Pas de Quatre

Ribbons - this assumes that there is a sharp gradient in talent.  However, there are so many well trained, talented students looking for places, that at the top levels, i.e. those offered places and those on the waiting lists, there is very little difference.

With regard to Scottish training being free for those in Scotland - this already happens with University fees.  It is free for Scottish residents and everyone else in EU, but not for English students who pay substantial fees.  A test case was taken to court as it discriminates against English students, but it failed.

Actually I don't think the schools will do anything.  So long as they are overwhelmed by applicants for each place, they know they will be able to fill the places.  Candidates turn down offers for a variety of reasons, e.g. preferred another offer, given more funding elsewhere, not offered funding at all, not offered enough funding for their families circumstances,  etc.

The major problem does indeed seem to be the lack of a proper sliding scale - exactly the same problem occurs in completely different areas of taxation.  Stamp duty on sale of houses and inheritance tax both go from zero to a large amount in one step.  I am sure others can think of different examples.

Sadly, I think taxi4ballet has hit the nail on the head.  The government did look at where graduates of schools were going as part of the funding review, and the harsh reality is that classical jobs are few and far between.  So I imagine the reasoning is, why fund more places than there are jobs?

This sounds like a deuser band (not sure if that's the correct spelling).

Flowerdew is right - they need the photos and last exams taken to get an idea of standard.  But allocation to classes will be on what they see.  Make sure on the application form you include any Associate classes as this is a better indicator of standard than exam results.

We were posting at the same time hfbrew - you just beat me to the button. 

Edited to add last sentence.

Congratulations to everyone, just being selected to take part is such an honour.  A week of coaching and being seen by top people is a prize in itself!  Loved watching the dancers although I had a problem with the streaming at first so will have to catch up on YouTube later for the first few classical solos.  Surprisingly there were 14 boys and 6 girls in the final - they were all excellent, but I had picked out the two boys who received 1st and 2nd prizes and was delighted to see them placed.

It's the same question that comes up every year, did dancers from some schools apply and not get accepted, or did they not apply in the first place?  I doubt if anyone has heard of YBDY outside UK.

Prix de Lausanne is global, not just European and you will see that as ever, there is a strong contingent from Asia.  These are tomorrow's Principals in the making!

Good luck to all - but especially Tom (& Nacho).

In the Friends' newsletter there's also a full page article about Anna Rose O'Sullivan and her journey from JA to RBS company.  It also confirms what was debated earlier in a thread, that mother did not have a ballet background.

Edited to add last sentence.

Thanks for that Taximom.  Tulip - if you "like" Prix on Facebook they automatically post some of the links - I'll "share" one with you.

I loved watching the dancing on SYTYCD, but the problem was the emphasis on the back story.  In spite of the programmes efforts to pretend some dancers were "underdogs" having come from nowhere - in reality they were products of the best vocational training schools and some had extensive experience as young professionals!

Does anyone know Thomas's candidate number?  There are some lovely videos of classes and candidates already.

Just a note for your husband Tulip - ballet technique is always a "work in progress".  Nothing is ever "sorted".  Problems may be improved but need more work again later, it is on-going.

No Ian you are not alone.  I was thankful my companion was my elderly mother and not my husband or dd, so I merely had a smirk at the Norwegian Blues.  If they had been with me we might have disgraced ourselves.  And it would help with the illusion if the dancers kept the poor things upright, the parrots were swung around so much they were most definitely ex!

A similar problem sometimes arises with the fans in Swan Lake.  Rather than being held in a dignified manner as befits Princesses, they are swung all over the place and often end up sweeping the floor as if the dancers were servant girls!

I saw this too and would agree with the comments above, except I didn't notice it being underlit, so perhaps it was a local problem with the projection.  The principals were wonderful although Lantratov is so slender I had a little difficulty accepting him as a warrior!  His dancing was excellent though.  One minor caveat with the camera work was that I would have preferred a few more "distance" shots.  In nearly all the big diagonals and maneges they had the dancer framed and moved around the stage with them, which tended to "flatten" the movement.  I would have liked more shots showing the whole stage and how the dancers move through space.

Yes, London Senior Ballet does go up to 18.  I have a pupil there currently and as I understand it, some of them deliberately don't audition for RBS SA or Central Pre-Seniors as they only go up to 16.  The thinking being, that they are more likely to retain a place at LSB if they need it, than gain one if they have to re-audition.  As ever in the ballet world, this may or may not be true.

To be honest I don't think it likely that your dd would be able to enter the audition circuit in Year 3 without going to Vocational school.  If she does A-levels and has as much private training as possible, the best plan would be to enter a 3 year course after A-levels with degree funding, such as Central, Rambert or Royal Conservatoire of Scotland if she wants to follow a classical route.  If by then she is open to following a different route, such as contemporary or jazz, there are many other possibilities.  The sad truth is that there are hardly any classical jobs going at the moment, many companies are shedding dancers rather than hiring, so there are many good experienced dancers competing with the graduates from the Vocational schools.

A common way of predicting height is to add both parents' height together, divide by 2 then for a boy add 2.5 inches or for a girl subtract 2.5 inches.

I do think companies could do more to contact ballet schools with information when they are on tour.  From time to time I have contacted the marketing department of companies coming to venues in the area so I could give information/fliers to pupils.  It always proved to be a one-off and the next time they came, they didn't send anything. I thought we lived in an electronic age where names and addresses would be stored.  A big poster A3 or even just A4 to put on the noticeboard would be effective, but they never seem to be available. 

Very interesting!

As I understand it, the costs for Opera productions are much higher than for ballet, even more so if you take "price per wear". Ballet sets and costumes are used for decades in revivals of the same productions. But I do agree that some of the main ballet companies need to co-ordinate programming better, particularly when touring so not everyone is doing Swan Lake at the same time, or Giselle etc. etc.

I'm afraid you will only get charity giving like in the US when our tax system is the same as the US.

Edited to add last sentence.

It is truly appalling - like something out of the Mafia.

Reminds me of when DD was 5 months old and we visited her Godfather in Brussels. Both families went out on a day trip to Bruges and stopped for a delicious lunch. I was drinking local lager from a lovely glass goblet - baby DD kept reaching for it, so the consensus was, let her have a sip, she'll hate it and then stop. It backfired, she loved it! Oops! But no she hasn't turned into an alcoholic.

I don't think that we as the audience are complacent - I fear sometimes it is the "powers that be" in companies that are resting on their laurels who are at fault. Carrying on with the football analogy, a manager that doesn't deliver doesn't last long. Producing first class ballet is very hard, but at times it can seem as though a little "that'll do" creeps in. It is probably not one individual's fault, but an unlucky mix of injuries, lack of time for rehearsal, poor scheduling etc. etc.

I vaguely remember reading that he had discounted Twelfth Night. Although I think that would make a splendid ballet.