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A DAY OF CONTRAST BETWEEN TWO NUTCRACKERS On Sunday 11th December UKMASTERCLASS has organised a day of contrast between two NUTCRACKERS. This intensive day consists of masterclasses taught by Royal Ballet dancers: VALERI HRISTOV & ITZIAR MENDIZABAL and a three hour workshop with two ​dancers from RE:BOURNE, Matthew Bourne's dance company, New Adventures. On this day you will have a taste of the repertoire from The Royal Ballet's Nutcracker, and in the afternoon, a taste of Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker. Time: 10:00am - 5:30pm Level: Intermediate/Advanced (min. 3 ballet classes p/w) Age: 14 - 18 years Girls & Boys Venue: Rambert Dance Studio, 99 Upper Ground, London SE1 9PP Early Bird booking 10% discount (till 21st October) There will also be a chance to win a scholarship for one of UKMasterclass future events! More info and to book online please visit: www.ukmasterclass.co.uk

A DAY OF CONTRAST BETWEEN TWO SWAN LAKES ​ On Sunday 4th September UKMASTERCLASS has organised a day of contrast between two Swan Lakes. This intensive day consists of masterclasses taught by Royal Ballet dancers: VALERI HRISTOV & ITZIAR MENDIZABAL and a three hours workshop with two ​dancers from RE:BOURNE, Matthew Bourne's dance company, New Adventures. On this day you will have a taste of the repertoire from The Royal Ballet's Swan Lake, and in the afternoon, a taste of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake. Time: 10:00am - 5:30pm Venue: Rambert Dance Studio, 99 Upper Ground, London SE1 9PP More info and to book online visit: www.ukmasterclass.co.uk

Lord of the Flies opened at the Lowry on Wednesday evening. I saw the performances that night and on Saturday afternoon. It is a wonderful initiative that was started in conjuction with Glasgow city council in 2011 to involve young boys/youths in a dance project. It must be so fulfilling for the boys who took part and if it inspires even one of them to go further with dance then that is a huge achievement in itself. I'm not going to try and describe the performance in detail because Sarah Crompton has done a wonderful job of that in her review in The Telegraph. I had read the book as a teenager and had found it very disturbing with its graphic description of how boys stranded on a desert island try to maintain some sort of order but then gradually descend into chaos and savagery as they try to survive. I must say that I found the production disturbing so Matthew Bourne and Scott Ambler have definitely reflected the book accurately. It is a testament to all the participants that it is so very compelling to watch. I certainly noticed more on Saturday afternoon than I had on the first night and admired very much the performances of all concerned. I totally agree with Ms Crompton that by the end you could not distinguish between the pro dancers and the youngsters involved - in fact in my case it was certainly within the first act that the boundaries disappeared. On Saturday afternoon, after several performances, this was even more the case. It is a dark story darkly and compellingly told.