Ondine

And this. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jul/26/sinead-oconnor-obituary

A fine and fitting tribute.

"The recent productions of some of these works – Nijinsky’s ballet L’Après-midi d’un faune and his Bloomsbury ballet Jeux enjoying their first ever performances by the Royal Ballet – still have an amazing impact, throwing instincts about movement and feeling high into the air all these years later. When Carlos Acosta, as the faun, finally takes the muse’s shawl back to his lair, lies on top of it, and slightly jerks his pelvis, there is still a tangible sense of sexual outrage. The over-muscularity of the Royal Ballet’s male company takes something away from Nijinsky’s androgynous approach, but it is all still there, profoundly beautiful and melancholy, a pagan assault on every social sensibility. Fokine called it ‘pornographic filth’, but it was not that, it was just beyond all the bounds of convention. A matinee audience at the Royal Opera House today still seeks to avert their children’s eyes as the faun crawls after the shadow of his own desire, rutting into an ancient shawl" Andrew O'Hagan LRB 2000 https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v22/n14/andrew-o-hagan/you-gu-gu-and-i-gu-gu

News from today's LINKS https://eu.heraldtribune.com/story/entertainment/dance/2023/07/22/danielle-brown-is-retiring-after-15-years-with-the-sarasota-ballet/70423731007/ I'm sure she'll be greatly missed by the company and the audiences and wish her well in her retirement. Disappointing for those who would have loved to have seen her when the company comes to London, but when your body has had enough, it's time to hang up the shoes I guess. Brown said she is exploring other interests for the moment, but hopes to stay connected to dance. “I love ballet. I can’t imagine my life without it at all. It will be really hard without going on teaching or coaching. I would be sad if I couldn’t do that. I wouldn’t feel myself or complete without it.” She has temporarily stayed away from classes since making her decision because “I need a little time to just accept the new reality and heal from being so sad about it.” I posted this a while ago in another thread, a YouTube where she is talking about dancing Ashton. It's worth your time. Also this.

It's here, online, though you have to be a subscriber to read on https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/ballet-narrative-essay-alice-robb/

For a rather longer read on the subject (!) there's this https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/huddleston_cheryldee_201012_phd.pdf

Yes. I met her many years ago. I've met so many people who at the time I don't think I fully appreciated who they were (or what they would become!). Some memories are becoming hazy. Pity about the 'mad' in the title but this is interesting. https://deirdrekelly.com/?p=1274

From today's LINKS (not sure if this is the appropriate forum but here goes) Nijinsky misrepresented - gossip and myth should not be taken as truth: Ariette Taylor & Rebe Taylor, Dance Australia Very interesting discussion about Nijinsky, his sexuality, Faun, art, in case anyone missed it. https://www.danceaustralia.com.au/artists/nijinsky-misrepresented It's good to have the insights and further history this essay brings on the man, the ballet, his life and times. Vaslav Nijinsky is a part of ballet legend, but gossip and myth should not be taken as truth, writes Ariette Taylor.

More here: https://www.royalballetschool.org.uk/2023/07/19/the-royal-ballet-school-welcomes-four-new-artistic-staff/

A surprise. Possibly spreading her teaching wings wider?

You can have a Bournonville binge here: https://www.facebook.com/bournonvilleworkshop/ And this is lovely. https://youtu.be/xqW7Ou0hwM4 Anyhow, back to the RBS show. It's good they got to learn some of the style. (There is much in common with Cecchetti in reality, but that's another topic.)

Jan Parry's review (yes in the links earlier this week ) has wonderful photos at the end including the young violinist on stage. Wow. Also the information the evocative set for August Bournonville's 1849 Konservatoriet was borrowed from the Royal Danish Ballet, the 1965 production, and was mounted by Diana Cuni Mancini. A Bournonville expert! https://www.gramilano.com/2023/07/review-royal-ballet-school-summer-performance-2023/

Where (yes there are always exceptions) they were usually far behind those in the grammar school (languages, sciences and the rest) and found it difficult to catch up and make new friends. And in reality there was very little movement. Once in that pigeonhole, that was that. Yes some people went on later to gain qualifications and shine but reality was for far too many they got an impoverished education. Some children considered themselves failures at eleven and it affected them for life. It was a rotten system IMO. Don't shoot the messenger. As you were.

Your post appears to have got rather lost, so maybe bumping it up again will help? The Fonteyn used to be the Genee and I think it's taking a while to get used to the name change! https://www.royalacademyofdance.org/the-fonteyn/ It does sound, whatever the outcome, a marvellous opportunity & a wonderful experience for any talented young dancer. October in London, without costing an arm & a leg? 😏 Does the RAD have a list of places it can suggest?

