Michelle_Richer

Hi Ballini Pointe Unfortunately I was too late to book the last ENB Swan Lake workshop, but like LinMM I did do the Nutcracker workshop (Dance of the Snowflakes) , but I didn’t get chance to see the company class, I had a quick coffee after the rep session then I was on my way back up north as I was performing something from Coppelia at one of my Ballet Schools shows at Lincoln that evening. I know ENB have some very talented dancers, I often get to see the tail end of their rehearsals on Monday evening before our classes start at ENB. I have already booked Nutcracker, Le Corsaire and Swan Lake in the round. The Swan Lake workshop is a full day event, so I have no idea how they will treat that. In the past for Swan Lake I have danced most of Act 2, with some of act 1, 3 and 4. As for my original ENB Le Corsaire workshop at Oxford, watch the Bolshoi video to 1.14, imagine two dancers dancing on opposite feet coming from opposite diagonals then only dancing on half of the stage each and at the end using pose turns to arrive together in the centre of the stage with their front feet pointing together in tendu, arms fourth, ending in a truly symmetrical pose.

I was wondering this one too. I did book it, but then realised it was on the same day as our LAB Gala dress rehearsal. I wonder if you didn’t do the Le Corsaire Workshop were you at the same rehearsal as me?. I was really sad to have missed this one, as I did Le Corsaire with ENB at Oxford two years ago and that was the best ever workshop I have done with ENB. There we did two scenes the first I cant really recall, but the second was the dance of the three Odileques. We danced the first minute or so of it, we learnt to dance it from opposite corners as a group then finally we danced it with a partner from the opposite corner as a duet, with that I fell in love with the Le Corsaire ballet. ENB are running another Le Corsaire workshop on the 17th January, I have already booked it.

Hi Terpsichore Yes I think you are right, I know I was looking for Northern to have a date different to our LAB Gala, but sadly it wasn’t to be. I see Scottish Ballet have an Elders Ballet Company and they are to perform at four of the touring venues of Scottish Ballet in October. I did try contacting them via email but no response. I then phoned them and was told it was a closed group and they had a waiting list, the lady on the phone said someone from Scottish Ballet would contact me via email about the group and its activities but there was nothing forthcoming. Personally I take a very dim view of that type of behaviour. What music are you dancing too this year Terpsichore. We had our full company dress rehearsal on Saturday at the large studio at Sadlers, I made a bit of a pigs ear of one of the pieces on the first run through. For some reason I looked across the studio at the girls dancing on the opposite side of the studio, and my concentration slipped, I completely lost where I was in the music. I felt absolutely awful as it is a piece I know reasonably well. Towards the end of the day we did a full run through again, thank goodness that was fine, but it did shake my confidence a little. Good luck with your performance on Saturday, I hope all goes well.

Thanks Janet I need to pop up to Leeds and do a class with Northern as they are a really lovely bunch of ladies up there, I haven’t been up there this year at all. Sadly their show day is next Saturday the same day as our LAB Gala performance at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London. Not sure if I can squeeze the August dates in, as I intend to spend a few days possible a week in Scotland with Ballet West in August. I was hoping to do some one-to-one rep with Gillian Barton, but she is getting married on the 8th, so as yet I don’t know when she is free. I did also contemplate dropping in to Scottish Ballet for the Monday class on the way , as it’s a while since I last visited them too.

Went to a lovely Swan Lake workshop at The Place studios in London run by “Dance Alive”, we were taught two pieces which I guess were at extreme ends of the spectrum with firstly a nice waltz’y piece from Act 1 The Pas de Trios (Main), we didn’t do the associated solo’s this time. We were eight girls and two guys so the choreography was adapted a little to accommodate this. The next piece was the ABT version of the Black Swan solo from Act 3, which was very much in line with the original choreography with the option for dancers to simplify where needed. Then to finish was the Black Swan coda, that was heavily adapted as I don’t think any of us could have done the 32 Fouettes, well at least not yet. But we had the music and the enchainement was still quite dance’y with some of the original steps, lively and quite enjoyable. “Dance Alive” have a “Le Corsaire” workshop coming up on the 6 September at one of Sadlers Wells studios. “ Dance Alive” are forming an amateur classical ballet company called “Alive Ballet Company” which is debuting in September in London with there first performance booked for 5th December. They will be looking for dancers to get intouch with them, I certainly will be performing with them. Their website is still under construction and should be ready soon “WWW. DanceAlive.London”, I have not further info at the moment, but will keep the forum updated with developments.

