Tango Dancer

Yes. I wear pink tights for my ballet class and they bear no relationship whatsoever to the colour of my skin, but I like the way they look on me. I don't know anyone with salmon pink legs. In my adult ballet class we have a few of us with pink tights, one goth in black tights, and another who always wears white ones. I think it's great that there is more choice of colours available now and entirely agree that young girls should be encouraged to wear whichever colour suits them and makes them feel good.

It's not precisely a ballet story but it is a dance story that I hope will be amusing and fit in. I was doing a tango class. We change partners every 2-3 dances as a rule and I was dancing with a slightly nervous chap I didn't know. We were doing a sequence where he has to bring his foot between my slightly parted feet and displace my free leg and then lead me to pivot backwards on myself. I hope this makes sense, it's rather hard to describe. Unfortunately he was a bit shy about getting close to me so it wasn't working because I wasn't getting the signal to move the free leg from him. Eventually I said "I think you need to come between my legs to make me move." Needless to say that didn't quite come out right. The man went bright red and stepped back and couldn't look at me for the rest of the class. It took me a minute to realise how my comment could be understood. I thought it was absolutely hilarious.

In this context I love the piece that Marcelino Sambe choreographed which I saw this morning. I found it very deeply moving. I'm not sure if this is the right place for it but I thought it so good I wanted to share.

They looked like they were having a good time and laughing together while playing basketball. It was rather nice to see the friendship between them.

Definitely. I think the sensible ones know when to transition to other things such as coaching or teaching but it can be difficult for performers to know when to stop or change tact. For example a lot of my favourite opera performers are now coaching and giving masterclasses (Willard White, Thomas Allen etc) rather than performing a lot and it's wonderful seeing them share with the younger generation the things they've learnt. I was supposed to be going to the Verona opera festival this year and I discussed with my friends whether we should get tickets for the Placido Domingo gala. We decided that we didn't want to hear him singing now at 79, knowing what his voice was at 40. It's lovely that the Royal Ballet seems to have a good transition process for some of the dancers to teaching and coaching so they can pass on what they've learnt. I loved for example watching Zenaida Yanowsky coaching Mayara Magri and Fumi Kaneko in how to dance Odile at an Insight event.

Agreed. Also looking at the dancers I like, I've no idea how far they can do the splits and how high they can lift their leg above their ear. I like people who have good lines and move well not those who can do the greatest feats of acrobatics. So I love Vadim Muntagirov because he moves so well. His jumps are amazing and his partnering is great but I love the clear lines and the togetherness with which he lands from a jump more than anything else. I love Celine Gittens for her grace of movement and the elegance of her port de bras. I actually like Royal Ballet for the character artists as much as the principals. I cry more when Gary Avis dies as Tybalt than I do when Juliet dies because he's that good and my favourite character in Sleeping Beauty is Carabosse if it's played by Kristin McNally. For me the test of what makes a good dancer isn't how much they can contort, it's whether I can read what they're saying with their bodies from the back of the theatre and nothing pleases me like seeing someone with perfect alignment and clean lines. The more I study ballet the more I also realise how the hardest things about learning ballet aren't the big dramatic movements but doing the small movements perfectly and keeping every part of the body where it should be. In class this week the hardest thing was getting everything where it should be in a retire balance and then taking my hand off the barre and keeping them there.

Totally agree. My teacher says he'd rather I lifted my leg a small amount but had the correct posture everywhere else than that I compromised the posture to get my leg up higher. The first thing to do is to get the line and placement right and then the rest comes over time. I am saying this as a middle aged amateur who can't do the splits at all. I also think that particularly if you're doing classes via zoom or remotely where the teacher can't see you or make a physical correction, it's even more important to be conscious of the risk of injury and make sure you're not doing things that might damage you. So I'm a lot more cautious about how far I push things than I would be in a studio setting.

This so much, it is really difficult doing classes over zoom in a tiny dance space and using a chair as a barre. Some days I really don't feel I can be bothered, I want to pirouette and do grand allegro and jump and then am reminded that I'm in a small flat and need to remember my neighbours and not crash into the television. I'm not surprised children are losing motivation or not wanting to do online classes. I find them quite frustrating. I do them because I do a very sedentary job working from home and want to stay in shape but it's not always easy after work to get up and dance. That said personally I can't do the ones on Instagram / youtube. I find if I don't have the actual interaction with a live teacher, I can't retain interest. One of my favourite in person teachers is putting workouts on youtube but even with them it doesn't engage me fully. Whereas when there's an actual person on the other end watching me (or the bits they can see on the webcam feed anyway) I'm a lot more motivated to do it. It's weird but that's the way my mind works. Anyone else feeling like that?

David Austin has the best roses in my experience. The quality and service are both excellent. I got my father their Ballerina rose https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/ballerina which is absolutely beautiful. I should say my father is not a ballerina but as it was from me and I love doing ballet, it seemed apt and Darcey Bussell needs more sun than their garden gets. Danse de feu https://www.davidaustinroses.co.uk/danse-de-feu is another of their dance themed ones which is beautiful but it's a climber so it needs more space and a climbing frame.

I've also had an email from the Hippodrome this morning with a voucher for Don Q and the company class I booked for. I rang them and they were really nice on the phone and have arranged a full refund to my card. I really hope they will rearrange it some point as I was looking forward to a nice weekend in Birmingham.

