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JA Auditions


swanprincess

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Congratulations everyone, and sorry to hear of the nos.

(And lovely to hear of people getting places off SWL, DD has been on SWL twice now but nothing has come of it either time. Would be lovely to think one day she might get the Royal call up if she keeps trying for Mids etc!)

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I put forward 4 students for the JA audition in London and unfortunately all 4 were nos - not that I was overly surprised due to the number of students auditioning in London. All students loved the audition and would like to audition again next year. One of the parents has asked me today to see if I can get some feedback from RBS as to why her DD wasn't successful. I've told her that they will not give feedback however, is this correct?

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I put forward 4 students for the JA audition in London and unfortunately all 4 were nos - not that I was overly surprised due to the number of students auditioning in London. All students loved the audition and would like to audition again next year. One of the parents has asked me today to see if I can get some feedback from RBS as to why her DD wasn't successful. I've told her that they will not give feedback however, is this correct?

 

No it isn't. They are happy to give any teacher feedback so give them a ring.

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I think they do an amazing job and clearly there are hundreds of talented dancers who won't be offered a place. This year, RBS saw 1200 children for JAs, across all the centres. Interestingly, there was a 25 percent increase in applications this year,I wonder what caused that? To see so many and make and communicate decisions in a month (half that for London) is pretty amazing I think. Anyway with so many applicants for so few places, there will surely be some that simply "got away" each year and may well be selected at another attempt.

That's what we tell ourselves anyway :)

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i think increased applications perhaps because of social media making more and more people aware of the opportunities. RBS itself does a good job of promoting JA and you can see how many views there are on their promo video. its frightening in itself.

 

sparkle you may be right that its best not to know. then you can carry on thinking its down to a dollop of luck and its worth trying again. however, we have never had a single word from her teacher. the only encouragement has been from other girls and other mums from time to time, making some generous remarks.

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I think all the kids that go to the auditions are amazing & so brave there is no way at their age I would have been confident enough to do anything like this

that is true. but i would have loved it if my mum had been a ballet mum!

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i think increased applications perhaps because of social media making more and more people aware of the opportunities. RBS itself does a good job of promoting JA and you can see how many views there are on their promo video. its frightening in itself.

 

sparkle you may be right that its best not to know. then you can carry on thinking its down to a dollop of luck and its worth trying again. however, we have never had a single word from her teacher. the only encouragement has been from other girls and other mums from time to time, making some generous remarks.

We're in the same position as you, isadora - I think it must be true that you stand a better chance if you have an enthusiastic teacher behind you, rather than just the parent trying to fathom it all out, especially with things like the photos (ours were so amateurish in the lounge!) and what to wear, how to put yourself across at an audition etc. But then it's a great experience for the children if they can take it without too many expectations. Glad we did it, though I guess if my dd had been really desperate to get a place it might have been stressful without a teacher reassuring her afterwards, rather than just chatting it through with me! As it is, it hasn't knocked her confidence at all and she's keen to try again.

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I wouldn't have known such things existed if our teacher hadn't put the girls forward. We are lucky to have a brilliant local school with that lovely combination of some serious talent and achievement/success for quite a few dancers, as well as a really supportive environment and genuine care for each individual, regardless of level :)

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We're in the same position as you, isadora - I think it must be true that you stand a better chance if you have an enthusiastic teacher behind you, rather than just the parent trying to fathom it all out, especially with things like the photos (ours were so amateurish in the lounge!) and what to wear, how to put yourself across at an audition etc. But then it's a great experience for the children if they can take it without too many expectations. Glad we did it, though I guess if my dd had been really desperate to get a place it might have been stressful without a teacher reassuring her afterwards, rather than just chatting it through with me! As it is, it hasn't knocked her confidence at all and she's keen to try again.

 

That is true. At least it doesn't raise their expectations too much (though perhaps also not their confidence). As a mum you probably know how to manage your child's expectations best, and it also avoids any jealousies in the ballet class. But its a bit lonely for the mum. We did good pictures technically because I have those skills but I don't know about the ideal positions etc. We don't even really know how they are used.

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We are really so lucky, we have been there for about 8 years now. Mind you, it's kind of crazy how it starts to impact other life changing decisions such as: well we can't really move house because we are so close to the dance studios that the girls love and to London for Associates classes!

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I have been reading all your comments with interest.

 

Our reason for putting DD forward for associate auditions was that we were constantly being told how talented our DD was not just in dance, but singing and acting.  However when school productions came along other children of the same age would be picked for parts which DD had auditioned for.  This was becoming detrimental to her confidence and self esteem, we decided to let someone else have a look at her.  If the answers came back as no then we would know to manage her expectations.  I then started researching what was available in terms of associate programmes.

 

I told the dance teacher what we were doing and they weren't overly enthusiastic just incase a rejection was received and how DD would cope.  We decided to go ahead anyway.  I took the photos myself in my lounge and we went to the auditions very relaxed, with no expectations.

 

We were absolutely gobsmacked when she received places at Elmhurst and RBS.

 

Part of me felt resentful that DD had never been encouraged to do these auditions but the other part was satisfied that we had taken the time to research and take DD along.  Had it been a no I would have felt comfortable lowering DD's expectations.

 

The teachers and school are all very proud of DD.

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Tired dance mummy, the lack of opportunities in primary school productions is all to familiar... Took me years to recognise that leading roles went to children whose parents were school governors, busybodies or on TV - literally. One year, the Christmas concert was lead was a governors daughter who couldn't sing... So she mimed to a voiceover! Once they get to comp it's a Level playing field because no one knows who the parents are.

 

I think in terms of whether or not to audition for associates, even if you know nothing about ballet, but you can still be the best advocate for your child... Enjoy :-)

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Our primary school was different, I was treasurer of the PTA but neither if my two got staring roles. Instead the bigger roles were given to the kids with little performance experience. I think this was deliberate to encourage those who have never had their moment to shine. DD was happy and help with choreography and behind the scenes stuff all valuable experiences. Just though I would add a different take on your post Piccolo.

Well done for your DD Tired Dance Mummy, some great achievements there. Xx

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I can empathize with this....one year my daughter was not allowed to audition for any of the specific parts in small Primary School Xmas Show because she was "too good" & others should have a chance!! She was only hoping for a small part which had a one line solo in a song & let's just say being in tune did not seem to be a selection criteria one realised upon seeing the show ;) ! She was really devastated & also the 'setting her aside' from the audition was worse than just not giving her the part after auditioning! Not so much cronyism at work more a PC attempt at inclusiveness - fine on one hand but actually a little patronizing & molly coddling & lets face it, not really reflective of the big wide world.....still, a lesson of sorts I guess!

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We've also got the situation at primary school where the same two or three children are given all the main parts - they are good singers, so it's okay for the ears, but they are on the 'gifted and talented' register for performing so the school maybe sees this as a way of 'extension' for their talents... Dancers really don't get noticed at school or put on this register since the teacher never sees their talents in action... I dread the 'audition' process for the school play each year, as it's always such a disappointment - dd puts herself forward each time with new enthusiasm and hope, but then every year the big parts go to the same 'gifted' children!! The RB process was much more encouraging and well handled in my opinion!

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What does this mean??? sorry new to all this!!! is this if any places come up for JA they might contact people on waiting list.Realistically does this ever happen???

Tutugirl told us this morning she had heard of 3 dc getting places from SWL this year.,

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