Tracey

I'd have to have Brunel in my top 100, though I'm not sure exactly where - we are surrounded by him in Bristol. I grew up less than a mile away from the Clifton Suspension Bridge, Bristol Temple Meads railway station is one end of the Great Western Railway, the SS Great Britain is in dry dock here (her original birthplace) and is nearly fully restored, there are a couple of statues of him in the city. I prefer things of the natural world than constructed (so I fully agree with David Attenborough too!!), but what Brunel built in Bristol is beautiful. Tracey

I'd just been to see a ballet for the first time in years and realised how much I missed it, both doing and watching. I then spent a while trying to find info about adult ballet on the internet and found this! I've been here nearly every day since and I love it Tracey.

I'd just been to see a ballet for the first time in years and realised how much I missed it, both doing and watching. I then spent a while trying to find info about adult ballet on the internet and found this! I've been here nearly every day since and I love it Tracey.

Mjr Mel, I believe that is what most large corporations would call 'succession planning', which in this case sounds like a good idea

Calliope, it was the opening week of the national tour in Bristol - the ENB tours around the UK so it will continue in other places until February time.

I saw the matinee performance yesterday of the English National's new production of the Nutcracker. Now I'm no good critic (ballet gives me goosebumps full stop- even not so good performances) but I'll do the best I can to describe it for you . For the first act the set is a biiiiiig colourful story book, which Drosselmeyer changes by turning the 'pages'. The costumes were 'modern', Clara had a red (and I mean red) bob with a hair clip in it, and her friend had a blue bob. At the party the adults were all dressed in colourful outfits, the women with different body extras on, like hips and boobs to make them look curvy, with tight trousers and tops, and 'way out there' colourful wigs! Fritz and the boys were dressed in jeans and t-shirts, the girls in little dresses. My boyfriend thought all this was a bit panto-ish, and didn't like it very much - I did enjoy it, but it was very un-balletic apart from Clara and her friend. After bed-time and for the rest of the ballet, Clara's costume is a pair of white silk pyjamas! The battle over the nutcracker involved mice and toy soldiers with toy machine guns (!!), and eventually Clara hits the Mouse King over the head with one of the soldiers boots! In the second act the backdrop is full of wonderful colourful cupcake 'mountains' with cherries on the top, and the set is like a sweetshop with a couple of oversized sweet shelves. The Sugar Plum Fairy was OK, but I've seen better (in fact I was quite disappointed). The whole thing was a blaze of colour and it would probably take 2 viewings to see it all - I know I missed stuff. The party was a bit busy with more than one thing going on at the same time and I couldn't take it all in. For me Lisa Probert from the Corps who played Clara and Yat-Sen Chang (Drosselmeyer) stole the show. He was great with the magic tricks for the kids and playing the modern magician. She played her part like she was loving every minute of it, with such childlike joy it was fantastic. On that performance she deserves a promotion! For me it's a good production - the modernisation has been done well together with the set design, and it kept even the youngest kids enthralled. My friend's 5 year old thought it was the best thing she's ever seen and wanted to see it again straight away! I would definitely see that production again - I'm sorry I waited til the last day because I would have done had I seen it earlier. Tracey

Following the appointment of Monica Mason as Acting Director she's made some changes to the forthcoming season. ROH website There is a note from Deborah MacMillan near the bottom above Romeo & Juliet - read between the lines.......

Who can forget Sarah Jessica Parker - she trained with the Cincinnati Ballet and the ABT.

I can't remember the first one either (too young) - I have childlike memories of the Nutcracker, which I haven't seen for years (but I'm going this year!), Swan Lake and Coppelia, but always full length ballets, never triple bills or anything else. I used to have a ballet book which had a picture of Margot Fonteyn in full Odette costume, and I wanted to be her so much .

Congrats to all those promoted, especially William Tuckett who my mum taught at primary school when he was 7 , and me and William went to the same ballet school pre-his joining the RBS!! He's about 3 or 4 years older than me, and we used to watch him in class from the doorway before our classes - he was always destined for great things!!

Thanks Sylvia, I didn't realise that about Ross Stretton. I know there are concerns about the repertory that the RB will be doing under him. I'll enjoy it all anyway because I'm one of those that just finds the whole experience magical! I'm looking forward to seeing more dancers in the future.

Thanks for your replies - I'm looking forward to seeing her now. It appears that she's been given Don Q instead of Bussell as Don Q is now completely out of Bussell's schedule, so maybe with the new Artistic Director Mikayo will get more roles. Jude - I'm going on 27th July for the evening performance and our seats are in the amphitheatre. We sat up there for Giselle a few months ago and it's a good view for not too much money! It looks like Alina Cojocaru is doing the matinee that day - I haven't seen her dance yet but would love to. We've only just starting to go up to London for the ballet because we only get the ENB through Bristol maybe twice a year, and I love it so much I want more than that!! Tracey

I booked tickets back in May for Don Q, Royal Ballet at the ROH, having taken from Darcey Bussell's website that she was dancing. I've just rechecked and she's been taken out of Don Q and replaced with Yoshida (still with Jonathan Cope). I don't know anything about her and just wondered if anyone had any information about her, what she's like, strengths, weaknesses etc. Thanks Tracey