Lynette H

It's been reviewed in the FT.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/103d328c-311d-11e5-91ac-a5e17d9b4cff.html

The RB do not usually publish corps casting at home either, at least for most of their repertoire. If it's a new work, we might get details of the corps - we did in Woolf Works I think. Sometimes for a Balanchine work (Symphony in C for example) the corps are listed in full, but that is quite unusual.

There is currently a Hepburn exhibition on at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Details here

http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/hepburn/home.php

I note that in the list of graduate contracts in the Royal Ballet School programme from yesterday there is a graduate joining ABT - Kento Sumitani.

I note that it is being reported that the tour is selling poorly and the consensus seems to be that it is repertoire and publicity (or lack thereof) which seems to blame. I don't think I have seen any mention of ticket prices as a possible disincentive. I would be interested to know how expensive the RB tickets are on this tour compared to other companies performing at the same time. Are they more expensive ?

I'm also curious as to how that compares to what it costs to see them back here in the UK. The top prices here are quite steep (and worse next season) but the price spread is quite wide (even if the cheaper tickets have poor sight lines). Is there the same variety in the venues they have been performing at in the US ?

Just for the record, when NYCB came to London (quite a few years ago now), I knew many people who were keen to see them but the prices at the time caused a sharp intake of breath. In terms of visiting companies here, the Dutch National Ballet is bringing Wheeldon's Cinderella to the Coliseum next month. Prices for that range from £80 in the stalls to £10 in the balcony - seems to be selling well.

The BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition starts very soon, with the first recitals for the Song Prize on 14 June. The BBC will be showing programmes 19th - 21st June on BBC4. There is quite a bit of material on its web site about this, including the biographies of a very eclectic bunch of competitors (from USA, Canada, Korea, Belarus, Democratic Republic of the Congo and various European countries).

Home page for the competition is here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/r2hzp6?lang=en

I don't know how many of the actual broadcasts will be available via I player outside the UK but in the past there have been a number of excerpts available.

There are details of the schools and companies chosen by the 2015 Lausanne Prize winners here

http://www.prixdelausanne.org/schools-and-companies-chosen-by-the-2015-prix-de-lausanne-prize-winners/

Wendy Whelan appears with Ed Watson at the Linbury Theatre at the ROH this July in a programme of new work. Public booking opens 31 March I think, but there may not be many tickets available. Details here

http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/whelanwatson-other-stories-by-various

No they didn't - Post no 2 gives a link to the ROH web site with details of a gala performance there that was supposed to include something from Le Train Bleu. We strayed a bit off topic, I'm afraid.

Interesting programme, none of the usual war horses trotted out, more imaginative than that. Osipova / McRae in Tchaikiovsky Pas de Deux, new Brandstrup pdd for Morera / Bonelli, the cards scene from Act 3 of Wheeldon's Alice for the corps, MacMillan's last choreography (If I loved you) for Carousel for Lamb / Acosta, Diamonds pdd for Nunez/ Soares, Ed Watson and Olivia Cowley in McGregor's Qualia pdd, new Scarlett pdd for Hamilton/ Golding, the Chance to Dance children in an except from Bintley's Still Life at the Penguin Cafe. Probably the most enthusiastically received item was the Grand Defile from the Royal Ballet School which rounded off the first half. I don't know if it's ever been presented outside of the Annual matinee performance before. It's always a thrill when they flood the stage at the end.

Unfortunately Muntagirov did not appear so we didn't get to see "le beau gosse" from Le Train Bleu. I didn't get the slip that announced it, so don't know if he's injured or ill or what.

The programme still gave details about the piece, saying that it hadn't been revived for more than 60 years before Oakland Ballet did it in 1989, and the work was taken to Paris in 1992 (but it doesn't say by who).

