AllAboutTheJourney

Aw so sorry to hear that @LinMM and hope you get the op soon and make a quick recovery!

Press night is actually tonight I believe but yes, without wanting to spoil any surprises I would agree with your inkling in terms of what cast they will show! My December is pretty much filled with travel between north and south for festive ballets (I have a small parental interest in 2 - at opposite ends of the country, helpfully...!) so I have every sympathy with the distance. I do hope it is received well by critics and audiences alike and that they may bring it further south at some stage.

Yes that's a fair point - I take it back then! But it was still a lovely part of the ballet.

Just wanted to update this thread to say that I loved the new production and am looking forward to seeing it again later in the run. We had a male Cinders on opening night (Bruno Micchiardi) and Jess Fyffe playing Princess Louise. Both were excellent, but particularly in the pas de deux sections where they seemed to really relax into the choreo. As has been said above, Bruno’s Cinders was at times affectingly timid and shy, especially when clearly experiencing imposter syndrome at the (beautiful!) Royal Ball. One of my favourite sections of the ballet, though, was when he was dancing joyously alone, remembering the night before, clearly dreaming of his Princess. I’m not sure I’ve ever really seen a man portraying that kind of happy, day-dreamy, romanticism (not just in ballet but in film/TV etc too) whereas it’s such a common scene for a woman to play out. In terms of the other characters, 2 sisters and a brother replace the ‘ugly stepsisters’, each of whom is very funny in their own way. The emerging gay love story is nicely done and the corps look gorgeous, particularly in the lavish ball scenes and set against the art-nouveau style set. There were a lot of laughs, and I think this will turn into a real family favourite of a festive ballet. I’ll be interested to see it with a female Cinders but to be honest I think both versions are going to be equally beautiful, just with slight nuances in the choreo of course. There are some beautiful photos online as well as a BBC news article which I imagine will be in tomorrow’s links. Piers Morgan doesn’t like the whole concept but hey – take from that what you will…!

So the website does now show the names of the 2 principal dancers for each performance, but it doesn't say which role they will be playing that particular night (Cinders or Prince/Princess). There are some pairings who do the majority of their shows together, but not exclusively.

I’ll share some thoughts about opening night in a minute, but wanted to answer this point first. I quite like the surprise element, though I can see that if you are a regular ballet go-er, particularly RBS, and you are used to choosing which dancers you want to see, that it might seem a little odd. I would hazard a guess, though, that the vast majority of people who are going to see a Scottish Ballet production over Christmas will not be booking a specific date to see a particular dancer (in fact I would imagine that most would not be able to name that many of the dancers). There were a few grumbly comments on Facebook when the new production was announced, but from memory they were more along the lines of ‘I like tradition, why change it’ and ‘Aw I liked your old version’ rather than ‘Well how will I know what night to book to see Dancer X in the role of both Cinders and the Princess?’ etc. My sense is that overall people are quite intrigued by the new version and think it’s a great concept, but there will always be a few people who don’t like any kind of change. I saw one comment saying ‘don’t make ballet political’ which made me laugh as I hardly think you could call this particular ballet ‘political’ – it’s literally a Cinderella story with a slight twist.

Hi Peter - yes sure, I'm being a bit vague as casting isn't confirmed for those dates yet (certain child parts!) but I'm hopeful of coming to see one or two performances that week. I would definitely buy at least one ticket for any of those shows (and cross my fingers that casting works out) but would also potentially take another 2 or 3 for extended family if anyone is trying to sell them on. Hope that helps.

I hope it's ok to start a thread about this new production, which opens in Glasgow on Saturday and runs there until Hogmanay. It will then move to Edinburgh and tour to Aberdeen, Inverness and Newcastle. Essentially, some nights the title role of Cinders will be danced by a man and some nights it will be danced by a woman. When Cinders is danced by a male principal, he will meet a princess at the ball and when Cinders is a female principal, she will meet the prince. There is an element of surprise each night as it has not been publicly announced at which performances Cinders will be a man and when Cinders will be a woman. Saturday’s links include a NY Times article which is well worth a read – it’s pretty in-depth and it sounds like the dancers and the production team are all really invested in this. The Hardcorps podcast episode with Jessica Fyfe is also worth listening to – she talks about how simple movements like offering an upturned hand to Cinders to welcome him into her own palace felt completely new and different to being the person who generally reciprocates the action and accepts the hand of the male lead. Likewise, the clips which Scottish Ballet have shared on social media show Bruno Micchiardi dancing Cinders with a sense of vulnerability and timidity that you don’t often see from male dancers in classical ballets. This run will also include Bethany Kingsley- Garner’s final performance before she retires from her 17 year performing career with Scottish Ballet. I personally love the concept and am very much looking forward to opening night!

Please do let me know if you are selling any number/price of tickets on: Monday 18th (evening) Wednesday 20th (matinee) Friday 22nd (evening) Many thanks!

