Royal Ballet School shows at Holland Park

[junedancer]

Not sure if this is the right place for my question but I thought it the best place to get an answer.  Does anyone know his long the shows last?  Thank you.

[Yaffa]

This from an email I just received from Holland Park about the performance tomorrow:

The performance will begin at 7.00pm, so please aim to arrive in your seat at least five minutes before this. Latecomers will not be admitted. The site will open at 5:30pm for this performance. The performance will last approximately 135 minutes with a 25 minute interval.

 

[Aklf]

Saw this performance last night. How wonderful to see the students back on stage again at this great venue after so long.

A side note- The seating layout has changed for this year. Rows A to C are all

on same ground level below stage which is brilliant for step free access but not so great for sight lines. Luckily I found a spare seat for the 2nd act! 

[Rob S]

45 minutes ago, Aklf said:

Saw this performance last night. How wonderful to see the students back on stage again at this great venue after so long.

A side note- The seating layout has changed for this year. Rows A to C are all

on same ground level below stage which is brilliant for step free access but not so great for sight lines. Luckily I found a spare seat for the 2nd act! 

 

Oh dear, is the stage particularly high? Or is it the B & C rows that are at a disadvantage view wise?

[capybara]

There is now an apron where the seats used to start and all the seats are 'furniture' (dining chairs; antique style armchairs etc) - all very uncomfortable and  further from the stage than before. The front rows in the centre have little round tables on which to put drinks, so there is some distance between the rows. However, I had an armchair with a high back blocking my view. The capacity is much reduced and it's now difficult to see the dancers' feet from the first three rows.

I'm surprised that regulations allow all that casual seating. If there was an emergency, people and chairs would all fall over together.

 

As to the show, the first two nights have been as follows (all Upper School except for **)

Raymonda Act 3

Insignia (Student piece)

Sylphide Reel **

Presentient (McGregor)

Moments (Tonga)

Swan Lake Pas de Douze

Eccentric Pulses (student piece)

Yonderling (Neimeier)

 

As to student destinations, there is a list of 25 out of the 27 Pre-Professional students with a statement congratulating them. Five students will become Aud Jebsen Young Dancers with the RB and 5 will be members of BRB's Junior Company (whose existence I didn't know about). Other graduates also, in the maintain, have apprentice-type contracts. They have done well in what are incredibly difficult times in the industry.

[Jan McNulty]

The BRB Junior Company is a new one on me too!

[Neverdancedjustamum]

7 hours ago, capybara said:

There is now an apron where the seats used to start and all the seats are 'furniture' (dining chairs; antique style armchairs etc) - all very uncomfortable and  further from the stage than before. The front rows in the centre have little round tables on which to put drinks, so there is some distance between the rows. However, I had an armchair with a high back blocking my view. The capacity is much reduced and it's now difficult to see the dancers' feet from the first three rows.

I'm surprised that regulations allow all that casual seating. If there was an emergency, people and chairs would all fall over together.

 

As to the show, the first two nights have been as follows (all Upper School except for **)

Raymonda Act 3

Insignia (Student piece)

Sylphide Reel **

Presentient (McGregor)

Moments (Tonga)

Swan Lake Pas de Douze

Eccentric Pulses (student piece)

Yonderling (Neimeier)

 

As to student destinations, there is a list of 25 out of the 27 Pre-Professional students with a statement congratulating them. Five students will become Aud Jebsen Young Dancers with the RB and 5 will be members of BRB's Junior Company (whose existence I didn't know about). Other graduates also, in the maintain, have apprentice-type contracts. They have done well in what are incredibly difficult times in the industry.

Is that graduate destination list in the programme, @capybara?  I remember a few years ago we watched the summer performance at OHP and there was also a list of all students involved in the show at the back. Those who were previously associates of the RBS were marked with a * next to their names and I remember my DD and I noticing that the number of previous associates (I assume this included JA/MA/SA, mostly former JAs presumably) declined as the years went up - ie nearly all at Year 7, nearly none by the last years of upper school.  Interesting also about the 25/27 graduates announced. I always assumed RBS had a 100% graduate success rate in terms of going on to various companies/junior companies. I wonder if that that means the other 2 explored other things, non-ballet related or even maybe uni?

[FionaM]

@Neverdancedjustamumthere was a recent year where 2 graduates chose to join West End shows rather than dance companies.  

[capybara]

13 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

The BRB Junior Company is a new one on me too!

 

But not revealed as distinct in the list of promotions and joiners now published by BRB.