taxi4ballet

Yes, I saw that on the BBC website and immediately thought of this forum!

POB

They already do.

The middle of the night is often when large organisations do regular system updates, so maybe that's the reason.

Aside from all else, changing it would cost rather a lot of money.

There's a vido clip taken during rehearsals on the EYB facebook page dated 9th August last year, and that has a variety of dancers of different ages in it.

I saw a sign while driving past a pub car park the other day. They are quite near a railway station and have presumably had trouble with commuters parking there in the past. Now I know what they were trying to say here, but... CAMERA-CONTROLLED CUSTOMERS ONLY 🤣

You don't have to re-apply, but I believe in certain circumstances it can be withdrawn, which basically has the effect of assessing you out. I do think they have to confirm your income level each year though, to ensure that you still qualify.

If you like contemporary and making up your own routines, or collaborating with others to choreograph group dances, fine. If the teachers have actually trained as dancers rather than as PE teachers with 'dance' as an add-on module as part of their teacher training, fine. If you are planning on staying at school to do A-levels and are considering A-level dance, and then going on to university to study some sort of dance course, fine. Otherwise, don't bother.

DD did it and it was a complete and utter waste of time. But then again, it might just have been the teachers at her school who weren't very good. I've heard of other people taking it at other schools and their experiences were entirely different. DD's GCSE dance teachers had a 'thing' against ballet for some reason, and treated it (and her) with utter disdain. The syllabus gives a choice of set works to study, all of the ones they did were contemporary, and they expected all choreography done by the students to be in similar vein. Bear in mind that, unlike music GCSE, you need no prior experience whatever to choose GCSE dance as an option, and there may be a number of students in the class with little or no prior dance training, and one or two who have chosen it as an easy option and have no real interest in the subject. That means that the standard of actual dance training during the course could be pitched at their level - ie adolescent beginner. You might also find that the school doesn't have a studio with a properly sprung dance floor. Not that I would want to put you off! 🤣

The higher grades give you UCAS points, and the vocational grades are a good grounding for the standard you need to be at if you are appying for vocational school, particularly the Adv levels, which you need to be at for upper school really. But as others say, syllabus exams and grades aren't necessary. They give you an idea of your level of achievement so far, but what really matters is the quality of teaching you are receiving.

This is pretty much it. In a nutshell. Some dance schools enter a lot of competitions, so I could understand that they would want commitment to rehearsals and competitions, especially in group dances, but if they have students who are really talented and need the opportunities and additional training that associate programmes offer, they should put the student's best interests first.

It was a few years ago now, but I think dd's cohort heard fairly quickly - within a couple of weeks.

The information is readily available to the general public via the Companies House website.

If school B doesn't do IF, then there will presumably be beginner pointe students in their Inter class. Would you be able to go for a trial lesson at each, and see how you like it? Us adults take things into account such as as journey time, ease of parking, the studio itself and whether we hit it off with the teacher and others in the class, so you might find that you prefer one over the other for reasons other than the actual class level.