Bruce Wall

Thanks, Bruce, for your - as always - insightful input. I should I guess have been more clear. It was the item reporting the occurrence of an emotive response on the street from Alina in which was leveled an accusation against another forum member which (at least for me) was left unclear which certainly raised questions in my mind as to its inclusion. That was the specific piece that had been removed ... and I simply wondered - given the question - why it had returned. That's all, pure and simple. I certainly wouldn't want 'happy clappy' either. Never have. If that were the case I doubt I would waste my time with attendance. Certainly the public record of Alina's and Guillem's remarks as published is fair play ... and those mentioned in them DO have right to recourse I should imagine if they so desired ... and certainly if they wished to push for it. I have a feeling that they may choose not to ... and let that speak for itself.

I know how you feel concerning this, Aileen - especially when matters become so personal (as some have seemed here at least to me of late) and when the commentary moves far away (even in reviews) from the heart of dance and its related production which is, I believe, the heart of this admirable undertaking. Can I be the only person on this forum board who has felt exactly the same as you have so clearly expressed Aileen - let us say distinctly uneasy - about at least one of the items on this particular board [i was shocked to see it return after having been removed for review .... and would love to know the reasoning behind that judgement (e.g., for its reappearance) by the appropriate balletcoforum arbitrators] and certainly several other notations on the board specifically concerning Matthew Golding? There is part of me that very much hopes not .... otherwise I am I fear REALLY out on a limb.

Like use of 'stygian', Alison.

Me too!!

Had my first peek at this, the Royal's third strike at DQ last night. Liked on the whole the costumes ... as ever with the RB team stunningly constructed - although why the happy couple had to return in the last act in costumes fit for a fairy kingdom I really did not understand. Still perhaps an overall Barbie doll/old school Disney pattern is what was aimed for here pushing it ever more away from the novel's very real detail. Of the scenery I felt MUCH more uncertain. Not sure I see the point of the moving houses ....(certainly it robs Gamache of the overall definition of his entrance - although Whitebread took a fragrant plunge to the role as a whole). Most certainly I felt the progressively encroaching windmills took a definite toll and not just on the Don. Although I can see the point ... such as must have been raised at an early design meeting the day after a night before say ... I felt in practice they simply did not work. Nor does the return of Dulcinea outside of the prologue. Almost certainly this must be to the total confusion of anyone who has not actually read the original book itself. Gone are the days of Ashton's clear and poetic story telling capacities it seems. But back to those windmills: In my reading they do naught but rob both the wit and pathos of the Don's decline, e.g., the over-riding conceit. Indeed I understand in the matinee yesterday the third windmill misbehaved to such an extent it actually forced the curtain to be brought down. Not worth it. Surely. Liked Solenka very much. She was a steady pool of mature response in the RB's now oft wavy... and alarmingly oft disturbingly muddy ... waters. All too often the house style here was softly undulating where a sharp attack was clearly mandated in this Russian interpretation in dance of a Spanish story. Would love to see Solenka in something else .... and adored the flaming camouflage in barnet of the central couple as provided (one assumes) by nature. Liked Avis as the Don as well plus the charm of O'Sullivan in a role much suited to the current RB jolly-hockey-sticks soubrette house style. Was put off by the shouting however .... (these not being actors with clear indigenous motivation, but rather dancing extras dutifully marking their cue) .... but refreshingly not so much by the clapping. What REALLY did the whole thing in for me, however, was Tait's orchestration. ('Wasn't he that man who thinned out the music to 'Manon'?', you rightfully whisper. YES!!) Here the whole was robbed of oh, so much of it's joy. Even the clear colours of the music inducted - to an uncertain end methought - from Bayadere were left more on the gypsy camp's background palette rather than in the pit. (Can this BE the same orchestra who have been playing SO vividly in Elekra of late? I understand it is.) Their DQ needs to lift not churn. To my ear they sounded as if waterlogged. So much was awash in an inappropriate romantic uncertainty. Certainly it was squeezed in its passion of any explosion. It remained weedy; certainly unwell. The slowing down of the first act divertisement (to allow Dulcinea to again waft through) was destructive in the extreme. I actually felt sorry for the hard working McRae in having to grind his gears so artificially in what surely must have been an exhausting attempt to turn - let alone gallop - once again. By this point in the proceedings (as we know from such fine Russian outings we have been privileged to see) things should virtually spin on their own. Even Vasiliev would have struggled here one felt. Here the music should have partnered McRae so he could fly ... not continually return to a run-way in preparation for his take off. Poor lad. I felt he didn't have the support he really needed nor ultimately deserved ... but then that was sadly true for the majority in the music's regard; the audience perhaps more than anyone else ... and they, after all, had PAID for the privilege!

