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And the great shame is that looking at the ingredients list is sounds as if it might be quite good.

dd's local dance teacher always recommended this approach. She said you could learn almost as much from watching a class as from doing it! (OK probably not strictly speaking true, but you can certainly learn different things). When dd was at Northern Ballet School, if you were injured were still expected to attend and watch class and rehearsals. It was only if you had some sort of infectious illness that they didn't want you.

Has anyone seen the imagary on the new 'Royal Ballet' range of cosmetics currently being promoted by Dance Direct? One of them illustrates just this issue - it's not pretty.

Heard my first Cuckoo of the year yesterday (Yorkshire) Maybe they were just waiting for the sun to come out.

I think one reason for this is that exams do not look at physique or physical appearance. As we know, vocational schools very definitely do look at these attributes.

Sorry Taxi, I see now what you meant! I agree that is so tough....so near yet so far. For people in that situation I would definitely recommend trying again next year. I know of a few people who have been in that position but got a DADA when they auditioned the following year.

Actually its often those with a moderate income who come out worst. Those on really low incomes are eligible for help with living expenses if they get a DADA.

On the plus side - if you haven't had a student loan to fund your dance training, it leaves you with the option to do a degree funded by the student loan scheme if you decide to return to education in the future.

What a great shame. I always felt it was a grey area, but it is a shame it has been formalised by a legal ruling.

Obviously it depends very much on the child, and the parent. I agree that the whole audition process in england is very protracted, but remember that to some extent this is to make it as fair and open as possible. Particularly with RBS, who take their audition roadshow to numerous cities so that as many people as possible have the opportunity to audition, and they don't want to make their final decisions about who they will see again until they have seen everyone. They also I think aim to contrive it so final offers for different schools all come at about the same time, so you are not in the position of having to accept one offer (perhaps paying a hefty deposit) not knowing whether you will get an offer at another preferred school.

I'm not sure it is such a good thing to know on the day. Great for those who are successful, but for those who are not it is a huge, life changing dissappointment to have to handle publicly at such a young age, especially if friends have been successful. I know this is how it is when you audition for jobs, but by the time you get to 18/19 you should be tougher and more experienced at handling rejection. Whilst waiting for the post is awful (and I agree that some schools seem to drag out this process interminably) I would rather handle a dissappointed and upset child at home than in the dressing room of a strange school or in the car/on the train on the way home.

I'm not familiar with this associate scheme, but my dd has been taught by Shannon and Peter Parker at various stages in her training and rated them very highly.

I would say that Kate Simmons is a well known school in the North of England. They offer vocational training, and I understand have a particularly good reputation for teacher training.

Relationships are a normal part of being human. I think it is hard as a parent to handle this, as it is a sign of your child growing up, but they do have to learn how to handle relationships and (hopefully) still stay focussed on the important things in life. If not they could be very lonely as adults and that would be really sad. At least at vocational school they are in a relatively controlled environment and are busy a lot of the time. They're not likely to be sneaking off to all night house parties or 'hanging out' on street corners. The school probably has tighter rules than you could possibly enforce at home if you had a strong willed teenager. And they are living with like minded friends so the boyfriend/girlfriend at least should understand the importance of dance.

Especially when there are magic swimsuits which do magic things for smoothing bulges and curves. Edited to add....I suppose this wouldn't be considered sporting in an exam or audition situation!

I think that the audition experience can be seen as an indicator of the school's attitude. Every candidate may be the one they want, so every candidate should be made to feel welcome and valued. If the audition experience doesn't give a good impression it's probably not the right place for your child, however good the reputation of the school. Good luck next week. And thankyou for the insight into how things are done elsewhere! Edited for Grammar

I think the fees are quite reasonable. Maybe its because NBS doesn't offer A levels, as some schools do. Also their costs may be lower because they are not in London, and not maintaining/paying for huge buildings. There is lots of purpose built student accommodation within 5-10 mins walk of NBS. Most NBS students seem to live in either New Medlock house or Parkway Gate, both operated by a company called Unite. Its not cheap, but much cheaper than London prices! Good point about DADA scheme changing taximom.

The fee quoted will be for the whole year I believe, and you can pay termly. Note this only covers fees, not accommodation and living expenses. I know many girls who auditioned for NBS and were not offered places, so I don't think it can be said that they do not see potential if you are offered a place with no DADA. However NBS trains jazz dancers as well as ballet dancers, so it may not be just classical potential they are looking for The way their audition process works is that you only have to do one audition. After that audition you will either get an offer of a place, or a 'No' letter within about a week or two. At this stage you are not offered funding as the school doesn't know how many DADAs they will have available until around April. My understanding of the way they allocate DADAs is - In the audition each candidate is given a score (for use by the school only, the candidates aren't told their scores) , and the school use this score when they know how many DADA awards they have to decide who they will offer DADAs to. They are offered to those getting the highest score first. If they turn their place down, the DADA is offered to someone further down the list. At least this is how it was when my dd went there - but that was getting on for 5 years ago now so things may have changed.

I'm reading 'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett. Its about African American maids working for white families in 60's in Mississippi. It is very easy to read, but thought provoking. Astonishing how things have changed within just a couple of generations. I haven't seen the film yet, but will try to when I've finished the book. I think 'The Hunger Games' is my favourite read of the last 12 months.

I hate to break the flow of this thread, but just wanted to post a slight clarification regarding the definition of DaDa. These awards are generally offered by vocational schools which offer National Diploma courses for post 16 study (eg English National Ballet School, Northern Ballet School, Elmhurst). The schools which offer degree and foundation degree courses (eg Central School of Ballet, Rambert) are funded in the same way as other British degree courses (ie you take a student loan to cover your fees and living expenses)

Homework? Lol!

Maybe she could consider dropping modern for a bit, perhaps replacing it with another ballet class or something in a different style all together. Modern can be easily picked up later. My dd never did modern until she was 16, but took her intermediate modern after a term or two at Northern Ballet School. If you had this in mind, you could perhaps ask the teacher whether she could take the Grade 5 before she stops modern for a bit. If none of the others in the school are taking it, ask the teacher if she knows of another school running a session where she could take the exam (my dd did this for one of her RAD ballet exams) Edited to add: posted at the same time as BankruptMum - seems we had the same idea!

Gosh I'm sure the Hermitage Theatre wasn't that expensive when we went - it was quite a few years ago so maybe the prices have gone up (quite likely I suppose) as its got more popular. I feel even more priviliged to have been there now. PS Su - don't miss a trip to The Hermitage museum while you are there. It is truely amazing.

I know of so many students who have been told by some teacher, somewhere along the line that they weren't going to make it....and have then gone on to get into good vocational schools for sixth form. (Still to early to say how their careers will pan out in the longer term) I think that the time to stop is when the dancer feels its no longer worth the effort. Very few will actually become ballet dancers, but for those who don't, dance training may take them down different avenues that they didn't even know were possible when they started out. However, they have to be in it for the journey, not for the end game, because that end game is so illusive. If you aren't enjoying the journey (at least most of the time) you're throwing a big part of your life away.

Walking, especially on the wonderful moorland near where I live. Reading (thank heaven for my daily train commute) Excercise classes - Yoga, Pilates, Body Jam, Zumba (I don't have time for all of these every week!) Spending time with family and friends I love this thread