Alymer

I think that's a bit of a misaprehension Ari. There are quite a few dancers around who did dance in Sylvia, not least Doreen Wells who gave several performances of the title role. Alexander Grant - the original Eros - is happily still with us (just back from holiday and looking very well when I saw him last night), as is Attilio Labis who partnered Fonteyn in her last performances of Sylvia. I know a number of people who danced in that last revival who were, or could have been, contacted to teach what they could remember. I don't know if Melissa Hayden was one of them...... Please don't think for a moment that I'm trying to minimise what Christopher Newton has achieved, but there were a number of dancers around who remembered parts of the choroegraphy and gave their help.

From where I sat it was more like "What the *****!!!!". I'll say no more.

QUOTE "Things you can’t hear in other parts of the house; footfalls and even breathing onstage can be heard very audibly here." Yes, and on one occasion from my seat in the stalls circle, Miss Seymour telling the conductor, in fairly basic terms, exactly what she thought of his tempi! Apart from being very dry, the acoustic at Covent Garden has always been odd so you do hear breathing and the odd grunt, and the refurbishment hasn't done a great deal to improve it - likewise the sightlines. I'm glad you enjoyed your Ashton week though Leigh. Noli me tangere does come in a poem - I can't remember the author (I thought it might have been Thomas Wyatt), but the line goes something like "noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am and wild for to hold, though I seem tame". I think it refers to a lady who was, shall we say, available, but is no longer so.

Some years ago there was a conference in Israel called The Bible in Dance, or something similar. I believe it was organised by an Israeli writer, Giora Manor (I'm not sure if I've spelled his surname correctly). If that is of interest I could try to find out how to get in touch with him. Maybe you could send me a private message. The ballet of the Vienna State Opera also had John Neumier's "Legend of Joseph" in its repertory some years ago and Neumier has also choreographed "Magnificat" and the St. Mathew Passion.

"That is also why Neumeier, Ek, Duato et. al are also disliked in the U.K. These type of choreographers will never jell with the style of the Royal, or what was the style of the Royal." To be fair, very little of Neumier's work has been seen in the UK. He did an early piece for Scottish Ballet many, many years ago plus one work for the Royal Ballet. Wayne Sleep who had a leading role in that piece describes in his autobiography the enormous difficulties under which he (Neumier) was obliged to work (minimal rehearsal time, etc) and the piece was barely completed at the premiere. The Paris Opera brought Midsummer Night's Dream, and there was a pas de deux made for Darcy Bussell. So I honestly think that the UK audience can hardly be said the have a genuine opinion about Neumier's work. Bejart does have fans in England, although certainly most of the critics loathe his work. I too saw the programme Estelle describes and thought it pretty dreary. The Mother Teresa work was truly awful - but, there are other pieces that I've really enjoyed over the years, and which I don't think you could describe as anything other than classical dance.

