Lynette H

I don't know what pieces they are bringing over. But last summer, the Royal Ballet School performances included the pas de douze from Ashton's version of Swan Lake, done by the Upper School. It's long gone from the Royal's production, and it was a rare chance to glimpse this. Wheeldon has made a number of pieces for the School, including one called, I think, Souvenirs, which was very popular. The MacMillan item on last summers performance was Concerto: there was a good performance of the very testing central pas de deux from this. One of the participants in this was Ross Clarke who is now with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. As I say, I don't know what they will be bringing, but last summer's performances included some very well chosen items, a nicely balanced programme.

I seem to recall David Leonard (of Dance Books) saying on aab or somewhere that there was enough of Sylvia captured to be able to stage it, if there was the will to do it. (Where he got this info, I'm not sure) A pas de deux from Sylvia was featured in one of the Royal's Ashton mixed bills from the mid-90s, so some of it certainly survives.

"I guess it is a bit of a surprise to me that people would want to sit through the anguish of prince Rudolf and the murder suicide and all that. I have a hard time connecting that to dance but if it sells tickets then it means that there is something there." So you wouldn't sit through suicide and death in Giselle or Swan Lake either then ? Or La Bayadere ?

Sadly Luke Heydon has now left - he has been at the Royal for some time, and did a number of character roles. We miss him.

I was very struck by the statement in the Melbourne review of the Royal Ballet "If Swan Lake was an odd choice for the company to bring - there has never been a version with which the company has been closely associated - then including this work of Tudor's was inspired. " Leaves are Fading is described as "quintessentially English". This seems a very odd statement to me, but perhaps it just shows how differently we view things. To me, based in the UK, Tudor doesn't look quintessentially English at all, and the company didn't look to me to be at all at home in it. And I would thought associate the Royal very strongly with Swan Lake - even if we are never likely to see Ashton's version again. [Edited by Alexandra to add: Here's the link to the Melbourne review. The Swan Lake reference is at the bottom. I'm moving this thread over to the Royal Ballet forum in case there's more discussion]

Stephen, thanks for the info. I'm surprised you think this isn't standard Sadlers Wells fare - I would think it is. (Sadlers is the usual venue for visting American companies, both ballet and modern - San Franscisco and Houston Ballets have been there, as well as Paul Taylor, White Oak, Alvin Ailey). Sadly, the mixed programme (which was orginally billed to include Agon and a work by Lynne Taylor Corbett - a name new to me) hasn't sold very well at all so far, which is a surprise because PNB were very popular and well received on their last visit. A pity. But I hope to see them.

I wonder if Wheeldon is taking on too much. He made a new work for the Royal (Tryst) which premiered in mid May: there were a lot of interviews in the press with him at the time where he made it plain that he had five weeks to create the work before rushing off and starting another work somewhere else. It sounded as if he was undere some pressure. As for Tryst, it had something of a mixed reception. I wonder if he will get the chance to make any adjustments to it (it's coming back next season). I had a sense that some sections of it semed much more finished or polished than others.

PNB are coming to London in July. They are bring Silver Lining, and a mixed bill. The Sadlers Wells web site says of the latter: "In a change to the original programme, the Mixed Bill showcases diverse choreographers including one of the 20th Century’s greatest, George Balanchine’s Divertimento #15. Other works include Jardi Tancat, choreographed by Nacho Duato and composed by Maria del Mar Bonet, Le Corsaire Pas de Trois choreographed after Marius Petipa and composed by Riccardo Drigo, and Peter Martin's Fearful Symmetries, composed by John Adams. Further details to be released shortly " PNB haven't been over here for a couple of years - can anyone update me with views on the rep (any reason for the change in plan ?) , any changes in personnel, dancers to look out for, and so on ? I haven't booked for this yet, and I haven't heard much about Silver Lining. Any feedback welcome. I think this is the same Fearful Symmetries as NYCB brought to Edinburgh last year.

I wonder when we will see Fille again here in the UK. Believe it or not, there was a gap of nearly ten years where the Royal didn't perform this work at all - most of the 1990s in fact.

In the UK, performances generally start at 7:30. Usually they are over by 10:30pm - at Covent Garden, the orchestra get overtime if the performance goes on beyond then. Sometimes the ROH has performances starting at 7pm on Saturdays - very early, and it can catch people out. I believe they did this as a result of feedback - to allow for those who needed to travel a fair way home. Even finishing at 10:30pm can mean a rush to catch the last train home for some people - you can always see a few people running for the exit at curtain down. I always thought that one of the reasons that the Royal Ballet had difficulties at the box office in its homeless period was that the Hammersmith Apollo is far from ideal for some people from the travelling home viewpoint. Covent Garden is quite close to major rail stations, which Hammersmith is a 20 or 25 minute tube ride from - offputting if you really must not miss the 22:52. This sounds rather boring and prosaic I know, but London's unreliable and deteriorating public transport system can deter people from going to theatre and ballet. Intervals at Covent Garden thesedays seem far too long - 25 minutes, often dragged out longer. They seem dictated by the restaurants in there rather than by the need to move the scenery. One of the justifications of the rebuild was to make the backstage areas much more efficient, so sets can be changed quickly.....but programmes now are if anything, longer than before.

I wasn't aware of it as a tradition before the programme either. But since then, in a performance earlier this year I did notice that in a performance of Fille, the flute boy in the second act had suddenly changed, and looked well, rather slight. This was just for a very brief appearance. It turned out to be a final performance for one of the corps (Leana Palmer I think). Hence her appearance briefly as a boy...

This company are making their London debut this Christmas, bringing The Snow Maisen (Bourmeister) and Swan Lake. The publicity material quotes lots of admiring reviews from New York - 'flawless' (NY Times) and 'eloquence and elegance' and 'handsomely danced' (NY Post). I don't know anything about the company, but I was thinking that The Snow Maiden might be an interesting alternative to the Nutcracker for chidren. Has anyone seen this company or these productions ? What's quoted on the publicity blurb can be rather far removed from the original review. It's interesting that they are using lots of US references to market the company. Much the same was done for the Universal Ballet last year. I'd be interested in hearing views on the productions.

Alexandra, I didn't take it as a critcism - I think it's interesting how works read to different people, and entirely natural that they do. It did make me realise I had been comparing this to other Wheeldon works without quite articulating it, though.

Just a point of clarification. As regards Wheeldon, I think what I had in mind when I wrote that was a comparison to some of Wheeldon's other works that I've seen. His Sea Pictures for SFB looked much more British in influences than Mercurial Manoevres. Sea Picures has a loose narrative, and it has sweeping, swoony pas de deux and quite a bit of rolling on the floor - all much more reminiscent of MacMillan, or possibly even, in the shipwreck scene, Christopher Bruce (though he would probably have used Bob Dylan, not Elgar). Compared to this, the work for NYCB looked much more Balanchine - influenced to me. I find Wheeldon somewhat chameleon like, but none the worse for that. Mercurial Manoevres doesn't look too much like other works he has made - certainly not much like Sea Pictures, or other works he has made for the Royal such as A Royal Ballet, Pavane pour une infante defunte.

Returning to the Agon pas de deux, when this was staged at Covent Garden this spring, the casting was Carlos Acosta and Zenaida Yanowsky. I understand the choice was deliberate, and influenced by the stager from the Trust (and maddeningly, her name escapes me right now). Yanowsky is noticeably taller than Acosta. I understood the idea was to replicate the black and white combination. By the way, can you tell me if it is usual for the stager from the Balanchine trust to join the cast for a curtain call ? I hadn't noticed this practice before.