Scott McKenzie

[ERinVA]

Thanks for the information Keith. Excellent news! Well done, Scott!!

[porschesrule]

Scott's fans will be happy to know he hasn't forgotten how to do fouettes as this video will attest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYvpftMZ ... re=g-all-u

32 in all!!!

[Billy Whiz]

So Christmas is only 6 weeks away so I thought I would get everybody in the mood. Here is a JibJab cartoon that I have added the last 5 Billys faces to. If you click on the bottom right of the video it will enlarge to full size. Make sure you have the sound on as well. I hope you like it.

http://www.jibjab.com/view/_PPB8OKJRdCa1QmKSCix9w

[jacob]

Congratulations Scott

This afternoon the semi final of The Young British Dancer of the Year was held at the RBS in Covent Garden. Scott has qualified for the Final which will be held in the Linbury Studio at The Royal Opera House next Saturday evening.

Well done.

Review to follow.

[ERinVA]

Thanks, jacob. Congratulations to Scott indeed! Looking forward to your review.

It appears that the Final on March 9 is sold out at this point:

http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/young ... let-school

[jacob]

The Competition is known as YBDY 2013 and there are cash prizes for the three winners. Winners in previous years have gone on the become Principal Dancers at the Royal Ballet so the event is highly prestigious. There were 11 participating Ballet schools who entered candidates this year with the preliminary heats yesterday and the semi final today. The majority of contestants in the semi final were from the RBS.

The semi final was held in the RBS studio theatre which I imagine would otherwise be used for classes. There were thirty-two contestants this afternoon (19 girls and 13 boys) aged between 15 and 17. Unfortunately one of the boys had to withdraw during the contest owing to injury. The first part of the afternoon was given over to Class. We were told that the Class was not judged but the jury did retire afterwards! I should say that the dancing was classical ballet throughout.............no 'street' or 'contemporary.' This Class consisted of about 15 separate sequences in which the dancers danced in groups of four or five. It lasted well over an hour and was a gruelling test for each dancer. As in a school class each piece was danced to piano with the dance teacher coordinating the change overs. Scott fitted into his group well and was confident with the wide range of techniques introduced across the pieces. The tempo gradually increased until there were short extracts of Scott Joplin style Rags. Scott wore a blue dance costume whereas most of the other boys wore black tights with a black or white top. I noticed how the girls smiled much more than the boys during their routines.

After an interval, each contestant danced a brief Variation of their own choice with their chosen costume. Most pieces were variations from classical ballets such as Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadere, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Giselle etc. Scott danced a Variation from Pas de Six, Napoli Act 3. I shall deliberately avoid making any critical comments of individual dancers as I feel it would be inappropriate for me to do this for young dancers who all have abundant talent and promise. In a way I felt the boys had more opportunity for dramatic impact as their roles were assertive and masculine whereas the girls more closely fitted their classical roles as 'princesses'. There was some very fine dancing with an emphasis on pointe work. Scott may not have the height of some of the other boys but his technique was impeccable and his costume delightfully classical.

There followed an interval of at least 30 minutes during which the judges debated their scoring. We were not given any actual scores but after a nail biting wait the names of the sixteen finalists were announced. Scott had reached the Final!

The semi-final was staged in the most professional way as one would expect from the RBS. I found the depth of dance talent to be very impressive. Thank you to Scott and everyone else involved with the afternoon......................and good luck for Saturday.

[Billy Whiz]

Thank you for that informative report jacob. It is greatly apprecaited by those of us who cannot make it.

Will you be at the finals next week?

[ERinVA]

Yes, thanks for the report, jacob. It makes me wish there were a video to watch.

[jacob]

Thank you for that informative report jacob. It is greatly apprecaited by those of us who cannot make it.

Will you be at the finals next week?

I think it unlikely that I shall be at the Final................but you never know

[Deanfan5]

Thanks Jacob for that very thorough resume. I do not have the ballet gravitas that you have but I thoroughly enjoyed the semi finals as well. As you say it was very taxing in the demands it made on all the young dancers. Like Liam, Scott clearly carries the deportment of a well trained dancer and with his individual costume I think he really held the eye of the audience and the judges when he performed his routines. The chairman of the judges said that all the semi finalists were winners whether they progressed or not to the final and that we were watching the next generation of dancing talent in the UK. Scott was always a very inspiring Billy with his dance and there is no doubt in my mind that he will do well. It was really nice to see how he has progressed as he stands at the cusp of his career in dance. Good luck to Scott for Saturday and to his Mum who is coming down for the final to support him. Like you I wish there were tickets available.