According to Dickie Buckle's biography of Diaghilev this is how Le Festin ran on the first night in Paris. Processional entry to the march from Coq d'or Lezginka danced by Vera Fokina with ten men L'oiseau d'or: Karsavina, Nijinsky Czardas from Raymonda: Sophie Fedorova, Mordkine Gopak from Fair at Sorotchinsk: Olga Fedorova, Kremnev plus supporting cast Mazurka from A Life for the Tsar: four couples Trepak to music from Casse Noisette: Rosai Pas Classique from Raymonda: leading couple Karalli, Mordkine Finale to last movemen t of Tchaikovsky's Second Symphony. This last, according to Serge Grigoriev, was Fokine's only contribution to Le Festin, though I know he is generally credited with having arranged or adapted a number of the other items. In his memoir he says: "All that Fokine had to do was invent the finale, which was to be danced to music from Tchaikovsky's Second Symphony. Its object was to enable the whole company to appear together at the end. For some reason however, it proved difficult to arrange satisfactorily. Fokine spent much time and energy arranging and rearranging it; but it never really came off." The choreographers Grigoriev credits are Petipa, Gorsky, Fokine, Gltz and F. Kchessinsky (Matilde's father who was famous for his Mazurka in A Life for the Tsar). When Le Festin was given in the second season it was changed somewhat and it was then, I think, that Nijinsky appeared in the Lezginka. I have a programme somewhere, but I can't put my hand on it. Interestingly, in advance publicity Diaghilev was at pains to emphasise that the parisian audience would have a chance to see choreography by Marius Petipa who he described as "the brother of the famous Petipa". And Petipa was especially proud of his choreography for the Lezginka, which he dwells on in his memoirs. So I do wonder how much Fokine actually did to change or adapt those numbers, especially when he was so busy with the finale and with the dances from Prince Igor. With regard to the dances from Ruslan and Ludmilla - he is generally credited with them. Certainly he claims authorship in his memoirs. However, there is one number for a group of nymphs which to my, admittedly amateur eyes, looks not like Fokine, not even like Petipa, but something still earlier. I've seen it staged and I also have it on video and I can't help wondering if its basis lies in the original staging by Antoine Titus and that various ballet masters came in, tidied it up a little, changed a detail here and there, then signed it and sent in the invoice, so to speak. The photograph of Fokine is fascinating rg. You must have an amazing collection. But it's very different from that worn by Nijinsky. Far more bare flesh!

"the glinka 'mazurka' is prob. that from the opera A LIFE FOR THE TSAR, ditto the 'lezginka." I think the lezginka actually came from Ruslan and Ludmilla. It's given in the last act. There are several pictures of Nijinsky in this role reproduced in Kirstein's book, Nijinsky Dancing and a nice little note about Petipa choreographing the dance.

'I don't think it is Anthony Russell-Roberts' view that Persephone has been 'lost forever' That's what he told me. Admitedly that was some years ago so he may have changed his mind.

Capriol Suite is very much about, although it's true that it hasn't been danced for a few years. Mark Baldwin, current director of Ballet Rambert remarked at the beginning of this season that ' no one would want to see Capriol Suite'. Wrong! Especially given the so-called tribute to A Tragedy of Fashion this company gave us.... Jazz Calendar was revived by Birmingham Royal Ballet a few years ago, but on reflection I don't know how well it worked without the original cast. It was still fun though. Among many, many others, I'd like to see a revival of Persephone which was made for Svetlana Beriosova (who spoke beautiful french as well as dancing even more beautifully) which had very distinguished designs by Nico Ghika. I think it would be a fascinating role for Guillem and I'm certain that with the positive wish to do so, it could be revived. Anthony Russell Roberts (Ashton's nephew who owns the rights) claims that the ballet is lost for ever. But then he said that about Dante Sonata and Persephone was given far more recently. Where there's a will, there's a way.......

Although the photo is definitely Ashton and Facade, I think it's from a number called Noche Peruvienne - a solo which Ashton added in the late 1930's and which was performed as late as 1943 when my husband actually saw it. (Ashton was born in Peru). Both Ashton and Helpmann danced the number - which was dropped before the end of the war. The Dago's costume doesn't have the sash.

I think Fonteyn wore Freed's shoes - which doesn't mean that she didn't sign the Repettos photographed.

Danilova also mounted an extract from Pavillion d'Armide for a gala in Hamburg in 1965. The cast was Marina Eglevsky, Marianne Kruse, Zhandra Rodriguez and Michael Barishnikov. I remember his variation - the one created for Nijinsky - began with a huge sideways jump. And when the Kirov came to London in 1970 Barishnikov and Yelena Yevteyeva did a pas de deux described as being from Coppelia. Her variation used completely different music and choreography to anything I'd ever seen described as Delibes or Coppelia and were later told that it was actually from Pavillion d'Armide. As Doug suggests, parts of the ballet must have survived within the company.

