cygneblanc

Well, I'm curious to see what's going to happen for ballet in France. There is the official speech and from another point of view, you can see ballet is still very popular here, especially among teenagers. You can see that through the all the blogs and forums maintained by young people. As for Miss BL, I think she should be allowed to get retired early !

Yes, that's the school site. The level of the school isn't as good it used to be but it's still quite good though.

Well, Volcano, if we want to try to be objective about this promotion, I would say it may be an attempt to have a principal who can be injury-free during a full season.

He teaches some professional-level courses at Stanlowa's studio, one of the the famous studio here.

Well, I'm less than trilled, too..Anyway, congrats to Miss Cozette.

Jérémie Bélingard was promoted tonight after Don Quixote. That's an excellent for him, but I wonder why so many men are promoted, and not some women ?

Unfortunately, french TV didn't show him. Both Jeff Buttle and Stephane Lambiel had excellent choregraphied programs but for me the highlight of the night was really Jeff Buttle. He reminds me of Paul Wylie so much but still is a class of his own. It's a shame he fell twice It's great for french skating that our "Baboo" won though and his world title is well deserved. I was also very impressed with the Japonese skater that came in second. His speed was exceptional and he landed all the planned content, the only error being a hand on the ice at the landing of the quad toe. It was good to see Stephane Lambiel's competitive spirit seems to be there again. His program wasn't flawess but still good. He looks much more mature on the ice this year, maybe it's his spanish look ? I really wish that JW will come back stronger next year, because he's really talended and could accomplish so much. I Hope that "Kimminator" will do well tomorrow !

Good for both Kimmie and Emily I was impressed by Kimmie's demeanor and I like so much Emily's fighting spirit. I hope they will do well at Worlds

Thanks a lot Natalia Suguri's just too weak for COP. You need to have very strong elements and she hasn't. Although some of her jumps can be good, her spins, spirals and footwork are weak. This judging by element is questionable to my mind: you can have good elements, but not the complete package. I wonder how a program like Lu Chen's 1996 FS would be marked now. It was one the most beautiful FS of skating history, but I guess the spins, spirals and footwork would receive low levels. I hope Kimmie will recover.She seems to be a very hard worker and a well rounded teenager, which isn't always the case. But I can't wait to see Caroline Zhang and Mirai Nagasu at junior Worlds!

Would someone be kind enough to tell us his feelings about ladies short ? I saw that Kimmie Meissner is only in 6th place although both Emily Hughes and Alissa Czisny also missed one jump ? Was her layback that bad ?

