tim b

I do understand what you are saying but surely the unfamiliarity of the audience with ballet/theatre traditions is no excuse to treat these people shabbily - I think Janet got exactly the right word - we did manage to speak to Maina in one of the intervals and I have to say her response was "Well it is extremely nice of you to take the trouble to tell me" and by the way I agree most of the audience at both performances of Swan Lake I attended probably didn't even know who the conductor was and why this guy in a suit was being dragged on at the end!!

Now Lachlan Monaghan has tweeted that he has visa problem - do we need to start a new thread and a petition to support him? I thought Australia was part of the Commonwealth anyway - last time I heard, the Queen is Queen there too!!

Very disappointing that after the last night's performance the audience were not given any chance to say good-bye to outgoing Artistic Director and his associates - ENB board could surely have arranged for some flowers at least to be presented onstage to Mesdemoiselles Gielgud & Whitten though W E might have preferred a bottle of good red wine, some tobacco and golf balls - but despite hearing jollity on stage at the end of the last interval, the curtain came down very quickly and finally after the usual calls - how unlike the public departure of Dame Monica recently up the road (so I'm told) ??!

RIP Richard - creator of so many magical moments for us, especially in that glorious partnership with Marcia

Sorry to do my "olden days bit" but in the Swan Lake I first encountered and loved at the ROH, the pas de quatre took place in Act 3 pretty much at the beginning of the Act and so there was a nice balance (IMO) with the "black " pdd coming at the end - one of the most frequent male combinations in my early days for the boys was Wayne Eagling (manege of jumps) and David Ashmole (cabriole diagonal) - on the Makarova, Dowell dvd if my memory serves me right one of the boys is Derek Deane - he does the diagonal. On that dvd, Ros Whitten and Anthony Dowson also dance - it is still my favourite production of Swan Lake

PS Not sure what sort of creature Derek von Rothbart is supposed to be but that horrid mask did nothing for handsome James Streeter partic from row C in the stalls - I guess he is a birdy of some strange genus with those trailing wings which tripped up young James on one of his exits - someone must have caught him as there was no crashing or expletives from the wing (other kind)!!!

Thank you v much - you confirmed my ?educated guesses

Yes I am just back from Coli & was told Sunday is to be Anais & Junor's debuts (& presumably their mad owl will still be Mr Atymatayev who we hope has HIS visa in order) By the way Irmgard, who do I need to chat up to get into the dress rehearsal??

Yes - much as I love Irina - I think I am now likely to have at least three performances of this same cast but no Daria which is mainly why I chose these dates - her masterclasses in Prague are indeed from 6th to 18th August this year and I guess that was underlined in her diary long ago, so we have to await the shaking out of her Aurora tutu for Milton Keynes to see her next I assume (& Vadim?) I am wondering if Ms. Rojo is also thinking of getting them to shake out an Aurora tutu for her? We were told she would be transferring 75 pairs of new point shoes from the RB shoe "bank" to Marden so how many performances might that warrant?

Thanks for the info - that's very interesting!

Of course ENB had Nureyev's production of Don Q for many years & he performed it many, many times with Eva Evdokimova & Patricia Ruanne (and others) with great success - I don't know whether they still have it - stored down at Marden - but I imagine its re-mounting would have to have permission from the Nureyev foundation who closely guard the rights to most of his productions - I know Pat Ruanne "looks after" his R&J - she and her husband figured largely in the R&J episode of the Agony and the Ecstasy - and she also mounts the Nureyev Nutcracker which will be on in Vienna this Christmas - I understand Denis Cherevichko who just won gold at Varna will be one of its Prince/Drosselmeyers - very much worth a visit I guess if one is at a loose end December time?

Unless Vadim has flown in from Moscow in the last twelve hours it will not be him & Daria (can a computer posting show tear stains??) My guess is it will be the Principal cast we saw at rehearsal on Wednesday which is actually listed as Saturday night's i.e. Takahashi, Konvalina, Streeter - why can Russians come here for everything else it seems but not to dance a scheduled Prince Siegfried?? Anyone any ideas??

