JNC

such detective work! Thanks for sharing on the forum @Blossom re the announcement date I think on another thread the 30 April was mentioned as the date but I’m not sure where this information came from and if it’s definite - I hope we’re not waiting into May! Presumably they would do the full announcement before the Friends’ Preview as even if it’s called a preview it would be more of an opportunity to deep dive into things otherwise the information is sure to leak and presumably they want it to all go through the official press release? From what’s been announced so far - well no surprises here! I’m glad to see Cinderella back but this is tinged with the disappointment that this means we’re unlikely to get La Fille or Sylvia. (or Les patineurs…) I hope with Cinderella they mix up some casting and maybe have some debuts to keep it a bit fresh. I’d love to see James Hay given a leading role and maybe O’Sullivan to debut. (I can’t remember if Takada was cast last time or if she was injured but she’d be on my list, dates permitting.) I am not surprised by R&J either and hope that Kaneko and Bracewell are cast in it together again as I’m still annoyed I missed them last time. Kevin O’Hare if you’re reading please cast them together again! So looks like so far confirmations are: Madaddam Alice R&J Cinderella Onegin (not 100% but highly likely) that leaves 3-4 slots which by previous patterns my guess would be: Sleeping Beauty Modern/contemporary mixed bill (eg Pite/Wheeldon/Marston or a new work from Abraham etc) Dare I remain hopeful for Balanchine especially given no other company are doing it in the Uk next season…in some sort of neoclassical/heritage style triple…maybe with a Robbins or even MacMillan or something like Raymonda Act 3 If Onegin is the “adult” ballet I doubt we’ll be getting Giselle either, so that remains on my wish list for next next year… If they’re doing Cinderella at Christmas it’s unlikely they’ll do Nutcracker as well (though not impossible). I could see them doing a shorter mixed bill (eg Les Patineurs or something Balanchine) alongside Nutcracker but not two fairytale type ballets requiring large casts at the same time? Maybe we’ll finally get La Fille, Giselle in 2026…I do feel Fille is likely given Paris and BRB doing it this year shows there is interest and a pattern there. Similarly if ENB are doing Giselle in January I can see why it makes sense to perhaps delay until later in 2025 or 2026 for RB. I’ve all but given up on Sylvia, La Bayadere and works like Les Sylphides now. Hopeful to be proved wrong!

Is it just as bad not in the first row? I have read views are good and unobstructed but awful leg room and gets very hot. Given I’m not a regular in Paris I’ve therefore avoided that part of the theatre and treated myself to their version of orchestra stalls, as well as the their version of the balcony (one below top tier) and I’ve also been on the stool seats at the back of a box. In fact my worst view was from the middle of the orchestra stalls as the was little rake and the seats aren’t staggered so someone’s head is right in front of you! Overall on average I do think you get better views at the ROH (although I haven’t sat in the orchestra stalls at ROH!)

thanks all for comments. From what is said I’d probably prefer the Nureyev version but DQ probably still isn’t necessarily a ballet I will ever love! I now remember I saw the Bolshoi dance this when they came to London in 2018 (or 2019?). I remember enjoying it more than Acosta’s version but still thinking it perhaps wasn’t ever going to be one of my favourite ballets or a “must see” for me. But from what I vaguely recall the “supporting” soloist type roles were “better” than Acosta’s version with classical choreography and a bit of excitement. Re lights - I have no insight but you can buy warm toned LED lights so unless there’s a reason why they can’t get them for business/industrial levels it must have been a choice to go for the cold white light?

Hope this isn’t too off topic but interested to how this compares to Acosta’s version for those who have seen both? I have to be honest and say I don’t enjoy Acosta’s version. Of course Kitri’s solo is iconic and I like the more classical parts of the Dryads and the grand pas but I find it a bit “panto” in parts (not helped by some of the sets, the windmill one in particular) and the choreography doesn’t “wow” me the way other classical ballets do. I guess I’m interested in whether I would enjoy a different version of DQ, or whether the aspects I don’t enjoy about Acosta’s are to do with his choreography?