Also RBS prelim results seem to be coming out v quickly - we heard today from an audition at the end of last week.

White Lodge sounds quite similar to Elmhurst in terms of what is available at the weekends - classes on a Saturday morning (after Christmas for the y7) and then a walk out to the local shops on a Saturday afternoon, swimming at some point and generally a trip on the Sunday. Trips are sometimes local things like an activity in Richmond or a museum/cinema/Christmas market a bit further afield - that kind of thing. Occasionally there are bigger trips to places like Thorpe Park or Harry Potter World. On the odd weekend that there is no trip, there is an activity organised in the school but most weekends they get out to the local shops and then also out again on the Sunday. That’s y7/8 though - I believe there is more freedom to come and go as you please at the weekends in Senior House (which makes sense).

Yes I believe so. And sorry maybe this is best placed on another thread but there is an interesting article with their guest principal, Jessica Fyffe, on the Hardcorps podcast this week where she mentions there is an additional Prokofiev piece added in for a pas de deux.

Slightly off topic, sorry, but Scottish Ballet's new production of Cinders was mentioned above and this role reversal is what Christopher Hampson has done. It's not a 'male Cinderella', in the sense that a potential male Aurora was mentioned, but some nights the titular character in the story will be man (played by a male principal) and other nights it will be a woman (played by a female principal). When Cinders is a man, he will meet a princess at the ball etc etc, and when Cinders is a woman, she will meet a prince - so it's somewhat 'traditional' in that sense. They have not publicised casting in advance so for most people it will be a surprise when the curtain goes up as to whether Cinders will be a male principal or a female principal that night.

Thanks very much @BisforBallet - that's really helpful. That's exactly my concern that I don't feel like there will be enough to keep a full time boarder busy at weekends and we live too far away for DC to come home at anything other than exeats. If there are no classes even on a Saturday morning then 2 full days is a long time to kick about the dorms with only a few others while the majority head off home. My inclination had been to keep Tring as a potential option for further down the line (but not for y7 entry) and that's pretty much confirmed it. Thanks - much appreciated.

Having a bit of a second-guessing moment and wondering if we should be applying to Tring too. Can anyone who has experience of Tring let me know if the year 7/8/9 have classes at the weekends at all? And also what is organised in terms of outings etc. Do many kids stay at the weekends or do they mainly go home? My perception is that most go home (and do associates or other training at the weekend) but that may be an incorrect assumption based off the few students we know who go there.

The time goes by very fast! We did this 2 years ago and in some ways it feels like yesterday… My DC is only trying for WL but I can let you know what that audition is like in a few weeks’ time - I imagine it will be exactly the same as the last few years!

Thought I'd revive this thread now that auditions are underway - I hope everyone who has been to an audition so far has had a positive experience and a fun day out. In terms of RBS, it would be interesting to know if RBS said anything about results from the first round - will they come out after each centre as they did in the last few years or will it be after all the first round auditions are complete?

It’s an external company, yes, but the email came from ROH. I’ve pasted the text below. “To help us learn more about our audiences and better understand how we can provide the best possible experience, we are asking for feedback from people who have visited us for the first time since we reopened after the Covid lockdowns. We've partnered with research specialists Indigo to gather your thoughts and experiences of live performing arts, including your experience at the Royal Opera House.”

Sadly it’s not just the Coliseum, I got an email with a link to a survey with the same questions this week from the ROH!

My DC have both done solo performance exams alongside the standard exams and I would agree with pretty much everything that @BalletGirlAndBoy has said. It was a 'nice to do' rather than something I would say either of them got a lot out of. They used an existing comp solo (and costume) for the third dance so it didn't require much effort, but I kind of just felt we were paying for an extra certificate which neither of them was particularly bothered about. In my experience, though, the marks for SPA have been a few marks higher than their marks for the graded exams. There wasn't much in it though tbh. I think if you don't do festivals/comps then maybe it is a good chance to really focus on the performance aspect, however I think for my two, the experience of doing competitions has been more beneficial in that respect (not that I'm a massive fan of competitions to be honest but it does let you get out on stage regularly and work on performance skills).

This is perhaps the most exciting thing I have ever learned on this forum!

I'm with you on that one @sunrise81 - its the London hotel prices that kill me at the moment. I always wish they would schedule the parent observation class later on pick-up day as otherwise it always involves a night in hotel to be able to make it there on time. Once they get to an age where they can travel down south by themselves it makes a huge difference but it's still tricky on pick-up day as I always feel bad if they don't have someone there to watch when everyone else does!

I am potentially interested in the Prague junior intensive for next summer so if anyone has any recommendations for places to stay, please do DM me.

You also have Malvern Ballet in the UK (not attended though so can't offer an opinion on it).

Yes I think you're probably right tbh @LinMM and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the other notable summer intensives increase their prices for 2024 too.