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Older Dancing Children: Masters of Ballet Academy are resuming their Sunday Pas de Deux classes at their W3 studios on Sundays, with Resmi Malko (Central School of Ballet) Class is from 10am - 1pm, with Pas de Deux for the last 1.5 hours of the class. FIRST CLASS IS FREE This class is open to 15 years upwards students from outside of Masters of Ballet Academy as well as current students, who are either auditioning for, or already in Full Time Vocational training. This class is also open to students who are currently auditioning for Companies and are under 21 years. For anyone wanting to apply, please email: fiona@mastersofballetacademy.com https://www.mastersofballetacademy.com/timetable.php

Came across this amazing short film of Pas de Deux choregraphed by Ludmilla Chiriaeff to Romanian pan pipe music, directed by Norman McLaren and produced by the National Film Board of Canada. Astounding to think this was done pre-computers, its mesmerising and I just had to share

The Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty Although my only qualification is enthusiasm, I lead a ballet appreciation group and recently sent the following to members. Thought it might interest Forum members. In the last Act of The Sleeping Beauty Puss-in-Boots and Little Red Riding Hood appear, these characters being from Charles Perrault’s fairytales, published in 1697. The Act also includes the Bluebird and Princess Florine. Although I’ve seen the ballet many times I’ve not understood why a Bluebird and a Princess Florine appear. Having watched various parts of the recent streaming by the Royal Opera House ­– I enjoyed Fumi Kaneko’s performance as Aurora – I turned to the internet to find out about these two characters, having only come across bluebirds flying over Judy Garland’s rainbow. Evidently, in mythology, the bluebird is a sign of happiness, prosperity, good health, and the arrival of Spring, the blue plumage being associated with the sky and eternal happiness. I found what I consider a possible connection between a bluebird and the ballet in Wikipedia’s ‘The Blue Bird (fairy tale)’. This fairy tale was published by Baroness d’Aulnoy in 1697 (the same year Perrault published his stories), the Baroness being the person who in 1690 first coined the phrase ‘fairytale’. Very briefly the plot is: widower King, who has beautiful daughter Princess Florine, marries not very nice widowed Queen who has ugly, selfish daughter Truitonne. Visiting the kingdom, Prince Charming falls in love with Florine, Queen and daughter do all they can to prevent Prince Charming and Princess Florine marrying so that he marries Truitonne instead, and as a last resort Truitonne’s fairy godmother turns the Prince into a bluebird. But all ends happily ever after for the Prince and Princess Florine. So, perhaps an explanation of why the Bluebird and Princess Florine appear in the ballet. As a child Aurora would have known this story along with those of Puss-In-Boots and Little Red Riding Hood. To round off, back to Judy Garland’s song, the second verse: Somewhere over the rainbow Bluebirds fly. Birds fly over the rainbow, Why then, oh why can’t I? If happy little bluebirds fly Beyond the rainbow, Why, oh why can’t I? In the film The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy is told by her Aunt to find a place where she won’t get into more trouble. Dorothy muses, ‘is there a place where there isn’t any trouble?’. Thinking there must be, but you cannot get there by a boat or a train, she imagines such a place being ‘far, far away ... beyond the rainbow’. At their wedding to their Prince, both Princess Florine and Princess Aurora would of course be ‘over the rainbow’ with happiness.

Something that's occurred to me recently: is it always the male variation which goes first in a Classical pas de deux? If so, why do you think that is, assuming it's not sexism?

I have a DVD of a 1978 performance of Don Quixote, Kitri danced by Nadezhda Pavlova and Basilio by Vladimir Lasashev. Their dancing of the last Act pas de deux is marvellous, I have not seen it done so marvellously. Last year I twice saw the Bolshoi performance of this ballet at CG and on Tuesday the Mariinsky's. I thoroughly enjoyed these performances and the dancing was excellent but in the pas de deux the dancers were a lot less adventurous in terms of lifts etc and bravado than the pair in 1978. Might it be that dancers are a lot more cautious these days, or maybe the quite justifiable wellbeing of dancers, or a Company's health and safety liability playing a part?

South East Ballet Scholars Limited is holding an Intensive February Half Term Course 12th of February -18th of February Inclusive. Amazing Faculty of Stephen Beagley Former Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet Company Ben Tribe Former Dancer with Theatre Der Stadt Koblenz Teacher for Bird College and London Studio Centre Susanna Plaino Director of Il Balletto Ballet School Castle Franco Vineto Jamal Crawford Theatre credits -The Body Guard, Fame, Thriller Classes will be held in Classical Ballet, Repetoire, Pas de deux, Virtuosity, Commercial Jazz and Contemporary with Pianists for all classes in state of the art studios Course fees £250 Non residential £510 Residential Daily Rate £48.00 Per Day 8 Places still Available for students 8 years and above Please email- info@southeast-balletscholars.co.uk