Anna C

I would think the first thing Anna-Rose would do is some fouettés en pointe in class or rehearsal, just to “get back on the horse”, as it were.  It must be horrible having a fall onstage, but it’s not the first and it certainly won’t be the last.  Remember when there was an issue with the main stage floor some years back, and the poor dancers were slipping as a regular occurrence?  

There could have been any number of reasons why Anna-Rose fell; a pointe shoe problem, an ankle suddenly giving way, nerves, a problem with the floor, we’ll probably never know.  I remember Matthew Ball running onstage at his debut as the Prince in Sleeping Beauty and going absolutely flying - but I choose to remember the rest of his wonderful performance (and the many more since).  

1 hour ago, DVDfan said:

Not sure if this is any use to a dedicated dancer, but in my experience athlete's foot loves warmth and damp, and hates fresh air. Creams won't shift it but going bare foot or in cotton sports socks (the kind that looks like towelling) will.  Also, wear sandals instead of shoes whenever you can.

Just a thought.

Agree, and antifungal powder/powder spray between the toes tends to keep the skin drier than cream.  I agree that getting it checked to make sure it’s not a soft corn is sensible.

Michelle, if you have more than one pointe class in one day, are your shoes having the time to dry out properly between sessions?

15 hours ago, Pas de Quatre said:

Sadly, this is a bit of a fudge as I understood that historically only those RBS students who secured a contract were allowed to graduate. Now we have the new scheme where 2nd year students have to re-audition for the third year of their degree course. Central used to do this too, does anyone know if this is still the case? This leaves students in an impossible position, how can they finish their degree, and they can't start a new degree course either as they have used two years of funding out of a permitted four.

If a student finishes second year with a Foundation Degree, it’s my understanding that they can get student finance for a third, “top up” year, so they can complete their BA.  If they leave on medical grounds then - with sufficient proof from medical professionals, and in a certain timeframe (first year, maybe, but don’t quote me on that), SFE can re-finance the student under “exceptional circumstances” so they can start a different course.  

I still disagree with having to reaudition for 3rd Year/6.3, but unfortunately it seems to be a fairly common occurrence in UK schools.

Definitely recommend maximum Physio cover with private insurance, @MumtoEm.  Does the school have its own Physio onsite, or a Physio linked to the school?  If so, it would be worth checking with your chosen Insurance provider that the Physio’s fees is in line with what the insurance company will pay.  Also how many sessions per condition or per year.  

I would also make sure that you get cover for MRIs, CT scans and other potentially expensive diagnostic tests and scans.  

39 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

 

There's a handful of returns for 4th on the website at the moment (I'm checking the SL tickets page every so often because I'm after a ticket for another date) so it is still possible to get tickets if anyone's desparate to go. That is, of course, assuming those who may be desparate to see his last have found out about it, as there's still no sign of an email from the ROH about Month.

I certainly am desperate but can’t afford an extra Swan Lake - and can’t now go on Friday. 😔

11 minutes ago, dancefanatic said:

And yes, So Danca do make pointe shoes (for the US market definitely!) and have for a while but I just can't find a stockist in the UK online!

If anyone in London does do them, it’s likely to be Dancia on Drury Lane.  👍🏻

Firstly, I don’t know that So Dança even make pointe shoes?  I can only find flats and jazz shoes on their UK website.

Secondly, I can’t find any evidence to suggest whether Nikolay Grishko is a Putin sympathiser, or that boycotting Grishko shoes on ethical grounds will hurt anyone except the people in the factories (Moscow, the Czech Republic or China, depending where UK shoes come from), the distributors and the stockists.  

I know Dancia in London, Leanne at Straight to the Pointe and Just Ballet all stock Grishko.  If you really can’t get hold of your daughter’s model then I’d take a trip to London to try other makes at Dancia, Bloch (across the road) or Freed at St Martin’s Lane. 

1 minute ago, AnticaFiamma said:

Honestly tho, his eyes looks different in all his pics! i've been scrolling through twitter and insta and still can't say if they're brown, grey or what. I'd say green?

Green/hazel/brown - blue is the only colour they’re definitely not!

22 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Well I saw James Hay  in Nutcracker from the front row of stalls and I could swear they were a sort of dark blue colour defo not brown but of course am happy to be corrected if wrong!!! 
That was about four years ago now I don’t suppose they’ve changed colour since have they 🤔 

Sorry Bridie have just done a longish walk to get the train back to Brighton so am bit in frivolous mode. I hope Hay is dancing Benno on Friday but probably not as a bit close. 
 

Anyone going tonight leave in PLENTY of time as traffic is horrendous and buses mostly very full which is why I just walked. 

35 minutes ago, Sim said:

If you are referring to James Hay, his eyes are definitely brown. 

