Dance*is*life

So I am doubly sorry to miss Fille, if you think it won't come back again Suppose I will have to make do with DVDs! And I agree with everyone (sorry Sim to go back to Nut) BRB's Nut is gorgeous!

Where did you find the details about the slightly different programme???? I am thrilled that there is an option of a later period - the early one would have meant my student would have had to miss the school performance if she were accepted. Wonder if they'll include pas de deux at White Lodge for the 14/15 year olds.

It's really a sad fact that physique is so important in ballet - I look at my students and know that I have perhaps one or two in each class who have a chance to make it and be accepted by our national ballet company (and they're of necessity less picky than a lot of companies). The point is though that our students are well represented in other dance genres professionally, because they've had a strong ballet training, so even if your daughter does not have the ideal body for classical ballet, the dance world is open to her! I agree that she might find it easier to get in at 16 rather than 11 and by then she might decide to go down a different path. I believe that it is very important to expand the training with modern etc, because company repertoire today is very varied and dancers need to be more versatile, but ballet should be the core of any training programme.

I have to say that I am amazed at hearing of marks in the 90s for Inter! I find that even my best girls "only" get 75 to 78 and my "star" got 84. I certainly wouldn't be disappointed in a Distinction at 12, even if it's a low range one. The marking in general seems to be even tougher than it was in the last three or four years, but anyway I always tell my students that it's not the mark that counts, but the work that they do preparing for the exam. Even if they pass a vocational with a low merit, I see a tremendous improvement in their dancing in class. Exams are very pressurising and often marks surprise us, usuallybecause one girl has more self confidence than another. Check what marks she got for the various marking divisions and you'll see what she dropped in. I know it's not the same level and criteria, but in Grade 6 last year a girl who I expected to pass with Distinction didn't and another girl not nearly as good technically beat her by 11 points! Why? Because her musicality and presentation marks were 10s! Intermediate is judged very strictly and honestly Distinction at 12 is fantastic and she should be thrilled not disappointed - whatever the others got! I agree with the others that she needs a break and really at her age a summer without dancing is not the end of the world! These dancing kids are under so much pressure to succeed in everything they do - it must be quite overwhelming sometimes - and most of the time it's their own perfectionism that gets them! A mother of one of my particularly driven students told me that she is grateful that she is with me - I am apparently the only one of her teachers who encourages without pushing too much and manages to somehow de-pressurise her! I think it's the Grandma effect actually!

Yes - why have RBS suddenly started choosing earlier dates for the summer schools? I want a couple of students to apply for it, but as it clashes with our school performance, it's really difficult - I want to push them, but it's sad that if they're accepted (miracle of miracles) it will be at the expense of our school performance

Does anyone know if they're going to do Fille again next year? After the wonderful reviews above, I am so eager to see it, I think I would come over especially! I couldn't come now, because I am visiting in November (and have got fabulous tickets for Anastasia) but maybe next year???????

Moths - woodworm, creapy crawlies I suppose!

We actually saw it some years ago with Mukhamedov. We live abroad so this time I probably won't get to see it, unless I come over especially. I am excited about Anastasia - I splashed out on 2 seats Grand Tier centre front row! Couldn't believe they were available! Perhaps everyone's going to bonfires for Guy Fawkes Day???

Darling man said "Go ahead - how often do you get a chance to go to the opera house!" So I booked this morning - yeh!

No he's not a novice - he's been married to me for 43 years after all - but it's still not his "thing". He might well find it interesting though, because it's based on a true story for once! Thanks everyone - I'll check on the ROH website again.

Thank you - I wonder why they did that? Beriosova was my adored idol, so I know what you mean! No-one could replace her in Enigma either - she was so divine even in relatively small roles.

I have just realised that there is a performance of Anastasia on the saturday evening that I'm going to be in London in November - it's with Cuthbertson, Lamb and Macrae. They have some really good tickets still available and if I were on my own I'd have gone like a shot, but I'm going to be with my husband who is not a ballet buff. The last time I saw it was with Lynn Seymour (yes that long ago) and I can't decide what to do. I'd be grateful for some opinions on it - has anyone seen it lately or remembers it better than I do??????