Hi Lin Yes, I booked the last Le Corsaire one, I think it was possibly one of their intensives but it clashed with our LAB Gala dress rehearsal date, so I had to cancel it. I will definitely be down for Le Corsaire, I did one at Oxford with ENB and it was the best one I have ever been to of theirs. I guess I will do the Nutcracker just after Christmas as I will be getting a bit bored by then and Adrian will be back home and at work. I quite fancy ENB’s Intensive on “Swan Lake in the round”, I wish we could do that in the Royal Albert Hall though. I bet you are not doing the LAB Shorts in your new tutu, I most certainly will be in an appropriate tutu for the second session of Blue Bird, I really want that as a performance piece, my version of course. As for recovering from the LAB Gala performances, I’m strait in with 5 sessions on the next day but one (Monday), they say a change is as good as a rest.

I see ENB have posted even more workshops today: 2015 6 Sep, 10.00 – 16.00: Ballet Intensive: Second Breath (Markova House) 29 Dec, 9.30 – 12.00: Adult Ballet Workshop: Nutcracker (London Coliseum) 2016 17 Jan, 9.30 – 12.00: Adult Ballet Workshop: Le Corsaire (London Coliseum) 10 Apr, 10.00 – 16.00: Ballet Intensive: She Said (Markova House) 29 May, 10.00 – 16.00: Ballet Intensive: Swan Lake (Markova House)

Hi Lin Thanks for the info, it is on the 29th which seems unusual as its on a Monday, no sure if I will do it, as I'm tending to reject workshops that are not specifying what they are doing. If it’s as a taster or a bit of fun, that’s fine, but for serious rep then I can do far better with my regular rep coaches. If you remember I did that one last year but I didn’t stop for the Company class as I had a performance to do at Lincoln that evening. I see LAB has moved the summer shorts back a week, which is a bit of a shame as it give me less prep time for Ballet West.

Another slight rest bite for the ankles as there is no ENB classes for the next 3 weeks, however I have made an additional studio booking at Sleaford for Rep familiarisation and practice as its my Swan Lake workshop on Sunday. Then priorities change as its only a couple of weeks to our full dress rehearsal for the LAB Gala. However I will be making a start on Sleeping Beauties Blue Bird solo as that’s required on one of LAB’s Summer shorts on 7th July, a few days after the show. Unfortunately I don’t know what artist’s version this is based on, so its likely I will choreograph a hybrid version from 2 or 3 of my own. All will be revealed during the first session, and hopefully I can have that a bit more polished by the last session on the 14th. With the Gala performance and the workshops out of the way its time to think about Christmas so it’s Nutcrackers Sugar Plum Fairy variation next, as I need that, and my own creation of Nutcracker's Grand Pas de deux, as I will be dancing this as a show piece as a Christmas Salsa party with a Salsa group I belong too. My partner for this is my boyfriend Adrian who is a non ballet dancer but is a willing scare crow for this performance so needless to say he will not be attempting lifts of any kind. All being well I will be taking The Sugar Plum Fairy variation and three other solo’s up to Ballet West in Scotland for final polishing.

The Company of dancers I see at Boston and Peterborough was 11 Girls and 4 guys on the 35th Anniversary Gala. The total company according to Peter Mallek is 21 but I’m not sure if that included admin staff etc. On Thursday, Peter had 20 dancers lined up for audition, I’m not sure if this thread created any more. As for how many they have slots for, I really don’t know. I know one of the female dancers had a bit of an injury with her ankle but was still dancing that night, but I did notice when they did Merlitons as the reed-pipe version they were down to two girls and not their usual three. I really do love this Company and it’s been quite difficult organising my own schedule around them. It was only luck that my LAB full company rehearsal took place the day before their performance at Peterborough, I do have a date that clashed for their Coppelia performance, but it’s a rehearsal quite early in the run up to one of my Christmas shows, There Nutcracker is now the day after my Christmas show so I can just sit back and enjoy it.

