Flit and float

I always try to get presents related to the show of possible - so for a friend who was (amongst other things) a wolf in Beauty & the Beast I got her a cuddly wolf. Swan Lake - a swan teddy? Nutcracker - sweets? Sleeping Beauty - UHM depends what she is! I usually go on ebay (new things) or Amazon.

There aren't many dance shops now - the main ones are West End Dance Boutique in Great Western Road & Danceland on Maryhill Road. Not sure what selection they have (Danceland possibly more) they tend to have more exam/college uniforms, but they are both v.helpful.

I know, so many lovely leotards you can't wear a bra with I always just get a flesh coloured multiway bra (& try different shops, Debenhams suits me whereas no sizes in La Senza are any good) try on loads & jump around a bit in the changing room to see how it is! Then just keep it for shows. I have also used masking tape before when needs must, stick on bras might be a better option now although the masking tape was pretty supportive!

It's a book, the picture appears to have cut through the drawstring casing so I'm guessing you'd need to stitch it in place just in front of the cut so you could tighten the front?

Pointe Shoes, Tips & Tricks is full of all sorts of ways of modifying shoes.... It says you can unpick/cut the waist seam (the seam running up the side from the sole to the drawstring casing) overlap the excess material & darn it back together ti make the back bit of the shoe shorter.

I know a few cruise dancers, they don't seem to get many injuries but I know it's sometimes been a challenge if it's a particularly rocky night!

Ha I know what you mean about the funny arms! If I hold them parallel (palms facing each other) above my head they are bent even when they're straight! (If that makes sense!) I've learned to work with them & helps me teaching children with similar arms, I know what they're feeling/not feeling! Both my arms & legs feel straight when not exactly, arms are actually easier to work with correctly in ballet (for me) than jazz, having long arms too makes it hard to get them fully straight on fast counts, they're aching today as I was really focused on that when I was rehearsing super fast jazz yesterday!

Would your current teacher be up for entering her? Maybe a few privates to learn a modern routine? Doesn't have to be a massive thing. I did festivals for a few years aged 17+, massively opened my eyes, gave me something to work for & most importantly taught me to perform. My teacher only asked a few of us, we had privates/featival class & did a few comps a year.

I think both can be used! The snatching/springing action is to get your weight centred, your foot underneath you. If you just rise (eg on left foot) your weight could be slightly too far over that leg (in this case left) & if you're doing a pirouette on pointe then you might need the releve action to get you onto pointe & weight in the right place. However, I know what you mean about the strong rise, I think personally the releve action can have too much force & I know I prefer to rise with a very slight releve (push up?). Not sure if there's an actual definite way!

RCS is a classical course, don't be confused by the modern! It's not the same as Northern Contemp Dance, for instance. There is the Scottish School of Contemporary Dance in Dundee (I think I've got the exact name!)

I've not done ballet at Pineapple but lots of Jazz & tap - agree the level is pretty high! Lots of professional dancers in shows take class there. I've done a beginner class that I thought would be just a fun extra, oh my, it was full on! I tend to do general/all & sometimes intermediate if I'm feeling brave, I guess they're around Advanced 1/2 level...saying that there is usually a variation & everyone just gets on with it. I've seen a few advanced/pro classes, they look pretty full on. Defo Advanced 2 sort of level at least. The morning ones always seem to be quite small numbers, although it's been a while since I've seen any. Do a general level class first & see how you get on?

Oh are they?! They just seemed pretty high on my ones, they might not be then! I just know they're tapered & wide (especially Axiom) across the box. There's also the Axis I think it's similar. I had Sonatas for a while which were ok but Axiom much better.

Have you looked at Bloch Suprima or Axiom Beckyl? Both are tapered, maybe Axiom would be worth a try as they're wider across the box. I think pretty high profile too, only thing is the vamp might be too long.

Not too much to add, but I know someone who had hardly danced, came with me to do a beginner commercial class, ended up doing a year almost fulltime (ballet, jazz, tap, commercial etc, just a local school not a College or anything although good classes) then auditioned for Bird's during that year & got a full 3 year scholarship. He was about 21 at the time, completed his degree at Bird's & works in the industry. Not to get your hopes up too much, but it can happen (especially for guys) & he was absolutely accepted on his potential more than anything.

Yeah "hold you in tights!" Always have tan ones for non ballet shows, Danskin (old ones) were the best & Capezio next best but then they changed & made their matt tights all shiny & thin Bloch are more like original Danskins. Convertible tights were always good for classes where pointe was after normal class...really quick to put tape & gel bits on toes, & just rolled up the feet for jazz etc.

