Hull

When our DD attended the ISTD Senior Ballet Awards, all the competitors had to wear flat satin shoes with ribbons. DD was already used to wearing them for exams and in our local dance festivals. However, the satin shoes provided were very low on the heel and had a tendency to fall off the foot during exercises. The teacher suggested sewing one piece of elastic on each shoe, roughly where the elastics are usually sewn on. We did this and the problem was solved - no more worrying about shoes falling off during the competition. This evening I've been looking closely at the photos taken during the competition (I know I need to get out more …..) and can honestly say you cannot see the elastic on the shoes. Our DD was definitely not the only one wearing shoes with both elastic and ribbons sewn on, as we know several others who also did the same as us. After this competition, I would always sew a piece of elastic on to any flat satin shoes that were to be used with ribbons. I really don't see any problem with this approach - after all DD's pointe shoes have both elastic and ribbons sewn on to ensure they fit her properly. I know the elastic used is the 'invisible' sort, but I believe many dancers use it on their shoes. Finally, on the few occasions I have sewn ribbons on pointe shoes for DD since she has been studying away, I do not cut the ribbon into 2 pieces before sewing it on each shoe. I leave it in one long piece - she can cut it exactly where she needs to when she tries them on. Some dancers prefer to leave one side shorter than the other, so I'd rather leave it entirely to them to work out how they prefer to deal with it.

I would always suggest that studying A'Levels is a good idea if at all possible. If you need to change your career in the future, they would be very useful in enabling you to pursue an alternative path. Our local school suggested to one of our daughters that Business Studies would be a very useful A'Level subject if she was intending to run her own business at any time. I know that photography is another subject that has been suggested to others who are hoping to run their own dance school. Any knowledge about how to take decent audition photographs for your students, or even record your shows, would be extremely useful skills to have.

With regard to the previous comments relating to Ballet West's remote setting, we try to look upon this generally as a positive thing, rather than something negative. We live overseas, a long way from Scotland, but still much closer than several other students at Ballet West. We are usually unable to accompany our DD when travelling to and from the school, so she travels alone and this is providing her with invaluable experience which she would not get if she studied closer to home. She sometimes travels part of the way with her friends, which is far more fun than being with her parents! Now she is in her second year, she is becoming more confident and starting to explore the area more. She is also making the most of opportunities to travel with her friends during their brief holidays to visit other places/cities and is thoroughly enjoying her growing independence. Being responsible for organising your life, including your own travel arrangements, is probably not very common for most 16 year olds nowadays, so I'm really pleased that she is doing so well and managing to find time to enjoy herself with her friends along the way.

Last year we found that the academic school DD attended was very accommodating and kept our request for a reference completely confidential, sending it directly to the person who had requested it. It was a similar experience with the reference we requested from the dance school. However, we found that as soon as school and/or dance lessons were missed (a necessary part of auditioning from where we live) the other students soon began to talk! It's just part of spending so much time together for so many years. I think it would be impossible not to tell your friends what you were doing if they ask you. On the whole, people are genuinely interested in what others are doing and want them to succeed, and they are understanding and sympathetic if things do not work out as you had hoped. I think the whole auditioning process is extremely useful in helping our DC to grow up and become more independent, hopefully before they leave home to start training vocationally.

It's worth remembering that not every talented young dancer is able to apply to be a JA. There are a variety of reasons why it is not an option available to everyone. They can still apply for full-time training if they wish to do so. And it's also probably worth mentioning that there will be 'inspiring stories' from many dancers who did not train at either WL or Elmhurst. You only have to read the threads on the Forum, to see that the training offered at both of these places does not suit every young person.

Just referring to the A'Levels for the moment, it's worth remembering that schools will often suggest that 4/5 hours of independent study is undertaken each week per subject studied. Our two non-DDs both studied at least this much, in some cases a fair bit more, and were both keen not to take any unnecessary time off school for fear of missing important information that could be difficult to cover later. Obviously when approaching mock exams/real exams, considerably more time will probably be given to revising too. Just worth bearing in mind when planning dance lessons, as school days can be long and hard when studying A'Levels. If you need to get specific grades to enable more future career choices, then this can be extra pressure to deal with, but probably looking forward to dance lessons in the evenings/weekends, would help them deal with it.