Last weeks Half term didn’t turn out to be quite as restful as I had anticipated even though all my classes had shut down with the exception of our LAB Group rehearsal on the Wednesday. As Monday was a bank holiday, I had anticipated a ballet free day, but wrong. Although I had no teachers for that day, just on the off-chance I enquired about the availability of my local hall expecting it to be booked for some special bank holiday function. There was no bookings at all for that day, so I booked it for an hour the previous Thursday. The lady at the post office that looks after the hall keys, said just a moment we are closed on the Monday, could you collect the keys Sunday before 12.30, wow I could have had the hall for nearly two days, but I did get a couple of hours of ballet in on the Monday. Wednesday was our big day for Group rehearsal, sadly there were several dancers missing, someone estimated about 20, but I guess there were around 60 present. I also met LinMM there in her new tutu. We managed to cover all of act one of the show “Le Corsaire” and it certainly highlighted a few issues for our group. Nearly all of our weekly rehearsals have been with a pianist where the tempo is slightly slower and the music well accented for counting and signature identification. For Le Corsaire for the show we are dancing to an orchestral piece which I believe is not intended for dance, the reason I say that, I know Bolshoi’s music reasonably well, and it too is well accented and much easier to dance too. The first piece my group perform is right in the middle of a scene and in the middle of the music too, that one to be fair isn’t too bad. Our second piece which is danced very much like a pas de trios, with me and another girl perched on our male dancers arms in attitude. and is extremely fast, during our first run-thru he was barely into position when we both tried to perch on his arms, from there it was a couple of temps leve – pas de chats, before returning with a couple of pose turn. After the pas de chat I looked back and thought Oh heck, I had travelled too far, I think it was the fact we had a lot more space in a very much larger studio this time that we were used to. We had the opportunity of running everything through a second time later that evening and things were very much better. I do hope for the remaining half term for this piece we use the orchestral music as in the show. Although there was no LAB on Thursday I still kept my hall booking and the same with Friday at my Sleaford studio. Fridays I am up to 7 solo’s to dance through to keep them in the brain and body and possible another two by next weekend. Even so I am still inclined to forget the odd bit, even though they are danced through every week. On the good side my flexibility is increasing, I base lined it about 3 to 4 month ago, my boyfriend measure me leg extension laid on my back as in the front splits fast program, at that time it was 60 inches with about an inch difference between the two legs. I knew it had increased by a couple of inches or so, so I decided to make a proper measuring device for it. I couldn’t believe it, I had gained 11 inches, In the past week I have added nearly another two inches to it. However I haven’t the strength to lift un aided through that range. At one stage I did contemplate using a similar rep rate to Alfredson’s Heel Drop Protocol which I know is very effective, which is basically 15 on each foot three times. When I tried a similar rate using high kicks from Tai Kwon Do, similar to Grand Battements. At 15 reps very slight movement is just detectable in the left hip, at 30 reps movement is clearly present. At 45 reps movement is much greater and quite unpleasant but not painful. I am mindful that this could lead to injury so it’s limited to 15 reps in one session. I also have movement on the kneecap too on the left leg which became apparent on the hopping ballone’s in Giselle’s solo from Act 1, the left is fine for hopping, but not for ballone’s, although the kneecap movement isn’t painful, it feels extremely unpleasant.

I am sorry if this is very short notice, but this came about with a conversation I had with Peter Mallek , Founder and Artistic Director of Vienna Festival Ballet, at their Gala performance in Peterborough last night (Thursday). Peter said they were running auditions in Fulham on Tuesday (2nd June) and did I know anyone that may be interested. I mentioned the existence of this forum but Peter was unaware of it. I gave him my email address so he could provide me with full details for posting on this forum, but I haven’t received anything yet. As the timescale is so very very short, I thought it better to at least post something in case anyone wants to follow it up. Vienna Festival Ballet for those that haven’t come across it is an outstanding small UK independence ballet touring company. VFB Telephone number 01442 268756

Hi Lin. We had a much better attendance at LAB this week, only a couple missing. Well that was after we all got there. I was around three quarters of an hour late as the traffic was horrendous. Some say a road at Kings Cross was closed and the traffic diverted ended up on the embankment, others say it was due to the start-up of Chelsea flower show. Either way, it resulted in me being on the 170 bus for over an hour and a half. When we finally crossed the Thames we all had to disembark. There I met one on the other LAB girls, she was on the same bus unknown to me, she asked should we wait, I said no, let leg it, it was pouring down with rain but we both had brollies. When I got to LAB another girl arrived about 5 minute after us. The latest girl arrived 15 minutes before the end of the class. I had a short chat to the guy on reception at RAD before I left, and one of their teachers missed two classes because of traffic. For me it just seemed like a week of problems and cancellations. At least my addition session on Friday seemed to work out ok, so I think it’s sustainable, although I was extremely tired.