Tku Meunier for the report - a real boon as I'm afraid I was too mean to buy a programme (I have far too many already anyway) - does anyone happen to know whether Ms. Semenyachenko is ?daughter of the great Semenyaka - I am not well up on Russian ?patranomics?

Great to read about these performances and Alexander J is clearly having fun as he went straight off to join the Roberto Bolle and friends tour which has just sold out Arena di Verona and the Baths of Caracalla - Mr. B can be followed on Twitter

Aileen, the other man in Wayfarer was Guillaume Cote who has also guested regularly with ENB and - as Maina stages it - I think that would be a smashing idea

Yes yes and then he went on to scale Olympian heights and star at the then "New York State Theatre" on Lincoln Plaza as a principal of NYCB

The two Patricks were certainly around in July 86 I have cast lists from the Coli with both Trinidad Sevillano and Andria Hall. What a summer at the ballet that was - up the road at ROH were the Bolshoi where I fell in love with Ludmilla Semenyaka and the full length Raymonda and a couple of weeks earlier I had been watching POB sparkling in their Palais de Cristal at the Met - as you rightly said "happy days" I note I had already watched Andria Hall (who now coaches in Stuttgart I believe) in Etudes with Jay Jolley and Raffaele Paganini in the summer of 83 - later, in 88, I saw a wonderful version with POB dancers Isabel Guerin, Stephane Elizabe & Manuel Legris I cannot find the exact date of the Healy Dupond Armand combination but I certainly have a cast list from Nottingham where she danced with Paganini and Matz Skoog - then those two boys were teamed with Patricia Ruanne in Oxford in March 85! I guess if we need a fix badly we could always go to Denmark

I too am a great fan of Maina's & also thoroughly enjoyed watching her coach Anais last Thurs evening -you have already described the aptness & sensitivity of her coaching - I have nothing to add to that but we must not forget that (as well as having successful international dancing & coaching careers) she has directed big national companies like the Australians and the Royal Danes too - basically she has been there,done it & got all the T-shirts! You started me trawling thro my ballet ephemera & for my personal nostalgia trip, I note that the first cast list I have of her is as Siren in Prodigal Son with SWRB October 1976 and then as Raymonda (just Act 3) April 77 - that got me looking at early Etudes casts I liked - anything to get out of the gardening But I will write about those in another place! Brava Maina - she is a treasure - I trust she will continue her work with ENB for many years. A tiny postscript - does anyone else treasure the memory like me of her last Swan Lake at Covent Garden partnered by guess who? ENB Director (till August anyway) Wayne Eagling.

i now know there aren't any so that explains the silence!

Etudes is one of my all time favourites too - I well remember the cast of Katherine Healy. and the two Patricks - Dupond and Armand - ENB did a little run of it a couple of years back but it didn't sell so dot dot dot Basically is it on Ms.Rojo's wish list? That will decide whether you see it again any time soon

alison - it was London City Ballet at Stevenage too. I also saw Michael Crookes there I believe as Prince Florimund/Desire. Was that more London City? - of course, some companies were total inventions like the National Ballet of the Seychelles (= Nureyev & colleagues) at St David's Hall in Cardiff!

I'd stick my oar in for Anastasia (I am a fan of the first two Acts) and van Manen's 4 Schumann Pieces - memories of Sir Anthony & Wayne Eagling. Trouble is - a bit like Mr. Crisp's feelings on the recent round of Birthday Offerings - are they ever up to one's possibly rose tinted expectations?

I count myself lucky enough to have seen him dance Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, especially as it was starring Yoko - a chance visit to the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage ?years ago!! Was the company called International Ballet perhaps?

Not sure whether to start this under news & information or general discussion but does anyone know if there are any British (or British ballet school-ed pupil) entrants for the IBC in Varna this year - or should I try their website? Any info gratefully appreciated.

On the language question, whilst it is highly desirable and (IMO) polite to speak the language of the country one is staying and/or working in, I glean from the fairly wide range of teachers I have watched give class to usually a very international mix of dancers or students that English is the lingua franca of ballet - apart from the of course traditional French names of steps, positions etc so that with a bit of both usually a dancer can take class anywhere in the world and know exactly what's what!