Lifeafterballet

@Balletmummy18 mentioned kindness. Last week I attended an NHS training day and we had a lecture on Incivility or rudeness and how this affects individuals and a teams performance. I think it resonates through all professions and teams and ballet schools and companies could learn a lot from it.

Both. My daughter said that for 8 years her waking thought and her last before sleep was of ballet. Every action, meal, glance in the mirror, there it was haunting her. It becomes an obsession, an addiction. Supported by the environment. Fear too, of change, of injury, of being judged, of failure 😞 Sometimes I catch sight of myself in a full length mirror, eeek, I pull a face at what I see, then I pull on my clothes and move on with my day. I can’t imagine looking at myself every day and feeling disappointed with my reflection, comparing myself constantly to the others in the class. The constant struggle to fit your square peg into that round hole. To push your body to do things that it’s just not designed to do. To fight against what Mother Nature intended for you instead of embracing growth. Every day from year 9 on was a struggle. We felt unprepared and unsupported during our journey x

My daughter attended vocational ballet school from 11 to 19. We are not from a dancing background and were very naive about the whole thing. At 10 she very quickly went from one/two local ballet classes a week to JAs and then full time boarding. If we knew then what we know now we wouldn’t have accepted that offer and got on that rollercoaster. We didn’t do our homework and regret that decision. Our Facebook and Instagram posts and photos of amazing opportunities and exciting successes hide the reality of our day to day experience. Although today she is a beautiful, confident, resilient and able young woman there are physical and mental scars that will live with her for a long time to come. In our experience she is not a minority. As a previous poster rightly said, people are less willing or able to share their less favourable experiences. We are happy too and to help others make the right decision for their children. We also have a son who went to the same vocational school at 17. Did the same local classes then associates and SAs. Personally I feel that not going at 11 as his sister did was better. He was less affected and didn’t have his love of ballet sucked out of him in the three years he was there. Although that first year was awful 😢. He is now a professional ballet dancer in a National company and is loving it 😊 I personally feel that we should have kept our daughter at home and accessed associate classes, private coaching and intensives. Nurturing her love of ballet and building up her self esteem and confidence not having it chipped away at 😔 I think the key is to ask the right questions, listen to the answers and go with your gut feelings. Don’t get overwhelmed with the prestigiousness. Choose what feels right for your daughter and your family x

Congratulations to the class of 2021 🎉🥳🍾🥂 I hope they have all managed to get to their contracts in the US and EU. My Dd was the class of 2020, the “ ghost “ year. The one that will not feature on the schools website graduate destination or celebration list. Sadly the majority never had the opportunity to pursue a ballet career that they had trained and sacrificed so much for. Even after auditioning them the associate company didn’t give a 2020 graduate an opportunity 😢 But some happily did gain contracts and are doing very well 🥳 The rest, including my Dd, have moved on to new adventures and opportunities that they never dreamed of. They will be fantastic in whatever they choose to do, I just wish that it was congratulated and celebrated not forgotten 😔

Am I right in thinking that RBS publish how many of their JAs or year 7 WL pupils make it to grad year ? Do Elmhurst do this ? Is it a requirement to make public this information ?

https://www.scottishballet.co.uk/about-us/careers/male-dancer-audition?fbclid=IwAR2huX0Sk2pipdJWBNmvSBGtdt6WoSdkHkhHbl4xKYSNIiKQssczTa_xwNY and this one ☝️

Elmhurst offer a very small choice of two A levels along side a Level 6 Trinity Diploma in Professional Dance. If you are wanting the A levels as a back up to gain entry to university then it’s tough with just the two. The Diploma gives some UCAS points but it really depends on the degree course you are applying for. The academic teachers were brilliant, very small classes and really supportive. The school itself is mainly classical ballet focused. Accommodation for the first two years and all meals for all three years are provided. Birmingham is a fun city and cheaper alternative to London x

