Yaffa

Sadly, LowCostHolidays collapsed. Some tips for those who are having a hard time getting their money back: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/travel/2016/09/lowcost

Sorry - the broadcast on 29th October is not the final of the competition but the concluding gala. Still, it looks very interesting. The schedule (taken from the Mariinsky TV website): PROGRAMME: I. Prize-giving ceremony for winners of the VII International Vaganova-Prix Competition II. Gala concert of prize-winners III. Die Puppenfee (one-act ballet) Music by Josef Bayer Libretto by Joseph Haßreiter and Franz Gaul Choreography by Konstantin Sergeyev The Mariinsky Orchestra Conductor: Valery Ovsyanikov Age category 6+

Apparently the final will be broadcast online on https://mariinsky.tv/e : 29 October Saturday 19:00-22:00 Gala Concert. Close of the Vaganova-Prix international ballet competition [edited to add that times are for Russia]

They have confirmed that the entire broadcast will be available for a while afterwards. I will also need to make use of this as I will unfortunately/fortunately be at the RBS Friends White Lodge Open Day during the RB slot. (NB: Anyone else who will be at the WL Open Day and who wants to share a ride from around the Manchester/northern area early on the Tuesday morning please send me a PM asap - thanks.)

On their FB page they mention activities for teachers th\at are accompanying their students. I am awaiting a reply to an email query about activities for people who have no connection to the competitors.

Oops sorry again - that should be: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/quiz-can-you-identify-chocolate-7640780

I thought I was still reasonably familiar with British chocolates, despite living mostly overseas for the last few decades... but I just scored a pathetic 6 out of 15 in a quiz to identify different UK chocolate bars without the wrapper: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/quiz-can-you-identify-chocolate-7640780

Sorry, address should be: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/sep/23/crunch-time-quality-street-fans-toffee-deluxe-substituted

And now Quality Street loses its best toffee: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/sep/23/crunch-time-quality-street-fans-toffee-deluxe-substituted.

I recently met a lady whose daughter was considering vocational training, and showed her a brief video on the RBS site. Her first comment was about how great it was to see children eating outside... Is Vit D. the only supplement that vocational students are advised to take?

I recall that RBS students were involved in research for Vit D levels in young dancers.. Did any specific recommendations emerge beyond those for the general population?

Could this be Gigandes plaki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigandes_plaki ? [edited to correct link]

Good news: There's a reply on the site saying: The full recording will be available on YouTube for you to catch up and we'll also be sharing selected highlights from the day.

Hm.... This says that highlights will be available after the event on Youtube. When I'd asked the ROH earlier, they had said that the entire event will be available online for 30 days. I do hope this will still be the case... will ask.

Public booking for the different Paris schools performances starts tomorrow a.m. (13th September). The Paris Opera Ballet School does not yet know which, if any, activities, will be open to the public during the week of the ballet schools gala, but they will send this info as soon as they have it.

Nice to see that contactless cards (like Oyster cards) can be used for the new Hopper fare, whereby you can switch to a second bus/tram (but not tube) for free within an hour. (Moneysavingexpert.com has a nice explanation of how this works at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/travel/2016/09/hopper-fare-makes-millions-of-london-bus-journeys-free ). But pretty disturbing to read that the Contactless cards are particularly vulnerable for fraudulent use AFTER they have been cancelled. See: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/cards/2016/09/banks-must-take-action-over-contactless-card-security-flaw

