Peanut68

Can’t help but think they’ve missed the moment here to get a male patron of either the King or the Prince of Wales to further solidify the ‘boys dance & are interested in dance too’ message…

Royal Body Odour?? This certainly has the unpleasant whiff of yet more wasteful use of money being spent on external consultants & a lack of actual fact finding from Opera & Ballet goers…. I suspect to, that there will be more tiers not fewer of management hierarchy & costs…. And where does if end? Afterall, if its aim is for all encompassing inclusivity shouldn’t it have many other things added? Pet Shop Boys coming up? That’s Pop right? Bill Bailey? Comedy….Back Stage Tours & exhibitions ….museum? Kids activities….Nursery? Food & drink - hospitality? So I’m now at RBOPCMNC to me the pertinent 2 letters are also slap bang in the middle….it’s PC driving yet another wasteful & unwanted & IMHO utterly unnecessary change. Again.

Can I just say I think this whole over proliferation of ‘Associate’ classes (associated to what?) is getting out of hand…. Aged 6 is in my opinion way way too young to be auditioning or to be creating differentiations in ‘standards’ or a ‘pecking order’ amongst classmates in the minds of young children. At this age it should just be FUN!!! And if they are enjoying it, with time most children will learn to relax & engage. If it’s overly competitive between kids/parents I’d politely suggest that possibly it’s not the right school environment for your (any that age) child? All just IMHO

I’d never before heard of Advanced Learner Loans….& now having traveled through the government pages, I honestly don’t feel much the wiser! Does anyone here have any more info they can share? I can see that even a grade 6 RAD ballet exam could technically be covered by this….but would that only be if it was taken at a college or school registered? Could this be a dance school for instance or does it have to be a ‘big’ set up? Can small schools become registered with the government as a provider? Also, cannot see anywhere what the amounts you can actually borrow are…. Typical lack of ‘stating the obvious’ obvious transparency as surely that’s a basic? I think you can only apply for loan to cover some or all of fees, not for maintenance etc. But could not find a maximum loan amount (think minimum is £300) Anyone here understand more & could share? Thanks in advance!

My dancer took one look at my pitiful attempts at sewing their first pair of pointe shoes & with rolling eyes just snatched the shoe from me & took over!! Sometimes it pays to be useless at something 😉

I actually think sewing through to satin actually creates a better line & gives more support as the whole shoe material hugs to the foot better…. I only ever sewed my own shoes back in the day through lining & now realise that’s why they kind of ‘bagged’ around my arch when up on pointe….

Ah - adorable! At that age the ballet dream is just lovely!

I think very many of us are wondering when it all stops? And are we all being fleeced by opportunist courses/trainee companies etc aware of all these well trained excellent career ready dancers….what should be happening is that small companies set up & instead of marketing to wanna be dancers they market to potential customers….so they can offer real jobs not prolong the agony…

Has that film cast been one on the ROH stage? I too felt the casting was just perfect

Nice friend!!! Lucky! Hope they are still friends after the sewing of shoes as troublesome as you say 😂

Thanks for the explanation Angela - looking forward to hearing more!

A loss for ENB but an understandable move - I wish her well!

Would really like to see this! Am I right gleaning from the link - thanks Angela - that an Oct 24th Matinee is being live streamed free or have I misunderstood?

Blimey!

Must say, adorable photos RobS! Thank you!

I’d be surprised interested to know if this is based on you being happy with current leadership at RB & wishing many more years of this? Or do you have a preferred future candidate? Be interesting to know who people have in their future planning wish list!

Well, I'd hazard a guess that Acosta surely is Heir Apparent to a certain Mr O'Hare.....maybe once he finally hangs up his own dancing shoes?

Hmmm…..I have my suspicions that the surveys are already skewed as perhaps only being sent out to certain Friends whose profile fits into particular demographics - targeted by the ROH (or its outsourced company ? 🤔) survey teams….to almost guarantee it gets the results it expects/wants & thus it will gather data of no real use IMHO. It’d be interesting to see if the same survey was carried out on here if a) we’d see any relevance/merit in these surveys (generally I’ve been finding non-Friend surveys I’ve received completely banal & pointless & incredibly short….leading me to suspect that one or other of my answers has fast tracked me to the end as I’ve ticked a box that has put me into the ‘we’re not really interested in you’ category based on one of my specifications eg. age/gender/household income etc etc And b) if us Forum readers - being a general cross section of ROH audience or potential audience members - not just Friends - would provide a similar answer profile or not? It would be really interesting to compare!

And therein then lies the issue…. BRB needs to break free & deserves its own independent governance, it’s own independent funding stream & board of governors & should not be considered the ‘little sibling’ & thus perhaps living with a second thought, hand me down culture. Bet decisions are made & money committed to RB before they get round to BRB…. Carlos himself should push for this! If anyone can get the conversation into traction surely he can? Personally, I’d like to see RB & BRB as competitors! That would give RB the shake up it needs!! To question better the programming/pricing/touring etc etc! I feel RB just sees itself as untouchable & far too safe on its throne… We also see far too little of overseas companies over here to also open up an element of competing for our custom & making RB more visibly earn it’s reputation as one of the worlds finest ballet companies (which it undoubtedly is I’m sure) Wonder why ROH does not become available to them often enough 🤔 ?

Are you looking for residential specifically or consider daily commute? If latter whereabouts are you based roughly & how far prepared to travel?

All too predictable of a world where governments look just to their own largest voter base…. Both the current lead parties in England pander far too much to the various groups who remain overtly against any form of immigration. All imho

I just think they clearly defined BRB as its own ‘Royal’ company as opposed to being RBS2…. So isn’t it time to have a second separately defined school - BRBS…?

Wonder if anyone knows about casting? Or indeed if there could be a way to audition for the dancer daughter role…?

Sounds about right for this whole mess….sigh

Can’t help but wonder how come BRB2 has recruited from RBS but no dancer from Elmhurst - BRB’s local ‘partnered with’ school. Is Elmhurst just not ‘making the grade’? I don’t intend to be contentious - just think it’s a shame if Elmhurst dancers in training tend to only get work experience (unpaid) opportunities with BRB…. It’s as if the shared ‘Royal’ title aligns RBS more with BRB…. Blue Blood means more than sharing a neighbourhood?