An interview with Ross Stretton in The Sunday Times.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Ross Stretton bounds forward to welcome me into his Royal Opera House office. His style is informal and he has blue, very direct eyes. He wears a T-shirt and what would qualify as a grin rather than a smile - but then he would, wouldn't he? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/10/21/sticuldnc03001.html?" TARGET=_blank> <B> MORE </B> </A><P><p>[This message has been edited by Joanne (edited October 21, 2001).]

An Article on Ross Stretton and the impending production of Don Quixote in The Telegraph<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>TONIGHT a new era begins at the Royal Ballet. The curtain will rise on a feast of romantic comedy and spectacularly tricky classical dancing set in sunny Spain, Don Quixote - the first production of Ross Stretton, the new director of Britain's flagship ballet company.<BR><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=005760794236107&rtmo=axJpX3RL&atmo=rrrrrrrq&pg=/et/01/10/23/btisme23.html" TARGET=_blank> <B> <BR>MORE </B> </A><p>[This message has been edited by Emma Pegler (edited October 23, 2001).]

There has been some very negative activity on other internet message boards regarding Mr. Stretton. As someone with no knowledge of the London dance scene, is all this uproar warranted?

Stretton is an obvious target. It is far too early to judge him. I had considered going off to read what people were saying and then decided that, unless they're working on inside information, I'm not sure what they're using to judge him. Surely his AD skills are not being called into question yet? We have one Don Quixote under our belts, nothing more.

Interview by Judith Mackrell of The Guardian (found via FT site)<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Ross Stretton is three months into his first season with the Royal Ballet, yet his impact as artistic director has been hard to read. His two opening ballets, Don Quixote and Onegin, might be viewed as lazy choices for a man who was hired to modernise the company. But this slow beginning could be deceptive - when you meet Stretton, he seems to burn with reforming zeal.'<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=011127008865&query=Stretton" TARGET=_blank> <B> MORE </B> </A><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited November 29, 2001).]

<B>A Jolt of Energy for the Royal Ballet</B><BR>By ALAN RIDING in The NY Times<BR> <P>ROSS STRETTON had been in his new post as director of the Royal Ballet for little more than a month this fall when his first production, Rudolf Nureyev's "Don Quixote," brought forth dark warnings from British dance critics that retro was the shape of things to come. Then, lo, his next production, an even older work, John Cranko's "Onegin," turned up trumps, applauded by public and critics alike, and Mr. Stretton's bruised image was miraculously repaired. But for how long?<P>Welcome to the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, Mr. Stretton. You left the sun of Sydney for the gray of London; you swapped a secure job as artistic director of the Australian Ballet for the perils of running the Royal Ballet. And you are an outsider: a former dancer who never performed at Covent Garden, an Australian assuming the mantle of Frederick Ashton, Kenneth MacMillan and Anthony Dowell. So be ready for a helter-skelter ride.<P><A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/23/arts/dance/23RIDI.html" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A><p>[This message has been edited by Emma Pegler (edited December 23, 2001).]

Article assessing Stretton's first year at the RB from The Independent.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The Royal Opera House has just set an unexpected world record. Every patron attending the Royal Ballet's summer season found themselves with only a one in ten chance of seeing the cast that had been announced when the box office opened. People who paid as much as £65 a ticket – and had to send the money months ago to be sure of their first choice – found that they weren't getting the dancers they chose. Some of them are rather angry.<P><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/theatre/features/story.jsp?story=321722" TARGET=_blank> <B> MORE </B> </A>