thewinelake

Cuthbertson & Bonelli were very sweet and tender, I thought. Not as spectacular as I was expecting, but more moving - great chemistry between them. I was chatting with a guy at the interval who had tickets for Osipova who seemed a little gutted to be missing her. Having seen her Fille mal gardée, I reckon she'd make an excellent Juliet. Some other time, I guess.

BTW, didn't realise that there would be so much glamour there! OK, so some of them were having to go on stage as semifinalists, but I've never seen such a stunningly attractive audience!!

Ah, now I know who you were referring to. Quite a remarkable young chap - even if he looks more like a 10 year old. Is it usual for audience and jury to agree on the top dancer, I wonder? I found it very hard to pick a top 1, although the rest of my family all voted 4! Thought 3 and 10 were unlucky to miss out, although 6 and 11 were very good. Couldn't understand why so many of them did that Raymonda variation - I thought it a bit dull... My favourite round was "Dancer's Own" where 2 and 3 really shone for me among the female dancers. Enjoyed all the male dances.

Looking forward to a bit of Cuthbertson doing it tonight at Sadlers Wells. She's growing on me.

Looking forward to this tonight. Seems like South Africa is where it's at. Hope that's not going to be transferred to the the Rugby!

Wonderful!

Mind you... Traditionalists look away now, but: http://tendusunderapalmtree.com/2014/09/3d-printing-technology-creates-the-ultimate-customized-toe-pad.html

I'm surprised that there aren't more advanced technologies at play in the world of ballet like there are with skiing and running.

Cool! Thanks - a bit high-end for me, but what the hell? :-)

There's probably a joke about what princess aurora orders when she goes to the local Italian restaurant? Spaghetti Polonaise! (I can only get away with this as my DDs are not on the forum)

How can you have an ex dd?! ;-) Also, was there a macdonalds franchise in the school?!! I really wouldn't worry about people thinking you're greedy if you're not overweight. They're probably just jealous...

I think there are 4 jewels. I also think I may have to get some washing up bowls to put in the car (with iced water) for the ride home! Sounds to me as though you need better-fitted padding in your shoes. Maybe you've got a longer big-toe than the shoe was designed for. Pack it out with something?

Just thought it might be fun to start a little thread about this show from the "doing it" perspective, as I know that some here are involved in it, either as parents or dancers. So who should we look out for and give a big-ballet-forum wave to? ;-) To kick things off, my DDs are the Duchess and a guest. Apparently the most coveted roles are the jewels - and a school friend of DD1 is one of them. Anyone else got sore feet after so much pointework? DD2 has only just started intermediate and so only does about 15 mins/week on pointe and all of that at the barre. So all this centre stuff is extremely challenging. There apparently some Polonaise or something they're doing where it's looking decidedly ropey - but there's still plenty of time to get the hang of it, right?! They're both finding the other girls (sad it is nearly all girls) very friendly, so a good experience so far, despite the aches...

Ha! How did you guess? I was wondering about the optimum timing for posters. I was thinking that maybe about 4 weeks before the show would be about right, given that many of them won't get wall-space for very long.

I wonder how many people go sightseeing in Stevenage?!

Part of that down to the L I suspect ;-)

I know that there are a few parents and dancers of EYB here. We're involved with the Stevange show this year. I was wondering what kind of people go (or would go) to see such shows other than family & friends? They seem to be putting some effort into publicity - in the press or posters up around the place, but I'm wondering how effective this could be? So if I'm not involved personally and I see a picture in my local rag of a couple of pretty ballerinas from the local school who are appearing in a show in Stevenage (perhaps 45mins drive away), would I really think "oh, that's interesting - let's book some tickets"? Seems like a tough sell to me. Or maybe there are a hundred or so unrelated ballet fans living in Stevenage who need reminding that it's coming soon? My guess is that they're probably regulars at the Gordon Craig. I wonder if there should be someone on the door trying (asking nicely, of course!) to build up an emailing list. The other thought is that promoting it in the schools of those involved could be a moderately rich vein - teachers and classmates would have some interest. However, my DDs sometimes seem to behave as though they'd rather nobody came to see them perform (at least nobody they know - the idea of teachers coming to see them would be mortifying!). Is this common? Obviously this is not confined to EYB, but many provincial shows of all types. BTW - a lot of pointe after a poniteless summer has brought much pain and suffering. May take a couple of ice buckets in the car for pickup this evening...

Ah... So disappointed semifinalist families... Good point!

We're hoping to catch the Genée finals at Sadlers Wells coming up soon. I only bought 3 tickets and was hoping to get a return to make it up to 4. Any idea how likely this is to achieve? Or if there's a better way? Cheers!

See some of you later. FWIW, mine have decided to put a little bit of eye-liner on for the cameras! No idea if this is commonplace...

Sorry for the delayed response, but thanks - will follow some of those up!

Are parents allowed to hang around and watch casting?

Wow! Quite a few of them are on vocational advanced, so that's impressive.

You must be quite good, as my DDs were surprised you didn't make the scholarship shortlist!

P&F must be "the tall one" according to my DDs! (25 & 26)