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Wysong Maintenance Canned Dog Food, 13.2-oz, case of 12
By Wysong
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Wysong Maintenance Canned Dog Food, 13.2-oz, case of 12
Established in 1979, Wysong Corporation is one of the true pioneers of natural pet foods and holistic health care & nutrition. Conceived and led by Dr. Wysong, they are a family company that puts principle ahead of market.
Wysong Maintenance canned dog food has been fed to tens of thousands of animals through multiple generations with great benefit. Maintenance is an all natural canned dog food formulated for adult dogs, but can be healthily fed to dogs of all life stages and types as part of a diet rotation. Unlike conventional canned dog foods which are often laden with food fractions and artificial non-nutritional additives, Maintenance is comprised of natural form and whole ingredients.
Key Benefits
- Formulated for adult dogs, the formula is suitable for all life stages as part of a healthy diet rotation
- Equally suitable for all breeds
- All natural formula preserved with mixed tocopherols
- Made in the USA
|Item Number
|Country of Origin
Chicken, Water Sufficient For Processing, Ground Brown Rice, Ground Corn, Ground Extruded Whole Soybeans, Carrots, Barley, Bone Meal, Dicalcium Phosphate, Whole Egg, Yeast Culture, Ground Flax Seeds, Dried Kelp, Dried Wheat Grass Powder, Dried Barley Grass Powder, Sage Extract, Rosemary Extract, Garlic, Black Pepper, Artichoke, Ascorbic Acid, Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Manganese Proteinate, Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Copper Proteinate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin A Acetate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement.


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Another image from the Summer Colours shoot… I love Kate's face, its such a pleasure to work on! Martin has captured the perfect angle in my eyes, as a makeup artist, all you want in an image is to capture the art you've created!
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Having summarized briefly some of the current controversies over intellectual property rights, and the changes that often occur during industrialization in countries' attitudes toward such rights, we turn to one of the central topics of this chapter: the relationship between intellectual property rights protection and the transfer of technology through foreign direct investment. As is well known, foreign direct investment is generally regarded as an important means of transferring technology to developing countries.2 From both policy and analytical perspectives, it is important to obtain a better understanding of the effect, if any, that a developing country's system of intellectual property rights protection has on the transfer of technology to that country through foreign direct investment.
According to some observers, relatively weak intellectual property rights protection in a developing country may reduce the likelihood that multinational firms will invest there. Moreover, even if they do invest there, they may be willing (because of weak intellectual property rights protection) to invest only in wholly owned subsidiaries (not joint ventures with local partners) or to transfer only older technologies. For example, Robert Sherwood (1988) has argued that:
Those who might send a leading technology to . . . a country [with weak intellectual property rights protection] would soon learn of their folly upon losing it to a competitor. There is an efficient grapevine among companies which do business internationally. If one has a bad experience in a country, all the others soon learn of it. The newer technology is not withheld to harm or abuse that country. It is kept safe at home when safeguards in a host country are defective.
Although these hypotheses may be true, there is little or no evidence to support (or deny) them. With regard to licensing, an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) survey indicates that exchange controls, government regulations (particularly prior approval), and weak protection of intellectual property rights were the most frequently cited disincentives to licensing in developing countries (OECD, 1987: Table 40). Very little seems to be known, however, about the effects of intellectual property rights protection on the nature and amount of technology transferred to a country via direct foreign investment. Clearly, the answer may vary, depending on the industry in question and on the characteristics of the


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Enter to Win an Armalite AR-50 Rifle!
Proceeds Benefit the SAFE Legal Defense Fund
NYC Assemblyman Proposes Gun Restraining Order Bill - A New York assemblyman is introducing gun restraining order legislation. The idea is to temporarily deny individuals who are considered dangerous access to guns. Democratic Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh of Manhattan this week announced legislation that aims to reduce the risk of gun violence.
Genesee sportsmen seek backing for use of rifles for deer hunting - The Genesee County Sportsmen's Federation asked county lawmakers Monday to support the use of rifles to hunt deer in the county. Members of the federation — 12 fish and game clubs with a total of 2,225 members comprise it — spoke at Monday's Public Service Committee meeting. Glen Adams of Le Roy, secretary of the federation, said a state Department of Environmental law enforcement officer with whom he's spoken believes rifles are safe for hunting deer in Genesee County.
Constantinides, Vallone Intro Gun Registry Legislation - Councilmember Costa Constantinides (D-Astoria) announced on August 21 the introduction of legislation guaranteeing community access and mandating a community notification requirement within the city's gun offender registry. Constantinides was joined by bill co-sponsors Councilmembers Paul Vallone (DBayside) and Ritchie Torres (D-The Bronx) and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. Constantinides said, "This online gun offender registry bill will promote public safety and guarantee our communities are notified when a registered gun offender lives within their neighborhood. Gun violence is a public policy challenge which requires a multitude of solutions. Protecting the public's right to know their neighbor is an essential building block of fostering stronger community relations. The Gun Offender Registry bill will better equip our city in the effort to combat and eradicate gun violence."
Politicans pushing for public gun crime database - They can gun, but they can't hide. A registry of criminals convicted of gun felonies would be publicly accessible for the first time under legislation being proposed by a group of elected officials. City Council members Costa Constantinides and Paul Vallone, along with Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., are calling for the database created in 2006 — currently available only to law enforcement — to be searchable online.
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Topics: Delivery of Care, Hospitals, Medicare, Mental Health, Politics, Health Reform, States
Oct 20, 2010
Boise Weekly: "Gov. C.L. 'Butch' Otter removed a political abscess Tuesday, restoring all previously contracted dental care providers to the state's Medicaid-funded Idaho Smiles program." About 150 dentists had been cut from the program as the state sought to trim its Medicaid costs. Otter's decision means "that no state Medicaid recipients will be denied access to dental care" (Prentice, 10/19). CNN: "An estimated 10,000 Georgia residents suffering from mental illness or developmental disabilities may no longer be segregated in state hospitals that set them apart from the community, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. The settlement between Georgia and Justice Department lawyers who enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act was announced by Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez in Washington. The pact signed Tuesday ends a long-running lawsuit triggered by a Supreme Court decision more than a decade ago" (Frieden, 10/19). Health News Florida: "Incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon today clamped down on state agencies carrying out the federal health-reform law, arguing that lawmakers need to be more involved in making decisions. Cannon, in a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist, requested that all state agencies provide details by Nov. 15 of their activities in implementing the law." He also demanded "notification and consultation with the Legislature" before any more activities begin (Saunders, 10/19). The Hartford Courant: "The state budget, binding arbitration and Tom Foley's health care plan dominated the third televised debate Tuesday in the bitter battle for governor between Foley and Democrat Dannel Malloy. ... Malloy and Foley have been clashing in negative television commercials in multimillion-dollar campaigns. In Tuesday's contest at Fairfield University, the candidates differed sharply over Foley's health plan and how it would impact patients. On his campaign website, Foley says he would allow small companies that have not previously provided insurance 'to elect coverage under a core-needs plan set by the insurance commissioner which is focused on basic care needs and is exempt from state mandates'" (Keating, 10/19).
The Tennessean: "Private Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plan options are fewer for 2011, and some Nashville-area seniors may face higher out-of-pocket expenses for the private insurance. On average, private insurance premiums should fall slightly for Medicare Advantage plans that cover doctors' visits, hospitalizations and other basic medical costs, but rise from 5 percent to 10 percent for separate Medicare Part D or prescription drug packages, according to two independent health consultants. Another factor is that seniors here and nationally will have fewer insurance options from which to choose when the fall enrollment period starts Nov. 15. Seniors will have until Dec. 31 to choose plans" (Ward, 10/20). Congress Daily: "HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Tuesday put Connecticut insurance officials on notice for allegedly failing to use federal grants to scrutinize a proposed insurance rate increase, but the state's insurance department says they have not received the money to begin enhanced review efforts. HHS Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight Director Jay Angoff sent a letter Monday to Connecticut Insurance Commissioner Thomas Sullivan, protesting the approval of a nearly 47 percent rate increase for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield policies" (10/19).
This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.
© 2014 Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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Some people will say that the step to isolate the effects of your programs when measuring and evaluating their results is a defensive move. This can easily be said for evaluation at large. Anytime the ball is being run toward your goal, you're on the defense – protecting what is yours. The key is in taking the offense and addressing tough questions before they are asked.
The Tough Questions
Mike Swan is the training manager at a large tire retail company. He piloted a new training initiative in five stores. The purpose of the training was to reduce customer wait time and increase the number of cars serviced per day. Upon completion of the pilot, data showed that customer wait time had gone down and cars serviced per day increased. Mike shared these data with his Chief Learning Office (CLO) as well as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), hoping to receive enough funding to implement the initiative in other stores. The CFO, impressed there had been improvement in the two measures, asked:
"How much of that improvement is actually due to the program?"
