Lisa O`Brien

Thank you to all the Moderators of this Forum. A very Merry Christmas to you, and everyone else who reads this.x

Just watched Getting to the Nutcracker on Channel 5. Very insightful. Wow, that's some budget they must have. Some very talented dancers though.

Very good article.

Only just reading this post, jmb, but my sincere sympathies to you and your family. I got my mum "into" watching and appreciating Ballet. She must have been about 50 I guess. It was thanks to me that she fell in love with Rudolph Nureyev. She absolutely adored him. If ever he was on TV she would literally crouch in front of the TV to gaze at him, like some love sick teenager ! She said one of the highlights of her entire life was seeing him dance in Don Q with the Boston Ballet at the Manchester Palace Theatre. My sympathies once again.

Perhaps if you could tell people roughly which area of the country you are based in? Then people will be able to give you recommendations for schools.

Just to add, I think that's why so many teenagers give up, after loving it for years when they were younger. It's not seen as a cool or trendy thing to do. If your friends snigger a little bit when you mention Ballet classes it will make you doubt whether it is an OK thing for someone to be doing, when they just want to fit in and be the same as everyone else around them.

I quit for about eight months when I was 14 I think. I just wanted to be a normal teenager ( If any teenager is normal, LOL). I wanted to have my hair a bit spikey and wear outlandish earrings. Ballet, with it's hair in a bun and only allowed sleeper earrings and never allowed nail polish in class unless it is pale pink was so conservative and restrictive to me for a while. I wanted to hang around Manchester city centre with friends from school, getting a bit dressed up and browsing the record shops and eyeing up boys. Instead on most Saturdays and some evenings I spent in a dance studio. I felt I was missing out on being a teenager. I went back to Ballet as I missed it so much, but for a while I needed to feel just like every other teenager and I felt like Ballet to an extent, prevented me.

As for not being on here. Well I pop in now every now and again. But i'm afraid my love affair with most websites/forums seems to be over these days. In fact I'm thoroughly sick of the internet. Have already deleted my Twitter account.

Ha ha. Many thanks. I have several bottles of NO More Spiders in the kitchen cupboard. It's completely harmless to them, but they don't like the smell of peppermint oil in it. It's quite nice actually. I just always forget to spray it everywhere. Until it's too late and there's a monster upstairs in the hall, stopping me from going to the bathroom.( Like right now).

Slightly different, but just this morning I was thinking how am I going to cope if my 22 year old son goes to university next September? One of the main reasons i'd miss him is i'd have no-one to kill the monster spiders I get in the house and will have to fend for myself !! He's on his way back from his mates house now to "rescue" me from it. I need to find some sort of a way to cope on my own should he go away. I assume at some point in his life he is going to move out anyway, so I need to start learning to deal with them. But the very best of luck to all DC going away this September, and the best of luck to their parents too.

I wish you and your DD all the very best of luck for the future, Pups_mum.

I am so very sorry to hear this news. My sympathies go out to his family, friends and all who knew him. RIP x

This is a (rather long i'll admit) quote from the small University College in Belfast my son hopes to be attending in September to study Liberal Arts with History. " Education is a creative and inspired activity through which we can fully realise our human attributes and help build a world in which all people come to share and experience their common humanity. If, in practice, education is reduced to preparing individuals to compete in the labour market, it leaves people and communities completely ill-prepared for many of the major components of a well-balanced and fulfilling life, such as relationships, parenthood, vocation, community-building, self-expression and recreation. Education must not only prepare students for the world of work but for life in and for the community". Taken from the prospectus of St. Mary's University College Belfast.

Many congratulations to your son, Harwel. I hope he will have a long and successful career. The very best of luck to you too. You will be missed x

RIP. A great star has left us.

"Feeling" the music and showing facial expression, particularly in Ballet, is much more desireable than a silly grin, trust me !!

Just heard that the comedian Freddie Starr has been found dead in his home. RIP.

I DO remember the parent of one DD on this Forum a few years back who said her daughter was assessed out of WL because she couldn't wear Freeds. The school thought she found pointe work difficult. But she didn't. She was accepted into another Vocational school, was allowed to wear different pointe shoes more suitable to her feet and I *think* went on to become a professional ballet dancer. Don't think i'm going mad, i'm sure I read this on here.

I think sometimes people dislike Ballet because they say they don't understand what is happening on stage. I know some people who feel the same about watching a full length Shakespeare play. I've told some people, as far as Ballet is concerned, that it's not the be all and end all to be able to follow the story or understand Mime. To just enjoy it for the beautiful shapes/patterns of the dancer's bodies, and perhaps accompanied by beautiful costumes and music.

Sorry to hear about your accident, Pups_mum.x

Hello again !! Glad to see you have joined us. Hope after you have received help about your A Level, that you stick around on here. It really is a great website.

Like others, I am so sorry to hear about WL assessing out. Never been in a similar situation, and auditioning for vocational school before the age of 16 was something I never even gave a thought to. But to have got there and then to have to leave; as others have said, especially if no clear reason has been given. Well I just can't imagine how upsetting for you all as a family this must be. Hopefully something more positive is just around the corner.

Wasn't there something similar that used to happen to Eastern European gymnasts a few years ago?

Hello. Can I just add, that if your DD's are going to be occasionally coming home for the odd weekend, it might be a good idea to factor in the cost of coaches or trains to London and also to wherever in Essex Performers is. If they feel like coming home for a few days but are unable to afford it because of distance this might be an issue. Don't know if parents would drive there to collect them. I used to get the National Express coach from London ( I was at Urdang) home to Manchester and then back to London that way occasionally. But I wouldn't have been able to afford it that often.

Hello. I've just been on your website and noticed you are in the States. The vast majority of people who use this Forum are based in the UK.