Dance*is*life

Have you taken her to see some ballet performances? Ballet is a performing art and we sometimes forget to connect the exercises we train in class with the beauty we see on stage! Ballet doesn't sit well with the modern idea of instant gratification. It takes time and investment, but what I firmly believe is that one class of 45 minutes a week is not going to do the magic trick of making her keen. Ideally she should do twice a week one hour classes. This will enable her to advance more quickly and feel that she is achieving something. 45 minutes is barely enough time to warm up in and certainly not enough to learn new steps and develop stronger technique so that she feels she is accomplishing something. If she really wants to quit so be it, but really she could be finding it boring because she feels that she's forever repeating the same thing ad infinitum!

Thank you! Me too - don't remember now why I stopped! There are such interesting threads on here!

I agree with starting to build up her regular dance classes, either by adding on more hours or another dance genre. She is however only 7, so should avoid overdoing it physically. Too much too soon can put pressure on her and take away her natural enjoyment. Most important is to make sure that she's at a good school with experienced knowledgeable teachers, who can help her develop to the maximum.

Me too! I really emphasized with both of the heroines! And I will never forget the tipsy wili or was she a sylph?

That is such a shame about ENB eliminating the one week option! We sent a student this year on scholarship for one week and she loved it. We'll have to look for somewhere else to send our competition winner next year, as we can only afford the cost of one week.

The original production of Fille was charming with subtle humour and real emotions - I think modern revivals make it too over the top slap stick, so that it does look silly! This happened for me with the revival of Cinderella too. As far as Don Q is concerned, I dislike the Russian versions as they have so much character dancing in them and agree that the best version is the ABT Baryshnikov version! So full of life, energy and humour!

Thanks so much for this wonderful thread! I have only dreamed of seeing the divine Beriosova once again in Enigma. Thank you thank you! By the way I have the recording of Nerina and Blair in Fille and she is just as wonderful as I remember her in it. Ashton's humour was very subtle and I really dislike it when modern revivals go slap stick.....

Do consult with your teacher on the poses. A student of mine sent me the photos she'd taken after she'd sent them off with the application and they did not do her justice at all! It was only for a summer school, not full time training or anything, but still. I wrote to the SS and asked if we could send in a new batch of photos and we retook them.

Perhaps you could try her with a half size larger shoe and then insert a soft insole, so her toes aren't cramped.

Of course I don't mind your asking! Our legs were fairly high, but nowhere near as acrobatic as nowadays - it was more about line and quality I think. We were expected to do triple pirouettes - but not more than that because it had to be musically correct. 32 fouettes on pointe were trained to right and left - no such thing as favoured side! Lots of batterie and quick allegro - if you look at old films on youtube you will see examples. Sir Frederick Ashton's choreography was really challenging. I read that when they revived one of his ballets the dancers nowadays found it really difficult. That may well be because of the different bodies that we had - quick allegro is much harder for long legged ultra flexible dancers and probably why Balanchine dancers don't put their heels down - Balanchine also liked quick movements! Of course technique has evolved over the years, expectations have changed too, but I don't think that dancers in the last century were lacking in technique compared to today - they just looked different and as you noted the stars all had amazing quality, so that you couldn't take your eyes off them. Pavlova was before my time, but when I was 9 I saw Galina Ulanova when the Bolshoi first came to perform in England. I was bowled over by her and the other dancers, but I thought that if I saw her today I would probably think otherwise. I was wrong! I watched a DVD of the Bolshoi with Ulanova and Raissa Struchkova (who was younger) and I was awe struck once again! The same goes for when I watched a video of Nadia Nerina in La Fille Mal Gardee and Beriosova too. You just have to look at them with different eyes!

I personally think that competing as a way of life can be harmful and anyway performing is a lot more important than competing. Ballet is a performing art after all. I don't think that ballet/dance training is a waste of time for the many that change their minds later on or find that they don't actually have what is needed to succeed. In this age of instant gratification the lessons children learn from studying dance go far beyond the acquiring of technique. I only ever had a small career as a dancer, but it was enough for me and I have had a wonderful second performing career as a character artiste plus a very, very satisfying and successful career as a ballet teacher, which I have been able to combine with marriage and children. I do think that it might have been better for Miko to have joined a smaller company where she could have made her mark more significantly than as a corps member in a big company. I don't know if any of you have seen the film Turning Point with Shirley Maclaine and Anne Bancroft? Bancroft comes to perform as ballerina to Maclaine's small home town where she and her husband run a ballet school. Basically Bancroft is ageing and beginning to lose roles to younger dancers. Unmarried, no children and lonely she's jealous of Maclaine's character who has those. Maclaine of course is jealous of Bancroft's success as a ballerina. It's a very moving comlicated plot and shows clearly that we all make our decisions and have to live with them or else change something........

