Beryl H

Just read from the new Dancing Times that the repertoire for the Bolshoi at Covent Garden next year includes Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty (new production), La Bayadere (new production) and Flames of Paris.

How about Michael Portillo, the vague thought occurred to me last night when I was watching his BBC2 travel series, actually I can't think of anyone who could do as good a job as Tony Hall.

I kept it to read nearer the time as it does explain some unusual things about this production, Matthew Bourne visited Tchaikovsky's house at Klin and the vision scene was inspired by the view of the forest outside, no live orchestra, 2 acts of 57 and 47 minutes, no Prince but Aurora's boyfriend turned into a vampire by Count Lilac, for example!

I liked Viscera more the second time and am looking forward to seeing it again with yet another cast in the pdd, there is a good review in the Sunday Times plus a photo of Claudia Dean and Dawid T.

One of the good things about this triple bill is the different cast permutations, 2 for Infra and Fool's Paradise and 3 for Viscera, Laura Morera must be dancing different roles in this, plus the much cheaper prices. The only downside is that they have a similarity, this worked against Fool's Paradise for me on Saturday evening, also I saw it at SW and don't remember it being so "dreamy", only Steven McRae gave it more punch. I liked the central pdd for Viscera, danced to strange desolate sounds from the piano, not so keen on the outer movements, did look very much like Balanchine. Infra gets better every time I see it, really looking forward to the second cast, Dave's photos answered my question of who dances Eric Underwood's role - Dawid T!

I saw this excellent if overlong programme on Thursday, although I enjoyed The Grand Tour years ago it felt wrong this time round, just my own response, lots of good character dancing though. Faster on the other hand felt exactly right after all the excitement of the Olympics, really enjoyed this, especially the difficult pas de trois with Ambra Vallo, William Bracewell and Feargus Campbell, the men were new to me and very impressive. BRB have the most perfect Titania and Oberon in Momoko Hirata and Cesar Morales, the pdd was exquisite, the highlight of the whole evening, Mathias Dingman was also excellent as Puck, in fact the whole company seemed to dance this ballet as well as I have ever seen it! I wanted to see last night's cast too but the late finish at 10.45pm on Thursday with subsequent travel irritations, put me off repeating the experience!

I saw Timon of Athens yesterday and am mentioning it as a live performance is being relayed to some cinemas on Thursday 1st November, if anyone wants to give it a go (although the prices will probably be dearer than the £12 I paid yesterday) it's a fast moving, excitingly staged and designed modern transformation of an odd, rarely performed Shakespeare play. The 2 dancers I saw were Emma Harris and Karis Scarlette, in a very short duet choreographed by Edward Watson, and as Lynette says Cindy Jourdain has a very minor non-speaking role in it (wish she was still dancing with the RB).

Glad it's there, I've already bought the book and there is no picture of it, think it may have been a late addition, nice to know all the other costumes are not behind glass!

I'm looking forward to seeing it mid November, do you remember if Marilyn Monroe's dress from Seven Year Itch is there?

Thanks, they're different from 2 weeks ago, I might go now!

Me too, I'd like to know who is dancing the pas de trois and leading swans.

I keep wondering if the names are in the wrong order, but am taking it that Valeri Hristov is dancing Onegin, hope so anyway!

My favourite museum is the V and A, I like looking at costumes most, have booked the Hollywood exhibition and really looking forward to the David Bowie next year! Also like the British Museum, Natural History Museum and Tate Modern. My favourite walking places in London are around Kensington Gardens, and anywhere on the South Bank from Tower Bridge to the National Theatre, never get bored with this area.

I agree completely with Stephen, last night was the first time in ages I have actually felt moved by Swan Lake, usually it's just a case of admiring the dancers, but I think Carlos Acosta and Natalia Osipova were inspired by each other and it produced a thrilling partnership, far better than my high expectations!

I'm so pleased with the casting for SW on 25th and 26th, I certainly will report back

Although the limit for the Ashton was 4, I wasn't able to buy a third ticket until about a week after the booking opened, another little oddity this time round.

The exhibition of Rudolf Nureyev's costumes in San Francisco sounds wonderful, hope it will be shown in London.

Yes I got mine today too, 3 separate bookings combined in one envelope.

Good to see that these dates don't clash with ENB at the Coliseum 25-27 July, very close though!

I still haven't received mine, glad to know I'm not alone, taking so long I could have picked them up at the Box Office next week. I've actually been waiting in because the postman will keep putting letters half in and half out of the letterbox!

2 biographies that I thought were excellent: Different Drummer - Jann Parry's biography of Kenneth MacMillan Rudolf Nureyev: The Life - by Julie Kavanagh Both available in hardback and paperback.

Thanks Bill, very unusual, think I'll wait a bit!

Amazon have the Bolshoi Hallberg/Zakharova DVD on their website for release on 22 October, confusing at the moment because there are 2, obviously one is a Blu Ray, prices £18.70 and £23.20. Good news, but I hope Coppelia and Don Quixote haven't been put aside, am also eager for Esmeralda and Le Corsaire!

The Times has an article about Tamara Rojo by Debra Craine today, haven't read it yet.

Firstly it was very exciting to see 7 new ballets in 2 nights, grateful that SFB didn't play safe but brought such contrasting works, I wasn't thrilled by all of them but certainly was by Raku and Within the Golden Hour in programme C, the dramatic artistry of Yuan Yuan Tan and Damian Smith, then one of Christopher Wheeldon's gems, I would love to see the RB acquire this one! I was really looking forward to Ghosts last night but strangely it didn't quite work, I think because I couldn't see through the bad lighting from higher up, shame because obviously there was some beautiful dancing, the highlight was Guide to Strange Places, crazy music but it was exciting! Lots of fantastic dancing throughout, special favourites were Gennadi Nedvigin, Joan Boada, Damian Smith, Vitor Luiz, and the wonderful Yuan Yuan Tan, Maria Kochetkova, Sarah Van Patten and Sofiane Sylve!