tim b

Tx much for the vt link in Sydney Morning Herald - lovely to look at - wonder if our ENB group have bumped into Mathias & Eve yet?

Thanks so much - I have read it thro & it looks as though it must have been notifying the opening date of general booking for the 12/13 season - I am still living in about 2010 - the subscription booking period which says it gives 10% discount has already closed - it also appears there are lots of little add-ons and cancellations of concessions so seems very complicated aaah me!

and I have just received an e-mail which I think talks about 6% discount if one subscribes for the 12/13 season of Het National - booking opening soon - unfortunately I don't understand Dutch - if there is a press release or something to read giving more info about this, are you wizards able to see if there is a link to something in English please - many thanks for all the hard work as always

Madge - male or female? - I can only pass on what I've been told - the best ever seen in the last 40 years was Erik Bruhn

And the 243 is quite useful stopping very close to the school and goes to Waterloo

well i love le parc anyway so if he is representative of eurotrash (? stems from the name of the original tv programme), bring it on - by the way, saw a little bit of enb with flawless being rehearsed the other day and it had a flavour of le parc for me

Apologies in advance for being a tad pedantic, alison, but two new etoiles please - the rank has a bit more cachet than principal and I am pretty sure having met one or two that the holders of this accolade themselves believe so too!

I find one can always discover something new, pressing all the buttons while the hail beats down outside here in "drought ridden" Essex - like - there are several other ENB dancers I unintentionally missed who are supporting the Walk for Life event - so to be fair I feel I should add their names to this thread - Anjuli Hudson, Minty Wraith, Chantel Roulston, Crystal Costa, Fernanda Oliveira and James Forbat. Maybe we could link in Darren Goldsmith too with his mountaineering challenge?

re flowers - you are right - i have never noticed them do so - mind you a flower throw would present logistical problems as the width of pit & depth of stage at Palais Garnier is pretty tremendous - but they do have dibs of the "grand defile" which is one of the most spectacular quarters of an hour in classical ballet (IMO)

Thanks both - excellent admin as always - I notice too Barry Drummond is keeping the Scots flag flying - was thrilled to see that by donating one can feel a tad closer to my adored favourite ballerina Daria and my choice (only I M very humble O) for best "up & coming" Ksenia

If you would like to follow the Youtube link to the curtain calls of Claire-Marie Osta's final POB performance in L'histoire de Manon, Evan McKie has tweeted it - sorry but cutting & pasting etc is beyond my tecknicological ken - des Grieux is of course her husband - senior etoile - M le Riche

I went to this Open Day yesterday which was really enjoyable - high spot for me watching David Nixon give class with his company. Lots more information about the company etc on their website & their "new" headquarters building is superb.

regarding post 16 from chinafish, one of my first performances of Fille was almost original cast - David Blair chose it as his last dancing performance in about 1973 - Stanley Holden returned to dance la Veuve & the delightful (ever missed by by me) Merle Park sparkled as Lise truly golden memories!

perhaps my copying is awry but the ref should have read fundraising dot tht dot etc

Fans of ENB may like to look at Francisco Bosch page at http://fundraising.tht.org.uk/franciscoBosch and maybe sponsor him - he does such a lovely split jete?

Of course it is on in Paris in July - M.Matthias Heymann - etoile - makes a super Colas (or anything for that matter) if he is cast

I believe you are right but whether it be from the Urals or the Appalachians I hate it!

I know I am an old curmudgeon but I do not want the audience that surrounds me to be trained to scream and whoop at every unusal or repeated step or spectacular lift as though a goal has been scored in a hard fought premier league soccer match - what has happened to the british ballet audience that enhanced the enjoyment and suspense of a magical performance by allowing the resonance of the last note to die before cheering and applauding? as was remarked upon when the Bolshoi first visited in 1956 - for me that doubles the magic of what I have experienced and I dread this new (? American) trend becoming de rigueur - sorry!

i want to see Daria & Vadim in spectre or voices of spring or ANYthing really

mea culpa - i now see the link was already there - as always thanks

you will no doubt be finding the correct link a ce moment but readers may be interested to know that Angel Corella has announced via the NY Times today that this will be his final season dancing with ABT - last performance for those that want to aim for it - Swan Lake with Paloma Herrera June 28th - how I would love to see that one

thanks - indeed i did write an exploratory letter to jay jolley but got no reply so i assumed no interest

i knew sam lauron a little - to my recollection he was more into leaving lavish floral tributes which would be presented to his favourite ballerinas on stage at the end of the performance rather than actual flower throws which were nevertheless fairly regular in those days - jenny penney was his true favourite and received all sorts of floral confections - eg a huge swan with flashing lights after swan lake etc many of those performances are described in a copy of pat stone's "ballet diaries" i have for the years 1975 to 1984 - she died shortly after - and have been hoping to find someone who would like to take them into a proper balletic, historical archive - i have made several approaches to people but probably through lack of space no-one really wants them i fear at the end of the day i shall have to just consign them to the re-cycling - sad

last minute decision to do the sunday matinee and about half a house clearly wholeheartedly enjoyed the ballet and laetitia with joe caley (particularly stunning jumps) - have just been reading thro the above and agree with you alison almost word for word - there was never any doubt that this swanhilda might not lead frantz up the aisle whatever his little foibles with other gals which rather destroys the whole point of the story to my (has to be logical) mind!! the rather nasty elements to my mind - mugging an old man who is going about his own business quietly - breaking in & vandalising his home - paying him off at the end which is supposed to suddenly make everything all right i think are totally skated over & sugar coated - what would sir kenneth's version have been like i wonders m'dear?!!

love to see some answers to aileen's post from them as knows ? would any of the recent travellers to japan be kind enough to respond?