Elliepops

Google "hook and eye tape". Quite a few companies stock it. One that I know definitely does one with at least two rows of eyes for each hook (so gives the option of adjustment is www.macculloch-wallis.co.uk J x

Linda is based on the south coast in Brighton. Very close to the station if travelling by train, so easy walking distance and there is also a large car park very nearby. We've never had an appointment last less than an hour, as Linda is very thorough in her assessment. Plenty to look at and do in Brighton afterwards if you are able to make a day of it.

Linda at pointe shoe fitting is fab. If Grishkos are the shoes for you she can get any stock shoe or any custom alteration made to order as she deals direct with the pointe shoe makers in the workshop in Moscow. Having met a few in our travels, she is hands down the best shoe fitter (regardless of make) that we have come across. Just to add that for those who's feet have stopped growing she will after an initial face to face fitting post subsequent pairs to you.

I'd take plenty of food and drink with you as you're "on duty" all the time you are there. Having chaperoned a few times for EYB I found it was fun but busy!! There may be spot visits by the local authority inspectors (west sussex were very hot on this) and obviously it could be very serious (worst case scenario would be immediate shut down) if they feel there is at any time inadequate chaperone supervision. Enjoy your time and take plenty of spare hairpins, grips,etc as there will probably be someone who forgets to pack something or has a "hair emergency" especially the younger ones. A sewing kit is useful to have too. J x

I think I know who you are Elly, and your lovely DD . Mine was in Rumple too - big and very purple mummy spider To answer your question re pointe work spanner as a general rule the is no pointe work, but there are often some lovely pas de deux. If I remember correctly only one LCB production has featured pointe work - the most recent incarnation of Jane Eyre. Only for Jane and Blanche in one scene at the discretion of that particular choreographer.

I'm surprised they aren't including you as it would be a great opportunity for both you and the female students to work on some partnering work together, which everyone would learn from and enjoy.

Don't know what certificate it will be but I think "Love Tomorrow" is out soon, with Cindy Jourdain, Arionel Vargas and Begona Cao.

The padded plasters meant for corns are handy for blisters or pressure points too. The kind with the hole in the middle.Positioning the plaster so the blister or painful spot is in the hole in the middle.The shoe doesn't press so hard on the sore spot, unlike if you pad over the top of it. There are as many ways to pad and tape toes as there are shoes to put them in. Lambswool is very useful and versatile, but unfortunately even though the ballet grade wool is thoroughly washed DD is allergic to it and her feet get red itchy and swollen.

Spotted my daughter in the behind the scenes clip they have also put up, the rehearsal shown was of her "half" and then the shots at the 1:1 in costume are of her ramp. As Chinafish said, all the dancers and chaperones had to sign confidentiality agreements so couldn't talk about what they were doing, even to correct miss information. The spirit of the flame section was one of the ones that the show producers wanted kept the most under wraps.None of the corps had seen how Darcey actually got to the stage until the day and the media pack distributed before the night had none of the detail present for other sections and artists.Programmes did however credit the principal dancers, the paid performers and all unpaid volunteers, the RBS students and ENB company dancers were listed with the volunteers. I think a lot of confusion stems from the fact people / journalists and broadcasters worked on the assumption "if so and so said it it must be true" and just repeated the same. We've got some lovely pictures from websites of my daughter and friends in their flame costumes described and captioned as being performers in the Rio segment. This is particularly true on sites in the US as they didn't show the ballet section and flame extinguishing at all and so a lot of journalists have gone - "oohh look really bright colourful costumes they MUST be Rio."

LCB is a great company and they make the whole audition experience as stress free for everyone as possible.There are usually around 600 children at the auditions, split into age groups.There is a chance to warm up before hand and the audition is a series of enchainments to show a range of skills - adage, arms, petit batterie, grand allegro as well as performance and acting. There are recall auditions on the day and then it's usually a week or two to see whether you are through to the final auditions. Children for the main company (approx 55) are chosen at finals along with a further number to perform in the touring companies.The standard is high and quite a few vocational children attend.Both the touring and main companies are fantastic experiences in quite different ways.Once you have accepted a place in main company you are committing to ALL the rehearsal dates, so need to be sure you are able to meet that requirement, particularlyif you are travelling long distance. All the dates are clearly set out in the offer letter. The touring companies are run at intervals through the year, with a shorter rehearsal period - often over a school holiday.The tour perform an abridged version of the previous seasons production at a variety of venues and have a great interaction with their audiences. The main thing is to enjoy the audition, try anything you are shown - smile, and not worry if you make a mistake.