In view of the fact that there must be quite a few overseas Forum members reading this thread, it is worth mentioning that attendance at the more well known Summer Schools is just a way for some of our DC to see where others are fortunate to be training and to experience the teaching and surroundings. They know they can never study there. It is worth remembering that some of us will get no help with funding for our DC, even if they are lucky enough to be offered a full-time place. Our local government will not help out with grants until our DC are 18 years old. Prior to this age, they are expected to do a 2 year Performing Arts BTECH. I'm not convinced this is the best way to prepare for auditions on a classical ballet course ….. So there will be some attendees at Summer Schools who will never train vocationally, or who can only audition after they are 18, which may well rule out most classical ballet courses.

I encourage our three daughters to research thoroughly all the travel options available to them (split train tickets are our new favourite) and screen shot all relevant web pages on their mobile phones, in case they are unable to access the internet while travelling. Ideally, they also travel during daylight hours - not so easy when living in Scotland! I try to print out a map from the internet showing the city centre they will be visiting, making sure any train stations, etc are on there too. Any information about where buses/taxis depart from at airports/harbours is also useful to make a note of. Our daughters had very little experience of travelling before starting at university and dance school recently, but they now all enjoy flying to England/Scotland, being independent and meeting new people. It's great for their self-confidence too. Good luck to Sean in whatever he does in the future.

I received senior summer school results for our DD this morning. They always send them to my e-mail, whereas other places usually send direct to DD.

Just be a little careful what you put the shoes next to after you have applied the calamine. Even when they are dry, sometimes a pale pink powder attaches to any clothing/costumes next to them. I try to remember to put my DD's shoes in a plastic bag when carrying them to festivals - pink powder shows up very well on a black velvet costume! It's also very useful to know well in advance of an event that calamine will need to be applied. I have vivid memories of running around local pharmacies looking for the elusive calamine the night before a competition and the frantic rush to put it on the shoes and hope they dried out quickly!

Well it appears that several people have spent a considerable amount of time working out how they think the selection system could be improved for the Summer School. While they are interesting to read, I do hope that all these suggestions have been sent to the Royal Ballet School for their consideration.

Our two older DDs were both given advice during their time in 6th form on how to approach choosing an appropriate university. From what I can remember, the choices were strongly related to their predicted grades at A'Level. It was suggested that they choose one university which required grades lower than what they were predicted, one which required grades more or less the same and one which required grades higher. This seemed to me to cover all eventualities! The content of the courses, details of placements, were also studied in detail as they can vary hugely from one university to another. They were also encouraged to research thoroughly previous graduate destinations, students' satisfaction ratings, etc which can be found on numerous websites. One of our DDs was advised not to visit student forums as her teachers thought that the advice on there may not always be coming from current students, but our other DD found the students forums invaluable and enabled her to make contact with others who were also attending interviews for the same courses as she was. As we live overseas, both of them visited around three universities (not always on their open days) as we felt it was very important to find out where they may be studying for three years. Both of our DDs had to attend interviews for their chosen courses, so had the opportunity to explore both the universities and the surrounding areas for a short time. Your musical DD probably already has a good idea of where she would feel most comfortable studying - some students love being in a city, or near to a beach, or just close enough to home to enable regular visits. Our DDs were both offered places at universities and both chose to study in places completely different to where we live and many, many miles away! I do think it is a useful life experience to have the chance to spend three years somewhere very different to where you have grown up. Our DDs know that they won't be visiting home every month - they return at Christmas, Easter and for the summer holidays - but I'm sure they acquire much needed independence from us and I'm most envious of all the opportunities they have available to them. If only they could find more time away from studying to explore the country a little more! I do wish your musical DD success in finding a place at a conservatoire.

