posted on Twitter in response to Dance Tabs, I always valued that UK ticket prices weren’t elitist as they are in New York for example. The arts should be accessible for everyone. Surely an appropriate scheme to introduce new audiences would start at a younger age, for example giving students early booking access for the cheap seats. I don’t know if they do this already, but this would surely drive longevity of support and you could hope that as they enter employment and progress in their careers that they might up the scale a bit in terms of tickets they choose to buy. If they really wanted to free up tickets from regular members in a more democratic/socialist manner, they could put limits on number of dates in a particular production which can be booked, freeing up more tickets for others. That wouldn’t be nice for regulars either, but it would seem fairer and it wouldn’t smack of elitism. I would also like to see what the long term value of these new customers turns out to be - it depends whether they are converting the right sorts of sales. This approach actually seems a bit too short term to me. They need to hook people in for the long term or they will have bigger issues to worry about in 20 years time.

Thanks Sophie Rebecca for listing all of the links - so helpful! Finally managed to watch the Royal Ballet's section which was so slick (barring some glitches) and am just astounded at their excellence when it comes to creating and publishing great digital content. In constrast, given Bolshoi was not so live, it was exceptionally clunky. Enjoying catching up on all of the other content from around the world - will it really only be up for 30 days? Great to get insight into rehearsals in particular. Really enjoyed Pacific Northwest's Dances at a Gathering rehearsal for one. There will be tech costs for both YouTube and Facebook and it's possible that streaming on both could require additional resources (people, potentially cameras...) which would need costing too. I think I actually prefer watching the content at my leisure after the event anyway, plus avoids buffering issues. As long as they are publishing on YouTube after the event, I think they are probably making the right decision with Facebook as they genuinely do have greater opportunity to reach more people overall.

They should really publish the times as a table with one timezone (GMT or BST?) as the standard with translated times following... I am on holiday at the moment and am doubly confused about the timezones as I have to translate it to British time and then +2h! Unfortunately I am going to miss most of the UK broadcast as I am taking my girls to a performance of a Peter Pan ballet this afternoon which cuts right into their schedule, I hope the playback is up by this evening! In terms of the extra content appearing for BRB and any others, I actually think this is really positive. Although it might detracts from the overall WBD viewing figures, it demonstrates that there is more appetite for the content among the specific ballet company's audience and potentially beyond. It also means that the companies are pushing themselves to go digital and bring live content to their audience, which, correct me if I am wrong, but the Royal Ballet really seems to be the worldwide market leader on. It's amazing that only 4 years on, so many companies are keen to get involved! As a (largely digital) marketeer, I would love to see how the viewing figures grow/change across the day and where in the world people are viewing from.

Thanks for clarifying. Not sure how I am going to squeeze it all in so hope it’s available to view afterwards!

Looks like a great lineup. No Russians this year?

Speaking of empty seats, there are a few tickets which have come up this am for Marianela Nunez on 13 Dec

There are always the online programmes which have video content which you can keep in your online library. Agreed that programmes are for new work/production or for me, something I haven't seen before. But it's possible that prices have to rise if fewer people are buying or if editorial/production costs (of the programme) are increasing.

From memory, having joined a grade 7 class for 2 terms before the teens did their exam (I joined as a 36 year old just for fun then went onto grade 8 with them), one of the character exercises was particularly tricky!! It's a lovely syllabus though, Romantic style and music from La Sylphide.

2 new 'Ashton Revisited' masterclasses were announced last night on Instagram. 28 October - Fille and Rhapsody with Carlos Acosts 24 Feb - Enigma Variations with Lesley Collier and Wayne Sleep

Shame about Nureyev- would be happy with a live cinema screening though. Won’t be seeing Swan Lake or Bayadere but pleased with the rest.

This is perfect!

I thought that too, but happy to get Two Pigeons in anyway.

So I actually found the family tree quite confusing previously because you can’t look at it as the ballet is running. I think I need to pick up a dvd to truly swot up! thanks for the plot summary links!

Can anyone recommend a helpful and detailed plot summary which includes which women are which by the order on which they come on stage? My first Mayerling was last season and I was quite confused for a good stretch... As a result, can’t say I loved it, but I won’t be beaten!

Bit late to the thread here but I like DQ although it isn’t in my top 5 at least! Loved the version with Osipova at La Scala on DVD (it was on YouTube for a while) and like the Dutch version which I have on DVD with Matthew Golding- sets, costumes..... I suppose the main issue that I have is the name of the ballet- the story mostly isn’t about him at all and I believe is only a snippet of the book. What i like - versions with slightly more ‘authentic’ Spanish dancing, the big pdd, the dream sequence (what is a ballet without one) which fulfils every little girl’s desire for pretty dancers. Combining that with the comical moments, it is actually an ideal one to take my daughters to, even if the Acosta production isn’t the best (not seen it before), however, prices are so prohibitive- significantly more than Autumn, I assume to help recoup costs on the production as it’s still quite new. Hoping for a family package but assume this won’t be available till well after the main packages go on sale so will prob have to choose which daughter to take this time!!

If you are thinking of returning your ticket(s), please let me know! Thanks!

Bruce you beat me to it- just saw it in the Times!

I would have assumed that Osipova was partnered with Ball and Kish with Naghdi for security for their debuts - to work with someone who knows the role. If they are partnered next time around, they will be sensational.

Professionally speaking, it must be nice to be based in one place at this point in her career and to have the opportunity to perform so many different ballets over a single season. It's a shame she is leaving but if I was her mum I'd say her decision is probably the best one she can make for herself!

Just back from tonight’s performance. Unfortunately I wasn’t feeling well at all in Act 3 so had to duck out during the big pdd. I missed both Ball and Osipova’s solos and was in a cab by the time Act 4 began. While I was getting some fresh air I heard that Osipova again broke convention and didn’t go for the fouettés. My take outs outs from this run: I don’t usually see more than one performance in a run but it definitely had its benefits - I discovered more of the storytelling on a second viewing and a completely different seat gave a wonderful view of all the floor patterns in the big corps de ballet scenes of Act 1 and 2. My favourite Odette /Odile would be ranked as follows:- Naghdi Nunez (Insights rehearsal) Osipova All 3 have something special to offer and I feel very spoilt to have seen them all. Glad that I saw Naghdi’s debut - plus the only one I have seen from beginning to end. My order of preference for Siegfried:- Ball Muntagirov (Insights rehearsa) Kish (a great, supportive partner but did not really get him in the role otherwise) Ball’s stage presence and quality of dancing were fabulous and he is definitely Principal material. I was thrilled to see him with Osipova having seen him save the day when Hallberg was injured in the Giselle run. Fingers crossed for promotion news. Gasparini is a joy to watch. She has a smile which no doubt projects to the back of the amphi. Hope she is rewarded with a promotion. Tierney Heap is an excellent Dancer in the right role, but playing the ‘leaping’ sister in the 2 x pdt just didn’t suit her. Would love to see her play soloist roles in some Macmillan ballets. Hard to choose. Benno, loved both Ella and Sambe!