Nicola H

Absolutely it does ... also fits with what oneof my regular teachers ( a PDTD holder) says , she encourages her adult students who are or who want to take pointe class to do their normal classes in soft blocks ...

the Levers Built Port Sunlight, much as Salt built Saltaire , near Bratfud and Cadbury built Bournville ...

I Agree with @Kate_N Totally on this point I've not taken Hannah's class at Danceworks, but I have taken it at Central ( friday evening - Hannah makes a mad dash across London from Danceworks ) and Kate;s assessment is spot on

sounds like a good plan try David's Thursday;s class and/or Hannah Frost's friday class as well as both are good classes taught by fab teachers. as for 'if you get beyond absolute beginners ' ... welcome down the rabbit hole ...

one thing to remember with David's thursday class it that it's a subset of exercises ( no turning ) , what you do do is taught to his high standards and he has a knack of teaching to the room - i know people who take his thursday class who are higher level than absolute beginners - but they take it because they know David will work them hard and because his classes are great fun - a good class is a good class whatever the level... Hannah Frost's beginner class at Central on friday is also a good class

possibly less of an issue for a film , but Victoria does seem to be a role for a dancer who sings , while MT has the 'triple threat' ... people are either one that does the other two competently or someone who does all three to 'quite good'

depleted ? given the company size of RB it's more going to be a chance for people to move up to their next logical step in terms of seniority of casting. Any of the 'big 5' can cope with a 2 or 3 of their more senior members being unavailable for a period Northern has a more modest payroll but was touring both Musketeers and Puss in Boots in October with Javier away guesting in Cuba ...

the original choreo for Cats is quite balletic - especially for Victoria which one assumes is the role Ms Hayward will be playing and if you look back at the people who have played Victoria in various productions they are generally people with fairly significant ballet training

looks like we'll have to send the mods some more loctite 638 ... ( high strength, rapid curing thread locking fluid for the none geeky ) unfortunately over recent weeks it seems a lot of people haven't borne heed of what the mods say about real names and the truly controversial comments that might be made ... the Ballet West discussion and now the RBS discussion loacked becasue people are making direct accusations against named managers / leaders/ teachers while hiding behind pseudonyms ... there reaches a point where the mods may just think 'sod it' and put the shutters down. - the the detriment of the rest of the dance community

if the minimum age is measured at END of the academic year and that minimum age was 16 - 'rising 16' applicants could be considered ...

so someone could join the upper school when their peer group is entering Yr 11 ?

I think Adage in Harrogate also keep some GMs, Sandi found the best fit of what she had for me was Grishko when i was fitted a month or two ago, but we are experimenting with the GM 'box liner' for padding rather than propads https://www.facebook.com/adagedanceharrogate/ 01423 530777

that's the interesting thing about ballet tights , despite being fairly opaque the underlying skin colour does have an impact ... and much as they mlook peach in colour when new and in the pack you don;t have ot have massive legs for them to look fairly pale once on ... pink tights on a darker skinned dancer looks odd

not sure of the utility of an endocrinologist in this situation at this point in time , certainly 13 is not quite considered unusually late for someone who is very physically active , but further discussion on this is best left to the relevant clinical professionals https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/early-or-delayed-puberty/ my mention of Endocrinologists was in regard to the advisability of vit D supplementation among most people in the UK.

re Vit D that fits with what an Endocrinologist known to myself and at least one other forum member states , as his area of practice id one where there is both legitimate convcern aobut bone density and a lot of concern trolling ...

The RAD confirmed , on twitter, that where their guidelines for examination dress state 'flesh coloured' tights and shoes may be worn that is to tone with the dancer's skin tone. they were subsequently attacked on that point by a member of the 'Woman's Equality Party' , citing a ?US Dictionary definition of 'flesh coloured' as a light pink ... , who have an unfortunate habit of being the the white ( and very assimilated ) middle class cisgender women equality Party

the amateur companies do vary in their approach . some do appear to be near pro or are mainly youth + ringers , others aren't and we'll have to see exactly what direction Powerhouse takes once it;s properly set up and there is a board , and whatever form of artistic direction comes to pass ...

which is why balletco is such a greatforum / site ...

also seems to be a rather London centric view of employment in major companies...