Just wanted to say I SO loved the new Justin Peck piece, MURDER BALLADS, with its vivid original score that I went to see it TWICE. It is just SO refreshing to be be able to hear this Choreographer's original voice wash up at last on England's shores. You could certainly see the influence of Robbins. Here the conversation commenced in INTERPLAY was both honoured and extended in a unique and wonderfully structured way. This is our first time to taste this gloriously talented young man's joy. It was heartbreaking in the extreme to see the theatre SO empty on both occasions. (I hope the same fate is not greeting Liam Scarlett with the premiere of his new FRATAS pas for Yanowsky and Pennefether just now at NYC's City Centre in the mixed FALL FOR DANCE programme). Where were all these people on this board and elsewhere who say they are interested in exploring new work? (Perhaps they were still being all cozy-like at an extended tea with those much celebrated and oh, so, here dearly loved 'grannies'!) I've never seen SW SOOOOO empty. I'm sure Peck will be developing pieces for POB though. Quite right too. Millipied obvously values his gifts. I went over on Tuesday night and thanked him for including it. He just smiled knowingly, winked and said: 'Brilliant isn't it?' IT IS. (That noted, at the LBC interview with Kevin O'Hare this summer the RB Director said that he'd been very taken with Peck's work when he caught it at NYCB on the occasion of his going over to see Steven McRae guest in ABT's Corsaire. Maybe - just maybe - we will get to see something of Peck's created for the RB as well.) Also just wanted to say: what an incisive talent Charlie Hodges is: .... STUNNING .... His spirit as much as his technique are truly radiant. You can crucially see the soul behind the mind of this chap who is an Ivy League Phi Beta Kappa in both dance and architecture. BOFFO!!! His line is pristine rapture. Engagement plus. Small legs; HUGE dance. The LA Dance Project couldn't have a better Ballet Master!!

Another follow-up story on the above: http://nypost.com/2013/10/01/2-stabbed-others-injured-at-riverside-park/

James Fayette, who formerly danced with NYCB and is married to senior NYCB principal Jenifer Ringer, found himself being attacked by a homeless man with a pair of scissors in Riverside Park. He sought first to save his infant son. See: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/dad-talks-saving-young-son-scissors-wielding-maniac-article-1.1473763

Catch as catch can. She is a favourite .... and her Marschallin is to drool for .... Oh, and Arabella too .... and Rusalka (you can see her in the Met live cinema relay next year .... and .... and ....

Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPZc6RT2wlY&feature=player_embedded#t=0

One Wendy Whelan .... and just look what happened to her!!!! (Sorry for the exclamation marks .... but she simply warrants them!)

Thank you, John. That does sound a wonderful programme. So sorry I missed it.

I was on my way to Sadlers Wells for this when suddenly there was a person under a train so that I fear sadly put an end to that. We were stuck. (I had in fact just come from a reading of King Lear at the Old Vic which I must say was one of the most dispiriting outings I've EVER known so some balletic uplift would have been much welcomed.) Grateful if someone could let us know who danced what with whom in the gala. Thanks David for the wonderful pictures. It does sound a good evening.

I would have thought such cases against breach of contract were fairly standard across all paywall sectors.

