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Please let me know if anyone has one spare ticket to watch the Royal Ballet company in class on April 13th? Thank you 

I think the new RBS approach means that parents and children can always have a plan B in mind for year 10. They will also be secure knowing that they are guaranteed the first 3 years at White Lodge (and possibly an additional 2 if offered yr 10/11.) In my experience,  about 95% of students who were assessed out under the old system continued to train in different high standard vocational schools around the world. Rarely do children who are so passionate and devoted to ballet quit suddenly because they have been assessed out of one school. This could be for so many reasons- injury and injury recovery rate, physical strength, stamina, attitude and behaviour. Nobody will deny it’s a tough process but these young people are exceptionally resilient and do find an alternative path- one that suits them at that stage of their ballet journey. Some even rejoin RBS for upper school. 

In the UK there are lots of other great schools - YDA in London, Moorland, Elmhurst, Hammond, Tring Park etc. Students who have spent any time at RBS are clearly talented and will audition successfully to join a new school if that’s their wish. 

What a superb, sublime and emotional evening. The dancers were all wonderful and with no staging to detract or distract the eye it was lovely to enjoy the purity of their performances. 
Francesco Gabriele Frola- where to begin? Very rarely does a dancer cause an entire audience to gasp audibly at the sheer virtuosity and seemingly impossible athleticism achieved. He was breathtaking to watch and partnered with the exquisite Mayara Magri they brought dynamics, passion, excitement and a brilliant chemistry that was undeniable from the moment they took to the stage.

I had hoped to see more of Alina but her performance bore all of the hallmarks that I love about her. She is so utterly genuine and generous with her every movement and always dances wholeheartedly and with complete abandon that draws you in. Just beautiful. 
Too many outstanding moments to recount as I’m still taking it all in but bravo to all of the dancers involved and of course to Alina and Ivan for their extraordinary efforts. Wonderful to see dancers and people from all over the world united in their support of Ukraine. A very special evening. 

Yes please! 

If anyone has a reasonably priced ticket spare for Osipova/Clarke I would be super grateful! Thank you 

19 minutes ago, MissEmily said:

@WaverleyHuge congratulations to your DD!!!

 

My pupil was heartbroken even though she always knew her chances were tiny. Thankfully I was able to break the news in person and talk it through with her. She is extraordinarily resilient though (which will serve her well) and bounced back by going on stage at a festival and placing 1st! She is now more determined than ever for her remaining auditions. 
 

Thank you for the support everyone!

Sounds like she is lucky to have such a wonderfully supportive teacher and indeed -resilience is key! Wishing her luck with remaining auditions. Congrats on the first place too, a great confidence boost for her. 

Wow didn’t expect the results so quickly! Good luck everyone awaiting news from the scholarship audition. 

Internet stabilised just in time! Wow, a really strong group of highly accomplished dancers in the junior group. I have 10 favourites so I think the panel have a very tough job today! 
Looking forward to seeing the older group later. 
So delighted the Prix is live again this year! Seeing the students in class and having that opportunity to be coached allows us such insight and is invaluable for them.  Bravo to all the candidates! 
 

Anyone else struggling with the live stream this morning or is it just my internet? 😩

14 hours ago, DanceMamma said:

Does anyone have experience of the ybss scholarship auditions? What to expect and how many are successful/offered?
 

xxx 

Hi,

It’s always a friendly audition and a great class. I think there are 20 dancers in each group, no pointe work for girls. There are a large number of scholarships awarded to a mixture of vocational and non vocational dancers across the age groups.
Not too sure of the exact number available but possibly around 40-50.

I am sure someone else will be able to give an accurate number. 
 

Hi, is this still available? 

Best of luck! Hope the wait for results isn’t too long. What a relief that auditions can finally be held in person once again! 
 

Always a fine balance regarding photos. 
If an application relies solely on still photos for a place to be offered then I totally understand that the quality of the image is important for the student to be granted the opportunity to dance. However, the panels that assess these photos are so highly trained at spotting the necessary facility required or appropriate to the course that so long as the images are decent quality (lighting/exposure/in focus etc)  then that is fine. Most crucial I think is that the student is accurately represented and shown in their best light technically.  I would say that the input of a ballet teacher to advise and ensure that the technique and position is accurate is more important than the standard of the actual photography. 
For company level applications I’m sure that a professional portfolio is expected but prior to that I assume that a trained eye can spot potential amongst both professional and amateur photos.

 
 

4 minutes ago, JennyTaylor said:

Onto this evening's performance where I was totally spoiled by a seat in Row A of the Orch Stalls which I picked up as a Return.  This was my first venture out post Omicron scares and I think I only nerved myself as I did have a seat with no one in front of me and it was also on the end of the row. It was marvellous and what I particularly noticed was how I could hear the orchestra astonishingly so much better than even a few rows back.... and I could see them which I also really enjoyed. 

