LinMM

I find those Boch ones have a clamp of their own too!

Normally you wouldn't have to ask a student EVERY time you needed to touch them. It's just an agreement that this is part of the class teaching sometimes so once permission has been generally given it doesn't have to be given on every occasion.

Hi Swanprincess Sniper is a piece of software that you can have on your computer so that when you are bidding on eBay it just comes in once with your bid right at the end with about 5-10 seconds to go!! Example: let's say you saw your shoes on eBay!! You know you paid £50 for them so obviously you wouldn't pay more than that! If you decided then say that your very highest price was going to be £50 and you put that into eBay in the NORMAL way then as people bid your bid will show your interest and keep bidding for you until you either pull out yourself or if you are NOT watching it ...it will pull out if the bidding goes over £50. Usually you can see the list of bidders and towards the end it can be obvious who is most interested in the item. Some people get carried away at this point and get so determined to win the item that they end up paying over the odds for it......more than it's really worth. However within 10 mins say of the end the top bid may be only showing £30 say at that point. So unless you had put a sealed bid in for £50 already.....you could be watching and just put small increments of £2-3 hoping to,get them for say £40!! The thing about sniper is ......if say I was to bid on your shoes and also for arguments sake decided £52 was my maximum bid......as in this case I know you paid £50 for them.....it will not show my interest in your item and in the closing seconds of the bidding sniper suddenly comes in and will jump to the price I want to pay before you can bid manually to up the price yourself!! Sniper won't win always because somebody may be prepared to pay £60 for your shoes!! But in this particular instance you would be so keen to get your shoes back that you could put in a ridiculous price like £100 with sniper gambling that nobody would be prepared to pay THAT much .....and sniper would come in at the last second and hopefully get the shoes back at just over whatever the last bidder puts in.......whether that was £10 or £40! Nobody knows you are bidding when you have sniper that's the main advantage ......so you could call it "sneaky sniper" if you like!! Sorry if this is not brilliantly clear! Ive never used it because I hardly ever use eBay. However my partner uses it a lot and just the other day won some hifi speakers with sniper .....as he knew very well what sort of price people would be likely to go to .....so made sure his sniper bid was well over this and sure enough he won them! However if there had been an inexperienced bidder who didn't really know the true value of such speakers they might have been prepared to go to a really ridiculous price and then my partner would have lost them. Anyway here's hoping your shoes will turn up. How far would you have to go to the lost Property place to get them back if they turn up? I don't suppose you have a dancing friend who wears the same size and make of shoe as you who has slightly newer shoes and might lend them to you just for one day? But if your shoes are just workable ......you may be better off in these ......at least they will be familiar on your foot even if strictly speaking you do need new ones now.

I keep going back to Bloch myself because they have that extra leg length and last better than other makes I have bought. Though personally I hate the convertibles..... though I can see their value in a busy schedule having to switch from ballet to contemporary!! However they look a bit naff to me when worn as footless so I prefer to have full feet tights or footless with socks.....the latter I wear the most.

Our Russian teacher in Brighton continually changes the lines over in the class...eg: if there are 4 lines the initial front goes to the back and the back comes forward and so on. This means you cannot hide and the teacher gets a good look at everyone. In her class last year there were some extremely talented young girls......who are now finishing training in vocational establishments......and I know for sure these girls lived and breathed ballet.....but also in her class were older members like myself ....amateurs...but with also a couple of ex dancers and teachers. The point is this teacher gave equal consideration in this general class to EVERYBODY in it and all needed different bits and sorts of advice. To me this is a mark of an excellent teacher and within reason it is their job to get the very best out of ALL the students in their care not just a couple of highly talented ones ....who will always be there.

I saw a girl who had been assessed out of the Royal (she was not chosen to go on to Upper School) at a Yorkshire Ballet Summer school once. I could not take my eyes of her she had such quality IMO. She was probably not the most perfect build for the Royal I think (right sort of height though) and I found it very disheartening if this was in any way part of her de selection. Would Lynn Seymour have got in to Upper School these days .......one of the best the Royal has had over the years. (I know she went on to train somewhere else so hopefully others will see the quality in her)

There is still "hands on" teaching going on here!! At least for adults.......who I will say are 16 plus onwards........certain teachers will ask first if it's okay to touch sometimes....(incidentally the same as yoga and Pilates classes) As long as you give your permission it is fine. I have found it very helpful on occasions. Where children are concerned I am sure this would be possible via a discussion with child, parent and teacher. If written consent is given then it should be okay. In the consent form it should be clear that it's only light touching to correct position or slightly extend a position etc. It's not carte Blanche in any way for teachers to get rough!! Having watched the Royal Ballet for over 40 years now I was thinking what ....if any...are the main overall differences over the years. This is only my opinion of course but I think one of the MAIN differences is that in yester year the dancers were more individual characters ....at least once out of the corps. Overall technically they are probably better these days (though I think there have always been some very fast turners and dancers who could cross the stage at lightning speed) but perhaps not quite so free in their interpretations of roles. Just an overall feeling on my part.

Thanks for link to that lovely article Ribbons.

Hi Beckyl there was somebody called Rachael in post 1434.. ......just back on the previous page who is about to start some adult ballet and workshops I think on your area Also RAD are doing one Swindon sort of way.....in Chippenham I think later in 2015 If you go to post 1445 .....2dancersmum post.....just further back on this page the details are there.

Perhaps I could try out in the testing section!

