BBC Young Dancer 2019

[alison]

I'm afraid I totally forgot to watch the first episode of this tonight, but for those of you who did, please discuss it here (and possibly avoid identifying the winner for a while, in case people are going to watch it on catchup).  Tonight's category was the South Asian dance one.

[Sim]

Very nice it was, too!  That’s all I will say.  

[BellaF]

Thought the winner of the contemporary section was simply wonderful - future star!

[alison]

Having just caught up with it, I can only agree with you!  I was wondering whether contemporary dance was going to do the treble.

 

And ooh good, we have some Elite Syncopations coming up next week, I see!

[BellaF]

Yes - I did wonder if the fact that contemporary has won both years would go against them...

 

Let's see what ballet brings tonight!

[Ian Macmillan]

Well it brought Zenaida Yanowsky and Begoña Cao for one thing, as Judge and Mentor, respectively - and that can't be bad.  Plus one of the girls dancing a solo from Traces, possibly the first Cathy Marston work I saw, so that was also good.

 

One of the 4 girls won, a young lady from English National's School if I'm not mistaken.  My own money would have been on the only boy,  who put in some bravura solos and a very creditable performance as the 'short dancer' in the Tall/Short dance from Elite Syncopations.

[thewinelake]

We also thought the boy to be the best.

still, it’s a reasonably classy show and I like that one can see the full dances online.

 

I’ve never heard that reimagined nutcracker piece before.

[zxDaveM]

13 hours ago, Ian Macmillan said:

Well it brought Zenaida Yanowsky and Begoña Cao for one thing, as Judge and Mentor, respectively - and that can't be bad.  Plus one of the girls dancing a solo from Traces, possibly the first Cathy Marston work I saw, so that was also good.

 

One of the 4 girls won, a young lady from English National's School if I'm not mistaken.  My own money would have been on the only boy,  who put in some bravura solos and a very creditable performance as the 'short dancer' in the Tall/Short dance from Elite Syncopations.

 

Yes it was great seeing Zen and Begonia, in their disparate roles. 🙂

Shows how much I know, the young woman that won was my least favourite (though her final solo was pretty good) - I would have gone for Danila Marzilli.

Something that puzzled me though - what's the point of the 'wild card'? If they lost in their section final, is it fair to put them through it again, against 4 winners?

[Beryl H]

I thought the boy was by far the best dancer too and he was the most expressive, I did like the last modern solo by the winner though, wonder why the girls chose such difficult solo's from Paquita.

[ninamargaret]

Agree about the boy - to me he showed real flair and stage presence. I think the trouble with the Paquita solos is for less experienced dancers they come over as a collection of academic steps, and it takes rather more technique and experience to make a real dance. 

[AnneMarriott]

3 hours ago, zxDaveM said:

 

Yes it was great seeing Zen and Begonia, in their disparate roles. 🙂

Shows how much I know, the young woman that won was my least favourite (though her final solo was pretty good) - I would have gone for Danila Marzilli.

Something that puzzled me though - what's the point of the 'wild card'? If they lost in their section final, is it fair to put them through it again, against 4 winners?

I preferred Hollie Smith, despite a few foot-faults in her second solo.  As for the wild card, I can only assume that if the runner-up in any section was so close to being declared the winner that the toss of a coin could have altered the result, the judges feel it only right to give him or her a second chance.  I may be misremembering but didn't a wild card win the final one year?

[zxDaveM]

I suppose it does depend on the performance on the night, so they could overturn the original result. Shows how close it was though, as I thought you couldn't argue that strongly against any of them winning. Who would be a judge!!

[alison]

Yes, the wildcard was a winner in a previous competition.

[taxi4ballet]

I thought they were all terrific, and really enjoyed the variety of pieces.

 

Actually I do think that the ballet entrants are at a disavantage in comparison to the entrants in other categories, because there is such a heavy reliance on (usually) well-known variations. Dancers in other categories have much more of a free rein in this aspect, and frequently choreograph their own dances, thereby having the opportunity to impart much more of their own individuality and personality. What do others think about this?

[alison]

Yes, I think so.  Plus there is the feeling that you know how such pieces are "supposed" to be performed, and are therefore possibly comparing what you see with performances of the same thing by professionals.  I always have that problem with assessing student performances, regardless of whether it's a competition or not.

[capybara]

11 hours ago, taxi4ballet said:

Dancers in other categories have much more of a free rein in this aspect, and frequently choreograph their own dances, thereby having the opportunity to impart much more of their own individuality and personality. What do others think about this?

 

Ballet is also more technically challenging whereas the other genres represented in this competition are more interpretative. It's "apples and pears" and that is really why this competition doesn't 'work' for me. I'm not sure, either, that it does ballet any favours in terms of promoting it to newcomers.

 

Maybe the young man competitor will end up being the 'wild card'? I hope so although I do wonder whether his small stature will impede his progress as a professional dancer.

[taxi4ballet]

11 hours ago, alison said:

Yes, I think so.  Plus there is the feeling that you know how such pieces are "supposed" to be performed, and are therefore possibly comparing what you see with performances of the same thing by professionals.  I always have that problem with assessing student performances, regardless of whether it's a competition or not.

Another difference I think, is that the ballet entrants are generally younger than the dancers in other categories.

[alison]

On ‎05‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 08:36, capybara said:

 

Ballet is also more technically challenging whereas the other genres represented in this competition are more interpretative. It's "apples and pears" and that is really why this competition doesn't 'work' for me. I'm not sure, either, that it does ballet any favours in terms of promoting it to newcomers.

 

No, the selection of classical solos does rather reinforce the "staid" impression that ballet may give to many non-initiates - all those glittery tiaras and tutus, and they are "set pieces" in a way that none of the other categories tend to be.

 

I've just caught up on this episode, and - admittedly possibly biased by the fact that I'd been misinformed as to the identity of the winner  - was slightly surprised at the result, because I didn't think the judges' comments had led me in that direction.  Perhaps I need to rewatch.

[alison]

The final is tomorrow night, 8 pm, on BBC2, so I don't know whether my recorder will pick it up.  It clashes entirely with the Eurovision Song Contest.