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academicdancer

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Everything posted by academicdancer

  1. But yes, we could have anticipated a slightly different audience to a regular ballet. We were supporting a friend in one of the adult roles and got tickets ages ago without thinking too deeply about it.
  2. Sleeping Beauty Dreams is the outreach community performance that was put on after auditions last summer. They only did one performance, so a relaxed performance wasn't on the cards I guess! The disruptive child in question was around 10 years old, so not little. The other kids in the audience were wonderfully behaved, and when another child got scared by Carabosse they were looked after really well by their family.
  3. I had a frustrating experience watching Sleeping Beauty Dreams last night, where there was a family behind us who had no theatre etiquette at all! There was one child (who, to be fair to them probably wouldn't have chosen to come to a ballet but probably had a relative taking part) who was kicking my companion's seat continously, sucking loudly on sweets, slurping a drink, talking during the dancing and laughing (at, not with, the performance). The adults were no better, as they were talking throughout and rustling sweet packets. We managed to escape and move elsewhere at interval, but it made the first two acts difficult to concentrate on and we both got very irritated. We weren't the only ones who moved either.
  4. SAB is the feeder school of New York City Ballet company JKO is the feeder school of American Ballet Theatre company
  5. The link to register interest for the open day is actually here: https://www.swindondance.org.uk/how-to-apply-cat/
  6. This just popped up on my social media feed, so I thought I'd share as I'm not sure how well known the Swindon ballet CAT is. I have zero affiliation or experience of the programme. SWINDON BALLET PROGRAMME | OPEN DAY Swindon Dance's Centre for Advanced Training (CAT) delivers world-class dance training to young talents aged 11-19. Our Swindon Ballet Programme caters to dedicated dancers with a passion for their art. If you're new to the CAT programme, this Open Day is your gateway to comprehending the extensive offerings; including the grants available and the support we provide on your dance journey. The event is cost-free, and we warmly welcome parents and guardians to attend this enriching experience 🗓 Sunday 11th February ⏰ 11am-1pm 🔗 BOOK YOUR PLACE ON THE OPEN DAY: https://www.swindondance.org.uk/cat/ The link doesn't seem to take you to a place to book onto the open day (yet), but it does have general information and contact details.
  7. Years ago (10+) the dance school I was at had an issue with an ISTD examiner (not with exam content but with their behaviour). This was when I was a student (and thankfully I wasn't taking an exam with that cohort) so I'm not aware of exactly what my dance school did, but the school made a complaint rather than anyone individually. I know that they collected information from the students who had the terrible exam experiences and complained to the ISTD. I believe that there was some sort of apology conveyed, and a high up examiner came and did some master classes for the school. I don't believe that the exams were remarked or repeated, but whether that was an option or not I don't know - everyone passed but didn't do nearly as well as normal. This was for a graded exam rather than a vocational exam so progression to the next grade wasn't impacted.
  8. Yes she is dyslexic. I feel for her! You can tell she is way more comfortable when she doesn't have to read from the teleprompter. It's a shame that there's no (apparent) alternative that's more accessible.
  9. If you can get over to Oxford (Kidlington), Dance Evolution has a range of pointe shoe models and is good at fitting. You can always call to check they have stock of things you want to try before making an appointment.
  10. Are you referring to teen girls teaching "baby ballet" at their dance school? Or teaching at the franchised Baby Ballet? The first former is not uncommon, although usually there should be a teacher running the class with teens assisting, for health and safety/DBS purposes.
  11. Yes, at least at Vaganova they have more than one class per year, so there is a possibility of changing class if the fit is not right with the teacher.
  12. I do wonder why each year only has one teacher for ballet. It means that if you don't gel with the teacher (or worse!) there is no respite. I don't think there'd be a huge loss of consistency in approach with 2 or 3 teachers each year. Often it makes the dancer more adaptable and with different ways of receiving corrections often technique can improve quicker.
  13. There is definitely a lot of turnover at the Vaganova school before the upper school. There is a fair % of the 2023 graduating class who did not start at the academy in the first year (and there are even some who did not start in the first year of the upper school). This information can be found on their Instagram, where they are posting about their graduates (when they started, prior training, achievements whilst at the school etc., graduation destination) every so often, and you can also see the graduate destinations of their international pupils on their website. I know less about other international ballet academies so cannot comment on them, but I am sure many are the same. I'm not saying that it is right, but that White Lodge/RBS is certainly not the only place that does this.
  14. I also a hot food person, and I have a thermos for lunches on days with no kitchen facilities and it works really well. The food does need to be heated as close to leaving the house as possible though, because the thermos does not keep it warm forever. I've used it for soup and for curries and similar. In a pinch, wrapping a lot of tin foil around a tupperware containing hot food and popping in an insulated bag also works. For keeping food cold, could she use an insulated lunch bag and stick an ice pack in there? Instant rice can be eaten cold without cooking it first, if she likes rice. You can make a quick and easy tuna (or any other type of temperature safe protein) rice salad etc. I also went through a phase of baking a few sweet potatoes in advance, and then adding sweet potato mash to my lunches over the next few days. Flatbreads etc. with lots of toppings/fillings would also work.
