Kate_N

I don't think the grades etc is the real crux of how Cecchetti "works" - it's a system of training, codified by Maestro Enrico Cecchetti at the end of the 19th/beginning of 20th century. The classes and set exercises are designed to train dancers for the stage. They are typified by a "danciness" that is distinctive in the ability to do quite complex enchainements with an emphasis on how the body is presented to the audience. The lines tend to be more complex than, for example in the RAD syllabus or the classic "English" style. I also find that the petit allegro is faster and more bouncy (such a technical term 😀 ). As with the difference between, say, the Vaganova teaching and the RAD teaching, it is a matter of emphasis, rather than different choreographic principles. Ballet is ballet is ballet.

Yes, I think this is worth thinking about. Think of all the young children who play football or netball quite intensively. They are not all on the national team ... I think this is where dance is a bit different from academic skills & abilities for children & teenagers. It's much more like sport - the body is both the promise and the limitation.

Ballet is an international art. Always has been - I've just been speaking at a symposium about the connections between English & Danish dance and pantomime, going back to the 1670s.

Also, try doing a search of this Forum to pick up other dancers' tips. If a quick Tube trip to Waterloo (straight down the Northern line from Euston) is not out of the question, have a look at Central Nights, the Central School of Ballet's adult/open programme. Some excellent teachers. Also a 3 stop trip on the Piccadilly line from Kings Cross to Covent Garden and Pineapple Studios for Christina Mittelmaier's and Hannah Frost's classes.

Have a look at the Open class programme at The Place. I've not done class there, but I'm sure others in this Forum have. And they have some wonderful teachers there, as well as gorgeous studios.

There used to be some RAD syllabus classes run on an "open" system at Central School on the weekends. Not sure if they've survived Covid lockdowns ...

I also did DanceXchange classes with Mr Jonathan Payne, who is another wonderful Cecchetti trained dancer & teacher. He taught open adult classes at a fairly advanced level, but regularly set us Cecchetti exercises - drills such as the 8 positions of the body, plus those hard but fun pirouettes from a grande plie in 5th! and some gorgeous Cecchetti set adages. So there are a few teachers in the traditions in the Midlands - it's lovely material to dance, so I hope the word spreads.

When I lived in Birmingham I often did adult open classes with Ms Lucas - the private classes organised when DanceXchange (now Fabric) weren't running their classes. She is a wonderful teacher.

I’m so pleased the expert teachers on this thread have mentioned injuries. That was my first thought on reading about 10 or 11 year olds doing a whole summer of intensive training. Physical and mental burnout is a risk with these kinds of schedules.

In addition to the recommendations (I'd second Nina Thilas-Mohs - Fridays at Pineapple as well as Sundays at Central) for a dancey Intermediate level, try any of Christina Mittelmaier's classes at either Pineapple or Danceworks. Her Sunday morning Inter class is gorgeous.

Wonderful company - do try to see them if you can. Richard C. is also very keen on working with young people & local audiences, so check for workshops etc to accompany the performances. He's based very near where I live, and often uses my local studio as a rehearsal space. I had the pleasure of doing a contemporary workshop with one of his dancers, and doing a bit of "Flying Low' work (which looks gorgeous & flowy, but is really hard!)

Oh, I've met her! She's amazing.

Thanks for the expert information @drdance I find as I get older, I need the kind of warm up you describe. My teacher has us gently jogging around the studio, with "high knees" and "hitting your bottom" with your heels as variations. We also do leg & arm swings, and rotational swings of the torso. It has parallels with the warm up I do before a very strenuous gym training session (which includes heavy & technical lifts).

Mime, smiles, trying to learn key words, watch demonstrations like a hawk! But many young people across the world are educated in some level of English. It tends to be only us native English speakers who are the monoglots ... Toi toi toi

This thread popping up again made me wonder (I am very nosey) about the original poster & her daughter, and whether they ever did relocate the whole family to London for the RBS or other London ballet school.

