LinMM

My friend in Sydney's daughter attends The Tanya Pearson Academy.....but she is not a vocational student there yet.....she is 13. You can attend classes there as a vocational or non vocational student and one of the problems seems to be that to attend the full time course.....which I think is offered from 14.... you would have to give up general schooling as they don't provide this.....and this is a risk at 14. My friend feels that attention is focused somewhat on the vocational students there but feels its too young to come out of general schooling yet. In UK vocational schools do offer general schooling as well until the age of 16 at least which I think is an advantage personally if you have that choice. There is a very young dancer in Royal Ballet who attended Tanya Pearson Academy will try to recall name.

The french players I had never heard of were Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet. And of course last year it was Nadal / Djokovic final and latter is Serbian not Czech!! Anyway I hope Tsonga wins this year as the French haven't had a winner for a very long time and it would make my friends happy!!

There is no mention of how the child felt about having her dance lessons stopped!! If she was really keen this could have been a rather destructive action. I would have been devastated if my mother had stopped my classes at that age. Surely mum could have found a creative way round this problem. Chances are that if its not been resolved properly the girl will continue to have problems re her weight whether she continues with dance classes or not. Perhaps someone made an unfortunate comment at her school or perhaps that school had too competitive an atmosphere and she was worried about her ability really which then got focused on her weight. So at another school she may have been happier. Depends really how much she wanted to continue anyway but if she did it has not been handled well I think.

I am not sure I have fully understood what you meant Michelle when you say of your teachers"I do not regard them as a serious means of training" . How have you learned what you know so far then? Somebody must be getting something right if you say you attend some Intermediate/advanced classes!! You must be most unfortunate not to have ONE good teacher!! But perhaps you didn't quite mean that. I must be extremely fortunate then because during the week I have four different teachers and they are all good in different ways giving very different classes and I have had really useful advice from all of them. If I did not value anyones teaching or thought they didnt know their stuff I would not continue with that class. I'm sure you value your ENB classes and your Pineapple class at least as you've said how much you have enjoyed them and that some teachers have supported and advised you with choreography you are doing at the moment.

I'm seeing the ballet tomorrow evening.....haven't a clue who's dancing but am looking forward to both. I do have a good seat tomorrow row A in stalls circle so am hoping the problems some people seem to have had with the lighting of Raven Girl won't be too bad from there.

We all have certain things which for some reason we find more difficult. Pose turns are fine for me but not chainees.....I find it really hard to make them really neat and get the speed...together.....I either go fast and feet flapping around or I get them neat but am far too slow!! I know I should relish the chance to practice them but whenever they come up usually to finish off a petit or grand allegro I think "oh no not chainees! What's wrong with pose or soutenus turns!" There is one thing about levels which may need clarifying I think. Even within a graded setting....lets say grade6 as example....one can be working "at grade 6 level" without actually having achieved that level yet. There may be some who have just completed grade 5 so are new to the level some who are half way through the grade 6 some nearly ready to take an exam etc etc. so being in a grade 6 class is just a guide really. For example I can cope quite well with an intermediate class but I wouldn't say have achieved that level yet (I can't work at 90 for a start!). If anyone was taking an Advanced level exam for example whether RAD or BBO etc there are some pretty difficult things in there so you would really have to have mastered these things to call yourself advanced even though you may be able to stumble through an advanced level class. So having some reference to exams is useful if you really want to gauge where you are....even if you never intend to take an exam. Now I'm NOT saying you need to pass exams to be able to dance!! And for most adults it's probably irrelevant but just to keep ones feet on the ground about appropriate level classes etc. However I can see an advantage in a complete adult beginner with no exam history in not bringing any "baggage" to class and just getting on with the steps without too much concern which level of difficulty they are.....perhaps they will feel a little freer!! In both of the non syllabus classes I do there is a repetition of certain sequences over a period of weeks before they are changed which is great for getting to grips with them so by the 4th-5th week you usually have some memory and can increase your degree of performance which is satisfying.....again so lucky with classes. Unfortunately Michelle I don't agree with too much general videoing of classes. It's a great tool but should be done on an individual level for a specific purpose......otherwise I regard it as an intrusion into my privacy in a class. Obviously if your teacher is willing to let you video her doing some sequence that's fine. But except in very specific circumstances I would not like someone videoing me in a learning situation. For shows that's okay too......you are then agreeing to be on show giving a performance.....but not for classes sorry!

I think you are pretty unusual Michelle!! But in my slightly earlier post I did say that the rate of progression depends on many things including general fitness level and previous activity......including other dance experience......which you definitely have....which maybe why you can cope so quickly with doing more advanced classes. Personality does come into it too. I would say I have a fairly cautious approach especially in new situations.....others throw themselves in with enthusiasm and don't mind challenges at all! I would say though that a keen adult can progress much more quickly than a child but in normal circumstances it would still take 3-5 years to progress from a complete beginner to say Intermediate level! Some people are always outside the norm though!!

