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DD is currently sorting her stuff out for Ballet West her  first summer school of summer 2017, I am sure she has a bedroom floor! She is wondering if she needs her character shoes- any of you who have previously been does she need them ? They aren't on the list and she hasn't used them since she took her Grade 8 but she is convinced she 'might' need them. We are flying up to Glasgow so I really don't want her filling her bag with unnecessary shoes when I could be add extra snacks etc 

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4 hours ago, Pointetoes said:

DD is currently sorting her stuff out for Ballet West her  first summer school of summer 2017, I am sure she has a bedroom floor! She is wondering if she needs her character shoes- any of you who have previously been does she need them ? They aren't on the list and she hasn't used them since she took her Grade 8 but she is convinced she 'might' need them. We are flying up to Glasgow so I really don't want her filling her bag with unnecessary shoes when I could be add extra snacks etc 

Dd will be at Ballet West next week too. She has never owned a pair of character shoes, so hopefully not necessary! 

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Character shoes not necessary! Lessons will be any combination of : ballet, pointe, rep, jazz, contemporary, Pilates/body conditioning. Just take plenty of leotards,

black tights and maybe some tops and sports bras for jazz. I'll be going week 4 if anyone else is also going that week?! X

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1 hour ago, BadBallerina said:

Character shoes not necessary! Lessons will be any combination of : ballet, pointe, rep, jazz, contemporary, Pilates/body conditioning. Just take plenty of leotards,

black tights and maybe some tops and sports bras for jazz. I'll be going week 4 if anyone else is also going that week?! X

Thank you.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Sadly we did not get to attend bw summer school this year but her friend is attending this final week and said that they were met by current students who are training and performing? Is this true, seems like a good opportunity to train along side current students. Dd is hoping to audition there this coming session can anyone shed light on the standard of the current students as I know very little about training there and style ect. Was the summer school just ballet?

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Yes my dd got to dance with the current students at SS last week. She said their standard was high - bit vague.

 

They did ballet/rep/contemporary and body conditioning.

 

There is a thread on here for BW questions which some current students respond to. Maybe try there? 

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53 minutes ago, Twiggy said:

Sadly we did not get to attend bw summer school this year but her friend is attending this final week and said that they were met by current students who are training and performing? Is this true, seems like a good opportunity to train along side current students. Dd is hoping to audition there this coming session can anyone shed light on the standard of the current students as I know very little about training there and style ect. Was the summer school just ballet?

Dd just back from 2 weeks at Ballet West. She really enjoyed it. Did ballet/rep and contemporary first week, ballet/rep and jazz second week - she thinks it’s jazz again for week 4 - loved the jazz teacher, very lively and taught them a fab routine! Some of the current students are around rehearsing their genee entries. Several of them performed their solos for us during the Friday afternoon show. Dd says they were in a couple of classes, but not many, but they were around to chat to. The solos were very impressive - all en pointe, but many felt quite contemporary/modern, which I liked. Apparently they are hoping to build some nice new studios. 

 

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On 8/12/2016 at 13:39, amos73 said:

I spoke to highly respected and experienced dance physio recently about this who said she felt it was important for DC to have down-time over the summer holidays, she said exactly what your DS said Meadowblythe, they grow over the summer if they have time to rest. She also said there is a risk of over training if the DC don't get some time off. Her opinion was a week or two of good quality summer school and some open classes was more than enough for DD who is 11 and going into year 7 at vocational school in September.

 

I can see how the value of doing summer schools abroad as well, plus in year before applying for upper schools can imagine important to do more. Apart from anything else we can't afford to do any more than we are with all the costs associated with full time training!


in the 'bad old days'  when  women;s  serious  gymanstics was  turning into girls  gymansitcs(they now have quite  strong  minimum age limits)  missing training or an injury was 'career ending' in that  they might grow  or start developing boobs etc ...  but this  has to be  considered in the  realms of the  western orld doing everythign they could within the  rules to remain competitive with the  communist  propaganda sports machine 

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  • 2 weeks later...

DD just finished RBS 2 week summer school in Covent Garden. She thoroughly enjoyed herself and the standard of the show at the end was, I thought, high. The classes included stage craft, repertoire, pas de deux, ballet and new creations. PDD was with older boys. Mostly taught by RB dancers or ex dancers and not teachers of the school. She was en pointe for nearly all of the day and got through two pairs of new pointe shoes in two weeks. This year her age group (16) seemed to be the youngest apart from a few international girls who had been moved up a year. There were a handful of UK dancers but they were few- mostly it was international. Dare I say, I felt a more serious summer school than POB which she attended last year.

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2 hours ago, Harwel said:

Just picked DS up from a lovely week at OPES.  Great end of week performance.  We've talked all the way home and he has had a fantastic week, great teaching and lots of encouragement.  Thank you OPES team. 

Glad to hear he's had a great week -I'm looking forward to collecting this time next week :)

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3 hours ago, Harwel said:

Just picked DS up from a lovely week at OPES.  Great end of week performance.  We've talked all the way home and he has had a fantastic week, great teaching and lots of encouragement.  Thank you OPES team. 

 

Picked DD up this afternoon too! Super performance and a very happy, but tired little girl! She loved meeting new friends and was so busy watching everyone that she forgot she was meant to be on the stage at the start of the last number and so everyone had to wait for her!!! Oops! Thank you OPES team from us too x

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Just collected DD from Elmhurst. First ever time. Loved it. Teachers, staff and more importantly her peers. Mixed abilities which did surprise me slightly. Not sure if that is the norm. 

Also attended ENBS SS . Performances st the end of each week were amazing. 

