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The 2002/2003 season for the Royal Ballet has been announced at last. Some £9M of public subsidy has been mulled over by the RB/ROH powers that be and the results cast before the swine that are the press and fans.

The initial response has been largely muted or even hostile. They might have hoped for better I suppose and must wonder what on earth they would need to do to get a few compliments. That's the problem really - there is I think a large gulf in understanding, attitude and approach between RB/ROH and its more knowledgeable consumers (be they critics or fans), one that has taken more than a few years to develop and even with determined attention would take a few years to dismiss. That assumes that the ROH are really interested in developing a strategy to explain, embrace and get people on side - easier to kick out statistics that show London's poor flock to the place, how unelitist it is these days and generally complain about the beastliness of the critics towards them. They bat for the future of British ballet - the critics and fans of course don't?!

Having set the scene I'm quite inclined to warm to the 2002/2003 season. The fear with Stretton, for many though not all, was that the push for new work would mean that the Classics and Heritage aspects of the RB triptych would suffer considerably. But on the evidence of 2 years' programming (not much admittedly) I see broad respect paid to all constituencies. Let's go through the new season...

On the new works front the company gets new/recent short pieces by Matz Ek, Jiri Kylian, Mark Morris, Christopher Wheeldon and David Bintley. Ross Stretton's grand plan is to hope that some of the new choreographers (used this current year and next) will come back and create brand new works on the company. This steady build-up seems wise.

But new choreographers don't dominate. MacMillan's Manon and Mayerling, two of his most loved works, return as does Prince of the Pagodas. This was his last full length piece for the company; classically structured, it first brought Darcey Bussell to prominence. After 5 or 6 years I'm relieved to see it return - there's often been this nagging feeling that it might just be lost.

On the classics front the company is treating itself to a new production of its signature piece - Sleeping Beauty. By Natalia Makarova any Sleeping B production is a substantial investment for a company. A highly significant part of next year. There will be the Nutcracker at Christmas of course, and the Swan Lake is still fine and very serviceable.

Coupling the new with the British love of full length ballets is Le Parc by Angelin Preljocaj - it was rather well received when premiered in Paris too. Preljocaj's unique take on Romeo and Juliet also played well at Sadler's Wells 18 months ago and I hope I'm equally impressed by his dance about 17 and 18th century love, its posh formal codes, innocence and lust.

There is also a new piece by Bintley for the triple bill in homage to Ninette de Valois who died last year at 102. Also included is Ashton's buoyant and confident Scenes de Ballet and MacMillan's moving Song of the Earth.

This is not a good season for Ashton lovers - only the one work. But for those who enjoy MacMillan's dramatic works, classics and who want to see the company in new work it is fine I think. But you can never look at one season in isolation and if in future years Ashton remains neglected I'm sure very many will press much harder for the company to look after unique works... and please their audience in the process.

The thing I lament at the moment is the lack of a clear plan for developing younger choreographers. ADI (Artists Development Initiative) in the Clore/Linbury does things here but it still appears a bit ad-hoc. Deborah Bull now has responsibility for these spaces and is developing the strategy which can't really come too soon.

There has also been a rumpus that under Stretton the company is performing fewer works then they were before despite getting much higher public funding. The numbers, from a piece by Ismene Brown, seem to show that on average 24 different works were performed under Anthony Dowell and this year it was 17 and next 15.

As reported it was sad that the ROH/RB could not answer as to why. One can appreciate the concern. Numbers are funny beasts and open to interpretation but even so most people who have known the place for more than a few years could have mounted a defence.

I guess if I'd had to answer I'd have talked about the endless financial crisis in the 90's, of an RB and House really living beyond their means based on rosy expectations of box office and corporate sponsorship etc. Well, much of the extra public money will have helped sort that. I'd have also emphasised that seat prices have not gone up much these last few years and access is improved (not sure I really believe this bit at all, but I'm defending as best I can here!). I'd have also said that back, in Dowell's time pre ROH closure, Dance Bites tours would normally add a shed-load of extra productions to the grand totals but probably no account is taken of recent 'RB' performances in the Clore and Linbury and yet these are very similar to Dance Bites in nature. It would also be prudent to say RB are doing much more international and less inward-facing work now and that this carries some cost premium - or rather it's a cost they avoided in the past but cannot forever or they atrophy. And of course the company is growing by a few dancers so it can properly tackle all it needs to. Finally you'd wind up by saying there are new eyes doing things now and that they are very budget-focussed and prudent - ie no money, being wasted here! Now some will believe all this and some may not, but it's a defence where none was really forthcoming.

I'd like more productions of course, but the budget buys what the budget buys for next year - which is a fair thwack of new work and 2 new full-length evening works. Its the second year that there have been two new full-length additions to the repertoire. That's really amazing given the 90's famine. Hopefully Stretton will do *less* in this area in 2003/2004 and more of other types of productions - like heritage bills. There are still likely to be complaints of course - though hopefully RB/ROH will be more focussed on listening and getting its messages across to the knowledgeable and critical consumers by then.