Pas de Quatre

Sometimes there seems to be a perception that if you aren't quite good enough for pure classical ballet, then you will easily be able to change to Contemporary or Jazz (West End, Cruise ships etc). The reality is that the standard is incredibly high in these fields too and there are just as many talented dancers competing for the schools and then the jobs. Yes, strong classical training is valued so this training is never wasted, but much more has to be added.

Coulddobetter, ideally top schools should monitor the progress and behaviour of recipients of awards. However, as Tulip and Hfbrew mention earlier in this thread, I have also seen people with DaDAs at a top school who were misbehaving and not trying. They said to other pupils they no longer wished to dance as a career, but were quite happy to be funded for 6th form, thus depriving others who would have been more deserving of funding.

Are we comparing like with like here? To enter Australia as an immigrant, there are certain criteria. But doesn't Australia also accept refugees fleeing oppression?

Yes, Legat do an Associate class on Saturdays - they have just had auditions but it is still worth contacting them, Elaine Holland, Head of Dance is very approachable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvJO05AHe5Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player And this one. Does anyone recognise the studio where it was taken?

http://www.hamptonballetacademy.com/ This school is Vaganova based, not RAD, but I would whole-heartedly recommend it for a talented child. One of the members of this board has a ds who trained there before going abroad for further training, so perhaps they could add more to my recommendation. PM me hfb if you would like to hear more.

I'm afraid I would say that yes indeed we are training far more dancers than there are jobs for. I think we have had some discussions about this before on old threads. Apart from RBS which is a particular case, even at the most prestigious schools only the top handful from each graduating year will find jobs.

I think the big difference is that in most countries outside UK ballet classes are longer because tap and modern would not be taken. The whole of the after school time would be for ballet so there would be no problem with a 90 min class. In my ballet school more advanced classes are at least 75 mins and the longest one is a special coaching class including pointework of an hour and three quarters but I know that is unusual.

Best of luck to your dd Tulip - she looks beautiful in her photos, they are sure to want her (it seems so long since I saw her in the flesh!). And also good luck to all others auditioning for 3rd year. Do you know if any current 3rd years have offers yet for after graduation?

Nice film. The only point I would dispute is where the dancer says that lots of companies only do one thing and ABT is special because it does classical and contemporary. Maybe this is true of smaller companies in USA but I would say that internationally every major company has both classical and contemporary works in its repertoire. Edited for punctuation

Up until the 1970s there was always at least a one act ballet before Giselle - I remember feeling very short changed the first time I saw Giselle presented on its own at Covent Garden. A quick dig in the cupboard and I have come up with a programme from 1967 of The Royal Ballet at Cambridge Arts Theatre (plain RB, not touring or Sadlers Wells). The first ballet of the evening was Sinfonietta by Ashton. But it is not only in Ballet that performances have shortened. Orchestral concerts used to contain more works than they do these days too. On the subject of ice cream, look out for Purbeck or New Forest, two of the best brands, made from real ingredients.

He had an article in the Times yesterday asserting he never said such a thing and has been misquoted, also that he personally is very keen on these American books.

The thing to do is practice diagonals of piqué without turning. When you can do them very strongly then you can add the turn and it will seem easier.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_(ballet) All good ballet fans should know that Terpsichore is the Muse of dance, one of the three Muses in Balanchine's work Apollo. This was, and is one of his most widely danced ballets, still in the repertoire of many of the best companies in the world.

Melody - I think it is to create a cleavage. The ones my pupils were using were like this but without a fastening, i.e. two separate cups.

I agree with taxi4ballet's friend - what seems to be considered normal by some gymnastics teachers is considered totally wrong by dance teachers. We have a big gym locally run by ex-Olympic people and I have heard various stories from mums which confirm my fears.

http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1282282/choreographer-inspired-michael-jackson-sony-xperia-z2 A now for something much better! Link is to a whole page, but watch the video (Idon't know how to separate it out).

Several of my teenage pupils chose to wear stick on bras (just 2 large circles that stick on) at a recent performance under low-backed pale leotards, and they worked well. One of the older girls had recommended those at Primark.

Ballet & wider dance disciplines are indeed difficult competitive careers where the auditions contain far more good dancers than there are places at Vocational Schools. DH and I were discussing an item in the newspapers yesterday which said that there were 11 applicants for every place at Medical school. These are candidates who already have been "pre-selected" by their GCSE and predicted A-level results. So dancers should not feel they are the only ones who cannot get a place for training in their chosen career.

Tring may not require a guardian in the strict legal sense, but they certainly require an arrangement in place so that the pupils have somewhere to go when the school shuts for exeats, half term and holidays. There are commercial organisations who provide this service in UK for many boarding schools, whether dance or academic.

http://dancers.invisionzone.com/index.php?s=75ca0856a3fd05fad8f4e28903ad33e3&act=idx Here is the link to Ballet Talk for Dancers. I have been a member there as long as I have on this board - but have a different user name. There are several useful threads about ballet schools and colleges (Universities) in USA. One thing that came up recently was that more companies do now like to take slightly older students who have gone through college with a ballet major so going to college does not mean the end of ambition for a performing career..

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Royal-Ballet-Dancer-Teacher/dp/1906830665 Valerie Adams has just had this book published, it should answer a lot of questions.

It seems sadly that the good intentions were never implemented!

Congratulations!

Ribbons, I am surprised that your daughter says bras may not be worn. It was a few years ago, and I cannot remember where, either a teachers' seminar or audition practice, that this was talked about. Spaghetti straps on leotards were going to become just one option with more solid leotards available so that girls who needed bras could wear them. I was under the impression that this was a concerted move by all the schools to counter one of the pressures leading to eating problems. Are you sure this is actually the school's policy and not just one teacher? Or even the girls themselves misinterpreting something? The dance director Primrose referred to said exactly the same to my daughter in my presence, but what amused us both was that she cited Tamara Rojo as being an example of "tiny". Ms Rojo may not be very tall, but she is beautifully womanly, and has stated in many interviews and articles that she does not approve of pressures in dancers to be thin as she had received criticism in the past for her weight.