taxi4ballet

My dd always tries them on both feet and then swaps them over, usually half a dozen times (!) before deciding which way round she wants them.

Crikey, I feel like I've inadvertantly stumbled across the Performing Arts branch of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency Anyhow, back to the original purpose of this thread... Over the weekend dd was dancing in a show - she does tap and modern at that particular dance school - and was chatting to the older (age 16/17) girls she was sharing a dressing room with. They asked what ballet grade she was in, and were a bit taken aback to find it was grade 8. A couple of them said that they felt really far behind, so dd explained how many classes she does. It really made them sit up, I think, as none of them had the foggiest clue that one ballet class a week wasn't enough.

Just think 'Celebrity Couple'. The first one that pops into your head will probably be right...

Thanks for mentioning this programme on here. I will be recording it as we'll be watching dd dance her first big solo tonight!

I'm ploughing my way through Charles Darwin's Origin of Species.

Aileen, will send you a pm.

We went to one audition where we passed another mum on the stairs. I smiled and said hello. She glared at me with utter contempt, then looked dd up and down as though she had just wiped her off the sole of her shoe. Talk about daggers drawn - I wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley. I've met lots of other lovely parents, but not that day!

A couple of people have suggested that my dd has pointe shoes made to fit, and since her feet have stopped growing (when she was 10, strangely) and she likes Blochs I'll definitely bear Bob Martin in mind.Sounds just the ticket.

A few years back, the daughter of a family friend of ours was mad keen on dance, singing and performing arts in general. After finishing school she went to a vocational performing arts school, and everybody was saying all the usual things, what is the point etc, she's never going to make a career out of it and so on. Well, naming no names, she is now world-famous and a lot of people had to eat their words!

I explained to my dd about being less reliant on the barre, I said try to imagine it's not there! We talked about acting, and trying to remember lines - when you know them, you don't need to clutch the script any more...

My letter came this morning

That's great, thanks

Hi, Please can anyone recommend the best textbook for gcse dance - there seem to be several and I don't know which one to get. DD has been taking a 'mini' gcse as part of year 8 options and the teacher has just told them they have a test next week, although she doesn't expect anybody to do very well...(great motivational skills there). The teacher, who thinks she knows what she's talking about but doesn't, hasn't given them all that much to go on other than banging on about 'motifs' as if they were the be-all and end-all. i would like to order a book asap so dd can revise like mad between now and next friday so she can show this teacher what's what!

My hypermobile dd has lovely technique while holding the barre - everything goes to pot in the centre, and her teacher is always saying she is too tense and stiff. DD says if she tries to relax everything goes floppy and she'll end up a blob on the floor.

Still no cuckoos, but the swifts arrived today

It is easier, though, to go back to college and continue academic studies, than it would be to play catch-up with other ballet students...

Thanks, Spanner - I guessed you would know! We haven't had any post today yet so I'll look out for it.

Has anybody heard where the Aylesbury casting is going to be held?

Point taken Bruce, I still don't like it though. I'm not fond of derogatory terms like this. Speaking as a blonde Essex girl with German ancestry, I've had far too many unpleasant generalisations thrown at me in the past and it's not nice to be on the receiving end.

When my dd auditioned, I seem to remember that the place was heaving with people, lots of standing around in corridors, etc, and I don't think my dd got much of a chance to warm up at all!

Spot on Ribbons, my sentiments exactly!

I don't use Facebook - I just don't like it - so please carry on with this thread too!

I've had comments like this too, people just don't seem to 'get' it. My friend's son is a competitive swimmer (aged 13) and he trains every morning before school, every evening, and competes at the weekends. Everybody says, "Wow, he must be really good!" and totally understand the need for such commitment. The very same people have no clue that classical ballet training for older children aiming for a career in dance needs just as much commitment. I sometimes feel that I'm banging my head against a brick wall!

Going back to the original question about flexible dancers doing even more stretching to increase flexibility, I'm inclined to think that it isn't the best idea, and strengthening exercises would be more beneficial. The hypermobile/flexible dancer needs to have really strong core muscles, and as other posters have said, super-flexibility isn't any good unless you are able to control it. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. As you move, some muscles contract as others stretch. (I am sure Anjuli and others could explain this much more eloquently than I can)!

It's certainly been good for the girls at dd's school, as Anjuli says, the dynamics and tempo are quite different. One or two of the older boys join in with the pointework on demi-pointe as well. Due to the usual shortage of boys, the girls often dance boys parts in school shows.