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Well, I'm afraid it wasn't a flawless broadcast of Raymonda today at the cinema I went to: in addition to numerous (and seemingly regular) gaps in the audio (and often video) of about one second, we had two long losses of picture and sound, one in each of the first two acts. One of them resulted in the screen becoming more horribly pixelated than anything I'd seen since the motherboard on my new laptop failed about a decade ago I hope others fared better. Technical issues apart, I'm afraid I found myself nodding off several times during Act I: not sure to what extent that was due to the very dark set. The third act is quite different in many respects from the Raymonda Act III which the Royal Ballet are currently performing, in particular due to the lack of solos for the supporting dancers - presumably these were given earlier in the ballet, perhaps in the bits I was unable to view. Certainly, the only additional solo was for either Clémence or Henriette, which I thought was a bit odd - I did entertain the thought that one of the dancers might have injured herself and so her solo was simply omitted without comment. It has to be said that it looks a lot more expansive on the Bolshoi's far more spacious stage.

Pathé Live is showing the 2019-20 season of Bolshoi broadcasts, but for some reason only in French at the moment: https://www.pathelive.com/programme/ballet-du-bolchoi-19-20

Did anyone else get to see Dracula in their local cinema this evening? Wasn't it wonderful? Although we are lucky enough to live close enough to Leeds to see Northern Ballet regularly, it was perfect on a work night to be able to stay close to home and see it in our wonderful local independent cinema with a mug of tea in hand. I really hope there will be many more live broadcasts by Northern Ballet.

Countess Sybil de Daurice Ekaterina Barykina Raymonda, сountess' niece Olga Smirnova Andrei II, the King of Hungary Alexander Fadeyechev Knight Jean de Brienne, Raymonda's fiance Artemy Belyakov Abderakhman, Saracen knight Igor Tsvirko Clemence and Henriette, Raymonda's girlfriends Anastasia Denisova Maria Vinogradova Bernard and Beranger, troubadours Klim Efimov Ivan Poddubnyak Seneshal Nikita Elikarov Two Knights Dmitry Efremov Egor Khromushin "Raymonda's daydreams" Bruna Cantanhede Gaglianone Alexandra Trikoz Ana Turazashvili Angelina Vlashinets Victoria Yakusheva Xenia Zhiganshina First Variation ("Raymonda's daydreams") Antonina Chapkina Second Variation ("Raymonda's daydreams") Eleonora Sevenard Saracenic Dance Nina Biryukova Evgeny Triposkiadis Spanish Dance Anastasia Ermolaeva Kristina Karasyova Mazurka Anna Balukova Anton Savichev Hungarian Dance Oxana Sharova Vitaly Biktimirov Grand Pas Olga Barichka Antonina Chapkina Olga Kishnyova Ekaterina Smurova Alexandra Trikoz Victoria Yakusheva Ekaterina Zavadina Xenia Zhiganshina Ivan Alexeyev Batyr Annadurdyev Anton Gaynutdinov Alexei Gaynutdinov Fuad Mamedov Artur Mkrtchyan David Motta Soares Maxim Surov Four Cavaliers' Variation Aleksei Khamzin Ivan Poddubnyak David Motta Soares Denis Zakharov Variation (Grand Pas) Elizaveta Kokoreva Conductor Pavel Klinichev

Bolshoi and Pathe have started publishing on YouTube short "webisodes" in advance of the Raymonda broadcast. The first one features Yulia Stepanova narrating and dancing the wedding variation from Act III.

"Too busy for the ballet? Let it come to you." This, from to day's Times: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/too-busy-for-the-ballet-let-it-come-to-you-kwxdv07nw?shareToken=fadc62986105c42dc2e9e614c5486905