loveclassics

It has often occurred to me that the ROH has the same problem as many eminent establishments of the arts in the UK: namely the cost of maintaining the fabric of the building. Places like the National Theatre have the same problem and the high cost of upkeep often gets in the way of the artistic endeavours of the director. If only central government would take this on and let the Arts Council grants be restricted to pure production costs then the so-called 'Artistic' Directors could concentrate on 'artistic' matters and wouldn't have to worry about keeping the roof watertight and other basic building administration. Then we might see some real innovative programming!

I've found quite a few errors in the ROH collections where a particular dancer was scheduled to appear but was replaced due to injury/illness. It's not 100% accurate (and I can only speak for the most recent decade).

There's a nice new RB calendar too, called Great Ballet Partnerships. You can see it on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0857752995/ref=oh_details_o00_s01_i00 The new book on Darcey is called 'Darcey Bussell: A Life in Pictures', also available from Amazon. Must agree with the comment on Apollo's Angels. The book is great on the early history of ballet but the last chapters betray the author's rather parochial view of the current state of the art.

It worked fine on my iMac, thanks.

Re: the Balanchine film about the NYC in Moscow: what ruined it for me was Kevin Kline's pompous and portentous commentary - it wasn't the the end of the world that Ansanelli didn't get to do Serenade that one time! Edited because the post didn't appear where I thought it would!

My "Oh ****" moment came when I opened the post and found a lovely penalty notice from TFL. Apparently I inadvertently strayed into a box junction when caught in the father and mother of all traffic jams ten days ago. With so many motorists trying to avoid the Olympic lanes it was total gridlock here in the East End. TFL must have made a fortune in fines - maddeningly I read that no-one was fined for accidentally going in the Zil lanes - I should have stuck to my original route!

Those 'Home Alone' movies don't seem quite so far fetched now.

If you have SKY then a documentary called A Beautiful Tragedy is regularly shown. It's about a student at the Perm Ballet school. It's not THAT tragic as she makes the grade at the end but it's really engrossing and seems a realistic portrayal of the sacrifices required to succeed in the profession. I loved The Turning Point too and never tire of watching the Red Shoes, particularly in the new re-mastered print which does justice to the fantastic colour. Also, there's a mock ballet in the recent DVD of the Phantom of the Opera which features Sergei Polunin, late of the RB. Following the scandalously successful Black Swan I am waiting for someone to film Rebecca Horsfall's Dancing on Thorns - it would make a nice change to see a film featuring the struggles of a male dancer. If you run out of films, then there are loads of interesting dance biographies as well as novels with ballet as a theme. Try finding a copy of any of the comic novels about the Ballet Stroganoff, especially A Bullet in the Ballet. It always cheers me up on bad days.

According to today's Times, it was 300 dancers from the Royal Ballet! Kevin will have his work cut out next season...

This reminds me of a film by Bryan Forbes back in the 70s. It was a musical version of Cinderella but he was banned from using the name as Disney own the trademark! Luckily choreographers are more reasonable or we'd only ever see one version of the ballet.

Thanks John. Perfectly clear now!

I thought Suite en Blanc was plotless so why is the ballerina dressed like a Wili with wings?

I have an ancient audio cassette recording of Fred & Adele Astaire singing (with George Gershwin on piano) which gives an idea of how sparkling their partnership was. Listen to 'I'd Rather Charleston' and you can't help smiling. Searching to see if this recording is still available I came across this: but sadly no dancing.

There seem to be plenty of unsold seats for the Mixed Bill this week. Has anyone seen any special offers in the press or social media? Linda

Can anyone tell me where to find the latest news on casting for the Birthday Offering/Month mixed bill? I can't find anything other than the original posting on the ROH website but with so many recent injuries I assume there must be SOME changes? Thanks Linda

Does anyone know what the casting is for the remaining performances of Pagodas? I want to see it again but with a different cast (tonight was Stix-Brunell and Hirano). Any inside info most welcome! Linda

Lovely photos - thanks Dave! Nice to see that the original costumes from 89 have been used: I thought the ones for the 96 revival, though similar, didn't have quite the same quality. Re the blindfold: I think it's the lighting that makes it LOOK transparent but Darcey said (at the fund-raiser event last summer) that it was still very hard to see through and she really felt she was dancing 'blind' some of the time. Looking forward to seeing it soon even without Lauren and Rupert (the next best to the original cast IMHO). Linda

Thank you all for your postings. As a fan of PoP (though only through seeing the recording) I was really sad at not being able to get a ticket for the Insight. On the other hand, I have to agree that Insight events now are nowhere near as illuminating and informative as they used to be. I can remember some which ran nearly all day and included far more than just a few comments and a rehearsal (and that's only in the last 8 years). As Sim rightly points out, they are now very poor value for money and much I would have like to have been there, I'm not THAT devastated to have missed it. I just hope that the number of unsold tickets will encourage the ROH to offer some deals so I can see more than 1 cast (and I hope Lauren will make it). Linda

Could any kind soul who was lucky enough to get a ticket post a brief summary of the evening for those of us who weren't so fortunate? Thanks

Thanks everyone for the reassurance - I'm now seriously thinking about booking. Is the cast known or is it only announced nearer to the time of transmission?

Thought I might try the Stratford Picture House for Raymonda next month as I have never seen it before but was a bit shocked to find it lasts 250 minutes! Does this include intervals?

It is remarkable, I agree. The composer Rimsky Korsakov also captured that Spanish fire in his Capriccio Espagnol which sounds almost more Spanish than many 'real' Spanish works!

Interesting to read the SF's critic's bullet points - the last mentions the score as a major selling point. A whole evening of Minkus' plinketdy-plonk aural wallpaper is enough to keep me away! On a earlier point (I came rather late to this thread) I once saw a Russian couple dance the Bedroom pdd from Manon for a televised gala and was appalled by their performance. Technically faultless, it completely subverted MacMillan's original because the dancers were so intent on charming the audience, they appeared completely indifferent to each other. It was all 'look at me, aren't I lovely?' and there was no rapport or chemistry between them. By contrast, at another gala, a somewhat under-rehearsed performance of the same pdd by Rojo and Cope, fairly sizzled with passion. I had somehow missed Manon up until then but afterwards couldn't wait to see the entire ballet. I have to say I agree that company style is an important factor and perhaps the RB should leave Don Q to the Russians and Cubans and concentrate on what they do best. I'd rather see a revival of some of Ashtons's neglected works - there must be loads in the back catalogue that are overdue for a new production. Any suggestions?

I emailed the ROH shop and received this response: "We hope for the website to be available by the end of the month, it will start small as we are becoming an Olympic shop in July, as the Royal Opera House is housing the Olympic Museum in the summer but we will still be selling a number of ROH items online, with a fully stocked online shop late summer."

Just spotted used paperback copies on Amazon - very much cheaper too! Again, just search for 'Life in Dance' in books and click on the 'Used' link to bring up quite a long list. The paperback is fine and has the same good selection of photos. Linda