Peanut68

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…

2 hours ago, art_enthusiast said:

 

Yes, and Marcelino's Mercutio (which I was fortunate to see live in the 2022 run when he stood in for someone, can't remember who). Perfect casting

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!

On 24/04/2024 at 19:30, Angela said:

Now this is interesting: Ballet Dortmund in Germany announces a new Bayadère for next season, "set in Hollywood in the 1920s" and choreographed by director Xin Peng Wang. Decors by Jerôme Kaplan.

https://www.theaterdo.de/produktionen/detail/la-bayadere/

English Translation of the website 

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! 

1 hour ago, bridiem said:

 

I have to say that at the moment I hope your guess is wrong (though I acknowledge that it's very plausible)... in spite of Acosta's undoubted personal charisma.

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?

On 16/04/2024 at 11:49, Blossom said:

I reached out to the Friends team having not received the survey. Note that if you haven't received it, you're probably opted out again... All survey emails were sent on Fri and Sat.

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!

4 minutes ago, RMM1 said:

Although separately run The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and The Royal Ballet School all come under the same Governors of the Royal Ballet Companies. Carlos Acosta, like David Bintley before him is a Governor of the Royal Ballet School. 

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 

13 hours ago, Ian Macmillan said:

Peanuts:  The shared neighbourhood only began some 20 years back, whereas BRB shares a history with what's now the Royal Ballet starting with the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet post-WW2 and on via the RB Touring Company.  But you do make a point as regards the present day. 

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? 

Isn’t RCS offering a  ‘contemporary ballet’ course? Might be worth seeing if they offer any short courses/days

Also Jamiel (posts on forum) of Ballet Nights fame teaches contemporary ballet & often does mixed genre short courses 

11 hours ago, In at the deep end said:

@Peanut68 so interesting you say this, as many people also recommend other associates and intensives over RBS. Do you have any favourites out of the schemes you've taken part in? Thank you

Malvern Ballet Seminars (note, now mostly held at Uppingham in Rutland)

Wish had gone to those years earlier! 
YBSS - esp. if you gain a scholarship (anything free is worthwhile in my book 😉) 

NYB - absolutely go for that… Best performance opportunity!

And maybe some Overseas….I actually wish we’d considered our dancer spreading their wings to overseas earlier….it’s an eye opener seeing the accelerated standards (will also see this in RBS intensives here with all the - often predominantly - international students) & it’s perhaps good for our UK dancers to be out of comfort zone (within reason!) Wish now we’d used as a family holiday plan…. Me by pool whilst they danced 😉

Covid meant the first couple of years I felt they would’ve been old enough to travel alone it didn’t happen….

I do also greatly believe any extra holiday course should be as much about fun as work & also that young folk must take a break during holidays & have done weeks a year with no dance - just regular life & FUN! 
 

to add…. Just from our experience….have by no means experienced every main school intensive or other known school or individual teacher courses. There’s so much out there & I think important to make it fit around rest of family life/location/budget too.
 

And don’t feel that just because dancer A does X course, yours must too! There will always be those dancers who do X, Y & Z courses (because they want to/can afford to/ gain scholarships for/misguidedly think they have to dance right through all holidays / parents want to get rid of them every week of holidays perhaps 😂) 

DO WHAT FEELS RIGHT & what’s gonna be remembered for good reasons years from now!

Good luck! 

This is great - thank you Roberta! Will do a month subscription first to watch this & explore more on the channel!