trog

I often feel exactly the same - in most productions, Romeo and Juliet spend far too long dying. Mercutio is even worse - I regulary think that he should just kark it so the story can move on.

On the Brum local news last night, the BRB were featured, including a fab interview with Tom Rogers. Unfortunately, I can't find it However there is an article on the ITV website http://www.itv.com/news/central/2015-10-08/25-years-of-the-birmingham-royal-ballet-in-numbers/ about the company.

On the BRB website The memory I cherish most from 25 years of Birmingham Royal Ballet is… including a memory of mine! Fame at last!!

Over the weekend, here in Brum was the Birmingham Weekender, a weekend of free outdoor performance, art and entertainment across the city centre. The highlight was clearly the BRB performing the pdd from Swan Lake in the Bullring. I've found a little video of it on youtube. I think it was filmed by the person standing behind me. There are also some pictures in the gallery of this news story on the Birmingham Mail website. Luckily they are near the front so you can avoid the boring rugby pictures. More pix on the BRBs twitter Sadly I can't find a video of the Flash Flock, the flash mob style Swan Lake. The idea was you learned the steps from this video on the BRB's website and joined in. Pix on the BRBs facebook

There is a Saturday class at http://www.nicholsonschoolofdance.com/ in Digbeth. I know some people who go, and they say it's very good. The studios are gorgeous - I do a different class there.

I checked though my old programs last night and Ballet Cymru's "ladders" R&J used the Berloz score. It was on CD, of course.

Ballet Cymru actually have done two different R&Js. The first one (which I prefer) had ladders as the set and these became the balcony, the bed, Father Lawerence's cell, etc. This one had a backdrop which looked like a tie-dyed cloth. From memory, it didn't use the Prokofiev score. The new one, has a proper balcony, a proper bed and they use projected sets. It also uses the familiar score. The company have only ever had a handful of dancers. My favourite R&J is http://www.rnzb.org.nz/about/repertoire/romeo-juliet/

A few years ago, the BRB were doing one of their jazz ballets (I can't remember which one) and one of their dancers was "sneaking" into the contempary class at the DanceXchange, presumably to give him a feel for a less strict dance style. Sadly, the ballet class that I do runs at the same time, so I couldn't watch him through the window. I sure that he would have been superb; he certainly was on stage. Many modern ballets are incorporating none ballet techniques. I think the more styles of dance you are exposed to the better. Of course, you must not spread yourself too thinly.

Depending on what you have, I would be interested in the ballet ones. Obviously, I'm not interested if I already have them, but they only way we can tell that is via a list.

The BRB has Twyla Tharp's "In The Upper Room" (which I detest) and Jessica Lang's "Lyric Pieces" (which I love) which I think the company commissioned. It was commissioned for the 2012 Birmingham International Dance Festival. They have also performed some short pieces choreographed by the dancers (both genders).

I saw La Bayadere this afternoon. There was a major boo-boo when the snake jumped out of the flowers and landed on the stage, leaving Nikiya being bitten by a secondary invisible snake. Mary describes the same thing above. I haven't seen Kolesnikova since she last came to Birmingham in 2009 and I haven't seen her in Bayadere since 2005. She's prety much as I remember, beautiful to watch but sometimes seems to be holding back a bit. Natalia Matsak was stunning as Gazmatti. I'd like to see more of her. I think Bayadere has some wonderful scenes - the Golden Idol, the Shades, Solar & Gazmatti pdd and the grand pdd, but I think it's a fairly weak ballet over all. The Kirov production that I saw has this and perhaps the Bolshoi one did too.

We miss you too Kate

If you can't make Mondays or Wednesdays at the DX, (which sadly I can't), there is a class running on Thursdays behind St Chads. PM me for details. I'm looking forward to the DX returning to normal in September.

Having done RAD and BBO (and Cecchetti too) I enjoyed the BBO syllabus far more than RAD. I think the BBO exercises are more musical than RAD. I especially found the RAD barre quite stilted. The longer BBO exercises meant that you had to think more. I liked Cecchetti too but the different arms were confusing and I can't remember them any more.

Have you seen Brad Appleton's Stretching FAQ?

Article in The Advertiser Article on The Australian Ballet website I haven't seen the Australian Ballet many times but whenever I have seen Eastoe, I was spellbound.

Is this a modern version of the tourne-hanche?

No! No! They must be nymphs https://twitter.com/BRB/status/614356831775928320 (Very nice picture of Celine if you click above)

Where did you find this? I looked online yesterday but I coulnd't find any future dates.

Also reported in todays Birmingham Post

I pay £6 at the DanceXchange in Birmingham for 1 1/4 hours in really excellent studios. Students pay £5. The other class I do is £8 in a very cramped and odd shaped studio but we're renting the space and split the cost amongst us. We're hoping to find a better place.

There are hundreds of abs workouts which will tone the core. The main problem is that an abs workout is incredibly boring to do and completely useless for losing weight. I read recently that 50 crunchs burns a whole 3 calories. It doesn't matter much which workout you do, but you have to do the workout regularly to achieve results. This is difficult. Sometimes life events get in the way, and sometmes you just can't be bothered. It's all about commitment and self motivation. Spare time exercise is an interesting idea. When you're watching TV, do a set of crunches in each ad break. Chuck your furniture out and stand up while you're watching TV. OK, so that's a bit drastic, but if you don't sit down, you will burn more calories. Even more if you move while standing. Do a little dance while watching the TV. Here's an interesting idea http://www.instructables.com/id/No-TV-unless-you-exercise/ One of the PE teachers where I work, uses a swiss ball rather than a chair in his office. Supposedly this is good for the core. Walk as much as you can. I go for a walk every lunch time, even it is heaving down with rain. In my case, it's any chance to get away from the computer.

I have changed my avatar in response to this thread

When I was at the BRB triple in Shrewsbury the other day, during the second interval, the orchestra left the pit to head up on stage for Elite Sycopations. The lady sitting next to me, commented to her friend, that she thought it was discusting that the orchestra were leaving early and "She was going to send an email to the BRB and complain." She whips out her phone and starts tapping away. I decided to save her some embarrassment and I said to her that the orchestra were on stage. "Oh no they're not! I've seen this ballet in London and there is no orchestra on stage." Ah well, I tried and I assume she beamed off her email. As the curtain rose, I heard her say "Oh, the orchestra ARE on stage.....".

Sylvie was interviewed on Newsnight last night http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b05wxxlj/newsnight-28052015 approx timings 39:30-44:30