Candleque

I spotted Stanisław Węgrzyn a row or two behind me in the stalls. (Hope to see his own Romeo debut next time 🤞 although I guess Benvolio might come first). Might be just my impression, but I felt there were more than the usual amount of accolades from other dancers for Mayara and Calvin on Instagram, including ENB's talented Francesca Velicu as @Dawnstar mentions. I love seeing the support for these emotional debuts from the dancer community. Also — again, personal reflection vs hard data — the ROH seemed to have a younger audience overall last night. Anyone else notice this?

I'd love to see Jeffrey Cirio do Rudolf. (But acknowledge that is both a thread diversion and a fantasy.)

This was the first time I got to see a female ballet conductor at the ROH. (I certainly don't get to see all the shows, so may have missed earlier ones.) Going by the cheers from the people seated around me, the audience was as as excited as I was to applaud Alondra. As much as I love the Royal Ballet, they could do so much more in terms of gender equality.

I see that Claire Calvert is listed as Rosaline. I know it isn't a big dancing role, but will be great to see her on stage again.

Going back upstream to the discussion around Yasmine Naghdi replacing Akane Takada as Alex Campbell's Juliet, rather than his frequent partner, Francesca Hayward, I saw that Frankie is appearing with Cesar Corrales in the Ballet International Gala in Australia later this month. She did a takeover on their Instagram Stories, which is a fun peek behind the scenes at the ROH. Cesar did a takeover as well showing his daily routine.

Sometimes dancers post pictures with their lovely bouquets going home via the Tube. Which always strikes me as an ironic mix of glamour and reality. I wonder if they might fancy a limo or taxi voucher as well as flowers 🚕 💐 😁

Have just bought the stream for Giselle. A positive action to support the RB and perk me up. While I know my disappointment to miss The Nutcracker tomorrow is nothing compared to the dancers and ROH staff, I really need a ballet fix this week. For all of us, I am clutching (metaphorically) my ticket for 05 Jan (SPF Claire Calvert, fingers crossed 🙏) as we need a little Christmas to look forward to 🎄

I've never seen Scènes de ballet (or even a video clip) but great to see that two of my faves, Yasmine Naghdi and Alexander Campbell, will be dancing it together.

Just saw that Isabella Boylston, principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre, was at the Wednesday night show. Gutted not to have spotted her (although I would never interrupt her evening out.) In her Instagram Story she thanks Marianela Nuñez for the tickets and shares that she got to take class with the Royal Ballet yesterday. Reporting this simply to throw into the universe the hope that she might guest with the Royal someday and/or ABT come on tour over here.

Totally agree. Yasmine is an amazing dancer and she really acted her heart out last night. Vadim Muntagirov didn't convince me though and my opinion on his Romeo is more in line with those who saw the earlier performance up thread. He was noble (as always) but not hot-blooded. Admittedly, I was fortunate enough to see Yasmine's joint debut with Matty Ball back when and it has stayed fresh in my mind as their chemistry simply leapt offstage. A great R&J is when the thunderbolt between Romeo and Juliet is so believable and electric that it hits the audience as well. So our hearts break when they die. Paired with Vadim, I could see Yasmine acting, rather than just feel the emotion. My Italian companion for the show, who knows ballet but not any of the RB dancers, felt Luca Acri would have been a much more convincing Romeo. Wonderful dancing and dare I say sex appeal. Another highlight for me has to be the harlots in this cast, especially Claire Calvert. I cannot believe this is her first run in that role as she totally owned it. When one of the mandolin players accidentally lost his hat, Claire ended up picking it up and saucily posing it on top of her own head in time to the music and perfectly in character 👏

Like many, I am surprised (and sad) at the low sales for this. Kaneko/Bracewell deserve a full house for sure. And given that kids all study Shakespeare in school at some point, would be a great matinee to take even non-dancing teens. Does anyone know what the ROH does when they have so many open seats? Do they gift them to the RBS or other worthy orgs?

My booking experience went well this morning. Too well — I went over my budget 😲

Totally agree with both parts of this sentence. And totally agree with this key point. Dare I add: couldn't they find a female ballet choreographer?

I saw the opening night show and this piece showed me that the better the dancer, the greater the appreciation for and understanding of a modern (and dare I say more depressing) work. That's kind of a duh I guess but I loved them in this. They made me forget I was there mostly for Le Corsaire and Playlist (which didn't disappoint). The rest was a mixed bag for me personally; some great moments, some that dragged a bit.

Hope it is not a faux pas to post about English National Ballet in a thread about BRB, but I just saw Solstice. William Forsythe’s Playlist (Track 1, 2) is such joyous proof that a modern work can uplift you. Worth the price of admission alone. (Admittedly, there are a couple angst ridden pieces in the bill as well that tick the depressing box, but also some gala worthy pas de deux/trois)

Working my way through the casting — just spotted a (new to me) pairing I'm psyched to see: Calvert and Clarke in Nutcracker 🎁

Naghdi/Muntagirov seem perfect for Giselle. Muntagirov can do anything for sure, but he doesn't feel like an impetuous Romeo to me. But maybe Ball will play Tybalt in their show, which would be cool 🤺 It was after I saw Naghdi/Ball debuts in R&J that I went from casual fan to casting obsessed. Iconic. Also agree completely with the above that James Hay would be a fantastic Romeo and deserves the chance to prove it.

Am super sad for the RB (she is a brilliant brand ambassador) and for us fans, but am very happy for her. Echoing all who are already queuing for her final ROH performance. Who knows? San Francisco Ballet might coax her to guest during school vacations 🤞

I just get cranky when companies pretend they are doing you a favour, when in reality a scheme where people have to phone up every Friday to compete for a single ticket is far from user friendly.

Understament. Seriously cannot believe that the ROH and the Royal Ballet think a 'strictly limited' Friday rush solution, phone only (?), is the correct solution to this serious issue hurting some of their most ardent fans. I guess single ballet goers have nothing else to do and don't need to plan in advance. Wondering why I pay for a Friends membership tbh.

I also had a v hard time booking anything. Tbh, I thought tickets were just selling out super fast. Forget or didn't realise the ROH was restricting single seats. Frustrating, but as they say, a first world problem.

He is the first dancer I fell in love with. RIP Jacques d'Amboise. Thank you.

Yes, I did contact the Mark Morris Dance Group. They emailed me a link and password to see the L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato video and were very nice. They said: "for all those wishing to view outside the US, contact info@mmdg.org and inform us of their name and country to receive a link."

Fantastic to learn. Thank you 😁

Well, other than the McGregor and the Wheeldon (which I just can't get excited about, sorry), the list of ballets exactly overlaps with the ones I have seen the most often, both at the ROH and elsewhere. Beautiful yes, and they will sell out. But not a list this beggar would have chosen. I agree with everyone hoping for something upbeat or unexpected. My own personal fantasy is for the Royal Ballet to do a Mark Morris work. The fact that it is so far from a realistic idea in no way negates my enjoyment of the dream.