Tango Dancer

Thanks, that's kind of you. I had arranged a trip to London for this to tie in with work commitments (which I have rearranged) and I'm not sure I'll be able to get down again while it's on. If you or anyone else wants the ticket please get in touch.

I'm selling a ticket for this at the moment because I have Covid and don't feel well enough. I'm gutted to miss it so would love to know how people like it.

Yes. She was petrified of ageing and also I think had some form of eating disorder and possibly some other mental health issues. She really struggled with the duties of being a monarch and had a fascinating but quite unhappy life. There's a good German language musical about her called Elisabeth which I quite enjoyed when I was a student.

Hi As I have come down with Covid and won't be well enough to attend, I wanted to see if anyone wanted to buy a ticket for the Kyiv City Ballet performance on Thursday 28 Sept. Stalls: Row 33 seat W Cost £25 Let me know if you're interested.

I shall be most interested with NB to see where Federico Bonelli takes it. So far in his first proper season we have the mixed programme (1 old and 2 new), David Nixons Beauty and the Beast and Nutcracker and Christopher Gable and Massimo Morricone's 1991 Romeo and Juliet. Which is an interesting mixture. I hope he won't discard all of the old repertoire but I'm liking his thinking so far.

I'd agree. The programming feels a bit uninspired and repetitive if you're comparing it with some of the other ballet companies which are being a bit more innovative with new work as well as reviving old favourites, e.g. NB combining a well received new triple with old favourites Romeo and Juliet and Beauty and the Beast, BRB doing Black Sabbath (not my scene) with the Still Life at Penguin Cafe triple and Sleeping Beauty, Scottish Ballet doing a version of Coppelia which sold out at SW. I think the other thing is there's a lot more competition for RB nowadays so they don't have a guaranteed audience. Sadlers Wells has a varied programme of touring dance companies as do other venues. Having just moved out of London, I'm quite surprised by how much dance is available around the country and am not going to London for things nearly as much as I expected, not least because it gets quite pricy.

Yeah I never saw Alain as being someone with learning difficulties. I just thought he was eccentric and someone who walked to the beat of his own drummer. It wasn't like he was particularly interested in Lise and he seemed happy at the end to have his umbrella and a happy life. I mean I grew up in small towns and villages and most of them had an eccentric loner who had not much interest in women.

I would agree. Ballet companies need to be solvent. Nutcracker (love it or hate it) makes money and allows companies to fund the more unusual and potentially less popular things. I completely get why RB runs it every year because it's something people love. It's most peoples' first ballet and it's the one people recognise and want to bring their children to. I'd love to see more Ashton (especially Fille) and more of the earlier works at RB and think they do a bit much Wayne McGregor (whose choreography does nothing for me in the main). But it's a difficult balancing act for RB. There's no way they can please everyone. I'm not massively keen on modern ballet offerings (I thought ENB's Creature was a waste of time) although sometimes it surprises me (I loved NB's Generations). So I think a mixture is quite good.

I've been to BRB a couple of times this year and the audience was pretty well behaved. Nutcracker always has slightly more children / young people so I can't vouch for how people would behave but I've always found it a fairly well behaved audience.

I hope so and behaviour seems to be improving somewhat. I must say everyone was very well behaved at Generations at Northern Ballet last week. No disruption and everyone sat good as gold. I also went to a concert at the Wigmore Hall on Tuesday and everyone there was very well behaved and attentive. I shall hope it's 3 for 3 at the Kyiv city ballet performance next week.

Chris always gives such good direction and correction in rehearsal, and also seems really nice. RB has the best character artists who add so much to everything they do. The others are amazing too. I love watching all of them dance and have a particular weakness for Gary as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet. I'd add that Benn is also a wonderful teacher, I did his classes during Covid and since and can't say enough nice things about him (I'd still do them only I've moved away so it's harder).

I love the Four Last Songs. We used "Beim Schlafengehen" at my grandfather's funeral at the end for the coffin going out. I love the way the soprano voice soars at the end especially in the Schwarzkopf recording.

Wow you have much more specific and vivid dreams than I do. I regularly dream that I'm going on stage (unspecified role but usually everyone else is wearing red leotards and tutus) and I realise that I'm not wearing any clothes just red shoes. I am trying to get out of the line of people at the stage entrance to put clothes on while covering myself with my feather fan but can't get through the crowds. No idea what the show is or which theatre it is, but the recurrent dream of going on stage naked is really vivid. When I wake up it always takes me a minute to reassure myself that it didn't happen and I don't have to worry who saw me.

Well that was lovely. I really enjoyed the performance tonight. I think the Ben Ella piece was my favourite. I loved the way the choreography fit the music. You could tell Ben is a dancer (because it seemed to have a lot of the steps I think male dancers enjoy the best) and it had such a lot of joy and seemed to express what it's like to dance and feel free. I loved the colours and the costumes and the 3 couples were beautiful and all shone in their different dances. I loved George Liang for his expressive face and acting and fluid movements in his solos and Rachael Gillespie and Antoni Canellas Artigues for their chemistry and partnership and her lovely extensions. The Hammerklavier felt weirdly stiff in places after the fluidity of the first piece but I loved the complicated and intricate choreography. The piece was very sensitively played by Colin Scott. I particularly loved Aerys Merrill and Filippo Di Vilio as couple 2. She has such lovely poise and grace in her movements. I also really enjoyed the Tiler Peck work. I didn't like the music as much (Janacek is not my favourite composer) but the dancing was beautiful. It reminded me thematically somewhat of Casanova (a character searching for the right partner) and I loved the red costumes. She really choreographs for the female dancers so sensitively. Jonathan Hanks was outstanding in the lead role and it really suited his muscular and dynamic style. Amber Lewis was a really good partner for him and had lovely porte de bras and extension. All of the performers were really good and moved really well together. I thought it was a brilliant show, a really great mix of old and new works. The NB theatre was full. I understand the show was nearly sold out every day so it's obviously going down a storm. I think it augurs very well for the NB in future. I think I'd definitely recommend it as one to catch when it comes to London if you can't see it in Leeds.

