Bluebird

Maybe the powers that be at the Australian Ballet read this Forum? The pas de trois are credited on tonight's cast list! https://static.roh.org.uk/digital/cast-sheets/Jewels/TAB-Jewels-Cast-Sheet-03-08-23.pdf?_ga=2.188272552.1807131079.1690707539-1332193509.1615112770 Edited to add that they've also listed the demi soloists in Diamonds!

It was definitely Drew Hedditch. Edited to add that I think it's nothing short of disgraceful that the Company fails to credit the dancers in the pas de trois. They might not dance quite as much as the two leading couples but they have an extremely important role in the ballet and are integral to its structure.

Thank you for letting me know about that. I've just checked the 2022 prices for Swan Lake and those same seats were £81 so it was a bit under a 40% increase to £112 (if my arithmetic is faulty I'm happy to be corrected). I agree this was a huge increase and I'm glad to see they've come to their senses! The better seats in these rows are now priced at £83 with the ones nearer the stage at £67. It's good to be able to say something positive about the pricing - i.e. they've recognised that the restriction in view is greater, the closer the seat is to the stage. By the way, I also compared the 2022 Swan Lake prices to the 2023 Don Q prices for the bench seats in Stalls Circle Row C. Those prices have been reduced. They were £67 for Swan Lake and are £52 for Don Q.

But, when you compare the prices for Beauty and Cinderella to those for Don Q, some top prices have, indeed, fallen: For Beauty and Cinderella, the top price in the amphitheatre was £112. For Don Q it's £104. In the side stalls circle, the decrease is even greater: For Beauty and Cinderella, the bench seats in Stalls Circle row B (16-27 and 86-97) were £112. For Don Q these seats have two prices: £83 and £67 The explanation for the large reduction in price of these stalls circle side seats could be that they have a restricted view. However, if they can lower the price of these seats because of their restricted view, how can they justify the very steep increase in price for the restricted view front side amphitheatre seats?

I'm a 'mere' Friend and I received the link. It actually appeared as a message from Christopher Powney. Could it have gone into your junk mail? If not, it might be worth contacting the Friends of the RBS and asking them to send you the link.

An intriguing email just received from the ROH: We look forward to welcoming you to Don Quixote on 7 November. For your awareness, we have taken all remaining seats off sale for reasons we are excited to announce in the coming weeks. Please be assured that this will have no impact on your booking or on your experience of the performance.

At the risk of repeating myself, this is not as steep as the rise in the price of the front side amphitheatre for Don Q: Don Quixote prices 2019 v 2023: February/March/April 2019: Front side amphitheatre priced at £19 September/October/November 2023: Front side amphitheatre priced at £52 Of course, we have no way of knowing if the £34 price applies to these seats. If they follow the Don Q pattern, they'll be in the £49 band!!! Edited to add that I've just compared the way the prices are laid out in the Winter Magazine to the way the Don Q prices were laid out in the Autumn Magazine. Don Q Amphitheatre £104 £83 £67 £52 £36 £26 £14 Manon Amphitheatre £99 £79 £63 £49 £34 £14 £8 As we know, due to: "a small number of mis-steps, brought to our attention by our valued friends and patrons", the places in the £26 price band for Don Q were reduced to £14 because this band included the Stalls Circle Standing places where these 'mis-steps' had occurred. However, the £36 and £52 bands remained and were unchanged. If the price bands prove to be similar to the Don Q price bands, the rear amphitheatre and the restricted view rows L and M seats will be £34 but the A-E front side amphitheatre will be £49. I sincerely hope that this interpretation of the pricing details in the Winter Booking Period Magazine proves to be wrong.

Dana Stephensen is scheduled to be a lead Fandango dancer in next Sunday's 60th Anniversary Celebration. Has she not yet left the Company or is she coming back as a guest?

Carlos’ costume is, almost certainly, from the Royal Ballet’s 1987 Anthony Dowell production. I’m not sure about Nela’s costume but it could well be from the same production.

The balcony front row is fine if you're in or near the centre block. The sides can, however, be very problematic. I've not sat there myself but friends have told me that, despite the high price of these seats, the view of the stage can be obscured by neighbouring patrons leaning forward.

I’m pretty sure we were just missing the prologue: Leto gives birth to Apollo and when we first see him he’s wrapped in a swaddling cloth. He takes his ‘first steps’ and the handmaidens then unwind the swaddling cloth. As he’s learning to move they bring him his lute (lyre?) The complete ballet is on YouTube. I’ll send you a PM with the link.

