Pas de Quatre

Of course it is all a matter of opinion, one teacher sees potential another thinks the same dancer lacks talent. But, rationally I would expect pupils to be assessed out rarely. That it seems to happen so frequently make me wonder if the initial selection criteria or the subsequent training are in some way flawed or contradictory.

Yes, I first saw it by London Contemporary Dance Theatre (many years ago) which I believe was the original version. Also I have seen it done by Dance Theatre of Harlem, they have a DVD version, and they ham it up a bit more than the original. Who did you see Euan?

My first live ballet was Sleeping Beauty at ROH - I was six. However, I am sure I had already seen some on television.

Some years ago now, but if I remember correctly we paid a fee of around £25-£30, but the GP worded the letter on purpose so that we could just photocopy it as many times as we needed.

Or how about Giant Jockeys!

I too saw Seymour and Gable together - one of the world's most amazing partnerships. R & J was created on them, and their subsequent treatment by RB management was tragic.

I think it is more generally the European companies that put defined minimum heights for dancers in their audition notices, and you have to meet their criteria before being invited to audition.

No I don't know why LSC changed from 16 to 18 as it was already a degree course like Central and Rambert who do still take at 16.

The last intake of 16 year olds was September 2009. Ever since it has been 18.

To be honest I don't know of any graduates of London Studio Centre getting purely classical jobs. DD's friend who went there is currently in Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake.

If her aim is classical ballet then Vocational school at 16 is a better bet, although ENB has said they do like 17 year olds too and I know someone who is 18 who has has just started in Year 1. However, for musical theatre and contemporary going at 18 is fine, and many of these courses do not take them at 16 anyway. Being realistic, you should check out the Graduate destination threads - only the top handful of dancers at the top schools actually manage to find classical jobs these days.

Thanks, I couldn't remember off hand what was on the list this year, although I don't think it changes that much from year to year.

The candidates don't have a free choice for their classical solos, there are lists they have to choose from, according to age and of course whether male or female. But I do agree I would like to see Precious Adams in something more feisty such as Esmeralda or Kitri.

A feast of wonderful dancing! Will enjoy re-watching some of the solos on the website. However I must say Precious Adams was incredible in her Contemporary solo - the prize was well deserved.

I would imagine Wayne is canny enough to have negotiated some sort of editorial control!

I note what you are saying Sophoife, but have to disagree about your use of "career". Anyone who actually finds a job to earn their living in the dance world already has a career! Of course everyone has dreams of making it higher up the ladder. But just being in the corps is already a success story.

DVD for me then!

I'm so envious - I hope they do repeat it. No way to get to the cinema yesterday without cancelling my last class.

There is an article in The Times today, basically rehashing the one in The Telegraph but giving more prominence to the Union meeting. I think things must have got quite bad for the dancers to feel this should be put on the Union meeting agenda (even if it were one of regular meetings). It is clear that there have been injury problems recently, and perhaps this is partly due to lack of recuperation time during the day for the dancers. This then has a knock on effect as everyone has to work more to cover absences.

Remember, there are two letters to come. The first is for recalls to the final audition for joining WL full time, these usually come a week or two after the last of the preliminaries. Then after the final audition, they allocate the Associate places and letters offering these are sent out.

In that case they are two separate institutions! Unbelievable it should happen twice. Perhaps that is why institutions seem to be so very careful about funding offers now.

Goodness - once is bad enough, but twice sounds like someone wasn't paying attention. The institution I am talking about does have 'school' in it's title. It was during overseas auditions that these offers were made. But surely, in the ballet world, it is only schools that are in the DADA scheme? Edited to add last sentence

Thanks Yaffa - look forward to seeing all of it. So far have just got as far as fondus (about 25 mins in). One thing I have noticed is how they are working on a low 1/4 pointe at times rather than the higher 1/2 or 3/4 pointe usually seen today. Perhaps it is a training stage and they go up higher when older.

Thanks for posting that - a lot of sensible advice there, and a few chuckles.

DD never did ENB's summer course as she went elsewhere in the summer, but she did their Spring course for several years and really enjoyed it, I can't imagine it will be very different, just longer!