Anna C

Yes! That was me. It's the old RAD Inter Foundation dvd; she looks to be about 11 or 12. :-)

My dd's friend got some from Bloch on Drury Lane a year or so ago. :-)

You start one with the questions, and we'll provide the answers! :-))

Can I add an H for Hairnets and pins? :-) I find hairnets so much easier than bun nets when doing buns. Because the hairnets are bigger, you can spread them out to get a flatter bun, even wrapped around 2 or 3 times. When I used to use bun nets they were that much smaller and you ended up with more of a doorknob bun. Likewise I love the big Bunheads hairpins as you only need a few for a really secure bun, no matter how much hair you're dealing with. :-)

I dislike that particular exercise up against the barre. It always looks to me like what Anjuli once called "a no rescue" stretch (or something like that; apologies if I've misquoted you Anjuli! :-)

I didn't think any splits type exercises should be done until after a full warm up. When the teacher is there they do the splits (on the floor) after a full warm up and at least 45 minutes barre work.

Sorry Angela, I was clarifying while you were typing!

Sorry, I should have clarified that it's being done unsupervised by 13 year olds BEFORE any warm up Primrose; that's what worries me. :-)

Thank you, because you've reminded me that I lent my niece my beloved and very battered copy of Pride and Prejudice. I'm dreadful for having several books on the go at once. At the moment I'm reading a biography of Margot Fonteyn, but I also have Colin Dexter's "The riddle of the third mile" and a book on London's Disused Underground stations on the go. And I'm always dipping in and out of "The Ballet Companion". I agree about the beauty of Waddesdon - one of our favourite NT houses. :-)

Zenaida Yanowsky reportedly has size 7 (uk size) feet. Hasn't seemed to do her much harm. :-)

Never seen that one before! A couple of the girls in my dd's Associate class do a stretch at the barre before the teacher arrives for class. They place one foot onto the barre but then slide the supporting leg away from under them, to simulate splits. I was absolutely horrified at them doing this and have banned my dd from ever trying this, on pain of death (explaining what would happen if the supporting foot slipped).

From what I understood from the CAT open day at The Place, the CATs which are Contemporary focussed do include a compulsory ballet class, but depending on what level your dd is at in ballet, the class may be easier than her current level. Conversely, there are children on CAT schemes who are asked to do more ballet classes as part of their personalised training scheme. We have a pupil at dd's local scheme who is a gifted contemporary dancer but who wasn't taking any ballet classes, so has to take one ballet class a week locally.

Thanks Anjuli, that was a really interesting article. I never think we hear enough from or about artists of the corps. I remember asking ENB once if we could have biographies of the Artists of the Company on the website. I want to know where everyone trained and more info about all the dancers in a company, not just some of them.

You are spot on with regards to "everything in moderation". I learned, years and years ago, that I often really want something sweet after lunch or dinner, but that if I literally had one chocolate, or two squares max, that was sufficient. I also had to learn to realise when I had had enough and that leaving food because you're full is not a waste. I haven't been able to exercise in the conventional sense for years because of my spinal injuries and nerve damage. So I don't have a big appetite because I can't burn it off. I am overweight but not obese but the main thing for me is that I eat healthily all the time, so lost some weight since my last surgery but now my weight has stayed the same for over 2 years. Our food is mostly organic, with as few preservatives and artificial additives as possible, and we all eat a lot of fruit and veg, fibre, and have a really balanced diet. But once every couple of months we have Burger King. In the house are funsized twix or tiny snack bags of maltesers, which usually last us ages. I've been trying to educate dd that dieting and then going back to "normal" leads to yoyo dieting and is not good for you. For her it's a case of eating enough good, healthy, low-mid GI food to fuel her dancing, but not forbidding occasional junky meals or funsized sweets after meals. At the moment she has a very balanced attitude to food - eating enough to fuel the exercise, but maintaining a slim but healthy weight. Fingers crossed we can keep it that way! But I do think that if she were away at school she probably wouldn't make those choices for herself. Until dancers are old enough to do so, I think the schools should be guiding them.

Yes, I agree with the house selling part. You have to draw the line somewhere and I'm always mindful of how much pressure that would put on the child in question to suceed, not get injured, or merely not want to dance any more. But in terms of deciding to scrimp and save and as parents, go without luxuries, in order to give your child/ren opportunities - then that is up to individual families, as is the choice of how long to support your children. That's a different issue to selling the home and risking the whole family's security. I always think of my young cousin - an exceptionally handsome young man, with drive and determination in abundance. He wants to act. My Aunt and Uncle have supported him through his degree and then an MA, and now he's starting to get acting jobs which he tops up with modelling work. They say that they can afford to support him and he lives at home, because his earnings aren't steady enough to get a mortgage. They are letting him pursue his dream and if I were them I would do the same.

Welcome to the forum, El Ingles. :-)

Can't help but bumping the thread so it doesn't get lost. :-)

You put that perfectly Anjuli. :-) Horses for courses, was what I was about to say. Each family makes the choices they want to, to suit themselves and what they think is best for their child(ren). I suspect my brother thinks we spend too much on my dd, whereas in many ways I don't think he's invested enough time and money into his daughters. But that's his choice! His family, his choice. It took years of treatment for us to have our dd, and we couldn't have any more. I love being able to give her every opportunity we can, even if it means me going without for a few years. But that's our choice! I wouldn't knock anyone for doing things differently. I certainly don't expect payback from my dd. Ever. She owes me nothing. She's not spoilt in the least; she never demands anything and she knows there are limits to what we can afford. Incidentally, she's fortunate in that she's managing to give her all to her studies AND ballet at the moment because she's bright and driven. I keep an eye on her though. And she has several friends who she's kept in touch with from EYB, Associates and holiday courses. :-) There's never only one way to live. Each to their own.

Thanks Spooky. Yes, she did that with tap; skipped the G2 exam and then went straight to G5 class. She would actually like to take her G5 Modern exam though as she enjoys doing the exams. Strange girl! :-)

It didn't bother me. :-) Does anyone know if there are (or will be) any photos of last night's cast with Yuhui Choe as Lise?

Oooh! Didn't know that, IP! Very interesting....may have to investigate that. I think they're holding off the G5 exam purely because of the maturity required for G6. I think you're right in thinking that the G5 work is age appropriate. I think I'd rather she took her G5 and then had a break before starting G6, rather than keep on going over and over the G5 work.

I'd let her take it this summer, but obviously the school have to be happy to enter her. I'm trying to avoid Christmas exams after her disasterously timed illness at Christmas when she took her I.F. Ballet....so will ask about October-ish, assuming they have an ISTD exam session then.

Could be! I think the Grade 6 is probably a bigger step up in terms of maturity than Grade 5 is, from what I've seen of the G5 work. Thank you so much everyone. :-)

Hi DavidW - a very warm welcome to the forum! :-))

Thanks Elliepops! :-) Taxi, I have a nasty feeling our school doesn't do ISTD Inter Foundation Modern, choosing instead to go from Grade 6 to Intermediate. I've never seen it on the timetable and a while back when I was asking the teacher about Modern grades, she said that they do Inter after G6.