Ds did 2 shows and toured, Dd did 5 shows and toured. They were given money for food and the transport and hotel was paid for. They also provided pointe shoes for Dd. But no wage, it was for the experience 😒

I’m trying to follow this thread but when it started on about equity etc I got lost 🤣 All graduating students have dreams and aspirations but the reality is that they need a job, any job. We aimed for our Ds and Dd just to get their foot on the first rung of the ladder. Nothing too prestigious, just somewhere that they could dance in and be happy, a better environment that the school had provided. This would prove to them and us that maybe the pain had been worth it in the end. One found their happy dancing place and the other found greater happiness in stopping. Covid and Brexit has destroyed the careers of two generations of graduates before they even started and countless others who have lost contracts 😢 I feel that the British ballet companies could have done more. And that doesn’t mean increasing the use of students in their productions free of charge. Both mine were used multiple times in productions, pre and post graduation, but weren’t good enough to be paid.

Still available 😊

Still available 😊

Still available 😊

https://www.dancemagazine.com/simone-biles-mental-health-2654372644.html

I feel that it was a farewell 😔

Houston Ballet 2 charges $8000 fees per year to join. It’s actually part of the academy. My daughter had a short term visit there but there was no way we could have afforded it. Can’t really class it as a second company.

I’m feeling so so proud of the current elite athletes who are prioritising their mental health over their sports demands and expectations. Also, the very brave challenge of sexualisation in sport. Im shocked to read the clothing rules for some sport’s 😮 Simone Biles for one, leading the way 💪 She alone is not USA Gymnastics. It’s a team !! Ballet is a team event too. There is a lot to learn and a long way to go.

Dss first year post graduation was in the US. He was paid but it still cost us a fortune to get him out there and set him up. Then the US contracts are only 9 months, August to May if you are lucky. Then you come back to the U.K. with no income for three months and the whole thing starts again 😩 Europe has been better. Cheaper to get him set up and they pay all year round 😊 And thats classed as a success 😅 Dd trained for 8 years and a term and had a contract but couldn’t get there so decided to stop. She took her pointe shoes off after her live Nutcracker performance with BRB and never put them on again. It made us feel sad at first but now we are all so much happier. Ballet isn’t the be all and end all. There is a lot of life after. I know a lot of girls who have made the same decision. Sometimes you just have to draw a line, physically, mentally or financially, whether that’s the child or the parents, enough is enough x

I think you may see this replicated around the US/EU as well. And not just in schools. Ds’s company have given a lot of contracts to its feeder school this year 🎉 It’s only in the U.K. that companies haven’t increased their employment from U.K. schools 😏

Huge congratulations to your Ds 🎉 What a wonderful opportunity and company to be part of. I’ve heard a previous school mate may be playing a lead role too 😊 so would be good to watch them both dance again x

That’s really funny 😆 as my husband messaged Dr Jill Biden through Twitter about visas for Dd and Ds. She never replied 😏

When we were seeking an appointment the only two choices were London or Belfast. I was visiting a European country last November and stayed opposite the US Embassy that was accepting appointments for US visas. I spoke with them to see if they would see Dd and they informed me that she had to go to her own countries US embassy. So no luck there 😢 To add I have just looked at the US Consulate in Edinburgh and they say they do not issue visas and you have to go to the London US Embassy x

Isabella Boylston trained there and Meelis Pakri is faculty x

Have a look at The Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida. My Dd attended their summer intensive and had a fantastic time. We hadn’t heard of it til she won a scholarship to go from YAGP. She flew on her own from the U.K. to Fort Lauderdale and they collected her from the airport. Accommodation is onsite and houseparented. She had a fantastic time. Tough Vaganova classes mixed with some fun trips and activities. She made some wonderful friends and was offered a full time place at the end. She chose to remain in the U.K. due to academics etc.

Sold 😃

That was my fear with RBS US. I had heard of students not progressing to the graduate year 😢 I then met two who danced with my son in the US and could see no reason why they hadn’t been able to graduate.