Jan McNulty

Yes, and I've got that book too! And I do believe I've got at least bits of the series on video even though I no longer have a video player! I'm just catching up on the Ballet Heroes programme and thoroughly enjoying it. I like Ms Bussell's presentation and her choice of dancers to highlight. I particularly loved the section on the RDB, Peter & Luke Schaufuss and the Bournonville style.

Dancer was a wonderful series! It aired just as I was starting to watch ballet and it stoked the fires even more! This programme sparked my interest in the Bournonville style and my keen-ness on the RDB. Did you get the book that accompanied the series Odyssey?

I really think your description of Ms Bussell is somewhat uncalled for as it is more personal and could have been more objective.

I've just pasted the URL above and it has embedded.

I find that if the URL is for YouTube, the embedded video appears in the published post.

Enough! I am closing this thread.

As an "English Mother Tongue" I find your final sentence offensive. If the conversation continues in this manner then I shall close the thread as it is rapidly becoming unproductive.

Happy Christmas to you too SP ... and to all our Forum members!

As indeed ! "liked" their posts too. In fact, I believe Bill was listing the dancers he feels are over-criticised by other members, far from criticising them himself. In the spirit of the season can we please desist from snipey remarks to each other.

Northern Ballet are currently performing David Nixon's production of Nutcracker in Leeds (until 2nd January). I was there for both performances yesterday. David Nixon has chosen to set the ballet in Georgian London and the ladies' costumes in the party scene in Act 1 are particularly ravishing. It is a traditional production with Drosselmeyer more a benevolent "uncle" rather than the slightly more sinister character we may see in other productions. Clara's older sister and her boyfriend become Sugarplum and her Cavalier. Both performances yesterday were a delight. In the afternoon we saw the ravishing Rachael Gillespie as Clara with dashing Giuliano Contadini as her Nutcracker. Abigail Prudames and Joseph Taylor were Louise/Sugarplum and Boyfriend/Cavalier. In the evening we saw Antoinette Brookes Daw and Kevin Poeung as Clara and Nutcracker with Lucia Solari and Javier Torres as Louise/Sugarplum and Boyfriend/Cavalier. Rachael Gillespie has grown to be a very special performer indeed; throughout yesterday's performance you could see her sense of wonder for the Christmas party and what went on beyond, plus her realisation that she was growing up. Giuliano was great as the Nutcracker Prince. Dominique Larose was absolutely hilarious as the dotty grandma; her comic timing is nano-second perfect. She was a lovely snowflake too. Abigail Prudames and Joseph Taylor were very elegant as Sugarplum and Cavalier in a new version of the gpdd. Kevin Poeung was utterly fabulous as the Nutcracker Prince in the evening and Antoinette Brooks Daw was a delightful Clara. Lucia Solari and Javier Torres were glorious in the gpdd. As ever the whole company engaged with their roles and the audience. This is a lovely, traditional production and a great way to get into the festive spirit!

I believe all the UK ballet companies work similarly long hours and I would expect most non-UK companies being the same

Thanks for the info SBF.

Do you have any more details Aileen please?

Hello Lou_iza and welcome to the Forum. Thank you so much for the link; it is a really interesting interview. I hope you will continue to post.

I know the meaning of "undertake" but the meaning of your sentence was not clear to me in view of the subsequent one. Thanks for the clarification.

I can only get the Russian version! What is Mr Polunin doing?

There's a thread on Doing Dance that has reported recent inspections at Elmhurst, Tring and The Hammond: http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/11283-elmhurst-ofsted-published/#entry152934

Here's the link for Tring: http://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/ELS/50525 I can't find the most recent for the Hammond online yet.

Does every teacher not have to have the checks or have I misunderstood your meaning? I agree that a designated person should have the "checking" responsibility and perhaps appropriate action has been taken for that person and their line manager.