Does anyone know if Don Q is going ahead at Birmingham? I'd be very grateful if anyone had any intel as their website shows that it is still happening and I've not had a response yet to my enquiry.

Me too @Lizbie1. It's a pity as I still had a faint hope that might go ahead despite knowing it probably wouldn't. Oh well, maybe next year.

Definitely. I can either show my torso and legs or my feet. I don't have quite enough space or a wide enough angle lens to show both and I am not able to upgrade the technology any further to accommodate this. That said it doesn't appear to stop the teachers giving me corrections.

I so miss being able to do the grand allegro type moves. I want to be able to jump and pirouette and do a really good adage. I can't wait to be back in studios. That said I am enjoying the classes I can do as much as possible and like you I also prefer the zoom classes because they feel more interactive. I'd agree that it's important to be cautious with choosing teachers for online classes especially if you don't know them. I take the zoom classes with Bennet Gartside which I find very good online and I do a very basic class on a Saturday morning with my tango instructor who is a retired ballet dancer and does a gentle ballet for tango class. I'd be cautious about doing ballet with anyone I didn't know at this stage. Like @LinMM I am supplementing this with other dance forms that I enjoy.

I think everyone is just making do with what they've got. In class yesterday I was struggling not to kick the window in the grand battement one side and not to kick the coffee table the other. Looking at people on the gallery view from zoom for my classes, I am far from the only one doing dance classes in an imperfect setting. Also some people are using custom backgrounds I think which may look better or more like a ballet studio. I was most amused by the person I saw in a non ballet context doing a class in front of the iron throne.

I think everyone is feeling flat at the moment. I don't always feel the urge to dance that I did when classes were happening in person. Usually when I am dancing I am glad I made myself do it. I think it's entirely normal for your daughter to feel disheartened and less interested. Everything can feel so overwhelming so I think all we can do is take it one day at a time. I have so much respect for the teachers like @drdance trying to teach a class electronically. I can see how hard it must be getting a class right online when you can't correct people as well and aren't getting the same feedback. I can only say that as an amateur ballet dancer my ballet classes 2-3 times per week are one of the high points of the week and I really appreciate my teachers for the efforts they make to adapt their class to teach in smaller more confined spaces. It feels so lovely coming away from work, getting my ballet costume on and forgetting about everything for an hour.

I think the best one is the one that one of the teachers gave me. "Now watch your hand as it moves in the port de bras from first to fifth and keep it in your peripheral vision. Imagine you've just had the best manicure of your life and can't stop looking at your new shellac." It certainly worked for me. I am now a lot better at following my hand with my eye. I'd say the other great correction I picked up was watching the Swan Lake Insight event last month. Wayne Sleep was coaching the Neapolitan dance and he said to the dancers "you may not be able to make a correction instantly. Think it, internalise it and then it will settle in better for next time." I found that very helpful personally.

Hi @RHowarth it looks like the next one is 7pm on Saturday 11 April. This is according to the EB Instagram feed.

That's hilarious. I've always thought Vadim came across as a really grounded, pleasant person with a sense of humour. He also has one of the loveliest smiles I've seen in a long time.

I like Bennet Gartside's beginner class via Instagram at 1pm on Wednesday. He also does paid for Zoom classes. I find the Instagram one is slightly easier and more accessible. The zoom ones are good for a beginner but I personally struggle with the rather long fondu exercise he keeps setting. It's definitely barre, a short adage, port de bras and stretching. I'll definitely try the David Kierce one on Sunday as that's a really good time for me and I've been interested to try his classes. Thanks @RuthE

So glad he's going to Royal Ballet. I see that Matei Holeleu is going to English National Ballet which is good. I liked his performances of the Paquita variation and thought he had panache in the jumps. I wonder why Yuyan Wang has forfeited her apprenticeship. Does that happen often? I thought she also danced well.

High points were probably the lovely clip Birmingham Royal Ballet posted earlier of Tzu-Chao Chou dancing around his plant pots. I always love watching male dancers doing grand allegro and he has such lovely form and clean moves. The other was the online ballet classes I've been doing. Primarily Bennet Gartside's on Zoom and Instagram and Tierney Heap's on Instagram. It's harder in many ways doing a class with the teacher in a virtual space rather than being close enough for them to adjust me but it's also a good discipline for me and means I need to focus and really listen to what they're saying. I always feel better for it.

I think that dog has a better arabesque line than I do 🙂 If we're posting our favourite ballet funnies, this one always makes me smile.

Tango is a wonderful thing to do with someone but it's really dull on your own so it doesn't really lend itself to online classes. All the fun for me comes from the chemistry with your partner. If I try online tango lessons it just makes me sad that I'm not at the usual classes talking to my tango friends.

I've not found any other ballet classes apart from the Claudia Dean one I plan to try tomorrow evening at 9pm (if I'm still awake) but I'll post it if I do. I think if any of the dance teachers on the forum want to run an adult beginner class on a regular basis, I'd be happy to pay for it and am sure I'm not the only one. I've done a really great samba class today with Monika Molnar from DanceMyWay (who teaches at Pineapple) and I'm doing a jazz dance class with Swing Patrol next week. My favourite dance forms apart from ballet are the more social partner dances so that's harder to do in isolation. So I'm doing whatever dance forms I can find online.