Oh dear Swan Princess I do feel for you Have you got time to go out and buy another pair ......as if you get the others back and hopefully you will....you can still use them down the line. At least then you won't have to buy any for quite a while........you could put it like this to mum and dad......who obviously may not be too keen on paying out again so soon. With the lost property .....keep ringing them rather than wait for them to ring you .....just to keep them on their toes! That way they'll get a sense of how important the shoes are to you and may do more checking. How are your current old ones......can they be cleaned up or hardened up if that is what's required or would it be out of the question to wear them for the audition? And just in case.....keep an eye out on eBay then!! Has your mum or dad got "sniper"

I think you will be fine Beckyl!! It is quite a lot of dancing in a short space of time so I think it's probably keeping going stamina wise more than whether you are at the right level etc to be honest!! Tom Linecar Boulton who runs them is really nice and you wouldn't be forced to do anything you were not confident with.....however I suspect you will get very caught up in it all and will want to push yourself once there in the enthusiastic environment! If you are not sure and haven't done any workshops before I'm happy to give you the name of one day only workshops if you wanted to see how you got on with those first. But frankly if you are under 40 just go for it!! I am a member of the LAB company but because I'm that bit older I prefer doing the weekly classes and learning the rep over a longer period of time than the intensives.

Well Sophika9899 am inclined to agree with you then. One pirouette at that age especially if she is specialising in ballet and at a vocational school does seem a bit underwhelming! She has another two years to go? Or one? I imagine she will be auditioning for Company work next year or the year after. Obviously pirouettes are not the only thing and maybe she is a very expressive dancer in other ways but many girls out there will have both!!

Okay thanks ....will just have to live with my fit of pique!! Best to think more first sometimes ....certainly come across as an arrogant little **** in that no.37 post!! Sorry John! Especially as you recognised that you hadn't quite got my post the first time. I have to read some posts quite a few times (including my own) before satisfied have taken in /communicated ..successfully so to speak

No .....it's like that sometimes! It's just that at other times...........

Sorry just a quick reply to Tabitha ........totally agree about Darcey .....she had the most perfect Italian Fouettes. But didn't Darcey receive most of her training at the RBS? So they must have been getting something right back then.....not all that long ago in fact! She was very young when getting main roles etc. After I had read the article on the interview with Powney for the Ballet Circle I did feel a little more relieved as I think some of his statements there are quite reassuring in that he does appear to,be keen to foster individual talent and artistic development and is keen for more success to the Company via the school. Such a pity he made those negative comments about "British" students really.

I so agree pups mum about watching "nine" year olds on YouTube doing these feats and other advanced variations Nine year olds will have much less fear for sure. But sooner or later this will come in and they may be able to do triple turns at nine but may still be doing triple turns at nineteen when others will catch up .....but it's been in a healthier way. It's a bit like some musicians who can play way beyond their years at 10 but then can have a crisis of confidence playing exactly the same music when 20!! And often have to rethink .......almost re learn a whole piece when having to re seek their own more developed relationship with it. Remember the gymnast Olga Korbert ......she suffered from terrible arthritis when not very old. There could have been other reasons of course why this happened but I'm sure all that overtraining at such an early age played a big part. Pointe work IS usually an issue much before teens because children's feet are still growing and so can be seriously damaged by pointe work too soon etc. The thread is going a bit of course here though and I'm sure Christopher Powney (at least I sincerely hope so) is not going to be bringing in that sort of a shake up! In answer to a previous question someone asked I have been told by people teaching it that the new RAD syllabus is much more dancey and musical......so perhaps will help to develop more artistry ........and I do hope this is what Powney has in mind for the training of RBS students.....bringing this out in them....as well as concentrating on technique.

Thanks littleballerina. Ive just managed to find the entire syllabus for Advanced foundation then one and two. Of course there are different pirouettes finishing in arabesque or attitude etc and on demi and on pointe. What seems to expected at a quick glance is .....if it's straight en dehors or en dedans pirouettes on demi pointe then it's two at Advanced one and three at Advanced two. But good training should make sure can do MORE than the exam requirement so then when taking the exam it should feel easier and less scary. It did occur to me sophika9899 that your friend at vocational school may not be specialising in ballet so may not be studying ballet at the highest level.

Well don't most vocational students follow the RAD syllabus as well? At 16/17 presumably must be studying at very least Advanced one if at one of these schools. So how many pirouettes would be expected of an Advanced one or two student at exam level? Surely at very least two?

Is it possible to remove ones own post once posted?

http://ballet.isport.com/ballet-guides/how-to-do-italian-fouettes Not a video but very informative about how to do the step and even it's origin

Yes it's amazing how honest most people are!! If you get the train company's Lost Property number they used to keep items returned for up to three months. I imagine if someone finds them whose never seen pointe shoes before they could be quite fascinated by them! Don't be disappointed if they don't turn up immediately.....if someone has picked them up (as opposed to a member of train company finding them) they may wait till the following day or next time they travel before finding out what to do with them but hopefully they'll turn up in the next couple of days!!

Well Basilio is supposed to,be a poor barber......whereas Kitri is the daughter of the local Innkeeper......obviously a cut above a barber in Old Spain!! Whether this is why he is in brown and beige? But he could be poor in black and white maybe.........stronger dramatic colours than the browny beige look!!

Well if dancers are expected to perform them in Ballets I'm really glad someone is teaching them!! Swanprincess don't know whether you've been following Don Q thread but at one point have been looking at different ways this step seems to be performed .......as the queen of Dryads has to perform them in the vision scene from this ballet. Anyway I did search on YouTube but couldn't find a tuition tape for these Fouettes ......plenty for ordinary Fouettes though. I had been wondering too whether RAD had a place for teaching them in their syllabus somewhere round about Advanced one or two but disappointingly obviously not! They may be on the Russian syllabus somewhere maybe.

Is it a more Russian step do you think?