thewinelake

The Gate was excellent. We might actually go back there without the inducement of a ballet run. The velouté accompanying the sea bass was excellent, and my roast lamb was very tasty, although possibly a bit too fatty?

And Coppelia was also fab - and DD didn't disgrace herself as a stand-in friend in Act 1!

Enough dance for a little while, I think. Ready for next Friday.

Not as fabulous as your screen name!

Had a tip off that The Gate in Chorley Wood is supposed to be good, so the boss and I will be lunching there before today’s preview performance.

DW also a little concerned that DD, who’s understudying Friends, might be thrown in to performing something she’s not so well versed in. Poor old No. 11 (the winner of the scholarship) seems to have hurt her ankle quite badly - and has an exam tomorrow before the live shows & all.

Looking forward to trying to guess who some of you are later on... I’ll be the one smelling of roast beef!

We were up in Oxford yesterday watching the third annual “varsity match” - which was won 3.5 - 1.5 by Cambridge.

The ballet category was declared a draw, due in part to none of the judges having much experience with ballet competitions.

Cambridge also won the competition for best costumes (although not sure anyone put that much effort into winning!). If there had been a category for best individual dancer, I’d have given that to the Oxford girl standing at the front of the lineup at the beginning of the irballet piece.

I was impressed by how many dancers performed in most/all of the categories. As well as the fact that all of them are full time students at somewhat intense academic institutions.

All the dances are here: 

Oh, how sad. I thought this place was like some kind of online Hotel California!

Best of luck to you and DD, whatever she decides to do...

1 hour ago, BristolBillyBob said:

I'd be interested to know this too. I'm in a drama group and have always wanted to stage a play, maybe Brief Encounter or something, in proper black and white!

Oh, that would be great!

Just thinking that Nutcracker would work with this trick. B&W while she’s not dreaming...

Probably a silly question(!) but has anyone ever staged a ballet in black & white - so all colour is removed from costumes and makeup etc?

Even if it’s a bit like The Wizard of Oz, where a later act is in colour...

Brands changed?

Isn't there a section on this forum for that? If not, there should be. What's the spec?

Don't the shops offer a ribbon-sewing service?

Maybe you should take them back for their 10,000 pas service ;-)

Sylvia who?  ;-)

I'm sure it does appear in adverts from time to time...

So are we all in the press this week? Ben does a very good job with those photos.

I thought Fruit & Nut was Mirlitons?

Actually there's another bit of research that I've been asked to carry out - which I can conduct right here - what is the name of the piece of music to which the doll does her solo?

Hope it's OK to publicise this a little more...

They've posted some more updates regarding the cast - which includes some pretty serious ex-professionals who happen to be in/at Cambridge:

See Facebook Event details for more details

Sounds OK so far. For my part, I've been conducting painstaking research concerning the local eateries and hostelries in the area. So far Coach and Horses has come up trumps. A remarkably good (though small) fine wine list at very reasonable prices, and the food's good too. Maurizio's up next - for an eat-in-the-car-while-driving-home pizza!

PT - sounds like your DD's solo is quite something - can't wait to see the run-through....

I agree with that - it's one of the reasons that getting children to do sport or dance etc can build their character in ways that schools would be reluctant to get involved. Maybe physical corrections are more palatable than academic ones? This can, of course, be over-done as the blog demonstrates.

I wonder if BalletDad himself is on here? I think there is a lot of "brittleness" in society today. A gentle suggestion for improvement is often taken as a major criticism (and I'm even talking about within the family here!) and that makes it hard to get the feedback needed to deal with things in a timely yet considered manner. The staff in this example didn't know how to take criticism positively and it sounds like the Dad had a tendency to go in rather heavily at times.

FWIW I suspect that the "love" thing is almost certainly down to cultural/language issues. Loads of people use that word sloppily, and I think us Brits are in the vanguard of trying to keep it special!

1 hour ago, Pointetoes said:

Your DD has a good memory for audition numbers, although mine also remembers some.

To be fair, she was standing right next to her ;-). Ask about 28 or something, and she won't have a clue!

Although I'm now told she's a morning hour? (As in Waltz of the Hours - a very nice piece) I think the owl was a figment of my dodgy hearing ;-)

Looking forward to the EYB version of this: 

A pretty good venue indeed - one almost wonders why it took so long... Less than 10 mins walk from the station, so Taxi service of Mum & Dad can have a day or two off!

See some of you there on 30th.

Just came across this video. I helped DD do something slightly along these lines a few years back as part of her art A-level coursework (although that ended up as a sculpture, we rotoscoped a particular move). Nicely done, I think.

No, just the "Intermediate"..."Advanced" Foundation/1/2 RAD grades.

I guess the word vocational is used in the same way as “pro” is used in all sorts of ways in general marketing, and we shouldn’t take it literally. Basically means advanced/expensive more than it confers any career-building qualities (eg a Professional grade camera).

I suspect these grades mean nothing to the students of RBS!

Not quite sure where to post this, but Cambridge University Ballet Club have just released tickets for their Swan Lake 

https://www.adcticketing.com/whats-on/dance/swan-lake/

So annoying for us that it’s exactly the same performance dates/times (out by 30 mins!) as EYB’s Copelia in Rickmansworth!

How interesting! Reading all this makes me think that the exams are a bit of a joke and that you can either dance well or you can’t. Well, not really, but it does seem to come naturally to some.

The fact that supposedly vocational exams are taken by dancers with no intention of becoming professionals is another source of amusement/bemusement and my cynical side wonders if it’s just a money making exercise for RAD?

Having said all that, it does seem that (just as in gymnastics) kids do today what only Olympians/professionals would have done 30 years ago, so the progress is undeniable - more so than with academic exams.