2dancersmum

Personally on the academic side I do not like the school systems where children can get held back and repeat a year. I do prefer the British system where gifted children can sometimes move ahead and where it is possible to repeat a year in exceptional circumstances. I know of two individuals who have not moved up with their peer groups after missing significant chunks of a school year due to illness. I used to teach in a German school. In Germany at the time (don't know if it is the same still) students were allocated schools aged 10-11 - either an academic school where the eventual aim was university or a less academic one. I taught in the academic school and the last 3 year groups in the school had age ranges of 15-23. Not the best mix socially. Like LinMM I also like the middle school system. I am far from Leicester yet in my area all schools are first, middle and high and I think it does allow more flexibility and time to develop. Especially perhaps for some of the late summer birthday children.

Actually the very first assignment my DD had when she joined upper school on the level 6 diploma was on Food and Nutrition. It involved looking at recommended guidelines on a normal healthy balanced diet and comparing them to the specific requirements of a dancer, looking at various sources. They also had to keep a detailed food diary and all their data went through a computer program which analysed good and bad points of their own diet and they had to find recipes and ideas of healthy snacks to ensure they were getting all the nutrients they needed. So it was certainly more than just telling them to eat healthily.

Surely this will only be relevant for someone who has already graduated or is in their final year and about to graduate? Various websites advertise positions like this but the season runs for April/May to end of October. Can you clarify if this is the case here?

I cannot be much help on grants that would fit because stupidly I did not save the information but when DD and I did the trawl of writing to charitable trusts and local charitable organisations, two of them replied that their funding was aimed at helping performers in low paid or unpaid positions at the start of their careers and not whilst still doing the diploma. I'm not saying it was very much money, certainly not enough to live on for a year but if we found two when we only wrote to about ten in the first place, there must be some organisations out there that could help if she pleads her case.

Its that 10am start that has affected us on more that one occasion when an examiner has decided to drive rather than go by train or vice versa and fairly last minute has decided she would rather start at 9:30, or the opposite and has delayed her start time to 11 am. On one occasion we got the phonecall from the dance school the day before that everything would be running half an hour early as snow was forecast for later in the day so the examiner wanted to start early.

The quality of the classical ballet training in lower school at Hammond is excellent. You can rest assured that when they leave at year 11 they will be at a competitive level for entry to upper schools. Some students stay on at Hammond, others go to MT courses or choose to study dance or classical ballet elsewhere. The vast majority seem to have a choice of funded offers. I do not have any official destinations figures, nor do I wish to give references that would identify individuals but I have known of students going onto other schools like Elmhurst, ENB, Northern Ballet, Bolshoi, Ballet Theatre UK, Central, Royal Conservatoire Scotland, Urdang, Rambert, Tring, Laines, Bird.

I believe if it is at the schools own studio the teacher sets the times, although I think there may be guidelines. For instance if our teacher had five groups entered for grade five she would not put them all one after the other, but put a couple and then another grade. I do not know though if this is her preference or what she is supposed to do. I believe the examiner then has final say over the timetable about a week or ten days before. At our school it is often possible to swap times if needed by taking to the teacher. For recent exams for instance some groups needed changing round due to GCSE practical exams in school. We have however had a phone call before now only 48 hours before an exam when an examiner has changed her travel plans or wanted an earlier or later lunch and out exam time has changed by half an hour or so

I think you are well placed for a few years down the line. Do keep an eye on the RAD Associates. They started the scheme in Birmingham a few years back and have been adding new centres as it gets more established and grows in popularity. As you say, Gloucester and Devon are some distance apart and you may find that if they have sufficient interest , more associate classes might take place in both centres. I hope she enjoys her first sessions in Gloucester anyway and will keep fingers crossed for you that they add more.

I would think not. As part of receiving job seekers allowance they have to sign an agreement that they are available for work and actively seeking work and they have to go to the job centre every 2 weeks I think it is to 'sign on' and reaffirm that they are still looking. That's my understanding of how it works anyway - not actually done it myself She might well be able to get other benefits -like housing benefit because of low income. I don't really know. Career development loans and trying to get funding from charitable trusts are two possibilities.

Welcome to the forum. RAD associate classes would probably be a good starting point for your DD. You may well find that they are year round (or 9 months at least) as they tend to release them in batches of 4 months ie you pay for and commit to 4 at a time and then fill in a form and pay for the next batch of 4. At least that is how they operate in other locations. I have no personal experience of the associates in Newport but I know of it and it has a good reputation. At 8 your DD is a little young for many associate programs (no idea about cecchetti) but look out for events at Ballet Cymru in Newport as she gets older. I believe summer school is from aged 10 and they also have an associate scheme. My DDs have been to several summer schools with Ballet Cymru and I definitely recommend them once she is old enough.

I think you also always have to be mindful that this is a normal school day and they have duty of care to all the other children too. No school these days allows parents to hang around in the school building while school is in progress.

I think you probably have picked the right classes for her to trial yes. If she is ever interested in taking any RAD exams, inter foundation is optional but you do need to pass intermediate before you can go onto the advanced grades so even if she found the intermediate quite easy, it could be worth her taking the class and preparing for the exam.

Will pm you stardancer as this thread is about the lower school final.