As promised here (a bit latter, sorry) are my thoughts on this year competition Women Quadrille level Compulsory: Swan lake, act I, first variation of the Pas de Rois Result 1.Ludmila Pagliero, Promoted, Notre Dame de Paris, Act 1, Esmeralda’s variation ; 2.DaphnéGestin, Promoted, Suite en blanc, Flute’s variation 3.Eleonore Guérineau, Suite en blanc, Serenade’s variation Aubane Philbert, Four seasons, Spring’s variation 5. Pauline Verdusen Four seasons, Spring’s variation 6. Leila Dilhac Suite en blanc, Flute’s variation A very strange result for me and a major part of the audience. It reminds me figure skating so much ! I wonder what message the direction wants to send to POB school’s graduates and to school pupils. Miss Pagliero is a good dancer but to my mind she doesn’t deserve this promotion. She showed a very nice Esmeralda but her compulsory wasn’t that strong and some others were better overall. The two best dancers of the event were also the very youngest, barely 18 years old. Eleonore Guerineau was fabulous and was clearly the of leader of the field. She’s an excellent technician, has a lot of style and was flawess in a very difficult variation. Aubane Philbert’s choice was very appropriate for a young dancer full of freshness. She did well on the technical side, and was a joy to watch. She may sometimes need to be less affected, but it is just a minor flaw. Overall, the level of that class was rather homogeneous, and we saw a lot of very nice things, including Daphné Gestin’s Flute or Emilie Hasboun’s Gamzatti. Coryphée level Compulsory : Paquita, 2nd variation of the Grand Pas Result 1.Sarah Kora Dayanova promoted Les Mirages, Shade’s variation 2. Marie-Solène Boulet, promoted, Carmen 3. Laurène Levy, Four seasons, Spring’s variation 4. Sabrina Mallem Delibe’s Suite 5. Charline Giezendanner Jewels, Emerald, first variation 6. Lucie Clément The Bayadere, Act II, Nikya’s variation The results are rather in accordance with what was seen on stage. Kora Danyanova was a somptuous omber and her compulsory was strong. She was indisputably the best. Then, the results were closer. Marie-Solène Boulet was a spicy Carmen and her compulsory was good. Then both Laurène Levy and Charline Giezendanner, each in their own style were very beautiful but their compulsories were far from being perfect. But they could have been fished out because of their free variation. Men Quadrille level Compulsory: Don Quixote, Act I, Basilio’s second variation Result 1.Axel Ibot Promoted, Suite en Blanc’s Mazurka 2. Daniel Stokes Promoted Romeo and Juliet, Act one, Romeo’s first variation 3. Marc Moreau Etude’s Mazurka 4. Cyril Chockroun Manon’s, Avt I, Des Grieux’ variation 5.Fabien Révillon The Bayadere, act II, Solor’s variation 6. Grégory Dominiak Carmen’s, Don Jose variation The winner was clearly the leader of his level. He was the only one with a flawess compulsory and showed a great musicality and a great elegance during his free variation. The results were very close between the second and third place. Daniel Stocke sense of drama probably made a small difference in his favor. Coryphée level Compulsory Swan Lake, Act I, Siegfried’s slow variation Result 1. Mathias Heymann, Promoted, Don Quixote, Act I, Basilio’s first variation 2. Audric Bezard Promoted Appartment, TV sequence 3. Sébastien Bertaud Carmen’s, Don Jose variation 4. Grégory Gaillard Themes and Variations 5. Aurélien Houette Pas/ Parts 6.Vincent Chaillet Our Lady of Paris, Act I, Frollo’s variation Mathias Heymann, only 19 years old, was ahead of everyone without discussions. He reminds me of his fellow Mathieu Ganio. What an elegance, what a technician, and overall what an artist! You’ll hear about him soon! Audric Bezard’s choice is a bit unusual for someone who hopes to get promoted (I mean that usually dancers with such choices are rather older dancers who compete only for their pleasure and to dance something they really want to dance), but this time it paid. He was very convincing in his free variation but his compulsory was weaker, and overall, I thought Sebastien Bertaud was better because since these two dancers are quite close, and Mr. Bertaud’s compulsory was a bit better. Sujet level Compulsory: The lady of the Camelias, act II, Armand Duval’s variation 1.Christophe Duquenne, promoted, Other’s dances, first variation 2. Stéphane Bullion, Speaking in tongues 3. Nicolas Paul Approximate Sonata 4. Florian Magnenet, Suite en Blanc’s Mazurka 5. Bruno Bouché, A suite of dances, 2nd variation 6.Simone Valastro, Dance at a gathering, first variation of the dancer wearing brown. Finally, Christophe Duquenne was rewarded and is the clear winner ! He could show all of his acting skills in his compulsory which was better than his free (still very good by the way). And then, I don’t know what really to say. The overall level was very homogeneous, a lot of contemporary choices. Nobody was bad but nobody was really good. The results may looked strange, as I think Julien Meyzindi deserved to be ranked. And it was still nice to see Gil Isoard compete, although the wasn’t in his best shape!

I guess it isn't because a lack of interest from him but rather because of some injuries. He's still young as a choregrapher. I really like some of his works as Peches de Jeunesse or Quaternaire, but Bergamasque looks too much like Tchaikovsky's Pas de Deux. He has still to find his own style but I think he will be an excellent choregrapher in the next few years.

Yes, she was but deserved to be promoted as well Eleonore Guerineau. Estelle: women 14 quadrilles and 10 coryphées competed men 13 quadrilles, 8 coryphées and 9 sujets

And the ladies results Sujets: 1 Sarah Kora Dayanova is promoted 2 Marie-Solène Boulet is promoted 3 Laurène Lévy 4 Charline Giezendanner 5 Sabrina Mallem 6 Lucie Clément coryhées 1 Ludmila Pagliero is promoted 2 Daphnée Gestin is promoted 3 Eléonore Guérineau 4 Aubane Philbert 5 Pauline Verdusen 6 Leila Dilhac More to come later ! I'M sad for Aubane Philbert

I'll try to write a detailed review tomorrow after the ladies' competition with all the compulsories for each level No, it isn't the first time the men and women don't compete the same day. It has been done that way since the last year, but before, the competition was held during only a long and tiring day! All promotions are to my mind deserved and are reflecting what the dancers did on stage today, which for me hasn't always been the case in the past. I only hope that Gil Isoart will soon get promoted if he choose to compete again (He wasn't in his best shape today).

The cast is: Albrecht : Nicolas Le Riche Giselle : Laetitia Pujol Hilarion : Wilfried Romoli Myrtha : Marie Agnes Gillot I think but I may be wrong that E. Thibault will dance the peasants' pas de deux with Myriam Ould Braham or Aubane Philbert.

