SplitSoul

Well done to your DD and her friends.

Have you done it before?

What gear do they need? Presume they can wear their own kit for rehearsals, so will need a couple of pairs of tights spare and a few leos?

Any other tips?

On 08/04/2022 at 05:19, Shellym said:

My daughter applied and has been successful- yay!!! It was super hard making the videos.  We had a super supportive dance school who let us use the studio and after we shot the individual exercises a friend helped me to put them together with Vimeo x

Yay, what age is your DD? Mine has been successful too. 

Yes they do look amazing, fingers crossed!

I have just submitted the online audition videos for my DD. It's our first time auditioning for anything ballet related.

DD and I found making the videos really hard! 

Anyone else apply? How did you find making the video?

Thanks you, I was already really looking forward to it, and now and am even more excited!

Here is the cast:

Just booked tickets for this at ROH. Never heard of any of the Three ballets before. Obviously know and love Stravinsky, but this is a new one for me.

Anyone know it? What's it like? Will the choreography be super modern? 

Just got back from tonight's DQ in Bham.

Beatrice Parma was Kitri, it seems at short notice. She was wonderful. The whole thing was wonderful. All the main characters were fantastic and the corps was just beautiful. I feel like my head is filled with beauty and there is no place for anything else right now. The audience loved it.

1 hour ago, Medora said:

Bad feet are sometimes referred to as biscuits 😂

🤣🤣🤣 or dinner plates?

So many helpful replies, thank you.

I am not really hung up on whether she gets in or not. If she does, it will be wonderful experience. If not, as many have said, there are lots of other great schemes going on. 

She is 8 and totally transfixed by "real" ballerinas. She is very focused and committed, but I think the scales will fall from her eyes in a couple of years as to how tough it really is. I want to enable her to make her own decision on how far she wants to take it.

Personally, I don't think I want her to be a "real" ballerina, but it's not my life and if that's her dream and she is good enough, then I will 100% support her. So I am trying to educate myself on all things ballet so that I can steer and support her in the direction that is right for her.

I had never heard the expression "banana feet". Made me laugh.

Ah, sway back, not sling back! I must have shoes on my mind....

1 hour ago, BallerinaMum13 said:

My DD (also 😎 will also try out for JA's and luckily I have a friend who was a ballerina who was able to 'translate' all of these requirements for me. In their totality people seem to refer to them as 'facility' for ballet. Nobody ticks all the boxes apparently. The one that gets me is 'turn out.' Anatomically I understand what this means. However, unlike a high instep or long legs, I am obviously not able (visually), nor qualified, at all to appraise my DD's turn out. And if I understand correctly that is the real dead end. On the 'nice to have' list, I also heard that hyper extended knees are desirable. 

PS: no idea how that emoji got in there, it was meant to say 8 yrs old.

Thank you. The turn out thing baffles me, specially when we see professional dancers. It looks so unnatural!!!

Which centre are you going for? We are Brum.

Thank you everyone!

I can't assess most of these on my DD, she just looks like my DD...

I have been told she has "sling back legs",  but not sure if that's good or bad. She doesn't like them and wants straight legs.

I used to have bendy legs like this.... (oh, happy days)

My DD 8 wants to audition for JAs. 

I have read they look at "body shape", which apparently means:

Long legs

Short torso

Long neck

Good feet & ankles

I get the first three. What makes feet and ankles "good"?

Also, she hasn't got her exams due to covid, but is going to both a gr1 and a gr 2 class. Is that the right ball park?

Maybe DS would enjoy this:

"Thinktank | Birmingham Museums" https://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/thinktank

Sadly the Museum and Art Gallery is closed for building work.

The cathedral is worth a peep in for the Byrne Jones windows.

Be aware of the £8 congestion charge if you drive into Bham. Personally, I hate driving in Bham city centre. Depending in where you are coming from, try and get a train or tram in from a suburb. 

I just got the same email! I am looking forward to Forgotten Land and Coppelia, but it's a long wait (October). Don Quixote already booked (Feb).

I don't know what to make of the shows in between? Bearing in mind I enjoy the music as much as the dancing, I would like to understand what the music is for On Your Marks. Are the "best of various ballet" evenings any good? Or are they a bit fragmented?

Am relatively new to ballet, but a lifelong passionate music lover, so not new to ballet music.

So what is the BRB doing between 18 March to 19 November? Why are there no shows on? Am I missing something?

My first love is music. I went to the opera as a teenager all the time,  more often than my friends went to the cinema. I myself don't like to dance, never have, not even at a party.

I always loved  ballet music,  but didn't get much from a "few people hopping around on stage" to music. I saw a few ballets, Max & Moritz being one I remember in a theatre in Germany.

UNTIL

In my mid thirties, my daughter started ballet aged 3. When she was 4 we went to a first steps performance of Sleeping Beauty. I knew the music inside out, but this time I was really captured by the dancing. The narrator explained the mime aspect which I found fascinating.

My DD's interest in ballet meant we went to a kiddie Swan Lake workshop and another shortened performance of Sleeping Beauty at Saddlers Wells.

Watching her weekly classes (now at Grade 2), I started to appreciate this art form for what it is: a beautiful and immensely complex expressive art.

Now covid is permitting, we have seen Cinderella, Romeo & Juliet, Swan Lake and booked Don Quixote. I am hooked, although my interest in the music is still a little bit deeper than in the dancing.

So unlike the other posts, it was my daughter that inspired me to discover a new interest.

My DD's shows are in a professional theatre. Tickets are £ 12.50 per person.

The teacher is really good about costumes. Most are hired and many are based around the same basic costume dressed up differently for different dances. For some, we have to source them ourselves, e.g. black leggings or black leotard. The costumes are always fabulous.

Usually around £30 for costumes for 3 or 4 dances.

Over €100 seems totally over the top, especially if the child is under 10 years old. It makes dance a sport for the rich and that is so wrong.

Could I also ask how IDTA compares?

Thank you Ballet Power, that's a fab tip.

Ah yes, thank you. Ours is w/c 21 Feb.

Thanks for the suggestions above, most are not the right age group (I.e. 9 or 10 and up). My DD is only 8.

Why not keep the French title? So much of ballet is French already and it just sounds perfect (no pun).

Does anyone know of any ballet courses/camps/workshops during this Feb half term for 8 year old?

I thought LCB might have one, but the website isn't showing it.

We are Midlands based but happy to travel and stay away from home. I could do with a break from my own four walls...

I apologise for causing offence, that was not my intention. On reflection, I could have phrased it more kindly, but the outcome is the same.

Most dancers are thin or very thin, it's just she was markedly thinner than any other dancer I had ever seen, and it really wasn't nice. It actually put me off enjoying her dancing, which is a shame because she was very talented.