amum/Cathy

I am very excited by the prospect of a "new" Bintley ballet performed by BRB, which I suppose Aladdin will be, effectively. Thank you for posting Janet. Surely the dates for Swan Lake at the Lowry are September not February? Our tickets are 22nd Sept

A Bigger Space for Dancing – David Hockney dance video Can I recommend the Hockney exhibition on at the Royal Academy? You are overwhelmed by the huge quantity of imaginative, and often humorous, work that Hockney is producing - much of it in 2011. Most of it is of Yorkshire landscapes, with stunning use of light and colour that changes with the seasons. In some video work he has included “A Bigger Space for dancing” which shows multiple camera angles of some light choreography – ballet and tap – produced for him by his friend Wayne Sleep, who also appears at the end of the sequence in a suit. The dancers are Steven McRae and Roberta Marquez of the Royal Ballet and Edward Kitchen, Adam Park, and Ayman Safiah of Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Personally I found McRae’s tap dancing the best part of this video work, but it was enjoyable as a whole. The gallery guide only mentions the filming of the Yorkshire scenes, with his adapted jeep fitted with 9 cameras, so you need to be aware of the short dance section that is shown in the same room (possibly room 5, if I remember correctly), and wait to see it! edited for a bigger font - not sure what happened the first time round

Good news about our year 9 Cumbrian friend at WL. Has been confirmed he is staying for years 10 and 11. So delighted for him and his family :) Good luck to everyone else.

Thank you Ian. It's nice to see my review is still out there in the ether somewhere. Now I must go and research where I can catch The Talent on tour....

Thank you for the review Ian. Unfortunately I haven't yet had a chance to see the tour so can't comment. I enjoyed the Ballet Boyz documentary about how they founded the Talent, when it was shown over Christmas. I am a big fan of the 2faced dance company which is older than the Talent and I feel the all male company and the choreography work exceedingly well for them. I posted a review of their current work, which I saw at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, on the old site. Well worth a visit and I would be interested to hear of comparisons with the Talent.

Sooooo pleased to hear that Julie. Congratulations to him. Have a lovely time celebrating when he's home

Lovely news. WELLDONE!

Thanks Balletmum1972. I hope she has a lovely time. Do please let us know how the rehearsals go and if you hear more about the different dances! Good luck for hearing about Aylesbury. You've confused me though - is this same dd??

Thanks C. VERY helpful. Have replied!

Sorry a few spellings went adrift in my enthusiasm there

We too were front row of circle saturday night and felt the lighing worked well to show the fabulous scenery - the trees, forest, gilt mirrors, stuffed birds and moving jugs etc just beautifully. Absolutely loved the raven dance and the corps de ballet in it. The ballroom secen reminded us of last year's Cinderella ballroom scen slightly but wonderful choreography all the same. We too have Swan Lake tickets booked!

Just catching up on here! Hello C4D! Thanks for the news about Tynemouth. Looking forward to the casting now. No one know anything about the Dartford casting then??

I'm very interested in your suggestion that it is good for boys who might want to be scientists as well. Interestingly I think there are a fair number of boys with asperger's who benefit from dance - often very good mathematicians. I think there is something about the music unblocking things for them and allowing them to be much more co-ordinated in a way that sport can't deliver. I haven't got any evidence for that, just anecdotal/observation!

I'm wondering if the casting for the first production of Swan Lake has taken place yet? Ds is going to be in the second production, at Newcastle, and we're getting very curious to know what the parts/dances are going to be. We know 13 boys (8 senior and 5 junior) got through the auditions for Newcastle. Also friends are wondering about the dances/parts for the girls, so if/when anyone hears about the Dartford castings PLEASE could they post

May I congratulate you on this initiative Tim. I knew I had read your postings on here (or rather the old site) before but I didn't want to out you I definitely think there is a need for this sort of school. One where a boy can continue at a level that allows him to potentially chose vocational training at a later stage, rather than commit himself to a boarding school at a young age when he isn't sure what he wants in life (cf future Segei Polunins ) Also it would encourage boys who wouldn't get into vocational school (maybe for physical reasons) to continue ballet training - either for their enjoyment, or for other dance styles/musical theatre etc. I just wish there were more opportunities for boys to dance together and be encouraged by each others' presence. The best around atm is the RAD boys only weekend scheme. I am the mother of a boy who wouldn't want to go to boarding school/voactional school, but just loves his dance and musical theatre! We have survived the transition to secondary school, but a boy in my daughter's ballet class has just given up - in his first term at secondary!

Extremely tempting to book for Swan Lake....thank you for posting I'm surprised I've not had that e-mail : we're off to the Lowry for Beauty and the Beast on saturday.

Recent musical theatre numbers done by the boys and girls at Hammond associates have been from Hairspray, Joseph, Saturday Night Fever, and Footloose, just to give you some more ideas