Anna C

Interesting to hear so many different views of the same performance. I thought the chemistry and connection between Ball and Naghdi was wonderful. I think what shone through for me was the complete and utter mutual trust these two have, enabling Naghdi to (literally, at times) throw herself into the pdds. These weren’t steps and lifts or even dancing, they were two people falling in love. So many little touches made Naghdi’s Juliet special and different from others I’ve seen. This was no petulant teenager, she was genuinely frightened of her Father and the dawning that there was no support to be found from her Mother or even Nurse was horrifying. One standout moment for me was Ball’s face when he took Naghdi’s hand at the beginning of the balcony scene. As they walked forward he closed his eyes as if overcome with pure bliss and that made me catch my breath. I’m not sure whether he did that on the opening night, perhaps we needed the close up to see, but it was so special. Outstanding performances as ever from Saunders, Arestis and McNally. I thought Zuchetti’s Mercutio very much improved since opening night and Ella was terrific as Benvolio with such camaraderie between the three boys. Gary Avis as Tybalt blows me away every time I see him; he seems to add layer upon layer to the character with every performance so I’m delighted he has been filmed for posterity. The only performance I found slightly lacking acting-wise was Nicol Edmonds as Paris which was a shame. To be fair, I could be overly used to Hristov and Hirano in the role, both of whom really use their expressive faces, and others may have seen much more from Edmonds than I picked up last night. I only picked up one duff note from the brass last night; were they better in the ROH than they have been?

Yes, it would have been a struggle had Tring CBA been every Sunday as dancing all weekend, every weekend in term time can be exhausting if juggling lots of homework and music lessons. It was a really good combination of Associates for dd. Best of luck for Central. 👍

Isn’t Central every Saturday still? My dd used to do Central every Saturday and Tring CBA every other Sunday. It worked well when it came to juggling academics and dance. One thing to note is that quality is equally as (if not more so) important as quantity when it comes to local training. You could have 6 hours a week with an amazing local teacher who has a great record for getting students into full-time upper schools and that would be better (IMO) than 12 or 20 hours with an average teacher.

My dd does ballet and contemporary at Uni and just as when she was at associates (and briefly, FT training) she wears black footless tights *over* her leo. So she would say you are correct. 👍

Just a thought; Tutugirl may not want to identify her pupil.

As much as I adore Nuñez, she’s not a Juliet I would book for again; I just think there are other dancers much better suited to the role. However, to me, she is just wonderful as Manon, one of my absolute favourites. If you haven’t seen this, here’s a taster: https://youtu.be/pyAdb6xTel8

I bet the ROH website was easier to navigate in those days too. ☺️

None of the seats (except wheelchair spaces) are classified as accessible, Penelope - as an Access Member in receipt of disability benefits you get a slight discount on your ticket (along with a free carer/companion ticket in some cases), then you can either choose your own seats or the Access Team can suggest seats for you. I’ve been going long enough that I know which seats will be suitable for my particular disability so I try to choose my own. For instance, I know I can’t manage anywhere in the Amphi, any standing place, any tall loose seat and so on. That limits where I can sit (and means that the most comfortable seats for me are usually £££). Access Members can only use our discount (and bring a free carer) for one ballet and one opera per run - that’s the restriction. I can’t afford to pay for two full price Stalls Circle seats for my long-suffering ballet-fatigued husband to bring me to see more than one cast so I rely on the live streams so that I get to see my favourite ballets more than once.

Fair enough! ☺️ I love it and as I’m only allowed to book accessible tickets to one performance per run, I rely on the live streams as a way to see more than one cast in the MacMillan “big three”. I’d absolutely love to see Morera/Bonelli, Hayward/Campbell AND Cuthbertson/Ball but with no relay I’ll have to pick one and be satisfied.

No live stream of Manon this time? I am disappointed.

Perhaps we could get back on topic?

See I understood it as you could get a loan from SFE to “top up” your Level 6 Diploma to a BA (Hons). Is this not still the case? The other thing to remember about SFE loans for Degrees is that they are for the duration of the course plus one year (a “gift year”) thereby allowing you (in theory) to restart your course or a different degree after one year.

Having had a dancing daughter change path following a bad, career-preventing injury in term 1 of full-time 16+ training, I would either go for Elmhurst or A’Levels in your position. At Elmhurst you won’t be using any Degree funding in the form of a Student Finance loan, there is the option to do A Levels and IIRC the 6.1 students live in school accommodation. At least if it turns out that a dancing career is not going to happen for whatever reason, your dd will have A Levels behind her and still has the option to go to University and study something completely different. As Taxi says, if you don’t complete your dance degree for whatever reason and you don’t have A Levels behind you, changing path is much harder. Don’t worry about joining an existing group at Elmhurst, some of the Year 11s will be going into 6.1 but students from all over will also be joining. Graduate employment - always tricky! It depends upon so many things and the hard facts are that getting a contract in a classical company is very difficult, unless you’re at RBS. It’s not the only indicator of a good school though and things change in the whole industry from year to year. Going away from home at 16/17 is very hard if you’re not used to it so whichever option you choose, check out the reality of what pastoral care and facilities there are - house parents, hot meals available, healthcare and mental health support *onsite* that the students can and do access - all very important. Having to shop, cook, clean and do your own laundry after a 9-12 hour day can be way too much. If you choose A Levels followed by Rambert et al at 18, can your daughter still access sufficient good quality teaching and exercise so that her body is best prepared for the rigours of full-time training? Is it going to be possible to juggle this with full-time academics? Congratulations to your dd on a great set of offers, by the way!

Well, as I’m a Moderator I can safely say the answer from me is “no” and “no”. ☺️ I’m disabled and only have very limited reserves of both money and energy to spend on ballet, so I choose to support and watch dancers and companies who will put on (and perform beautifully) ballets I know I’m going to enjoy - and those who don’t repeatedly upset, anger and alienate me with highly offensive social media posts. I used to admire Polunin’s dancing so very much but not even his dancing is enough to make me want to give him my time or money these days.

Best of luck to all auditioning today! Hope all your dancing children enjoy the experience because that’s so important. A belated welcome to new members too. ☺️