Not sure whether this has been mentioned elsewhere, but POB have announced on their website the details of the Junior Ballet that will be launched in September. Eighteen dancers aged 17-24 will be recruited and a further 6 in 2025, with two-year contracts. They will tour and also participate in 1-2 big POB productions (starting with Sleeping Beauty in 2025). Recruitment will be via the external competition for recruiting dancers for the POB.

This has been such an interesting thread..

i read an interview with a former AD, who said that the ballet world (in his opinion of course) was less « cultured » than other artistic communities (e.g opera). On reading this thread I’m wondering (if it is indeed true) whether this is partly because of kids being closed off from such a young age to other arts and experiences. It seems that many of them are spending all their time in ballet class and very little having other experiences or even watching or reading about ballet. I do think that, ultimately, ballet benefits (or would benefit) from being exposed to - and fed by - developments in the wider world, whether they are artistic, political or philosophical. Perhaps the intensive technical training at a young age, fed in many cases by boarding schools that bring together children who in the majority come from broadly similar backgrounds (middle and upper-middle class, interested in the arts etc) and have the same dreams, rather than a diversity of backgrounds, interests and goals, impedes this.

Secondly, i do feel that it’s rather odd to be concerned about the lack of company opportunities while simultaneously not being interested in watching ballet - whether live or on TV, via a streaming service etc. For those of us living in big cities, there seem to be (at least in my experience) many opportunities to see dance at different price points. In the last 3 months, I’ve taken my children to see one big ballet (cheap seats, 50% off the tickets for them), one contemporary production (medium-priced seats, 50% of the tickets for them), one kids’ hip-hop concert (5 euros each), and two free performances by advanced ballet students. I appreciate that we are very lucky and that most people don’t have access to such opportunities. But some seem to be choosing between a private class and going to see a performance, and choosing the class - and the « system » seems to be encouraging them. I’m not blaming the parents at all as I can imagine that they feel that the private class is more able to help the kid achieve their dream - but will it, if there aren’t any companies to take them in because no one is going to watch them?

Finally…I think everyone here believes that governments need to do more to fund and encourage the arts. Realistically, they are unlikely to do this unless they perceive a thirst for it from the public. Perhaps we need to consider how we as individuals, and as a community who loves ballet and dance (which seems to be the case for most people here), can send a message that thriving, cohesive and happy societies need the arts, including dance; that we ourselves are willing to invest in them - whether financially or in terms of time, or both; and that we expect our governments to do the same.

2 hours ago, Ruby Foo said:

Some famous teachers think that formal ballet technique ( barre and technical movement) should not start until age 8 when the brain is developed enough to understand what the body is doing.

There is actually a law on this in France: see https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000000712638

• DISPOSITIONS RELATIVES AUX CONDITIONS D'AGE ET D'ACTIVITE ET AU CONTROLE MEDICAL DES ELEVES
• Art. 5. - Les enfants de quatre et cinq ans ne peuvent pratiquer que les activités d'éveil corporel.
  Pour l'enseignement de la danse classique, de la danse contemporaine et de la danse de jazz, les enfants de six à sept ans ne peuvent pratiquer qu'une activité d'initiation.
  Les activités d'éveil corporel et d'initiation ne doivent pas inclure les techniques propres à la discipline enseignée.
  L'ensemble des activités pratiquées par les enfants de quatre à sept ans inclus ne peuvent comporter un travail contraignant pour le corps, des extensions excessives ni des articulations forcées."

   

  8 years of age is the minimum to teach technique - before that children can only do "awakening" at 4 and 5 years old and "initiation" at 6 and 7 (which are both defined quite precisely in other texts that I won't reproduce here!)

I suspect that audiences would have to be significantly larger, or ticket prices much higher, for companies to be able to afford to pay young dancers the wages they deserve.

For me, what is needed is much better funding for the arts by governments (and ideally the private sector would contribute too, without compromising artistic integrity and vision).

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 21^st-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!

2 hours ago, Tattin said:

Thank you Stucha, Garnier & Pas de Quatre for your comments on my post about développé & chassé etc. It seemed to me that they were using shorthand for the movement rather than the "tu" form of the verb. It quite shocked me! Of course I know about steps at the barre such as battements frappé being shortened just to frappé but in this case it was cutting off the last syllable of the word.

