Dea Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 My dd's classical character group went through today at Sedgley so we will be off to London in July! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billyelliott Posted May 31, 2013 Author Share Posted May 31, 2013 Well done ! Hope to see you there ☺ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie4dancin Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Well done dea Cx 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dea Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 She was in two groups in the same section and the one that didn't go through came second at The Nationals 2 years ago, so it was a surprise today, but it's nice for the little ones in the group as they have never experienced the finals before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belleballerina Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Another long day but DD's Senior Modern Group - 15 and Under through to finals today. DD very disappointed that her duet didn't get through. They have danced it at 5 different festivals and won it every time - they were up against all the old competition as well! A bit random! It has been a long tiring week and the house is a mess and there is soooo much washing to be done. Fingers crossed for a sunny weekend so I can get it on the washing line! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billyelliott Posted May 31, 2013 Author Share Posted May 31, 2013 That is so funny - about the house and the washing i mean! That is exactly what i have spent today doing not to mention the grass that is knee high in the garden .....the things we do to support our dancers ! Well done to all who got through and those who did not ! It does look like some results are a bit strange , though it seems like a well organised and fair scoring system..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dance*is*life Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 (edited) Gosh it's amazing that the All England is still going strong! I used to compete in it when I was a child - many, many, many moons ago! There used to be 2 semi-finals with 4 from each being sent through to the final in London. If someone didn't take up their place from the northern semis then the 5th place from the southern semis was taken and so on and so forth. Anyway, the first All-England I competed in, when I was 8 or 9, I came 8th in the National solo in the semis. The day before the finals, the organisers contacted me that no-one was coming from up north and that I was therefore eligible to compete. My dad was working, so my mum and I and the pianist went up to London on the bus with the costume in a bag on our laps. After we got off the bus, we suddenly realised that the pianist had left my music on the bus seat . Luckily she knew it off by heart and I went on to win the section! My next school also competed in the All-England and I continued dancing in it in solos, duets, groups and troupes until I went off to RBS at 16. Magical days and something I looked forward to all year........ So good luck to everyone and have fun!!! Edited May 31, 2013 by Dance*is*life 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulip Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Where about in the North are you from Dance is life? It must have been a long journey on a bus or was it a coach. My mum is going to Bournemouth by coach it will take her 9 hrs can't believe she won't use the trains but she says you have to use stairs and suitcases and being 70 easier to sit on a coach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieW Posted May 31, 2013 Share Posted May 31, 2013 Hurray - our Senior B modern group through to finals (2nd place). Tap not through but 3rd with special commendation and was very entertaining (perhaps not quite enough tap in it for AED). Friends through with S&D trio - it's stunning so I'm so pleased for them. Lovely day there today weather-wise. Sat outside on the grass with everyone very relaxed. Just Sunday at Fareham to go for us now :-) Good luck to everyone still at it! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dance*is*life Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 Oh no I lived in South London when I was a child,Tulip, so the bus journey was between 40 and 60 minutes, depending on traffic, to get into central London. We didn't have a tube where I lived, so bus was the best way to get anywhere. I do understand your mum's reluctance to take a train, but even with a loo on the bus, I don't think I'd like to sit 9 hours on a coach! The trains are so good nowadays, on time and quick.You can reserve a seat too and if you book in advance at certain hours of the day you can find really cheap fares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dramascientist Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 My mum used to do the all England finals in the 50's and she has amused us many times with the stories. I think the funniest was the year they had trouble finding accomodation and they ended up in a terrible boarding house which was filthy with dirty sheets and bed bugs. Nobody could sleep so they all sneaked out in the early hours of the morning because they were not willing to pay for the awful place. We all used to laugh so much at the thought of twenty little dancers and the teachers all creeping down the stairs carrying costumes and props. They all ended up in a working mens cafe drinking tea at 5 in the morning covered in bites from the bed bugs. Luckily you couldnt see them from the stage when they were in their tutus! I'm not sure if they won anything but it was certainly memorable that year! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porthesia Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 I seem to remember my mother saying that you can book a porter at stations to carry your backage for you and quite a few of the stations now have lifts. Maybe worth investigating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belleballerina Posted June 1, 2013 Share Posted June 1, 2013 We laughed about booking a private carriage on Central Line Underground to carry 20 tutus to get to finals - especially if we are scheduled early in the day and have to travel down in rush hour - imagine the squash! We are coming from the Herts/Essex border but tutus are hard to travel with! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billyelliott Posted June 1, 2013 Author Share Posted June 1, 2013 Well surprise my DS stood in for someone who has dropped out of the team for our inter modern group today , and in spite of that and with another girl very poorly they held it together and came 3rd with honours - so that goes through to London as well! - looks like it a hire a coach job ! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dance*is*life Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Did anyone ever see a BBC play called "Happy Feet"? I have it recorded somewhere on video and must get it transferred to DVD - they never released it generally, which was a real shame. It was wonderful! All about a group of kids from a stage school travelling on the coach to a competition with their teacher and her dad who's the pianist. There's an hilarious incident in it, when some rival school's pianist is seen trying to identify their music, presumably for future use. The father decides to cover the sheet music with brown paper, so that no-one can see what he's playing, but it muddles him as well and he starts playing the wrong music for their star pupil. The poor little girl stops in the middle and comes forward so the judge can see her (the judge gets more and more tipsy from drink as the comp continues) and says pathetically - Please Miss it's the wrong music! It was really true to life and they showed quite a lot of the dances including an excellent boy (forerunner of Billy Elliot). