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Finals for lower school - few questions


amos73

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Now we have got over the stress of waiting for the Royal email dragon to rouse itself etc etc etc, DD has started to ask - what will I have to do at the final auditions for Elmhurst and Tring?

 

Can anyone who did these last year enlighten us? 

 

 

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My daughter did Elmhurst last year. They all saw the physio and they tested for hypermobility (see swayback knees thread, there's some pictures) and she said they had to do a plie in parallel and see if their knees touched the wall. No idea what she means!

They did a ballet class and had a tour. The results came in about a week.

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My daughter did Elmhurst last year. They all saw the physio and they tested for hypermobility (see swayback knees thread, there's some pictures) and she said they had to do a plie in parallel and see if their knees touched the wall. No idea what she means!

They did a ballet class and had a tour. The results came in about a week.

 

 

So, the thing I'm not clear about is are they looking for a degree of hyper mobility? i.e. if they get all 9 it might not be a good sign, but if they got some it would be? If they weren't hypermobile at all would that be as much of a black X as being too HM??

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Do the do the same kind of flexibility tests as they did in prelims? Or are they happy with the people's flexibility who they have taken through to finals anyhow, and just want to see them do a class against each other?

 

Oh, audition gods, please enlighten!

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I wish I knew! My daughter is definitely not hypermobile and has to work quite hard at her flexibility although from reading the other post she has swayback knees and elbows. I did wonder if this went against her last year but she has got through to finals again and I'm assuming they look at last year's physio report.

You can drive yourself mad trying to work it all out ????

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I think you can tie yourself in knots wondering what they will be looking for at the finals.

It is a long time since my dd did lower school finals but what I remember from her reporting back from the physio part in order of importance to her at the time were the physio's dog was in the room, she had to take her tights off and she had her turn out range tested. They must have looked at hypermobility too as I know she had to do the thumb to wrist test, she isn't hypermobile in this joint or her knees but is very much so in others.

I can't remember her saying anything about the actual class so imagine it wasn't something that she felt beyond what she had done at prelims.

Having lunch with the current students, being shown around the school and boarding houses featured highly for her.

My lasting impression of the day was the fierce competition stretching that was going on in the foyer by the other candidates whilst I watched and my dd sat reading a book!

This was seven years ago and from what I remember the auditionees were spilt into 3 groups, one group did ballet, one physio and one the academic tests (don't know if these still happen) then they swapped around.

Good luck to all.

 

Edited to add that parents were not in the Elmhurst physio. After a tour of school/boarding house we had to leave the dc for the day.

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My lasting impression of the day was the fierce competition stretching that was going on in the foyer by the other candidates whilst I watched and my dd sat reading a book!

 

We've come across that a few times as well ;)

 

One of the other things dd remembers from her Tring physio is that she was asked to stand on one leg with her eyes closed to see how long she could balance. It isn't easy - I've tried it!

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Are you supposed to stretch before an audition, we were strongly advised not to by dds teacher as the first stretch of the day is usually the best X

Dd didn't at her lower school audition, I was just amused/horrified by what I was witnessing. At upper school auditions the arrival time allowed for a warm up, some stretched others tended to follow a routine of exercises.

In class the teacher allows time for stretching after the barre but before the centre work. By end of barre they are warmed up.

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You may well drive yourself mad asking what they are looking for - the X factor - I used to call it !

It's impossible to say ...and differs from school to school.

I now think that hey have X places so they choose the children that are most likely to benefit from their particular training methods and goals . It may be a combination of many attributes including flexibility and musicality or versatility - perhaps something undefinable - stage presence ?! Just remember it's personal preference of the panel so what might not interest one school , may interest another and it changes over time - so just go and try to enjoy the experience and manage expectations to avoid disappointment as the number of places are always smaller than the number of gifted children !!

All the best everyone !

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