Pas de Quatre

Mark Morris Snowflakes I love Mark Morris ballets. It's difficult to choose a favourite, but his Hard Nut is fabulous. In particular the Snowflakes scene where male and female dancers wear the same costumes and dance the same steps, just makes you want to join in. Mind you I have also quite fancied dancing the role of the tipsy mother at the party too! Likewise with Matthew Bourne's swans, I just want to dance along.

As I remember it SWRB were simply the touring company of RB and had a very similar repertoire, so definitely Classical. If you star defining ballets in that way, Giselle Act 1 is Demi-caractère and Act 2 is Classical. With regard to contemporary, there are some lovely joyful, musical dances such as those by Richard Alton, Glen Tetley and Paul Taylor, but angst is very fashionable at the moment.

Most Contemporary companies alternate classes, one day it is a contemporary class, the next a classical class. Some years ago when Ailey 2 were on tour in UK, I did a masterclass with them which was Horton based. However, I remember vividly that they said they do a lot of classical classes and the girls do pointework too. Dangers of Fille - in the Karsavina mime Lise spanks her child for not knowing the book lesson!

Are many of the venues the same as last year, I thought most were new?

There has long been the theory of "a baker's dozen" applied to the Arts. For every one genuine masterpiece there will be a dozen or so that aren't very good, or even if popular at first, are soon forgotten.

Cheapest seats at Athelhampton were £50 and as a fairly small audience you were not too far away. Yes you lost the feet sometimes, the first year the stage was too low, but it was the first public performance of ballet in UK after the pandemic. No costumes and audience socially distanced, but the evident delight of the dancers to be performing was truly moving. Marianela Nunez in particular looked like a kid let loose in a sweetshop! The following two years it was all much better organised. Stage was raised, but still I think it needs to be a bit higher. Both stage and audience were covered last year with large awnings, so rain not a problem. I truly hope it returns for 2024.

We had similar at Athelhampton the last three years. Unfortunately not happening this year, but should be on next year.

I am not an expert, but have a working knowledge of opera. The singers are even more compartmentalised than ballet. If you are known for Italian operas you will be unlikely to be singing German opera.

I don't think having a Diploma will be affect the AD'S choice of dancer. It might help the dancer to be offered an audition if there are too many applicants. e.g. in UK to audition for Matthew Bourne you have to have studied for a Diplma or Degree at a recognised dance institution to apply, but you are still not guaranteed an audition.

Suffolkgal, I was brought up in a village near Newmarket. One of the renowned trainers, a friend of my parents, used to say that the ideal racehorse (on the flat) has a neck like a swan, a bottom like a barmaid and a walk like a ballet dancer!

I have often used the comparison with sports to my pupils and their parents over the years. A pentathlete will be highly skilled in all 5 disciplines, but will not be anywhere near the athlete who trains in just one event. Likewise, a classical ballet dancer is like a thoroughbred racehorse that races on the flat. A slightly different conformation of less speed but more strength would mean the horse would be better over jumps in steeplechases. Another mistake often made is to lump all modern and contemporary ballet together. European style is often just contorted classical with pointe shoes still worn. The more earthy, grounded contemporary styles are quite different and need little or no ballet technique.

Yes, Kings International.

It may simply be that they can't find teachers. RBS was advertising a couple of months ago for a JA teacher for Totnes and I looked at the details wondering if it would be worth applying even though it would be a very long drive. When I saw the hourly rate of pay, my reaction was "You've got to be joking" it was so low!

I think it is similar to the old split tours BRB did to smaller venues. Programme 1 did certain theatres and Programme 2 went to others at the same time. The following year they swapped. This is only one programme, so they are doing it at different theatres for the second year.

Thanks Janet, I have diarised when booking will open!

The only time I went, 2009 I think, it was mid November.

I think I shall have to find the original poem. We had Baudelaire's Fleurs du Mal on our syllabus (in the original French) and that is pretty evocative!

No need to get professional shots, but do make sure you cover all the different poses. There are often differences in arm positions, or other variations.

Fascinating article Nijinsky Misrepresented. Thanks for posting here Ian as I don't always get time to read the links. Madame Rambert was a good friend of my original ballet teacher, and when the company was appearing at Arts Theatre Cambridge they would use our studios for rehearsals. Arriving after school for our own classes we were allowed to creep in and watch the last bit. I didn't see Faune in rehearsal but did in performance. OK these were the swinging sixties, but I did wonder why the ending of Faune was meant to be so shocking when it wasn't. This explains it.

This all seems to assume that if anyone leaves WL it is because they are assessed out. A pupil of a teacher friend did not like it there and left by choice, returning home. They then went to one of the major European schools post GCSEs and have now graduated into the company.

So it appears the wrong children are being chosen and then they are not taught or inspired sufficiently!

Someone once said "Man does not live by bread alone."

It can be very interesting watching the Celebrity edition of University Challenge at Christmas, to see what each of the candidates studied, often quite different from their subsequent career. However I do think the old fashioned ways of training, with sandwich courses and apprenticeships served the students better.

The original school was founded by Marika Bessobrasava a Russian dancer. At first it was in her own name and later became the Princess Grace Academy. For over 50 years it has been one of the foremost ballet schools, and as has been said previously extremely hard to get into. When I worked in France, one of my friends was Japanese and had trained there, and the AD of our company was a great friend and admirer of Marika. I fear the ballet training in UK simply does not have enough hours. My nephew is a promising young adult swimmer (competes at a National level) and the hours he has put in are phenomenal. Poolside 6 am 3 weekdays before school. After school some evenings too, with dry land and pool training at weekends. Likewise, gymnastics training involves many more hours than ballet/dance.

Yes, Francesca Hayward may may have been born in Kenya, but she was brought up in England by her paternal grandparents. She and the other principals Kerfuffle mentions, Yasmine and Anna-Rose were trained when Gailene Stock headed RBS. Things have changed in the intervening years.