Pas de Quatre

It is because some of my pupils parents have asked - playing on the safe side I suggested around 12 or 13.

From what age do you think it suitable for children?

Edited for typo

Merry Christmas to all - and Wishing everyone all the best for the New Year. xxx

They are indeed beautiful!

Thanks for posting this - have pointed it out to dd, who is most definitely interested, and will just check her timetable to see if she can fit some in.

Happy Birthday - may you continue to grow and thrive! Thanks to everyone who makes it possible. xxx

We were amused that in the recent Police Commissioners elections one of the candidates in our area was a Mr. Nick King. Sadly he didn't get it, came 2nd.

I think Nana Lily may have a point - in general education the trend has been to make everyone stay on at school until 18 and then study their subject as a degree or diploma. The sad truth is that there are very few classical jobs around, so many dancers will have to switch to commercial or contemporary fields anyway to make a living.

Thanks - I shall go and set up the recording right now!

On the days my pianist doesn't come I use mini discs because they are so easy to record and edit, (just like word processing) and my player does have variable speed.

http://www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/dance-science/products-services/screening-packages

Laban also have screening available for individuals or companies. This link takes you to the page on their website

A complimentary mention!

Even quite close friends (who should have known better) have asked how could I have forced dd to follow vocational training, rather than lead a normal life - as if I had any say in the matter!!!

Very good!

In answer to Ribbons' earlier question, yes sometime a dancer seems to have a golden future from a young age and fulfils all expectations. Anna Rose has certainly progressed as hoped and I too would like to add heart felt congratulations. However, it is not a foregone conclusion and there have been many dancers who showed early promise but did not develop and were overtaken by others. "The tortoise and the hare" is the fable that all young dancers should be familiar with.

Ha ha!

Dance Forward had an excellent residential Easter school for years at Dulwich College, several of my pupils went. Last year the logistics didn't work out so they had 3 individual, non-residential days using ENB's studios. Keep an eye on their website in case they have a residential one again next year.

My ballet term will have ended by then, so will try to see them in Dorchester.

hfbrew - can you suggest they come down to the South coast? There are several suitable theatres in the Bournemouth/Poole/Christchurch area and an appreciative audience in this region.

Don't go - the wider the membership the more different views will be expressed, which gives the best overall picture. Everyone has something valuable to add, even if we do disagree amongst ourselves sometimes.

Laban and LCDS both require 2 A-levels and entry is at 18, so it is not necessary to attend a Vocational school for 6th form. Northern Contemporary Dance school is also well regarded.

That "the pain of pointe work" is necessary is a commonly held view. This has always puzzled me, if the dancer is strong enough, the shoes are a correct fit and she is being taught properly, it simply shouldn't be painful!

Edited to add, the post I was replying to seems to have disappeared.

Precisely - when my DD auditioned we were told 6th form was going to be re-organised in a particular way, your timetable would depend on whether you had chosen the 3 year or the 2 year option upfront. This never happened and the groups were as now.

I believe Yasmin Naghi was put up to 3rd Year straight from 1st Year (or was only in 2nd Year for a short while before it happened). Sorting out the offers early is to everyone's benefit, as it saves those who have received an offer from wasting time and money auditioning elsewhere, and lets others know that they must look elsewhere.

At Tring in 6th form DD found she was actually getting fewer ballet hours than she had in Yr 11 when she was at full time academic school and dancing evenings and weekends like taxi4ballet's DD. There were more dancing hours made up of contemporary, jazz, & tap, but she was not interested in the latter two. Information we were given at the auditions did not make this eventuality clear.