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Young British Dancer of the Year


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I hope it's o.k to post this here........:)

Anyway, here goes...

I'm entering The Young British Dancer of the Year on Sunday, April fourteenth, and it's the heat. I was just wondering if anybody has ever antered before, and if they could tell me about the day, what I should expect, because I'm new to the competition. Thanks!

Tori

xxxxxx

P.S Ms.Leigh- I am SO sorry if it is not appropriate to post this here, but from what I understood ( or not the case may be ) I thought it was o.k now ):)

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TwinkleGal -

This sounds like a junior-level national competition similar to Youth America Grand Prix here in the US. In other words, SURE you can post this here! Unfortunately, I don't have advise from the competitor's perspective but I bet that some of our members who've competed in YAGP (or their parents) could offer some words of wisdom!

I'm especially happy to hear from someone who is entering a competition in the UK, as there seems to be a misconception in some circles that ballet competitions are 'not the English thing to do' or 'Madam would be turning in her grave' etc, etc, to think that English dancers are entering competitions. Of course, reality tells us that English (or English-trained) dancers do enter & often win competitions, especially at the pre-professional level (Prix de Lausanne, for example).

Good luck & please let us know how you fare. At the very least, I'm sure that it will afford you valuable experience for "the competition of life"!

Any ex-competitors (or parents) have any advise for Twinkle-RBS-Gal?

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Guest amyhad

Tori,

As you know, I entered Young British Dancer of the Year last year. I have to warn you now that unfortunatly the competition was worse than I expected. I don't mean in a bad way, I mean that even the first round (which is far as I got last year, and Im sure I'll get no further this year!!) ballet class was a really difficult class. Last year it was taken by Marion Tait (ballet mistriss of Birmingham Royal Ballet) and as many of us we're still in Year 10 the class was extremely challenging, more than most of us were prepared for. Also the panel are pretty close up so it's fairly intimidating too.

This year Im not completely sure who the panel will be but I do know it will consist of Ross Stretton (Director of RB), David Bintley (Director of BRB), Claude Bessat (please excuse spelling) (Paris Opera School) and many more influential members of the ballet world.

Again this year there will be the first round, semi's and the finals. First round is just a class (very unfortunate for me as my performance work slightly exceeds my classwork) then the semi's will be I think (I wasn't there last year) a class and your first chosen solo and then if you reach the finals you will then perform your second solo, usually the more difficult of the two!!

When you arrive at Talgarth Road you will register and get your number, then there is plenty of time to meet up with the others in your class and do your own warm-up. Last year my class was mixed (boys and girls together) and I think there were probably around 20 to 25 of us in there. As theres 4 classes this year it may be that we're in smaller groups. Anyway, after your class has finished you will be free unless your in class 4 and we all return to Talgarth Road for the results of who got through.

Last year these results were read out in the warm-up studio. We were all seated there together (no parents at this time). Officials will come in, read out a list of names and numbers and these people are then taken away briefly to recieve information on there week of training for their solo performances. After we are all free to leave.

Hope this is some help but I guess that you know all this already.

Well Good Luck for Sunday, I will be in class 1, as will Hayley and Liam I think but don't quote me on that! Hope to see you there and just remember this is your first year, it's a difficult first round and theres no pressure on you to get through so don't worry. Also try not to be nervous, being excited is such a better source of adrenalin!!

Well, must go.

Love Amy xxx

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Splendid posts, and most informative, all! Sounds like this is a competition with genuinely high artistic standards and is very demanding! I'm still not crazy about competitions, but if they were all more like this, I might be persuaded to alter my opinions!:)

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Thank you all so much for your replies, especially you, Amy!;) I'm in class one aswell, oh no if you and hayley are in the same class as i am i have no chance!!!:eek: I'm just gonna use it as experiance i think. see you sunday.

thanks to everyone once again!!]]tori

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Guest pavlovadancer

Good luck everyone! By the way, can non-british dancers from RBS (like from Korea or Spain) participate? Just me being inquisitive! :)

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Guest David M

Hello,

Re the recent ballet competition held in the Lindbury Studios of the ROH on Saturday 20th Apriil 2002.

If you visit Ballet.Co there is a detailed thread about the competition, however to save you time I will try and give yourelves some information.

The final comprised of twelve dancers , eight female and four males, ages ranging fron 15 - 17 years old.

Eleven of the final competitors are currently attending the Royal Ballet School , and the remaining competitor, Elizabeth Greasley is taught independantly( she is however coached by J Bond who is the mother of the winner of the inaugrial competition two years ago , Jamie Bond , who about two months ago joined the Royal Ballet.)

This was Elizabeths second year in the final , and she was awarded a scholarship to the Birmimgham Royal Ballet summer school.

The dancers eached danced two solos, and it was obvious to myself after they had all danced their first variation that the clear winner would be Anniek Soobray,and i was proved correct.

Anniek looked surprised at her win , but to me her technique was far stronger than the other dancers and she was the deserved winner, taking a prize of £2,500.00.

Anniek had finished third last year , and is on the evidance of her dancing on Saturday , destined like the previous two winners to join the Royal Ballet.

Second place went to Nicholas Reeves , being given £1,500.00, and third place went to Laurance Rigg, he being given £500.00

The competition is scheduled again for next year , mainly due to the sponsorship of Ricki Gail Conway, and is a welcome competition on the London dance scene.

