onemouseplace

The Lorna Hill Sadler's Wells books, especially the earlier ones with Veronica, Sebastian and Caroline, were my absolute favourite ballet fiction when I was a teenager. I was never going to be a dancer myself, but I definitely ascribe some of my love of ballet now to reading them over and over. Yes, same here. I'm so sad that my eldest daughter, who is a total bookworm, has no interest in ballet whatsover and refuses to read them!

I've just watched the first episode and enjoyed it - it's very much docu-drama, but they went through the audition process for the various levels of the school and will clearly follow a couple of dancers at each level throughout the series. I know very little about Balenchine, so I found it very interesting. We are at the tail end of a 6-month free Disney Plus subscription with O2 so that might be worth looking into for anyone with O2.

Agreed - she was the highlight of the MET lockdown gala for me. I am looking forward to this.

I've had my March and June bookings refunded. I've still got one more to come for July, but that was the last tranche of performances cancelled so will be in the last batch of refunds I expect.

I've been wondering this as well. Not just for theatre, but for museums and galleries as well which I would, in theory, be happy to visit again with appropriate measures in place. Just no idea how I would actually get to and from them ...

I’d be interested to hear what they say. I was thinking about taking a year off my Friends Membership for personal financial reasons before this crisis anyway, so it was the deciding factor for me not to renew, so I haven’t contacted them myself. As a comparison, out of the various Arts memberships I have, I’ve heard from the V&A (no mention of extending the membership period) and Dulwich Picture Gallery (which will be extending theirs).

I’ve had two renewal letters with no mention of extending to those who renew (my renewal date was 31 March).

Yes, it's rather buried in the middle of a paragraph, isn't it? I actually missed it the first time I read the email, and only noticed it when I went back to it (after I had part-donated my ticket).

I've just had an email to confirm that the remainder of the season at the ROH is now cancelled (I had tickets to Tosca).

My Friends + ,membership lapsed a grand total of 9 days ago, yet they've managed to remove me from the Friends mailing list already which has amused me (I would have happily renewed my Friends membership if there had been any mention made of extending it by the amount the ROH is going to be closed. The V&A did the same to me out of interest). I'm pleased there is an option to donate part of the ticket price now. I suspect I wasn't the only person to suggest this. I also note that credits are now valid for performances up to 31 August 2021. These are tehe productions cancelled from the ROH website. So not the total rest of the season - I have tickets to Tosca in early July for example.: Live Fire Exercise / Prodigal Son / Corybantic Games Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci Swan Lake Tristan und Isolde The Dante Project La bohème Heritage Spring Gala Elektra Tombeaux / Monotones I and II / Symphonic Dances The Turn of the Screw Lucia di Lammermoor Next Generation Festival She Described it to Death WNO: The Nightingale / Bluebeard's Castle

Yes, opera as well.

Agreed - I thought exactly the same and I'm going to email the Box Office to that effect. I would love to be able to donate the full price of my ticket, but my husband works in travel and our own future is far from certain and I did consider a half way option of being able to donate 50% of the ticket price as a good solution.

Just seen that ROH have created an FAQ page for coronavirus queries on their website: https://www.roh.org.uk/visit/covid19-faqs?fbclid=IwAR2dODibG4LT06LQ6vChGqFmsrFxYyciCbRFAmmEHLdOsY0ORkC3FxLXR-4

Agreed. The only measures I saw on Friday night were the cloakroom staff were wearing disposable gloves and there was a notice on the swing door on the way out of the Ladies about washing hands. But no soap in the loo I was in (one of the ones with the sink inside the cubicle).

Just had an email to say due to illness, Natalia Osipova has been replaced by Marianela Nuñez as Tatiana.' for this Friday (7th February).

Thanks for the review - I was in Paris the weekend before last for the Leonardo and did look at what was on at POB as we were staying very close to the Louvre for the exhibition - I decided against the Crystal Pite in the end as I was taking my mother for her birthday and it was unlikely to have been to her taste! I also enjoyed the Leonardo - especially the chance to see Vitruvian Man (although I understand that this is only on display for the first 8 weeks of the exhibition) and the scientific and mathematical drawings. I would add that to be aware if you don't read French well that both the free exhibition guide detailing the works and the exhibition catalogue were only available in French (although we went on opening weekend so wondered if translated versions were running behind). The audio guide was available in English, but offered insights on only 22 or so of the works.

Whether clumsy drafting or not, it is certainly something that needs clarifying.

I would have liked the same. I got home and spent a good 30 minutes trying to work out who a few of the dancers I didn't know were from the ROH website and old programmes.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the class this morning and would definitely recommend it if they do it again. I particularly enjoyed seeing some of the lesser known dancers (to me anyway) and that it wasn't just the principals being interviewed.

I'm a Friend+ and got a ticket for Fidelio as part of a Design Your Own Package in the Stalls Circle. Bur I see now that it's not included. I wonder how many tickets are being held back for general booking as it's showing as pretty much sold out at the moment - either sold out or under 20 tickets left per performance.

Agreed. I may take to emailing them back every time I get such a reminder and point out that I would love to attend more performances, but I have a budget and their current pricing strategy has unfortunately priced me out of attending more often.

Agreed - I avoid booking Balcony Right for similar reasons as it feels like such a trek in the interval!

I saw Werther on Friday night and it finished at 10:40. I was in the SC and had a very good view of the mass exodus during the curtain calls from the OS, presumably for similar reasons.

Agreed. I thought it might be a bit of a bunfight for Fidelio, but I had no problem getting a seat in the area I wanted.

I'm going tonight as well! I'm really looking foward to it.