AnneMarriott

Or was she the member of the company planted in the front row to scream at strategic points in the performance?

Alison, thank you for noticing the offer in Oxford - it meant I could justify another viewing - and got to see Daria's debut last night!

 

She was splendid, if somehow very English (I KNOW she isn't) and somehow very gentle amongst the swarthy swashbucklers. And there certainly is a connection between her and Muntagirov. They were wonderful together, even more than apart!

 

 

 

Alison, thank you for noticing the offer in Oxford - it meant I could justify another viewing - and got to see Daria's debut last night!

 

She was splendid, if somehow very English (I KNOW she isn't) and somehow very gentle amongst the swarthy swashbucklers. And there certainly is a connection between her and Muntagirov. They were wonderful together, even more than apart!

 

Two standouts for me were Crystal Costa, an odalisque last night but Gulnare in Southampton last week, and above all Junior Souza, effortlessly athletic with a great line and great stillness too. 

 

Oh, and another one - Michael Coleman shameless scene-stealing as the Pasha. It only seems like yesterday that he was my favourite Bluebird!

 

And I know there's a thread for audience behaviour, but it was a pleasure to be in such a nice and keen crowd last night, as opposed to Southampton, where we had beer-drinking women behind us, sweet eaters over the way, and a pair of bare feet dangling over the back of the empty seat next to me. Not nice....

 

 

Lovely as the performances starring Alina and Vadim and Ksenia and Vadim were (especially Ksenia's second one in that partnership) it is the Daria/Vadim combination which brings a special something extra to the stage.

 

 

 

I also loved the Daria/Vadim performance in Oxford.  A good time was had by all.

A fan of Hallowe'en, perhaps?

Ridiculous situation: suddenly quite a few Stalls Circle standing tickets have appeared for Giselle and Jewels. What is the box office's policy about releasing ticket this late after the start of public booking? Why were they not available earlier? Does anyone understand?

Good heavens - I don't think I've ever seen such a plethora of SCS tickets before!  How annoying that I've forked out for semi-posh seats for some of the Giselles.  This is really too bad.  I don't think we'll ever be able to fathom the system!

Yes, it's ridiculous.  You waste so much time that way, trying to book tickets that "aren't there", whereas if you knew they weren't there you'd grab something else instead.  I was lucky with Acosta last time around, but clearly not this time.

Presumably that's why we kept getting the "submission error" message on seats that were supposedly available.  If they really do continue to show as available when they're in someone's basket until paid for, that would mean we could be navigating backwards and forwards for up to half an hour without success.  That can't be right, surely?  If only the system would work properly each time. 

Yes, it's ridiculous.  You waste so much time that way, trying to book tickets that "aren't there", whereas if you knew they weren't there you'd grab something else instead.  I was lucky with Acosta last time around, but clearly not this time.

Just to follow up - I've just booked a couple of tickets for Giselle and got a confirmation email.  However when I went back to check something the seats were still showing as available.  I rang the box office to confirm and I've definitely got the tickets - but the seats are still "available".  Can't believe this a particularly busy time ...

I found out this morning that you can have a seat in the basket and it still shows on the seating plan as available, I suppose it stays until paid for.

Presumably that's why we kept getting the "submission error" message on seats that were supposedly available.  If they really do continue to show as available when they're in someone's basket until paid for, that would mean we could be navigating backwards and forwards for up to half an hour without success.  That can't be right, surely?  If only the system would work properly each time. 

[Well, booking for the poor opened today .... sorry, 'general booking' .... and I was in and out well inside half an hour and bought 17 tickets to 17 different performances .... an opera/ballet mix.... Got everything I wanted except for a standing place for Hansel and one for Turandot.  Have to say it was pretty smooth .... Got a scare when I first went on and dashed to the first Osipova Giselle ... ('Yes, yes, yes' ... I said to myself ... and to quote Bruce's brilliant review of Corsaire (for the wonderful Dancetabs) which I'm seeing tonight in Southampton) ... Selected a good 'T row standing ticket' in the amphi ... and got a box saying there was a 'submission error'.  Did the same again with the same result.  Did the same a third time and it said the ticket had already been purchased.  Went to another T spot and still no luck.  (Each time I did this these spots were still showing as available!!)  Finally got a place at the back .... (plus T spots for her two other Osipova Giselles.   ... I'm a fan of her potential.  That all said, I'm most grateful for all that I was lucky enough to receive.]

I had the same miserable experience of the vanishing tickets, over and over again! I didn't get anything I wanted and have now given up on the telephone after constantly redialling since 10.15. So we shan't be seeing Osipova in Giselle or Morera & Co. in Rhapsody unless we can pick up something from the Ticket Exchange nearer the time. Oh, it's sad to be poor ...

To all of you who wish to declutter, a cry from the heart: please don't palm your decluttered items on  to someone else. 

