Jan McNulty

Broadway World is celebrating the Broadway production of American in Paris and has published a featurette with a number of video clips: http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Happy-Trails-AN-AMERICAN-IN-PARIS-Celebrate-a-SWonderful-Run-on-Broadway-With-Our-Favorite-Moments-20161009

Hello Grumpyoldman and welcome to the Forum! I hope we will hear more from you.

I'm seeing it again in Sunderland so I will be interested to see if there has been any tweaking. I suspect that for this run it will only be minor tweaking.

But hopefully you can't remember the Peter Greenaway film Prospero's Books - one of my all time worst films!! I forgot to mention that Ariel does have some ariel work but not as much as I was expecting. Ferdinand is floated through the sea on wires too.

I went to the performance at The Lowry last night and enjoyed it tremendously. The evening opened with Lift. I liked the "tribal"-looking choreography and the changing rhythms of the score and movement. My friend and I both wondered if this abstract piece had an underlying theme about slavery because both the men and women wore neck rings. This was followed by the highly energetic Four Corners. The final section of the evening was the beautiful and moving solo Cry followed by the very uplifting Revelations performed with verve and style. What a spirit-uplifting way to end the evening! As ever with the Ailey company it was a joy to watch the wonderful dancers. (I must admit I was a bit cross when I realised they had performed After the Rain in Bradford ... so I still haven't seen this piece live after missing it at ROH earlier in the year due to a disastrous train journey!).

There are quite a few threads containing information about Elmhurst Summer School. I've added some tags to your post so you can use them to search or use the search facility using quotes for "Elmhurst Summer School" to get up a list of the topics. Here is one from earlier in the year: http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/12416-elmhurst-summer-school/?hl=%22elmhurst+summer+school%22

I find that unbelievable Tony! David Bintley (and I don't slavishly adore all his productions) has made several full length masterpieces and a number of brilliant one-acters. I think his choreography is very varied and that he is extremely talented. I'm glad I haven't wasted one of my views on reading the ST review!

I know a lot of Doing Dance members tend not to look at other areas of the Forum. This wonderful news that Kizzy Matiakis was promoted to principal on stage at RDB after her performance as Odette/Odile has just been released. As MAB has said in the thread linked below, it is not the end of the world if you do not train at the RBS. Here is the thread in the news forum: http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/13622-kizzy-matiakis-prmoted-to-principal-at-the-rdb/#entry187583

The size of chocolate oranges has been reduced by 10% but the price hasn't! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3828270/Terryble-news-Fans-outrage-foreign-firm-shrinks-Terry-s-Chocolate-Orange-10-percent-price-remains-same.html It is a national disgrace of epic proportions that our chocolate companies now all seem to be owned by Americans!

Fantastic news! Congratulations to Kizzy Matiakis on her promotion.

Member Terpsichore has reviewed The Tempest on her blog: http://jelterps.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/the-tempest.html

Seconded about somewhere to put your stuff in ladies. Trouble is so many of them are not maintained properly - often the handbag hooks have fallen off or broken and not been replaced.

I am heartily sick of the coverage the American election gets over here and am appalled that the palaver around our own elections is going the same way. I shan't come on this thread again. Usually the Forum is a haven from all that sort of thing!

It could be a nice holiday treat for dancing youngsters ... or anyone really ... I hope it's on at a cinema near me!

This seems to be about a young girl who dreams of dancing at the Garnier in Paris. Here's a link to the official trailer:

But they have in the past and 5 years ago they did a beautiful traditional production of Giselle. BRB do traditional productions of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker and Giselle .

As a ballet-watcher I absolutely disagree with this and, fortunately, so do the two copies I most follow! Vive la difference!! Reading Doing Dance with no background in dance whatsoever (just being a keen watcher) I sometimes wonder what a straw poll of ballet-watchers would find. I bet most of them are not too bothered by different body types.

Announcement: http://www.royalballetschool.org.uk/2016/09/30/royal-ballet-school-announces-new-extended-summer-programme/ More details: http://www.royalballetschool.org.uk/train/summer-programme/ To paste a link: Copy the URL by right clicking on it and selecting the copy option. Go to where you want to paste the link and position the cursor accordingly. Right click by the cursor and select the paste option. Publish your post.

I absolutely adore Fille and thoroughly loathe the RB production of Nutcracker so I think your idea is wonderful. Anna, have you ever thought of trying BRB's Nutcracker. I find it almost impossible to believe that SPW produced both of them! BRB's production is the grand-daddy of them all! DIL, BRB also do Fille but it's not scheduled for 16/17. I live in hopes that it will be back in the rep soon.

Here's the link to the official trailer:

I would check the links given by Bluebird22 first and then perhaps look at Yell.com for schools in the local area if the linked schools don't work out. Or check the RAD directory and see which teachers are in the area and their associated schools. edited to add that Taxi and I were posting at the same time.

