Michelle_Richer

Hi esme I’m not sure what we are performing in Saint Petersburg, I guess it will either be something from our summer show “The Four Season”, or something from our Christmas show, but those we haven’t discussed yet. The trip to Russia is being done as part of the “ 47th World Congress in Dance Research”, this is what they say about the congress on their site: “The Congress is organized by the Saint-­‐Petersburg Section of CID–UNESCO. The program includes: scientific papers, lectures, workshops, video presentations, exhibitions, performances.. We welcome specialists in cultural studies, art historians, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers, theologists, medics, choreographers, dance teachers, dance therapists, dance film directors and professionals representing all forms of dance from all over the world.” I’m sewing too, mainly to get costumes finished before going up to Ballet West as our final run-thru is nearly always done in costume. I’m taking a couple of tutus up there but those are OK, my main focus is my Yellow and Black Spanish outfit for the Entrance of Kitri from Don Q, the other is Adrian’s outfit for our Le Corsaire PDD where he dances as Conrad the pirate. Hi Sheila Who knows what may happen in Boston Linc’s, it’s just up the road from me. I did look at one time at trying to hire the stage area of Boston’s Blackfriars Theatre, but its fully booked by other regular groups between performances. I’m now running a small rep group in Sleaford Linc,s, one of our ladies comes from Boston. I guess it’s a small world.

Hi BBSAdult Welcome to the Forum Do you have a commercial interest in the Boston Ballet School, as it looks as if you may have, if so please check out: About BalletCoForum, Acceptance Use Policy, then down to Commerce on that page, Amongst other things it states “Members who have commercial interests must indicate that by adding a Signature line to their postings.” Hope that helps, as we would love to here more about Boston Ballet Adult Activities. I for one have the following questions: MASTER CLASSES: On the two Adult Master Classes that took place in April, I note the BBS documentation states “Learn repertoire from Mikko Nissinen's acclaimed production of Swan Lake in a special class led by Company dancer, Corina Gill. The two-hour Master Class will include: A technique warm-up Choreography from Act 3 of Swan Lake A Q&A with Corina Gill and Head of Adult Programming, Christopher Hird Selfies and autographs with Corina Ages 18+. All levels welcome, but please note that some of the choreography may be more advanced.” Q1 In view of the short class schedule (2 hours), can I assume an hour for technique warm-up and an hour repertoire. Was the repertoire being taught that of the Black Swan Solo? Q2 I don’t understand the comment “but please note that some of the choreography may be more advanced.”? 2-WEEK ADULT SUMMER DANCE PROGRAM August 1-12, Monday-Friday SAMPLE SCHEDULE 5:30-6:30 pm Enrichment: New Conditioning Program and/or Modern 6:30-8:00 pm Technique 8:00-9:00 pm Repertoire and variations from the romantic masterpiece Giselle; special lectures Newton Studio 863 Washington Street, Newtonville Q3 Do I assume that there is no ballet class during the daytime? Q4 I must confess that the time devoted to repertoire seems quite small in comparison to the other two activities, what is the thinking behind these? Q5 What solo / corps de ballet pieces are likely to be taught from Giselle for this program?. GENERAL QUESTION: Q6 What is the maximum size of BBS ballet classes covering repertoire? Q7 Are they taught as one gig group or are they split into two or more groups dependant upon aptitude? Q8 On programs that have an end of course showing, is there any recommended dress / costume code for that performance, or is there a tradition that takes place anyway?

Hi esme The knee has its good and bad days, when I think its healed I gently try the fouettes again only to find a day or so later the knee gets extremely stiff and cannot quite fully get down in grand plies. The Intensives I do at Ballet West are purely one-to-one. I am the only dancer in the school, it is closed down for the summer break, so I have it to myself. Gillian the Principal of Ballet West is my repertoire coach. The rep we work on is both selected and assembled/created by me, which are usually a hybrid version of various solo's mainly created from a combination of bits of RB, Bolshoi, Mariinsky and ABT, and of course a little bit of me and my coaches too. This year Im taking my boyfriend Adrian up so we can polish our Le Corsaire pdd, plus 3 solos too. I never took pointe work far enough to dance properly on it, but I must confess doing PDD pirouettes on demi is extremely limited. Once our performance in Saint Petersburg is out of the way, I can see me going full out to develop my pointwork.

