nottsballetlover

Really insightful documentary. Thanks for posting link Katherine. Feel so privileged I saw Guillaume dance in London recently.

Review of the BRB show in our local Nottingham paper here: http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Review-Birmingham-Royal-Ballet-Royal-Concert-Hall/story-18970895-detail/story.html#axzz2T9yPVDYq I echo the reviewer's sentiments totally! Especially the bit about hoping this visit by BRB to Nottingham will not be a one-off!

Sorry Bluebird - my mistake. I was mixing it up with the Bourne Swan Lake (which I was booking a Sunday matinee for) because I was booking both at same time. Taming is just Saturday matinee.

Booking just opened this morning for Stuttgart Ballet at Sadlers in November 2013 - matinees on both Saturday and Sunday, great for us out of town people! Just booked my seat for Taming on Sat 23 Nov (mat) (PS delighted to get my lovely 20% Sadlers multi show discount by also booking Bourne's Swan Lake which returns to Sadlers in December!!) Correction: matinee for Stuggart only Saturday 23 November - sorry. Getting confused doing multi-show bookings....

I'm just home from seeing BRB at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham this evening as part of their North East tour. Think it's the first night. First of all I want to say how delighted I am that BRB have come to perform in Nottingham for the first time since they became BRB! As I tend to travel down to London because it's almost easier for me than travelling to Birmingham, I'm not familiar with either BRB's rep or their dancers so tonight was a real treat and most welcome. I'll attempt some comments as an amateur spectator.......(just a huge ballet fan, not an expert!). The programme was a very varied one, designed to show off their diverse rep and their fabulous dancers - they certainly succeeded in that! The first part was The Grand Tour set to music by Noel Coward. Some great comedic dancing, but much as I love Coward's music, this particular dance piece did not engage me hugely I have to admit, so I'll gloss over that..... Anyway, after the first interval the next section was 3 'bite-sized pieces', all of which I loved. PDD from Giselle Act 2, beautifully danced by Nao Sakuma and Jamie Bond. Then excerpts from Ashton's Facade: utterly wonderful, an absolute joy. The 'Popular Song' was so brilliantly danced the whole audience was in stitches...! And finally PDD from Ashton's The Dream: just perfect, lyrical and ethereal. Stunningly danced by Elisha Willis and Joseph Caley. Then after the second interval was Bintley's Take 5. Wow. Utterly fabulous. Music by Brubeck expertly played by the jazz quartet in the pit - huge cheer for them! Dancing sublime. Jazzy heaven meets ballet in wonderful joyously amazing choreography. I can't find my thesaurus right now - oops I've run out of adjectives and descriptive words on this piece. Just loved it. What a great way to end a show - all the audience were skipping out at the end. So, overall, great mixed programme. Something for everyone. I can't thank BRB enough for coming to Nottingham and the huge cheers from the audience tonight means I'm not alone. Please come again - we love you!

This evening full cast list and timings now up here: http://www.brb.org.uk/castsheets.html 2 intervals. Very interesting mixed programme.

Hi sonik. Friday evening I'm going to be with 2 companions in J1,2,3, stalls right. I'll be in a pink jacket! Where are you sitting? I'll look out for you and wave and we could have a drink in the interval and say hello. You can send me a private message if you prefer. For anyone reading this living within travelling distance of Nottingham, there are still lots of tickets left, particularly for the show on Saturday 11 April in the evening. I'm utterly delighted that BRB are coming to Nottingham for the first time and very much looking forward to seeing the company and their dancers - because I don't drive, it tends to be easier (and bizarrely cheaper.....!) for me to get to London/ROH than travel to Birmingham to see them.

Hi Sonik. Which section are you sitting in? I'll be in the stalls as I'm taking an elderly friend who can't get up to the circles (no lift!). Happy to meet up over a drink before show or in interval. I'm not sure yet if there will be one interval or 2 - the Theatre Royal website is still saying 'running time tbc'.

Hi Tabitha. I know BRB have been doing the split tour for 10 years but as a Nottingham resident for that period, this is the first time I've known them come here. I could be wrong! But whatever the case, I'm very pleased Nottingham is included this year! It's a nice intimate theatre to see ballet in.

