Yaffa

Julie, thanks for posting this. Does anyone know what system they'll be using this year to determine allocation of seats - particularly if the weather changes? It would be great if we could use one of the breaks for a balletco meetup, instead of standing in a queue for tickets.... Yaffa

I was just looking at the RBS website and saw postings for several new jobs including non-dancing ones, probably connected to the recent restructuring: http://www.royalballetschool.org.uk/information/work-with-us/current-vacancies/. There's also still a listing for volunteers at the WL museum, but the official closing date for applications was yesterday. Yaffa (with no connection or further info about any of the above - just passing on the info in case there are Forum members interesting in using their skills in a ballet environment) [edited for clarity]

Thanks, Pas de Quatre, for bringing up this subject. I've often wondered whether the British ballet world might have lost some great dancers because of the very different connotations of the term 'vocational,' and the reluctance of some parents to even consider sending their child to a 'vocational' school. When I was attending an 'academic' school in the 60s and 70s,our Headmistress was always quick to warn us that if we didn't master our Latin verbs or show proper respect for teachers, we might end up - heaven forbid - in a vocational school. I also vividly recall a lady being shocked when her daughter at the local grammar school announced that she wanted to go to a vocational school. ('Why would she do this to me? Where did I go wrong?') More recently, I spoke with a lady whose granddaughter was auditioning for WL. She said she had been told "that the school is a vocational school, but actually it isn't - The academic standard is very high." Yaffa

Generally the same pieces are performed on the Friday and Saturday afternoon, with some change of casts. The schedule for the Wed, Thurs and Sat eve (mostly upper school) is also usually the same. NB: There is one printed programme for all the Linbury performances. If you go to more than one performance you only have to buy the programme once and can ask the RBS students who sell the programmes for free cast sheets for the remaining performances. All the Linbury performances feature several pieces, including some interesting student choreography. Like Alison, I'd prefer to see fewer national/Morris dances and more ballet. Yaffa

Right now, there are tickets available on the ROH site for all but one of the Linbury performances, and for the 12th July main stage matinee. Yaffa

I think it's also a matter of priorities and focus (I'm thinking in particular of the wonderful free online activities of the Prix de Lausanne). I'm currently just a few hours bus ride from New York, and had been vaguely thinking of getting a standing ticket - they are only sold on the day of the performance. But the box office don't know if they will actually be selling any standing tickets and I have too much work to do, so I'm staying put. Oh well, it's Tuesday, which is Dance Moms day in the US...not that I'd watch that junk, of course :-) Yaffa

I'd personally prefer to see each event in a separate thread (with instructions to people to provide a clear subject line). That way, people casually browsing the forum can decide if the thread/message is worth opening, and there can be discussion within a particular thread about possible other ways of obtaining cheap tickets for the same event. (But I do appreciate the concern about keeping commercial threads to a minimum in what is primarily a community, not a commercial, forum - and of course any commercial affiliations to the organisers or ticket sellers should be disclosed by the poster.) Yaffa

And congrats also to RBS for now using social media to get news out quickly. Yaffa

Re envelope size, particularly when sending of results is staggered - I recall hearing a few years ago that this is sometimes determined simply by when a batch of office supplies arrives... Yaffa

Re the dates of the Ballet School Demonstrations they are checking it out and will hopefully know tomorrow. I'll post an update here. Yaffa

Weird -- the Ballet School Demonstrations in December (always sold out) are usually on three consecutive weeks in December, with younger grades in the morning and older grades in the afternoon, with only minor variations. That's not what's listed this year. I will check with people in Paris if there's a reason for this or a misprint... Relieved that the prices of the ballet school demonstrations (and I think the April ballet school performances) seem to be unchanged. Yaffa

Just saw that Jay Jolley and Mark Annear will also be holding RBS Upper School auditions in the US in April (along with a programme of master classes and a seminar for ballet teachers): http://www.richmondballet.com/2014/01/31/royalballetschool2014/ Yaffa

Apparently the efforts paid off. From the Independent: Exclusive: Royal Opera House cleaners win London living wage http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/exclusive-royal-opera-house-cleaners-win-london-living-wage-9111796.html Yaffa

Though UK-based, I believe their address is http://www.talentbacker.com (not .co.uk). This and other crowdfunding sites can be a good way to obtain funding simply from multiple sources, but it's important to read their terms and plan campaigns carefully e.g. Talentbacker's campaigns can be a maximum of 28 days, and if your target isn't reached within that time, you don't receive any of the donations (and the backers are not billed). Yaffa

This year's Prix de Lausanne starts tomorrow (Monday, 27th Jan), and again has an impressive online component: http://www.prixdelausanne.org/v4/index.php/tickets-2014.html#events_tv_online. This includes the final, which will be streamed live at http://www.prixdelausanne-live.com next Saturday, 1st Feb, at 15:00 CMT (i.e. 2 p.m. UK time). As always, alongside the competitive element, there's a strong focus on the health of the dancers, who have to take a very detailed health questionnaire, designed to raise awareness of bone health, eating disorders etc. The Prix will also have a first screening of a short documentary, "Patrick Rump: Sports Scientist." According to an article in the Daily Telegraph, quoted in yesterday's Links: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/10580011/Why-do-dancers-get-injured-so-often.html "[the documentary]" focuses on the work of the titular character – a staggeringly handsome young German with a background in martial arts, who has pioneered radically new programmes for rehabilitating injured dancers which also improve performance , endurance and technique. The Daily Telegraph article also quotes Jay Jolley, Acting Director of RBS, saying that "although the RBS greatly values its association with the Prix and welcomes its scholars and apprentices, curriculum demands make it impossible to allow its own students to take the necessary time off." Yaffa [edited to remove typos]