 

As soon as the overture started, I was misty eyed; by the end of Act 1, tears were rolling down my cheeks, so moved was I by the beauty of the music, the ballet and sheer emotional experience. I suppose the Nutcracker, always has connotations with my childhood,  and I can't believe there was a time when I began to think it was boring. These days, the very challenging times we live in, seem to make every live ballet performance I see extra precious.  

 

Kevin O'Hare came out at the start with quite a heartfelt speech where he explained about the technical issues, celebrated that all advertised Principals were actually dancing and thanked everyone for all their efforts in putting on the show tonight. He also thanked the audience for supporting them. Then we had the wonderful Gary Avis as Drosselmeyer setting the scene for the glitter fest which was tonight's show as a positive shower fell out of his hat as he picked it up.  

 

Sae Maeda and David Yudes were very refreshing as Clara and the Nutcracker. All the party scenes were played to the hilt by all the dancers. My particular favourites were Hannah Grennell as the Grandmother, who manages to add a great deal of humour to the part and Olivia Cowley as the dance mistress. I did wonder if Christopher Saunders had to make a detour across the stage at one point to check on what the children were doing when playing with the dolls. It was certainly quite lively over in that corner of the stage. 

 

The tree was fully grown from the start, but I expected that. The transformation scene still worked for me, as the music is so wonderful that it carried me anyway. Other scenery still moved so there was movement and that helped. I found I didn't really care too much even though it is one of my favourite scenes when it works fully.  The Clara/ Nutcracker PDD always moves me massively, hence I was a bit of a wreck by the end of Act 1 (in a nice way). 

 

Act 2 brought William Bracewell and Laura Morera to the stage, so what more could one hope for.  Glorious dancing from them was celebrated by prolonged audience applause. I thought Will looked rather serious and fully concentrated with only intermittent smiles while Laura was smiling throughout. They were both very happy at the end though! 

 

David Donnelly worried me in the Arabian dance as he appeared to be finding all the lifts a big effort. One could see his arms shaking with the effort with every lift. Hannah Grennell danced very gracefully but I was worried for her. Thankfully, all went well. 

 

Leticia Dias made a lovely Rose Fairy. I too noticed Melissa Hamilton as she stood out, as did Leo Dixon who now has a tremendous stage presence. 

 

At the final curtain and bows, all the soloists came and threw glitter. What a wonderful end to the Nutcracker run, which has delivered so many such fantastic shows under really difficult circumstances. 

 

Finally, when I first arrived at the ROH, I was browsing in the shop when I saw Matthew Ball and Mayara Magri there, looking at the ballet CDs.  I didn't approach them as that doesn't seem right in these Covid times, I just enjoyed seeing them.  No-one else appeared to notice them at all.  Just an added highlight for my day though.    

 

What a wonderful summary of the final Nutcracker of the season! Lovely

insights to read for those of us who weren’t able to be there. 

1 hour ago, sillysally said:

Hi all,

 

My DD needs to buy some R-Class/Russian Pointe shoes (same brand just diff names for diff markets europe/uk/america).

 

She is now in vocational school in UK, whilst I the family lives abroad, so I thought we would be able to order online from UK (it can be quite expensive to send from europe post brexit)but I cant find any shops offering the brand.

 

RClass look ok and last well. We have tried other brands but cannot find  good alternative.

 

Does anybody know of any sellers/shops?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Have a great Friday

sillysally

Hi,

Dancia in London stock R-class and also The Dancers Pointe in Newcastle. 

Another idea- I make ballet themed bracelets with semi-precious beads that I have sold to many people as teachers gifts and indeed gifted to my daughters ballet teachers! 
https://www.kirstengrace.com/the-barre-ballet-gifts

(Hope ok to mention this here mods)

Good luck everyone! Many many years ago when dd was at finals they taught them sections of the choreography from the actual show to see how 

They picked it up/performed and also to see how well they could portray the character acting parts. Congrats on the finals, (a great achievement in itself) and enjoy! 

11 hours ago, Ballet Power said:

Anyone else’s child in year 7 now and auditioning? My dd is auditioning for associates and vocational schools. She wasn’t ready last year but has now decided she wants it! I’m presuming it’s even harder to get a place in the higher years.  

I’m not sure about other vocational schools but RBS has recently changed their structure so there is no longer any possibility of a child being assessed out. As I understand it, Students are now guaranteed their place in the school for 3 years (Yr 7,8,9) as the first phase of their training and then all students re-audition to join the  new training phase which is the next 2 years (years 10-11 and also aligns with academics for GCSE) It would be harder to join in year 8 as there will be fewer places available but not impossible if there are still spaces available in that year group. 
 

