Anna C

Just follow all the bunheads! :-)

Most funny of all to me are the parents of younger children who very smugly tell you that their child is auditioning/has a place at the Royal Ballet School when they are 8. I always say "oh, you mean JAs?" at which point they sort of mutter "yes". :-) I know what an achievement it is to get - and keep! - an associate place, so why some people feel the need to make it sound as if their child is off to WL at 8 is somewhat beyond me... On the subject of friends, most of the Mums at dd's Associate class are absolutely lovely. There are a couple of...erm....assertive mums but thankfully most of us are very normal!

There is a Costa just outside Farringdon station, a Starbucks just a little way past Farringdon (up Cowcross street) or several cafes along Hatton Garden. :-)

Typical! :-) Well we need to get the Blochs checked so will pop along later - I'll keep you posted!

Casting date is tuesday 19th June; rehearsal dates too numerous to remember! If I recall they start on 8th August. They are definitely sending letters out though; you should have one soon.

It depends which syllabus she's studying. Gone are the days of one or two exam boards - now there are AQA and a whole load of others, or so it seems! My dd is studying GCSE now and will take it in 2013 and her text book is this one: http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/9101117/AQA-GCSE-Dance/Product.html?searchstring=Gcse+dance&searchsource=0&searchtype=allproducts&urlrefer=search

Hmmm, good idea re. Bob - the only thing that worries me slightly is that I'm not entirely sure if dd's feet have stopped growing. It would be typical to order a pair and then her feet grow in the six weeks!

Yep, letter came yesterday - casting and all rehearsals are at Henry Floyd Grammar school again. :-)

I absolutely agree with hfbrew re. the fact that stretching and warming up is not a competition! Splits etc. should not be done until after a thorough barre session (IMO) so just ignore dancers showing off their flexibility. It's like the dance equivalent of the All-Blacks' Haka. :-)

Just heard from the Bloch Shop on Drury Lane that the wonderful Tiffany has left. :-(. I'm gutted because she was such a fantastic and thorough fitter, and spotted precisely why dd's Grishkos werewrong for her feet. Although Bloch say that all their staff are qualified fitters, I've noticed that other members of staff always checked with Tiffany. I know there are good fitters and not so good fitters in all shops, but we've been "bitten" once or twice by lazy fittings where a fitter just gave dd the next size up in the same model, despite the fact that her foot had changed along with the amount of pointework. Has anyone had a particularly good fitter recently that they can recommend?

Yep - whilst it's important to maintain flexibility, it's probably more beneficial for hypermobile children to do prescribed strengthening exercises while other children are working on exercises to improve their flexibility.

My dd does 6 classes a week plus piano, singing, and a shed load of homework Swe. I make sure she has one evening a week and Sundays free of dancing though. Her piano and singing lessons are 20 minute lessons during school time though so they don't eat into evenings. Could that be an option for your dd? Fortunately nobody has ever said to us that she's doing too much (well, not to my face!). But I do worry about her, especially as she's a naturally early riser. But if I suggest that she gives a class up, I get THE LOOK...... ;-)

My dd's teacher gave her a little sequence of exercises to do; starting with jogging gently on the spot, arm circles, neck and head rolls, etc. just gently warming up each part of the body. Then she had a back stretch to do (hands on the barre, feet in parallel, sort of arching, flattening and curving the back if that makes sense). Nowadays she does the exercises given to her by the dance physio before class but of course they are specific to her. Could your dd's teacher email her some ideas before tomorrow?

I think that partly depends on the orchestra and who's conducting - the difference in speed between Valery Gergiev conducting the orchestra of the Mariinsky in Nutcracker, and Barry Wordsworth conducting the ROH orchestra is amazing - Gergiev gallops through it as if he's late home for his dinner! :-)

No - got a link?

Yep, my dd has been told exactly the same. She has the flexibility to get her leg up to her ear in Grand Battements, but until recently wouldn't have had the strength to maintain a high developpe, for example. Now the teacher encourages her to keep the leg lower than feels natural, but at the same time she's developping the strength to match the flexibility. It's all very well to be able to get your leg into an unnatural position, but better IMHO to have the strength to protect those hypermobile joints.

Hi star, Can't help with LJB but I'm sure someone will be along soon who has experience - in the meantime, welcome! :-)

My dd has been having private lessons for about 3 years; the teacher suggested them. Over the years they've varied between being 1:1 or shared with one other pupil. They started as a means of learning the Inter Foundation syllabus which clashed first with Tring and then with dd's current Associates. Now that dd can attend both Grade 6 and Intermediate during the week, we use the privates to concentrate on pointework, extra exam work near exams, or whatever issue dd's having at the time with her hypermobility or growth spurt. At the moment they are working on dd's solo for the RAD Genee Dance challenge. Sometimes if money is too tight we only do a private every couple of weeks, but otherwise it's an hour once a week.

Oooh! Good tip! :-)

Where do you get Capulets from, Just Ballet? Somewhere local to you?

Yes, I'd go to the CAT audition too. :-)

Yep - you got it! :-)

Is Hammond an audition, or an Associate class? And is it possible to miss one Oliver rehearsal?

That's a real shame, isn't it? I know it's only on one of the products - the muscle gel, I think - but it's enough to put me off buying that particular product for my daughter. :-(

I agree with this. All feet are different, so all first shoes are different. I would say from dd's experience that a nice wide platform is handy for your first shoes - but only if it suits your feet! Plus feet really can change quite a lot during the course of learning pointe - my dd found that after a few months she needed a completely different shape of shoe.