JoJo

The last interview was scheduled for 8:30/45am so I’m guessing around 2 hours 30/45 mins in???

There should be three interviews in total: Dr Caz Nahman Tala Lee-Turton Jade Wallace and Anneli Peavot

The video contains excerpts from one of the interviews. For the full interviews I think you’d have to check on playback.

https://www.facebook.com/bbc5live/videos/368078400498896/

Radio 5 Live have shared a video with excerpts from one of the interviews on their FB page. I can’t work out if it’s possible to share it on here 😐 The interview focused on the impact of over-supply of talented dancers into the ballet industry, i.e., low pay and poor conditions and the potential for young people to be exploited (throughout training and work), contributing to low self-worth and esteem. Two solutions proposed were a strong representative voice for dancers and increased levels of engagement and transparency between companies and their dancers.

There will be a feature on Radio 5 Live throughout the morning on Weds 29th May discussing the mental heath of young people in the ballet world - both during training and as a professional.

Biometric data (fingerprints) has been required for every Russian visa application since Dec 2014. This means you have to go in person to one if the visa centres - they are in a London, Manchester and Edinburgh.

Thanks for the nudge Pas de Quatre! My daughter trained at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy (also known as Moscow Choreographic School or MGAH). She graduated in 2016 and is now working professionally with one of the State companies in Russia (Astrakhan State Opera and Ballet Theatre) - so she has been in Russia for six years! She started at the Bolshoi at the same time as the girl who wrote the post featured in the link DD Driver has shared, and knows her well, and the other three students mentioned in the articles. It's true - the Bolshoi is not for everyone - tough and relentless training, the Russian students are always put first, however my daughter found the training she was looking for there and is convinced that she would not be the dancer she is today without the four years she spent at the Bolshoi. (She is also certain she would not have become a professional classical dancer - her training to that point was just not good enough). She describes the training as providing her with technical strength along with the ability to dance from the soul! She wrote a blog called Life at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy which you can Google - she wrote a particularly popular article which is still being shared lots called Top tips for international students thinking about training at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy. There's lots of good advice in both the post and the very many comments linked to it, so it might be a good general read for the original poster, TwoLeftfeet (There is also a post called A day in the life of a Bolshoi Ballet Academy student). The blog and posts will come up straight away on a Google search. Since leaving the Bolshoi my daughter has started another blog which focuses on providing advice to students and parents, based on her experiences. It's not meant to be prescriptive but just tells one person's story of how to work your way through the complex world of ballet and come out the other side! One post of particular relevance to this thread is "Russian Ballet Training - Why It Makes All the Difference" - I've pasted a link here https://www.talaleeturton.com/single-post/2018/02/01/russian-ballet-training For any other information, she shares lots about her life as a professional on her instagram account @talaleeturton. Happy to provide any other information from a parent's perspective either on this thread or through the private messages so please do get in touch. It's definitely hard having your daughter train and live in Russia from the age of 16 but seeing her flourish has helped me through. An added bonus, her company tours in the UK each Autumn (as Russian State Ballet and Opera House) so I actually get to see her dance lots without having to go to Russia! Result!

My daughter has been in Russia for six years; four years training at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy and two years now as a professional. She describes the style as ‘much dancier’ with more flair and a big emphasis placed on acting, aswell as dancing, the roles - dance acting is one of the core classes at the Academy. She says Russian dancers ‘dance from the soul’ and because they are trained with rigour from a young age, the technique is in their bodies and they can layer the acting on top of this. She wrote a blog during her time at the Academy which provides an insight into her life and training there which you might find helps. She was introduced to Russian training by Chika and Yury at Bristol Russian Ballet School and trains with them if she can when she is back in the UK. She highly recommends them, as do I, as they also provide fabulous support to parents of dancers, something which I found invaluable.

Training at the Academy is six days a week. It’s very rigorous and intensive but made my daughter the dancer she is today, honing her technique and focus in a way that enables her to dance, as she describes it, ‘from the soul’. She graduated after four years in 2016. She wrote a post post on her blog about a day in the life of, which I think I posted before but here it is again. You’ll see the days are very long, with a combination of vocational, academic and rehearsal. https://talaleeturton.wordpress.com/2014/11/30/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-bolshoi-ballet-academy-student/

My daughter had this issue. Brushing teeth on demi pointe in retire has been the norm for her for a number of years now, she does a range of foot stretch exercises daily each morning and evening, including use of a theraband and she has specially developed insoles for her day shoes from her podiatrist (she’s worn these from about the age of 11). All helped - she’s now a professional classical dancer and keeps all of this up.

According to my daughter's research, Ann Stone was the first Brit at the Bolshoi in 1959: https://talaleeturton.wordpress.com/2014/03/08/brits-at-the-bolshoi-ballet-academy/

It's fixed two metres so not adjustable. To give you a better idea, my daughter also uses it for teaching and it fits four - two on each side easily.

I have this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Fitness-Practise-Katz-Dancewear/dp/B015HFBRBS/ref=cts_sp_1_vtp?_encoding=UTF8&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_p=1069525627&pf_rd_r=GN4TFE15MJYD1RZF9AWV&pd_rd_wg=xSEEm&pf_rd_s=desktop-detail-softlines&pf_rd_t=40701&pd_rd_i=B015HFBRBS&pd_rd_w=bkyHA&pf_rd_i=desktop-detail-softlines&pd_rd_r=GN4TFE15MJYD1RZF9AWV It is very robust and although it is portable, you wouldn't want to take it too far as it is very heavy! It's very easy to assemble. It's £195 plus delivery.

This is the only version I can find of it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd_Aeox5Eq8