bangorballetboy

I note that some of the comments on the Observer article (including the one to which I think you are principally referring) would fall foul of the acceptable use policy of this forum, however, that should not stop us from having in depth discussions on the issues surrounding the Royal Ballet School. There are some details on where funding comes from in the school's most recent annual report: http://www.royal-bal...t_2009-2010.pdf (see in particular the chairman's report). As far as I am aware, overseas students (who make up less than an quarter of the students) are funded either by themselves, through school bursaries (often sponsored by companies or individuals) or through support from institutions like the Nureyev Foundation.

Well, every dancer I've spoken to has told me they love doing it.

Class was taken by Olga Evreinoff

If you have problems watching on YouTube, it's also being streamed on the Guardian website.

Looking at the number of seats in each band, it looks like the only change is to grand tier boxes (and we knew about that already).

You'll find a couple of surprises in the McG casting this time round (or so I hear).

Sorry, my mind was in "old forum thread structure" mode. What I meant was a google search resulting in the address appearing on my screen.

Unsurprisingly a google search for "address royal opera house" provides the same result!

Melissa Hamilton in Mayerling (October 2009)

She didn't say anything about dancing it when we spoke last night, but she did confirm that she'll probably be dancing one of the other roles which she is covering (for a world premiere).

I believe it's just the two of them.

She's not.

And here are my thoughts on Saturday's performance (as tweeted earlier today). The Royal Ballet's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland returned on Saturday with a new improved version although there's still room for improvement. It remains a frolic and an enjoyable one at that, with great sets and costumes (other than the giant hands) and simple, elegant choreography. The first cast Alice is Lauren Cuthbertson (on whom the role was created) and this time round we see much more of her character - at times frightened, curious, frustrated, delirious, delighted. Her footwork was always crisp and she filled the stage in her joyous partnership with Federico Bonelli, who has returned to pre-operation form with this role. Expressive acting made his role complete (nice to see a bit more dancing for the knave of hearts). Laura Morera's cartoonish face added to the entertainment value of the queen of hearts, a role which is as much about the comedy as the dancing. And a special hurrah for McRae's crisp, clear tapping as the Mad Hatter (though what he was up to with Ric Cervera's March Hare at the end I don't know!). A great performance from the supporting cast and corps completed a show which sent me out into the street with a smile to rival that of the Chesire Cat. Those who saw the first Alice incarnation may, like me, feel the curtain bringing down act 1 doesn't work and the Duchess's sausages may be a cloche too far. This is something which could be worked on for the 2013 return, along with the shortness of act 2 (only 20 minutes), but these things don't spoil it too much for me! 2nd cast Alice tonight and, based on the FGR, I'm really looking forward to it and a couple of impressive debuts. L

With everyone excited about Onegin, I wanted to mention that we spotted Reid Anderson at the ROH on Saturday. Whether he's over to look at people for casting Onegin or whether he was interested in Alice I don't know but it's nice to see him here in any event.

It is indeed!

If rows A-D are in use, try to avoid row E as it's not raked as much as the rest of the seating. Most of the seats from row F back are good.

As it's now been mentioned on the radio, I'm happy to say that Chris Wheeldon told me earlier this week that Beatriz Stix-Brunell & Nehemiah Kish will be replacing Marianela Nuñez and Rupert Pennefather in the forthcoming Alice.

The RB Swan Lake starts almost two months after the ENB one finishes at the Coli. I doubt that RB doing Swan Lake will have any impact whatsoever on the ENB ticket sales. The RB also relies on the big classics to balance its books btw and these days Swan Lake is the ultimate banker. Most likely we'll not see a Swan Lake free RB season for a few years!

Just heard on Radio 3 that the Mariinsky is bringing Ratmansky's Cinderella to the Edinburgh Festival this summer, Gergiev conducting.

but one which has contained some spectacular performances.

This has not been confirmed by ROH or RB.

There's a collaboration with Dance East involving a new piece by Brandstrup, so that's probably the Suffolk bit (will also be done at Sadler's Wells, I understand).

I don't think that "so dependent" is right either. Barring the Dream (for which there were covers - why a cover wasn't used then is another matter), there has been no issue with a replacement for Polunin in his scheduled roles. Personally speaking I think Bonelli on Saturday night was much better than I imagined Polunin would have been. A number of other principals were also cast in a very large number of leading roles this season: Pennefather, McRae (and, subject to his operation, Bonelli), Rojo, Nunez, Lamb. Very interesting to note that Polunin was not cast in Prince of the Pagodas. As I saw it, Polunin was being shown off and given a number of opportunities not often available to young dancers. This is something which should have been for the mutual benefit of the company and the dancer. Also interesting to note that Lamb was scheduled to be first night cast for three full-lengths in a row at the beginning of the season. My understanding is that there were covers for Dream. Why a cover was not used is a different matter.

I don't think it is (or was) so. IMO there have been a number of management mistakes made over the past couple of seasons but nothing suggests that the RB was dependant on one single dancer.

Well, I'm afraid you made the wrong decision Bruce, as act 3 was terrific (much better than what had gone before).