BeauxArts

I can transfer now if available

Hello i am sorry as I was working. Is the ticket still available?

Hello I am interested in this ticket. Thanks!

Fumi could wear Wellington boots and she would still make magic as far as I am concerned!

Beautiful and stellar performance from Fumi and William this evening. They are a very special partnership.

Perhaps your 2nd paragraph was posted in haste but this is an inappropriate and coarse comment.

This is one of the great dance shows to be performed in London for some time: it was sensational and Tiler was as brilliant as I had hoped she would be. Well done all!

What is the evidence base for you to assert, Fiona, that Ratmansky and contributors have retained payments? The only people who need to examine their consciences are the Russians and their apologists.

Yea please! I have sent a DM.

I am in search of one ticket for the above performance of Sleeping Beauty. Thank you!

Salenko and Frola were absolutely splendid in every way. It was a virtuoso performance but with real depth. I was amazed that Iana S danced a different production less than 48 hours ago in Berlin. Also, excellent performances from the corps and the orchestra, playing at a pace-y tempo which was very welcome!

I am searching for 1 ticket for Swan Lake in either 18 January OR 22 January (matinee). please contact me if you have such a ticket for sale. Thank you!

Bumping this- still looking!

I would be very grateful if anyone has 2 seats (do not have to be together) to Ruination on 30 December that they cannot use. Thank you and Happy Christmas!

The feedback I get from de Bana is money, naivety and opportunism where others will not now go on principled grounds, all dressed up in self-serving platitudes.

I think that the most charitable thing that can be said about de Bana is that he is supremely naive. Why would any self-respecting person agree to create a ballet in Moscow knowing that the Bolshoi represents the Russian state. I am sure de Bana's words are immensely comforting to the families of the people killed in Bucha, Kharkiv, Kherson, Melitopol and countless towns and villages in Ukraine, and also to all the people in Ukraine now struggling to survive without access to basic amenities he takes for granted. It is beyond shameful.

It is really shameful that Japan has hosted Russian dancers, having joined the West in taking a stand against the Russian invasion. It is particularly disappointing to see Osipova, Nunez and Muntagirov - who danced in the Ukraine gala - sharing a stage with Zakarova, who as Annamk rightly observes, is the Russian state under Putin incarnate. Why they (and Ed Watson) have chosen to appear with her - or even been given permission by the ROH to do so - is perplexing.

Fiona - indeed: but you cannot have your cake and eat it: you wrote a long defence of Polunin, unequivocally a Putin supporter, and also raised the issue of rising Russiaphobia in the West. It is very regrettable that - for some of us - our view of Russian dancers and companies cannot be separated from our utter revulsion at the Russian government, army etc. If you can separate it out then you are fortunate. For the record, and this is not exhaustive, quite a few dancers etc have found new companies since leaving Russia: Xander Parrish and wife; the Mativienko family, Marko Juusela, Misha Barkijidjee, Victor Caixeta, Olga Smirnova, Ilya Jivoy, Vasilii Tkachenko, Vsevolod Maievskyi… there are certainly more. I have nothing but respect and admiration for them.

It is interesting. I am not condemning anyone for staying in Russia because plainly that is an extremely complex judgement call, but I do reserve the right to call into question the judgement of people who choose to return post-invasion to live and work there. I also don’t think the comparison with the invasion of Iraq is apposite. The invasion of Ukraine is a direct attack on that country and Western democratic values which we all benefit from, whether we realise it or not.

Fiona: we are all fortunate to be able to post openly and courteously on this site and there will always be interesting news from the Russian ballet world to be shared. However, were you a balletomane in Russia you would not be able to post openly, expressing your views on the war, and would have to self-censor. The brute truth is that Cook and Ryzhkova - and Mai Nagahisa and Aaron Oh (Mariinsky) - have ALL returned to Russia in the full knowledge of what Russian forces have done to the people and infrastructure of Ukraine. If it is “food for thought” I regret to say it is indigestible for me.

Why do I feel that the controversial critic himself is probably basking in the reflected glory of being the subject of these knowledgeable exchanges?!! He has provoked an interesting debate though.

For my part, and with huge sorrow, I now cannot watch any Russian performers who I know support the Russian invasion. There is no grey area here: one is either in support of freedom and democracy or one is not. Oppression and genocide cannot be moderated or transformed into something acceptable in the name of art. For this reason I do not want to see Polunin dance but I see that others may still wish to do so.

Hello Yes please. Have sent a PM. Thanks!

Sorry - have sent PM

Back to the programme.. I enjoyed this bill so much. Someone commented on the The Times review thread that it should be made available on the NHS as a tonic and I could not agree more: brilliant choreography danced with palpable joy and effervescent style by the company. This is surely the way to bring new audiences to classical ballet. Bravo ENB!