Yaffa

Looks wonderful - a pity that the dates clash with those of the RBS' summer performances.

Sure, no lecture intended - my email to ROH (which I was going to write anyway) was mainly to say that whether or not the new law applies, I hope they will change the way that they handle the online donation so that it is more in line with their "usual sensitivity to customers' concerns." I do think they might not be aware of the new law and/or how annoying people find this box. Yaffa

I'm not a legal expert, but I'd guess that the requirement to uncheck a box to avoid the 3 pound donation is also against the new (2014) Consumer Contracts Regulations. According to: http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-contracts-regulations: Pre-ticked boxes The Consumer Contracts Regulations make it clear that a trader won’t be able to charge a consumer for an item where it was selected for the consumer as part of that purchasing process, rather than the consumer actively choosing to add it to their basket. For example, retailers are not allowed to charge for an extended warranty if it was added into your basket as a result of a pre-ticked box.If a company does charge you in this way, you are entitled to your money back. I've written to ROH requesting that they change the way they handle their donation request.

The tickets are now gone.

As expected, the number of 30 pound 5-star London rooms has dwindled. But interestingly they've added some new 4-star London hotels, also around 30 pounds, with slightly different availability. Some interesting other hotels, particularly in European capitals, though for many of them you can find a better price elsewhere. Yaffa

The 11 a.m and 2 p.m. performances today have been cancelled. Yaffa

For some reason, the lastminute.com home page says that the Pink sale ends on 7th March. It's presumably a typo. You need to click on the link for Top Secret Hotels: http://www.lastminute.com/hotels/promos/big-pink-sale.html?intcmp=hpcq_categorypods_1_BigPinkSaleApr15_hotels There are hotel deals available worldwide - not just in London. For most the pricing is not that great, but there are some gems. The white on pink amount at the top of each hotel box appears to give the minimum price for that hotel at the beginning of the sale. Before clicking, look further down the box at the 'from' price, which indicates the lowest price of rooms which are actually available. You'll often find additional dates for that price as well as the one given. Googling the description of the hotel will often let you find out which hotel it is, but best not to rely on this. I've found that if you want to book multiple hotel rooms for the same night it's not a problem. But if you want to book multiple nights, you'll see a message saying there's no availability, but you can usually make separate bookings for each night. Yaffa

Amongst many hotel deals, Last Minute (www.lastminute.com) has just started 'The Big Pink Sale' with hotel rooms in three locations in central London for £29.99. As of now (3:20 a.m. UK time) there's good availability in April and some in May, but that will probably change very fast. The hotel names are displayed only after you've booked so I'd better not write the name of the hotel where I've booked, but it's a very good one, normally costing over £250 a night. There are currently rooms for the nights before and after the RBS class and Fille at ROH on the 29th April. No rooms available for the night after the BBC Young Dancer finals on 9th May. Yaffa (no connection to the above, just passing on the info) [edited for clarity]

Just posted in the ticket exchange that it's not yet certain if the ENB's Swan Lake Preview at the Peacock tomorrow at 11 a.m. is going ahead or not. They will post status updates at http://www.sadlerswells.com/power-outage-in-holborn-area/ Yaffa

I have around 25 more old tickets available - again no charge. Yaffa

There do seem to be a few insight tickets popping up, presumably as people adjust their baskets. I just (9:38 a.m. UK time) saw 4 tickets appear for the RB on Tour Insight event. Yaffa

In addition to this, I believe they can also get 2 extra Linbury tickets at public booking (but no extra main stage tickets). I and a lady I was assisting had no technical problems today, but it's annoying to have to delete the donation, particularly when you are rushing - it really should be opt-in rather than opt-out.

