zxDaveM

Sky TV's 'customer service' AI / bot definitely has to go into Room 101. Spent most of yesterday afternoon battling with it (and failing) before eventually getting through to a text/SMS 'agent' I assume was a real person, who sorted me out (I think - future bills will decide). Their customer service used to be pretty good - now, a total ship wreck

Perhaps the Ashton casting influenced by 'who's left' after the Swan Lake runs... And as for the old stand-by of "it's the company you come to see, not the individual dancers" is such a crock, as nearly all of us, I imagine, aim specifically for their own favourites, and avoid the cast(s) they are not keen on. Hence the pleas for casting knowledge from early bookers, who are after all, filling their coffers

I was guestimating - and didn't realise there were that many in the Linbury (though many on the sides should be less than 1/3rd price, as that's about all you see of the stage). Also, the % kept back may be lower than I guessed - would be nice to know actually, what the figure actually is...

Yes, my understanding too. Though of course, if say 20-25% kept back for PB, that still leaves only 30-ish tickets to fight over, when a couple of thousand people looking to book (not all going for the Linbury of course) at 9-9.30am

A most enjoyable hour, has to be said. Even if a piece wasn't to your liking it was only around for 6-8 mins, so hardly a chore Cha-Cha and Tiara (Miguel Angel Maidana, Julia Conway; choreography Rentaro Nakaaki; ENB) Danced initially in silence, this was inspired by ballroom, but with a balletic twist. Certainly done with wit and charm - great fun Out of Breath (Alessandra Bramante, Joseph Taylor; ch George Liang; Nothern Ballet) Probably my favourite of the afternoon, a 'proper' sweeping, balletic pdd (to music 'Undone' by Olafur Arnalds) Other (Rebecca Bassett-Graham, Eileih Muir; ch Jordan James Bridge; Company Wayne McGregor) Perhaps the most striking piece of the set of 6, both women struck an almost scary aura in this excerpt from a slightly longer duet. I'd have said though, it was almost like 2 solos danced at the same time, though they did interact occasionally. Definitely McGregor inspired, but without any ugly shapes thrown. Would like to have seen the fuller 12 minutes Focal (Aitor Arrieta, Ashley Coupal; ch Breanna Foad; ENB) Australian dancer/choregrapher Breanna Ford 'created' most of this work in her head on flights between Australia and the UK. Cleverly using accapella voices of A Roomful of Teeth singing 'AEIOU' by Judd Greenstein, you can see each dancer responding to different elements of the voices Words to the Wind (Martin Diaz, Caspar Lench; ch Denilson Almeida; RB) Based on a theme of we all need friends (if I understood correctly) I'm afraid this didn't do it for me. At one point Caspar was asleep on his chair, and slid to the floor. I know how he felt Ax.One (Hannah Joseph, Elaini Koula Lalousis; ch Hannah Joseph; Company Wayne McGregor) Another striking piece from the Company Wayne McGregor camp. "Separate pathways and cognition, feed to a shared pathway". Hannah later described how it was so different choreographing when she herself was one of the dancers (having to use film of themselves to check it was going as she wanted). Whatever the method, was a hit for me The afternoon was introduced by the RB's Hannah Grennell who proved herself a witty and able presenter, using humour and self deprecation when an occasional mangle of a name occurred, but was generally clear and concise. I think she'd make a great double act with Kristen McNally for World Ballet Day one day 🙂

As an aside, I thought that four pieces of about 25 minutes each (give ot take), was just about perfect length for new works. That meant none overstayed their welcome, if you found one of them wasn't for you. Should the concept be repeated, I hope they keep the format of the timing, and the filmed intro, as it really worked for me

ahhh - the days (nights rather) of standing next the PA speakers at gigs, where the sound engineer thought they were at Wembley, rather than the back room of a pub, are long gone for me. As a result, the sound levels in dance theatres barely bother me - it's what they are belting out that causes consternation these days

fair comment - but I won't be one of those going to see it again, though I wouldn't dream of trying to stop, or discourage, those that do want to see it

perhaps lots of dancers off on holidays and/or guesting elsewhere, so they are currently assessing who is left at ROH this June 😉

They used to dance the MacMillan Rite of Spring (same choreography, different costumes/sets) - back in 2010 or so

Mine too - not that many pay heed

To avoid confusion, I've edited the text to correct the name of the piece

LOL I confess I do have slippers, and they get worn a lot

predictably I suppose, the grumpier critics all disliked 'Twinkle' (see today's links). Pah! I say to them, double PAH!

yes, well, ULEZ not ridiculous for those whose child has asthma, or even dies from air pollution

hope you said "yes, you do!" 😉

no, I am one of the no-ones on that, and casting important if you want to catch your favourites - or avoid ones you're not so keen on (or as already said, to catch differing casts; offering unnamed cast 'a' and cast 'b' would at least help with this latter option). They obviously must know the fans don't just go to see ONE cast by now!!

knees - I wish I'd looked after my knees better!!!

true, but as she was in front, it was my toes about to be stepped on! And those point shoes are solid! lol

I also saw the Linbury's 'Dark With Excessive Bright' Monday evening. Enjoyed the experience a lot. Getting that close up to watching ballet dancers almost in slo-mo dance mode was something I'll not forget. At one point, Melissa Hamilton walked in front of me in the 'public gangway' and stopped, awaiting her queue to move into the dance space (we were in the walkway), and was so close she could have been wearing my shoes! 🙂 I didn't want to move in case I got in the way, so it was a long hold of breath, I can tell you!

I really enjoyed Boundless - had that Wheeldon/NYC vibe about it. And having Yasmine Naghdi n a tour de force didn't do any harm to it for sure. I thought she was magnificent. The middle pdd with Ryoichi Hirano I thought was superb. Liked the first half of the Junker piece (despite the music, sorry, 'soundscape'), which definitely had Crystal Pite written all over it. I'm afraid 2 blokes dancing never does it for me, so that scuppered the latter section in my eyes. Didn't get November's piece at all - just looked like jumping about in colourful costumes; I was waiting for it to go deep down dark and rhyhmic, and it didn't... Lurrrrved Twinkle (Jessica Lang) - the charm meter simply ran out of oodles! Fumi Kaneko and William Bracewell revelled in it (as did all the cast) So for me, both of the best pieces were female choreographers, which to me says how much we've been missing out on in recent years

Both Giselles - great! Forsythe programme - great! New Nutcracker - we'll see (but has to be better than the current one!) The 75th online celebration could be fun All that engagement/futures/new stuff - remains to be seen, but doesn't exactly look satisfying fare Could have done with another triple bill in there I reckon... 😉

you little star, you!

perhaps it took them that long to fix the website booking...

It's daft, that's what it is