Ballet News | Straight from the stage – bringing you ballet insights

Cupcakes & Conversation with Ty King-Wall, Principal, The Australian Ballet What motivates you at 8am on a Monday morning ? Absolutely nothing! I get up at 8.30am….Not a morning person! If ballet chose you, as many dancers say it did, what is it that has made you stick with it ? Insanity, and a certain level [...]

Northern Ballet announces new programme for classical ballet graduates   Northern Ballet is launching an exciting new finishing year course for ballet graduates, designed by David Nixon OBE, Northern Ballet’s Artistic Director and Director of Northern Ballet Academy and Yoko Ichino, Associate Director of Northern Ballet Academy, to help bridge the gap between leaving full-time [...]

Cupcakes & Conversation with Andreas Kaas, Corps de Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet What motivates you at 8am on a Monday morning ? First of all, my morning coffee. I’m married to my Nespresso Machine. Right after that, what motivates is how excited I am to do class. I love to take class in the morning [...]

Cupcakes and Conversation with Yosvani Ramos, Principal, The Australian Ballet What motivates you at 8am on a Monday morning ? I make myself a double espresso coffee every morning as soon as I wake up. Couldn’t function without it! Why ballet ? There’s nothing else I’d rather do. Who would you most like to dance [...]

 Ballet Beautiful | TESTED I recently reviewed Ballet Beautiful, by Mary Helen Bowers but in addition to reading the book I wanted to fully test the routines and see how they would work.  Heather McGowan is a vocational ballet student with the Bolshoi Academy in Russia. On holiday for the summer, I asked Heather to read [...]

Cupcakes & Conversation with Clare Morehen, Principal, Queensland Ballet What motivates you at 8am on a Monday Morning? Routine. I am a routine driven person, which kicks in the second my alarm goes off at 7am on Monday morning. The thought of coffee initially gets my dazed body out of bed. Then it’s off to [...]

Cupcakes & Conversation with Jake Mangakahia, Corps de ballet, The Australian Ballet What motivates you at 8am on a Monday morning? My alarm ha ha! t’s the want or the need to feel prepared for a day of movement ,inspiration and creativity. Why ballet ? It’s fun, exciting, beautiful, adventurous and creative! The lifestyle of [...]

Royal Ballet Live | Highlights Last Friday, March 23rd, The Royal Ballet launched a first for them – Royal Ballet Live; a live streaming day showing daily class, rehearsals, interviews and an Insight Evening, with their media partner The Guardian. The trailer for Royal Ballet Live asked the question, “have you ever wondered what it takes [...]

Cupcakes and Conversation with Myriam Simon, Principal Dancer, Stuttgart Ballet What motivates you at 8 am on a Monday Morning? At first it is only the perspective of a big cup of coffee that gets me out of bed. But right after that comes the awareness that going “to work” for me is doing what [...]

Cupcakes & Conversation with Keian Langdon, Principal, Queensland Ballet What motivates you at 8am on a Monday morning? A strong espresso coffee always gets me going. I think about what the day and week will bring. It’s exciting to know that the work I put in each day will help me improve as a dancer [...]

Ballet News Reviews| Sophie Flack’s Bunheads Ex New York City Ballet dancer Sophie Flack’s debut novel, Bunheads, draws heavily on her own experiences of life within a ballet company at the Corps de Ballet level. Flack danced with New York City Ballet for nine years in the Corps. Bunhead, a pejorative term used to describe a [...]

Ballet News | Ballet Clinic For some time, the Ballet News Ballet Clinic has resided in the discussion tab on the Ballet News facebook page, but as I’ve been notified by facebook that it will soon remove this tool, and because we’ve had such a wealth of useful, practical information from teachers, dance students, ballet-goers, doctors [...]

Cupcakes & Conversation with Yasmine Naghdi, Artist, The Royal Ballet What motivates you at 8am on a Monday morning?  Knowing that I have a week ahead of me allowing me to move, that I can do what I love doing most of all and that I don’t have to sit still on an office chair all day long! Why [...]

The Everyday Dancer by the Royal Ballet’s Deborah Bull with illustrations by Millicent Hodson   First things first. You absolutely need to read this book. Deborah Bull knows her subject and will take you on a journey that you may be unfamiliar with – as a dance student (male or female) or the parent/guardian of [...]

Cupcakes & Conversation with Stephanie Williams, Corps de ballet, Het Nationale Ballet – Dutch National Ballet As we celebrate National Cupcake Week, please, be upstanding for cupcakes and raise your glass (or tea cup), while I hope you’ll enjoy this specially baked Cupcakes & Conversation. What motivates you at 8am on a Monday morning? What [...]

Cupcakes & Conversation with Lauren Rogers, Soloist, Cape Town City Ballet What motivates you at 8am on a Monday morning ? Some kind of errand I have to do before getting to work. Why ballet ? I’ve been doing ballet since I was 3yrs old, and it’s a passion of mine that never stops growing. [...]

Cupcakes & Conversation with Robert Gravenor, First Artist, Birmingham Royal Ballet What motivates you at 8am on a Monday morning? Meditation. I use it as a practical tool to develop concentration, awareness, mindfulness of the body, determination, and positive states of mind. Why ballet? Because it hurts. Who would you most like to dance with [...]

Cupcakes and Conversation with… well, you guess! Many cupcakes have been baked in order to make this on-going interview series with professional ballet dancers, and to celebrate I’ve picked out a selection of my favourite answers to make a uniquely flavoured cupcake! Each question has been answered by a different dancer this time – male and [...]

Cupcakes & Conversation with Robyn Hendricks, Soloist, the Australian Ballet  What motivates you at 8am on a Monday morning? I usually like to start my week off with an early morning Pilates session, especially after having a day off. It gets me motivated for the week ahead and is the best way for me to [...]

Sugar Plum moments with Northern Ballet Principal, Martha Leebolt I’m comparing toes with Cleopatra, a.k.a. Martha Leebolt, and it’s caught me slightly by surprise. How many prima ballerinas do you know who would, unprompted, whip off their shoes and show you their feet ? Leebolt’s are strong & tiny, with no discernable marks from a [...]