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Article About Paris Opera Ballet Survey
Eligus replied to Immashel's topic in Articles, Ballets, Books, Movies,Videos,Music,Television
Ugh. This article, if true, is heart breaking, particularly the point that while the company has allegedly scheduled an internal audit (supposedly to address some of these issues?) for next season, the likelihood of trust and a valuable working relationship in order to address any concerns is very, very low, considering the management's reaction to this survey includes suing a dancer to obtain information on the anonymity of the responses. -
Article About Paris Opera Ballet Survey
lsu replied to Immashel's topic in Articles, Ballets, Books, Movies,Videos,Music,Television
It will be interesting to see how all this plays out in the press. -
Wow tsh212, she went completely cross country! Was she able to stop at home in between for a visit, or did she go straight from program to program?
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Article About Paris Opera Ballet Survey
balletmuse replied to Immashel's topic in Articles, Ballets, Books, Movies,Videos,Music,Television
Thank you for sharing Immashel! Hoping for the dawning if a new day in the culture of ballet companies. -
My son is a young teen, at a large boys program in a large ballet school, and what mln describes is just what I have seen. There is a huge range of flexiblity amongst the dancers, and it doesn’t seem to be a huge priority at his school (control, stability, strength, mental focus, precision of movement, ability to learn and remember combinations all seem more important to progress). My son has been told by many teachers (and some adult male dancers) that the flexibility will come with time, and that it is typically difficult for boys when they are rapidly growing in adolescence. Your son should not be discouraged if flexiblity isn’t where he excels right now, and that while he should keep working on it, it is only one small part of the work that goes into training in ballet. My son cannot do a split, and though he would like to do it, he know that its something that will come with consistent practice— and most likely not before he stops growing.
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Steps on Broadway Conservatory
proud4her posted a topic in Pre-professional Schools General Discussion
Does anyone have any information regarding Steps 2 Year Conservatory - Professional Training Program (NYC) - either ballet/contemporary or theater dance/jazz tracks? (Including number accepted/number in Program/personal experiences). Thanks -
Hi, redvelvetcake, I am not an expert on flexibility, but this is what I have seen by observing my own son and other boys he dances with. Boys change a lot as they grow, and 9 is too early to be making predictions about a future in ballet. A lot of boys get their flexibility later, sometime even after their adolescent growth spurts. I think your son sounds very normal and there's no reason to feel discouraged as long as he loves to dance. Yes, there will be very flexible kids his age. And you will hear parents and teachers tout this flexibility as the foundation for ballet success. But, as kids grow and other skills and attributes are added to the repertoire of a promising dancer--stature, strength, musicality, ability to learn choreography and take corrections, stage presence, and self-discipline--flexibility becomes just one of many things a dancer needs (and not always the most important one). Many male dancer achieve just adequate flexibility, excel in some of these other areas, and have wonderful careers. I also think flexibility is a two-edged sword. My son is now at the age where strength matters a lot, and some of his more flexible friends have trouble with lifting and are more prone to certain injuries. Also, flexibility seems to come more easily to petite guys, and yet companies only have so many spots for the petite male dancers. They hire more guys who are tall enough to partner. So, why do pre-professional programs test flexibility at the age of 9? I have no idea. Maybe one of the teachers can tell us! By way of encouragement, let me say that I have seen many, many boy dancers who at 9, 11, 13, and even 15 were nothing remarkable. Then, around 16, something clicks, and they are able to catch up to and even surpass the kids who showed very early ballet facility. Take heart, and find a ballet program that is patient with the boys. There are fine programs out there that understand that boys develop later. And there are wonderful, experienced teachers out there who have seen the tortoises win the race many times, and who will not be quick to dismiss an enthusiastic 9-year-old who does not have his middle splits.
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DS9 recently auditioned for a place in a well known pre-professional ballet school’s interstate training program. If successful he will be able to attend boys intensives and masterclasses during the year while continuing to train at his regular ballet school. This was his second time auditioning for this program. Last year he felt he was unsuccessful because he was not able to complete some of the flexibility tests during the audition, for example, he was nowhere near achieving his middle or front splits and could just touch his toes. We included more stretching into his weekly training. He started attending his ballet school’s stretch classes and also PBT (Progressing Ballet Technique-a program developed by Marie Walton Mahon). He has been working steadily on his flexibility and now almost has his middle splits. He is not as close to the front splits. We have been taking a very conservative approach with stretching (under the guidance of teachers)and not doing anything like oversplits type stretches. He feels that he did not do well in some of the flexibility tests at this year’s audition, for example, they were all asked to lie down on the ground and then raise one (straight)leg up past a 90-degree angle and “see if they could touch their knee to their nose”. DS could go past 90 degrees but not to his nose. No surprises there! DS said some of the girls could do this and only one of the boys. Is this type of flexibility the expectation at this age? It seems very advanced to me. For those with sons at pre-professional schools did they need this type of flexibility prior to acceptance at these schools and also how did they improve their flexibility (if not naturally flexible).
