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One of the first ballet galas I attended was the Russian Ballet Icons Gala at the London Coliseum, a yearly programme that brings fantastic dancers from around the world to dance the usual staples from Swan Lake (pick between the white swan or black swan pas de deux), Le Corsaire (Ali and Medora), Scheherazade (Zobeide and the Golden Slave), the balcony pas de deux from Romeo & Juliet and perhaps some extra pizzazz via Don Quixote. His new show, Against the Stream, is built around the people who influenced the world of dance and changed it: ‘My new project celebrates the great talents of genius people who have influenced the world of dance beyond recognition. On top of his role of producer, Putrov also performed at the gala, dancing in Ashton’s Dance of Blessed Spirits and with The Royal Ballet’s Matthew Ball and Mayara Magri in Images of Love: ‘ When we add to that a set of guest stars that includes Mathieu Ganio and Hannah O’Neill from the Paris Opera Ballet, Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle from New York City Ballet, Katja Khaniukova from English National Ballet, Dmitry Zagrebin from the Royal Swedish Ballet, Marcelo Gomes, Joaquin de Luz, plus Mayara Magri and Matthew Ball from The Royal Ballet

We realise we have been silent since publishing our MacMillan Saints and Sinners infographic earlier this year, which feels a bit strange. There is more than one reason for that, the main one being that 2019 marks The Ballet Bag’s 10th anniversary and we have been in deep dive mode as to what should be next for this online webzine. As soon as thoughts crystallise, we will let you all know, but we also welcome your own suggestions and comments using the form below, or via email/social media DMs. As for the ballet season, there’s currently a nice long run of MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet at The Royal Ballet, with many interesting pairings and Alice Pennefather sent us some stunning photos from the general rehearsal, with Lauren Cuthbertson and Matthew Ball in the title roles:

With complex characters that challenge performers and audiences alike, choreographer Kenneth MacMillan continues to capture our imagination. And with a ballet season full of favourites like Mayerling (which is touring to LA this summer) and Manon, which is currently in rep at English National Ballet, we felt inspired to take a cue from one of our favourite Netflix fixes, The Good Place Thus, in the infographic below, we have applied the show’s fine-tuned system of points - or its ‘moral score’ – to imagine how some of our favourite MacMillan leading men would fare in the afterlife. Who belongs in The Good Place, and who would be keeping company with Mindy St Claire in The Middle Place?

In November, I managed to drop by New York for a few days to catch “Balanchine: The City Center Years” featuring performances by American Ballet Theatre, The Joffrey Ballet, The Mariinsky Ballet, Miami City Ballet, New York City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, The Royal Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet. I would have caught them all if I could, and was especially interested in The Joffrey Ballet, a company that impressed me greatly during a previous tour to Berkeley, but I could only do the two first nights. I’ll go on record and say that Gamzatti is one of Marianela Núñez’s best roles (and possibly MY favourite of hers), while every single time La Bayadère had been revived at the Royal Ballet, I would moan about amazing Gamzattis like hers moving on to become Nikiyas (yawn! ). As every sane balletomane knows, Gamzatti IS THE BEST ROLE in the ballet, which means that I was over the moon when the casting gods gave us Núñez/Osipova alternating the roles of Nikiya and Gamzatti during this run.