JCS

It's light/pastel for the leotard. As the owner of one leotard - black - I will be buying something new, and it is highly likely to be lilac, though I haven't ruled out white.

I have my romantic tutu, and tights, but I need more more than one leotard, so I'll be on a shopping expedition on Saturday. I'll be commuting from home, so I only need to worry about the dance bag. I've got my ticket for Wednesday night, and I'm looking forward to that.

Just over two weeks to go. The time has gone so quickly.

The holiday arrangements wouldn't work out, so the summer school wasn't a possiblity, Lin.

LinMM - this is the RAD Intermediate class I am doing.

I went on my teacher's recommendation to Sansha. The fitter tried every type of shoe on me but wasn't happy that any of the worked for me (I am a mature woman, new to pointe, with wide feet and other peculiarities) and she sent me across the road to Bloch as she thought one of the styles might suit me. I certainly appreciated the time spent looking for the right shoe, and that the fitter didn't want to sell me anything that wasn't right. I ended up with Bloch Sonatas as they are quite wide and the shank is medium strength (if I understood that correctly).

Had my private lesson yesterday. I wanted to work on hands, arms and head. My arms feel more balletic now, and I am sure I will be walking around with my middle finger pointing inwards half the time to get used to the hands. Also worked on chasse pas de bourree, which is almost always part of the enchainement in the Saturday class which I struggle with. I did feel a bit more confident this morning.

I've got my first private lesson after work on Friday 10 May with my teacher from Monday and Tuesday nights. I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm another one booked for the Summer School.

I've been to a Saturday workshop run by Franziska Rosenzweig (she also teaches at Danceworks). It was held at the ISTD2 Dance Studios in Old Street, London. I did the petit allegro workshop in February, and there are going to be three more this year at different levels. http://holisticballet.com/Holistic_Ballet/Workshops.html

Has anyone else started pointe as a mature adult? I asked my mother to buy me my first pair of pointe shoes for my 50th birthday. My teacher had said I could go en pointe after Christmas, so I thought it would make a nice significant gift. Anyway, I got the shoes in early January, got them looked at by the teacher, went back to the shop to check something, and then sewed on ribbons and elastic. Due to my maturity sewing required glasses plus extra magnification and very good light, which meant sitting on the bathroom floor. I first went up onto pointe in the middle of January. It's all still very new. We get about 15 minutes at the end of class on a Saturday. I also got to two pointe lessons, run by the lady who teaches my Tuesday night class, and went to a workshop where we had a 30-minute introduction to pointe work. Pressing up onto pointe seems to be coming along, but the problem I am working on is that I roll my ankles, mainly the left one. The shoes are starting to feel more comfortable. I do wear them around the house sometimes under big socks. Any other experiences?

The RAD Adult Summer Course is now booking. Participants may take part in classes in Ballet, Street Jazz and Mat Based Pilates, working intensively over the course of five consecutive evenings. Ballet helps to improve body alignment, general well-being and co-ordination. This class has live piano accompaniment. Edgy and full of attitude, Street Jazz is a blend of modern-day dance styles. This class will give the opportunity to learn a routine and improve recall, musicality and performance. Mat Based Pilates improves strength, posture, flexibility and balance and is the perfect complement to dance training. The Adult Summer Course provides a fun and enjoyable way to increase fitness levels and learn new skills and techniques. It is designed to relax and invigorate at the end of the working day and is suitable for complete beginners through to advanced dancers. There are three levels available and participants are invited to choose their level according to their ballet experience. Who can attend: Ages 18 and above Venue: Academy headquarters, London Dates: Monday 22 – Friday 26 July 2013 Time: Between 6.00 pm – 9.30 pm* *Please download the Adult Summer Course 2013 Application Form for detailed timetable. Levels: Level 1 (Beginners), Level 2 (Improvers), Level 3 (Advanced) Fees Two class package: £120.00 / €160.00 Ballet and Pilates / Ballet and Street Jazz / Pilates and Street Jazz Three class package: £160.00 / €213.00 Ballet, Street Jazz and Pilates Closing date for applications: Monday 10 June 2013 http://www.rad.org.uk/article.asp?id=400

Alison - you can get pictures of the seats and the view of the stage from the seats from this page http://www.roh.org.uk/venues. Unfortunately you need to know the number of the seat rather than being able to click on the seating plan.

Not a good start to the term as I missed half last night's class due to something running late at work, and missed floor barre this evening due to signal failure disrupting the service from Waterloo!

I'm in too. I will be working hard for the next six months to make sure I can keep up.

I had the spinning circle too. I think it was because someone else was putting one of the two seats I had selected into their basket, because when I went back to the page it had gone. The next two I selected went into the basket without a problem.

I have found a page from which you should be able to get to the stage view for all the seats in all the venues. However, when I try to click through to one (and it is a lot of clicking) the picture isn't showing. http://www.roh.org.uk/venues First pick your venue, and then pick "view section" which is above the list of performances, then pick your section, and then pick a seat number.