Bluebird

The following is, however, printed on the cast sheets for both the General Rehearsal and tonight: "Strapless is a co-production between the Royal Ballet and the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia" Edited to add that I've just checked and it does appear on the individual page for Strapless http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/strapless-by-christopher-wheeldon

Isn't it plural because Les Sylphides is plural?

Coincidentally, I’ve just read Gerald Dowler’s article in this month’s Dancing Times. He writes that the owner of Daphnis and Chloë transferred her rights to the Foundation last year. He also writes that Derek Rencher, who inherited Les Rendezvous and Les Patineurs from Brian Shaw, has ‘left them to be administered by the Foundation with the royalties going to the Royal Ballet School’

Thanks for drawing our attention to this, jm365. Here's a direct link to the film:

I'd understood that the Foundation was trying to raise money to buy the rights from the owners of Ashton's ballets. A while ago they were definitely trying to raise enough to purchase the rights to Daphnis and Chloë. Edited to quote an extract from a 2014 Jann Parry DanceTabs item: “The Foundation is hoping to obtain the performing rights from those willing to cede them, starting with Daphnis and Chloe, inherited by Margot Fonteyn’s niece, Lavinia Exham.” http://dancetabs.com/2014/10/frederick-ashton-remembered-ashton-foundation-masterclasses-in-step-with-fred/

http://www.roh.org.uk/news/royal-opera-broadcasts-for-autumn-and-winter-201516-confirmed February 13 6.30pm

A recent update on the 'Open Up' project contained the following: "We’ll be announcing our 2016/17 Season in April and will include a mix of the great classics, heritage works, new productions, new commissions and, as ever, extraordinary artists, so look out for the new Season information." (my highlighting) I suppose we'll have to be patient till then. Not easy!

I'm in full agreement with you about the younger dancers in the company. I was, however, surprised when I read what you wrote about the corps in yesterday's Rhapsody as it didn’t accord with my memory. I, therefore, checked the ROH website. http://www.roh.org.uk/about/the-royal-ballet/dancers I agree that they all danced as if they were Soloists but it seems that Mayara Magri and Kevin Emerton are, currently, both First Artists and Benjamin Ella is still an Artist.

If you’re referring to the book entitled “Never Mind The Moon” I believe I’ve found the relevant passage (page 60 of the Bantam Books paperback) I hope it’s OK to quote a short extract. In it, Anthony Dowell’s full name is given. “Deborah MacMillan pointed out to me how many other works Kenneth had created for the company, some highly controversial at their premières, and urged that those should be revived. Such a commitment to our greatest living choreographer would, Anthony Dowell knew, be a main charge on his necessarily limited range of programming and resource. But it was a proper one. Ashton was dead; MacMillan was able to create new ballets and we would be celebrating his sixtieth birthday soon. Revivals of both men’s work would contend for place”

I have a copy (transferred from videotape) of that broadcast. Sadly, although they showed the whole of Mam'zelle Angot, (which was also performed that evening), they only showed the pas de deux from Rhapsody. I suppose there's a chance that they filmed the whole of Rhapsody and didn't broadcast it? Edited to add that I've just watched the snippet referred to in the previous post and it is taken from that same broadcast.