Pointyfeet - I could easily have written that exact same post when my DD was in year 11 and had a place for vocational school for the September. Flexibility was what the teacher advised my DD to work on too but I saw no signs of it and she thought I was moaning if I mentioned it. To be honest, my advice would be to back off and try not to worry about it. By all means ask if the teacher has given her anything to practice but leave it at that. Your DD no doubt has a lot on her plate at the moment with school, exams, dance etc and does need time to rest and recover too. When she starts at vocational school I imagine you will find that her flexibility will improve rapidly with all the hours of dance she does. It is a big step up from dancing 4 nights and Saturdays to dancing all day. My DD was bad at stretching at home aged 16 but these days, still unseen by me, she will stretch daily when she is home, even when too tired for anything else.

So if your DD is going into year 9 in September and wants to audition next year whilst in year 9, she would actually be auditioning for a senior associates place as she would be 14 by the September when she started. Mid - associates are for those in years 7-9 (so applying/auditioning in years 6,7,8) and senior associates for those in years 10 & 11 (so applying in years 9,10). Hope that makes sense.

Well I was planning on doing some gardening before I started with the ballet journeys today but since its covered by snow this morning, I've changed my mind!

Hang on in there Flexible Fred. Tring were quite early with their finals. Laines are any day now and Hammond next week and I am sure there will be other schools that have not completed auditions yet so some students will not be in a position to make a decision yet. If it helps, the year my DD auditioned it was May that there was a sudden flurry of activity on reserve lists, despite the fact that finals were in March. Good luck, fingers crossed for your DD.

I think I would echo the advice to look at all the vocational schools in the UK first, especially if RBS is the only one she has auditioned at. I say this purely on the side of the academics as I am sure you want her to get good academic qualifications also. In another English speaking country this may be possible, but in Europe it could be a huge undertaking and I am sure it would detract from her progression in dance if she was worried about another aspect of her daily life - academics, socialising, accommodation. Not having a qualification recognised in this country might also be a problem if she had to withdraw from dance due to injury or if she decided at a later date that it was not the career she wanted. I do know of dancers continuing right through to graduation who then seek a career in a different field.

I would just let him try ballet. Suppose he is very good at it, a real natural...it does not mean his heart will be in it and that he will ever want to do it seriously. He is young enough to change his mind plenty of times yet.

It must be frustrating for you but in all honesty if your DD does not want to do classes elsewhere, you do have to be guided by her. Her heart does have to be in it. Re dance college at 18 - yes it will go totally on the auditions. Perhaps you could change tack and start looking at what auditions entail at each of the colleges she is interested in auditioning for? My DD had never done tap - but nor did she need do it any any audition, and her last exam in modern was intermediate. She had done no more than a handful of modern classes in advanced at the time of auditioning. What counts in an audition as much as anything is the ability to pick things up as obviously it is all non syllabus work? Is she willing to do some workshops or summer schools outside of her local dance school? If she is not willing to take regular classes elsewhere, perhaps these would give her some extra focus? Or could she do one of the pre-audition courses at somewhere like Urdang to give her a taste of what to expect? I wish you luck as it is not an easy situation, especially since you cannot foretell the future and know if your DD is making good or bad decisions. But she knows you have her back - but the desire really does need to come from her.

balletmum13 - follow the link Ecarte gives in post no. 3 on this thread and it takes you to the website. You can then click on your region and find auditions dates etc.

Dancique do have a number of different makes of pointe shoe. I found them the best of all the fitters we have ever used, including London ones like Freed. Very friendly and helpful as well as professional too.

VBee - I imagine you will be fine. There is an advanced adult ballet class on a Monday too and I know several students from BOA who have taken intermediate but not advanced 1 were at one point going to that class and finding it ok. I don't know if they still go as I have not seen the 2 I actually know since just before Christmas and obviously they were going to a class that suited not just their level but also their timetables.

I am in total agreement with Lisa in that the ability to pick up routines quickly and remember them is vital and to get offered any type of job as a professional dancer, ballet or otherwise, you first have to get through the audition - against goodness knows how many other dancers. A dancer does need to be adaptable also and able to make adjustments last minute to existing choreography. I'm thinking her of illness or injury just before a performance, or a stage that is smaller or larger than anticpated. I do know of a very capable dancer, who has been offered places for upper school vocational training who has additional needs and one of the main areas she struggles with is picking up choreography at speed and communication. She has improved enormously and I think with support she will cope with vocational school and training - starting at 18 but I am not too sure if she will be able to make the transition to professional dancer if she has to go through the open audition process. She would need to be spotted in class or be able to take class with a company a few times so that they could assess her and quite frankly, unless a dance was truly exceptional and a school used all their contacts I doubt this would ever happen. I know schools do get visits sometimes but the chances of being that good you are invited to join a company without audition must be close on zero. On the subject of disclosing a disability to a company before or after contract - I suspect that it would have to be disclosed at the time of the contract. My DD does not work for a ballet company but when she was offered her contract she also had a long medical questionnaire to fill out and had to undergo a medical. She also had to get medical insurance. If any question related to a person's 'disability', it would surely need to be answered honestly.

There are other places you can learn aerial in London and around the country, although My Aerial Home does have a good reputation I believe. Several of DD's friends have been there on their 1 week course aimed at dancers. They have all been in their final year of vocational training or have already graduated. Without exception they found it extremely challenging. It is very physically demanding and requires a lot of upper body strength and all came away with numerous bruises and aching more than they had ever ached in their lives. If your DD is keen to try it I would certainly take it slowly with weekly classes and not a course and it would be better to try and find something that is aimed specifically at her age group. That's only my opinion but I know neither of my DDs would have had the upper body strength as a developing teen to do anything more.