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Welcome to Balletcoforum’s first virtual… Night At The Ballet -- LIVE EVENT THREAD -- Hello everyone! So lovely to see you. Glad you could join us at the Your Living Room Theatre for the opening night of our virtual trip to the theatre! This is for us all to still have a ‘night out’ during these strange times in which we find ourselves. I’ll be getting dressed up for the theatre and I encourage you to do the same, but just enjoy the evening, that’s the important bit. Here’s how the evening will go… Running order: 6.30pm - The ‘House Opens’ / A glass of wine in the bar Welcome! Make yourself a nice glass of something and enjoy the fact you don’t have to pay £9 for it. Then hop on here and say hello to your fellow virtual theatre-goers! Why not post a selfie of yourselves and post it so we can all see who we’re spending the evening with? Let’s talk about the weather, how much easier it is to park than [insert your usual venue] and how much we’re looking forward to seeing [I’ll come to that in a moment]. As this evening exists to provide some escape from the tricky times we’re facing, the only topic that is strictly off-limits is anything related to Covid-19. An usher will sternly ush you if you stray into that topic! 7.30pm - The show begins Now the house lights are going down (you'll have to operate the light switch yourself, I'm afraid). There’s a reminder to turn off your phone (which you should heed, as well as closing your laptop, shutting down your iPad, etc), along with the inevitable announcement that the principal you specifically aimed to see is being replaced at the last minute. The conductor has assumedly walked in because everyone is clapping for no apparent reason and you can’t see the orchestra. You get yourself comfortable in your seat ready to watch… Wait, what are we watching again? Well, here’s the beauty of it. We can all watch different things! As long as we’re watching ballet, we can pick what we like. Here are some options: Record something off Sky Arts to watch (if you have it) Maybe take out a 14 day trial of Marquee TV? Watch one of the ballets on Amazon Prime (I think there’s also a free trial) Watch a DVD or Blu Ray, even a VHS! Watch The Royal Ballet’s Mayerling on iPlayer There are plenty more suggestions on this thread Whatever you watch, turn down the lights and enjoy! Then, at a suitable point… 8.30pm (ish) - Interval! Time for a quick comfort break, a top up of your glass. Why not share a photo of your interval ice cream? Give yourself a few minutes to hop back on the official thread and share your thoughts on Act 1, perhaps, and see how everyone else is getting on (bearing in mind we’ll likely be back in the bar at different times). Then it's time for... 8.50pm (ish) - Act 2! Enjoy the rest of your performance! 9.45pm (ish) - The after show We’ll all meet back ‘in the bar’ to chat about what we’ve just seen, wax lyrical how much we loved/didn’t love it, how nice it is not to have to have to clap for quite that long, queue at the cloakroom or find a taxi in the rain... Then it’s air kisses - mwah! - all round and if it’s a success we start planning the next one! Enjoy your evening! A QUICK NOTE ABOUT POSTING PHOTOS: There is a limit to the size of photos on here (which zxDaveM has kindly increased for us). If your photo is too big, please do post it elsewhere online (Flickr, Instagram, etc.) and share the link, or use one of the photo shrinkers online. (Tagging @Lucinda @KyleCheng @SMballet @Richard LH @LinMM @Don Q Fan @CCL @Shade @Rob S @greypuss @bridiem @Toria @toursenlair @AnneMarriott @alison @Lizbie1@Odyssey who liked the invitation thread)

Dear all, I had tickets to a number of ballet shows in the coming weeks, and needless to say a lot of them have understandably been cancelled which has made me very sad. I expect I’m not the only forumite in this boat. We’re also most likely facing an extended period of relative social isolation, with some people already needing to squirrel themselves away in their homes. With that in mind, on the night I would have been seeing Acosta Danza, I’d like to invite you all to join me for: A Night At The Ballet 7.00pm, Saturday 28 March “Er…” I hear you think, “Have you, after barely four days of working from home, already slipped the moorings of sanity?” No*! Fear not! We can all have a lovely night out at the ballet without leaving our front doors! Here’s how it’ll work… Before 7.00pm - Dressing room Everyone gets ready. Get dressed up as you would for the ballet. If that’s a dinner jacket or a chiffon ballgown, great! If it’s more like me, a collared shirt and the least faded black jeans you can find, that’s awesome too. But do make the effort. We’re having a night at the theatre after all. 7.00pm - The ‘House Opens’ / A glass of wine in the bar I’ll start a brand new official thread on here, and the night begins! Make yourself a nice glass of something and enjoy the fact you don’t have to pay £9 for it. Then hop on the thread and say hello to your fellow virtual theatre-goers! Why not take a selfie of yourselves and post it on the evening’s thread so we can all see who we’re spending the evening with? We can talk about the weather, how much easier it is to park than [insert your usual venue] and how much we’re looking forward to seeing [I’ll come to that in a moment]. As this evening will be to provide some escape from the tricky times we’re facing, the only topic that will be strictly off-limits is anything related to Covid-19. An usher will sternly ush you if you stray into that topic! 7.30pm - The show begins Now the house lights are going down (you'll have to operate the light switch yourself, I'm afraid). There’s a reminder to turn off your phone (which you should heed, as well as closing your laptop, shutting down your iPad, etc), along with the inevitable announcement that the principal you specifically aimed to see is being replaced at the last minute. Now the conductor has assumedly walked in because everyone is clapping for no apparent reason and you can’t see the orchestra. You get yourself comfortable in your seat ready to watch… Wait, what are we watching again? Well, here’s the beauty of it. We can all watch different things! As long as we’re watching ballet, we can pick what we like. Here are some options: Record something off Sky Arts to watch (if you have it) Maybe take out a 14 day trial of Marquee TV? Watch one of the ballets on Amazon Prime (I think there’s also a free trial) Watch a DVD or Blu Ray, even a VHS! Watch The Royal Ballet’s Mayerling on iPlayer There are plenty more suggestions on this thread Whatever you watch, turn down the lights and enjoy! Then, at a suitable point… 8.30pm (ish) - Interval! Time for a quick comfort break, a top up of your glass. Why not share a photo of your interval ice cream? Give yourself a few minutes to hop back on the official thread and share your thoughts on Act 1, perhaps, and see how everyone else is getting on (bearing in mind we’ll likely be back in the bar at different times). Then it's time for... 8.50pm (ish) - Act 2! Enjoy the rest of your performance! 9.45pm (ish) - The after show We’ll all meet back ‘in the bar’ to chat about what we’ve just seen, wax lyrical how much we loved/didn’t love it, how nice it is not to have to have to clap for quite that long, queue at the cloakroom or find a taxi in the rain... Then it’s air kisses - mwah! - all round and if it’s a success we start planning the next one! Hope to see you all there. 🙂 * well, maybe a little.

We held what seems to have been a quite successful virtual ballet evening yesterday evening - see the original announcement thread here: and the discussion thread here: Now that people's lives are presumably starting to settle down into some sort of pattern, I wonder whether Saturday evenings are best, or whether we should try a different time/day next time? If I've got this poll right, you should be able to select as many options as you like as to what suits you (responses should be anonymous). Assume something like 2-3 pm starts for matinees and 7-7.30 pm UK time for evening "performances", depending on length. And please post any pertinent comments, especially on days and timings, below. (Looking through the - very incomplete - schedule of ballets I've produced in Outlook up to now, I notice that Tuesdays and Thursdays tend to be distinctly empty, ballet and dance-wise)