Yaffa

I think most people's Facebook friends actually include many more people than relatives. Yes, pics can be pulled from a timeline but if you are hooked up to machine, with huge medical concerns and grateful for the support, it is often not easy to request from someone to do this. I've found it can often be helpful to have family discussions now (or at least early on in the course of an illness) about how the person would like social media and updating family to be handled e.g. Some people like Facebook's broad reach but request that a closed group be used for more detailed updates and pics, with more limited info available to the public. It's not just a privacy issue. Many people are concerned about burglars hearing that they are frail and/or away from their home.

For anyone unable to watch the live streams there's a page of replay videos at: http://www.medici.tv/en/moscowballetcompetition/replay/

Haven't yet had time to watch myself, but the results of the choreography part of the competition are now online and the lineups for the junior and senior ballet finals tomorrow (Monday, 19th June) look interesting: http://moscowballetcompetition.com/en/rezultatyi

Congrats to your dd on getting into JAs! If you are able to make last minute arrangements, RBS has its annual school fair tomorrow (17th June): https://www.royalballetschool.org.uk/2017/05/15/white-lodge-open-day-and-summer-fair-2017-special-guests-announced/ It's always a very special day, and there should be lots of opportunities to find out more about the school and to meet other JA families and watch JAs perform. Just wish I was able to go myself this year...

For folks travelling to ballets in Europe, or with children dancing there - fees for mobile phone and data roaming in the EU are due to be 'scrapped' tomorrow, though the situation isn't that simple. There's some pretty comprehensive info (also covering roaming outside Europe) on the moneysavingexpert.com site: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/travel/2017/06/free-mobile-roaming-in-the-eu-starts-on-thursday-10-things-you-need-to-know Of course the new rules also apply to travelling Brits, at least until Brexit.. Yaffa (with no connection to any of the above - just passing on the info)

With such great anticipation amongst supporters, it must be a very tense time within the company itself. I think that if I was in the company, particularly at a lower rank, I'd prefer to know that a promotion could come at any time - rather than raising my hopes, then hearing that I'd been overlooked and would have to wait a year to know if i was destined to rise through the ranks...

That's my feeling too. How is this handled in other companies?

So a principal moving to character roles would have what position?

Wow, just saw that the prizes include $100,000 each for Grand Prix dancer and choreographer: http://www.medici.tv/en/moscowballetcompetition/prizes-and-awards-bolchoi/

There's now (11th June eve) a live stream of the opening ceremony of the 13th Moscow International Ballet Competition from the Bolshoi Theatre http://www.medici.tv/en/moscowballetcompetition Schedule of the upcoming live streams: http://www.medici.tv/en/moscowballetcompetition/nextlivewebcasts/

See https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jun/09/mars-recalls-galaxy-teasers-minstrels-salmonella-fears-uk-chocolate

Actually I believe that most of the of the ballet in Black Swan was performed by a professional dancer (Sarah Lane of ABT), with a picture of Natalie Portman's face pasted into the videos - leading to a controversy about how the two ladies' contributions should be represented. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Swan_dance_double_controversy. Sarah Lane said she greatly admires Natalie Portman as an actress, but she feels it is important for people to understand that professional ballet takes many many years of training since childhood and is not something that can be learned for a movie.

Mine too. He really was an amazing person. So sad about the Alzheimer's. Reading the obituaries and watching the clips (particularly the one with John and the elephant) has brought back such warm memories of a completely different era. I think that the Guardian article which Janet mentioned is right on the ball: "It is hard to explain the significance of Blue Peter during the golden age in which Noakes was its lord of misrule. There were only three TV stations and no dedicated children’s network, so Blue Peter was culturally central to its viewers in a way no kids’ TV show could be now." Do you remember collecting all those milk bottle tops, getting all tangled up in that sticky backed plastic, not quite understanding why neither Val, John nor Pete could come to your birthday party, but over the moon that they sent you a Blue Peter badge for that dreadful drawing you did on the invitation...