Hi LinMM Adrian will be doing the same beginners class and body conditioning class as me in the afternoon next term, unfortunately he will have a bit of time on his hands while I do the other two classes in the morning, perhaps he will have the opportunity to sun himself outside again. Next year RAD may add another level above their Improver 2 class which roughly is grades 6 to 8 , Im not sure how they will fit it in only there are about half a dozen of us that blanket cover all their classes from 10am to 5pm. Fiz Thanks for mentioning Etsy, I never knew they existed. I have been looking for a Spanish Skirt to take with me to Ballet West for the "Entrance of Kitri" from Act1 of Don Q. They are the only people where I have seen one, unfortunately its over £500, and I’m not willing to spend quite that much. As for thinking buying ballet wear being addictive in a negative sense, you could think of it being a kind of retail therapy in a positive sense. I guess I’m just well addicted to ballet full stop, and just gave up fighting it, I no longer count the classes I do, its not that important, for me its more about managing the time and cost to get out of it what I desire, especially as my studio hires are getting close to double figures every week now. I make use of any free studio time where I can. Only today (Sunday) at Elmhurst I usually make use of one of their studio during our lunch break, today it was a bit special as I had their studio theatre to practice my Gamzatti solo in.

Adrian bless him is not a natural dancer, it all began when he asked me to teach him Salsa, In exchange I suggested he helped me out by partnering me with certain ballet steps, he agreed, but that rapidly developed into the Nutcracker Grand PDD. Unfortunately that never got finished as Adrian sustained a shoulder injury, but not from ballet I must say, so that is put on hold for the moment. I have re-choreographed The Le Corsaire PDD to avoid his poorly shoulder and remove all lifts, but never the less I’m quite pleased with what we have and after polishing I'm more than happy to take it up to Ballet West in August. The only real issue I have is having a nice clean supported double turn pirouette on demi-pointe, that we are working on, but mainly me. I have plenty more in the bag for Adrian providing he doesn’t through the towel in after Ballet West, but he has already met Gillian during my visit last year. My thoughts for his next piece is the Black Swan PDD. He has already joined my Glen Ballet rep group, also next term I will try him out with the Beginner Associates class at Elmshurst. I do agree Adrian does deserve a medal, I did get him his favourite tipple and a nice pub meal on our way back from Elmhurst on Sunday, it was an absolutely gorgeous day and we took the scenic root back, during the morning he was sunning himself on the grass outside Elmshurst while I was inside.

Although the knee issue hasn’t completely gone away, I have found something that really helps, and that is moving up and down on a foam roller. It’s relatively easy to isolate the offending muscle and roll up and down on it. When finished I have substantially more flexibility restored. Now I need to investigate how to apply this properly. After all my appetite for dancing isn’t getting any less and I often wonder just how much more my body can take, its already doing more 6 day weeks of ballet that 5. Progress with turns has been knocked back substantially, the local hall I have booked three time a week, has had its floor cleaned, its now useless, its lost all its slippyness and is very very sticky. I can even feel the additional traction with simple pose turns. I have mentioned this to the key holders at our local Post Office as something like this happened around Sept 2014 when the floor was treated with something deliberately to make it less slippy, it was months and months before the floor was suitable for turns again. Unless the floor is returned to its former glory I will be moving two of the sessions to a Ballet studio in Sleaford that I already hire 3 times a week. Although Sleaford is some 20miles away, I can combine the two practice session before running my rep groups (Glen Ballet SHG) session. That way it doesn’t cost me any more for travel. On the bright side, Adrian my boyfriend and ballet scare crow, has successfully danced all the way through my version of the Le Corsaire PDD, all 3.10 mins of it,, the last 30 seconds or so was particularly difficult for him. This is one of the pieces we are taking up to Ballet West in August, although it needs an awful lot of polishing, at least we now have something that works. I’ve already warned Emma my private rep coach that Adrian and I will be seeing her this Friday for help in polishing, she is also aware that Adrian is not a Ballet dancer as such but never the less I’m extremely proud of what he achieved last week.

