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Royal Ballet Summer School.


Miracle

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My daughter got priority select waiting list twice and twice she got a place. The first year however clashed with prague master classes which were full paid for , so she didn't do WL. Last year she went to WL and then Prague. She enjoyed both SS and got a lot from both.

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My DD is an MA at CG and our letter said Mr Annear is offering Priority Waiting List (which if we don't accept will be made to someone on the waiting list).

 

I'd also find it useful to know the difference between these lists. Eitherway if you accept I assume you don't have to take up the place in the unlikely event one becomes available? 

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While my dd was so happy to get a selected waiting list place. I wonder if she is just to far behind to stand a chance at y7 auditions next year against the girls who will have spent an extra week training at white lodge itself as maybe they are the ones the school want to see. Shes recently only on grade 3 bless and many girls are nearly on pointe in her associate class. I wouldn't want her to put her into an audition she wouldn't stand a chance in poor thing. She is also quite hyper-mobile and her posture isn't fantastic, no ballet back working on it, but very naturally flexible. How many classes a week should a hopeful ballerina be doing to stand a chance of making it into vocational ballet school? Any helpful advice would be appreciated.

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Hi Snowflake,

I think potential is most important at that age - they aren't too interested in the current level. Regarding who goes to SS in my dd JA class 2 had been to SS but they weren't the ones who got into WL.

 

I would ask your dd's teacher and JA teacher what they think about numbers of classes. Our JA teacher told us spontaneously that she should be doing more hours. They can also offer guidance about applications.

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Thank you so much for your words and advice SarahW I will ask dds teacher about if she is doing as much as she needs to be. I broke the news to her tonight and she was in floods and floods of tears. She's tried her best and that it more than good enough for me as mum. She said she just wanted a chance to see the school so she knew whether or not she would like it, a bit presumptuous, but she is only 10.

 

What are the best words of advice to give to a dispirited dancer, from any experienced mums, my "well just try again next year" didn't go down at all well...! And resulted in more sobs.... :-(

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Feel for your DD

 

Is there any way you could get to the White Lodge summer fair? That way at least you get to see some of the school .....where they study and relax and the dance studios etc as on that day you can go on a tour round the school which is in fact very interesting.

 

There are dancing displays as well ......this all may make up for her disappointment I don't know.

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Thank you so much for your words and advice SarahW I will ask dds teacher about if she is doing as much as she needs to be. I broke the news to her tonight and she was in floods and floods of tears. She's tried her best and that it good enough for me as her mother. She said she just wanted a chance to see the school so she knew whether or not she would like it, a bit presumptuous, but she is only 10.

 

What are the best words of advice to give to a dispirited dancer, from any experienced mums, my "well just try again next year" didn't go down at all well...! And resulted in more sobs.... :-(

Continue to work hard, recognise where you need to improve and make the most of your strong points. Enjoy dancing, try for other Summer/Easter courses. Remind her that RB SS choose applicants from photos - it's not foolproof. Remind her that being 10, she has time :) x

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Thanks LinMM, she would love that, although we are Manchester based, my family are Londoners, so we visit London frequently, I will check out the dates and take her. Sounds amazing thank you for taking the time to post.

 

Ellie, thank you so much for your kind words, she wants to work so hard and improve, she loves ballet. I did take her photos too, they were not great, but it's so hard to take them if you don't know anything about ballet they weren't the best I am sure of that ????

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This Priority Waiting List and Selected Waiting List is all so confusing, it looks like the waiting list is huge, so we are assuming that we won't be lucky enough to gain a place (though several other summer schools we are looking at don't clash with the date if we did get some luck!! :P ), but is there really a difference in levels of waiting list. This wording confused me:

 

"If I do not hear from you by this date, your offer will be automatically withdrawn and offered to a candidate on the waiting list."  

 

Aren't we already on the waiting list? Or are there really two tiers of wait list, which seems a bit confusing?  We are delighted with Wait List as my daughter got a straight no the first time we tried, but just was curious about this  :)

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Snowflake I feel for your DD. It's so horrible seeing their tears. If I were you I'd assure her waiting list for the Royal SS is no poor reflection on her. In our time on the ballet circuit I have known of some lovely dancers not get in who have gone on to be coveted for other great dancing opportunities/roles.

 

Selecting from photos is a bit of a blunt instrument surely - I understand all professional dancers have decent ballet bodies but you wouldn't be able to tell from ranking their audition photos which ones have the amazing musicality, love of dance and ability to perform and act that make them progress to Principals and which ones will languish in the corps because they really don't have it.

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Hello, again, further to my frustration yesterday regarding these two types of lists, I think I can shed a bit more light on the matter! I  assumed  we were going to get a 'no' because we hadn't heard anything but gone 3pm we got an email saying my dd had got on the selected waiting list for WL.

 

Looking at what irishballetmom has posted regarding the wording of her dd's offer, ours is different.  It sounds like Priority waiting list is exactly that: those students get priority. If those students decline their offer, these will be given to the selected waiting list students. So two tiers of waiting list  :wacko: . 

 

Snowflake, I hope this might help your dd - I explained the waiting list scenario to my dd but she was delighted purely because it wasn't a 'no'. She understands that the odds of getting a place are extremely small but that if you're on a waiting list, as Piccolo says, they still like your child. She's gone from a SWL for JAs year 4, to a 'no' year 5 but this has given her a boost to try again for year 6. I hope this might help a bit. I understand your frustration for her. My dd would do anything to just be allowed to experience WL in some way and I would cut off my arm to facilitate that, but as we know there are plenty of other opportunities out there. 

