Jane Simpson

The Royal Ballet announces the appointment, as from today, of Wayne McGregor as its resident choreographer. Interesting. McGregor's Chroma has been a big hit in the RB's latest triple bill but he works outside the classical tradition. He's also scheduled to make a piece for POB soon.

The RDB is performing its production of Swan Lake (by Peter Martins) in the new Opera House for the first time, starting on December 3rd. Five casts have been announced: Caroline Cavallo/Kristoffer Sakurai Gitte Lindstrom/Andrew Bowman Silja Schandorff/Kenneth Greve Yao Wei/Sebastian Michanek Amy Watson/Jean-Lucien Massot Lots of debuts in there, including Sakurai who gets the first night, and one or two surprising absences too - any comments from those who know the company better than I do?.

Well, they look to me like Anton Dolin and Alicia Markova (she in Les Sylphides) - but I can't find the exact photos at the moment - maybe someone else can?

No - these days the RB doesn't announce any but the two leads in advance. But if they keep to the same casting as at the premiere of this production, Marianela Nunez will be the Lilac Fairy and Sarah Lamb and Yohei Sasaki will do the Bluebird pas de deux, with Genesia Rosato as Carabosse. I'd certainly put money on seeing Nunez and Lamb! So far as I remember, Nunez was also Myrthe in the performances of Giselle which were filmed.

Bart, the names are probably better known over here: there are at least 14 dancers who went on to become principals of one or other of the Royal Ballet companies, many who became soloists either there or elsewhere (especially in Australia), and other extrememly distinguished names such as John Gilpin - one of the great classical dancers of his time - Henry Danton, and (I think) Ben Stevenson, under his original name of John Stevens. Since around 2001 there are lots of names which I think will be very well known in the future, too - several are already on their way to the top.

Also: he and Harold Turner founded the Arts Theatre Ballet in 1940, and then from 1945 till 1960 he worked as a choreographer at the Windmill Theatre in London (famous for its tasteful nudes and its fan dances). He was a principal teacher at the RAd from 1965, and died in 1993. He wrote his memoirs - I don't know how much of his life they covered, but they did include some very interesting glimpses of Spessivtseva, giving a much livelier picture of her than is often the case. I think the manuscript is in the RAD library, but has never been published in total.

Both Dance Books and the RDB offer both PAL and NTSC versions: the RDB asks you to choose, Dance Books will send you the one appropriate for your address. The snag in either case is that with the two books, it makes a very heavy parcel - but get it, anyway! It's wonderful, I watch it all the time just for the pleasure of the dancing.

Apparently they've moved it to the end of the season rather than August - it's on June 2nd next year.

The London dates are July 4 - 7 next year, at the Barbican Theatre. Sounds like a 'must be there'!

The Copenhagen casting is now up on the Bolshoi's English-language site, at http://www.bolshoi.ru/en/season/press-offi...ex.php?id26=479 Note the line from the Swan Lake casts: The Evil Genius - Dmitry Shostakovich (September 5, 6, 8), Yuri Klevtsov (7)

I just noticed that Sebastian Michanek is now in the company list on the RDB site - but not as a soloist, he's actually a solodanser - i.e. a principal.

Not always, though - I saw them do a Nutcracker together about 10 years ago during which he not only never once looked at her, but never let the smallest touch of expression cross his wooden features, even during the curtain calls: one of the reasons why I rate him less highly than do many others!

Another quotation which you may find relevant: "I should say that a knowledge of technique is essential to the full understanding of the ballet but not necessary for its appreciation; for the latter I think that emotional or intellectual reaction to the music, movement and decor is quite enough. For my own part, the less I knew of ballet the greater was my enjoyment; too carping an attitude is a great hindrance to enjoyment and a little knowledge can mar a lot of pleasure." Frederick Ashton, 1947 For MY own part, I found that the learning curve took me through a rather depressing period where I knew enough to carp but not enough to appreciate the best properly - perseverance pays!

But Ashton ALSO made a 'Valses Nobles...' ballet, quite separate from his La Valse, back in 1947, for the Salder's Wells Theatre Ballet - that is the one MacMillan danced in! (He was actually in the first performance.)

