LinMM

Richard Ramsey takes the Chelsea Ballet Masterclass(monthly) at the Place and his adult class is great....he does some very quick footwork on occasions....but is great fun...a very well rounded class though and he works you hard but in a very relaxed way. So should be good!!

Maybe some dancers are just not suited to certain roles.....it's good that they try them out though but there must be someone in the company who suits Dream. I believe that Yuliana Lopatkina of the Maryyinski refuses to dance certain roles as she feels they just don't suit her and she is very tall for ballet(5ft 10ins)......if this is correct!! If the footwork is particularly quick is this harder for a taller person even at that level of training etc.?

There are things you can buy to put over your toes(separately) if you need to protect your second toe for now but am a bit puzzled why it seems to happen when you do tendu to the side....perhaps you are over extending your second position as a beginner...remember the turn out of the legs starts from the hips not the feet! But I think there are others on this forum who are better qualified as it seems to be a physical problem. Glad you are having a go at ballet though....have you spoken to the teacher about your concerns?

Wow I really hope she gets in wishing her all the best

With regards only British dancers being able to do Ashton style etc definitely disagree with this....Nunez is wonderful in Fille and although Alexander Grant happens to be my favourite in that role I think other dancers are doing a good job etc. Anyway not sure if Grant was British anyway?!!! A true artist should be able to interpret different styles but each individual may be slightly stronger in particular styles than others no matter what the nationality.

Sylvie Guillem is 48 and appears to be going strong though I haven't seen her for a few years. I always thought Nureyev went on too long in the end...much as I loved or maybe because I loved his dancing!! I went to one prog at the Coliseum and felt a little sad as I thought many people might be seeing him that night for the first time and would be wondering what all the fuss was about and may have gone home disappointed which would never have happened in earlier years. I once walked all the way home from Covent Garden to my then tiny room near Gloucester Road Tube station after a performance of Nureyev and Fonteyn I was so elated!! And that's how it should be I think.

I believe it was chrischris who asked whether Guillem is a good actress/dancer. Well I believe she is appearing at the Wells very soon so perhaps you could find out. Extraordinary dancing at her level at 48!!

Sorry Fiz just seen it was your daughters ex teacher who wouldn't let her audition for the Royal and it was only the post before.....I got interrupted in the middle of my post! It is a difficult one this to trust whether the teacher knows what she is talking about or not! But I suppose if you do let a child go for it against advice they will learn first hand if they get rejected and won't think "if only I'd been allowed to audition etc" It depends on the child too how resilient they are and so on. Did your daughter go for an audition in the end?

Nothing wrong with maturing a bit later though. One doesn't want to get to the stage as with gymnastics that we'll be seeing companies full of 12-16 year olds because everyone starts to force earlier and earlier......slight exaggeration to make a point!!

All this body type measurements has got me confused now(not that difficult a thing to do though). Ive always thought I'm nearly evenly proportioned but perhaps fractionally longer in the body.....but perhaps it's this long waisted thing which Ive never thought about that much(I am a bit of a jeans for nearly everywhere person) so clueless with fashion etc. But having wide hips and shoulders knew I was not the right ballet body. Actually at 11 the RBS predicted my height...and they were spot on!!! They look at hip restrictions too. The person whose teacher didn't let them audition for the Royal is a very wise lady I think. No point in dashing young children's hopes unnecessarily. However some kids are very determined so they would have to learn the hard way but perhaps a good reality check. But to return properly to the thread a lot of body shape probs can be overcome and it's dance quality which counts.....only a very few can dance with the Royal there are lots of other companies out there!!

I also agree that times have changed somewhat and that in order for the Royal to be one of the best companies in the world it must be open to all the worlds best dancers! And I do tend to like this. However it does seem a little strange that so much is invested in the Royal Ballet School finding and training the best dancers even at Junior level and then so few do end up in the company. It seems a lot more dancers from other countries get into the senior school so one could start asking what is the Junior school actually for....it is a much coseted place for many young aspiring dancers from UK but is it doing the young dancers there justice then? Perhaps we have moved to a point where there are several excellent training schools throughout the world the RBS being one of them but we are in a global market now so one has to accept that there is now much less guarantee than there was that a child from UK at our own excellent school RBS will be offered a place in the home company. Sorry a bit rambling

Interesting that nearly everybody seems to be wearing a hat then? And lovely to see so many sparrows!!