Hi David The Giselle Intensive should be quite good, there is a lot a fantastic material in Act 1, I've done Giselle a number of times with City Academy, but that was always from a Cuban version where our teacher trained, my focus now is on solo’s. I already have Giselle’s solo on weekly refreshing practice, as covered that just recently, its based on the performance of Natalia Osipova. but we have tweaked it a little, the pose turns are on the diagonal, rather than in a circle, they have to be kept very tight with only a tiny travel as the music is incredibly fast. I have a Swan Lake workshop coming up, at least I know what is being taught so I have the opportunity to prepare for it. I don’t know how Lin’s LAB rehearsals are going but we had nearly half our group absent last week and we are on the run-up to the show where we are cleansing and polishing our performance pieces. My private classes were a bit of a disaster too. Friday I receive a text to say my teachers little boy was ill and she had to cancel. Fortunately I see the text before setting out. A little disappointing as I really wanted to get on with the black swan coda, but there was always my Monday session with another private teacher. This time my phone had been off and I arrived at my Sleaford studio, turned the phone on and shock horror my Monday teacher couldn’t make it either. Her gran had died. At least when I see Tom at ENB Monday night, he added some fouette’s into barre and centre exercises for the advance class, that was really good of him. I missed classes at Sleaford tonight (Wednesday), the A17 was blocked due to an accident so I had to turn back and work on material at for the Swan Lake workshop in June as there is a lot to cover. Starting Friday I’m ramping up to 3 private repertoire classes a week.

Hi David I’m glad to see you are back on the forum, and I do remember you at one of the LAB intensives at RBS, I think it was Don Quixote but not sure. I’m not sure if I will be at any of the LAB intensives this year as I have adopted a policy of not going on Intensives or workshops unless I know precisely what I am paying for. That is, the scene and the artist’s choreography being taught. I have spoken to Tom about this as I see quite a lot of him as I’m one of the LAB Company of dancer; also Tom is my teacher at ENB for my Intermediate and Advanced Adult Ballet classes. I have the same issue with RAD, as at one time I would virtually do every repertoire workshop they advertised including travelling up to Edinburgh. I have spoken to them recently on this as I’m at RAD HQ every Thursday evening for our LAB rehearsals, but they are not willing to change their position. For me its simple, I have two private repertoire coaches which are brilliant ballet teachers that I use every week, one on a Monday the other on a Friday. That is far more cost effective than to pay and pray I may get something I can use from an intensive or rep workshop. However I do miss not meeting the dancers I have met many many times before, that is really sad. Anyway good luck with the Intensive, which one are you doing Giselle or La Bayadere. I know Tom has some summer shorts planned but no details yet, which are generally short solo's taught 2 hours a week over two weeks, I did the Black Swan solo from Swan Lake, and Gazmatti solo from Le Corsaire / La Bayadere, those I most definitely will be attending.

The last two weeks has seen another addition to my ballet activities, it is an additional hire of my Sleaford studio Friday afternoons, and following a private rep session at Heckington Lincs which is only a few miles away, so keeps my travelling expenses down. The aim of the Sleaford studio is to allow me to dance through each of the repertoire solo variations I have learnt to keep them refreshed in muscle and brain memory. These are danced on my own so no one is there to prompt me; however my boyfriend came along and watched the second week. There are two things that have surprised me, firstly a few months ago, around Christmas time I learnt two pieces from Le Corsaire, I was amazed at how much I had forgotten and had to really think about it. Secondly on the second week how much I had over estimated the number of solos I could dance through in that hour. It was my intention to dance through them a number of times, but in reality apart from some minor tweaking I only danced them through twice, which was two from Le Corsaire, Black swan solo, Odettes solo Act2, Giselle solo Act1. When we finish off Giselle’s Solo at Heckington we went to costume, oh poo it was too long. It seems an awful shame to shorten the skirt which has a type of delicate embroidered pattern on it. However the costume seems ideal for Les Sylphides with the little wings, so I think a bit of creative choreography is necessary for an inspired solo for Les Sylphides. As for Giselle, thats just another costume to find that is appropriate. Next week we are spending half the time finishing off Odette’s solo, with the other half on basic fouettes which I have never learnt properly. This week I am foot strengthening for Friday. If the fouettes show promise then we will try to develop them for the Black Swan coda. My Heckington teacher/coach has also offered me a second hour each Friday, but for the time being I have declined as I really don’t want to add any more rep in, in the same week, as I’m still having to learn and rehearse for our LAB Gala. In September, Tuesdays will be taken up with another performance course with a Christmas show at the end of it. My poor little brain can only handle so much, but rep we be added too steadily each week for the next couple of years or so. Another couple of months and it will be our LAB Gala at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London; tickets can be booked via the following Link: https://www.thebloomsbury.com/event/run/14045 At least with May bank holiday things are a little quieter this week, no Monday private rep session with my Lincoln teacher as the Sleaford studio is closed, no Monday classes at ENB either. However I did manage to do a session down my local hall, I even extended it to two hours this week. On the down side, there is no hall for my practice on Thursday prior to LAB rehearsal at RAD as the hall becomes our local polling station this week.

