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https://www.enbschool.org.uk/news.php?ref=lynne-charles-appointed-as-artistic-director-of-english-national-ballet-school

Bad reviews in general, I was waiting to read them before deciding to buy a ticket or not, it's now clear that I will not go

I heard Antonio Casalinho is extremely small ?

Vadim Muntagirov has been invited ?  When was it ?

not much time for Mr Sambé to get used to the rake of Garnier !

11 minutes ago, Blossom said:

Mine too - I looked it up after the announcement

United Kingdom | Gerard Charles (royalacademyofdance.org)

I work in dance education but had never heard of him, a discreet man !

Excuse my ignorance but who was the previous RAD artistic director ?

What was Aaron Watkin's artistic project when he was chosen by the selection committee ?

It's hard to say when you look at this 75th anniversary season...

Having said that, a new creation by William Forsythe is always  an event, but perhaps a little too much in the same vein as the previous director.

Taking over from this visionary and exceptional woman is really not an easy task.

We knew that, but it's becoming more and more obvious.

The talented Skya Powney is in the Het Nationale Ballet in Amsterdam.

Having watched the trailer it looks very dated and not very exciting.

Please Mr Watkins would it be possible to have innovative choreographers who, in their use of classical dance, move the art form forward ?

Where is Shiori Kase ?  Where are the young dancers ?

Aaron Watkins castings are more traditional, or less daring than Tamara Rojo's...

Thank you for your answer.

I am sure the PdL judges are not counting the turns but are focused on the quality of dancing, musicality, potential, physical abilities...

What do you mean by "if judges are aware of /agree with these choices" ?

The choice to ask for musicality ?  

I know,  you are right concerning this aspect !

Jury members are able to see things in the blink of an eye, much faster than the most diligent ballet lover.

They know which solos are difficult and they're not fooled by spectacular virtuosity.

So, in my opinion, the question of separating the boys and the girls doesn't arise.

This year 9 scholarships were awarded (4 women / 5 men);
in 2023 11 scholarships  (7 women / 4 men); 
in 2022 9 scholarships (5 women / 4 men).
Total those last three editions : 29 scholarships (16 women / 13 men)

Too many female candidates ? what are you talking about LinMM not sure to understand.

88 candidates this year in Lausanne (44 female / 44 male)

20 candidates in the finale (10/10)

I follow the competition since 1980, it has evolved in many ways but the format (female / male) has always been the same.

Personally I don't think the gender issue is the most important one, but we could imagine that a different ranking between the two groups of candidates (junior / senior) could be interesting.

History of the competition : in 1980 the young American Nancy-Ann Raffa won the gold medal (at the time without scholarship).

Four scholarships were awarded to Alessandra Ferri / Patrick Armand / Deborah Bull / Marie-Laure Keller.

A documentary followed the competition that year. In the first editions there was no pre-selection, but candidates were eliminated every day, sometimes even after the first lesson. In the film, part of the jury's deliberations is shown and someone says "boys are always given better marks than girls and then it's not necessarily what you want in terms of the ranking".  

Back then there were far fewer male candidates, and I think things have changed a lot over the last 40 years but I may be wrong ?

who are the winners ?

Royal Ballet profile would be very different without the Prix de Lausanne.

Someone who has won something.

Julie Joyner, prix de Lausanne dancer this season at The Royal Ballet, was not the winner last year.

Many VERY talented dancers of The Royal Ballet are in the company thanks to the Prix.

Yuhui Choe, Mayara Magri, Akane Takada, Alexander Campbell, Steven MacRae, Ryoichi Hirano, Calvin Richardson (?), Leticia Dias, Gina Stom Jensen, David Yudes, Yu Hang, Marco Masciari, Sumina Sasaki, Hannah Park....

Some of them entered the company directly, others went for one two years in the RBS. They certainly never went to White Lodge 🙂

Oh apologies, difficult sometimes for a french man !

I guess you would have the same kind of problems if participating on a french dance forum.

I know someone who was approached to take over the position several weeks ago.

Well before the official announcement of Mrs Durante's departure was made.

A bit sceptical ?  You can't be sceptical when you have the honor of working with an artist and ballerina like Viviana Durante !

There are some incredible things happening with this new generation....

When did we see them for the last time on the ROH stage ?

Hope 2024 will be better for those two wonderful dancers !

It seems that it will be impossible for this series of performances to match the quality of the cast with Alina Cojocaru a few years ago (with Cesar Corrales in the Peasant pas de deux). A great ENB era.