Could this be dynamic pricing in action? If for some reason the algorithm spots seats have sold less well on a particular date it’s decided to reduce prices? I see @Emeralds has already suggested this! Personally I’m not in favour of dynamic pricing. It disadvantages people not living in London by raising the price of weekend performances if I had to guess. It could also disadvantage those who have to book in advance or are committed fans who book earlier only to find last minute discounts - this then has a knock on effect by potentially causing people to “wait and see” and not book sooner next time…? On the flip side some people can’t commit to dates months in advance so then having to pay over the odds at a later date also feels unfair. Set prices make sense and are fair for all - I accept that very last minute sales are fine as some money recouped is better than none and I don’t begrudge that too (also indicates pricing was too high to begin with so unrealistically optimistic that future pricing is mindful of this). In any case I feel dynamic pricing is a bit of a lose-lose situation and could further discourage audience members from attending!

For a “longer” run it maybe would have made sense to bring two productions? I echo the comments about why not Bayadere, particularly with RB and ENB recently I know it’s a big ballet name recognition but it may not be the safe bet they think it is for sales, Bayadere or something different may have caught interest more. Looking at their website they also seem to have a fair bit of Balanchine in the rep, as well as ballets we don’t see often in London like works by Jiri Kylian and Folkine. I feel it would have been so interesting to see those and I would be booking if it wasn’t swan lake! I probably won’t be attending myself but interested to read reviews of those that do go. I did also clock the 2h15 time and so they must be making a lot of cuts? Even without a second interval that’s anything between 15-30 minutes of music/dance? To be honest I sometimes find Act 1 drags a bit so I wouldn’t be devastated to see that trimmed!

I agree with this - I think I found his Red Shoes a disappointment in part because I was expecting a ballet! For his Swan Lake therefore I was prepared for it to be not ballet (or at least not classical) and enjoyed it much more. But also having seen it once don’t feel the need to see it again (but I could see classical Swan Lake many times over!)

I’ve only seen it on TV (think the BBC streamed it many years ago when it was first created) but remember feeling very disappointed and underwhelmed. Felt a lot of “dance acting” to me rather than lots of choreography and “proper” dancing. I know in a full length ballet there is some filler to a point, but in classical works or Ashton it still feels like choreography/ballet to me. (I find some of MacMillan’s veers towards filler at point but he manages to keep the balance just about right and also his pas de deux make it worthwhile!) Just personal preference. I don’t think I disliked it and if I still lived in London I imagine I would go and see it to try it. But now I don’t it’s too much money for me to spend on a whim, similarly that’s why I’m not seeing a Winter’s Tale (that I would have been more interested in but there’s no matinee so I would have been up for putting in the train costs but not the accommodation on top, and the tickets were practically swan lake priced!). I agree it’s maybe too soon for Cinderella BUT they did revive Dante in a similar timeframe (2 years after premiere) so it wouldn’t be unheard of. I don’t mind if Alice is revived, means I can save more money!

of course! Same as with me and Matthew Bourne - I respect what he does (anyone who is this successful in bringing people to see dance is to be commended) and clearly he’s very popular but just not for me. I don’t dislike his works but with limited time/budget I can’t see everything so would prioritise “ballet” at RB, ENB, BRB and Northern ballet etc over Bourne.

Do many people book ballet months in a dance like mega fans on here? I would guess yes for things like Swan Lake and Nutcracker which do sell out reasonably early but for all other programmes there seems to be more sales closer to the time once people investigate what to do in the next two weeks or so and or see PR pushing recent programmes. I’m hopeful La Fille sells very well (surely 3 performances in London is easy enough to do…?) and I wouldn’t be too concerned about it not selling yet. NYCB sold pretty well (it sold out quite a few weeks before I think?) which I was pleasantly surprised by. All the ballet seasons having been announced highlights how late ROH’s announcement is in comparison. I am guessing it will be announced by the end of the month with ticket sales for the autumn season starting around July (for general booking) I’m imagining. Realistically I don’t expect Fille if BRB are doing it (though conversely if people go in October and enjoy it would they be likely to be excited to see it in Spring at ROH?) but that means I’m hopeful for Sylvia, or failing that I’d like to see Cinderella revived again (although not necessarily so soon over other works that haven’t been, but would rather have that than Alice!).