Oops, I see in a couple of postings that RAD associates were mentioned, and RAD do, run their own associates program at Elmhurst.

Have you tried contacting either of these two Ladies for info? Léonie Locke Regional Manager Royal Academy of Dance Midlands and East of England Email: LLocke@rad.org.uk Tel: 01453 767851 Mobile: 07554 457260 Louise Gould Regional Administrative Assistant Royal Academy of Dance Midlands and East of England Email: LGould@rad.org.uk Tel: 01386 40935 Mobile: 07554 457257 I’m with RAD at Elmhurst this Sunday the 8th May for a couple of hours and next Sunday the 15th all day, its quite likely I will see at least one of these two ladies if not both. I’m happy to ask any questions you may have, if that helps.

Check this link out, I found it quite helpful but one of my teachers prefers the snatch-up method for going into fouette's, but for simple pirouettes my preference is for a rise during the rotation of the plié: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2-qRFM_g_I

Hi esme No I haven’t had an X-Ray or Scan, for that matter as yet I have not seen my Physio. I guess in some ways I have listen to my body, but its telling me very conflicting things. Firstly I know the route cause: overuse through repetitive rotation of the knee in fouette practice and coaching. The condition does not appear to have a permanence in nature, certain things improve it considerably but at the same time don’t seem to have any logic. For the last three weeks my ENB classes which have a good deal of grand allegro in them, appear to improve it considerably, I would have expected the opposite. I went to class very reluctantly as my knee wasn’t in particularly good shape, especially after the train journey to London . By the end of the first class (Advanced) it felt a lot better, after the second class (Intermediate) on the way out, going down the stairs always gives me a good indication of the state of my legs, they were fine, in fact, the best they have been for along time. I’m not foolish enough to think I’m completely out of the woods, as the other day doing a fitness class one of the stretches which at first seemed quite painful, then went though a region which I can only described as it hurt nice, it seemed to release something. But another stretch was very uncomfortable. For the time being, I’m being just a little bit cautious in holding back things like Fouettes and seeing how well the improvement continues. Besides my ballet commitment every day is quite heavy and quite difficult to work round. I see what you mean by Gyrotonics being very addictive, cant squeeze on in my home gym thoe. I’m having enough trouble having my dance studio extended as I’m always short of studio time, was hoping to get a bit before class last night at ENB, but the company still had our studio right up to class time, we were watching them rehearsing part of the Black Swan solo, wish I could have joined then. I guess access to this would be nice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0uVH62QPXo

Wow you certainly get about Terpsichore, I was with Northern Ballet on Thursday at Norwich Theatre Royal doing a little bit of Northern Swan Lake rep with the lovely ladies of Norfolk . This week has been a bit problematic with a possible knee over-use condition which I was in two minds to go and see my Physio. Sunday the 17th was a full day at Elmhurst, this time I took my own portable sound system linked by Bluetooth which gave me the opportunity to do a few practice runs during the lunch break, of “The Entrance of Kitri” from Don Q. I was a little concerned about my right knee as it was a quite stiff, after the body conditioning class it felt somewhat better, however I was still concerned about the impact of next days 2 ENB classes. The effect of the ENB classes was somewhat mystifying, especially as we had two fairly heavy grand allegro sessions in them, however on leaving the knee felt considerably better. Things that aggravate the knee joint originally came from the repetitive rotation (whipping action) of knee joint during fouette's, and is made worse by sitting with the knees folded in when restricted by train seats, or anything that causes the knee to be folded at an acute angle. It seems that certain types of exercise is very beneficial to relieving the discomfort of the knee joint and regain its flexibility, so if anyone has any particular exercises that can be incorporated in a cool-down at the end of ballet class, I would be extremely grateful.

