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I think that there is a general lack of Ashton in the company at the moment, not only with this couple....the exception being Marianela. Maybe it was something to do with the seats indeed (I was up in the amphi) but I have strong binoculars and watched Ludovico carefully, and he just didn't move me at all. I didn't notice that Roberta couldn't manage the choreography; in which parts? From where I was sitting, she seemed to manage fine, although she isn't a Nela or an Alina technically (but who is besides Nela and Alina?!). Her balances were strong and confident, her footwork was good and their pdd were lovely. I loved her characterisation throughout. Anyway, to each their own....how boring if we all had the same perceptions!

Agree with Anna; it was a joyous, fizzing and very funny evening; everything worked perfectly, Naughty Peregrine behaved himself, the bum lift seemed to last forever, there were no ribbon or scenery mishaps and the dancing and characterisation were wonderful. The only place where Anna and I diverge is Ludo's Alain; he didn't have the pathos that in my view Alain should have, and didn't move me at all. His was more a purely comic version, which to me misses the point. Very well danced by him, though, and my niggle is but a small one for an evening that I hope can be repeated next week for everyone watching in cinemas; I am very lucky that I will be there again and I can't wait.

I agree with Anna....I would definitely take them, Marieve. I use them all the time, even when I'm standing in the stalls circle. They are good strong ones, and afford me close-up views of the dancers' faces which I would not be able to see without them. This is very important to me at certain parts of various ballets, for example when Romeo and Juliet first set eyes on each other, and watching the interaction between Lise and Widow Simone during many points of Fille, and checking out what is going on the crowd scenes of MacMillan's story ballets. I could go on, but I hope you get the picture! No-one has ever complained to me about using them in more than 35 years of going to the ROH. Enjoy the performance, and welcome to the forum; please let us know your impressions once you have been.

Oooo that sounds so lovely and romantic! Thank you for telling us about this experience, and Stirrups, thanks so much for your information on the performance. This for me is one of the joys of modern technology; that we can learn about companies that we might never even have heard of. I watched Ian's clip above of their performance of Zorba the Greek and really enjoyed it. Great to see a Turkish company doing a Greek story! The two lead men are very good, too! Please keep your reviews coming when you can; we really appreciate hearing about companies who don't necessarily get much exposure outside their own countries.

Brian and Yuhui did one performance of Fille two or three years ago on an Easter Monday; I didn't go away that weekend so that I could see them. They were wonderful even in that first performance and really were a lovely partnership. Soon thereafter Brian got his second very bad injury in three years, which unfortunately seems to have scuppered his progression through the ranks thus far. I hope he stays injury-free so that he can finally get the promotion he merits; I'm sure he would have been a First Soloist a good while ago if it hadn't been for his two lengthy absences from the stage. Kevin O'Hare, please take note!! I hope that we will see more of him and Yuhui (preferably together) next season.

Interesting how out of sync Mr Crisp is with just about every other review I've read!! I unfortunately missed this production so can't comment, but in reply to another thread where the influence of critics was being discussed.....if I'd only read CC's I would have stayed at home and saved my money; if I hadn't read his and had just read the praiseful ones I'd have run along to SW. This is why I'm never influenced by critics; we get such wildly veering opinions that I wouldn't know which one I'd relate to, so I just go along to things that look like they might appeal to me!

Awwww thanks to you, Pat, for such a lovely post. It's so good to know that you all appreciate, and derive so much from, this forum. We always appreciated ballet.co very much which is why we were passionate about trying to continue having a forum where we can all share our passion for dance. We are taking one step at a time in these early stages, but as long as we have people like you and the many others who post up and make the forum the vibrant place that it is, we should do ok!! Please spread the word; the more who join, the better it will be long-term. Jackie....thanks for seconding, too!!

I agree with Dave....could definitely see McRae as Basilio.

Welcome to BalletcoForum, Gill. So glad to see you post up, and so glad that the infectious joy of Fille has got to you, too. No matter what the weather, or what is going on in life, whenever I come out of seeing a performance of it I'm smiling and feeling joyful. A real tonic.

