November/December
2006 Newsletter
Our apologies that some of you thought
you had missed a newsletter. The October
newsletter was early because of the change
of venue of the October meeting and this
one is late because of the Chairman’s
inefficiency!
Since our last newsletter, we have had
two very special meetings, both in The
Clore Studio. In October we welcomed Dame
Beryl Grey, who entertained us with stories
of the early days of The Royal Ballet,
including the lengthy tours of the States,
her time in Russia and as a guest around
the world. Dame Beryl only touched on
her time a Director of Festival Ballet
and her involvement with English National
and the Royal in recent years and left
members wanting to hear more.
In November, following our AGM, we were
delighted to welcome our Patron, Monica
Mason. Monica spoke about her planning
of the 75th Anniversary seasons and plans
for the future. She also gave an interesting
insight into the changing personnel in
the Company and of planning new choreography.
Members volunteered many suggestions of
works that they would like to see back
in the repertoire.
For members unable to attend meetings,
a summary is made available on our website,
www.balletassociation.co.uk once the report
has been checked by the guest speaker.
If you do not have access to the internet
and would like a copy of a report on any
meeting, please send a stamped, addressed
envelope to Joan Seaman, our membership
secretary, at 56 Turney Road, London SE21
8LU.
Future meetings
Our next meeting is on Friday 15 December
and we have a special pre-Christmas treat.
Our guest will be Principal dancer, Johan
Kobborg, who will talk about his productions
of La Sylphide and Napoli Divertissements.
Johan has not been dancing recently because
of an injury, but is extremely busy. We
are delighted that he has found time in
his schedule to talk to us, in between
rehearsals and costume design. We know
this will be a popular meeting and suggest
you arrive early to avoid being disappointed.
The meeting will be restricted to members
only up to 7.15pm. If there still seats
at that time, we will open the meeting
to guests. As announced at the AGM we
hope to move to a larger venue for some
meetings in the New Year.
Provisional dates for the rest of next
season are:Thursday 18 January, Thursday
22 February, Thursday 15 March, Wednesday
11 April, Wednesday 16 May, Thursday 14
June, Thursday 12 July. Please note these
dates are provisional. They will be changed,
if they clash with ballet events at the
Opera House. There may be some additional
dates added later.
Meetings, unless otherwise stated, begin
at 7.30 p.m. and are held at the Swedenborg
Hall, off Bloomsbury Way (nearest tube
Holborn). Doors open at 6.30 p.m. Admission:
Members £3, Concessionary Members
£2, Guests £7. The Swedenborg
Hall seats a maximum of 100 people, so
turn up early to be sure of getting in.
Annual General
Meeting
At our Annual General Meeting the current
committee was re-elected:- David Bain
(Organising Secretary), Joan Seaman (Membership
Secretary), Melanie Shipton (Treasurer),
Liz Bouttell (Reporting Secretary), Sylvia
Tyler, Geoffrey Griffiths, Rachel Holland,
Belinda Taylor and Brian Don. The Chairman
and Deputy-Chairman will be elected at
the next committee meeting. A copy of
the Chairman’s report is enclosed
with this newsletter for those members
who weren’t at the AGM or receive
the newsletter by e-mail.
News
The Royal Ballet has announced that Wayne
McGregor has been appointed as Resident
Choreographer to the Company from 1 December
2006. Members who enjoyed the recent performances
of his Chroma will be delighted to hear
this news. The Association will be writing
to congratulate him.
Members will have seen in the press that
Darcey Bussell decided to retire from
dancing at the end of this season. It
is likely that her last performance will
be in the Company’s mixed bill a
the beginning of June.
As you may have heard, Tom Whitehead has
been given leave of absence from The Royal
Ballet to dance in Matthew Bourne’s
Swan Lake, which is at Sadler’s
Wells from 13 December until 21 January
2007. We wish Tom great success with this
exploit.
Maia Makhateli, sister of the Royal’s
David Makhateli, has joined Birmingham
Royal Ballet as a soloist and recently
made her debut as Sugar Plum Fairy.
The UK Dance Awards have an Audience Award
for Favourite Company. If you would like
to vote, you should text the name of the
company to 07946 702700.
A lot of ballet is planned for television
over Christmas and into the New Year.
These include a Royal Ballet documentary,
Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg in Giselle,
and three masterclasses on Tchaikovsky’s
ballets with Sir Anthony Dowell, Dame
Antoinette Sibley, Sir Peter Wright and
Monica Mason over Christmas. Birmingham
Royal Ballet’s Ballet Hoo will also
be repeated.A celebration of Tchaikovsky
in January and February will include the
Royal’s Sleeping Beauty and a documentary
by Darcey Bussell.
The Royal Ballet has announced a large
number of cast changes recently. These
include Hristov replaces Putrov and Galeazzi
with Makhateli (20)/ Bonelli replace Tapper/
Pennefather in Nutcracker; Yanowsky replaces
Tapper in Apollo; Marquez replaces Tapper,
Duprot replaces Marquez, Bond replaces
Duprot, Gartside replaces Avis and Avis
replaces Whitehead and tba in Onegin ;
Galeazzi replaces Tapper and Hatley replaces
Galeazzi in Mayerling. The new Marriott
is Children of Adam with two casts –
Benjamin, Pennefather, McRae and Lamb,
Harvey, Ondiviela and Seven Deadly Sins
has one cast, Yanowsky, Nunez.
Membership
If you haven’t already done so,
please renew your membership. This newsletter
will be the last received by those who
fail to renew their membership. Last season
we ended with 460 members. Already we
approach 400, but some regulars have yet
to rejoin.
Ballet Russes
At our October meeting we gave three copies
of the Ballet Russes DVD as raffle prizes.
The copies have now arrived and the Chairman
will be contacting the winners to arrange
collection of them.
Annual Dinner
Photos
A selection of photos from this year’s
dinner can be seen on our website. Photos
can be ordered off the site or from the
album at meetings.
Annual Dinner
2007
Our annual dinner will be on Wednesday
2 May at the Rubens Hotel. An application
form will be attached to the next newsletter
in early January.