Angela Essex

Thank you 😊 My teacher has said I could do intermediate but it would take a long time and be gruelling or I could do grade 6 first and then go on to intermediate after that. I chose the latter since I’ve only been dancing 2.5years and I want to improve my technique, strength and flexibility before I do intermediate. Also IF was quite gruelling and I’m ready to do something a little less full on for a while. She’s said she’ll carry on with progressing my pointe work throughout grade 6 though. What exam are you resitting? And what is the Giselle unit? @EverHopeful @Colmanthanks! Good luck with the discovering repertoire - sounds lots of fun. Side note - has anyone on here ever been on a ballet retreat? If so which one and what was it like and what grade / standard are the classes set at? I’d love to go to one but just not sure I could keep up.

Oh my good lord I got a merit for my RAD intermediate foundation with 60 marks - I’m so happy - I can’t believe it 😁😁😁

I am so sorry for what your daughter and your family went through. As a mother of teens/tweens myself I find this whole behaviour on the part of the schools involved utterly wrong. I hope they publicly own what has gone on and seek to change their ways instead of making BS statements about how the well-being of their students is paramount etc.

I just watched the documentary. I only got through the first 6 pages of comments on here so can’t claim to have read them all, but in my opinion what has happened is absolutely disgusting. Those teachers that made the vile comments, and the schools should be bloody well ashamed of themselves. Feeling very sad for all those children and parents affected. As a layperson with zero knowledge of vocational ballet training and selection of students I’m assuming they select a particular body type to begin with, but bodies change with growth and puberty, so I’m accepting that students may develop a body better suited to other forms of dance or other careers than classical ballet. Eg a boy that plays basketball but only ends up a little over 5ft isn’t going to be the next Michael Jordan, what I’m trying to say (badly) is that certain sports and careers have certain physical and mental attributes. At medical school if we didn’t make the cut academically you’d be asked to leave. I’m ok with that principle. Not everyone is going to develop an ideal body for classical ballet, despite rigorous training, and I get that. What I find shocking is how, instead of having a frank conversation with the parents and kids about the child’s strengths and possible future career paths, these schools have just dished out abuse and mental torture via coded language on those kids to try and get them to comply to a particular body type and are now not even admitting it and apologising. Very very sick. This raises the issue of why is there even a particular classical ballet body type? As an audience member I connect with personality more than how thin someone is.

Ooh now I am wondering who Misses RB A, B, C & D are and Mr RBY too this thread is killing me can somebody pm me pls & put me out of my misery 🤣

Ooh I’m going to have a look at Mr RBXs insta right now and have a look 🤣 My 2 cents is that if my body was that of a toned and beautiful professional dancer instead of a middle aged wobbly inelegant mum I’d be posing myself all over social media without much on all the time. I don’t find it offensive at all and I think it’s beautiful to celebrate the human body for its strength and for its capabilities in a non sexual way. It’s like saying look at this body I own it’s proof of all my hard work and the instrument with which I perform my work. I find it admirable and inspiring that someone is so dedicated to their work, health and fitness and I don’t see anything sexual or rude about it. Even the ‘bulge’ shots I don’t find at all offensive or in any way erotic. Nothing wrong with showing the male anatomy, in my book if you’ve got it flaunt it, but then I am a medical professional so not much shocks me. With respect to whether a dancer’s social media profile will alter my perception of them I don’t think it does. I follow the dancers I like to watch on stage and don’t bother following those whose performances don’t connect with me as much. If anything it makes me like them more as I feel I know more about them as a person. Got to say I love Vadim’s posts with his family - he seems like such a genuinely nice guy and a really nice son to his parents. I feel like I’d like to just invite him over for a Sunday roast and a cuppa with a plate of chocolate hob nobs. Also Marianela’s IG is just charming. It’s clear that she absolutely loves her work and that ballet is her life. She comes across as so humble despite her greatness. And Matt Ball and Mayara how sweet are they. Ditto Lauren Cuthbertson’s posts about Peggy and Olivia Cowley’s about her pregnancy, new arrival and returning after mat leave. I also love Hannah Martin’s you tube channel - if it wasn’t for that I wouldn’t have heard about her. Id love to see her dance too.

How frustrating that the op was cancelled but pleased for you both that you’ve got another date. Fingers crossed for 6th Sept! Thanks heaps for all the pointe info - love hearing the details of your journey. Your dedication and work ethic are inspiring Luckily Leanne of Straight to the Pointe can see me on 23rd Aug so I can start the new term in September with new shoes. I ended up doing my exam in the dead shoes and the pointe section was a struggle, but I think that was just exhaustion by that stage of the exam rather than the shoes as the shanks are still fine it’s just the box being soft. It was literally taking a mammoth effort to hold myself up en pointe which I don’t usually find a big deal. Yes I put the suede tips on the shoes (grishko stream pointe) as soon as I got them and they’ve lasted well. I got them in Sept 2022 and by November I was sinking as the box had softened. I saw Leanne who gave me a little insole for them and then they were good until Easter 2023 when my big toes started rubbing on the side of the box so I got some gel toe socks then the shoes were ok again until July 2023 just before the exam. So cannot grumble - I got 9 months out of them. Not done pointe or regular class for the last month so think I’ve got a shock coming in September 🤣

