hfbrew

There must still be a large contribution though? I thought I read that boarding is 30k a year somewhere? Off my scale totally!!

Only if you are lucky enough to earn so much money so as to be off the scale of means testing.

Suggest you put in a search for MDS funding, as there have been many discussions about this on the forum. One quite recently.

There used to be graph somewhere on the RBS site that gave an idea of contribution per level of income.

The most we paid one year was 6-7k which was hard but we asked to pay in instalments.

Thank you hfbrew, can I just ask what the normal age is for grade 3, roughly? Thank you

Currently the average age of my grade 3 is 10/11 across about 30 students. Some are nearly 13.

 

re grade 7 I often find this is a a fairly quick grade to get through as by then the dancers are far more competent and have a good grasp of what constitutes good technique. Many of my students have already done vocational work by grade 7 so are easily able to learn the syllabus quickly.

I agree with balletqs. At grade 3 level, if only attending once a week and presuming that the students were not doing lessons in the holidays, then 2 years is reasonable.

 

Especially at the moment as the syllabus is so new and many students have had to make the transition from the old syllabus.

 

I currently have grade 4s that I've taught for a year, once a week and I don't anticipate them being ready for an exam until next summer. Especially as I don't restrict my classes to only syllabus as there is so much more to Ballet than that!

Legseleven you are a star! Thank you so much for going through all that trouble.

 

I had got it right save for the pas de chat section. I knew I was missing a section but just couldn't remember it.

 

Thanks to you a small selection of adults will be dancing it in my class on Thursday as my pianist now has the music.

 

And I suspect quite a lot of us ballet.coers have tried it out too!

Anyone remember the Bird Cage polka?!

 

My dreaded exercise was pivots in 2nd in old intermediate.

 

And in elementary petits jetes by half turn.

 

And from a teaching point of view how did we get primaries to polka? In between retying ribbons and sashes? Remember the white primary dresses anyone?

Please can you post it here so we can all see?

Pretty please?

Yay, that's the bit I was missing!

 

Thanks! And good old ballet.co, well worth my recent donation.

 

If you haven't already donated do it now!!

Well when we applied we ticked fortnightly box as we felt that should ds be lucky enough to get a place that was all we could commit to or afford.

 

Then came the day of the phone call! It was a yes but they felt he needed to come weekly because of lack of strength. (I got feedback because I am also a Ballet Teacher.)

 

Basically there is no difference between the classes and congratulations on the place! And you have more weekends free!

 

So your "friend" can be told that the RBS obviously didn't feel it necessary that your talented dd needed 36 sessions!

That's it! I'm sure you are right Ellie about the 3 pas de chats.

Thanks!

Oh please do, its the middle section I can't quite get after the first lot of balances, I've a feeling there may have been some pas de chats of progressive heights!

 

I remember the beginning and ending very well!

 

I did my exam in 1980!

Any of you fellow dance teachers still have the old RAD Senior Grade syllabus?

 

One of my pianists unearthed the music and I was able to remember most of the variation save a little section in the middle! I was teaching it to my adults and adjusted the choreography but I'd love to see the actual version to see how close I am to the original!

 

Wish I'd kept all the syllabi from years ago!

As is Harpenden Summer Dance School - it's a week long non-residential summer school but you pick and choose the classes - and days - you want to attend, if you don't want to do the whole week: http://www.harpendensummerdanceschool.co.uk/Harpenden_Summer_School/Welcome.html

Yes, we have about 15 spaces left!

Helen Brewer co director Harpenden Summer Dance School

He he, I have that sword dance on a DVD somewhere..

I inherited a small adult class when I took over a school which is £8 per hour on a drop in basis.

 

A lot depends on overheads, Hall hire is pricey here and I also pay a pianist. And there are insurances and licensing expenses too.

 

I rarely make a profit on this class but have a great bunch of regulars.

Really wish there was a sympathy button. Just know that we would all press it. Hope your dd gets the right treatment quickly.

