Stirrups36

and congratulations TaxiMum. good times! (Miracle, indeed...)

Yes, especially as they have not let current Elmhurst students know yet.

as a parent of a year 11 vocational student, I'm starting to get a little fed up with some of the comments on here. Gossip at the ballet school gates is just the same online it appears. Well done to ALL vocational year 11 students, not just WL, who have worked their socks off (literally sometimes! ) to get to this point. And best wishes for success in the future, on whatever path comes next. And for all students who are reading all these comments - do not give up. But keep on enjoying dancing. work hard. smile. Vocational school might be the route, it might not. But enjoy it all in the meantime. Yes, I wish the process is sometimes more transparent - but recognise things change and this life will always be a difficult one. and thank you all for your £1 per year taxpayer contribution to the MDS scheme (29 million taxpayers, £29 million MDS funding). It has helped make the whole Vocational school thing possible, and we are very grateful for the support it gives.

yes

Maybe on another forum somewhere there are lots of parents discussing why so few UK 11 year olds end up playing for Manchester United. As muminaspin says, this school is one of the very best in the world, and rightly has applicants from all over the world. To those who have trained there and are staying for US, to those who haven't and are about to - congratulations. But it wont get any easier from here... To those who have trained there and are about to leave, congratulations on the last 5 years, and I am sure you will have a very successful and enjoyable time in whatever route you take from here - which of course could include training at other upper schools and a professional classical ballet career! None of what has been learned is wasted and how many others have taken part in those amazing defile on the ROH stage? no-one can take that away from you.

It's difficult times for those who wanted to stay, but aren't. And full results are not yet out, but maybe it also reflects positively on other schools training students who then get to upper school? Just a different thought, without seeing international makeup of the whole cohort. And of course, many who aren't staying will go elsewhere, continue to get great training and will dance professionally, so the MDS support is not wasted.

The timing of this question is probably a little delicate, given auditions and results are happening as we speak! The Bolshoi (yes, I know it is not UK, but if you are wanting league tables, then you cannot ignore overseas schools or students) then has a good reputation... In some respects. Same with Laine, Northern, Paris, RBS, bird, Elmhurst, Central, enb, RCS, YDA, Hammond, Hamburg, ballet west and so on. All are different and the number ending up graduating from Bolshoi is small. But the number graduating from others and getting great jobs, in whatever field, gives you a wide choice. So look at the graduate destinations. Look at the teachers, at the facilities and try for what your child wants to do and is best at. And make up your own mind, as everyone will have different opinions. At some point you will almost certainly think it was the wrong choice. Your and others opinions will change almost year by year, as the teacher is SO important. (Just as in academic education, the teacher is sometimes more important than the the school. If you have a teacher who is wrong for you in one of the best schools, That is probably worse then having a teacher who is good for you in one of the 'lesser' schools). And you will find at least one person who hates something about any of the schools! And sometimes all!

Have fun everybody. Smile and enjoy the class. Then go shopping at the bullring!

How was Antwerp Afab?

Just been told it wasn't harrison at the RBS today. Whoever was there was still very good!

Ahhhhhh! Indeed he was. Come in number 9! By all accounts 'very good'!

Congratulations on this great achievement. I am just catching up with the progress. The offers sound really interesting, although I thought Dresden was more contemporary than the others? Am I wrong there? (New thread??.) It all sounds a great experience.

Also, some do scholarships to help with cost. It can't hurt to ask. If you don't ask - you don't get.

Just try to STOP them dancing! and yes, they do summer schools. Our holidays are planned around where summer schools are to help reduce cost.

Fewer students has a LOT to do with it in my opinion as well CeliB Statistically, there are going to be more Russian, Chinese, Japenese dancers because, Well, there are just more Russians, Chinese, Japanese people!

I find it difficult to comment on an article I can't read. I fact commenting on articles that I haven't read is usually something I try not to do. So I look at what else is available. And the BBO article also has CP's comments about teachers and teaching. He also talks about a lack of competitive instinct, but also talks about what makes British dancers great. It is an open article, as are the ones from imesne brown about the vaganova. Issues with teachers and students are not just a UK problem. The Vaganova article also talks about the role of the company and so any discussion of why there are few UK principals also has to look at the support the companies give. The Russians do seem to support much more after vocational school. BTW, CP also wrote about Dutch students when he started there. But the comments I have read from him make me think the future is bright. We can't go back and change things and I can think of teachers (academically as well as vocationally and with all our children) that on reflection have not added to our children's lives, just as there are others who have had an amazing impact. But we can look forward.

