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Thanks for the lovely report and photos, DonQ. Sorry the experience was marred by travel problems. I know the feeling!

If anyone has a spare cheap ticket (standing, side amphi, upper amphi) for Thursday night that they want to unburden themselves of, I would be happy to oblige! Thanks in anticipation!

Nicol Edmonds! 😍😍

I like this production a lot. And the words aren’t COD Spanish. They are saying words such as “viva Espada” and “guapa” and “vaya”. I am sure that Carlos wouldn’t let his lovely language get mangled in his own production. It is similar in flamenco, when the musicians call out to encourage the dancers. I know it’s weird in a ballet and I didn’t like it first time round, but I have seen it enough times that I am used to it and don’t mind it. I probably would in any other ballet, but I always think there’s room in DonQ for some poetic licence, be it the dancers or the production!

It certainly did last night....that old maxim about opposites attracting and then balancing each other out really proved true in the Osipova/Muntagirov pairing in this ballet. More please Mr O'Hare! I agree with other posters above that the whole cast were on full fire. I just can't single out any of them for special praise because they were all superb. I will however reiterate that Fumi Kaneko is the finest Queen of the Dryads that I've seen for years. Simply beautiful.

A wonderful evening. I enjoyed it as much as the dancers did!

This looks like an interesting service. Welcome to the forum Matz!

Soloviev, Nureyev......let's call the whole thing off!

I am also very disappointed to be missing Laura and Ryo again....my favourite Mercedes/Espada pairing.

Just reviving this thread as phase 2 of DQ has started. Did anyone see the Ball/Cuthbertson cast on Friday night? I just saw on Claire Calvert’s Instagram that she and Reece Clarke have an “unexpected “ performance of Mercedes and Espada tonight. Can’t wait!

“Let me just stick in the name of the only Russian ballet dancer I have vaguely heard of. Hopefully no-one will notice. Saves me the trouble of checking that it’s right.”

Thanks BP. We are working on something and as soon as it's all finalised I will let you know.

I remember the days when figure skating was actually on the BBC, not consigned elsewhere. The good old days of Grandstand and World of Sport when they showed things that people might have been interested in. I never know when the skating championships are on anymore, and when I do find out, the only way I can watch is on YouTube. So now I can check the ubiquitous red button and see what happens! Thanks Alison.

Thanks as always Anna.

You make a good point here, Glissade, so we have just changed the wording of the AUP to reflect your suggestion above. Thank you.

Hi Ulla, and welcome to the forum. Are you selling these, or giving them away? I made a similar offer on here a couple of years ago (I was offering on behalf of a friend) saying that whoever could collect them could have them, but there was no uptake. Maybe you will have more luck than I did!

So would I!

I am from New York. The NY audiences are very vocal indeed. My English mother used to go nuts when we went to see the rare visits of the Bolshoi to NY and each time someone jumped the audience would go berserk! I couldn't believe how restrained the Brits were when I moved here. In my early days there were a few times I stood up then had to sit right back down because I was the only one doing so!! I think if a performance is mediocre they might still stand up, but not if it's bad. The audiences know how much work goes into putting on a production, so they are honouring the effort as well as the result in many cases. It's just an add-on to applause I guess. Also, perhaps a national characteristic.....traditionally, Americans are very effusive, Brits very reserved, but no less appreciative.

I find that Americans give standing ovations as frequently as British audiences give them rarely. I have been going to the ROH for 40 years and I can count on fewer fingers than are on one hand the amount of time I have seen a proper standing ovation there, no matter how amazing the performance was. This always baffles me, but as has been said, it is a cultural thing and just different ways of showing appreciation.

Thanks Jan.

That's all true, but this kind of thing happens quite often when it comes to dance, and surely picture editors/researchers are being paid to do a certain job. Of course we all make mistakes, and many of us work in busy, pressurised environments, but a friend of mine who is a picture editor for a large newspaper says that if she isn't sure about something, she always checks with the author or publisher before inserting anything because she doesn't want to get it wrong, nor does she want to disrespect the subject of the article by making it seem as if she couldn't be bothered. She also doesn't want to make her newspaper look foolish. All I am asking is that if you don't know anything about the subject of the article, just spend a few minutes double-checking. It's not hard in this day of the internet. Also, I do pay subs to three newspapers so I can read them online, The Times being one of them. So I am not expecting something for nothing.

I will think about it, although the reason I called it this is because it is a thread to let off steam about those who disrespect dancers.

I have seen a couple of short clips of the curtain calls and they were indeed enthusiastic. How I wish it had been filmed! The people in SF had a real treat being able to see for themselves the epitome of what English classical ballet can be and, in this case, is. Yasmine is a rare talent, and also a wonderful ambassador for the company. Huge congratulations to her!

I am opening a thread on this subject so that we can let off steam. I have complained many times about shoddy and careless errors in the papers, especially regarding photos. There’s another howler in the Sunday Times today, in the Matthew Ball interview. I mean, surely even the most ballet-ignorant photo editor can see that that is nowhere near a swaggering toreador? Shame on them. Another example of “let’s just chuck in any photo of ballet and no-one will notice.” Ggggrrrr.

My last photo with Kev.