Men "Premiers danseurs" (one position) 1 Christophe Duquenne is promoted 2 Stéphane Bullion 3 Nicolas Paul 4 Florian Magnenet 5 Bruno Bouché 6 Simone Valastro "Sujets" (2 positions) 1 Mathias Heymann is promoted 2 Audric Bezard is promoted 3 Sébastien Bertaud 4 Grégory Gaillard 5 Aurélien Houette 6 Vincent Chaillet "Coryphées" (2 positions) 1 Axel Ibot is promoted 2 Daniel Stokes is promoted 3 Marc Moreau 4 Cyril Chockroun 5 Fabien Révillon 6 Grégory Dominiak Kudos and thank you to all of the ones who competed today. Good luck to the women's for tomorrow, and especially to a very special young lady !

Students that are ill or injured the day of the exam are usually allowed to take the exam later. They begin the new school year in their previous levels and take the exam at the end of the first semester. If they pass, they're are promoted to the the next level. If they don't, they repeat their year.

Well, I think that featuring two full scales work in december is a financial issue, but to my mind that can be asserted because it bas been shown in the past that both Giselle and Coppelia always attract wide audiences and are almost always sold out, whenever they're scheduled.

Yes, the compagny has about 150 dancers, but a lot of them don't perform in classical productions, so even in the corps they aren't enough healthy dancers and school pupils and or/ dancers with non permanent positions are performing in most of the classical productions. And for the soloists, I guess there can be a lot of possible explanations, but one can wonder if dancing in so many different styles in a very short time is good for their bodies ? And aren't they dancing too much ?

I've been said at "the salon du livre" in march that this book will be available again in a new updated edition in december 2006.

Estelle: I know that Yann Chailloux studied at the school of Marseille under Marie-Claude Pietragalla but nothing more.. Had one year contracts : Fanny Gorse, Marine Ganio-Khalfouni, Béryl de Saint-Sauveur, Marina Guizien, Cynthia Siliberto Had contracts just for the Lake: Amandine, Valentine, Lucie and Claire, and some others girls from the first division. GWTW: Lucie Fenwick is french, and so are her parents. She was born in France, raised up here, and is in the POB since she's 11. I don't know Glynn Scott, so i can't say anything about him but he isn't a well-known name here.

The one year contract can be renewed if you do well and have a good ranking at the external compeitition each year, but such a contract won't secure a place in the corps for a full year. You'll dance only if there are some needs and these contracts aren't given much value by school pupils. They choose to spend an extra year in the school because this is the only way to be able to try out for the internal competition and permanent positions which aren't often offered at the external compeition although it's always been the case the last few years. Most of the girls (Laurene Levy, Eleonore Guerineau, Amandine Albisson) that won permament positions at the internal competetion recently, were repeating their year. Thus, they're very young (about 16) when they're trying out so it's conceivable that spending one more year in the school cant be bad.

Editing is done. There may be some erros in the boys year, since I don't know them as well as the girls. Everyone on the second list(girls) is a POB alumni but Yui Ihari

Yes, Estelle, I will post only the results list since the full list of candidates with more than 100 names isn't public (but the results are) Internal competition Girls 1. Amandine Albisson-Pivat 2. Louise Djabri 3. Valentine Colasante 4. Marie Piot 5. Jennifer Visocchi 6. Lucie Fenwick Boys 1. Mathieu Botto 2. Yvon Demol 3. Jean-Baptiste Chavignier 4. Alexandre Gontcharouk 5. Benjamin Husson External competition Ladies 1. Valérie Colasante (graduate of this year class) 2. Fanny Gorse (2005) 3. Claire Gandolfi (graduate of this year class) 4. Jennifer Visocchi (graduate of this year class; probably will repeat her year) 5. Yui Ihari 6. Marie Piot (graduate of this year class; probably will repeat her year) 7. Marine Ganio-Khalfouni (2005) 8. Lucie Fenwick (2006) 9. Louise Djabri (2006) 10. Cynthia Siliberto (2003) 11. Lydie Vareilhes ( a case that will be settled by Miss Platel) 12. Marina Guizien (2005) 13. Béryl de Saint-Sauveur (2004) 14. Louise-Adélaïde Boucaud (graduate of this year class; probably will repeat her year) Men 1. Yann Chailloux 2. Allister Madin (2005) 3. Jean-Baptiste Chavignier (2006) 4. Alexandre Labrot 5. Yvon Demol (2006) 6. Aubert Vanderlinden '(2004 ?) 7. Eris Nezha 8. Glyn Scott 9. Anatole Babenko 10. Quentin Roger 11. Claudio Cangialosi 12. Benjamin Husson (2006) For the parents: I would say a few of them are quite realistic, but not the majority. I guess it has something to do with the fact that the majority of the kids are from some very elitist backgrounds, and their parents ideas are very french in this way, a bit like "My son will enter the X school. If he doesn't, then he won't be my son anymore.." The EU rules may have an influence, but I don't believe it's the main factor. The POB could be very well open the competition to everyone and then give only the positions to POB school trained dancers, french or not..That's not what they do..