Reading: Kevin Barry's City of Bohaneand hoping that his excellence as a short-story writer transfers into this novel about rivalry in a future west-of-Ireland city.
We're also getting cracking on some Orange Prize nominees, which include a startling number of first novels, as well as Emma Donoghue's Room.
Watching: With the Russian State Ballet in town this week, we're enjoying The Agony and the Ecstasy, BBC4's fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the English National Ballet as it battles funding cuts and stages new ballets. Two more episodes to go.
Sending dispatches from: Texan music, movies and interactive showcase South by Southwest. "Sure, the geek factor is still in play," wrote Jim Carroll on his On the Record blog. "I spent five minutes in absolute confusion at a panel about Interfaces for Geotemporal Visualisation, which reminded me of the time I spent a couple of minutes at a panel in Eurosonic in Holland before realising that the participants were speaking Dutch and I was in wrong room – but there are also been thought-provoking panels of the non-geek variety too." For more, see irishtimes.com/blogs
Viewing:Barrie Cooke's show at the Hamilton Gallery, in Sligo, until the start of April.
Watching the Russian State Ballet perform 'Swan Lake': After an ill-fated premiere in 1877, Swan Lakefirst gained popularity in the early 20th century after being presented in abridged two-act form. Watching the resolutely traditional Russian State Ballet perform the opening act in its sold-out run at the Grand Canal Theatre, in Dublin, it is easy to see why the condensed form found such favour.
Compared with the atmospheric resonance of the supernatural fairy tale that follows, the first act is an exercise in classical formalism, celebrating a series of technical feats by the company’s solo dancers rather than establishing mood or story.
It is when the ballet moves to the lakeside setting and the swans first appear that Lev Ivanov and Marius Pepita’s original choreography – and, indeed, Tchaikovsky’s score – really comes into its own. The combined effect of the mesmerising uniformity of the swan maidens’ entrance with the impassioned sweep of Tchaikovsky’s score is starkly moving.
Despite its impressive ensemble numbers, Swan Lakerelies on the dual emotional and technical skill of a prima soloist to render the tragedy of the swan queen, Odette, whose dark alter ego, the black swan Odile, seduces her lover Prince Siegfried. In Nina Kaptsova the Russian State Ballet has found a wonderful interpreter. She brings technical virtuosity to all the key moments, in particular the pas de deux love duet with Siegried (Alexander Volchkov) and the infamous fouettes with which Odile seduces the prince.
It is the emotional fluidity, however, which she maintains despite the traditional classical bows that punctuate every solo, that really brings the ballet to life.
The RTÉ Concert Orchestra sounds fantastic in the resonant acoustics of the Grand Canal Theatre, while the sets are like a pop-up version of Arthur Rackham’s fairy-tale illustrations, the mauve and silver palette establishing an organic link between the court and the lakeside setting.
It perfectly complements the adapted modern ending of the Russian State Ballet’s production, in which the lovers do not die but defeat the evil Rothbart and dance off into a happily-ever-after.
Compared with the original tragic ending, however, the modern reinterpretation renders the finale a little bit Disneyesque – and, more crucially, denies Kaptsova the thrilling flourish of a final solo. - Sara Keating
Listening: Très Très Fortby Staff Benda Bilili. There's no soundtrack to the excellent movie Benda Bilili!, but this is the next best thing. Covering most of the tracks heard in the movie, it's afro-rhythm funk, deliciously upbeat. The first summer record of the year.
Looking forward to:A host of flicks. In Duncan Jones's Source Code, Jake Gyllenhaal dives through wormholes in an attempt to save the girl from a train disaster. Aliens mass on a London council high rise in Attack the Block. And Superstars Rainn Wilson (Dwight from the US Office) as an everyday guy turned superhero. "Shut up, crime!"