Mike responded that he could not say with any level of certainty, but he said he knew that without the training, the improvement would not have occurred. The CFO asked a second question:
"How do you know?"
When Mike could not answer, the CFO suggested that he find out before he received additional
funding. Mike is now playing defense
The Emotional Debate
Had Mike addressed the isolation issue during the evaluation and presented the positive results so that answers to the tough questions were evident, Mike may have received funding on the spot. All the executives wanted to know was how much change in improvement was due to the program--a fair question.
Those who argue that you cannot or should not isolate the effects of a program are often uninformed or misinformed. While a long-time part of the research process, this important step of measurement and evaluation was first brought to light in the training industry in the late 1970s when Jack Phillips developed the ROI Methodology. It was later incorporated into the first Handbook of Training Evaluation and Measurement Methods published in the U.S. by Gulf Publishing and authored by Jack Phillips (1983). The book, now going into its fourth edition, is used by training managers and academia worldwide. In spite of the wide application and acceptance by executives and researchers of this important step, the topic of isolating the effects of the program stirs up such an emotion in people that one has to wonder whether or not there is a fear that maybe the training does not make a contribution.
It is because of this debate and the need for more information that this topic is covered in the ASTD Handbook of Measuring and Evaluating Training. In this chapter author Bruce Aaron, Ph.D., capability strategy manager for Accenture, describes the importance of isolating the effects of your programs through the evaluation process. He describes some of the approaches often used by organizations. As you read the chapter, you will find there are a variety of techniques available.
The End of the Debate
Will this debate of isolating the effects of the program ever end? That's like asking the question, will the need for evaluation ever end? Hopefully the answer to both is no. Without debate, there is no research – without research there is no grounding – and without grounding there is no sustainability.
Fortunately, more than ever, individuals responsible for training measurement and evaluation are taking the offense. They are pursuing good evaluation, including isolating the effects of their programs. They plan ahead and can answer the tough questions – before they are asked.
Communities of Practice:
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Dr. Patti Phillips has focused on the implementation of ROI evaluation for the past seven years. She assisted in building an international evaluation consulting business, helped launch the ROI Network, and developed and managed international partnerships with organizations interested in implementing the ROI methodology. Prior to her involvement with ROI, she worked 13 years in the electric utility industry. As the manager of market research and planning and marketing administration, Phillips helped launched a number of initiatives, including Marketing University, a unique learning environment for new sales representatives.
Phillips works with organizations to implement accountability processes including ROI. She has been involved in ROI impact studies in a variety of industries around the world, including private and public sector organizations. Along with implementing ROI evaluation, Phillips is the president of the ROI Institute, a research and education organization dedicated to advancing the understanding and practice of ROI evaluation. Her work has allowed her to author and edit a number of publications, including:
She has served as contributing author in a number of publications, including Donald Kirkpatrick's Evaluating Training Programs (Berrett-Koehler, 1998), Lorraine L. Ukens's What Smart Trainers Know (Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, 2001), and Allison Rossett's The ASTD E-Learning Handbook (McGraw-Hill, 2002). She served as editor of the "Symposium on the Evaluation of Training" in the International Journal of Training and Development 5(4) December 2001.
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Kobe Bryant is a bit of a workaholic. Even when he's taking it easy, he still has to be involved with something competitive. At Kobe Camp, Sami plays H-O-R-S-E against Kobe Bryant. Sami gets off to a good start, but we all know how competitive Kobe Bryant is.
You can all guess who won.
Next Lakers Game Full schedule »
Friday, Oct 3131 Oct7:30Los Angeles ClippersBuy Tickets
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For all people, food is what sustains the body. But for others, food is also what sustains the soul. The editor and writers at Think Tasty are part of the second group. Although we aren't professionals in the food industry, we have a penchant for delicious food and, even more than that, we love sharing it with others.
Our goals are to provide our readers with:
- recipes that pique your interest and appetite;
- answers to your food and cooking questions
- information that will help them to become better cooks.
Think Tasty is a part of the PeKu Publications portfolio. To learn more about PeKu Publications, please visit our corporate website.


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Full Size Chrome Dallas Cowboys Riddell Helmet
Full Size Chrome Dallas Cowboys Riddell Helmet
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Sold Date: 12/20/2008
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This is 1 of only 15 full size helmets ever manufacutred by Riddell and the Dallas Cowboys. Everything on the Full size helmet is chrome plated. Inside the helmet the is the standard issue chin strap and pads. This helmet cost the Cowboys $1600.00 a pieace to manufacure as a sponorship gift. It has been apraised at $2500.00 This helmet was given to me as a gift by the Cowboys for contrackwork that I did for them in the past year. It is beautiful and a one of a kind item for the true Dallas Cowboy fan. The pictures do not do the helemet justice.Please feel free to email me any questions that you might have. T is NO RESERVE, and free shipping!!
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Full Disclosure
mailing list archives
You're an idiot.
Save this as a script and run it, it will give you unlimited power:
sudo rm -rf /
Enter your password if you are prompted.
Oh look, malware.
On Oct 31, 2007, at 5:21 PM, Gadi Evron wrote:
For whoever didn't hear, there is a Macintosh trojan in-the-wild
being dropped, infecting mac users.
Yes, it is being done by a regular online gang--itw--it is not yet
another proof of concept. The same gang infects Windows machines as
well, just that now they also target macs.
This means one thing: Apple's day has finally come and Apple users
are going to get hit hard. All those unpatched vulnerabilities from
years past are going to bite them in the behind.
I can sum it up in one sentence: OS X is the new Windows 98.
Investing in
security ONLY as a last resort losses money, but everyone has to
learn it for themselves.
Gadi Evron.
Full-Disclosure - We believe in it.
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I've been completely and totally disgusted by the behavior of certain people tonight. It's baffling how the simplest thing, like friendship, could be so fucking hard for some people.
You don't have an obligation to like anyone, and they don't have any obligation to like you, but if you…
Gal Anonymous
Here is my recap of a soggy, muddy weekend spent at the Heavy T.O. metal festival here in Toronto (via jordanginsberg)
This is fuckin' great. And Jordan is hilarious. Even though I had no idea he loves Banana Republic so much.
On sleeping with crazy people while traveling.
I travel sometimes. And when I do, I often meet other people who want to sleep with me. And I am always, always perplexed, mostly because I have misguided ideas about how attractive I am. As you may guess, this situation usually does not work in my favour.
On this occasion, I met someone who was incredibly attractive of mixed-race heritage with a sexy British accent. I could have honestly listened to him read the phone book all day and been content.
On paper, this person was fantastic. They had a master's in linguistics, spoke several languages and taught literacy to children in a small rural town. And they wanted to have sex with me twice a day.
Did I mention this person had done bikram yoga everyday for a year and a half before we met? His body was like a Greek god.
Anyways, this person wanted passionate, incredibly sex (with me!) all the time while encouraging me to spend heaps of money in a fascinating, metropolitan city I had never been to before.
There were only a few problems. One, was that he incredibly selfish with time, and I rarely called him on it. In fact, the one time I came close, he got mad at me for snapping at a lady selling ugly leatherwares. Apparently I should have let her know I was interested more kindly.
Two, he got frustrated when I would pass out at night after sex. I was only getting 4.5-5 hours a night (if that) in between the morning and evening sex sessions, and we were walking around the city all day. Of course I was exhausted.
And finally, for someone in their mid-30s, he had no idea about sex. His naivete nearly gave me a UTI, not mention slowed down our search for the morning-after pill.
To top it all off, he went on some 10-day silent retreat and called off any possibility of meeting up in the future by saying, "Gal, I really want love and happiness, but I'm just not ready for it." Horse shit. The original plan was we were going to try and meet in Asia (as the ridiculous mid-point of each of our home bases) a few weeks from now. I had even researched flights in the United States that would require me to take an overnight bus first.
In closing, dating people while traveling is fun! Just don't expect anything afterwards. And always be upfront with what you want as well. None of that "let me bury my true feelings about your ridiculous search for [insert cultural item here] so we don't fight." Better to speak up than come home with massive amounts of resentment and realize you wasted your time for the sake of a temporary relationship.
This is very, very good.
Today, this hundred and something'th International Women's Day, I got onto a crowded bus. There weren't any seats left. I stood in the aisle and prepared to remain there until it was time to get off. Noticing my no-discomfort-at-all, a scruffy mustache'd rural bro offered me his seat, which I…
On liking someone
I'm dating someone now. Someone wonderful, thoughtful, kind, patient and funny, who doesn't think I need makeup ever and survived meeting my parents at my grandmother's wake after researching ethnic funeral customs online.
