Lifeafterballet

Four dancers with Estonian National Ballet discuss their experiences of living, training and working abroad. Might be interesting or informative to those with schools / contracts outside the U.K. 😌

I would just message Kate and ask her for a quote as it all depends on what you want. She is very lovely 😊 I found her very reasonably priced compared to another professional photographer we had used. And the quality and time and attention to detail was fabulous.

When my daughter attended Paris YAGP we stayed in a fabulous Airbnb within walking distance of the Paris Opera Ballet School. There were lots to choose from. Just a suggestion 😁 The first time we went we stayed at the Mecure Hotel opposite the school. It was nice but quite expensive. The Airbnb was far cheaper x

I don’t recall any children being out of their year in lower school apart from international students and Scottish as a previous poster has mentioned. But in US students are offered a year group on their ballet training needs rather than their age. In Ds’s first year of US he and a girl were 17 and another boy was 18.

My Ds’s first ballet contract in the US paid a stip end of $1000 a month. This was liveable on but there was an initial outlay of about £2000 to just get him there and set up in an apartment etc. He was lucky to get as much as he did as others in the state only paid $400 a month. His second contract in Europe is corps and pays enough to live on and there is a top up show bonus which varies for different roles. The apprentices there only get the show bonus but are fully integrated into the main company and a majority gain a full corps contract after a year. So worth the investment.

Sold 😊

My Dd had a DaDa for upper school and is now at University with student funding. The DaDa does not affect it. Only if my Dd had gone on to turn the Trinity Diploma into a degree in Professional Dance then she would have not been entitled to a second funded degree.

I can only explain how Elmhurst told me how they allocate it. They said they do the audition and list the children from 1 to 20 say in order of who they want. They start at 1 and allocate them as much of the DaDa pot as they need, then they move onto 2, 3 and so on until the pot is empty. If a child in the list is over the threshold they are just offered a place. Unlike other USs Elmhurst’s accommodation is included in the Dada so no maintenance fees are needed. For us it worked out about the same contribution as when the children were on the MDS. The DaDa is not repayable and doesn’t affect your child applying for a student loan to attend university later on if they so choose. If a child who has been allocated money from the DaDa pot drops out that gets offered to the next in need of a DaDa student on the list.

There were 110 on the first date and 190 on the second a week later. There are pictures of the audition still on their Instagram site. January 20th 2020. They all arrived first thing to be informed which group of three they were in. Dd went first so not alphabetical. Over 35 crammed into a very small studio. I recall the audition was under an hour. No pointe work. Flats were dangerous enough 😅 I sat with other parents and later auditionees in the theatre cafe. After each section they put up a list of numbers that they wanted to see do a solo in the afternoon. Probably about 5 from each group. There seemed to be no particular type of dancer they were looking for. The girls from Dds school and others ranged from approx 5ft 1 to 5ft 9. Lots of international dancers. Very random. We didn’t hear of anyone we knew being offered a contract that year. In hindsight we should / could have stayed in Vienna and commuted. It would have made the experience more enjoyable 😄

Just to add we did spend two nights there and got to have a good look around. Baring in mind this was pre Covid it was like they were already in a lockdown. The hotel was nice but only did breakfast, they didn’t tell us that til we got there. They couldn’t help us with where we could eat. We only found two restaurants that were open. Oh and of course the McDonalds at the train station. The highlight of our visit was C&A. Haven’t seen one of those since I was a child 🤣 I don’t recall seeing anyone under the age of 60 in the town apart from the auditionees. When the school asked how it went, we were completely honest and they were shocked as if no one had ever said anything like that before. I would just like to add that this was our personal experience and others may be polar opposite. It’s probably a completely different place in the summer. I think you have to check it out for yourself. Good luck x

This was Dds first audition in January 2020. I accompanied her. St Polten was the grimmest / deadest place I think I have ever been too. I was expecting Dementors to appear any minute 🤣 Seriously though, if this had been the only contract that Dd was offered she wouldn’t have gone. They crammed as many girls into the ‘studio’ as they could. The floor was like an ice rink and she was so relieved just to have survived the audition. Luckily she didn’t make it to the solo round. Check out their Instagram page, there is a reason that the theatre and studios aren’t shown on there. We met lots of U.K. students and parents there so others may be able to give you their experience. I think you need to find what your bottom line is and that was ours. What are your prepared to accept to dance.

Elmhurst took my Ds at 17 and another student at 18. I can think of two others who were both 18 when starting their upper school too. Also, a few students just joined for the graduate year only 😊

£10,000 I read when it first started, happy to be corrected.