not quite , although it does seem that way ... in 2018 there are/ were ?6 TBRs (January 2 day Northern Ballet Leeds, March 2 day Rambert London , May 1 day corps Yorkshire dance, June 2 day Rambert, August BH 3 day Northern , October 2 day Rambert, and the year will be rounded off with a 2 day in Leeds 1+2nd December ( which is not showing as sold out so there may still a few places left - you'd have to email Hannah or use the contact form o nthe site ( which sends Hannah an email) add in the various company and RAD things, plus en Avant , some things Sander Blommaert has organised , the adult day at YBSS , two 'days of Dance ' organised by Karen Sant and the KNT team in Manchester and the company classes / workshops organised by Chelsea Ballet, Chelmsford Ballet Company and this year has seen the beginnings of Powerhouse ballet with contributions from @Terpsichore and various others of the usual suspects of adult recreational ballet across Yorkshire+ humberside and the Northwest ... Powerhouse ballet gained it;s name because it 's neither white nor red in it;s roses and there;s all ready Northern Ballet, Northern Ballet School , Academy of the Northern Ballet and NSCD in the target area all using 'Northern' (mainly along the M62 the so called 'Northern powerhouse - we've had company classes in Huddersfield, Leeds (twice) Liverpool and Manchester ( and the November / December class will be in Manchester again ) - and we've added a pointe class as well from October ) as well as the company class cum audition for the piece Terry Etheridge has created for Powerhouse ( and those selected and some others had a further full day of class to develop that the following day ) and there's the workshop with Ballet Cymru on the 28th of November at Yorkshire Dance followed by the laucnh of Powerhouse's next project - a Northern 'Ballet Circle' type program running parallel to the Company ... this ignores the increasing choice of good quality adult recreational classes at all levels outside London ( certainly finding improver + / Intermediate /open and/or adult pointe seems to be something that a lot of people can and do access ... i suppose i better delcare my biases here 1. a very happy customer of TBR 2. somehow managing to volunteer myself to be on the development / steerign group for Powerhouse

GM pointes use a lot of plastics in their construction hence their apparently ' pre -broken in ' state and reported longer dancing life than the paste / hessian / cardboard/ hardboard of a traditionally constructed pointe shoe ( and having de shanked my first (badly fitted) pair i've had a good nosy at that kind of construction

@LinMM glad you enjoyed yourself ... welcome to the TBR family ! and it is a family / company feeling if 2019 continues in the vein of 2018 TBR wise there will be at Least 3 London and 3 Leeds , this of course does depend on 'staff' ( as Hannah and Gavin have to work around their commitments to Northern - same for Kenny and any other Northern company members who get involved ) and studios ( although the one day Corps retreat in the late spring was held at Yorkshire Dance just across the road from the Northern / Phoenix building David really is a fabulous teacher and can teach a class which is useful and challenging to everyone from the near beginner to (near -) pro , you are correct about the no hiding and i'd agree experience / level wise that you need to be able to follow class and ideally be able ot cope with inside leg and change of weight at barre, but the collective minds and bodies will make sure you have suitable barre mates Georgina seems to be great at being 'London Hannah ' from a keeping things going point of view the Summer ( August BH ) TBR is highlight of the TBR year because it's 3 days and certainly the last 2 years TBR has had the Northern Ballet building to itself ...

the fact they are 'random' is a protection against the obsessives when people talk aobut 'plain sales' and wider availability it all ends up sounding a little unsavoury rather than a gift from the the dancer

parking ? NCP saffron hill is the closest car park accordign to Mr Google herbal hill itself is a very narrow double yellows both sides lane opening onto a busy main road (Clerkenwell rd)

the other thing to consider with WL >RBS US > RB company dream progressions is that assumes that one fits the RB mould at every stage, where someone might have been prime WL candidate ar 11 but by 16/17 they , while still being a fabulous and competent dancer might be more suited to say Central and then a professional career with a more narrative company such as Northern or New Adventures you could draw a line , a spectrum if you will, from 100 % contemporary to 100% classical ballet and then pick a company and place a block along that line that represents what the AD of that company is looking for in terms of technique and that 'sparkle' ... equally you could line up 4 or 5 dancers all with similar marks in their technique exams a, all with similar turnout / extension etc etc ... all similar heights and builds but give them 3 or 4 pieces to learn across varying choreographers and along this line from contemporary to strictly classical and it will show their strengths as an artist ... which is what the ADs of the upper schools and companies look for ....