I wonder if your cat had a bit of oriental in her Porthesia. My cat Toscar who was half Siamese and half Burmese (supposed to be a Tonkinese but the breed hadn't been stabilised by then so when two Tonks were mated they often reverted back to type) Anyway these orientals like walking with people and Toscar liked this too. When he was a kitten I tried taking him out on a lead which worked for a while but he didn't really like it but did like to just accompany you. In fact I met my partner R while taking Toscar out for one of his early lead walks.....he had never seen a cat on a lead before so ran over to ask me what kind of cat he was......and could he try holding the lead etc and then one thing lead to another! Another thing Toscar enjoyed was playing hide and seek. He soon picked the idea of this game up. I would rush down the corridor to say the bedroom and hide behind the door....then I'd call out and he would rush down as far as the kitchen have a look there and then make his way to bedroom very slowly if I suddenly revealed myself he would then tear off back down the corridor to the lounge and hide behind one of the chairs and if you took too long he would rush out or pounce on you. And so this would go on till one of us got bored with it. He would also retrieve little balls and bring them back to be thrown again. But definitely "walkies" was something he particularly enjoyed.

As Moomin said It is difficult for adult beginners to find classes at the right level sometimes.....often they are ina class which is either too easy or a bit too difficult because of what is on offer locally So do have to make the most of that situation. Its okay to keep concentrating on the basic technique say at the barre but it can be a bit boring to never get past simple jetes and assembles in the centre practice.......however at the other extreme suddenly been thrown into a class doing brise volees and grand jete en tournant can be a bit daunting for some.......although a good teacher can always simplify the material for those who,need it if necessary. Luckily I do not have this problem personally as there is plenty of ballet on offer in Brighton where adults can take graded exams if they want to from grade one to grade seven!! So you can usually find your level in there somewhere! But at some point if you want to progress you may be doing things that are a little difficult for a while. I agree about some London classes as even though some of them are levelled nobody seems to stick to them!! So for example once I attended a class which was supposed to be for beginners and there were three members of the Royal Ballet company in it!! So, you ask why were they in this class.....because of that particular teacher(who also taught at more advanced levels) But what happens when a beginners class is filled with much more advanced students is that the teachers then tend to teach to the people there and forget themselves that it's supposed to be a beginners class!! But if teachers genuinely kept the classes at beginners level the more advanced would gradually stop coming! You do get the reverse though people trying a class which says Advanced/profess and they are really beginners. Though I would say this is more likely to happen where a class is labelled"General" . The teachers in these classes are more likely to teach up rather than down but I can see how some could be confused by this label......it usually actually means.....Intermediate- Professional!! Which a newby might not realise. Anyway people have to try classes till they find the class and teacher that really suits them and this can take a while. There is this risk of injury of course but if you watch people who are obviously in the wrong class they don't join in the difficult stuff(in the grand allegro section) and either leave at that point or just watch.

I love BillyElliotts advice and think this could help. Learning things from books will be much more difficult. I also love drdance's doing the port des bras without the arms! However that ability to project does take time for some people and I sympathise because as a young person I was very shy and introverted to and got annoyed that I didn't really project what I was feeling with the music. Now having lost some of those earlier inhibitions(though not completely) which comes with life experience...for me anyway...I feel very much more freer in my dance than I ever did as a teenager. But I have also done a lot of other dance styles since then including Indian dance which uses the face a lot and from the other end.....5 Rythms dance which isn't technique based at all .......but definitely helped to enable me to bring what I wanted into the dance. But feeling more internally confident is what will help and this is a developmental thing and may take time.

The Dome is the larger venue and where I saw the SPBT last. The Rambert often go to The Theatre Royal which I don't think is good for larger scale productions but may be okay for a smaller company. A few years back the Dome closed down for 18months with promises of much improved facilities etc and I thought goodie more chance of ballet.....but no such luck....nothing has changed that much as far as I can see. Both the other main theatres....The Corn Exchange and The Pavilion are smaller but small dance companies do go there from time to time. Another grouch with any theatre here is that any production is for a week at most and sometimes just a day or two so easy to miss. But back to theme I wish this company would do more performing UK too. They seem to go regularly to France..... And over a huge area there. Do they sell more tickets there do you think? When I saw them at the Dome that time there was a good turnout then.

