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Lifeafterballet

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  1. Lifeafterballet
    LFTs are barely 76% accurate. That info is on the Gov.U.K. Website. To level the playing field and if they really want every child tested prior to entry they should have done it at the school on arrival. It’s simple and takes 30 minutes. They have medical staff available on site. I’m sure parents wouldn’t have minded a small fee either. Really though PCR testing would be more accurate. Also, aren’t we still in a travel lockdown when these auditions are scheduled ? 🤔
  2. Lifeafterballet
    In our experience students don’t apply to other schools just in case. If they are told that they are not able to continue their training at the school ‘then’ they apply to others. If this had happened to our Ds or Dd we had already agreed that they would be coming home. Also, again in our experience, very rarely do students, especially girls sadly, when assessed out of WL gain a place at Elmhurst.
  3. Lifeafterballet
    Interesting read 😔 https://www.pointemagazine.com/ballet-and-emotional-demands-2650701933.html?utm_campaign=RebelMouse&socialux=facebook&share_id=6300042&utm_medium=social&utm_content=Pointe&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR2m04mNgHOGD0K8HOplXBLGQwOWjNpYTuGAgSaUR-UMh3nP_i1GRhWPc0o
  4. Lifeafterballet
    I was just reading the Elmhurst thread with all the yess and nos for finals coming out, sadly two nos were for year 8 and year 9 ☹️ Going back to Elmhurst’s new assessment system and their commitment to offering their students 5 years of training, would there be any point of applying if there was no movement until upper school ? If you gain a place in year 7 then you can stay in it til year 11 ? There is a world of difference, physically and emotionally between an 11 year old and a 16 year old. A lot happens in that time. In our experience they were very poor at giving honest and direct feedback. They beat around the bush a lot with excuses and rarely gave straight answers to questions. So I will pose a question if I may, As barbaric as the assessing out process is, isn’t it a necessary evil ? Wouldn’t you want to get your child onto a pathway that suits them better earlier rather than 5 years wasted or chasing a dream that isn’t going to happen. I know of so many fantastic experiences and positives that began with leaving a particular school that in hindsight wasn’t right for them. Lots have been shared on here. Before stopping ballet Dd had a really honest conversation with a ballet teacher that she respects enormously and had always been a support. She reassured her that it was ok to stop, that sometimes you can just outgrow ballet, and that what she wanted at 11 isn’t necessarily the same at 19 or any age. Also, that there is only so far you can take it and sometimes you just aren’t going to get any better and there is nothing you can do about it. Maybe if we had had that conversation earlier then Dd would have started a new pathway and been happier earlier. Who knows ☺️
  5. Lifeafterballet
    Last year two of Dds friends graduated from vocational school with a Trinity Diploma and 2 A levels. They both were given student finance for their University Degrees. One was Dada, one not. I was told by Dds school that it would be her first time applying for student finance/a loan and the Trinity Diploma is not a full degree and is funded differently. They said that every pupil that had graduated and gone onto University education had gained funding. Not all health related courses. I will let you know how we get on with Dds application after 1st April ☺️ They can’t give to some and not too others.
  6. Lifeafterballet
    I have just discovered on Instagram “The hard-corps ballet” podcasts. It is young dancers talking about their vocational journeys and experiences. Well worth a listen.
  7. Lifeafterballet
    I think the funding of extras is not necessarily to keep up with the Jones’s but sometimes to find the love of ballet that gets eaten away at vocational school. Also, to get a job, which is the end goal after all.
  8. Lifeafterballet
    So so many extras ££££ Easter and summer schools. Auditions for other schools in year 11. And then the job hunting ! We must have spent thousands on international travel for auditions. Ds went to Budapest, Amsterdam, Prague, Germany and Sarasota all in about 5 weeks 😅 Then Estonia and Poland last summer ! Dd did Austria, Sibiu, Sarasota, Orlando and Miami. She had more lined up but Covid but paid to them. When you start on this journey you have to be prepared for the expense. And it doesn’t stop after they have graduated. With hardly any paid contracts out there it’s the parents who then end up paying a company for their children to dance with them. They call it an apprenticeship 😢 Ds was lucky to get paid. Dds university isn’t going to cost us a tenth of what ballet did 🤣 The only regret we have money wise is that we continued to pay for something that made her unhappy ☹️
  9. Lifeafterballet
    MDSs are the same for everyone but there are extra bursaries available for say pointe shoes etc for certain children. When some girls can destroy a pair of pointe shoes in one class the costs mount up 😟 so this can be very helpful.
  10. Lifeafterballet
    If anyone is curious about “extras” this is an example of what appeared on our 6:2/6:3 Dada invoice termly. I can’t find an old MDS, must have burned 🔥 them 😂 It shows the total full fees prior to the Dada discount so don’t panic 😟 There is no uniform/pointe shoe etc allowance with a Dada as there is with an MDS. The 6:2 is boarding and the 6:3 is a day student, then you pay rent and bills. It is not my intention to frighten anyone, I wish I had known a bit more before entering the vocational world. https://ibb.co/PtsDxQF https://ibb.co/ZmqRPCG
  11. Lifeafterballet
    In our vocational journey we had 4 different insurance companies through the school. BUPA was the first one. It was not included in the MDS or Dada, it was added to the bill 😂 Some parents set up their own for their child. There are lots of other expenses to be aware of, our huge mortgage reflects this 😂 Also, there is discount if you have two Dc on MDSs but not on an MDS and Dada or two Dada’s, it is the fee doubled 😢 Just to be aware if ballet is contagious as it was in our family 😂
  12. Lifeafterballet
    Just to be aware that your child’s private health insurance is paid by you but the school, in our experience, try to control what it is used for. We were told that the BUPA insurance we paid over £900 a year for would not cover mental health. It did.
