One year post-grad course in classical ballet?

[BrightEyedAndBushyTailed]

Hello everyone, I have joined to ask this question because I just can't find any information.

 

My daughter is currently at vocational ballet school but is young for her age and also has a birthday very late in the school year, so she will graduate with her degree when she is still 18 years old. If she doesn't feel ready to start auditioning for companies etc. would it be feasible to do another year somewhere? I can't see any courses at any schools so I'm thinking this isn't possible. Just wondering if anyone has any advice. She definitely wants to stick with ballet and is doing really well but we feel an extra year might be a really good idea for her as an individual.

 

Does anyone know of any courses anywhere please, or give any advice? Thank you.

[Ellie]

I think that both ENBS and Northern Ballet do. x

[Kat09]

Northern Ballet have a graduate apprentice programme which is one year ….https://northernballet.com/professional-graduate-programme 

[Anna C]

Welcome to the forum. I've added tags to this thread so if you click on one of the tags you will find some other threads about postgrad training. I think London Studio Centre has a post grad ballet course too. :-)

[Picturesinthefirelight]

I've got a feeling Elmhurst do one.

[BrightEyedAndBushyTailed]

thank you for replies! Northern Ballet one looks possible!

London Studio Centre one would be great but the fees are way too high. I can't find anything with ENBS.

[BrightEyedAndBushyTailed]

Thank you PicturesintheFirelight, I've found the Elmhurst one on their website but there's no information about fees so I will email them to ask.

 

I can't believe I didn't see these before, I have been searching on school websites etc. Perhaps I discounted the ones where the fees were really high or didn't say the fees. I bet Elmhurst will be really expensive

[meadowblythe]

May be worth looking overseas too - my DS is an August birthday so we had expected a graduate year.  A lot of the German schools and companies do graduate years, and there are some fantastic programmes in Canada.  Although the distance is further the funding may be different meaning they are not necessarily completely out of reach (and we are not a rich family).  Also, with European flights so reasonable it is sometimes cheaper to visit your offspring abroad than in the UK!

[BrightEyedAndBushyTailed]

Oh my goodness Meadowblythe I wouldn't know where to start!!!

[Lottie]

I know of someone who did 3 years at Tring 6th form and then did the 2nd year at Central before going out into the big wide world.

[BrightEyedAndBushyTailed]

That's interesting Lottie, thank you.

 

Do you or does anyone know whether if a student has had 3 years student finance, they can apply for a 4th year of finance at another school? 

It's just that lots of courses are 4 years anyway I think.

[Lottie]

Do you or does anyone know whether if a student has had 3 years student finance, they can apply for a 4th year of finance at another school? 

It's just that lots of courses are 4 years anyway I think.

 

Sorry but I don't know the answer to that question.

[BlueLou]

I believe Northern Ballet have given company contracts to a couple of the graduates from their graduate programme - which has to be good! 

[BrightEyedAndBushyTailed]

that is indeed good, BlueLou! I guess it must be really hard to get on the programme to start with.

 

Is it quite common to do another year, does anyone think?

 

thanks for all the replies.

[Guest]

Have a look at those schools who publish their graduate destinations. Central send 1 or 2 to Northern Post grad professional course.

[veryskint]

There is no funding for the Northern Professional Graduate programme. Technically participants are no longer students so do not benefit from advantages such as student discount or exemption from council tax.

 

I think it is more common to do an additional year because it is difficult to secure a job. Central graduates are attracted to the Northern programme because the last few months of their third year are spent on the Ballet Central tour which provides great performance experience but some students may feel they still need to improve their technique.

[Pas de Quatre]

Historically there were links between Central and Northern Ballet.  These have loosened with time, but perhaps are still there to a certain extent.

[Tulip]

There is no link with Central or Northern and students are not sent to audition, that is a fact. Northern take 12 students from anywhere in the world, it is tough to be accepted there as so many apply. Students apply for lots of different reasons.

[Tulip]

There may have been a link between the two schools years ago, but not now.

[Pas de Quatre]

No I didn't mean between the two schools, I meant before Northern Ballet Academy existed.  Christopher Gable founded Central and then a few years later became AD of Northern Dance Theatre as the company was called in those days..

[Lisa O`Brien]

Northern Dance Theatre was founded by Laverne Meyer in 1969. In 1976 Robrt De Warren became Artistic Director and re-named the company Northern Ballet Theatre.  Christopher Gable became AD in 1987.

[Anna C]

No I didn't mean between the two schools, I meant before Northern Ballet Academy existed.  Christopher Gable founded Central and then a few years later became AD of Northern Dance Theatre as the company was called in those days..

Exactly. He co-founded the school in 1982 hence the historic links between Central and Northern. A good number of Central grads danced with Northern and a few were still getting contracts there 6 or so years ago. It's a shame that link faded.

[BrightEyedAndBushyTailed]

are there any more suggestions from anybody?

[tutugirl]

Take a look at National Ballet of Canada .

