Mashinka

There I must strongly disagree, the ENB prima is Romanian.

Petit was always a friend and supporter of Nureyev, Bejart? Nureyev danced very successfully in his company earlier in his career, perhaps there was a falling out. The examples given are certainly bizarre.

Seconded.

Far, far, better than we're getting in London, I'm still in shock that the RB appears to have chosen to ignore the Fonteyn centenary.

I thought he left when he did because of his deteriorating health.

What about John Gilpin?

Yes it is, Ashton created it to show a prince yearning for true love prior to the entrance of the Lilac Fairy.

Do a bit of research before booking a trip as there is a lot of industrial action in France right now and the railways are the most seriously affected. I'm going to Paris at the end of next month, so have a few worries already, especially about it spreading to airports and the metro. Do read this BBC article. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-43617033

Of course Ivan Vasiliev has put on weight since Petit saw him.............

Sorry but I don't understand your story. A French dancer won't go to Stuttgart because there are too few classics? Exactly what does she think she'll be dancing in Paris?

I doubt very much that money paid a part in that decision as no dancer was as wealthy as Nureyev before or since. He could have had no inkling of how famous he was to become that day at Le Bourget. I'll not argue over that, the Royal Ballet has had a whole list of duds, though Woolf Works and Symphonic Dances are anything but. But at least they are new works, without them a company becomes a museum.

Not in that picture she isn't

I can assure you that from 'the west' Russian repertoires seem narrow and unimaginative whereas in most of the western companies they are far more innovative and wide ranging. You seem to choose to forget that dancers such as Nureyev, Makarova, Baryshnikov et al chose to defect (at some risk to themselves) in order to dance in a wider repertoire. Nowadays all dancers have to do is get a work permit. Frankly I don't see any benefits for dancers working in Russia and the majority that do so seem to have gone there to train and then simply stayed on. Impossible also the ignore the present political climate as recent events have political analysts predicting a new cold war. Before long it may not be possible to move in either direction.

Thank you.

Thank you, I'm touched that there has been an acknowledgement of his 80th anniversary, there has been nothing here in the UK which is pretty disgusting considering what he did for the Royal Ballet and also in view of this year also marking the 25th anniversary of his death. It seems that the RB doesn't do anniversaries anymore. Nothing to mark 200 years of Petipa, and quite astonishingly it looks as if the hundredth anniversary of Margot Fonteyn's birth is going to be completely ignored.

Would you be so kind as to give a little more information about this gala, such as where it was performed, and who else was dancing. I don't understand your comment beneath the picture. Did you mean petty?

The Royal Ballet has similar problems with injuries, perhaps if they just performed the classical rep there wouldn't be such a strain on their bodies.

Absolutely. There is a difference between critics and reviewers, in theory the internet should provide a platform for in depth analysis denied to press critics due to other demands for page space, but too often people write with an agenda of some sort. Press critics as paid professionals are regarded as naturally superior to amateurs, yet time and again you can spot glaring errors of fact e.g. assuming a ballet is by one choreographer when it is actually by another. I hate to name drop but many years ago I had an interesting conversation with Anton Dolin about critics which perhaps influenced my views on them as a whole, he didn't think much of them at all. The best reviewers are those that can relate with as much detail as possible what they have seen on stage, they are invaluable when watching revivals by the way. As for technique, how many in the audience can actually distinguish an arabesque from an attitude, indeed, how many will have even heard those terms? Who is the critic writing for? General audience or dyed in the wool balletomanes? Not so easy. is it?

RB triple bills are lower priced regardless of the choreographer.

First of all I consider Diane Solway's biography to be the definitive account of Nureyev's career and she very clearly lays the blame at Hurok's door. So too does Norman Lebrecht in his weighty tome, Covent Garden: The Untold Story. On page 262 he also blames Hurok, giving a little more detail, but of course the then management Ashton/Webster, approved the cast change but interestingly Lebrecht notes that they didn't give the board any reason for the cast change. One thousand people according to Solway, slept out in an effort to get first night tickets. On that occasion I didn't join them, in fact I didn't see them in the ballet until the following year, 1966. By that time the Fonteyn/Nureyev performance had been filmed for posterity, the Seymour/Gable interpretation never was.

Yes they did bring it to London and I have to say that SFB dance it far better than the RB.

They danced the first performance and for many people their interpretation of the roles surpassed anything that followed, but the ballet was created for Seymour and Christopher Gable. Apparently Sol Hurok insisted F&N should dance the premiere. I think to make a tie in with Fonteyn's birth would, as you say, be controversial.

The Royal Ballet totally ignored Petipa this year, they have also failed to acknowledge the eightieth anniversary of Nureyev's birth which coincides with the twenty fifth anniversary of his death. Now, astonishingly, it appears they have chosen not to celebrate the centenary of Margot Fonteyn's birth. There is nothing whatsoever in the press release about her with Firebird being the only ballet she was associated with being performed. I find that shameful.

In that case it's a good thing you never saw Ivan Vasiliev - you would have had a heart attack.

Muntagirov danced with Stix-Brunell the other night in Winter's Tale, Had I been director I would be reviving Daphnis & Chloe for them on the basis of that performance. Height allowing, everyone usually gets to dance with everyone else at the RB and VM looks very good with Osipova, Sorry but don't care for Clarke at all, interesting that people like him on line as I've not registered much enthusiasm amongst the fans, still to each their own.