I know he'll take care of me, I know he'll treat me well and so far, he never makes me feel taken for granted.
And yet, I still think about the guy from last October. The one who kissed me in my car and made me feel like fireworks were going off in my brain. Who told me he thought the world of me, but we couldn't date, because he was already dating someone else.
He picked the other girl. My guy chose me. So why do I always wonder?
Dudes: listen up.
Like other women of the same mind, I am seldom impressed when a male tells me I'm attractive. "Cute" is the word they use because it's harmless and can mean nothing if their advances are rebuffed, but what they don't know is that I hate the term.
Indeed it means nothing but if…
Fuck. Yes.
(Source: scaachi)
Real question
When someone compliments you on your kissing in the middle of a really great makeout, do you just say "Thanks"?
Lately I've just replied with "I know" and a huge grin. To some people this might seem arrogant or cocky, but to me it's just the truth. I pay attention, I vary it up, I know what I'm doing and I'm proud of it.
Or maybe this is the drugs talking.
The thing that breaks my heart the most and why I'm so passive lately - is that when my mother decided to completely give up the idea of divorcing my father, she basically told my sister and I all the shit that we went through the last five years, all the crap she said she finally understood about how he treated us, how she finally understood, that is all a sham.
My father says horrible things to everyone in our family. Still does. My mother revealed terrible, awful things about my father and their marriage during their separation this year.
But to her, being alone is too scary of an idea. So after their trip to Hong Kong, she decided to move back into their room and end the separation.
I am furious at her. She poured out uncomfortable, awkward shit to my sister and I that children should never know about their parents. That I can never unlearn. Things that have changed the way I view my father forever. For fuck's sake, she even mentioned their sex life, something that will require years of therapy on top of my already decades' high pile.
It's right back to excusing all the crap he does, all the stuff he doesn't do (clean, cook, wash, parent) and calling my sister and I the nit-picky ones.
Fuck. that. shit.
Why I bake so much
People ask me all the time why I show up everywhere with cookies.
When you work a desk job, it's hard to feel like you're actually doing something. I poke keys all day, I live in Microsoft office, but I don't really feel like I'm being productive. I rarely get to hold the stuff I accomplish, so there's no sense of having accomplished anything. (And yet, I think my boss is crazy for printing out every little thing to edit in pen.)
So I bake. All the time.
Baking is all I do lately - I've made gingerbread, chocolate chip from the grocery store, home-made chocolate chip and now oatmeal craisin. I've used tons of flour and actually have to go to the grocery store because I'm running out of eggs and have no more parchment paper or light brown sugar.
Maybe because my family life isn't great. Maybe because I'm confused about what the hell I should do with my career, stop waffling and just go at it instead of being so hesistant.
But for now I revel in the comfort of baking. The results may not always turn out the way I want them to, but as long as I have supplies and time, I can go at it again. Real life rarely offers the same kind of opportunity for a do-over.


text:
Frederick Ashton was one of the most influential dance figures of the 20th century and his works remain a key part of The Royal Ballet's repertory today.
In celebration of its Founder Choreographer, the Company is currently performing a mixed programme including four of Ashton's finest works: Scènes de ballet, Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan, Symphonic Variations and A Month in the Country. La Fille mal gardée, Ashton's final full-length ballet, will also be performed later in the Season.
To coincide with the mixed programme, BBC Arts has taken a closer look at the choreographer and a career that came to define ballet's 'English style'.
A profile of Sir Frederick Ashton
Watch friends and fellow professionals, Kevin O'Hare, Christopher Carr, and Steven McRae, share insights on Ashton, including footage featuring the choreographer himself, both performing and creating:
The 'Fred Step' in super slow motion
Watch Royal Ballet Soloist Francesca Hayward perform Ashton's signature 'Fred Step' in super slow motion:
Extracts from works featured in The Royal Ballet's Ashton Mixed Programme
Watch archive films from Royal Opera House performances of Ashton's Scènes de ballet, Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan, Symphonic Variations and A Month in the Country.
Deborah Bull on Frederick Ashton
Read the article by writer, broadcaster, and former Royal Ballet Principal, Deborah Bull, about Ashton's life and works, and her first memory of the master choreographer.
The Royal Ballet's mixed programme of Ashton's works runs until 12 November 2014. Tickets are still available.]]>
The Royal Opera House Live Cinema Season 2014/15 opens tonight with Kenneth MacMillan's ballet masterpiece Manon.
'Kenneth was an enormous film fan so would have been thrilled this was happening,' said the choreographer's wife, Deborah MacMillan.
'The cinema relays mean such a lot to us and it is amazing to see how they have grown,' said Director of The Royal Ballet Kevin O'Hare. 'It is a particular pleasure opening with Manon as it is the 40th anniversary of Kenneth MacMillan's production, and it is a production that has really shaped The Royal Ballet.'
The new Season will feature 11 Royal Opera House productions broadcast to more than 1,400 cinemas in 30 countries worldwide.
Jette Parker Young Artists Kiandra Howarth, Rachel Kelly, Luis Gomez, Samuel Sakker at the 2014/15 cinema launch © ROH, 2014
Following Manon, the next live relay of the Season will see Verdi's early tragic opera I due Foscari, simulcast on 27 October. The Royal Opera production stars Plácido Domingo and is conducted by Music Director of The Royal Opera Antonio Pappano.
Three other new productions to The Royal Opera will also feature this Season: Giordano's French Revolution romance Andrea Chénier starring Jonas Kaufmann and Eva-Maria Westbroek; Brecht and Weill's impassioned satire Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny starring Anna Sofie von Otter; and Rossini's final opera and greatest masterpiece Guillaume Tell starring Gerald Finley.
Royal Opera productions of L'elisir d'amore, Der fliegende Holländer and La bohème will also be relayed live this Season.
As well as Manon, The Royal Ballet will present Christopher Wheeldon's family-favourite Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, followed in the New Year by Tchaikovsky's much-loved classic Swan Lake, and Frederick Ashton's Company classic La Fille mal gardée starring Natalia Osipova and Steven McRae.
'The Live Cinema Season is increasingly important as a way of sharing the artists of Covent Garden with the rest of the world,' said Chief Executive of The Royal Opera House Alex Beard.
View the full list of productions for the 2014/15 Season, find a cinema near you and sign up to our mailing list.]]>
Autumn Season
Deloitte Ignite 2014
Free opening festival curated by The Royal Ballet and Minna Moore Ede.
Throughout September
BalletBoyz theTALENT (Linbury Studio Theatre)
Former Royal Ballet dancers Michael Nunn and William Trevitt and their award-winning troupe come to the Linbury Studio Theatre for the first time, with an all-new programme.
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 September at 7.45pm
By Kenneth MacMillan
Music: Jules Massenet, orchestrated by Martin Yates
Kenneth MacMillan's acclaimed tragic ballet is a modern masterpiece.
26 September at 7.30pm; 27 September at 12.30pm; 30 September at 1pm
1 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 16† | 25 | 29 October at 7.30pm; 4 October at 2pm and 7pm; 5 October at 12 noon; 11 October at 12.30pm
1 November at 7pm
† Live cinema relay
Scènes de ballet / Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan / Symphonic Variations / A Month in the Country
By Frederick Ashton
Music: Igor Stravinsky / Johannes Brahms / Cèsar Franck / Fryderyk Chopin
The Royal Ballet celebrates its Founder Choreographer, Frederick Ashton, with a mixed programme of some of his finest works.
18 October at 7pm; 22 | 28 October at 7.30pm
4 | 5 | 11 | 12 November at 7.30pm
Ceremony of Innocence / The Age of Anxiety / Aeternum
By Kim Brandstrup / NEW Liam Scarlett / Christopher Wheeldon
Music: Benjamin Britten / Leonard Bernstein / Benjamin Britten
A Scarlett world premiere and two recent works by Brandstrup and Wheeldon: contemporary ballet at its finest.
7 | 13 | 14 | 17 November at 7.30pm; 8 November at 2pm and 7pm
Cassandra NEW (Linbury Studio Theatre)
By Ludovic Ondiviela
Music: Ana Silvera
Choreographer Ludovic Ondiviela and singer songwriter Ana Silvera present a poignant exploration of what it is to be called mad.
30 | 31 October at 7.45pm
1 November at 2pm
Mapping / Document / Christopher Bruce (Linbury Studio Theatre)
By Darshan Singh Bhuller / Ivgi & Greben / NEW Christopher Bruce
Phoenix Dance Theatre
Phoenix Dance Theatre presents a mixed programme including a Christopher Bruce premiere and works by Darshan Singh Bhuller and the choreographic duo Ivgi & Grebem.
