Tiaramum

19 hours ago, JJBalletMum said:

Congratulations to your DD!  We’re still waiting for one last final and then we’ll know where my DD is going.  What a process this has been! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Thank you. Its been really hard hasn;t it, so much worse than applying for year 7!Good luck with your decision 

20 minutes ago, Ruby Foo said:

Very exciting Tiaramum! Wishing your daughter lots of joy and success in her new school.

Thank you, thats really lovely. 

Hi

Wondered if anyone had been successful in finding student digs for the ENB Summer two week programme. DD will be 16 but is used to cooking/cleaning and fending for herself. Would appreciate any links/words of wisdom etc!

Thank you 

17 hours ago, JJBalletMum said:

No, which is why it was a bit unexpected.

We got the same - very confusing! We won't be taking up our place though. We have loved our royal journey for the most part - the way the new programme structure was announced still causes a great deal of anger in me and my views are on the forum elsewhere. However its still RBS and my dd was lucky enough to achieve part of her dream. She moves to Europe in September for upper school training.   

On 06/04/2024 at 00:36, JJBalletMum said:

Hi, following an unsuccessful audition for RBS upper school my daughter has unexpectedly been put on the short waitlist for advanced associates.  Does anyone have any experience of this waitlist or how “short” it is?  Do the dancers that attend this associate class do it in addition to vocational upper school or academic 6th form? Just wondering if it might work for her. Thanks 

Can I ask did you DD get through to final auditions? 

41 minutes ago, dancefanatic said:

I couldn't agree more!  My DD was one of the many UK nationals auditioned for London City, she got through to the final round and then was kept waiting for just over 2 weeks before they told her thanks but no thanks.  And then to see the number of overseas dancers apparently walking into all of our national companies and yet our schools are producing high numbers of talented dancers who are UK nationals.... makes my blood boil at times to be honest.  Yes, companies should want the best dancers they can find but sometimes to the detriment of equally talented UK dancers who can no longer obtain work overseas as easily as in years past.

100% this. The schools have to follow suit too. Proudly showing off graduates who in reality are only there for the grad year after winning at big comps. Graduates are not really graduates of the school. The UK dancer struggles from that year 10 moment in comparison to internationals. 

Hi

You can audition at any centre and choose to dance at another - simply select your choice when you apply. Most centres have 32 sessions each academic year, with a few centres going up to 36 sessions. 

My dd is at Kings currently so any questions please fire my way. I cannot speak highly enough of the teachers - they really care, they really get the kids, the classes are intense and hard work but they really come on in leaps and bounds. Congratulations on your offer. 

Hi Ebonee - We secured our place with the deposit whilst trying to decide. A very expensive option I know. I'm still trying to get my head round the housing options!

ESB is a no due to visa, Brussels International Ballet Academy, John Cranko, POB, La Scala, Dutch National are all ok. Definitely worth applying for. Good luck with your choices. Upper School audition season is an adventure on a whole new level. 

9 hours ago, meet-me-at-the-barre said:

My daughter (16) from the UK has also been offered a place starting Sept 24. My only concern is the accommodation. I'm hoping to go over for a look around in May

Congratulations. We have a fb group started for potential students starting in sept. (1) Parents Brussels International Ballet PTP 2024 | Facebook

Does anyone have timelines for ENB - Finals etc/movement of wait lists. 

9 hours ago, Allwrong said:

Well I can probably give a better idea when DD is back in Brussels after her first professional audition and I can grill her a bit! 
My impression is that they are extremely active in helping dancers find jobs, and certainly have plenty of successes with Eastern European classical companies. DD is currently at an audition with several such companies and Anderson has turned up to film the 4 BIBS girls selected to attend during one audition class so he can watch back with and give them tips. He suggested (strongly urged) this opportunity to DD (3 audition days and a gala) and it’s being a huge and very productive learning curve.

DD will be auditioning seriously next season, so it’s hard for me to judge support, but plenty of dancers at the school are attending multiple auditions and one has been accepted for ENBS Swan Lake in-the-round.

