Royal Ballet: Meet the Young Dancers Insight

[Richard LH]

I found this Insight fascinating...especially the second section on partnering, based on the Act 3 pdd from The Sleeping Beauty. Christopher Saunders appears to me to have a great approach with these young dancers. I am constantly amazed how dancers are able to respond to complex ballet step and positioning instructions so quickly. I suspect we may be seeing one or two exciting stars of the future in this group.

[jmhopton]

I too really enjoyed this and look forward to revisiting it. It did seem incredible anyone could not only remember the multitude of steps Christopher was reeling off, but were able to perform them! It was especially interesting to catch up with the young men we first saw in Men at the Barre. They all seemed very talented and likeable and I hope they are able to get permanent contracts when the time comes. I will be looking out for them (hopefully) in the livestreams to come. Filming is a great way of spotting new talent as you can get far closer to them then you often can if you're in the theatre.

[FionaM]

I thought this was a great addition to the programming.  I hope it gets repeated annually and online.  Although I did wonder what the point was if these dancers are not to be offered contracts with the RB when their one year ‘apprenticeship’ contracts are up.
 

Anyway, it was super to get a closer look at young dancers I was not that familiar with, including Bomin Kim (company member) who came in to partner Prix de Lausanne winner Marco Masciari in the pdd rehearsal. 
 

Christopher Saunders is a 💫 

[Pas de Quatre]

This was a really interesting and well made programme. Learning the steps quickly is one of the most important skills for a dancer which is why too much syllabus work is not good for students. Even if there is not a paid contract for these dancers with RB at the end of the apprenticeship, this is such valuable experience I am sure there will be lots of other offers for them.

[alison]

(That's here: https://stream.roh.org.uk/free-titles/videos/insights-meet-the-young-dancers-1)

[alison]

I really wanted to like this, but I'm getting persistent buffering (oops, I lost my home keys and accidentally moved one key to the right when typing that 😳 ) every time I try and watch it, regardless of time of day.  Am I the only one getting this?

 

From what I can see with the stop-start, this does indeed appear to be more an apprenticeship with additional coaching - so an additional stage between training and a full professional career - than a starting-at-the-bottom-of-the-company.  I hadn't quite registered that.

[Peony]

12 hours ago, alison said:

I really wanted to like this, but I'm getting persistent buffering (oops, I lost my home keys and accidentally moved one key to the right when typing that 😳 ) every time I try and watch it, regardless of time of day.  Am I the only one getting this?

 

From what I can see with the stop-start, this does indeed appear to be more an apprenticeship with additional coaching - so an additional stage between training and a full professional career - than a starting-at-the-bottom-of-the-company.  I hadn't quite registered that.

How annoying, I watched it yesterday without any issues. I really enjoy watching the insights series, and this one didn’t disappoint. They are all very talented young dancers, I hope they all stay on into the company. particularly loved marianna 

[FionaM]

14 hours ago, alison said:

I really wanted to like this, but I'm getting persistent buffering (oops, I lost my home keys and accidentally moved one key to the right when typing that 😳 ) every time I try and watch it, regardless of time of day.  Am I the only one getting this?

 

From what I can see with the stop-start, this does indeed appear to be more an apprenticeship with additional coaching - so an additional stage between training and a full professional career - than a starting-at-the-bottom-of-the-company.  I hadn't quite registered that.

No problems with watching my side ... but then I have 200Mbps broadband speed. And I am using a wired-in connection rather than wifi.   Buffering on a recorded video download is nearly always to do with broadband speed to the property, or connection at the end user’s side.   As an example, my wifi download speed 2 rooms away from router is currently only 60Mbps.   That’s a huge loss in a small house.  
 

You could try speaking to your internet provider about improving the service to your property, especially if you used to be able to get better speeds and no buffering .... they may have spread themselves too thin in your area.  

[Pas de Quatre]

Alison - is anyone else in your property using the internet at the same time?  While teaching on Zoom during the lockdown obviously I was sending the same thing to everyone, but how it was received varied greatly from one household to another, and certainly if several members of the household were logged on it did make a big difference.

[alison]

Thank you, everyone - I feared it would be at my end that the problem would be.  I watched (or tried to) at 3 or 4 different times, including in the early hours of the morning, so nobody else using it, and it was impossible each time.  Getting 20 seconds uninterrupted counted as a real achievement.  Yet I was able to watch a livestreamed conference for most of the week without problems.  Very confusing.

[MJW]

43 minutes ago, alison said:

Thank you, everyone - I feared it would be at my end that the problem would be.  I watched (or tried to) at 3 or 4 different times, including in the early hours of the morning, so nobody else using it, and it was impossible each time.  Getting 20 seconds uninterrupted counted as a real achievement.  Yet I was able to watch a livestreamed conference for most of the week without problems.  Very confusing.

 

I had similar problems watching it - certainly at a higher resolution. I wish it had been broadcast on YouTube rather than the ROH's streaming service - particularly as it is free !