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Article About Paris Opera Ballet Survey
Immashel posted a topic in Articles, Ballets, Books, Movies,Videos,Music,Television
Article about not so secret survey carried out by members of Paris Opera Ballet. Interesting reading. The company is now trying to sue one of its member for leaking the results! https://www.dancemagazine.com/paris-opera-ballet-lawsuit-2587608650.html -
Hi. I have learned so much from this forum over the last several months, but just realized I never really joined so here I am! My oldest daughter is a high school dancer who will be training as a pre-pro student this year. Thanks for letting me officially join.
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Thank you! I ended up doing ballet and it went really well! I didn't mess up once and no one was rude and my teacher said it was beautiful! 😄😄
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Confidence, pointe class struggles
Daemya replied to jd29's topic in Adult Ballet Students Buddy Board
This is a pretty old thread but I thought I would comment because I have been going through the exact same thing. Stable and confident at the barre but totally freaked out in the centre. Like, it feels so precarious to even try to step up onto one leg in seconde and retire. Like I'm on a tight rope or something! It's totally a mental hurdle. What I've been doing that has helped me greatly is when I get home from class I put my pointe shoes back on and put on some very slow music and just dance in them. Just improvise choreography and bourre around and just get used to them. When we were little kids this is how we figured out dancing on flat, just by dancing to our heart's content! I just do 10 minutes of free dancing en pointe but after two weeks I've been successfully doing pique turns across my living room! -
Welcome to Ballet Talk for Dancers, dancermaya. The Welcome Forum is here for you to introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your involvement in ballet. It would help to know your age and your training background.. Also, please explain what you mean about starting competitive dance. Do you mean entering competitions, like YAGP or Prix de Lausanne, or is it more like a competition team in your school. It's really impossible for us to advise without knowing much more about you and what kind of competition you are talking about.
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Death of the Dance Dictators: Ballet in the Wake of #MeToo
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So sorry we missed this post Ballet Prodigy. I hope it all went well!
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don't forget the Bolshoi! DS has secured a contract for his second year in the corps and been told by the director face to face 'you will be dancing more next year' - not sure how possible this is given this year he has danced 16 ballets (9 with solo roles of which 4 were roles usually danced by a soloist or principal), 4 special galas (all with solos) and has a tour in Korea upcoming! He has had an astonishing first year for a corps dancer give that the Bolshoi corps is 125 strong... The majority of his ballet training (4 years of the 5.5) was at the Kirov.
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Etiquette Regarding Asking for Corrections
Kerrida replied to Kerrida's topic in Adult Ballet Students Buddy Board
I didn't even think that such would be an option, but last week I overheard her mentioning it as one of the other ladies asked about it. It's something that's been sitting in the back of my head as a possibility in the future. It's something I might consider after I can get to doing more than one class a week so that I can get more benefit from such an opportunity. I am absolutely taking advantage of being able to ask questions after class though. - Last week
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Ballet Schools in Colorado - Denver
CVan replied to AmaLari's topic in Finding a Pre-Pro Ballet School
Thank you; good to know! My daughter had thoroughly researched the program before auditioning, and she is very excited to go. -
Ballet Schools in Colorado - Denver
Managingtwotoo replied to AmaLari's topic in Finding a Pre-Pro Ballet School
She was there for several years in the academy before they had a pre-pro program. The pre-pros took classes with academy students at that time in addition to their daily classes. We left in 2016 because she wanted more Vagonova and CB was moving away from that as a base training. […] There are really good options in Denver includIng CBA. I would also recommend looking at Classical Ballet Academy, CCD, IBS, And RMBA. They are all different and studio culture is different at each one - DBT is another good program. Good luck finding a good fit ! -
Ballet Schools in Colorado - Denver
CVan replied to AmaLari's topic in Finding a Pre-Pro Ballet School
Thanks, Managingtwotoo. May I ask when your dancer was there? -
Ballet Schools in Colorado - Denver
Managingtwotoo replied to AmaLari's topic in Finding a Pre-Pro Ballet School
My understanding is that CBA has two levels for Pre-Pro. We had a very up and down experience with the program. It seems that this year (17-18) it is much improved. The upper level now has some excellent dancers.
