Jump to content

Pas de Quatre

Members
  • Posts

    2,910
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Pas de Quatre

  1. It could be she has a shallow foot and needs a different shoe. The box of a pointe shoe is just like any box, (match box, shoe box) and has three dimensions, length, width and depth. The latter is known as the profile for pointeshoes. So even if length and width are correct the wrong profile will make it impossible to be in the correct position en pointe.
  2. As far as I know VFB weren't receiving any funding, and survived purely on income from tickets sales.
  3. It is worth auditioning just as a "practice run". Then if she gets offered a place that's lovely, but if not it is good experience anyway. A common misconception, particularly among the children, is that as JAs they will learn harder more exciting steps. This isn't so, it is about meticulous polishing of basic technique. Still lots of fun for the right pupils.
  4. OK thanks I didn't know NCDS does that. Laban has something similar.
  5. I thought Northern Contemporary Dance School only took at 18. One of my former pupils graduates this year.
  6. https://www.lsevacations.co.uk/Home.aspx https://www.ucl.ac.uk/residences/ucl-summer-residences Here are links to a couple of the University sites in London who rent out the student accommodation during the Summer vacations. They are central and fairly cheap. There are others too if you search online.
  7. Emeralds, no I didn't mean a maximum. I was not posting an opinion, merely passing on the information that stating a minimum height in audition notices is not uncommon.
  8. In Germany, following on from the previous posts. But this height limit is common in parts of Europe with a corresponding minimum height for men. Also in some companies worldwide. The are others who need smaller dancers so a maximum height may be specified. Always read audition notice carefully. It isn't discrimination, new dancers have to blend with existing employees and fit the costumes.
  9. Jane Landon who graduated RBS in the 1960s was 5ft 10ins. She was in the same year as Wayne Sleep and they were good friends according to his biography, quite a contrast! She joined Sadlers Wells Touring Company and I saw her dance several times - absolutely gorgeous. Eventually she moved to Germany where there have always been more taller dancers. In many auditions nowadays the minimum female height is 5ft 6 ins, 1.68 m.
  10. Is there a library near you that might accept them as donations? My late mother was a keen follower of classical music. Although only an amateur player she attended various residential weekends with lectures and had a season ticket to Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. When clearing out her belongings I found a box full of music scores. I couldn't bear to dump them so I enquired at Bournemouth library music department. They gratefully accepted them. The librarian said any that were good could go on the shelves and others or duplicates were often donated to music students.
  11. Do you still have the receipt? It should show the exact model, size and width, so you can check whether it is different to the shoe. Although if a mistake was made it might have been before they put it through the till.
  12. In today's Times 2 there is a lovely double page article on Olga Smirnova who will be appearing in Dance for Ukraine on Sunday.
  13. Unfortunately we had booked early, before the offer came out, so we were not happy to have paid substantially more! As a result we are not going to book for Cinderella next year at present and will wait for offers.
  14. I rather liked Carabosse being a woman. In this production you could read it as a mirror image of the Lilac Fairy, good versus evil. Also referring back to our conversations about BRB's Cinderella, in this case Evil isn't ugly all the time. Carabosse is very beautiful and elegant until she gets angry and then the spite distorts her. Daria Stanciulescu captured this perfectly and gave a wonderful dramtic account of the role.
  15. I lent my programme to one of my companions for a few days, so I can't double check, but I am sure it said the role of Carabosse will also be danced by a man. Perhaps someone else can confirm? Alison, I agree the Awakening is somewhat underwhelming.
  16. Thanks, I am glad you like my review. Baby Aurora is literally and figuratively centre stage in the Prologue. All the decor and other costumes are lovely so as she is the focal point Aurora should have a more elaborate christening gown.
  17. BRB have a real winner with this production of Sleeping Beauty. Lots of good things and only a few minor niggles. The programme is very good value at £5 with lots of photos and articles. A cast sheet for that performance was given out with it. I don't know if you can just ask for a cast sheet. The audience was very much as you would expect for a Saturday matinee, but all were very well behaved. Unfortunately as normal for this time of year there was qute a lot of coughing - but there were moments when the magic took hold and there was total silence - you could hear a pin drop. The overall production and costumes are very sumptous, set in 17th Century for the Prologue and Act I, very Louis XIV in feel. All the Courtiers had cloaks with long sweeping trains and there were a few moments when the person behind stepped on the hem or the wearer did when turning the corner. The six fairies were wearing a sort of short bell tutu.. Very pretty, but the colours were a bit similar and there wasn't enough to differentiate them. The Lilac Fairy in this production is a "walking" role, with a beautiful full length costume, elgantly portrayed by Eilis Small. This provided a good foil for Carabosse, danced by Daria Stanciulescu who was excellent as were her attendants! This role is also danced by a man at other performances. The Fairies danced their solos prettily but I feel need more time to settle in to their roles. The sixth Fairy was the Fairy of Joy, dancing the solo normally performed by the Lilac Fairy. Their Cavaliers were excellent. My only niggle is that the baby was not realistic and didn't seem to have much of a christening robe. I would have expected something more ornate. An interval of 15 minutes followed. Act II followed the normal pattern. Aurora was danced by Yu Kurihara who is only a First Soloist at present, but will surely have a bright future. She was gorgeous, possessing a beautiful classical line with lovely use of upper body and epaulment. She had masses of stage presence and a radiant smile, and a sensitive musicality. You really believed in the excited 16 year old enjoying her birthday party, apparently delighted to be presented with four suitors. The Rose Adagio went well with just a few moments of tension in the early balances, and she had more confidence in the later promende turn and balance. The forest growing as the Lilac Fairy sent everyone to sleep was excellent! This was followed by a three minutes pause. Act II again followed a traditional pattern with Lachlan Monaghan as Prince Florimund with the hunting party, and then the vision scene which was beautiful. My only caveat here is that Aurora asleep is framed by an opening through the forest, and it seemed rather small, I am not sure whether everyone would be able to see what was happening. A 15 minute interval folowed. Act III had lovely decor in warm tones and made me think of the lost Amber room. The Court were now in the 18th Centruy all wearing powdered wigs and appropriate costumes. The Fairy tale characters all danced well and entertained the children around us. The Grand Pas de Deux really was grandiose and provided a perfect climax to the performance. Yu Kurihara was every inch a ballerina, well partnered by Lachlan Monaghan wose own dancing is light and good technically. So all in all an excellent afternoon, and I would recommend getting your tickets to see this production which deserves congratulations to all involved. As a last comment I must mention the orchestra who played well conducted by Paul Murphy. The cast sheet has Robert Gibbs as the leader and I presume he played the violin solos which were lovely, and my companions and I felt he should have gone on stage at the end for a bow!
  18. That's why I always go by train. The station is only a few minutes walk away. Even without roadworks the traffic is a nightmare. Looking forward to seeing this on Saturday at 2pm.
  19. Having quickly read through the link Garnier posted, I would suggest it is looking at movement through dance science, which has made great advances in recent years, possible incorporating the work of Laban and also Alexander technique.
  20. But what message are all the young girls (& everyone else) going to take away from watching this? To succeed as a young woman you must be perfect, neither too fat nor too thin. Remember, the original production in USSR was under Stalin. If he didn't like it the creators risked being sent to the Gulags. So it is not surprising they played safe with stereotypes. We shouldn't be perpetuating them.
  21. That is refreshing. I was a bit disappointed that in her acceptance speech for her lifetime award Alessandra Ferri didn't mention any of her teachers or training. She said her ballet journey started at the PdL, but how did she get there? It sounded as though like a butterfly, a fully formed dancer had emerged from a chrysalis!
×
×
  • Create New...