My late father spent the last few years of his life inflicting things he no longer had a use for (chipped vase, decrepit kitchen gadget, hideous tablecloth, collection of DIY magazines, moth-eaten jacket) on friends and relations.  Such was his insistence that most of us felt obliged to accept these unwanted offerings, thus adding to our own clutter.  In the end I stopped arguing, accepted the "gift" and consigned it to the dustbin, praying that he would not ask to see it on one of his rare visits. 

I think it's not so much physical similarity as musical and emotional empathy that matters.  Of the pairings I saw, Bussell and Cope were perfectly matched in many respects but not such a sparkling partnership as Rojo and Cope.  I'm sure there are many other examples ballet.co-ers can recall.

Yes, Guillem and Cope.

Oh, and which might they be?

Any of the traditional enemies of the U.K. - there are plenty to choose from!

And his Canadian colleagues Evan McKie and Miriam Simon etc etc. We really ARE taking over the world. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Well, rather the Canadians than some other nationalities I could think of ...

Advance booking for ordinary Friends opened today. For the first time ever there were absolutely NO stalls circle standing tickets either online or on the phone for ANY of the performances! Looks as if we shall have to invest in a horizontal periscope if we're to see anything of the stage from bench seats practically in the wings...

Did anyone else have any luck?

Here, here Alison. My local Tesco has a Krispy Kreme franchise on the ground floor and the aroma wafts up the travelator. Instant nausea. I have actually eaten one, not because of the aroma, but because my other half bought some. I didn't like it at all - sickly sweet with a sort of oily chemical aftertaste.

Traditionally-spelled doughnuts are delicious, particularly the jam ones. Leave them alone, KK and DD!

By coincidence I caught part of a television programme about just this sort of scam. Apparently if you click on the link and carry out the instructions (e.g. enter your password) the perpetrators can use your details to send out bogus begging emails to all your contacts. Your contacts may then send money to "help you get back from Outer Mongolia" or somewhere else where you have tragically been mugged and lost all your money, passport, mobile phone etc. And of course the scammers could also make purchases or, I presume, steal your identity for all sorts of nefarious purposes.

Follow Victoria Page's advice at No. 5 above - and the same goes for any other bank account, credit card account or anything else which has been "suspended", "access-limited" or "upgraded".

Birmingham Royal Ballet's version by Sir Peter Wright is the best, as Janet McNulty said. The Royal Ballet's version is also by Sir Peter and is next best. I recommend either. Don't know Birmingham's dates but RB runs from 4 December to 16 January. But be quick - tickets for Nutcracker sell fast!

Have a look at this:

And this (the one I meant to give! - hope it works this time)

Was Jonathan Cope considered a danseur noble? I've only ever seen a couple of youtube clips of him dancing with Bussell.

Have a look at this:

Going a little off topic, can I say how much I disliked the original article and in particular the rudeness towards Nikolai Tsiskaridze. 

 

 

Well I'm not sure Tsiskaridze deserves any more deference than any other dancer, and he was described as a megastar, amongst other less flattering epithets.  And I don't think his coveting of Filin's job is exactly a state secret.  Other Bolshoi dancers who have been praised by the critics have been described on this website as "expressionless contortionists".  Now THAT's rude!

. I just hope my pension will allow me to sit in comfort throughout my old age.

Don't bank on it (speaking as a Stalls Circle Standing pensioner...)

I was told the other day about some restaurant which has a Dyson Airblade right next to the baby-changing mat.  Apparently it really distresses the babies, and who can blame them?

 

The other thing: all those people in the London Coliseum who use the proximity button or whatever it's called to turn the water on and then forget that they have to turn it off again, leaving it running until a sensor eventually turns it off.  If you turn a tap on, you turn it off again: why is this such a hard concept to remember just because you're using a button rather than a "real" tap?  It particularly annoyed me during the water shortage of a couple of years ago.

 

Oh, is it possible to get water out of these automatic taps? 

And that about sums up (plus that infernal spinning,grinning jester) why I never go anywhere near the Bolshoi's Swan Lake. I learnt the hard way!

Ditto!

 Faun, I fear, had me largely tuned-out, and listening as Kevin O'Hare, perhaps, Bob Newhart style, to a choreographer on the phone trying to sell him today a scenario about a glade, nymphs, and a weird animal "and at the end, Walt, he does what?!!"  

Wonderful - my laugh-out-loud moment of the year. Thank you, Ian!

Agree it was a smooth experience, which is good.  Sadly stalls circle tickets for R & J and Don Q were conspicuous by absence in all except the top few price bands, both online and on the phone.  Guess I'll have to do battle with public booking or hope for some returns!

Aileen, I've had experience of mother cats withdrawing affection from their weaned kittens, sometimes really quite aggressively.  I think it's pretty normal.  But the weirdest scenario was one kitten who continued to suckle up to the age of 18 months - the mother cat had several litters and actively "called" her adult daughter to feed amongst the new kittens.  I tried to stop it, without success and the problem only resolved itself with the sad death of the mother under the wheels of a car.

A few (very few) tickets available on the ROH website for a couple of dates.  Anyone still looking, be quick!