Lisa O`Brien

BTW HE answered my prayer,i guess,[ i`m not THAT religious any more.] on both counts.Although by then i would have liked to have been taller.! [i`m 5FT 7]

When i was a little girl, i used to pray [amongst other things], to "Please God, don`t let me grow big boobs, and don`t let me grow too tall". I really wanted to be a ballet dancer.[until i reached 17 and saw sense, realising if i DID make it i would almost certainly languish in the Corps on a pitiful salary.] !!!! Er, no thanks.!!!

God, i love this Forum. Sometimes it just has me in bloody stitches.!

How fantastic,Sheilabee. The very best of luck in your business venture.! What area will the retail premises be in ?

F is for French.The language of Ballet, and because they have a new President.!

I agree with Jellybeans. How many times do you come across someone when they find out you do ballet, the first thing they ask you is ,"Can you do the splits?". I used to get it all the time. I even remember once playing outside with friends, and they all asked me to do the splits. Of course, i wasn`t warmed up,and i wasn`t about to explain that to them.So i went down[rather gingerly] into the splits for their entertainment. If i hadn`t, they might have thought i had no talent or something. Silly thinking about it now, but i guess when you`re 11 these things are important.!

Something definately seems a bit dodgy.

Researching and collecting,[when i can afford it] different brands of pointe shoes from all over the world. I always collect new, unused ones, preferably that have never been danced in . Why? So in a few years time, or when i pop my clogs,my son can sell them on and hopefully, get a decent amount of money back for each pair! Am awaiting a pair of Teplov`s in the post from South Africa and am scouring the internet trying to find out about how i can get a pair of Rusbal`s. I contacted, thanks to this forum, someone from London Russian Ballet School,but they couldn`t help. I even contacted the Russian Embassy in London asking if they could help me. I am awaiting a reply. It started out about 4 or 5 years ago,when i found an old pair of Freed`s in a bag of mine from 1984. I`d forgotten how lovely pointe shoes were, and how nice they smell. I bought a pair from an online shop,just to collect, not to wear or dance in. I have a Youtube page if anyone wants to see it [it`s REALLY] bad, and very amateurly filmed on my bed. It has almost fifty thousand views though, so i`m quite chuffed.! It`s called My Collection of Pointe Shoes,and my Youtube page is ilovefacebookandebay. When i made it, i had 28 pairs of pointe shoes. I`ve now got 79 pairs.! Some are decorated, others purpose-bought coloured. I must get around to making a new Youtube film of all my new pairs one of these days,and add some background music, etc, to try and make it seem a little more professional. Last week my Grishko Elites arrived from Back Bay Dancewear,which is an online store in the States,and export pointe shoes to the UK. Just read this whole thing back.You must all think i`m loaded or something. Well i`m not.! The rent to my house is reasonable, i only have one child, i don`t drink, smoke or drive a car. So i suppose i`m lucky that i can afford my rather expensive hobby. Well, within reason,anyway. There are some months when i cannot afford to buy a single pair, especially the imported ones. However, i have to confess to being a bit obsessed with the whole collecting of them thing. One thing which makes me feel not too guilty about the cost is knowing every pair is brand new and unused and will stay so, so might one day sell some of them and recuperate some of the funds.!

How lovely for you Julie.Enjoy.!

Well my 15 year old son,who doesn`t dance, hates PE at school,and is forever asking me to write a note for the teacher saying he has twisted his knee or some excuse or other. Of course, by now, and four years into secondary school,the PE teachers are well used to his excuses and sometimes don`t even ask for a note. Concerned that he isn`t getting any exercise, just yesterday we went and he chose a new bike for himself, the first one he has had in about ten years. I`m sitting looking at it now in our hall. He`s said he`ll be able to cycle to school each day there and back when he gets the hang of it.To be honest, i`ll give it a month before the novelty wears off, but at least then i`ll be able to take over ownership of it and have a go myself.! In his defence i hated PE at school too, although the teacher did notice some gymnastic ability because of my ballet training. Everything else, i was useless at. I guess my son takes after me, so i can`t really have too much of a go at him.!

