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BalletRocks1

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About BalletRocks1

  • Birthday 18/06/1992

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    Manchester

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  1. I'm lucky enough to be able to do classes and shows in the same building, and we get a rehearsal on stage usually the week of or the week before the show, as well as on show day - we get a chance to work on spacing and whatnot but it's not without issue!! A few years ago I was in two pieces back to back in our evening classes show and had to do a "pretend" walk off as the lights dimmed and the second group came onto the stage in darkness. I basically had to walk towards the wing and then circle around to my starting position for the next piece - but of course I went walking right into one of the others coming on for the second piece! Nearly knocked the two of us over (thankfully it was just a bump and some whispered apologies and the performance went well 🙂)
  2. Thanks for all of the suggestions! Sorry I didn't reply earlier on - for caught up in work and exam prep! My exam was this morning (9:30am!!) and I think it went quite well. Fluffed a few arms here and there, but overall pretty good! the free allegro was a bit of a brain teaser so early in the day but we marked it four times through before doing it full out. Started with the left foot in front in 5th, facing the front, and did glissade derriere, assemble over, two changement, three assembles over, and then another changement (to then go on the other side). Kept wanting to do another glissade instead of the three assembles over!! This is the leotard I went for in the end (in the blue) : http://www.movedancewear.com/leotards-move_zia_backless_turtleneck_leotard/4296/ I got a bit excited and bought a few options, but this was my favourite! Not great if you need a bra but the material is nice.
  3. Any advice on what sort of leotard to wear for the IF exam? The guidelines say sleeveless and has to be black, royal blue, navy blue or purple, but I'm struggling to find one that meets the spec and I feel moderately comfortable in. I'm no good with anything that has thin straps as they either cut into my shoulders painfully or roll right off, but I'm not fussed about wearing a bra underneath so a low/cutout back is fine. The biggest issue is finding one that fits around the cake pouch (i.e. my stomach) and doesn't pull down too much at the chest!! I'm doing the exam in the November/December session this year so still have a bit of time to find something ☺️
  4. No - I was next door in ballet whilst jazz was on, and I popped through at the end of the jazz class as my second class was in the same studio!
  5. Hey everyone! Just an update on the KNT Danceworks summer intensives - this is Karen's most recent post: *** KNT DANCEWORKS SUMMER BALLET INTENSIVES *** * REPERTOIRE CONFIRMED - La Bayadère * 15th - 17th August: Beginners Ballet Intensive 18th - 20th August: Advanced Ballet Intensive The intensives will be held at The Dancehouse Theatre in Manchester and taught by the lovely Jane Tucker (Northern Ballet Theatre) who has taught at KNT Danceworks several times now and knows us well. Your average day will start with a warm up/body conditioning session, a ballet class and end with repertoire classes. The repertoire you'll be learning is from the beautiful ballet La Bayadère. Please comment below if you're interested in/want to book yourself on our intensive and I will send you a registration form and more info as soon as I have it. The prices are £200 for one summer intensive (3 days) or £350 for two summer intensives (6 days). There is a £50 non refundable deposit included in the price to secure your place. Our past summer schools have been great fun so I hope to see you there :-) Thanks, Karen I can't make the whole thing this year due to work, but it would be great if some of you could make it!
  6. The advanced level one will be quite advanced - not professional level, but definitely a good bit more than intermediate. I attended both the beginners and advanced courses last year (my legs took quite a while to forgive me for it!) and they were both a lot of fun, so no mater which one you could make it to I reckon you'd have a good time! There's also been no decision on repertoire yet so if you've got anything you'd like to do, feel free to make a suggestion!
  7. Michelle - yes I was aware that going as a drop-in student was an option, but it just wasn't feasible this time for me to go (hopefully one day I'll get a chance!). I think I probably would do most of the classes, so I felt like I was getting loads out of the day. Oooh what class was she in Tulip? On Monday I was in the Advanced Ballet and Beginners Jazz classes, and on Tuesday I did Beginners Ballet, RAD Inter Foundation and Pointe - was she in any of those? In relaton to the KNT Danceworks Intensives in April, I should add that there is a limit of around 25 people - both days are filling up quite quickly so email info@kntdanceworks.co.uk to reserve your place if you're interested in coming along!
  8. I hope some of you can make it! It's quite popular amongst our class regulars so you should get in touch as soon as possible if you want to come Michelle - I asked in class tonight whether we knew what bits of R&J we would be doing, but I don't think a decision has been made just yet. If I do find out I'll mention something in the forum, although it may well end up being a surprise for everyone Unfortunately, time and money got in the way of me attending the classes at Elmhurst! A few things came up for me that meant I would miss a couple of the classes, and most of my disposable income was going into saving for a holiday to New Zealand that I'm going on soon. Hopefully I'll get to some later in the year, or next year!
  9. Hi everyone! I thought this would be the best place to post this but if you think it would be better somewhere else, please do let me know! KNT Danceworks in Manchester (the place where I take my classes) is going to be running a couple of day-long adult ballet intensives in April! Details are as follows: Dates: Beginners - Friday 8th April 2016, 10am - 4pm (This level is suitable for complete beginner and beginner dancers) Advanced - Saturday 9th April 2016, 10am - 4pm (This level is suitable for intermediate and advanced dancers) Repertoire: Romeo and Juliet Teacher: Jane Tucker Price: £50 (£20 deposit included in the price payable ASAP) Venue: The Dancehouse Theatre, Oxford Road, Manchester The announcement was posted on the Facebook account our teacher uses and there's been a lot of inerest already, so if you think you'll want to come along then email info@kntdanceworks.co.uk as soon as you can to register yourself! I'll be going on the Saturday - I would love to do both days but I'm about to take three weeks off work for a holiday so won't be able to swing another weekday off so soon! If you've go any questions please feel free to let me know!
