Kate_N

Yes, I've done several workshops there over the years. And observed company rehearsals in that studio. A beautiful space - but I can see why they're moving - it's very cramped.

I agree. But a dance degree - rather than vocational training - can lead to a dance career, particularly in contemporary dance. I know several people who trained at various universities (Plymouth, UCLAN, as well as DMU) who are working as dancers. Not in companies such as Alston or Vardimon, but dancing + teaching + community work - see the work done by dancers in the Ludus company in Lancaster, for example.

I registered also - we'll have to have a little meet up!

on another note, one of my teachers gave a bit of a speech today as we've had quite a few people drop out of the course already, and that kind of gave me motivation to stick it out here and see if it's just a case of getting used to working in a different way to what i was doing before i came here.

I think this is worth reflecting on & chewing over.

University is not school. Nor is it primarily a conservatoire-style training. You will be required to do a lot more independent work, and work on yourself, as well as work with your peers. You're doing a full-length technique class each day, plus training in choreography. That's already pretty intense, and it may well be that at the moment, the tutors are concerned about your fitness levels of you all entering full-time training. 

It's only about week 4 or 5, of a term which goes to mid-December. I'll bet that by December, you are finding the workload more intense, and there'll be independent research & written work as well. 

But you know, you might still need to have a deep hard think about what you want, and why you're at university. Are you there only because you weren't seen to be ready for a conservatoire-style training? If so, a year of doing class everyday, plus learning a number of different styles & choreographic techniques, may mean you're better placed for auditioning again this year for an October 2017 start. University places in good programmes are scarce - in my department, I don't want anyone there who doesn't want to be there more than anything else they could do. It's a waste of their time & my expertise & time.

But you need to be prepared for the toughness of auditioning a second time with some full-time training under your belt. If you're still not called back, then maybe you need to think differently about how your career might go? Then, your university studies may take on a very different complexion.

At the moment, it seems to me from what you write here (and I may be wrong) you see the university course as second-best, and you really want to be at a conservatoire. If you can be seen as up to that training, then go for it! But if you are not offered a place a second tie around, you may need to adopt a very different attitude to your university course.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

I wonder if this thread has run its course? There are clear & forthright opinions expressed on all sides about the approach of one poster to her training, but it means that  useful information for all adult students has tended to get lost. If Michelle wants to record her ballet adventures, then maybe she could start a thread to do just that (or like Terpsichore - make a wonderful interesting blog!) and it's there for people to read, rather than mixing it in with other sorts of content for adult students more generally.

Anna C has kindly started a more general thread, which is probably best for the rest of us to ask questions or swap information & advice.

When I lived in the north west, I went to Move Dancewear in the Northern Quarter, as already mentioned. I found it had great stock, and lots & lots of stuff I wanted! The range was really good - sometimes dance shops only stock stuff for the children, & you have to order everything else, but Move had a great range in the shop.

 Qualified teachers teaching an appropriate level with correct technique. Even these well qualified people are not immune from the occasional sloppy technique, they are human too. Ones I see quite frequently are poor or no perceivable tendu on rising and closing grand batterments, poor closing tendu from second through a plie where its difficult to determine if its done as a single movement or two separate movements.

I've been sitting on my hands, but wow! just wow over this. Such disrespect and arrogance.

My teachers are teaching me, not taking class. Teachers demonstrate - they don't dance full out. And I was once taught by a very elderly teacher who never demonstrated, but spoke the exercises from his chair, and demonstrated sitting and/or using his stick. I'm not a trained teacher, but I know enough to see whether a teacher knows what she/he is talking about. And we never know what injuries a teacher is carrying which preclude them from doing certain things. 

Thing is, learning ballet is learning a complex art. It's not notching up ever more complex steps or repertoire for bragging points. It's not like being an accountant.

Yes, next March. Really exciting!

I'm hoping to. Got to sort a few things, but it looks great. 

Edited to add: Your post reminded me to book, but it's now sold out <sigh> I shall have to aim to get organised for the Bausch/Forsythe workshop next March.