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We got a 'slelected waiting list'. I see that nobody knows the difference between 'priority' and 'selected' (I would say priority is better than selected).

 

We didn't try the Paris Opera ballet, because they require a CD with part of a lesson, and our teacher was not willing to do it for all the interested girls.

 

Are we still in time for other summer possibilities? Somebody was mentioning Prague, but I don't know anything about it: are we still in time?

 

At the beginning I though that 'waiting list' was a gracious way of saying 'no', but on the forum I discovered that actually there are 'no's as well, so with my dd  I'll try to outline the positive aspects of being on waiting list....

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Thank you for your advice Flora, it's hard to know the right thing to say to a little one upset! I think she so brave to even try for a place at her age and am so proud of her. She's loves absolutely her ballet royal programme, but shes not quite sure about auditioning for WL year 7 anyhow and may want to try for the mid associates instead and decide whether or not she would like to apply to train as a ballerina again at 16, although after reading a few posts on here i believe that is extremely competitive too! I suppose it's a daunting thing for a 10 year old to apply for a boarding place so young and she wanted to apply to the summer school purely to see if she liked the WL, but I don't want to push her if into something she's not 100 percent sure of. Especially as, however talented I think she is through mothers eyes, we've had a gentle wake up call she may not quite be what the royal ballet are looking for lol

 

Oh the stress of having a daughter who loves ballet please tell me it gets easier

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Sorry Snowflake imo it gets harder ! You go through all the stress of auditions to get them in and then it's the stress of keeping them in ! I've got one trying to stay in and one trying to get in at the moment ! I must admit I feel less anxious about 6 th form auditions than year 7 ones !

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Snowflake, I am sorry for your DD but she did get waiting list which is a positive sign. Nobody should take summer school places as a strong indication either way as there are so few places and it is done on photos. The only way to gauge real interest is to audition.

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Snowflake - she's really really brave at just 10 and I agree with Tabitha waiting list at that age with so many hopefuls is a genuinely good sign - she must have the look..

 

My DD is 13, dancing 16 hours a week at least. Even though she's doing well at vocational school so far as I can see and has had so many amazing dance opportunities she doesn't succeed in all her applications. Plus you never know as they go through puberty quite how the body will change.  

 

Sadly though I think 16 is a bit late to start training vocationally even if doing JAs and MAs before then. A couple of hours on a Saturday and a few local classes mid-week is not enough to compete at 16, when everything broadens out and there are girls auditioning for the UK schools from all over the world. 

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Snowflake - she's really really brave at just 10 and I agree with Tabitha waiting list at that age with so many hopefuls is a genuinely good sign - she must have the look..

 

My DD is 13, dancing 16 hours a week at least. Even though she's doing well at vocational school so far as I can see and has had so many amazing dance opportunities she doesn't succeed in all her applications. Plus you never know as they go through puberty quite how the body will change.  

 

Sadly though I think 16 is a bit late to start training vocationally even if doing JAs and MAs before then. A couple of hours on a Saturday and a few local classes mid-week is not enough to compete at 16, when everything broadens out and there are girls auditioning for the UK schools from all over the world. 

Just to give a glimmer of hope to those who are auditioning for Upper Schools without the lower school vocational training. Last year at ENBS  4 of the 6 UK entrants were from non vocational training and again, at Central,Elmhurst,Tring and RCS offers were made. These offers came with DADAs/student funding - as has been said before on this forum,with good local training,associate schemes and summer schools it is possible to gain a place at Upper school.  

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Hi I think like any art or sport there will always be the more naturally gifted/talented children who are more naturally attuned to that particular genre. There are plenty of children with these qualities and are still driven and motivated however some may not need these extra classes or training to achieve what they need to as what they are doing at that time individually maybe enough to allow them to compete against others who may have more hours and training.

 

Again reading the fabulous information on here it depends on the training that children are receiving whether it's appropriate for them and sometimes not always the amount of hours that's put in.

 

Ax

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Flora,I think that possibly we are too far off topic for this thread - perhaps start another. I can only speak for my daughter who auditioned with RAD grade 5. She was an RBS SA and in the past had danced with other Associate schemes. Before the age of 13 she was doing 2 - 3 hours of ballet and 1 of modern and then was accepted as a 2nd year MA. We certainly took advantage of summer/easter schools and any other training that we could access in year 10 in preparation for the auditions . The point I was trying to make is that it is not a necessity to have vocational training from the age of 11 to succeed - there are many routes and none of them hold a guarantee - oh if only! ;)

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Definitely echo Kat09's viewpoint. Training at 16+ is certainly not just for those with prior vocational training. Also, there will be those at vocational training pre 16 who will not gain places at 16+ and who decide to move onto other areas.

 

To get a place at 16+ you have to have the correct physique, attitude and determination. Those at vocational school are not the only ones who have these qualities. I think those from vocational school have an advantage, just by the number of hours put into training. But I am pretty sure, once they have all done their first year of upper school training, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Someone's determination to succeed should never be underestimated.

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Agreed that each child is different. My DD would freely admit she is not talented enough to go for RBS Upper on just a couple of hours of ballet pw. It's a huge long shot even taking into account all the great teaching she gets. This summer she will be doing 2 short-ish summer schools (if I can now sign her up to something other than RBS) but no more than that. Last year she was at summer school wall to wall and it was a bit too much.... 

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