glowlight

Wishing your dd all the best @Tinkerbell. And congratulation @Bluebird22's young person on their place. It's good to hear some positive news, and also good to hear that other institutions are opening up options to these students.

I think the video auditions may take as much effort to administer as live auditions, especially as this is a new thing and they will have to put in extra safeguards to make sure the approach is fair. I think this will be why they haven't offered refunds. @millicent - I'm sure they will watch enough of your video to actually see her dancing! But I agree with @dancemum100 that it is a lot of money which is prohibitive to some families. On the plus side at least you don't have the cost of train fares/petrol and the cups of coffee you would be drinking while anxiously wait for them to finish the audition (not much consolation, I know).

I would say definitely worth getting in touch with Upper Schools in the UK to see if there is a possibility of her completing her training in the UK. It's possible that there are overseas students who don't want/ are unable to travel to the UK to complete their courses.

I want to be clear that when I wrote about a 'cycle of gossip and speculation' I wasn't suggesting that the ITV news story was gossip and speculation. I was trying to make the point that if someone like, me who knows nothing about the situation first hand, starts speculating on this forum, then it is gossip. I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression!

I have been pondering long an hard whether to post on this topic. On the one hand I agree with Taxi that it is dangerous to perpetuate a conspiracy of silence. I know there will be people who feel they should have spoken out about things they knew or had heard sooner. On the other hand we should not be drawn into a cycle of gossip and speculation. This doesn't help anyone. We must encourage and support victims of abuse to speak out to the authorities. Or even to the media if their voices are not being heard (as has happened in this case). Above all I hope that these brave young women get the support they need as, speaking out now will have opened up old wounds. I am deeply saddened by the whole thing.

I'm actually quite glad I wasn't on this forum when my DD was doing associate auditions. Knowing that some results are on their way must be particularly nerve racking. Congratulations to those who have good news. Commiserations to those who don't have good news this time. Good luck to those still waiting.

Are there curtains over the window you could draw? That might give a better view than having her silhouetted against the light. If not we can pray for a dull day for you!

There will be lots of opportunities in the future if your dd is open to them. Treat this first one as a fun practice for all of those auditions to come. If she is successful this time it will be an added bonus. If not it is good practice for the next one, and the next one, etc

I think it is up to you if you post something that identifies yourself or your child, but you must not post something which identifies someone else. There are a couple of specific schools that we cannot discuss on the forum, whether we post positive or negative comments, and this is for very specific legal reasons. We should be mindful that there is a risk that discussions on the forum could lead to other institutions threatening legal action and so being added to the list of schools which should not be discussed, which would be a shame as it would severely limit the value of the forum to parents and young dancers. I think it is wise to keep comments generic (ie not name specific schools) as @taxi4ballet has done.

I think all these video auditions are really good practice for them. Even when we get back to 'normal' I think schools/colleges/employers and companies will realise they don't need to see people in real life - so video auditions (and interviews for those of us not in the creative arts) may continue to be more normal. After all, many schools already have a video audition process for overseas candidates. In some ways it would level the playing field, and certainly keep the cost of auditioning down (no hotel and travel costs).

I think that this is very wise advice from Alison. As well as knowing the student, the teacher probably also knows more than we 'strangers' about how the two schemes run in their local area. It isn't always just about the number of hours, but are there conflicts in style? Whilst a 13 year old can handle this well and thrive on it, I think it could be challenging for a 10 year old. I'm not saying there are - but it's a thought.

I'm finding this fascinating and informative. We are so lucky to have a community of people with such a wide range of knowledge and experience to draw on. Thankyou to the scientific bods for correcting some of our common misconceptions. It is both interesting and encouraging that they are all saying pretty much the same thing. I think the message for @sillysally is clear...your dd isn't doing anything wrong. What you can do is to support her to take advantage of her strengths so that she can become the dancer she was destined to become.

If it's what she says she wants I think that is as close as you can get. There may be more regrets later down the line if she doesn't give it a shot.

That is a very good question. At 10 they can have little idea of what life as a dancer will be like, and maybe that is why there are actually so many who start down the vocational route but don't become dancers. What I was trying to say in my first response is that the desire to dance and to do it to a professional level should come from the child, rather than the parent or teacher. But as parents and teachers we can guide them and show them what opportunities there are.

@Rocco - I think the key question is, does your son want to be a ballet dancer? And is he happy to go away to boarding school next year to achieve that dream? If so I would say it is worth giving auditions a try - if you don't you will never know. Getting the level of training that you need to become a ballet dancer is much harder if they stay at home than if they go to vocational school, but vocational school isn't for everyone. Go into it with open eyes and an open mind. Having got SWL for JA's he obviously has something. But there is lots of completion for places and for funding so you both have to be prepared for the fact it might not work out, so as other posters have said - treat the auditions as a fun day out rather than a big deal. Keep your ambition high but expectations realistic.

One of the amazing things that dance training gives is transferable skills. At whatever stage a dancer decides to hang up his or her dance shoes, the way they have trained will help them in whatever career they choose next. My dd is no longer dancing professionally - she now runs a team of web developers. Who knew that a Diploma in Professional Dance could lead to a career in IT!

Hopefully this will give candidates a bit more time to get back any lost fitness before they audition so will feel more ready when the time comes. A very sensible agreement I think.

Thankyou for your encouragement. It makes me more determined to crack on and write. Shame I'm back at work next week.

Thanks @Kate_N for clarifying about use of elliptical machine. As I said - I'm not an expert

I am not an expert - but personally I have found pilates very good for developing strong but long muscles. I wonder if the elliptical machine work is building muscles bulk which isn't quite what she wants. I would also say that contemporary courses seem to look for a different body shape to ballet schools, so maybe aspiring to a ballet physique isn't the right thing for her in any case.

I think you are probably right - that hadn't occurred to me! Made me think - at vocational school do girls have the chance to go shopping for 'unmentionables' and for toiletries and things? Or do they have to take enough with them from home?

Let's hope its finished while she's still young enough to enjoy it! At the moment it's progressing in fits and starts because of fitting it in around work. I also stalled big time at the start of the COVID epidemic - couldn't do anything creative at all!

Maybe I should have titled it Swan Lake 'Bath' Ballet. Sorry for getting your hopes up!

Thankyou to everyone who has responded to the thread about pointe work. So much information, and some wonderful anecdotes. It hadn't occurred to me how stressful it must be for an 11 year old, away from home for the first time, being faced with pointe shoe ribbons to sew! Now I have some questions about timetabling at vocational schools. How much ballet do students do in Year 7? Do boys and girls have separate classes? What do they do in the way of other dance genres? How does the dance timetable fit in with the school timetable - eg do they do school work in the morning and dance in the afternoon, or is dance mixed in amongst other lessons as PE would be at a regular school. Do they do ballet exams? I appreciate it is probably different at different schools. I'm just keen to get an idea of how things work so that I can make my story as realistic as possible.

The Swan Lake Bath Ballet - both wonderful and weird. I'm sure it should come with a disclaimer about the dangers of dancing en pointe in the bath tub Enjoy.