The full cast list for the 60th Anniversary Celebration (August 6) is now on the website of the Australian Ballet: Harlequinade (Excerpt) Columbine: Sharni Spencer Harlequin: Marcus Morelli Larks: Lilly Maskery, Karina Arimura, Hannah Sergi, Evie Ferris , Grace Carroll , Katherine Sonnekus, Amy Ronnfeldt, Mio Bayly, Annabelle Watt, Larissa Kiyoto-Ward, Belle Urwin and Saranja Crowe Concerto (Excerpt) Amy Harris and Nathan Brook I New Then (Excerpt) QUENTIN Adam Elmes MYRTHE Jill Ogai SPENSER Callum Linnane CHUCK Brett Chynoweth MARNE Timothy Coleman CHLOE Coco Mathieson MENG-KE Benedicte Bemet ASTRID Imogen Chapman OLIVER Thomas Gannon Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux Ako Kondo and Chengwu Guo Everywhere We Go (Excerpt) ROBBIE Drew Hedditch AMAR Mason Lovegrove ANDY Brett Chynoweth TESS Larissa Kiyoto-Ward TILER Dana Stephensen STERLING Yuumi Yamada REBECCA Imogen Chapman With Artists of The Australian Ballet Anna Karenina Amy Harris and Nathan Brook Watermark Callum Linnane, Adam Elmes, Mason Lovegrove, Rohan Furnell, Brodie James, Thomas Gannon, Drew Hedditch, Timothy Coleman, Jacob De Groot, Lucien Xu, George-Murray Nightingale, Benjamin Garrett, Alain Juelg, Yichuan Wang, Imogen Chapman, Coco Mathieson and Jill Ogai Little Atlas Dimity Azoury, Jarryd Madden and Jake Mangakahia Don Quixote Kitri Benedicte Bemet Basilio Joseph Caley Leading Fandangos Dana Stephensen and Joseph Romancewicz Lead Bridesmaid Jade Wood With Artists of The Australian Ballet https://australianballet.com.au/performances/international-tour/60th-anniversary-celebration

I'm not sure it's 'in full' as there's no mention of the Handmaidens and Leto. It's possible they'll still appear but I think it unlikely.

Details are, at last, on the ROH website: https://static.roh.org.uk/digital/cast-sheets/Carlos-at-50/Carlos-at-50-cast-sheet-all-performances.pdf?_ga=2.70250448.1742494446.1690371212-1332193509.1615112770 Edited to add that, according to the website, it's the same cast for all performances. A pity we won't get to see Brandon Lawrence's Apollo.

Tears came at the recent RBS performances, even in the absence of pigeons! (at Holland Park as well as at the ROH)

Work had already started when I was at the ROH for this afternoon's Jette Parker Artists' Summer Performance. Only one escalator was working. It could be used to go up to the amphitheatre level but, to go down, it was necessary to use either the lifts or the stairs. I imagine that this arrangement will remain for the Summer performances, i.e. that they'll only work on one escalator at a time.

I'm quoting myself so as to correct an inaccuracy. Until I read Sophoife's recent post, detailing the career paths of members of the Australian Ballet, I had completely forgotten that Imogen Chapman had spent a short time at Scottish Ballet before joining the Australian Ballet.

That happened to me a few years ago. I went through a long period when emails from the membership team were not reaching me and, in addition, the quarterly magazines were not being posted to me. It took some time for them to work out why this was happening and it turned out that there had been a 'data entry error' and the ROH address had been added as a secondary address on my account. This led the system to assume I was a member of staff ! Maybe you should ask them to check to see if a similar thing has happened to your account.

In the course of visiting the Wayback Machine for information for another thread, I found the following 2010 thread, describing booking experiences on the ROH website. Although many people seem to have managed OK, some of the booking experiences described (with the old website) don't appear to be any better than they are with the current website: https://web.archive.org/web/20100824033342/http://www.ballet.co.uk/dcforum/happening/7716.html

..........but it can still be found via the Wayback Machine.... https://web.archive.org/web/20100726114950/http://www.ballet.co.uk/dcforum/happening/7757.html Edited to add that this thread also provides a link to Ismene Brown's review for the Arts Desk: https://web.archive.org/web/20110312005746/http://www.theartsdesk.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1810:royal-ballet-school-matinee-roh&Itemid=27

This post reminded me of another Lilac Garden performance from that particular graduate year, 2010. This one took place in the Linbury and also featured William Bracewell, this time with Imogen Chapman as his partner. I remember finding her performance extremely moving and have, since, followed her career with interest. On graduation she joined the Australian Ballet, where she is now a Senior Artist (the equivalent of a First Soloist). I'm delighted to note that, in the forthcoming ROH performances of Jewels, she is cast in Emeralds (second couple) on August 3, 4 and 5 (matinée) performances. Edited to add that Grace Carroll is first couple in the above performances. She is a corps de ballet member who is also a recent RBS graduate (2021).

No, I've just checked her Year 11 class list and 8 female students and 10 male students, from her Year 11 class, were accepted by the Upper School. Yes, she was the only White Lodge student from her year to be accepted into the Company. Four RBS students were taken into the Company that year, Claire, Elsa Goddard, Kevin Emerton and Sergey Polunin

Does your email provider have the option of a list of ‘safe senders’? Most do. If they provide this option, all you need to do is add them to this list.

For the last two years (i.e. the years in which a recording has been made of the performance) there has been a short period during which the Friends of the School have had internet access to the recording.