After reading recent Balletco comments about cat cafes, I decided to see if there was one in Edinburgh as I would be spending a few days there with DD. I was pleased to find "Maison de Moggy' and, after spending far too long looking at cute photos of cats on their website, I made a reservation for us to spend an hour there. DD has been missing our cat hugely, so I thought she would appreciate the chance to spend a bit of time with some cats. Also, the chance for her to take yet more selfies wasn't one to be missed! I was slightly apprehensive as we stood outside the cafe waiting for our turn to be let in, but the whole experience turned out to be very enjoyable and I wouldn't hesitate to book a return visit in the future. There are around 12 cats living in the cafe and, even though they are all in 2 main rooms, they can be surprisingly difficult to find! There are baskets, shelves, boxes, chairs, hidey holes, etc for them to play in, sleep in, or hide in. We were given instructions that the cats were not to be picked up, but there were a few toys we could use to play with the cats, or we could just sit down by them. It was a very, very relaxing way to spend an hour and a lovely way to catch up with DD and see her enjoying herself so much. I was told that all the cats were brought up together as kittens and, if any of them appear to be unhappy living in the cafe at any time, there are homes available where they could move to. They did all seem happy and healthy to us (well they were mainly sleeping, pretty much like our cat spends most of its time doing!) and did not seem bothered by having around 12 strangers moving gently around their home. There was an interesting mix of people there - some were fairly local and visited the cafe regularly, whereas others were from America and just visiting before heading back to the airport. Hopefully the cafe will be there in a year's time, as I would really like to visit again. While I appreciate that not all cat cafes will be such a pleasant place to visit, I was very impressed by this one. If you're thinking of visiting, please pre-book your hour slot on their website, as it is not possible to just walk-in off the street. Finally, many thanks to Balletco members who gave me the idea for this visit. I honestly had no idea that such places existed! I have learnt so much (not just about ballet) from this Forum.

While reading through this thread, it makes me realise how much I appreciate our local dance shop. Yes, I know that items can often be purchased cheaper from other non-dance shops, or even very large dance shops online. However, I really feel strongly that I should continue to support our local shop, as it's existence is increasingly threatened by online shopping amongst other things. I have always sought guidance from the shop owner, right from the early days in 'Help! How do I make a bun?' through to questions about our DD's vocational training, many miles away. My knowledge of ballet has only increased slightly over the years, so I know our local shop will always have my support. It is also nice to keep the owner updated with what our DD is doing in her training. After all, they have watched her progress over 13 years and do take a real interest in what she is doing. While items may be more expensive bought locally, I look upon it as an added opportunity to post them to our DD along with a few other 'goodies' so she has a parcel to look forward to. And, as it happens, my last parcel to her did contain toe pads too!

Hi, When asking photographers for quotes, it would be most helpful if you could supply them with examples of the types of photos that you would like - e.g. do you require a plain white, studio backdrop or would you prefer to use a dance studio and use the barres, mirrors, etc in the photos, either for the dancers to use or maybe out of focus in the background? It may help to ask to see examples of their work taken in similar conditions to what you would require. We have found that as our DD gets taller, it becomes increasingly difficult to photograph her in front of our normal studio backdrop in some poses (arabesque for example). Sometimes it is better to move our equipment to a nearly hall just to give us enough room. To show the dancer's physique off to its very best, the photographer also needs to be a fair way away from them. It does depend on whether you are going to be using the photos to show off costumes, etc or whether you are looking for the very best photos of a dancer to send off for an audition. Some photographic studios may be too small to photograph a dancer in some poses, but the photographer would not be aware of this unless you advise exactly what you are looking for. What can take up a large amount of a photographer's time, is any photoshop work required any completion of the shoot. Getting rid of stray hairs, covering up ladders in tights, holes in leotards, etc etc etc is, unfortunately, part of the job very often. Needless to say a little time spent on the day of the shoot getting everything as perfect as possible on the models, pays rewards after. We do not charge extra for photoshop work, but quite understand photographers who make a charge per photo for this service. It is incredibly time-consuming and an extremely skilled job. We are quite happy to supply photos digitally, in fact most of our commercial work is done on this basis, and I do not think other photographers would have a problem with this. It can be useful for the photographer to liaise with whoever is producing the catalogue/website/booklet in advance of the shoot. It is far better to know in advance whether there is a preference for horizontal or vertical photos, or if space should be left in the photo for text, etc. In a perfect world, someone is present at the shoot to choose the photos as they are taken - downloading them onto a laptop means that only the chosen photos are edited and supplied, saving a lot of time for the photographer. Finally, photographers, much like dancers, do often struggle to make a living doing something that they really love. Our experience and skills take years to achieve too and constant practice and training is required to keep up-to-date with photographic innovations and client requirements. This all costs us time and money, so we do have to charge reasonable costs to ensure we can continue to work in the future (and pay for our DD's training too!) I hope you find someone you are happy working with and who can help you now and in future years.

I'm not sure if the Gifted and Talented Programme runs everywhere but, if it is available in your area, possibly worth investigating? We found that having DD's name on the list meant that most teachers were aware of where her interests lie. Obviously it doesn't show the amount of hours you dedicate to dance, but it may help when 'negotiating' time off. I know that several girls on this at DD's school were involved in athletics at a fairly high level. If they were on the 'Gold Level', I believe they would be more likely to gain time off for competing/workshops if required. It's also something extra to write down as an achievement, particularly if you're on the Gold Level. If your DD is already on this programme, then I don't think I have any more ideas!