I saw three performances of The Tempest this week, on Wednesday and both on Thursday. I absolutely LOVED act 1 and by the end of Wednesday night detested about 90% of act 2. By Thursday night, I had become a bit more accustomed to act 2 and only detested about 50% of it! I adored the set and costumes but I found the score challenging. The lighting was dim but I think it may still be a work in progress as it seemed much brighter (but still dimmish) on Thursday evening. Talking to various people I know that a lot of people really liked act 2, so this is just my personal opinion. Act 1 is magnificent and covers most of the story of The Tempest. Act 1 shows the sailors on Alonso's ship enjoying a (very enjoyable) hornpipe before the storm starts. I think the storm is very cleverly and effectively done. We see Ferdinand being washed overboard first and then Alonso, Sebastian and Antonio. We are introduced to Prospero, Miranda and Caliban. When Prospero and Miranda come across Ferdinand you could see (which I thought was a lovely subtle touch) that Prospero has organised this so that the youngsters will meet. Their meeting pdd is beautiful and tender. Ferdinand is forced into working for Prospero and the young couple continue to fall in love. Meanwhile Antonio plots with Sebastian to overthrow Alonso. Caliban meets Trinculo and Stephano (some hilarious scenes). Everything is overseen by Ariel (who has some lovely virtuoso choreography). At the end of the act Ferdinand and Miranda declare their love in a sublime, romantic duet and Prospero looks on unseen with approval. If you have read the synopsis (also on the back of the cast sheet) or are familiar with The Tempest it is very easy to follow this act. My dry words aren't really doing it justice, I really did find it sumptuous and I did find it easy to follow the plot. Act 2 starts off with great promise - more from Caliban and his new chums and Prospero organising a masque to celebrate the love of Ferdinand and Miranda. I absolutely ADORE the segment with Neptune. We also see Ariel organising the "banquet" for Alonso and Co and then coming on as a Harpy (amazing costume) to accuse them of their crimes (including showing clearly how Prospero and Miranda came to be on the island). It was the section with the dancers with the straw hats and the three goddesses and Pan where I lost the will to live (and that did not change through the three performances). They may be part of the text of the play but I really don't see that they added any value to the ballet (no matter how beautiful the dancing). Then everything comes together at the end. I found the final section very moving, particularly when Caliban realises he has regained control of his island. There is a fantastic, spirit lifting finale after the curtain falls, so don't leave the auditorium too soon! One thing that shone out through all 3 shows was the quality of all the dancers' performances (even in the sections I didn't like). There are some fabulous roles for the men. Iain Mackay's stage presence as Prospero in 2 casts was almost overwhelming - he was wonderful. In the other cast Yasuo Atsuji was also outstanding and brought a lot of humanity to the character too. All three Ferdinands and Mirandas were very different but equally sublime (Yaoqian Shang/William Bracewell, Jenna Robers/Joe Caley and Momoko Hirata/Cesar Morales). All three Calibans (Tyrone Singleton, Brandon Lawrence and Lachlan Monaghan) brought out the complexities of the character with layered performances and all three of them were incredibly moving in the final scene of the production. I loved all three Ariels (Mathias Dingman, Max Maslen and Tzu-Chao Chou), again all different but equally great interpretations. I must also mention Lachlan Monaghan as Neptune - he was absolutely spectacular! It really doesn't matter which cast you see as they are all splendid. All in all, I think it is definitely worth seeing and I am looking to another three performances in Sunderland in a couple of weeks.

Creativity and costumes at Let's Make a Ballet The Chelmsford Ballet Company will soon be presenting Let's Make a Ballet for young dancers across Essex, more info below and attached. They will have the chance to work with us in Chelmsford to create a ballet production, all in one day! Sunday 16 October will see almost 80 young children from all over Essex dancing as part of the Chelmsford Ballet Company's Let's Make a Ballet, in which the company holds a fun-filled day of choreography, creativity and costumes. Let's Make a Ballet provides dancers aged 7-14 the opportunity to create a short ballet in a day, and perform it too for parents, guardians, family and friends. The choreographic workshop is a firm favourite in the company's calendar for both dancers and teachers alike. Taking place at The Sandon School, Chelmsford, Let's Make a Ballet is a fantastic chance to get a small taste of the company's work, in the lead up to its 2017 annual production for which the company is looking forward to performing Alice’s Adventures. Young dancers can immerse themselves in the creative process of staging a ballet production, working with The Chelmsford Ballet Company's Artistic Director, Annette Potter, to produce a stage-worthy production by the end of the jam-packed day. --Ends— About The Chelmsford Ballet Company In 1947, Joan Weston created the Broomfield YMCA Ballet Company in order to give the more senior students at her existing dance school the opportunity to learn and perform to the public. It was after their 1949 performance of ‘Coppélia’ at the Shire Hall that the then Mayor of Chelmsford suggested the name ‘The Chelmsford Ballet Company’, and with a small committee the Company was born. Since 1949, the Ballet Company has staged a full-scale production every year. Initially a part of the Arts Festival, and then the Cathedral Fringe Festival, they occur today as an annual event in their own right. Today the Company is led by Artistic Director Annette Potter, who is a former dancing member. Annette danced many leading roles with the company before moving on to teaching and choreography. The Ballet Company is a way for skilled dancers from across the area to perform together and to showcase their considerable talents to appreciative and receptive audiences. Theatre-goers are constantly ‘thrilled’ with the productions, which always maintain the high standards set by Joan Weston. It has become a well-loved cornerstone of Chelmsford’s cultural calendar. The Chelmsford Ballet Company is “an amateur Company which sets professional standards for all its work, involving professionals in its productions, courses and other teaching and workshop opportunities”. The standards are such that both junior (aged 10 and Standard/Grade 2 or above) and senior (over 14) dancers must audition to become members and again each year to perform in any production. These high standards are maintained through the monthly Company classes, where the dancers are able to meet and take a class with experienced and distinguished teachers. In the 1960's a Scholarship Fund was created to help young dancers moving to professional training. http://www.thechelmsfordballetcompany.co.uk/

Hello Tropicmama and welcome to the Forum! Good luck to your DD.

I had no problems at all when I was logged on between 1115 and 1415.