I was just googling "proportions and ballet dancers" and the first article that comes up there is interesting(sorry am so useless at posting links etc) and you will be pleased to see swan princess that about half way down in Blacktype is the statement "Ballet Companies like talent and talent comes in all shapes and sizes". So hope there's some encouragement for you!!

Hi Swan Princess please don't think about giving up just yet!! It is true probably that having a longer back to legs proportionately may not create such a nice line and may restrict some leg height etc. if you really do love ballet then you can be aware of certain limitations and make the most of other qualities. I would hate to raise your hopes unnecessarily......but sometimes you can prove people wrong!! Presumably you have taken some grade exams and passed them?! I don't know what level you are at right now of course but if you are progressing well and are enthusiastic I would just keep going and see how far you can get. If going for auditions etc maybe really think carefully about choreography you use to show yourself to advantage....if get the choice etc. You may not know yet what direction your ballet could take you and even if you do not for whatever reason actually make it into a company down the line maybe you would make an excellent and creative teacher.....but for the time being keep your eyes on the goal you would like to achieve for now.

This conjures up such a lovely picture afab!!

You don't say how long you have been "back to ballet".....there is a whole topic thread on this called "Going Back to Ballet"(under the general "doing Dance " topic. Anyway you say you are pregnant so can't answer any particular problems related to this However when I first returned to,ballet after a 22year gap I was continually getting cramps either in the feet or calf muscles. It was very annoying because Imhad to keep stopping etc and had to stop dong any rises at all as as soon as I went on demi...a cramp was likely!! I don't know the exact scientific reason for this(lactic acid build up and all that) but I assumed it was pure lack of practice!! Gradually after a few months it just stopped and I assume this was because the muscles were just getting stronger...and now two years later it rarely happens. I can vouch for bananas too. Again I don't know why but Imsuddenly felt attracted to eating them more and if I have an early class then if nothing else I know I can get through the class if Ive eaten a banana bought on the run so to speak! (though porridge with banana is better!) Obviously if you've been doing ballet for a while now there may be some other problem......by the way it took me 6 months before I could do a full plié and about a year before a plié in fourth position!!

Hopefully will be inspired to!!

Glad you felt more confident today. Yes sometimes it's the little joining steps in the middle of an enchainement that can mess it up for you and you then always seem to be on the wrong leg!! Very irritating! However getting the top half of the body improved and looking good is really important as then hopefully people may not be looking too closely at ones feet!!!!

Yes I find fondus especially when combined with ronde de jambe en L'air quite tiring....it takes a lot of strength to hold the leg up for so long and probably hold back a bit on fondus when on right supporting because of my knee which plays up,from time to time.

Wow I could do,that in my younger days but not now.....well I might be able to do,it but would be wiped out the next day!

Seymour was also a great comedienne in Dances at a gathering Ive rarely seen her role in this bettered

That alone could sway me!!!!

I never saw her swan Lake either!! But did see her with Nureyev in Sleeping Beauty a few times nearing the end of her career When she was younger(in the Soames era) I saw her in a gala which must have been 1959 ish maybe 1960 and there were many interesting dancers in it. She did an extract from The Firebird in that. Ive been trying to find some info on this gala as I'm sure Helpmann and both the Tallchief sisters were in it. Somewhere in the depths of the loft I do have the programme with some autographs on it but might take me a year to find it!! I'm pretty sure even Alicia Markova performed a small piece. It was the first time I had been to the ballet and I still remember the strangeness of seeing people for real I had only seen in books up till then!!

Maybe I will have a look at the Bloch shoes as well then just to see the differences etc. The trouble with buying new shoes is sewing on the elastic....urghh....Just hope I haven't lost my thimble...... Michelle you must be super fit did you say you did 5hrs of dancing on Tuesday.....was that consecutive hours. I have a two hour class on Fridays just slightly longer than usual and I can't imagine doing another class afterwards!!

I saw Fonteyn do Juliet and she was definitely past 40 then and I thought she was wonderful still got the joy of Juliet the young girl across in a totally believable way and was excellent getting that indecision and nervousness across at the idea of having to take the poison! Fonteyn had a wonderful abandon in her dancing I thought and only wished I could have seen her in Giselle. I'm not sure about Guillem....wonderful technician and I thought she was okay in Cinderella but haven't seen her in anything that would truly test acting skills unfortunately but she was the one who got my partner going to see a bit of ballet initially!!