Sympathies @alison I was having a day out in London on Saturday & travelled up from the deep West Country via South West Trains, with no problems. But my return journey was not so smooth. I was due to get a train at a particular time, and thought I'd go to Waterloo a bit early to have a snack & recharge my phone., only to see my designated train & the ones before & after were cancelled. So far, so usual. My big gripe is that when I went to the Information stand to ask how I was hoping to get home, the representative told me he had no idea. He was completely clueless, unhelpful, and dismissive. Now, I'm an experienced traveller & knew I could get back to Devon from Paddington on a Great Western train, but what if this jobsworth had advised people who didn't know this? I had to go to the ticket office to check that my Advance purchase South West trains ticket would be accepted on a Great Western train. I assumed it would, but the people at Waterloo should have known that, and told passengers. Grrrrr

I think pianists get grumpy when dancers stand in front of them so they can’t see those dancing dancers lean on the piano dancers put their stuff on the top of the piano Ive noticed his mostly in adult classes at beginner/improve level where dancers haven’t been trained in class etiquette. Gosh I wish those who teach adults would sometimes educate beginners on class etiquette … (grumpy dancer writing)

Yes, yes, yes @JohnS I sometimes try to take a panorama photo from the top of a fell, but it really never ever captures being there. I still remember the first time I walked into a beautiful hidden valley on the walk between Rosthwaite and Grasmere via Greenup Edge (we'll pass a veil over completely losing the Waiwright-suggeste track from Greenup Edge, and scrambling my way down via Coledale Head and Coledale Tarn). If you know that walk, you may know the unnamed large col - I could just have stayed there all day - it was like being in an amphitheatre of mountains. I have that valley in my mind's eye still - and my first walk on that track was around 15 years ago.

I think, in the ballet world, as in all aspects of life, people can say things. You don't have to listen, and you don't have to take any notice, or let it affect you. Why does this affect you so much? Just do what you need to do.

This is worth repeating. It's so so important. Brava @Pups_mum ! I teach young adults in the performing arts in higher education - only about 5% of them will "make it." So we are bound to ensure they get an excellent education in all sorts of ways, with 'transferable skills,' knowledge, ability to collaborate and work with others in a professional way, and most importantly, a reasonable and rational understanding of themselves as people, and their strengths & weaknesses, and what they can contribute to whatever they turn their hands & minds to. And those so-called "soft skills" of communication, performance, hard work etc are very very valuable, whatever young people end up doing. A good education in the creative & performing arts is a precious, valuable thing.

Wow! what a wonderful opportunity - I miss not living in London and having to work, so not able to take up these opportunities!

There is information on this site about the RBS. However, a recent discussion started to get personal. Moderators are volunteers and have to be aware of legalities around public discussions of individuals. And perhaps, preparation for boarding is teaching your children basic hygiene, and care for their environment, and respect for others around them, so children don't leave lavatories messy ...

I suspect that non-UK non-EU citizens may find it even more difficult than UK citizens to obtain EU working visas. It can be very difficult for nationals from various countries in Africa and the mIddle East, for example. While we are all getting used to the lack of freedom of movement in the EU, and that is difficult, we should be aware that a UK passport and/or nationality is still one of the more privileged national statuses to have. I see this all the time in some of my students who come to the UK from various Asian & Middle Eastern countries and the restrictions they can sometimes face when applying to attend conferences anywhere outside of the UK & Europe.

Let's face it, the referendum was "hard to take" and subsequent government policies have been "hard to take." I suppose people can examine their own consciences about how they voted ... EU countries are only doing what is to be expected, as UK citizens are no longer EU citizens, and we face pretty much the same restrictions as any other non-EU foreign nationals.

Oh no! That is so sad. As a teen, I was taught by one of her regular partners from way back when the RB was the Sadler's Wells Ballet. And my sister was coached by Ms Seymour herself.