dramascientist

Yes it is the non residential one from 22nd-25th July. I think it is on at the same time as the rock music course and the musical theatre summer school. I have sent an email to Ms Schon to ask how long it will be until we get an indication but no reply as yet. It is down as an associate course so I presume it is Tring Parks own.

Does anybody know how long you have to wait to hear if you have been given a place on the summer dance school at Tring?

I have just clicked on the link you gave itsapassion and I trained with Laura Fleet at Laines. She was always a beautiful dancer with fantastic feet and such a lovely person. I am not surprised she has turned into a wonderful teacher!

As an expat international teacher I do sometimes wonder at our British obsession with making sure our kids are finished with school when they are 18. I have taught kids in grade 12 (year 13) who were 19/20 because they didn't start school until they were 7. These students benefit from an added maturity and focus that they may well not have had if they had been two years younger and consequently are more successful. I know in the dance World there is a greater need to be successful when young because physically you become less able as you get older and the same in sport but I don't think that sometimes the fact that kids all develop at different ages is taken into account enough. I would be interested to hear other's views.

Yes I expected that DD would be asked to join year 10 because in fact she has not been doing GCSEs since her school is abroad and in fact she doesn't even study in English. Maybe they were expecting her to catch up? She is quite bright and I presume the report from her current school said this in her reference so they thought she would be okay. Still doesn't matter now since she can't take the place anyway.

Wow this is great that there are more and more courses opening up for students especially those who might just need an extra edge. So encouraging!

My dd was offered yr 11 place at Tring but like Taxi4ballet since we don't qualify for Mds and couldn't find private funding we had to turn it down.

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. Hopefully it wont take too long for the book to get here and it will give my DD the support she needs without it being dangerous. I will let you know how things go. I am starting to pray now that things will work out for her to come back to the UK for sixth form if she still wants it. I have also had a word with the homeroom teacher at the school who assures me that she will have a different teacher next year (5th year) so lets hope it will get better. Maybe its just this teacher who treats the girls like this because thats how they did it when she was training?

Thanks Spannerandpony I've ordered it!

Yes Hairbelles it is fairly extreme, but it is so traditionally Russian they don't seem to have moved on from Soviet times in this, though the school has just got a new Director who seems to be trying to move the school forward to bring in more modern thought. The other girls in her class are all no taller than 5'3" with hips like ten year olds. My daughter looks huge against them so its hardly surprising she feels like the teacher is speaking the truth. I'm so worried she will develop an eating disorder if it goes on much longer.

I read this article with interest. My 14 year old DD is at a national ballet school training under the Vaganova system. She is constantly being told by the teacher that she is fat and needs to lose weight. The teacher told me that she does not have a"traditional ballet body". For that read "traditional Russian ballet body" since she is 5' 7" UK size 6-8 . Hearing this has started to destroy the dream she has had since her third birthday when she attended her first formal ballet class, we were so worried about her that we applied to Tring just before the 4th Feb. auditions. We spent the money to take her even though we knew there was very little chance of her being able to go even if she was offered a place because we don't qualify for MDS not living in the UK. Of course at the audition she was the same size as all the other dancers which gave her a better idea of other Brits, which made her feel better about herself but it is very difficult to try and instill a healthy way of eating when the teacher is telling her she needs to lose weight. I have been looking for nutritional advice to help her but there seems to be very little out there for a dancer. If anyone has any advice to give me I would really appreciate it. Thanks Dramascientist

Thank you for all your thoughts. It was not the easiest conversation I have had I have to admit. I think it was the first time she has realised that we are human and even though we tried (I have never sent so many emails to strangers and had so many conversations with random people before) we have failed. I suppose its the first time we havn't been able to deliver, but as her dad said she has been lucky so far, there are many out there who have not had the chances she has had. Yesterday nothing we said made any difference but she seems brighter today and is keen to move on and maybe look into doing some other things like singing to give her the best chance possible next year. Plus we were very late applying this year, too late for Hammond and Elmhurst but now we know she wants to do A'levels as well as her vocational training so we will be apllying everywhere next year because I know the competition will be even tougher. At least she was offered a place, there are so many out there that don't even get that far!

Wow, having lived outside the UK for over 10years I am completely out of touch with stuff like this. My son is a footballer and trains 4 hours a week, he's 8years old but since we live in a former Soviet state this type of commitment is normal. He has trained since he was 5 and even then he was training 2.5-3hours a week, plus games and tournaments. He's talented but we have no illusions that he will be a professional one day. I certainly don't see him with the focus that this article suggests he needs, he has too many other interests. I sometimes wish he had chosen to be a dancer since it seemed easier for boys but having been following this forum for a bit, I see I am mistaken about this too. Mind you having one child in the family with stars in her eyes is enough heartache, my heart goes out to those of you with many dcs, how do you do it?

oops sorry afab got your name wrong, not a very good start!

Hi abfab Thanks for the information. We realise that we will have to pay boarding fees etc but feel that would be possible....though I will probably only be able to retire when I'm 90! Oh well its a good job I like my job, why couldn't I have had a genius child, people seem to be falling over themselves trying to give funding to these gifted children, ho hum thats life I guess!

This is my first time posting, so hello to everybody. I have been inspired to write after reading all your posts, until I found this forum I thought I was the only one finding life with a talented dd hard. Today I have to tell her that despite all our efforts we cannot find funding for her to take up a place at Tring in 5th form dance in September. We live abroad so she does not qualify for the music and dance scheme and our last hope, my parents-in-law, said today that they cannot help. Oh well will have to apply again next year for 6 th form dance since we will qualify for DaDAs, I'm sure it would have been easier if she had been a sports woman!