On 7th April, 2017, Paris Opera will be holding a 2nd ballet schools gala featuring an exciting selection of schools, including RBS: The Royal Danish Ballet School, The Vaganova Academy (Saint‑Pétersbourg), The Royal Ballet School (Londres), San Francisco Ballet School, Canada’s National Ballet School, John Cranko Schule – Stuttgarter Ballett, Ballettschule des Hamburg Ballett Further details at: https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-16-17/ballet/gala-des-ecoles-de-danse-du-xxie-siecle The site mentions lectures and other activities taking place during the ballet schools' visit - I've written to ask for details of any rehearsals/classes/talks etc. that we could attend. Earlier the same month (1st, 3rd and 4th April), the Paris Opera School has their own annual performance. Also the Paris Opera Ballet School's annual demonstrations (showing what the students are doing in their different classes and giving an amazing insight into the POB system of training) will be held this year on 3rd 11th and 17th December (Same performances on each of the three days. Usually they have the younger grades in the morning and the older grades in the afternoon; sometimes they swap these around.) Public booking for the above opens on 13th September. I'm able to book from today with my groups booking account. If you know me and would like to join the group or could use some tips about getting your own group purchase, just send me a PM. One problem with POB's group tickets (as opposed to their individual ones) is that they are paper, not electronic. This can be a bit tricky if you find you can't come and need to pass the ticket on to someone else at the last minute, though I've found that the Paris Opera have been very accommodating about reprinting. Also happy to help with some cheap/group travel and accommodation options if there's interest. Yafa

Just saw that the BBC Young Dancer will take place again in 2017 with four categories: ballet, contemporary, street dance and South Asian dance. The closing date for entries is now 2nd October, 2016. Category finals will be in January 2017, with the finals on 20th-22nd April, 2017 More at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07gbzxt I have mixed feelings about this event. I did enjoy the 2015 final at Sadler's Wells - it was particularly interesting to see forms of dance about which I knew very little. And there were certainly some good ballet dancers. But with the schedule and the lack of focus on ballet etc. it was hardly surprising that entries from the top vocational schools were low. ...I do miss YBDY, and the following Spring joint vocational schools performance, and hope we'll get more opportunities to see the best UK ballet students perform on the same stage. [edited to add competition categories]

Autocorrect/automessup systems that refuse to let me decide what goes after the letters 'lo.' I just met with a dear friend who had lost a relative and almost sent her an email saying how 'lousy' it was to see her, but 'lovely' to hear about her loss.

My gut feeling would also be that the teacher's being petty but not worth wasting precious time and energy over 96 p. However, an outside chance - I've actually seen several cases where a teacher has always sent out everything (forgotten ballet shoes etc.) at her own expense. Then she meets with her accountant to go over her figures, and he asks why she has such a large postage bill. She explains and the accountant says she really must say to everyone who requests mail that they send her the postage. So she does that when the next request for sending something comes up, without really thinking about the circumstances or the amount...

The competition is being streamed live. For the schedule see: http://www.varna-ibc.org/site/?lang=en [edited to add that Varna is 2 hours ahead of UK time e.g. 20:30 Varna time is 18:30 in the UK]

Good news: I just heard back from ROH that the entire stream will be on YouTube as soon as they have finished streaming and will be available for 30 days in total. Afterwards, they will upload a few sections of the day, but they will not know which ones these will be until they have been filmed on 4th October.

Interesting - From a quick glance, I can't see any times mentioned. They say on their Facebook page that the current e-ticket price ($14.98) includes a 20% early-bird discount for July.

Just saw that the Vaganova Academy in Russia will be reviving the Vaganova Prix competition for 15-8 year old vocational ballet students. The closing date for applications is 15th September. The final gala will be held at the Mariinsky Theatre on 29th October. At the moment there are plenty of tickets available, starting at around £18. I've seen some mentions of ballet master-classes and other activities taking place during the week of the competition but it's not clear which are open to the public and at what cost - I'll drop them a line to ask. Further details about the Prix: http://vaganovaacademy.ru/index.php?id=671 Quoted on that page: Official website of Vaganova Prix: http://www.vaganovaprix.ru Vaganova Prix Facebook page: http://fb.me/vaganovaprix Vaganova Prix VKontakte page (Russian social media - like Facebook): https://new.vk.com/vaganovaprix

According to a ROH brochure, it will be held this year on 4th October, 2016 (Tuesday). The brochure gives a URL of www.worldballet.com, but I believe the correct URL is http://www.worldballetday.com, where you can sign up for email updates. I'll drop ROH a line to ask if they could please check which events will remain online and for how long after the live streaming, for those of us who unfortunately won't be able to spend the whole day watching ballet...