I think whether or not you like this will depend on how you feel about Bourne’s productions generally! I love the Red Shoes film but I found Bourne’s production a bit disappointing - it’s not classical ballet (to be fair it’s not trying to be..?) and so I didn’t dislike it but it wasn’t what I had envisioned at all. Similarly I thought his Swan Lake was a really clever concept but the overall story and choreography wasn’t my cup of tea! I think for me the main issue is it’s not really “ballet” - I think I went thinking it would be and it’s more contemporary dance (some parts ballet inspired). I would certainly recommend ballet fans seeing Bourne’s Swan Lake as it’s good fun and that will give you a sense of whether or not you’ll enjoy his other productions. For me I was happy to see this once but I wouldn’t be fussed about seeing it again. To go back to social media, as others have said I’m not fussed how dancers use social media - over or “under” sharing is their choice. I am not a big fan of lots of promoted content and if the balance of that goes too far I tend to unfollow. I do actually really like Marianela’s instagram though, it feels very personal and genuine (but not over sharing) and it has a good balance of some promoted stuff but other genuine behind the scenes looks. (Also I feel she, and lots of other dancers, tend to only promote stuff they actually genuinely like? It’s all rather banal stuff like clothing or beauty or dance related stuff usually as opposed to anything controversial!) If you don’t like her (or anyone’s!) content it’s very easy to simply not follow, but her account is one I do follow. There are other dancers who I have unfollowed because while I like their dancing their instagram content isn’t for me - nothing wrong with that, dancing is a job at the end of the day and they’re allowed to have lives and other interests! I lean towards enjoying seeing more “behind the scenes” dance content as well as the odd personal touch, less a fan of overly posed fashion shoot style photos and lots of sponsored/ad contents.

Oh dear I’m really sorry to hear recent experiences, particularly @emmarose those people sound foul. I know it seems more faff but I would echo others’ advice and email ROH. What that man did was assault and perhaps battery. He should certainly be banned. Not that it would have been ok if you weren’t alone but particularly as a solo woman (as I often am at the ROH) it can be very intimidating to not feel like anyone would step in to help if things escalate, and whilst I appreciate FOH staff don’t have eyes everywhere it is their job to be on the lookout proactively for these things - particularly if there has been an “incident”. If everyone emails perhaps they will ban the man! They should do so just on your account but this is why it’s probably worth emailing - the more people that do the more action you’d hope they would/should take. these things can really sour experiences and for me they really do affect my enjoyment of the performance as much I try not to let it. I’m considering being more vocal in “complaining” to ROH for future incidents (if there are any) so ROH are aware of the scale of the problem and hopefully start proactively doing more. The tickets themselves are expensive but if you add on things like travel, hotels etc if such behaviour becomes more likely than not, on the balance of things it becomes a less enjoyable experience and too risky for me to spend money on. I’m still quite far away from this thankfully but I do really think standards have gone down since the pandemic where it’s now expected that for every performance somewhere in the auditorium a phone will flash or record or go off.

I’ll add that while I’m disappointed not to see Alina I’m not cancelling my tickets. Sleeping Beauty is one of my favourite ballets and I’m intrigued to see another version other than the Royal’s. I’m very much looking forward to it still!

Ditto, I booked a specific trip to London for this. Her Royal Ballet DVD is my favourite recorded performance of the role.