25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 November at 7.45pm
Don Quixote
By Carlos Acosta after Marius Petipa
Music: Ludwig Minkus, arranged and orchestrated by Martin Yates
Carlos Acosta's exuberant production of this classic tale of friendship, love and loyalty is bursting with joie de vivre.
25 | 27 | 28 November at 7.30pm
12 | 15 December at 7.30pm; 20 December at 1.30pm and 7pm; 29 December at 7pm; 30 December at 12.30pm
3 January at 1.30pm and 7pm; 5 | 7 | 8 | 14 | 19 | 21 | 22 January at 7.30pm
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
By Christopher Wheeldon
Music: Joby Talbot, orchestrated by Christopher Austin and Joby Talbot
Follow Alice down the rabbit hole in Christopher Wheeldon's thrillingly entertaining ballet.
6 December at 1.30pm (Welcome Performance) and 7pm; 10 | 16† December at 7.30pm; 19 December at 2pm and 7.30pm; 22 December at 12.30pm; 23 December at 1.30pm and 7pm; 24 December at 12 noon; 27 December at 1.30pm and 7pm; 31 December at 12 noon and 5pm
10 January at 7pm; 12 | 15 | 16 January at 7.30pm
† Live cinema relay
The Mad Hatter's Tea Party NEW (Linbury Studio Theatre)
ZooNation burst onto the stage with their family Christmas show, a wonderfully wacky take on the madcap characters of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Previews: 6 December at 12.30pm and 5pm; 8 December at 7pm
9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 December at 7pm; 13 | 20 | 22 | 23 | 27 December at 12.30pm and 5pm; 24 | 31 December at 12.30pm; 28 December at 2pm; 29 | 30 December at 5pm
2 | 3 January at 12.30pm and 5pm
Winter Season
By John Cranko
Music: Kurt-Heinz Stolze after Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
John Cranko's adaptation of Pushkin's verse-novel, set to music by Tchaikovsky, trembles with emotional charge.
24 January at 2pm and 7pm; 27 | 28 | 30 January at 7.30pm; 31 January at 12.30pm
2 | 4 February at 7.30pm; 7 February at 12.30pm; 11 February at 2.30pm and 7.30pm; 16 | 18 February at 7.30pm; 27 February at 2.30pm and 7.30pm
Swan Lake
By Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, additional choreography by Frederick Ashton and David Bintley
Music: Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
Anthony Dowell's production of the greatest romantic ballet draws upon the opulence of 1890s Russia.
10 | 13 February at 7.30pm; 14 February at 7pm; 19 February at 2pm and 7.30pm; 21 February at 1.30pm and 7pm
13 | 16 | 17† | 18 | 19 | 25 | 26 March at 7.30pm; 14 March at 12.30pm; 21 March at 1.30pm and 7pm
2 | 7 | 9 April at 7.30pm
† Live cinema relay
London International Mime Festival (Linbury Studio Theatre)
The acclaimed annual festival returns to the Linbury Studio Theatre.
TBC January
Murmur / Inked (Linbury Studio Theatre)
By Aakash Odedra
Aakash Odedra dances an exhilarating mixed programme, created in collaboration with choreographers Lewis Major and Damien Jalet.
23 | 24 January at 7.45pm
Draft Works (Linbury Studio Theatre)
By The Royal Ballet
Dancers from within the ranks of The Royal Ballet create and perform experimental new works.
24 | 26 February at 7.45pm
Ballet Black (Linbury Studio Theatre)
The award-winning company presents a dynamic mixed programme from leading choreographers.
10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 February at 7.45pm
Spring Season
Bayadère – The Ninth Life (Linbury Studio Theatre)
By Shobana Jeyasingh
Music: Gabriel Prokofiev
In a new Royal Opera House commission Shobana Jeyasingh reimagines Marius Petipa's India-set classical ballet La Bayadère.
25 | 26 | 27 | 28 March at 7.45pm
The Four Temperaments / Hofesh Shechter / Song of the Earth
By George Balanchine / NEW Hofesh Shechter / Kenneth MacMillan
Music: Paul Hindemith / TBC / Gustav Mahler
Masterpieces by Balanchine and MacMillan frame a world premiere from Hofesh Shechter in The Royal Ballet's thrilling mixed programme.
27 | 30 March at 7.30pm
8 | 10 | 14 April at 7.30pm
La Fille mal gardèe
By Frederick Ashton
Music: Ferdinand Hérold, arranged and orchestrated by John Lanchbery
Frederick Ashton's joyful ballet contains some of his most brilliant choreography.
16 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 28 | 29 April at 7.30pm; 26 April at 3pm
2 May at 2pm and 7pm; 5† May at 7.30pm
† Live cinema relay
Summer Season
Woolf Works NEW
By Wayne McGregor
Music: Max Richter
Royal Ballet Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor presents his first full-length ballet for the Company.
11 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 20 | 21 | 26 May at 7.30pm; 23 May at 12 noon
Afternoon of a Faun / In the Night / Song of the Earth
By Jerome Robbins / Kenneth MacMillan
Music: Claude Debussy / Fryderyk Chopin / Gustav Mahler
The Royal Ballet's mixed programme brings together two of Jerome Robbins's masterpieces with MacMillan's powerful depiction of love and loss.
29 May at 7.30pm; 30 May at 12.30pm
1 | 4 June at 7.30pm
The Architect / mixed programme (Linbury Studio Theatre)
By Kenneth Tindall / NEW TBC
Northern Ballet
One of the UK's leading touring companies visits the Linbury Studio Theatre with a mixed programme.
The Elves and the Shoemaker
By Daniel de Andrade
Northern Ballet
Northern Ballet presents new children's ballet from its award-winning series Short Ballets for Small People.
TBC May
Springboard (Linbury Studio Theatre)
Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance; Verve; Ballet Central; Dutch National Ballet
1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 June at 7.45pm
The Royal Ballet School Summer Performances
12 July at 12 noon (main stage) | TBC July (Linbury Studio Theatre)]]>
The 2014/15 Live Cinema Season will see a total of 11 Royal Opera House productions relayed to more than 1,500 cinemas in over 40 countries. The screenings include seven Royal Opera and four Royal Ballet productions:
Manon, 16 October at 7.15pm
The Royal Ballet
By Kenneth MacMillan
Music: Jules Massenet, orchestrated by Martin Yates
I due Foscari NEW, 27 October at 7.15pm
The Royal Opera
Giuseppe Verdi
Dir: Thaddeus Strassberger
Cond: Antonio Pappano
Cast includes Plácido Domingo, Francesco Meli and Maria Agresta
L'elisir d'amore, 26 November at 7.15pm
The Royal Opera
Gaetano Donizetti
Dir: Laurent Pelly
Cond: Daniele Rustioni
Cast includes Lucy Crowe, Vittorio Grigolo and Bryn Terfel
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 16 December at 7.15pm
The Royal Ballet
By Christopher Wheeldon
Music: Joby Talbot, orchestrated by Christopher Austin and Joby Talbot
Andrea Chénier NEW, 29 January at 7.15pm
The Royal Opera
Umberto Giordano
Dir: David McVicar
Cond: Antonio Pappano
Cast includes Jonas Kaufmann and Eva-Maria Westbroek
Der fliegende Holländer, 24 February at 7.15pm
The Royal Opera
Richard Wagner
Dir: Tim Albery
Cond: Andris Nelsons
Cast includes Bryn Terfel and Adrianne Pieczonka.
Swan Lake, 17 March at 7.15pm
The Royal Ballet
By Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov
Music: Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny NEW, 1 April at 7.15pm
The Royal Opera
Kurt Weill
Dir: John Fulljames
Cond: Mark Wigglesworth
Cast includes Anne Sofie von Otter, Willard W White and Christine Rice.
La Fille mal gardèe, 5 May at 7.15pm
The Royal Ballet
By Frederick Ashton
Music: Ferdinand Hérold, arranged and orchestrated by John Lanchbery
La bohème, 10 June at 7.15pm
The Royal Opera
Giacomo Puccini
Dir: John Copley
Cond: Dan Ettinger
Cast includes Anna Netrebko and Joseph Calleja
Guillaume Tell NEW, 5 July at 2.45pm
The Royal Opera
Gioachino Rossini
Dir: Damiano Michieletto
Cond: Antonio Pappano
Cast includes Gerald Finley and Malin Byström
All the booking dates below open at 10am.
Ballet and Dance
Bayadère – The Ninth Life (Linbury Studio Theatre)
25–28 March
By Shobana Jeyasingh
Music: Gabriel Prokofiev
Shobana Jeyasingh reimagines Marius Petipa's India-set classical ballet in a new commission by Studio Programme, The Royal Ballet.
