Anna C

Ah, I assumed both were weekly. Once a month sounds much more feasible.

It would probably be possible on a good traffic day but whether it would be advisable is questionable. How long is each class/session? How strenuous are they? Is your dd used to dancing for that many hours during the day? Is she prone to injury? All these factors will make a difference to your decision. If your dd is physically very strong and resilient and the sessions aren’t too long then like meadowblythe I might be inclined to try it but as your dd is still young I think you could find it’s all a bit much. Good luck!

Yes but as already explained, Nutcracker is a repeat of the most recent DVD recording and it could be argued that Hayward is the actual “star”. Swan Lake is possibly because Cuthbertson was injured during rehearsals and wasn’t able to perform the role at all, in which case it’s only right that she should be given the live broadcast. If you search the ROH shop, Lamb appears to have at least as many DVD recordings as Cuthbertson, including both Manon and Mayerling. The only Female Principal of similar age and longevity in the company who has been (criminally, IMO) underused for cinema streams is Morera. I suspect that if we look back at Cinema casting over the 17 years Lauren has been with the company, she has been underused for a variety of reasons. It could also be that if she (hopefully) stays until 2022 the ROH and Opus Arte *may* release a collection of Cuthbertson DVDs as they have for Nuñez, so in theory they may be wanting to add Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty to this as the last Beauty to be recorded was Nuñez and Muntagirov. There’s been no news whatsoever on a Cuthbertson collection but it would be well deserved IMHO.

Thanks Richard. The Cinema link reminded me that Nuñez and Muntagirov have been given the Coppélia live stream so Cuthbertson hasn’t been given “all the big classics” - just Beauty and Swan Lake (which she didn’t even get to dance on stage last time).

To be fair, up until this Cinema season it has felt for a while as if the only people trusted with live streams have been Nuñez and Muntagirov. Nutcracker’s being repeated in the cinema because it isn’t being performed at the ROH this year - and to be fair, Clara gets much more dancing than Sugar Plum. As others have said, Cuthbertson has had terribly bad luck with serious injuries and illness. The only one I wish were being given to someone else is Sleeping Beauty, purely because Naghdi is absolutely sublime as Aurora and really should be recorded with Ball for cinema and DVD release.

When I searched Youtube for “sewing for beginners”, up came a load of videos on how to use a sewing machine. So I searched “Hand sewing for beginners” which might be more useful to your students! Here’s a nice one showing the basic stitches:

I am in complete agreement with almost all your words Floss, but there’s a difference between “mentioning” Polunin and posting Instagram photos of him with no top on to try and prove (completely unnecessarily) that he’s fit.

I love a bit of Bacharach and David. It’s rather more gentle than my current earworm - “A message to you, Rudy” by The Specials!

Alice Crawford, ex ENB, is the most wonderful nurturing teacher dd ever had. I’d recommend her in a heartbeat.

I feel I should gently remind people that as Moderators, we don’t have the luxury of cherry picking which threads and posts to read, or scrolling past. People don’t always remember to use the “Report” function so we do have to be omnipresent in a way to ensure that the rules, which ensure the continued running of this forum, are adhered to. Moderators are unpaid volunteers with lives and jobs outside this Forum. We’re a small team of people who love Ballet and want to ensure that Bruce’s, and later, John’s wonderful and tireless work in giving us a place to air all our opinions endures. Because we are unpaid volunteers, we Moderators have the right to express our own opinions and thoughts. BBB’s thoughts of an (in my opinion) utterly pointless photo of Polunin being posted here were valid and he is entitled to air those thoughts. Typing “yawn” is not against forum rules. Incidentally, the forum only has a suffix of “.com” because of the location of IPS, the server hosts. Like some other people, I will be very interested to hear about this production. What I am not interested in is die-hard fans trying to change my opinion of Polunin the *man*. There is a big difference and that’s what we mean when we say we are not a fan site. Finally, I often think this but rarely say it; if anyone here doesn’t like the rules, Moderators having a voice, or the way this forum is run, do feel free to volunteer to join us on the Moderating team.

I meant to add that perhaps next you could ask if you could watch/video the teacher supervising the exercises with a view to remembering them at home?

That sounds like a good idea. There used to be a Pilates dvd for young dancers but that was for teenagers and up and dd still uses it when she’s home from uni. I would think at 9 that just keeping active with swimming and other non-dance activities would be absolutely fine. ☺️ You could perhaps look at her doing a ballet summer school next year?

Nine is quite young for doing Pilates exercises unless these are taught in an age appropriate class by a qualified instructor or have been prescribed by a Physio. Strength and Flexibility exercises are usually taught at Associate classes where the children may be given exercises to do at home (supervised, of course). The reason Youtube and other videos are not advisable for children is that without a qualified teacher/Physio being in the room and hands-on, it’s impossible to tell 1. whether the child is using the correct muscles in the correct way and 2. if they are doing exercises specifically for their body. As an example, my dd used to join her classmates doing “stretching” and “warmup” before class until I found out what they were doing - sitting in “froggies” and other exercises designed to increase turnout and flexibility. Dd is hypermobile and already *had* flat turnout so all the exercises were doing was to stretch already lax joints instead of *strengthening* the muscles and ligaments needed to *hold* turnout. She needed completely different exercises to her stronger friends with less flexibility. So you can see that self-prescribing is not really beneficial until you and her teachers/Dance Physio know exactly what needs working on and how to do this safely. Is your dd an Associate?

Well I was very happy to nab my favourite seat for Morera and Bonelli in Manon ☺️ Thank you all very much for the input and interesting discussion!

Princess Diana also attended ENB’s Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall in 1997 so it could possibly be that.