Sue Brett

Re the British theme - can they dance in wellies! LOL, Only thing that seems appropriate this summer.

Here are some thoughts on Friday evening’s performance. Grand Tour was a nice bit of stylised frippery and shows the enduring allure of the Jazz Age. Was it just my ignorance or would anyone else have minded some kind of briefing on the characters? Noel Coward and GB Shaw are recognisable caricatures, yes and Joseph Caley was surprisingly convincing as Douglas Fairbanks. But who was Theda Bara, what was Gertrude Lawrence famous for… and which was which? The programme could have helped more. As for the dancing – sometimes it seemed there was more smoking and posing than actual dancing, though we did enjoy a comic turn from Jade Heusen as the American Lady. She is young for that role and did really well. Also flying the flag for ex-Elms was Lewis Turner who, with Laura-Jane Gibson did a great turn as the Italian stowaways, best fun of the lot – a G&S operetta turn with dance! I was just thinking how the female ballet figure is suited to those twenties dresses, when the next part of the show revealed dramatically what those figures are. The crop tops for the girls show such amazing athletic figures, lean and muscled. It was fun to see the different sports zoom through – fencing, basketball and synchro swimming. Ambro Valla as high jumper turned gymnast was an extraordinary turn. I thought the ‘injured’ athletes pas de deux was just a fraction too long. But opening and closing sections were dazzling in their speed and inventiveness. I’d like a stop motion video to see it all properly. Fantastic – would love to see that at the Olympics opening ceremony, or anytime really. Another grumble with the programme - it would have been nice to know who was playing which 'part' and give them some credit. The ‘Dream’ was another fine piece. What a great role for a man is Puck - here danced with virtuosity by Mathias Dingman - and what a demanding but hilarious role is Bottom, on pointe, too. On Friday it was Jonathan Caguioa, also a dashing steward in Grand Tour. However... Nao Sakuma and Chi Cao looked fine and as Titania and Oberon. She maintained her presence but by the end I felt there was just the slightest hint of going through the motions for both of them. Hmm, maybe it had just been a long day. This was certainly a full evening’s entertainment, great value and variety, and I can’t believe that it is it, all over and barely a review in the papers. Especially given the work that must have gone into Faster – here today and gone tomorrow! I see that the show will be turned into Autumn celebration for a few days in London in October. I wonder if we will see Faster much in the future, or it if is all too closely connected with this one big event year. I hope not.

I don't see why students shouldnt keep auditioning if they feel they can do better elsewhere. Why not - see what the competition is like and how they compare. They'll probably come up against it somewhere along the line! It's not such a bad thing for the schools to know either. I think if I ran a school I would want to know about it if a lot of my students were auditioning elsewhere - maybe there could be some improvements that could be made. As Taxi4B says there are lots of reasons for trying elsewhere and for some it can be geographic location as much as anything.

Yes there are a lot of orthodontist appointments around the time of the WL auditions! Can't believe the schools are not aware of it.

I think many vocational school students like to keep in touch with their 'home' ballet school and teachers and will have lessons in the holidays largely to maintain contact with a teacher who supported them in their initial journey or even encouraged them to audition. It's a good way of showing how they have progressed. But for many it is also a good chance for some one-on-one and to get some attention. Some vocational school classes are very big - around 18 girls. It is such a competitive atmosphere and a private lesson is a good chance to work on one particular aspect they may feel will help them keep up when they go back to school.

The original question is which school is considered to be the best (not which IS the best - as we can see that's a matter of opinion!). So it is about reputation and which is the best-known 'brand'. That must be RBS by long way. Ask anyone in the street to name a ballet school and I bet all they would come up with is the Royal Ballet School, unless they happened to live local to one of the others. Elmhurst has a much, much higher status within, say, this forum, than it does in the outside world. I really think it is ready for a big blitz on Elmhurst's PR and profile-raising. I think I would start with a name change to the Birmingham Royal Ballet School....

I remember being told by Elmhurst that it is one of only two ballet schools in the country dedicated to classical ballet - the other being RBS. So they are in a slightly different category to start with, as Tring and Hammond offer a wider range of courses. I would say also look at the direction of traffic. Students at Elmhurst audition to try to get into RBS (talking 11-16 here) every year. Most would see it as being in a higher rank. On the other hand, students from RBS seem only go to Elmhurst when they are assessed out. I've heard of students assessed out of Elmhurst going to Hammond and Tring, and some who have auditioned from Hammond and Tring to move to Elmhurst. I think this backs up Sodor's league table, though there may be fiercer debate about places 3 and 4. However this is a reflection of the reputation, not necessarily the quality of the teaching, or the opportunities to perform.

I notice a lot of empty seats too - so I wonder if they might think touring would pay off. Such a shame. Circle half empty - with David Bintley himself sitting two rows behind us! Also sitting in the next row was Max Westwell who had such a short stay with the company last year. Sue S - I thought it interesting you saw two casts but only described one. Did you think that was the better one?

Absolutely - what a gem, and what Englishness, or should it be Wessex-ness, conveyed in the design, the music and the dancing. It had all the elements of a great night at BRB - passion, pathos, humour. I love BRB! Their spirit and enjoyment of their work always shines through, and this is a superb work for them. I can't imagine another company performing this so well. Elisha Willis's light-as-air girlishness in the opening scenes, hair flying, was wonderful to watch, as was the deepening of her character as the performance progressed - a wonderful and challenging role. Agree totally with the praise for Iain Mackay. Those of us who can remember the film will never forget the swordplay wooing with Terence Stamp and Julie Christie but this surpassed it. The score is breathtakingly good and very clever. I don't think I have been awed by a score like that on first listening before. As I understand the composer died just as he completed it - what a loss. A revelation and a night of utter enjoyment. Looking forward to a Summer Celebration!