Does she have to have canvas split soled shoes? There are leather split soles by Bloch, with a canvas insert under the arch. I prefer these for my students because they give more support to the feet.

What an interesting discussion. I was at RBS US in the mid 1960s and I have to say that, as someone noted about Fonteyn, most of us would probably not be accepted today! However good we might have been technically and artistically, we didn't have the same bodies as you see today. Of course then it was different. There were two overseas students classes, where in fact the level was lower and if you wanted to get in the company you had to have some claim to British nationality! White Lodge students were the favoured ones and they only ever did two years training in the US rather than three like most of the rest of us. They normally went straight into 3A and then Graduates. There was a lot more individuality in the company's roster of stars - we wanted to see the different casts for a ballet because they were so different. I am sure they still are, but not in the same way. To my old fashioned eyes, dancers nowadays seem to be a bit clone like - all with the same exquisite physique and feet, hyper extensions and multiple pirouettes. I do miss the days of Lynne Seymour, Merle Park, Nadia Nerina, Svetlana Beriosova, Antoinette Sibley and of course Fonteyn. By the way here's something to think about - Seymour came from Canada, Park was born in Zimbabwe, Nerina was South African, Beriosova was Lithuanian - so even then the company was international!

Just wanted to say that I have watched classes at YBSS - Yorkshire Ballet Summer School - in York for the past two years and they have loads of boys there - quite a lot of them are on scholarship too. It's a fantastic course with brilliant teachers including males! Iain Mackay has taken over from Marguerite Porter and he has introduced pop up courses. Follow YBSS on FB to see if and when there's something suitable for your son. As a teacher I have had several male students over the years, but they have usually been the only boys in the class. It hasn't really been a problem and I always gave them special attention. The RAD cater for boys in their syllabi, which is very important. Giving them the opportunity to work with other boys and male teachers from time to time is also very important. I actually arranged bi weekly coaching sessions for a talented boy I had. Another boy joined him and the teacher was a male dancer/ballet master. It gave him a real boost, but he was about 13 or 14 then.

From Intermediate Foundation upwards, it is optional to wear a skirt for the dance. I introduced this last year and my students are thilled. It really makes them feel special. We have royal blue tutu skirts for the classical variation and use royal blue wrap-around chiffon skirts for the Variation 2. I had a first exam rehearsal with my IFs today and I let them wear the tutu skirts. They definitely danced better feeling like real ballerinas (even if they don't yet look like one!

It's funny to read something I wrote three years ago! I still agree with myself though!

Wonderful achievement! Thank you to all concerned for this amazing forum and a belated Happy Holidays to all !

I can't believe that after all that you were the one to be accused of misconduct by the Principal! Thank goodness you got your daughter out of there and that she's happy! There is absolutely no reason or excuse for smacking a pupil - I find it horrifying that a teacher would do that.

Lisa - don't forget that they're on the premises, so 8.30 is not the same as it would be for someone who has to travel to class. I remember one winter term at RBS Upper School when I had a 9 o'clock class every morning and I had to take a regular train and a tube to get there. There was a lot of snow that year, which delayed trains and I would arrive totally frozen. The studios were unheated and it took me almost the whole class to warm up! Love the story for the book, by the way!

Strangely enough LinMM as I inch up to 70 my adage has really gone, but I can still do passable Grand Allegro - Go figure!

I bought hair pins in one of the dance shops in London, don't remember which one and I think I also found them in John Lewis........

I refuse to teach the multiple jazz pirouette in the so called Grand Allegro in Grade 5 (more like a modern routine) as I am a ballet teacher and also because as someone said it doesn't really help them do a proper turned out pirouette. We have decided to do Class Awards, because then we can choose not to teach the Grand Allegro or the transfer of weight exercise - also a modern routine! I also find it wierd that the Grade 5 pirouette exercise has a pirouette en dehors from 4th facing the corner prepared with a chasse pas de bouree, but in IF the pirouettes are prepared from tendu en face. I like using the preparation for pirouette exercise at the barre from the old, old Grade 5! To get back to the original post - 7 is a bit young for real pirouettes, but practising releves in pirouette position facing the barre is a good way to start strengthening that supporting leg.

I didn't realise they had a school - I thought Eifman was just very clever at recruiting!

That's a good idea Balletbean thank you!

Thank you very much for all the helpful comments. I will let you all know what we eventually succeed in doing! We have a lot of fund raising to do!