aileen

Slightly off-topic, isn't there a family (Scottish I think) with 4 children all of whom have gone through the RBS (some are still there)? I think that they are all boys.

Mumofballetmaddaughter, I like the reference to "another $1000 per month"!

Living the Dream, I'm surprised that as many as 45% of ENB's dancers have come from ENBS. Each year around 10-12 of the RBS's graduates seem to get into the four main UK ballet companies. Elmhurst graduates rarely seem to go to the RB or ENB and ENBS graduates rarely seem to go to the RB or BRB.

Sometimes the overseas students come in for as little as one year eg Marienela Nunez and Alina Cojacaru. I don't think that they can fairly be classed as RBS graduates. Nevertheless, most students who come to the UK on Prix de Lausanne scholarships seem to choose the RBS over other UK schools.

Thanks, taxi4ballet.

glowlight, it's heartening to hear that these cruise jobs pay so well. I had assumed that the opposite was the case.

My DD recently expressed an interest in becoming a choreographer. Does anyone know how you would go about this? Realistically, is this possible if the person has not danced professionally?

On another thread we discussed when a DC should give up training for a career in ballet. I wondered what people's views were on when a DC should start working towards an alternative career outside ballet once s/he has finished his/her training (assuming that the DC does not want to teach dance). Realistically, how long can a person keep up his/her ballet if s/he is not part of a company? I've heard of dancers taking jobs on cruise ships. Again, how satisfactory is this type of job (I do not wish to offend anyone here) if the person is still hoping for a conventional career with a ballet company?

I've always wondered what patrons of this type of organisation actually do. It's a shame that NEBT's famous patrons aren't performing a short piece. That would probably have drawn in the crowds. Apparently, Marienela Nunez and Thiago Soares are performing at the Thursday gala but that won't sell tickets for the other performances.

Unfortunately, NEBT clashes with the DanceGB performances at Greenwich and some of the RB triple bill performances (as well as my DD's ballet school shows) and so, sadly, I won't be able to go either. I would point out that there is a performance on Sunday afternoon which may be a good time for some people. The Peacock Theatre (the performances are here but you book through Sadler's Wells) is on the 68 bus route which runs from Euston to Croydon via Waterloo, if that helps.

I am not familiar with foundation degrees and National Diplomas and do not know how they are regarded by the top universities. My gut feeling is that if I had a DC who went to vocational school at 16 I would encourage him or her to focus exclusively on dance for the few years that s/he was training. If it didn't work out s/he could go down the academic route later. I think that it must be very difficult to study for A levels alongside vocational dance training given how hard children in academic day schools have to work to achieve good A levels. I agree with glowlight's view that studying for academic qualifications could detrimentally affect the DC's dance training unless the DC was very academic, hardworking and, above all, well-organised.

Having put what I assume was a considerable amount of effort in the evening I think that it is a shame that the Royal are only showing this programme once. Like John, I am wary of anything gala-esque and so I didn't book for it (I think that the tickets were also expensive) and missed out on what seems to have been a very absorbing evening.

It is a fact of life that whenever there is a change at the top of an organisation there are usually changes in management as well as in the more junior staff. It is not uncommon for a new appointee to bring with him/her people who s/he has worked with before and who share his/her vision for the organisation. I appreciate that, whilst many members of ENB welcome Tamara's appointment, some will be feeling apprehensive, particularly the coaching staff. I assume that those who are actually employed by ENB will have the usual employment rights.

tim b, I'd love to see the Balanchine Valse Fantaisie again, perhaps danced by ENB, but, according to one of the articles which I read, it is not yet licensed in the UK. I doubt that the RB would do it any time soon, having done Ballo this season and last.

tim b, how did you find the performance?

plie, congratulations to your daughter. She is a lovely little dancer. You must be so proud of her. What a wonderful experience she has had.

