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Questions about Upper School auditions


Anna C

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I’m awaiting the reference from dd school but would be very surprised if they told anyone, it’s being done by her head of year. Her close friends know about her Ballet and her Ballet ambitions , they are intersted and supportive whilst not fully understanding, so if she didn’t get in anywhere I doubt they would react either way, except I would hope to offer sympathy if dd was upset. Anyone outside her small friendship group wouldn’t know or care. Dd does a fair amount of dance at school and wants people to know it’s not just a hobby. She actually did a Ballet solo in the school annual eistedford completion just so everyone had an idea of what she does and how hard it is.I would also add she  very shy and quiet at school and only has 2 close friends. 

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Anyone any idea how long a Rambert preliminary audition lasts?? The email explains that the end time is very difficult to predict as some are asked to do solos or interviews or physio checks, so they advise not making any plans for the rest of the day. But we have to book a train to travel home that day, so with a 2.30pm start time what would be the latest finish?? 

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The audition process appears to have changed  since last year with the addition of a second stage. Last year applicants were also invited to a talk by the principal after doing the audition classes etc. Might be best to give them a call as I am sure they will understand about booking trains etc.

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The talk is before the classes now. Talk at 1.15pm, audition starts at 2.30pm. I’m surprised they are looking at solos and doing physio checks after a preliminary audition, but I suppose the more thorough they are with the first round the fewer people will be recalled, which means fewer people below the watershed wasting time and money on a second round, so no complaints :) 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 16 August 2017 at 08:37, arabesque1 said:

 

Hi 

hS anyone's daughter had offers from Northern Ballet fir September 18 ? My daughter has had an offer and just trying to find others. She will be 16 so would be good for her to know someone. 

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21 hours ago, Shellz said:

Hi 

hS anyone's daughter had offers from Northern Ballet fir September 18 ? My daughter has had an offer and just trying to find others. She will be 16 so would be good for her to know someone. 

Hi. My daughter has also been offered and accepted a place at NBS for next Sept.  She will only be 16 next July. 😊. Happy to receive private message if you wish to chat further. 😃

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On ‎15‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 15:52, balletbean said:

Hi. My daughter has also been offered and accepted a place at NBS for next Sept.  She will only be 16 next July. 😊. Happy to receive private message if you wish to chat further. 😃

Congratulations balletbean and super well done to your dd.

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3 hours ago, SwaybackSapphire said:

I wish everyone good luck during this emotional, tiring, reaching for the gin process.  You’ll get through it, trust me xxxxx 

I’m bracing myself for it!! Dd has only done one audition so far with an offer from Ballet West. 

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20 minutes ago, arabesque1 said:

I’m bracing myself for it!! Dd has only done one audition so far with an offer from Ballet West. 

Me too! Congrats on a successful start. We start on 8th Jan at Rambert! Have applied for 5 schools in total, so it's going to be a busy few months. No way am I attempting 'dry January'! 

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Hi all,

 

I have been reading this forum for a while and have finally made an account so that I can get advice for you'll. I'm 17 and auditioning this year to university dance courses and those at vocational schools which means that I am applying to 10 places! Crazy, I know!

 

Anyways I was hoping that anyone with experience of either the auditions for or actually attending any of the vocational schools I am applying to could give me any advice on them or just a bit about your experiences with them that would be really gratefully appreciated. I am applying to London Studio Centre, Rambert, Northern Ballet School, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Ballet West.

 

Oh also I have to wait till February to have my Ballet West audition due to my mum only being able to get time off work to go with me then and was wondering if when you have your audition for them affects your chances of getting in as I read early in this feed that someone has already got an offer from a November audition - will places be mostly offered by February?

 

Thank you all for your help, I have already had three of my University auditions but my first Vocational school one is next week and I am terrified that I'll be rubbish and rejected as I don't feel like I can face my dance teacher if I have to tell that at the end of doing all my auditions I haven't got an offer from anywhere.

 

Thanks again,

Willow

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Good morning WillowBallerina, a very warm welcome to the forum and a wonderful year to you! I believe that being worried and afraid not to be good enough for Upper schools is part of the process. Try not to think too much about the end during the audition but try and enjoy it as much as you can and show how much you like dancing instead...

 

There is a thread on LSC in here somewhere where you can get good information but if you need more, I have 2 DDs at LSC. Any specific question, don't hesitate!

 

Good luck!

 

PS Found it! 

 

 

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Hi WillowBallerina and welcome. I think its quite normal to feel afraid and worried that you are not good enough - most other candidates are probably feeling like that as well. I am sure your dance teacher is well aware of how tough it is to get in anywhere and will be supportive of you no matter what the outcome is. One thing to hold on to, is that a 'no' can be a 'not yet'. There are lots of accounts on this forum of people who got into their dream school  on their second or third attempt. As regards Ballet West, they do audition throughout the year, unlike other dance schools who have set audition dates; and will always have made a number of offers by the end of autumn term. That does not necessarily mean that everyone who gets an offer will end up going there.  Some applicants choose to audition there early to take the pressure off auditioning at Tring, Elmhurst, Hammond etc and those lucky enough to get multiple offers can only accept one of them in the end. I have been told from a credible source that Ballet West do generally have spaces available until around May - after all there would be no point in offering you an audition in February if they were already full. Do feel free to ask me if you have any more questions about BW as I have a dc there.

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Thank you all for the welcome!

 

Hi afab, thank you for the advice - could you possibly ask them about how they found the audition when they did it if they can remember?

 

Hi mnemo, thank you for the information - that has put me at ease about their offers. Do you think you could ask them about what the audition was like if they can remember?

