Dawnstar

I don't know about Muntagirov giving a flower to Nunez but on Saturday when Bracewell gave one to Kaneko (which was the first time I'd seen it done by both dancers) I think it was spontaneous, as when I spoke to him afterwards & said it was nice to see flower giving now going both ways he said that he'd seen her getting a flower out of her bouquets & then decided to do the same himself. In fact looking back at my curtain call photos it looks as though Bracewell was hiding the flower behind his back before bringing it out to give to Kaneko! (I hope it's okay to post a sequence of photos. If not please let me know & I'll remove them.) Edit: photos removed as per Silke's post.

I hope it's okay to add a couple of photos of this moment, as it's not covered by the much better photos already posted by Rob S.

@zxDaveM The mind boggles - and not in a good way!

While the other possibilities absolutely horrify me, this one is just baffling. Surely the Coliseum needs to make as much money as possible in ticket sales, given ENO's major financial problems. Every one of these options would surely reduce ticket revenue, either by selling the space more cheaply (standing) or being able to fit fewer seats into the same area (reclining, cabaret tables). As for "dancing" that's what the highly skilled professionals on stage are doing & they are the only ones in the theatre who should be doing it!

I'm too tired to comment properly but just to say I thought this evening's performance was excellent. I'm terrible at remembering choreography to compare across performances but I think Muntagirov did some split jumps I haven't seen from other Basilios. The curtain call nearly turned into Act IV with both Muntagirov & Nunez jumping on stage for their solo bows! (Did you get photos @Rob S?) Oh and I love it that now the men are allowed bouquets on stage we are getting flower exchanges between pairs rather than just the woman giving one to the man. Apart from the leads, my favourite line-up of men in the character roles. I don't know if Sancho Panza is Mosley's favourite role but he looks like it is!

@Richard LH No, I go into Kings Cross then walk to the ROH (as long as it's not raining hard) to save on the tube fare.

After 2 lots of ballet-travel train problems recently today I decided to get a train half an hour than usual to be on the safe side, given there are signalling problems on the East Coast mainline that my line joins with. However we got stuck in terrible traffic so it took twice as long as normal to get to Cambridge station & I was only just in time to get my usual train. Touch wood it's running on time so far, but I'm having to stand all the way. I feel like I'm cursed!

By that logic I, and I imagine most of the audience, would never get to speak to any of the dancers. I can't afford to pay for any of the memberships that give additional access to dancers. The stage door is the only place I can ever speak to them & there has to be a first time for speaking to each dancer. Even the ones I've spoken to before I don't expect them to remember me, given the hundreds of people they must speak to.

While I can absolutely see that's a sensible & pragmatic viewpoint, I would prefer not to adopt it myself as I think I'd find it awfully depressing to end every performance thinking "What if that's their last performance ever?" when in the vast majority of cases it won't be.

This is probably me being autistic but I don't see how one can cherish a dancer whom one does not know? My understanding of the meaning of cherish is that it requires a warm personal relationship with someone. I admire & appreciate performers but would never be presumptuous enough to imagine I could get to know any of them them well enough to be able to cherish them. I too am hoping they will get paired together in Swan Lake. Kaneko will have to have a new partner anyway.

I sometimes feel awkward at stage doors because I can be the only person not asking for selfies with the performers. I just want to thank them for their performances.

Muntagirov's only 33! Unless he has injury problems (and he doesn't seem to be injury-prone, touch wood) I would have hoped he'd dance for about another decade. That would give him time for another 3 or so runs of Don Q.

A bit more World Ballet Day promotion from the RB. (Personally I'm rather regretting having booked the Anemoi/Cellist double bill on 1st November, before I knew it was going to be WBD that day.)

Reading that article, it doesn't sound great. Should I be assuming I won't be seeing McRae in The Nutcracker in 2 months' time?

While it'll vary between dancers, I'd say be prepared for a minimum of half an hour & quite likely longer. On Saturday Kaneko took over an hour to emerge after the matinee & Naghdi just over half an hour in the evening.

I saw Giselle for the first time when the RB did it 2 seasons ago so I have no knowledge of what the choreography historically should be but out of the 4 Albrechts I saw only one, Bonelli, did the extended entrechats & I thought it was fabulous. For me the entrechats going on & on worked perfectly dramatically, given Myrthe is forcing Albrecht to keep dancing.

I noticed that as soon as the Nutcracker casting was announced & would like to see her but unfortunately I saw everyone else in that cast last season and, as I can't afford to see many Nutcrackers, I feel I should select casts where I haven't seen the majority of the dancers in their roles before. I think they only work for some people in the target audience though. I'm on the autistic spectrum & the idea of a relaxed performance makes me shudder! What I want is "uptight" performances where everyone sits still & shuts up throughout! I seem to be one of the few people who has no particular preference in seeing Nutcrackers either before or after Christmas. I'd like to see Buvoli's SPF debut but the trains for New Year's Day are looking conspicuous by their abscence so I don't think I'll be able to get there. I'm rather surprised at there being a full cast change for tomorrow evening. Maybe Sambe isn't available to partner O'Sullivan?

Thanks @Rob S. You can see why often I come & find you in intervals & ask who various people are!

After further peering at my photos, is Madison Bailey the girl furthest to the right in this one? If so then my dancer identification must be getting worse because I jolly well ought to be able to recognise her, having seen her as Clara last year!

Thank you very much for the definitive identification! And apologies for mis-identifying your daughter. Trying again: is this Bethany? (Previous photo from yesterday's matinee, this is yesterday evening.)

I can assure you that I'm extremely broke at the moment! At the beginning of October I had c. £400 in my bank account which has to get me through to the beginning of December. I even drew up a spreadsheet the other day to make sure I could afford the tickets & train fares for the 6 Don Q casts I want to see, plus train fares for a handful of other performances I already have booked, & I cannot afford to spend money on anything else until December.

Yes! Though I see I'm wrong in calling it a 19th century novel as it was actually published 1909-10. It's mostly set in the 19th century though.

May I ask for some assistance from those better than I am at dancer identification? There were a few dancers I noticed yesterday who I think may be some of the new Aud Jensen Young Dancers but I find it so difficult to tell from single B&W headshots. Is this Bethany Bartlett as Gamache's fiancee? Front row L-R Marianna Tsembenhoi, unsure, Viola Pantuso, Martin Diaz, unsure, Casper Lench?, Isabella Shaker?, Denilson Almeida, unsure, Luc Foskett? (I'd particularly like to know if I've identified Isabella Shaker correctly as she stood out for me in the Act II corps.) (Overlapping with the previous photo I'm afraid) Front row L-R unsure, Martin Diaz, unsure, Casper Lench?, Isabella Shaker?, Luc Foskett?, unsure, Blake Smith? unsure.

A pity the ROH didn't have a 19th century author set a well-known novel (turned hit musical) there!

Interesting that theory suggests taller dancers are inclined to injury when among the RB Principals in recent years it is some of the shorter ones (McRae, Takada, Corrales) who have been off injured more frequently.