Colman

Simply that part of the point of uniforms is to promote group membership and group discipline, which always carries dangers. If clothing is a large part of how we express our social selves then uniforms are an act of submission to authority. That always bears watching.

Of course it's dangerous ground, it always is, uniforms always are.

I don't get that. Really don't. I started with leggings, but only because that was all that was available locally. I've dressed in tights of assorted colours and as far as I can tell my male functions haven't noticeably deteriorated !

I’m going with “I hate the Tao of Physics” which may be the most annoying book I’ve ever read.

Current task: dramatic interpretation of “I hate homework” from ISTD grade two suitable for a 46 year old rather than a six year old. 😂 At least the music isn’t impossibly fast.

People often say that about clothes. They're always lying (mostly to themselves). We're taught to think it's frivolous to worry about such things. Often the people putting the most effort into what they wear are the ones who claim most loudly that it's not important. If it's a uniform it mean "I've agreed to wear what the teacher says" with all that goes with that. In an exam I'll wear the specified exam gear as one of the hoops to be jumped through. I have a bad attitude to exams. Most of the ladies I dance with seem to be constantly looking for the balance point between keeping themselves covered up enough to feel comfortable and exposed enough to show their line. Worrying if skirts are long enough or too long and so on. It's a pretty vulnerable outfit for a non-traditional ballet student living in our weirdly obsessed world to put on. My dance gear (closely fitting thin polo shirt and tights or dance shorts for preference) is partly chosen because it would feel inappropriate to be much more covered up than them in a class where I'm the only boy. I always feel like I'm out in my underwear in a t-shirt so it's almost always a polo shirt. Dark colours mostly because I prefer dark colours, an undershirt to keep me covered if the polo shirt rides up. I have white tights from last year's performance because I needed to wear them to match the ladies. Scared the living daylights of them when I rushed up before going on stage and whipped off my tracksuit bottoms. There was a moment of fear followed by relieved giggles when they worked out what they were seeing. Not going to be wearing them to class! I realised I was utterly lost when I started wearing leg warmers to/from class, if under my leggings.

I’m not sure that that sort of response followed by closing the thread when a particular poster exploits the rules to be rude is really going to work.

More like the bit where the fluffy things turn into Gremlins at midnight …

Or kids they need to get out of there before the good behaviour timer runs out!

Further, do make sure she's getting the best training available here. There are a number of youth companies around the country that give both classes and performance opportunities and various workshops and intensives. Associate programmes in the UK outside of London are much more affordable to get to, as a rule. There is a dance course in Inchichore College in Dublin that a lot of transition year students seem to do - it's not just ballet, but it might be worth considering depending where you're based.

I'd talk to your ballet teacher to see if they can suggest contacts you can talk to, or maybe someone like the Irish National Youth Ballet or Ballet Ireland might be willing to put you in contact with some of their alumni/staff that have go on to/done training in the UK.

Allowing and encouraging curtain call photos makes sense: the audience get their mementoes when they're not annoying anyone and when they push them out to social media they're free publicity for the production/company.

Flights are now up to €300, so I'm still going to have to skip it! So annoyed: I'd love to learn a little bit of Ashton.

I shall store that for future use.

I don't feel dejected if I have a bad class, I just know it's part of doing the work. Some days that doesn't go so well, but so long as the work is being done that's ok. It's frustrating in the moment, but in the long term it's all part of the process. As to giving 100%: we're not professionals. We give what we have, we do what work we can given the resources of time and energy we have spare. Unless you have complicated medical issues (or it's a choice between dance and sufficient sleep!) I tend to think the energy invested in dance or martial arts (which are pretty much the same thing except batterié instead of battery) tends to be repaid many times over.

Could certainly be better, but that's what we have right now!

There's a new term of them: https://www.rad.org.uk/events/, search with keyword Adult. The Dream, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia.

As a consolation prize I'm going to do a day trip to Paris with the 9 year old and see the Degas exhibition in Museé d'Orsay later in the month, so I wouldn't feel too sorry for me! Annoyed to be missing the Ashton though.

A warning to anyone doing the RAD adult repertoire stuff in Elmhurst - the 4th of February coincides with some giant conference or the other. Flights are pretty much booked up so I'm going to have to miss it (or pay €250 to fly!), which is rather annoying as "The Dream" is the most interesting piece they're doing. I don't know how this will affect local travel.

Swan Lake is in a category by itself as a ballet you can sell to normal people. I guess they’re taking advantage of that to defray the costs of the new production and just plain make some money. Sensible, if unfortunate for the regulars.

I don't think there's any intrinsic reason she can't improve, but she might need different teaching than she's getting and maybe different exercises. If she's thinking badly about the corrections she's getting then that's going to get in the way too: you can spend a lot of energy on worrying about how awful you are that you'd be much better off spending on fixing the things you're not getting right yet.

The new fourth act will be an entirely mimed scene in the Faerie Court where Odette succeeds in a legal action for breach of magical contract by deception, followed by the two lovers heading off into the sunset while Rothbart is dragged off to magical prison.

Off to the ROH. http://www.roh.org.uk/news/cesar-corrales-to-join-the-royal-ballet-as-a-first-soloist

More likely they felt it's a high risk for bogus orders.There's a surprising number of those. Or people doing stupid stuff like sending ham to synagogues.

And they’re coming to Dublin!