Certainly exhausting last month. Now for a little down time before own dancing schools summer workshop. Before we know it it will be September and a new term. Did someone say this was the summer hols?.  Lol😉😂

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I finished my 2 weeks at OPES on Friday (now am in the middle of Scottish woodlands and mountains!) and enjoyed every minute! The teaching and classes were faultless... The teachers pushed you as hard as possible while still making he class a joy to take. I have improved so much, what with lots of general and individual corrections, and have learnt to love other forms of dance: contemporary, commercial, ceilidhs.... (Though not quite as much as ballet 😉) the repertoire we learnt was truly gorgeous, the oldest students doing lots of pas de deux and pointe, and the middle students also doing pointe (my group) and there was a very good mix of vocational and non-vocational, but there were no cliques!  The beds were comfy, everybody friendly, the food good and I have to praise the laundry! All my washing was freshly ironed and washed within 2 hours! 

I would definitely recommend OPES to all dancers with a passion for ballet!

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On 23/07/2017 at 22:07, sarahw said:

Yes my dd got to dance with the current students at SS last week. She said their standard was high - bit vague.

 

They did ballet/rep/contemporary and body conditioning.

 

There is a thread on here for BW questions which some current students respond to. Maybe try there? 

 

Did she have enough to eat this time?

 

Dd has just returned from a summer school where she was left hungry (not allowed to take own snacks). It was a very interesting experience. 

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6 minutes ago, Picturesinthefirelight said:

 

Did she have enough to eat this time?

 

Dd has just returned from a summer school where she was left hungry (not allowed to take own snacks). It was a very interesting experience. 

My DD said there was a constant supply of food left out for them all day - fruit, bread, cereal. She took pkeanty of snacks with her but simply didn't need them. During her breaks she woukd pop into the kitchen and get some fruit etc She said they had realised they need to offer more. Apparently one of the funniest sights ( although she didn't see it because she wasn't staying in the house ) was the younger ones forming the 'toast train' every evening before they went to bed. 

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That sounds good (& what Dd has experienced at all ofthe other 5 summer/Easter schools she has been to over the years) 

 

This year she found only one meal option available (no salad bar/alternative option) strictly no seconds & no snacks apart from a biscuit mid afternoon. Not even a piece of fruit available in the evening once tea was over. 

 

 

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12 minutes ago, Picturesinthefirelight said:

That sounds good (& what Dd has experienced at all ofthe other 5 summer/Easter schools she has been to over the years) 

 

This year she found only one meal option available (no salad bar/alternative option) strictly no seconds & no snacks apart from a biscuit mid afternoon. Not even a piece of fruit available in the evening once tea was over. 

 

 

That's awful 

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On 8/6/2017 at 10:47, Flora said:

 This year her age group (16) seemed to be the youngest apart from a few international girls who had been moved up a year. There were a handful of UK dancers but they were few- mostly it was international.

Hi, This year, for the first time the 14/15yr olds were catered for at WL instead of CG, which might explain 16yr olds being the youngest :)

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We've been to an intensive day at our own ballet school today but DS came back a bit disappointed. He said he was one of two boys there and in his words the teachers "loved" the other boy. When I asked him what he did he said, "just the easy stuff" He said it was totally geared up for the girls and the boys were left out of almost everything. Stating the only boy thing he did was learn a tour l'en air. Am I expecting too much for my 40 hard earnt quids??

I'd have liked to see a little bit of something at the end, even if it were just the getting certificates.

Hes back again tomorrow but just wondered if this is usual for workshops? We did a BRB one last year and it was only an hour and were invited in to see a little bit.

Disgruntled of Wales! xx

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21 minutes ago, MrsMoo2 said:

We've been to an intensive day at our own ballet school today but DS came back a bit disappointed. He said he was one of two boys there and in his words the teachers "loved" the other boy. When I asked him what he did he said, "just the easy stuff" He said it was totally geared up for the girls and the boys were left out of almost everything. Stating the only boy thing he did was learn a tour l'en air. Am I expecting too much for my 40 hard earnt quids??

I'd have liked to see a little bit of something at the end, even if it were just the getting certificates.

Hes back again tomorrow but just wondered if this is usual for workshops? We did a BRB one last year and it was only an hour and were invited in to see a little bit.

Disgruntled of Wales! xx

 

Was it a 2 day workshop? Maybe they'll do a little performance at the end? 

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No, ballet today, other styles the rest of the week. Going to sleep on it and may e mail the teacher once he finishes tomorrow just to let her know DS's perspective. I get that boys and girls learn differently and have different movements to perfect but surely a good teacher accommodates both?? xx

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I'm not sure it's always practical to let parents in to watch after just one day however, I definitely think that the teacher should accommodate boys and girls.  If they can't then they shouldn't mix the two. A great shame that your ds felt the teacher preferred the other boy, very demoralising and not very professional especially given the age of your ds.  Surely a day in the summer hols should have been about fun and encouragement, as well as technique. 

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2 hours ago, MrsMoo2 said:

We've been to an intensive day at our own ballet school today but DS came back a bit disappointed. He said he was one of two boys there and in his words the teachers "loved" the other boy. When I asked him what he did he said, "just the easy stuff" He said it was totally geared up for the girls and the boys were left out of almost everything. Stating the only boy thing he did was learn a tour l'en air. Am I expecting too much for my 40 hard earnt quids??

I'd have liked to see a little bit of something at the end, even if it were just the getting certificates.

Hes back again tomorrow but just wondered if this is usual for workshops? We did a BRB one last year and it was only an hour and were invited in to see a little bit.

Disgruntled of Wales! xx

Hi, Just wondering how old your DS is. Not that is should affect the way he was treated at all. Just curiosity.  Regarding a certificate, my DD's school along with many local others that I know of present certificates at the end of the workshop, how ever many days that may be. You might just have to wait until the workshop/summer school finishes.  Hope it all settles down for your son. 

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