 

I'm trying to get an idea of what to expect at the dance school auditions as I feel that my experience of University ones that I've had so far are quite different to what vocational school auditions will be like. 

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Hi, my daughter enjoyed it. She is 15 and felt she held her own. She also auditioned st Kate Simmons and gif idfered at both. She went back to Kate Simmons did a nursery audition and had been offered funding which we were surprised at. She has another in Feb so still deciding  

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Hi again, my daughters thought that LSC audition was very nice. Of course, an audition is always stressful but the overall feeling at LSC is people are nice so they're also nice for auditions. They don't put the level too high to see and teachers try to make people comfortable... DD1 was auditioning for MT so she did ballet, contemporary, jazz, singing and I think maybe a monologue. DD2 was auditioning for ballet so she did ballet, contemporary and jazz. 

I remember them being happy with the auditions after they finished... They felt they were given attention in a fair way...

Good luck!

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Thank you for the response afab. It sounds like your daughters had a great audition experience with LSC which puts me at ease for Friday, I look forward to it more now. Hopefully my experience will be similar and will too come out happy with it. Thank you for the information and the support!

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Kate Simmons pastoral care seems very good. She gave feedback on the day which was very useful and very constructive. I didn’t disagree with anything that she said. After 2nd audition she said she had wanted to see if my DD had adddressed the issues. 

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On ‎01‎/‎01‎/‎2018 at 00:50, WillowBallerina said:

Hi all,

 

I have been reading this forum for a while and have finally made an account so that I can get advice for you'll. I'm 17 and auditioning this year to university dance courses and those at vocational schools which means that I am applying to 10 places! Crazy, I know!

 

Anyways I was hoping that anyone with experience of either the auditions for or actually attending any of the vocational schools I am applying to could give me any advice on them or just a bit about your experiences with them that would be really gratefully appreciated. I am applying to London Studio Centre, Rambert, Northern Ballet School, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Ballet West.

 

Oh also I have to wait till February to have my Ballet West audition due to my mum only being able to get time off work to go with me then and was wondering if when you have your audition for them affects your chances of getting in as I read early in this feed that someone has already got an offer from a November audition - will places be mostly offered by February?

 

Thank you all for your help, I have already had three of my University auditions but my first Vocational school one is next week and I am terrified that I'll be rubbish and rejected as I don't feel like I can face my dance teacher if I have to tell that at the end of doing all my auditions I haven't got an offer from anywhere.

 

Thanks again,

Willow

Hi Willow, I can offer some  advice on Northern as my DD auditioned there back in November. The audition consisted of an intro talk and tour with parents. Then a ballet, pointe and jazz class. Followed by an interview and a physical assessment. She loved every minute of the day and I felt very comfortable with the school and the accommodation for the pupils. There are about 35 per year group so the school is small compared to others. Family feel as everyone knows each other across all the year groups. As well as offering RAD and ISTD exams they also offer the DDI qualification which is due to have a name change shortly as it will also incorporate the DDE. We waited just 8 days to hear of a confirmed place for this Sept. All schools are very personal to the pupil auditioning. No two schools appear to offer the same so it is hard to do a like for like comparison. It has a lot to do with your future career choices and the obvious location issue. Universities will offer less studio time compared to a vocational school. But then they offer a degree rather than a level 6 diploma, which by all accounts is the equivalent qualification anyway.  PS At the Northern audition there were 14 girls and the vast majority would be in yr11. But the mix may change as further auditions take place. You may well find the same at Ballet West as they focus on classical ballet rather than ballet, contemporary and Jazz. Funding is also another issue that may help you with your decisions. Universities, Conservatoires are funded differently to the Vocational schools but then I presume that your parents have looked into this matter. It is so hard when reality has to be included into anyone's dreams and aspirations. 

Good Luck. 

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Hi Balletbean,

 

Thank you for the information on your experience with Northern's auditions, it's really useful to hear - appreciated. It's great to hear that your DD found it really comfortable, that makes me feel better about mine and I like the sound of a family feel as I come from going to fairly small community based primary and secondary schools so that it what I have experienced in my education so far.

Yep I've looked into the different ways differnt places are funded - quite a headache as everywhere seems to have slight differences!

Thank you again for all the help and well done on your DD for getting an offer from NBS - that's awesome!

 

Thanks,

Willow

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Hi all!

 

I had my London Studio Centre Audition yesterday and I think it went well - fingers crossed! I still ache from it and have a few bruises to remember it by until they fade ;D

 

Anyways I have a blog and wrote a post on my experience on the audition and thought I'd post the link here in case it would be of any use to anyone else applying there if you are wondering what the audition is like. Here's the link: https://dancemoredances.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/london-studio-centre-audition.html

 

Hope that comes in useful for someone <3

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On 01/01/2018 at 18:09, Shellz said:

Hi, my daughter enjoyed it. She is 15 and felt she held her own. She also auditioned st Kate Simmons and gif idfered at both. She went back to Kate Simmons did a nursery audition and had been offered funding which we were surprised at. She has another in Feb so still deciding  

My DD now at KS and it’s the best decision we made. She is so happy there, teaching and care is outstanding.  Feels like an extended family which was important to us as DD a very young 16 (August baby!)

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Hey

7 hours ago, SwaybackSapphire said:

My DD now at KS and it’s the best decision we made. She is so happy there, teaching and care is outstanding.  Feels like an extended family which was important to us as DD a very young 16 (August baby!)

Hey, is your daughter doing the classical route or general dance. My daughter is worried whether it’s too classical as she is more of an all rounder xx 

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