aileen

Thanks, Alison. I'll probably take the train to Woking. I'll have to keep checking to see if booking has opened.

I'm really keen to see Northern Ballet's Beauty and the Beast. The photographs of the production are stunning. I don't know whether to go to Milton Keynes in April or Woking in the Autumn (I'm feeling a bit guilty about how much I'm spending on ballet at the moment!). I've seen BRB's Beauty (and loved it). Janet, how would you compare the two productions?

Janet, those statistics are very encouraging. Do you have the statistics for the RB, ENB and Scottish Ballet? Is it possible to find out how many British graduates are still working as classical ballet dancers say 5 years after graduating? I may be unpopular for saying this, but perhaps the number of places for classical ballet training should be reduced if there simply aren't enough jobs for the students to go to when they graduate. Returning to something which I mentioned before, when my daughter was taking a ballet exam and had to miss a party because it clashed with the last lesson before the exam I could see from the expression on the other mother's face when I told her that my daughter couldn't come to the party that she thought that I was being obsessive. It was a similar situation when I wouldn't let my daughter go to the school disco the night before an early morning music exam. My view in each case was that my daughter had been preparing for months for the exam and there was no point in not seeing the preparation through to the end for the sake of one party/ disco. Now my daughter was 11 and accepted my decision. How much harder is it for British teenagers to make the kind of sacrifices which are necessary to get to the top in the ballet world against a background of instant gratification and the social pressures to fit in and be cool.

Tomuchtallent, I love to think of you sitting in Antalya, which I have been to, several years ago. What are the ballet schools like there? What, if any, syllabus do they follow? Do Turkish ballet students go abroad to train? What are the ballet companies like? Will the whole family be relocating to the UK when your pianist son goes to boarding school (sorry, now I'm just being nosey)?

Gingerbread, Rojo and Polunin are both only children. I suspect that many children who get to the top in any field, particularly where there has had to be a lot of parental involvement, are only children. In the UK at least, most parents who have more than one child are understandably unwilling to subordinate the needs and wishes of their other children to the demands of intensive ballet training. Family life is very important and the well-being of the whole family has to be balanced against the aspirations of one child who has a very small chance of succeeding anyway. No-one should feel guilty if s/he makes a rational decision that his/her child's ambitions cannot be accommodated in the context of his/her particular family.

Tomuchtallent, I once read an interview with Tamara Rojo in which she said that she didn't know why people went on about putting in 10,000 hours of "practice" in order to become really good at something as she had put in at least 20,000 hours! In the UK everyone is obsessed with so-called natural talent. There's a pervasive view that if you have natural talent, whatever that means in the particular context, you will get to the top even if you don't work particularly hard. I don't think that this view is as prevalent in other cultures. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book The Outliers, advances the hypothesis (which I agree with) that once you reach a certain benchmark the likelihood of you succeeding at whatever you're trying to do is determined by the amount of work that you put in. In other words, there is a direct correlation between effort and achievement if you have been able to reach that initial benchmark. I don't know if this holds true with ballet, although I think that it might despite all the physical requirements which distinguish it from other fields of endeavour such as music,chess etc.

Glowlight, I've often wondered whether the problem of eating disorders in the ballet world is exaggerated. Sadly, many high-achieving girls who have no connection with the ballet world suffer as well. Is it the case that the problem of eating disorders in worse in Japanese ballet schools than in UK schools? I've not heard that. I agree with you that British parents generally want their children to have balanced lives whilst pursuing their ambition to be dancers, and the question is whether this aspiration is really compatible with their children getting to the top in the ballet world. In the UK the rite of passage of being a teenager with the accompanying social life (and experimentation!) is highly prized, even by many parents, but this has to be sacrificed, and the consequent social disapproval endured, if a child is training really hard to be a dancer. It is even more difficult if the child is at a mainstream school. I may be straying into dangerous territory here, but this is where the children of immigrant parents have an advantage in that the "cult" of teenagehood is not accepted to the same extent and is counter-balanced by the more conservative values, including hard work and self-sacrifice, of their parents.

