Yaffa

Amongst the many great videos of the Vaganova Academy (How wonderful that they've been recording their annual exams for years...), I've found the newish "ballet flowers" YouTube channel particularly interesting. See: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7kg6VMzxoR7K9j20d-EDBg Some months ago the channel owner uploaded videos of the entire first, second and third year classical ballet exams of one class of (now 4th year) girls. There were also videos of their "historical dance" class exams - quite rare on YouTube. In the last few days, some more videos have been added: the entire exam of the same girls in Year 0 (i.e. age around 10 - the year before some of them were accepted to full time training). There are also some new videos of the same students in recent performances. Below is a Google Translate of the text accompanying the Year 0 video: Exam at the preparatory department ARB them. AY Vaganova. Class teacher LI Komolova. Our channel talks about training at the Academy of Russian Ballet. AY Vaganova an example of one class, as they grow and mature. During one academic year girls aged 10 years engaged in the preparatory department ARB them. AY Vaganova with teacher Lyudmila Ivanovna Komolova first became acquainted with the basics of classical choreography, developed a professional data, preparing to enter. After the exam, many girls have been recommended for admission, successfully passed the qualifying rounds in June 2011 and later formed a whole class of the Academy of Russian Ballet. Fifth year young ballerina engaged under the leadership of his beloved teacher Lyudmila Ivanovna Komolova, their achievements and successes, concert performances, rehearsals and video exams you can see on the channel "ballet flowers". Happy viewing! . Yaffa

These have now gone. Yaffa

I have another batch of used ballet tickets - around 30 for RBS performances, as well as Ecole de Danse Demonstrations (Paris) and Moscow (not my own tickets, unfortunately, but I met a ballet fan on a plane and she gave me a couple of used tickets from Russia which she was going to throw away). I can add around 50 unused but rather scruffy ballet Paris Opera Ballet postcards which I picked up for pennies in a 2nd hand shop in Paris. As always free to a good home. Yaffa

Booking is now open for the category finals, at the Riverfront, Newport in South Wales. Dates are: Thursday 19 March - CONTEMPORARY FINAL Friday 20 March - HIP HOP FINAL Saturday 21 March - SOUTH ASIAN FINAL Sunday 22 March - BALLET FINAL Then there's the overall final at Sadler's Wells on 9th May (currently sold out). More on the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p023t1xz Yaffa

Thanks for the updates. Are you able to say which schools the candidates come from and/or which vocational schools are represented, particularly in the ballet category? Thanks Yaffa

Quite surprised to see that there are still tickets left - Wonder if that's because of booking problems or something else? Yaffa

For folks who have all the popular English ballet books that they want, a nicely illustrated ballet book/DVD/digital download in another language that they know (or are learning in school) can be very welcome. e.g Over the years, The Paris Opera Ballet School has put out beautifully illustrated books about life at their school, sometimes with both English and French translation. In their last anniversary year, they released an interesting video documentary about the school. Some of these are available in the UK. (I'm hoping to get to the Paris Opera Ballet School demonstrations on 20th-21st December, then on to England on 22nd, so happy to pick up books in France if anyone needs.) For ballet books in England from Amazon, if you can pay by MasterCard, they have a discount code giving you £5 off any order order of £10 or more (with some exclusions). See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html?docId=1000842343 Yaffa

If you can pay by Mastercard, Amazon currently has a "£5 off a £10 spend" offer with a discount code on most items which are sold and distributed by Amazon, with some exclusions - See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html?docId=1000842343 ). This brings down the cost of Ballet Spectacular to £6.64. Yaffa (with no connection to MasterCard or Amazon, just passing on the info)

Tickets for the 2nd round (18th and 19th December - I think ballet is on the 19th) are now available for free (max 4 per night) at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds: http://theatreleeds.com/d/?q=event/bbc-young-dancer-2015 I called the Riverfront in Newport (hosting the category finals in 19th-22nd March). They aren't yet sure when they'll start selling tickets. Tickets for the overall final (9th May) were available on the Sadler's Wells site but they are currently sold out. Yaffa