Have a great time -  I've done a few ENB Workshops over the years - the highlight was class on the Royal Albert Hall stage & learning how to do piqué turns in the round.

Thanks for the Kathryn Morgan recommendation. I know of her website, but thought it was mainly lifestyle sort of stuff. I'll take a look at her tutorials on rolling.

You need to think about it from their point of view: they need to hire a venue, bring together Artistic Directors, advertise, administer the event, follow up the event.

Recruiting employees is a large business cost. If it's done in-house, those costs are absorbed by the organisation and its current employees (I'm thinking of evening shortlisting sessions in my department, weekends spent reading 60 job applications etc etc). If the audition ("interview") is held centrally, for several employing organisations, then those costs can't be absorbed by an organisation.

I'd estimate that attending this one audition would be very much more cost-efficient for dancers 'on the market' than travelling to each of the companies individually.

Can I tag on - is there a GOOD (reputable, trustworthy) site (or YouTube channel) which demonstrates some ways to use the roller? I blunder about with some large (but quite soft) rollers in my gym. But those seem to be ones which are long & broad enough to use in exercise classes - aligning one's spine along them and doing core stability exercises. I'd like to start rolling out my tight Achilles & hamstrings, so wondered about the appropriate roller & techniques.

Oh Petersburg is a beautiful city - I visited Petersburg before I ever went to Venice, and Venice suffered by comparison,. even though Tsar Nicholas based his remodelling of Petersburg on Venice. But last time I was there was in the summer - November it will be cold & grey - but the buildings still shine. If you have the time, be prepared to spend a lot of it at the Hermitage. The first time I visited back in the 90s, I only got as far as Rembrandt (they have rooms of them) but the next time we manahed to get into the 20th century. The room full of Matisses is glorious, and full of paintings of dancing people, so relevant for a dancer's visit!

But you know that of course, not all British passport holders are eligible for free education in Britain. If you have lived abroad, have emigrated, or have a UK passport by patriality (one grandparent a UK citizen I think), but otherwise don't live in the UK, you may be a British passport holder, but you might not be eligible for free education etc. It's not always as simple as just holding a UK passport. 

Given that there have been dancers from Australia attending Elmhurst Senior Summer school for at least the previous 2 years, it doesn't seem unreasonable that they should have the opportunity to audition for full time training. That said, I am eagerly awaiting overseas ballet schools holding some of their auditions in the UK.

Well, they might not audition here, but on this forum we have parents of children/teens who attend vocational schools in other countries. Should those opportunities be blocked? 

I'm sure it's possible to send an audition video to any number of overseas schools.

And I repeat, as far as I know, state-subsidised schools don't displace local (Home/EU) students for overseas students. THey are in addition. And pay full whack. There are only a few of them any way; we're not exactly swamped b overseas students.  

I think the real issue was touched upon earlier in the thread - the way training from age 8 to 13 or 14 is organised & funded. Most children start the study of ballet in local neighbourhood "church hall" type schools. THese often don't have the standards, or the numbers, or the facilities to offer the kind of fully professional training of, say China or Russia. It's luck of the draw that you find a good local school & teacher - there are enough threads on here bemoaning the limitations in standards, or number of hours. 

My local studio is fantastic: properly trained in pedagogy, ex-professional dancer principal, with other teachers with full university dance qualifications & professional working careers. But the economics of the local city are such that they can't run the full programme they would like to. And they have their own purpose-renovated studio (not a multi-purpose community hall). 

THAT'S what needs to change maybe? Some sort of improvement in local; training for the years 8 to 13, when the solid foundation for serious dance training is laid down.

Anyone here thinking of going to the ENB Akram Khan Giselle workshop next month? I'll probably go, so if there are any other Balletcoers dancing there, it'd be nice to say Hello!

As far as I know, in both China & Russia, there isn't necessarily free choice about attending the "top" vocational schools. Children - not teens - are selected for physique and potential. There's not much choice if you're not selected. Poor families see ballet training as a way for a child to get an education & status. The children are trained away from home, from the age of 10 or 11, and the training is full-time & tough. 