Gingerbread and Spannerandpony, I think it would be very interesting to find out what happens in the transition between the lower and upper schools. I understand that many more foreign born (and trained) students enter the mix at that point. Do many British students lose their places at that point and, if they do, are they able to get places at other schools because some schools only offer places at sixth form level (eg ENBS)? We shouldn't overlook the fact that many of the foreign born students who enter the schools at 16 plus are going to be some of the best in the world in their age group because they are coming in having won international competitions. Their ability, coupled with the ambition, self-confidence and mental toughness which it takes to leave your home and country behind (and often knowing little or no English), makes for a winning combination. And when the British students graduate are they reluctant to take jobs abroad owing to the famous British resistance to learning foreign languages? In the UK it's generally rather frowned upon to look as if you're trying too hard or to be openly ambitious/competitive. Being rather self-effacing and self-deprecating is more acceptable. I don't think that this approach is helpful in the ballet world where drive and self-confidence are prized. After all, ADs etc. have to be convinced that a dancer will be able to go on stage and perform a role at a high level. And we shouldn't overlook the

For the avoidance of doubt, my child was NOT the Grade 8 standard oboist!

Aurora, the anti-competition ethos in many British schools, particularly state schools, is very strong. Sports teachers have to put up with parents challenging their decisions on team selection; parents run off to the head to complain when their children are not chosen. In every school there are some parents who seem to go in to see the head almost weekly to make a case for something or other for the benefit of their children. Annoyingly, these parents generally seem to get what they want, to the detriment of other children. Many parents just cannot accept it when other children are more talented than their own and this is when they resort to special pleading and talk of (unrecognised ) potential. I've seen the same thing in the context of music scholarship auditions at senior schools. One mother whom I knew just could not be persuaded that a Grade 8 standard oboist was more deserving of a scholarship than her Grade 4/5ish standard violin-playing child. Potential is all very well but at some point it is the standard which has actually been reached which is being considered. The reason that Australians are doing comparatively well may be down to their more competitive sports culture. Someone once told me that an Australian family who had arrived at her children's inner-London school had been baffled by the school's non-competitive sports day!

Ninag, are there many American dancers at a senior level in British ballet companies? I can only think of Lamb and Kish at the RB. I think that there are more Australians and, of course, East Europeans. Anjuli, what is the position in the US, particularly in the large ballet companies? Spannerandpony and Jete, I wasn't really thinking about the current British anxiety about adults having physical contact with children but about the prevailing "all must have prizes" / L'Oreal "you're worth it" climate in which children are raised. In particular, parents today have a great tendency to find excuses, blame others (especially teachers), cite unfairness etc. as reasons for their children not achieving what they want to achieve (and I'm not just talking about the ballet world). Ultimately, this approach is not IMO helpful to children because it breeds a sense of misplaced entitlement and consequent disappointment and resentment. Those children then grow up and are ill-equipped to deal with the demands and challenges of the adult world.

There is, I think, no doubt that the ballet world has become increasingly competitive. In the past it was very difficult, if not impossible, for dancers and students from Russia, communist Eastern Europe and China to dance or train in the UK. Many foreign born students come to study in the UK on Prix de Lausanne scholarships which really increases competition at Upper School level, particularly at The Royal Ballet School. I would be very interested to know, for example, how many students in White Lodge and the Upper School respectively are British born. Spannerandpony, you mention the popularity of Japanese trained dancers with ADs. I am struck by the success of Cuban, Brazilian and Spanish dancers in the UK. I may be wrong about this, but I think I read somewhere that Paris Opera Ballet School does not admit (or perhaps does not give funding to) students who are not French nationals. Btw, Begonia Cao, a principal at ENB, is British born and trained. Melissa Hamilton is an interesting case. She was turned down by RBS and things were not going well for her at Elmhurst so she moved to Athens to have private coaching from a teacher who was relocating. Subsequently, she was accepted by RBS or RB, I'm not sure which.

Spannerandpony, done (non-DS is now home from school).

Reading about children auditioning for vocational schools on this site and the dearth of British born dancers in the top ranks of ballet companies in the UK and abroad I'm becoming increasingly concerned about how British born children are going to compete in the global market, not just in the world of ballet but in other spheres as well. IMO the way in which children are raised today (and this includes anyone involved in teaching children in any way), with the emphasis on building self esteem and developing the whole child, militates against our children succeeding in intensely tough and competitive environments such as ballet. For some (many?) British born children the outlook of the vocational schools must come as a huge shock as it is so different from what they have encountered before. It may be a generalisation, but I believe that this is not the case for students from many other cultures (not America, which is more extreme than the UK). What does everyone else think?

Spannerandpony, could you do this for me as I'm ashamed to say that I'm hopeless with computers?

