Yesterday in the early hours of the morning we received our 250,000th page hit. We are now on 251,382 having received 1,246 hits in one day, mainly on my preview of Christopher Hampson's Hansel & Gretel (see Hampson's Hänsel and Gretel comes to Newcastle31 Jan 2017). In fact, my readers seem to love Scottish Ballet for my most popular article with 10,776 page hits including 22 this morning is Dawson's Swan Lake comes to Liverpool 29 May 2016. In January we scored 21,989 views which is slightly down on December's total of 25,914 but we have started strongly in February with 348 page views this morning.
I should like to thank all my regular contributors, Alison Winward, David Murley, Joanna Goodman and Mel Wong and all those who have contributed occasional articles such as Gita Mistry, Helen McDonough, Janet McNulty, Mary Howard, Peter Groves and Wendy McDermott.
"Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the Royal Ballet's Nutcracker" exclaims the Royal Ballet's trailer. The Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Ballet seem to agree for they are staging the ballet too (see The Good Nutcracker Guide31 Oct 2016). There are, of course, alternatives. The Royal Ballet itself is staging The Sleeping Beautyfrom today as well as The Nutcracker on other days and there is also The Red Shoes at Sadler's Wells which I reviewed when it was at the Lowry in the metropolitan borough of Salford in the county of Greater Manchester (see Red Shoes Bourne Again3 Dec 2016) and The Red Shoes Second Time Round4 Dec 2016).
Outside London Scottish Ballet are dancing Hansel and Gretel in Edinburgh which will be wending its way around Scotland early in the New Year before making an appearance in Newcastle where I hope to see it and Belfast in February. I saw the ballet in 2013 and enjoyed it very much (see Scottish Ballet's Hansel and Gretel23 Dec 2013). Elsewhere in England Northern Ballet's Beauty and the Beast is in Leeds (see Much Less Beastly - Indeed Rather Beautiful18 Dec 2016) and Ballet Theatre UK will resume their tour of England with Romeo and Juliet after Christmas.
From my Pennine eyrie just to the east of Manchester the great continental cities are nearly as accessible as London and in many cases rather less expensive when you get there. I have already expressed the view that the Dutch National Ballet's Coppelia at the Music Theatre in Amsterdam is the best Christmas show within reasonable travelling distance of Manchester (see Brandsen's Coppelia12 Dec 2016 and Pictures of Coppelia15 Dec 2016).
Our contributor Mel Wong who has spent the last 15 months in Hungary is now back in the UK - for the time being at any rate. She is working on an article on Ballet Eifman which we look forward to reading.
In a circular announcing that today is the fifth anniversary of the formation of BalletcoForum, Simonetta Dixon of that forum wrote proudly that "a real community has been established" and "friendships have been forged through BalletcoForum." I can certainly attest to that. Mel is one of those I met in that way. Linda Morris is another. Aileen is a third. Helen or Don Q Fan is one more. Michelle Richer yet another. And, of course, last but not least, Janet McNulty. There are several others who are friends on Facebook and followers on twitter. Today also happens to be the third anniversary of my subscribing to the forum. Although I have had the odd run-in with a moderator and a heated exchange of views with subscribers from time to time I always read my daily email from BalletcoForum with interest. Well done them and long may they continue.
Wishing all my readers around the world a merry Christmas and happy New Year.
The Royal Ballet, Rhapsody and The Two Pigeons, Royal Opera House, 16 Jan 2016
A trip to Covent Garden is always something of an occasion.
First, the tickets arrive in a smart folder sponsored by Rolex, the "Official Watch". They carry a hologram and are printed on expensive paper. They look more like the title to an investment rather than a voucher for a show.
The redevelopment of the Covent Garden piazza following the relocation of the fruit and veg market to Nine Elms has transformed the neighbourhood from a place of manual labour into a playground with expensive shops and restaurants where once there were lorries, warehouses and pubs with crazy opening hours. You have to resist the lures of luxury chocolates and cashmere cardigans to reach the revolving doors and pass an equally tempting shop of Royal Opera House merchandise to reach the box office.
That box office looks and feels like the counter of a private bank with its elegantly groomed and exquisitely mannered staff. The queue for the cloakroom is divided into aisles so you never have to wait more than a few minutes to deposit or retrieve your coat and hand luggage. Instead of formidable flights of stairs from Floral Street there are lifts and escalators to whisk you to whichever part of the auditorium you are seated.
The auditorium looks and feels as it has always done with its elegant curtains and royal monogram even though it will have been renovated and redecorated many times but the bars and restaurants along the way are opulent.
I miss the old House with its all pervading smell of over ripe fruit and vegetables and unofficial flower throws. At least the London ballet crowd remain. The twos and threes of office workers straight from work in their buns and twin sets with earnest stares who never seem to age.
Also the same rituals. The short clap when the maestro appears, the ripple when the ballerina and male principal first appear on stage and at revolution 27 of Legnani's 32 fouettés in Swan Lake and sustained applause with cheers at the very end. The bewigged flunkies in their red liveries have gone but the order of precedence in which flowers are presented seems to be very much as it has always been.
