simonbfisher

Thank you, Naomi. I shall send you a PM a little later!

Naomi, it would be lovely if we could say hello either during the interval or after the performance! Do you think that might be possible?

Thank you so much, Naomi. This is really something to look forward to! I'm very grateful for this information. Will you also be there for the performance on the 26th? And Alison, yes - it looks as if we shall be very lucky!

We are lucky enough to have tickets for Don Quixote in Tokyo on Sept 26th ... but I'm having great difficulty in finding out much about the company or dancers from the various websites. I'd be very grateful for any pointers, info, or even free-association-type thoughts that will help us feel better prepared! Thanks!

We were at the Coli for the opening of the Petersburg season too - downstairs it was just talkers and jewellery rattlers, no-one actually coming and going... We are serial complainers to theatre management - often about the LOUD sweets that are sold in the foyers .... And I quite agree about the Coli's "bring in your drinks" policy - it's got really bad, I think. Smells like a pub, lots of slurping, and the danger of being sprinkled at best, drenched at worst. We do also complain about disruptive neighbours and the more people that do so, the better. Often it is not ignorance of behaviour norms but sheer arrogance that makes people think their "whispered" inanities are worth everyone hearing, or that it is their right to come and go as they please. Why don't they just bring their own sofa and six-pack of beer? Right, I feel a bit better now.

I'm afraid I'm still giggling after reading elsewhere in these forums about the Kiev State Basket School.....

The "Kiev State Basket School" ..... isn't spellcheck a delight! Difficult to get a handle on it as it weaves its spells.....

Thank you both! I was worried about having to slide down the banisters to the Linbury for 3.00 but it seems it will be OK.

Can anyone please estimate the running time of the RBS show on July 12th at 12.00? Neither the ROH nor the school has the information, apparently! Thanks!

Is it just me? The casting doesn't seem to make sense when matched up with the dates ... Trying to book for Kimin Kim, but finding it impossible!

Oh Amelia, I settled down to watch this - but it has been removed ... Do you know where else it might be found?

Odyssey mentions Gary Avis in post 252 above - I noticed his disdain (in character, of course!) , and I also felt that his splendid acting during the whole of the Act 3 pas de deux in a way made it into a pas de trois! I never been aware of a Rothbart so effective and so scarily involved in the steering of Odile. Quite marvellous! He really is one of the Greats!

Thank you for the above advice. Maybe we'll just try at the box office on 16th and if there's still nothing consider the cinema!

We are off to Paris too - first time ever to the Garnier. I booked Paquita seats at the beginning of January for Sat 16 May, but Manon on Mon 18th has always been showing unbookable ever since then - does anyone know why this might be?? I have registered for returns as Katherine suggested above.... Do they release more seats as the weeks go by? I think my computer could find its own way to their website by now!

Swanprincess - there would have been a cast list sellotaped up somewhere in the foyer ... maybe if you ring the theatre they'll still have a copy or could look it up for you .... Actually, if you bought a programme, there SHOULD have been one inside that!

Or you can email the YouTube link to yourself and go back to it via your email inbox when you are ready to. I do this quite a lot without any problems.

Keep an open mind, Alison ....!! and I'd love to hear afterwards what you made of them.

Yes, Alison - Silence is ... from the Royal Danes, plus the other one is Rooster (Geneva Ballet).

The Russian State Ballet OF SIBERIA, based in Krasnoyarsk, is the troupe which has been and is still touring here now. They have just had three days (and four performances) in Basingstoke, the nearest equivalent to Siberia hereabouts, perhaps, and I saw them three times - well, it would be rude not to, as it's only 20 minutes away. La Fille, with Hertel's music, was exceedingly jolly - the three dancers who stood out were Natalia Bobrova, great as Lise, Denis Pogorely an Alain to be proud of, and Alexander Kuimov a not-too-camp Widow Simone. I had never seen a non-Ashton version of this and it was pretty interesting to hear the different music. Coppelia was in a production that I hadn't seen either, with a lovely variation for the Coppelia Doll (Yana Tugaeva) that would be a great exam piece, I think. Kuimov was Dr Coppelius, much camper for some reason; Elena Pogorelaya and Daniil Kostylev a very engaging Swanhilda and Franz. And Swan Lake ... well Bobrova again as Odette/Odile, and she was quite something - composed and steady, with beautiful arms and legs which are - well I almost want to say 'rounded" - that are not that but certainly not the sticks and gristle which one sometimes sees. Egor Osokin as Siegfried was lovely looking (something of the Ovcharenko about him) but seemed very tentative, somehow. It's a small stage, and he has long legs - he seemed not to want to stretch out and leap. A lot of dancing, with some interesting choreography too, for Benno (Ivan Karnaukhov). And Kuimov - obviously a sine qua non of the company - was a daffy tutor. There was indeed a sheet at the end to "drown" Rothbart and Siegfried - not plastic, but tending to the silky. Effective, I thought, but maybe I'm too easily pleased. The orchestra was small but gallant, and played well enough. Good acoustics helped, and the leader did some fine solos on her violin. I have to say I don't know how they do it - a three month tour all over the country with few "days off" (and when there are they are likely to be somewhere like Basingstoke ...). They did not seem tired or disenchanted, the corps were always alert, the humour was funny, the pathos moving. And the Anvil theatre was healthily full for all three shows that I saw and the audiences were very engaged indeed. They are heading now for Reading, Wimbledon, Leicester, Oxford, Ipswich and Canterbury - well worth catching them if they are near you!

I'm sure you all know this - but Swansong is on the "Christopher Bruce's Triple Bill" Arthaus DVD with the original ENB cast of Onzia, Skoog and Richmond, recorded in 1989.

This offer seems to be still running tonight.

Four tickets sent to basket at 10.01 - couldn't get to basket. Basket logo not showing any tickets. T u r n i n g c i r c l e .....

I must say that I nearly left in the interval, so unimpressed was I with 'Inked', which started 16 minutes late and contained little or no dance, but a whole lot of skidding around on kneepads and drawing circles on the floorcloth. The eyes on the shoulder-blades (it's a long story ...) were momentarily interesting but soon seemed cartoonish and irritating ..... To me. at least, a piece of little merit. HOWEVER - 'Murmur' was quite different. I was sceptical about a dance piece about dyslexia, but it turned out to be compelling, beautiful, innovative ... Mr Odedra emerged as a fascinating character; he danced with light projections, with paper shreds, with lengths of silky material, with ten electric fans, and it all made sense. It was moving and, I'll say again, beautiful. I'm so glad I stayed for it, and hope it re-emerges somewhere soon. And yes, it WAS about dyslexia and very insightfully so too.

How right Jane S is in post nr 14 - the Rojo / Lendorf pairing was wonderful on 8th Jan. Ms Rojo looked completely relaxed and lordy doesn't she have wonderful wrists and hands (amongst other things). Better than I have ever seen her, and obviously enjoying herself tremendously. Mr Lendorf was strong, gentle and fleet of foot. Between them they moved me more than I have been moved by a Swan Lake in many years!

Just another "rubbish" post : we stood in the SC at the Opera House recently and the lady on my left had some sweets, which she ate quietly enough but then left the wrappers on the floor at her/my feet. So during the interval I picked them up and put them neatly in a line on the rail in front of her place, then looked innocently into my cast sheets when she returned. No more sweet wrappers to be seen.....