Today work and rehearsals have been brought to a dramatic hault - with the torrential rain Markova house has leaked with devastating consequences - full offices are flooded, our upper studio looks more like a swimming pool and staff have been caught in floods getting into work! The building is so old, it just can't cope with these extreme conditions.

On a lighter note a new Director of Learning has started and we're all looking forward to the new directions she'll take the Company in. But we're sorry to have lost Maria 'Masha' Kotchetkova who has gone to San Francisco Ballet to take up a Principal dancer contract, recently Masha has performed Neopolitan in Swan Lake to rave reviews.

We were excited to see a thank you note from Pierce Brosnan in our Company lift this week - he came to the Royal Albert Hall Swan Lake season, testament to the fact the ballet really is the most suave evening one can attend!

There will be more celebrity action at Swan Lake in Versailles next week as we take to a floating stage and again pray for no rain. Vanessa Feltz and Natasha Kaplinsky are taking a trip across the channel to take advantage of this truly romantic event.