"Helpmann led the children of darkness and looks from a contemporary picture I’ve found, more melodramatic and heavily made up than dancers in the role today. " From what I've heard Helpmann was always more melodramatic and heavily made up than today's dancers Mashinka! More seriously, I'm very curious as to what US audiences will make of Dante Sonata. It is very different to any other Ashton work I can think of - though in its freedom and expressiveness a piece he made called Lament of the Waves (now lost I guess) had some similarities. I saw two performances of Dante with two casts - both good. And at both performances the dancers performed with total sincerity and belief - although it must be very different from anything else they perform, even leaving aside the bare feet and loose hair of the women. There are some wonderful images. A heap of seemingly naked writhing bodies; a short, breast-beating variation for one of the Children of Light women; the crucifixion of the leading male Child of Light and a thoroughly ambiguous ending. The audience (good houses at both Saturday performances) was hugely appreciative. I thought Silvia Jimenez was terrific as a Child of Darkness and I liked Andy Reitschel in the Helpmann role (much less makeup!). Both women who did the breast-beating variation were good, the leading Children of Light couple were a bit more problematic - they are roles that depend greatly on presence and personality, but I don't think any company anywhere in the world currently has a young Fonteyn and a young Soames. Two casts in Two Pigeons: I liked Chi Cao and Ambra Vallo best in the first act and Robert Parker and Nao Sakuma in the second. Where this pair fell down for me in Act I was that they tried too hard to act and force the comedy. I rember Ashton once saying to me (in fact about his Juliet) "They all want to act, but it's all there in the choreography". I think that's true for Pigeons as well. By simply performing the choreography as written Cao and Vallo were far more effective. My husband, who has seen the ballet more often than I, was however very impressed with Sakuma who he thought had caught Seymour's way of moving. Parker shone more in Act II - even though he didn't managed the triple tours en l'air that Paul Clarke used to do or David Wall's double doubles. And both casts in the final pas de deux had me wiping my eyes - although there's still more to get out of it than they've found yet. Of the two gypsy girls; Molly Smolen gave an accurate account of the choreography, but I thought she was completely without allure. Asta Bazevicute - a tall dancer had some difficulties, but was a chilly, self-absorbed fascinator - a real femme fatale. I don't understand Ismene Brown's criticisms of the company. True there is none of the frantic acting you see from the Covent Garden corps in their MacMillan repertory - all those whores and beggars. But it would be totally wrong in Ashton anyway. I did see a company who seemed to believe completely in what they were doing and those gypsies certainly gavseemed e the impression that they were thoroughly enjoying what they were given to do. I wasn't able to see Fille thanks to engineering works on the railways. My husband has gone to Manchester this weekend to catch up on two casts (including the Parker Sakuma pairing that Brown criticises so heavily) and I'll be interested to see if his impressions bear any relation to her notice.

I gather Ms Marquez is tiny, which is a considerable advantage if you have a small male principal looking for a partner. With regard to Ari's perceptive comments about preserving Ashton's style: When MacMillan took over as director of the Royal Ballet he let it be known that he was unhappy with the way the company danced the classics, commenting that they danced them "like Ashton" and he wanted it changed. The sad thing is that having got rid of Ashton style, other than in the MacMillan repertoire, no new company style has been imposed in its place. And with the wide diversity of backgrounds and training among today's Royal Ballet dancers, the task gets more difficult each year. Although it will be great to see some of the Ashton repertoire next season, I wonder if there will be much sense of his style. There aren't that many people around who worked intensively with him, and many of those are either getting rather old, or are not called on for help in establishing the way the ballets used to be danced.

