Jan McNulty

Sadly, not any more. I haven't got the space. I buy a programme for something new and keep it for a while. As I mostly follow 2 companies I only now buy the first programme of the season so I can see who the new dancers are.

There were still programmes at the Saturday matinee, I bought one! I think it's quite a decent programme. Thanks for the link to the online version.

A place that may be worth looking for nice backpacks is TX Maxx - my niece got a fabulous one there a while ago for around £10. It was a well-known (if you are young and trendy) make and was retailing for around £50 elsewhere. Unfortunately when I went they had none left. As ever with this type of shop you have to be in the right place at the right time.

I've copied this very useful post by PicturesInTheFirelight from another thread: "With regards to the qualifications I wondered if it might be useful to give a run down of what all these different qualifications and levels mean because if most of you are like me back in the day we had O Levels or GCSES, A Levels and degrees and you knew what level they were at. Today we have a myriad of different academic and vocational qualifications that sit on the QCF Framework and it all gets a bit confusing. Qualifications have a level (which indicates the difficulty) and Credits (which indicates the size) so if you do Grade 5 ballet its the same level of difficulty supposedly as GCSE dance but the GCSE has more content if you see what I mean. GCSE Grades A-C, Grades 4-5 dance & music. Inter F dance & Btec First Diploma are all Level 2 qualifications A Levels, Grades 6-8 & Intermediate & Btec National Diploma are all Level 3 HNC (BTUK's qualification) Advanced 1 & 2 ballet and the first year of a degree are Level 4 HND, Foundation degree Trinity Diploma in Classical Ballet,Solo Seal & the second year of a degree are Level 5 Trinity Diploma in Professional Dance & a full degree are Level 6 A masters degree is Level 7 & a doctorate is Level 8" As an old fogey product of the O and A level days, it's very interesting.

The bombing was a dreadful, murderous tragedy. This is one young man, a dancer, who lost his life in this senseless atrocity: http://dancemagazine.com/news/dancer-among-dead-baghdad/

As Northern Ballet has expanded by around 25% over the past couple of years perhaps they were finding that the graduates they had been taking on could not get on quickly enough with the rep or did not fit in with the style. Perhaps they wanted to bolster the company with more experienced dancers. I was at a talk by David Nixon some years ago around the time that the Professional Graduates Programme was being set up and he said that a lot of the dancers he was seeing from the schools were not what he would call "stage ready" and that is why he had decided to set up this programme. You have to bear in mind, imho, that NB is a smaller company than those you list and cannot afford, with their touring commitment, to take on dancers who can grow into the company slowly. They need people who can come "up and running". Of the current company, 4 dancers (excluding the new apprentice) came via the Professional Graduates Programme. Tabitha I am sure you have the statistics to hand but my feeling is that, until this year, when numbers of dancers have been taken on they have mostly been graduates. I do not know why that is not the case this year. I would not have expected to see a list of graduate destinations listed on the company promotions, leavers, joiners notification as the Programme is run as part of the Academy not the Company.

I've heard that somewhere recently too Anna.

I'm feeling queasy just thinking about it Taxi!

Hello Themeowingbiologist and welcome to the Forum!

I don't think we have had our flying ant day yet - I haven't noticed any. I won't usually stand under bus stops because many years ago I happened to glance up and the ceiling of the bus stop I was waiting at was writhing with tens of thousands of the blummin' things!

So that is 2 years where 9 people have left. I can't remember exactly who left last year but this year it was mostly the apprentices. As the Company has expanded by quite a few dancers I expect it is taking them a while to settle on dancers who fit the company style. From my recollection last year and indeed this it is mostly dancers who have been with the Company no longer than a year or two. And don't forget that we have had a couple of notable retirements with Kenneth Tindall and Darren Goldsmith going last year and Seb Loe this year. I believe the previous year (2014/15) there were several long standing members of the Company who left but I distinctly remember one of them telling me that when you get to a certain age/maturity you have to decide if you want to carry on where you are, expand your experience or retire. I think NB offers yearly contracts and dancers are certainly assessed every year. Unless things have changed, I do not believe that is the case with the Royal Ballet.

No.

OMG Taxi!

Hello TWL, you only have 30 minutes after posting to edit. I enjoyed reading your thoughts. The ladies on my right on Saturday afternoon were very underwhelmed with Run Mary Run. I'm not saying it was the best thing I have ever seen but I thought it gave a great opportunity to see these two dancers doing something completely out of their comfort zone. As you say it was a good opportunity to see such stellar dancers at close quarters and at a very reasonable price.

I think that is a bit of a sweeping statement Tabitha. Northern Ballet had been increasing in size for the last couple of years so more dancers had been taken on than left. This is the first time in the last couple of years that there has been the same number leaving as joining. If you look at the roster from coryphee above all the dancers have completed a minimum of 3 seasons so far and some many more. I suppose it is the lot of apprentices that they may or may not get taken on at the end of their year and only one out of five apprentices was retained this year. In other years most of the apprentices have been kept on. Could you provide the annual statistics to prove that there is a turn over of around 10 dancers every year please?

Yes and no.

