Ondine

You read it here first. Actually no, I had already seen it elsewhere. However, I suppose work is work. Edited to add: https://musiciansunion.org.uk/news/musicians-approached-to-record-for-ballet-accompaniment-or-opera-backing-track-asked-to-contact-mu Musicians at Northern Ballet are only paid for the work they do, unlike other people in the company who are on salaries. And in a cost of living crisis, some of our members at Northern Ballet have no choice but to use food banks to be able to survive.

There are as many different opinions as there are critics aren't there? https://www.telegraph.co.uk/dance/what-to-see/the-nutcracker-royal-ballet-peter-wright-review/ Fumi Kaneko and William Bracewell made a regal, almost aloof Sugar Plum Fairy and Prince, he particularly strong in his Grand Pas variation.

Acting. Great acting. It's not simply all about the steps, is it? It's about that on stage adoration and presentation of the sweetest 'fairy' by the handsome, reliable prince as something very precious and fragile, spun sugar. You can really believe in that happy ever after, for a few minutes. I felt Fonteyn and Somes conveyed this also. Perhaps the stars from the past can still teach the dancers of the present. Am I an old softie? Noooo. (My first ever ballet dress was pink, I was five, my mum made it, Christmas more decades ago than I care to think about. I still have the pattern she used and the 78 rpm record to which I used to twirl around, a recording of the Nutcracker, played on a wind up HMV gramophone. I WAS that Sugar Plum Fairy.)

If that's your reading of what I said, that's your reading. Multiple meaning of text and all that.

So, let's hope the 'good authority' is correct!

While I can't say how accurate it is, though there was never hard evidence as far as I could discern that it was 'cancelled', this forum? In fact is it this thread? @Blossom I think. I'll search when I have more time. We will have to wait and see I suppose.

Is there evidence that we are any less compassionate than we were then? As with all things, there are campaigners for change and those who oppose it vehemently. https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/sexual-offences-act/ A National Opinion Poll extracted from the Daily Mail in October 1965 stated that 63% of people polled disagreed that homosexual acts in private should be criminal, although 93% believed that ‘homosexuals’ were in need of medical or psychiatric treatment (HO 291/127). This represented a huge change in the way society viewed homosexuality in this era, which had largely moved from moral opposition to a medicalised view.

I said I thought it an interesting view, I hope I'm a sophisticated enough reader to be able to sort out the wheat etc. Anyhow, we now know that apparently Fille isn't 'banned' and will be returning to the ROH. So we can all sleep easily over that one.

Yes this is a regular column filler for certain sections of the media who like to have their readership choking over the marmalade about how we are going to hell in a handcart, though a great deal of it doesn't survive detailed scrutiny. This week it is how Shakespeare is consigned to the bonfire, next week another concocted piece of fluff about the National Trust banning Christmas or Easter or whatever. I thought this an interesting view. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/24/schools-shakespeare-decolonising-curriculum-pupils Not that this has a great deal to do with ballet.

I'm sure it has run its course, though assertion is no substitute for hard evidence and citation, is it?

It would be useful then to specifically cite these universities which are removing all Shakespeare and ditching his works onto a bonfire in case students have a fainting fit and run back home to mum. I clearly read the 'wrong' newspapers. They could always use Bowdler. There is not a great deal of Shakespeare (plays, sonnets) I haven't read / seen and I can't think that Banquo's ghost is going to keep the average 18 year old awake at night these days.

Some universities have removed certain authors or aspects of their work from some curriculum modules, but I think it's not got a great deal to do with student sensibilities or being traumatised and is rather more to do with other ideas about what is relevant to be taught. After all, replacing Jane Austen with Toni Morrison in a module, as I understand one university tried, can't have a great deal to do with not wishing to shock, though it was shocking that an unmarried woman of meagre means in Jane Austen's time so frequently had a difficult life. Not the forum for the essay I could write on A Woman's Place, however. I suppose this sort of thing keeps the T***graph in column inches, when it isn't writing guff about the National Trust 'going woke' and the rest. However, that's nothing to do with ballet so I won't go on. I recall horrific racism, National Front on the march etc in my younger days and: Sexual Offences Act 1967 https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/relationships/overview/sexuality20thcentury/ In 1967 the Sexual Offences Act was passed which decriminalised private homosexual acts between men aged over 21, while at the same time imposing heavier penalties on street offences. The law was not changed for Scotland until 1980, or for Northern Ireland until 1982. Yes this has relevance to ballet and the course of ballet in the UK. John Cranko left the UK for Stuttgart as he was prosecuted for homosexual activity in the UK (1959?) Not always so kind and gentle, the UK, sadly. http://www.elisarolle.com/queerplaces/fghij/John Cranko.html

Do a Google, listed by other places also.

Yes still produced and widely available it seems! https://www.pharmacyonline.co.uk/item/290891/sela-cough-throat-chest-sweets-original-100g.html

Recommended for many reasons. It is indeed marvellous, a thoroughly fascinating read. (I dug mine out to re-read it recently and must put it away again before I drop it on my foot. It is quite a tome.) Just to add, re-reading the main Two Pigeons pages: 'He (Ashton) had developed a hernia, which he blamed on lifting Karsavina as a young man.' Glorious reading.

Today's LINKS via @Ian Macmillan has the BBC report. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-67641435 Gentle reminder to all that there is a 'not guilty' verdict and a 'not proven' so whatever your own views, libel laws apply. "By the verdict of each of the charges, you have been acquitted by the jury and are free to go."

Yes.

Sad and shocking news.

I know this is not from December 2023; however, a reminder just how lovely it all is!

To add to any other constraints there may be with regard to announcing casting for this triple right now, there is the injury problem. Aren't several dancers out with injuries, and it possibly isn't clear if they will be back to dance by then? Let's hope all are making a good recovery; I know they could simply be sidelined, however that would be very unfair.

That's one for tomorrow's LINKS then @Ian Macmillan? I am not sure any comment here is appropriate but I think that requires wide dissemination.

Sharp intake of breath... 😐 murky water it is then.

I know this is stretching the 'audience behaviour' subject but you have to smirk a little. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/06/venice-gondola-capsizes-tourists-canal If only those who can't behave in a theatre or cinema could be tipped into murky water! A group of tourists fell into a murky, cold canal in Venice when the gondola in which they were travelling capsized after they failed to heed an order to stop taking selfies and sit down. The gondolier, who had been attempting a tricky manoeuvre as he navigated the vessel under a bridge close to the area of St Mark’s Square, also ended up in the water before scrambling to rescue his passengers Theatre to the rescue, though! A post on the Instagram page of Venezia Non è Disneyland (Venice Is Not Disneyland), an account set up by young Venetians to chronicle the mishaps of tourists in the city, said the group was brought to safety and provided with “hospitality and warmth” in the nearby La Fenice theatre.

One view. I'm wondering what all those people employed in London think. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/dec/05/manchester-may-yet-suit-english-national-opera-eno ‘This could be really interesting’: Manchester and English National Opera may yet suit each other Charlotte Higgins chief culture writer

Yes. I love Manchester, it's a really interesting city, but not huge.