I too have been rather taken back by some of comments on this board. I prefer to share the optimism expressed by SusanR and DonQfan, while respecting that we are all different. I only enter into this fray (which I was intending to leave aside) as I was interested in a comment made by (currently) the youngest Paris Opera Ballet male etoile, Mathias Heymann, regarding bringing different dancers into a resident company's fold. I thought it was interesting because we hear here from a specific dancer's perspective in a comment such as was brought up by him, himself, and not via a specific question assuming you take the transcription at its face value. (I don't think Heymann has danced in London yet so he may be unknown to those whose ballet watching is strictly limited to UK boundaries. He is I think - at least from what I have seen - a fine talent.) In the interview which was conducted with him on the occasion of the POB's opening at the Bolshoi in Paris he is most generous about the Royal Ballet and, especially about F. Bonnelli to whom he gives abundant credit for helping him during his recent shin injuries. He remarks - and I thought it was both interesting and relevant in light of certain commentaries on this board and in other forum items of a similar ilk elsewhere: "One thing I’m really in favour of is guest artists, like the Bolshoi’s Evgenia Obraztsova in La Sylphide last June. When there are 150 of us being together all the time, it’s easy to get comfortable, and guests do bring diversity. They’re an inspiration both for the audience and for us dancers." (Of course I quote this fully acknowledging the fact that POB has, of course, always been a larger and, indeed, much older company [and school] than the Royal Ballet. That said I would have felt that the sentiment might - at least in some small part - be shared with other dedicated members in larger resident ensembles.)

I wonder ... am I alone in feeling the tattoos on this young dancer ... when being permanent as they are and not as some chosen part of character costume for reasons behind a specific piece ... are distracting to the line of the dance?

I don't know about that, Alison ... but the second row of the balcony is still £15.00. I know I bought a ticket to each performance today ... (e.g., four) ... They were all, as marked, £15 each. That I think compares favourably with the RB and the second row of the Amphi for most performances. Here is the solo for Vasiliev (which he will dance at ALL performances) ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYwqNtRdo8M in addition to the final piece by Gomes (at All) and Le Jeune Homme at two performances (19th and 21st - both opposite Lunkina). I know there are many here who really do not like him ... but Vasiliev (then 21 and only 24 now) was the dancer Petit called the 'first GREAT dancer of the 21st Century' ... and surely Petit had seen a few in his time (think Nureyev, think Gil, think La Riche, think so many others). I only wish that Vasiliev was able to do the Proust pas at one performance. (He has danced it before in Paris to great raves.) I do agree Vasiliev has his limitations in terms of classical placement (never having really been exercised in it as so many others have been for years in his advance .... In that regard Vasiliev simply couldn't begin to compete/compare with the refined splendor of, say, a Sarafanov ... (few through history could methinks) ... and not forgetting he too is not blessed with as immaculate a physical classical instrument as Leonid) ... but then Vasiliev does have that charisma; that of a young Baryishnikov .... and the potency of his generosity in wanting - indeed his willing drive to share such. ... THAT you simply can't buy. If you could there would surely be one on the self at the Royal Ballet and every major balletic entity on earth. How I recall the excitement of Baryishnikov before him ... but then at his best - being such a wonderful character actor as well as classical dancing artist - Baryishnikov had it ALL. That is why for me Baryishnikov REMAINS so rare an entity ... and why he was so famously jealous of Bujones. It was almost amusing. (Oh, for those evenings when both of them appeared respectively as Basilio and Espada in Don Q ... Now there WAS a truly unique electricity ... I've never seen a competitive spirit that ran so appropriately rampant .... Not even the Vasipova show!! There were two GREAT dancers with Gelsey Kirkland thrown in the middle to boot.) I, myself, would SO love to see Vasiliev guest with the Royal in an APPROPRIATE (e.g., APPROPRIATELY SPECIAL) vehicle. I would dearly love to see them revive MR. WORLDLY WISE for Vasiliev ... while Tharp is still at a point of creative potency. They could I think with Vasiliev and McRae in the Mukhamedov / Teddy roles. They would not otherwise have had such special capacity to fill those roles otherwise. Surely Vasiliev would also excel in Mayerling. Just remember how he revolutionized Spartacus. (Well, at least for me no other dancer has had such an overwhelming appeal in such an underwhelming ballet IMHO - and I have been privileged to see a few in my time. It was refreshing to hear V. Vasiliev say the same in an interview.)

These are, of course, for many alarming economic times .... (the Governor of the Bank of England says he has 'tremendous sympathy' for savers, especially those among the retirees) .... so the lack of sales at this point for this particular outing is perhaps not all that surprising. Sales certainly are not vast for the Stuttgart Ballet either as it happens.

