Tattin

Love the video - utterly exhausting for the poor dancer, but as Emeralds has pointed out, Alexander doesn't look at all puffed at the end - amazing!

Thank you, Emeralds, for the details of this wonderful programme - one can only dream.... I hope you will let us know if you find out that it is being filmed.

I do so agree with all of you who have praised this Insight; it went some way to alleviating my frustration that the triple bill is not being shown in cinemas in Spain. I thought Sambé was dancing superbly and what a treat to see so much of the glorious, elegant Melissa Hamilton, whom I adore. Delighted that Eagling and Ferri were there with their input and Lady Macmillan never ceases to amaze me: she attends so many Insights when they involve Macmillan's works and yet she never seems to mind having to comment, time after time, and, what's more, she always manages to find something fresh and different to say.

The POB "Fille" is being live.streamed in cinemas in Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden and Poland as well as France, of course, and countries further afield, on Thursday March 21st, but not,unfortunately in either the UK or Spain.

Angela, I have thanked you and replied on the "News from Germany, Switzerland etc" thread by mistake. I can sometimes get arte concert, but maybe when I have registered and /or paid to see something.

1. Huge congratulations to Iana Salenko. I loved her Aurora which I saw in Madrid some years ago when Nacho Duato was directing the Staatsballett Berlin (it was his production of "Sleeping Beauty".) 2. Many thanks, Angela for the info about the DVD. I am not a great fan of Neumeier 's choreography though I like his "Lady of the Camelias". I was, however, absolutely shocked by his "Midsummer Night's Dream", which I saw on stage at the Granada Festival of Music and Dance last summer. It was incomprehensible even to those of us who are very familiar with the complex narrative. There were too many dancers on stage, also at times obscured by the admittedly extremely beautiful, moveable trees. I felt sorry for the dancers and longed for "The Dream"!

Thank you, Angela, for the link but sadly not available in Spain.

Like many others I think the RB's current production of Swan Lake will be fine for your son, Beaker, as it has plenty of variety so there's little likelihood of him getting bored - plus great music and a lot of different costumes. I was taken to the ROH for the first time to see The Sleeping Beauty at age 8 but I had already seen Ballet Rambert triple bills when it was a classical company and had been taking class since the age of just under four so I did have a little idea of what to expect.

Of course Vadim was superb too, Emeralds, but I was only comparing the female dancers. I shall enjoy comparing all the other versions, some of which I have already seen. I didn't care for Evgenia Obraztsova & Andrei Merkuriev; maybe it just doesn't suit Vaganova trained dancers. What do you think, Emeralds? Yes, I was aware, bangorballetboy, that Balanchine changed steps depending on who was dancing; he was amazingly accommodating like that. It will, therefore, be especially interesting to compare the pas de deux danced during his lifetime by NYCB dancers.

I have taken up the challenge, Emeralds, (last night I was interrupted and couldn't continue). Verdy was petite, fast and feisty. Peck is also fast and feisty but much longer-limbed and as Blossom points out, lacks a certain grace and elegance. Marianela is more classical and fully endowed with the qualities Peck lacks, BUT I feel, nevertheless, that Peck embodies more closely the qualities I perceived in Verdy all those years ago. However my favourite one is the Marianela/Reece rehearsal recording. The entrechats are there -just - and the fish dives perfect. Incidentally I have seen Tiler Peck's partner, Joaquín de Luz, on stage here in Spain on two occasions dancing Robbins' Other Dances, and in Paris with NYCB in Dances at a G but not, sadly the Tschai pas.

The first time I saw it was at an RAD gala in London organised by Fonteyn in the sixties. It was danced by Violette Verdy and Edward Villella. I was bowled over by it and them so any I've seen since (and I've seen excellent and indifferent interpretations) have inevitably been compared with them. Some of you will know whether it was created on Verdy & Villella and if not on whom.

Thank you, Emeralds, for your suggestion. No, I haven't signed up for the ROH streaming service as I haven't thought it worth it so far, but I will keep an eye on it to see whether the Macmillan triple bill appears as there are ballets I've never seen having left the UK many, many years ago.

