HOT: Dances at a Gathering/The Dream, Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

Sometimes paying £30 for a stall seat ballet ticket (instead of the usual £15 for amphitheatre) is really worthwhile - you can appreciate much better the ballet dancers' thoroughbred legs, the way their heads whip around as they spot their whirlwind pirouettes and the expressiveness of bodies, from their floating hands down to their dainty arched feet. Dances at a Gathering was a lovely but slightly repetitive and esoteric etude of wafting pastels set to Chopin's music, so I was surprised to discover that the choreographer was Jerome Robbins, as it was very different to the dynamic film choreography of West Side Story and The King and I. The Dream was a combination of all my favourite classical arts - music by one of my favourite composers (Mendelssohn), storyline of my favourite Shakespearean play (A Midsummer Night's Dream), and danced by my favourite ballet company (naturally the Royal Ballet). It was truly delightful, full of humour and charm.