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Questions about Upper School auditions


Anna C

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They keep back from each session so I believe some were kept back from the morning and did their solos before the afternoon auditions then five kept back from the afternoon session.

It's all very daunting and so much pressure for them we are still in the midst of auditions/funding etc

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Dd did Hammond audition yesterday with all of the current yr11 who wished to audition, plus a couple of external candidates. It started with ballet class (quite challenging, but possibly because it was mainly internal students dd said) followed by contemporary class and physio assessment. The panel (2 school directors and a range of staff who came and went for various aspects of the audition) then made decisions about who should go through to the afternoon and those who did presented their 32 bars of 2 different songs, Shakespearean and post 1960 monologue, dance solo and brief interview. Parents had information briefing from dance administrator, head, A level coordinator and accommodation manager and then a brief look at a dance class and tour for those who wanted it. Dd was one of the first to finish (we are at the end of the alphabet and they started the monologues and interviews in reverse alphabetical order) and she was through at 4.00pm. We were told that results would be out by letter 'quickly' and successful auditionees will go forward to April funding audition. Information on funding was that it looks good this year, with hopefully enough dada or bursary (Max 50% bursary) for all those offered support after the funding audition. School has applied for an additional pot of money just before Christmas and is waiting to hear the outcome. Please pm me if you would like more detailed information and I will help if I can.

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Do you have any idea approximately what proportion of candidates go through to the afternoon?  I appreciate that this may be slightly different than usual if as you said, that particular audition day was mostly internal candidates.

 

The funding situation sounds promising.

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Do you have any idea approximately what proportion of candidates go through to the afternoon? I appreciate that this may be slightly different than usual if as you said, that particular audition day was mostly internal candidates.

 

There was just one cut from the group of 18 yesterday, but as you say, it might be a slightly innacurate reflection. I think from what I have heard about previous auditions, it is generally a minority rather than majority.

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Thank-you.  We are a little way from beginning the process for Upper School just yet but my daughter wants to go the musical theatre route and so a consideration will be whether potential colleges consider the level of dance first before they even get to see the acting/singing and vice versa.  If a college is stricter in cutting on the ballet then that may not be the place for her to audition.

 

One final question, was pointe work involved.  My daughter gets good marks in her exams and teacher feedback but pointe is a particular weakness and this is always reflected in her marks.

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Dancing unicorn - If it was the current Year 11 auditioning then it would have been the audition for the 3 year Level 6 Trinity Diploma in either Dance or Musical Theatre which has Dada funding.  The BA (hons) in Musical Theatre Performance course which is funded by the student loans system is only open to students have/are taking either A Levels or a Level 3 Btec so the majority of those applicants will be aged 18 plus.

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I believe that they do as the Dance and MT diplomas share a common first year.  However it appears after reading a post on the NAPM forum which details the degree audition that the Diploma course does the ballet class first and makes cuts after that whereas the degree course auditions the song first and makes cuts after the song.  That appears to me to indicate the slightly different emphasis/importance of the different elements of the audition for the two courses.

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My daughter did the Hammond Audition earlier this month. She is very much a 'dancer' rather than a singer or actress but she prepared 2 songs with the help of her singing teacher at her comprehensive school and also learned 2 monologues with support from one of the drama teachers - she doesn't take drama or music. This certainly took her out of her comfort zone but I think was a really valuable experience for her. 

 

The ballet class took up most of the group dance audition in the morning with far less time spent on contemporary or jazz. They did pointe which she said was mainly pose turns form the corner - on both sides  :rolleyes:

 

There were 9 altogether auditioning and 3 were unfortunately cut after the morning session. DD stayed for the day and was particularly pleased that she managed to remember her monologues ! Altogether it was a positive experience for DD and hugely valuable I think as I believe singing and acting are also part of the audition process at some of the London colleges e.g. Urdang/Laine and the  atmosphere and friendliness she experienced  at The Hammond made the whole process as relaxed as it could be .

 

We heard from Hammond on the Friday after the audition that she had been offered a place  :) x

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Ahhh thats fabulous news Littleone!

Thanks for the info! Dd currently at Hammond and this will be us this time next year! Dd does both singing/music and drama so she should be ok. It just came as a shock to me that there was so much to the audition. Whereas other upper schools it will be just a ballet class and possibly a solo!!!

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It does appear that some schools such as Hammond publish quite comprehensive information about what is required at audition but other schools do not.  I have been looking on the Tring Park website for example and there very little information about the auditions for their various 6th form courses that I can find. 

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Sorry for the delay in replying, been at Tring audition today. In answer to questions, yes it was the diploma course as you are right in thinking that Hammond accept 18+ only for the degree, all dance was before the cut and singing/monologues/brief interview after and yes, there was pointe work.

So to compare today's experience...

Much briefer introduction and information from the head teacher. Information about the diploma course given by the head of classical and head of contemporary. All students take common first dance dance year and can then choose classical or MT for years 2 and 3. There were apologies that key staff who usually spoke pre audition were absent for various reasons. Students can take up to 4 A levels from a choice of 24 subjects. No questions invited at briefing and funding not mentioned at all. Very brief information about boarding given, and we were told that school do not help find host families for those who live out because there are no boarding spaces for them.

