We hate to blow our own trumpet but ....

Author Achias
Source Wikipedia
Creative Commons Licence

................ We come in at number 36 of the Top 60 Ballet Blogs & Websites Every Ballet Dancer Must Follow.  Not only that but we are number 3 in the UK. The British blogs and websites that are ahead of us are The Guardian's blog on the Royal Ballet which is number 3 in the world and English National Ballet's  at number 4. Blog numero uno, incidentally, is Ballet Reddit of San Francisco which has nearly 1.1 million Facebook and 452,000 twitter followers and ranks number 24 on Alexa.

The top 60 ballet blogs are chosen from thousands of top Ballet blogs in Feedspot's index using search and social metrics which are refreshed once a week. The latest update was 8 Feb 2017 which was at the start of our best month ever. According to Anuj Agarwal who keeps the index, the Top Ballet Blogs list is the most comprehensive list of best ballet blogs on the internet. He writes:

"I’m honoured to have you as part of this! I personally give you a high-five and want to thank you for your contribution to this world."

Apparently, blogs and websites are ranked on the following criteria

• Google reputation and Google search ranking
• Influence and popularity on Facebook, twitter and other social media sites
• Quality and consistency of posts.
• Feedspot’s editorial team and expert review.

I did not apply to be on this list and I paid nothing for the ranking. Indeed, I knew nothing about the listing or Mr Agarwal's website until this evening. But I am glad to be there and gladly return an electronic high-five to Feedspot. In acknowledging the ranking I need to thank my many contributors without whom this blog would be nothing.

We now have just under 300,000 page-hits, I expect the 300,000th this week or next. Our five top articles as of now are:

• Dawson's Swan Lake comes to Liverpool
• Dutch National Ballet Junior Company Auditions
• Hansel and Gretel in Newcastle - a bit like falling in love
• The Terpsichore Titles: Outstanding Young Dancers of 2016, and 
• Ballet West at the Beacon

Out top audiences are the UK, USA, Russia, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Ukraine, Italy, Australia and Canada. This is a tremendous boost to morale. We hope to raise our game and eventually take the #1 slot.