simonbfisher

I'm pretty sure your hotel would be able to organise taxis to be booked and waiting for you at the end of the performance.

OK - periscope will be packed .....

Thank you, Janet, that is helpful. I hope there will some such left when it comes to individual booking on 30/04!

We've never been to the Hippodrome, but want to see the Shadows of War programme - sounds like a wonderful chance to catch up with some ballet history, amongst other things. We'd welcome any advice about where to sit. We like to be close and tend to go for SC at Covent Garden and front(ish) Stalls at the Coliseum, where the rake is so good. Helpful hints??

TIME OUT 20% off Prince of the Pagodas at the Coli. http://uk-offers.timeout.com/deals/entertainment-prince-of-the-pagodas-coliseum-offer?cid=TOL%7CDD%7CEM%7C_CTA%7C%7C2014-03-16T17:14:40

Presto Classics has a number of ballet DVDs at low prices at the moment : http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/dvdbluray.php?k=8&w=Ballet. I have bought from them in the past - they are quick and efficient.

I don't remember this from Monty P, but it sounds JUST like trying to renew my Indian visa at the Office for Foreign Affairs in Delhi a couple of years ago ...... It went on for hours and hours ......

I managed to see the matinee and the evening performances today - no, that's now yesterday (Saturday). Some random thoughts: - The orchestra under Ovsyanikov kept all the sparkle in the quite long score although they did it twice and must have been tired - the entr'acte between 3 and 4 means they have to keep going for positively Mahlerian lengths!... We are lucky indeed in our musicians. - Matt Golding was splendid at the matinee (was this his official first performance as Principal?) and kept up with Lauren Cuthbertson so well. Really enjoyed seeing them together. - James Hay and Akane Takada were a very creditable pair of bluebirds at the matinee : he is so good but seems to need to "let go" a bit. I think we should see much more of him - he did himself proud in the Nutcracker too. - At both performances Thomas Whitehead's Cattalabutte was really thought through and funny to boot. He occasionally seemed to be channelling Dame Maggie Smith! - In the evening Sarah Lamb and Stephen McRae showed again what natural partners they are. There is such a sort of understanding, or so it seems, between them. I love the way he just plucks her out of the air and nonchalantly pops her onto his knee - and the way she makes this seem a perfectly natural place to end up. Individually, too, they are such fine dancers : I saw more beauty in the pas de deux than ever before, thanks to them. - Has anyone else noticed David Donnelly beavering away in the background? I hope he will be given more to do soon - he brandished his garland markedly better than some of the other boys and seemed to be visibly enjoying what is a pretty joyous dance. I remember in Don Q he was always busy and in character in the background, and the same in the Nutcracker, even when he wasn't hauling Mr Montano off stage left - which he must have dreaded very night! Coated - one for you ... How exactly DOES the fairy carriage work? It nearly brought one of the flats down this evening on its way out. Reminds me a bit of one of those robot hoovers .... Two great shows. And I'm looking forward too Wednesday and Thursday now, as well!

Me too, Janet - the first company apart from the RB, anyway - and possibly a year or two before you. They really were a breath of fresh air - and I do remember Paul Liburd as well!

I've got the Dance Theatre of Harlem's DVD of this ( + Fall River) and it's splendid - and available on Amazon. I can remember LCDT doing it, too - weren't they a great company - what happened to them?

Great researching, Melody, thank you ... I'll certainly pursue this via PNB! In the meantime I have contacted the Stuttgart Ballet, just in case, and they confirmed that they do not have any recording of Voluntaries. It's funny, I have got so used (even though I am NOT a young and adept computer-user), to being able to find anything I want - usually via You Tube - that I'm unreasonably miffed when I can't. It's hard to remember what it was like not so long ago when you had to write letters to get information, and even VHS was not really obtainable for the ordinary (pace Darcey) "punter"! We really are spoiled .....

I fear you may be right, Katherine. Such a shame.

I can't track one down anywhere - can anyone point me in the right direction? The clips of Reilly and Eichwald on YouTube are tantalising !

Thank you so much, Amelia. Mesmerising!

What a showcase of an evening! Coated, I agree with much of your review - except that I think "3 with D" definitely SHOULD be shown in Russia. That piece prompted me to ask in the interval - "Is there anything that Edward Watson cannot do?". My question was answered with a resounding "NO!" when "Volver, Volver" came up. What an astonishing dancer/actor he is. I too didn't really take to "Äffi" when Stuttgart brought it, but like it much better this time - I found it very involving and the fluttering is unlike anything I have seen in any other piece. Seeming uncontrolled, but boy, how controlled it all was. Brilliant. I wonder if anyone else dances it? Very tempted to go again tomorrow.....

Forward planning penalised again!

I'm sure that we saw a production of Giselle in the Soviet Union in the early '80s (possibly in Minsk? or Leningrad?) in which the grave was adorned by a hammer and sickle .... Can anyone corroborate that, or is my mind playing tricks?

Great to read this! We saw Petkova/Hadjitanev several times in Sofia in 2011, and on the strength of being very impressed - and not only by those two -, did quite a lot of trailing around the UK to catch them here last year. Well worth it - a serious and committed group, I think!

Enslaved, impashaned - a relationship almost wrecked in .... Pirates of the Colibbean. (Sorry).

Oh dear, this is such a shame. He is a very talented - multi-talented - dancer who has worked his socks off this season. He will be greatly missed, and I wish him all the very best in Bucharest.

Oh dear, Jane S. Never mind about older people 50 years ago - this older person still says Cuvvent. I think I've been hoist by my own thread.....

Well, I'm braving the Sunday uncertainties to see Daria : I keep thinking I may not see her for all that much longer .

Thank you very much indeed, BBB! And for the great link as well. Now I can hold my head up in ballet conversations!

...Yuhui Choe? I always find I start a mumble when I want to use her name. Please help!

I've been looking at a blank screen for 20 mins now and have to get back to work. AAARGH!