While agreeing with the sentiment expressed above I applaud ABT's initiative in wanting to bring to fore the diversity issue in terms of females in ballet. Men it seems (and as has been well noted) have succeeded with a stronger suit in this regard. I do think ABT are right to highlight this specific issue and I celebrate their attempt to bring it to a wider public for overall consideration. As the WSJ journalist (quite rightly in my estimation) states, if the major international representative companies do not attack such they will be 'irrelevant in 50 years'. Some might argue it won't take that long for world tides in popular taste to completely turn. 'But look at us', audiences will understandably cry if they attend at all (a certain death knell). Provincial companies, of course, serve a more limited reach so I can see such surviving in certain insular enclaves although even they I'm certain will become more and more challenged and isolated in time.

See this film is being shown in NYC. Wondered if some of these 'emerging' dance/ballet films as stated might not be able to appear in one specifically cultivated and dedicated programme in one of London's so called 'art' cinemas? Surely such showings are the ONLY real way to build a hunger and develop an audience for such so called 'alternative fare'. In a world seemingly thronging to social media this would be a plug for the furtherance of an ongoing dance/ballet education in and of itself for those who - for whatever reason - have had (or chosen) to resist travel in the shaping of their own dance perspectives. Certainly it could hurt in the development of a meaningful twitter feed (so important nowadays - even to Balletcoforum links say) - and the idea of a Sunday morning specialty - certainly a less popular time for many which the major studios use to meaningfully preview so many of their own future releases - might well be an ideal vehicle through which to begin. . http://www.emergingpictures.com/2013/06/13/david-hallberg-stars-in-short-film-the-dancer-to-kick-off-national-spokesperson-role-for-ballet-in-cinema/

In any event she will appear in all performances opposite either Bolle or Vasiliev in Le Jeunne Homme et la Morte. Ref: http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwdance/article/KINGS-OF-THE-DANCE-to-Make-UK-Debut-at-London-Coliseum-March-19-22-20130912 That should be exciting after sadly missing the opportunity to see her during the Bolshoi's season as had been originally proclaimed. It was wonderful in that Kennedy Center interview with David Hallberg to hear him speak so movingly of Leonid Sarafanov as a dancer whose technique he aspired to. I still feel that if the Royal were on the hunt for another guest male principal (or permanent one for that matter) you could not (at least in my book) currently do better in the search for a multi-box ticker. He and and his wife have a young child ... and another now on the way. Surely their timeframe now to (re)settle is more limited than it may have been before - but certainly doable.

I think this feeling may be particularly acute this year, Alison, as we all enjoyed such a magnificently varied dance feast even after the close of the RB season. How lucky we were. Would that we could have such a similar smorgasbord of international balletic/dance variety each and every year ... in tandem, of course, with our standard main courses of indigenous fare (which are themselves made up of just so many international streams). That continued combination would be truly Olympian!!: A fantastic legacy.

This was announced by ABT today: http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/37780-abt-launches-project-plie/#entry326490 Wonder if Balleoforum members think a 'Project Plie' would be a good thing for the RB to spearhead on a European basis??? Would this be something the Royal Ballet School could buy into? I had thought the RB had started a not dissimilar 'inclusion' incentive about 15 or so years ago, but it does not appear to have been overly successful in terms of practical placement within the ranks of the company itself given the rigors of time. The issues highlighted in the above press release's outline (inclusive of arts administration) represent much of what Benjamin Millipied has said he intends to tackle at the POB. Here is a follow-up article in the WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323392204579071071121764480.html Certainly such incentives - no matter how long they may actually survive - can't hurt.

Much thanks for your kind clarification, Anna. It is hugely appreciated.

Perhaps the answer is, Anna, to go back to college .... putting the Friends' fee towards your studies and joining the ROH team (for free) as a student ... You might even consider becoming an student ambassador!! (That's just my attempt at a joke you understand .... Feeble I realise ... When you say, Anna, that there was 'no standing' do you mean no standing on ANY level ... or just no standing in the stalls circle? Grateful for your kind advice when you are best able. Much thanks.