I know what you mean Betterankles. The department I worked for decided, in the mid-1990s that all the branches should go for ISO-9001 quality accreditation. It took us months to get the documentation in place and the audit team that came in was very nit-picky. We had to face spot checks and annual reassessments too. The process did give us some better working practises - I worked in IT and previously if we had a problem we fixed it first and thought about documenting the fix later, often forgetting about it. With the accreditation we had to do the documentation first and get approval to make the changes. It did make for a more robust system. However the ISO documentation was interminable and added a heck of a lot on to any job and that is all the auditors checked. As long as our ISO documentation was OK it didn't matter how well (or possibly badly) we were doing the actual job! The requirement was lapsed after a few years and we all felt quite aggrieved that all our hard work went, as it seemed to us, for nothing. With all that has been uncovered in various high publicity cases over the past few years, I can see the need for the procedures to be in place but the procedures should be workable - not making the real work unworkable (if you see what I mean). I read the summary of the Ofsted report linked above and I thought it was vey positive.

Northern Ballet Academy has published details of applications and auditions for 2016: http://northernballet.com/academy/application

I feel for what you have all been through CeliB. Hopefully with your DS training at the Kirov in Washington the Vaganova will suit him to a tee. Wishing you all the very best.

Absolutely not at all! A number of us expressed our enjoyment of Don Q in another thread. If I remember which one, I will post the link! Like your list!

Well 2015 has been a splendid ballet-watching year for me, right from the start of January. So, in no particular order: 1. The Royal Danish Ballet Group at the Peacock Theatre in January. I adore the RDB style and this taster programme was a joy to watch - especially with a final chance to see Diana Cuni and Gudrun Bojesen. What a blissful way to start the year. 2. Northern Ballet performing Maillot's Romeo and Juliet. It's never going to be a favourite production but it was good to see the company out of their comfort zone still giving stellar performances. 3. Northern Ballet's revival of Wuthering Heights was a total joy. Kenny Tindall's retirement performance in Milton Keynes will stay in my memory forever. Possibly the finest performance of Wuthering Heights I have ever seen was the first night in Bradford in November; the performance was dedicated to the memory of Jonny Ollivier and the dancers just danced their hearts out for him. It was an intensely emotional performance and most of the cast were in tears at the curtain calls. Then on the Friday evening Lucia Solari and Javier Torres gave us a performance of glorious abandon to relish. 4. Northern Ballet's midscale tour was an absolute joy with Perpetuum Mobile and a cut down version of Madame Butterfly. It was a particularly special couple of weeks with me being able to celebrate my birthday with friends enjoying the performance in Blackpool and the company returning to Liverpool after 20-odd years. Rachael Gillespie was breath-taking as Butterfly; it was a role she was born to dance and her Pinkerton, Javier Torres was very special too! 5. Brandon Lawrence. Full stop! Except that I must mention his unforgettable performance in Upper Room. His presence was so powerful at times I thought it was a solo piece! His debut as Siegfried at the Lowry with Della Matthews was very special indeed. They danced for each other and I felt very privileged to witness this performance. 6. Alexander Campbell as Colas and The Young Man - sheer bliss for me! I love his burgeoning partnership with the very lovely Yuhui Choe. 7. I thought The King Dances was an amazing spectacle and very, very clever. It looked deceptively simple but I bet it was hell to dance. I loved it! 8. Wayne McGregor's Tree of Codes in collaboration with POB was a sensual immersion in all senses. I loved it! 9. Nijinsky, God of Dance in Bratislava was an amazing and complex piece of work. 10. OK - here it is - my ultimate performance of the year! David Bentley revived his production of Sylvia for one week only in Birmingham. We saw 2 casts led by Momoko Hirata/Joe Caley and Miki Mizutani/Chi Cao. I love this production - it's witty and tells the story really well. The Saturday evening, led by Miki and Chi was the best performance I have seen of any production by any company all year. It was incandescent, enthralling, exciting, magical.... I shall never forget it! Turkey of the year for me was, I'm afraid, Acosta's Carmen although I did enjoy the performances.