Midlands Associates

[Sugarplummum]

Hi my daughter has been offered a place on Midlands Associates with Shannon and Peter Parker. 

Has anyone got any experience of their classes, did your son/daughter enjoy it?

 

Dd is auditioning for RBS JA this week however without sounding harsh, I would be extremely surprised if she was to get in and obviously we have to wait until June to find out, so I was going to  pay and book her on Midlands Associates still assuming this would be the case.

Midlands Associates is ideal as it's only 30 min drive away and on a Sunday so...

 

Don't know what I'll do though if she was to be accepted for RBS JA 😕 i would feel bad but not sure if Midlands Associates would wait until mid June for a decision? 

[Bluebird22]

I had a pupil accepted, after attending 2 summer schools with Shannon and Peter and loving their classes. However they found the associate scheme rarely had them as teachers and quite often the 2 age groups were merged together for a guest class in a genre other than ballet. They ended up quitting as it just wasn’t what they signed up for 

[Picturesinthefirelight]

2 hours ago, Bluebird22 said:

I had a pupil accepted, after attending 2 summer schools with Shannon and Peter and loving their classes. However they found the associate scheme rarely had them as teachers and quite often the 2 age groups were merged together for a guest class in a genre other than ballet. They ended up quitting as it just wasn’t what they signed up for 

 

Thats interesting.

 

My dd loved her classes at summer school with them but what you describe does not sound ideal.

[Bluebird22]

She loved Shannon and Peter, think she just wished she had them more often, as on paper the scheme was amazing. Two weekends a month for a good number of hours each time. Possibly good as an all round dance associate like Hammond? 

[Bluebird22]

I would be interested in someone else’s opinion, as it may just be my pupils experience as I believe they have two teams of associates that run on alternate weekends red group and blue group I believe? 

[Karen]

My Dd attended for one year about 4 years ago. It was a once a month class and either (or both) Shannon and Peter taught it. Shannon’s ballet teaching was stretching but not over challenging and Dd enjoyed it. There were occasional guest teachers as part of the day, I think. Sounds as though it might be quite a different set up now, though. 

[smallbythesea]

My dd did it from the beginning up until they went to 2 Sundays per month. Mainly had Peter and Shannon with the odd guest teacher. You couldn't meet 2 livelier people. Dd always enjoyed it but just couldn't commit to 2 Sundays with gcses and dance school commitments.

[stressedbeyondbelief]

My dd has been fortunate enough to have been a midland associate for 2 years, has attended Opes many years ( 5th year coming up) and has had many other opportumities through current dance school and another associate scheme to be taught by both Peter and Shannon. Dd absolutely LOVES them both and only stopped attending associates as it was a 2.5 hour trip to get there. If you are relatively local do it, could you not do it alongside JAs? They are truly inspirational 😊

[ArucariaBallerina]

I have no experience with Midlands associates but can confirm that both Shannon and Peter are some of the best ballet teachers I've ever had.  

[Boogalou]

I have to agree with Bluebird, my dd loves Shannon and Peter and they have been so good to her but she has found that she rarely gets taught by them as it is generally a guest teacher teaching and often all ages in together. She won't be accepting her place for next year.

[Sugarplummum]

Thanks for the response guys,

 

I am in two minds now wether to accept.

They have said that they will cover classical ballet, conditioning, repertoire and jazz/contemporary when guest teachers take class on odd occasion.  But if the main focus is not always on ballet and alot of guest teachers then I'm unsure 🤔