As for communication with parents, it’s hard to say, as DD was 18 when she first went out and did pretty much all  of the one-to-one communication herself. They send out general missives pretty rarely, but we haven’t had personal contact bar admin and a progress report.
Communication used to be in dodgy often hilarious mock-English, but to the family’s disappointment they have now got an admin person with good English, and it’s got much more comprehensible. The language barrier with staff is a bit of an issue, though, until you adapt to it. DD has near-native French, which helps a bit, but the faculty are mostly not native French speakers either.

Communication of arrangements for performances is rather cursory and subject to change, but I reckon that’s not too important for parents, but in general you have to get used to trusting the process and being patient until you know what’s going on. It’s probably the school’s weak point, but matters much less when you trust the school and can see your child really well supported and challenged to succeed. I know DD is very confident with how things work now, and knows she is valued. But in the early months she was second-guessing a lot and mistakenly felt she was disappointing her teachers on occasion. The language barrier / cultural barrier does create an initial distance between dancers and staff. But actually they are really invested in every individual student, and DD couldn’t be more supported.

Thank you so much - thats so helpful and much appreciated

@Allwrong - How have you found BIB? Do they help their graduates find jobs? Hows the communication with parents? 

@Tulip can I ask do they help with auditions/interviews etc in 3 year when they are looking to start working? 

We have an invite to finals. Good luck to everyone 

Results came out yesterday - they have more auditions scheduled in though. 

Hi Ebonee.

No decision here as yet. It really does sound a great school and like they give great training but work you hard which would suit my dd. I need to look into the accomodation and see how that works. 

Its such a long way away too - lots to think about.

Feel free to PM me anytime - we can maybe share our findings whilst we make our decisions.

Ballet Boost. Amazing teachers who really care about the dancers. 

We got to Central a fortnight ago and my dd suddenly became unwell there and then, they were brilliant. So caring and really supportive. We got offered a number of different options. 

Just checked the UCAS and it says assessment pending with the audition dates. Hope we all hear soon - the waiting for results is just the worst!

Have you looked at Kings International Ballet Academy? They actively help their graduates find work.

Also has she considered the new course at the Acosta Training Hub - although new for 24-25 the artistic team there are amazing. 

A boarding offer for us for 6th form - weighing up the pros and cons at the moment. Good luck to everyone waiting. 

Kings International Ballet Academy really do help their dancers find work, they really work on being job ready and getting their students to think and act like dancers. 

I think Roberta you are missing the point entirely. 

If you look back at interviews the current AD says the below, but then is often there teaching a masterclass and directly recruiting from there. My dd never had a class with the current AD and he didn't know her name. 

The AD should know his current students and their goals, expectations. There should be clear support for them all whether they fit the mould he requires or not. The large proportion of students who don't make it to year 11 needs to be considered (and I don't mean the ones who choose to leave), that only one or two make it to upper school is shocking. Those who graduate the RBS are often the ones who have been hand picked by the AD and have actually only spent a year at best in the school and then claim to be a graduate.

The AD job role needs to be changed to reflect the demands of a ballet school in 2024 and ongoing, where the health - physical and mental - comes first, where students are inspired daily, where they feel valued and known, where their goals and ambitions are discussed openly, where honest communication with parents is encouraged. Given the fees paid students should not just be a number.  

A student’s training is now so often being fast-tracked for these competitions in a way that I believe can be unhealthy. Ballet requires so much more than the physical and technical ability to execute a step or series of steps. I am not alone in feeling that some competitions foster a culture that fails to encourage the development of artists – where technique is emphasised over artistry and students seek to reach extremes before they have mastered the basics. We see audiences agog at the elaborate physical tricks on display. That audience should be looking for an expressive dancer trying to communicate emotion, dynamics, musicality, storytelling ability, alongside an accomplished, clean technique relative to their age. Isn’t this what the art-form is truly about?

This fast-tracking could potentially cause serious psychological and physical damage. Ballet institutions like ours are learning more and more about the body and mind of our students and constantly researching how to develop healthier and more resilient dancers. As educators, I believe we have a responsibility to these young people and as an industry, a duty to adapt or make changes when we see something potentially harmful is going on.