Roberta

Check that the examining body doesn't specify satin or satin with ribbons etc. The details should be on the website or ask your daughter's teacher. The uppers shouldn't really affect what's happening with the soles.

Will this suffice? Though GAH ODILE IS NOT A SWAN!) 🩰 🦢

THE ROH is on too Not specifically dance maybe I can be indulged to flag up a personal favourite and that is Arts Emergency? Every donation helps bridge that inequality divide into a career in the arts. I'm very pleased to see the target was met, though donations are welcome all the time, also mentors. There a video here too of the 2023 celebrations at The Place and further information. https://donate.biggive.org/campaign/a056900002SESxAAAX Situation Too often, whether young people get a fair start in the cultural industries depends not on what, but on who they know. Young people from privileged backgrounds are 4x more likely to make it than their better-connected peers. On top of nepotism & elitism - young people from working-class backgrounds won’t have access to the same resources as those whose parents can afford extra-curriculars & excursions. Today, only 16% of workers in creative industries come from a working-class background. We must ensure that the creative & cultural industries do not become the playground of the wealthy. Solution Arts Emergency empowers working-class 16-18-year-olds in London, Brighton, Manchester and Merseyside through a combination of a year-long mentoring programme and long-term support. We pair them with trained mentors who help them explore pathways into their areas of interest. We continue to support them until they turn 26 with individual guidance, work experience, access to advice from our Network of nearly 10k professional creatives, travel bursaries, tickets, resources, and more.

He's 19! Wow. I'm reminded of a young Baryshnikov.

Not ballet but certainly dancing on ice! Incredible, in case you missed it. Wow. Triples, quadruples, and all while on that slippery stuff. There's more. The 'rasberry'! WOW.

In French, of course! English subtitles for this one.

New on Dance Europe DANCE EUROPE caught up with the Royal Ballet principal as he prepared for his final performances as Des Grieux before taking up the post of artistic director of the Royal Academy of Dance

I make no comment. What to wear to the ballet. A style guide. 😔🩰 https://www.instyle.com/what-to-wear-to-the-ballet-8418548

The tale of the cooking and eating Marie Taglioni's shoes, presumably muck, blood, sweat, bits of skin and all. https://lethbridgenewsnow.com/2021/09/14/the-ballet-shoe-stew-of-1842/

For anyone new to this, a short and succinct summary of why ballet companies are seeking to ditch the stereotypes and re-invent certain classics (and parts of classics, as Peter Wright already has with Nutcracker at the Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet) https://www.sundialpress.co/2022/05/12/la-bayadere-orientalism-racism-and-classical-ballet/ I believe the conversation around “La Bayadère” and other similar ballets—notably Scheherazade and Le Corsaire—provides the public with an opportunity to understand how artistic narratives affect cultural interpretations and dynamics. While it is not a question of canceling it altogether, the ballet cannot be excused as a product of its time. Companies must do better not only to increase diversity, but also include non-Western perspectives to their creative interpretations to create a more sensible, but overall more human and respectful approach to an art that has historically been monopolized by a distinctly Western, white, and exclusive circle. Thanks @Doug Fullington I look forward to further reading on this.

I really find it hard to understand why anyone wants a pair of used, grubby, battered, sweaty pointe shoes. Yes I can appreciate possibly owning a pair someone famous wore to an acclaimed performance, but the rest? For anyone worried about them going to landfill however, traditionally made shoes are made from biodegradable materials.