For anyone planning to come to a ballet in London but can't afford accommdation- lastminute.com will be selling some 4 and 5 star London rooms at £5 each every few hours from 10 a.m. today (Monday) to 6 pm. on 1st December. for stays between 4th December and 1st Feb. They're for 'Top Secret' hotels (i.e. you find out the name of the hotel only after you have booked) and there are only a total of 746 double/twin rooms available at that price, and strictly one per person. (The person booking must be the person staying.) Rooms will be released at 10am, 12noon, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, and 6pm every day from today to Monday. More at http://www.lastminute.com/hotels/promos/5-pound-room.html Yaffa (no connection to the above - just passing on the info). [edited to add URL]

Around this time last year - I don't think December had even started - a shop was advertising their 'early post-Christmas sale.' I asked the saleslady if it wasn't actually a 'pre-Christmas sale.' She rolled her eyes and told me that of course it wasn't a pre-Christmas sale, what would be the point of a pre-Christmas sale just when everyone needs to buy Christmas presents? Still trying to work that one out :-)

This week's moneysavingexpert.com's newsletter ( http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/latesttip/) has in depth coverage of Black Friday deals, plus a Christmas Deals Predictor, and also encourages careful consideration of alternatives to spending unnecessarily just because the deals are out there. Yaffa (no connection to the above)

Megabus have just released 20,000 free seats covering most of their UK routes from 12th Jan to 12th Feb (Monday to Thursday only). There's a 50p. booking fee (per booking, not per ticket). More at: http://uk.megabus.com/free-seat-sale.aspx?utm_source=HOMEPAGE&utm_medium=BANNER&utm_campaign=FREESEATSALE2014. NB For a couple of routes for which there are no free tickets (e.g. Manchester to London) there are several ultra-cheap (£1+ 50p booking fee) tickets. Unfortunately, the free sale only covers Megabus' buses - not their trains. But you can find good deals on trains too. Apart from their low price, the nice thing about Megabus tickets is that all their bus and train tickets can be changed for just £1 (50p rebooking fee and 50p change fee) plus the difference in price between the old and new tickets. You can make changes up to 24 hours before a bus journey and 48 hours before a train journey. So it can be very useful as a backup arrangement, or for trips which might be affected by ballet uncertainties (casting, results of auditions etc.) Yaffa (with no connection to Megabus apart from being a very satisfied customer)

According their Facebook and Twitter pages ( https://www.facebook.com/bbcyoungdancer and https://twitter.com/bbcyoungdancer ), they have just notified the people who have got through to the 2nd round. Haven't seen a list of those people yet; I'd be interested to know if they include ballet candidates from vocational schools. Yaffa

Apparently, the last chance to get one of the £1 rooms will be on 26th November at 1 p.m. - you need to sign up by the 25th November to be eligible. https://london.qbichotels.com/en/1gbp-terms-and-faq.html Yaffa (with no connection to Qbic)

Tickets for the final (9th May) are now on sale at the Sadler's Wells site (and eligible for the 20% multibuy discount if you buy the same number of seats for a different performance). See: http://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/2015/bbc-young-dancer-2015-grand-final/ NB: This is the overall final (all genres), not the ballet final Yaffa [edited for clarity]

As well as the contactless Mastercard deal, American Express contactless card holders can get £5 off the tubes etc. (after they have spent at least £5) by registering at: https://merchantgeo.secure.force.com/enroll/EnrollmentSitePage?offer=TFLspend5get5 The offer is valid for the first 25,000 users who register and spend £5 on contactless travel by 30th November. Yaffa (with no connection with any of the above)