  15. The hard corps podcast really is excellent. It really highlights the highs and lows of the ballet world by allowing dancers from all over the world to tell their stories. Additionally, it has given a voice to so many students, not just from our UK vocational schools, to talk about the difficulties (and trauma in some cases) they went through in vocational training. And it shows how everyone's experience of the same institution can be so different, whilst also highlighting common experiences in the ballet world. Well worth listening to.
  16. Birmingham Royal Ballet also do repertoire workshops. They've just released new dates.
  17. As far as I know, there are no direct flights between Russia and several countries now, including the UK, but you can still go via Turkey/Finland and bus over the border/China and probably other countries too. And I don't believe that there are any restrictions on inviting students - there are still (some) international students at Vaganova and Bolshoi Ballet Academy, including from the UK.
  18. It depends where, I'm pretty sure that in Eastern Europe they will only consider dancers with diplomas. They want proof of professional training.
  19. Has anything changed at dancing prior to this? Has she moved up a grade/switched classes to dance with a slightly different group? Has there been a shift socially - i.e. a few "popular" students holding court in the changing rooms and possibly making it uncomfortable for her? Is there a new teacher or new content to learn? Is this just in ballet or across multiple styles (if she studies multiple styles)? Thinking back to when I was around that age, I lost a lot of confidence when I took an exam with only a few of my peers, leaving the majority of my friends in the grade below. My class often did free work classes with older, more advanced students, and I just didn't feel comfortable and felt like the worst in the class, even though looking back I was working hard and improving. Comparison really is the thief of joy! There was a lot of cattiness and "queen bee" behaviour by a few of the girls which made the changing room an uncomfortable space for me as well as the ballet classes. They were all fine individually, but put them together and they'd put on these "fake" fronts to be the popular ones and lots of people played along. I just didn't see the point! The environment of my classes had also changed somewhat which contributed to feeling uncomfortable - now I know that my main teacher was having a huge upheaval in their personal life and I guess I was just very sensitive to it. My tap and modern classes were my safe haven. Also another question - how many teachers does she have for ballet/each subject? Some students are just suited to different teachers, and different teachers focus on/praise different things and will treat the class differently.
  20. Pretty sure that The Dancers Room in Lichfield stock it, but you'd have to go there in person to buy. Probably best to contact them first to check if they have what you want in stock.
  21. Most universities have dance societies. They way they run them will be different - some only do classes (which can be student taught or they hire teachers), some only do competition teams and some do both! The way the competition teams are run is also very different between universities. Some have advanced and intermediate teams in all levels (ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary and street) and some only have one team per genre. Some audition for teams separately and some audition for a competition "squad" where they look for dancers who can compete in multiple genres to have an overall smaller competitive team. It depends how much (if any!) funding they get from the university. If they are considered a sports club they usually get funding but as it is limited they limit their competitive members. I have been a student for a looong time (undergrad, masters and PhD) at 3 different universities and I've been involved in dance at all of them in different ways. I only did competitive teams throughout my undergrad - it was so much fun. We got to travel around and compete at some huge competitions. There should be quite a lot of university dance comp videos on YouTube going back since ~2015. Happy to answer more specific questions.
  22. I have not done any PBT, but from what I can tell, PBT trains the same movement patterns that are used in ballet. I think this is why people refer to "using the correct muscles". In my opinion it is more accurate to say "using the muscles in the same way that is needed for ballet". Cross training trains different movement patterns. This is really important, and prevents muscle imbalances that can be so common. Cross training can also target areas that need improvement - like muscular endurance and cardiovascular stamina. Both are important. I'd even say that, given you are training ballet movement patterns during ballet class, it is more important to add in cross training sessions than PBT if you can only add one supplementary training class. I'd be interested to hear thoughts from someone who knows more about this.
  23. My in-laws live very close to Rambert - St Margarets is nice but Richmond is particularly lovely and only a walk/quick bus ride (H37?) away. There are lots of restaurants, coffee shops, and places to sit along the Thames. I love indulging in going to Whole Foods when we visit 😂.
  24. KNT Danceworks! I'm pretty sure they have multiple levels of adult classes. I have friends living there who attend their classes regularly and love them. I attended one or two back when I was an undergraduate and the teachers were very good. Edit - sorry, I missed that you said not the city centre. I'm not entirely sure where they're based because they aren't at the Dancehouse anymore, but I think it's still pretty central.
  25. I am very lucky to dance with a teacher/adult ballet group that puts on annual performances. She also teaches children but adults are her main focus. It's wonderful. I never want to leave my current city (where I've been completing my PhD) because its the only place I've found quality ballet *and* tap classes for adults.
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