Nicola H

hi Djaamila a lot of good stuff has been said , it;s also worth noting that some of the very well regarded Contemporary dance degree level course spend as much time in ballet class as they do in contemporary class 'neo classical' ballet isn't necessarily tutus and tiaras - look at Sir Matt Bourne's work - his 'boy' version of Swan lake, , how some of the repetoire of companies like Northern Ballet subvert it ( look at Kenny TIndall's Casanova for instance ) ... even Ballet;s Dark knight himself Macmillan made some really gritty stuff ( def no tuts or tiaras in The Judas Tree for instance ... but even some of his more lighthearted work like Elite Syncopations ... which the most tutu-y companies such as the Royal ballet fall over themselves to do ... there's still aobut 2 weeks of the Documentary 'Ballet's Dark knight' on the I player. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b2gjbl ( it does discuss some quite grown up stuff ) the ballet world is pretty diverse especially in terms of adult recreational dancers age / sex/ gender/ race all go by the wayside , even if some of the big five companies may appear to be horrifically white Ballet Black have been mentioned as a comapny with a particualr interest in BaME involvement and also in another Plug for Northern ( shock Horror Nicola fan girling over NB again! ) look at the way Mlindi Kulashe has been cast on the basis of his ability as a dancer , his ethnicity being irrelevant ... his casting as Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre or as 'the Fury ' in the Boy in the striped pyjamas ...

; looking and feeling like a 'proper dancer' certainly does help ...

interesting question ... i suspect that some of out more pointe proficient people may have been made to couru across the diagonal or a large studio or even around the studio to represent some of the longer courus in pieces especially if performed on big stages but would that ever be 100 metres ... I will not be volunteering to experiment on the topic in the foreseeable as i can barely couru now and if anything due to upcoming medical stuff my extremely limited skills en pointe will be become even more so for a period ...

https://www.royalacademyofdance.org/achieve/exams/teachers-entry-guide/uniform also pg31 to 35 of the specification document note reference to 'guidelines' and 'suitable alternatives' etc ... as i said in my response at 0dark30 the topic has been discussed before on the site , iirc in regard to dancewear for for dancers who are larger than the standard (small) sizings that pervade the dancewear market ...

IIRC the RAD policy is that the unifoem is not compulsory. The topic has been mentioned before

i'd agree that is where the first steps (argh! the puns ) should be , assessment and gait analysis would determine if it is or going to be a problem ... and orthotics or physio following from that if clinically indicated ...

hence 'relative' ease ... rather than straight interchangability, this is before we get into the realms of ' APL can be given ' stuff ...

was the unspecificed Different Exam Board a CDET or as they are now called CDMT member organisation or not ? RAD / BBO /IDTA /ISTD / BATD etc are all CDET/CDMT recognised - hence the relative ease peopel report in swapping between

It's 10 gbp a class now, but for a solid hour and a half of a teacher of the calibre that Central Nights has you can't go wrong - certainly if i'm in London on a weeknight and can get ... last time i was in London was in March for an appointment on the Friday Morning as 1st class train lunchtime/ mid afternoon and a night in travelodge is cheaper than trying to travel on the morning and rather less stressful delays wise so I travelled down Thursday afternoon and decided to have the rest of friday and some of saturday in London - so I took David's Thursday night ' beginners' class - yes it's suitable for total newbies but for anyone who wants a decent class taught by a really good teacher and where at least half the aching afterwards is from laughing ... I recognised a number of people there from TBR and know they also take David;s improvers or improvers plus classes . Friday I took Hannah Frost's class at Central - against she's a fabulous teacher and much fun was had - also bumped into a familiar face from TBR there as well. might have to brave some of the other classes next time i'm in the smoke.. and , yes, the Herbal Hill building has it's own unique charms ...

thanks for confirming what i suspected about the requirements for work in the student;s own time - much like those who deride certain liberal arts subjects at degree level for 'only' having 8 contact hours vs the 30 + contact hours of STEM or Pre-reg health professional students ( forgetting that these contact hour figures include lab / placement etc ) if work is just pass / fail then some people will be working 'tactically' rather than aiming for specific grades / classifications