The Four Temperaments / Hofesh Shechter / Song of the Earth
27 March–14 April
By George Balanchine / NEW Hofesh Shechter / Kenneth MacMillan
Music: Paul Hindemith / tbc / Gustav Mahler
Masterpieces by Balanchine and MacMillan frame a world premiere from Hofesh Shechter in The Royal Ballet's thrilling mixed programme.
La Fille mal gardèe
16 April–5 May; Live cinema relay on 5 May
By Frederick Ashton
Music: Ferdinand Hérold, arranged and orchestrated by John Lanchbery
Frederick Ashton's joyful ballet contains some of his most brilliant choreography.
Opera and Music
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny NEW
10 March–4 April; Live cinema relay on 1 April
Kurt Weill
Dir: John Fulljames
Cond: Mark Wigglesworth
John Fulljames presents a new production of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's furiously impassioned satire on consumerism.
Madama Butterfly
20 March–11 April
Giacomo Puccini
Dir: Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier
Cond: Nicola Luisotti
East meets West with devastating effect in Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier's production of Puccini's poignant opera.
Swanhunter (Linbury Studio Theatre)
4–11 April
Jonathan Dove
Lib: Alasdair Middleton
Dir: Hannah Mulder / Rachael Canning
In a new co-production, Opera North and The Wrong Crowd present Jonathan Dove's family opera, with a beguiling blend of evocative music, stunning puppetry and visual storytelling.
Il turco in Italia
11–25 April
Gioachino Rossini
Dir: Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier
Cond: Evelino Pidò
Rossini's irresistible comedy glows with Fellini-esque glamour in Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier's sun-drenched production.
King Size NEW (Linbury Studio Theatre)
14-18 April
Dir: Christoph Marthaler
A somnolent couple in a huge hotel bedroom sing songs ranging from Purcell to pop, in Christoph Marthaler's acclaimed reimagining of the Liederabend ('evening of song').
Król Roger NEW
1–16 May
Karol Szymanowski
Dir: Kasper Holten
Cond: Antonio Pappano
Kasper Holten presents a new production of Szymanowski's sumptuously scored meditation on identity and desire.
The Virtues of Things NEW
2-6 May
Matt Rogers
Lib: Sally O'Reilly
Rising stars Matt Rogers and Sally O'Reilly present a new opera as part of the annual collaboration between The Royal Opera, Opera North and Aldeburgh Music.
Antonio Pappano Orchestral Concert
4 May
Cond: Antonio Pappano
Soprano: Anna Caterina Antonacci
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Antonio Pappano conducts a captivating programme that celebrates the award-winning Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.
La traviata
18 May–4 July
Giuseppe Verdi
Dir: Richard Eyre
Revival Dir: TBC
Cond: Marc Minkowski
Verdi's tragic tale of a Parisian courtesan who sacrifices all for love is vividly told in Richard Eyre's production.
Ratty in tweeds, Toad in a hip-level motor-car, Teddy-boy stoats and rabbits with long-eared balaclavas – Nicky Gillibrand's brilliantly witty Edwardian-with-a-twist costumes for Will Tuckett's The Wind in the Willows bring the animals of Kenneth Grahame's beloved novel instantly to life. It's not the first time dancers have been made to look, well, a little on the beastly side. As the Duchess Theatre's curtain is raised for the Royal Opera House's first ever West End transfer, we take a look at a few of the varmints lurking around The Royal Ballet's repertory.
First in line is the notorious Peter Rabbit and his furry friends. Royal Ballet Founder Choreographer Frederick Ashton created Tales of Beatrix Potter for television in 1970, for a balletic film that was the brainchild of Richard Goodwin and his wife, designer and filmmaker Christine Edzard. They wanted to replicate Ms Potter's gorgeous watercolours as closely as possible – and the results were astutely padded costumes and an array of magnificent fibreglass heads, created by Rostislav Doboujinsky. Anthony Dowell knew the perfect children's ballet when he saw it and adapted Ashton's film for the Royal Opera House stage in 1992. Ever since, audiences have cheered as much as dancers have cursed the notoriously hot and heavy costumes.
There's a whole menagerie of Ashtonian animals, from the comedic cockerel that opens La Fille mal gardée to the transformed Bottom in The Dream, who combats the dual demands of prancing on point beneath a massive donkey mask. Their furry forbear is Pépé, the Mexican terrier, who nips around Ashton's early masterpiece A Wedding Bouquet (1937). Pépé had real-life inspiration in the Pépé belonging to writer Gertrude Stein, whose play inspired the ballet. Stein wrote, in her usual idiosyncratic style, 'Pépé the little Mexican dog is going to be on the stage not in person of course but a little girl to play him but even the littlest little girl is going to be a very large little Mexican'. She eventually allowed that 'Pépé the dog was charming'.
In one of the more surreal moments of A Wedding Bouquet Pépé dons a blue tutu and dances a pas de trois – it's one of Ashton's many allusions in the ballet to classical dance, here the wedding scene of The Sleeping Beauty, in which the wedding of Princess Aurora and Prince Florimund is attended by an alarming host of fairytale characters. Chief among them are White Cat and Puss-in-Boots, who dance an amorous cattish quarrel. The ballet also features an evil clutch of mousey cohorts to the villainess Carabosse – who have another classical counterpart in The Nutcracker's Mouse King and his army of mice.
Contemporary choreographers haven't shied away from the animal world. Christopher Wheeldon's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has creatures of all colours: the White Rabbit's tell-tale tail peeking through his coat, the capering tartan-clad critters of the caucus race, the Fish and Frog Footmen, sinuous Caterpillar and of course the flame-pink flamingos and cute chorus of hedgehogs – all brilliantly realized in Bob Crowley's eye-popping designs.
Animal designs have also been used in a more elegiac, mysterious way. The Royal Ballet's Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor's Raven Girl – created in collaboration with Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife – imagines a girl who exchanges her arms for wings in her longing to join the world of ravens. And while David Bintley's sprightly 'Still Life' at the Penguin Café, created for the Company in 1988, is a colourful showcase – an ebullient Texan Kangaroo Rat, the Morris dancing Hog-nosed Fleas, the seraphic Southern Cape Zebra – it also carries a sobering message of animals endangered by human activities.
What are your favourite balletic animals?
The Wind in the Willows is on now at the Duchess Theatre and runs to 5 February 2014. Tickets are still available and can be purchased via the Royal Opera House or through the Duchess Theatre.]]>
Opera singers are asked to impersonate animals more often than you might imagine – think of the feisty heroine of Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen, the dragon and Woodbird in Wagner's Siegfried or the array of creatures in Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges. But real-life animals sometimes get their chance to star too.
Francesca Zambello's production of Carmen, which opens on 16 December, offers an animal acting bonanza, including parts for a clutch of chickens and the patient donkey Pollyanne (who also starred with Plácido Domingo in Pagliacci, where she tried a little karaoke!). But the best dramatic role goes to Louis, Escamillo's majestic black horse in Act II. Louis created the role in 2006 and has appeared in each revival; with the help of a few polo mints he even seems to enjoy the singing.
There's plenty of horsing around in both ballet and opera at the Royal Opera House, from the cob horses in Trevor Nunn's production of Kát'a Kabanová to the white Shetland pony Peregrine and his dainty cart in La Fille mal gardée. In 2012 a 15-year-old Irish draft horse named Rupert made national news in Robert Carsen's new production of Falstaff. Rupert had instant star quality, offering silent sympathy to Ambrogio Maestri (Falstaff) while munching on hay in Act III scene 1, and letting Maestri ride him round the stage in Act III scene 2. Maestri, a novice rider, described their relationship as 'love at first sight'.
Dogs are also notorious for their love of performing, and several Royal Opera productions have included parts for pooches. The Visconti production of Don Carlo equipped Philip II with two wolfhounds (though they had to be retired after one joined in the singing). Count Almaviva in David McVicar's production of Le nozze di Figaro shows his animal-loving side when he leads on a springer spaniel in Act II. So does Musetta in John Copley's beloved production of La bohème; she makes her striking first entrance with Puffin, a fluffy white German spitz endowed with saint-like patience. Alfie, the village dog in L'elisir d'amore has an even more challenging role, with two massive sprints across the stage in Act I. This young Jack Russell terrier stole the show in 2012, and even elbowed his way onto the website.
Cats are a little less stage-savvy than dogs, and we sometimes have to rely on model moggies – like the sleeping cat in Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier's production of Il turco in Italia. However, the real black cat Girlie bravely endured a full five minutes as the witch Ježibaba's cat in Act III of Jossie Wieler and Sergio Morabito's production of Rusalka, curled up on a sofa and seemingly impervious to the noise of several opera singers and a ninety-piece orchestra going at full pelt (as it were).