Thanks Balletteacher for your first post.....and I do agree with most of the above I would say however that in Going Back to Ballet there are lots of people who are not actually coming to ballet for the first time. People have had varying degrees of experience in younger years ranging from just a couple to having reached nearly professional level training at some stage before giving up. There are usually less people coming back to it who have had no previous experience at all and are thus complete beginners.......and even then it depends on age!! Completely new who are in their twenties is different to completely new who are in their fifties or sixties!! Also previous level of general physical fitness through other activity which could also even be some other form of dance all makes a contribution as to likely speed of progression. I do agree personally with building up gradually and getting the basics but in a way I've found that Ballet has its own built in limitations......eg a complete beginner who turned up to an intermediate session would naturally be put off and seek an easier class as it would just be too frustrating for them!! In my own case for example I did a lot of ballet up to the age of 15.....the last exam I took was the old RAD elementary. I then had a break of about 7 years came back as very fit twenty something for about 15 years(no syllabus classes though) then gave up,again and had a near twenty year break before re taking up again (now in 60's) just over two years ago. This return was much more difficult as had very low fitness level......because of this only did one class a week for long time.......but on the other hand somewhere there is a muscle memory of all the ballet previously learned. So now have got a reasonable degree of fitness back I am starting to progress quite fast again and have been able to add more classes (4 a week at mo) quite quickly in last six months because I have the advantage over a genuinely complete beginner in this muscle memory thing.....it is easier to link steps together and learn an enchainement etc which beginners who may be good now on the barre work but not so good in the centre practice as they will not have had that previous experience. In one class I go to there are some complete beginners (of 2 yrs ago )who are younger and much more flexible and are good at jumping!! (How I am envious!) but I still end up helping them with enchainement s which on the whole I pick up quickly.....for reasons mentioned. So all this to say that most of the above(Balletteachers post) is good advice but there is always a bit of a mixed bag in recreational Adult Ballet classes!! Anjuli has the excellent advice too for true adult beginners who may not be so familiar with the ballet world on the other thread where I am awaiting her expertise on pointe work ......even though for me now...never again!!!

I'm sure you'll get in Michelle but if not or there is a Tuesday gap till summer term starts you can always have a go at Chelsea Ballet Masterclass held at the Place once a month. The June one is on 25th June and will be taught by the teacher taking the Summer School Richard Ramsey. This month it starts a bit late at 8.30(usually its at 8pm) so will have to make a mad dash at the end to get the train back to Brighton! But it is a nice class.

Have discovered in Nantes for ONE day only....Swan Lake next march 26 th 2014. I have seen this company and Irina a few years back in Brighton...thought the name rang a bell...They did Nutcracker and Swan Lake. I liked her very much and would love to see her do Bayadere the Nikiya role. However where a company only visits for a couple of days they just always do Swan Lake it can be very irritating!! Why won't they risk anything else....most people in brighton anyway, who go to Swan Lake, will have heard of Bayadere and Romeo and Juliet!! Here in Brighton ballet is very much neglected.....I suppose it's thought we can all just pop up to London if need be. We do get Rambert once a year for about 5 days in March otherwise the dance here is more on Fringe edge with the occasional visiting companies like St. Petersburg.

I hardly follow tennis much these days.....perhaps the second week of wimbledon....but often seem to be in France visiting my friends when the French Open is on. Last year I was there for the final! My friends who both follow tennis seem to like both the finalists Nadal and Czech player(sorry name gone) and were telling me all about Nadal's superstitious habits.....which I hadn't noticed before but then couldn't stop noticing! Ive always liked Federer but after a while one does want to see some new blood!! This year I was there during the first week and there were a couple of French players I had never heard of who are looking good but I was told they may not do well at Wimbledon because its on grass and they are better hard court(more like slippery red stuff to me) players.

I don't suppose you know if this company is touring other places in France.....particularly Nantes....where a close friend of mine lives. She has only recently started going to the ballet and it would be great to see this company if they were going there.

Well said Pups-Mum

Oh dear BBC news flash Federer has lost his match today!!

Yes it's very subtly got worse I think....in that younger and younger children are now involved and when you hear of 10 year olds going on "dates" something is wrong!! But in the end every parent has to be a bit vigilant because every time one gives in to certain clothes demands etc one is contributing to this whole thing. Not easy I know.

Also 2dancersmum you are right about this.....a few of years ago East Sussex signed up to this and at first we thought great every so often will get an extra long weekend when Easter doesn't fall within the hols but unfortunately when this happens tend to add a couple of days onto the end of summer term. This year schools finish on the 19th as Easter did fall within the two week break but some years we've carried on till 25th or 26th

Just learned how to do a smiley couldn't resist one in the last post.....but actually nutrition and general dance health for older people could be a winner

I wouldn't mind some dancer health info....especially nutrition....myself unfortunately summer schools for oldies probably assume you know all this!!

I must admit am not a fan of the street dance type routines for under 16 year olds but in the same way don't really like children under 16 singing adult type songs and never watch Britain's Got Talent and X-Factor and The Voice shows (UK tv) any more as cannot stand the hyped up audience reactions all the time and kids singing inappropriate songs etc. I don't care how talented an 11 year old may be they should just wait a few years before being tempted by these shows.....will any resulting fame do them any good either? Sound a bit like an old grouch but it is how I feel.

Sorry when I typed that this is what happened! I think I should go to the test sight now to sort this out

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