Jan McNulty

There is a current principal at BRB who joined the corps after a year or so in the corps at the Royal Ballet. He is the only person I can think of in the years since the company moved to Birmingham. There is a current principal who joined at soloist level from BRB (who left the Royal as a soloist). There were 2 established principals who moved from RB to BRB when the company relocated to Birmingham. One leading soloist from BRB moved to RB as a soloist, now senior soloist (and still very much missed by his fans at BRB!!).

My current credit card doesn't have that extra level. However a previous one did and, like you Fonty, it DROVE ME ROUND THE BEND!!! I could never remember the password either.

Good luck to you all.

Wow, that is a very appealing season. Thanks for posting the information Anna.

And in other companies too, not just RB. I think dancers in the touring companies such as BRB, NB, ENB and SB get more opportunities from the start than those who join the RB because they are smaller companies. Indeed at NB you can see a leading dancer dance the lead in one performance and a smaller, even walk on, in the next performance. I think there must be great cachet in being a member of the RB but that dancers in the other major companies in the UK get thrown in at the deep end and get more opportunity at lower levels more quickly.

I don't think the title of the topic indicated which summer school.

Hello BalletDancer 22 and welcome to the Forum. It's worth doing a search on this forum for Elmhurst. Here is one topic about the Summer School that may be worth perusing: http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/6304-elmhurst-summer-school-closing-date/?hl=elmhurst

Which could have been, say, a 16 or more year career. Last time I saw National Ballet of Cuba, 3 years ago, some of the corps dancers looked very mature and I think looking on stage that corps dancers at, for example, POB can look mature. I don't seem to have noticed this as much in smaller companies.

When you see multiple performances even by the same cast - not at all shocked that performances look different. This would be even more the case where dancers may have a certain latitude on interpretation. For example, last year Northern Ballet had 3 Mark Antonys in Cleopatra. All danced the same steps but Toby Batley looked every inch the patrician being a soldier and Ashley Dixon was every inch a soldier being a patrician while Javier Torres was somewhere in the middle. All 3 were valid and wonderful interpretations but all 3 looked different.

I think in companies where they have permanent rather than annual contracts dancers may well spend quite a long career in the junior ranks.

And other dancers may spend their career in the corps.

Some years ago David Morse gave a talk to Friends of BRB in Bradford. One of the subjects he touched on was videoing performances to create a library of productions. One of the potential issues is that if a dancer does something differently in a videoed performance then that becomes the de facto way the role is performed when that video is used as a reference point. I would guess it is not feasible to video all the performances.

Yes

SOUTHSEA - Sleeping Beauty - Audition 3 November - Performances 6-7 March AYLESBURY - Swan Lake - Audition 18 November - Performances 24-25 April SOUTHEND - Coppelia - Audition 1 February - Performances 21-22 August SHREWSBURY - Swan Lake - Audition 9 March - Performances 10-11 July STOKE - Swan Lake - Audition - 1 May - Performances 18-19 September BRADFORD - Giselle - Audition TBC - Performances 5-6 June STEVENAGE - Sleeping Beauty - Audition TBC - Performances 16-17 October BUXTON - Nutcracker - Audition TBC - Performances 13-14 November

Oh well, don't forget that there is a wonderful dance tradition in Copenhagen too! Depending on when your cruise is, there may be some RDB or other performances on, or there may be something on at the theatre in the Tivoli Gardens. Copenhagen is a wonderful city!

