Lolly

You sound like you have inside information! Well, keep us posted if your hear anything definite (actually, even rumours are exciting!). It would be lovely to have Adam back a bit more, I hope he is offered other things too, not just Onegin.

I saw a bizarre 5-minute programme on TV here (a kind of "goodness, the things people do!" programme), with Christina teaching a man to dance ballerina roles! He was very serious about dancing, had a high opinion of his abilities, and gave performances. So I guess Christina is teaching now?!

Sylvia, yes I'm going to see Memories tomorrow so i'll report back. It seems to have had mixed reviews so I'm looking forward to making up my own mind! I don't think I have a great seat for it, so I'll be willing them all to dance downstage a lot! I'll also look forward to seeing who is cast for the summer Onegins...

If you want to know about anybody in particular, I can try to help! There are biographies on different dancers in other programmes so I'll hunt out others if you would like to know about them. There are a few on dancers from the corps who are getting breaks - like Johannes (can't stop talking about him either!). I agree there should be pictures of all the dancers, not just a list of who is ranked where in the company. The only place I can think of that has pictures of them all is in Sir Anthony's Gala programme from last May - the company is standing in rows, like a school picture!

Yes Sylvia, I just can't say enough about Johannes Stepanek! I wanted to see Ivan Putrov as Lensky too, but in the end I chose to see Johannes again. They are both dancers who I hope get a lot of notices this season. I'm sure I have a ticket to see something else Johannes is cast in this season - could be Remanso? so I'll be sure to post my opinions! Can you belive he's in the corps? Gianinna, I'm glad you had a good time at ROH - don't we have a great company at the moment?

Jane, it's the fact that our own choreographers aren't getting the chance to show what they can do in what I would think to be an ideal opportunity - when they don't have the pressure of box office because their work is combined with something already well known. Also, the mixed bills aren't each different - they are each a re-hash of each other with several ballets being shown again a bit later in the season, along with something new. I resented this a bit, because although I think it is always good to see something twice, even if (and often especially if) you didn't like it the first time, I find it exploitative. I already get a ticket to see everything, sometimes with a couple of different casts, so I feel a bit cheated to get a ticket for a mixed bill later in the season when I will have already seen part of what is on offer. (I am in no way complaining about ticket prices, it's just I don't live in London.) Is this change in repertoire a good thing? I strongly believe that we really need to make the most of people like Monica Mason and Donald MacLeary who have great links with the company's history, so they can pass on all the roles they know. But of course this needs to be balanced with the new, so the company doesn't get bored and everyone is artistically stimulated. (Deborah Bull is doing sterling work in this area of course, and I have enjoyed the products of the ADI so far.) It's just my impression that the mixed bills are too much too soon - I think it would have been far wiser of Mr Stretton to let things lie for a while, let people get used to his style and slip his ideas in a bit more gently. A lot of people are very precious about the company and were very put out about the "outsider" even getting the job, so it may have been more prudent of him to not change too much to start with. But, as I said before, I think he seems nice, and am fully prepared to give him every chance before I make the "yes/no" decision. He has his vision, and i'd like to see it work out. Alexandra, as far as I understand the term, "heritage works" are those which have been made especially for the company. So not works which we want to get rid of - ones which we dearly want to hold on to! Maybe because i'm young, and only in the last couple of years have been going to everything on offer, I haven't seen everything I want to see from this "section", but whilst we have access to the dancers who created the roles, and had them created for them, why aren't we making full use of this valuable link with the past? Yes, onwards and upwards and all that, but we have so many great works already! I almost feel like I haven't filled in the gaps in my ballet history lesson yet, and want to see the heritage works before I see the new works. But then doesn't every generation think they just missed something fantastic? I think I did, but if the dancers we have in the company at the moment are anything to go by, another great era is just around the corner...

Okay, The Royal Ballet. We are about five months into our new directorship, and the initial fuss has settled down a bit. For me, I felt reassured by Ross Stretton being visible in the audience at performances, and have even seen Sir Anthony around too. The repertoire has changed, no doubt about it. I have a ticket for everything, so maybe it would be better for me to get back to you in May and let you know how the first season went, but i'll try and give my first impressions! We've had Don Quixote (new) and Onegin (new). Between now and May (current booking period) we have four mixed programmes of new works, new choreographers and a heritage one throw in here and there (Marguerite and Armand next week, for example) I think that is too much all at once. I can't remember what I am supposed to be seeing, if everything is new all at once, it all merges together in my mind. Just to illustrate this i'll use another example, I saw the Kirov's Balanchine programme in London last summer of Jewels, Symphony in C and Serenade, and cannot distinguish between them in my mind because I had never seen those ballets before. Yes, it gave me a taste of Balanchine but I know more about the style than the particular ballets. The mixed programmes are interspersed with Giselle, which we had last April, Romeo and Juliet, which we also had in April, and La Bayadere. So you can see the new balance Mr Stretton has given to the company's works. He seems to think that the new works, or mixed programmes will bring in a newer and younger audience but i'm not so sure. Yes it is good to give opportunity to new choreographers, and the one act ballets give a way in to the more junior members of the company to be seen. But FOUR programmes! Sir Anthony might have had a couple, with something new from someone in the company, but now the choreographers in the company seem to have been handed to Deborah Bull to do something with in her Artist Development Initiative, which gives space for dancers to show their work in the Opera House's studio theatres, the Linbury and the Clore. So now they don't get the chance to perform on the main stage. (I do think the ADI is a very good thing, however, and have enjoyed what has been shown so far). I've got to go to class now so that's my initial reaction! Mr Stretton seems like a nice man from what I have seen of him in classes and masterclasses, but i'm not sure he is the right man for the Royal Ballet. I do hope he is, so I will leave it till the end of the season before I make a true judgement.

