A couple of reviews of the Royal Ballet triple bill in their short summer season in the ROH for the Hochhauser agency. <P>Ismene Brown mentions the fact that the very wonderful Carlos Acosta is to be a guest artist next season. I'm not sure what is happening here, but I know that he is sought after around the world and perhaps this is the only compromise that could be worked out. There are guests and guests - some say that Sylvie Guillem is not part of the Company as she is a guest. But to my eyes, she has made a long-term commitment to regular performance with the Company. I hope that the position with Acosta will be similar. <P> <A HREF="http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000148269364269&rtmo=aqu596TJ&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/7/24/btball24.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000148269364269<BR>&rtmo=aqu596TJ&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/7/24/btball24.html</A> <P> <A HREF="http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/00/07/24/timartdan01001.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/00/07/24/timartdan01001.html</A> <p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited July 24, 2000).]

Stuart, how was the matinee performance?

Nadine Meisner reviews the Revie/Acosta 'Manon' and the triple bill. She finds more to enjoy in the latter.<BR> <A HREF="http://www.independent.co.uk/enjoyment/Theatre/Dance/Reviews/2000-07/ballet250700.shtml" TARGET=_blank>http://www.independent.co.uk/enjoyment/Theatre/<BR>Dance/Reviews/2000-07/ballet250700.shtml</A> <P>Francis, now my course has finished I must catch up on a whole range of things, but a brief review of the matinee may be one of them. It's just a question of whether to go for a historiographic, semiotic or hermaneutic approach.<P><p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited July 28, 2000).]

Stuart, now you know our members prefer listening to normal everyday dance fans... not snooty critics.

Following Debra Craine's comments, Clement Crisp thinks that Guillem and le Riche are Major League and the other RB dancers in the Triple Bill are Sunday League Div III. Well, he does enjoy Johan Kobborg and Darcey Bussell. <P> <A HREF="http://search.ft.com/search/multi/globalarchive.jsp?docId=000728000685" TARGET=_blank>http://search.ft.com/search/multi/globalarchive.jsp?docId=000728000685</A> <P>My own view is that The Kirov and the POB and NYCB (perhaps, as I haven't seen them) can command resources that mean that they can present a consistency of performance that others find difficult to match.<P>The Royal can still be wonderful, but with some 90 dancers and tight schedules and cash, sometimes it only half works. POB has some 140 dancers and a subsidy about 5x greater.<P>I enjoy the Royal greatly, as well as SFB and Pacific NorthWest, which are comparable companies.<p>[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited July 31, 2000).]

John Percival steps in with his own comparisons between the Royal and other companies, which is why I have included it here as well as in the RB 'Giselle' thread, following the discussions above. <BR> <A HREF="http://www.independent.co.uk/enjoyment/Theatre/Dance/Reviews/2000-08/revs010800.shtml" TARGET=_blank>Percival's comparisons</A> <BR><p>[This message has been edited by grace (edited August 01, 2000).]