annamk

It doesn't seem to be possible to book tickets and there's no information about ticket sales that I can see ..... wondering whether anyone knows if it's sold out or not on sale yet ?

I'm not an ENB regular but I was keen to see this programme especially Suite en Blanc since I missed it last time the company danced it and it had such great reviews. I went to the Saturday matinee and I was really impressed; the standard is very good indeed (the company across the paizza could take a few leaves out of their book particularly as far as corps work is concerned). Vadim M was excellent (in Apollo and Suite en Blanc), charming and with superb technique, it was hard to believe it was his Apollo debut. Suite en Blanc was absolutely lovely. Some friends (also non regulars) went on Sat eve on the £10 offer and were as enthusiastic as I was. What a pity it sold so badly.

There's an offer via Balletnews £10 for top price tickets code RUSSES

Thanks Bluebird - you're right the code works for the first 2 nights but not for the weekend.

If anyone spots any ticket offers for Programme 2 I'd be really grateful if they could post them here. Lastminute.com have 1/2 price dress or upper circle but you don't know where you're sitting until you get to the theatre.

Better late than never.... I saw the matinee at the Coliseum on Wed. I don't know BRB well, I've only seen them twice before. I came away feeling I'd passed a very pleasant mid week afternoon, especially given the discounted ticket price. Daphnis and Chloe didn't appeal much: it's dated and seemed odd in 1950's costume but it was danced well. Two Pidgeons was really lovely. I was struck by the excellence of the corps particularly the men who looked well rehearsed: the ensemble pieces were pleasingly co-ordinated and danced with energy and enthusiasm. Quite honestly I had expected a poor relation of the corps across the piazza but that was certainly not the case. A pity in spite of very cheap ticket prices, the Coli was still half full at best.

But Dave we have got someone different .... Steven McRae ..... and presumably a few other cast changes too.

Thanks for the reminder John - it is indeed pretty !

Wow - a new Ratmansky, In the Night .... it's beyond my wildest dreams. Plenty of others to look forward to. Let's hope we have some interesting casting to liven up the old warhorses/cash cows of the RB rep. Just for starters I'd invite Vladimir Shklyarov (?) of the Mariinsky to dance Solor, oh and maybe we could have Sergei back for that too.

I was also at the Clapham Picturehouse which I thought was almost full and not entirely of OAPs ! I would have gone to my local cinema at East Finchley but even a week ago it was sold out. I have to say I LOVED everything about the performance. It was sumptuous and so suits the fabulous looking new Bolshoi theatre with it's enormous stage. OK it's a daft old romp of a ballet (as Clement Crisp might say) but who cares with dancing as superb as the Bolshoi at every level. It was pure pleasure to watch men and women of the corps move in complete harmony and soloists with wonderful clean technique. I particularly noted some lovely men given the "vacancy" at the RB: I think Kevin O'Hare might consider pinching Ruslan Skvortsov to replace the dear departed Polunin.

Indeed thank goodness it got better although I wouldn't know since it was me who bailed at the end of Act 1. I thought Ed Watson was mighty disappointing: his Act 1 solo's were indeed ragged and his partnering was frankly poor. I realise they probably didn't have much time to rehearse together but he is a principal after all, he has danced the role many times before and I would have thought he could have served Melissa better. The awkwardly fumbled lifts cannot have helped her confidence. To be honest I think the two pdd in Act 1 were very disappointing in every respect. Melissa is certainly a beautiful girl and she is fabulous in modern pieces but I fear she needs a stronger technique to carry off the roles she has been given recently: Sugar Plum Fairy and Juliet. As far as her acting is concerned in Act 1 I think she was either overwhelmed by nerves or by Watson's overpowering Romeo since she was not able to project much at all. A pity she only had one show in this run and it wasn't with her originally scheduled partner who might have been a better balance for her, although he too has his challenges with the role.

The RoH website is now showing Ed Watson (replacing originally cast Rupert Pennefather) as Romeo opposite Melissa Hamilton's Juliet (her debut) in the matinee this Sat 10th March.

Assuming Polunin's comments are sincere this interview is so interesting especially this "He (Polunin) says he wishes ballet companies would do a month of rehearsal and then 30 performances of the same show, "so you're just enjoying being on stage – not rehearse for a month then have one show, rehearse for another month and change the show. What's the point?" "So you would repeat a show 30 times?" asks a baffled Putrov." which is exactly the opposite of what I'd expect and it seems the reason he quit is far more prosaic than some of the speculations: in spite of his extraordinary talent he just didn't LOVE dancing. Very sad for us the audience.

Me too, I thought Stepanek's Paris was very well judged. To my eyes Alina Cojocaru in Act 3 gave one of those very rare, most memorable performances that you can wait a long time for and that make you feel fresh & powerful emotion in a work you thought you had grown tired of. I thought she was absolutely phenomenal.

