Mashinka

I have no idea what that post refers to at all, would you care to elucidate?

We don't get Hareros in London. I also heard Klaus Florian Vogt sing live for the first time this year, but in Lohengrin, and I was overwhelmed.

Pretty bad, but at least it's immediately seized upon in the comments.

Yes, it was. I no longer go regularly to Moscow so am a little out of the loop as to how the company currently works but at one time there seemed to be very much an A team and a B team, but there wasn't necessarily a drop in standards with the 'B team' even though many of the dancers were older members of the company. I assumed they rehearsed independently of one another. I'm not sure if the company still works on that basis or indeed if the numbers are still as great, but it does seem there is a group marked out as suitable for the tours, though frankly on the last tour to London they didn't exactly cover themselves in glory. The RB has a truly vast repertoire, or at least it did. There are many great works within it requiring a dozen dancers or less, I don't think presenting more than one programme a month should be too difficult, I started regular ballet going in the 1960's when they averaged four programmes a month, though the number would be more or less dependant on the opera productions also showing. If they could manage multi programmes back then. why can't they now?

It's virtually dancer proof in my eyes, but this time around Vadim Muntagirov in the first movement was the stand out for me. I always regard it as a special treat of a ballet. A number of London critics strike me as happier writing about modern dance rather than ballet. I personally find the term 'tutu ballet' implies contempt, hope I'm wrong about that.

The first new work of this season, The Unknown Soldier, choreographed by Alistair Marriot has been generally regarded as a flop and has worryingly added to the poor ratio of misses to hits at the RB. For me the work was something of a curates egg, with some effective moments offset by choreographic clichés and a score that reminded me of a 50's B movie, the near naked young men leaping around behind a scrim in the finale has been thought inappropriate by just about everyone. It's heart however is in the right place with a strong message about the futility of war. There is a lot of historic film footage including moving reminiscences from those that lived through the first world war and the words of 106 year old Harry Patch had people near me in tears at both the performances I went to. The timing of the work isn't ideal as the anniversary of the end of WW1 had passed and English National Ballet's wholly wonderful Lest We Forget programme was created to mark the beginning of that war, seen originally four years ago and very successfully revived again this year. Wayne Eagling also created a WW! piece this year, Remembrance, based on the wartime experiences of Marie Rambert and Ashley Dukes for New English Ballet Theatre which at least had the advantage of a Handel score performed by some first rate singers. Both casts I saw did their best to wring the last ounce of pathos from the basic boy meets girl, boy dies and leaves girl mourning storyline. Unknown Soldier was on a triple bill with Infra and Symphony in C, with the former having two interesting new casts and the latter looking good in this latest revival. Much comment has been expressed on social media regarding the new 'open up' policy at ROH and indeed the elderly audience for the RB does need new blood, but I was very taken aback by a comment I overheard as I was leaving the theatre from the type of young couple Covent Garden is so desperate to entice in. (Balanchine fans look away now) He: " I thought that was wonderful" She: "I hated it" He: "Even the wonderful Bizet?" She: "It was like Swan Lake without Tchaikovsky" I'm still recovering from that one.

Last night I was taken to the most extraordinary concert performance of a hologram of Maris Callas backed by a live orchestra. Has this been done elsewhere? It was actually more enjoyable than it sounds, though Maria herself still remained slightly two dimensional from where I was sitting, but was convincing enough to have her aficionados responding with floods of applause. A new experience and great fun.

Rather unwise in the current political climate.

At the very last minute usually I'm afraid but check out Dansomanie, a French language web site similar to this, as they often get wind of casting before the official announcement.

Nunez & Osipova alternating roles and Muntagirov and Corrales as Solor.

The biggest role I've caught her in was Myrtha in Giselle and although I prefer my Wili Queens big and scary (she was neither) as an airborne spirit she was superlative.

You are probably right, Nureyev was notorious for re-ordering, e.g. turning an SB fairy variation into a duet. It's thirty years plus since we saw his version in London and in the interim I've seen umpteen Russian performances, in fact the Kirov danced it here less than eighteen months ago. Possibly why I find the Markarova version so lacking. I only went to two performances and the principles were superb, The Shades were a mixed bag, but if you were lucky enough to catch Fumi Kaneko, you'd consider her the one that stuck in the memory.