At our local school, if permission is not given for absence (for whatever reason) the absence is then marked down as 'an unauthorised absence.' This shows up on School Reports, but I do not know what may happen if you get several of them in a short period of time. Even failing to notify the school of your child's absence by 8.15 am will incur an unauthorised absence note on their file. For some of us living overseas, even a short audition can mean 2 nights accommodation along with expensive flights too. We often found that we were unable to fly over and get back in one day. Also, bearing in mind how difficult it can be just to secure an audition, flying over the evening or afternoon before (if there's a flight!) is a really good idea. This can mean additional time off school. We really found it useful to have the school's co-operation and support during this time. They even authorised time off during mock IGCSE weeks too. Luckily for us (I now realise!) the school is happy for students to take 10 IGCSEs and entrance to excellent universities can be obtained with this number, providing the grades are very high of course. I would add that our DD cut out any dance activities that we thought were not entirely necessary to enable her to give sufficient time to her studies. This meant not being in some groups at festivals that she would normally be in. We tried to look at the 'bigger picture' and decided that excellent IGCSE results would be very important at some time in the future and as much ballet training as we could find too. Basically everything else could wait! It's hard seeing her friends doing song and dance groups, tap routines, etc that she's not involved in, but none of them auditioned this year for full-time dance courses and very few will in the future. I do wish everyone the best in dealings with their schools.

I realise that all 3 sciences subjects are studied in double science, but I believe that they are studied in more detail if they are studied as 3 separate subjects. I know that many students find studying A'Level science subjects very difficult (particularly chemistry) even after achieving high grades at GCSE. Dropping the subject either early in the first year, or after receiving AS results, is not uncommon. Therefore I presume the chances of successfully completing A'Levels would be enhanced by studying 3 separate sciences. I am not an expert and am happy to be corrected!

I'd like to second Alison's comment above where she mentioned the importance of studying languages at GCSE level. Studying a language does give the student far more than just another GCSE to write on their CV. At our local schools, students who study a language will usually visit the country and stay with a family on at least one occasion prior to taking the exam. The first visit is usually in Yr 8 and, I believe, is an excellent way for them to start to become more independent and gain confidence travelling with their school friends, but without their family. There are huge benefits to be gained by this type of activity - making new friends, learning how families in close countries have very different lifestyles to our own, communicating with the family, etc. They also gain confidence in talking in public while visiting local markets, shops, etc. I know that our DD would love to be able to audition for a company in Germany, France, anywhere where they don't speak English! She has the confidence to travel and talk in the languages she has studied and would be prepared to 'have a go' in other languages too. Also, please do consider studying the 3 separate science subjects. None of us know where we will end up in the future and studying separate science subjects, makes success at A'Level more certain. If injury or any other reason means a career as a dancer is not possible, taking A'Levels and then carrying on training as, say, a physiotherapist or a science teacher, would be possible. You would have far more options available to you. Our non dancing daughter has just started a physiotherapy degree and many of her colleagues who are starting the course with her are well into their mid or late 20s. I imagine many of them did not think they would be studying this type of course when they chose their GCSEs many years ago, but are probably grateful they studied the subjects they did.

Is there a magazine that she would really like to have? I know my DD loves any magazine that has a 'freebie' on the front! I've been collecting things to send by post that are very small and do not weigh much (postage costs much more if over the basic weight). So far I've been sending various sorts of tea bags - the more unusual the better - with the beetroot being the most liked so far. Sachets of different hot chocolates will be heading up there soon too. I have noticed that I'm taking considerably longer in the supermarkets though - it takes a while to find a powdered product and check it's roughly the correct size and weight. Other shoppers probably think I have some unusual food allergy, as it looks like I'm reading through all the ingredients on the back, whereas I'm only trying to find out what the weight is! I am also collecting any vouchers that come in magazines or in the post to be forwarded to her. We don't have many of the main high street shops here and many are unwilling to send goods to us seeing we're classed as overseas. I hope she may be able to use some of them. So far the most successful posting has been yet more pointe shoes! How many pairs can she can get through in 3 weeks?!!

