taxi4ballet

On 19/08/2022 at 17:29, AnneMarriott said:

I don't think Jane wants to know that!

Probably not!🤣

I've been chased by a very aggressive hornet, I had to run about 100 yards before it decided I was far enough away from where it didn't want me to be. 

I have one leg longer than the other, and it has caused some issues. My osteopath told me that quite often your legs grow at different rates, first one and then the other, and hopefully by the time you finish growing they both end up the same length.

It would definitely be worth taking advice now though, so that any potential issues can be investigated.

There are some clips on youtube, but avoid the silly ones that use one of those doughnut things.

Such a sad loss - I met him once a few years ago, and he was so nice.

Sugar is just another form of carbohydrate, one of the many things which our bodies need in order to produce energy and stay healthy. You shouldn't be trying to cut it out of your food altogether. All things in moderation, as they say.

5 hours ago, Bex said:

I wish there was more free work in DD's ballet classes. The RAD syllabus is used in every lesson. It means she gains muscle memory for certain combinations of steps rather learning a step in isolation that she can use in different contexts. Luckily in her other dance genres there is lots of free work so it is a workout for body and brain and means she is great a picking up and memorising routines quickly. Sadly she is losing her enthusiasm for ballet as the endless repetition is boring. They also tend to keep them put in a grade for ages to guarantee lots of distinctions when they finally do the exam. Very much teaching to the test.

They need to do more otherwise they get bored silly and stop trying. My dd's local dance school (one she left at about 13, and largely for this reason) was very much insistent on taking an exam before you could move up to the next one. Due to the RAD changing syllabus, she was in Inter Foundation for nearly three years, and her teacher did say she could join the Intermediate class as well. I asked more than once if she could just move up to Inter, but was met with a flat no, she had to take the IF exam first. Then, some weeks later, they came out of the Inter class and the teacher said to me 'Do you know, it's really funny - she dances far better in intermediate than she does in her inter foundation class'.

Doh.

A graded exam syllabus is probably the best thing for recreational dancers, but for vocationally-minded students it is, by its very nature, rather limiting. That's where free work plus workshops and associate programmes all come into play.

I once remember talking to the mum of an exceptional young dancer who was already at vocational school. I asked what grade he was doing, and she said, oh no, he doesn't do grades, they just teach him what he needs to know. 

In order to progress via Inter-foundation and upwards, IF would probably be all right just taken as a once-a-week class, but from Inter upwards, one class a week would be nowhere near enough to build or maintain the physical strength required at that level, especially for pointework. Most students doing the vocational pathway will also take grade classes simply to get enough hours of training a week.

10 minutes ago, NotadanceMa said:

I was trying to move away from the often negative discussions that are directed at RB 

Yes, I appreciate that. 🙂

Negative discussions are just as useful as positive discussions when people are trying to make up their minds about whether or not any full-time ballet school is going to be suitable for their dc. Much was made on a recent thread about people needing to do thorough research into the schools and using that research to help them in their decision-making process. Unfortunately, threads that show vocational training in a less than positive light are often locked, and in some cases, deleted altogether, which doesn't help matters. I can understand (and support) the reasons why the moderators sometimes have to take these decisions, but all the same, we end up losing some of the very information people are looking for at the same time. We are all guilty of having looked at this industry through rose-tinted goggles, and it doesn't do anyone any favours if things are only ever talked about in a positive light.

No, I agree, but what it does do is prevent the slow burners from accessing training at the highest level in the first place.

Why is it that the AD of RBS goes to the Prix instead of attending his own US audition? Why is it that the dates have clashed on more than one occasion? Why is the audition date not moved to a different day? I'll tell you why. Because he knows he is going to find what he's looking for at the Prix, that's why.

This is all very well, but I can pretty much guarantee exactly what will happen. Slow and steady does not win the race, certainly not for girls.