There was some interesting research carried out by 4 UK universities on kinaesthetic empathy and the neurobiology of watching dance at: http://www.watchingdance.org (and see also the Ning portal at http://watchingdance.ning.com ). Yaffa [edited to correct typo]

The Bolshoi Academy's video library has a link to the complete video (almost 2 hours). Bolshoi Academy's video library (with some other interesting links): http://balletacademy.ru/biblio/video/ The YouTube video: Yaffa

Well, I'm happy and somewhat surprised to report that I got three requests for the tickets in the space of just a couple of hours, so the tickets will all soon be on the way to their new homes. Yaffa

If anyone can use a large envelope of used ballet tickets (mostly for the last few years at ROH, RBS,Paris Opera), please send me a PM/email. No charge. Yaffa

Sheila Beelam wrote: > Only one in about thirty use the floor and fully articulate to second. Wonder what the rate will be after people have read this thread... Yaffa

airbnb.com lets people rent out spare rooms, full apartments and houses. They are offering first-time bookers up to £175 off one night in any booking of two or more nights (excluding fees etc) if you book by 17th January for stays up to 31st March and use the discount code ONENIGHT. You can't use this code with any other offer. NB: There's some confusion about whether bookings need to be completed or initiated by 17th January to qualify for this particular discount. For most of the rooms on airbnb.com, you don't get an instant confirmation: the host must agree to accept the traveller and there's sometimes an email exchange between them which can take a day or two. I've found this service generally works very well. (Many people I know now search airbnb.com before looking at hotel sites.) But despite the company's systems to verify the host and traveller and some other safeguards (e.g. having host and renter rate each other after each transaction), you do have to be careful and read the small print: safety, legal, liability and practical considerations can be different from hotels etc. Horror stories of rentals gone wrong get a lot of publicity but are probably few and far between. Of more concern to ballet visitors might be the practical things that can go wrong in any home (e.g. hot water not working for a shower the morning of an important audition, or a confusion about arrangements to pick up a key when an evening performance doesn't end on time). I'd personally only go for rooms and hosts which already have a reasonable number of good rankings. Of course the service can also be useful for folks who want to earn some extra money by renting out rooms in their own house. The company also has a nice refer-a-friend programme which will get you credit towards future stays - see: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/help/question/84. Yaffa (just passing on the info - Like most airbnb.com customers, I am signed up to their referrer programme above, but am deliberately not using my own referrer code here) [edited for typos]

When I was growing up in the late 60s/70s in Manchester, "Margot Fonteyn" was a household name. In fact I recall a question in a quiz at a friend's birthday party: "Who is a better ballerina, Margot Fonteyn or [i can't remember the other name]?" The "correct" answer was Margot Fonteyn. I was pretty excited as I thought the quizmaster (my friend's father) was a ballet fan. When I asked him why Margot Fonteyn was so special, he mumbled something about "Because she's famous... You know... Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev!" Everyone else nodded in agreement and another parent chimed in to clarify "Yes, she's the ballet equivalent of George Best." (!) But I doubt whether anyone at the party would have recognised her. When I once saw her walking near the Opera House in Manchester, she passed a crowd of people but no heads turned... certainly no paparazzi running after her. On quite a few occasions, when I've mentioned to former Brits living overseas that I'll be attending an event at the Royal Ballet School, they've asked if Margot Fonteyn will be there. Yaffa .

Nice trick indeed! But bear in mind that recording and monitoring of calls ("for your benefit," of course...) sometimes continues while you're on hold, even when music is playing, and sometimes before you've even been connected. See http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/11/business/11snoop.html?ex=1263099600&en=567d8bda6d8b4605&ei=5090&_r=0 It's quite an old article, and there have since been changes in different countries' laws and practices for call monitoring. But particularly since you often don't know the location of the call centre that's put you on hold, it's generally best to avoid saying anything that you wouldn't want repeated... Yaffa

Looks as though the Travelodge sale of 2 million rooms at £25 between January and October has already started. The offer isn't yet announced on their home page (which is currently just advertising rooms in Jan and Feb) but you can search for the rooms at http://www.travelodge.co.uk/saver_rooms. Central London is excluded from the sale, but there are currently a large number of rooms at £25 and less available in other parts of London and elsewhere, some coinciding with significant ballet dates and public holidays. NB: The site keeps on displaying system error messages at the moment, possibly connected to the sale. Yaffa (no connection with Travelodge, just passing on the info) [edited for typo]

When searching for hotels, a useful starting point can be monesavingexpert.com's hotel sales page: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/hotel-sales - This week's bulletin includes several deals including including a Travelodge offer (£25 rooms on sale from 26th December, for stays between 1st Jan and 27th October, excluding central London). Yaffa (no connection to the above - just passing on the info)