Peanut68

Love that you are fact checking!

Hate the fact I just cannot book the stuff I’d love to see (in order to stay married & solvent 😂) So want to go….

I’ve long been saying (documented in this forum too) that there needs to be an audit of these schools - starting with those receiving funding through MDS & DaDa. There seems to be very little or no outside independent scrutiny with the schools pretty much writing their own rules & being autocratic & - dare I say? - in some cases power crazed. All just my opinion from our first hand experience. (And this includes 3 of the major schools over 2 generations)

When I saw the hotel name I naively assumed it to be more of a hostel type of place 😂 I liked this Google search definition… What is the modern meaning of nomad? In its more modern sense, a nomad is someone who would rather wander from place to place than set down roots, like the nomad who crashes at his friends' apartments in various cities instead of renting his own place. Rather far from £600+ a night glam hotel 😂

What’s also to note is that some dancers do still succeed despite the best efforts to crush them…& that is in no way vindication of the teachers/institutions who of course will no doubt see it as such & I bet even hold up these success stories as proof their practises work & see it as their own success! The ends most certainly do not justify the means…. Even if the ending is a happy one on occasion

Ha ha - that was an interesting read!!

Ah ha - didn’t know it was a repeat! A friend had kindly alerted me to it! I love this Great Lives series where you gain often such intimate insights into people from ancient & recent history! This was such a lovely listen!

Compare the actual performance length (even with intervals) to most of the longer blockbuster movies… films start to look much better value for money (even with the cost of popcorn these days!! And no - I definitely do not wish to see popcorn for ballet audiences as discussed elsewhere!!) And with so many excellent dancers underused IMHO in the larger salaried companies…. Surely this would be win win for audience & company moral etc etc! All dancers I’m sure wants to perform just as much as they can & we want to see them!

Oh how joyous a listen was that? 😍 Suspect I’m in for a more challenging watch on Monday….

Yes - and great value for money too! None of this 20 mins dance then a 25 minute interval then another perhaps 25 mins of dance followed by yet another 25 mins when they can fleece you for your money at the bar for then maybe 30 mins more in the theatre (including curtain calls I dare say!!) I’ve felt rather short changed at times at ROH

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001q69s

Good points… I think there’s another test:- would this make content in ‘The Sun’ & similar newsfeeds? Oh boy…. So much distasteful & sensationalist stuff out there in the dance world I fear! to add…. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001q69s Maybe this item will be a good listen & shine a light onto a gentler time? Or not of course! I suspect there are many horror stories from the birth of British Ballet days - as with most things in the early 20th century when looked at with 21st Century sensitivities & expectations!

I do hope that it is made clear that these are by no means the only 2 institutions in this field that a) offer elite training & b) have potentially adversely damaged young people. It will I’m sure be a tip of the iceberg that we see highlighted. And of course there is the good, the bad & the ugly (as well as downright immoral & possibly illegal) happenings across many training establishments from the very basic grassroots entry point to elite. And I do hope that we can occasionally find good out there to give a hoorah to in this ballet training world! My personal experience does have such an extreme mix of individuals ranging from exceptional to dastardly! It is as ever the bad minority who can so often can ruin things for the rest. It will I’m sure be an interesting watch…

I recall hearing a very informative piece on radio 4 some months back whereby a building expert was highlighting this material & it’s deemed pros at times of use & it’s very obvious potential flaws. It highlighted the imperative for good building maintenance - in particular weather proofing. How many flat roofs do we see in public buildings with clearly shoddy in need of repair felt/asphalt top layers? If they have RAAC below then it’s basically a sponge to soak up moisture…add to that temperature changes causing expansion/contraction of this material (which to my untrained eye appears to resemble pumice/volcanic rock) then it is easy to see how it can suffer undue stresses & fail

But of course Parliament was on Summer recess….MP’s couldn’t possibly have been expected to come into work to deal with these time critical issues!!! The mind boggles & the blood boils…

Loved the Pavlova advertorial! she really was the ‘influencer’ of the day!

A shoot out for Hammond - certainly provided a great all round education for academics, all forms of dance & music & drama experience also through whole school musical theatre productions & very slick annual Xmas Carol concert. I know there have been lots of changes to courses/staff & to boarding (big improvements there I imagine!). I felt it had the benefits of ‘normal school’ too as they did trips like normal schools (one to Conway with coast steering eyc) & another to include war graves in France I think the more defined courses now can only be a good thing. Hammond Shows were all incredibly high standard, great content & by far the best I saw from any vocational school/college. In our day I did feel some members of staff & classical requirements were not rated or given the priorities as they should’ve been…. Again, this may have been improved. But I do think it was a great place for our early school years with lots of varied performance experience & exams across genres which may well be beneficial down the line for any move into teaching/UCAS points for uni etc. Also, city centre proximity was also good giving a ‘normal’ weekend of going into town shopping/swimming etc with friends….. And they have MDS & possibly bursary funding too. Good luck!

Oh gosh - seeing that cake I got an instant childhood memory of a (rather worn) ballerina figure just like those (though somehow seemed classier for having very little colour left!!) that would adorn birthday & Xmas cakes! Actually think a love for ballet subliminally got to me through things like that!

Thank you…. isn’t that the main Mormon city in USA? If so I’m almost surprised as very much imagined ballet would not be favoured…but I might be making a vastly ignorant assumption so apologies if so

Out of interest, where is the US Ballet West based? I realise there was (is?) a company of that name in Scotland & which had a now closed under a cloud school of same name…

Ooh thanks….and pre-order timing perfect for Xmas!

Was only a matter of time…. And a few brave souls willing to break the shameful silence that this ballet training world sadly still seems to hold trainee dancers/parents in…. My overwhelming personal experience as a parent is hearing of an influential ‘teacher’ almost holding themselves up as the route to success with phrases to students & to parents along lines of:- ‘I can make you’ This seemed to be a phrase proffered to very many students/parents. But alongside that I heard loud and clear a very insidious (& expressed) subtext of ‘I can also break you’

Oh this must surely be a given???? And this would now top my Fantasy Lottery Win Ballet Travel Season!!

A couple of indirect things on this thread that I’m curious about….wondering if there was support from the UK vocational school to enter YAGP… did the school select & enter pupil & assist with coaching & financing? Secondly, can Russian institutions currently send teachers to overseas intensives etc? Am I naive in imagining there would be travel restrictions on that & on actively recruiting for students etc considering world events…?

ENB use Tring pupils for children/rats in their Nutcracker. They base on height so could be from Prep department up to school year 9 (even 10!) if below height limit they look for. They have used sone from Tring Park Associates too (the Saturday/evening ballet classes - most likely boys as these are in shorter supply in main school) Older ENBS students are used in I think snowflakes/flower waltz scenes. Brecon Festival Ballet are doing a Nutcracker in Wales with a mix of professional & local dancers….