That's pretty much the situation Alexandra, and with the EU enlarging still further, the mix in many european companies is likely to become even more varied. Barley, part of the answer to your question lies with the output of the Royal Ballet School which went through a pretty low period for some years. Derek Deane, the former director of English National Ballet made some pretty harsh comments about the level of dancer being turned out by British vocational dance schools, and though I suspect he was looking to make headlines (which he did) there was more than a little truth in his criticisms. A further instance was when five of the Royal Ballet's men (principals and soloists) left the company en masse a few years ago to join K Ballet in Japan. When Dowell, who was director at the time, was asked by the general director (Michael Kaiser) how he intended to replace them, he replied that "he'd wait for people to come up through the school". Kaiser told him to "go out and hire the five best male dancers in the world". Well, I don't think he entirely succeded, but that's how we come to have Johan Kobborg as a company member, and I guess it opened management's eyes to the fact that there were some pretty good dancers out there. By contrast, there are very, very few members the Paris Opera Ballet who were not entirely trained at the school which seems to turn out an endless supply of well trained ddancers. I guess it's like Mr Balanchine said "First a school".

"Most of the critics I know worked hard to educate themselves before they started writing, and continue to do the same now that they're published. Frankly, I know many of them who continue to impoverish themselves to be able to see what they need to see, in order to know enough about the field." Good for them. I hope they get every pennysworth of enjoyment from it because it's a big investment, not just in terms of cash paid for the ticket, but also in time. After all, we all have to earn a living, do our chores, look after our families and get on with the business of living, as well as going to the ballet . But I don't think you'd get many of today's established British critics who would have that attitude. I've never spotted any of them at performances, even of companies they all clamour to see such as the Bolshoi or the Kirov, in anything other than house or press seats.

I perfectly recognised the performance I saw by Rasta Thomas in Apollo from Hockeyfan's description. A baby god being born, going through adolescence to maturity. I think it's a perfectly valid interpretation - not perhaps my own ideal - but nonetheless to be taken seriously. It's also true though, that DTH was not on great form, not even as good as on its last visit to London which was a considerable decline from earlier seasons. The POB performances of Liebeslieder I saw, I loved. It was different in nuance and interpretation from the performances I saw by NYCB many, many years ago (Verdy was still in the cast). I guess those would be very different from those New York audiences will see this season. Balanchine chose and coached two very different casts in London all those years ago. I gathered at the time he was happy with them. I thought some of his choices were, shall we say, surprising, but presumably they pleased his eye. They in turn, brought something quite different to the work from the Viennese dancers I saw - again chosen and rehearsed by Mr B. (And I heard that he had real battles to get one of those Viennese dancers accepted by the management. It was a case of "No Fraulein X, no Liebeslieder. I'm off to Demel to eat Sachetorte.") To refer to another thread which does have a bearing on this one; contrary to what Norman Lebrecht seems to be saying, a large number of critics doesn't necessarily mean a large number of good ciritics. And when I say good, I don't just mean those that one agrees with. I would say of those widely read in the UK, a very few are good, most are indifferent and quite a few really bad. What makes a good critic? Well, I believe that Emma Manning holds the view that only people who have had performing experience should be critics. I think you could find find as many arguments against that stance as for it. Obviously a critic has to be able to write. I also believe that before you write your first revue as a professional critic, you should have seen an awful lot of dance, read as many books as you can lay your hands on and asked as many questions as you can get knowledgeable people to answer. And once you've attained the dizzy heights of third string critic of the Daily Whatever, you still have to keep seeing as much as you can fit in. Not just press nights or performances where you can get a free ticket. Not just things you plan to write about, or foreign companies you get to see on paid-for trips. Get out there, look around, educate yourself and keep an open mind then, even if I profoundly disagree with your opinion, at least I'll respect it.