As my readers will have surmised from the lack of recent updates my day job has kept me very busy lately. I had spent more or less every spare moment since the Christmas holidays preparing for a hearing which left no time for watching ballet and hardly any for class. That hearing took place on Friday and lasted the whole day. To restore my spirits I checked the Royal Opera House's website for tickets and found there were still some left for the Rhapsody, Two Pigeons double bill. One was in the middle of the amphitheatre stalls that 50 years experience of theatre going has taught me to be one of the best parts in the House.
The two ballets are by Sir Frederick Ashton but from different stages of his career. He staged the Two Pigeonsin 1961 with the late Christopher Gable and Lynn Seymour in the title roles and created Rhapsodyin 1980 as a birthday gift for the Queen Mother. Somehow I had missed both of those works when they had previously been performed so this double bill was a double first for me.
The matinee started with Rhapsody to Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. The lead dancers in the first performance were Mikhail Baryshnikow and Lesley Collier so you can imagine the weight of expectations on the shoulders of their young successors. James Hay and Francesca Hayward were brilliant in those roles as were the other twelve dancers who supported them including several soloists. Rhapsody was one of Ashton's last ballets but it reminded me of many of his early works with his spectacular turns and jumps for the males and the dainty pointe work and delicate arm and hand movements. for the women. The costumes designed by William Chappell for a set created by Ashton himself were gorgeous. The dancers, orchestra and pianist richly deserved their deafening and sustained applause.
The Two Pigeonsas re-staged by Ashton to Messager's music is quite charming. It was originally created by Louis Mérante for the ballet of the Paris Opera in 1886. Ashton changed the story and Lanchbery adapted and arranged the score. Two of my all time favourite dancers, Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable, were in the original performance at Covent Garden on 14 Feb 1961 and it must have been wonderful. The leads on Saturday were Alexander Campbell and Yuhui Choe. I will tell you how they got on below
There is lots of humour such as the echoing of the pigeon steps by the young girl, the dance competitions and even some slapstick such as the sudden removal of the artist's chair. A particularly delightful touch are provided by the trained pigeons, Toad, Mole and Bianca who flew past on stage and sat on the artist's shoulder right on cue. Ironically, the last show that I had seen from Covent Garden was Carlos Acosta's Carmen (see Au Revoir but not Adieu18 Nov 2015). Comparisons are odious and there is no bigger fan of Acosta on this planet than me but if the Royal Ballet wants to dance gypsies Ashton shows the way to do it.
Shortly after the performance Campbell tweeted:
Worse ways to spend a Saturday afternoon than performing Two Pigeons on the ROH stage! With thanks to @balletboy09 for getting me through 😊
Now I don't agree with Janet on everything. How can I? She's a Liverpudlian and I'm a Mancunian. She likes football and I cricket. She votes one way and I another. But in our appreciation of this performance we are as one.
It will be streamed to cinemas on the 26 Jan 2016. Now if you get a chance to see it you really must.
To my mind one of the most beautiful clips on the internet is this video of Depouillage danced by Sarah Kundi and Jade Hale-Christophi when they were at Ballet Black. Shortly after this clip was filmed they went their separate ways. Now they are both in English National Ballet and dancing in the same ballet.
Between the 24 July and the 9 Aug 2014 Kundi will dance Aphrodite and Hale-Christophi Paris in The Judgment of Paris, a workto be choreographed by James Streeter. The ballet is an interlude in the opera Adriana Lecouvreur which is to be performed by Opera Holland Park. Tickets for the performance can be booked through Opera Holland Park's website,
I would not have learned of this performance had it not been for Janet McNulty who posted news of the performance to the BalletcoForum website and drew it to my attention on twitter earlier today. A tweet that was re-tweeted by Kundi herself. I am grateful to both of them.
Last night my dear ballet teacher texted me for the names of ballets beginning with "N". Why she asked me Lord knows because I am the most useless ballet student who ever shuffled up to a barre as she will be reminded when I turn up to her class in Sheffield tonight. However, she did and I came up The Nutcracker, Napoli, Noctambules, Les Noces (hence the photo of Bronislava Nijinska) and London Children's Ballet's Nanny McPheebut then I ran out of ideas.
Not even my friend Mel who has forgotten more about ballet than I will ever learn could add to the list. No doubt one of those bright sparks in London who put me in my place for daring to praise Christopher Marney and Kenneth Tundall could help but, as I say, they are in London. So if anyone can think of any other ballet beginning with "n" please tweet me or send me an email and I will pass it on to Fiona.
I had a look at the George Balanchine Foundation website because he was so prolific and if anyone had choreographed a ballet beginning with "n" it would have been him. I didn't find any but I did find "Who Cares" danced by the glorious Dutch National Ballet of whom I am now a Friend.
I also found this lovely patriotic romp Union Jack which was one of Balanchine's last works. It did not get a particularly good press from the critics at the time but as you can see from the applause the crowd in the auditorium loved it. When the flags came down at the end of the ballet a patriotic lump stuck in my throat.
And talking about lumps in the throat the magnificent Janet McNulty reported one when thanked by Kenneth Tindall for supporting his Kickstarter campaign to raise £3,000 to film The Architect:
"@Tindallkenny@nipclaw Gosh Kenny, I've got a lump in my throat now! Just hope we can help in some small way, it's a privilege to do so
— Janet McNulty (@JanMcN) June 7, 2014"
They are nearly half way there with 18 backers and £1,441 in the pot including £10 each from me and Mel. So ONE MORE HEAVE like Balanchine's Jolly Jack Tars in Union Jack.