Funnily enough some of my students were so obsessive about having a perfect bun, that they got late for class. I walked into the dressing-room to see where they were and found two or three girls waiting for another one to create the perfect bun (one made from several plaits) on each girl in turn. I had to read them the riot act I'm afraid, because as much as I love to see them perfectly groomed, I can't have them being late for class because of it. I told them that they need to learn to do their own bun and that the plaited one is not mandatory!

I am in two minds about seeing Fille - one part of me would love to see it again, but another part is a bit afraid, because I have been disappointed in the modern interpretations of the Ashton ballets, at least from seeing them on DVD. Maybe if I got to see them live, I would feel differently, but there never seems to be a ballet performance on my visits to the UK. Most frustrating! Anyway, I saw one of the first casts several times when I was a student - Nadia Nerina and David Blair - and I never tired of the ballet. I actually recommend buying the DVD of that cast if you want to catch the essence of Ashton's choreography - as someone said -his work is so subtle, with more depth than it seems, and the choreography so tricky old school British, that for me making it too Russian in style wouldn't work, even though I would love to see Osipova dance in real life. It's a bit like the ugly sisters in Cinderella. Ashton and Helpmann were so brilliant - funny, but understated and Ashton even got me feeling sympathy for him - they were characters rather than take-offs, whereas Wayne Sleep and Dowell were too over the top. Of course Blair had quite different technique from what is expected nowadays, but looking at it in a time warp, you can see what made him one of the top RB male dancers of his day. And Nerina was just brilliant in every way. I have the DVD of Collier as Lise and she was lovely too, but Nerina was so special in the role. One of these days, I will treat myself to a visit just to see a performance I fancy and never mind the cost - life is too short.........

You can also download a converter for youtube to MP3 and then there are a few downloads which can edit the music (slowing,speeding, cutting etc). When you've saved them you can put them on a CD. I don't think the speed matters desperately, because there is nothing to say that you have to dance them at a certain speed. The Russians take everything super slow so I tend to avoid their versions! When we're practising variations, we often connect their phones to the music centre and use the youtube version that suits each dancer.

I nagged and nagged my parents to remove me from my grammar school and send me to a full time performing arts day school. Eventually they agreed and we notified the school. To my astonishment the headmistress (think tweed suit, brogues, hair in a bun type) came out of her inner sanctum and entered our lowly classroom for the sole purpose of trying to change my mind! But what will you do if you don't succeed at this dancing - you won't be able to go on to university? Well, I replied, blithely, I can always be a housewife!!!!!!1 She gave up after that! When I actually got a degree with First Class Honours nearly 4 decades later, through the RAD, I thought of dear old Miss McCauley and wished I could have said -See!!!!!!! I danced professionally, I teach professionally and I even have a B.Phil.Hons in Ballet and Contextual Studies through Durham University! It is awfully sad though that more than half a century later, people still don't understand.........................

This reminds me of a thread going around on Facebook about people who were told they would never be any good or succeed at their chosen career and then proved everybody wrong by becoming world famous phenomena! I must google it!

I know there's a theory that contact with home can unsettle them even more, but sometimes it's necessary, particularly when a child goes away for the first time, and especially abroad. I remember that a male student of mine went to summer school at the RBS when he was 13 and he found it very hard. The language and the strict discipline were foreign to him, even though he was a very well behaved, polite boy. For example, he was used to being allowed to ask questions of his teachers spontaniously and of course, he struggled explaining himself in English. He phoned his Mum and sounded very despairing - it was the last year that 13 year olds were put together with 16 and 17 year olds and the poor boy was only at IF standard and not used to so many classes and at such an advanced level. I happened to be in London on holiday and had intended to go and watch classes the second week, but at the mother's request I went to visit him and watched classes on his 3rd day. It literally saved him. I was able to explain to him that he was doing very well, considering his age and level, and I also spoke to the teachers who actually said the same thing to me. They were still in Talgarth Road then, so I was able to reminisce and show him the older studios that I had trained in. Interestingly, the following year they moved the 13 and 14 year olds to White Lodge and he was invited there for the next summer school. I have often wondered if his struggle inspired that move! The third time he was 15 and went to the new studios in Covent Garden. Eventually he trained at Elmhurst and again Skype calls to me and his mother together gave him the support he needed to continue. Some kids adjust better to life away from home, others need a bit of help and I do think that schools need to recognise that.