My DS also young for his year and Tring 3 rd years do a lot of touring , which is invaluable for performance skills - but he may need a post grad year for technique .

Northern Ballet looks amazing , but difficult to get in as they are only taking 12 - 15 students .

[aileen]

There's the Aud Jebsen programme at the Royal Ballet. I don't think that it's only open to graduates of the RBS.

 

As an alternative to attending a full time school, could your daughter continue taking classes and attend as many day and weekend workshops and holiday courses as she can? In London particularly there are quite a few drop-in and bookable classes at a standard suitable for the vocationally trained plus interesting open workshops with choreographers (ENB offers these). Would joining a youth dance company, on top of regular classes, be a possibility?

[BrightEyedAndBushyTailed]

This is a  tough old game isn't it. If there's only 15 places at Northern Academy that makes it probably impossible, plus I've googled the Aud Jebsen programme, thanks Aileen, and it looks out of her league (being realistic).

In theory, yes, she could continue with classes at Danceworks and the like, and do workshops etc., but I really believe she needs the structure and routine of a set programme if that makes sense.

Tutu girl, I'm a bit anxious about the idea of her going to Canada!!

[Tulip]

Only 12 at Northern

[Harwel]

Look at the top European schools - fantastic training, some German schools are completely free and attached to great companies. Email them for their thoughts, they all speak English. At 18 our DC should be old enough to take on a foreign country - and we should let them. This is a tough career and dancers have to take the bull by the horns and chase down any avenue to get the chance they want.

[Sam]

From someone based in Europe, I agree totally with Harwel

Rudra Bejart school in Lausanne; 2yr course- Classical/ Neo/Contemporary  No Fees

Junior Ballet Geneva -apprenticeship 

La Scala , Italy

I think Amsterdam too

Look at the Dance Europe site that was mentioned in a previous thread and you can find out all the schools/Companies in Europe and beyond, it is a great experience for them and lets face it, if our dc want to make it as dancers, most of them may/will have to broaden their horizons outside their native country to succeed !! 

[BrightEyedAndBushyTailed]

Yes I know Sam you are quite right.

It does feel like a bit of a leap into the unknown though, especially when you don't speak a foreign language (my DD). I can speak French but she hasn't any languages at all. She found them  impossible at school, being dyslexic, and because of this needs loads of extra support with academics at the school she is at now. Some of the post grad courses seem quite academic and ask for certain GCSEs that she doesn't have, and even UCAS points etc. She needs somewhere where all they do is dance! I don'treally understand how some entrance requirements are academic ones for a practical course. Anyway for that reason, anything that is a Masters degree sort of thing is out of the question. 

[meadowblythe]

As the mother of a son who managed an D in GCSE French ..  

 

Ashamed to say but one of the advantages of being English is that language is less of a barrier.  My son took himself off to Denmark for summer school aged 16, and it was a liberating experience in that he found he could cope language wise, as everyone else could speak to him!  In fact the biggest problem was riding a bike on the wrong side of the road, one thing I had forgotten to mention.  He has travelled abroad ever since and loved it,  even after his first disaster earlier this year in a Belgium dance competition - no English speakers, couldn't work the metro and had booked himself on the wrong flight back.  

 

There is all the difference in the world between picking up a spoken language and passing an exam.  It may be worth taking summer courses abroad (they are so much cheaper than the UK ones!) as a trial run.

[Kate_N]

When you say that "If she doesn't feel ready to start auditioning for companies" what does your daughter mean by "ready"?

 

Does she mean she thinks her technical skills aren't up to professional standard yet? or is she (or you?) worried about her maturity? 

 

If it's the former, then wouldn't it be best for her to speak to her teachers, work out what she needs to work on, why she isn't there yet, and a plan for a further year of technical training, which wouldn't have to be at a university. Lots of great suggestions upthread. Here's one more: Could she put together a programme of training via working at a major studio (in London, I'd say Danceworks), going in to do a couple of the Professional level classes each day + maybe some Contemporary or Pilates into the mix? If you go to open class regularly, teachers will get to know you, and will teach you, rater than simply giving class. 

 

If it's about funding, to stay at a university, there won't be funding for a 4th year unless that is part of the course as enrolled in, or to start again somewhere else after one's first year. There's no student funding for an extra year because someone isn't ready in the set of skills and knowledge they've been studying. If she needs a further year, it would have to be a postgraduate year.

 

If it's that she (or you) is worried about maturity - I think you'll have to find another way than staying in the safe "womb" of a school or university. To be frank - from my own experience, seeing my students, and the experience of members of my family, to make a career in the arts you need to be brave. You need to be so driven that you get over shyness or fear. So she probably just needs to "feel the fear and do it anyway" as the self-help books say. 

[Jan McNulty]

David Nixon, AD Northern Ballet, said (obviously paraphrased) that many of the students he sees are not "stage ready" and that is why NBA's professional graduate programme was set up.

 

I know that most vocational students get stage experience but perhaps it is not enough and the schemes listed up the thread help give that extra experience that can make a difference.