I HAVE just finished reading your review of Rome and Jewels and to say that I am highly disgusted is an understatement. Does your reporter know nothing about dance?

A large number of my friends along with myself saw the show and were amazed by the talent of both the dancers and the DJ's.

The mention of distorted noise shows an obvious lack of knowledge of the music industry and the current trends, and to say distorted movements as if that is a bad thing shows a lack of dance knowledge.

As a result of your review I doubt we will have the chance to see these amazing dancers and DJs here in Malvern again.

I have seen numerous dance performances ranging from Richard Alston, which was average, to Adventures in Motion Pictures, perform an all-male version of Swan Lake, which was fantastic. To date Rome and Jewels is the most astounding one of all.

RHIAN BARKER, Quest Hills Road, Malvern.

Having turned eagerly to your review feature in last weeks paper I was shocked and dismayed by Jon Di Paolo's dismissive and scathing review of Rome and Jewels, recently performed in Malvern's Forum theatre.

I attended the show on Thursday evening together with over 60 pupils and staff from Hanley Castle High School and we all enjoyed the performance immensely.

Pupils were bowled over by the dynamic pace and style of presentation and impressive combination of multi-media effects, superb dance routines and live soundtrack accompaniment.

By the second half, the atmosphere in the theatre space was electric and one could neither help nor resist the spontaneous clapping and drumming of feet while the performers displayed an outstanding array of ingenious acrobatics and hip-hop moves. In fact, the entire audience gave the performers a standing ovation and begged for more throughout the beautifully choreographed finale.

To write off the choreography as "rolling about on the floor" is to miss the point of the medium, and the show entirely.

Perhaps Jon Di Paolo does not appreciate the challenging task of opening the ever-more discriminating eyes of young people to the universal nature of Shakespeare's plays. This montage-style production appealed to popular youth culture and successfully crossed class, language and ethnic barriers through the medium of hip- hop, enabling young people to experience the magic of Shakespeare on their own terms.

In this sense, the performers achieved their aims and, on Thursday night, the young people left the theatre thrilled by what they had seen.

Tamara Seabright, Wedderburn Road, Malvern.

n Editor's Note: It would be unreasonable to expect our staff to be experts in every subject and at a show like Rome and Jewels many in the audience are not going to be 'experts' in dance, so I don't think that makes our reviewers opinion invalid.

At the end of the day, that is all it is, an opinion. Others may watch the same show and have a completely different view, as they obviously did in this case.

If people have a different view we are always happy to reflect that and I am sure we will see the dancers in Malvern again.