Exactly this. Sadly, huge subsidies are a thing of the past and survival is the issue. Ask Northern Ballet about that, and having to ditch the orchestra. Who knows, evenings of dressing up for the audience just like Rocky Horror Show could be the way ahead... Birmingham Royal Ballet has a very diverse publicity programme, I suspect Carlos Acosta would be up for it. A revival of the Black Sabbath ballet, come dressed accordingly? The question which began this thread is an important one. Without marketing, audiences will dwindle. How to market is the question. Edited to add this link, in case anyone missed out on ballet-core. Possibly not for 2024, though who knows? https://www.instyle.com/fashion/clothing/balletcore-trend

The link is here. Email and password is needed. https://play.wiener-staatsoper.at/event/4dfb69e2-63b2-4be0-9ded-6af3a9a56fa1

Well here is their Nutcracker and it's working for me! I very much think the Chinese Dance will be ... OK. https://iumusiclive.music.indiana.edu/#/

Other versions are also available. 'La Bayadere': should it be cancelled?' https://www.danceaustralia.com.au/expertise/la-bayadere-should-it-be-cancelled

This has puzzled me for a while also, since I watched that short film and read the MacMillan site. Obviously, further research at the V & A & ROH archives is required and identification of the dancers in the claimed 1955 photo with tutus by Houston Rogers. My gut feeling, however, is that the 1955 date is an error or refers to the date of the ballet not the photo, and that photo with tutus is of the later redesign. It is possible tutus were originally designed and replaced before opening night and that is a rehearsal photo but I think that's stretching things to think that's the case. The original set design has a female dancer in a tunic / skirt as per the other photo of the three female leads. https://www.kennethmacmillan.com/danses-concertantes Despite being praised for the integration of dance and design, the ballet was redesigned several times. For Covent Garden in 1959, small tutus replaced the girls’ tunics and the choreography had to be modified to allow for their width. In 2003 Georgiadis’s original designs were restored; after fifty years the original concept seemed as chic, fresh and perfectly suited to the ballet as it had in 1955. https://www.kennethmacmillan.com/new-page-2 If the tutus which were introduced in 1959 required alteration of the choreography, I think that would have also been the case in 1955 and lessons would have been learned then!

Yes but it's not fun is it? Ask @zxDaveM about THAT! I'm pleased that many younger people appreciated it.

I actually thought the photos were meant to be fun and ironic and I laughed when I saw them. Not what I was expecting. If I'd seen the pair of them at the theatre it would have cheered me no end. I also note she had tagged #YoungROH and given the obvious youth of many sitting in the audience behind her photos, in the far from cheap seats, was this some sort of promo? Discounted tickets for students & Young ROH to encourage attendance in future?

Well if you read back through the posts you will see that from the outset and for many years that's exactly what happened! And now we have the mindset that Odile is a 'Black Swan' (she isn't) and the PDD is the 'Black Swan PDD' I suspect change would be controversial.

Oh yes. No point in having those if you can't wear them, boned bodices and all the rest.

Thanks for this, I knew this was upcoming and have been watching developments with interest. This also, with video. https://operaballet.indiana.edu/events/star-on-the-rise.html

I'm currently ordering yards and yards of net and some sequins online and looking for the old sewing machine... 😉 Oh sequins. I love those. Good for your friend. I even have a pair of vintage black elbow length gloves, and sparkly Doc Martens. I need a headdress and all set to go. Why not. Life's short.

Really? Good grief. Dancers & other theatre people I've known through my life have been fun people in the main. A good laugh to be with. Maybe I've been lucky with my friends. If you can wear a purple meringue to Glyndebourne and that's fine (I used to get freebies, so I have seen what others wear, not you understand, that I have worn meringues) ) why not a sparkly tutu and fluffy legwarmers to the ROH?

If you look at the photos the audience at that performance is mainly young people, in the stalls. That's interesting. The Instagram account holder (a student from the US in London) has over 61,000 followers on Insta and 70,000 on TikTok. The likes are increasing. That's all good publicity. I note she and Dr Claire Bash are off to Sweden, hope they enjoy that also.

I thought it was fun. It wasn't the usual vapid pouting social influencer stuff. I'd have happily have sat next to her and her friend in the theatre (so long as she had removed that scratchy tutu) and I suspect we'd have enjoyed a lovely evening at Swan Lake, and a good giggle in the intervals over a glass of something. I may have worn something sparkly too. I like sparkly things. And I'm a very old person. I like fun. I love theatre. I am pleased when anyone promotes it.