Taster Classes: Spring Term Thursday 19 May 2016 Take part in a one-off taster session in which you can sample English National Ballet's Classes programme before enrolling in the Summer Term (4 Jul – 21 Sep 2016). Classes on offer are: BalletFit, 7pm – 8pm Improvers, 7pm – 8:15pm Intermediate, 8.20pm – 9.35pm Absolute Beginners, 8.20pm – 9.35pm Taster classes are now on sale via "http://www.ballet.org.uk/classes/taster-classes/" You can also view Class Descriptions. "http://www.ballet.org.uk/classes/class-descriptions/"

Hi Tr2163 I wonder why you say Richmond is too far, it is on the London underground system via the district line and can be travelled to from almost anywhere in London. See tube map via Link https://tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/large-print-tube-map.pdf Once at the station I think its about a half an hour walk, we performed LAB's Christmas show at Rambert Ballet Schools studio theatre last year. There is a bus route between the station an Rambert but I have never used it. I guess you could always get local accommodation in Richmond. Just to give you some idea of the number of dancers that follow the recommended (BUT NOT COMPULSARY) guidelines for the end of course performance, see photo of our Swan Lake performance at The Royal Ballet School. Do go for it and the very best of luck.

Hi Tr2163 My experience of LABs intensive is a little bit dated but I don’t think its changed very much. The 80 dancers you mention was in Spring of 2014 when it was 70 something, that was Sleepng Beauty held at the Royal Ballet School in Covent Garden, then we were divided into three groups for the Corps de ballet work, however the solo’s which were danced as groups, we learnt each one, but then had to decide which one you wanted to polish for performance. For me I liked that choice, to the best of my knowledge we had Aurora’s solo, the first fairy and one other fairy which may have been the fourth one. The corps de ballet piece was the friends dance as me and another girl led the dancers on as the opening scene. I cant remember what else we did That was thought to be too big and unmanageable, although I liked it, Intensives after that were generally limited to around 35 – 40 dancers. At the beginning of the first day dancers are generally divided into at least two groups with there family name in alphabetical order, later that day some dancers may get allocated to a different group better suited to their ability, it really is a mixed bunch of abilities. As for “How difficult is the final performance” it will challenge you, but it’s like anything, you will get out of what you put in. However there is lots to help you, not only is there a really good team of teachers led by Tom LAB’s founder and Artistic director who is still my Monday night teacher at English National Ballet. But there is often one of the dancers taking a videos of the more difficult sequences, they are encouraged to share them in the close group area on facebook between all intensive members. I do remember when we did the Swan Lake Summer Intensive at the Royal Ballet School, LAB provided us with three profession student dancers, I think from ENB, to dance at the side of the stage area out of site of the audience to help prompt the dancers for the next steps. I found that particularly helpful when we danced the opening of Swan Lake Act4, as it’s a very long piece and we had to learn it in 3 or 4 different chunks over the week. Seeing them dance the steps certainly prompted the memory. Those professional students also joined in some of the centre work and provided excellent examples to follow if you wasn’t sure. That same year we had a second summer intensive, this time on the ballet “Don Quixote” also at “The Royal Ballet School” The offering of the 2/3day course came about from a request from some of the dancers which couldn’t get the full three days leave. One point you should be aware of, although its not compulsory, most dancers wear the recommended romantic / classic tutu and leotard especially for the end of course performance, these are available from the LAB shop and most probably from a stand at the course venue. Hope that helps

