Recommendation for 17 yo dance novice

[Coated]

A friend's son is nearly 17 and just about to start his A-levels.  His main passion is for musical theatre and he does a lot of amateur dramatics productions.

 

He seems to have a natural ability in dance which he wants to pursue further (in the first instance to augment his musical theatre, but who knows what will develop).  In talking with (stage) friends, the place to begin seems to be a beginners' class in classical ballet (as a solid foundation to all other forms of dance).  

 

He had recommendations for Pineapple Studios in central London and also looked at Trinity Laban in Greenwich which is easier to get to for him.

 

Is Trinity Laban a good place for someone like him? Are there any other alternatives he should consider near Plumstead or Sidcup?

 

And is an adult beginners' classical ballet class the right place to start, or should he look at some other type of classes?

 

Thanks for any advice you knowledgable people can offer

[Pas de Quatre]

Do you mean something like a once a week class to supplement his other activities. He seems very busy, so when is he thinking of being able to add the classical classes, evenings, weekends or both?

[Coated]

Yes, it would be evenings or weekends, he is probably looking at one class per week.

[Nicola H]

If he has never taken  class before  ,  adult   or teens ( depending on the offer and the studios   operational policy  re protecting adults from brats )  beginners  sounds  like the right place.   i did MT  as  an extra curricualr  at school   and although there is a big gap in  time between that and me starting  ballet classes  , adult beginners is where I am  ( even though we are  more of an improvers class  now as the  regular attendees have been  attendign for a while or are 'returners' )

 The use of the  term 'classical ballet'  is possibly a little misleading  as most ballet  classes  are 'classical' in that  even if freework they will tend to follow roughly  in the  style of  one of the awarding bodies ( either that  which the teacher took themselves  or that which they teach their graded  students )  vs  being   at the ballet end of the contemporary  dance  spectrum .  If you look at the  more well regarded  contemp and MT  courses in FE and HE   there is often  some element of 'classical ' ballet  training in the course
 and in some of the contemporary dance  degrees out there   'class' time i nthe studio is a near 50 /50 split  classical ballet and contemp  ( as  can be seen  by those courseas also wanting VGE/ majors  in ballet  as part of their entry  req)

[taxi4ballet]

4 hours ago, Coated said:

A friend's son is nearly 17 and just about to start his A-levels.  His main passion is for musical theatre and he does a lot of amateur dramatics productions.

 

He seems to have a natural ability in dance which he wants to pursue further (in the first instance to augment his musical theatre, but who knows what will develop).  In talking with (stage) friends, the place to begin seems to be a beginners' class in classical ballet (as a solid foundation to all other forms of dance).  

 

He had recommendations for Pineapple Studios in central London and also looked at Trinity Laban in Greenwich which is easier to get to for him.

 

Is Trinity Laban a good place for someone like him? Are there any other alternatives he should consider near Plumstead or Sidcup?

 

And is an adult beginners' classical ballet class the right place to start, or should he look at some other type of classes?

 

Thanks for any advice you knowledgable people can offer

If Laban is easy to get to, then that would be a good place for him - there will be other young men taking class there too. Pineapple is good if you know what you are doing, but probably not for a complete beginner as it's unlikely he would get enough individual attention/correction.

[Coated]

Thank you all, that''s really helpful

 

Edited August 12, 2017 by Coated

[2dancersmum]

Other places to look at could be Danceworks or Dance Attic. They both do ballet and other styles on a drop in basis. One of the 2, cant remember which, used to do a 6 week total beginner course to give a complete newbie a bit more individual attention and confidence before going to an open class.

 

In terms of dance style, I would agree that ballet is probably the best one as a solid foundation but given that musical theatre is his passion, a (west end style) jazz class or street dance (jazz) could also be options.

 

Laban would probably be good for him - for ballet rather than contemporary , if space is available. He might also find something at RAD - especially thinking boys only days

[taxi4ballet]

Tring Park School might also be somewhere to look for one-off workshops, and I agree with 2dancersmum that the RAD would be good as well. They have recently begun a special project encouraging more boys to dance and their HQ is in Battersea.

[Pas de Quatre]

https://www.boysballetlondon.com/late-starter-boysballet

 

Might this be of interest.

[Coated]

Fab advice, thank you, and it sounds like he'll have some choice. Nice to see that there are initiatives for latestartets and to get more boys dancing

[Kate_N]

23 hours ago, Coated said:

 

 

He had recommendations for Pineapple Studios in central London and also looked at Trinity Laban in Greenwich which is easier to get to for him.

 

Is Trinity Laban a good place for someone like him? Are there any other alternatives he should consider near Plumstead or Sidcup?

 

Pineapple has the MT showbizzy sort of ethos, and I'd say Trinity Laban is better for contemporary/modern dance. For more serious dance study in central London, my preference is Danceworks. Hannah Frost is excellent at introducing complete beginners to the basics of ballet. She goes through the basics of alignment at the beginning of every class, and teaches a lot of good conditioning & alignment exercises at the start of the barre (including getting your proprioception tuned up by asking us to stand on one leg with our eyes closed - really difficult).  - she teaches a Beginner's class on Wednesdays, Fridays & Saturday afternoons at Danceworks, plus a very basic Beginners at Central School of Ballet (near Farringdon) Friday evening which she says is an easier class than the Danceworks one. Her approach is slow & steady - I love her classes, although we don't move as much as I'd like, but the foundation is very secure & I learn something new every time I take her class.

 

But these are drop-in classes, with a different group of people each time they meet. They're great for someone like me, who gets to London once or twice a month, so I don't have to make a regular commitment.

 

For someone learning from the start, the BEST thing for him to find would be a proper Absolute Beginners, termly-enrolment style course. The ones I know of that I've heard people speak well of are:

Morley College  (south London, nr Waterloo I think)

City Lit (at various locations, north London/Islington I think)

Royal Academy of Dance (Battersea)

English National Ballet (South Ken)

 

There are probably others ...

You pay upfront for a term of lessons, but you then follow a carefully graded syllabus, so you learn all the confusing bits from the start. 

[RuthE]

On ‎13‎/‎08‎/‎2017 at 09:10, Kate_N said:

 

For someone learning from the start, the BEST thing for him to find would be a proper Absolute Beginners, termly-enrolment style course. The ones I know of that I've heard people speak well of are:

Morley College  (south London, nr Waterloo I think)

City Lit (at various locations, north London/Islington I think)

Royal Academy of Dance (Battersea)

English National Ballet (South Ken)

 

Yes, Morley is near Waterloo.

 

I briefly did the City Lit absolute beginners course a few years back and it was in Covent Garden at the time.