Angela Essex

Awww what fabulous news. Wishing her and her family many congratulations. Love seeing her insta posts of her daughter and loved the little film they made together too 🎉❤️

Never heard of Rupert Christiansen before, but he sounds like a right pompous *%#€ His vision of a ballet company with no tutus, a more flexible Corps, production staff and orchestra (does he mean zero hours contracts?? Or dancers that also play in the orchestra?? How laughable) and doing more contemporary works in smaller theatres is ridiculous. Even less people will come and see that than a good quality production of a classical ballet. As for the comment about foreign companies doing a perfectly adequate production at no cost to the taxpayer -- if ENB was got rid of just because we can watch some foreign company at no cost to the taxpayer then there would be less employment opportunities for dancers and production staff in this country - how sad. One thing that would make audiences attend more is ticket prices and ballet being seen as more mainstream ie more ballet on terrestrial tv and in cinemas as routine. Dance taught in schools. In this country ballet is seen as very niche and I think if this changed and ticket prices decreased audience numbers would increase.

Welcome Berry! And congratulations on your exam result - what a fabulous achievement. I’m learning the intermediate foundation syllabus (very slowly as I only started ballet just over a year ago aged 45😂). Currently I’ve not finished learning the syllabus so the exam won’t be until next year. All the best with your preparation for Adv 2 , looking forward to hearing your updates 😊

No not at all. I got off at Holborn on central line Wednesday evening and walked from there as wanted to avoid Leicester Square and charring cross. Was no more busy than normal.

Same Dawnstar! When the morning bell tolled I couldn’t believe it was time for it yet. Definitely seemed shorter than I’ve seen RB do. Trusch was fantastic and really acted feeling exhausted perfectly (tbh maybe he just was exhausted after that so didn’t have to act).

Brilliant performances by Alina Cojucaru and Alexandr Trusch as Albrecht. The Corps got a lot of very well deserved appreciation from the audience too. First time I’ve ever seen Alina dance and she was just beautiful. In the video linked above one of the dancers explains that in the mad scene the hunting party stay on stage in this production whereas they leave in others. I loved this as the devastation that follows Giselle learning of Albrecht’s betrayal is witnessed by all the key players and you can see the effect it has on each character which acts to intensify the heartbreak. Nearly cried. God save the King was played by the orchestra at the start of the evening and then the stage crew came on at the end with Ukrainian flags. Alina and Alexandr wrapped themselves in one of the flags then the Ukrainian National Anthem was sung by everyone on stage. Very moving. There were quite a few empty seats which was sad to see, but I moved from back row of the dress circle to the front in the interval so enjoyed the latter half of the performance closer it the stage than I can usually afford which was magical. There were no curtain calls at all which was a little odd. I was thinking after the curtain came down that individual dancers would come out to take a bow but no-one showed. I’ve not been to see ballet anywhere except ROH and locally so maybe that’s how things are at the Coliseum idk? Still I would’ve liked to applaud some more as they were amazing.

I have a long body and am adult size 10 and find a capezio large or bloch large to be a good fit. Most dancewear brands have size charts which list girth as a measurement - I find it more accurate to buy by girth than dress size or height. Oddly enough girth is measured in a loop going from between the legs / crotch over the front of the torso, over one shoulder and down the back of the torso to meet between the legs. Hope that helps.

Fabulous thank you 🙏 I’ve just booked to see Alina - back row of Dress circle for £17.25 hooray! So excited - I can’t wait. I normally only ever sit at rear of the balcony, SCS or side of amphi at ROH so these are much better seats than I can normally afford. Thanks again @Bluebird.

Oops Sim - so sorry having a blonde moment 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

😭😭😭 How very sad - her commitment to duty was selfless and inspiring. RIP.

Yes I love it too it’s a must read and very eloquently written.

Gosh what a vile attitude on the part of that reviewer. Very sad. Agree with you 100% Rob.

Huge congrats 🎉 on your distinction Gremlin! 🙌🙌

Fabulous job! Not long to go now. Good luck with the pointe off the barre. For me doing weight training for legs and core has helped my strength and confidence it’s just so hard to find time for weights on top of ballet not to mention work and family 🤯

How’s everyone going with the exam work? Did anyone take their exams yet? I’m still a long way from being ready for the intermediate foundation exam, but I’ve dealt with the pointe part of the syllabus now - I did my first exercise off the barre a couple of weeks ago now which went surprisingly well. It was so exhilarating. When my teacher said it was time to do the centre pointe work I was thinking she was possibly a bit crazy and the thought of ‘well I’m either going to break my ankle or it’ll go fine’ did go through my mind. Luckily I completed the exercise a couple of times without any major errors. Ankles still in one piece. Pirouettes are improving but still not consistent or clean 😭. Adage and allegro 1 are getting there. I’m just starting to learn variation 1 which is really hard as I’ve not ever danced before I started ballet in 2021. It’s literally taken me hours of practice to even get how to do a pas de valse en tournant 🤯🤯🤯. I don’t think I’m a natural born dancer but god loves a trier😂 Oh and we’ve not done allegro 2 or 3 yet. Barre, pointe and port de bras are passable I think. Looking forward to hearing everyone’s updates.

Beautiful - Congratulations Mr & Mrs Campbell ❤️🎉👩‍❤️‍👨

Wow that’s fabulous - May I please ask what part of the house they’re in? I couldn’t see any for £10 when I checked a couple of the performances on the Coliseum website just now. I’d love to go, but I’ve booked a whole load of roh performances for autumn/winter so need a bargain 😂

Danceworld at Dalby’s in Westcliff on Sea, Essex stock Russian Pointe

Yes! Game changer.

This ☝️☝️☝️There is a Claudia Dean you tube video on ballet hairstyles that explains this method. Gets the bun flat every time. Key is putting hairnet on, remove pins, re model bun shape then re pin.

I think NYB = National Youth Ballet

Loved reading it. Very interesting piece thank you. Also your story on your blog is inspirational. Loved that you were taking 15 classes a week in your 20s just because you loved to dance. I started ballet at 45 having never danced before and it was so interesting to read your account of how training our bodies at different times of life differs. Thank you again.

Thanks for that very useful info Emeralds - I’ve booked for the New Crystal Pite - sounds very moving. Got row A side of Amphi for £15 - if the view from seat function on the roh website is accurate it looks like a clear view of the stage but it is described as restricted view which is confusing so we will see. Can’t quite believe that they are selling a full clear view of stage for that price though???

That’s very kind of you and yes it would be nice to go with someone, but I’m not at either of those ones.