Hi Terpsichore I see some videos of your R and J Intensive at the Dancehouse, not sure which one it was, it certainly was an unusual version of dance of the knights (Capulets and Montagues), the dancing looked really nice, well done to everyone. I sort have got a little bit of a rest over Easter, although I started back at ENB last week, but no recovery, in fact just the opposite. Although I didn’t do any private sessions with my rep coach as she was ill two weeks before Easter, I carried on with the piece we had been practicing, the ending section Gulnare solo from Le Corsaire containing Fouettes. I think I over did it . The right knee (the gesturing leg) became extremely painful after a couple of days basically doing a hour and a half of intense practice. It became quite swollen. Although most of the swelling has gone down, I cannot yet get my gesturing leg to the knee (Retire), its about half way. The area behind the knee joint also feels swollen to the touch , I think its called the “Vastus intermedius” from my Concise Book of Muscles. Most ballet movement don’t bother it too much, but things like Fondu, Retire and especially kneeling down do. On the positive side as I have had to lay off the fouettes for a bit, I did take the opportunity to start on our Le Corsaire PDD with Adrian my boy friend in prep for Ballet West. We have at least got Adrian familiar with the first 2.30minutes of 3.10. Only issue I had with the PDD was teaching the mans part on the kneel down just after the beginning, that was really painful. I just hope my knee holds together this week as its going to be a very heavy 6 days of ballet this week with a full day at Elmhurst on Sunday. If not I guess its a visit to Tina my Physio.

I managed to record a video of the PDD pirouette, needless to say I thought it looked awful, arms were too low, gesturing foot was well below the knee in retire but there was a reason for that, but on the bright side I did manage to do a PDD double. I found the partnered pirouette does need an awful lot more power, so I did launch it from a small fourth, so it looks a if it is just about doable, but everything has to contribute, it is much harder than an open pirouette. Clearly this will need to have a lot of practice to make it consistent and good enough to take up to Ballet west for polishing in August. The retire issue stems I guess from overuse of my right knee for Fouettes, which I need for the ending of Gulnare solo, a couple of weeks ago I spent a whole hour with almost non-stop practice , it wasn’t until a couple of days later the knee stared to swell and stiffen up, now I have trouble bending that knee to an acute angle. Normally I can take the retire just above the knee. Some interesting observations, the day I took the video the hall floor was a little sticky as I don’t think it had been cleaned and it left a bit of a black deposit on my ballet slippers, clearly that didn’t help. I mentioned to my teacher at ENB last night I was doing PDD pirouettes, he didn’t think it was likely I could achieve more than a double do to resistance. He suggested I try canvas ballet slippers rather than leather, as those can be a little more slippy. I did briefly try my super slippy porcelain floor and that certainly did create a psychological hang-up as it was so slippy it was difficult to stop even on flat foot, I didn’t pursue that any further. I did get to see Vienna Festival Ballet’s Swan Lake last week and many of there PDD’s on full pointe were double turn pirouettes which looked quite beautiful, so I guess I will try and get good solid doubles and leave it at that for my PDDs.

Hi drdance I will try to video of my PDD pirouette for analysis when I’m back at the hall tomorrow (Friday) as I have a two hour booking, but it not all for this PDD which is from Act2 of Le Corsaire. Although you have suggested there may be a psychological/space/ proximity issue, there are certainly differences in PDD, firstly the arm position after the launce not only come together but the forearms cross; I never do that as a stand alone. I guess also I’m in retire a little sooner so as to ensure clearance between my leg/knee and my partner. I have also tried launching in fifth with the gesturing in front (normal), and the gesturing leg behind (like a tiny fourth). The tiny fourth does appear to give slightly more power. As for being held too tight, that was the first thing we ruled out, I’m also aware as taxis4ballet’s dd suggested that a partner can assist a turn by turning you. For me that has been a no no through fear of being taken off balance through loss of my control. I’m also going to try the merits of a super slippy porcelain floor, to test out my resistance theory, but it would be really useful to confirm that multiple turn pirouette in PDD are no problem on demi-pointe.

Hi drdance I think there has been a bit of a misunderstanding. To put this in context, doing pirouettes on my own, singles or doubles are generally no problem, including which used to be a bit of a party piece for me, when the pirouette came to stop was to hold the releve and retire for a few seconds on balance. Also finishing doubles into arabesque en l’air, in other words not letting the gesturing foot touch the ground to stop. I also know what its like to hit the sweet spot where spotting, positioning and the rhythm of the music become one, beautiful. However that is not the issue, its doing pirouettes in Pas de deux. It seems to me with the little added friction of a partner’s hands around my waist limits the power I can get into a pirouette and it inevitably stalls after the first turn or so, I guess I also have to mention my partner is not an experienced ballet dancer, however he does do quite well with other partnered movements in PDD bless him. Oh and remember this is all done on demi-pointe.

