Jane Simpson

The Royal Ballet announced its plans for next season today. Full details can be found from http://info.royaloperahouse.org/News/Index.cfm?ccs=739 Highlights Monica Mason's contract as Artistic Director has been extended to 2010. (She was initially appointed for 4 years) The company has abandoned Makarova's production of Sleeping Beauty and is marking its 75th anniversary by a new one, produced by Monica Mason and Christopher Newton after Nicolai Sergueev, and with decor based on the Oliver Messel production. First night is May 15 2006. Johan Kobborg produces La Sylphide - the first time it's been done by the RB. Alina Cojocaru and Ivan Putrov get the first night, Kobborg dances with Cojocaru at some later performances. Flemming Flindt's The Lesson is in the same bill some nights, others have Ashton's Les Rendezvous. New to the repertoire: Glen Tetley's Pierre Lunaire and new works by Alastair Marriott and Matjash Mrozewski Returning to the repertoire: La Fete Etrange, Gloria, Ballet Imperial, Afternoon of a Faun (Robbins), Polyphonia, the Rake's Progress Kenneth Greve returns to dance in Manon with Zenaida Yanowsky Ashton's Homage to the Queen is to reappear - but only the Air section is recreatable as there was no film and no notated version, so David Bintley, Michael Corder and Christopher Wheeldon are to do a section each to complete the work.

We don't know here, because he's pulled out of the next ballet he was scheduled to dance with the RB because of 'conflict of commitments'. But that does sound as if he's expecting to appear in whatever the conflicting commitment is!

bart, Solymosi really did divide opinion in RB audiences - some thought he was the most exciting thing since Nureyev, others couldn't stand him at any price. He could appear self-absorbed on stage and had the reputation of being, er, temperamental. I think some of his problem was that he wanted to hang on to his own identity rather than become a 'Royal Ballet' dancer so he often looked very different from anyone else on stage and his acting could look mannered and, in RB terms, old-fashioned. But he did have good roles, sometimes surprising ones like the Mukhamedov role in MacMillan's The Judas Tree.

How wise Pavlova was, to stay away from movie cameras almost entirely - otherwise we could be having this discussion about her, too. (By the way, if Fonteyn was 5'4" she was more than 2 inches taller than Alina Cojocaru, who seems to be doing all right in attracting the public!)

I saw what I think was her last ever Swanilda, and she was indeed just lovely. She could convey a very pure sense of happiness on stage, although a lot of people think of her more in serious roles like Odette or Lady Elgar. The only commercially available film that gives an idea of her in lighter mood is The Soldier's Tale, which has just been released on DVD - even if you don't like the piece or can't stand Robert Helpmann, it's worth it just for Beriosova's solo. I saw her as Aurora, Odette/Odile and Giselle as well as in Ondine and Cinderella, but never as Sylvia. She does seem to have affected people strongly - when she died, Anthony Dowell wrote a piece in the Covent Garden programme that was astonishingly open for him, about the privilege of working with such a wonderful woman.

I've just bought a copy of the Dance News Annual 1953 - I gather it's widely available second hand in the USA but I've never seen a copy over here before. What a treasure! Mine was more expensive than normal because it's signed by both the editors for Ana Ricarda, but it would be worth the money just for the juxtaposed photos of Serenade in New York and Paris - a contrast you wouldn't believe! So, what I want to know is: was there ever another one, 1954 etc?

But Fonteyn wasn't trying and failing to use her arms like Plisetskaya or whoever - she believed strongly that Odette was not a swan, she was a woman, and would have no reason to have arms looking like wings! I don't think I've ever seen this video, and maybe her arms weren't at their most expresssive - but it's not for this reason.

When the RB first did Sleeping Princess in 1939, Sergeyev used the Gold Fairy's music for Aurora's solo - choreography presumably 'after Petipa'. They used this music till Ashton made his new version to the 'right' music in 1952.

Thankyou, rg - I'm sure it must be the same thing - the children are indeed sitting at her feet.

I've just bought a copy of an American travel magazine called Venture, dated December/January 1970, which has set into the front cover a 3 dimensional photo of Balanchine's Nutcracker (to illustrate one of the features, on Christmas Customs in the US). I've never seen anything like this before - has anyone else got it, and could confirm who the dancer and the children are? (Though I'm mildly addicted to eBay, it doesn't compare with the pleasure of finding something like this lying on a shelf in a very disorganised secondhand bookshop deep in rural England!)