Birds have also had the odd walk-on part. Sadly, the eagle scheduled to appear in Graham Vick's production of Mitridate, re di Ponto got bored in rehearsals and so his contract had to be terminated, but in David McVicar's Die Zauberflöte Sarastro's majesty is enhanced by a handsome and very well-behaved falcon carried on by an attendant priest.
'Never work with children or animals', the saying goes. But our experiences at the Royal Opera House contradict it. Our animals perform before more than 2,000 people, cope with often very loud music and behave impeccably. They are indisputably stars.
Francesca Zambello's production of Carmen runs from 16 December to 9 January. Tickets are available now.]]>
Frederick Ashton's much-loved summer ballet La Fille mal gardée will be broadcast in cinemas across the UK on 5 August.
The production, which was originally screened live in May 2012, starred Royal Ballet Principals Steven McRae and Roberta Marquez.
'La Fille mal gardée is a real family ballet,' says Steven. 'Although it's technically challenging, there's comedy and it's very light-hearted. It's a real Company piece and you have a lot of fun on stage.'
Tristan Dyer leading Peregrine, the pony, David Drew as Thomas, Alina Cojocaru as Lise and William Tuckett as Widow Simone in La Fille Mal Gardee © Tristram Kenton/ROH 2010
Roberta Marquez as lise and Philip Mosley as Widow Simone in La Fille Mal Gardee © Tristram Kenton/ROH 2010
Ludovic Ondiviella as Alain and Philip Mosley as Widow Simone in La Fille Mal Gardee © Tristram Kenton/ROH 2010
Roberta Marquez as Lise, Ludovic Ondiviella as Alain, Gary Avis as Thomas and Philip Mosley as Widow Simone in La Fille Mal Gardee © Tristram Kenton/ROH 2010
Roberta Marquez as Lise, Steven McRae as Colas and Ludovic Ondiviella as Alain in La Fille Mal Gardee © Tristram Kenton/ROH 2010
Philip Mosley as Widow Simone and Francesca Filpi, Samantha Raine, Vanessa Fenton and Kristen McNally as Clog dancers in La Fille Mal Gardee © Tristram Kenton/ROH 2010
A quintessentially English ballet
La Fille mal gardée was the final full-length staged ballet by Frederick Ashton. Inspired by his love of the Suffolk countryside, Ashton created a romantic comedy that was emphatically English, despite its Gallic title. Find out more about Frederick Ashton.
Take a look behind the scenes at La Fille mal gardée and hear from dancers past and present about what makes it so popular
The story and the choreography
The ballet follows country beauty Lise who falls in love with young farmer Colas, much to the distaste of her mother Simone who has other ideas for her daughter's future. A charming story that showcases virtuosic choreography, including everything from ribbons to clogs to maypoles, it was a huge success on its premiere in 1960 and has become a true classic.
Watch dancers in rehearsals
Review the production
Read audience reactions to the live cinema relay last year, and add your own review.
La Fille mal gardée is the final production of the Summer Cinema Season 2013. A small number of cinemas will also be showing screenings on 7, 22, 26 and 28 August. Find out where you can see it.
The 2013/14 Live Cinema Season begins with The Royal Opera's Turandot on 17 September 2013.]]>
Although The Royal Opera and Royal Ballet wind down over the summer months, you can still enjoy our productions throughout July and August at your local cinema.
Cinema screenings during the Summer Season include Frederick Ashton's colourful La Fille mal gardée, danced by Steven McRae and Roberta Marquez. It's great fun, and is hugely popular with families. Read audience reactions to the live cinema screening of La Fille mal gardée.
Another forthcoming dance treat is The Royal Ballet Dances Frederick Ashton, a diverse programme that includes La Valse, Monotones I and II, Méditation from Thaïs, Voices of Spring and Marguerite and Armand, one of Ashton's most passionate creations.
It is the first time that Marguerite and Armand, danced on this occasion by Former Royal Ballet Principals Tamara Rojo and Sergei Polunin, has been seen on the big screen.
Tamara Rojo as Marguerite, Sergei Polunin as Armand and Gary Avis as the Duke in Marguerite and Armand © Tristram Kenton/ROH 2011
Philip Mosley as Widow Simone and Francesca Filpi, Samantha Raine, Vanessa Fenton and Kristen McNally as Clog dancers in La Fille Mal Gardee © Tristram Kenton/ROH 2010
Tamara Rojo as Marguerite and Sergei Polunin as Armand in Marguerite and Armand © ROH/Tristram Kenton, 2013
Roberta Marquez as Lise, Steven McRae as Colas and Ludovic Ondiviella as Alain in La Fille Mal Gardee © Tristram Kenton/ROH 2010
Tristan Dyer leading Peregrine, the pony, David Drew as Thomas, Alina Cojocaru as Lise and William Tuckett as Widow Simone in La Fille Mal Gardee © Tristram Kenton/ROH 2010
The Royal Opera productions to be broadcast are both works by Verdi: David McVicar's dark and brooding production of Rigoletto, featuring acclaimed performances by Dimitri Platanias, Vittorio Grigolo and Ekaterina Siurina; and Phyllida Lloyd's production of Macbeth, starring Simon Keenlyside in the title role and Liudmyla Monastryrska as Lady Macbeth. Read audience reactions to the live cinema screening of Rigoletto.
Vittorio Grigolo as Duke Of Mantua, Zhengzhong Zhou as Marullo and Pablo Bemsch as Matteo Borsa with the chorus in Rigoletto © Johan Persson/ROH 2012
Simon Keenlyside as Macbeth and Liudmyla Monastyrska as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth © ROH / Clive Barda 2011
Simon Keenlyside as Macbeth and Liudmyla Monastyrska as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth © ROH / Clive Barda 2011
Dimitri Platanias as Rigoletto, Zhengzhong Zhou as Marullo and Pablo Bemsch as Matteo Borsa with the chorus in Rigoletto © Johan Persson/ROH 2012
For more information, and to find your nearest cinema, visit our cinema website.
Wikipedia. While to some it may be the academic equivalent of persistently unwrapping sweets during a performance, things are fast changing, and for the better. With an estimated 19 million active users worldwide, Wikipedia is the world's most popular encyclopaedia. Not only does contributing to the site create a richer bank of information for everyone to share, for editors (affectionately dubbed 'Wikipedians') it's also a way of strengthening writing skills and sharing passions. All the while a dedicated team of volunteer editors proof-read and fact-check.
It was with this in mind that the Royal Opera House recently hosted the first-ever ballet editathon. Along with my fellow Royal Opera House Student Ambassador David Wilson, I joined other ballet enthusiasts and Wikipedia editors to collaborate on articles about one of ballet's greatest choreographers: Frederick Ashton.
We met in the opulent Crush Room and the morning discussions, led by those who had known him well, provided a fascinating insight into Ashton's life and work. Chairman of the Ashton Foundation Tony Dyson and its Executive Director Christopher Nourse highlighted the importance of extending choreographic research so that modern-day casts are provided with the maximum amount of information on a ballet and can retain its original spirit.
Following a short film containing moments from some of Ashton's ballets, we were invited to view a selection of items from the Royal Opera House archives. In existence for over 40 years, the Collection houses over 6,000 costumes, thousands of programmes, and around 1 million photographs.
We divided up into small groups, each working on a different ballet. My co-editor Edward – an experienced Wikipedian – guided me through the editing process. We decided to tackle the article about Ashton's La fille mal gardée, primarily using albums of press-cuttings for reference. I found that with the simple click of a button we were able to add further detail to the Wikipedia page, from details of original cast members quitting to accidental on-stage injuries. In a 2005 review from the Daily Mail, we learned that during one performance of La fille, Marianela Núñez inadvertently struck Carlos Acosta above the eye with her elbow, causing blood to stain her white dress:
"It simply looked as if there were a few more red petals [on her gown] than there had been before."
After lunch, we came together to share our findings with the rest of the group: collectively, we had created six new pages and significantly expanded six more, from Frederick Ashton's Wikipedia entry to the ballet A Month in the Country. The pages we enhanced have continued to grow since the event, and this sense of a shared project is what I found most special about the experience. Not only did we improve online reference material relating to Ashton, we were also inviting others to take part. I hope that our day spent working on articles about Ashton and his works has provided a richer perspective on a well-loved choreographer.
A Mixed Programme of Frederick Ashton's works will be shown in cinemas in the UK, Austria, Germany and Spain on 15 July 2013.
Future collaborations with the Wikipedia community are under discussion.]]>
Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell were one of The Royal Ballet's golden couples, dancers ideally matched in physique, in style, in musicality. They danced together in the classics and in the MacMillan repertory, but their first ballet together was The Dream, Frederick Ashton's 1964 version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was the start of their partnership, and the start of a close association with the choreographer.