Here is a question on pirouettes used in PDD on demi-pointe. I have always accepted that I could never get more than a single turn when assisted by my partner when on demi pointe, mainly because of the additional friction caused by his sliding hands around my waist. However one of the dancers at my rehearsal said she could get up to three turns whilst on demi-pointe when assisted by her partner. For me with no partner a double isn’t too much trouble, and on a good day a triple is possible. I have always put those wonderful multiple turn pirouettes in PDDs down to the low friction of being on full pointe. How much of this is down to my partner or me?

I can certainly agree with there description in the title caption that it is one of the hardest moves in ballet. As for Picturesinthefirelight DD’s two missing observations, could these be the lack of spotting in the animation, also the releve is described as a rise. I’m not an expert on Fouettes but I’m being coached on these at the moment for the ending of ENB’s Gulnare solo from le Corsaire, as this has a sequence of pose, double pose into two fouettes, repeated three times. In pirouettes I’m a riser with my releve’s rather than a snatcher. My teacher insists I must snatch up the releve, as will immediately be on my centre balance. They certainly aren’t easy in comparison to the usual pirouettes.

It seems my ballet diary is getting extremely full, it’s becoming difficult to manage, as I’ve already had to make compromises and switch some of my studio bookings. We seem to be running behind with our summer show rehearsals in London, as our piece covering “Autumn” seems to have evolved into at least four pieces danced to four separate pieces music but chained together, I think we will certainly need some extra rehearsal days to catch up, still lots to do covering the other seasons. Our RAD Associates group at Elmhurst have been asked to be part an event to celebrate The Patron’s Lunch and our Royal Patron’s 90th Birthday on the 12 June by putting on a ballet class demonstration at the New Street Station where Harlequin dance floors have agreed to provide and sponsor the floor for dancers to use. The adult class piece is likely to be approximately 30-45 minutes long and if there is the appetite; repeat the session late that day. I will certainly be up for that. Although it not a dress rehearsal as such, we also have to attend a practice run through session on that type of dance floor on the 8th of May. It looks as if my Rep group is finally off the ground with a date for our first meeting, its going under the name of Glen Ballet SHG (Self Help Group), and has the blessing of one of my local ballet schools where we are hiring one of their studios. At the moment we are very small, three ladies including myself, and two guys, one of those guys is my boyfriend. Although we are very small group I’m re-choreographing “Waltz of the Swans” from Swan Lake as our first piece due to a relive small number of movements, its tempo and repetitive nature of its steps as our trial piece. The session has the same basic format: Warm-up, Barre, Centre practice mainly based on step type required for Rep. The rep itself is built up week by week taking as long as required as my dancers have never danced from the classics before and are a little apprehensive about their retention level. Finally ending with a stretch/cool-down and closed with a formal reverence. Although I have another dancer who is keen to join us but can only do evenings, my boyfriend has suggested I do both as I have another studio available for Thursday evenings, but that on hold for the moment until we see how this pans out, particularly the infrastructure as that takes time.

LAB have a date for the Summer Intensive too, 1 to 6th August, I checked with Tom on Monday night as he is also my English National Ballet teacher, as yet he hasn't decided what the Summer Intensive is based on, at least not until the Spring one is out of the way. Just keep an eye on their website http://www.londonamateurballet.com/lab---the-lab... From Crystal Ballet(London) If you fancy a sunday of ballet this weekend then join us! We're holding a day of choreographic work - ballet class, a study of Willis from Giselle and even a new work by Vanessa Helen Fenton http://crystalballet.com/index.php/event/crystal-ballet-choreographic-workshop.html that sounds really good, sadly I cant make it, I must try them sometime.