@Emeralds Fumi Kaneko’s Aurora debut was not the cinema streamed performance. Still very impressive for her to cover Lauren though as I believe she’d only performed it once (maybe twice?) before having to step in on the spot, and then not quite so on the spot but still unexpectedly for the cinema rely. FYI I watched her debut (was absolutely lovely, my favourite performance of Sleeping Beauty ever) and watched the cinema stream at a later date as ROH made it available free during lockdown. I was hoping they’d release it on DVD as it was a great performance not just from Fumi but a very “starry” cast!

Have PM’ed you

Ah I’m so pleased for those who could see Fumi and Will, sorry I couldn’t be there but reading your reviews and seeing Rob’s pictures are the next best thing. Definitely my priority to book for next run, I’ll be upset if they’re not cast together then! Sorry to go a bit off topic but I agree that the website showing “tickets available” only to show a totally greyed out screen is a massive frustration and will lead many to question if the website is working snd wasting time checking back at a later time or contacting ROH etc. The technology should be available (and ROH should prioritise fixing this if it’s not) to show performances are sold out *unless* you are signed in and are eligible for them and not the other way round. I’m fairly certain other websites don’t work in this convoluted way! Is O’Sullivan injured? I wonder if she’ll be able to do the Ashton triple in a few months if that’s the case. Hopefully she will be able to dance that!

@Emeralds I’m not an expert but based on numbers alone etoile has to be the same as RB’s principal level - otherwise you’re looking at something more like “prima ballerina assoluta” akin to etoile that is far more rare. Also by the theory that etoile is “higher” than principal dancer is there an inherent assumption that Paris thinks its dancers are better than all other dancers in companies worldwide? (I’m being a bit silly of course but they must see etoile as equivalent to the highest rank of other equivalent companies). I think Paris just like to do things differently (or rather given the history of ballet I suppose maybe they are the “originals”?). I don’t think etoile is any different to principal dancer, if anything because it’s based on a “special something” not the concours exam it’s more akin to promotions at RB on subjective decisions made by the seniors of the company. I find the concours system has a lot of merit for fairness and transparency. It’s unlucky if you get nerves (but do they not get nerves for performances, maybe because they know it’s not experts watching them!) but whilst it’s unusual and rare because of the etoile category you could in theory have someone at soloist level that gets promoted up to etoile bypassing a rank (or there are no “rules” to say that they couldn’t bypass more ranks although it would be very unusual). And yes, of the ballet programmes I have POB is the best. You have a guaranteed selection of good articles, on stage photos and behind the scenes photos, and lots of them. With RB sometimes you get rehearsal photos but you often don’t. POB generally seem to have more content in the way of articles as well. Compared to say ENB’s programmes though I’d say RB’s are very good, but I’d love I’d RB could adopt guaranteed rehearsal photos as well as photos on stage from the previous run because its always nice to see a behind the scenes look with those who are cast in the production you are seeing!

@Emeralds my assumption always was “etoile” is equivalent to RB’s principal dancer class surely, and the “premier danseur” is first soloist. While “etoiles” hold the title for life and have to retire at a certain age I think those are quirks of the Parisian system not indicating a totally different rank. I would have expected Marcelino Sambe to appear in the programme as “guest artist” or something like that, when Roberto Bolle appears in the RB programme I think he’s given a title of “principal guest dancer” or something along those lines. I guess they can’t call Sambe an “etoile” as that title is indicative of the French system but I wouldn’t expect him to be a premier danseur either, so “guest dancer” or something thereabouts is quite neutral and doesn’t indicate a rank, and in the bio I would imagine they’d say he is a Principal Dancer at the RB that is their highest rank etc. Not that it needed further whetting, but this has very much whetted my appetite to see BRB later this year in La Fille!

I wholeheartedly agree with this! As someone who no longer lives in London the streams are something I’ve become increasingly interested in, whether that’s at the cinema or I probably wouldn’t pay for ROH’s monthly stream and get “locked in” to a monthly contract but I’d like to see the option to pay £x amount to see one-off performances via their streaming service.

