AnneL

I am glad you have pointed this out. I saw the photo in the Times this morning and was somewhat bemused by its caption! For my own tribute, I would like to say that although Beryl Grey retired from dancing before I began to watch ballet, my early years of ballet watching and education coincided with her period in charge of the London Festival Ballet. She really established the company as one of the country’s leading ones at the time and was responsible for the first Swan Lake I ever saw and my introduction to the choreography of Balanchine. She made a profound impact on British ballet, and like de Valois, held positions of artistic power when this was still unusual for women. I found her autobiography interesting, although it wasn’t a great read as it seemed to draw on contemporary diaries which, although great source material, tended to make the text repetitive.

Re ticket offices, for those of us outside the Oyster card area, there are fewer purchase options and the machines (which I do use sometimes) can be unreliable. At the station I use there was a healthy ticket office queue on Monday when I went to the Nutcracker rehearsal. It is also reassuring to know that there are employees on site and visible, not hiding in an office. The lady at our ticket office has a side job in sorting out the unruly school children at certain times of day!

Yes, at the end of the day staff are needed to run a safe and decent service. I have a disabled friend who has no end of adventures and difficulties with the train companies’ accessibility arrangements!

Today I returned my tickets for the Nutcracker for the 14th - very disappointed. But just a point for those discussing drivers - it’s not their union that’s on strike this time. Personally I am unhappy about the government’s & employers’ proposal that ticket offices should be closed. Next week Southeastern are introducing a new timetable with a lot of spin about how much better it will be, when as far as I can work out, the service will be far worse.

That sounds like an amazing subject for a PhD thesis!

This is an interesting comment, as I found - in my cinema seat - the choreography of this piece interesting, while the music and costumes intensely annoying! Quite honestly, I preferred Concerto pour deux which followed. At least Osipova’s costume was attractive (although McCrae’s could have done with some trousers or at least a nicer shirt) and I liked the music. Really, Dispatch was the low point of the evening for me. I don’t have a strong opinion either way yet about the Toonga, so I am looking forward to seeing it again - this time in the theatre- on Saturday afternoon.

Southeastern.

Just to report that I got lucky yesterday with trains to and from London running perfectly on time, despite being so soon after the strike was called off. I thoroughly enjoyed the La Boheme matinee at the ROH without the nagging worry about the underground/ bus + long drive home in the dark and the rain which I had been anticipating!

I am so tempted by the Fokine, Nijinska and Lifar pieces particularly- things we don’t get a chance to see enough of these days in my opinion. And the Nureyev Swan Lake solo is also worth seeing. But as others have said, the Sunday trains are a major disincentive.

I saw the same cast, in January 1970. A wonderful memory.

I am very sorry to hear this news.

I am also posting late, due to dodgy (actually unusable) hotel WiFi. I saw The Little Mermaid at Newcastle Theatre Royal on Thursday afternoon and enjoyed it very much. We live in the south but my husband comes from Tyneside, so we timed a trip to see his relatives to coincide with a ballet treat! I saw the same cast as the first one mentioned by Jan and they all conveyed the characters through their dancing very well. Amber Lewis’s mermaid solo, almost fighting with her ‘new’ legs, was particularly memorable. The specially written score was pleasant to listen to, appropriate for dancing and the choreography fitted it well. The orchestra under Jonathan Lo were excellent. Understandably for a matinee there were many children in the audience and clearly some of them expected something more Disney-like than this version. It was suitable for children, but Disney it was not, but probably closer to the original tale. There was no ‘happy ever after’ ending and it was something of a cautionary tale - be careful what you wish for. It somehow reminded me of the Red Shoes in that way. And as Jan said, Lyr was scary! So it was suitable for adults as well as children.

Me too!