Check out school Graduate destination lists from previous years, you will find a lot of those listed are ‘junior companies’ or ‘pre professional programs’ in Europe and the US. These are ones you have to pay for. Arles and Francois Mauduit in France spring to mind. Then there is Barcelona which is discussed on another thread. You could look at ESB in Amsterdam, they seem to do a trainee program but with no company attached. Sadly I think what you are looking for is gold dust and very highly sort after as there are virtually no paid contracts about. The very best of luck though x

I am watching the distressing reports and images coming out of Ukraine this evening 😞 My thoughts are with and heart goes out not only to all the Ukrainian people but to all those parents, we are one, who have children dancing in Europe and especially the countries closely affected by Russia’s military action today. There is great unease in my ballet sons adopted country and with my other Military son. War in Europe is not what I expected today. I’m sorry that this may not appear to be ballet related but I feel it will sadly have a massive impact on the dance world 😢

A lot of children have Instagram accounts today. And us parents can keep a safety eye on it. But beware if they have their own phone and are tech savvy !! My daughter was telling me about a funny clip one of her friends had posted. When I said I hadn’t seen that she said that it must have been in her ‘priv’ account. My understanding is that it is a private account that you wouldn’t want your parents to see what you were posting 😏

i was too young to realise how amazing he was. So worth a watch. Especially for Don Q on ice 🥰

Broke my heart today to watch a skating performance from a traumatised young athlete. Abuse in elite training / sport needs to stop ✋ The adults surrounding this young lady need to be held accountable for their management and behaviours.

I too was curious about this. Even having two children in the vocational ballet system I wasn’t sure where those who weren’t celebrated on their dream contract at graduation went. It just wasn’t talked about. They just disappeared quietly. Not mentioned on published graduate destination lists or congratulated on their success in a non ballet field. Hence why I started the thread “Life after ballet” on the Doing Dance page. My son is a professional ballet dancer and my daughter also gained a ballet contract on graduation but chose a different path for a variety of reasons and I wanted other parents and students to share their experiences and celebrate their success 🎉 not just leave by the back door as if they had in someway failed 😞

In year 9 of vocational training Dd decided to cut out snacks. No one knew. Within a very short period of time, with increased ballet and appraisal stress she went from a healthy young lady to a skeleton. She never stopped eating meals but just made ‘healthier’ choices. This was the start of a journey with disordered eating. She controlled everything. She sadly wasn’t the only one. Others followed this path, substituting snacks for so called healthier options, some becoming vegetarian and then vegan. Due to our past experience these behaviours ring alarm bells with us. Green tea, Apple Cider vinegar and laxatives thrown in. Nutritional education and advice was none existent, until there was a problem ….. then it was panic stations and constant monitoring and threats. Sadly for her being skinny was the road to success 😢 and she wasn’t getting off it. I personally now feel physically sick when I see unhealthily underweight professional ballet dancers. We personally know that it takes a lot to achieve that and sets a very bad and dangerous example to the next generation. I am not in anyway insinuating that vegetarian/vegan and healthy snacking dancers all have issues, but if someone had have shared their experiences that changes in dietary choices could be a concern then we wouldn’t have been so naive. I remember feeling lost and lonely. No one wants to talk to you about it or support you. Dd lost a lot of friendships 😢 Some were just plain horrible too. Kids and parents can be unkind. Snacks are so so important in dance. I truly don’t mean to put a downer on this thread but just wanted to share so hopefully no one’s journey is like ours x

Have a look at My Protein. They do a very good selection of snacks, lean, vegan, baked, bars, cookies, brownies etc. Discount codes available regularly too. We order a variety of items for Ds to eat between rehearsals and performances. Ex Dd still has them now 🤣

To my knowledge/experience the only school that DaDas tuition and boarding fees together is Elmhurst. For 6:1 and 6:2. Our MDS and then DaDa with them was near enough the same in contribution. I believe RBS offer MDS at US. All the other USs DaDa only cover tuition fees, ENBS etc, and would have cost us as a family thousands more per year. This was a few years ago so I’m happy to be corrected 😊

Beautiful Le Corsaire Pas d’Esclave tutu. Worn once at YAGP Semi-finals in Paris November 2019. Lucky tutu, top 12 classical and scholarship winner. Created by the very talented Just Ballet. Suit petite dancer. Dd is 5ft 3. Chest 30 in/75cm Waist 24 in/60cm Hips 29 in/73cm Girth 51 in/130cm Bargain at £275 😊 excludes P&P https://ibb.co/524r8GX https://ibb.co/GHNFqHG https://ibb.co/828RkHM

To add……. My daughter reminded me yesterday of the first company audition she attended in Europe. It was a hell hole. We had never been to such a dull and lifeless place and the company had worse facilities than the local church hall she had danced in as a child. In fact the flooring was better in that 🤣 She found her bottom line and said that if this was the only job she was offered she would never in a million years accept it. She was so relieved to get cut 🤣 It was a real wake up call to the ballet world and what we were willing to tolerate and sacrifice for ballet. Others in previous years had auditioned there and no one had uttered a word. The teachers seemed surprised by mine and Dds feed back 🤣 We aren’t snobs. You had to see this to believe it. If that was were she was going to end up after 8 hard years it would have been heartbreaking for all of us 😢

It’s just so sad 😞 Especially for those families that have struggled financially to support their children through vocational training to realise that it just doesn’t end at graduation. I wish that the schools would be more honest and transparent with students and their parents about the likelihood of a paid contract when they graduate. It’s not to discourage but to be realistic and prepared for when it doesn’t happen. Also, I would like to see more parents and dancers come forward and share their experiences and journeys with others so they can see the possible outcomes and alternative choices and pathways that may be available. We personally got nothing from previous year groups. Everyone keeps stum and plays their cards close to their chest. It’s like a huge secret / conspiracy. After going through the audition season with Ds and then Dd I wanted to shout out and help / warn others of the pitfalls etc but personally I found the school didn’t want that out there.