I have read through the comments and looked on the Elmhurst website. I am still unsure about how much a family can expect to pay per year if their child is accepted at a vocational school. My daughter dreams of auditioning, we have been told by her dance teacher that she has all the right physical attributes to be a ballet dancer and that she is talented and has potential. We are a family on a low income (under £20,000) so we have explained to our daughter that going to full time ballet school is not within our means so have discouraged her from auditioning. The strange thing is when I read the information about finance on the Elmhurst website the cost (If she was accepted) seems really reasonable and affordable. Can anyone help, am I missing something? The yearly fee,s are far less than we pay for her current dance classes (she does other dance genres as well as ballet) It just doesn't seem to tally up with what I have been told by people ie its very expensive and similar to the cost of private school. Any comments, experience and advice would be very much appreciated as if there is any possibility that we could afford for her to attend then we would love her to do so.

Like you we thought that vocational training would be beyond us. Then someone directed us to the information about the MDS scheme and we quickly realized that it was actually cheaper overall than getting him to our preferred state secondary school daily.

And we were allowed to pay in instalments which also helped.

Thank you so much for all of your answers, it's nice to know I'm not the only one being told this! I really really love English and I think I would enjoy it as a degree but dance is my passion and the one thing I can't live without, which sounds so cliché! Having an unpredictable career scares me a lot as I like to have everything planned out and I really don't want to end up in the position where I'm not earning any money as being a ballet teacher is only a part time job, but dance is what I love.

Just to say that being a Ballet teacher has only ever been a full time job for me!!!

I used to be livid when academic teachers told me I was too intelligent to dance! What I think of that comment can't be written on a public forum - it's your life you must follow your passion.

My Ballet teacher said I was too intelligent to dance. Probably the one thing said that sealed it for me! Dance I did and 35 years on no regrets.

 

Anyway, back to topic. Amiedancer, what do YOU want to do? In the process of trying to please other people please don't let yourself down.All of the options seem good to me but you must do what feels right for you. I've seen too many try the path laid down for them by others only to ultimately stray away from it.Others complete the path and regret not following their own dreams for the rest of their lives.

 

Believe me that no parent or indeed decent teacher wants this for their charges. I hope that you are able to talk to people about this, maybe show them this thread!

Yes it was in Robert de Warren's day - I had a friend in the company and went to stay with her. They were also doing Walter Gore's Street Games (exact title?). How about a company reviving some of his works - they seem to be lost.  Surely his amazing Eaters of Darkness would be well appreciated today?

 

Edited to add last sentence.

I was lucky enough to be cast in Eaters of Darkness when Paula Hinton-Gore revived it for Hammond back in the 80s.

She also revived Street Games and Simple Symphony which was gorgeous. Walter Gore was a great choreographer and its sad that his works seem now to be lost.

I'm confused about the comment re white lodge school uniform as I've always claimed it back no problem.

Some people can claim back White Lodge uniform if they fall below a certain income threshold. This is how it differs from other places such as Elmhurst or Tring where all MDS students have uniform allowance.

 

So Billyelliott you have not been misinformed, its just that most folks don't qualify for uniform allowance at WL!

Oh, well done! I am sure I am not the only one feeling quite emotional for you SP!

 

Who is joining me in a glass of something to celebrate?

On an artistic note, had my ds known at 8 that one day he would get paid for having pretend sword fights and running around with huge cloaks, he would have thought that was cool!

National Diving Squads all over the World have introduced Ballet training into their programmes.

 

Ds and I and a great time when invited by our local diving team to introduce Ballet to them.

 

And the diving instructors were in awe of ds and how high he could jump.

 

Back to rugby, several of my students (male and female) have shown a flair for rugby. In fact when one PE teacher learnt that one of my male students did Ballet he said in front of the entire year that he fully expected him to be the best player. He was proved right!

 

Wish more PE teachers were as enlightened!

Well for a start my boys love the fact that when Louis X1V opened his school of Ballet it was strictly men only!

 

Ladies were not allowed!

 

Edited to add that the school was the first Ballet school. And hence the fact that many Ballet terms are French. No females allowed to perform Ballet until 20 years later!

On subject of Ballet Belts or Jocks as ds has always called them, I do recall him telling me with great mirth about the talk his class got at WL about which way round they went...