 

In several of James’s Instagram posts, his eyes look green to me - perhaps his eyes are like my daughter’s, which change colour depending on the light. 🤔

Don’t discount Central, lay_enpointe; I’m not sure why you thought it wasn’t for you but during my daughter’s 5 years as a Central Prep/Pre-Senior, both the ballet and contemporary training were excellent. 

Hi Iris and welcome.  Post-graduate programmes I can think of off the top of my head are:

Northern Ballet:  https://northernballet.com/academy/professional-training/professional-graduate--programme

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland:  https://www.rcs.ac.uk/courses/professional-graduate-diploma-modern-ballet/

Ballet Cymru:  https://welshballet.co.uk/take-part/pre-professional-programme/

London Studio Centre:  https://www.londonstudiocentre.org/course/ma-dance-performance/

and (more Contemporary) Rambert:  https://www.rambertschool.org.uk/courses/postgraduate-courses/ma-degree-rambert2/

There are bound to be more, but these are the ones I know of.

On 25/02/2022 at 17:52, Sim said:

It has just been announced by the RB that Federico will not now be dancing in Month on April 30th.  This is soooo disappointing but I am very glad and grateful that I have tickets to his final show with the RB, which will be Swan Lake on March 4th.  He will be dancing in the special NHS programme on March 19th but I don't think that's for public booking.

 

So sad we won't be seeing him in Month.  😢

I am absolutely gutted. 💔  I don’t have tickets for 4th March and was so glad to get tickets for 30th April, which would have been a fitting final performance, especially given the wonderful Morera/Bonelli partnership.  

I have to say I’m also cross that this wasn’t announced before general booking and that no email has gone out.  

All good advice.  All I’d add is that if the school enters students for ballet vocational exams (e.g. Intermediate, Advanced 1) then pointe work will automatically be part of these classes, so although it might not be mentioned separately, it doesn’t mean they don’t do pointe.

Putting on a show shouldn’t mean nobody does exams in “show year”, so I would query if that’s the case.  RAD/ISTD run several exam sessions a year and pupils should be entered for an exam when they are ready, not have to wait a year because it’s show year.  

Ballet training underpins all training at good full time dance/musical theatre courses and if your dd is considering teaching, then RAD/ISTD Intermediate (or equivalent) is a requirement for most teaching courses.  

If you haven’t already done so, the first thing I would do is talk to your dd’s teachers though about her potential, and how they can help her meet her goals.

13 hours ago, Pointytoes said:

Talent will take them where they need to be and I doubt artistic directors  wade their way  through the news of how many recalls and offers any child has.

I agree.  I’m pretty sure ADs and selection panels don’t have the time to go trawling through Instagram to see if a candidate is flexible enough to do contortionist poses and overstretching.  They use application photos (none of which are tilts/extreme stretches) as an aide-memoir and look at how the candidates dance at audition.  

I think you’re being very considered, Millicent.  If it’s registered to you and only on your phone, then yes, you’d put your age.  I still question the need to even look at Instagram in Year 5 - children’s school friends always have something that our children don’t! I used to sympathise with dd and say I could see why she wanted something “all her friends” had (this ranged from a limo to the year 6 leavers’ disco 😳 to an iphone, then a social media account before 13) but that it wasn’t something we would be doing and that I was quite happy for her to use “boring/strict Mum and Dad won’t let me” as an excuse.  

There is plenty of time to get social media and in the meantime, if you decide not to get it just yet, you can still teach her about safety online by looking at sites like this:  https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk

What you said about “showing off” struck me, because I always had a horror of “showing off” and even though it certainly my intention, the message got lost in translation, and got through to my dd’s anxious brain that performing with confidence equated to “showing off”.  Looking back, I wish I’d either not mentioned it, or worded it differently so dd understood from a young age the difference between someone hogging the stage/pushing one’s way to the front of every dance and performing confidently, instead of tentatively.   As a parent, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with celebrating your child’s achievements, posting a lovely photo of them dancing, and so on.  That’s not “showing off”. 😊 Nor is it showing off to celebrate our own achievements and efforts.  It’s all about finding a balance, isn’t it - and understanding why we are posting; is it to share something we’re happy about/proud of, or is it for validation and “likes”?  

Lots to think about. 

Instagram requires children to be at least 13 years old before they can have their own account.  I have never thought allowing my daughter to lie about her age in order to have SM before 13 is a good example to set as a parent, to be honest.  Like Neverdancedjustamum I think 13 is too young for Instagram (and Tiktok).  Dd was allowed to create a private Facebook account at 13 but on the proviso that she was “friends” with me, and that she only used it on our main PC where we could walk past from time to time.  We also went through the “Think u know” pages on CEOP together as she reached each age, and she’s never encountered any trouble online.  She now rarely uses social media because she can recognise how it plays into her insecurities.