Like Alexandra, I'd nominate Alexander Grant 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. I'd almosty go as far as suggesting he was the greatest male dancer that company ever produced. Is it perhaps worth mentioning that he also had a very fine classical technique - he won the Adeline Genee gold medal while a student. I was also told that shortly after Ashton had made yet another wonderful character part for him he was heard to complain "They're neglecting my classical technique!" Anatoly Gridin was a wonderful character dancer with the Kirov - does anyone else remember him. And Michael Denard was great in character roles, though I guess that aspect of his career was overshadowed by his perfomances in the classics.

they're not bringing Bright Stream because Mrs Hochhauser thought it was "too Russian" and that audiences wouldn't understand it. I don't know what they're supposed to make of Pharoh's Daughter! I'll certainly go to see Don Quixote at least once and probably, out of curiosity, the Romeo and Juliet. I too saw Pharoh's Daughter in Paris, but I'm afraid it left me cold - except for admiring the way the dancers performed those hundreds of fidgety steps. Quite honestly it seemed to me the least good of Lacotte's "reconstructions". I really dislike Grigorovitch's production of Swan Lake and I don't find Spartacus works unless you have a really strong cast, which I don't think is the case at the moment. (I did see Maximova/Vassiliev/Liepa and Bessmertnova/Lavrovsky/Liepa on a number of occasions which probably spoils me for other casts, however worthy.) Marc, I think the company is looking terrific and I was very impressed by the standard of dancing both in Paris and with Ananiashvilli's group. But prices at Covent Garden are likely to be so high and there is such a small proportion of seats from which you get a reasonable view that by going to see only those ballets and casts which are of particular interest or you know you're likely to enjoy, you've saved a fair bit of money towards a trip to Moscow.

"My original query stemmed from seeing Jane Burn, who had the palest (and fluffiest!) true blond hair, in the role of Princess Stephanie in the Royal Ballet's Mayerling (with Viviana Durante and Irek Mukhamedov). " It's a wig! I seem to think Jane Burn has dark, curly hair. But what about Irina Kolpakova - the architypal Kirov ballerina. I always remember her as a blonde, although her hair darkened as she got older.

I'm not usually fond of galas. These days they're all too often pieces from the current rep plus a(n often dubious) new creation, or standard rep plus a few standard pas de deux, some extra flowers around the house and very high prices. Birmingham Royal Ballet's Sir Fred and Mr B was something different though, and I thought that as the company will be part of the Ashton celebration in New York this summer, people might like to hear something about it. BRB has always had rather more Balanchine ballets in its repertoire than the Covent Garden company, and has given them considerably more performances. However Tarantella which kicked off the evening was new. It was danced by Italian-born Ambra Vallo and Chi Cao, who as you might guess is Chinese. Richard Tanner mounted it for them. Generally the first item in this kind of evening is politely received, but this brought cheers and numerous curtain calls. All well deserved I would say. Vallo was charming; quick, bright, clean dancing. Cao is someone to watch out for. He was trained in Beijing and then at the Royal Ballet School. In his first year at BRB Farrell picked him for Mozartiana. A couple of years later, still in the corps, he won a gold medal at Varna. He's now a principal but was given time to grow and IMHO the result is something special; very classical, very masculine, beautiful line (although he's not very tall), lovely feet, a good jump and a complete, but never flashy, technique. Next up came Monotones II danced by Valerie Robin, Samuel Pergande and Matthew Roy from Joffrey. I liked Robin particularly, but the performance as a whole was fine - more "dancey" perhaps than a home team would be, but it's a very valid take. Last movement of Concerto Barocco was given by BRB dancers - one principal from Texas the other born in Philadelphia! Then extracts from Les Patineurs nicely danced by Royal Ballet School students. Zenaida Yanowsky came from Covent Garden to dance the pas de deux from Agon, which she did with great power and authority. Federico Bonelli (also Covent Garden) was less impressive partnering her. At times he looked like nothing so much as her little lap dog. The first half ended with the Clog dance from Fille Mal Gardee and Artistic Director David Bintley, who was a really great Widow Simone, put his clogs on again for the occasion. I suspect it was the last time as when he came back after the interval to present the second half he was still out of breath and suggested that any member of the audience who worked out at a gym should take up clog dancing instead. "Two minutes and the pounds drop off". the first half of the programme had been presented by former principal, now ballet mistress, Marion Tate and assistant director Desmond Kelly. Kelly rembered being coached by Mr B in Prodigal Son. "He wouldn't let me do much of the partnering. He obviously wanted to get his hands all over her body". I don't know who "she" was, but it might have been Deanne Bergsma - a lovely dancer and a great beauty. Second half started with Molly Smolen in the Five Brhams Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan. She's not Lynn Seymour perhaps, but she's very, very good, Then more Balanchine. Monica Zamora came back to her old company (she joined with George Piper Dances after marrying last summer) to dance the pas de deux from Slaughter on Tenth Avenue. She's beautiful, sexy and witty, but the costume is so vulgar and unflattering that it just doesn't work for me. She was partnered by a newish member of the company Ian Mackay. Robert Parker who originally did that role in BRB's production is recovering from a knee injury. Then more guests: Melissa Morissy and Duncan Cooper from Dance Theatre of Harlem in the Thais pas de deux. They looked so gorgeous in the costumes that you could almost have forgiven them if the dancing had been less than first-class. But they were very good - not perhaps as dreamy as the Sibley Dowell partnership, but better than many others. We then had the Tango from Facade, which Ashton himself used to dance. Marion Tait got back into her dancing shoes and Irek Mukhamadov stepped forward to paly the Dago. When I saw his name (it was originally to have been Kelly) I groaned, anticipating another over the top Mukhamedov performance. But amazingly, there was no mugging, minimal eye-rolling, and he was all the funnier for that. (Ashton once said to me about his Juliet "They don't need to act, it's all in the choreography". And I think that's true of most of his ballets) The other roles in the finale were all danced by students from Elmhurst, the ballet school linked to BRB, and very nicely too. Then the ballroom pas de deux from Cinderell with former BRB, now Covent Garden sweetheart Mikayo Yoshida, partnered by a much happier Bonelli. "He's danced his little socks off tonight" remarked Bintley. Finally, the last movement of Western Symphony - a great finale which sent us all happily home, despite the snow which was falling fast and heavily. Sorry - this has been an over lengthy screed, but it really was a well planned, well executed tribute and I feel it deserved more publicity than it got in the UK.

