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Pas de Quatre

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  1. Pas de Quatre
    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.
  2. Pas de Quatre
    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.
  3. Pas de Quatre
    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..
  4. Pas de Quatre
    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.
  5. Pas de Quatre
    It seems sadly that the good intentions were never implemented!
  6. Pas de Quatre
    Congratulations!
  7. Pas de Quatre
    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.
  8. Pas de Quatre

    Appraisals

    Pas de Quatre replied to celb's topic in Doing Dance

    Well said Tulip. There are indeed certain stages of development when a girl's body will fill out. She may later regain a slender shape or may stay more naturally robust. What really annoys me over the whole assessing out syndrome is how short term the vision is. Experienced teachers at top schools should be aware of the natural rhythm of female development. (Boys have their own problems to worry about so I'll stick to girls here). But frequently it seems they can't see beyond the end of the current year. However I am pleased to see that nearly all Vocational schools now have cap sleeve or vest top leotards available as part of the uniform, which allows a bra to be worn.
  9. Pas de Quatre
    Yes, there used to be two or three classes in each year group, and the "graduate" class were considered the best. There were also one year courses for foreign dancers to add "polish" to their training.
  10. Pas de Quatre
    Thank you, a very good article.
  11. Pas de Quatre
    Rambert advertise themselves as training equally for classical and contemporary. The truth is that in today's world there are few purely classical jobs. Even from Central, in the last few years, some of the boys have gained classical contracts but others have gone into contemporary dance.
  12. Pas de Quatre
    Hi - you have achieved a great deal in a short time, well done! There is still a chance you may get a place from Central's waiting list. Did you try Rambert? If not it might be worth speaking to them as they are still auditioning I believe. If you are in Leeds, Northern Ballet Academy is based there, perhaps you can contact them. Even if they have nothing suitable for you at the moment, they may have suggestions where you can train before auditioning next year. I am sure other board members based in the North will be able to add further suggestions (I'm afraid I'm in the South). edited to add - Others that you could try to audition for now for entry in Sept 2014 are Ballet West and the school of Ballet Theatre UK. There are threads about both of them on this board.
  13. Pas de Quatre
    The word "vocational" comes from the Latin and means a "calling". It used to be a term reserved for serious life choices such as Religion - priests, nuns, missionaries; Medicine - doctors, nurse; Law & Teaching, to give a few examples, as well as careers in the Arts. These all involved years of training, some of which could be highly academic and nearly always involved self sacrifice and dedication to a higher ideal. When did vocational come to mean non-academic and practical as the word is generally used today? I can't help feeling that it undermines the respect for the Artistic training our DKs are receiving and the teachers are providing!
  14. Pas de Quatre
    I always use a professional company to film, some have been better than others. Please be aware that the copyright people are enforcing licencing quite diligently these days, you need to pay for a licence for performing on the day and for distributing DVDs.
  15. Pas de Quatre
    It isn't just the fees, the parental income is assessed for the maintenance loan and possible maintenance grant for university courses too.
  16. Pas de Quatre
    No, that' s my point - it would still be the same if you went to University.
  17. Pas de Quatre
    flutterby - whether it is for dance or for other courses, including degrees, you are not considered independent after 18. Parental income has to be submitted to obtain any student finance. It is one of those weird anomolies, an 18 year old is independent and an adult except for student loans, your parents are still expected to fund some aspects if their income is high enough.
  18. Pas de Quatre
    The portico of St. Paul's (the Actors' church) features in the opening scenes of the film My Fair Lady. It is supposed to be the entrance to the Opera House. The audience is coming out at the end of the performance and Eliza is selling flowers on the steps.
  19. Pas de Quatre
    If the weather is fine, you can stroll from Trafalgar Square down The Mall to Buckingham Palace and enjoy St. James's Park.
  20. Pas de Quatre
    Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.
  21. Pas de Quatre
    Have seen To Dance like a Man - it is lovely and I would recommend it to everyone. Rowan, I completely understand that different people have different needs. Maybe it was shown somewhere that it was a "signed" version , but it wasn't apparent when I hit the record button. I would simply have liked to have it clearly labelled so that I had the choice.
  22. Pas de Quatre
    Just looked this up on Google. It is run by the same person who set up South Coast Ballet based in Poole a few years ago - it closed recently. The standard was not very high and I did not recommend it to my pupils. Other teachers I know personally in the area also felt the same.
  23. Pas de Quatre
    It all depends on how many move up from Prep 2 class as to how many places there will be available for new entrants. Edited for clarity
  24. Pas de Quatre
    I am not sure that an official guardian would be needed - boarding schools require them because they close during exeats and school holidays and the pupils need to have somewhere to go. In fact DH and I were discussing this just the other day. When he was at boarding school (parents abroad) it was always an option to stay at school during exeats and holidays, although he often went to his Godfather's family.
  25. Pas de Quatre
    Some years ago too, I had two pupils of the same age, one was a JA the other I hadn't even sent to audition for JA as she wasn't ready (she had joined me at age 7 and though promising had a lot of bad habits that needed ironing out). The girl who was a JA got a no for MA, the non-JA got a place.
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