What a wonderful outcome! Thank you so much for sharing. Do let us know how he gets on at vocational school. I know what you've gone through from personal experience with our youngest son and twenty years on I still remember the relief when he got the all clear............May your son continue to flourish and stay healthy.

And it's not just what you write, but how it sounds. Without the tone of voice to qualify certain statements, even perfectly innocent remarks can be misinterpreted. When I write an important email or WhatsApp, I think about it ten times before sending. Also, yes, dealing diplomatically with parents is definitely an art that needs learning! Funnily enough my two older sons showed me the way to go.......... The oldest one would apologise immediately when I told him off for something - it was straight away Sorry Mummy Sorry Mummy, until I'd calmed down and forgiven him. Son No 2 would not apologise and always managed to rile me up even more. I have learnt from that always to placate parents and calm them down - it usually ends well that way!

Oh and please give a thought to the teachers going back to work after a long break! I managed to get in three classes myself between coming back from holiday abroad and starting to teach, so that I would be able to demonstrate, but I was shattered after teaching three 90 minute classes back to back on Thursday! In one class I had 7 new students joining 13 old ones and had to deal with the parents inbetween classes, because the Dance Principal was at another centre. And I have a brand new group who came up to me and I have to learn 20 new names there! Never a dull moment! Still the best bit was being greeted so enthusiastically by my lovely older group who are just going up to Intermediate. The hugs and smiles and warm remarks about missing me and the school made my day!

If you're talking about Vocationals where the mark might be important, that's one thing, but with Grades I wouldn't bother, unless it was a huge drop. A couple of years ago we had drops of 20 marks with several students from the old Grade 5 (all of whom got high marks for classical technique in Grade 5) to the new IF and I did appeal. The RAD allowed me free enquiries as a gesture, but I still wasn't convinced. I have a theory that the new marking system is responsible for the erratic marks nowadays. There are such stringent criteria that have to be marked in a particular way, which doesn't really leave much room for the examiner's own input. Teachers have been complaining that the pecking order of their students is no longer reflected accurately in exam marks, which it always was in the past. Of course we never know what will happen in an exam - some are stressed out and don't show their best, whilst others might have a better day than usual and rise unexpectedly to the occasion. I used to tell them that it was one person's evaluation of what she saw on that particular day - nowadays I'm not so sure as I tend to blame the marking system, right or wrong. However, I do stick to the story that I enter them for the exams not to see what marks they get, but for the whole process of preparing for the exam, which gives them such a huge incentive to work. Still it used to happen in the days of yore too, before the new system was set up and examiners could literally do their own thiing. I had a student get a pass with one examiner for her IF and two years later with the same examiner get a Distinction for her Intermediate! And no she didn't miraculously improve in those two years! She was always one of the best in the class, which was why she was one of only 4 students whom I entered for IF! Her low result in IF was the only other time I appealed and again I still couldn't see why she deserved a 53. Also the two who were in a different group got high Merits (and I considered them weaker than the first two, who both got Passes) so no idea what happened!

Perhaps the school advertised the baby lessons as ballet rather than creative movement or whatever, leading to a misconception of what she would actually be learning? And with two classes a week that could easily lead to false expectations.......... Anyway, it's all speculation - as someone said hardly worth the coverage it seems to have been getting!

I read all about it on Facebook, so it was rather nice to come on here and hear from the real you!!!!! And to be able to congratulate you in person, so to speak!! Very well done! Great achievement! I adore teaching the Higher Grades 6 and 7, especially as I can still demonstrate them full out, which sadly I am no longer able to do with the Vocationals. Are you going to continue on to Grade 7? It's a beautiful syllabus!

It really is impossible to predict - over my many years as a teacher I am constantly being surprised by dancers who make it because of sheer determination, while others with more natural talent don't. All I can say is that even though things didn't exactly work out as I had planned (I never actually became a second Margot Fonteyn as friends and family always described me - my reply was "I'll be better than her!") I honestly wouldn't have changed anything. I achieved my dream of training at RBS, did dance professionally for a while, had a second performing career as a character artiste and have been a teacher for some 40 years - in other words as far as I'm concerned dance did become my life, just in a different way to what I'd envisaged! Even if your dancing daughter doesn't make it, that training will stand her in good stead for anything else she decides to go for - dancer's work ethics are impeachable! And if she does make it - I can only tell you how I feel about it - that I am incredibly lucky to be in a profession where my work is also my passion!