Thanks for posting the cast Ryo - I'll be at the Nottingham show on Friday 10 May. Looking forward to it!

Thanks for starting such a great topic Janet and what an interesting selections of replies so far! I know I first became aware of ballet aged about 5 when my gran took me to see the film of RB's Tales of Beatrix Potter at the cinema (and I still have the souvenir programme!). I did a few ballet lessons around then but soon switched to other interests (I did a lot of music activities as a child and through school, as in singing and clarinet). I don't recall going to any live ballet performances as a child - I'm guessing it was because it was considered too expensive for my family so theatre was limited to local panto once a year (which incidentally I have ghastly memories of!!) Then aged about 15, I won a competition in the local newspaper here in Nottingham to see Ballet Rambert. I didn't just win tickets - I also won a backstage tour and got to meet the then director, Robert North, and all the dancers plus the musicians. They were performing a triple bill which included Christopher Bruce's Ghost Dances set to amazing Andean pan pipe music. That was my 'transformational moment' - it was such a fantastic overall experience and I was fascinated and hooked from then on about seeing dance performed live at the theatre. I became fascinated with the world of ballet and what it entails to be a dancer or make a performance happen (rehearsals and so on). From then on I went to whatever was on locally and got my Mum to take me to Covent Garden as a reward for passing my O Levels. Access to the ROH and ballet in London generally made me choose to go to university in London and I remember stretching my student grant and going without food in favour of an amphitheatre ticket for the ballet!! There have been some 'gaps' in my theatre going, mainly due to me working abroad for 14 years, not always in countries where there was access to ballet or dance performances. But now I'm settled back in the UK, I go to as much as I can - financially and logistically (not living in London). I have a huge collection of ballet recording on VHS and DVD, but for me there is no substitute for going to a live performance of ballet. I do see other types of shows such as opera and musicals but nothing for me comes close to the buzz of seeing a ballet or dance performance. Every one is different, every one is memorable for some reason. And sometimes when you try to explain the feeling to someone who doesn't share your passion, it's very hard. Every single time the house lights go down, my brain just transports me into another world.........It's that fundamental beauty and marvel of expression through movement of the human body.

I'm glad I made it to the last London performance on Sunday. I enjoyed many elements of the Ratmansky version despite being very attached to MacMillan's. Guillaume Cote and Heather Ogden had me emotionally involved by the end - I shed a few tears! For me though, the stand out performances were Jiri Jelinek's menacing and powerfully danced and acted Tybalt, and Piotr Stanczyk's fabulous Mercutio. The choreography really allowed those characters to come alive and I shed rather more tears at those 2 dying......!

Gosh - interesting comments. Some so harsh. I will still travel 3 hours each way to see the performance tomorrow.

Just back home from today's matinee of La Bayadere with Roberta Marquez (replacing injured Alina), Federico Bonelli and Marianela Nunez. I'm just a plain old ballet lover so can't comment from a technical point of view in terms of writing a 'review'. So all I can do is speak from just the heart when I say I felt this was an exceptionally beautiful performance. Marquez was very sensual and moving emotionally - I liked her Nikiya a lot and I thought she was fabulous.. Marianela - well, she was amazing as always. Special praise for The Shades - how beautifully synchronized they are. Federico of course - what a great dancer and partner. You understand why the 2 women would fight over him! I just thought the production overall was what I would call 'beautiful'. Because I saw such a powerful performance of Mayerling the previous evening, it was hard for me to get on side for a fantasy ballet like La Bayadere. But yes, La Bayadere today was good, very good. Actually it was extra good as I did a backstage ROH tour ahead of the matinee today and was so privileged to see Federico and many of the other men dancing in La Bayadere do class ahead of the matinee I went to.

Sim - you say it all really about Friday's opening night with Ed Watson/Mara Galeazzi. It was superb and I'm still not 'down' from the emotion. I agree with what other people above have said - was hard to sleep last night. I can't really say any more at this point without dissolving into tears again - it was so moving and so powerfully danced.

Katherine - thanks for link. Yes of course, it's a huge cost to bring the company over to London!