Hello Anneliese...lovely to see you back here with us! Laura and Ric are indeed lovely in these roles, but I have to wait until their second performance to see them! I saw Johan and Alina tonight....very good they were, too! But for me, Carlos and Nela have the edge over them based on their performance on Friday night!

Well, I just got back from seeing this, and it was fabulous! Having seen the JDF/Natalie Dessay original production twice, I was wondering how anyone could fill those regiment's boots, but Colin Lee and Patrizia Ciofi filled them very well indeed. She sang this difficult coloratura role with panache and just the right comic touch, and Lee threw out those nine famous high Cs with confidence, making it look and sound so easy, and with a lovely clarity of tone and sonority of voice. Ann Widdecombe was, well, Ann Widdecombe.....and it was so funny to see her doing something so different. Good for her; whatever one may have thought of her politics, the gal's got guts...and she did a very good turn onstage, too! They even found jokes for her to say about the Olympics, Cornish pasties and Strictly Come Dancing. This was my second, albeit different, Fille in less than 24 hours, and this made me marvel and smile just as much as the other one did! Highly recommended if you can get a ticket.

Same here Ian which is why I posted it here instead....

OK, I'll start off with a brief report.....just to say that Fille last night was absolutely lovely. It was everything it should be; sparkling, joyous, rustic, touching and beautifully danced and interpreted by all involved. Marianela Nunez is one of the few dancers left who really understands and lives Ashton's choreographic style, and she is a joy to watch. Her natural smile, coming from deep down within her, beams right up to the amphitheatre and lights up her wonderful interpretation of Ashton's difficult steps. Carlos Acosta, although no longer at the peak of his physical abilities, still gave an excellent interpretation of Colas; this is one of his better acting roles, and he and Marianela complement each other very well. They both have a natural gift for comedy, and fed off each other all night. Their pdd were very touching and really embodied the joy and daring of young love. Will Tuckett was a very funny Widow Simone and hit just the right balance between trying to discipline Lise and being a sweet, doting mother. This is a role where one could easily go way over the top and turn it into parody, but this doesn't happen with the renditions I've seen at the RB. With a very touching performance of Alain by Jonathan Howells and the cast being on very happy form, it felt like the sun was shining on a wet and chilly London night.

"In 1984, there was nothing like William Forsythe’s Artifact, a full-length ballet that is both narrative and abstract, that tells the story of ballet itself in ways at once traditional and entirely contemporary. Thirteen years later, there is still nothing quite like it: it looks as shockingly original as on the day it was made." (Sarah Crompton, Telegraph). Err....is it just me, or are we in 2012 and not 1997 ??!!!

There are still a few tickets left for tonight at affordable prices; I got one last night when I returned home from Fille.

Oh yes Ian....can't wait to see her tomorrow

Yes, Brian is dancing in both the Filles that Polunin should have danced in. Can't wait

I can too.....

I totally agree Stevie....she has long been my favourite Juliet. It is her favourite role, and it shows each time. Bonelli was a very worthy Romeo to her Juliet, too.

Mrs BBB (post 37) - thanks for the correction. However, at my age, 23 and 25 are the same thing!

I know what you mean Ann, but I am just a little person saying that I see some great potential from this young man; I sure hope it won't put pressure on him! Please don't think that I am putting him in the same league as Ashton and MacMillan.....yet. All I'm saying is that he has more potential to follow in their footsteps than anyone else I've seen, and that considering his young age, I think he has so much more in him stored up for the future; and as he grows and experiences more of life, I have high hopes for his ability to draw out all of life's aspects, like MacMillan did. I'm so glad you agree with me!