I just got back from Onegin tonight, after seeing Tapper/Coppen/Nunez/Stepanek for the second time, but with Christopher Saunders as Gremin this time. I had to see it again because of Johannes Stepanek - last time I was completely bowled over by him and he didn't let me down tonight! I just believed so much that he is impulsive enough and full of youthful passion to be so disturbed by Olga's flirting that he simply can't bear it. The man next to me was surprised I was there to see the same cast twice, but as the curtain fell on Act II, I turned to him and said "THAT'S why I had to come again!" He did agree! There are so many parts of this ballet that I love, and was very glad I went twice because I was reminded of them all. I love the parts where the characters walk in front of the curtain, and the grand jetes diagonally across the stage, then back again from the other wing. And the front cloth with "EO" on it. I hope RB do Onegin again soon. (There are only two more performances now) And I hope Johannes is given more opportunities in the company... gosh to think what he could do with Romeo or Des Grieux... I can't wait. Also, I was "upstairs" tonight, as I had last minute tickets, and it is very different up there! The noise of applause was unbelievable during the curtain calls, and all the "Bravos"! I think you must be sheltered from it a bit "downstairs", because all the tiers are in between. A lady told me at interval that Ross Stretton, Monica Mason, Donald MacLeary and Antoinette Sibley were in the audience. And I saw Zenaida Yanowsky too.

Thank you Ms Leigh. Usually I just write something like "I hope you enjoy dancing tonight" in a card, then the dancer know I mean good luck even if I haven't said it. But I wasn't sure if it really was a bad thing to say it straight out. Tradition is a funny thing!

Is it bad form to say "good luck" to a dancer? Or write it in a card? I wondered if all theatre has the same convention that it brings bad luck.

I never throw anything away either - I keep all programmes, advertisements, newspaper cuttings, even letters from the company about the forthcoming season etc! The programmes are on my bookshelves and everything else goes into shoebox-style containers which stack up - and up - and up! This is only after about two years of going to see absolutely everything, I can't imagine what it will be like in 10 years time! What information is in the programmes from US ballet companies? The Royal Ballet have a small size, but quite thick booklet for each ballet, with details of past productions, photographs of ballets, information on the choreographer, costume designer, scenery etc. I find them a useful source of information, I often dip into them to look at the pictures or look up something specific about a role, for example. The casting is on a separate piece of paper, which is good if you see something several times with different casts, so you don't have to get a new programme each time. Doesn't work that way if you see the same thing in a different season though, because they change the pictures... the best bit for me!

There is quite a long review of ABT at City Center in January's Dancing Times. It's from their fall season Oct 23-Nov 4, with photos of Ethan Stiefel and Gillian Murphy in Clear and four dancers in Amazed in Burning Dreams (sorry I don't know the company so I can't tell yuo their names!) I don't know if you can get Dancing Times in U.S. but we can get quite a few foreign dance magazines in Borders here, so it might be worth trying there if you would like to read it.

Prokofiev. Now I know why Romeo and Juliet sounded so familiar the first time!

Prokofiev. Now I know why Romeo and Juliet sounded so familiar the first time!

She danced Les Soupirs with Sir Anthony Dowell at his farewell gala last season. I believe they also danced it together in the States in the Royal Ballet's summer tour. She was in the audience for something at ROH I can't remember now too... so, yes, she is still around!

This is fascinating about having the "eye" to spot talent. I think very often in the Royal Ballet, the dancers who are given chances are the ones who are always given chances. This means that often they are not entirely suited to the role, they are simply flavour of the month, or season, and have to be shown off to sell tickets. This can be seen in current castings where Alina Cojocaru and Tamara Rojo seem to have everything. Yes, they are both good dancers, but surely they can't be ideal for every role? This is why it was fantastic have an outside "eye" for Onegin, in Reid Andersen. He picked sometimes the most unlikely castings, and some people were outraged that their favourite principal dancer was not cast (Sylvie, in most cases ) Yet this produced the most fascinating dancing on stage I have seen in a long time. The combination of different and fresh personalities on stage and partnerships which haven't been seen before, along with giving starring roles to members of the corps just took my breath away. I made no secret of the fact that Johannes Stepanek's solo as Lensky almost left me in tears. He was in the Stravinsky Staged triple bill last season but usually can be found at the back of the stage playing a village boy. So also, perhaps yes, everyone can be great if they are only given the opportunity to show their talent. And that means the "eyes" in charge have to be open minded enough to really LOOK when they are casting the season, and examine who they think would really fit the ballet, and not just who they want to fit it. (Then we might just discover a new ballerina too. ) I think I really should be telling this to Ross Stretton, don't you?