All Social Media comes with inherent risk; not just from a safety and security point of view, but also, with ballet and dance in particular, the risk of developing body image issues, eating disorders, and injury by over-stretching to copy other people they see.  If you haven’t already watched it, the documentary “The Social Dilemma” is an absolute eye opener.   Even I was shocked.

Well, thank goodness for that; the loveliest person (Rocco, apparently) answered the phone and was able to grab my tickets as I released them, then book them for me at the access rate.  So all being well, I’ll be able to see my beloved Bonelli in his last scheduled performance at the ROH (still hoping for a guest spot as Onegin in future). 🤞🏻

1 minute ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

I would - in my experience they're pretty flexible about that kind of thing and they know there are problems.

A very nice man has answered. 👏🏻👏🏻 I’ve released my tickets and we think he’s grabbed them for me. 😂 Stressful!

Well, this is fun. Even though I’m signed in, my Access membership isn’t showing up on the booking pages, so it’s not giving me my companion seat.  On hold but not hopeful of the phone being answered before I lose my tickets. 

Do I check out at full price then ask for a refund? Seems best but I’m not best pleased.

2 hours ago, Medora said:

To the poster who was asking how to assess turnout: from a lay perspective if your child is comfortable in a frog stretch and if their knees lay flat on the floor (without pushing the knees down, just with the help of gravity) in a butterfly stretch then I’d say they have decent turnout. Whether it’s perfectly even is not crucial until they are older and audition for vocational school.

 

Does this make sense? Everyone else, would you agree?

Absolutely; “froggies” is used quite often in audition classes to see what level of turnout children have.  However, what it doesn’t measure is whether a dancer has the strength to *hold* turnout and work in active turnout (“froggies” being a passive exercise). 

This is a very old thread but a useful discussion on turnout, and explains passive and active turnout:  https://www.balletcoforum.com/topic/1905-different-ways-of-measuring-turnout/

Absolutely heartbreaking.  This afternoon’s free dance/long programme was very difficult to watch.  I thought Robin Cousins was kind; he showed compassion for Valieva and was mindful that she’s only 15, which a lot of other people seem to have forgotten.  

I just hope that the IOC and the ISU see today as a wakeup call and remember that the person at the centre of this controversy is a 15 year old who has been exploited at best, abused at worst.  

Yes, she has swayback knees, @Elz - these look nice (they’re particularly desirable in Russia) but as your dd progresses in ballet, it would be helpful if she can learn not to “sit back” into her knees.  This is going to feel odd to her because for her, straight knees will feel as if they’re really bent, but it will benefit her knees in the long run.  

If her other joints are like this then she will undoubtedly have the turnout and flexibility for ballet, but what she might need to work hard on is the muscle strength to support the flexible joints and hold her turnout/pointed feet when actually dancing.

I agree that it’s definitely worth her trying; the earlier children get used to the idea of auditions as a fun day out and a lovely ballet class, the better.  If the Royal Ballet School are still doing “JA for a day” or similar experiences, that might be well worth looking at.  And as people have said, if she isn’t successful as a JA first time round, there are other great Associate schemes - and it’s always worth trying a year later too.

In better news, I finally caught up with the Ice Dance free programme yesterday and it was terrific.  Great to see Gabrielle Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron win Gold, especially after their upsetting wardrobe malfunction in the short programme at Pyeong Chang in 2018.  Really super performances from the top 10. 

On 11/02/2022 at 16:15, FionaE said:

The mental toll on Valieva right now must be unimaginable.  I am so sorry for her.  I’d like to believe she is a victim in this situation.  The whole thing is just too awful. 

At fifteen, there’s no question in my mind that Valieva is the victim, and the fact that she’s been met with “stony faces” from other competitors (according to Robin Cousins) saddens me immensely.  Poor child. 

The most ridiculous part of all this is that no drug in the world can give someone the talent, grace and artistry that Valieva has in abundance; quad or no quad, she is still technically brilliant but also streets ahead of her competitors in terms of presentation, finishing every element and move with beautiful balletic hands and gorgeous lines.  So the only possible motive for (allegedly) doping her is to get her to train for longer, which is in itself exploitative.

I would like some good to come out of this whole sorry mess; the IOC needs to decide with some urgency whether a lower age limit is needed (personally I think the Olympics and Worlds should be for 18 and over), the ISU needs to do the same, and all children and teenagers in national and international elite sport should be protected from exploitation and abuse.  

It’s not just Valieva’s entourage at fault here, changes need to be made in all areas, and all those responsible should be dealt with swiftly.  It’s all an unholy mess, unfair on the clean athletes of all nations, unfair on the medallists, but most of all, a terrible amount of pressure and focus on (and no doubt, a hefty amount of victim blaming from some quarters) a young teenager, which in my opinion is unacceptable.