Best wishes to your DH Orchidblue. Thank goodness he was scanned. I think I am very lucky with my GP. I had a very bad cold in March and was still breathless a couple of months later. I mentioned this to my GP on a visit to review ongoing medication for my underactive thyroid. He immediately sent me off for an ECG and chest x-ray! Fortunately haven't heard any more but I would say very good service from my GP.

Congratulations to all the promotees; very best wishes to the leavers and looking forward to seeing the newcomers.

Northern Ballet announces promotions and joiners for 2016/17 season Northern Ballet will welcome ten new dancers for the 2016/17 season and has also announced promotions for existing members of the Company. Joining the corps de ballet are: Naomi Bottomer (English National Ballet); Sarah Chun (Kansas City Ballet); Abigail Cockrell (Romanian National Opera); Jonathan Hanks (Estonian National Ballet); Minju Kang (Bundesjugendballett); Jesse Milligan (Cape Town City Ballet); Liam Morris (Romanian National Opera); former Academy of Northern Ballet Centre for Advanced Training student Dale Rhodes (Hamburg Ballet); and Lorenzo Trossello (The Royal Ballet School). Darragh Hourrides joins as an Apprentice from the Academy of Northern Ballet’s Professional Graduate Programme. In addition, a number of Northern Ballet’s existing company dancers have been promoted: Antoinette Brooks-Daw and Giuliano Contadini to Leading Soloists; Jeremy Curnier, Rachael Gillespie and Joseph Taylor to Soloists; Ayami Miyata, Kevin Poeung and Abigail Prudames to Junior Soloists; Sean Bates, Mlindi Kulashe and Matthew Toplissto Coryphée; and former Apprentice Harriet Marden is promoted to the corps. After saying goodbye to Isaac Lee-Baker and Sebastian Loe earlier in the year, the following dancers are also moving on: Jessica Morgan, Alice Bayston, Kaylee Marko, Archie Sullivan, Diogo Barbosa, Paris Fitzpatrick, Genevieve Heron and Grace Robinson. Northern Ballet has also recently announced that Premier Dancers Martha Leebolt and Tobias Batley will take a leave of absence from the Company though will return as Resident Guest Artists for the autumn season to perform with Northern Ballet in Wuthering Heights and Romeo and Juliet. Northern Ballet’s autumn season will commence with Wuthering Heights at the West Yorkshire Playhouse from 6 – 10 September 2016 before national tours of Romeo and Juliet and Beauty & the Beast. -ENDS- Notes to Editors For more details of Northern Ballet's tour, on sale dates and booking information, please visit northernballet.com/whatson. Voted Best Company at the Taglioni European Ballet Awards, winners of the 2016 South Bank Sky Arts Award for dance, and nominated for Outstanding Company at the 2015 National Dance Awards, Northern Ballet is one of the UK’s five large ballet companies. Based in Leeds it performs throughout the UK as well as overseas. Northern Ballet’s productions mix classical dance and theatre, embracing popular culture and taking inspiration from literature, opera, or giving a unique interpretation of popular classical ballets. Northern Ballet is the busiest touring ballet company in the UK and is typically on the road for around 32 weeks of the year. The Company of 45 dancers tours a combination of full-length new work and established repertoire to cities throughout the UK. Northern Ballet also tours widely with its specially created ballets for children, all of which have beenadapted for TV by CBeebies, and also performs mixed programmes showcasing the versatility of its dancers. Northern Ballet – Company List 2016/17 Resident Guest Artists Tobias Batley Martha Leebolt Premier Dancers Pippa Moore Javier Torres Senior Artist Hironao Takahashi Leading Soloists Hannah Bateman Dreda Blow Antoinette Brooks-Daw Giuliano Contadini Ashley Dixon First Soloist Lucia Solari Soloists Jeremy Curnier Rachael Gillespie Victoria Sibson Joseph Taylor Junior Soloists Nicola Gervasi Ayami Miyata Kevin Poeung Abigail Prudames Coryphée Sean Bates Matthew Koon Mlindi Kulashe Matthew Topliss Dancers Miki Akuta Naomi Bottomer Sarah Chun Isabelle Clough Abigail Cockrell Kiara Flavin Luke Francis Jenny Hackwell Jonathan Hanks Riku Ito Minju Kang Natalia Kerner Dominique Larose Harriet Marden Gavin McCaig Jesse Milligan Liam Morris Dale Rhodes Mariana Rodrigues Teresa Saavedra Bordes Lorenzo Trossello Filippo Di Vilio Alexander Yap Apprentice Darragh Hourrides

Which company was this Scheherezade?

Gosh Tulip what a horrendous time your family has had for the last couple of years. Congratulations to your son on his degree. Thanks for sharing your experience with us. Lisa I hope Sean's lumps are just that and nothing serious.

Good for you Floss! You are giving all three casts a chance and I look forward to hearing what you think of them.

Floss, David Bintley has been giving younger dancers chances and the promotion list issued today is very exciting but I am totally underwhelmed by the coming season! Yes I am excited to see The Tempest but that, the Autumn mixed (which is all ballets that have been seen in the Spring) and Ruth Brill's new work in next Summer's triple is it for me. The younger dancers tend to have lots of opportunities during midscale and that is my one hope for Spring 2016.

Or even a totally separate company!

Congratulations to all the promoters. Of course there are other dancers I would like to have seen on the list, but these are all so well deserved.