I have no recent first hand experience, but the FAQ on the POB site at: https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/practical-informations/faq says: Is there a cloakroom? Free cloakrooms are available on various floors of both theatres. Travel bags and suitcase are not allowed. When I called a few weeks ago, they advised arriving early for performances to accommodate the extra security checks. They said that their cloakroom won't accept bags, but that if people have bags which can easily be carried into the theatre (they wouldn't commit to a specific size), that's ok - but that otherwise, folks should use the baggage storage facilities in Gare du Nord etc.

Maybe it's connected with the Bassetts merger/takeover - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassett's? From a quick Googling, even Jelly Babies haven't been spared... Still, if you folks are managing to leave packs of sweeties unfinished, you have my respect (and my offer to relieve you of all the half-finished packets...)

Thanks - yes, I understood that this is the procedure for the Aud Jebsen young dancers, but I thought it strange that the recipients were announced before any announcement of full RB contracts from RBS and thought maybe some would later find that they had a full contract, and might not take up the internship. I assume this won't in fact be happening. It was reassuring to read in another thread that they have reasonable pay and conditions, which many other internships in the ballet world apparently don't. [edited to remove a possibly wrong assumption about whether there are any full RB contracts from RBS this year]

A pity that the Lower School and Elmhurst Young Dancers Performance on 9th July clashes with the RBS main house matinee - but good to see that, unlike last year, there don't seem to be other clashes with RBS end of year performances.

Whatever the taste, or lack thereof, I think it's pretty impressive to hold on to chocolate for 3 whole months

Very good news (except for BRB...) So this year, no current RBS students are joining RB with a full contract? Of course the Aub Jebsen programme is wonderful for giving opportunities and funding to help young dancers join RB. But when it started, there was some concern that it might lead to top, company-ready graduate students having to wait an extra year for a long term contract and 'proper' salary.

Yes, the UK train ticket pricing system is very very confusing and in December, following action by consumer groups, the Department of Transport and different train companies agreed on a 12 month action plan to simplify things for consumer. More at: https://www.transportfocus.org.uk/news-events-media/news/welcome-action-rail-fares-ticketing/ and on moneysavinexpert.com: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/travel/2016/12/improvements-to-help-rail-passengers-find-cheaper-tickets-on-track-for-2017 Obviously a great, achievement but there are some concerns about implementation. See, for example, Martin Lewis' concerns that some simpler fares planned for rollout in May don't cover the important area of split ticketing on a single train (where your single journey on one train involves two separate single tickets instead of one. So you often get a considerably cheaper journey while travelling on exactly the same train.) See: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/travel/2017/02/train-ticket-trials-on-track-to-offer-cheaper-fares---but-plans-miss-a-trick-on-split-ticketing Yaffa - with no connection to any of the above; just passing on the info...

moneysavingexpert.com has a guide to the cheapest train fares at: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-train-tickets Point 9 has a table with the advantages and disadvantages of different online booking sites. See also their page on current train and bus deals at. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/cheap-coach-train-ticket-deals. They also have a section dealing with refund/compensation policies and procedures of different train companies at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/train-delays

Some great talent in next year's Aud Jebsen Young Dancers - but does this mean none of them have been accepted to the RB on a full contract?

I do agree that YBDY was an excellent initiative and really miss it. I also found BBC Young Dancer to be interesting... but I just don't think it would work for RBS to get behind the BBC venture. Apart from the time factor, I think there's an audience that really wants to know what's going on at the top end of British Ballet (as opposed to Dance) training. What's realistic for this audience to hope for now? I'd guess BBC Young Dancer will be repeated every two years. But perhaps something like YBDY (with a bigger auditorium than Linbury) could take place every alternative year if not every year, with practice and rehearsals integrated into the curriculum at RBS etc. as I believe happened in the past. It does not have to be a competition. The year after YBDY stopped, there was an excellent Spring Concert featuring the older students of the major vocational schools. I'd love to see something like this repeated.

Well, I'm sure that class and rehearsal behaviour do play important parts in promotions, but I can think of many dancers (e.g. the delightful Anna Rose O'Sullivan) who have always blended wonderfully in corps dances but who also clearly stood out as having potential for larger roles. For me it's almost always a matter of artistry, not kicking their legs higher than the rest.

This ticket has now gone - to someone in France.