38 minutes ago, FionaE said:

A conductor ‘should’’ adapt to each dancer for these.   As they should for a ballerina doing fouettés.  They are so difficult to do … the dancer can’t complete them if the musical timing is not exactly with them.  
 

Based on one viewing of Giselle this run I was not impressed with the conductor.  His timing was all over the place, BUT he was ‘with’ Federico for his 32 entrechat six ✔️
 

One neat entrechat six in itself is not that difficult, multiple ones are …in order not to lose form and timing.  I’m guessing that’s one of the reasons why Nureyev introduced the 32 version.  

Here’s a video of many (many!) Albrecht entrechat six.  In some you can hear the conductor adapting to the dancer’s timing, in others not 🙈.  The audience (Russian and Italian) applause is amazing … they understand the training and many years of effort that it takes to produce these.  When the conductor gets with the dancer m, it can be magical. 
 

 

Thank you so much for sharing this. Fascinating, and what incredible precision, energy and form! 👏 

Would love stalls circle standing if anyone has any spare for weds or Fridays Giselle please? 

4 hours ago, Robinredbreast said:

Would be grateful for advice.

 

DS is at vocational school in England. Year 7. He seemed to really enjoy the first half term but this half term is a totally different story. Tears every night, asking to come home. 
 

He no longer wants to dance as a career. Being there full time has made that clear to him. The dance classes are therefore fun but too long and obviously the commitment to focus and work hard every day isn’t there. He finds the academic side of things frustrating, since there’s not as much time for them as he’d like. He misses home dreadfully. He has friends but nobody close so often feels lonely I think. We can’t get to visit him weekly for various reasons which is also hard: we have family nearby but he wants us. 
 

There’s nothing “bad” going on: no bullying, abuse etc. I’ve asked repeatedly and believe him. It’s just not the right school for him.

 

Any advice? Do we make him complete the year? Pull him out straight away? If he were older I think there’s a strong argument for seeing through a commitment but he’s only 11 and I worry about psychological harm if we leave him: but maybe that’s just me panicking….? Maybe he could enjoy the rest of the year somehow and then leave before year 8? Maybe we should give up the place for someone who really wants it? He has performance commitments this Christmas: he says he doesn’t mind not performing but surely he can’t let everyone down? 

Sorry to hear you are facing such a tough predicament. Reading what you say I would be inclined to pause and wait till term end whilst making other back up plans and buying some extra time to plan his next steps smoothly if he does decide to leave. 
You say he loved it at first as it was probably exciting and new but as the novelty has worn off and reality has set in he has had a change of heart.
11 is exceptionally young to find yourself away from home, with a brand new structure, friends, expectations and it’s probably very confronting to realise the enormity of making a decision to pursue ballet as a career at this early stage too. The kids certainly tend to have wobbles after spending time back with the family in the early days and that certainly takes time to adjust.

If his heart was always with ballet before he went away and he really wanted this then I would be inclined to let the dust settle before removing him. However, If he really doesn’t want to continue training and you know it’s not a reaction to initial homesickness and being so young then I would say it is best to bring him home. Hopefully the school have great pastoral care and house parents who can let you know how he is doing in general and also great advice to speak to a counsellor to talk things through and determine what is best for him. You don’t want him to have any regrets either way!  
Wish you well whichever way you decide. Don’t be afraid to ask the school for support in the first instance as your child will certainly not be the first to feel this way. 

Best of luck! 🍀 

It really was a magical experience to witness the incredible insights and see the passing on to the next generation of such wisdom from amazing coaches. 
I also loved the ethereal beauty of Yasmine in Giselle and her jaw dropping control in such slow and demanding adage sections. Mostly I loved to see the level of detail that was discussed over each movement and gesture and the importance of really living the role and bringing each character and their intentions to the audience. The RB company are so very good at story telling and it was wonderful to observe and appreciate the process! 

I agree! Dancers are all about movement quality and not static pics. However, I wonder whether importance is placed on the photographs submitted as I’m not sure all applicants are automatically invited to audition after application or are the photos used to select candidates for audition at 16+? 

Covid has also changed the approach to auditions and I know that over the last 2 years photos and video submission have been relied on with the limits on travel. Let’s hope that ‘in person’ auditions are all back to normal this year as that’s absolutely the best way to assess an individual dancers ability, performance and potential. 
 

I would say most important to ensure the student is shown in their best light technically so would recommend that if the teacher can’t be there when you take the shots that they do advise on which are the best ones to submit. 
If you do decide to use a professional photographer I know that Photography by Ash is very popular for audition photo shoots though have no personal experience with them.