Tango Dancer

I hate it when people sing along to opera. I mean I don't go to these things for audience participation. It's not the Rocky Horror Show with a call and response script. I had someone singing along to La donna e mobile when I went to see Rigoletto the other year and my regret was they were too far away to work out who it was and shut them up. I mean I went to a Lieder recital last week and I was singing one of the songs very badly on the walk home, but I waited until I was walking back so I only annoyed the people in the street.

Jeremy Brett was gorgeous in his youth - so handsome. I'd agree she doesn't walk off on her own. I'm not sure she ends up with Higgins. I always took My Fair Lady as being a bit ambiguous. She might stay and she might not. She might marry Higgins or Freddie or she might get Higgins to support her setting up a flower shop, meet someone else and marry them or even marry Pickering. The thing I like about the film ending is that she doesn't fall into anyone's arms, but she might. I like that they make up as friends at the end, even if I don't buy them as a couple.

@Silke H I love your photo of Rothbart. He looks so creepy and effective in it. You forget when you see it at a distance quite how scary he looks. That's a great shot!

I can't comment on the ballet side of it but the Hague is a lovely city that I've visited a lot for work but also for city breaks. It's beautiful, spacious and very green. There's a good public transport system (trams and buses). You can get a tram to Scheveningen and walk by the sea if you like. There's a lot of culture and art there and several lovely parks to walk in. I like the Mauritshus (art gallery) and the Escher exhibition. The shops are good. The Netherlands has really good public transport so you can get around fairly quickly. Also the cliche of the cycling Dutch is true in many ways because you can get run over by bicycles easily. I think it's probably a safe place to live (insofar as anywhere is). You can walk around at night without feeling worried. I like it much better than Amsterdam because it's a bit classier and doesn't have as many drunken Brits falling out of bars.

In my view no part of Les Illuminations is an appropriate moment for taking pictures or filming, especially when you have the pleasure of Ian Bostridge performing it.

I saw the BRB version of that in Brandon Lawrence's farewell performance last year. It was lovely.

I think Tiler Peck is definitely really worth them getting something made, she's incredibly talented. I'd love to see a mixed bill of female choreographers perhaps to tie in with International Women's Day, maybe new pieces from her, Kirsten McNally combined with something more traditional like something from Ninette de Valois to pay tribute to the founder. I'd also agree with having more Zuccheti, he's really talented. I also liked Ben Ella's piece for Northern so think he has potential.

What happened to Ryo? Is he ok?

Yes hasn't he! He's so good to pick this up at short notice. Woyzeck looks like a piece that's emotionally draining and really hard on the performer, to do that and Swan Lake back to back must be really tiring. I hope he gets some time to rest after before he has to perform again. It looks like he's not scheduled until Thursday so I hope he can relax.

Definitely things don't always work for us and we just don't like them. I agree it's not my favourite version of Act 4 either. I like Siegfried to be more active.

I'd suggest trying Bennet Gartside from RB. His website is everybodyballet.com and he teaches a regular class at the ROH and probably does privates too. I've never had a private with him but he's a really good teacher and I did his group classes in London while I lived there (and do when I go back) and he does a lovely class. He gets RB dancers to cover sometimes and I've had classes taught as cover by Luca Acri (adorable, great class and so charming several of us wanted to keep him as a pet) Julia Roscoe (really sweet, very nervous and really good at breaking down turn sequences) and Isabelle Gasparini (lovely charming person but her sequences were a bit too long and complicated for me). Most of the RB dancers are fairly responsive to instagram messages so if there's someone you'd like to book, message and ask them if they teach and what they cost. Not all of them teach (and not all of them teach well). Vadim, Fumi, and Marianela all teach via Danceworks masterclasses so may be open to it but would be more expensive.

No they didn't give much information on the plot. I think they should have done more talking about some of the detail of the story for Different Drummer and talked more about the different parts of the music for Faure because people may not understand the different parts or the meaning of the words. I know the Faure quite well but if you didn't they didn't say much about it.

Yes I think the same. I liked his Swan Lake as it had some innovative ideas, I'm less keen on some of his other works as they don't do much for me. I wasn't massively keen on his Romeo and Juliet when I first saw it before Covid but I saw it again last year (at a loose end in London one evening) and thought it was better than I remembered. As long as you're not expecting traditional ballet they can be quite fun to watch. I think I'd agree they're not something I 'd see more than once. I don't think I wouldn't make an effort to see them over other things but they're sometimes quite a pleasant way to spend time.

I was quite amused that one of the staff came in during the second interval to check I was ok and whether I needed any refreshments. I have a suspicion she wanted to see if I was still there or whether they could close early. But she was ever so sweet.

I'm going to the local theatre (York) because (given a choice) I like to support local theatres and give them the benefit of my ticket prices because a lot of them are struggling. So I will definitely be booking there rather than Sadlers Wells. Also it means I don't have to pay for trains, hotels etc. I'm really glad they're going to some of the smaller less well known theatres, it's good for people to see these ballets in places they might not otherwise catch them.

