Yaffa

Just saw that Pavlova 2012 and LJCC Fusion are running two one-day courses. Not cheap (£85 per day), but the fee covers training, costume hire, food etc.

3rd June

http://www.ljcc.org....fairy-doll.html

An opportunity for dance students aged 7 upwards to work alongside dancers from The Royal Ballet and their Ballet Mistress Ursula Hageli to create one of Anna Pavlova’s favourite ballets from scratch.

7th August

http://www.ljcc.org....-for-a-day.html

The ideal holiday treat for ballet students aged 7-18

A unique opportunity to join Ballet Mistress Ursula Hageli, and dancers from the Royal Ballet in the creation of a short production of Sleeping Beauty.

Yaffa

Three interesting events which I just saw on the RBS website:

http://www.royal-bal...rg.uk/wl_museum :

To mark the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, White Lodge Museum is presenting a programme of public events to celebrate the rich heritage of White Lodge, a Grade 1 listed royal hunting lodge commissioned by George I in 1727, and home of The Royal Ballet School since 1955.

Thursday 3 May, 7.30pm (doors 6.30pm)

‘Let Everyone Sing and Dance’

A concert of 18th Century ballet music by Janiculum (soprano, tenor, violin, cello and harpsichord), including Handel, Bononcini, JC Bach, Pasquali and Anfossi, in the Salon at White Lodge.

www.janiculum.co.uk

White Lodge Museum will be open from 6.30pm and during the interval

£15 (£8 concessions), includes a glass of wine.

Booking online at www.ticketsource.co.uk/whitelodgemuseum

Thursday 7 June, 7.30pm (doors 6.30pm)

Adorning nature: beauty and utility in Humphry Repton’s garden for White Lodge

An evening of illustrated talks in the Salon at White Lodge, with tour of the gardens. Catharine Ward Thompson, Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Edinburgh, will explore the aesthetic theories behind the 18th Century English Landscape Garden Style.

Chris Sumner, London Parks and Gardens Trust, will consider Richmond Park and surrounding aristocratic estates as a royal hunting landscape.

White Lodge Museum will be open from 6.30pm and during the interval

£12.50 (£6.50 concessions), includes a glass of wine.

Booking online at www.ticketsource.co.uk/whitelodgemuseum

Saturday 9 June, 11.00am, last entry 4.00pm

Diamond Jubilee Open Day

Admission and all events are free of charge. Free parking. No dogs please.

Drop in to White Lodge, bring a picnic, and enjoy a variety of royal activities. Take a guided tour of the historic Fine Rooms and White Lodge Museum to learn about the lives of past royal occupants; enjoy historical dance workshops in the garden; and hear from ‘Lieutenant Des Barres of the 60th Regiment of Foot’ about King George II’s military campaigns of 1759.

A shuttle bus will be running between White Lodge and Marble Hill House.

For further information please email: museum@royalballetschool.co.uk or telephone +44 (0)20 8392 8440 (option 7)

[edited for clarity - YJS]

Today, they released rooms for London in December (amongst other dates - see their Facebook pages for the latest). I just helped a couple of people to get £9 rooms for weekends in December, making it possible to return from Paris on the Eurostar/budget airline flight late at night after seeing the Paris Opera Ballet School demonstrations (2nd/9tth/22nd December), then going up North the following day.

Yaffa

A new Tunes (budget) hotel will be opening soon in King's Cross, and they will be selling 1,000 rooms for stays between 9th July, 2012 and 28th Feb, 2013 starting today (18th April) at noon. Instead of releasing all the cheap rooms in one go, they'll be doing so in dribs and drabs between 18th and 23rd April. Moneysavingexpert.com has further details:

http://www.moneysavi...otel-sales#tune

You can only get one room per person at this rate and bookings are non-transferrable. As well as being useful for folks attending London ballet activities etc., this hotel is very close to the Eurostar station.

Yaffa (just passing on the info - no ties to any of the above)

Sorry, I meant to say that there is little availability in central London in December. There is still quite a bit of availability outside central London (Ealing, Park Royal, Kew Bridge, Wembley, Fulham, Heathrow etc.) in December, but I expect that will change soon.

Yaffa

Dates for the 2012-2013 performances in Paris were recently released, though booking doesn't start for several months:

a) Annual school 'Demonstrations'

2nd (Sun), 9th (Sun) and 22nd (Sat) December

As usual, the performances on all three dates are the same, featuring students in the lower divisions at 10:30 a.m. and those in the upper divisions grades at 14:30 p.m. Gives an incredible insight into the school's system of training...

Annual school 'Spectacle'

17th (Wed) and 18th (Thurs) April, 2013

In addition to the above annual events, there will be two other interesting events next April:

c) The school's 300th anniversary performance

15th April, 2013 (Mon) and

d) Gala with several other international ballet schools (including RBS)

20th April, 2013 (Sat)

Further details of all the above at:

http://www.operadepa...llets/index.php

Apparently, all the above performances will offer advance booking for groups. Despite bureaucratic hurdles, I've found the POB group booking system (and Eurostar group booking system) very useful. I'm awaiting clarification about some changes - Will post the details when I have them.

Yaffa

For folks hoping to attend winter ballet performances etc. - the Travelodge sale has started (as usual,earlier than announced) with quite a lot of availability, though not much in London (apart from 25th December).

http://www.travelodge.co.uk

If you don't yet see the details of the sale on the home page, click on the link to 'find our lowest price.'

Details of the above and others at: http://www.moneysavi...als/hotel-sales

No connection to any of the above - just passing on the info.

Yaffa (apologising for not sending this earlier - Am catching up after some difficult months and will try to send a couple of related messages over the next few days).

Travelodge's sale (www.travelodge.co.uk) has started a few hours earlier than expected, with rooms throughout the UK (and Spain) from £10 from 1st April to 31st August. Some good ballet dates, though the London rooms are going fast (and there's of course nothing round the Olympics). If you don't yet see the details of the sale on the home page, click on the link to 'find our lowest prices.'

Yaffa (no connection to Travelodge)

[Edited to correct typo]