I've emailed you, Capybara

I was surprised by this comment as I'd remembered a season full of Ashton works in his centenary year (2004/5). I've just checked and found that the following ballets were performed that season: Wedding Bouquet Sylvia Scènes de ballet Diverts: Awakening pdd, Thaïs pdd, 2 variations from Devil's Holiday, 5 Brahms Waltzes, Voices of Spring pdd Daphnis and Chloë Cinderella La Fille Mal Gardée Rhapsody Marguerite and Armand Enigma Variations The Dream Ondine Symphonic Variations A Month in the Country I, for one, wasn't disappointed by that selection. Edited to provide my source which was the following press release (which was reproduced on the Critical Dance website ): Monica Mason Director of The Royal Ballet People often ask, 'what is the English style and where did it come from?' Without doubt the foundation of this style was laid down by Frederick Ashton and this Season, in honour of his Centenary year, we'll be paying homage to Ashton and celebrating his work. Ashton was a genius who knew what pleased him and how he wanted his dancers to look. Glamour, romance, instinctive musicality, speed and lyricism are probably the qualities that best define his choreography. He also loved expressive footwork; he would use the movement of a foot to signify the quickening of a heart. He couldn't bear anybody to be wooden or upright and insisted on the bending of the upper body almost to the point of exaggeration. Also, put simply, he liked women to be women and men to be men. We start the season with a mixed programme that includes one of his earliest ballets, A Wedding Bouquet, a wonderful work that has elements of farce but is also gentle and subtle. It's pure Ashton; a delicious piece about a husband who leaves a series of broken hearts scattered about him on his wedding day. The programme opens with Kenneth MacMillan's Requiem, a ballet made in 1976 as a memorial to John Cranko and here given as a paean from one great choreographer to another. The programme finishes with Bronislava Nijinska's Les Noces, a monumental work which Ashton acquired for the Company during his period as Director. In November, we revive Sylvia, a full-length ballet Ashton made in 1952 to Delibes' enchanting score. Painstakingly researched by Christopher Newton for this new production, it will be seen for the first time in its entirety since 1965, in its original designs by Robin and Christopher Ironside. The next mixed programme is devoted entirely to Ashton. It opens with Scènes de ballet, a work that Ashton himself regarded as one of his finest. The centre of the programme is a series of his Divertissements which include a recently reconstructed pas de deux from Devil's Holiday, a ballet made for the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1939 and first performed in New York. Daphnis and Chloë, to Ravel's symphonic score, concludes the programme. This Season's Christmas productions are Anthony Dowell's Swan Lake and last Season's new production of Cinderella. They are followed by the ever-delightful La Fille mal gardée, one of Ashton's best-loved and most characteristic works, famously described by Marie Rambert as 'the first great English classic'. Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon, now firmly established as a 20 th century classic, returns in February to be followed by a programme which includes the first new work of the Season, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. The influence of Ashton and Balanchine on Wheeldon's career is abundantly apparent. His new work will form the centrepiece between Ashton's Rhapsody, originally created in 1980 for Lesley Collier and Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Balanchine's Symphony in C, a glittering finish to the evening. At three performances the programme will conclude with Ashton’s Marguerite and Armand. Our next programme brings together Tombeaux, Enigma Variations and The Rite of Spring. David Bintley's Tombeaux was made for the Company in 1993 to music by William Walton, a close friend of Ashton's, with handsome designs by Jasper Conran. In choreographing Enigma Variations, Ashton was, I think, nervous of illustrating on stage the real-life characters on whom Elgar's music is based, in case he misrepresented them in some way. But when Sir Adrian Boult, who had known Elgar, came to conduct some performances in 1975, he declared the ballet wonderfully sympathetic to the composer¹s vision. The Rite of Spring was made for me by Kenneth MacMillan in 1962 and was a hugely important moment in my life. Ashton really liked the work and there were a couple of steps in it that he absolutely adored, in odd moments; he'd often ask me to do these steps for him. The second new work of the Season comes from internationally acclaimed choreographer Christopher Bruce, until recently Director of Rambert Dance Company. This will be his first time working with the Company, and I'm delighted that he and Wheeldon, who are both so firmly rooted in the traditions of British choreography, are able to make new works for us. Ashton's The Dream, which sealed the great partnership of Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell, is also part of this programme, which concludes with three further performances of The Rite of Spring and three performances of Balanchine’s Symphony in C. Someone said to me recently, 'Ashton must be the only choreographer who could possibly have found a way to choreograph water.' They were referring of course to Ondine, his last three-act ballet, which he created for his muse, Margot Fonteyn, and which returns to the repertory in April. In June, as part of ROHToo we'll present another programme of new choreography in the Linbury Studio Theatre. 2005 also marks the Centenary of conductor and composer Constant Lambert, who with Ashton and de Valois was one of the chief architects of the Company's early repertory. I'll be inviting the participating choreographers to look to Ashton or to Lambert's music for their inspiration. The season closes with a mixed programme of Nijinska's Les Biches and two works by Ashton, Symphonic Variations and A Month in the Country. Ashton always said that Nijinska was his greatest influence. Les Biches, set at a French house party in the 1920s, is full of intrigue and innuendo and the challenge now is to convey the subtleties of the period to the dancers of today. With A Month in the Country and Enigma Variations, we will pay tribute to Julia Trevelyan Oman, the designer of both these ballets, who died last year. Lastly, we come to Symphonic Variations, a masterwork and a true distillation of Ashton's choreographic genius. This ballet rightly occupies a unique place in both his and the Company's choreographic history. Monica Mason, 6 April 2004. THE ROYAL BALLET 2004/5 SEASON http://www.ballet-dance.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=22053