Just saw on ENB School's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ENBSchool that they'll be streaming their annual choreographic competition at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, 19th May. Yaffa

I just saw that the RBS Museum at White Lodge has added a facility for research visits for undergraduate and above, with access to some of their collections, which are now outlined at the Archive Hub: http://archiveshub.ac.uk/contributors/royalballetschool.html Towards the bottom of that page there a link 'Show list of The Royal Ballet School's descriptions [ show ]' The titles of most of the collections don't give much away, but if you click on some of the links it's clear that there are some real gems there... Visits have to be coordinated in advance with the museum staff. More details on the RBS Museum page:http://www.royalballetschool.org.uk/the-school/museum Yaffa

When I was at school in the 70s, practically everyone I knew was following the BBC's Young Musician of the Year, and quite a few of them started learning an instrument as a result. Of course, there were only three channels and fewer other distractions in those days. But from the Wikipedia entry for BBC's Young Musician of the Year, there appears to have been a progressive sidelining of the competition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Young_Musician_of_the_Year Regional heats were televised in 1978; a round before the category final was aired until 1994, and again in 2002 and 2004. From 1978 to 1986, all programmes were broadcast on BBC One until it was moved to BBC 2 in 1988; however from 2002 to 2012, the heats were moved to BBC Four with only the final aired on BBC Two. In 2010, highlights of the new semi-final stage were also broadcast on BBC Two. In 2014, all stages of the competition moved to BBC Four, however the category finals and the grand final were broadcast on BBC Radio Three. There has also been criticism of the format http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/bbc-young-musician-2014-forget-the-format-give-us-the-music-9364814.html Hopefully at least some of these problems will be addressed for the BBC Young Dancer. They have lined up serious folks from the ballet world and their publicity outside the dance world has probably not really started - it was good to hear that they are filming in one of the competitor's schools. With social media, it must be a headache keeping the results a relative secret until they are broadcast. Yaffa [edited for typos]

Interested to hear from anyone who went to the ballet final - though maybe there are restrictions on what the audience is allowed to say? Yaffa

No, the category finals will be recorded but I believe the programmes will be broadcast in April with the final in May. Yaffa

They also have an interesting live broadcast on Saturday (21st March) at 19:00 local time (4 p.m. in UK): A Creative Workshop of Young Choreographers The Mariinsky Orchestra Conductor: Gavriel Heine The programme includes: Ballet No 2 Music by Alexander Tsfasman Choreography by Maxim Petrov Set Designer: Sergei Grachev Costume Designer: Tatiana Noginova Lighting Designer: Igor Vints Performed by Viktoria Brilyova, Yuliana Chereshkevich, Sofia Ivanova-Skoblikova, Yekaterina Ivannikova, Anna Lavrinenko, Oxana Marchuk, Yevgeny Konovalov, Alexander Saveliev, Andrei Solovyov, Vasily Tkachenko, Andrei Yermakov, Boris Zhurilov Interview with Maxim Petrov Connections Music by Johann Sebastian Bach Choreography by Ilya Zhivoi Costume Designer: Sofia Vartanian Lighting Designer: Igor Vints In the lead roles Yekaterina Osmolkina and Maxim Zyuzin Orpheus in the Underworld Music by Sergei Rachmaninoff Choreography by Yuri Smekalov Set and Costume Designer: Andrei Sevbo Lighting Designer: Igor Vints In the lead roles Oxana Bondareva, Maria Sheviakova, Yevgeny Deryabin, Alexander Fyodorov, Konstantin Ivkin, Yulia Kobzar, Soslan Kulaev, Vladimir Shklyarov, Vasily Shcherbakov, Konstantin Zverev Clay Music by Darius Milhaud Choreography by Vladimir Varnava Costume Designer: Irina Varnava Lighting Designer: Igor Vints Performed by Viktoria Brilyova, Tatiana Tkachenko, Zlata Yalinich, Alexei Nedviga, Vasily Tkachenko, Maxim Zyuzin Interview with Vladimir Varnava Elementarium Music by Sergei Prokofiev Choreography, set designs, costumes and lighting by Maxim Sevagin Performed by students of the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet Remember the Future Music by Johann Sebastian Bach Choreography and set designs by Ksenia Zvereva Lighting Designer: Igor Vints Costume Designer: Tatiana Noginova Performed by Alexandra Dementieva, Xenia Fateeva, Nelli Smirnova, Andrei Arseniev, Yaroslav Baibordin, Ramanbek Beishenaliev, Nikita Lyashchenko, Ivan Oskorbin Who is my Shadow? Music by Alexander Maev Choreography by Yuri Smekalov Costume Designer: Tatiana Noginova Second I Music by Philip Glass Choreography and set designs by Ksenia Zvereva Video Graphics Designer: Arseny Nikolaev Lighting Designer: Igor Vints Costume Designers: Tatiana Noginova and Xenia Zvereva Performed by Alexei Tyutyunnik and Andrei Yermakov