Pas de Quatre, I like the "Miss X Guarantee"! I'm probably moving way off topic here but I'm becoming increasingly concerned about how British born children are going to compete in the global market, not just in the world of ballet but in other spheres as well. IMO the way in which children are raised today (and this includes anyone involved in teaching children in any way), with the emphasis on building self esteem and developing the whole child, militates against our children succeeding in intensely tough and competitive environments such as ballet. For some (many?) British born children the outlook of the vocational schools must come as a huge shock as it is so different from what they have encountered before. It may be a generalisation but I believe that this is not the case for students from many other cultures (not America, which is more extreme than the UK).

Ninag, thank you.

Sorry to be ignorant but who is Reid Anderson and why would he be looking for people to cast in Onegin at the ROH?

As harsh as this may sound (and I do feel for you all, I really do) if your child wants to embark upon a career as a ballet dancer then as a parent you have to prepare him/her for the many frustrations and disappointments that lie ahead. Getting into vocational school is just the start of it. After that there's the annual round of assessments, applications for jobs and, even if your child is successful in obtaining a contract with a company, s/he may languish in the corps and be overlooked for roles and promotions as younger dancers come into the company and overtake him/her. It is never-ending. Then there's the likelihood of injuries which may devastate or even curtail a career in ballet. The child and later the adult has to be very, very resilient to succeed in this career; talent alone is not enough. We tell our children that if they work hard they will be successful and, whilst this is true in most areas of life, sadly it is not the case with ballet. Physique is everything in ballet: flexibility; strength and the shape of the body ( including the feet). There are many other demanding and competitive careers but few have the exacting physical requirements of ballet. I'm relieved that my daughter doesn't have the talent or the aspiration to be a ballet dancer!

My 11 year old daughter and I saw and enjoyed Coppelia last night. I feel Coppelia is a bit Nutcracker in an East European village. The production is a bit sugary and the comedy is emphasised at the expense of the magic. There's little of the dark undertones and other-worldliness that you find in most productions of the Nutcracker. Dr Coppelius does not really come across as a sinister figure but more of an eccentric villager but perhaps that's how it's supposed to be. I really liked the sets and costumes and thought that the dancing as a whole was good. Matthew Lawrence had a lot of stage presence and Elisha Willis was very sweet. The mime was very clear, perhaps even a little exaggerated. It was gratifying to see so many young and youngish people sitting in the balcony. There were some adults with children but a lot more couples and groups in their 20s, 30s and 40s. Ballet companies seem to believe that they have to put on edgy or contemporary work to attract younger audiences and so it was interesting to see how many young(ish) people had come to see a light-hearted romantic ballet.

Having looked at the casting again there are a few puzzling things. Ksenia is down to dance every single Firebird. It is a big role for her. She is a strong dancer with a lot of stage presence but she is still in the corps. I don't think that either of the two men in Faun are actually in ENB but Raphael C-M has danced it with ENB before. I've never heard of the other man. I do wonder how fixed this casting is.

Casting for first ENB programme is up on their website.

For anyone planning to see San Francisco Ballet, quite a lot of the tickets have already been sold and they're not on until September. For those who have not been to Sadler's Wells before, many shows attract a multibuy discount (20%) when two or more are booked at the same time (check the website for conditions). I've just booked for two SFB programmes, Scottish Ballet (Streetcar) and Artifact, all at Sadler's Wells and I'm going to both of the ENB Beyond Ballets Russes programmes at the Coli.

I'd be interested to know what everyone is going to see over the next few months. There is a vast amount of dance on in London (I hope that doesn't sound too London-centric). There are several European ballet companies coming to London eg Royal Ballet of Flanders, Eifman Ballet, Ballet Precojin (not sure if I've spelt that right?). Has anyone seen any of them? Is it worth going to see them?

Janet, you've seen this programme several times (is it eight?). Was I being hyper- critical of the Caley/Sakuma partnership at the Wednesday matinee? Justin, BRB come to London twice a year, to Sadler's Wells in the Autumn and to the Coli in the Spring. Each time they bring two programmes. Last year I absolutely loved their Cinderella and Symphonic Variations which was part of their Autumn triple bill. I really like seeing ballet at Sadler's Wells (obviously it's not suitable for everything) because you are so much closer to the dancers ( I don't book stalls seats -too expensive and I don't like looking up).