  10. Wow I've not read this for a while - there are lots of new posts! I personally like using the barre, but I also don't mind doing some barre exercises in centre - pliés are always a good one to check whether I've been gripping the barre or just resting my hand on it. For the KNT Danceworks show pieces, the teachers usually just pick a song and choreograph something to it (obviously it takes a lot of effort to do this!), adapting as and when needed for different abilities and spacing issues and whatnot. The repertoire class are going to be performing a bit from Swan Lake - we've pretty much learnt it all and are just refining every week to get it looking perfect I don't know who else from that class reads this but I think everyone has been doing fantastically well! Anyone who is interested in coming to see the show please do come and watch - it's on 30th January at The Dancehouse Theatre in Manchester (I'm not sure if tickets are on sale yet or not, but they're usually quite cheap). Most of the evening classes that run have a performance - there will be ballet (including a pointe piece), tap, jazz, contemporary, Chinese ballet (always a crowd pleaser!), and there is usually also belly dancing, African dancing, flamenco, and a class that uses hula hoops (the piece they did last year was amazing!!).
  11. I know somebody has mentioned earlier about RAD adult classes, but I can't find the post that mentions it!! There will be some RAD adult associate classes running at Elmhurst, starting in September - once a month for four months. I'm definitely planning on going and I know a couple of people that are also interested When I first contacted them about a month ago about the classes, I was told that not too many spaces had been taken up and that if not enough people applied for the classes they would be cancelled I'd hate for the classes to be cancelled because of not enough interest, and it might be nice to meet some of you in person! Here's the link to the Facebook post with all the info - https://www.facebook.com/RADMidlandsandEastEngland/photos/p.901610963260847/901610963260847/?type=1&theater.
  12. With the adult workshops it's up to you which level you decide to do - although if you're not sure whether to go for beginners or advanced then you can always get in touch with info about how much dance you've done or how long you've been dancing for etc. and you'll be told which one is the best for you The beginners intensive was like a reasonably tough beginners class - not so easy that we were all bored, and not so hard that nobody could keep up. Everybody who attended kept up well, and I know there was a wide range of experience in the class. The advanced intensive was similar in that it was harder/faster than some of our usual advanced classes, but not so much that we couldn't keep up with it. Most people managed pretty well - there were a few of us who attended both the Swan Lake and Giselle intensives so by the end of the week our brains (and my legs) were failing us somewhat!! Haha We're hoping that there will be another short intensive around Christmas time, so keep your eye out for any information! (I'll probably post something on here if it does go ahead). If you think you might want to come along and you have any particular dates or repertoire you'd prefer to do, then let me know and I can pass the info on (Karen is currently asking for some suggestions so she can try to plan something that people will want to do at a time when we can go!).
  13. Michelle, I understand that you like to know exactly what you're covering before you do an intensive/workshop so that you can "fully understand the objective and execute it as efficiently as one can" - but what I don't think you seem to understand (or maybe you do and just haven't mentioned it) is that this approach to these sort of things can cause issues. For example, if you're told before what repertoire we're covering and you attempt to learn some of it beforehand, then you might get to the intensive/workshop and find out that you're actually doing different choreography - this means that not only have you wasted your time learning it, but that you're more likely to make errors during the intensive/workshop as you're having to try and forget the choreography you've learned whilst also learning new choreography. I have to say that I do agree with Kate_N where she has said "you need to be prepared to change the way you do things for a specific teacher or choreographer" - each teacher has their own preferences on how something should be done, and as the students in the situation we need to listen to them. It can be awkward to change the choreography last minute, everybody will agree with that, but as dancers we need to always be prepared for something like that to happen. I am quite new to ballet and have dipped in and out of performing arts for most of my life (I did a fair bit of Irish dancing when I was younger, and dropped in and out of drama for years), so I understand where Kate_N is coming from - plain speaking is something to be careful about in this kind of environment. You will be recognised and respected for any knowledge and talent you have. Plain speaking and is likely to offend or upset some people. If you do have any comments or suggestions about how something should be done then you need to take these privately to the teacher - if they agree with your suggestions then good for you, and if not, well you'll just have to get on with it. I have quite friendly relationships with all of my teachers, but I would never dream of teaching or correcting them - they have been training and performing nearly their whole lives and I highly doubt that I would know more than they do (unless they need to know anything about spreadsheets or The Sims - I've spent an awful lot of time on both!). I can't say I've ever met a dance teacher who was willing to be taught/corrected by a student, so the teachers/coaches you have referred to in your post must be the special exceptions. I don't remember Jane simplifying anything from the Act 1 solo - can you specify how it was simplified/what it was simplified from? Your comment (regarding the choreography) about trying "desperately not to take it in my long term memory" and how you want to "reburn the original Bolshoi / RB version into the body" brings me back around to my point above about how as dancers, we need to always be prepared for something to change. You chose to spend your time (or some of it, anyway) learning a different version to what we were taught, and you needed to be prepared to learn something different at the intensive - and from what you have posted above, it doesn't sound like this was the case. If you're going to be performing a bit of Giselle at some point then it might be handy to know a couple of different versions just in case your teacher wants to change something. I had a fantastic time at both the Swan Lake and Giselle intensives - they were a lot of fun (Jane is a great teacher) and everybody that I've spoken to is really glad that Karen organised them for us (I'm including myself here!) the classes were great, and the rehearsals were good too (I felt like the LAB ones were very stop/start). For anybody that is interested, Karen has posted some pictures from the Giselle intensive on Facebook - the link to the page is here. I know Karen is hoping to be able to run some more intensives towards the end of the year (all depending on the availability of the studios and teachers), so keep your eye out for any information! We'd love to see you all there
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