Following an email drop: Our 5 day intensive course offers young dancers the chance to embrace the chance to dance their hearts out for 5 whole days! The course offers the following: * Daily Ballet class accompanied by a pianist (lasting 1.5 hrs) * Contemporary classes (1.5 hrs) * Classical virtuosity for boys and Pointe work for girls * Group and solo classical repertoire * Creative, choreographic workshops * A 2 hr repertoire workshop with this years guest artist DOMINIC NORTH of Matthew Bourne fame! * A 1 hr Q&A session with Dominic himself * A showing of all work on the final day to a very appreciative audience of family and friends! As you can see, they will be fully involved and evolved (!) from start to finish! We are proud to offer all of this in a central location that caters exceptionally to our needs. Where : ISTD 2 STUDIOS - OLD STREET, LONDON. When : 27th - 31st JULY 2015. How much : £300. Age range: 12 - 20 yrs (Ballet and Contemporary classes are streamed according to level of experience) Please check out our website where you can view our faculty and their biographies, see some pictures from previous years and download an application form. www.invitationtodance.org.uk Our email address is invitationtodance@hotmail.co.uk

Hi Lin How is your BIG decision going?. Don’t forget ballet slippers for the show will be specified and they may be more than one type. Last year it was at least two types, but I cant remember the makes, essentially it was pink satins with ribbons and pink canvas with elastics, we were have had black as well for those of us that were doing “La Sylphides Reel”, but that got changed late on to pink. I still have the black ones which were Bloch leather. Don’t forget we have stage make-up to do too. It was Tutu,s for our LAB group last week, at least for two of us. The session was somewhat disappointing as there were only 5 of us present. I think at one time last term we were up to about 12 or 13. It was suggested that we are now at least 10. As it was, all of the original group of four were present so we went through one of our Le Corsaire pieces, this time with recorded music for the show and no pianist. The tempo was somewhat quicker and the ending a little different, so we have added a little bit of port de bras and pose on the end to fill the end of the music. The tutu’s were particularly relevant as the piece incorporated partner work with our male dancer. I use tutu’s routinely for the final session for each of my private rep pieces as it does make a difference to the way you dance it. The latest piece I’ve been working on “Giselle’s variation” from act 1, after the first session it was apparent that we needed longer skirts as tie round chiffons were inadequate. The next session we went to using a long skirt as it features quite strongly in the port de bras through-out the variation. The last session this Friday is to full professional costume to add realism and hopefully no fumbling to pickup the skirt on time where required, not sure if the wings will help.

Hi Lin You will find after a couple of washes the intensity of the pink will diminish considerably.