Better late than never (!) but one day after public booking does feel a big gaffe. I suppose we’d have to have it at least two days before (as releasing it after 9am when booking opens is little help), I wonder if there was an internal slip? Delighted I have Hayward/Sambe in the dream but sad to be missing Osipova/Bracewell as that would have been my second choice. Instead I get Cuthbertson and Vadim which to be fair is a pretty close third! Whilst I really like Nunez/Clarke so am not unhappy with this choice I am very disappointed not to see Fumi/Vadim. It’s annoying the two Saturday performances weren’t split between the two casts as I may have gone down a separate weekend for Fumi/Vadim but I can’t go down during the week again after Sarasota. it’s times like these I’m very jealous I don’t live in London as otherwise I would be seeing all casts! It does seem very complex casting…is this being filmed at all? Wonder if I can catch additional casts in the cinema? Similar to the MacMillan there’s no easy way to see each single cast once without any repeats(?). For me I wouldn’t have been able to see them all anyway and the ones I’ve got sandwiched during the week of Sarasota I’m overall quite happy with but… It is odd Ball isn’t appearing at all, nor James Hay!! I was hoping Hay and Hayward would be cast for Rhapsody. No Takada either, and yes Campbell is very much missed here too. (Dare I say Morera as well, would have seen her in Five Brahms perhaps, I’m not familiar with the other works so I can’t place her exactly but sure she could have fit anywhere). I do very much hope we get something like this next season (ie lots more Ashton!)

I agree, I like you can pop into ROH anytime but perhaps about an hour before performances it should exclusively be for those with tickets due to limited tables etc. to be honest I’m not sure if this would fix the problem as there’s still more people than tables!

It certainly is possible to pay the excess! For example now if you return a ticket the credit automatically sits in your accounts and when you check out it’s easy to click to apply all the credit to a purchase and pay the remainder. I’d certainly be emailing ROH if I was you to ask them if they could part return what you have paid and take the gift certificate credit you weren’t able to use given your difficulties. Or I wonder if there’s a way they can apply the credit to your account so next time at least you can click apply and not have to enter the code. I find it frustrating to monitor several tabs so actually this time I tended to do everything on one tab (and I also worry that the multiple tabs will lead to inconsistent baskets and something going missing!) but I have multiple tabs as backups but generally once I’m “queued in” to one I try to stick to it, unless it puts me in a queue after adding a ticket to a basket (this happened last time but not this time). They’re doing essential maintenance works this morning to the website so it could be to sort out some ticketing problems?

I agree that the tables should be available for those who have purchased food - having said that does the amphi bar even serve food? It’s just drinks I thought? I would be quite annoyed if I purchased food in say the cafe style area downstairs and couldn’t sit to eat it as someone was eating something from pret. But is this also any different to someone sitting there not eating or drinking anything at all? Sometimes I’ve been put off purchasing a snack or coffee as I can’t guarantee a table. The main thing for me is people are not eating in the auditorium (risking mess, smells and noise)! I think as is most of the way how these things are communicated is most of the thing. If a staff member politely said something like “I’m really sorry but these tables should be available for those who have purchased food/drink here” most people would oblige. But if you have someone with an attitude barking “no outside food allowed!” When you’re on a budget and or have finished work late and that’s your dinner, therefore being made to feel like you don’t belong - that’s the issue. Making people feel like they need to “hide” outside food as it’s not allowed will also increase the risk of people sneakily eating in the auditorium as well I’d guess.

I’m guessing it’s how long a piece of string at this point but can we expect casting at any point soon? I’ve booked the two alternative bills on concurrent evenings so I’m hoping the cast for the Dream and Rhapsody will differ as they wouldn’t expect the same cast to dance them two nights in a row…? I don’t think I can justify a separate trip particularly with Sarasota meaning I’m extending the trip so I’m hoping even if it’s not my “first pick” of casts I get I at least get two different ones! If both are the same I may be tempted to return one of the tickets to be honest.