 

And yes, Sabine0308 I picked Paloma Videllara Vidart from Argentina, Nº  317, as a finalist. I managed to pick 12 of the 20 finalists this year, but based largely on their solos whereas the judges base their decisions on classwork and many other factors such as suitable physicality.

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. 

17 hours ago, Tattin said:

Has anyone else noticed that the French teachers and coaches abbreviate terms, using "développ" and "chass" (among others) instead of développé and chassé? Julio Bocca and Lakey Evans-Peña, however don't do it. It seems very strange that the French teachers do it when it is their language. It really shocks me but perhaps some of you who are training, dancing professionally or teaching can tell me whether it is common practice nowadays.

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!

French school holidays start on (Saturday) 6 July so it’s a bit surprising they would start beforehand (unless they are expecting only international students I guess, but that would mean that the actual petits rats would still be there presumably, unless they have them finish earlier too). Maybe they are adapting the dates due to the Olympics.

I'd be grateful for any feedback you might have on streaming services (either with subscription or pay-per-view). I know that ROH and POB have them, and that there are some  that bring together different companies etc (e.g. Marquee) - what is your experience with them? are there any others worth looking at? thanks in advance!

Just writing to update that I received a very nice and understanding reply to the email I sent to the opera house complaining about the particular incident. It was quite reassuring to be taken seriously!  

6 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Several years ago, ENB put up typed notices around the Royal Albert Hall corridors asking people not to photograph or film any of the show (Cinderella) while the music and dancing were taking place, but concluded by saying it was fine to photograph or film the bows at the end of the show. That seemed to have an effective outcome - couldn't see anyone attempting filming or photography during the performance itself.

 

I find that culprits who are going to be selfish and inconsiderate will film or switch on phones to read during the show even if there is an announcement....as though in retaliation. I have once seen an usher informing the row in person (where the culprit was sitting) to turn off devices during the show, and when she left, the culprit snickered to her companion, "well, that's only for other people".

 

The most effective measures I have seen are a) a torchlight being shone at the face of the culprit while they were doing it (at Mary Poppins and a few other West End plays and musicals), b) a sharp/poke with an elbow or fingers and whispered "switch off your phone/camera!". One has to be firm sometimes....otherwise you'll end up with people bringing big ipads to film the entire performance -as they hold it high up, they themselves will be able to see the show but people behind them can't! (This was at an amateur performance which included children, and on another occasion, at an exhibition of Impressionist paintings. I have no idea why someone needed to film a large oil painting that doesn't move....!) 

I do love the idea of the torchlight!

Thanks to everyone for the responses - I will use those suggestions when (if) there is ever a reply to my email.

To answer the question above, this was actually at the Paris Opera but I've seen similar things happen at various other places in a few different countries recently - in one case the two women in front of me were actually posting photos and messages to their respective Facebook pages during the performance, and replying to new messages as they came in! So it seems to be an issue across Europe (and probably elsewhere). The suggestions made for the ROH are therefore very relevant for others.

Great to hear about the ushers at the ROH though - maybe they could offer some training to their counterparts! 

I went to see a performance today and had exceptionally bought tickets in the most expensive category. The woman in front of me, one seat to the left, filmed the whole first act. At the interval I reminded her that photography was forbidden and was disturbing me, and she agreed not to do it during the second (and last) act. 

Ten minutes into the second act, she whipped out her phone and started filming again. I then tapped her on the shoulder and she turned it off, then discretely (but not so discretely that I couldn’t see it) started up again until the end.

i’m really sick of this - quite frankly, it destroyed my whole enjoyment of the performance. 

I’m honestly thinking about giving up live performances, at the very least of the bigger ballets where there are (possibly) more people likely to behave like this (although I may be completely wrong on that front). At the very least I don’t see the point in buying more expensive tickets if the overall experience is not likely to be more pleasant. From where I was sitting, I could see at least 10 people in the “expensive” seats filming on and off. I don’t mind filming during curtain calls but really can’t bear it during the performance itself.

Is there anything we can do to bring in more stringent controls so that this stops? I’ve written to the opera house and given the woman’s seat number, but assume they won’t do much other than tell me that they do make announcements at the beginning (which are clearly not acting as a deterrent).

What can we do?