I'm not sure I agree about the loss of information handed down through the generations in the Royal Ballet. We still have Monica Mason and Donald MacLeary, and Sir Anthony has to be involved in any revivals of Month and The Dream, at least. They all coach the dancers in roles they themselves danced, and pass on vital details about the ballets they know and love. And they also give masterclasses which the public can attend so we can hear about it too. The masterclasses have also been televised. I do agree that no longer having a resident choreographer is a bad thing, and we need to develop the talents of the choereographers we do have at RB (and we do have them!) And I disagree most vehemently that the principal dancers in RB at the moment are not fit to dance the roles! How dare he! We have some great dancers, but there does seem to be a gap between principal dancers of Darcey Bussell's age and principal dancers of Alina Cojocaru's age - there is little in between, except in soloist rank. Regarding the amount of non-English schooled dancers in RB at the moment... I have always thought of it that we are the best of the best and everyone wants to come and dance here, so we have the bast dancers from all over the world. I do strongly believe we need to keep the English style in the repertoire, but i don't neccesarily think we need English dancers to dance in the English ballets. i've just read this back and i've said "we" a lot, like I am in RB... i'm not, I just love the company.

What an great question! I'm really interested about the different perception of ballet and dance here and in the States (and anywhere else, for that matter!) I had never thought it might be different. As far as I know, and I only take ballet so I could be way out here, in UK there is "ballet", your absolute classical stuff learned in school and seen onstage in Swan Lake etc. Then there is "modern", which has different techniques (Graham, Limon etc) with describable positions and steps. Then there is "contemporary" which is a fusion of the two. To perform modern, you would not need to know ballet (of course it would always be useful). But for contemporary, it is a must. Contemporary would have steps which are classical, but performed in a different way. This could be without turnout, without pointed feet etc. The structure of the piece might be different too, it might not have pas de deux, or it might have pas de deux for two men, might have no plot, it might not even have music... just noise. As far as I know, a lot of Balanchine could be considered contemporary, eg the pirouettes on bent knee. Matthew Bourne's work is contemporary, with his male swans, for example. As I said, I could be wrong here, but from what I have read and seen here in UK, that is how I see dance. I'm interested to hear from anyone else who has different views!

What an great question! I'm really interested about the different perception of ballet and dance here and in the States (and anywhere else, for that matter!) I had never thought it might be different. As far as I know, and I only take ballet so I could be way out here, in UK there is "ballet", your absolute classical stuff learned in school and seen onstage in Swan Lake etc. Then there is "modern", which has different techniques (Graham, Limon etc) with describable positions and steps. Then there is "contemporary" which is a fusion of the two. To perform modern, you would not need to know ballet (of course it would always be useful). But for contemporary, it is a must. Contemporary would have steps which are classical, but performed in a different way. This could be without turnout, without pointed feet etc. The structure of the piece might be different too, it might not have pas de deux, or it might have pas de deux for two men, might have no plot, it might not even have music... just noise. As far as I know, a lot of Balanchine could be considered contemporary, eg the pirouettes on bent knee. Matthew Bourne's work is contemporary, with his male swans, for example. As I said, I could be wrong here, but from what I have read and seen here in UK, that is how I see dance. I'm interested to hear from anyone else who has different views!

At least you've got Andrea Quinn! And Christopher Wheeldon!

At least you've got Andrea Quinn! And Christopher Wheeldon!

I think Alina Cojocaru of the Royal Ballet is well on her way to being a phenomenal ballerina - she isn't my absolute favourite, so I think i'm unbiased in saying there really is just something about her when she dances which is so exciting! I may be completely out here, but I think Covent Garden audiences also want a partnership as much as a new ballerina. We haven't got two dancers who exclusively, or even regularly dance with each other. I'm sure Darcey Bussell has said before that we like the romance of a partnership, we want to believe they are in love...

Lucky you! I loved Onegin, it was fantastic! Especially Johannes Stepanek as Lensky... I would have cried if his solo had gone on any longer, he was so wonderful and I felt so sorry for him! I don't usually get so involved but he was just so sad and vulnerable... I hope he is given more chances to shine, he truly deserves them. What casts are you seeing? The Cinderella is probably ENB's Michael Corder version? I learned some of the "stars" part of that in my classes there, but I haven't seen the whole ballet.

Ooh Giannina, are you going to see the Royal Ballet? I'm booked for everything till May... For Christmas I got the Gretchen Ward Warren book on Ballet Technique and one of those mini trampolines you use for exercising - i'm hoping it will help with batterie! I also got a little case i'm going to use as a dance bag. I really needed to downsize - my friends think it's hilarious every time I pull four pairs of shoes out of my huge bag, then ask if I can borrow some tights as there are none in the bag! I hope having a small case will make me organised. But that's more of a new year's resolution... new topic!

I forgot to say we saw Sir Anthony Dowell there. It completely made my day - I had been so afraid I would never see him again!