Well, I'm going to save a lot of money this summer!

In her last months as director Maina Gielgud had arrived at an agreement with Dowell to stage Month in the Country for the Royal Danish Ballet. But with her departure the project was abandoned.

There have been such detailed reviews of this season that I don't really feel I can add anything much. I did want to say however that Doug Fullington gets a mention in Pierre Lacote's programme note for Pharoh's Daughter. I found this the least convincing of Lacotte's reconstructions - too many steps, too fussy, dozens of groups of people all doing different things at the same time. The only thing that looked like Petipa were the River variations - in particular the first one for the Guadalquivir. The rest of the ballet reminded me of nothing so much as Excelsior - though it was not nearly so original. I loved Bright Stream however; a real success for the company. Lovely designs, a great score and interesting choreography. The dancers looked really happy and both casts I saw were excellent - especially Alexandrova as the Classical ballerina and Inna Petrova as Zina. But the real hero I thought was Ian Godovski who in ActII managed to pull off the amazing trick of being clearly totally masculine, while imitating the way a woman moves and dances perfectly. The moment when he snatched off the old dacha inhabitant's hat and placed it on a bench was pure Bournonville;his pointwork was amazing, and he managed to be very funny too. But really, the best thing of all was to see how good the company looked, how well they were dancing, and how many promising dancers they seem to have. None of those I saw ranked higher than soloist. Most companies would be happy to have them as principals.

Nina Ananiashvilli is scheduled to appear with Moscow Dance Theatre at Sadler's Wells Theatre in early March. In the early announcements Uvarov was one of the guests slated to appear with her. His name has now disappeared from the programming (although we still have Filin, Belogolovtsev, Klevtsov plus Elena Palshina and Inna Petrovna so not too much to complain about). Does Marc or anyone in Moscow have any light to throw on this? I trust Uvarov is not injured - or is it simply that he's needed in Moscow?