Thanks very much for all the suggestions given above. I will start to go through all the options and continue to collect dance kit. It's amazing how much I seem to be finding hidden away where it should not be hiding!

Hi, I seem to have accumulated rather a lot of outgrown leotards, wrap overs, satin shoes used once in an exam, etc etc etc. This is what happens when you have 3 daughters who all danced at various times growing up. Our school uniform has recently changed (again …..) so handing the clothes over to our second-hand shop is not an option. I usually donate everything we do not need to local charity shops but, on this occasion, I think the items would be unwanted by them. There are no schools in this area using the items I would like to donate. Do any of you have any personal experience of any organisations/charities/groups that could make use of these items? I realise I would incur postage costs, but I would far prefer to send items off somewhere where they could have real use to young dancers. I may also be able to acquire outgrown uniform from other parents locally. It would be really nice to know where these items may end up - it would be useful for some of our youngsters to see that their outgrown items are so welcome to others who may not be as fortunate as we are. I have done some research on Google, but I've ended up even more confused than normal (not very difficult). Suggestions please ….. (If there is already a thread about this, then please delete this one. My limited search skills have not turned up anything relevant yet).

Lisa, I would like to second Moomin's comments above in relation to the guided visits. This is the approach we took with our oldest daughter a couple of years ago. We also live overseas and travelling is very, very expensive for us. When our daughter finally made up her mind which universities she would prefer to study at, their Open Days were all during the week in which all students were forbidden from having any time off. So our daughter initially contacted 3 universities by e-mail, requesting that she visit the university on a certain date so she could have a look around. She then followed this up by telephoning the non-replying universities to see if they could assist us. I think it is very important that the prospective student makes all enquiries - I do not believe that the parent should be involved even at this early stage. After replies had been received, we sorted out travel arrangements, etc and confirmed the times of our university visits with each place. On arrival at each university, our daughter made contact with the correct person and we were given a tour of the facilities. At one place the guide was a student - this gave us ample time to ask her lots and lots of questions during our tour about what is was really like to live and study in that area. In another our guide was the senior lecturer of the course - this gave us a very different tour, showing areas that would not be usually accessible to a visitor. Again, we had a lot of time to ask anything we liked. It was a real pleasure to see our daughter taking the initiative and asking questions, chatting happily about her aims and ambitions for the future. She was still 16 at the time. In hindsight, I think our approach was very successful because we had the undivided attention of a guide and the chance to look at a working university and ask as many questions as we wanted. I appreciate that universities cannot help out every prospective student in this way, but for some of us, it was the only way in which we could look at which is a vitally important part of our daughter's education. We also made sure we visited nearly shops, towns, cafes, etc to see what was available and spoke to as many people as possible to see what students can be involved in during their time in the area. I feel that the whole visit was a real learning experience for our daughter and from our viewpoint, it was a real pleasure to see her becoming so involved in the university application process. When she made her decision as to her first choice university, we felt she had benefitted from our slightly different approach to visiting and it had been money and time well spent.

Hi, I know just how you're feeling! Our middle daughter is going off to Cumbria University this week (no more early mornings to watch her racing on her bike) and our youngest DD has been up in Scotland for almost one week now. The strangest moment for me was just before leaving our DD, she made a lovely meal for us both from ingredients we had purchased at the local supermarket. It was a lovely, thoughtful gesture from her and a really pleasant way to spend time before starting the long trip back home. Maybe my cookery lessons with her weren't wasted after all! I'm still hoping to keep in touch with our local dance schools as DD would like to take part in the occasional lesson or workshop when she is back during holidays. I know she was really inspired by older dancers who went on to full-time training and I hope she can be just as inspirational to younger dancers locally in the future. This may be where Facebook/Instagram posts can be useful, as they keep you in touch with people you used to dance with, while also showing them what you are now doing.

I do not know what the vocational schools require students to achieve at GCSE level in order to study A'Levels. However, if our DD had stayed on at her local school, she would only be allowed to study A'Levels if she had achieved A* (or possibly A) at GCSE level in the subjects she had chosen. Also, for certain A'Level subjects (such as chemistry), a very high grade such as A/A* in GCSE maths would be required in order to study further. The school obtains excellent AS and A'Level results, so I believe their approach is working. A'Levels (and AS Levels where they still exist) are a big step up from GCSE examinations. They may seem a long way away, but it is good to think ahead about what subjects may be chosen as your choice of GCSE subjects can affect your future A'Level choices.