An AD making such statement pales into insignificance against what goes on and is said in Russia - and don't they have the 'best' schools? but from reading articles and interview transcripts on Ismene Brown's blog, the Vaganova is some third rate school... ok maybe a slight exaggeration... They have bought in new set of procedures, for example requiring attendance at lessons and not being late to class! What is that if not a motivation problem? They too bemoan the fact that chinese and korean artists are winning competitions (in music as well as dance). Seemingly just as important as the triples are "the angle of a turn of the head" - and may be this is for another thread, but I don't think what the RAD are doing at some grade makes much difference to what they do at that level. The UK had some of the best ballet schools in the world - which is why so many overseas students want to go there. With more work and effort, the schools will get even better - and with an AD who has stated that he wants more British dancers in the school and going onto companies, surely we should be pleased?

I don't have access to the article. But this from earlier this year also expounds on competitions, teachers and... yes, funding! http://www.bbo.org.uk/_assets/PDF/2014-The-Dancer-Magazine.pdf I presume he is taking about the very pinacle of the dance world - those looking at classical careers. And if he is seeing a lack of motivation, then that does need addressing. Just as it would in football, athletics, music, drama etc etc etc. I am sure (but don't know of course) that those who may need motivating are aware already and would not be surprised at reading such words. Or indeed... Not care!!! And of course, we could all point to those who have worked their socks off to get where they are today. Pushing through injury. Or personal hardship and many other things. The very exceptions that may just prove the rule. If they can do it, then why not more? (And yes, of course there are other reasons for not reaching the very top of the tree. It's not an easy climb).

Happy Christmas to all - and for the dancers amongst you - keep up the Christmas stretching.

Excellent. Thanks for sharing it

I think the practice is important to be done with the right coaching, We are not ballet experts and if I had been teaching my son how to Plie, I dread to think of the result! even if it was just letting him practice. So our DS went to more classes. We did lots of research - including lots of help from on this site - and gradually adding to the classes. but he did ballet, tap and modern from early on and I think that variety has benefited him now. There are a number of associate classes and summer schools available. Audition for those and if he does have it, he will get picked up (and you will also build friendships that will last years). Remember though, that there are a number of children who do associate classes that never go to vocational school as well. Things change over time as you will see on many threads on this forum. Getting onto some boys only classes is essential though. It should all be about enjoyment. if your son is enjoying dance, then that is great. It should not be about what he might do in the future, but whether he is enjoying it now. The analogy I always and often use is with football. Our sons can't all play like David Beckham - although they might. They can't all play for Barcelona- although they might. But in the meantime, HUGE numbers of boys/men play football every week and love playing it without playing at that level. If they are a potential Beckham, then they do get picked up at the football equivalent of associate schemes, and the training needed is provided.

The news item starts at 18 minutes in on this BBC West Midlands clip.

A toolkit sounds a great idea. maybe also with a section for the parents! After all, if there are pressures at home, this affects the training. (and no, that section would not just say 'open a bottle of wine') Injury or the threat of injury would be high on my son's list.

Congratulations to your son Cathy. Effort = reward! (and to the school, that appears remarkably enlightened in comparison to some of the stories we read on this board). and WRT boys beginning ballet, seeing all the introducing ballet books that are predominantly (not all, there will be exceptions of course) pink in colour and content also don't help Celb. and in danger of going into another thread... Coppelia! what on earth? and Franz is an idiot!

Congratulations to Peter Breuer - who is the Artistic Director of SIBA for the following award (courtesy of a post in news from germany, Austria, Switzerland from Angela) The German Dance Prize 2015 is awarded to Peter Breuer, former dancer and now AD/chief choreographer at Salzburg Landestheater, Austria. Breuer, born in Bavaria in 1946, was a principal dancer and international guest artist with many companies in Germany and abroad, among them Munich, Düsseldorf, Berlin and London Festival Ballet (1969-1977). He finished his career in 1988, since 1991 he is director at Salzburg.