Does anyone go to the ballet much? I enjoy it sometimes, particularly the Northern Ballet Theatre which is based in Leeds. I went to see their Christmas Carol recently for the n'th time and I enjoyed it every bit as much as the first time For anyone who thinks ballet is still all tutus and tights, have a look at some of the costumes in A Christmas Carol - http://www.northernballettheatre.co.uk/accscenario.aspx

Anyone else a fan of ballet?

I've been three times - so not a lot, but I do enjoy it when I do go! I saw a wonderful production of Sleeping Beauty some years ago, then Swan Lake when I was in St Petersburg - the costumes and sets were marvellous, but I was a bit disappointed that they copped out and didn't have Odette dying at the end. (I'm not morbid but was preparing myself for a tragic ending which then didn't happen!)

The last ballet I saw was the Nutcracker - it was dreadful! In the first half there was a little girl of about eight playing Clara (who wasn't actually called Clara - the character's name had been changed) who then transformed into an adult dancer for the second half. So the child of course, being only little, couldn't do very much, and basically just walked daintily round the stage. Adult Clara (or whatever it was that they were calling her) also danced the dance of the Sugarplum Fairy - they didn't actually have a Sugarplum Fairy, which made no sense whatsoever. The costumes looked cheap and nasty and the corps de ballet were all out of sync with each other! My mum and I just came out of the theatre laughing; even to people like us who don't know anything about ballet, it was clearly very, very bad!

I've got a lovely production of the Nutcracker at Covent Garden from 1985 on DVD. You know, with proper dancers and gorgeous costumes and a full company! There is a girl in the children's chorus who is the spitting image of Darcey Bussell. It can't be her though, because the girl could only be about 11 or 12, and Bussell would have been 15.

I'd love to see Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, as I love the super-dramatic Prokofiev music!

I have just seen Cinderella advertised and was thinking about maybe going to see it.

The only time I have ever been to the ballet before was for The Nutcracker when I was about 9 on a school trip. At the time I don't think anyone appreciated it at all.

The costumes in A Christmas Carol do look fantastic, not quite what you would expect when you think ballet.

Can't say I've ever been, but some of the more contemporary stuff looks a lot more interesting.

I saw, but cannot remember, Swan Lake when I was a child on a school trip. We had uncomfortable seats - benches up in the gods, and I didn't have a very good view.
More recently I saw Nutcracker in Copenhagen by the Royal Danish Ballet. I thought it was marvellous, although a woman in the audience said it wasn't very good - apparently her daughter dances for our Royal Ballet!
I'd prefer it if there was some singing in it though!!

I've only been once with my Mom but I must say I really enjoyed it.

Saw the Birmingham Royal Ballet, excellent seats and brilliant performance, the dancing, music & costumes were fantastic (aren't they noisy when they land though ). We're looking out for another performance to go to soon.

One problem I had was that the orchestra was very much on show rather than in a pit. I kept having to stop myself from watching the musicians and focus on the dancers

Lois

I'm a big ballet fan I go to whatever's on at Covent Garden, really. Just saw Sleeping Beauty (again) recently, which is one of my favourite. I'm also going to see Romeo & Juliet (for the umpteenth time) early next year.

Not strictly classical ballet, but I've really enjoyed all of Matthew Bourne's productions too. Will be seeing the male Swan Lake again in Jan. It's great fun.

Last year I went and saw The Royal Ballet perform Thumbellina and the Nutcracker with the kids!!! It's the only ballet I have been to.

It was really Northern Ballet Theatre, in the days when they were Northern Dance Theatre that got me into "classical" music. I saw them dancing to one of the Brandenburgs (3?) at Sheffield Crucible many many years ago! It was brilliant and I've loved Bach ever since.

Haven't done much ballet recently - like AnnC I'd rather there was some singing involved. However, Cinderella is coming to us soon too, and my daughter's keen to go, so who knows?

Love it. Swan Lake, Giselle, Nutcracker, La Fille Ma Gardee, oh and the last one was Romeo and Juliet with Prokofiev's music. I cried when they were dying, and my Mother in Law leaned over and said.....it's not real Bev, in a stage whisper.

Last Ballet we saw was Peter Pan and your description reminded me of it. Peter had to speak at one point and could barely manage a word of English. All the characters were there but it was poor overall.

Skylark Emsoboe loves ballet, she's looking forward to seeing Romeo and Juliet at the Royal Opera House in February. She is a bit disappointed not to be playing in the pit for it but at least she'll get to watch it.




Another plus she gets to rehearse the music with the Orchestra.

I love ballet and I used to go all the time when I was at uni in Birmingham - used to go to the rehearsals, performances, talks with the dancers - anything I could get to! I still love it but there is not that much on near where I live so I haven't been for ages. I love most of the classics though I think my favourite of all time has to be BRB's Hobson's Choice - has anyone seen it? I also love Onegin (the ballet not the opera) and R & J.