I agree with you. I watched the clips of Ashton coaching Sibley and Dowell and then the clips of Stiefel and Ferri both on youtube. I didn't think they got what Ashton was looking for. The pdd has too much of the quality of a romantic pdd between two people, they don't capture the otherworldliness of the characters at all.

I realised it might make life easier if I include the existing policy ... you can find it where you register but here it is anyway. Forum Acceptable Use Policy The site administrator reserves the right to change the terms and conditions of the user agreement without prior notice to the user. It is the responsibility of the user to regularly review the terms of this agreement. The user agrees to the following terms 1. All information that you provide to us for your membership is correct. 2. You will not use your membership to spam, harrass, or exploit other members in any way. 3. Vulgar, Abusive, Racist, and Sexist Language will not be tolerated. We ask contributors to be respectful to others and in talking about performances, companies and other institutions. 4. No mass posting or flooding of the boards is allowed. 5. Ballet.co is a place for ordinary dance lovers to exchange thoughts and information in good faith - we are not a place for anybody to promote or describe goods, services, themselves, their offspring, their performances or organisation etc. Nor a place to undertake research for commercial or non-commercial organisations. If there are any errors on the forum then please contact us via email of course. Forum Webmaster New Forum Standard Rules (retained just in case!) Forum Terms & RulesPlease take a moment to review these rules detailed below. If you agree with them and wish to proceed with the registration, simply click the "Register" button below. To cancel this registration, simply hit the 'back' button on your browser.Please remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message.The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this bulletin board. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary.You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this bulletin board to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law.You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this bulletin board.

The existing acceptable use policy for Balletcoforum is the same as the old Balletco which it came into being many years ago. One of the tasks the committee has set itself is to review the appropriateness of the policy in today's world. In thinking about the policy we are looking at what other similar sites do and canvassing views from forum views on the policy. So folks over to you .... any thoughts to feed into the deliberations ? To get you going some issues to consider are: allowing blogs, critics, companies, self-promoting, hostile & highly critical reviews. Over to you.....

Review - Royal Ballet Dream/Song Louise Levene from yesterday's Sunday Telegraph magazine now on line http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/9074691/The-DreamSong-of-the-Earth-at-Covent-Garden-Seven-magazine-review.html

In his recent review of The Dream/Song of the Earth Clement Crisp remarked that "Both works show the Royal Ballet’s real qualities far better than any of the care-worn ‘classics’.....The Royal Ballet boasts a grand treasury of short ballets, covering a century of creativity. Not, alas, that we see these with any regularity." I thought this was a really interesting point and wondered whether others agree with him and if anyone knows what lies languishing in the treasury that they would like to see resurrected or performed more frequently than some of the old war horses like Swan Lake.

Indeed John. He must have liked it so much he went to see it again - I can empathise with that I've been 5 times ! Actually I meant to say that I thought this point in his first review "Both works show the Royal Ballet’s real qualities far better than any of the care-worn ‘classics’ was absolutely spot-on ! I wonder what other treasures there are in the RB rep that are worthy of resurrection ? See thread in What's Happening .....

Gosh blow me down .... that's the first compliment I think I've ever seen Clement Crisp give Roberta Marquez !

Review Royal Ballet Dream/Song late out (I think) this one from Gerald Dowler (Classical Source) "The Dream shimmered as it has not done for many a season, indeed, the performance ranks as one of the best I have seen in 30 years of ballet-going." http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=9923

Wonder what anyone else on this forum thought of Gomes as Oberon last night ? Vary different from Steven McRae which made it interesting to observe. His characterisation was excellent and his mime crystal clear. His partnering of Alina was generally excellent although there were a couple of points where he rather tossed her around - I guess he's used to heavier girls ! But these things had to be good because his solo dancing was really so-so, he just didn't have the footwork and it looked as though he didn't even bother to try some of the difficult solo work in the scherzo section. Interesting to have the opportunity to see him in London although I didn't see anything to warrant bringing him back as a guest in other roles rather than using RB dancers.

Gosh Benjamin Ella as Oberon ? I know he joined the RB as someone with potential and was then unlucky with injury but to be honest I can barely recall seeing him dancing since he joined, was it 2 years ago. I would like to see him stand out in some minor roles before I was convinced he could give Oberon a fair go.

Yes that's right re Valentino, he certainly deserves to be used more. Re Don Q, indeed who could dance it ? As the most vocal member of the Steven McRae fan club on balletco I have to add his name ! I think Kobborg is too old now (ouch, sorry) and Bonelli hasn't really got over his op properly at least not on the evidence of his solo dancing in Romeo recently. It is a depressing situation.