Hi Lin I see LAB have asked for those that have tutu’s to bring them in for rehearsal starting this week, I trust you will be giving yours an airing. Our group requires both a classical (pancake) and a romantic, I guess I best take both in on Thursday. As our illustrious leader hasn’t indicated what overlays we are using this year or the leo types, I will be taking the same full professional one I used for our last group rehearsal of Le Corsaire at Saddlers. First real day back yesterday (Monday), had a chance to check out my new schelude of 4 sessions. I thought at one stage it was going to get blown out of the water as the owner and principal of our Sleaford studio announced they wanted to close that for Monday mornings, my private rep coach can only accommodate Mondays, I couldn’t arrange it later as I have my two classes at ENB to get too, fortunately I received an email this morning confirming they will now be opening at 12.00 (my original start time), so everything still just fits in the schedule. The ENB combination with Tom of advanced first then intermediate after worked well. Many of the exercises were the same but a bit simple for the Intermediates, it was also less strenuous on my ankles. Although I did do a bit of a whoopsee between classes. I assumed both of my classes were in the upper studio, the best one at ENB. That was the case for the first class, during the 5 minute changeover break I nipped out to the loo. When I got back it was a much smaller class and no Tom, then another teacher arrived, one I know quite well and we both exchanged helloes, then the penny dropped, this teacher now does the Advanced Professional’s, I was in the wrong class, I graciously retreated to the downstairs studio with the intermediates.

For Vienna Festival Ballet tour dates and locations follow the link: https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/vienna-festival-ballet They really are worth seeing.

With the Easter break almost over, its beginning to feel like the calm before the storm. Especially as I have two awesome early morning starts and late night finishes next week. I’m just starting to ease into things beginning tomorrow with two fitness classes and one ballet class, then Thursday with two practice sessions down my local hall in prep for Mondays private rep session on Giselle and LAB rehearsal on Thursday next week. Next week Thursday morning is not available for LAB prep as normal, as I will be at Norwich Theatre Royal with Northern Ballet, then travelling down to London for LAB rehearsal in the evening. For LAB this term is not about learning any more choreography, but polishing everything we have learnt and rehearsed in terms 1 and 2 ready for performance in our Gala at the Bloomsbury Theatre on July the 4th. I should find out next week if Emma, my latest rep coach, can accommodate me on Wednesdays for the time being, otherwise I’m looking for a performance group to join for Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

This started off from a chance conversation that a ballet company was coming to the Blackfriars Theatre in Boston Lincs. Blackfriars is a tiny theatre seating no more than 250, with a small stage too. My expectations were low. I had presumed Vienna Festival Ballet was Austrian but was somewhat perplexed as to why such a company would come to this tiny theatre in Boston. They are in fact a UK Ballet company But wow their performance was one of the best I have ever seen starting with the first scene. I have never seen such enthusiasm in the dancers eyes, they were fantastic. They danced scenes from Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Rhapsody in Blue and Swan Lake plus other excerpts . For Swan Lake they performed most of act 2, what was unusual was Odette's solo, it was danced on the opposite leg so to speak as a mirror image of the standard chorography. The whole operation during the show was very slick , occasionally the curtain would go down for no more than a couple of minutes, in that time the scene backdrop had completely changed and so had the gorgeous tutu’s and dresses of the dancers, they were truly quick change artists. The cast consisted of only 11 girls and 4 guys and all incredibly versatile talented dancers. The audience loved them which was a sell out at Blackfriars. During the interval I had a chat to the lady selling the programs, I presumed she was one of Blackfriars theatre staff, she was a member of the company it was Jill Mallek wife of the founder and artistic director of Vienna Festival Ballet, her self once a soloist with that company and we had a really nice chat. One the way out I queried the Odette solo on the opposite leg with Jill and apparently that dancer is a left turner. All in all for me it was a very slick and fantastic performance, If I'm available I will make a point of seeing them at Blackfriars again on the 6th of December performing The Nutcracker, they really are well worth seeing.

Thank you Moomin Yes I will, now things are a lot less intense for a couple of weeks.

I’m not sure but most probably. Unfortunately I don’t know what scene(s) they are covering, I find that extremely infuriating. It’s like buying a pig in a poke so to speak. However they do advise dancers what is being covered about a week before the workshop, but that isn’t always followed by the RAD teacher.. I have a similar issue with our LAB Intensives as we have the two summers ones on ballet’s I’m really interested in Giselle and La Bayadere. The cost of those with travel and accommodation for me will work out about £1000 a time, this will buy quite a lot of dedicated one-to-tuition on the particular variations I’m interested in. Never the less I would miss dancing with the LAB Intensive regulars. As for needing to know months in advance, there is always the Swan Lake Workshop in Jersey on the 25th of July. I don’t know if you are aware, but RAD were setting up a focus group for future syllabus development of repertoire. The meeting was to take place at RAD this Monday the 30th, sadly I couldn’t make it, however I did get an advance copy of their questionnaire/feedback document which I completed and sent in to Lucinda Hennessy of RAD who is dealing with this.