Tears of a Ballet Mum now sold. Rest still available will accept £5 the lot plus postage.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145241871221?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=gkBRg-tjS72&sssrc=2051273&ssuid=gkBRg-tjS72&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

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https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145241907911?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=gkBRg-tjS72&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=gkBRg-tjS72&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145241911571?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=gkBRg-tjS72&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=gkBRg-tjS72&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145241918879?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=gkBRg-tjS72&sssrc=2051273&ssuid=gkBRg-tjS72&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Hi All I am selling the following all items £5. All new in bags with tags on except the Bloch Mirella Leo which is preloved: Capezio keyhole cycling short black Adult L Capezio keyhole cycling short grey with black trim Adult L Capezio high neck zip front crop top white Adult L Capezio skirt with built in shorts Bright Red Adult XL Capezio skirt with built in shorts Mid blue Adult XL Bloch Mirella Camisole Leotard with mesh detail to back - dark turquoise. Please PM for phots Buyer pays postage. Thank you x

Hi All, I am selling the following excellent books: Tears of a Ballet Mum, Hardback, Sabine Nagdhi £15 David Hallberg Body of Work, paperback £5 The Royal Ballet 75 years, paperback, Zoe Anderson - £5 Watch Her Fall (Fiction), paperback, Erin Kelly - Free if purchasing the above. Buyer pays postage.

There were some SCS when I went on general booking at 9.15am on Weds. I usually tend to find one or two SCS for most things on general booking but sometimes I do have to check back for returns and buy tickets on here.

Gosh is that the game plan of the ROH? I’m shocked. If so I agree it is really very sad to deprive people that genuinely love the art form 😭

Since I started watching ballet 2-3 years ago I’ve booked for at least one performance for everything on the main stage. Usually I’d go to see the Nutcracker multiple time (up to 4 or so) and the big classical ballets 2+ performances each plus one performance each of everything else. And all the class on stage sessions too. If I liked something I’d go and see it a few more times too and see all the cinema relays. I usually sit in cheaper balcony tickets, SCS or front side amphi. Since front side amphi has increased in price and there seem to be less cheap balcony seats coming up (I know these are only released about a month out but I hardly ever seem to catch them nowadays) and I’m too tired to stand in an evening I have booked a LOT less for the upcoming season: I have booked: Don Q: 2 x side front amphi Osipova/Clark, 1 x SCS Nunez (which I will probably sell on here or return since thanks to the generosity of a forum member I have a front balcony ticket for Nunez) Nut: 2 x SCS Buvoli Nothing else as I’m only going to ballets I know I’ll like and not trying new things due to cost. I’ve only seen RB so far but might investigate seeing more of other companies instead due to cost. Plus child seats for ENB are half the price of adult ones so if I ever take the whole family that will be a cheaper option (last year my husband and I took the 3 kids to see nut and it was £30 seat for front side Amphi - row A and view wasn’t great so for £150 we could’ve got better seats at Coli for all 5 of us). Tbh though we won’t be doing a ballet family outing for the foreseeable future 😭 I love watching ballet but I think I’ll just go to cinema relays and one or two performances a season with respect to RB now.

Yes I agree entirely. I’m getting fed up of my only options being fleeced to sit in the gods and not see as much as I’d of liked or having to stand and tire myself out. I used to be able to get a row C or D balcony loose seat for a decent price - about £30 but can’t seem to now, so I’ll be going to the ROH a lot less. Usually I book at least one ticket for everything on the main stage, but this time I’m seeing 2 Don Qs and 1 Nut and that’s it.

Question: I would really like to see Marianela in Don Quixote and wanted to sit at front of grand tier ideally but no such seats are available for any of her performances. I have a gift certificate to use and this will be a one off as I’d never usually sit in the expensive seats. I have just seen there is a front, central balcony available for £125. Question is would I be best to buy this seat? or wait in the hope of a row A return for the grand tier - or just save the certificate for an expensive seat to see her at a later date? Decisions decisions. Any advice would be very gratefully received.

Same here. The side front amphi tickets I bought for Don Quixote 19/11 Osipova/Clark B75 and 76 were £52 each - could’ve sworn they were about £35 in the not too distant past. All the other tickets I bought were SCS as it’s the only way I can get anywhere close to the stage on my budget. Tbh it is just going to mean I go a LOT less. Biggest disappointment is that I received a gift certificate for my birthday that I wanted to spend on a front row of stalls circle, grand tier or balcony to see Marianela dance Don Quixote. I’ve been waiting for the last few years for the chance, but when I finally got through to the seat maps at about 9.15am they’d all gone in row A. So I ended up with a SCS for one of her performances instead. Feeling a bit sad.

Returned to box office

Returned to box office

Thank you so much @oncnp @JohnS and @jmhopton

Thank you for replying @jmhopton I’m looking to 2 tickets and to get the best seats I can for up to £60 per seat.