Pas de Quatre

Lovely story! In fact, Festival Ballet became ENB and Arts Ed in Tring became Tring Park but the association continues and ENB still use the TP pupils.

That's good then - I have witnessed some very angry & frustrated arguments!

If there are delays your restricted ticket is still only valid on the right train. E.g Your train is 3pm but there are delays of over an hour. You have to wait for the delayed 3pm train which actually leaves after 4pm not get on the delayed 2pm which actually leaves after 3pm!

Congratulations - do let us know what he decides, whether to continue at his present school or accept one of the scholarships.

In the Autumn statement last December, the Chancellor announced that from 2016 there will be a student loan system for Postgraduate Masters degrees in any subject, just that the student must be under age 30. So it might benefit some of our dancers! Interesting to hear that your DS has been invited to auditions, veryskint, even without as much experience as advertised.

http://www.pdsw.org.uk/dance-development/south-west-based-companies/ Pavilion Dance Southwest is the National dance house for this region, there are several others across the country. Many graduates from the three schools are taking part in various projects with smaller companies. This link takes you to some of the South West region companies. Here below are the production/commissioning details for Mark Bruce's Dracula which has been such a success. I just cut and pasted them from Mark Bruce's website Produced by Tobacco Factory Theatres in association Wilton’s Music Hall Commissioned by Pavilion Dance South West Supported by Arts Council England and the National Lottery There is a lot of good work going on in the Contemporary field, not just the big headline companies.

Although Matthew Bourne describes his company as contemporary dance theatre, the style of dance is in many ways nearer to West-end Musicals and Jazz. He has always said that his childhood idols and inspiration were dancers such as Fred Astaire in the old musical films.. This simply isn't the style of dance that the three Contemporary schools under discussion teach, so possibly there aren't many of their students auditioning for MB..

That is a real achievement for your DS Dancingdreams to get so far before graduation. (I don't want to rain on your parade, but as I understand it waiting list doesn't guarantee there will be a job.) Disney is an excellent name to have on the CV and I have heard that they treat their employees very well. Best of luck - I am sure he will have various offers over the next few months!

I still maintain that if the three choreographers had really wanted a serious debate they could have raised their concerns at the four day Dance UK conference which took place from Thursday to Sunday last week. Their press release just before it feels to me like cheap personal publicity.

http://www.visualartsmasters.com/purchase-live-broadcast-access This is the link. Also, exploring YAGP site there do seem to be lots of videos of previous years - just click the tab Videos! Happy viewing!

Mega Congratulations! I look forward to seeing the videos of the competition on YAGP site, and it also seems they have live streaming of the final, but I don't know if it would work over here.

This is true, not all students are aiming to become performers. At Laban the 3rd year undergraduates choose whether they wish to be marked as a performer, as a choreographer or as a teacher for their degree and part of their timetable will be tailored to their chosen area - whilst still taking many classes and rehearsing for the end of year show. One of DD's best friends from childhood took a Law degree and her dream was to become a barrister, a very competetive field to enter. She didn't find an opening and so had to rethink and now has a good job she enjoys in an unrelated field. As Rowan says, many graduates jobs are not directly related to the subject they studied. http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2015/young-dancer-category-finalists Here is a link to the BBC's announcement of the finalists for Young Dancer of the year. I've put it here because in a paragraph towards the end of the text, it is announced that Akram Khan will not be judging the final due to unforeseen changes in his international performing schedule!

Ready bags of stir fry vegetables can be even healthier if you poach in stock rather than fry. Put 250 ml (approx.) of water into a saucepan with half a vegetable stock cube. When it has dissolved and the stock is boiling tip in the vegetables and cook for 3-4 minutes, depending how crunchy or soft you like them. You can eat this hot as vegetable soup, or drain and use as a cooked vegetable. Any leftovers (or the whole thing) when cold make really nice vegetable salads. Add nuts, cheese, cold meats - whatever takes your fancy.

Chassée - Farooq Chaudhry is co-founder and company producer of the Akram Khan Company, so he would have been involved in the press release as according to the DT article it came from the company.

http://www.danceuk.org/conference/ The timing of the whole thing may possibly be geared to this conference which is taking place now! The three original critics could have voiced their concerns directly to the schools and people concerned, and engaged in a productive debate, but they chose a splashy press release instead. Why? For publicity? I must say if I were involved with allocation of Arts Council subsidies I would be looking at all this very carefully! For graduates from these schools it is very hard to get employment. There are only about 12 - 15 places with companies as MA apprentices and nearly all general auditions ask for 2 or 3 years professional experience before they will consider seeing you.

If Laban didn't take take dancers from diverse backgrounds but limited themselves to those who were already trained, then there wouldn't be a Matthew Bourne!

These days contemporary dance is closer to the acting profession than to classical dance in the opportunities for employment. Just as there are few repertory companies left for drama, there are only a few full time contemporary dance companies. Most contemporary dance employment is for a specific role/project, whether for a few days, a few weeks or months. Many dancers have what is called a "portfolio" career comprising some performing, some teaching and some ordinary jobs such as waiting on tables to make ends meet. Just because you are not in a permanent company, does not mean you are not a successful dance artist! Edited for grammar

Thanks Stirrups and Alison - both articles give food for thought!

I have re-read the whole article in the Radio Times and I still don't think she is talking about the Vocational dance students, who everyone in the business knows work incredibly hard. She is talking about the type of society that "rewards fast success based on little talent or commitment" .... and goes on to ask "do we want to promote self-esteem and hard work?" This article is a lead-in to the BBC Young Dancer of the Year competition and I think it is highly likely that the hard work and commitment needed to reach that level and succeed in the dance world will be highlighted during the competition.

In fact some of the other Vocational dance degree courses are covered by the Guardian article to which 2dancersmum has posted the link above. They come under the figures for the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama. The Conservatoire is made up of four dance establishments, LCDS, NCDS, Central and Rambert, three drama, Bristol Old Vic, LAMDA and RADA and in addition the National Centre for Circus. Reading Tamara Rojo's article, I don't think she is saying there is anything wrong with British training, just that in general the idea that you need hard work to be successful is being eroded.

http://www.dancing-times.co.uk/news/item/1760-choreographers_concerns_uk_contemporary_training So after being told in recent months that classical training in UK is lacking, it is now contemporary training that is being criticised!

Many contemporary companies alternate company class, classical one day, contemporary the next.

Saying the new principle (sic) has more experience and is more open minded is dismissive in my opinion.

Yes, they are for 18 & over. I was just replying to taximom's post which I felt was misleading. How the course will evolve with the new principal remains to be seen, and I hope it goes well. However the retiring principal Ross McKim has experience second to none and is widely loved and respected within the dance world. Such dismissive remarks about him are ill-informed.

I would disagree, both NCDS and Laban are on a par with LCDS. If you read the bios of dancers in Contemporary companies (either on websites or in programmes) there are equally frequent graduates of these three schools. Also, Rambert school is not attached to the company or a feeder school for Rambert company in the way that RBS or ENBS are for their respective companies.