Old Danskins were brilliant, all types of tights lasted forever. Capezio definitely not as good as they used to be, Bloch seem to be better & thicker (& softer & better waistband). Dance Direct Plume tights seem to be about the same quality as Capezio & much cheaper, so worth bearing in mind.

I had Gamba soft pointes years & years ago - they were great, a proper inbetween shoe that you could dance in ok, & broke in nicely. Had Blochs which were OK & Grishkos, & one pair of Freed pointe shoes that worked as soft blocks, then didn't wear them for years, recent Grishkos are a nightmare - so hard & unworkable despite being bashed with a hammer so many times, washed in the washing machine....I've actually hacked them to bits & taken out a lot of the insides, they will not die!

Ha not really! Usually a bit classier & you don't learn the dance the few days before! Most festivals you can enter solos, duets, trios &groups - the festivals I did/know about had ballet, tap, modern, character, national, song & dance & Greek & most people entered for the majority of the solos for their age group. 1st - 6th place for each solo & overall section winners & usually now 1st - 6th too.

I didn't go to dance college or anything, but did loads & loads of dance while at uni (I wasn't giving it up!) & still do, I remember feeling exhausted & crawling towards the end of term, so I can imagine your DD needs a real break! It's a massive adjustment for her! Time saving things that helped/helps me now, much of which I organise/organised at weekends for week ahead: - have dance stuff ready for week ahead, eg I needed ballet stuff for 3 days so I made sure I had 3 pairs of tights clean & ready on Sunday, packed in a bag with leotard, shoes etc. Jazz stuff in another bag. Rehearsal stuff ready in another bag etc. Saved time during the week washing etc & finding stuff. I did (& still do) have quite a lot of dance stuff, but I found the cost worth it (& a lot of the time it's pretty cheap stuff anyway). - for food shopping I agree with doing a massive bulk shop at the beginning - get a Tesco delivery? That saves me so much time now & also it saves your orders so the repeating shops are much easier. Get the app on her phone & she can shop while travelling. Agree with bulk cooking & freezing also where possible & sharing with flat mate? - use all the time travelling, I had about an hour/hour & a half journey each way 4 days a week to classes so that was a lot of time to use doing reading, learning stuff etc. I quite often used to do my make up on the train in the morning to give me more sleep...not recommending that exactly but I just worked out the best way to use what hours I had! I think the main thing is prep as much as you can in advance. & have a proper break at Christmas, it's not that long!

The box liners make such a difference! I think they help with compressible feet (ie they compress a bit when on pointe as opposed to flat so you end up sinking down slightly, that seems to describe my feet anyway!) They also help if you tend to get blisters on your toes (I get them on the front with the tiniest bit of pointe without box liner/tape). I have quite tapered feet so my big toe is taking most if the weight, I use a gel big tip on big toes & a little piece of make up sponge to go under to small toes to even things up. Pointe is really painful without a big tip!

BadBallerina - RCS modern ballet is a classical ballet based course, although it's called modern ballet it's not contemporary in the sense that say Northern Collegd is, it's very much linked to Scottish Ballet too.

Love Dr Dance's instructions, I was taught for this type of cambre (done full on back bends like you're used to too) to think of where your bra strap across your back is, think of putting it against a shelf & stretching back to put the top of your back on the shelf. It might help or might not but it helps me visualise using the top of the back.

We don't have a "barefoot" category here - any modern, Greek, character, national (well some countries!), song & dance could technically be barefoot! I think for modern etc foot thongs etc are fine, not sure if they'd be frowned upon as not strictly authentic in national for instance! (But I'm guessing it won't be that for you) Maybe in NZ barefoot means a contemporary/lyrical or similar? Try searching on YouTube, there are some festival routines & it's interesting to see the variations between UK, USA, Australia & NZ!

I've always used Max Factor panstick (you get it in Boots) on the advice years & years ago from a professional dancer, quite a few pros I know use it. It's like a heavier normal foundation, it looks really bright to begin with (my shade does anyway) but once you spread it out with a sponge it's fine. Withstands sweat etc and covers marks (& tattoos sometimes). Lasts for ages too!

I saw that programme (Horizon) it was surely a vocational school, I forgot to check the end to see what school (pastel green leotards). The rest of the programme did examine gender stereotypes a bit more, but yes, surely they could've showed the boys class too, or even spoken to boys about their experiences in choosing ballet.