No, it isn't, it absolutely isn't. I've watched DQ in Spain and the local audiences adored it. For many people imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery.

Indeed they did, not just in Bayadere, there was more interest in filling the stage back then and a student I used to know popped up in all sorts of little roles. Not enough room? Russian visitors don't have a problem.

A lot depends on pricing, if La Scala prices were inflated for the visitors, perhaps that's why the public stayed away. Slightly off topic, I'm sick to death of the uninterrupted runs of RB productions, when the Bolshoi can schedule different ballets in one week it highlights the shortcomings on the RB, this tedious programming of ballets in blocks never used to be the norm.

Russians do dance it very differently. I think you will find you posted the third.

I am wondering how much longer we can enjoy DVDs and CDs as streaming takes over and new technology replaces old. Recently a major UK store announced it would stop selling DVD players and the newest models of cars no longer have CD players. Now, I have only come across one music lover prepared to ditch his CD collection and know opera buffs with thousands of complete operas on CD, the time it would take to download would be considerable. I'm one of those people that like to pull a book, CD, DVD off a shelf. Am I a dinosaur?

Languorous certainly, rather like Prokofiev's summer variation in Cinderella. It's hard to be sprightly when the temperature is 40C+ and the sensuality may well come from watching belly dancers. I always enjoyed Nureyev's Arab Dance, an interesting concept from a choreographer who was himself a Muslim. His tumblers in the Chinese Dance were superior to all that pointy finger stuff too.

Having just watched her version for the RB, I consider it a dismal thing with so many of the usual elements missing. Where is the drum dance? where's Manu and her pot. No parrots, no elephant. A betrothal party so sparsely populated you wonder if the relatives of the tiger that Solor killed earlier have gone on the rampage. Above all we're eight Bayaderes short going down the ramp, An ineffectual last act viewed through a scrim is no substitute for the feast of opulence that the Russians give us, including Vikharev's version.

Not an exaggeration to say that British ballet goers aren't just shocked, they are disgusted. How is it more expensive now than in the past? This coincidentally was the first ballet I saw Fonteyn dance back in 1964. On a pro rata basis is the Royal Ballet in receipt of fewer funds than in the past? Concert goers that otherwise ignore ballet will turn out to hear famous scores performed as they were intended, the all Stravinsky programmes conducted by Bernard Haitinck proved that. Too many triple bills are put together with little regard to the music, the antithesis of Diaghilev's artistic principles of course.

Little chance, they seldom dance together. Actually I think the ROH are missing a trick with the casting as Osipova/Hallberg would have gone down particularly well with US audiences.

Corrales is phenomenal, not just for his dancing but for his acting skills which are off the Richter scale and probably the result of his being a child actor (rather like the great John Gilpin), He has been dancing the relatively minor role of a Hungarian Officer in Mayerling, no doubt so that he can familiarize himself with the Opera House stage, but even in that role I heard the name 'Corrales' buzzing round the amphi as people realized something very special has landed in their midst. Tonight he makes his debut as Solor, with Romeo and Basilio lined up for later this season - and he is a mere twenty two years of age. For the record I consider him to have a very pleasant face.

That's pretty much my opinion too. With a Bolshoi season in London next year, I have to admit that the likely list of female principals Zakharova, Smirnova, Stepanova makes me shudder. Only Krysanova lightens the gloom. Should out of favour Kaptsova and Alexandrova show up, or indeed, Obraztsova, I could muster some enthusiasm. Btw, could someone tell me what is happening with Obtaztsova? A friend booked for the Milan Bayaderes in the hope of seeing her but no luck. Is she out of favour as well?

I think you will find that between the Tsarist era and the present day, we had the Soviet era that clearly didn't subscribe to ageism, hence the lengthy careers of Ulanova and Plisetskaya among others. If a mandatory retirement age has been introduced at the Bolshoi, I would like to know who introduced such a rule and when. It certainly doesn't apply at the Kirov.

Just back from my first Mayerling of this run. Empty seats throughout the auditorium. They should definitely give this ballet a rest, it should be revived no fewer than every ten yeas.