The evening opened with Wheeldon's Polyphonia. I'd only seen it a couple of times before, and I really enjoyed it, but from where I was sitting up near the gods it looked quite dark and bleak, and without my powerful binocs I would have been a bit lost. But that doesn't detract from the beautiful way it was danced, and how in sync all the dancers were with each other, both physically and artistically. A lovely solo from Beatriz Stix-Brunell (who used to dance with Wheeldon's Morphoses before being asked to join the RB), some nice pdd and couple of ravishing set pieces from all 8 dancers made this a special performance of the piece. Well, opinion is certainly divided about Carbon Life!! I was very surprised to find that I really liked it, especially considering that I am not a MacGregor fan (I loved Chroma, liked Infra, loathed Limen and LFE). I think I just loved the excitement of it, and its originality. I'm not talking about the originality of the choreography, but of the whole; the music, the staging, the lighting, the costumes, the makeup and the brilliance of the dancers. I think it was also relief: relief that MacGregor has finally expanded out from the usual disjointed, jerky type of pieces he makes and used more neo-classical steps. Yes, the jerkies were still there, but not as much. I think I'd have lost the will to live if I'd had to sit through another half an hour watching dancers who looked like they'd just been electrocuted. As always in a MacGregor piece, there was so much to look at it (and with the addition of famous people at the back of the stage there was even more) that I will need at least one other viewing of this to really formulate an opinion....but I can't see that it will change much. My 21 year-old daughter absolutely loved it and she said that all her friends would come and see it even if they'd never seen a dance production before, and had never even considered that they might walk through the hallowed doors of the ROH! She thought it was a great way to get young people through those doors. I really enjoyed Scarlett's Sweet Violets too. The dancers were all wonderful, and a truly special mention of Laura Morera; where has she been all season?? Where was her Juliet? She is one of the best dance actresses in the whole company, and to my mind she is criminally underused. In any case, in this small role she made a real impact and I hope to see more of her next season (her Manon is still my favourite). Many people think that Sweet Violets is busy and confused. I remember people saying exactly the same thing about MacMillan's ballets if they hadn't read the programme or didn't know the stories. Imagine trying to make sense of Manon or Mayerling if you just go in as a 'virgin'. Yes, you can tell the basic premise of what's happening, but you don't know how the peripheral characters, or indeed some of the main ones, are related to each other, or what their purpose is. Liam is not, at the tender age of 23, a consummate storyteller yet; but he will be. MacMillan and Ashton both knew how to home in and get the story across, but SV is not a story as such. It is vignettes of the goings-on in someone's mind and in his reality, and if a mind is warped or disturbed, it is not going to perceive life in a nice easy timescale or a narrative that goes from A to B. SV tells the story of a mind, and of certain things that happened around a murderous period in Victorian history, and the consequences of not being a 'good' girl in that time. I thought the choreography was very good, ranging from daring to erotic (and no-one does erotic like Rojo!) to raging fury to despair. Liam is an incredible talent for one so young (and understands 'dark' at such a young age!) and I think there is so much more to come from him. I really look forward to following his career from now on. Maybe he will even one day be the third part of the English triumvirate....it's always been Ashton, MacMillan and ??? I truly hope that Liam Scarlett will answer that question.

Unfortunately they don't announce WS and Alain in the castings, but hopefully since you are seeing many performances you will get to see the ones you want...although maybe not in the same cast!

Love it!! G'day Bruce......

And just another thought....I too was very disappointed at how badly these performances have sold. I was sitting in row H of the stalls; the ticket cost £10 because they had to take desperate measures to sell them. Although many serious dance lovers often bemoan the fact that the large companies keep doing SL, SB, R&J, Nut, etc., the cold fact of the matter is that it is these ballets that sell out the big houses, especially outside London. When ENB took Manon around the country a few years ago, despite it having had excellent reviews, it sold really badly. So it is the money the companies make from the old war horses that allow them to take the risks that we regulars like to see, but unfortunately not enough of the occasional dance-goers do. I just hope that a time doesn't come when companies stop trying to do something different because they can't afford to have half-empty houses. There is another thread talking about how to get people to go along to these 'dances with a difference', and I hope that this dilemma is solved soon.