There was then a student led tour of the refectory, boarding accommodation, studios and academic areas. Students were helpful and happy to answer questions. Dancers then went off to studio and parents were encouraged to leave. I asked to speak to someone about funding and am not going to post any information because I am not confident that I have fully understood how this will work other than being clear that school scholarship funding on very similar lines to DaDa will be guaranteed for the 3 years of the course for those starting in Sept 2017, subject to the student making satisfactory progress.

Dd said that the audition was brief compared to Hammond. She recalled 4/5 ballet exercises and one contemporary piece. Solos were then shown and the only question dd was asked was whether she had choreographed it herself. There was then an academic test. We were told that school aim to have results with us in 2 working weeks and that successful students would be invited back to a funding audition.

Again, happy to answer questions if I can.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Today's audition class at RBS was taken by Daria Klimentova. Dd enjoyed it and we were told that we will receive results 'as soon as they can.' Very brief introduction from Mark Annear and a lovely big space to wait in if parents didn't want to leave during the audition. All very well organised and managed.

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Funnily enough I had a very different and worse account from my daughter which was that the panel didn't bother to even look at a large number of dancers after the initial line up to look at bodies after they came in and the school's director wasn't even there. She found it rude that the panel did not make the effort to watch every dancer dance. If that is the case I agree with her - after all the Royal is good at taking on other people's dancers and getting rid of their own work- watching the dancer and the efforts of another trainer seems reasonable given the fortune the school makes every year from all the young hopefuls. If that is really not possible perhaps the approach overseas of only being called for audition if the school likes the photos or the video is better

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My dd also remarked that the panel 'lost interest' in her after a while and felt that certain dancers were watched more closely. However, she liked the class and enjoyed being at Covent Garden. I think we went with the expectation of a good day out and she had that. My dd also remarked on the small and slightness of many of the dancers - dd is very slender (within POB height and weight limits on the published chart) but said that for the first time ever in a class she felt big.

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...Funnily enough I had a very different and worse account from my daughter... ...and the school's director wasn't even there. 

Hmmm. We had that experience too. Not sure why a school would schedule their auditions to clash with the Prix de Lausanne - but hey ho, there you go. Says it all really doesn't it?

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Did the director attend any of the other US prelims?

 

We were there too yesterday, just for a fun day out really! ;)

 

There were some lovely 'bodies' there, so in my opinion he missed out!  But is that enough at this stage? I assume a certain level of ability is required alongside facility etc? Or will they still take someone raw because they have the 'look' required, what ever that may be. 

 

DD enjoyed herself despite the couple of very pushy dancers who seemed to have no regard for audition behavior and etiquette!

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I agree taxi! Seems the same at lower school (for royal), school director wasn't at year 8/9/10 audition in London, or last year at year 7 audition, but the head of outreach is always at them. Which is fine, but it does beg the question who is doing the choosing, the school's director or head of outreach?

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I would agree with the above comments.  You would think it was one of the most important days of the year for a school director.  I would worry that someone who was my taste was being missed.   The last few years they always virtually the same people on the panel and then yet so many don't make it to US or even through to Year 10.  I don't have the figures for last year but it wasn't many in the previous years.

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Rightly or wrongly, i guess the school director trusts the judgement of head of outreach enough to delegate the prelim adjudication to him and and another member of staff. I would expect he will be at the finals for both schools and the ultimate decisions will be with him.

within the audition itself, my dd had similar comments about not being watched but she also said that the two panelists marked half of the class each, so even when she was being watched, it was only by one of them. This could be common in all auditions, it is just she has never mentioned it before. Just shows how subjective it all is and the phrase 'if your face fits' springs to mind but then I am just an old cynic!

 

My dd never mentioned shapes or sizes, I thought they all looked beautiful my only observation was a range of heights, I didn't look at physiques.

 

Anyway by looks of it the lower school results are flying out so we may be put out of our misery sooner rather than later. Good luck to all

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Rightly or wrongly, i guess the school director trusts the judgement of head of outreach enough to delegate the prelim adjudication to him and and another member of staff. I would expect he will be at the finals for both schools and the ultimate decisions will be with him.

The thing is though, that for upper school, you only get one crack at the whip, and it is rather disappointing (to say the least) that the AD doesn't even bother to turn up get to see you dance at all.

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The thing is though, that for upper school, you only get one crack at the whip, and it is rather disappointing (to say the least) that the AD doesn't even bother to turn up get to see you dance at all.

 

too busy recruiting overseas talent at PDL :(

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I think all that has been said is extremely valid. The director should certainly be present for all auditions for RBS. Lower school included. All other school directors are at every audition. Imagine if companies applied the same tactics! I think something should be said to the RBS. The head of outreach chooses all children from 8 years old to 16/17. So he might as well be the artistic director!

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