I'm not sure that I really think of the Royal Ballet of Flanders as a "classical company". That's probably down to seeing them in Jan Fabre's version of Swan Lake at the Edinburgh Festival. It featured a live owl tethered to Rothbart's head, an unexplained dwarf twitching though the action and another figure with what looked like a TV aerial on his head wandering about at random. There were more of these characters, but I don't really want to remember much more. Granted, this was back in 2002.

RBF did do a very fine version of Forsythe's Artifact in London in 2012.

Vadim Muntagirov will be performing a solo from Le Train Bleu at a gala at the ROH later this month. Details here

http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/a-gala-celebration-life-reimagined

He has performed it previously, when with ENB.

There's a lot of Forsythe about - it turns out that ENB are performing Vertiginous Thrill at Sadler's Wells at more or less exactly the same time (10 - 15th March).

http://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/2015/english-national-ballet/

I wonder how Forsythe gets to supervise all this.

A further discussion of the article and current responses in the Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jan/08/victim-art-dance-disability-interviews-candoco-dv8-fallen-angels

I recently found a paperback copy of this on a second-hand bookstall. It was a really interesting read. (The section on London in the 1930s with Rambert was particularly interesting for me).

She has a very direct, pithy and pungent style. She tells her story up the early 1950s. Did she write any further about her life? Or are there any biographies that you would recommend ?

If you are in London in that period, you might want to think about seeing ENB's Nutcracker at the Coliseum. Alina Cojocaru and Tamara Rojo are both appearing in that period. Casting can be found at the ENB site at

http://www.ballet.org.uk/whats-on/nutcracker-2014/

Their Swan Lake doesn't begin until 7 Jan.

This is to be live streamed on 18 Dec. Via ROH web site.

The production is completely sold out for its entire run.

Not ballet, but ZooNation productions are very popular here in the UK, so just in case this is of interest....

http://www.roh.org.uk/news/the-mad-hatters-tea-party-to-be-live-streamed-for-free-on-18-december-2014

There is a review of the book associated with this exhibition in the Times Literary Supplement web site

http://www.the-tls.co.uk/tls/public/article1488181.ece

Just to clarify, Hayward and Muntagirov have not yet danced together in Manon, or, so far as I can remember, anything else. In Manon, Hayward was partnered by Ed Watson. Muntagirov appeared with Sarah Lamb, stepping in for an injured Lauren Cuthbertson. Probably sensible to have an experienced partner for a debut performance.

Hayward & Muntagirov are scheduled to appear together in Alice In Wonderland in December and January.

The Royal has more sessions scheduled in "Ballet Evolved" in early November, so keep an eye out for further items becoming available.

On Sunday 12th October at 6pm, this will be livestreamed from the ROH. Domingo is in conversation with Antomio Pappano, the Royal Opera's music Director.

Details are on the ROH web site at

http://www.roh.org.uk/insights/insights-in-conversation-with-placido-domingo

I don't know if this will be available worldwide or only in the UK.

A biography of the skater John Curry is published on 31 July.

Alone: The Triumph and Tragedy of John Curry by Bill Jones.

There was a review in the Sunday Times, but it's behind a paywall. A sad story.

ENB have announced promotions and new joiners

http://blog.ballet.org.uk/english-national-ballet-announces-promotions-new-joiners/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=english-national-ballet-announces-promotions-new-joiners

Yonah Acosta to Principal

Alejandro Virelles from Boston Ballet joins as Principal

Shiori Kase and Junor Souza to First Soloist.

Among the new joiners is Precious Adams, who trained at the Bolshoi school.

Live broadcast to cinema is also increasingly important in the theatre in the UK. The NT Live programme doesn't just cover plays at the National Theatre. It also includes some broadcasts from theatres in London's West End. Currently on the list for example is David Hare's Skylight, which is playing at Wyndham's. (Bill Nighy and Carey Mulligan, international transmission 23 Oct.) So they must have worked out how to run the technology from outside their NT base. DV8's new dance theatre piece coming this autumn at the NT is also scheduled for broadcast. It seems the expertise is available - potentially.