Anna C

Oh goodness! Poor thing! Wishing him a very speedy recovery. xxx

That's really encouraging, Ribbons. I liked the photos of "Ballo" as the costumes highlighted the variety of shapes and sizes in the RB.

To me, any art form - just like religion - is completely personal, and what one person loves, another finds loathsome. I like my ballet to be graceful, elegant, exciting where necessary, attractive to look at, and with music that evokes an emotional response in me. I prefer narrative pieces. I don't like "gymnastic" ballet; if I want a gymnastics floor routine then I will watch gymnastics. You would probably have to pay me (or at the very least give me a free ticket) to sit through 2 hours of Wayne McGregor's choreography. In many people's eyes I am probably a complete philistine, but it's horses for courses! I like what I like. That is the beauty of art. I can see where Anjuli is coming from, because FOR ME, Wayne McGregor's pieces are Contemporary and not my idea of ballet, and FOR ME, some aspects of ballet are too gymnastic and are losing their beauty. Fortunately, many many people disagree with me, and would rather poke sharp sticks in their eyes than watch "Nutcracker" or "La Fille". Let's not knock each other for having free will to like and dislike aspects of ballet; after all, that's the beauty of personal taste.

Yep, me too. Once casting is done, then drop her an email, and yes - I see no reason not to be honest about the reason. :-)

In my experience Miss Lewis is fine if it's a one off for illness, prior commitments, or a special occasion. It's when children have to miss several rehearsals that they get cross. I'm sure she'll understand completely if it's one day, particularly for Olympics tickets which had to be booked a long time before you knew about EYB. :-)

Hi Lula-Belle, Thanks for posting! And welcome to the forum. :-)

Yes, I would always get softblocks fitted just like pointe shoes. I only ever even bought soft slippers onine once because dd needed another pair exactly the same as the ones she already had. Every other time I've taken her to have those fitted too.

I hate those stairs! Impossible on crutches! :-(

Definitely. My dd was doing Ballet at 8 and had just started Modern, but she was also swimming and doing Brownies and piano lessons. And having fun at everything! :-)

Capezio do student discount too. I've only ever bought dancewear in there though, never shoes.

Oh pants, I didn't know that! It's not that they're unhelpful as such, more uninterested in their products, which is a shame. Dd's got a lovely leotard from there and a skirt, and they are really lovely quality. But sometimes the staff make you feel as if you're interrupting their chat (or their chip eating!) and once when we needed some Sansha split soles, they just gave me the shoes and walked back upstairs, so I had to try to fit them for dd! So you can imagine that it wouldn't give me a lot of confidence in their pointe shoe fitting. :-)

Bless her, what a good girl. Glad she had a good time. :-)

The leotards and skirts are nice in Sansha but you do just have to sort yourself out! Re. Softblochs, I've been told to get Freed or Bloch. :-)

Sounds like a good idea. My dd had to jump from a grade 2 tap class to Grade 5 after a year's break, as Grade 3 and 4 clash with Associate classes. She found the jump quite difficult as she'd missed a lot. She's fine now but the tap isn't coming as easily as Modern and Ballet. If your dd didn't enjoy the move then there's no point dancing if you're not enjoying it - I'd definitely ask if she can move back to the Inter class. My dd has never been the same Grade at Ballet, tap and Modern; she's always one or two Grades ahead in ballet but it's never a problem.

If she still likes the actual dancing in jazz and tap, I'd ask if she could just move back to Inter class. Grade 3 ballet is still classed as Juniors at our school so it seems a little young to be moving up to Seniors in any case.

Definitely get her checked by the school physio then, firstly for reassurance that she's using the leg muscles equally, and secondly to see if the problem is just being caused by something temporary. :-)

Why did she have to move, grumpybearz? Our school has people in all different classes, i.e. if you progress in ballet you don't have to move up in tap or Modern. Was she missing her friends in tap and jazz? My dd does Modern as a contrast to ballet; it's nice and relaxing for her. She does tap for fun but only one class a week and will probably take a break from it once she's done her exam. I think it's a good idea to have done some tap, particularly if a student may choose the Musical Theatre route at a later date. Jazz is also good for versatility, but there's nothing wrong with taking a break from it for a while. I know Tring has a Modern/Jazz element to its auditions for the dance course, but Elmhurst didn't and I'm assuming the RBS auditions are purely ballet based. Could you ask the school if your dd could move back to junior tap and jazz?

Definitely. My very slim dd thinks she has "fat thighs". :-/

Tulip, she couldn't be having a growth spurt, could she? My dd has had a massive growth spurt this year and each time she's grown, it's been slightly uneven so for a while one of her legs has been longer than the other. This has made it difficult to close into 5th at times without wanting to bend one of her legs. The dance physio says it's temporary and will pass, but it's a tricky time. I'm just wondering if that could be part of the problem? WRT muscles, again, it might be worth getting a dance physio to check that she's not overusing her quads or underusing other muscles. If all is fine, then it sounds as if she's just feeling insecure about her body - sadly ridiculously common! But as much as we as parents can try to reassure our children, often it only sinks in when they get reassurance from someone unrelated to them. :-)

Our teacher discourages split soles for most students until after Inter Foundation, unless they've got particularly strong feet. She advises on an individual basis though.

Never tried them, partly because 9 times out of 10 the staff in the Sansha shop on Drury Lane seem totally uninterested in customers!

Well, all fine in Bloch today (it was empty downstairs!) - the creaking pointe shoes are almost dead (hence the creaking) but dd's feet haven't grown or changed, so she ended up with a new pair of the same shoes. They looked fine though and the fitter was happy with them, as was dd. So I can't judge the fitting very much...will see what happens next time. I did find out where Tiffany has gone though - apparently she's joined New English Ballet Theatre! Happy for her but sad for us. :-)

Aren't we nosey! :-D

I'd love to see Ballo/Sylphide, but in between paying for EYB and the dance physio's fees plus dd's school trip to France, I'm beyond skint. :-((

Ooh, I want to know too! :-)