Years 10 & 11 will be stuffed with international students who have already been intensively trained elsewhere and pushed hard from an early age; and who have done well at YAGP and other international competitions. Home-trained students will not get a look-in.

Training elsewhere in the world is completely different to what it is here. Some years ago, DD went on a summer course and shared a dorm with some Japanese girls. The Japanese girls were all easily capable (at the age of about 12) of doing triple pirouettes on pointe and doing them very well. They had all been on pointe for several years already, and were considerably further on in their training than DD was. Yes, I know that it is frowned on to put girls on pointe that young, but what I'm trying to say is that training in other countries is years ahead of what we offer in the UK. That's why ENBS holds nearly all its upper school auditions overseas. Because they don't expect to find what they are looking for here.

If RBS is not going to call years 7-9 vocational training, then what is it?

Don't worry, most people aren't as blinkered, unreasonable and stupid as my neighbours. 🤣

By the way, would it be un-neighbourly of me to liberally spread horse manure fertiliser on my flower bed at this time of year? Bearing in mind that their patio table and chairs is just the other side of the fence.

4 hours ago, Bex said:

Sounds like we were unlucky. It was definitely a case of not being able to pick up unknown steps with unknown terminology quickly enough, which is fair enough particularly if they have a hectic rehearsal schedule. She's got decent technique from good teaching, and is the sort of kid that comes alive on stage and draws the eye. Of course I am biased! 😊

Oh we're all biased, I'll give you that!!  The thing is, she will have learned a lot just from participating in the audition itself. 

The advice we were given was to get dd out there and to do as many things as possible. Dance days, short courses, all sorts. Her teacher was very pro-active and from grade 3 up, she also did the class above her grade as well as her own, and that definitely helped with auditions, because when asked to do something, even if she wasn't yet at that level, at least she'd had the experience of having had a go at it before and wasn't flummoxed by it.

Forgot to mention - having watched a number of their auditions, I have seen that they do sometimes choose candidates who are less technically adept than others, but they were able to pick up the steps during the auditions more quickly.

They can improve dancers' technique during the rehearsals, but they can't teach people how to learn fast and 'perform'. That ability is either innate, or is garnered from the experience of having done a number of similar auditions or workshops.

Bex, that sounds like the complete opposite to the way things were done when my dd performed with them. At those auditions (4 of them) they called out the numbers of those who had been accepted, not the ones turned down. At each audition there were around 100 of them and they took around 50 because that's the number they need for the production. So it was about half and half.

If there had only been maybe 60 attend, then I can understand why the unsuccessful handful would have been upset.

Well, it's taught me one thing.

You can't negotiate with the blinkered, you can't reason with the unreasonable, and you can't argue with stupid. 

(actually, that's three things!)

Yes, I've just checked - last year it was in mid May.

On 29/06/2022 at 21:56, Bex said:

My DD got a no for EYB a few years back which I don't think was well handled. 

Was that at a live audition? 

21 hours ago, alison said:

Can I toss mine in there too?

The more the merrier. They can report each other to the council to their hearts' content. 🤣

On 29/06/2022 at 18:19, AnneMarriott said:

Dare we ask why?

Erm... let's just say that people we've lived amicably next door to for decades suddenly decided to take official action against us, despite us agreeing to do what they wanted, and the fact that we drew their attention to it in the first place.

Apologies to everyone else already in Room 101, but I'm afraid you are now going to have to put up with my neighbours. 

Sorry about that. 😂

On 19/06/2022 at 14:57, Linnzi5 said:

I would love to see these performances - I love the pairings! I am most envious of those who can attend  

Yes, if only they would tour the UK...

Might I suggest that you all write to my constituency MP, Nadine Dorries, and tell her how you feel. Feel free to encourage everybody you know to do the same.

She knows Sweet Fanny Adams about the arts, and needs enlightening.

2 hours ago, LinMM said:

It’s £105 per year as ordinary Friend. 

Really? Strewth. Waste of time for me, then. That would double the price of the tickets, since we can only go about once a year.