It's broadly similar to the music and dance event at symphony hall. That had Le Corsaire and I think a different bit of Swan Lake but had most of the rest was the same. I hope they run a music and dance event again in 2024 as the one in February was really impressive and showcased the dancers very well.

I think 7 or 8 is too young. My grandfather boarded from age 7 and he and his brothers all hated it. There was also a lot of bullying as it was a very big and regimented school with a lot of rules. I must say the men I know who boarded from that age seem all a bit emotionally stunted (although obviously this is limited to the small number of men I know who went to boarding school). My father went to a public school with some boarders and he said he actually envied them quite a bit because he was very unhappy at home. My grandmother went at 11 and loved it. So did my godmother and some of my aunts and a couple of my friends (all different generations and ages). They all seemed to benefit from single sex boarding education and were really happy and self confident. I think they also went to slightly smaller, more supportive schools than the big public schools. Interestingly the divide seems to be along sex based lines, as the women I know who went to board slightly older seemed to enjoy it a lot more as I think it was more their choice.

I would definitely favour more regulation of ballet schools (and other dance schools) especially for over 16s. Pretty much anyone can set up a dance school. As someone who does ballet, tango and bellydance there is very little regulation of whether people can teach and how good there are it. Even in adult dance there is scope for mistreatment and harassment (and there are a fair number of Latin teachers I've had who were renowned for letching / perving on any students who were remotely attractive to them). I've told a teacher to piss off and stop groping my behind but I'm a stroppy middle aged terrible amateur with nothing to lose. It's a lot harder to stand up to a teacher if you're 16 and depend on them for career options. So I definitely think there should be more oversight. I'd also definitely favour proper training for all dance teachers and continued professional development. Even in adult ballet I've had some terrible teachers (including one who obviously didn't want plump middle aged women in her class and did not hide this fact) who didn't know how to explain movements and didn't do safe warm up or stretching. Anyone teaching in a school or with juveniles should be regularly retrained on best practice and particularly on how to support and nurture children through puberty. Children in boarding schools are so much more vulnerable so there needs to be more protection, better safeguarding and support. They also need to be able to raise concerns safely and be supported. I would also favour more guidance on alternative careers for those who may not be able to realise their dreams to help them understand where they might go.

I know, I always make a long list of all the things I'd love to see. Then I go through and cut it down to the things I really want to see and match them to the budget. If I had infinite money I'd see a lot more ballet.

Good one today from my amazing tango instructor who runs a ballet class on zoom. This was during the adage "Your leg is a silk scarf that you are trailing gently to make patterns." I loved the visual.

Thanks for the reviews. I have tickets for it in the coming week and I'm even more excited about it having read Sheila's review. I saw Bonelli coaching some of the company at the patron's open day a couple of weeks ago in the van Manen work and he was really particular and passionate about it. So I'm particularly looking forward to that one.

I would agree that I struggle to identify definitive portrayals. There are dancers I've enjoyed very much because I like the way they do things but not sure I could say they were the definitive portrayal. I love the way Vadim jumps and how completely in the moment he always is. I love the way Marianela moves and I love Fumi for her port de bras. I would watch Benn Gartside being a villain for ages because I love the way he does it. Looking at BRB I love how Tzu-Chao always hangs in the air a second longer than anyone else and the way Brandon moves. There are some dancers I don't connect with as well as others (Osipova doesn't reach me hugely well - much as I can see her amazing talent). Some are less good in some roles. But I can't say I've ever seen something and thought it the definitive version.

Yes likewise. I mean I don't offend very easily. I don't find all their content interesting but that's different. Yes some of the dancers do show themselves off but it's their body, they've got a short time to achieve success and get to the top so I can see why social media is an important tool.

Some of them could definitely be models. I bumped into Matthew Ball once as he was coming out of a studio I was going into and I was struck by how stunning he is to look at. I mean dancers usually are in good physical condition for the job but he's drop dead gorgeous with the most captivating eyes and would look really good on a catwalk. He could easily be a model. I personally quite like the shots of them on Instagram as it's a good insight into their lives to see where and when they're performing. I can take or leave the more suggestive poses in most cases but sometimes it's interesting to see what they get up to. It doesn't affect who I want to see performing particularly. I tend to like who I like dancing and book for those. Although sometimes I book the date I can do and take pot luck on the cast (and I'm seldom disappointed). I don't tend to contact the dancers (as I like some mystique) but I did message Brandon Lawrence on IG to find out which nights were his last with BRB and he messaged me back really nicely.

I am obviously following the wrong ones as most of the ones I follow appear fully dressed.

I went to the Northern Ballet patron's open rehearsal day today (which was amazing). They were rehearsing some of the works for this and it looked really good. The van Manem piece was really well danced with some lovely intimate pases de deux. I thought what we saw of the Tiler Peck work promised very well. She has a lovely style and energy to her choreography and it is still very much a ballet rather than contemporary dance from what I could see. I am not always wowed by mixed programmes but I am so looking forward to this.