VN&S was part of the first programme MacMillan put on in Berlin when he became Director at the Deutsche Oper in 1966. I don't think it's ever been seen in the UK, and I don't know how long it lasted in the Berlin repertoire - Thorpe's book may tell you. I don't have a copy of that, but I checked in the dance magazines of the time: Alexander Bland in the Dancing Times described it as 'wistful, fluent, but distinctly old-fashioned'; Horst Koegler, in Dance & Dancers, was more enthusiastic but was very put out by the changes MacMillan made to the order of Ravel's music, with the second waltz being played before the first, and the first repeated at the end of the ballet. He described the choreography as 'all melting lyricism an endless stream of beautifully controlled, very soft-flowing, emotionally very subdued and one-keyed movements... a connoisseur's piece'. (MacMillan, incidentally, would know the music well as he danced often in Ashton's ballet to same piece.)

For those interested in the production details, they are given in the programme as follows: Choreography: Marius Petipa Additional choreography: Frederick Ashton, Anthony Dowell, Christopher Wheeldon Production: Monica Mason and Christopher Newton, after Ninette de Valois and Nicholas Sergeyev Original Designs: Oliver Messel Realization and Additional Designs: Peter Farmer Lighting: Mark Jonathan Staging: Christopher Carr Principal Coaching: Alexander Agadzhanov, Lesley Collier, Jonathan Cope, Anthony Dowell, Donald Macleary, Monica Mason, Christopher Saunders Additional choreography: Prologue: Carabosse and Rats: Anthony Dowell Act 1: Garland Dance: Christopher Wheeldon Act 11: Aurora's Variation, The Prince's Variation: Frederick Ashton Act 111: Florestan and his sisters: Frederick Ashton after Marius Petipa Act 111: Polonaise and Mazurka: Anthony Dowell assisted by Christopher Carr And to answer a couple of questions from earlier in the thread - there is no 'Ivan and his brothers' - Aurora and the Prince get the coda to the last act pas de deux; and if you looked at the photographs, the Prince doesn't actually do that pas de deux in his shirt.

You can see the first photos of the new production in ballet.co gallery I remember the Messel version quite well (I think) and it looks as if the costumes have been changed quite a lot. But note the caveat that this was a rehearsal and not everyone is in full costume. There's another rehearsal this morning so I'd guess there'll be another set, of a different cast, later. First night tonight...

Movin' Out, which opened in London on April 10, is to close on May 22, nearly 2 months ahead of schedule - it has apparently not attracted audiences in sufficient numbers to keep it going.

Solor, I passed your comment on to someone I know at the Dancing Times, who tells me that - assuming that she has identified you correctly - she has replied several times to your e-mails. Maybe you could check your spam folders to see if her replies have been misfiled there?

It's supposed to be a return to the 1946 production but I assume there will be some of the later changes kept (like Aurora's solo), and I'd be surprised if we get the Three Ivans back instead of the coda to the Act 3 pas de deux.

Well, the RB is between versions right now - the Makarova dumped, the next one not yet seen - but I believe we will certainly get Ashton's Aurora's Vision scene solo; not his garland dance (Christopher Wheeldon is doing a new one, I think); not the awakening pas de deux; don't know about the Prince's solo; and we do get Florestan and his sisters - usually attributed by the RB to Ashton, or Ashton after Petipa, but - as Mel says - originally devised by Nijinska.

Dale, if this was really recorded in 1978, and is the same one as I have seen, it is the de Valois production from 1977 which superseded the MacMillan version, and so far as I know the only MacMillan choreography left in it was the dance for Hop o'My Thumb in Act 3. The Ashton bits are the Garland dance, the solos for Aurora and the Prince in Act 2, and the Awakening pas de deux at the end of that act. The production also used the Ashton Florestan and his Sisters pas de trois in the last act, but neither that nor Hop o'My thumb were in the copy I've seen. (I think some of the dancing is excellent but unfortunately it was rather too late for Merle Park's Aurora - she was over 40 by then and way past her best.)

I've always thought that Manon's hair in the last act was that length because she and the other women had had their heads shaved when they were sentenced and it had just grown back to that length by the time they got off the ship - but I may have made that up. Also, didn't something catastrophic happen to Makarova's long hair? I'm sure I remember in one of her documentaries she talks about having some treatment at a salon in Paris when something went disastrously wrong and all the girls stood round saying 'Oh Madame! Oh la la!' - was it after that perhaps that she had it short?

Svetlana Beriosova, who was tall for her day (about 5'7" I think), was a wonderful Giselle. I think it's such a great role that it will bear many different interpretations, including a less-than-innocent first act - Tamara Rojo's from a couple of years ago, for instance.

The RB has announced various casting changes, and to no-one's amazement Ansanelli will now be dancing some performances of Polyphonia. She's also doing Ashton's Birthday Offering pas de deux in some performances of a mixed bill in June. Details at http://info.royaloperahouse.org/ballet/index.cfm?ccs=173