Wild Card Seeta Patel: Something Then, Something Now Lilian Baylis Studio, EC1R 4TN UK Premiere Thursday 25 & Friday 26 September Performances at 7.45pm Tickets: £17 Ticket Office: 0844 412 4300 or www.sadlerswells.com Wild Card, a Sadler’s Wells initiative which opens up the theatre’s Lilian Baylis Studio to the next generation of choreographers and dance makers, returns for its fourth season this autumn, presenting UK born and raised dance artist Seeta Patel. The initiative aims to bring fresh perspectives to the stage and each time gives emerging artists from different spectrums of the dance landscape the opportunity to curate a mixed bill evening of cutting edge work. Patel has been championing the Indian classical dance Bharatanatyam for many years, at the same time as forging a distinctive career in contemporary dance under the guidance of Mavin Khoo. She has performed with companies such as DV8 Physical Theatre and presented work at Southbank Centre. Patel’s curation at the Lilian Baylis Studio will be an intimate evening of dance and music from South India, featuring an orchestra of Carnatic musicians. After her solo work she will offer a rare opportunity to see seasoned dancer and musician Pushkala Gopal in an up-close presentation of song and abhinaya, the concept of facial expression in Bharatanatyam which is used to lead the audience towards a sentiment. There will be a free post-show talk with Mavin Khoo on Friday 26 September.

Here's the link to the ROH page: http://www.roh.org.uk/visit/tours

Hello Chloe and welcome to the Forum. We've got a number of teachers who are members so I am sure they will be able to offer some advice. Meantime, on a slightly different slant, here's a topic recently started about teaching qualifications: http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/7668-dance-teaching-qualifications/ I do hope you will continue to post and let us know how you get on.

Arthur Pita The Little Match Girl LILIAN BAYLIS STUDIO Saturday 13 December 2014 - Sunday 4 January 2015 Performances: times vary Tickets: £8.50 - £16, £6 schools tickets available Ticket office: 0844 412 4322 or www.sadlerswells.com ***** "Magical. Wonderfully inventive. A gem" The Observer Celebrated choreographer Arthur Pita brings his magical dance theatre show The Little Match Girl to Sadler's Wells this Christmas. Based on Hans Christian Andersen's classic story, this tale of a young street girl's hopes and dreams is beautifully told through dance, song and original live music. The show runs at the Lilian Baylis Studio from Saturday 13 December – Sunday 4 January. A snowy stage sets the scene for an icy cold Christmas Eve, where the little match girl paces the emptying streets, trying to sell her matches. Cold, hungry and with just one final match flame to keep her warm, she sees a vision of her beloved grandmother. Leaving her troubled life behind, she is guided up into the night sky by her grandmother who takes her to the moon. Now, on a clear night, if you look closely, you might see the light of a shooting star, or is it a match burning brightly? Arthur Pita returns to Sadler's Wells following the huge success of Mischief, a family show created in collaboration with Theatre Rites, which also enjoyed a season on Broadway. His recent adaptation of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis at the Royal Opera House won Olivier, Southbank Sky Arts and Critics Circle National Dance Awards. For The Little Match Girl, Pita is reunited with The Metamorphosis composer Frank Moon, who will perform his original score live on stage, with designs by Yann Seabra and lighting designs by Ed Yetton. Age Guidance: 5+

I never "liked" Britain First and I still get posts on my timeline because friends "like" them.

Re Britain First - they probably started as "sponsored posts" that maybe one of your friends liked in all innocence. They come up in my timeline too so I will try the arrow trick next time I see one. I got into a right mess at the start of this year (and I am supposed to be it literate!) because I liked a page that seemed good and several of my friends had liked. Anyway I filled in a form to hear about offers, including stupidly my mobile phone number, and the next thing is that a number of charges were being applied to my mobile bill. Fortunately I realised what was happening very quickly and Vodafone were very helpful in blocking the numbers as well as me "STOP"ing the texts. The only thing is that I also had these types of numbers blocked altogether and I can no longer text donate.

I gather the prize money is significant...

Good luck to both your children for their new lives Lottie!

The V&A could be a good place to mooch as it's not too far from Earls Court and it does have the theatre and dance collections, some of which may be on display. In Covent Garden there's the artsy crafty stalls in the market hall and usually buskers and what have you plus lots of interesting shops in the side streets and you could go into the foyer of ROH and perhaps into the shop...

My favourite place to mooch in London is the British Museum, especially the Egyptian galleries. For shopping mooching I like the area around Covent Garden.