Petunia

http://www.art-of.net/berlin/en/index.php How about Berlin?

I think I know what you mean: http://tim.vanwerkhoven.org/public/images/english_spelling/poem_phonetic.pdf This is like riding a rollercoaster - I love it, but it makes me dizzy. Very good excercise though! I lack oppurtunity to speak English, but I read a lot and watch films... but I know: when I´ll be coming to England on Monday, at first I´ll just stand there with a mouth full of words, unable to get them out...

I´m just now imagining an evening with e.g. Dorothée Gilbert, Sylvie Guillem, Tamara Rojo, Marie-Agnés Gillot, Marianela Nunez, Agnés Letestu – dancing works by e.g. Khan, Ek, Kylian, Maliphant, Keersmakers, Cherkaoui…. hello, Mr Ardani, can you hear me? Would I buy a ticket? Ha!

There is a rehearsal video up now but I find it not to be very informative: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpdWtrSwPsg And some very beautiful photos of the stage rehearsal: http://www.flickr.com/photos/englishnationalballet/sets/72157642683065673/

? No, I don't. But anyway, I plan to snoop around St. Paul's, the Museum of London, and Charterhouse Square on that day and I probably will participate in a guided walking tour in this area. I have never been there and I don't know very much of London. So what is the Yellow Brick Road?

58, but only because I've been an avid reader of Jane Austen and all the Bronte Sisters. Also most by Dickens, and of the modern ones I love Ian McEwan. And I wonder why there is nothing by Julian Barnes on that list??! I recently finished "The Victorian House" by Judith Flanders. So fascinating, especially for non-British readers.

Thank you alison. The whole Barbican complex looks a little confusing to me but I think I'll find my way around.

I am getting really excited now. This will be my first visit to the ENB, and to the Barbican Theatre. I liked what I've seen by Akram Khan and Russell Maliphant very much (both have been visiting Berlin), and I am very curious about their work with a classical company. Possibly I will see Tamara Rojo or Alina Cojocaru, too...wow... depending on casting.... this is very special for me ... Does anybody know if one can pick up the ticket (I have sort of a voucher from online-booking) anytime at the day of the performance during box office hours? I am still planning my three-day-visit to London.

What I find very useful and sometimes very funny is the way the English language can derive new verbs/adverbs from nouns – recently I stumbled upon “mushrooming”… in German we need many more words for that: “wie Pilze aus dem Boden schießen”. So do I. I call it my "SUB" (Stapel Ungelesener Bücher - pile of unread books).Can't sleep if I haven*t one next to my bed.

Do you warm up thoroughly before class? Take some extra care here with calves, feet and ankles. Keep warm (legwarmers, if you may wear them). Also do easy parallel stretches between the barre exercises. At home or before class I recommend the use of a theraband. You'd want the blood circulation going! Taking magnesium, like aussieballetmum said, could also be helpful.

That's so cute! My first ballet was Swan Lake, too. I was 9 or 10 and just recovered from the chicken pox… going to the ballet was the promised award for getting well quickly! We saw it at our local opera house, in the summer (I can still remember the dress I wore). I was completely hooked. Three of the dancers (Odette, Siegfried and one of the brides) became my teachers when I went to professional training a few years later.

I remember in the 1990's I banned a certain leotard from an adult class: asymmetrical cut, only one shoulder, sort of multicolour patchwork pattern. I literally went cross-eyed!

Thank you Terpsichore. I am happy to hear that there are ballet students who realize that they not only are getting a terrific workout but also feel that they are part of a great tradition. People who take the chance to get right inside into an art form and are willing experience quite an exciting journey.

Dear Fiz, I don’t know you or your dance history (I’m quite new to this board) but I want to add my congratulations! I teach adult ballet and I know the obstacles and fears adult dancers have to overcome - before they start taking class, and then during the class… “Chapeau” to you and your fellow dancers!