There's a 2020 interview with Austen McDonald here, he didn't start dancing until he was 12, when he gave up rugby and decided to do ballet instead! https://issuu.com/eysmagazine/docs/winter_2020_eys_magazine_/s/10656371 Does ballet affect your education at school? Ballet does not affect my education, although it is not the traditional school experience. Most ballet dancers in training are either homeschooled or do distance education. This is because to advance your physical ability and technique requires rigorous training of at least seven hours per day, six days a week. In my case, I started dancing at the age of 12, so I had a traditional education until the age of 13 when I started full time at the ballet academy. This age was considered extremely late to start, but I was willing to work extremely hard to catch up to those who had been dancing almost all their lives which required many late nights of dance training, technique development and even later nights and weekends of academic study Here he is at 16, Prix de Lausanne!

Further info here: https://www.nbs-enb.ca/media/AssembléeInternationale2023-Press Release.pdf There's a very nice 'souvenir programme' here, with details of all the dance schools / training organisations and students who represented them, what a marvellous opportunity for those young people! https://www.nbs-enb.ca/media/AI23_programme_230417_HIGHRESWEB.pdf Pointe Magazine has a report, sadly you have to be a subscriber to read it. https://pointemagazine.com/unpacking-racial-inequities-in-ballet-at-canadas-national-ballet-schools-2023-assemblee-internationale/

I posted this on another thread. No doubt Alfie doesn't consider his qualifications 'poor quality'.

A long line of Scottish ancestors (though alas I'm currently on the Wrong Side of the border). I can write in Scots but I don't speak it with the authentic accent. Also doesn't the entire world read the Sunday Post? Is Maw Broon not everyone's maw? Is Irn Bru not drunk worldwide? Back to the topic or The Mods will be slappin' me wrist again. 🤭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I Aye. Jings, crivvens and help ma boab. And good fer Alfie frae bonnie Aberdeen and noo in Hamburg daein the dancin.

Alfie McPherson from Aberdeen, Scotland. Congratulations. Sheer hard work and determination has paid off. His parents must be very proud. Interesting piece on him here, an old Post article from 2018. Alfie’s dancing dream has not come cheap for dad Neil, 54, a farm trader and mum Dianne, a retail assistant. In the last year, Alfie has had to make more than 30 flights to London for workshops and auditions. Neil said: “We are not big earners but have managed to fund Alfie’s dancing...." “There is funding available but the cut-off point to access it is so low. “I have tried to get access to funding and it’s almost impossible.” https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/strictly-gone-dancingtalented-teen-heads-off-to-leading-ballet-school-in-london/ Neil praised his son’s determination, saying: “He has worked long and hard for it. “It’s an extremely cut-throat industry and there are no second places. You are picked or you’re not.” Alfie, the youngest of three, will be studying a BA Hons in Modern Ballet this September. He trained initially in Aberdeen Danscentre https://www.danscentre.com/post/ex-pupil-update Alfie McPherson Alfie is currently in his first of two years of post graduate training at the Hamburg Ballet School, studying Classical Ballet.

I seem unable to LIKE this as the LIKE button is not appearing on your posts for me! However, I am punching the air in total agreement.

I'm an old cynic... offered a place before she went to US for the YAGP finals and possibly won something and questions asked about why she wasn't already at WL? 😏 Whatever the journey, it's great she's got a place in the company through hard work and talent and wish her well.

Quite. There's a great deal not mentioned! From an old fundraising appeal: Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. Scarlett has danced since the age of 2. She danced locally with Swaby Dance Centre and became a Junior Associate with The Royal Ballet and Northern Ballet in Leeds. At 11 she gained a scholarship to full time vocational school Elmhurst in Birmingham. Since then Scarlett has danced for Chantry Dance Company and The National Youth Ballet at Buckingham Palace. In November 2016, Scarlett competed in the Youth America Grand Prix in Paris. She placed in the top 12 in Europe and is the only British Dancer to qualify to dance in the Finals in New York. She also won a scholarship to Paris Opera, Royal Ballet and American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensives 2017. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/getscarletttonewyork?amount=100&currency=GBP&alertType=error&alertMessage=donationError

Can't now add to the above but the new bio on the ROH site (finally!) has further details. BIOGRAPHY British dancer Scarlett Harvey joined The Royal Ballet as an Aud Jebsen Young Dancer at the start of the 2022/23 Season. Scarlett is from Cleethorpes in the North East of England and began her ballet training aged two. Her training began at Lesley Swaby Dance Centre in her hometown before she moved on to the Northern Ballet Centre for Advanced Training and The Royal Ballet School Junior Associate Programme. She joined The Royal Ballet School at White Lodge in 2017. During her time at the School, she won the April Olrich Award for dynamic performance and the 2nd Year Artistic Prize for progress and endeavour. She graduated from The Royal Ballet School in 2022.

Yes, very good news, another who got in to WL 'late' via the YAGP! https://www.balletnews.co.uk/from-student-to-star-scarlett-harvey-the-royal-ballet/ BTW I'm not saying I agree with the hothousing and untold hours approach, also of course parental deep pockets required, it's just it's a fact of current ballet life that it's happening. Some who are taking the slow and steady approach may well be being left behind despite undoubted talent. I've still not found anything about what happened to Evie Ball, see earlier posts, yet at one point presumably the RBS put her forward as a rising star to be interviewed. Once out of the 'system' it's very hard to get back in.