This would have been like a dream come true for me too!

Same here. I saw the lovely Darcy's programme the other day on her "10 best ballet bits" and for me the stand out stuff was "In the middle somewhat elevated" which I remember seeing Sylvie Guillem dance some years ago (on the telly, not live) and "Elite Syncopations" danced to Scott Joplin.

I always used to think these people should be rock climbers.



Ah. I've noticed it's on nearby next year. Tempting.

I went a few times to London and saw Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty.

Many years later we saw some ballets in Stevenage. These were without a real orchestra but were still great fun.


If you ever want a DVD, I can recommend 'La belle fille mal gardee' with Lesley Collier and Phillip Coleman:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fille-Mal-Gardee-D...mp;sr=8-3-fkmr0


This is quite an amazing ballet. One of the few that kids can enjoy as well!

Steve

Not the biggest fan of the stock favourites that usually appear at this time of year, but I am hoping to catch the live screening at our local cinema of Les Ballets Russes de Diaghilev from the Paris Opera.

Have had the chance to see Rambert Dance Company a few times, but my highlight so far was seeing the Martha Graham Company at the Sadler's Wells on their last tour...

I ADORE ballet and dance in general...but I don't get to see it very often /

*Goes to make New Year's Resolution*

Wow! Was that the production where one of the ugly sisters had her toes cut off with an axe so that her feet would fit into the shoe and there was blood everywhere? Everybody in the theatre gasped at that point and then laughed

Did you meet Christopher Gable??? What a hard act he's been to follow A Christmas Carol was one of his creations, as was NBT's original Swan Lake (with the roller skates ) - totally brilliant, I saw that early NBT production several times and would love to see it again.

I once saw a wonderful production of Nutcracker. I remembered the name of the Artistic Director for many years and looked out for other productions of his but I never did see any others and his name has slipped a bit now - it was something like Ronald Hines, or it may have been Hind, and it may not have been Ronald I did a search but couldn't see anything which sounded quite right.

Cambiata, that sounds amazing (from someone who didn't progress beyond grade 5 - I think - an awfully long time ago).

The only two ballets I've seen within the last 10 years or so were the production of The Nutcracker where Gerald Scarfe was the designer, and A Cuban Tale with Carlos Acosta - amazing stuff.

La fille mal gardee is great fun, and I love Romeo and Juliet. I always wanted to see The Firebird when I was little.

I adore ballet, I've done it since I was six or seven, can't imagine my life without it...okay, cliche stuff over.

I love ballet music, one of my favourite parts of going to the ballet is if they have a professional orchestra playing-only problem is, I frequently get distracted! I'm terribly picky though-even the professional dancers occassionally flick a wrist too far out or something incredibly trivial, but I drive whoever I've gone with absolutely mad pointing it all out!

There is a TV programme all about the Ballet Russe on TV tomorrow - I think at 8 but please check

Just looked it up - yes it's on BBC Four at 8pm - thanks for letting us know

I may be going to see Scottish Ballet perform The Nutcracker on Tuesday. It'll be my first time going to a ballet. They do £10 tickets for under 26's, but only release them 1 hour before the performance, so fingers crossed!!!

Thanks for the reminder, especially as I have now at last got to a tiny part of The Firebird - only thirty-something years after I first wanted to AND an interview with Tamara Karsavina, who danced the part of the Firebird (I have a drawing of her by Laura Knight (not in that part, alas)). So I'm very happy

(I'll go back to watching it now )



Good luck

I've seen the Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet as traditional ballets, and then I saw Swan Lake on Ice too, which was incredible! I mention Swan Lake on Ice because there were times when the swans actually did come out onto the ice in ballet pumps

I've seen a few ballets, mainly on the TV and obviously more often near Christmas, and I quite like ballet music particularly that by Stravinsky.

One occasion I do remember was when staying at the new mother-in-law's for Christmas, and watching something like Swan Lake on late afternoon TV on Xmas Eve. M-i-L comes into lounge from kitchen, and is horrified by seeing these lithe young men prancing around in all their codpiece finery and insists that the TV is switched off! Not one of us was younger than 30. (Since then I've taken more interest in this aspect of male sexuality!!)


Many years later after moving to Milton Keynes in the early 1980s, there was a bold attempt to bring ballet to this then cultural backwater. So we specially invited my parents here from Manchester and bought tickets and watched one of the main London based companies performing in a marquee.

Unfortunately, I do remember how awful was the "togetherness" of the corps de ballet. It was simply dreadful, and whether it was due to an uneven floor, or wrong temperatures I've no idea, but to say I felt cheated is an understatement. Could it have been a special outing for their hearing impaired reserve team? It simply was awful, and there should have been a refund.

I've never ever thought of going to the ballet again.

Speaking of ballet, who saw Darcey Bussell on Strictly tonight? Even though she wasn't dancing ballet, she was incredible - her legs are amazing to watch, so flexible! It's scary sometimes Like rubber