Here - as in the US and Australia (and I'd guess Canada and the EU but I don't have personal experience of those countries) - anyone can set up a local ballet school, and any child can go along for lessons from the age of 18 months ("Baby Ballet"). 

It's very different - we live with free choice & a commercial system of small local dance schools, not a fully funded State-run system which selects out as well as trains. I just don't think you can make a comparison between the UK and China or Russia. Totally different mindsets & ideologies. British citizens have voted since the election of the Thatcher Tory government, for a low tax, low state subsidy regime. We still are (even if individuals posting here didn't vote that way!) and the vote to leave the EU confirms that. The low tax, private enterprise ideology that we live in is not the same as other countries' investment in state-subsidised ballet (or other arts) training eg China. We, the British people chose this, and maybe there are unintended consequences ...

And believe me, in most countries I know, there is the same "XXX country training for XXX citizens/children" It's not that the situation is unique in the UK. And frankly, what defines who a "British child" is? One born here? One who's moved here with his/her parents? One who's grandparents were born here but 2 generations have lived abroad? One who's parents can afford to pay? And so on ...

Calamine lotion - it'll take the shine off, but it makes shoes look clean & neat. And she could remove & wash the ribbons & then resew them.

  I love the idea of being part-Neanderthal!

Also, if Australia is anything like NZ, a large proportion of the residents were born in other countries. I'm a British citizen, and so are my kids, although we all have dual NZ/UK citizenship. This wouldn't necessarily help with funding, but means we have the right to live in the UK. As usual, it's much more complicated than it seems!

 

I think that this is so true - it's more complicated than any simple formula. The way I see it, humans are mobile travelling creatures. We're all migrants or come from families who are migrants, at some point in our families' histories. My family's been English for centuries, but contains some French Huguenot refugees, and I suspect my father's family were part of the Norman invasion a millennium ago. 

I've seen Ms Copeland dance with the ABT at the Kennedy Center, in classical variations. I have to say, I wasn't blown away. 

The Aussies love to train here as there are far more company opportunities in this country as opposed to Australia. 

And let's remember, the British monarch is also the Australian Head of State. We are hoping (post leaving the EU) that Australia will want to trade with us on good (even free-trade) terms. This sort of exchange is part of that broader international exchange - it's called "soft power" in international relations. 

Ballet is an international art and ALWAYS has been. We want the best dancers in the world, and we should be really proud that our education & training is considered the best in the world, so as to train the best in the world.

I work in UK HE - which is SUBSIDISED by overseas students' fees. They pay the real cost of a university education. Don't ever think that UK taxpayers "pay for" overseas students, or that UK students are sacrificed for overseas students. It's the reverse in universities' finance.

We should be very proud that this little country has one of the world's best education systems from nursery to PhD training, and that people pay a lot of money to join it from all over the world. We should be celebrating this.

Whilst I appreciate everything said about uniformity, I am thinking about athletes, for example, and trying to work out what that must be like. All 100m sprinters will be muscular and powerful, but there are different heights, physiques, as with other events. They all run competitively fast in order to qualify. 

Thing is, that's just sport. Ballet is a performance art form. Aesthetics and communicating to & entertaining the audience are the main thing. The athleticism of ballet is a side-issue. We train as dancers to get the technique perfected, so that the artistry & communication are dominant on stage.

It's easy to forget that in the training: that the ultimate goal is to please an audience, not oneself ...

I wonder if I could ask you a question about your teaching on Sunday morning at Danceworks? I am often there on the weekend & do Christine Mittelmaier's 11:30am Sunday class which is advertised Intermediate, but I wondered how that compares with the level of your 10am Advanced class? Ms Mittelmaier's class is lovely *& i don't find it too much of a challenge - well, it's a challenge but I'm not out of my depth.  I don't want to be out of my depth & sometimes the earlier start fits my schedule better (I know that's the wrong reason for choosing a class, but I also want to get back to more advanced work).