Sim

Best of luck Emma! Sounds wonderful; please keep us posted.

Strange that they didn't announce it over the tannoy. From Campbell's Instagram, he seemed very happy with how it went! I wonder if they had had any rehearsal time as it sounds like a pretty last-minute change. Were they as good in this as in everything else they dance together?

True.

Hayward got Manon and Naghdi didn't. I guess much of it is a balancing act by the AD.

Thanks for this, Jan. I agree with everything Kourlas says, and on the night hubby and I agreed that the French couple should have had the gold. Maybe next time.

Mary thank you so much for those. I've never seen the 2nd one before, and wow it is just gorgeous. How lucky were we, to produce Cousins, Curry and Torvill & Dean, all in the space of eight years. Truly a golden age, where skating became art as well as sport.

Hi Joe. Over the years, we've had many discussions about whether Giselle actually stabs herself, or whether the sword is grabbed from her at the last minute. In the RB version, she does stab herself, but it seems to be just a light graze, to send her on her way. However, it's enough to ensure that her grave is in the woods, not in the hallowed grounds of a church.

Fascinating. I had no idea about Alex Campbell's hearing problems.

Maybe it's Myrthe scaring him? Or maybe it's just his imaginaaaaa-aaaaation, running away with him......?!

I agree about the hashed up music. I understand they need to change speed, but these musical abominations are happening during the same segment, so no excuse. My hubby and I have also been bemoaning how boring and pedestrian most of the songs used seem to be. The Canadian lady used Piaf, and that was the best choice by a country mile. I also liked the use of Celine Dion's "Ne Me Quitte Pas", although it's not really my thing. I much prefer Brel and Dusty, but at least the skater used the whole song, from start to finish, with no chopping.

One of the reasons I really dislike Sadler's Wells is their policy of letting people take food and drink into the auditorium....over and over I have had to walk over spilled wine, crumbs, sweet wrappers, etc. It's more like a cinema than a theatre. Can't people survive 45 minutes or an hour without having to eat and drink?? I love my wine but would never dream of taking it into an auditorium. Bottled water in a hot space, fair enough. It doesn't smell and it doesn't stain.

Thanks for all your contributions, Taxi. I do hope you will continue to make some now and then. I am so glad that you found so much help, joy and solace from this forum during the years of your dd's journey. I wish her all the best of luck with whatever path she takes....please keep us informed! With warm wishes, Sim

That would make Act 2 very irritating!!

Just finished. Quite an eclectic awarding of the gongs this year!

Everyone has that choice except the mods, of course, Fonty. We still have to read everything, whether we want to or not. That is what we do. I am writing this post not only as Chair of the Forum Committee, but also as an individual who loves ballet and posts up as such. I would just like to remind everyone out there of what the moderators do. What we do is do our best in what are often very difficult and even unpleasant circumstances. Between us, we give up our private time to run this forum, 24/7 x 365. We moderate on Christmas day, on Easter day, on New Year’s Day, and on every other day, whether we are sick or healthy, on holiday abroad or at work. This weekend was my 28th wedding anniversary weekend, and do you know how I spent much of it? Reading all the comments on this thread, and on some others as well, and with the moderators, dealing with various reports we received, and private messages. May I please remind everyone that we consider each and every report and PM and email individually. Each one of these incidents is logged and then discussed between us and action then taken. This all takes time….a lot of time when there is a thread like this that elicits so much emotion. We do all of this with pleasure, because we love sharing our love of ballet with all of you. It is with deep disappointment and anger, therefore, to report that we received some very nasty messages and reports over the weekend, impugning us and our ability to run the forum to the standards certain people think aren’t being met. We are always very happy to receive constructive suggestions about how to improve things because, like every other human being, we don’t always get things right, despite our best efforts. However, I can tell you all now, that anyone who writes to us and swears at us, or is excessively nasty, will be immediately suspended or banned from this site. We put up with a lot of things running the forum, but we are NOT prepared to put up with that. If you are angry or unhappy about something, fair enough, but please just put your points to us in a civilised manner and we will respond in kind. To the great majority of our members, thank you for all your posts and comments about all aspects of dance, for that after all is what this forum is supposed to be about.

This awards ceremony is now in full flow on Facebook.

That's correct, Geoff. She pleaded guilty to having hindered the prosecution of the case, not to foreknowledge of the event.

Isn't he an opera critic?

Shame about the paywall....I will have to ask my neighbour to borrow her copy! I'm very pleased that one critic has bothered to report on this Giselle. More fool the others; they missed a real treat.

Well said, Anna.

Brilliant Brandon! Delightful Delia! So glad they gave another wonderful performance today. I only wish I could have been there to see it. But we'll always have Southampton....

Indeed you are!

Any views on tonight's performance please? I am sadly not able to see this cast so I am depending on you for your impressions!

Hmmmm.....another whitewash. And people wonder why dancers don't want to come forward and talk. They must be wondering 'why bother'? Unless, of course, all the allegations are fabricated.

They certainly did. They were the highlight of the night for me. I have said it before and I will say it again....I would love love love to see them dance together a lot more.