glowlight

Hi Passionforballet - your question made me smile. Once my dd started auditioning for RBS associates (she didn't audition for JAs) she auditioned every year, but she never got in. In the last couple of years she didn't really expect to get in, just treated it as audition practice. However, I do know of one girl who auditioned pretty much every year and finally got in when it came to SAs, so its definitely worth continuing to try if she wants to (and you don't mind forking out the audition fee every year!)

I'm afraid I don't have personal experience of the NYB audition process, but given that you have a supportive teacher who is encouraging your DD to apply to associate programs, and that your DD is still very young, I would be guided by your teacher's advice on this. She presumably has good reasons for suggesting that NYB may not be suitable, and I would trust her experience and knowledge of your child. Whilst audition experience is good, you don't want to risk putting her off by putting her in a situation where she is out of her depth. Perhaps you could ask your teacher whether there are any other associate schemes or junior companies close to you that she could audition for.

I don't know if this is still the case, but Northern Ballet used to ask you to audition for their summer school, unless you were already at vocational school.

They don't ask for a letter, but teacher put one in anyway. I have no idea whether it made a difference, but she was offered a place on that occasion. Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned it!

There is info on funding for English Students on this page, although it isn't clear what the fees will be from next year (ie whether they will be charging full fees as English Universities will) http://www.rsamd.ac.uk/studyhere/fees/

The main advantage I would see with doing a summer school at a school you plan to audition at is that you would get familiarity with the buildings, studios, layout which can help tremendously with confidence when it comes to audition day. At least that is how it seemed for my dd. Central offers shorter Easter courses which may give this benefit without the outlay of a full summer course. For students who are already in the 6th form I think it is very wise to look for summer schools associated with companies. My dd did Northern Ballet summer school for many years and would thoroughly recommend it. The links with the company are close and The Artistic Director of the company comes in to watch the students. If we were looking now I would probably suggest she looks as the Scottish Ballet summer school and Ballet Cymru too. But most important is that they get a good standard of training, a good summer school can really bring a student on. And rest during the summer is important too. Bodies and minds need time off to recover and rebuild and this reduces the risk of injury. Most dance companies give their dancers a good break during the year for this reason.

I think the opportunity to have placement with a company will be very beneficial for students of Royal Conservatoire when it comes for applying for jobs. Make sure she explicitly puts it on her CV as it will be something to set her above the other hundreds of graduate CVs which companies receive.

Are they perhaps referring to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formerly RSAMD) which offers a BA in Modern Ballet in association with Scottish Ballet? http://www.rsamd.ac.uk/undergraduate/dance/ This course has only been running for a couple of years, and I think this year will be the first graduate year so it will be interesting to see how their graduates fair compared with those from other schools. I don't know much about the training but the link with Scottish Ballet sounds positive. There is also Dance School of Scotland - but that's been aroud for a while I think. http://www.thedanceschoolofscotland.org.uk/

When my dd got a place at White Lodge summer school (quite a few years ago now) she was not an associate and had never even auditioned. I did wonder if the very nice covering letter which her teacher put in with the application helped.

We went to the Thursday matinee and I was blown away by it. I love Northern Ballet and have long been a great supporter, but would be the first to admit that occasionally their new productions may not appeal to the mainstream. However I am sure that Beauty and the Beast will. The story is classic, the sets are out of this world and the costumes amazing. And of course the dancing is stunning. The matinee had a very mixed age audience and all ages seem to enjoy. I think this is a fantastic and hopefully enduring addition to the repertoire. Just a shame that the company is 'reduced' to collecting 'small change' to pay dancers' salaries (re exit collections for 'Sponsor a Dancer'), but I am pleased that they are doing everything they can to maintain the company despite their funding cuts. Lets hope that they can ride the storm and that the Arts Funding situation will improve in the near future.