Well just back from the cinema where I had a lovely private showing because I was the only person in the cinema tonight. Shame it wasn't better attended. I didn't get a cinema cast sheet because they hadn't got them. So I'm going by the cast on the website. Also I am terrible at working out who is who as I'm rubbish at remembering faces. Especially if it's not clear what part they take or their character doesn't have a name. So apologies for not being able to credit everyone I liked by name. So I enjoyed Dances Concertante very much. I wasn't massively keen on the costumes and those hats were a bit weird but I thought it was a lot of fun. Chap in yellow and chap in green both stood out for me for their excellent footwork and technique. Isabelle Gasparini was exquisite in the lead - she has such lovely lines. I didn't like Different Drummer - dull, depressing and really too long and Schoenberg doesn't do much for me. Francesca Hayward is a lovely luminous dancer with beautiful expressive technique and gorgeous arms. I felt she had slightly more chemistry with the drum major than with Woyzeck myself. Francisco Serrano also was really charismatic and attractive as the drum major and some lovely jumps - he's going places I think. Marci as always showed such depth of feeling and definitely evoked a lot of sympathy so I felt he was really throwing himself into it - he's such a great dramatic dancer. I just wish I'd found the piece more engaging. Requiem was rather lovely. Sarah Lamb was absolutely excellent, such a lovely clear and controlled dancer, every gesture fitting where it should and really mattering. William Bracewell was lovely and moved beautifully and had such expressiveness with every movement. The taller chap she danced with was also very impressive and seemed to be so focused on embodying the movement (nice cheekbones too I noted). I also thought Melissa Hamilton was dancing with exceptional musicality and loved Joseph Sissens in the Libera Me. I think the quality of the singing also really transformed it and the young baritone soloist particularly impressed me, such a lovely tone and good diction. So overall a good evening, one fun, one moving and one that was bearable but dull. I'm really glad I went.

So happy they're coming to York. The Theatre Royal is a lovely venue. Also glad about Joseph Taylor, he's a really impressive dancer in my view.

Also looking forward to the relay tomorrow on the nice big screen. Both central Leeds cinemas are showing it so I'm spoilt for choice.

I think it certainly can be. People have a lot more visibility of dancers off stage thanks to social media and other things and it can affect how you see them. I do some of the ballet master classes that Danceworks offer on zoom. Vadim teaches regularly and one of the reasons I think he's my favourite RB dancer (apart from his dance ability) is how nice and supportive he is as a teacher. He's just so unassuming and sweet. He came into the studio this afternoon in a tracksuit, looking like a teenage student and not the least like someone who was centre stage at Covent Garden last night and was so positive with the class, even apologising for getting one of the sequences wrong because he said he was a bit tired today after performing. I mean he's just so adorable I want to hug him and take him home. I've done Fumi's online masterclasses as well and she's also lovely and has a smile for everyone. I don't always get along with her teaching but she's really sweet.

Yes I think zumba should have some correction but where you get it it's a bit less detailed or exacting. In zumba you're told to do the moves and the teacher demonstrates them but as long as you broadly get them right they don't go around and correct you on exactly where to put your arms or precise positioning. If you turn the wrong way or aren't getting the footwork right they won't really stop or do anything about it. It's pretty much follow along exercise. I enjoy it but I don't do it for anything beyond the fun of moving to music and cutting loose. For the other dance forms I do (tango, bellydance etc) I get corrections. They can vary (I mean in tango they are a lot more physical as the teacher usually dances with you to correct you or comes along and pokes you if you're not standing right).

Yeah I don't get it either. But the teacher said apparently some people prefer just to do the class and enjoy it. Personally I want to improve and try and get better and as long as the teacher isn't being horrible or telling me to do things that aren't physically possible I'd like to know what to work on. That's what I'm paying for. I mean it's different when I do zumba because technique is less important than jumping around and working up a sweat. But for ballet I would always want correction.

I think it's difficult sometimes getting corrections. I take classes at Northern Ballet now I'm in Yorkshire and the teacher is really great. She said at the start of term for us to let her know if we wanted personal corrections or not as apparently some people in some classes find it offputting and don't want to be corrected. I said I definitely do as my view is that I'm there to learn so she corrects me plenty of times. I agree it's important that they're not critical of peoples' bodies (I mean in my class we're mostly middle aged women and not teengers with perfect bodies) but focus on what we can improve (in my case remembering to close behind).

That's the cast I saw in Birmingham and they were really good. Miki is a lovely effervescent Aurora, incredibly light and delicate and with beautiful port de bras and a sort of gossamer fine technique that makes everything look so effortless. I've seen her in a few things and always liked her. Max is a newly promoted principal dancer and I can see why they promoted him. He's great and has a lot of potential combined with nice feet (also he's from Yorkshire which is a big plus in my view). He's a lovely light jumper with lots of energy and really comes across as a young prince looking for his dream. I do think the prince needs more to do in the ballet overall but he does it really well. So I think they're a good cast to see and work well together as a pairing. I think it's similar to the RB version but I like the costumes a lot better because they're so lovely. The only thing I like better in RB is Carabosse who I think has better choreography.

I'm glad you're still going. I saw it in Birmingham and thought it was a really lovely version and extremely well performed by everyone. I'm sure you'll have a really good time and enjoy it whoever is performing.

So sorry you had a bad experience Emmarose. That sounds like really awful behaviour and quite threatening. Some people have no manners at all.