I just noticed that cast changes for the Wheeldon triple bill were announced yesterday evening: http://www.roh.org.uk/news/cast-changes-after-the-rain-and-within-the-golden-hour-on-13-17-february-and-10-march-2016 "A number of cast changes for After the Rain and Within the Golden Hour have been announced for performances on 13 and 17 February, and 10 March 2016. Reece Clarke will replace Matthew Golding in After the Rain and Yuhui Choe will replace Laura Morera in Within the Golden Hour. In addition, Valentino Zucchetti will join the cast of Within the Golden Hour."

Tamara Rojo replaces Alina Cojocaru on January 13 (opening night) and, although I'm not sure of Alina's other scheduled dates, it looks to me as if she's replacing her in at least one of those as well. http://www.ballet.org.uk/whats-on/lecorsaire/ (Click on 'Principal Casting')

Re Les Sylphides, English National Ballet also danced it in 2009 and, in my opinion, their performances were vastly superior to those of the Royal. When I asked a member of the ENB staff about this, she told me that Maina Gielgud had been responsible for the coaching and that she, herself, had been coached by a dancer from the Ballets Russes. If my memory is correct, that dancer was Tamara Karsavina. I believe that Maina Gielgud is a reader of this forum. Maybe she could confirm or ask someone else to confirm on her behalf? I’ve just done a search and have found the following two extracts (from Barcelona performances that year) on YouTube.

BBC One December 8 10:35 - 11.45pm Imagine: A Profile of Carlos Acosta http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/dv7fc7/imagine--series-28---7-imagine-carlos-acosta---cuba-calls

We're the big group at the far table

You could come and find us in the intervals on the amphi terrace in front of the restaurant.

If you want to make sure this is seen by someone who might have it in their power to bring back any of these ballets, I suggest you post it on the ROH website. Arky gave the link in her post above.. Here it is again: http://www.roh.org.uk/news/pointes-of-view-which-rarely-staged-ballets-would-you-like-to-see-return-to-the-repertory

http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/9077-royal-ballet-season-2015-2016/?p=129442 It doesn't seem to have a thread of its own. It's in the general thread of the 2015/16 season

I've known people who upgraded on the day of the performance. As far as I remember, they were able to upgrade a cheaper ticket to a more expensive one..

Yes, it was 2004, during the Ashton Centenary year: http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/performance.aspx?performance=1848&row=75

http://www.ballet.org.uk/whats-on/lecorsaire/ Click on 'principal casting' then on the 'show casting' link for the London Coliseum.

http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/buy-tickets/special-offers/article/item340777/english-national-ballets-le-corsaire/ Offer states it's only valid for performances between Jan 13 and 20 Promo code is OLT Edited to add that I forgot to mention that these are, of course, the London Coliseum performances Also, I now notice that the offer mentions 'up to 50% off' but the Dress Circle tickets are definitely half price. I didn't ask about the Upper Circle tickets.

There were several performances of Les Biches in 2005 (part of a mixed bill) Here's a link to the first night cast: http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/performance.aspx?performance=2098&row=40