  13. Lifeafterballet
    Both mine had Dadas and obtained the Diploma. The school has said that because they never did the extra modules to turn it into a full degree and the Dada funding isn’t student financed, different pot, they are entitled to funding. Every student that has left the school after 6:3, whether Dada funded or self payers have obtained student finance at University ☺️
  14. Lifeafterballet
    Dd has 2 A levels and a Level 6 Trinity Diploma in Professional Dance. She applied for University. Her course required 3 A levels totalling 120 UCAS. That is not achieved from just 2 A levels but the Diploma also carries UCAS points. The Diploma can’t be entered into the academic page in the UCAS application for some reason, and can only be talked about in the supporting statement and reference. Dd got a flat no from one university saying she did not meet the entry requirements when she did. They obviously didn’t go past the academic page and read her supporting statement. She challenged them and got an interview. The other universities readily accepted the diploma but wanted to see the certificate. Having a Trinity Diploma level 6 still allows you to apply for student finance etc so you can go on and do a Degree at university. So if anyone is panicking about further education, don’t, you still have options post vocational training x
  15. Lifeafterballet
    Ds started ballet at 12, only ballet. He attended two local classes a week and one at Elmhurst and then RBS SAs on a Saturday. He got nos for RBS and Elmhurst and was offered Tring but with no funding at 16. The AD commented on his height. He was petite for his age. He started his A levels and re auditioned for just Elmhurst at 17 and got a yes. Going from local classes to full time vocational was tough, he was broken a lot in 6:1. But he found an inspirational teacher and the rest is history. I’m so pleased that he had a normal local lower school experience. Unlike his vocational sister. I feel this has really helped. What I’m trying to say is that there is no rush. In hindsight I would have kept both of mine at home for lower school and spent the money on accessing associate classes and intensives. Then tried at 16/17. It’s a level playing field then. I wouldn’t worry about competing with children who have endured LS training for 5 years, my personal experience is that the light and passion fades 😔 Dd said recently that what she wanted aged 11 isn’t what the 16 or 20 year old her wants.
  16. Lifeafterballet
    https://www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/g35334918/royal-family-ballet-photos/?utm_campaign=socialflowFBHBZ&utm_medium=social-media&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3HdL_72DjukfzZhGa8mmplZJw3G5Zz1Xb1jBywP911zhN5bkryS0jTv8g Just stumbled across this, my Dd is in one of the pictures. Anyone else see someone they know, some lovely pictures ☺️
  17. Lifeafterballet
    Yep ☺️
  18. Lifeafterballet
    I am totally with you on the ballet shoe burning 🔥 We discussed our Dd returning to her vocational school for a post graduate year but with the intention of going to university in September, she had no intention of auditioning for jobs, we agreed too that we would happily fund her future but ballet was her past and we weren’t going to spend another penny on it ☺️ Good luck to your Dd x
  19. Lifeafterballet
    https://www.instagram.com/p/CF-QUQ-g1L6/?igshid=17m4kbt6vfdz4
  20. Lifeafterballet
    https://ibb.co/BKJV80g https://ibb.co/NK16vLr https://ibb.co/ygVNCV6 https://ibb.co/X2mc8mB I hope that this has come out in the right order. I just wanted to share with you how important Easter and summer schools are in your child’s development. It’s not all about vocational training, yess and nos. My Ds would not be where he is today without the support and encouragement of MBS. They believed in him. This is what it meant to him in his own words on Instagram ❤️ Read in order 1,3,2,4 x
  21. Lifeafterballet
    I think it depends on the size of the company as to whether they pay for the petition or not. Both my children were graduates and there was no problem with the visa, just Covid closing the London US Embassy. A lot of the dancers in both companies were not from the US, they were all listed on the same petition. I think this year the US ballet company jobs will go to Americans as no one else can fly in to complete 😞
  22. Lifeafterballet
    I think it depends on the company. Dss company paid for his application and Dds didn’t, but both were passed by the home office. I think the difficulty is in the audition process and the quantity and level of the competition x
  23. Lifeafterballet
    Ds is now in Europe, which was a lot easier, but that was pre-Brexit x
  24. Lifeafterballet
    Dd flew to Florida last February to audition for 3 companies. Her brother was already at one of them. She was offered a junior contract at another and the ballet company applied for the visa petition in March. It cost us just short of $1000 and took until October to come through. Ds flew home at the end of March following the closure of his company due to Covid. His visa, for this season, was paid for by the company and his petition came through in May. The US embassy in London, where you have to arrange a face to face interview, following receiving your visa petition, more £££, kept rescheduling his appointments until they finally closed with a proposed opening date of August 2021. So nether could fly to the US. Dds company have been performing since before Christmas and Dss have not yet recalled their international dancers and continue to perform with the 12 local ones they kept on. I can’t see anything changing in the US for some time yet. Also, flying to the US for auditions isn’t cheap and most are very very busy open ones. You need to do your research thoroughly before getting in a plane. I am happy to share our experiences xx
  25. Lifeafterballet
    You don’t have any reason to apologise ☺️ We too were very novice when we first started on our journey. We don’t want to put people off vocational training, just try to help parents and their dc prepare for the inevitable bumps along the way. There is so much shame and embarrassment around struggling, “ It is ok, not to be ok.” We need to start talking about and sharing our experiences no slopping off quietly into the night. Dds journey had its up and downs and she had some fantastic and inspiration teachers, ballet and academic ones, along the way. And then there are the ones who just shouldn’t teach, it obviously pains them 😏x
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