Colman

Both Labour and the Tories have repudiated the offer, for reasons I can’t begin to describe (nor would I be allowed to here) never mind understand. On the other hand, my Irish son’s colleagues going the professional route via U.K. colleges this year will have the best of both worlds, putting U.K. competitors at a disadvantage. Isn’t that nice?

Congratulations!

Discovering Rep 2 class unit coming up soon, which is fun because I've been injured for a while and now have a couple of weeks to get my stupid feet pointed under me again in petit allegro and that many times damned allegro 3.

And you’re happy for the rest of the world to reciprocate?

I’m kept in a little box by the mods and only let out in “Doing Dance”, excluded from likes or liking (so don’t take offence when I fail to star posts), less I disrupt less robust forums when they discuss politics. (The box is reasonably well padded, thankfully, and I can see out the slot in the lid.)

Those mixed open recreational adult classes are a problem for teachers: they’re a mix of keep fitters or ballet romantics who don’t want corrections and will take it personally if they get any and students who want to improve and will get frustrated if they don’t get corrections, it’s very hard to cater to both, and they need both to make the class profitable for them. I think some teachers also have difficulty understanding that adult students exist. 🤷🏻‍♂️ I find it’s best to tell teachers you’d like corrections and that you are doing curriculum classes or whatever as well. If they don’t take that hint, find another class (or use the class to work on what you need to work on - two of my classes are a bit like that, with little correction: the general level one I use to push fitness and the beginner/improver I modify exercises as I need - doing stuff on demi-pointe for instance. (If the teacher won’t correct and complains about you pushing yourself within the exercises definitely find another class!))

Look after yourselves: ballet will still be there when you’re ready to go back to it.

Oh dear.

I do faintly wonder why a ballet-only organisation feel the need to run non-ballet classes as a part of that. (Which would put off both of our boys.)

RAD prerequisites here - https://www.royalacademyofdance.org/exams/prerequisites-age-requirements/ - note the accepted equivalents. I've heard a recommendation of doing a level below when transferring, just to get used to the differences in requirements, but basically not a problem.

7 is a bit young for events. Keep an eye on RAD Project B stuff, but their event in April is for 8+. I don't know how hard that age limit is, of course. I thought LBBS had evaporated, but I'm told their Facebook is still active, so maybe contact them: our two did online classes with them over lockdown and they were pretty good. I think they're running online classes again, which might be an option for a few classes in a "look, other boys" sort of way - we were lucky, we had another family with two boys in classes when our two started, so we had a little suburban ballet school with *five* boys dancing (including me). I would expect most of the RAD workshops to have a few boys - maybe contact organisers and get a feel for which would be most appropriate?

First part of Discovering Rep in May apparently. Anyone done those exams? How did your teacher break them down? Separate sessions for each?

It's also one of those breakpoint ages when kids just dump pursuits. I can't remember where it is in the changing of schools in UK terms. So some of them may not want to be there, but may just be marking time until they're allowed stop.

How old are they? Why are they there?

I can imagine both people delaying leaving until after they’d got things back onto an even keel and being burned out after the mayhem.