Garnier

Gosh - could one of your friends write to him and explain that you’d love to be able to see the video of your dancing DD? Hopefully it’s a misunderstanding…

From where I was sitting (way up high) I could see her! Beautiful! i did wonder whether there was a reason they weren’t moving them around.

The search terms Roberts gave would be right for what took place at Garnier on Sunday. The description for that is: Public class with students from dance schools of the 21st century For the first time in public, the Paris Opera Ballet School invites students from 21st-century Dance Schools to share warm-ups and training on the legendary stage of the Palais Garnier. With the participation of: Canada’s National Ballet School – Toronto San Francisco Ballet School – San Francisco The Royal Ballet School – London The Royal Danish Ballet School – Copenhaguen Hamburg Ballett Schule John Neumeier – Hamburg Scuola di Ballo Academia Teatro alla Scala – Milan The Dutch National Ballet Academy – Amsterdam (Tickets to watch this class were totally free of charge to the public/open to anyone and everyone). The second link that Roberta mentions ("spectacle de l'école de danse") is the POB school-only performances that are also taking place this week (in addition to the "Dance School Gala taking place with the other schools) - definitely rather complicated!

That’s amazing that your daughter is one of the dancers, Birdy! You must be so proud! Hopefully one of the organizers will read this and film it so that it can be distributed afterwards at the very least. For future information, in case the opportunity presents itself again, it’s always worth putting your details down on the waiting list for the performances at Garnier (and Bastille). They release more tickets in the weeks preceding the performance and it is pretty much always possible to get a ticket in this way (I had emails saying that places for the Schools Gala/performance were available last Wednesday and Friday). Another option is via the Bourse des Billets, where subscribers in particular (who have access to early booking) return their tickets. Not the most reassuring if you also have to buy plane tickets in advance, however!

Did anyone else see this today? It was an open-to-the-public (free of charge) class of students from the POB ballet school, RBS, Canada's National Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, Royal Danish Ballet School, Hamburg Ballett Schule, La Scala and Dutch National Ballet Academy, on the stage of the Palais Garnier. The class was given by Elisabeth Platel, with José Martinez also doing an introduction. I really enjoyed it but would love to hear from people who know more than me! The students were all mixed up, so it wasn't possible to tell who came from where (with the exception of the POB school boys who were wearing their uniform). There were some lovely dancers, and they managed to deal with the rake at Garnier very well - Elisabeth Platel mentioned at the beginning that this was the first time on the stage for most of them. After having read several comments on the forum about the artistic directors of some schools, it was nice to see how close Elisabeth Platel seemed to be to the POB students - calling them by their names, joking etc...she also clearly knew who to speak to in English and who in French. She certainly seems like a very 'present' director! I also appreciated how she weaved in exercises passed down from previous directors. All in all, a great initiative and I hope POB continues to organize this sort of event. .

I hope this won't sound arrogant, but I have two children who, generally speaking, are thought to be very well-behaved and I'm lucky to be able to take them pretty much everywhere. In December last year, I took them to a full-length ballet (Nutcracker). The older one (9) was wearing dark-coloured tights and, in the dark, I couldn't see that every time she became particularly excited with the beauty of what she was watching, her legs (which didn't reach the floor) would jump out and hit the back of the chair of the older lady in front of her. At the interval, the lady gently but firmly explained to my daughter that she should avoid doing that. My daughter was clearly mortified and I could see the tears welling up in her eyes, but I was very pleased that the lady had told her directly (and I thanked her for it). The lady could clearly see that it hadn't been intentional and asked my daughter some questions about herself, whether she was doing ballet classes, etc - so there was no anger, but just a stong belief that she (my daughter) would only learn by being told not to do this. All that to say that it was an excellent lesson for my daughter. Fast-forward to last week: we saw Don Quichotte, she was sittting on one of the fold-out seats, and not a single kicked leg from what I could see (and certainly no complaints from the person seated in front!).

Just to give a quick update on this - it was AMAZING! The performance I saw was part of the "Studio series', with the company doing a full rehearsal of The Rite of Spring. Two original cast members (including the principal dancer on whom Graham created the work) shared their experiences, and responded to questions from the audience. It was quite an intimate setting with only about 60 places (some reserved for the press), in the company's studio. And audience members were greeted not only with a smile, but also with a glass of wine! I ended up seated next to a specialist on Graham (and next to him, a very very famous actor), who was absolutely lovely and gave me some pointers, as I'd never had the opportunity to see any of her work before. The choreography and dancing were incredibly powerful and it was quite an experience to see the photos that I'd seen in my childhood while devouring books on dance history come alive! .The movements seemed a bit dated (in fact I would have guessed the creation date at 20 years earlier than what it actually was), but that was part of the appeal - it did feel like watching an important moment in the broader history of art. This was true DANCING, not the rhythmic gymnastics that so much ballet seems to be these days. All in all, an incredible experience. I still can't believe that I managed to get a ticket at the last minute to something like this, especially given how reasonably-priced it was! I would really recommend checking out dates for future Studio Series events to anyone in NY. Thanks again, FionaM!

Thanks so much Fiona - this is perfect! Have bought a ticket for Thursday!

I’m going to be in New York for a few days, by myself, and was wondering whether anyone could recommend any performances (ballet, contemporary…or anything really!) worth seeing on 12-14 March (for which I’m likely to be able to get last-minute tickets)? Thanks!

Thanks yes it does! I do still wonder what a class on this looks like though 🙂

Hopefully someone on here will know! Here is the description on the website of the CNSMDP, for instance (for those who can read French): https://www.conservatoiredeparis.fr/fr/discipline/afcmd-danse

Yes I think this is the basic idea but I can’t work out what is actually taught, as it seems to be quite a « practical » subject rather than a theoretical one. I saw one article that compared it to Laban (which I also don’t know much about and would love to understand better). It seems to be very much about posture and weight. But I’m particularly curious as to what a class looks like (especially as the age range is so large - seems to start at around 10/11 as a weekly class for conservatory students, and go through to student teachers). I’m curious that it seems so widespread in the French-speaking countries and (apparently) unheard-of in the English-speaking ones!

I’m trying to understand exactly what classes in this involve exactly - is there an English equivalent? It seems to be a big part of dance studies in the French-speaking world (for both teaching qualifications and general dance studies in the conservatoires, starting at age 11 or so). Thanks in advance!

I watched some of the streams (so lovely!) and see what you mean. I think it’s basically a way of showing how comfortable you are with the vocabulary, if that makes sense, that you can cut it (a bit like the way upper-class British people may use very “direct” language). French people do this a lot. But I can understand that it may seem strange to people who hear it for the first time! i have to admit I was really impressed by how well Elisabeth Patel speaks English! For someone who has spent basically her whole career in France, I found her extremely confident in moving back and forth between the two languages. Of course, I realise that the ballet world is international, but i:’s easy to forget how much harder it is to work in a language other than your own.

I haven’t been able to see the videos yet but from what you’re describing, my guess is that they’re using the present imperative conjugation of the verb (from which the noun is derived), using the “tu” form of address rather than the “vous”. So “develop” (as in “développe le mouvement/develop the movement”) rather than “do a développé” if that makes sense, and also rather than “développez” (pronounced the same as “développé, but which is in fact the “vous” version of “développe” (imperative) or “développes” (present). Gosh I realise how complicated that sounds! Basically, they’re speaking their language (correctly) rather than using “technical” ballet terms. Hope that helps!