Hope this information has been of some use to you.

Take Care

David

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thank you david for telling how the competition went. i also wanted to thank you for posting the link, the only trouble is, that i can't find the article anywhere on that site!! :confused:

~SKIP~

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Guest David M

Hello Skip,

Sorry i did not have time to post a reply to you last night ( Monday ) , but I was at the ROH for R & J with Rojo and Mura , and after three hours standing watching the ballet , I was absolutely whacked, and went straight to bed when i got home.

Tonite though I have left the Royal Opera House elated after seeing another Romeo & Juliet, but this time being danced by one of the great dancers of her generation ( and she is only 20 yrs old) , yes the lovely Alina Cojocaru, partnered by J Kobburg, a wonderful partnershp.

The applause/ bravos/ whisling at the end of the performance was quite deafining , a truly appreciative audience was in attendance , for what is Alinas only Juliet this run.

I am not a great writer of reviews, but all I will say is, Alina is a most consulate actress/dancer , she is a performer of the highest quality , a star , who hopefully given the right guidance and coaching will be amongst the great ballerinas of all time.

Every movement / action / facial expression is thought out , and comes over not as acting , but as if she is Juliet for real.You believe in her for real , and at the end when she killed herself, i had bumps / pins and needles/ on my back/neck , she affected me so much.

The next time the R/B visit the USA, at the mere mention of Alinas name performong, do ANYTHING to get a ticket.

Any way back to the point of this reply.

To access more info on the ballet competition.

Ballet.Co

When you access the site , click Postings Pages

Click " Whats Happening"

Scroll down the topics till you see " The British Dancer of the Year "

Hit the first entry to access l the messages.

If you have any problem what so ever in accessing the info , leave a reply on this topic , and i will input all the info on Ballet . Co on this page .

I am off to bed tonite a very very happy person after seeing Alina as Juliet, seeing a performance as of the quality of tonites performanceo are what dreams are made of, something to be treasured in your mind.

Take Care

David

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Guest Scarlett2263

My daughter competed in the pre-competitive division of YAGP two years ago and attended as a supporter and workshop participant last year.

I wanted to respond to the comments re: what may have seemed like an unorganized event.

Each year has gotten better as issues come up and are addressed. It is still a relatively new competition with an obvious learning curve by its producers. I happened to observe much while sitting around waiting for the competition to begin. The first day the comp. was late but only because the people who had rented the space before YAGP were late in tearing down and leaving. This put everyone behind from the first day, it happens and was not the fault of the YAGP.

The issues with the music at the Grand Defile: until you insist that all music is produced on a cd...I don't know how you can avoid the problems that occurred here and even then you can't predict what will happen. I happened to be sitting next to a professional sound man and he was disgusted with the quality and the problems but when I explained that most of the music is brought in on cassette tapes by the students, he agreed that there is no way to know when a tape will decide it has seen its last day. He had suggested that the music could all be transferred to a master but how do you accomplish this when all decisions are made at the last minute as to who will dance and when. There just isn't time.

For Sarah Lane, if you read the article on competitions in the new Dance Magazine, it was a blessing in disguise that her music failed shortly into her variation. She was so brave and professional as she continued with nary a pause in silence and left the stage to a standing ovation, I will never forget who she is. She is now with the ABT Studio company. This competition and its unpredictable errors did her well, I'd say.

:(

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Guest Scarlett2263

Initially, I didn't see the point to winning a scholarship to a summer program that would have cost less than attending the NY comp. But what I have realized is not everyone spends as much to attend as I did and the scholarships awarded probably wouldn't have been given to some of these kids otherwise as was suggested in a previous post.

What I don't like is the fact that many of the same kids are offered scholarships to more than one program. I think this needs to be decided amongst the judges prior to the announcement and let them duke it out backstage as to who gets offered what. I don't know if that is feasible but it seems with so many kids competing you could at least spread the joy a little more. If someone doesn't accept the sholarship they should have an alternate from the competition who will get it. I imagine many of the scholarships go unused from YAGP. I don't know. I do know that my friend who has won a scholarship two years in a row from the same school and has attended both years, would never have been able to afford the program on her own and because of where she lives would never have auditioned for this particular school, so for her this was a wonderful and lucrative experience. Not only does she now have a relationship with a company school but she has gained invaluable performing experience in NYC. She comes from a very small school in the mid-west and has finished in the top 12 in the JR. division two years in a row. This type of competition, to me, is about who ends up with the job, not who walks away with the trophy. If you can be seen and do a good job of networking and proving yourself to be a professional beyond your years, as did Sarah Lane, and walk away with the contacts that will come in handy when you are ready for a job or even better walk away with the job...how can you fault the process?

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Hi, Scarlett and welcome to Ballet Talk here at Ballet Alert! Online!

As these last two posts were off-topic for Young British Dancers, I took them off and tried to figure out where to put them where they might do the most good right now, and decided to put them right back where I found 'em!

Don't be timid about opening up original threads - new members can do that from post #1! No Probation required! Just take awhile and nose around all the different things we have here, and play with all the bells and whistles. You'll catch on quickly, I know, to all the different places to discuss things.

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