Welcome,Boogalou.[Great Forum name !]

Thanks for that, taxi4ballet, that`s a good idea.!

Okay,I know this is a long shot. I was wondering if anyone knew how i could go about purchasing a pair of Rusbal Pointe Shoes? There is a Russian website called Petrushka that apparently used to sell them,but the site no longer exists. I`ve tried Ebay Russia,but to no avail. There was a pair on sale from a site in Australia a few months ago, but i missed out on them. I`m not worried about the size, as i just wanted a pair to collect. Cheers.! BTW, i`ve been on sites such as Pointe Shoe Brands, etc,but they seem to have difficulty finding them too.[Told you my question was a long shot.!]

Delighted things seem to have worked out.

Same here, C4D,link doesn`t seem to work.

Same here, but it`s fine now.

Was just thinking today about the lack of funding issue. I`m going to be controversial here, so here goes. I know Government departments can`t change funding over from one dept. to another,but you would think that they would be trying to support the endeavours of decent young people who wish to make a successful life for themselves. I doubt very much any aspiring dancer is the type of young person to get caught up in rioting or looting,yet funds for their dreams are being scuppered. Funny, isn`t it, the way the Government can afford to spend in the region of £50 million a YEAR trying to have some undesireable deported back to his own country. Yet the funds for a few years of training in the Arts is somehow seen as a luxury. Totally messed up.

Well my 15 year old ballet-hating son is obsessed with killing Nazi Zombies [don`t ask !] with his friends on XBox live. Obviously, he knows i used to be a dancer and trained in classical ballet for about 8 years. To give him a bit of an education,regrettably,about 2 winters ago i took him [okay,"forced him"] to accompany me to the European Ballet production of Cinderella. I told him it would broaden his horizons and would be good for him. Needless to say, he hated it from start to finish, and said afterwards, it was the worst thing he`d ever seen. About a year later, when Moscow Ballet La Classique were going to be performing Swan Lake, again, i decided to effectively drag him there.[ Okay, i told him if he comes with me i will give him £20. It worked.!] But,i am pleased to say, when we got home later on he said, "Actually, that wasn`t too bad at all. Much better than stupid Cinderella anyway". I was delighted. ! Not that it has in any way converted him. But i think he could appreciate the music, the dramatic elements to the story etc. So, what i would say is, whatever age children get to see their first ballets doesn`t really matter. Nor does it really matter if it isn`t their cup of tea after all. But the experience of live theatre,whether its ballet, opera, Shakespeare or whatever, i think is a wonderful gift to give a child, regardless of whether they actually thank you for it or not.!

Nice one Fiz. I have been thinking along the same lines myself. I am 44, size 18,and had major surgery about 8 months ago. Although i often pat myself on the back for neither smoking,drinking or gambling in any way,shape or form,my addiction to chocolate these last few years has really got out of hand.!! Was thinking of either Zumba or an adult ballet class, but i`m so out of condition i wouldn`t know where to start. I did try swimming for a few months before i became ill [Gallstone-Pancreatitis], but unfortunately i kept on swallowing mouthfuls of water each time, which would then go down the wrong way, which would then have me choking. Needless to say, it has put me off swimming for ever.! But really must do SOMETHING, i know.

Thank you so much,Anjuli. And it has been interesting reading all about you too.!!!

Toomuchtallent has made a good point,about making copies of the DVD to sell. I would buy one. If it helps, it helps.

Thanks Spanner.!

Kiwimum, I`ve just been on Facebook, trying to find the page you mentioned.Did i get the F/Book page name correct? Thanks.

So sorry,Kiwimum.I strongly believe in fate; so if something is meant to happen, IT will find a way. I know that`s no use to you at all right now, and probably think what a load of waffle. But i DO believe that if something is meant to be, it will be. Take care.

Alison,regarding the person who on RB Live who asked what dancers did with their old pointe shoes....That was ME who asked that question.! I mainly asked it because i`m still a bit peeved [hope that`s not a swear word!] that the Royal do not sell dancer`s signed pointe shoes, when other companies do.She said something about giving them to schools , or something.