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Tango Dancer

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  1. Tango Dancer
    Also looking forward to the relay tomorrow on the nice big screen. Both central Leeds cinemas are showing it so I'm spoilt for choice.
  2. Tango Dancer
    I think it certainly can be. People have a lot more visibility of dancers off stage thanks to social media and other things and it can affect how you see them. I do some of the ballet master classes that Danceworks offer on zoom. Vadim teaches regularly and one of the reasons I think he's my favourite RB dancer (apart from his dance ability) is how nice and supportive he is as a teacher. He's just so unassuming and sweet. He came into the studio this afternoon in a tracksuit, looking like a teenage student and not the least like someone who was centre stage at Covent Garden last night and was so positive with the class, even apologising for getting one of the sequences wrong because he said he was a bit tired today after performing. I mean he's just so adorable I want to hug him and take him home. I've done Fumi's online masterclasses as well and she's also lovely and has a smile for everyone. I don't always get along with her teaching but she's really sweet.
  3. Tango Dancer
    Yes I think zumba should have some correction but where you get it it's a bit less detailed or exacting. In zumba you're told to do the moves and the teacher demonstrates them but as long as you broadly get them right they don't go around and correct you on exactly where to put your arms or precise positioning. If you turn the wrong way or aren't getting the footwork right they won't really stop or do anything about it. It's pretty much follow along exercise. I enjoy it but I don't do it for anything beyond the fun of moving to music and cutting loose. For the other dance forms I do (tango, bellydance etc) I get corrections. They can vary (I mean in tango they are a lot more physical as the teacher usually dances with you to correct you or comes along and pokes you if you're not standing right).
  4. Tango Dancer
    Yeah I don't get it either. But the teacher said apparently some people prefer just to do the class and enjoy it. Personally I want to improve and try and get better and as long as the teacher isn't being horrible or telling me to do things that aren't physically possible I'd like to know what to work on. That's what I'm paying for. I mean it's different when I do zumba because technique is less important than jumping around and working up a sweat. But for ballet I would always want correction.
  5. Tango Dancer
    I think it's difficult sometimes getting corrections. I take classes at Northern Ballet now I'm in Yorkshire and the teacher is really great. She said at the start of term for us to let her know if we wanted personal corrections or not as apparently some people in some classes find it offputting and don't want to be corrected. I said I definitely do as my view is that I'm there to learn so she corrects me plenty of times. I agree it's important that they're not critical of peoples' bodies (I mean in my class we're mostly middle aged women and not teengers with perfect bodies) but focus on what we can improve (in my case remembering to close behind).
  6. Tango Dancer
    That's the cast I saw in Birmingham and they were really good. Miki is a lovely effervescent Aurora, incredibly light and delicate and with beautiful port de bras and a sort of gossamer fine technique that makes everything look so effortless. I've seen her in a few things and always liked her. Max is a newly promoted principal dancer and I can see why they promoted him. He's great and has a lot of potential combined with nice feet (also he's from Yorkshire which is a big plus in my view). He's a lovely light jumper with lots of energy and really comes across as a young prince looking for his dream. I do think the prince needs more to do in the ballet overall but he does it really well. So I think they're a good cast to see and work well together as a pairing. I think it's similar to the RB version but I like the costumes a lot better because they're so lovely. The only thing I like better in RB is Carabosse who I think has better choreography.
  7. Tango Dancer
    I'm glad you're still going. I saw it in Birmingham and thought it was a really lovely version and extremely well performed by everyone. I'm sure you'll have a really good time and enjoy it whoever is performing.
  8. Tango Dancer
    So sorry you had a bad experience Emmarose. That sounds like really awful behaviour and quite threatening. Some people have no manners at all.
  9. Tango Dancer
    I agree with this so much. I think what makes it a good experience depends on how much you enjoyed the whole thing and doesn't always correlate with the prices. Earlier this year I paid £10 for a balcony seat for Giselle at the Coliseum on special offer, stayed in a budget hotel and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Part of the fun was the feeling of getting a really good bargain (£10 to see Frola was the deal of the century in my view). I've paid a lot more and had less fun. I also agree with you it's impossible to know whether people are rich or whether they've saved up. I took my parents to the opera this year and lashed out on a box because for once we really wanted to be indulgent and for dad to have room for his mobility aids in comfort. We dressed up to the nines because it was a special occasion. Yes it probably did look like the elderly rich in a box but the truth was I saved and economised a lot to get those tickets because I wanted to give them a really good experience and neither I nor my parents are well off. I like a bargain and usually I'm a "cheap seat, back of the gods" person but occasionally I want to splash out for something special. Interestingly I go to the ROH in person much less now partly because I'm no longer living in London but also because the cinema relay is so good and gives you a great view and level of comfort without needing to go very far. So I do that and go to other things.