(Thanks Janet - will say hello at ROH Friday!) Back to National Ballet of Canada's momentous visit to London this week - for those on Twitter, the NBoC Twitter feed is full of great photos of the dancers out and about in London/in rehearsal (sorry I'm not techno enough to post link to Twitter!). Seems they are as excited to be here as we are to see them! There are links to various newspaper articles on Twitter - the over riding feeling they as a a company seem to be expressing is 'let's not leave it another quarter century to return to London'. I second that. I for one would like to welcome them warmly to London. Nicola

Good - excellent news about a recording for TV. And filming directed by Ross MacGibbon - great!

Thanks Aileen - sounds good but already over budget!! Actually I'm heading back home to Notts overnight Saturday then coming all the way back to London on Sunday - the National Ballet of Canada was a late addition to my itinerary as by the time I decided to go to Romeo and Juliet, it got past being able to book a decently priced hotel room for Saturday night. But as I said on the other NBoC thread, it's too good to miss Romeo and the first visit to London by NBoC for 26 years. As I mentioned on the other thread, I have a particular interest in seeing the Czech dancer Jiri Jelinek who will dance Tybalt that Sunday and as he's leaving NBoC that will probably be his farewell performance with the company. I lived in Prague in 2000/1 when he was a young emerging star with Czech National Ballet, which I was able to go to see at least twice a week (very cheap tickets in those days). He was such an exciting young dancer and they were doing such a varied rep at that time. And it's lovely to read interviews with him that he's gone on to have a very rewarding ballet career with Stuttgart and now National Ballet of Canada. So Sunday at Sadlers - so looking forward to it and so glad National Ballet of Canada are coming with what by all accounts are superb dancers. I'm very attached to MacMillan's R and J but perfectly open minded about seeing a different version. Nicola

Ooh, lucky you Janet! I couldn't get front row and probably made a mistake going for second row (should have gone further back to get the raked seats). Hope nobody tall in front of me! I'm in B22 - feel free to come say hello as I'm on my own all this weekend - I have limited friends that share my ballet passion or are prepared to spend so much!!! Nicola

Ballet feast for me too this weekend - RB Mayerling Friday for opening night, La Bayadere Sat matinee, NBC Romeo Sunday 4pm. So looking forward to it all. Caffeine at the ready!

Sad not to be seeing Alina this coming Saturday in La Bayadere - sending all good wishes to her for a speedy recovery. I'm sure Roberta will be a fine replacement so I look forward to the Saturday matinee with equal anticipation as before - I was shocked to read on another thread about certain audience behaviour when faced with a cast change. It happens, it's the nature of ballet. I have not seen Roberta dance live before so I'm very excited to be seeing her dance.

Thank you Janet - nice to know I'm not 'unusual' in packing in performances! Ballet keeps me sane too! I'm travelling to London from my home in Nottingham Friday to see Mayerling pm 19th Friday, overnight hotel, Bayadere next day Saturday matinee at ROH at 12.30 then back home to Nottingham. Now I've booked NBOC, I will go back to London Sunday morning and home post performance. I'm not complaining - National Ballet of Canada's Romeo I'm sure is going to be worth every effort. Now I have a ticket for NBOC, I'm so looking forward to it.

I'm a happy bunny too as I just booked a ticket for Sunday afternoon and if the scheduled cast goes ahead, I will get to see Jiri Jelinek dance Tybalt! Not to mention Guillaume Cote and Heather Ogden in the lead roles as well. So I'm really excited about seeing NBOC and Ratmansky's production of R&J at Sadlers. I'd been in two minds about booking, due to already having 2 RB performances of full-length ballets booked for the weekend starting 19 April - but thanks Katherine for all the links/reviews etc on NBOC and this production and helping me make what I know is the right decision!! It's just too good an opportunity to miss this fantastic company coming to London for the first time in 26 years. So NBOC will round off an epic weekend of ballet for me in London - Mayerling, Bayadere and R&J. Not sure how I will be able to return to planet earth the Monday afterwards!!

Casting for the London shows is now available on this link: http://national.ballet.ca/performances/On_Tour/London.aspx#Casting-tab