balletmadmom

Hello, Just to give you a bit of information. My daughter left YDA in July and had been there for 5 years. She absolutely loved being there and got into Rambert School. In fact, she wished that there was a sixth form! There were six girls in her year who got into Elmhurst/Central and they all got great GCSEs too. About half the school (there are 50 there) are associates at Royal Ballet School. Way back, my daughter was a JA and was offered Elmhurst and Tring at 11, but we did not want her to board. YDA was recommended by a teacher at RBS associates and it was just perfect for us, as we live in NW London. There are scholarships, but even without that it is a fraction of the price of Tring. They also have their own associate scheme, on a Saturday afternoon, so it would give you an insight without leaping into vocational training. It is definitely worth auditioning and also they have evening classes at West London School of Dance, which a lot of student are in before graduating to YDA. My other daughter does WLSD and loves it. Do PM or reply if you want more information, but I would recommend contacting them. Good luck and take care.

Hello, YDA is Young Dancers Academy, a vocational school in West London and yes WL White Lodge, lots of abbreviations I know, sorry. We should have a little glossary, it took me ages to realise what DC meant, I kept thinking darling children, not dancing!

Having just finished SAs and done the whole JA/MA/SA system. My daughter auditioned in the last year of JAs and they took her and two others into the existing class that year. The other JAs in the class (London weekly) had been there for two years previously. Of this class (about 16/18) 6 were taken into White Lodge, with one also offer WL, two offered Elmhurst, two Tring for Year 7. My daughter turned down Elmhurst and went to YDA. At YDA, about half the school are Royal associates over the whole 5 years. In my daughter's year 5 out of 7 are SAs. Re: numbers, there used to be a weekly (about 18 students) and a fortnightly class. Not sure if this is still the case. In MAs and SAs, roughly about 16 in a class. No one from SAs this year got into Royal, but a couple got into ENB, some into Elmhurst, Rambert, Central, etc., two into Laines too. Definitely all different body shapes and heights. Along the way, from our school they took 8 students into WL in years 8 and upwards.

Hello Bou, My daughters have both done LCB a number of times. Basically the form normally comes out in July. It is £10 to audition and the auditions are in mid/late October and done by age group. The auditions are held at the Dance Attic in Fulham Broadway. The LCB Company are really lovely and the panel is made up of the Choreographer and the ballet mistress and the Artistic Direct. They do the audition and a recall on that day if successful. There are normally about 50 places and 600 audition. There is then a final audition in November and then you get a letter telling you whether you are in or not. In December there is casting and around Christmas time you find out your part. It is very democratic and everyone gets equal time on stage. The rehearsals are then on Sundays from January to April at the Dance Attic, 12-5 and sometimes they have a Sunday off. The only costs are £45 towards ballet shoes and another payment of about £35, but I cannot remember what for. Other than that, it is just buying the tickets. The Easter Holidays are a solid block of rehearsals and if you child is at state school, as mine were, they do not get any days off for the school holidays, except Easter Sunday. These are 10-5 every day at the Dance Attic and you sometimes may get a day off or a late call, but it is pretty full on. They are very clear in saying that it is a big committment and you cannot have time off. Finally, the performance week is in the Peacock Theatre in Holborn. They go to the theatre on the Tuesday evening and then all day Wednesday (11am-9pm) for technical and dress rehearsals. The performances are then on Thursdays (matinee for charity and evening for Premier), Friday (matinee for charity and then evening performance), then two performances on Saturday and Sunday. It is great fun and I have chaperoned every time and now still go back and help out, even though my daughters (one is too old) don't do it anymore. I really recommend it, I have stayed in contact with mums that I met 8 years ago and it really changed everything for my eldest daughter. We went when she was 9 for Jane Eyre. It transpired that some of the other girls were JAs, which we knew nothing about. My daughter then auditioned for JAs and got in for the last year. She auditioned for Elmhurst the next year and got in, but we turned it down. She went on to MAs and YDA, a vocational day school. Eventually to SAs and is about to join Rambert in September. All because of LCB!

Just to wish GOOD LUCK to all of the DC who are auditioning at YDA this Sunday. My DD is coming to the end of her 5 years at YDA and she will be so sad to leave. It has been truly wonderful for her and so nuturing. The 5 years have flown and DD has ENB, Elmhurst and Central finals and Rambert in March, so onwards and upwards.

Just to wish GOOD LUCK to all of the DC who are auditioning at YDA this Sunday. My DD is coming to the end of her 5 years at YDA and she will be so sad to leave. It has been truly wonderful for her and so nuturing. The 5 years have flown and DD has ENB, Elmhurst and Central finals and Rambert in March, so onwards and upwards.

Also, all the others in year 11 at YDA are doing brilliantly with Royal, ENB, Central, Elmhurst, Tring finals and also Stuttgart.

Just to wish GOOD LUCK to all of the DC who are auditioning at YDA this Sunday. My DD is coming to the end of her 5 years at YDA and she will be so sad to leave. It has been truly wonderful for her and so nuturing. The 5 years have flown and DD has ENB, Elmhurst and Central finals and Rambert in March, so onwards and upwards.

Re: Central. DD did the December audition and it was about a week and the yes came by letter.

So just to confirm that DD did get the no for royal finals, as expected, so eating my knickers is not necessary! Still she is very lucky with ENB, central and elmhurst finals.

Che sera sera... It is a tough, highly competitive, elitist profession and we just want it to be as pleasant as possible for them. I do believe that they will all get the place at upper school that is right for them... The problem will be whether can we actually afford it!

Clearly Royal is more like marmite than we would have thought. No one gets it right all the time, but these students have worked hard to get to this point and it should be a good experience for them. It is the duty of the panel not to look bored or disinterested, as that is very disheartening. Last year a friend's dd heard the panel dismissing her during the audition! Not a nice experience. Ballet is tough and it should not be made tougher.

Thanks but there was a general feeling amongst my dd and her friends that their interest was directed at a few students in particular and that they were barely noticed. It was not nerves or stress but just their honest opinion. They have all been to enough auditions over the years to be able to judge and it was not just one person who felt this way. I actually also saw a student and a mum of another in tears after the audition. I think we perhaps all need to stop tugging a forelock, they do not get everything right and the fact they could not look genuinely interested in the those auditioning is unprofessional.

Ha ha legseleven, good point. However, due to the lack of interest, I feel that the only letter could be a no. If it turns out to be a yes, I will eat my knickers! However, it would prove that they could appear both dis and un interested, whilst actually being interested, quite a feat. One would hope that the new artistic director would be at finals, after all they are going to be his students in September. I would not even want someone to order my dinner for me, let alone decide something as major as this.

Uninterested or disinterested, either way they lacked interest and it was obvious. The new AD may be employed abroad, however, one would hope that when taking over such a huge role, he could pop over for a day to cast an interested eye over the 100 or more students who are paying their £35 to be looked at with interest!