In the meantime some interesting videos and live broadcasts on Mariinsky TV: http://mariinsky.tv/n/e. If I understand correctly, tonight 19:30 Russian Time (16:30 UK time) there'll be an Artistic Evening with Viktoria Tershkina: The programme includes: I. The Legend of Love (Act II) Music by Arif Melikov Libretto by Nazim Khikmet Choreography by Yuri Grigorovich (1961) Set, costume and lighting design: Simon Virsaladze Shyrin: Alina Somova Ferkhad: Kimin Kim Mekhmeneh Bahnu: Viktoria Tereshkina The Vizier: Yuri Smekalov II. Schéhérazade (choreographic drama in one act) Music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Scenario by Léon Bakst and Michel Fokine after Arabian Nights fairytales Choreography by Michel Fokine (1910) Reconstruction by Isabelle Fokine, Andris Liepa Set and costume design by Anna Nezhnaya, Anatoly Nezhny after original sketches: Léon Bakst Shahriar: Vladimir Ponomarev Zobeide: Viktoria Tereshkina Zobeide’s Slave: Danila Korsuntsev The Odalisques: Olga Belik, Viktoria Brilyova, Anastasia Zaklinskaya III. “Paquita” Grand pas Music by Ludwig Minkus Choreography by Marius Petipa (1881) Revival consultants: Pyotr Gusev, Lidia Tiuntina, Georgy Konishchev Set design by Gennady Sotnikov Costume design by Irina Press Soloists: Viktoria Tereshkina and Vladimir Shklyarov [edited for typos]

Even if you can't get to a ballet performance at the Paris Opera, the shop at the Palais Garnier is well worth a visit. Yaffa

Not sure what to make of this ad for the Huawei tech company, http://adage.com/article/global-news/a-ballerina-s-feet-a-chinese-tech-brand/296977/, but the image is certainly striking.... Yaffa

Looks as though the Paris Opera Ballet School will be reverting to their usual December Demonstrations schedule of three separate days of morning and afternoon performances with lower grades in the morning and higher grades in the afternoon. Dates are: 5th December 2015 Sat Demonstrations morning and afternoon 13th December 2015 Sun Demonstrations morning and afternoon 20th December 2015 Sun Demonstrations morning and afternoon 14th April 2016 7:30 p.m. Spectacle 16th April 2016 7:30 p.m. Spectacle 17th April 2016 2:30 p.m. Spectacle 18th April 2016 7:30 p.m. Spectacle (This year's Spectacle - currently sold out - is at 7:30 p.m. on the 3rd, 4th, 7th and 8th April) I'll probably be getting group tickets at least for the Demonstrations and discounted group travel/accommodation. - PM me if you're interested. Yaffa [edited to correct typo]

"The Company" comes pretty close: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Company_(film), though I've heard it referred to as 'boring'....

Interesting that it took a child's "help" to change the adult's misconceptions. I've found that parents of children enrolled in outreach schemes of RBS etc. frequently say that their children's experience has brought ballet into their own lives or has at least given them great respect for what dancers do. Yaffa [edited for clarity]

I think this important point often gives rise to another misconception, that the minute you have passed the 'magic' age/bone scan result, all pointe work is suddenly ok. Yaffa