Pas de Quatre

A new Artistic Director, Christopher Powney, started at the beginning of this term, so it may well be his new policy.

It was really an amazing thing to do. I wonder who thought of it, Tamara Rojo herself, her PR team or someone from Glastonbury? It must surely have raised ENB's profile with the general public.

http://www.royalballetschool.org.uk/2014/06/congratulations-year-11-graduates/ RBS have just announced that 29 dancers have graduated this year with 20 of them continuing their training at RBS Upper School. This is many more than in recent years! The announcement also says that the others will continue their training at other prestigious establishments. Well done everyone!

I would second Ribbons post above. As a teacher, I would say at times it can be very difficult to identify unacceptable behaviour. The line between normal good-natured teasing and spiteful digs can be a very fine one. Really manipulative children (and adults) are very good at concealing what they are doing. The passive aggressive behaviour from an apparently "nice" girl can be some of the worst to deal with. These are often very needy people, and it is no good complaining to the parents because they are often at the root of the aggressors behaviour. There is a well known saying amongst dog lovers, that there are no bad dogs, just bad owners. I sometimes think the same applies to children. If their behaviour to others is bad, where have they learnt it? Also, although it would be great to think that good behaviour gets its due reward, if you look at the biographies of very successful people in any field, but particularly the Arts, you will find they are not always very nice people!

Sometimes I just think the whole system is designed to confuse!

I really think this way of producing end of year shows at Vocational schools is a BIG WEAKNESS in British training and possibly one of the reasons that the students find it hard to get jobs. (The perception that overseas dancers outshine UK dancers has been discussed in other threads but not talking about this aspect of training). Ballet and other dance disciplines are performing arts, and you hone your performance skills by appearing on stage. Just because things have been done in a certain way in the past does not mean they should continue to be done that way. There are many dancers that only look average in class, but shine on stage, and there are those that are considered the best in the classroom, but are actually rather boring on stage and cannot communicate with the audience. Every 1st year student, whether at 16+ or 18+ schools, should be cast in at least one piece. The process of rehearsal is part of the training itself. Sitting out and having to watch or learn on the sidelines is short-changing the students. Not making it easy for parents to see the performance their child appears in is appalling. It seems to be a hangover from the days that parents were considered rather a nuisance, and some schools still act in this way. There have been many stories recently about University students being unhappy with their courses, and making official complaints now that they are having to pay large amounts of money and not getting value. One of my A-level pupils just turned down an offer from LSE because the "contact" hours per week were derisory. Perhaps the dance world should follow this trend? Edited for grammar

This is just the opinion of one school. Why not try auditioning for Rambert, London Contemporary Dance School or Trinity Laban Conservatoire next year? There are several threads on how different classical schools seem to look for different things, and the same happens in the Contemporary world. I know students who gained places at one of these schools yet didn't even make waiting list at others!

Sometimes there seems to be a perception that if you aren't quite good enough for pure classical ballet, then you will easily be able to change to Contemporary or Jazz (West End, Cruise ships etc). The reality is that the standard is incredibly high in these fields too and there are just as many talented dancers competing for the schools and then the jobs. Yes, strong classical training is valued so this training is never wasted, but much more has to be added.

Coulddobetter, ideally top schools should monitor the progress and behaviour of recipients of awards. However, as Tulip and Hfbrew mention earlier in this thread, I have also seen people with DaDAs at a top school who were misbehaving and not trying. They said to other pupils they no longer wished to dance as a career, but were quite happy to be funded for 6th form, thus depriving others who would have been more deserving of funding.

Are we comparing like with like here? To enter Australia as an immigrant, there are certain criteria. But doesn't Australia also accept refugees fleeing oppression?

Yes, Legat do an Associate class on Saturdays - they have just had auditions but it is still worth contacting them, Elaine Holland, Head of Dance is very approachable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvJO05AHe5Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player And this one. Does anyone recognise the studio where it was taken?

http://www.hamptonballetacademy.com/ This school is Vaganova based, not RAD, but I would whole-heartedly recommend it for a talented child. One of the members of this board has a ds who trained there before going abroad for further training, so perhaps they could add more to my recommendation. PM me hfb if you would like to hear more.

I'm afraid I would say that yes indeed we are training far more dancers than there are jobs for. I think we have had some discussions about this before on old threads. Apart from RBS which is a particular case, even at the most prestigious schools only the top handful from each graduating year will find jobs.

I think the big difference is that in most countries outside UK ballet classes are longer because tap and modern would not be taken. The whole of the after school time would be for ballet so there would be no problem with a 90 min class. In my ballet school more advanced classes are at least 75 mins and the longest one is a special coaching class including pointework of an hour and three quarters but I know that is unusual.

Best of luck to your dd Tulip - she looks beautiful in her photos, they are sure to want her (it seems so long since I saw her in the flesh!). And also good luck to all others auditioning for 3rd year. Do you know if any current 3rd years have offers yet for after graduation?

Nice film. The only point I would dispute is where the dancer says that lots of companies only do one thing and ABT is special because it does classical and contemporary. Maybe this is true of smaller companies in USA but I would say that internationally every major company has both classical and contemporary works in its repertoire. Edited for punctuation

Up until the 1970s there was always at least a one act ballet before Giselle - I remember feeling very short changed the first time I saw Giselle presented on its own at Covent Garden. A quick dig in the cupboard and I have come up with a programme from 1967 of The Royal Ballet at Cambridge Arts Theatre (plain RB, not touring or Sadlers Wells). The first ballet of the evening was Sinfonietta by Ashton. But it is not only in Ballet that performances have shortened. Orchestral concerts used to contain more works than they do these days too. On the subject of ice cream, look out for Purbeck or New Forest, two of the best brands, made from real ingredients.

He had an article in the Times yesterday asserting he never said such a thing and has been misquoted, also that he personally is very keen on these American books.

The thing to do is practice diagonals of piqué without turning. When you can do them very strongly then you can add the turn and it will seem easier.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_(ballet) All good ballet fans should know that Terpsichore is the Muse of dance, one of the three Muses in Balanchine's work Apollo. This was, and is one of his most widely danced ballets, still in the repertoire of many of the best companies in the world.

Melody - I think it is to create a cleavage. The ones my pupils were using were like this but without a fastening, i.e. two separate cups.

I agree with taxi4ballet's friend - what seems to be considered normal by some gymnastics teachers is considered totally wrong by dance teachers. We have a big gym locally run by ex-Olympic people and I have heard various stories from mums which confirm my fears.

http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1282282/choreographer-inspired-michael-jackson-sony-xperia-z2 A now for something much better! Link is to a whole page, but watch the video (Idon't know how to separate it out).

Several of my teenage pupils chose to wear stick on bras (just 2 large circles that stick on) at a recent performance under low-backed pale leotards, and they worked well. One of the older girls had recommended those at Primark.