  10. Tango Dancer
    Their website says disabled dancer so I had assumed that was his preference or had been run by him before publication. I know different people prefer different descriptions. Their wording is below. The new ballet will see McNally work with two Northern Ballet dancers and Joe Powell-Main, a disabled dancer who uses wheels and crutches
  11. Tango Dancer
    Northern Ballet have now updated their website for the 3 Short Ballets mixed programme to say that the third ballet is a new piece (as yet unnamed) by Kristen McNally from RB. She will be working with 2 NB dancers and a disabled dancer Joe Powell-Main. So I think that will be a really interesting programme, two new pieces by choreographers I really like (Mthuthuzeli November and Kristen McNally) and something older to some of my favourite music. I am loving the variety of these NB mixed programmes.
  12. Tango Dancer
    Not ballet but this made me laugh today. I was doing zumba because my usual classes are on holiday for Easter and I felt a need to let off steam. The teacher felt we were insufficiently committed to the reggaetón section. "Come on you lot, put some more energy into it, you've all eaten today. I'm giving it more welly than you and I've been fasting since before dawn." We accordingly upped the pace a bit.
  13. Tango Dancer
    I think some people think ballet is automatically suitable for all ages. I suppose at least it wasn't the Judas Tree they were watching. On the plus side the 5 year probably won't understand it. Mind you I was about 8 when my grandparents took me to see John Webster's "The White Devil" and I thought it was great. Granny had thought because it was the RSC it would be appropriate, it really wasn't but I loved it.
  14. Tango Dancer
    I think it depends if you want to see her or not. I wouldn't book for her myself specifically but that's because I've never connected with her performances on an emotional level. Nela or Fumi work better for me but that's just because we all connect to different things in a performance. She is incredibly talented I recognise and better at some roles than others. That said I would agree the gala probably wasn't her at her technical best as it was a little untidy in some areas and it may well have been because she was under prepared and with a new partner. If she's dancing Odette which she knows really well and as it is with Reece who she knows and trusts then it's likely to be a better performance overall. So I think if you really want to see her in this role then it's probably worth doing so now, as you don't know whether RB will do the ballet again in the next year or so.
  15. Tango Dancer
    I've been in two minds whether I wanted to see this or not as Different Drummer sounds very depressing and I'm not massively keen on the source material. Given the good reviews of Requiem I have booked a ticket for the cinema relay. I can't manage a trip to London but will enjoy it from the comfort of a probably fairly empty cinema.
  16. Tango Dancer
    This is my view. I like a chance to dress up in something pretty if I can and enjoy a chance to wear nice clothes and makeup.
  17. Tango Dancer
    I think if you're not going to enjoy something and know it then it's better to return the tickets so someone else can go and save the money for something you will enjoy.
  18. Tango Dancer
    I think there's something in that. I saw interviews with Heather Ripley (Jemima Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) and she said Robert Helpmann was absolutely delightful and really kind to her and Adrian Hall (Jeremy) and they thought he was a great person and it was hard to be scared of him when he was in character. I would also say that I do classes with Benn Gartside when I'm in London who makes a really good villain (really unpleasant as Rothbart) and is, despite that, a supportive and encouraging teacher.
  19. Tango Dancer
    My goodness that outfit is not flattering and doesn't look great. I mean I get it on the one hand. I wear the pinkest sparkly legwarmers I can sometimes and pink tights and a pink scrunchie when I do my ballet class (especially online classes) to indulge my inner 6 year old and feel like a real ballerina instead of a middle aged office worker. But I don't think it's really good to dress up in a tutu when attending the ballet if you're not a small child. It kind of feels inappropriate and disrespectful to the professional performers you're going to see.
  20. Tango Dancer
    Yes I enjoy getting dressed up sometimes for an evening at the ballet / theatre sometimes. I mean sometimes I go straight from work in my work clothes (suit or trousers and a smart top) but if I am staying overnight or coming directly from home it's quite nice to dress up a bit. I mean not tiara and evening dress but a nice pair of black trousers and a silky blouse or a dress in the summer. It's part of the fun of making it an occasion that you dress up (obviously this is just my opinion and view for myself and I don't mind what other people do).
  21. Tango Dancer
    Oh this sounds good. I am already making a note of the date for a weekend in Birmingham. What a lovely idea!
  22. Tango Dancer
    Interesting. I really like the Royal Ballet's costuming that they use, both the evil bird design (Gary Avis describes it as an owl but I've always thought it was a vulture) and the court design with the long black coat and long hair (which looks really good on both Gary and Benn Gartside in my view).
  23. Tango Dancer
    I did a masterclass with Klimentova at Danceworks online last year and one this year and she looks a lot younger than her age. She's 52 and I'd pegged her as mid 40s. She still moves beautifully.
  24. Tango Dancer
    Lovely pictures. Vadim's costume is a lot more golden than it looks at a distance. Also Reese Clarke is really tall and I wish he and Yasmin had better costumes. Thanks for sharing.
  25. Tango Dancer
    Yeah I didn't recognise any of the "famous" people the Daily Mail identified as being at the gala either but then I don't watch much television. The last person I consider famous that I met at a ballet was Mthuthuzeli November and I was very excited about that because I think he's a brilliant choreographic genius. He was not being photographed, acting like a celebrity or doing anything other than standing there quietly reading the programme and probably wondering why he was being gushed at by a strange middle aged woman!
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