Huw Edwards obviously didn't read his programme which clearly listed the pro (paid) performers last night and the volunteers (unpaid). In the ballet section approx 10% were paid pros who were also dancing in other segments, the rest approx 200 were volunteers aged 16 and up who auditioned and 16 royal ballet school students with about the same number of dancers from English National Ballet Company. Christopher Wheeldon choreographed Darcey and the boys, Alastair Marriott and Jonathan Howells choreographed the corp de ballet. The original choreo for the corps was more involved and had more difficulty, however the early rehearsals were on a flat sound stage. Once the staging was built it became clear that due to the steep angle of the ramps where the girls would be dancing that certain elements were not going to be possible or safe to perform, a lot adjustment was needed just to keep the feet underneath you and not slide away, likewise balance was more difficult as nothing was flat horizontal. There were elements incorporated to be effective as viewed from above (the view most of the stadium seating had) and for the aerial cameras.The final staging surface was slippery to dance on even with extra grit laid down.The big concern for most of the dancers was keeping their shoes on as the extreme slope and the fabric of the costume meant the shoe heels kept slipping off (I think the only method not employed last night to keep the shoes on was staple gunning them to their feet ). People who are more knowledgable about ballet may well feel the work was simple, and it was necessarily so, also the choreographers recognised that for the much wider audience the spectacle of hundreds of dancers doing bourree is impressive - in one rehearsal the girls were told - the bourrees are the easy bit, we all know that, but for the ordinary public it's "wow they are all on their toes". Having watched the rehearsals the tv editing was awful and the effect I think was hoped for was almost completely lost except in the stadium, the two elements really needed to be seen as a whole together.There was a sequence at the end where the corps flood down towards the cauldron and that was lost as the tv camera angle shown was pointing the opposite way. My 16 year old had the time of her life, has a day she will never forget, met and danced (or wiggled ) with some of her ballet idols and then mixed in and soaked up the atmosphere with all the athletes and will be in lots of athlete photo albums. Given the technical logistics involved in just getting everything needed set up in 16 hrs for something of that scale and then run a show with some elements that didn't get a run through at the stadium and no major mishaps happening is a miracle in my book.

A nice touch also that every petal is engraved with a different competing countries name, and they will all be given back to them at the end of the games to take home.

DD is in closing ceremony, so got tickets to see the dress rehearsal at the stadium of the opening ceremony with her dad. They reported back the following - lots of free water fountains inside the park, they thought that food and drink was pricey. There are lots of different food stands selling anything from indian cuisine to fish and chips. The big Mc D's wasn't open that night but obviously will be when your hubby goes. One idea might be to take a small bottle of concentrate and a larger empty bottle so you could have something other than water. At their prices (a coffee and a piece of flap jack cost £5) you will need the credit card (visa only insided the park remember).I'm saving up already as will have to be there all day for closing.

Accommodation during the olympics and para olympics is pricey (now there's a surprise!! ) and has booked up fast, (been there and had to buy the hideously expensive t-shirt ) but if your summer school is outside those dates then things should be both cheaper and more plentiful. A lot of universities let their student accommodation during the summer months and by googling you'll find either accommodation sites handling uni bookings or find the universities own accommodation booking pages on their websites. For a two week stay a self catering flat is probably what your looking for? unless mum is hoping to take a well earned rest from the catering during her London stay . There are loads of accommodation web sites to choose or you could try something like owners direct, holidaylettings or airbnb for example. Good hunting! J x

You could try some pointe shoe covers. DD got a pair of the Sansha ones to keep show shoes clean for EYB and they worked very well. As for getting too wet you'd be surprised how much moisture a shoe can take. The current project DD is involved in has meant dancing in the open air regardless of the weather conditions and pointe shoes we thought completely ruined by water have recovered surprisingly well with careful drying. J x

I'd try the following depending on the kind of paint you think it could be. Water based - a detergent solution oil based - white sprirt acrylic based - Isopropyl alcohol J x

The age limit for the ballet specific audition for the olympics was set at 16 at the date of audition with the rider that a chaperone would be guaranteed at rehearsals. My DD who is taking part is 16 as are a handful of other dancers who got through the audition. The arrangements are specific to this group. The unfortunate thing with regards the scam in Northamptonshire is that some of the dancers involved could have been eligable and legitimately auditioned to perhaps gain ballet places through the official channels given by LOCOG.

There is, she is and if I may say a very fine job she is doing

When DD auditioned for year 11 last year she was one of only two girls to get a place in pre senior ladies, and I think only two or perhaps three places were offered for prep 3 (i'm sure there will be a prep 3 parent out there who can give the correct number if it was more than that ). We know a couple of MA's that didn't get places for Central but did for London Senior Ballet.

The next problem is then where to put it at home - divan beds (so can't put under bed), built in cupboards (so can't pop on the top of the wardrobe), too wide for wardrobe so can't hang it in the wardrobe, in the loft (but have to bend it about to fit through the loft hatch). It ended up sitting in state at the far end of our bedroom.

Kim Gavin the artistic director of the olympic closing ceremony has a background in ballet, so keep your eyes peeled for a rather big nod to his dancing roots - I can say no more.

When you spend more on ballet than you do on food.

None of my family danced, but at four I started asking mum for ballet lessons, money was tight so as a way of deflecting me she bought a second hand pair of black ballet shoes which had ribbons. she said if I learnt to tie them myself I could go to class (I'm sure thinking she had bought herself some time as I'd fail). I sat every day after nursery school and tried to tie the shoes until I could do it and then she took me to class. I was keen and later took up tap, modern and acrobatic dance (as I got older my teacher gave me free lessons in return for help with the the little ones classes).I passed teaching qualifications and taught in a dance school until starting my family. When DD came along I was so paranoid that people would expect me to push her into a dance class before she could walk that it wasn't until she was five and it was very clear that her dancing was driven by her that she started classes. Ballet has been just as big a part of her life and she has gained so much from it and enjoyed it so much that even without the progression to vocational sixth form (she's so academic university is definitely her focus) it's been worth it, and she'll be going out on a high in the summer in the biggest show on earth.

Eskimos - Alaska. Southern Belles - Florida and Georgia. Hula - Hawaii. Native American Indian - Indian Nations. Rockettes - New York. Bob Fosse - Chicago.Showgirls - Las Vegas. J x

I use Coats Mercer Crochet 20g thread. It comes in a substantial ball which lasts ages. I chain stitch and use it single strand, but you can use it double too. Frangapani, having seen an example of your beautiful neat stitching - it looked like you use a similar/same thread too? J x