Did anyone else see this absorbing and well-performed bill? I saw it last night and was part of a very appreciative audience. The evening started with Balanchine's Valse Fantasie which is a sparkling continuous dance piece which reminded me of Ballo della Regina. Then there was John Butler's After Eden which is one of those very physical "writhing around" type pieces for one couple. In parts it reminded me of The Rite of Spring. After the interval came Ma Cong's very lyrical piece danced by several couples to some very haunting Klezmer or Klezmer type songs. It was slightly reminiscent of Nacho Duato's Cor Perdut which Zakharova performed at the recent Pavlova Gala. The women wore dresses with long full skirts in a mixture of yellows, oranges and reds/pinks. The piece was supposed to reference Jewish prisoners dancing in the concentration camps. The final piece was a very new Val Caniparoli piece to some music by Gabriel Prokoviev (one of his string quartets remixed). It's hard to describe it There were elements of street dance and hip-hop and some of the pdds reminded me of those in Artifact. What I liked about this piece and the previous two was that they were still recognisably ballet with the women dancing on pointe. All the dancers danced very well but there was one who really stood out for his strong and lithe dancing and great stage presence. His name was Fernando Sabino and he had something of Carlos Acosta about him. The programme was sold out, as I understand it was the previous evening. I would definitely like to see this company again. As well as performing some of the classics they commission and perform a lot of new work which is very impressive for a relatively small company. Sadler's Wells would also be a good venue for them. It was interesting to see how effective an evening of dance could be without elaborate staging and specialist musicians. Oh, and Monica Mason was there last night.

This goes back to a point which I made on another thread, namely, the trend for female dancers wearing leotards (without skirts) and pants/vests, often without tights, requires a very specific physique which as well as being extremely thin and rather androgynous has little visible muscle. I personally really like the leotards with attached skirts which I have seen the female dancers wear in Balanchine's Apollo and Ballo della Regina recently. I find them very attractive and flattering on the dancers.

I think that the whole photograph is designed to be controversial. The cut of the leotard and the tattoo peeping out are very unflattering. It also confirms (for me) something that Anjuli said in another thread, namely, ballerinas really should wear tights. Both scrawny and very muscly legs look far better in tights.

I think that sports days are more hazardous for the parents than the children. I've heard of so many parents injuring themselves during the parents' races. One mother at my DD's school fell over and couldn't get up and an ambulance had to be called. I have a clear image in my mind of it driving slowly across the cricket green at one of the local independent schools. The mother had broken a bone in her foot. She had to cancel her holiday to Spain and it took months for the injury to heal.

My son attends a co-ed secondary school. I laughed at the informal class photograph that was taken a few weeks before the children started their new school. Many of the girls were a head taller than the majority of the boys and looked a good 2 years older as well. Some of these 11 year old girls looked like young woman. To me, many girls are a couple of years ahead (both physically and in terms of sophistication) compared to my generation so that an 11 year old today is like a 13 year old from the 1970s. Actually, on the radio today I heard an item on puberty during which it was said that in the last 15 years girls had started to develop a year earlier (9 and a half instead of 10 and a half) although periods were not starting earlier. Interestingly, there had not been similar changes in boys.

Doesn't standing on pointe add about 6 inches to a dancer's height?!

Spanner, your DD probably has some more growing to do. Surely a child only reaches skeletal maturity when s/he has stopped growing.

I thought that skeletal maturity WAS linked to the onset of puberty. It has always been my understanding that girls do not grow very much after they have reached puberty and in the UK the average age of puberty (by that I mean girls starting their periods) is now 10.

I also thought that last night's performance was terrific. Ballo sparkled more than the previous performance which I had seen. The role of James really requires good acting because there is a lot of "mooning around", yearning etc and Johan really inhabited the character. For me, Alina was more convincing in the role of the Sylph than Tamara had been although, interestingly, both ballerinas were better in the second Act and Tamara was, if anything, slightly better in the death scene. Some of the corps dancing was a little bit ragged. I'm sorry to say that the dancers and the orchestra did not finish together a couple of times. I don't know who was at fault here. The curtain call was quite emotional as you knew that you would probably not see Johan in this ballet (which obviously means so much to him) again and it seemed clear that Jose Martin (who played Gurn) was leaving the Royal Ballet. I think that it's such a shame that this marvellous bill was not more popular. It was a terrific pairing of two very contrasting ballets. I personally love the Sylphide story. It is obviously rooted in folklore and has a universal moral message.