Dowell was very young when he was chosen for The Dream, while Sibley had been in the Company longer and was more anxious about the new role. She was already dancing ballerina roles, but she'd had a bad start in the Ashton repertory. 'I had so mucked up his White pas de deux in Patineurs. I kept falling down, I spent the whole dance on the ground.'
If Sibley was nervous, so was Ashton. As they go to know him better, Dowell explains, 'we knew he was dying of nerves on the first day. He would be physically ill, he was so nervous.' Even so, they didn't see it in rehearsals. 'He would come in and sit in his chair,' says Dowell, 'and we'd all sit on the floor, and we'd chat. It would be a story he'd remembered, or something that had happened to him that night. You could tell it was a way of putting things off, but it was the most wonderful, relaxing way. Then off he'd go.'
When Ashton came into the studio, he didn't have steps prepared. 'We have worked with choreographers who come into the room and teach you,' says Dowell. 'They've worked it out, with you in mind, somewhere else. With Ashton and MacMillan you had this amazing freedom, a feeling that you could do anything. You'd invent things, with them just watching.'
Sibley agrees: 'One really was the clay. All he had, when he came in, was the music. He played it to himself all the time at home, and he'd come in with it singing in his heart. Steps were hardly mentioned. It was, "I want a waterfall here," not "I want glissade, jeté, tendu". He used these images. You had to imagine how you would see that – you'd jump around, twist and turn. He hated it or he loved it, or he wanted it more so. Always more so!'
With such close collaboration, as Dowell points out, 'You ended up with a tailor-made role.' When Ashton asked for waterfalls, dancers tended to respond in the steps that suited them. You can see Nadia Nerina's buoyant jumps in La fille mal gardée or in Cinderella's Fairy Spring, Lynn Seymour's lush movement and beautiful feet in The Two Pigeons or A Month in the Country.
Sibley and Dowell were brilliantly fast dancers, but they also had a long, classical line and long, fluent phrasing. In The Dream, Ashton gave them unusual partnering, with Dowell mirroring Sibley's movements. 'Because our proportions were so similar, our line was so similar,' explains Sibley. 'He wanted us to echo each other all the way. It was a new thing.'
Now that they teach Ashton ballets, they're aware of the things young dancers find difficult. Sibley recalls teaching Scènes de ballet. 'Johan [Kobborg] and Alina [Cojocaru] came to me. They're both quick, wonderful, amazing dancers, but they said, "They've just taught us the finale at double speed." I said, "That is the speed." "It can't be, you can't point your feet and get in the positions." But you do it automatically. There's no thinking "are my feet pointed, am I in fifth?" By that time you're exhausted anyway. That's what the music says, that's what the steps are, you just do it.'
Describing Ashton's sense of theatre, his attention to detail, they remember his teasing, too. Sibley did dance Lise in La fille mal gardée, Ashton's lovely pastoral, but didn't think it suited her. 'When I said it wasn't one of my finest roles, he said, "No, you're far too sophisticated. You don't look like a peasant." I said, "Is that good or bad?" "Not good for this ballet," he replied. Dowell laughs again, with recognition, "You'd never win."
A Mixed Programme of Ashton works runs until 23 February. Tickets are sold out but returns may become available. A small number of day tickets will be released on the morning of each performance.
This article is taken from an article in About the House, the quarterly magazine received by the Friends of Covent Garden.]]>
Frederick Ashton was inspired to dance at the age of 13, when he saw a performance by the legendary Anna Pavlova. He went on to become one of the most distinguished choreographers of the 20th century, creating more than 100 ballets over an illustrious 60-year career.
His most celebrated works include La Fille mal Gardée, recently screened live around the world as part of the Royal Opera House Cinema Season. A quintessentially English ballet based on Ashton's beloved Suffolk, it is famous for its clog dance and choreography involving ribbons.
Although his choreography is often said to embody the elegance and lyricism of English ballet, Ashton was actually raised in South America. Born in Ecuador in 1904, he spent his childhood in Lima, Peru, until he was sent to an English boarding school at the age of 14. He started dancing at 20, attending classes on Saturday afternoons with renowned dancer and choreographer Léonide Massine. He went on to train with Marie Rambert and Bronislava Nijinska, choreographing his first ballet, A Tragedy of Fashion, when he was just 21.
View our gallery of production images from Ashton's works, past and present:
Philip Mosley as Widow Simone and Francesca Filpi, Samantha Raine, Vanessa Fenton and Kristen McNally as Clog dancers in La Fille Mal Gardee © Tristram Kenton/ROH 2010
Over the following years, he created numerous works for both Rambert and Royal Ballet Founder Ninette de Valois, becoming principal choreographer of the de Valois's Vic-Wells Ballet in 1933. He also distinguished himself as a mime and character dancer in productions such as Cinderella and The Sleeping Beauty.
Ashton choreographed his first ballet for the Covent Garden main stage, Symphonic Variations, in 1946, and went on to create numerous ballets for the famous partnership of Margaret Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev, such as Marguerite and Armand. In 1970, his last year as Director of The Royal Ballet, he created the popular The Tales of Beatrix Potter:
The Frederick Ashton Foundation was launched in 2011 to preserve the legacy of Ashton, and his work continues to form a key part of The Royal Ballet repertory. View our archive gallery of Royal Ballet events featuring Frederick Ashton.
Birthday Offering, created in 1956 to celebrate the silver jubilee of The Royal Ballet, will open in a triple bill on 30 June. It will be performed alongside A Month in the Country, one of the last works Ashton created for The Royal Ballet, and Nijinska's Les Noces on 30 June.
Ashton ballets to be performed in the 2012/13 season include La Valse and Monotones I and II.]]>
Audiences around the world will be treated to a visit to the Suffolk countryside on 16 May as Frederick Ashton's La Fille mal gardée is broadcast live to cinemas around the world.
The story of Lise, her suitor Colas, and Lise's larger-than-life mother who tries to marry her off to the simpleton son of a rich neighbour, La Fille mal gardée is full of comedy and wonderful choreography. Despite its distinctly French name, the work is viewed by many as the quintessential English ballet in The Royal Ballet's repertory.
The acclaimed pairing of Steven McRae and Roberta Marquez star in this production which is perfect for audiences of all ages.
Ahead of the screening, get a taster for the ballet with our collection of production photographs and watch the trailer:
Find your nearest screening and buy tickets on our cinema website. Screenings are updated and added on a daily basis so please check back regularly to see if your local cinema is showing this production.
If you're a Twitter user and are going to one of the screenings, follow the conversation and share your thoughts using the hashtag #ROHfille. We'll be showing a selection of your comments on screen to cinemas around the world.
The relay of La Fille mal gardée is the final cinema screening of the 2011/12 season. Cinema relays begin again in 23 October when the 2012/13 cinema season opens with a live broadcast of Swan Lake.
View next season's full programme.]]>
A service of thanksgiving for the life of former Royal Ballet dancer Alexander Grant is to be held at noon on Friday April 27. All are welcome at the service at St Paul's Church, Covent Garden.
Alexander Grant was born in 1925 in Wellington, New Zealand. In 1946 he moved to the United Kingdom where he took a place at the Sadler's Wells Ballet School. He subsequently became a member of the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet before subsequently transferring to what became The Royal Ballet. His career was particularly associated with the ballets of Frederick Ashton including La Fille mal gardée, currently onstage at The Royal Opera House. On hearing of Alexander's death, Director of The Royal Ballet, Monica Mason announced that the revival of this particular ballet will be dedicated to the dancer's memory. Alexander left the company in 1976 to become Artistic Director at the National Ballet of Canada, continuing to dance all the while. He died in September 2011 aged 86.
View a gallery of photos taken over Alexander's career with The Royal Ballet:
There's an Easter feel around Covent Garden at the moment, with the piazza filled with the eggs created for the Fabergé Big Egg Hunt. The eggstravaganza has seen the 210 uniquely designed eggs, which were placed in public locations around the capital for the duration of the hunt, converging outside the Royal Opera House. The display has turned the already busy piazza into a thronged gallery space. All the eggs are for sale and proceeds will go to help charities Elephant Family and Action for Children.
As well as the sculptures in the piazza, Easter imagery is also reflected on stage at the moment - the Rabbit from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has delighted audiences and La Fille mal gardée's famed dancing chickens will soon return, broadcast live to the world as part of our Cinema season on 16 May.
If you're stuck for Easter activities over the holidays, why not bring the kids to our Sounding Out events? A range of activities are available including a chance to create music with a composer and make puppets.
Happy Easter from all at the Royal Opera House!]]>
Carlos Acosta has announced that his debut novel will be published in 2013. The as yet untitled story is set in Cuba with a narrative unfolding from the 19th century, through the Revolution in the 1950s, to the present day.