In reply to several comments above: 1. Laura Morera mentioned recently - I think it was during a RB Insight evening that she was coaching - that she had asked KoH if she could dance Juliet just once before she retired (I think in Japan) and he refused. 2. I support all you Melissa Hamilton fans! It upsets me that she hasn't been promoted to principal, and if she was given numerous opportunities to dance the classics in Dresden, as I believe she was, then she can obviously cope with them. I love her elegant technique; she shines in everything I have seen her dance (only on screen), even in small roles such as one of the leading wilis.

Infuriatingly for me the triple bill is only being streamed in cinemas in the UK.

I also remember seeing Arestis as one of Lise's friends, either in a live stream of "Fille· or a recording. She stood out for her expressive dancing and her striking facial features not for her height.

I was enormously impressed by Samira Saidi's brilliant coaching. She found just the right words to suggest, in many cases, very subtle improvements. And Leo Dixon's clean, elegant dancing bowled me over!

I join annamk in thanking you , Bruce Wall, for the clip of Solitude and the interview with Ratmansky. They both had me in tears.

Thank you, all of you, for your reports of the gala which make fascinating reading. What a great programme and what a feast of dancing! I was, however, shocked to read that the theatre wasn't fully booked, and very surprised considering the huge enthusiasm for ballet in London. Have any of you any idea why that was? I hadn't realised that Denys Cherevychko had left the Vienna State Opera Ballet. His dancing always made a great impact in the company's live streams under Manuel Legris. I wonder where he is now...

For those of you who. like me, can't attend, I contacted the organisers to inquire whether it would be live-streamed or filmed and the answer,sadly, was "no" due to restrictions by the venue.

Thank you, Angela, for the link to the Vienna Opera Ball; it works perfectly in Spain. What a joy to see brightly - coloured costumes and dancers clearly lit! I have got so fed up with straining my eyes trying to see poorly lit dancers in black costumes in recent years. I have watched Ratmansky's choreography three times - fairly "traditional" for him but everything he does is never less than interesting, and I, personally, always love it. However, "traditional " as it was it was nevertheless about the most modern part of an event that was so formal that it seemed old-fashioned. I was amazed at the extent to which the debutantes were also choreographed and made to stand as still as a corps de ballet during the dancing and singing etc.. I wonder how many hours rehearsal it took!

I was at the cinema screening and most of my feelings about the performance have already been stated in one post or other so I'll be brief: Osipova's pointe shoes really worried me; I thought she was going to do herself serious damage by the end of the performance. Just look at them in the photographs!! Her ability to BECOME Manon reminded me of Macmillan's first great dance actress - those of you whose ballet memories go back a good number of decades will know who I am referring to, the great Lynn Seymour, of course, though I never saw her dance Manon. Clarke expressed beautifully the turmoil of feelings he was going through and his arabesques were absolutely to die for! Magri brought a great range of complex feelings into her dancing as Lescaut's mistress. I was very impressed as this is not an easy role from the acting point of view. And I noted the lovely dancing of the two main whores, Yuhui Choe and Melissa Hamilton (how I wish I could see her performance as Manon), And for those of you who have mentioned Darcey Busseli's presentation: she has indeed improved enormously - I put that down partly to her experience as the president of the judges at the Prix de L last week.

Many very interesting comments . thank you to you all. I am inclined to agree with Aklf that the time has come to separate the boys and girls, now that so many boys compete. The spectacular virtuosity of the ballet vocabulary for the male solos does tend to put the more subtle and expressive female solos in the shade when they are competing on equal terms.

Thank you Stucha, Garnier & Pas de Quatre for your comments on my post about développé & chassé etc. It seemed to me that they were using shorthand for the movement rather than the "tu" form of the verb. It quite shocked me! Of course I know about steps at the barre such as battements frappé being shortened just to frappé but in this case it was cutting off the last syllable of the word. And yes, Sabine0308 I picked Paloma Videllara Vidart from Argentina, Nº 317, as a finalist. I managed to pick 12 of the 20 finalists this year, but based largely on their solos whereas the judges base their decisions on classwork and many other factors such as suitable physicality.

Has anyone else noticed that the French teachers and coaches abbreviate terms, using "développ" and "chass" (among others) instead of développé and chassé? Julio Bocca and Lakey Evans-Peña, however don't do it. It seems very strange that the French teachers do it when it is their language. It really shocks me but perhaps some of you who are training, dancing professionally or teaching can tell me whether it is common practice nowadays.

Many thanks Emeralds for the info about streaming.