My reactions to today’s matinee: the programme mixed familiar gala fare with less well-known items. Of the latter, I was most impressed by the Flower Festival in Genzano PDD. We do NOT get enough Bournonville to see in London, in my opinion, so this was a real treat. Great footwork from Frola especially. As the programme alludes to, Nureyev admired and appreciated the Bournonville tradition, so it was a great choice. Also in the first act, the Gayane PDD and the Laurencia pas de six both connected us to Nureyev’s Soviet heritage. I liked the Khachaturian music for the first of these, and the semi-folk dance feel to some of the steps. The pas de six was danced energetically by the cast, and enjoyable, but the choreography seemed to me slightly derivative of Don Q with its Spanish style flourishes. Nevertheless it was entertaining. Of the more familiar pieces, the Giselle extract was particularly meaningful to me as I actually saw Nureyev dance Albrecht (with Fonteyn as Giselle) and seeing it danced never fails to bring back that memory. The Sleeping Beauty PDD and the Le Corsaire one were as enjoyable as expected. I didn’t find the Don Juan excerpt incredibly interesting, although it was beautifully danced. I think if I was curating a Nureyev gala, I would include an extract from Marguerite and Armand and something from his version of Romeo and Juliet, which Muntagirov referred to in his recorded interview for the gala. Maybe we should all suggest our fantasy gala items!

I want to add my own tribute to Lorrayne who I remember watching over 50 years ago at the ROH. She danced in all 3 ballets of a triple bill I attended in 1970: Birthday Offering, Enigma Variations and Facade (all Ashton, of course). I was very young but I remember being entranced by all the dancers, especially in Enigma. Lorrayne was Isabel Fitton in Enigma, a role I understand she created. Her interpretation was unforgettable. I also feel privileged to have seen it.

I live in Kent and would be potentially interested. Would like to know titles though as I may have some.

I actually saw him as Bluebird in my very first ballet! I am very pleased he has been honoured.

Just thought I would add to this thread to say the performance has been released on dvd and I received a copy as a birthday present. I agree that it would be hard to know what was going on without a synopsis! Fortunately there is one in the dvd package. I think it was an enjoyable winter ballet , making a change from the usual one that begins with an N. But the choreography was perhaps a bit repetitive.

Like many papers, the Times/ST headlines really go for the clickbait these days and don’t bear much resemblance to the article contents. The one on Natalia Osipova today is similar, focussing on a small aspect of the interview content.

It was a lovely performance all round. The dancers making debuts - not least Claire Calvert herself- brought some freshness to the choreography, in my opinion. And the corps in Acts 2 and 4 seemed on top of their game too.

Rencher was a great presence on stage. I will never forget him as Edward Elgar in Enigma Variations. Sadly I didn’t see the original Month cast.

Yes! I agree that it would be lovely to have SV back again. I have a fantasy Ashton programme including that and Birthday Offering, another enjoyable plotless ballet with great ballerina roles. Re Scenes de Ballet, the complexity is because the choreography relates so closely to the music, is it not? I love Stravinsky a lot and it’s a great score for dancing to my inexpert ears. I have the dvd of the 2004 performance with Yoshida and Putrov, but never saw the ballet live until Saturday. I like that dvd a lot. i enjoyed last night’s performance too, with the exception of Rhapsody, which I thought was better on Saturday, with Sambe. But that’s just a personal opinion, and being very picky.

I am looking forward to seeing this very much. I have been enjoying the 2004 DVD of Scenes, which I have never seen live. I love the men’s costumes, which seem quite contemporary, in a way. I will be there tomorrow and Tuesday!

When Wheeldon’s Alice was last on, we sat next to a very small girl, aged about seven. Who was as good as gold. It was the days of the ‘package’ tickets, and she was there again for the Magic Flute a couple of weeks later in the same seat, again very well- behaved!

For me, this touches on a fundamental point. I fell in love with ballet as a child because of movement (choreography) AND music, working together. The 20th century ‘modern’ works like Cinderella, Les Noces (which others have mentioned) have wonderful scores by Prokofiev, Stravinsky and so on. Ashton set his works often to great classical music ( E.g. the Dream) so these ballets also hit the spot for me. I usually also enjoy contemporary ballets if the music appeals and excites me - I liked Corybantic Games with its Bernstein score and I enjoy some contemporary composers too. But too many of the new offerings in recent years have had so-so choreography and less than wonderful music - a deadly combination. And of course, design also matters, including lighting! I have high hopes for the Cinderella costumes as I loved the ones in the recent Emma film - and the jewellery was superb.