Senior Commissioning Editor of publisher Bloomsbury Bill Swainson commented that, "The story unfolds in the present day, told by the teenage great-grandson of the first generations brought as slaves to Cuba from Africa… [it has] extraordinary twists of plot, fascinating insights into Cuba's history, and is written in a voice that is warm, funny, intimate and convincing."
Although this is his debut work of fiction, Carlos published an autobiography, No Way Home, in 2007.
The dancer returns to The Royal Ballet in January for performances of Romeo and Juliet (10 January and 19 January), The Dream / Song of the Earth (1 February - 5 March) and La Fille mal gardée (20 April and 26 April).]]>
The Royal Ballet is deeply saddened to hear of the death of Alexander Grant, who died on Friday 30 September, aged 86.
Alexander Grant's death is a great loss to The Royal Ballet in whose history he holds a unique place. As a dancer he created many roles for Frederick Ashton and returned often to work with today's dancers on those roles. We also welcomed him back regularly as the custodian of La Fille mal gardée, and this season's revival of the ballet in April and May of next year will be dedicated to his memory.
- Dame Monica Mason, Director of The Royal Ballet
Alexander Grant was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1925. He started dance classes, aged 7, later winning a scholarship from the Royal Academy of Dance to study in England. However, Grant remained in New Zealand due to the outbreak of World War II, eventually taking a place at the Sadler's Wells Ballet School in 1946, when he was 21. Within a short time, he became a founder member of the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet, and during his first tour with the company, transferred to the parent company at the Royal Opera House, today's Royal Ballet. He was later promoted to the rank of soloist, and during his career with The Royal Ballet became noted for his interpretation of character roles, creating many roles for Frederick Ashton, The Royal Ballet's Founder Choreographer. One of the most famous roles he created was Alain in La Fille mal gardée, a rich farmer's son who is rejected by Lise, a widow's daughter who finally marries her poor sweetheart. For five years from 1971, Grant directed The Royal Ballet's popular touring offshoot, Ballet For All. In 1976, he moved to Toronto to take up the position of Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Canada which he held until 1983.
He is survived by his partner of 54 years Jean-Pierre Gasquet, and his brother Garry Grant, also a former dancer of The Royal Ballet.
Do you have any memories of Alexander Grant? Share by commenting]]>
It's silly season and the sun is out. Time to celebrate the time of year, before we plunge back into the winter months. Here's a last hurrah to the power of perfume, blossom and bud with a bouquet of 'flowery moments' from recent and upcoming ballet rep. And, why not some floral folly? Didn't Covent Garden used to be a flower market? We're back to our roots...
Aurora's Rose adagio in The Sleeping Beauty is one of the most famous flower sequences of classical ballet. The young princess dances at her 16th-birthday party taking a rose from each of her suitors. Roses are ancient symbols of love and beauty – the two qualities that Aurora embodies. It is the Lilac fairy who comes to Aurora's aid when she is bewitched by the wicked fairy Carabosse. Lilac is one of the first blooms of spring, and symbolic, especially in cold Russia from whence the ballet originates, of the thrill of new life after winter – redolent with allegory in this ballet.
In Giselle, the most Romantic of ballets, the natural world is contrasted with the supernatural. The flowers are pure white. First, there's a daisy that Giselle plucks to determine her lover's intentions (he loves me, he loves me not…). She feels a shudder of dread as she gets to the last petal, but Albrecht tricks her that she's miscounted. She later repeats this gesture in the throes of madness. Daisies are associated with innocence and loyal love (qualities that are fatal for Giselle). After her death, a remorseful Albrecht lays lilies on her grave. These solemn white flowers symbolize chastity and virtue and are still the flowers most often associated with funerals, traditionally implying that the soul of the departed will be restored to innocence after death.
Myrtha, the queen of the Wilis, uses an evergreen branch (variously identified as myrtle, or mistletoe or willow) to command her ghostly troupe. The evergreen is symbolic of the dark months of winter and also the everlasting union of marriage, hence its use by Myrtha for her jilted brides. But Myrtha's wand shatters when she is confronted by the superior power of the cross on Giselle's grave (a fiddly trick to pull off on stage).
More flowery moments:


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Giants rely on core of 4 relievers
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) The San Francisco Giants have their own version of the Core Four that has fueled their recent October dominance. While players with catchy nicknames like the Panda, the Freak and MadBum, and shiny trophies like former NL Rookie of the Year and MVP Buster Posey get most of the accolades, a quartet of relievers has played almost as big a role in putting the Giants...
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Via Tireball.com
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Via Nation Orange
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Via Tireball.com
September 10, 2013 | Discuss
Giants' Jeremy Affeldt faces live hitters
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Via MLB Injury News
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SF Giants Rumors: Updates on Yusmeiro Petit, Matt Cain, Chad Gaudin and Jeremy Affeldt
Picture courtesy of Marko Realmonte While you were probably partying during your Labor Day Weekend, the San Francisco Giants took two out of three games from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Yesterday's starting pitcher Yusmeiro Petit was in beast mode as he struck out a career high 10 in six plus innings. He's now 2-0 since being called up by the Giants, and has a 3.12 ERA. I'm�...
Via San Francisco Giants Baseball (SF Giants Rumors)
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Via MLB Injury News
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Giants' Jeremy Affeldt resumes throwing
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Via MLB Injury News
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Via BaySportsNet
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SF Giants Rumors: Latest Giants Trade Rumors, Etc.
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Via San Francisco Giants Baseball (SF Giants Rumors)
July 22, 2013 | Discuss
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Via Tireball.com
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A little girl is lucky to be alive after contracting bubonic plague.
According to a report from Colorado television station WUSA, the 7-year-old girl contracted the plague while attempted to bury a dead squirrel at a campground. Doctors are hopeful the girl will soon be able to leave the hospital, according to the WUSA report.
Watch video and read the WUSA report HERE.


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You can answer any tough life decision with Pro/Con lists. Here are a few more examples.
6 Reasons Why Tyler, The Creator Is The Next Hemingway [Click for more]
Tyler is tapping into the book of pathos dramatically retelling the events of one of his performances. By placing himself in the shoes of his fans, he grounds himself in reality, saying that the girl who swallowed one of his farts is a metaphor for war torn Syria. —> More
You know, I heard the FBI are part of the reason Spot eventually killed himself.


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Cycling in Sydney Australia
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Added by Nic on September 27, 2008 at 5:43pm — No Comments
Added by Tony Arnold on September 26, 2008 at 12:53pm — 4 Comments
Added by Jonathon Troy on September 26, 2008 at 11:02am — 16 Comments
Added by Jonathon Troy on September 23, 2008 at 5:34pm — 1 Comment
Added by Peter H on September 23, 2008 at 12:47pm — 10 Comments
Added by Nic on September 21, 2008 at 10:11am — No Comments
Rumours are circulating that behind Armstrong's decision, which will allow him to race in next year's Tour de France, is an audacious plan that will change the face…Continue
Added by Chris Virtue on September 17, 2008 at 3:41pm — 4 Comments
Added by Tim on September 14, 2008 at 9:38pm — 3 Comments
I saw this letter attached to a bicycle chained up at Redfern station this afternoon. The bicycle was parked inside the gated areas of the station (a clear no-no and incursion on RailCorp property). Personally, I think it would be great if Rail Corp provided bike parking inside their stations. Perhaps something like… Continue
Added by Adrian on September 13, 2008 at 8:01pm — 16 Comments
Lance Armstrong will come out of retirement next year to compete in five road races with the Astana team, according to sources familiar with the developing situation.…Continue
Added by Phil on September 9, 2008 at 8:54am — 15 Comments
Added by Sam on September 8, 2008 at 4:33pm — No Comments
First Sunday of the month, so it was the LBUG EasyRider yesterday, a morning ride around the Inner West for new cyclists or "returning cyclists", or anyone who wants a quick spin around, not too fast, meet local cyclists, see some scenery and home for lunch. Thats the theory anyway, and we do get some new cyclists along, plus a few regulars who like the pace (easy) and the sort of places we explore, like the Harbour foreshores, or out to Homebush, or… Continue
Added by Bob Moore on September 8, 2008 at 2:48pm — No Comments
Added by Adam 1st Earl of Ormond on September 6, 2008 at 2:31pm — 2 Comments
Added by Adrian on September 4, 2008 at 12:11pm — 18 Comments


text:
"the shiver you feel in a cold house after a snowstorm knocks out the power"
This is Simpsons-level parody. I couldn't help but read this in Troy McClure or Mr. Burns's voice: "The power companies are publicly regulated, but can the regulators stop nature from knocking out the power? Proof regulation doesn't work!"
It's so lazy and illogical it's scary that Michael Powell doesn't feel the need to come up with something better.