Fantastic, the owner of one of my ballet schools has Ok’ed my use of her school to run my repertoire group. There have been a couple of further developments, one of my ladies has ask if her husband can come along to do some partner work, oh gosh PDD already. I am also aware that they may be at least one more that would like to join us but is working when the studio is available. I casually mentioned I may be looking for an evening studio in the future to another local Ballet school, and that owner has offered me Thursday evenings if I want it, as its available at the moment, but that could change. The group will meet weekly starting the first week after Easter. Had a brilliant day at Elmhurst with RAD on Sunday after the awful trip there through freezing fog. I spent the whole day with them doing all 4 sessions; they also gave me permission to use the studio during the lunch break. I got to run through the entrance of Kitri from Don Q a few times; however I couldn’t get their audio system working with my tablet. I ask one of our teachers but she didn’t know as we used a pianist for all our sessions. Next time I will take a small sound system of my own in, especially as it may be a different studio next time. Running a full day at Elmhurst into the next day with ENB has taken its toll on my legs Grrrrr . But never the less I think it was worth it tonight. It may be my imagination, but my grand jete’s seemed to be up for longer, my balance at the barre and in the centre with the leg in attitude derriere, seemed much more solid and stay up much longer than most. The only disappointing bit was when we were allowed to finish off our enchainement with our own choice of turns. I went for the ending of the Gulnare solo from Le Corsaire, which is a pose turn, double pose turn into a fouette. The choice of ending was presented in both the Advanced and Intermediate classes, my fouettes were awful, they came off balance; I think I was just rushing without my gesturing leg being turned out properly before whipping it in. I had only been working on that in the morning with my private coach but at ENB I just made a pigs ear of it, the other turns were fine. Guess its just practice, practice and more practice.

Oh yes Sheila.

Sorry if some of this is duplicated in other threads, but I was asked to compile a list for another forum and thought the info would be useful here too. Keep an eye on Holistic Ballet as Franziska does run some excellent Repertoire Workshops. I guess her latest one (25 to 28 March) is most probably fully booked. http://www.holisticballet.com/#!repertoire-course-2016/x01gf “She Said Ballet Intensive” by English National Ballet (London) 10 April 10am to 4pm Venue: Markover House, 39 Jey Mews, London SW7 2ES £50.00 http://www.ballet.org.uk/whats-on/shesaid/ballet-intensive-she-said-10apr/ Giselle Repertoire Workshop (London) by the Alive Ballet Company 24 April 10am to 5pm Venue: The Place Studio(Nr Kings Cross), 16 Flaxman Terrace, Kings Cross, London WC1H 9AT £105.00 http://www.dancealive.london/workshop/ballet/ Don Quixote Repertoire Workshop by RAD (London) 22May 10.30am to 1pm Closing date for booking 2 May Venue: Royal Academy of Dance, 36 Battersea Square, London SW11 3RA £36.00 http://www.rad.org.uk/events/adult-repertoire-workshop Sleeping Beauty Repertoire Workshop by RAD (Birmingham) 3 July 10.15am to 12.45pm Closing date for booking 13 June Venue: Elmhurst School for Dance, 249 Bristol Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B5 7UH £36.00 http://www.rad.org.uk/events/adult-repertoire-workshop-1 3 Day Intensive by Ballet Retreat 27 to 29 August Venue: Northern Ballet Studio’s, Quarry Hill, Leeds LS2 7PA £279 A combination of technique, artistry and repertoire. http://www.theballetretreat.com Don Quixote Repertoire Workshop by RAD (Birmingham) 4 December 10.15am to 12.45pm Closing date for booking 14 November Venue: Elmhurst School for Dance, 249 Bristol Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B5 7UH £36.00 http://www.rad.org.uk/events/adult-repertoire-workshop-2 It’s also worth pointing out that RAD Birmingham at Elmhurst do permit attendance of their Adult Associate classes on a drop in basis. I will check if they have any more Rep Workshops etc planned as I will be with them on Sunday.