Some prepaid cards expire when you've used up all the funds. Others can be recharged, with methods and costs varying considerably. Cards also have very different cashback agreements, 'special offers' and signup bonuses. For example, the Pockit prepaid MasterCard charges a 99p application fee, and currently has a special offer where you get £5 of credit when you load your first £10. See: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/prepaid-cards#pockit. Haven't yet checked if it is contactless, but since it's cheaper than free and has no dormancy fee (some cards charge a monthly fee if you don't use them for a certain number of months), it might be worth getting anyway. BTW, I'd guess that if you accidentally swipe in with a contactless Mastercard and swipe out with an Oyster, you'd get a huge debit on one or both cards for uncompleted (i.e. charged at maximum rate) journeys. In general, it's probably not a good idea to keep multiple contactless cards in the same wallet while you swipe. Yaffa

Travelzoo again featured very good National Express fares from £2 each way, mostly for travel until 28th Feb (not including 20th December to 4th Jan). See: http://www.travelzoo.com/uk/rail-coach-car/-2-up-UK-Coach-Seats-on-Sale-Each-Way--1889615/?placement=Top20-DealLink Right now there are a lot of £5 fares from London to Manchester. There's a £1 booking fee.. Yaffa

PS: You can check if your card is contactless and should work, on the TFL site: https://www.tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/contactless/what-is-contactless According to the site, most contactless Mastercards from outside the UK should be ok, but probably not those from the US, Canada and Netherlands. You sometimes have to do a pin and chip transaction on a particular card before you can use it for the first time for contactless payments. Apps, keyfobs etc. with the contactless symbol should work but best to try them out first. I assume that the two dates a couple of weeks apart are to encourage people to get a contactless MasterCard. If you need to get one in a hurry, pre-paid contactless Mastercards (which you can buy over the counter in many shops) can also be used. These differ quite widely in their charges, minimum load balance, transaction/conversion fees for using money overseas etc. You can read more at: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/prepaid-cards and http://www.moneysupermarket.com/prepaid-cards/. I've found that prepaid cards can be useful when you have security concerns about giving someone your regular card number, and also to avoid/minimise bank and ATM transaction and conversion fees when overseas. More about this at: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money#prepaid Yaffa (no connection to the above sites)

This Friday (14th Nov) and 28th November, unlimited journeys on most London tubes, buses, Tramlink and some trains are free if you use a contactless MasterCard (instead of Oyster) to pay. You can travel between 4:30 a.m. on Friday to 1 a.m. on Saturday. You pay with the Mastercard, and get a refund up to £21.80 within 28 working days. Further details and exclusions on the moneysavingexpert.com site: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/mastercard?utm_source=MSE_Newsletter&utm_medium=oneliner-three&utm_term=11-Nov-14-lt&utm_campaign=deals&utm_content=5 Yaffa (no connection to any of the above, just passing on the info. NB: Mods: I'm putting this deal as a separate thread as it could be useful for people who might not read the Oyster thread, but please move if appropriate.) Yaffa

For anyone who wants to see Paris Opera ballet in Jan-Feb and can't take the long bus rides or flights. Eurostar have just sent out an email to their Plus Points (loyalty club) members with details of a 2 day sale (6th and 7th November) of £20 tickets for trains from 5th Jan to 12th February. Right now there is great availability on many of these dates, but I would guess they'll go extremely fast. If you're already signed up To Plus Points, check for an email from email@eurostar.messages5.com. I'm having to write this very quickly so haven't yet checked for further info, e.g. whether people who sign up now for the loyalty programme can use the offer. NB: No connection to Eurostar, just passing on the info. Yaffa

Maybe we'll start to see 'virtual ballet teachers' - leotards and tights with sensors and a Siri-like voice correcting you when you descend wrongly into a plié. Ugh.... Yaffa

It's one thing to have artistic designs generated by movement....But could these shoes really help dancers evaluate and improve their ballet technique? For that matter, will we see ballet training apps for the upcoming Apple watch, and if so, how useful would they really be? Yaffa

One of the sections mentioned in the Dance Tabs review is "Ballet School." What does this cover? Thanks Yaffa