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billyelliott Posted June 2, 2013 Author Share Posted June 2, 2013 So now we wait for the 1st July to see which days we will have to get up to London for the finals ! What a shame it's the same week that Carlos Acosta is dancing at the Coliseum - I so wanted to take DS to watch him live before its too late! Does anyone know if there is a pattern from past years ? Are the groups usually at the weekends ? How late do they run in the evenings? Otherwise i shall just hope that there will be a couple of seats left to book once the timetable is out ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dramascientist Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Dance*is*life your post made me giggle, it reminded me of when I used to dance in comps before the days of tapes and CDs. We used to do a song and dance group "chitty, chitty bang bang" the pianist who was getting on a bit used to play faster and faster throughout the song and we had to sing faster and faster to keep up. I dont know if you know the song but its quite complicated to sing especially for little ones so you can imagine us all getting out of breath trying to sing it properly. We must have done it though because I remember winning for it a lot. It must have been torture for the teacher who I'm sure wanted to yell "SLOW DOWN!" Oh happy memories! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belleballerina Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 From past experience you can usually get tickets on the day for the sections you want to watch - the busiest sections of course are the groups and the Bloomsbury Theatre is smaller I think than the Peacock Theatre which has been the previous venue - so not sure but it would be very disappointing to get your child to the theatre only to find you can't actually watch them. We have finally booked 10 nights in Majorca before the schools break up as what with not knowing the timetable for this and then 16 days of National Youth Ballet it was our only chance of a well needed family break! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldermum Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Dance*is*life I remember Happy Feet but I couldn't remember what it was called, I tried to tell my dd about it. It made me laugh as we had a pianist when I danced and we went to all the away festivals on a coach or mini bus. I remember being last pick up to one festival and we'd only booked a mini bus so I had to sit on a suitcase in the aisle between seats - that would never be allowed today. Well done and good luck to all those off to the finals 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieW Posted June 2, 2013 Share Posted June 2, 2013 Very happy to report that our last two senior B groups (contemporary and S&D) both got honours today. The contemporary group was stunning (IMHO) and got 1st place with unanimous honours - we're chuffed to bits because they've been rehearsing hard and show good contemporary technique. Friends also came first with honours in their contemporary trio in the morning - so a good day all round. Still some younger ones to go this week now - fingers crossed for them. I've kept the dates of finals free (although if they put us on too early we might have to come back from a camping trip a little early) - just hoping that the three groups aren't first thing in the morning - I really resent having to pay extortionate fares on the trains to go with the commuters! (I think we'd probably get a minibus if that's the case - my daughter was saying she prefers that as they get a bit of a party atmosphere going) Good luck to everyone still to dance this week. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loulabelle Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 (edited) Well done to your DD and friends, their contemporary group was stunning. Ours was the one in orange. We got our Senior Ballet group through to finals so pretty pleased about that. Edited June 3, 2013 by Loulabelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieW Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Thanks Loulabelle :-) We're not sure about changing the dresses but might be best to leave it alone! We enjoyed the orange group too! Really interesting choreography and strong dancers. I wonder if the adjudicators just felt it was more "modern" than "contemporary" (just a thought, hope you don't mind me saying) Were yours also in the red and black peasant dresses doing stylised ballet? It was an enjoyable section on the whole :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loulabelle Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 I think the dresses are lovely, I had seen it before at another festival so new what to expect and I think they are very appropriate. I think (in my limited knowledge of Contemporary) that our group is just a different style of Contemporary, the teacher that choreographed it is a Contemporary teacher, I'm not aware that she teaches modern. Yes ours was the red and black Italian ballet. Yes was a lovely section. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieW Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 I'd also like to add that it's not just unfair on the younger dancers (about the change from the Baby section to the As) - we've seen some amazing dancers getting 3rd places with honours who won't be seen at finals (let along the others with honours). I can kind of understand them having to cut back as it's a smaller venue, but why only 1st & 2nd, why not at least put in 3rds too. And it's actually a bit of a red herring, them saying that it's because of the smaller venue, as they've been putting through lots of groups - their supporters will take up much more room! Just seems a bit of a shame and finals will be poorer for it IMHO (not financially, but in watching good quality solos, duets etc). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billyelliott Posted June 3, 2013 Author Share Posted June 3, 2013 Quite agree! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agyles Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Yes....I very much agree about groups and 3rd place. I saw so many groups go through, 5 from one section! How are hey going to accommodate all of them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loulabelle Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Very excited, my dd came 2nd with honours in her ballet solo section today so we are off to the finals. Also in 4 groups that are through too 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billyelliott Posted June 4, 2013 Author Share Posted June 4, 2013 Oh we'll done to your DD Loulabelle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loulabelle Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Thank you Billyelliott, well done to your ds too, maybe we'll bump into each other at the finals. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DancingDays Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Well done to your DD Loulabelle - that's a great achievement as our panel at the Midlands Final were very strict on the ballet sections so if yours were too then she must have done a fab job 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieW Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Brilliant :-) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billyelliott Posted June 4, 2013 Author Share Posted June 4, 2013 Thank you Billyelliott, well done to your ds too, maybe we'll bump into each other at the finals. I may not be able to go as I have to work that week , unless its a weekend or the Thursday -so his teacher will take him up - but you will know him by his silver unitard ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BankruptMum Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Such a shame the South West is only just starting as it means a clash for some with Cram finals on Sunday and a few summer schools clash with AED finals so some qualifiers wont be there anyway, good luck to everyone still to dance and well done to thoseho have already. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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