One of the men in the ensemble, Yohei Sasaki, is dancing the Rhapsody pas de deux with Yoshida at a gala on Sunday, so I wondered if he might have learned the whole role as cover. Or I'd love to see Ricardo Cervera have a go at it. Incidentally the first night was Acosta's ROH debut in the role but he's danced it before, when the company was at Sadler's Wells whilst the ROH was closed.

I wonder how many of the young men in the corps de ballet were just getting ready to step forward and take over, with 'star is born' headlines flashing before their eyes?

Paul, you might be interested in this quote from Judith Mackrell's review of ENB's revival of the production of Giselle by Mary Skeaping, which tries to go back closer to the original version: "The mime sections too have an old fashioned elaborateness - with extra story-telling detail (Giselle quaintly gestures to her friends that they should stop stripping the grapes from the vines and dance with her) " It sounds as if it may be the same thing as you learned! I haven't seen this production yet but will watch out for this moment when I do.

There is currently an exhibition of the work of Lee Miller at the National Portrait Gallery in London, and my husband brought me home from it a postcard of an extraordinary portrait of Margot Fonteyn, which I could look at for ever. It's apparently one of a series of Fonteyn modelling Chinese felt hats - does anyone know if there's a book or a permanent exhibition where I might see the rest of the series?

Can any Russian speakers cast any light on this item currently for sale on eBay? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...6515604348&rd=1

Natalia, when I look at my programme I think that the bit where I so admired Yanowsky must have been the beginnning of the Je ne t'aime pas bit rather than of the whole piece - it shows how much that image has dominated my memory! I think the casting was probably done the same way in London as you're now seeing - there were four main women and four men who split most of the dancing between them. (The one who did Spring was a a girl from the corps de ballet called Alina Cojocaru! ) Incidentally in London the ballet was called There Where She Loves - interesting that he's changed it.

When we first saw There Where She Loved in London, the most striking moment of the two performances I saw was the very beginning, with the second cast - Zenaida Yanowsky was doing the role created by Darcey Bussell, and the curtain goes up on her just standing there. Yanowsky was just superb - the tension in her body already told you so much about who she was. I thought then, and have never had cause to change my mind, that she'd make a wonderful Tudor heroine. Did anyone particularly notice this moment in the Washington production?

One of the newspapers had a preview of 2005 which mentioned that POB would be making a 'brief' visit to Sadler's Wells in October, and that they'd be doing Le Parc - and so far as I know that's all they're doing. I hope Legris at least will still be there, and it would be lovely if Hilaire and/or Maurin came too. (And maybe Guillem will be a guest artist too?) I saw Maurin do Le Parc with Legris in Paris - the first time I've seen her since she danced Aurora with the Royal Ballet, years ago - and liked her very much.

Oh dear - who's going to be left to do Le Parc in London next season?

Yes, I agree - Deanne Bergsma.

It's actually not quite as useful as you might think, as all the photos of the view from the seat are taken with the red curtain down, which tends to make the view look better than it really is - it would be much more instructive if they could show a plan of the stage area, with the bit you can't see clearly marked - but then no-one would want to buy some of the seats!

Drew, although the front row of the stalls circle is very good, rows B and C in the centre can be very frustrating if there's someone tall in front of you - somewhat to the side is better. It's a pity we can't draw a picture for you. I don't often sit in the stalls but when I do I prefer seats on the outside of the two aisles, preferably actually on the aisle - you get a diagonal view and are less vulnerable to tall people. However to get any of these seats you need to apply as early as possible!

Paul, how lucky you are to have studied with Joyce Graham! I've only seen photographs of her as Myrtha but she looks so dramatic - and Rambert's Giselle was very highly regarded in the 1940s. I've never noticed the mime passages you mention - it would be great to know if they are ever used these days.

These are certainly nice photos, but I do wonder where the site owner gets them from. So far as I can see there are no photographer credits - or have I missed that? If he/she has paid standard copyright fees it must have cost a small fortune!

One of the programmes whilst you're in London is Manon with Sylvie Guillem and Jonathan Cope, which is in any case a hot, hot ticket and has just had the most ecstatic reviews - so expect to have to queue a LOT earlier than Leigh did !