Renato Paroni an apparently somewhat eccentric Ballet teacher who, when in the UK and not off around the world teaching at other vocational schools / coaching / ballet mastering teaches at Central . including some of their open access Evening classes ... the rosta of teachers for the public classes at Central is really rather remarkable https://www.centralschoolofballet.co.uk/classdescriptions.php

I agree with the above ... while not related to dance, my current workplace has some interesting times ahead with someone who is mid way through his probation, and maturity and self awarenss are going to be his downfall , he;s a nice lad, he could do the job well if he hung his attitude and ego up with the coats on the pegs but that's the problem - he can't/ won't apply stuff and despite the subtle and not so subtle prods from peers, trainers and supervision he's looking at missing the mark across all the areas of the scorecard we use determine whether/ when people get off probation and /or are retained beyond the probationary period

indeed , in my own past experience I do wonder what some people who duid pre-reg at other HEIs did for 2300 hours compared to what I did.

company classes monthly is eminently sensible imo

that surprises me , becasue i;d be interested to see how their map stuff into the NQF ... how much work are students expected to deliver to support their practical work - e.g. notes and notation on pieceso f their own choreography ... much in the way that soem of the liberal arts HE counrses have few lectures and limited tutorial time but the essays and assessments required need plenty of time readign and writing around the subjects .

Jane Corporate structure wise I'd be inclined to look at company limited by guarantee ( possibly with charity registration as well at some point depending on exact direction ) or the CIC route company class is something that needs to be carefully considered as, at least in the first few years the majority of the dancers, will have an established relationship with another provider ( whether that is a local dance school or the community classes run by AoNB etc ) and while 90 -120 minute commutes are do-able for monthly class/ workshops it's not something people are necessarily going to be able to do on a weekly basis ( but what about show weeks i hear the cry from the peanut gallery? - well people will likely be taking leave from work and staying over i suspect - exact logistics of that to be a matter for the individuals )

I;d suggest they are probably doing more theory than that at least on paper , given that these are level 6 qualifications if you look at health professional pre-registration education the split between classroom and practice placement is 50 / 50 +/- 10 %

i'm guessing the standard 'go to' advice of the bloch belle R2921 even in 'petite' would be too big ? ( based on who the medium- large size fits ) https://www.justballet.co.uk/products/just-ballet-practice-tutu might be an Option isn't @Sheila Beelam a member of the forum ?

https://northernballet.com/dancers Northern;s nomenclature of it;s dancers is different to that of some other companies - notably not actually titling people as Principals the 2 'Premier Dancers ' being Javier Torres and Pippa Moore the 'Leading ' and 'First ' Soloists being Hannah Bateman , Antoinette Brooks-Daw and Ashley Dixon plus Giuliano Contadini who left at the turn of the year , and now with Dreda and VIctoria announcing they are moving on ... there's a number of 'vacancies' returning to the nomenclature issue - northern has 4 grades of Soloist , Leading -FIist- <plain> - Junior and Coryphees ( not to mention some of the corps takign names roles in full scale productions - as we've seen with Gavin McCaig in the most rescent shows of the Little Mermaid and Jane Eyre ) with the Leading and First Soloists functionally equivalent to those other companies call principals

which means there will be some big news over the summer the, as that 'top table' will need some new people round it to join Javier, Pippa, Hannah ,Antoinette and Ashley ... i'm not going to place bets on anything as the last thing I placed a (virtual) bet on ballet wise was blown out of the water by a certain person joining ENB

I thought London had gone all ready unless it;s moved ... however my suspicion aobut the UK importer / master franchise appears to be correct

Because they have not reached the quality line ?

that sheds a bit more light on the subject the discussion over 'confusion' should be by the by with secondary school aged kids , you can understand it with little ones and wantign to get a sound basis in one awarding body for the lower grades , but older children especially those looking towards perofrming or teaching asa career need the ability to adapt to the demands of the choreographer / teacher ( and ultimately employers 0

i;d agree with that. Soccer and rugby both had to introduce rules over how many clubs etc YP could be signed up to after some of the stories of the not that far past where there were players playing for school and county teams, playing in their local loeagues and training / playing with what now thend to be referred to as 'Academies' attached to the top teir teams

which is perhaps when a certain ballet master likes to set quarter and hlaf turns in his classes ...